For all practical purposes, Jonus had become the dog who was Jack before their special relationship had started. He survived by scrounging through trash and litter. Jonus was smart enough to find reliable sites such as the dumpster behind the restaurant on 4th street and the second hand store that threw out a lot of clothing only a few blocks away. He frequently swam in the nearby lake at night to cleanse himself and slept mostly during the day. But when he wasn't sleeping, he was watching people. He found them fascinating, strolling about their normal lives oblivious to much of the hustle and bustle around them. Most didn't even realize they were being watched and the ones who did didn't really care. He would watch families go by, the dad carrying a small child in his arms and dragging another one by the hand. He would make educated guesses about the people he saw, telling himself that this man clearly was a bachelor and that the elderly looking woman was most likely a gossip. Two years he lived like this, in silence and alone. He had only had a couple of close calls with the law enforcement in the area. But both times when the officer was distracted or looking in a different direction, he would vanish flipping his coat inside out or taking off his old tatty hat and disappear into the crowd. He was a master at fitting in once he got the feel of his environment even when he wasn't by any means a normal 16-year-old kid or wearing normal clothing. The long and the short of it was that Jonus was smart . . . street smart, people smart, and memory smart. He knew almost everyone in the area's name, vocation, and family members. Every time he saw someone new it had turned out to be a visiting relative or tourist. He enjoyed being the silent observer of the neighborhood, returning dropped wallets to their appropriate houses and in general, keeping an eye out for thieves and other such parasites of society.

He liked his "job" but sometimes his mind would ache for something else to do in which case he would visit Mary and her books. From the outside, the store appeared to be a small dealer in antique books, but on the inside, the visitor was surprised to see that the smallish looking shop was in reality four stories high and packed full of books in bookcases from floor to ceiling. What they took to be a shop was in actuality the public library, stocked and cared for by their very own volunteer librarian, Mary. She had been suspicious of Jonus at first, taking him for a thief or a pickpocket. To her credit she had given the boy a chance, which was all he needed. Realizing how unusual it was for a street rat to come to the library with only the intention for reading, he had grabbed a book and deliberately sat by the main desk near the entrance, giving Mary a clear view of him at all times.

It had only been his fourth time attending, he had liked the book on exotic animals, that he had proven his character. He had noticed a business dressed man enter the library with a briefcase and had watched him with curiosity. He walked very straight and efficiently, probably the result of working at some high paying position for a company. Jonus had thought nothing of it and probably wouldn't have taken a second look if he hadn't finished the book just as the same man was walking down the stairs toward the exit. Funny, he had thought that the man hadn't checked out any books since he had only been at the library for less than fifteen minutes. Jonus noticed too that he wasn't walking so perfectly straight any more but was favoring his left side. He didn't seem to be limping. It wasn't a crime to walk different upon exiting buildings, but something was bothering him. Then he figured it out. The reason he was walking with a slight lean was that his briefcase was heavy. But if he was walking straight upon entering, it had originally been empty or nearly empty. Only one reason came to his mind that explained the sudden weight, but he couldn't very well call a well to do looking businessman a thief without any proof. So instead he got up leaving the book on a table and walked toward the front doors. He quickly and stealthily walked in front of the man, and pretending to trip, knocked the briefcase spilling its contents onto the floor and causing enough of a commotion to draw the eye of the ever-attentive Mary. She had rushed over and seeing the old and valuable books sprawled across the lobby, had put two and two together. The would-be thief had also realized the situation and without even grabbing his briefcase sprinted for the door. The man had escaped, but Jonus had won his acceptance and even graduated from Mary and no longer received the suspicious looks while visiting.

Over his two years of solitude, he had read a great many books and usually spent a couple of hours each day engaging his mind at the library. However, Jonus had received no formal education except for the basic home-schooling at the orphanage. He preferred studying on his own at the pace of his own choosing and not the eternally slow speed of the few years of school he had experienced. Secretly, he missed having discussions and relationships with others. He denied his need, reasoning that he couldn't return to the orphanage, and he liked his new life better anyway.

