Harry Potter and the Test
Chapter One
"Has this happened before?"
"Not to my knowledge," she replied. We walked along the stony hall to some place unknown to me. Our footsteps echoed with such resonance it was almost shocking. Blazing torches lit our way, but they made no noise whatsoever. It was only our voices and footsteps to accompany us.
I was in too much shock to try and straighten my mind out. So far, I had been chased by thugs, fallen into some new dimension, been forced onto a train and taken into someplace named Hogwarts'. Confusion was too much of an understatement to summarize the state of my mind, but I still managed to function properly.
'Pretty soon I'll crack, I know it.'
Nothing made sense at all. I had stopped asking questions after all the odd looks I got on the train ride here. The kids, dressed in the black uniforms, a crest stitched on, looked as if they were the normal ones; here I was, the odd one.
The lady who was leading me went by the name McGonagall. She looked old, but from her personality you would think she was in her twenties. As soon as I got a hold of her at the bottom of the steps leading up to the front door of the massive school, she knew something wasn't right. Even before I had finished explaining to her what had happened, she grabbed my hand and took me inside, hustling past all the other students. Catching glances of them as we went by, they looked back, as bewildered as I was.
"I don't understand what's going on," I said to her as we walked.
"Me neither."
She was dressed in black, like a witch, pointed hat and all. Not all the women were dressed similarly, but there was a definite feel of Halloween throughout the whole building. I knew this wasn't just any school; that was about the limit of my understanding.
"Headmaster Dumbledore will see you now," she said dryly. Out off the wall, a staircase appeared before me. Already beyond amazement, I simply looked at it and then back at her. She nodded, assuring me. I smiled weakly in return and began to climb the stairs.
After reaching the apex of the twisted staircase, I found myself in a massive room, lined with cages and scrolls. Rich carpet adorned the floor I stood on and the whole atmosphere had a unique, but comforting aroma. My nerves began to settle and I managed to take a deep breath for the first time in hours.
"Adam."
I nearly jumped out of my skin at hearing my name. I looked in front of me and saw a massive desk, behind which sat who I guessed to be the headmaster. On the street, he would have been odd-looking, no doubt about that. Dressed in cloaks of crimson and wearing a wizard's hat, he sat and studied me. Glasses rested on his face, accompanied by a long, white beard.
However, without knowing him, I could feel the warmth of his personality. It filled the whole room and wrapped around me. I felt secure and I relaxed once more. Seeing this, he smiled softly and motioned for me to have a seat. Choosing the chair on the left, I sat down in front of his desk.
Nothing was said for a while. My eyes roamed back and forth between him and the curious odds and ends which adorned the walls of the room. Books that looked to be centuries old lined shelves behind him, and a bird, with brilliant rainbow-colored plumage sat just off to the left of him. Perching on a stand over a golden bowl, it stared at me, perhaps trying to figure out why I was here.
"Adam," Dumbledore began, "you're probably wondering what is going on?"
"Good guess," I said, choking on my words.
I sat, waiting for a response. Seconds passed. Nothing. Finally, to make sure he was with me, I shrugged my shoulders.
"Are you expecting an answer?" he asked, almost chuckling.
"Kind of. I mean.I kind of know what happened, but it's..it's not like I can just turn back, right? I mean, it's not like I took a wrong turn and I can just make a U-turn and try it again. This.all this," I said, motioning with my hands, trying to refer to the grandiose-ness of the school, "it's.well..how should I put this.the scariest damn thing I've ever experienced."
He laughed heartily at my explanation. I didn't blame him. I must have sounded like an idiot.
"I understand how you must feel, but I do not understand what is going on, Adam."
"Well, I mean this all happened by accident," I explained.
"Did it?" He raised an eyebrow. With that, he leaned forward and stood up. Thoughtfully, he started to gaze around the room, pacing in the process. I decided to stay put.
"I've always believed that things happen for a reason, Adam."
