Chapter 1

It was a cloudy morning in Shanghai, and a certain teenage boy had woken up in a bad mood. Not that it was out of the ordinary for it to be cloudy. With all the pollution and smoking that happened in the city, the boy expected nothing less. It would be just short of a miracle for the boy to see blue skies for once. Rolling over on his bed, the boy reached to the bedside table to find his glasses. As the room around him came in focus, the boy yawned and scratched his messy black hair. The worn apartment room walls were cold and unwelcoming, despite the boy's parents' best attempts to decorate them with calendars, paintings, and various academic achievements the boy had achieved in the past fourteen years of his life. Rubbing his eyes, the boy adjusted his glasses and let his feet find the cold floor. Part of him wanted nothing but to throw the covers back over his head and hide, but he knew he could not escape from his impending doom.

"Kevin! It's already 10 AM! Come eat your breakfast before it gets cold!" cried a motherly voice from the kitchen.

"Coming mom!" Kevin yelled back, slightly annoyed. It was summer vacation, and he wished his mom would let him get up from bed whenever he wanted to. Trudging down the hallway towards the bathroom, Kevin made a mental to-do list. Being the son of two typical Asian parents, he was expected to do a lot of studying over the summer, unlike most kids around his age. Aside from getting a head start in all the classes he would be taking this fall, his parents wanted him to brush up on his Chinese, start studying for his SATs, and even start considering what colleges he'd be applying to.

Alright, so a chapter from the Chinese practice book, two SAT practice test sets, and a few hours of pretending to look up colleges. Typical 14-year-old summer day, right? Kevin turned on the lights and turned to face himself in the mirror. A tired looking skinny Asian boy stood before him, with short black hair and brown eyes. He picked up his comb in an attempt to fix his bed head hair, and then began his morning ritual of washing his face and brushing his teeth.

"Kevin? Hurry up! You have a lot of things to do today!" his mom cried from the kitchen again. Kevin set the toothbrush back in his cup and flicked off the lights.

"I know, mom," Kevin replied, walking towards the dining table. He sat down and looked at the food set before him. A combination of leftovers from dinner last night and rice porridge.

"Mom, can't we have normal breakfast for once?" Kevin sighed. He knew he should be more grateful, but he was really starting to get sick of putting up with rice porridge.

"What do you mean by normal breakfast?" Kevin's mom asked while placing a glass of milk on the table in front of Kevin.

"Well, like breakfast food I mean," Kevin said, taking a sip from his milk. "Like eggs, bacon, sausages, pancakes," he said, counting off his fingers. "Ever since we left California it's been less and less of normal food, and more and more of this," Kevin gestured towards the leftover bean sprouts on the table.

"Kevin Samuel Li. You stop complaining right this instant." Mrs. Li placed her hands on her hips. Wang Li was normally the more lenient of Kevin's parents, but when she needed to be strict she didn't hesitate. "Ever since we moved here you've been making more and more negative comments about everything. The least you could do is appreciate the hard work your mother and father is putting in for you."

Kevin sulkily lowered his eyes to his food and started eating. His mom was right, ever since they moved to Shanghai he had been more pessimistic about everything, but he felt with good reason. He hated it here. Kevin looked out the window and toward the buildings outside. The streets were dirty, the pollution was terrible, and people seemed more hostile towards each other. And Kevin didn't even want to start thinking about school. He had attended the school's new student orientation and open house day, and his parents had thought the teachers and students there were brilliant. But Kevin could see right through them. The students there were fake, all of them. They pretended to be nice and friendly on the outside, but he could tell they were mean on the inside, especially towards non-international kids like Kevin who had lived in the US their whole lives. They looked down on kids like Kevin, because they thought they were narrow-minded, and stupid simply because they didn't grow up in three different countries as a kid. It was no wonder Kevin hadn't found anybody to call his friend yet since he had moved to Shanghai. Kevin finished up his porridge as he thought back on how nice it was back in San Francisco. He had friends there. He had a home there. He belonged there. But here? He had nothing.

