Chapter Three

When Cain woke the next morning, he realised rather quickly that it was because of a pleasantly annoying rustling at his window again. He excitedly leaped from the bed to throw open the window. The brown owl swooped in to drop the newest roll of yellow parchment onto Cain's desk. Before he even thought of unrolling the parchment, Cain dug up a half empty bag of beef jerky to offer to the bird perched, once again, on the back of the desk chair. It snatched the meat from Cain's fingers and used its talons to rip the dried beef into shreds. With a chuckle, Cain retrieved the letter from his desk and read:

Mr. Tenebris,

You, I assume, will be pleased to hear that we were not mistaken in sending the welcoming letter from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to you.

To more inform you and your family of the goings on at the school and where to buy your school things, I will be arriving to your home shortly.

Enclosed in the separate envelope, you'll find your ticket to board the Hogwarts Express on September 1 at 11:30 am.

Yours sincerely,

Neville Longbottom,

Deputy Headmaster

P.S.- This owl is yours to keep. You are to name him and treat him with care and respect. I will bring his perch with me later today.

"Today?" Cain whispered to himself. He looked to the bird thinking that his parents were going to kill him when they found out that he now had a nameless pet owl. The owl hooted and tried to rip open the bag of jerky with his talons and beak.

Cain opened the other, smaller envelope and pulled out a train ticket that told him that he was to get onto the Hogwarts Express at 11:00 am, September 1, at King's Cross Station, from platform Nine and Three-Quarters. Nine and Three-Quarters? thought Cain confusedly. He had never heard of such a platform.

He looked back to the brown owl sitting at his desk. What am I going to name this bird? Cain thought exasperatedly, I've never even had a dog before.

He decided to make it sort of ironic by naming him after a famous messenger. Maybe Mercury, the Roman messenger god; or perhaps Gabriel, the messenger Archangel, known as the message carrier of God Himself. But Cain felt that that would seem like he was calling himself God, and he didn't feel comfortable with that.

So, Mercury it was, then.

"So. I have an owl now," said Cain as he stared at the bird. "And his name is Mercury."

Mercury hooted at Cain and they both jumped at the sound of his mother's shout for him to come downstairs. "Wonder what that's about," he mumbled as he pulled on the day before's jeans and a clean sweater.

He looked at the owl again. "Um, you stay here for now, Merc." Cain opened the bag of meat for him and bounded down the stairs.

Cain shot through the kitchen and into the front room where his parents were waiting for him. Standing with them in the entryway was a handsome, rather friendly looking man wearing a deep maroon coloured cloak hanging all the way to the floor.

"Um, good morning Mom, Dad," he smiled to them, trying to appear normal. "Good morning to you too, Mr. Longbottom."

"Good morning to you, Mr. Tenebris," he nodded to Cain with a somewhat wry grin. "Call me Neville."

"How exactly do you two know each other?" Louise asked, placing a hand on her son's shoulder.

"Well, Mrs. Tenebris," Neville started, "Your son has been accepted into our school."

"What school would that be?" Mitchell politely demanded.

"Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

"Wizardry?" Cain's father asked uncertainly. He had a look on his face like he was on the receiving end of a joke.

"Yes, wizardry," Neville stated matter-of-factly. "It is the finest school for all young witches and wizards to learn how to find and harvest their true magnificence."

"Is this the only wizarding school?" Louise asked. Mitchell looked at her as though she'd lost her mind.

"No it isn't. There are several more in all different countries."

"Even America?" Cain asked excitedly. He was finally believing that receiving the letter wasn't just a joke played on him.

"Even in America. As far as I know, you were put down to receive an acceptance letter from the University of the Grindylow on your birthday had you not moved out of your country."

Cain thought about this for a moment, trying to take it all in. He could hardly believe that this was a real, actual thing. That there was seriously a school called Hogwarts and that he was supposed to go to it. He had always been meant to go to a school for witches and wizards. So, clearly, this meant-

"Does this mean that I'm a- a wizard?" he stuttered, interrupting whatever his mother was saying to him.

"How do we know that this is real?" Mitchell was always the one to argue with something that he wasn't one hundred percent sure of.

"I know for a fact that this is real, Mitch," Louise told him sternly with a proud grin to her son.

"Seriously?"

"Yes," Louise looked at her husband. "You remember my cousin Mikah?" Mitchell nodded."She went to the University of the Grindylow," she informed them. "She would send her owl Hermes home with letters all the time." Cain snorted.

"Is there something funny?" Louise asked of him.

Cain looked to Professor Longbottom who was wearing an amused and knowing grin. He just walked to the foot of the stairs and let out a whistle. Seconds later his owl swooped down and landed atop Cain's head. Louise gasped while Mitchell stumbled back a few steps.

"Mom, Dad," said Cain with a chuckle. He gestured to the bird on his head. "This is Mercury. The Roman version of Hermes."

"It's a good name for him," Neville stated. Cain walked back to join the group in the living room. As he came closer to his parents, they became more relaxed about the large bird currently perched upon their son's head. Mitchell even reached out to stroke his finger down the owl's chest.

The professor reached inside of his robes suddenly and pulled out a black velvet drawstring satchel that looked like it might only hold something the size of a bowling ball. He dunked his hand inside of the bag and a second later, pulled out a large, gold wire bird cage with a bar running across the middle for Mercury to perch on. There were two square, white, metal bowls meant for food and water clipped to the bottom edges of the cage. Sitting on the floor of the cage were two more black velvet bags.

"Here is the cage that belongs to Mercury," said Professor Longbottom to Cain. "One of the bags inside is something of a gift from me to help you carry your things from the shops. The other holds everything you will need to take care of him properly, which is fully expected of you."

"Of course." Cain nodded and accepted the metal bird cage. "Do you think it best if I just leave the door open for him to come and go as he pleases?"

"That should do just fine."

With a grateful smile to Professor Longbottom, Cain gestured for Mercury to come down to his arm because, seriously, those talons started to hurt his head after a while. He took the cage up to his bedroom and made room for it on top of his dresser. He reached inside one of the black bags to find which was for Mercury, he discovered that they were far more spacious than they should have been. But, having felt around for a bit, Cain discovered a cloth sack with some sort of pellet food inside. Assuming that this was meant for the bird, Cain dumped some of it into one of the white bowls in the cage. He poured some water from a bottle on his desk into the other bowl.

Back downstairs, Cain asked the deputy headmaster about the second bag.

"Is it made like the other one?" asked Cain. Longbottom nodded.

"These bags have had a charm placed onto them to allow them to, weightlessly, carry more items."

Mitchell looked as though he'd like to have one of the charmed bags for himself.

"So as I was about to ask you earlier, how long have you known about Hogwarts before Professor Longbottom came here?" Louise asked. Cain felt his cheeks grow warm.

"Since the morning of my birthday," he answered shyly. "Honestly, I thought that it was all a super elaborate joke."

"Cain, I assure you that there is no joke here."

"So, does this mean I get to go to Hogwarts?" Cain, nearly jumping with excitement, turned to his parents.

"It sure looks like it kiddo," Mitchell answered for both he and his wife with a smile to his eldest child.

"But wait," Cain stopped. "The letter said that you await my owl by no later than July thirty first."

"Well, given that you've only been in England for the amount of time you have, there will be an exception in your case."

Cain's shoulders sagged in relief.

"Go get yourself and your sister ready to go and we'll head out to get your things," Louise said. Cain and dashed up the staircase to get Anna as well as himself ready to leave. He triple checked that he hadn't forgotten his list of necessary school supplies as well as the empty black velvet bag.