Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter
The Hall of Mirrors
The Letter
Seth lay on his bed, his eyes transfixed on his ceiling. Another uneventful day had gone by without getting the much-anticipated letter. True, the letters were supposed to come in a day or two, but Seth wanted it now! He was a wizard, as was his entire family and all he wanted was to have the confirmation that he, too, would carry on that tradition. He finally got out of bed and rubbed the sleepers from his eyes. He went into the bathroom to brush his teeth. As he sat there, rubbing a toothbrush up and down, right and left, he glanced at the mirror. His hair was getting too long; his mom would probably make him cut it again. He rubbed his black hair, as if hoping that doing that would protect it from his mother's wand.
He gazed into the mirror, looking at his grey eyes, and not for the first time, wishing that his eyes were a normal color, like green or brown. Seth hated being different, he didn't want to be unique, he just wanted to be normal. He wanted to get the letter from Hogwarts and go, no dillydallying, just leave.
As he left the bathroom, he tripped over a small nail in the wood. He got up from his fall and glared at the nail. He waved his arm, imagining trails appearing from a wand and the nail automatically resealing itself. Of course this didn't happen. Seth trudged downstairs, stomach growling.
He walked into the kitchen and saw his mom and dad huddled together in whispered conversation. When they saw me, they broke their huddle like a football team and smiled at me.
"Hi honey, how did you sleep?" Seth's mother said with a weary smile. She was a tall, thin woman with the air that unmistakably showed that she had been raised in with great wealth. She had rings around her fingers and blue nail polish, so as to match her eyes. Her blonde hair was pale and long, almost reaching the small of her back. Seth shrugged, still too tired for words and plunked himself down on the chair.
His father hobbled over to him, his gait unsteady and uneven, just like the scar on his leg. He carried an ivory tipped cane in one hand and a book in the other. He had the same color hair as Seth, but had shocking hazel eyes, that glared out from a veil of dark hair. He sat next to Seth, sighing as he took the weight off his bag bad leg. He swung his legs over the chair and faced Seth.
"You feeling all right there, champ? You don't look to good." His dad said with a frown on his face.
His mom chimed in, "Here, let me feel your forehead." She put a cool hand to his forehead and kept it there for a couple seconds.
She withdrew it and said, "No fever here, but do you feel okay?"
Seth nodded before diving back into his cereal with zeal. His mom gave him a look before walking towards his dad. They had a hasty, muttered discussion before turning to him.
"Honey," his mom began falteringly.
His dad picked up where his mother had left off. "We got a letter for you in the mail. It's from Hogwarts. We haven't opened it yet; but-" His dad was cut off as Seth ran at them, arms open. All pretenses of sleep were gone.
He hugged both of them fiercely before saying, "Thanks! Oh my god, this is so exciting!" He danced around the room before his eyes alighted on the letter. He immediately sobered up before approaching the envelope.
Seth reached out a hand towards the manila envelope and flipped it over. The address read:
Mr. Seth Parker
Bedroom at the Top of the Stairs, to The Left and Down a Long Corridor
Owl Street, Number Seventeen.
"This was it," Seth thought as he tore open the letter with a trembling hand. The paper lay there, the green ink glistening on the light cast by the lamp.
Seth began to read.
Dear Mr. Parker, We here at Hogwarts are pleased to inform you that you have a spot at Hogwarts. We have enclosed instructions on how to get to Platform 9 and Three Quarters at King's Cross Station and tickets for your ride. Also enclosed are the equipment you need and spellbooks. Term begins September 1st . We await your owl no later than July 31st.
Sincerely,
Filius Flitwick, Deputy Headmaster
Seth turned to his mother, overflowing with excitement. He shook the letter and a ticket fell out of the letter.
His mother shrieked, "Oh, honey!" And hugged him.
"Well done, champ," Was all his dad could say, his eyes filling up with tears of pride. Seth returned the hug and turned back to the letter. He read on, past the introduction.
UNIFORM
First-year students will require:
sets of plain work robes (black)
plain pointed hat (black) for day wear
pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)
winter cloak (black, with silver fastenings)
Please note that all pupil's clothes should carry name tags.
COURSE BOOKS
All students should have a copy of each of the following:
The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1)
By Miranda Goshawk
A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot
Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling
A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration
By Emeric Switch
One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi
By Phyllida Spore
Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
By Newt Scamander
The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection
By Quentin Trimble
Defensive Magical Theory
By Tutamen Platicum
OTHER EQUIPMENT
1 wand
1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)
1 set glass or crystal phials
1 telescope
1 set brass scales
Students may also bring and an owl OR a cat OR a toad.
The long list of things shocked Seth. He had expected a few things, but not this many. There were so many books and different types equipment. Seth knew he could afford it but it was still a lot. For the first time, he actually thought about going to Hogwarts. It meant no more moms, no more carefree days full of walks and books. Now it would be replaced with studying. His life was about to change. But was it for the better? Seth still didn't know.
"This is great! We have to invite Alex, Lydia and Sabina over for dinner, to celebrate!" He heard his dad say from behind him.
