Chapter 1 - Tea with Muggles
June 2007
It was a seemingly very ordinary day as two not so ordinary people had to all appearances materialised from thin air on to the quiet street in the little town in England. Professor Sinistra had opted to wear a plan dark green cloak that hid her robes underneath and abandoned her usual pointed hat in the hope of not standing out. However under the hot summer sun she had long ago realised she had failed miserable.
"Well at least there's only two to visit this year," Professor Meron said as he pulled a spotted handkerchief from his pocket and mopped his sweating brow.
Edmund Meron was an elderly gentleman with a bushy head of white hair and a very round face. He had not done much better in dressing less conspicuously as they visited the muggle world. Though he wore a suit, the suit he had chosen to wear today was a mustard colour, with flecks of gold that twinkled in the sunlight and his jacket only just covered his bulging belly. His bow tie was letterbox red and was twice the size of a muggle bow tie.
Professor Meron started to walk towards the house that was their destination but Professor Sinistra had momentarily frozen as she stared at the street sign. Edmund glanced at what had perturbed his colleague.
"Ah... most unfortunate," he said as he felt a chill go up his spine.
"I hope it's not an omen," Sinistra replied as she composed herself ready for their meeting with the muggle family.
"I never had you down as the superstitious type," he said inquisitively. "Come Aurora, the sooner we've had this chat the sooner we can get back to Hogwarts. I hear the kitchen is preparing honey stew and fried gooseberries for lunch. My favourite".
They both proceeded along the street leaving behind the street sign that said 'Riddle Way'.
As the walked the sound of a deep humming grew louder and as they passed a hedge they saw an elderly muggle gentleman dressed in a short sleeve shirt and shorts and pushing a metal contraption that was the source of the noise. Professor Meron stopped for a second and watched.
"Amazing ... absolutely amazing. The ingenuity these muggles come up with to do such mundane tasks that magic could take care of in seconds."
Aurora was not as amazed, but stopped to indulge her colleague, who after all as the teacher of Muggle studies at Hogwarts had a fascination with all things muggle.
"They call that a lawn mower you know. It keeps the grass tidy," Edmund said as he watched the muggle gentleman walk up and down his lawn pushing his mower.
The muggle had momentarily caught sight of the strange pair looking at him, and not sure what to do he carried on, pretending he hadn't seen them. Edmund raised a hand to wave and said 'hello' but the muggle kept his head down and carried on, ignoring him.
"Obviously can't hear me over the noise," Edmund quipped as he slowly lowered his hand and began walking up the path of the next house and towards the front door with Aurora by his side.
Aurora went to knock on the door but Professor Meron stopped her.
"Please can I?" Emdund said with a sense of pleading as he pointed to the little white box beside the door.
Edmund pushed the button on the little box and from inside the house they heard a ring.
"Amazing!" Edmund said ecstatically as Professor Sinistra just groaned quietly to herself as she waited patiently for the door to open.
Soon the door was opened by a female muggle with long brown hair, a kind face but a bemused frown as she looked at the two oddly dressed people standing on her doorstep in front of her.
"Hello... can I help you?"
"You must be Mrs West?" Sinistra replied whilst Meron was still searching in his pocket for the piece of paper with the names and addresses of the two muggle families they were visiting today.
"Yes that correct," the muggle replied "... sorry and you are?"
"I'm Professor Sinistra and this is Professor Meron," Aurora said as Meron beamed a proud smile back. "We're here to talk to you about your son Barney Mrs West".
"Of course," Mrs West said hesitantly. "Sorry I didn't recognise you. I don't think I've seen you before at St Luke's. Please come in".
She held open the front door and stood aside as she motioned the pair to enter and pointed them towards the kitchen. Meron looked around fascinated at all the ornaments, fixtures, appliances and patterned wallpapers, carefully looking into the doorways of the other rooms as he made his way to the kitchen.
"We're not from St Luke's," Aurora noted. "We're from Hogwarts".
Mrs West look bewildered having never heard of 'Hogwarts' before.
"Hogwarts?" she questioned before shouting up the stairs and calling her son Barney down.
She followed the professors into the kitchen and gestured for them to take a seat at the table. In the kitchen, Mrs West's daughter Sophie was making herself a snack, oblivious to the guests as she listened along to the music playing through her headphones. Meron gleamed as he watched the muggle girl who was absorbed by her music playing contraptions. Sophie felt her mother's presence behind her as she reached over to switch on the kettle.
