Then on my eleventh birthday I received my letter. I remember we had ended the video chat with my parents. On this particular birthday my father was at a conference in Switzerland and my mother was at a meeting in Japan. Even though they couldn't actually be at the house I felt happy that they could at least set some time aside to spend with me, albeit over a computer screen.
As I was saying, after we ended the chat, I got my letter. It had arrived in the mail earlier that morning, and Tom had taken it, in order to give it to me later. He handed it to me and though I was confused by the parchment and wax seal, after coaxing from him and Regina, I opened it.
Enclosed were two sheets of parchment the first read like this:
HOGWARTS SCHOOL
of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY
Headmistress: Minerva McGonagall
Dear Mr. Zurn,
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 September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31.
Yours sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall
Headmistress
Needless to say I was confused but then Tom and Gina explained to me that I was magic and that this letter said that I was accepted to go to one of the finest magical schools in the world.
"But what does it mean, 'We await your owl?'"
"That's how the wizarding world communicates, by owl," Tom replied in response to my query.
"But I don't have an owl," I protested.
"Not yet, how 'bout tomorrow we take a trip to London," Gina suggested.
"We'll have to clear it with Mr. Zurn," Tom reminded her.
"Oh he won't mind," Gina insisted.
I was excited, not because we were going to London; I'd been many times before, but because of this new aspect of my life that was just beginning. Magic, my mind swam with the possibilities. I spent the remainder of the night asking all about magic, witches, owls and the like.
