A/n: Hey look, internet access! 4 more chapters till Hogwarts! I am starting fall semester again a week from Tuesday so I'm not sure how much time I'll have to upload chapters so I ask for your patience. I have read Cursed Child but I'm not sure if I want to add a chapter for it or not, but that's a ways away anyway. Anyway, I don't own Harry Potter. Enjoy!

Pre-Hogwarts

Chapter 6

July 2nd, 1988

10-year old Jo woke that morning to the sound of an owl outside her bedroom window. She heard it and thought she must be dreaming because there were no owls at 9 in the morning, not in Brighton, England. So she rolled over and tried to go back to sleep, but the owl was persistent; it kept making noise until it got her attention. Jo finally gave up on going back to sleep, opting instead to look out her window for the stubborn bird she didn't think was really there. But lo and behold there was an owl there, a barn owl if she wasn't very much mistaken.

This owl was sitting on the back of the porch swing outside her window and in its beak was what looked like a letter and it was addressed to her. All caution flew out the window as she quietly ran to the front door. She unlocked the door and closed it behind her as she stepped out onto the brick porch in her bare feet before moving to the swing where the owl had turned to look at her. She approached carefully and slowly, wanting not to scare it away. She managed to sit right beside the surprisingly large bird before it dropped the letter in her lap. She expected it to fly away, but it didn't, it just sat there and looked at her. Very slowly she inched her hand up to stroke the white feathers that ruffled slightly in the mild breeze that blew through every now and again.

"Well, aren't you pretty? And so well behaved, you can't possibly be wild," she said as she stroked the downy feathers on its chest and back. She gave the bird one more stroke before moving to open her letter. The writing on the front was in green ink and very pretty handwriting and on the back was a purple wax seal with a coat of arms which showed four small creatures-she couldn't quite make them out-looking at a central 'H' and above the coat of arms, a banner reading 'Hogwarts' and below it another banner saying something in Latin.

Briefly she wondered if this was something Leilani had cooked up as an early birthday present; her house was full of strange things and Jo's birthday was only 3 months away, but then again, there was no way she could have found a live owl to deliver this letter. She might have put a toy owl on top of the letter and left it by the front door but a real one? Not very likely. She pondered this oddity as she carefully popped the wax seal and drew out the heavy parchment papers inside.

HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY

Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore

(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)

Dear Miss Montgomery,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than July 31.

Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall

Minerva McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress

Jo gaped at the letter, school of witchcraft and wizardry? She had to call Leili, had to make sure this wasn't from her, usually if Leili were to do something this elaborate there would be something in it that served as a note letting Jo know it was from her, but the only thing on the second page was a list of supplies: Three sets of plain work robes (black), One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear, One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar), One winter cloak (black, with silver fastenings), a very long list of books, along with 1 wand, 1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2), 1 set glass or crystal phials, 1 telescope, 1 set brass scales, and a note saying students may also bring, if they desire, an owl, a cat, OR a toad.

There was no hand-drawn smiley face, or Leili's signature rose hiding in a corner, nor was there an early birthday card hiding in the envelope. Jo turned to the owl beside her and said, "Stay. I'll be back," she ran into the house, grabbed the phone and started dialing Leili's number. She called Leilani twice before she picked up,

"Hello?"

"Did you send me a letter? By owl?" It was a habit of Jo's to not answer the phone with a greeting, choosing instead to get right to the point.

"A letter? No, I may have emailed you, but I haven't mailed you anything and not by owl, why?"

"Because I've got a letter and an owl on my porch. It says it's from Hogwarts and a Minerva McGonagall?" Jo explained, returning to her seat on the swing.

"Oh my god! Jo! That's brilliant! That's fantastic! Congratulations!" There was silence on Jo's end of the line and Leili's amusement grew, "You have no idea what I'm talking about do you."

"Not a clue."

"Ok, it's what 9:30? How about I come over in like an hour and explain it?"

"Let me ask Mom. Leili?"

"Hmm?"