"Would you like a cup of tea or coffee?" Mrs West asked?
Sophie turned around and saw the two people sat in her kitchen, who to her by the way they were dressed looked like a vampire without the pale skin and a clown without the makeup.
"I would love a cup of muggle tea," Edmund replied enthusiastically at the offer, but still slightly transfixed by the daughter's headphones.
"Oh I'm afraid I only have PG tips. Is that OK?"
"That will be lovely," he retorted.
"Nothing for me thanks," Aurora said, noticing that Mrs West looked slightly unconformable by their presence and wondering if she she now regretted inviting the pair into her home.
Aurora did very much find visiting muggle homes daunting, never knowing how the muggles would react to their revelations. But she was glad of the extra responsibility now that she was deputy headmistress of Hogwarts and she was always very grateful to have another teacher by her side when she went on these visits.
Sophie pulled one of the headphones out of her ear and starred at Aurora and Edmund as Edmund starred back with the broadest grin on his face, like a child at Christmas. He turned to Aurora and said "they call those headphones," pointing to the little white object that was now in Sophie's hand.
Sophie raised her eyebrows and thought to herself 'freaks' as Barney walked in to the kitchen.
"There you are Barney,' his mother said. "These people are from Hogwarts. Have you been getting into trouble with boys from another school?" she said sternly as she wagged her finger at her son and then turned back to reach a couple of mugs from the cupboard.
Barney looked startled at Sinistra and Meron and thought to himself that he had never heard of Hogwarts before and hadn't been in a fight with anyone but his older brother Alfie for months.
Sinistra looked at the young boy in front of her. He was a little short for a boy of eleven years old with the slim build of a boy who liked to run about and play all the time. He had short messy brown hair with a wisp of it going across his forehead. He had brown eyes, a few freckles on his nose and cheeks and wore an expression of alarm but also of intrigue, the latter a quality that she knew would make him a good Hogwart's student.
"Mrs West I think there may be some confusion," Professor Sinistra interjected. "Your son is not in any trouble. In fact your son is very special indeed and we think he would be benefit greatly from attending Hogwarts".
"Hogwarts?" again Mrs West questioned. "I've never heard of Hogwarts. It that the new school they're building on the site of the old box factory on Turpin road?"
"Mum that's a nursery," Barney relied.
"Yeah that's way too advanced for Barney," his sister joked as she gave her younger brother a playful punch in the back.
Mrs West finished making a tea for herself and Professor Meron and brought them over to the table and took a seat herself as both Sophie and Barney perched themselves against the kitchen counters, waiting to hear what their guests had to say next.
Aurora spoke as Edmund welcomingly accepted his steaming mug of tea.
"Mrs West, I don't know if you've noticed yet but your son Barney is a very talented young individual with certain gifts that may or may not have presented themselves yet".
"Barney? Talented?" Sophie quipped before Barney gave her a gentle nudge with his foot to shut her up.
"What sort of... gifts?" Mrs West questioned, struggling to understand just what exactly what the conversation was referring to.
Her son had always done well at school. He'd never been top of the class and though he had struggled at first, all his teacher's said he was very capable and had a thirst for knowledge and the older he grew the more he enjoyed to learn new things. But certainly no teachers had ever referred to her son as gifted before and she failed to see what gifts exactly they might be referencing to that he may or may not have yet developed.
"Hogwarts is a special school," Aurora answered. "A school for special children with certain... abilities shall we say," she said trying to be as diplomatic as possible to topic that always caused muggles such trouble to comprehend.
Mrs West pondered for a moment and looked at her son bewildered and then turned back to the professors and spoke "I'm sorry just what abilities are you talking about? What kind of school is this 'Hogwarts' of yours?"
It was Professor Meron who replied this time.
"Why Hogwarts is a school of witchcraft and wizardry. Do you have any sugar for this tea?"
Mrs West, Barney and Sophie were all taken aback by his words. Sophie let out a little snigger, clearly believing this to all be some sort of wind up. Mrs West felt a little sick inside, not sure if this was some sick joke and now wondering who exactly she had let into her home. But Barney felt something very different. He had felt something very different inside him for a while now but he didn't know exactly what it was. He had always put it down to growing up and his teenage years nearing. He had presumed it was something that everyone his age was feeling. But now things started to fit into place. Things started to make sense. Feelings that he'd had. Emotions that he felt. Things he'd noticed about the world around him that he'd never really noticed before. He had been going through changes and something deep inside him, a kind of electricity had been slowly bubbling away in him. A feeling. A tingle. A sense. And now he knew what that was. Magic.