"You mean that I was meant to be here? Sir, Dumbledore.you see, I was being chased and I just kind of fell in.through the pillar.and." And then I stopped. I had explained what happened already. No matter how much I explained, no matter how many times I told the story, I couldn't change the feeling I had in the pit of my stomach.
"Do you think I belong here? Is that what you're saying?"
Dumbledore turned towards me, studying me once more.
"What matters is do you think you belong here?"
I looked at him, my expression unchanged. My brain tried to process all this new information. With the load it was taking, 'pondering' wasn't going to be something it could see as necessary.
"Can I go back?"
"Leave Hogwarts'?" he asked, inquisitively.
"Okay, first of all, what is this 'Hogwarts''?"
"Hogwarts' is a school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It is the most renowned in this area, but there are others out there. It has been in existence for centuries, educating the withes and wizards of tomorrow. There are seven years, or grades as you Americans call them," he said as an aside for my understanding.
"How did you---"
"The accent," he said, assuring me of his honesty. "After the seven years, you graduate and enter the professional world of wizardry."
"In other words, it's a school of magic."
"Put simply, yes," he conceded.
"The school is divided into four houses: Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Gryffindor, and Slytherin," he explained, saying the final name with an air of distaste. It was barely detectable, but it was there.
"All the houses compete in sporting events, and, in doing so, attempt to attain the house cup, an award given to the house with the highest point total at the end of the year. You owe you allegiance to the school first, but your house is a close second."
There was another pause, as I allowed this all to sink in.
"But could I go back?" I repeated, not being able to judge what the response would be.
"Do you want to?"
I was beginning to become irritated with his way of reasoning. I just wanted answers; if anything, I didn't need more questions.
"If I did, could I?" I tried again.
"No," he said, resting again in his chair.
In a way, I expected such an answer.
"Like the whole 'If-I-tell-ya-I'll-have-to-kill-you' thing, huh?" I asked.
"No, no, nothing like that," he laughed.
"Then what?" Now, I was seriously curious.
"Adam, in you, I see something." He scooted up closer to his desk, and therefore, closer to me.
"So, I do belong?"
"You need to find out the 'when' and 'why' yourself, but I can tell you that there is some feeling, some sentiment deep inside of you. It may be hiding there in the back of your mind, and you might not even know it."
I considered that feeling in my stomach. What was it? Was it something about the place? Dumbledore? The students?
"Do you know what I'm talking about?" he inquired, looking intently at me through his spectacles.
"But I don't know any magic! I.cannot be a witch."
"Wizard," Dumbledore corrected me.
"Whatever! I mean, I've never blown anything up, or flown, or.anything." I'm not easy to convince and this matter would be no different.
"This matters little, Adam. Most first year students who get their invitation to Hogwarts', that is if they are of muggle descent."
'Muggle?' I thought.
".meaning they are born to non-practicing parents." he explained.
'Non-practicing?'
".they have human parents." he tried again. "Um..where was I?"
"First year students who have muggles for parents," I reminded him.
"Ah, yes.well, they usually have no idea either, much like yourself."
"I would be a wizard and not know it? Is this what you're saying?"
He nodded in return.
"This is unreal!" I stood up as this was all way too much to take sitting down. "Mister, Sir, Master... Dumbledore, this is all very nice of you, but I'm not a wizard. This is all an accident! I was being chased and I just ended up being at the wrong place at the wrong time."
"Things just don't happen, Adam. You are here for a reason. As I said, I don't know what that reason is. Honestly, I don't; I wish I did. There is something inside of you that proves and validates your presence here."
When he finished, I knew he was right. Out of all this confusion and chaos, I knew one thing: I was meant to be here. I barely knew how say the word 'Hogwarts'' and yet, I knew that this is where I belonged.
"Will you stay?" he asked.
"I thought you said I couldn't leave if I wanted to?" I said, recoiling.
"I am asking the question in an emotional sense. Does your heart want to stay?"
I paused, thought for a moment, and then nodded.
At my response, he grinned and stood up again. Moving over to a shelf to the left of me, he took a very odd looking hat off one of the shelves. It was black and was filled with stitches. The most intriguing characteristic of it was perhaps the fact that it appeared to possess a mouth. Before I could resist, the head wizard plunked it onto my crown.
