***I own nothing it's all J.K.'s****
Chapter 1
Unexpected Happenings
( ) Narrator's thoughts/ inner monologue
" "speech
[ ] character's thoughts
It was a beautiful July day in Warwick New York. Ari Lev sat in Pagoda Jacob playing their guitar. As they were about to pack up as they saw an owl flying close by. Ari Lev thought that it was a bit odd owls aren't active in the daytime. Then the owl flew into the pagoda and, landed on their guitar case. Ari Lev saw that it had a envelope tied to it's leg and untied it. "Wow that's really weird there are those bird repellant clickers in here" they said quietly to themselves as they opened the envelope. They read the envelope it said:
A.L. Rome
Pagoda Jacob
URJ Kutz Camp
46 Bowen Rd
Warwick NY USA
They read the enclosed letters;
HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY
Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore
Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorcerer, Chief Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confederation. of Wizards
Dear, Mx. A.L Rome,
We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.
Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July. We are quite sorry that this letter did not arrive on time.
Yours sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall
Deputy Headmistress
Ari Lev was shocked, they knew that it was one of their dreams to go to Hogwarts, even though up until this point the had no idea that it was actually possible. Ari Lev wondered how they would catch up to Fifth year work with out any prior experience, besides, reading the first four Harry Potter books. Like that would even help since they had no real magical training unless you count being being a reiki master and being pretty psychically intuitive. Ari Lev would be turning 16 on 30 September. Also they wondered how it was possible to be non-binary, Jewish and have learning disabilities at wrote Professor McGonagall a letter that said.
Dear Professor:
I was hoping you could send someone to meet with me. I have a lot of logistical questions about Hogwarts. Given my the fact that I'm significantly older then the first years and have identities that may be hard for Hogwarts to accommodate. I hope that I'm not being too presumptuous by asking for this meeting.
.Thank you very much in advance,
Yours truly,
Ari Lev Rome
Dear Mx. A. L. Rome;
Please meet Ze'eva Isaccson at 4:30 pm tomorrow and she will facilitate your meeting with a representative from Hogwarts.
Yours sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall
Deputy Headmistress
3:55 pm the next day
I walked down the hill to go find Ze'eva,(Ze'eva is one of the head songleaders who happens to be a British-born Cantor in London) my mind was running at 100 miles a minute. I had so many questions for her, and obviously for whatever Prof. I was supposed to meet from Hogwarts. I found Ze'eva standing on the front steps of the main building. I attempted to talk to her and she gestured for me to follow her, we kept walking, and we ended up in JFTY chapel. "Feel free to ask any questions now that we are away from Muggle ears." "How did you do it all, since I imagine you're a witch, how did you get into HUC-JIR and become a Cantor?" "I worked really hard, and I took a couple years off between Hogwarts and university to catch up on what the classes that did not have similar subject matter to Hogwarts. If you take a arithmacy and continue with potions you can cover all your math and science requirements for High school." "What was it like being Jewish at Hogwarts? It was hard there weren't a lot of us, but there were enough for us to consistently have a non-orthodox minyan for erev Shabbat services. This meant that we needed to learn how to compromise a lot in terms of how things were led, it was actually really good practice for Cantorial school. It is also possible to get a portkey the out of the castle for Shabbat morning services or for all of shabbat if you are Shomer Shabbat. They also let us leave for the holidays, I'll talk to the magical members of my congregation and see if any is willing to host you for the Chagim." "Thank you, whats the deal with NFTY/ Netzer events?" "You are allowed two portkeys a year to multi-day events." "Anything else I should know about Hogwarts Jewishly?" "Well Professor Babbling is a JTS ordained Rabbi and her apprentice Eliza Rose is also Jewish. They sometimes run a tuesday night Beit Midrash."
Also the portkey is going to leave in a minute, she took out a guitar strap and asked me to touch it. I felt a hook grab my navel and closed my eyes and took deep breaths, a few seconds later we landed in what I assumed to be New York City judging by the taxis that kept zipping by. We were standing in front of a building that said State of New York Magical Services Office. We walked in the door and I saw a very short man standing near us, he walked up to us and introduced himself as Professor Flitwick. "Our conference room is ready please follow me." As we were walking to the conference room he said " It's not often we get such late additions to the register of students,but I relish getting the chance to connect with my former ravens when we do. Ze'eva its so good to see one of my favorite former ravens. Have you spotted any possible additions to our illustrious house? "The next group of firsties are hard to place." said Ze'eva What house are you wanting to join Mx. Rome?" "Professor please call me Ari Lev, I believe everyone has two dominant houses, I think mine are Griffindor and Huffelpuff and I'm split pretty equally although I'd totally love to be a Ravenclaw too." "Interesting thesis you have there young one, you may just have the brain for Ravenclaw we will see soon enough." We arrived at the conference room and made ourselves comfortable.
"Thank you Professor for coming all this way to answer my questions about accommodations at Hogwarts. So there are a few avenues I'd like to cover first how are we going to deal with my age and lack of training." On August 1st someone will come to pick you up from your residence to take you to Diagon Alley and then to the training location we have procured a time chamber for you where an hour outside the chamber is equal to month inside, you will use the chamber as much as you need in the month before school starts." "Awesome, is there any chance that other people might be included in that training process? I mean it seems like there willl be so much time spent in the time chamber that it would be good for me to not only work with a professor but also some student's around my age." "We will take that into account and see what we can do."
"I have learning disabilities and was wondering how that could be accommodated? In my Muggle education I've had things like a note-taker in class, ability to dictate essays on tape or via assistive technology, I imagine in the magical world there's something like a dicta-qulll? Also written exams are usually able to be dictated via a scribe or technology and extra time is given if needed. If you need documentation I can have it when I'm picked up from my residence." "I will have to talk to the rest of the staff, I can't say what will happen but the paperwork should help."
Lastly, I identify as non-binary, and am planning with my parents permission to start teststerone therapy next month, in the muggle world this requires a once weekly inter-muscular injection i'm not sure how it differs in the magical world. Since I identify as non-binary i'm not seeking to become a man, ideally my presentation would change between masculine and feminine day to day and hopefullly I'd pass either way. I was wondering how dorms and bathrooms would work at Hogwarts, after spending this summer in gendered spaces I can tell you I'm not comfortable using either demarcated space." "We actually have one other non-binary student and we allow gender non-conforming students to use the former heads quarters in their house area, we relocated the head students to their own tower as a means of inter-house cooperation some years ago. In terms of bathrooms you would be allowed to use the same bathrooms that the faculty use in common areas of the castle. Also I would suggest a trip to St, Mungos for a checkup and consult with the healers about your situation when you go to Diagon Alley. Do you have any other questions?" "No sir, Thank you so much for your time. Ze'eva
TBC. Next chapter Professors pow-wow and react Ari Lev goes to Grinngots St. Mungos and Lots of shopping Glossary of unfamiliar terms coming soon. I'm also seeking a Beta.
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