"That's a great idea," His mother gushed from next to his dad.
His father raised his wand and spoke an incantation, "Expecto Patronum,"with so much power that it seemed to emanate throughout the room. A silvery figure shot out of his wand and solidified into a griffin.
"Dinner at six. See you there." His father spoke to the griffin. It nodded and flew off in the distance.
"Well, let's get ready for dinner. Alice, if you could start on the turkey? I'll go clean up a bit. Seth, how about you see to the backyard?"
Seth nodded. "Dad, do you want me to de-gnome it?" Seth asked hopefully.
His dad grinned and said, "Please do," before setting off to clean the house.
Seth walked out into the sunny day and into the bushes of the garden.
As soon as he walked into the garden he saw a short pair of legs diving for cover. He threw himself after the short, bald creature and grabbed its legs. He spun around and released it, watching it soar through the air before landing ungracefully in the neighbor's lawn. He heard it cursing and then a patter of feet before silence.
"Maybe It won't be so bad," Seth thought to himself as he hoisted five gnomes by the ankles and sent them into orbit.
" I mean, other people have survived and loved it, so I can too. It's not like I expected to live at home forever." Seth laughed at the thought of a thirty year old him de-gnoming the gardens.
Seth immediately sobered up at this thought, remembering his cousin Gareth. He shuddered at the memory of his cousin huddled in the basement of his aunt's house, playing a Muggle "video game", one of the few Muggle moving pictures.
Just as he shook off these thoughts, he heard a bang of on the door and loud, happy voices that signaled the arrival of his friend and her parents. He ran into the house, already envisioning the wonderful time they would have.
Seth walked into the house to see his family and friends grinning around me him and wonderful food spread out in front of mehim. I He sighed contentedly and sat down at the table.
Sabina sat next to mehim. She was the same age as Seth, and their parents had been friends for years. She had relatively long brown hair and green eyes. She was an extremely smart person and always had her head in a never taking her head out of a book. She was the kind of person that did puzzles for fun. Whereas Seth liked to do things outside, Sabina was a more indoor person, preferring not to leave her study and maintain her pale complexion. They had been best friends for years, and Seth's mother and father were her godparents, and her Seth's. hers.
Her father was named Alex Amicus and he was a stout, balding man of the age of forty. He had a few wisps of blonde hair and friendly brown eyes. He was genial and always laughing at jokes he had heard at the Ministry of Magic, where he worked as the Head of the Department for Regulation and Control for Magical Creatures. It was an important job and sometimes kept him away for long hours of the night. He loved to laugh and often helped out at the orphanage that his wife was employed, where he was like the uncle that everyone loved, who brought gifts and stories.
Her mother, Alice, was the stark opposite of her husband, a strict, controlling woman who rarely laughed. Her brown hair was curled up into a neat bun, and she wore spectacles in front of her icy blue eyes. This lack of outward affection, however, stood in contrast of her love and affection for her family and friends. She was Seth's mother's best friend at Hogwarts and after they graduated. She worked as a matron at an orphanage, where she was equally loved and feared. She was loved as their fierce protector and lion-like mother but feared as a no-nonsense principal like figure. She was not only mother to Sabina, but also to every orphaned child who showed up on her doorstep. She was kind, but fierce.
Seth turned to Sabina. "You got the letter?" He whispered under his breath, so as to not disturb the loud conversation going on where the parents were sitting.
"Oh, yeah. It's quite a lot to ask of a first year, to bring in so many things, I mean." Sabina replied, her mouth full of mashed sweet potatoes.
Seth laughed and replied, "You know? I was just saying the same thing!"
Sabina laughed as well and spewed half chewed potatoes of the sweet kind in Seth's face.
Sabina doubled over laughing and he kicked her. She got up and tackled him to the ground. As Seth was battling his best friend to the death, the adults were sitting on the other side, discussing less carefree topics in the wizarding world.
"Alex, are the rumors true? Was there really a-" Seth's mother was cut off by Mr. Amicus.
"I, as a proud part of the Ministry of Magic will neither confirm or deny what's going on, as we're in the presence of children, but I will tell you this. There are some bad things going on." Alex said quietly, gazing at the children wrestling across the table.
The other adults followed his gaze and looked at the children, carefree and happy, enjoying their time before Hogwarts. How blissfully unaware they were, and how shockingly aware they might become.
"Will the Headmistress tell them?" Alice asked under her breath, directing her question at Mr. Parker.
He sighed and said, "I hope so. It'll be much easier to hear from a teacher, someone they don't know to well. They won't be able to recognize the fear in her voice."
Seth's mother whispered, "But Hogwarts is well protected, isn't it?"
Alex said quickly, "Of course it is Verity, but these are Death Eaters we're talking about. They invaded Hogwarts once, they'll do it again." He nodded knowingly.
"Well then we'll just have to be ready for them." Mr. Parker said grimly. The adults all nodded and gripped their wands as a reflex. They looked back at the children and sighed. Ignorance truly is bliss.