A/N: Fourth chapter! More people learn about the wonders of the wizarding world...whee!
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter - the ideas, places, and people belong to J.K. Rowling. Any people you don't recognize, I've made up.
When Laura and her mum reached the kitchen, they saw that Misako was not lying – right in the middle of their old, worn beech wood table was a fluffy rabbit, brown with hazelnut flecks. Misako was sitting in a chair, petting and cooing at it. Neither of the Taylors missed the letter fastened to its neck.
Misako took the letter from the rabbit as it lazily hopped onto her lap and examined the green lettering on the front.
"Ms. M. Asanuma
L. Taylor's Room
Sheldon Square
London. What is this, d'you think?"
Both Laura and her mum let out identical shrieks and leapt on Misako.
"Now you can tell me Mum, now that Misako's not a – Muggle anymore!"
"I'm a what?" Misako asked blankly.
"Okay, okay!" Mrs. Taylor laughed and threw up her hands. "I'll tell you, but first why don't we make some tea?"
Damia rubbed her eyes irritably. She was currently curled up on one side of the couch, eyes drooping and tired from the brightness of the TV. Naomi was noisily munching through a third bag of chips. "D'you want to go to bed, Dames?" she asked, noticing her friend's lack of enthusiasm for the cop show on TV. Damia waved her away.
"Nah, I want to see how this ends – then I'll go to bed…"
Naomi shrugged and then reached down by her calf for the chip bag. On the way, her hand brushed something cool and smooth – Naomi didn't take much notice of it (she initially thought she had brushed against Damia's leg) until the cool and smooth thing started moving and wrapped itself around her wrist. Naomi screeched and started waving her arm around in the air. "OMIGOD, SOMETHING'S ON MEEEEEE!"
Damia jumped up. "What?! What's going on???" Squinting at the blur that was Naomi's arm she could make out something olive green wound around her friend's lower arm. A white rectangular envelope fell to the floor during the commotion.
Eventually, Damia managed to calm her friend down and remove the 'thing' (a common grass snake with a yellow and black collar) from her arm. The snake had been hissing dangerously but calmed considerably when Damia handled it. Eventually she let the snake slip into the baggy pockets of her jeans. Naomi looked on in disgust.
"You're keeping it?"
"Yeah! I've always liked snakes, and we've got an old glass aquarium in the spare room that used to hold fish. I could keep it there."
Damia looked the room over quickly. "I wonder how it got in…"
"Hey!" Naomi had spotted the envelope on the floor and knelt down to examine it. "It's addressed to you, Damia!"
Damia took it from her and read the green handwriting on the front:
Ms. D. Archer
The Smallest Bedroom
Abbotsbury House, Holland Park
London
"Huh." Naomi had bent at the waist and was studying the wax seal on the opposite side of the envelope. "This is a pretty fancy looking crest. D'you know who it's from?"
"No," Damia replied absentmindedly. "There's no return address…"
There was a strange feeling in the pit of her stomach, a mixture of excitement and trepidation when she held that letter in her hands.
"Well? Are you going to open it?" Naomi was staring at her with her hands on her hips. Damia raised her eyebrows.
"Gee Naomi, it's a mysterious letter that appeared out of nowhere with no return address, addressed to me."
Naomi blinked. "Yeah? And?"
Damia heaved a sigh of annoyance and clumsily ripped open the envelope.
Just then, Gabriel and Bryan padded into the living room, wiping sleep from their eyes. "What's wrong?" Bryan asked.
"We heard screaming," Gabriel added. Damia dug the snake from her pocket and her brothers crowded around it.
"So cool!"
"Can I have it, Dames?"
"No." Damia replied sternly. "Now back to bed."
"You're not our mother," Gabriel muttered crossly, but Damia shot him a blistering 'older sister' stare and he complied reluctantly.
"Okay," Damia returned her gaze to the envelope, and pulled the folded letter from inside. As she skimmed it, Naomi noticed something clinging to the underside of the coffee table. She knelt and batted at the thing. The 'thing' unfolded its papery black wings and dug small sharp claws into Naomi's tank top strap. Naomi knocked her head on the coffee table as she reeled backwards (thankfully, she didn't scream again).
Damia, who had been goggling at the contents of the letter, shot her a strange look. "What are you – Naomi, there's a bat on your shirt."
And so there was. The little animal yawned squeakily and blinked blearily, coal black eyes up at the girl.
Naomi's bottom lip quivered. "It – it's so cute!" she squealed. Damia glared. "Oh sure, you thought the snake wasn't cute, but the little rat-like thing…perfectly okay."