"You're sure you didn't send this?"

"Yes, Jo, I'm sure, go talk to your mom," Jo stood and found her way to her mom's room.

"Hey, mom? Can Leili come over today?"

"Sure, what time?"

"10:30."

"Ok," Jo lifted the phone to her ear again as she closed her mom's door and went to get dressed,

"Leili?"

"I'm here!"

"Mom said ok. So I'll see you in an hour?"

"Yes, I will see you in an hour, and I will explain everything, trust me, it's really cool."

"Ok. Talk to you soon, Bye."

"Bye!" The hour flew by and soon there was a knock at the front door, Jo ran to open it and found Leili standing there with the biggest grin on her face since the day they met. As Jo let Leili in the house she held up 2 pieces of parchment nearly identical to the ones Jo had received that morning.

"You got one too?"

"I got one too!"

"When?"

"In April, just after my birthday. That's normally when they send them, around your 11th birthday but I'm guessing that since your birthday is in September they sent it as close to your birthday as they could while still getting a response by the end of the month," Leili explained as the girls walked to the bedroom Jo shared with her little sister Jillian.

"Hey, Leili!" Jo's mom called from her room.

"Hi!" Leili called back before joining Jo in her room and greeting Jillian, "Hey, Squirt." Jillian pouted, "I'm gonna be taller than you."

"Yeah well, you aren't yet and you're not gonna be for a while yet and you know what Squirt? You are always going to be younger than me," Leilani told the 6 year old with a grin.

"So, explain."

"Remember when we were 9 and you came over for the first time? My tree liked you, and I told you she was a Mauling Myrtle?"

"Yeah, I named her Molly and asked if we could put a swing on her. It was that day that you told me you're a witch and I thought it was like the coolest thing ever."

"This," Leilani said gesturing with the acceptance letter in her hand, "is an acceptance letter to a sort've boarding school in Scotland, it's called Hogwarts. My sister goes there, my dad went there. I am going to be going there in September. And apparently you can too. There are six schools like this that I know of, there's Hogwarts in Scotland, Beauxbatons Academy in France, The Durmstrang Institute in Norway, and Ilvermorny in the U.S., along with schools in Japan and Russia.

"They're schools of magic! Jo, it's just like when we were 9 and you befriended the vicious, magical tree in my front yard! In fact, I'm told Hogwarts has a magical, vicious tree! Durmstrang is an all pure-blood school, I don't know if Beauxbatons admits muggle-borns or half-bloods but do I know that Hogwarts admits all three and so does Ilvermorny. Basically, you're a witch and you can do magic, whether you know it or not."

"What are all the books? What do they mean by robes? And what do you mean by half-blood/pure-blood"

"Ok, books and robes," Leili pulled her backpack between them, she'd plunked it beside her when they'd sat on the floor and now started pulling things out, "The books all look like this, this is 'the standard book of spells grade 1' and the 'beginner's guide to transfiguration', and 'magical drafts and potions'." Leili grinned, "I came prepared. These are the robes," she stood and shook out what looked like a black cloak with long sleeves and a small Hogwarts crest on the right side of the chest.

"The robes are exactly what they sound like, robes. All first years wear plain black robes, since we don't know what house we'll be sorted into when we buy them. Hogwarts has a uniform, which is unfortunate, but really it could be worse. You're allowed to buy robes to match your house as soon as you know it, but most people wait 'till 2nd year. Under the robes you wear a white button down shirt and a pleated black or grey skirt with knee high socks or tights and plain black shoes.

"First years wear black ties with a Hogwarts crest, you're allowed to change that as soon as you know your house, but again, most people just wait a year. The cloaks button for winter and are really warm. First and Last day of class you wear a black pointy hat. Not the typical witch's hat you see in pictures, it's more like the pointy hat medieval princesses wore, the ones with the veil? Only black and without the veil." Leili paused for a breath before barreling on.