"Hmmm.this is very interesting." it said in a deep, philosophical voice.
"Huh?!?" I said, half as a reply, half as a response to the realization that I had a talking hat on my head.
"... this is very interesting. But I feel you should go to."
I waited. Did it matter?
".Gryffindor!!"
I was somewhat relieved that I could get the thing off my head, but that feeling came back. Was this the right house? What's wrong with Slytherin?
'Am I just hungry?'
Just then, I heard heavy footsteps behind me. Turning to see who the owner of the noise was, my jaw dropped. Before my eyes, stood a massive creature; he looked human, but was way too large to be one. For the first time, I knew that giants did exist.
"Adam, I would like you to meet Hagrid, our gamekeeper. He will help you get all the materials you need for the upcoming year."
"Pleasure to meet ya, Adam," he said, offering a massive hand.
"Little old to be a first year, isn't 'e? Hagrid asked.
"He will come in as a sixth year," Dumbledore explained.
"But Sir!" Hagrid exclaimed. "This is his first year and you're placing him in the sixth?!? Has the poor kid even used a wand yet?" I could see the reasoning in Hagrid's response and I turned to Dumbledore, waiting to hear his.
"It will be a lot of work, but his age and intelligence is that of a sixth year student. Help will always be available to you, Adam. Are you comfortable with this?"
Two sets of eyes were now resting on me. I turned the thought over in my mind. Used to large homework loads, I had a good feeling that I could play catch up and be okay. And the age factor..
"Sure, I'll do it."
"Excellent," Dumbledore said, clasping his hands together in happiness. "Good luck, Adam. My door is always open."
"You mean staircase?" I corrected him.
"Er.I suppose so. I suppose so." With that he smiled and began to work on something that was on the desk in front of him.
"Let's go, Adam. Much awaits us," Hagrid said. I stood and followed him away from the center of the room and down the staircase, back into the halls of the school.
Chapter One
"Has this happened before?"
"Not to my knowledge," she replied. We walked along the stony hall to some place unknown to me. Our footsteps echoed with such resonance it was almost shocking. Blazing torches lit our way, but they made no noise whatsoever. It was only our voices and footsteps to accompany us.
I was in too much shock to try and straighten my mind out. So far, I had been chased by thugs, fallen into some new dimension, been forced onto a train and taken into someplace named Hogwarts'. Confusion was too much of an understatement to summarize the state of my mind, but I still managed to function properly.
'Pretty soon I'll crack, I know it.'
Nothing made sense at all. I had stopped asking questions after all the odd looks I got on the train ride here. The kids, dressed in the black uniforms, a crest stitched on, looked as if they were the normal ones; here I was, the odd one.
The lady who was leading me went by the name McGonagall. She looked old, but from her personality you would think she was in her twenties. As soon as I got a hold of her at the bottom of the steps leading up to the front door of the massive school, she knew something wasn't right. Even before I had finished explaining to her what had happened, she grabbed my hand and took me inside, hustling past all the other students. Catching glances of them as we went by, they looked back, as bewildered as I was.
"I don't understand what's going on," I said to her as we walked.
"Me neither."
She was dressed in black, like a witch, pointed hat and all. Not all the women were dressed similarly, but there was a definite feel of Halloween throughout the whole building. I knew this wasn't just any school; that was about the limit of my understanding.
"Headmaster Dumbledore will see you now," she said dryly. Out off the wall, a staircase appeared before me. Already beyond amazement, I simply looked at it and then back at her. She nodded, assuring me. I smiled weakly in return and began to climb the stairs.
After reaching the apex of the twisted staircase, I found myself in a massive room, lined with cages and scrolls. Rich carpet adorned the floor I stood on and the whole atmosphere had a unique, but comforting aroma. My nerves began to settle and I managed to take a deep breath for the first time in hours.
"Adam."
