Chapter 3
Hogwarts School
The next few months passed by uneventfully. Perce engaged in reading more books from the vast library, moulding his knowledge of Magic. Mr. Filster paid them many visits, and Perce too spent hours at a time in his warm cottage. Grenda Filster, Tarfen's wife, supplied them with delicious cakes and puddings while they spent their time delving into the deeper truths of Magic. Perce simply admired the ex-Auror. He was quick to learn, and Mr. Filster just enjoyed talking to the sharp child. He gave him books which taught him spells, methods of duels, or wandlore, some of which weren't present in the Mansion's library. But, though extremely excited, Mr. Filster checked himself not to give the boy too much information, as there was Hogwarts to teach him. Soon, Perce amassed a lot of knowledge, including many things unknown to an average first year, and many things absent in the library, where he spent his previous six years reading. Mr. Filster was the ideal man to satisfy his insatiable thirst for knowledge. He was very patient with Perce, and guided him. He knew Magic like Perce we had never heard, and soon Perce began to realise that he was no ordinary wizard.
Two weeks before the fateful day, 1st September, the Jordans threw in the Floo Powder in the fire, stepped in the fire one after the other, and shouted "Diagon Alley". Perce landed, for the first time in his life, in Diagon Alley, the centre of Wizarding shops. He took out his list, and went first to that one shop he was eagerly waiting to go from years — Ollivanders. Neatly above the entrance was written, 'Ollivanders. Makers of Fine Wands since 382 BC' in peeling golden letters. And in the dusty window, a single wand lay on a faded purple cushion. He grinned widely, and pushed the door to enter, followed by Mr. Jordan. Garrick Ollivander greeted them with a bow.
"Justin Jordan! Acacia, unicorn tail hair, fourteen inches, is it not? Yes, welcome!" He said, nodding.
"Indeed it is, Mr. Ollivander," Mr. Jordan said, showing his wand. "Your memory is as sharp as ever. But today I have brought my son, Perce, who is starting at Hogwarts." He smiled. Perce went up to Mr. Ollivander and shook his hand.
"Ah, well, welcome, Mr. Jordan. Let us see what wand favours you, shall we?" He smiled, and those eerie, moon-like eyes looked into Perce's blue ones. He nodded, and grinned. Mr. Ollivander began to take measurements with his magical tape.
"I'll just go and get your books, Perce." Mr. Jordan said, and left.
Perce looked at Mr. Ollivander as he turned to the shelves, muttering to himself. "Mr. Ollivander, if you would permit it, can I ask you what the qualities of Acacia wood are?"
Mr. Ollivander paused, and slowly turned back to look at Perce. He spoke in a low, slow voice. "Certainly, Mr. Jordan, of course… You see, Acacia is indeed a very unusual wand wood, I have personally felt that. I have seen that it often refuses to produce magic for anyone but their owner. It makes the type of wand which reveals its best effects to only the gifted, so I keep only a small stock… it can match any power — but your curiosity is because, naturally —"
"— my father's is Acacia, yes," Perce smiled, and Mr. Ollivander nodded, smiling too. "Yes, I have grown interested in Wandlore… the subject that is concerned with the objects we use to channel our Magic. Mr. Filster gave me a book recently —"
"Filster? Filster? Tarfen Filster? Ah, yes, I remember… Alder, unicorn tail hair, 13 inches, unyielding. A very fine wand, extremely well suited for non-verbal spells…" Mr. Ollivander said. "But yes, what book was it, Mr. Jordan?"
"A Wand for Magic, by Violetta Beauvais, it has good details about —"
Mr. Ollivander gave a small cough. "Violetta Beauvais, you say, Mr. Jordan? But to find that book you must be extremely lucky, for her books are quite sadly unavailable here… Mr. Filster must have great interest! But you were saying, Mr. Jordan?" And the both of them went into a discussion about wands, while Mr. Ollivander gave him wands to try, and took them back, dissatisfied. Finally:
"Try this one then, Mr. Jordan, Ash, phoenix feather core, 13½ inches, flexible," Mr. Ollivander handed him one wand. Perce took it, and immediately felt it warm in his fingers. A few golden sparks shot out of the tip. The wand chose him. "Yes, fine wand indeed, Mr. Jordan. We can expect marvellous things from you… Yes. Marvellous things indeed." He remained silent for a while. Then he spoke, "Now that will be seven galleons."