Naomi gasped in shock. "It's not rat-like! Are you Nautilus??" she cooed at the bat (who squeaked again).
"…Nautilus?" Damia asked.
"It's the name of the submarine from Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea." Naomi sniffed.
"What a random name." Damia commented. Naomi refrained from retorting by stooping to pick up the envelope that had fallen from the little bat.
"Hey, I've got a letter too!" she exclaimed.
Ms. N. Winchel
D. Archer's Living Room
Abbotsbury House, Holland Park
London
"Look at mine, it says I've been accepted into a school for witches. How stupid is that?" Damia laughed.
Naomi's eyes widened. "Are you serious?!"
Quickly, she ripped open the envelope and read her letter.
"Naomi?" Damia looked over at her friend. "Naomi, are you hyperventilating?"
Nathan found a toad in the garden with a letter tied to its foot.
He had sat outside long after Lee's station wagon disappeared behind a street corner, long after the street turned dark and the moon daisies in the terra cotta pot had unfolded their brilliant white petals to the sky. His mother had stopped outside to say goodnight. He felt her press a soft kiss to the top of his head, and smiled.
"What are you thinking about so late?" his mother asked. His mother constantly smelled like vanilla, a scent he had always found comforting. He took a deep breath, held it, and exhaled.
"I'm just thinking – I'm fourteen, and I guess all this time I kept hoping that I could still be a wizard. But, I think I'm going to have to accept the fact that I'm a Squib."
His mother crouched down and hugged him. "Oh, Nathan. I don't want you always moping around and thinking about the life you missed because you weren't a wizard. You have the best of both worlds – you're exposed to Muggle life and also to magic. Okay?"
"Okay. Thanks mum."
Now it was nearly midnight, and the air was getting quite chilly. Nathan wrapped arms around himself and looked up at the sky. "Okay," he muttered to himself. "My mum's right. If I just keep getting depressed whenever I think about magic, I'm going to spend my whole life wanting what I haven't got. I need to – "
"Croak."
Nathan paused, blinked, and looked down at his mother's flowerbeds. Sitting in a clump of petunias was a fat, brownish-yellowish toad, who gave a few more thick wet croaks and then slowly hopped forwards towards Nathan's foot.
Nathan looked up and down his street. It was silent and deserted. He looked back at the toad. It was getting the envelope rather slimy. He picked the toad up and looked at the envelope's front:
Mr. N. Adder
The Outside Steps
Randolph Road, Little Venice
London
Nathan turned it over and looked at the Hogwarts crest. His throat closed up and he choked.
Omigod he thought. Okay, don't freak out. Maybe…maybe Hogwarts sends Squibs advertisements? Or maybe…okay, I don't know what it is.
So open it, Nathan, for God's sake! Are you scared? This might be what you've always wanted, what you've always complained of not having, and you're going to just stare at it like an idiot!
Open it! Open it! Open it! Open it!
Nathan stopped chanting in his head and slit open the wax seal.
He read over his Hogwarts letter – the same, he realized later, as his other five friends', apologizing for the late letter and that the toad was meant as a gift (great, Nathan thought as he stared at the fat toad in his lap, his sister gets a sleek Siamese cat named Minky and he gets a lethargic toad). He read over the letter at least three more times, and then sat back, legs weak and mind racing.
Should he wake his parents up? Or should he wait?
Nathan stood up, taking the toad with him, and went into his house.
Lee had no idea why there was a cat on her apartment balcony at midnight. All she knew is, she had walked into the kitchen for a glass of water and had seen the cat, just sitting there (it wouldn't have been strange, except her family lived on the third floor).
When Lee opened the sliding glass door, the cat was perched on the metal railing, staring at her with slanted eyes. There was a letter fastened to its cord collar. The cat was completely black except for its white feet and one white splotch on its face.
"C'mon kitty," Lee wheedled (it was cold and had started to rain a little bit, so she was hovering inside the house, unwilling to go outside). The cat swished its tail languidly, considering her, before mewling and following her inside.
Lee patted the cat down with a tea towel and set out a bit of tuna for it. As it was eating, she took the letter from it and looked it over.
"Hm," Lee murmured to herself, something she did when she was alone.
" 'Ms. L. Owen
The Bedroom with the Blue Walls
Empson Street
London'. Is this a joke?"
Lee turned the envelope over, shrugged, and opened it.
The cat mewled again.
"Hogwarts? What the hell is Hogwarts?"
