Prologue

Kai

Kai's life has never been easy. From as early as he could remember, he wasn't like other children, but none of that was his fault. For starters, he did not have any parents. He was left at the doorstep of an orphanage when he was about three days old and Mrs. Zhang wouldn't go three seconds without reminding him of that.

He was also strange in other ways. when he was five, he jumped during a game of double dutch and landed on the roof, and several times, his roommates would swear that Kai was floating while he was asleep. Lots of strange things happened to him, like swearing that he could change the direction of a ball flying towards him. But Kai, and this was no hallucination, was sneaky, fast, and good at magic.

The magic thing came later, however, and here's how it went down.

Kai had enough of Madame Zhang's orphanage. He was only ten, but he knew what slave labor was. So he did what any logical kid at his age would do. He ran away. Three days he survived by pickpocketing and petty theft, and sleeping on park benches wasn't too bad. But on the fourth day, he made the mistake that saved his life.

It started off by running away from the couple from whom he stole just five pounds. At first, the man was mad and was chasing him, but after some coaxing from the wife, they both let him go. He could have stopped running, but he wasn't taking that chance.

Five pounds, he thought. Not much, but it might be enough for a decent meal.

Zhao's Pub was the closest thing that was open, and he hadn't eaten breakfast...or lunch, so it couldn't be too bad.

However, what Kai, the young ten year old did not know that the simple sandwich he ordered wasn't five pounds, but ten. He only found out when he put the five note on the table and tried to leave.

"Oi!" The bar owner called out to Kai. "I see the fiver, but where's the rest of it?"

"What?"

"You heard me! That sandwich was ten quid! Where's the rest?"

"Ten quid! That's a rip off! The sandwich wasn't even good!"

"Still ten quid! And if you don't pay up, I'll call your parents."

"Don't got any."

"Then I guess I'll call the police. Send you to a home." Kai visibly paled, and the bartender let out a smirk.

"Please," Kai pleaded. "Don't. I just got out."
"Ran out? Not smart. You're what, eight?"

"Ten."

"Ten. And how are you gonna get money?"

"I…" He couldn't admit he stole.

"Little thief too, huh. Well, how about sleeping. Sleeping on the benches like some rat?"

"Uh…"

"Look kid, you've gotta pay up."

"I don't know how."

At that, Zhao showed the poor boy he had a heart, no matter how cheap it was. He got out from behind the bar and went to the kid, going down on one knee, looking him in the eye. "I've got a proposition." Kai looked up at the man. "I've got an empty room up there. Pretty small, but it's got enough. Work here, wait tables and such, I'll give you some pocket money for clothes and three meals a day. Won't be as good as that gourmet sandwich," Kai frowned at that.

"If that's gourmet…"

"Watch it kid," He said. "It'll be something. What do you say? Work here and live here, or run your luck with the constable?"

"Thank you sir, that's quite kind of you."
"Good job kid. Now," He got up and lead Kai by the shoulder to the kitchen. "Hope you know how to wash dishes."

Working at Zhao's could have been worse. The dishes were gross, the tables were worse, and lots of customers were plain rude, but it was better than Madame Zhang's. And Zhao had some good things to. For example:

"Hey, kid. You know any card tricks?" Kai shook his head. Zhao waved him over. "Look here. Pick any of these cards." Kai took one. "Don't show me, and now remember the card. Put it back." Kai obeyed. Zhao shuffled the cards and spread it on the table. Only one card was face-up.

"Hey! That's my card!"

"Yeah kid, that's why its magic."

"Madame Zhang said that there's no such thing."

"Well she ain't one hundred percent wrong. Magic like fairies and stuff ain't real, but this kind of magic, this is sleight-o-hand."

"How does it work?"

"I distract you by doing something, and you don't notice when I do something like find the card you had. Want me to teach you?"

Three months later, Kai could easily do any trick he wanted. He became a master magician, and Zhao couldn't believe how great the little kid had become.