I nearly jumped out of my skin at hearing my name. I looked in front of me and saw a massive desk, behind which sat who I guessed to be the headmaster. On the street, he would have been odd-looking, no doubt about that. Dressed in cloaks of crimson and wearing a wizard's hat, he sat and studied me. Glasses rested on his face, accompanied by a long, white beard.
However, without knowing him, I could feel the warmth of his personality. It filled the whole room and wrapped around me. I felt secure and I relaxed once more. Seeing this, he smiled softly and motioned for me to have a seat. Choosing the chair on the left, I sat down in front of his desk.
Nothing was said for a while. My eyes roamed back and forth between him and the curious odds and ends which adorned the walls of the room. Books that looked to be centuries old lined shelves behind him, and a bird, with brilliant rainbow-colored plumage sat just off to the left of him. Perching on a stand over a golden bowl, it stared at me, perhaps trying to figure out why I was here.
"Adam," Dumbledore began, "you're probably wondering what is going on?"
"Good guess," I said, choking on my words.
I sat, waiting for a response. Seconds passed. Nothing. Finally, to make sure he was with me, I shrugged my shoulders.
"Are you expecting an answer?" he asked, almost chuckling.
"Kind of. I mean.I kind of know what happened, but it's..it's not like I can just turn back, right? I mean, it's not like I took a wrong turn and I can just make a U-turn and try it again. This.all this," I said, motioning with my hands, trying to refer to the grandiose-ness of the school, "it's.well..how should I put this.the scariest damn thing I've ever experienced."
He laughed heartily at my explanation. I didn't blame him. I must have sounded like an idiot.
"I understand how you must feel, but I do not understand what is going on, Adam."
"Well, I mean this all happened by accident," I explained.
"Did it?" He raised an eyebrow. With that, he leaned forward and stood up. Thoughtfully, he started to gaze around the room, pacing in the process. I decided to stay put.
"I've always believed that things happen for a reason, Adam."
"You mean that I was meant to be here? Sir, Dumbledore.you see, I was being chased and I just kind of fell in.through the pillar.and." And then I stopped. I had explained what happened already. No matter how much I explained, no matter how many times I told the story, I couldn't change the feeling I had in the pit of my stomach.
"Do you think I belong here? Is that what you're saying?"
Dumbledore turned towards me, studying me once more.
"What matters is do you think you belong here?"
I looked at him, my expression unchanged. My brain tried to process all this new information. With the load it was taking, 'pondering' wasn't going to be something it could see as necessary.
"Can I go back?"
"Leave Hogwarts'?" he asked, inquisitively.
"Okay, first of all, what is this 'Hogwarts''?"
"Hogwarts' is a school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It is the most renowned in this area, but there are others out there. It has been in existence for centuries, educating the withes and wizards of tomorrow. There are seven years, or grades as you Americans call them," he said as an aside for my understanding.
"How did you---"
"The accent," he said, assuring me of his honesty. "After the seven years, you graduate and enter the professional world of wizardry."
"In other words, it's a school of magic."
"Put simply, yes," he conceded.
"The school is divided into four houses: Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Gryffindor, and Slytherin," he explained, saying the final name with an air of distaste. It was barely detectable, but it was there.
"All the houses compete in sporting events, and, in doing so, attempt to attain the house cup, an award given to the house with the highest point total at the end of the year. You owe you allegiance to the school first, but your house is a close second."
There was another pause, as I allowed this all to sink in.
"But could I go back?" I repeated, not being able to judge what the response would be.
"Do you want to?"
I was beginning to become irritated with his way of reasoning. I just wanted answers; if anything, I didn't need more questions.
"If I did, could I?" I tried again.
"No," he said, resting again in his chair.
In a way, I expected such an answer.
"Like the whole 'If-I-tell-ya-I'll-have-to-kill-you' thing, huh?" I asked.
"No, no, nothing like that," he laughed.
"Then what?" Now, I was seriously curious.
"Adam, in you, I see something." He scooted up closer to his desk, and therefore, closer to me.
"So, I do belong?"