As Kevin visited what seemed like the hundredth college website that day, he began to find that all of them started to look the same. Pretty photos of fancy campuses with smiling people in it. Throw in some big words like "success" or "diversity", and there you have it, the average college website. Kevin rubbed the temples of his eyes and looked out the window. He would much rather be spending the last few days of summer relaxing, but his father told him that he wanted a list of potential colleges he could apply to and a paragraph explaining why for each school by the time he came home from work. And with his mother out shopping for the day, Kevin was feeling very alone at home. If he was in California, he would probably be outside doing something with his friends instead of sitting alone in the study room, looking at college websites. After all, he was only a rising freshman that year. Yet his parents had still insisted that he start studying for SATs and looking at colleges. Most students didn't worry about these things until they were upperclassmen.

The sound of doorbell snapped Kevin out of his day dreaming, and he got up from his chair. As he walked towards door, he wondered who could possibly be outside his door right now. He didn't order any packages recently, and he certainly wasn't expecting any visitors. Closing one eye, he looked through the peephole on his door. There was nobody there. He strained to look left and right, before finally giving up and opening the door. Poking his head out the door, he looked out into the empty elevator lobby.

Kevin was about to dismiss the doorbell as a figment of his imagination before he noticed an envelope on the ground in front of the door. Stooping down to retrieve it, he carefully looked it over. His eyes widened as he realized it was addressed to him. As he turned it over and inspected it, he thought back on the formatting of letters. If he remembered correctly, the return address was supposed to be in the top left corner. But this envelope only had his name and address. Bewildered, Kevin took it inside, closing the door behind him. He sat down on the living room couch and took a closer look at the envelope. There was a red seal with the letter "H" imprinted on it. Above that was what looked like a school crest with the name "Hogwarts" on it. Unable to contain his curiosity any further, Kevin peeled open the envelope to read the letter.

HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY

Headmaster: Minerva McGonagall

Dear Mr Li,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted 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.

Yours sincerely,

Filius Flitwick

Deputy Headmaster

Kevin stared at the letter, wondering to himself what he had just read. As he reread the letter, he tried to make sense of its contents. Had he just been accepted to a school? He never applied to any sort of school. In fact, the school he was supposed to be attending this year was starting in about a week. But what bewildered him most is that it was a school of witchcraft and wizardry. What did that make Kevin? A wizard?

Standing up from the couch, Kevin made his way back to the study room and woke his computer up. He silently cursed China for blocking Google as he opened up Bing. Typing "Hogwarts" into the search bar, he was surprised to find no results of a school by that name. Was this some sort of scam? He knew the letter could not have possibly been sent by normal post mail, because without a return address, it would have been rejected. That means whoever the sender was knew exactly who Kevin was and where he lived. But the letter didn't mention anything about tuition fees, or money at all for that matter. This was a truly bewildering incident. I'd better ask mom and dad about this tonight.

By the time Kevin had finished dinner with his family, things were starting to settle down in the house. Kevin's mother was in the kitchen, washing the dishes while Kevin was going through his list of colleges with his dad on the dining table. He planned on telling his dad after he finished discussing the colleges he looked at today, and as that moment drew closer he began to grow a bit anxious.

"Alright, Kevin," Kevin's dad placed the list back down on the table and crossed his arms. "This list looks solid, but I think you should drop some of your safety schools. You aren't attending them anyways, so you don't need three."

"They're called safety schools for a reason, Dad. It's very possible I'll get rejected to most of these other schools!" Kevin said exasperatedly.

"That's why it's your job to make sure that doesn't happen. I would also like you to apply to one more Ivy League school." He said sternly. Kevin was about to say something about applying for the sake of applying to an Ivy League, but decided against it. "If there's nothing else, that's all I have for you today. Make sure you sleep early tonight." Kevin's dad started to stand up from his seat.

"Wait," Kevin said hurriedly. "Actually, there is something else." Kevin's dad eyed him curiously. "Something weird happened today that I need to tell you about."

"What is it?" Kevin's dad asked, sitting back down in his seat. Kevin wasn't sure how to go about explaining the mysterious letter without sounding like a madman.

"Well, I got a letter today.." Kevin started.

"A letter?" Kevin's dad looked even more bewildered now. "Who would send you a letter?"

"I don't know. It didn't have a return address. It just had my name and address on it. I heard the doorbell this afternoon, but when I went to the door nobody was there. The letter was just laying on the ground, so I picked it up."

"Well what did it say?"

"I think it was a school acceptance letter…" Kevin started. At this point the sound of a dish dropping in the sink was heard from the kitchen.

"A school what?" Kevin's mom was already halfway out the kitchen door.

"When did you get it? What school is it for?" Kevin's dad bombarded him with questions. Kevin looked up at his two parents staring at him expectantly.