It was still dark when Jonus woke up. He took his time stretching and rising from the wooden bench he normally slept on. He had been sleeping in a secluded but clean alleyway, a place he had learned to call home. As his eyes finally adjusted to the black of the night, he looked around for the cause of his early awakening. He heard it before he saw it: a strange and eerie sound he had never heard before. Looking in the direction of the noise, he spotted two large eyes perched on the broken street light. From the two pointed tufts of feathers coming out of either side of his head and its sheer size, Jonus recognized it as a Great Horned Owl. Intrigued, Jonus stepped closer, a slight breeze cooling the night air. He didn't think any Great Horned Owls lived around the city. The large bird continued to stare into Jonus' eyes, but it didn't seem at all frightened by the approaching figure. Only a few feet from the base of the lamp, Jonus stopped and stared back. On closer observation, it appeared to be holding a piece of white paper in its beak.

Odd, thought Jonus. I wonder what it has in its mouth. As if on cue, the hunter of the night dropped its cargo into the darkness with a piercing cry. Startled, Jonus snatched the paper from the air.

Tilting it into the moonlight, he saw that it was an envelope sealed with wax. On the front, it read:

Mr. Jonus Harper

Wooden Bench, Alleyway, 4th Ave

Mudwood City, Nebraska

United States of America

Jonus was confused and a little concerned. No one in Mudwood knew his name, and after two years of inner-city life, he doubted very much that anyone from the orphanage would remember him anymore. Hands trembling and heart racing, he broke the seal, opened the envelope and pulled out a letter.

Dear Mr. Harper,

You have been accepted into the Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. We will be sending on escort to get you to the school on time and help you to acquire the necessary equipment.

Professor Albus Dumbledore

Headmaster

Jonus was even more puzzled than before. Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry? Was this a joke? It had to be one of those organizations: started by lunatics and continued by those with nothing better to do in life. Even so, how they found him and why they wanted him was a mystery. Perhaps, if an escort really was coming, he would be able to answer some of Jonus' many questions.

Jonus looked up, expecting to see the great predator still staring him down, but the Great Horned Owl had disappeared. In a way, he was relieved. Without the owl, he could almost pretend it had never happened. Almost. The letter refused to leave his mind and forced him to sit down on his bench and think it over. What if Hogwarts really existed? What if he really was accepted into a school for Witchcraft and Wizardry? Or did one become a wizard only after training? This is nonsense, he told himself. There wasn't such a thing as magic and he couldn't be a wizard. He had read books on every subject and magic had always been dismissed as mere fantasy.

Jonus shook his head. This wasn't getting him anywhere. He would assume that Hogwarts was nonexistent, except maybe as an organization, unless he really was sent an escort who could prove their intentions were correct. Satisfied that he had thought the problem to its logical conclusion, Jonus relaxed and was able to return to his dreams.

With a sound close to a cross between a jet engine and a nuclear explosion, (the only explanation coming to his mind) Jonus awoke with a start for the second time that night. He braced himself for the end of the world as he knew it, which is what it was, coincidentally. The noise approached nearer, turning round the corner and screaming down the alleyway.

With a lurch, the motorcycle stopped. Its light was turned off and without the accelerator down, its noise softened to a purr of a fifty-pound cat. A man stepped off, black cloak billowing underneath the hood covering the man's face. He stood there, the slight moonlight casting a long shadow from his silhouette. He limped forward, a dull thud echoing every other step, and then stopped.

Lifting his hand and pointing a thin short stick into the darkness, he spoke. "Illuminus." Like slow motion fireworks, light snaked out of the stick, lighting nearby light bulbs including the lamp that had long since had its wires removed.

Jonus was shocked, not at the fireworks display or even the fact that a broken streetlight was shining down on him. It was the stranger who had done it all that astonished him, for strange he was. Illuminated by the lights, Jonus could now see the wooden leg with the clawed foot. He could see his scarred and crevassed face with a mutated nose. But it was his eye, his large bright blue eye that sent a chill down Jonus' spine. Still, Jonus remained calm. This was his turf and it wasn't as if the man was going to out-run him with that log for a leg.