"I'm sorry?" a shocked Mrs West replied. "What did you say?"
"Any sugar? For the tea?" he said holding the mug out in front of him.
Sinistra shot Meron a stern glance, unhappy at how blunt her colleague had been. She looked at the three muggles in front of her, trying to gauge their feelings and thoughts, giving them a few seconds to process what they had just heard before she cleared her throat and begun to speak.
"Hogwarts like I said is a special school for students who are gifted in... well magic. I know this must all be coming as a bit of a shock to you. But don't worry your reactions are perfectly normally. It happens with all muggle-born students' families we visit."
"Muggle-born?"Barney questioned as he took a seat next to his visibly shaken mother at the table, now very intrigued by what the pair had to say.
"Yes muggles are what we call non magic folk like your family, that is to say people who don't have magic abilities and as such you would be referred to as a muggle-born wizard."
"Oh don't worry," Meron interjected, "there's nothing offensive about being called a muggle in case you were worried and there's nothing wrong in being a muggle. I myself find muggles absolutely fascinating. I'm in fact the professor of Muggle studies at Hogwarts. Now about that sugar?" he said still holding his cup out in front of him.
Mrs West and Sophie looked shell shocked and speechless, still struggling to comprehend what was going on.
"So I'm a... a wizard?" Barney asked nervously.
"Of sorts," Professor Meron replied, "that is to say with the help of Hogwarts I'm sure you will become a mighty fine wizard with much hard work and diligence on your part."
Barney was about to speak. Though he didn't know exactly what to say. He had hundreds of questions racing through his mind and he didn't know where to start. Just then the front door went and Barney's older brother Alfie walked into the kitchen. Sensing a strange atmosphere in the air and seeing two strangers sat at the kitchen table he stopped in his tracks.
"What's going on here?" he asked.
"Apparently Barney's a wizard" Sophie retorted, still a little bit shocked by the revelation herself but believing it all to be some sort of massive wind up.
"A wizard?" Alfie questioned. "More like a wally". He laughed to himself at his own joke and proceed to the the fridge to get himself a cold drink, deliberately knocking his brother as he went.
Professor Meron frowned at Alfie's words and actions.
"There's no need to call your brother that young man. You should show him more respect. Now Barney where do you keep your sugar?".
Barney pointed to the cupboard behind him and was about to get up to get the sugar when Meron motioned for him to stay put.
"Don't worry, I'll get it," Meron said as he reached inside his jacket pocket and pulled out a wand.
Barney was dumbfounded and looked on in amazement, his mouth wide open at the slender piece of dark wood that Meron held in his hands.
Meron held up his wand and pointed it towards the cupboard and said "Accio sugar."
And, by magic the cupboard door opened and the jar of sugar floated through the air causing Alfie to drop his can of drink that he had just opened onto the floor and it fizzed everywhere. Mrs West turned around and saw the floating sugar, let out a little gasp as she held her hands over her mouth and instinctively pushed her chair back from the table, jumped up and moved herself against the wall as the sugar glided effortlessly on to the table. Sophie steadied herself against the kitchen counter, not sure if she was going to pass out at the shock of what she'd just witnessed. Meron picked up the sugar jar from the table as if nothing out of ordinary had just happened. Sinistra let out another sigh. She knew this was going to be a long chat and that the family was going to have a lot of questions to ask and a lot of persuading to let Barney attend Hogwarts. But there was something about this child. Something different to the many muggle students Professor Sinistra had taught over her many years at Hogwarts. She could tell he had a great understanding of magic inside him just waiting to get out.
Meron looked at the sugar jar he held and his cup of tea and realised he needed a spoon. Not wanting to causing another shock to the family he decided against summoning a spoon and instead carefully poured a small amount of sugar into his cup before picking up his wand again and pointed at his mug of tea and tapped the side of the mug. Barney looked on as he saw a little whirlpool develop inside the mug as the tea mixed itself.
"Wow!" Barney said with the biggest smile he'd ever had on his face.