"Well, the school is called Hogwarts." Kevin said cautiously.

"Hogwarts?" Kevin's mom glanced at his father. "I've never heard of it."

"Yeah, I haven't either." Kevin replied. He noticed his Dad was starting to look especially suspicious now.

"Did you Google it?" His dad asked.

"I searched it up on Bing, since Google is blocked in China," Kevin said with a bit of contempt in his voice. "But I didn't find any results about a school called Hogwarts. But that's not even the weird part." Kevin took a deep breath, not sure how to word his next sentence. He wasn't even sure how his parents would react.

"What is it? You can tell us." His mom said encouragingly.

"It said it was a school of Witchcraft and Wizardry." Kevin blurted out. He held his breath as he braced for his parents to react. It was perhaps the longest two seconds he had ever experienced in his whole life. After what felt like forever, his dad broke the silence with a chuckle with his mom joining in shortly afterwards. Kevin took a double take at his parents. How could they be laughing? Had he said something wrong? Was there something on his face?

"Kevin, that's ridiculous. It has to be a joke or scam of some kind. Do you have any friends that might have played this joke on you?" His dad asked with an extremely non-serious face.

"What? No, that can't be. I haven't met anybody in all of Shanghai yet, let alone our apartment building. And it didn't say anything about any fees!" Kevin was starting to get frustrated at how his parents weren't taking him seriously.

"See, that's how they reel you in," his mom said with wide eyes, clearly excited to share her knowledge about scamming in China. "At first, they don't ask for anything, so they get you interested. And then they ask for just a little fee here, or a small cost there. Little by little they get you to pay more and more money until they've turned your wallet inside out with empty promises."

"What? Then how did they know my name? How did they know our address?" Kevin asked, his voice raising a little bit.

"What you should be asking, is why they don't have a return address?" Kevin's dad promptly countered as he stretched out his hand towards Kevin. "Let me see the letter." Kevin took the envelope out of his pocket and put it in his father's outstretched hand. He watched his father's facial expression closely as he read over the letter.

"It says 'Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment'," he said with a hint of amusement as he shuffled the papers in his hand. His eyes scanned through the letter for a few seconds before he burst out into laughter again.

"What is it now?" Kevin asked, shocked by his father's sudden outburst.

"Have you seen the list this letter included? The Standard Book of Spells by Miranda Goshawk. A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot." His father went on, trying to contain his laughter.

"Well, it's a school of Witchcraft and Wizardry!" Kevin said exasperatedly.

"Oh it gets better," his dad continued. "Other equipment: One wand, one cauldron, one set of glass or crystal phials..." As his dad went on, Kevin realised that he had a point. The entire letter sounded ridiculous. Where was he supposed to get this equipment anyways? How was he supposed to get to this school if it didn't exist anywhere online? What was he supposed to learn there?

"Alright, dad. I get it." Kevin said sounding defeated.

"Like I said, it's probably a scam," his dad said, leaning back into his chair. "Or a practical joke. I think that's more likely."

"I say you should just forget about it," Kevin's mom suggested. "Even if this 'Hogwarts' is a real school, what skills could you possibly learn there that would help you in the future?"

"Oh I dunno, magic?!" Kevin replied sarcastically, throwing his hands into the air. "Maybe I could learn how to make money grow on trees or something."

"Come on, Kevin," Kevin's dad got up from his chair. "This is the real world." He walked down the hallway towards the study as Kevin's mom went back into the kitchen, and Kevin found himself alone at the table with his thoughts.

The final few days of summer passed quickly and uneventfully, and before Kevin knew it, it was the final weekend before school. He sat back in the big office swivel chair and let out an exasperated sigh. His eyes remained on the computer monitor as he looked at old photos of him and his friends back in California. He would never find friends like them in his new school.

The sound of the front door opening made him sat up a bit straighter. It wasn't like Kevin hadn't finished all his work for the day before his dad came home from work, but he was still nervous about how his Dad would react to his practice test scores today. Kevin got up from the computer desk and mentally prepared himself to face his father at the dinner table.

"Hey Dad," Kevin said, plopping himself into a seat at the table.

"Kevin. How was your day today?" his father asked, placing his laptop bag onto the couch and joining his son at the table.

"It was alright." Kevin replied, eyeing the kitchen. As he smelled the food his mom had prepared, his stomach growled, reminding him of how hungry he was.