"Ah! There you are! They didn't tell me that Nebraska was a giant cornfield. Should've sent someone else if you ask me." The man spoke in a low, gravely tone entirely fitting his gravely appearance. "I'm your escort, so let's get movin'."

"Just a minute," replied Jonus, finding his voice at last. "How do I know you're my escort and what makes you think I want to go?"

"Don't play games with me, laddie. We're already late as it is." The man gave Jonus a look of disgust.

"I'm not the one playing games, pretending magic and wizards are real."

A surprised expression crossed his disfigured face and his big eye finally stopped rolling around to stare straight into him. Seconds passed, then minutes. Finally, he spoke. "Surely you believe in magic," he stated. It was not a question.

"No."

A few more seconds passed. "All right then," he murmured. "Wingardium Leviosa." He pointed his stick at the bench behind Jonus. The sound of screeching metal and breaking concrete filled the air as the bench ripped from the bolts fastening it to the ground. With a wave of his wand, he sent the now levitating seat flying through the air. The man gave his stick a final flick and it smashed into the ground, shattering the wood into thousands of pieces.

Jonus' disbelief faded away into raw excitement. Magic was real! It was everyone's' childhood dream come true and right before his eyes was proof it existed. And if magic was real, then that meant that he was…a wizard! Jonus had always felt cutoff from the rest of the world and now he knew why. He tried to hide his emotions, but the sly grin on his escorts face told him he wasn't doing a very good job.

"You've convinced me." Jonus said eyeing what was left of his "bed". "That was incredible. How'd you do that?"

"Now that's what Hogwarts is for." The man replied a gleam flashing in his eye.

"What's your name, or do they call you escort?"

The look on the cloaked man's face wiped off Jonus' grin. "You can call me Moody."

Jonus straddled the motorcycle which was thankfully large enough to comfortably seat two. Feeling a little nervous about riding to a place he had neither seen nor heard of with a man that could have broken at least a dozen Guinness world records, he mind wondered to the past 16 years. They were the only life he had known. He realized now why he had always felt distant and separated, why he had been so lonely. He had forced himself to ignore the fact that he was unhappy for the last two years in order to stay sane. But now with a new life ahead full of others like him, that unhappiness seemed all the more depressing against the strange contentedness he now felt. It was like living in a dream, he realized, and then waking up to reality. The dream was over. His new life was just beginning.

The bike thundered to life as Moody kicked it into gear. Jonus' stomach lurched, the pair shooting out of the hidden alley. For the first few minutes neither said anything, but after leaving Mudwood behind, Moody shouted over the roar of the bike's engine. "Little young to be live'n in the city by yourself aren't you?"

"16 is old enough." Jonus replied.

"What's that? I thought I heard you say that you were sixteen."

"I am sixteen. Don't I look old enough?" Jonus shouted back a little louder then before.

Moody didn't reply, but Jonus thought he saw a small shake of the head. The silence made Jonus wonder if he had said something wrong. "Where is Hogwarts anyway?"

"London." Moody bellowed.

"London, Britain?" Jonus asked bewildered.

"Well…it sure aint London, Nebraska." Jonus' stomach fell. London was over 5,000 miles away! He wouldn't be seeing Hogwarts for days if not weeks. Either that or he had been wrong to trust Moody, and the whole thing was some elaborate joke. No, that couldn't be right. Jonus considered himself too good at judging people to be mistaken and Moody didn't kid around. Ever. Jonus also couldn't ignore that he had seen magic with his own two eyes. Twice. Maybe with some more magic Moody could transport them instantaneously or at least quickly to their destination. Jonus got his answer soon enough.

"Sorry about wasting so much time," Moody's voice rumbled over the noise. "But there were too many muggles about to fly any sooner." To Jonus' astonishment and delight, the motorcycle lifted off the pavement and accelerated into the dark sky. The ground quickly faded away into patches of cornfields and farmhouses. Soon, even the houses disappeared from view. Of course the motorcycle was magical, he chided himself as he settled down and relaxed for what would still be a long…flight? The vibrations of the bike soon brought back his tiredness as Jonus drifted off into peaceful dreams.