"You need to find out the 'when' and 'why' yourself, but I can tell you that there is some feeling, some sentiment deep inside of you. It may be hiding there in the back of your mind, and you might not even know it."
I considered that feeling in my stomach. What was it? Was it something about the place? Dumbledore? The students?
"Do you know what I'm talking about?" he inquired, looking intently at me through his spectacles.
"But I don't know any magic! I.cannot be a witch."
"Wizard," Dumbledore corrected me.
"Whatever! I mean, I've never blown anything up, or flown, or.anything." I'm not easy to convince and this matter would be no different.
"This matters little, Adam. Most first year students who get their invitation to Hogwarts', that is if they are of muggle descent."
'Muggle?' I thought.
".meaning they are born to non-practicing parents." he explained.
'Non-practicing?'
".they have human parents." he tried again. "Um..where was I?"
"First year students who have muggles for parents," I reminded him.
"Ah, yes.well, they usually have no idea either, much like yourself."
"I would be a wizard and not know it? Is this what you're saying?"
He nodded in return.
"This is unreal!" I stood up as this was all way too much to take sitting down. "Mister, Sir, Master... Dumbledore, this is all very nice of you, but I'm not a wizard. This is all an accident! I was being chased and I just ended up being at the wrong place at the wrong time."
"Things just don't happen, Adam. You are here for a reason. As I said, I don't know what that reason is. Honestly, I don't; I wish I did. There is something inside of you that proves and validates your presence here."
When he finished, I knew he was right. Out of all this confusion and chaos, I knew one thing: I was meant to be here. I barely knew how say the word 'Hogwarts'' and yet, I knew that this is where I belonged.
"Will you stay?" he asked.
"I thought you said I couldn't leave if I wanted to?" I said, recoiling.
"I am asking the question in an emotional sense. Does your heart want to stay?"
I paused, thought for a moment, and then nodded.
At my response, he grinned and stood up again. Moving over to a shelf to the left of me, he took a very odd looking hat off one of the shelves. It was black and was filled with stitches. The most intriguing characteristic of it was perhaps the fact that it appeared to possess a mouth. Before I could resist, the head wizard plunked it onto my crown.
"Hmmm.this is very interesting." it said in a deep, philosophical voice.
"Huh?!?" I said, half as a reply, half as a response to the realization that I had a talking hat on my head.
"... this is very interesting. But I feel you should go to."
I waited. Did it matter?
".Gryffindor!!"
I was somewhat relieved that I could get the thing off my head, but that feeling came back. Was this the right house? What's wrong with Slytherin?
'Am I just hungry?'
Just then, I heard heavy footsteps behind me. Turning to see who the owner of the noise was, my jaw dropped. Before my eyes, stood a massive creature; he looked human, but was way too large to be one. For the first time, I knew that giants did exist.
"Adam, I would like you to meet Hagrid, our gamekeeper. He will help you get all the materials you need for the upcoming year."
"Pleasure to meet ya, Adam," he said, offering a massive hand.
"Little old to be a first year, isn't 'e? Hagrid asked.
"He will come in as a sixth year," Dumbledore explained.
"But Sir!" Hagrid exclaimed. "This is his first year and you're placing him in the sixth?!? Has the poor kid even used a wand yet?" I could see the reasoning in Hagrid's response and I turned to Dumbledore, waiting to hear his.
"It will be a lot of work, but his age and intelligence is that of a sixth year student. Help will always be available to you, Adam. Are you comfortable with this?"
Two sets of eyes were now resting on me. I turned the thought over in my mind. Used to large homework loads, I had a good feeling that I could play catch up and be okay. And the age factor..
"Sure, I'll do it."
"Excellent," Dumbledore said, clasping his hands together in happiness. "Good luck, Adam. My door is always open."
"You mean staircase?" I corrected him.
"Er.I suppose so. I suppose so." With that he smiled and began to work on something that was on the desk in front of him.
"Let's go, Adam. Much awaits us," Hagrid said. I stood and followed him away from the center of the room and down the staircase, back into the halls of the school.
