Chapter Two - Visitor

Standing in the doorway was the hugest monster of a man Mika had ever seen. He looked like Bigfoot's father wearing a coat. She had to peer out from under the doorway to see his face, which was partly hidden by a mane of messy brown hair that reached down to his shoulders and tangled with his equally messy and long brown beard. She stared at him for quite a while before he finally noticed her.

"Ah, there yer are," he said in a gruffy voice. "An' here I was, thinkin' no one was home. Wait a bit, lemme make sure I got the right house. I'm lookin' for…wait a sec." He rummaged for a long time in his pockets, until he finally produced a bunch of papers. He searched through them, and then exclaimed happily when he found the right one. "Aha! Found yer! I'm lookin' for…" - he squinted at the piece of paper, and slowly read out - "Mika Wanders."

Mika just gawked at him. He's twice as tall as my dad! she thought. Should I run? Should I call Lydia for help? Wait, what can an overweight old lady do against someone this big? If he wanted to, he could singlehandedly tear down the house!

"Hello! Yer know how to talk?" the giant was saying, waving a hand in front of her face.

Mika could only nod.

"I said, I'm lookin' fer…" he swore and squinted at the paper. "Mika Wanders."

"That's… that's me," Mika stammered, her heart pounding. A scary thought had just occurred to her – what if this was the guy who sent the prank letter, coming to get her for her cheeky reply? Suddenly the warning she sent back didn't seem like such a good idea anymore.

The giant beamed, his black eyes glinting happily. "Good, good," he said, pocketing the piece of paper. "I've been lookin' all over for yer. Been to about five other houses already. Not all of them were hospitable, mind you. It's my fault, really, though. 's just like me, to lose the address."

He looked around. "Yer parents not home yet, I s'ppose?"

Mika shook her head. "The uh, the househelp's home, though," she added hurriedly. No need to make him think she was home alone. Again, not that Lydia would be of much help in case he got violent.

Just then, Mika heard Lydia's voice. "Mikki! Where are you? You know I get worried when you disappear like that without a word."

"I'm out here, Lydia!" Mika shouted back, feeling slightly relieved. "There's a… very big man outside. You know him?"

"What? Honey, didn't I tell you not to open the door…" – Lydia emerged from the doorway and her gaze fell on the huge man – "…to strangers." she finished meekly.

"Hello! The name's Hagrid," the big man said cheerfully. "I was supposed to meet the girl's parents here, but I guess I came too early."

Lydia managed a small nod, her mouth still agape.

"Well, I guess I'll invite meself in, if yer don't mind," he said, and bent down to walk through the double doors, causing both girl and woman to jump aside in alarm. They shared a glance, and hurried after him into the living room, where he sat heavily on a sofa (causing it to creak dangerously), and stared curiously around the room, as if he'd never seen anything like it before.

"Would you like something to drink?" asked Lydia, who seemed to have somewhat regained her composure.

"Thanks, thought ye'd never ask," Hagrid smiled.

As Lydia hurried to the kitchen, Mika studied the man.

"Who are you?" she asked.

Hagrid gave her a puzzled look. "Didn't I tell yer? I'm Hagrid. Rubeus Hagrid."

"Yeah, you've told me that already, but that doesn't tell me who you are."

"Ah, yer mean that. I'm groundskeeper, and teacher."

"A teacher? Where?"

"Where, where. Hogwarts, that's where."

Mika opened her mouth, and then closed it. Hogwarts! Wasn't that the name of the school the prank letter was supposed to be from?

Just then, she heard the clang of breaking china. She turned towards the sound, and saw a flustered Lydia standing beside a broken cup and small plate, a puddle of coffee spreading from it.

"I'm so… I'm so sorry," the old woman muttered. "I'll just… clean it up and…"

"Don't worry, I got it," said Hagrid. Then, before she could protest, he fished a pink umbrella from one of the numerous pockets in his coat, and waved in the general direction of the broken cup. The pieces of broken china scattered all around the room.

"Ooops, my bad. I'll just… fix that," he said, and waved the umbrella again. This time, when he was done there was no sign of the mess before, just a cup filled with coffe on a small plate. Lydia and Mika stared at it, then at the pink umbrella, then at Hagrid, their mouths hanging out.

Mika was the first to regain control of her voice. "H-how… w-what… what was that?"

"What do yer think?" Hagrid replied. "'s Magic, of course."

By the time her parents got home, Mika had her head full of stories of Hogwarts and magic. She wasn't intimidated by the giant of a man anymore – he had turned out to be quite a friendly person. But most of all, she was excited to find out that there were other people like her, that all the strange stuff that's been happening around her was actually normal for a witch – yes, that's what she was, a witch – and that the letter was real, and she was actually admitted to a school for people like her. Finally, here was a chance for her to fit in. A chance for her to get away from her boring, friendless life and immerse herself in a world full of wonders and surprises.