Perce took the money given to him by his father, and handed it to Mr. Ollivander, who bowed deeply. Perce shook his hand again, grinned widely, and left the shop to find his father. Mr. Jordan was waiting right outside Ollivanders, and was smiling at him. He had a small, brown little owl in a cage in his hands.
"Well," Mr. Jordan said, "you took a year, definitely. I finished almost all of your shopping, except your robes, of course. And how does this guy look? Cute, isn't he?" He smiled, pointing at the owl. Perce grinned widely.
"Yes, he most certainly is," Perce said, and observed the sleeping owl for a while. "Let's go to Madam Malkin's then," he said, and they marched off.
On the way, Perce recounted almost all of his conversation with Mr. Ollivander to his father. Mr. Jordan listened with great interest, and stopped as they reached Madam Malkin's. Perce got his measurements taken, and bought his robes. They were outside again before they knew it. Seeing as there was hardly anything left to do, they had two Sundaes at Florean Fortescue's Parlour, and roamed around the whole place, which was full of Magic. Then, Mr. Jordan reminded him that they had a home, and that they should return there. They departed with a swirl of green flames by Floo Transport, and reached the Jordan's Mansion.
Perce now had an extremely exciting object with him - his wand. He used whatever magic he was capable of, and tried relentlessly till he got what he wanted with it. Mr. Jordan gave up long ago trying to soften his unending excitement. Also, Perce decided to name his owl Jacob, and had a few tiring games with it in the vast Mansion. Until, finally, 1st September arrived.
"You ready, Perce?" Mr. Jordan asked, grinning down at him, with his trunk packed and Jacob kept neatly in his cage.
"Yeah, I definitely am. I've never been this excited — oh my god. Hogwarts!" He laughed, and grasped his father's hand.
"Indeed, I do know that. It is slightly out of the ordinary — but let us not keep delaying. Well, then," Mr. Jordan grabbed the trunk with the other hand, after brushing his brown hair out of his eyes, and nodded, and spun on the spot. A moment later, both of them had disappeared.
Many miles away, behind two dustbins, in a secluded spot, they appeared.
"I know that I'm never going to like Side-Along Apparition… but can I know how you managed to find such an excellent and delightful spot for Apparating, dad?" Perce asked, giving his father a look of mock-innocence. Mr. Jordan chuckled.
"What did you expect, a grand entry into the nicely packed station with a trunk and an owl?" He said, checking whether it was safe to move out. Perce rolled his eyes.
They decided it safe to rejoin the main path, unnoticed by the inhabitants of the area. The walk to King's Cross from there was a short one, though not unnoticed by the passers-by. It did look strange if one carried a heavy trunk and a hooting owl in a silent street. They reached the station, and heaved the suitcase onto one of the trolleys. Mr. Jordan motioned to the magical barrier, and both of them broke into a run, came closer to the barrier, then vanished into it. What they saw next was a station swarmed by all kinds of people, bathing in smoke, which was rising from a scarlet engine that carried the words 'Hogwarts Express'. Perce noticed a man, who was short, and plump, with brown eyes, standing next to his tall wife, talking to his son. The boy had black hair, slightly tanned skin, a short nose, and brown eyes just like his father, but he was tall, unlike him. Perce noticed that they were talking very fast, and were clearly excited. The boy's mother was indifferent, though, and almost reluctant to speak.
"Two minutes left," said Mr. Jordan. "You better get in then. Have a great year, and good luck!" He smiled down at him, and gave him a hug.
"Good bye, dad! Write to me!" Perce managed, as he was climbing the train. It let out a whistle.
"Yeah, yeah, now get going!" He smiled, and waved. Perce went in to find a compartment, and Mr. Jordan gazed at the magnificent train, and got lost in reminiscence.