"As for the blood status thing, it's really stupid. I'm a half blood, one magic parent and one muggle parent, you are muggle-born, two muggle parents and then my dad is actually pureblood, he had two magic parents. And there's one thing, when we get to school you may find that some people are mean because they have a bug up their butts about mixing magic with muggle."

"How long have you known about being a witch? I mean you knew before you told me so when did you find out?"

"Since I was 7, I accidently charmed my snowball to hit my sister in the face. Though technically, I wasn't acknowledged as a witch until April."

"What do you mean technically?"

"In magical families there's this thing where, sometimes magical parents have a non-magic baby, it's kind of the opposite of a Muggle born. They're called Squibs, and they're basically muggles born to magic parents. So with any magical family, even if it's just one parent, there's a chance of a squib. And there's nothing wrong with them, they just can't do magic. So, technically until you get your acceptance letter you don't know for a fact that you're a witch. But nobody really goes by that anymore, it's all about when you did your first bit of magic and whether it was intentional or not."

"You kept mentioning house colors?"

"There are four houses and are ranked in popularity as Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Slytherin and Hufflepuff. Gryffindor is red and gold, Ravenclaw blue and bronze, Slytherin is green and silver and Hufflepuff is yellow and black."

"Hufflepuff… Sounds like a marshmallow."

"Yeah, lots of people make that connection."

"I like marshmallows."

"Each house has an animal to represent it, Hufflepuff is a honey badger, and it turns out that there are 11 different species of badger, which I didn't know. Ravenclaw is not a raven it is an eagle, apparently eagles are a symbol for a broader vision and strength of mind and heart-I didn't know that either but I asked Kanani and she told me-, Gryffindor is a lion, for bravery, and then Slytherin is a snake, I think because they're slippery buggers, that or they're slimy."

"What house is your sister in?"

"Hufflepuff. What else?"

"Do you have a wand?"

"Not yet, we're going in a couple of weeks, all this stuff was my sister's."

"Is there a tuition?" A voice said from the doorway, Leili turned to see Jo's mom leaning against the doorframe.

"I don't know. I never asked."

"Where do we get school books and various things?" Jo's mom asked as she joined her youngest daughter on the bed and took the list of books and supplies from Leili.

"There's this place, it's called Diagon Alley and it's hidden behind a pub and blocked from view by this brick wall that rearranges to form an archway when you tap the bricks in the right order. It's in London. And we get to school by a train; it leaves from King's Cross Station, technically."

There was a knock at the front door, so Jo's mom left the three of them to answer it. On the opposite side of the door was a young man, somewhere around 30 by the look of him. He was almost 6 feet tall and was wearing brightly colored robes. Bright blue eyes combined with pale blonde hair and a strong, if slightly scruffy, jaw made him quite attractive.

"Can I help you?" the girls heard Jo's mom ask.

"My name is Jack Evans, I work at the post and I'm here to explain to you and your daughter, Jocelyn, about Hogwarts and magic." He flashed a grin and a badge identifying him as what he claimed to be. "May I come in, Ms. Montgomery?" Jo's mom stepped aside and held the door open for the post-worker. "Thank you."

Jack explained when the four of them, plus Jo's older brother Jonathan, had gathered in the living room that a witch or wizard who worked with the post would explain and deliver the acceptance letter but unfortunately, Jo's letter had been tossed in the owl pile instead of the hand deliver pile and so the acceptance letter had been sent via owl.

Jack explained that there was a muggle to wizard currency converter in Diagon Alley so buying supplies wouldn't be a problem for them. Hogwarts had no tuition; the cost of magical education was covered by the Ministry of Magic. Jack handed Jo a train ticket that read London to Hogwarts, platform 9 ¾, September 1st at 11 am, King's Cross Station. He explained that the ticket served mainly as a reminder, it would not be taken away for boarding.

"Well, what do you think Jo?" her mom asked when Jack was done explaining.

"Boarding school?" Jo asked, turning to look at Leili.

"In Scotland," Leili affirmed with a smile.

"I always wanted to live in a small town," Jo said with a grin by way of reply.