"Mika isn't going, and that's that," said Mika's father, lighting up another cigarette.

"Now, don't yer go around saying no to this. Hogwarts is a great school, full of other kids like yer daughter. She'll fit right in, and she'll learn to control her magic. Who knows what'll happen if it gets out of hand?" Hagrid tried, for what seemed like the hundredth time, to reason with him.

"Robert, honey, you know Mika doesn't have any friends here. Who knows, maybe this Hogwoss place - "

"Hogwarts," Mika and Hagrid corrected her mother together.

"Right, maybe she'll be able to make some friends there. And anyway, if it doesn't work out, we could hire home tutors to make up for the lost year."

Mika snorted inwardly. Her mother knew her father wasn't going to accept the offer. She was just acting, for Hagrid and Lydia's benefit. It wouldn't do her good if people went around saying how she doesn't give a rat's rear end about her daughter's welfare. Not that she could blame her, really, since she was, when it came down to it, the same as her – a brilliant actor.

Robert Wanders snorted. "Laura, you know as well as I do that our daughter is an actress and a drama queen. Of course she has friends, just that they're all the wrond kind, which is why she doesn't want us to see them."

Mika felt anger rising inside her, but a shouting match with her dad wasn't going to get her into Hogwarts, so she pretended to ignore the comment. Think, she thought furiously. What could I do that would make them let me go? That was when she noticed something. Hagrid's expression had hardened, and he was watching her parents with obvious disbelief, and, was that a hint of disgust she saw in his eyes?

Mika smiled inwardly as a plan formed in her head. Maybe she didn't have to convince her parents after all.

As her mother started to open her mouth to say something, Mika interrupted sullenly. "Oh, stop pretending as if you care. You're just as bad as dad."

"Don't talk about your parents like that," her father snapped at her.

Her mother looked lost for words for a second. Mika took advantage of the momentary silence to push on.

"Maybe I wouldn't talk like that if you were better at it! When's the last time any of you has been home for more than 3 days? There wouldn't have been much difference if I lived with Lydia. At least, she's always around."

"Mika, you know that your mother and I have very important business to-"

"And is that business more important to yer than yer own daughter?" Hagrid cut him off quietly. All eyes shifted to the large man. Yes! It's working, Mika thought triumphantly, fighting off the urge to smile. Instead, she tried to look grateful to the giant who was going to get her sent off to learn magic.

"That business is what is providing for this family," said her father, who was now on the defensive. "How else do you think we'd be able to afford her the things she needs?"

"We already have all we need. You're just greedy and selfish, always wanting more and more and more," Mika said. She knew this wasn't going to sit well with her parents, but they were away so often, she figured it wouldn't matter. "You're always concerned with nothing but money. Meanwhile-" she took a few theatrical breaths before continuing, in a forcibly unstable voice, "-all I wanted was to spend some time together, you know? With actual people, since I don't have any real friends and all. Is it so hard to just spend one week with your own daughter?" Mika sniffed. The last part was actually true - it was hard, spending all her time alone. She wished everything was different, but she knew it wasn't going to change. Until now, and she wasn't going to let that chance get away.

"That's it!" Hagrid pumped a fist on the table, causing the china and silverware to jump almost a foot into the air. "I'm not lettin' 'is poor child suffer at your hands anymore," he said, standing up and rummaging in his pocket. "Mika is going to Hogwarts, and the two o' yer are not goin' ter try an' stop her, or Merlin help me, I will turn the both o' yer into pigs!"

Both adult Wanders stared in shock as Hagrid produced a parchment and slammed it in front of them.

"Sign this."

"You can't force us to do this, you know," Robert Wanders said.

Hagrid leaned in over the table until his face was inches from Robert's. "I can, an' I will, if yer make me. Now, sign this," he whispered menacingly.

Mika's father shakily took a pen from and signed the parchment. As soon as he was done, Hagrid snatched it away from him and turned to leave, his unbuttoned coat knocking a chair over. He took a few steps forward, and turned towards Mika. "Oh yer, almost forgot. I'll be comin' next week to help yer get yer things." Then he turned towards her parents. "If yer do anythin' funny, I'll know, an' you'll regret it fer a long time." Then, he stormed out of the house.

Mika watched the giant's back as he left, a small smile struggling to break through her forced blank expression. She turned and saw the expressions on her parents' faces. All traces of the smile vanished. Uh oh, she thought. This won't end well.