"Did you finish all your work today?" He asked sternly.

"Yup." Kevin replied quickly, hoping to avoid the topic of his SAT practice test score as long as possible. Just as his father opened his mouth to ask another question, Mrs. Li walked out of the kitchen with the dishes.

"I'll go get the utensils," Kevin said, getting up from his seat. He wanted more than anything to just avoid the topic of studying and college. It seemed to be all that his parents wanted to talk about these days at the dinner table. Fortunately, none of his parents brought it up until dinner started winding down.

"So," Mr. Li started, "How did you do on your practice sets today?" Kevin took a deep breath.

"Well, I got a 2030 on my first one, and a 2090 on my second." Kevin said in a quiet voice.

"Well that's quite disappointing. I'd have thought you would score at least above 2100." Mr. Li sighed, wiping his mouth with a napkin.

"What? I'm not even in high school yet and I'm already breaking 2000," Kevin said with a tint of annoyance in his voice.

"You say that as if going above 2000 is an impressive feat. How are you going to get into schools like Harvard or MIT if you are already complacent with a 2090?" Mr. Li asked, raising his voice a little. Kevin strained to keep his temper in check.

"Well what if I don't want to go Harvard? Or MIT?" Ever since Kevin finished middle school, which was conveniently right when he moved to Shanghai, his father had been nagging him nonstop about Ivy League colleges, further fueling his anger towards the place. Had he ever considered whether Kevin didn't want to go to an Ivy League college?

"Don't be silly, Kevin. If you don't go to a good college, you won't be able to get a good job, like your father." Mrs. Li said, attempting to alleviate the tension she was starting to sense coming from the table. But that did it for Kevin.

"What makes you qualified to judge what a good job is?" Kevin asked, raising his voice even further. "Maybe I don't want to be the CEO of some company when I grow up. Maybe I want to be a stand-up comedian, or a magician, or a-"

"Kevin. You calm yourself down right now," Mr. Li started, the temperature of his voice dropping.

"Kevin, you know just as well as I do you can't live off being a magician." Mrs. Li pleaded. "You don't have to be an electrical engineer like your father, but-"

"I don't want a job like Dad! His job is the reason we moved to this stupid place in the first place!"

"That's it. Go to your room. Now." Mr. Li said sternly, pointing towards Kevin's door. Kevin coldly stood up from his seat, scraping his chair hard against the floor as he did. He stormed off to his room, slamming his door behind him. He hadn't planned on getting angry tonight, but he couldn't help himself. His parents were unbearable. How could they be so ignorant of how he felt? Kevin threw himself onto his bed, still fuming about the whole ordeal. This is it. My life can't get any worse than this. It was only 8 PM, and Kevin wasn't even tired. But with no appetite to eat and even less to work, he flicked off his light switch and fruitlessly tried to sleep.

A light breeze shook the leaves on the trees as another streak of lightning flashed across the sky. The distant thunder was barely audible above the constant sound of heavy rain on the forest ground. As the rain continued to fall, the figure of a man could be seen running through the forest. Fallen leaves crunching beneath his feet, the man looked like he was desperately running for his life.

Or rather, he was running for his life.

Breathing heavily, the man scrambled past trees and fallen logs, looking over his shoulder every so often to try and steal a glance at whoever, or whatever was chasing him. Suddenly, he tripped and fell, falling flat on his face. He scrambled to get back on his feet, but his legs failed him. It was too late. The man turned to face his attacker. He was in a dark cloak, face covered by a hood.

"He's dead, it's over! You'll never bring him back!" the man yelled out in a mixture of fear and anger.

"Who said anything about bringing him back?" the cloaked man responded. The cloaked man started laughing menacingly as he raised his arm to point at the fallen man. The man's eyes widened and his mouth opened to scream.

Kevin shot up from his bed, breathing heavily. It had been a while since he last had nightmares, but as he sat there trembling trying to catch his breath, he realized that the fear he was experiencing was all too familiar. Now that he was awake and panting, there was no going back to sleep for a while. As Kevin reflected on the nightmare he just had, he recalled something he had heard from his psychology teacher once. He told him that the people in your dreams have faces that you've seen before.

So why am I having dreams about people I've never met, or even seen before? Shrugging away the thought, Kevin glanced at the clock on his bedside table, wondering whether it was worth trying to go back to sleep at 4 AM.