After performing it to a couple of customers, all of them demanded that Kai do little bar magic as performances. That way, Kai got a little more pocket money, and Zhao got more customers. However, it was a different kind of magic that brought two brothers to the bar one fateful day.

"Mako, I don't like this place!" Whined a thirteen year old boy, while walking into a bar.

"I don't either," said his fourteen year old brother, Mako. "But Raiko and Beifong asked us to come here. We're the new 'buddies'." He said, making air quotes around the word buddies. "Let's just go get the kid."

Bolin, the thirteen year old, went up to the bartender. "Excuse me, kind sir, we're looking for a Kai Xin. He should be eleven today, and we were told he lives here."

"What's it to ya?"

"We're here from a prestigious academy," said Mako. "And we want to offer Kai a spot."

"Ain't got the money. Goin' public come September."

"Full scholarship, sir," Mako continued. "May we at least see him...in private." Zhao shrugged and whistled, calling Kai's attention and gesturing him to come over.

"Kai, these two want to get you to a private school, full scholarship."

"Why?" Kai asked. "I'm not smart or anything."

"You have something that we're looking for. Can we go someplace less crowded?" Mako asked.

"Sure. The main room on the first floor is empty." Kai started walking and the two brothers followed. Once they reached the room, they all sat down on couches.

"My name is Mako Senlin, and this is my younger brother Bolin," Bolin waved. "We're here from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

At that, Kai burst out laughing. "Hogwarts? To learn Wizardry? Didn't anyone tell you there's no such thing as magic?"

"But there is," Bolin protested. He took out a wooden stick and waved it around while saying something stupid in Latin. Right there, a pillow started floating up.

Kai shot up. "Not possible."

"It is. We're wizards, and so are you." Mako said. "I'm a third year, and Bo's a second year."

"Hogwarts is really cool!" Bolin said. "You make so many friends! And you get put into these houses, like you still talk to people not in your house, but you live with them. Both Mako and I are in Hufflepuff."

"Hufflepuff? That sounds like some low-rate Pokemon."

"I'm going to ignore that," Mako said. "Each of the four houses is based on your personality. Hufflepuff is for the friendly and loyal. Ravenclaw is for the intelligent and knowledge seeking, Slytherin for the cunning and ambitious, and Gryffindor for the brave and true."

"That sounds cheesy."

"I know," Mako admitted. "But it truly is the best place on Earth. Especially for orphans." Kai perked up at that.

"How did you…?"

"Our parents died when we were young," Mako said. "We live with our grandmother, but it's not always great to live there."

"We have way too many cousins and not enough room," Bolin said. "But Hogwarts is a boarding school, so we get to have all the room we want during the year."

"And the food, unlike what I saw here, is actually good."

Kai chuckled. "Alright. I'll go. But only for the food," he joked. "What do I have to do?"

"We. Go. SHOPPING!" Bolin shouted, springing up.

"He's been waiting to do that all day." Mako explained. "Diagon Alley is truly a magical shopping mall. You'll love it."

"One problem," Kai said. "No money."

"I said Hogwarts is giving you a full tuition, didn't I?"

Kai had to admit. Diagon Alley was really, really cool. He wasn't a fan of the robes, but he had a wand, he could do magic, and Mako and Bolin even got him an owl.

"We send letters by owl," Mako had said. "Most students would rather have their own. Hogwarts has some for students who would rather have a cat or something, but an owl is a lot more practical."

It was a plain barn owl that was mostly white and had spots all along the back that almost looked like a stripe with an arrow on his head. Kai called him Lefty.

"Now what?" Kai said, with a mouthful of candy from Honeydukes. Wizard candy rocked!

"Well, you go back to the inn, go to sleep, and tomorrow, we're going to take you to school," Mako said.

"Hope you really trust us," Bolin continued. "Tomorrow, we head to Platform 9 ¾!"

Hope you guys enjoyed that! More to come!