"Hogwarts is a school for witches and wizards. You learn magic there – like Potions, Charms, Defence Against the Dark Arts…you see girls, there are – how do I put this – there are two worlds coexisting alongside each other. There's the Muggle world you've been living in for fourteen years, existing with some of the most brilliant technology but without magic. Then there's the wizarding world, completely separate from the Muggle world. It's all going to be a bit strange to you at first, because it's so wonderfully different."
Laura and Misako stared at Laura's mother, wide-eyed.
"Normally, I wouldn't believe this, but since you're my mother I have no choice," Laura remarked. "So we – me and Misako – we really are witches? What about you? Aren't you a witch?"
Mrs. Taylor shook her head sadly. "I'm a Squib, I'm afraid. I was born to two wizards, and I never thought I could ever have the ability to pass the magic gene on to you, Laura. But when you were born, for the first four years of your life you showed immense magical ability. Wait, wait, I have a photo!"
Mrs. Taylor grabbed her purse off the kitchen counter and rummaged around until she pulled out a slightly worn photo. She handed it to Laura.
The first thing Laura and Misako noticed was that the picture was moving ("Oh yes!" Mrs. Taylor exclaimed. "In the wizarding world, the pictures move. It's a bit strange, I know, but imagine how the wizards must feel about the Muggle pictures that don't move!"). The second thing they noticed was that the photo was of a chubby little three-year-old, caramel coloured hair tied into pigtails and wearing a cute little pink sundress.
The little girl paused to smile widely at the camera, and then ran to her little plastic table, where plastic teacups were laid out at each of the places. With a wave of her hands, her large teddy bears floated up into the air, settled down into their places and – in unison – smooshed their faces into their plastic teacups.
"…Wow." Laura said. "I did that when I was that young?"
Mrs. Taylor nodded proudly. "I was so excited! It's almost impossible for the Muggle child of wizards to pass the dormant magic gene onto their children, but I had done it! Then, when you were four…you just stopped using magic. You had become a Muggle. We figured the gene wasn't dominant enough to override both me and your father's Muggle genes for long."
Mrs. Taylor squeezed her daughter's hand excitedly. "But now…your magical ability's come back! And you've both been accepted to the most prestigious wizarding school in the country!"
"So…you're actually going to let me go to this school?" Laura asked, confused.
"I would be crazy not to! You'll get the best wizarding education you'll ever need, and you'll be among your own kind! Oh…" Mrs. Taylor's eyes glistened rather dangerously (Laura held a hankie out just in case), "This is just what I dreamt of when I was your age! To see that Hogwarts seal and read those words…well. My time's past. But lucky you got it now, hm?"
"…Why?" Laura asked.
"Well, usually wizarding children receive their letter from Hogwarts when they're 11, and go to Hogwarts 'till they're 17 – seven years. I bet there have been few late arrivals – you'll be quite the object of talk around your school."
(Laura and Misako realized later, when they arrived at Hogwarts, that two late arriving 14-year-olds were at the back of everyone's minds that year).
"All right, so we'll have to go to Diagon Alley for your school supplies – Misako, you should talk to your mother and if she doesn't have the time or the ability to come with you for supplies, we could take you."
Laura massaged her temples. "This is all very, very interesting Mum, but…it's really late and Misako and I are awfully confused…"
"Oh! Of course. Tomorrow morning, Misako, you should go straight home and tell your mother about this. Then let me know if you need me to accompany you school shopping. Now," Mrs. Taylor eyed the girls hesitantly. "Any questions?"
Misako put down her teacup. Laura fiddled with the tablecloth.
"Oh, all right," Mrs. Taylor started to rise out of her seat, "I guess we should just – "
"Wait!" both girls blurted.
"Where's this Diagon Alley? What sort of school supplies are we getting?" Misako asked.
"How would we get to school? By – by brooms or something?" Laura added.
"Defence Against the Dark Arts? What is that?"
"Do we need to buy brooms?"
"What about wands?"
"What if we can't actually do magic? Will we be expelled?"
"How come you never told me Gran and Grandpa were witches?"
"What kind of final exams do we write?"
"Are we allowed to visit home during Christmas break? Do witches even celebrate Christmas?"
"I don't know any magic spells. Do we have to learn them ahead of time?"
"If I'm a witch, can I levitate or – or shoot lasers out of my eyes or something?"
Mrs. Taylor groaned and poured herself another cup of tea. Evidentially, Laura and Misako had not been planning to go to bed after all.
It took Naomi five minutes to calm down. When she was finished, Damia was giving her a worried look. Down the hallway, two blonde heads peered around the bedroom doorframe.
Naomi eyed her friend suspiciously, and then snatched the letter from Damia's hands. Amidst Damia's protests, Naomi examined the letters side-by-side before shoving the letter back.