Perce found an empty compartment, and slid the door and entered. He heaved the trunk in, and relaxed in the seat, and looked out to find his father waving at him. He smiled, and waved back. Mr. Jordan then disapparated. Perce smiled to himself, and closed his eyes, unable to contain his anticipation. The compartment door slid open, and there was standing the boy whom Perce had seen on the station. Perce looked up.
"Err — is this — can I join you here? I couldn't find an empty compartment —" he spoke, slowly, and nervously.
"Why yes, definitely. Do sit down," said Perce, smiling at him.
"Thank you," he mumbled, and sat down.
"I'm Perce by the way, Perce Jordan," said Perce, holding out his hand.
"Oh — hello, Perce, I am Subash. Subash Shastri," he said, shaking hands with Perce.
Perce looked out of the window for a while, at the picturesque view it presented, as the train moved on. Subash then spoke:
"Which House do you hope to be in?"
"Slytherin, definitely. It might have a bad reputation, but that's the place for me," he smiled.
"I hope to be in Slytherin too. But I'm a half-blood. My father is a pure-blood. Ranjan Shastri. My mother is a Muggle. Does Slytherin take — ?" He hesitated.
"Yes, there have been half-bloods in Slytherin, you needn't worry," he chuckled. "But anyway, have you tried any Magic at all?"
And the two excited kids went on in conversation about books, magic, Hogwarts, teachers, subjects, wands, and even food. Perce learned that Subash hadn't tried Magic at all. He was slightly crestfallen. Soon, the Trolley Witch arrived and each one of them bought loads, as neither had had breakfast, owing to the great anticipation. They ate to their heart's content, talking more animatedly. As they opened more of the Chocolate Frog Cards, they got many Witches and Wizards — Perce got two of Merlin, one Dumbledore, an Andros the Invincible, an Celestina Warbeck, two of Glanmore Peakes, Salazar Slytherin, and Newt Scamader.
And then, it started getting dark. Perce felt his heart thumping. Hogwarts was here…
"Shouldn't we change into robes?" Subash asked. Perce nodded, and both of them changed into their new Hogwarts robes. After nearly half an hour, the train slowed down, and stopped. Perce took a deep breath, as his heart kept thumping with excitement. Or was it excitement?
The two friends descended onto the platform, and heard a voice calling — "Firs' years! Firs' years! Firs' years over here!" Perce shrugged, and walked towards the man who was calling, Subash following beside him. He gave a gasp. The man who was calling was a Giant. He was at least the height of three men, and the width of five. He had a tangled beard and hair, through which one could only see his nose and small, black eyes. They walked towards him, and found that he was motioning them to move into boats.
"Tha's right, now. On'y four in a boat. Right — ready?" The giant asked.
Perce sat with Subash and two other students, a boy and a girl, both of whose name he didn't know. They looked terrified. Then he heard the Giant bellow: "FORWARD!" All the boats moved at once, led by the giant, who had a boat to himself. They went silently in the boat for a while. The boy and girl in the boat were holding hands tightly.
"Twins?" Asked Perce. Both nodded. Perce heard the Giant bellow again:
"Hold on, yeh'll catch a sight o' the castle in a mo'."
Perce took another deep breath and looked — an absolutely stunning sight. The huge, marvellous castle was looming, and under the star-lit sky it would make anyone, Perce included, quite speechless. He could see the numerous towers, and the windows shining yellow with the lights from within. The twins gasped. "Wow!" They said together.
They reached the banks of the lake, and got out of the boats, and started walking behind the Giant. Perce couldn't take his eyes off the castle, until Subash spoke, "Beautiful, isn't it?"
"Oh it's much more than beautiful…" he said, and finally tore his eyes off it, to look front. They were now walking on the smooth, damp grass right in the shadow of the castle. Then the Giant led them up a flight of stone steps, and all of them crowded around a huge, oak front door. He waited for everyone to catch up, and then knocked three times on the door with his gigantic fists.