Chapter 2- The Unexpected Visitor

A boy of 11 years took a drink of water as he looked out over his neighborhood after a vigorous practice session. He was hoping to make the school basketball team this year. This was what he did every day but little did he know that all that was about to change. He started to practice again and the ball rolled out into the road. He looked up and a strange sight met his eyes. Coming down the street was a weathered and wizened old man in the strangest clothes that he had ever seen. If he didn't know better he would say the man was a wizard, but wizards weren't real they were just in the books he read. He sat on the ball and waited to see where this stranger was going. He had seen many strange people come through this neighborhood for many of the houses in that area was rented out not sold. You could almost call him the authority on the neighborhood. He was almost the protector of it. He was surprised when the old man waved, to stunned to do anything else he waved back. As the old man approached he could tell that the old man was happy about something. He wore a smile and there was a twinkling light in his eyes that looked as if it could not be extinguished. He came to a stop a few feet from the boy.

"Hello William, how are you today?"

William suddenly became a bit suspicious about this strange visitor. For life had not been kind to this boy, he knew something of the ways of the world.

"How is your mom? I am an old friend of hers you see." He glanced towards the house. "Is she available? Can I see her?"

With a confused look the boy said, "Let me go check."

He ran off towards the house and this strange man took out a lemon drop and popped into his mouth. All of a sudden, the boy came running back and said that his mother said to come on in. He started to walk back to the house and instead of going to the front door he went to a little side door. The old man followed and took off his hat as he entered the house. He looked at the boy's mother whose jaw had just dropped when the man had come through the door.

"Kathy," he whispered.

"Albus," she whispered back. He came up and hugged her and to the boy's surprise she hugged him back.

"How have you been?" he asked her.

"I have been getting by." She said with a smile. All of a sudden the smile disappeared. She began to look worried and asked cautiously, "Why are you here Albus?"

"You know why. It is time, he has arisen again and someone must stand against him." This was all above the boy's head though somehow he had a strange feeling that this had something to do with him.

"Mom what is this about? What does this man want?" He loved his mom more than anything in the world and though he was just a kid life had hardened him and had not been kind to him. He was suspicious of the British man, even though in his heart he felt he would have trusted him with his life. He was a boy but life had forged in him an iron will and a mind that was quick and not easily deceived. He had learned early on in his life that what people said wasn't always what they meant.

"William why don't you go out and play basketball while we talk?"

"Why can't I stay Mom?"

"We need to talk about grown-up stuff sweetie," she replied with a loving smile on her face. He looked at the man as if trying to judge whether he trusted him enough to leave him alone with his mother. As the old man looked into the boy's eyes he could not tell what the boy thought of him and did not know whether he had passed the test or not. Reluctantly and slowly the boy left the room and they could hear the back door open and close.

"He will not go. That is final. I will not put him in danger like that."

"He will not be in any more danger than he is here. William will not go as the wizard he really is. He will go as kid born to a muggle family. That is in a way the truth."

"Why do you want him to go?"

"Just because you decided to distance yourself from the wizarding world doesn't mean that should be the way it is with your son. The wizarding world needs hope Kathy. This would bring hope and determination that is much needed. He will be a champion that all wizards would rally to. We would all finally ban together to fight Voldermort and his allies and achieve a victory that will be final. You know that this must be."

"What does this have to do with me?" came a little voice from the door. The mother looked up with a strange look in her eyes. The man turned around and smiled at William.

"I figured that you were still there."

"Honey don't be afraid, come over here and sit by me. I have something to tell you," said his mother in a loving yet worried voice. "William I have wizard blood flowing in my veins as do you," she paused and let this sink in. "This man is the principal for a wizarding school, well not just any wizarding school the best there is, and it is called Hogwarts."

Silence reined in the room as the boy looked up at his mom with disbelief on his face.

"William, you are not just any wizard you are a wizard of a great line, one of the oldest and most powerful to ever exist. I want you to come to my school to learn how to be a wizard. You would have to come as an ordinary kid though. There would be much danger for you if you were to come as who you are. You would come as a child of normal parents which is after all how you were raised."

William looked him in the eyes and said in a serious voice, "What's the catch?" "You are smart William. Yes there is a catch. You would never be able to come back to this house or this life. You would have to give up everything you ever knew including your parents."

William looked down at the floor. He felt the weight of his short 11 years as heavily as if they were five times that. He knew he must go and eventually said, "Yes but only if you can promise me she will be safe, my mother that is."

"I cannot promise that William. But I will promise that I will do everything I can to make sure she is. Whether that is enough or not remains to be seen."

William knew in his heart that this was true, for he had been subject to some of life's weird and sometimes cruel twists. He had always known this, he resigned himself to the fact and moved on because he knew what could not be changed could be endured.

At that instant Kathy lurched over in another series of convulsions grunting in pain and agony. She had been sick for as long as William could remember.

"Mother are you all right?"

"Yes William I am fine. I want you to do me a favor."

"What?" he replied.

"I want you to go and trust this man with your life and don't look back. I want you to forget this house and your old life. Forget your father and me, forget all your friends."

"Mother you know that I cannot forget you or any of my friends for that would be wrong. I would have you know this, anytime you need my help I will come, and let any who would stop me beware for the ties of love and blood that are between us are more powerful than any could imagine," he said in a strong voice. There seemed to be a change in the boy subtle as it may have been the man felt that this was no longer a boy that was sitting in front him though he wondered whether there ever had been.

"Be strong my son and you will achieve great things. Take him now Albus. I know this is quick William but it must be that way. You will take care of him won't you Albus?"

"Of course Kathy I will love him as if he was my own."

As the old man took the boy out of the room he shot a glance back at his mother who was now crying.

"I will do my best for you mother," he vowed as he walked out of the door.

What he didn't see was the man who was hiding in the back of the house leaning down from the window where he had watched the exchange. He was a veteran of the front lines of this war between good and evil. He smiled a thing he hadn't done in years, because the boy was the thing that was needed to win. Yet the question still hung in the balance, who would he cause to win?