He tried to swallow, but failed as he noticed how dry his throat was. Deciding to get a glass of water, he placed his feet on the cold ground. Kevin placed his hand on the doorknob, turning it slowly. He peered into the dark corridor, letting his eyes adjust to the darkness that engulfed the room. Making his way towards the kitchen, he made sure to tip toe as to not wake his parents. It was one thing to get his father angry at the dinner table. To wake him up at 4 AM would be a whole different level.

He got to the kitchen and took out a mug. As he filled the mug at the water dispenser, the sound of water splashing into a cup filled the quiet room. As he filled the cup, he looked towards the large glass sliding doors in front of the rooftop patio. Despite all of Kevin's complaints about the city, he had to admit the apartment they moved into was very nice. With his Dad's new job situation, they could afford a large apartment on the 30th floor overlooking the river separating the two parts of Shanghai, Pudong and Puxi. Distant sounds of traffic and city lights made its way into the room from the doors.

Walking over, he admired the view before him. Despite the early morning, the streets were still busy and full of people trying to beat the rush hour. Closing his eyes, Kevin took in all the sounds of the busy city. The rattling of motorbikes. The distant sound of construction. The honking of cars. The light breeze of wind. The rattling of motorbikes. Kevin opened his eyes and listened more closely. The sound of the motorbikes was getting considerably louder. Putting his face up to the glass, he strained to listen more closely. It wasn't the sound of motorbikes, but a single motorbike. Kevin pinched himself as he reminded himself that he was on the 30th floor. How could there possibly be a motorbike outside? Suddenly a bright white light shone through the glass, blinding Kevin. Falling backwards, he shielded his eyes as he stumbled backwards. As his eyes strained to adjust to the new light, Kevin peeked through his fingers, making out a motorbike hovering right outside his window. The rider was a very large man wearing a long coat, easily more than four times the size of Kevin himself. The motorbike slowly lowered itself, landing gracefully on the patio. The man removed his helmet and goggles, revealing dark and messy hair and a large shaggy beard. It was truly a sight to behold. He gave Kevin a toothy grin as he stepped off the bike and rapped on the glass with knuckles of a hand that looked like it could hold a tree trunk.

"Can yer let me in?" He said in a loud but strangely friendly sounding voice. Too shocked to say anything, Kevin just stared back at the man. He seemed more like a giant to Kevin.

"If yer don't open the door, I'll have ta open it myself." The man said shrugging. Kevin tried to shake his head and say no, but his body felt like he had turned to stone, and his jaw was fixed open.

"Well, can't say I didn't warn ya." The man reached into his coat pocket. Kevin was scared that when his hand came out he would be holding a gun, or some other sort of weapon. But instead, he pulled out an umbrella. Pointing the umbrella at the window, the lock on the inside suddenly turned with a click. The man slid the sliding door to the side and stepped inside. That was the cold mental shower that Kevin needed as his mind turned into danger mode.

"Get out of my house!" Kevin shouted as he looked for something to defend himself with. He grabbed a broomstick from the corner of the room and held it like a bat. He probably didn't look that intimidating. He was a skinny Asian boy holding a pole of wood next to a giant that could probably break the broom like a toothpick.

"Woah, calm down there my boy, I'm not gunna harm yer," the man said, holding up his hands. Suddenly, they both turned to the sound of a door slamming open from the master bedroom.

"What the heck is going-" Kevin's dad started, but then saw the giant standing in his living room. He cursed in Chinese in surprise, and pointed at him with a shaky finger.

"WHO ARE YOU!? WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY HOUSE?!" Kevin's dad yelled, sounding more scared than he did angry.

"Didn't mean to scare ya sir! I just came to talk." Hagrid assured him. Kevin tightened his grip on the broom stick and adjusted his footing as his mother peeked through the doorway and raised her hand to her mouth.

"Talk about what?" Kevin asked, trying to sound like he wasn't afraid.

"Well, about yer Hogwarts letter 'course," the man said exasperatedly. "Yer did get the letter, right?" Suddenly Kevin froze. He heard his mother gasp from the hallway. He lowered the bat and stance.

"The… the letter?" Kevin made out in almost a whisper.

"That's right. You've been accepted ter Hogwarts, best school of witchcraft and wizardry in the world," the man said proudly.

"… Is it true then?" Kevin asked quietly. "Am I a… a…" The man leaned in closer and said with a serious tone.

"You're a wizard, Kevin."