"I never knew you were from a magical family," she muttered accusingly, before flopping back down on the couch. Damia followed suit.
"What are you talking about?" she asked. Naomi jabbed her finger at Damia's letter.
"That!" she exclaimed. "I've been over here, what, hundreds of times? And all this time you were a witch and I didn't even see it!"
"Have you gone insane, Naomi? I'm not a witch. Obviously, this letter is some wacko's idea of a bizarre prank. Wait a minute…" Damia craned her neck to see down the dim hallway.
"You two don't have anything to do with this, do you?!"
There was the sound of hurried footsteps, creaking bedsprings and the chorus of, "We're asleep and can't hear you!" from the twins.
"If we were awake, though," Bryan added, "We would solemnly swear that we have no idea what you're talking about!"
Damia rolled her eyes. "I'm sort of disinclined to believe that," she called back.
"It's not a prank Damia," Naomi assured her impatiently. "If you have this letter than you're obviously a witch."
"I'm a witch, huh?" Damia sniggered. "Does that mean I'm entitled to a broom and a magic wand?"
"Yes!" Naomi nodded, so earnestly that Damia's laughter faltered. "Good grief. You really are being serious."
"Yes!" Naomi cried in exasperation, and tugged Damia closer. "I'll explain…"
Down the hall, the twins strained to hear the conversation.
"Can you hear what they're saying?" Gabriel hissed. Bryan flapped his hand at him impatiently.
"…Something about a pig with warts – oh. And apparently, Damia's a bitch."
Gabriel and Bryan dissolved into breathless laughter until a considerably angrier, "Get to bed you two!" sent them scurrying back into their room.
Nathan felt weightless and excited as he paced his room. Should he wait until the morning to break the good news? Would his parents care if he woke them up this early?
Nathan didn't know why, but a few minutes later he was creeping into his sister's room, Hogwarts acceptance letter in his hands.
"Gabriella!" he hissed. "Wake up!" The lump under his sister's bedcovers stirred slightly. Nathan started poking her with one of her bedroom slippers.
A leg emerged briefly to aim a kick at Nathan's shin. He dodged it. "Gabriella!" he said, a little louder. "Wake up, it's important."
Gabriella smoothed back the mop of curly hair over her eyes. "What," she hissed, "is so important that you had to wake me up at bloody half-past twelve?!"
Nathan handed her the letter. Sighing with impatience, Gabriella snapped on her bedside lamp and squinted at it.
Nathan was not expecting Gabriella to let out a howl of delight and fling the bedcovers in his face.
"ARE YOU SERIOUS?!" she grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him. "Have you told Mum and Dad about this?"
Nathan shook his head quickly. Gabriella sprung out of bed, grabbed him by the forearm and dragged him to their parent's room.
The next twenty minutes passed in a disoriented blur. There was a lot of cheering on Gabby's part, a lot of weeping on Nathan's mum's part and a lot of being clapped on the back from the half-asleep Mr. Adder.
At one o'clock, Mrs. Adder had made a triple-layer devil's food cake with purple icing (and a magical fizzing candle placed on top) and was practically force-feeding it to Nathan.
"Imagine that!" Mrs. Adder squealed. "I knew you had potential! I always knew it!"
"You're getting crumbs on his jammies, Mum." Gabriella pointed out, a big wedge of cake already on her own plate.
Mr. Adder could really do nothing except keep clapping Nathan on the back.
Nathan merely winced and smiled between mouthfuls of cake and tried to ignore the fact that his mother was wetting his shoulder with joyful tears.
His heart was light and fluttering against his chest as he glanced again and again at the broken red wax seal of Hogwarts. He wondered what he had done to receive such a miracle.
Mrs. Taylor had endured the barrage of questions well, until they had turned absolutely silly ("Can we move things with our minds?" Misako inquired dreamily, to which Mrs. Taylor had retorted loudly, "This is not a Superman comic!" and shooed them up to bed).
"And besides," Misako reasoned absent-mindedly. "Superman couldn't move things with his mind." As she spoke, she pulled her hair back into a large scrunchie. "Now Jean Grey – there was a person with telekinesis."
Laura gaped at her friend, sitting cross-legged on a mound of cushions. "Are…we even talking about the same thing anymore?"
Misako nodded earnestly as she pulled an X-Men comic from her bag. "We could be like X-Men," she mused. "Magical X-Men."
Laura shook her head. "No, we're definitely not talking about the same thing anymore."
A/N: Not a lot happening in this chapter, but please continue following!
