"Hey Dad! How's your day been thus far?" I asked as I skipped into the front room of our small house. The off-white walls contrasted starkly with the large black TV that sat across from the tan and dark brown sued sectional to my right. All the windows were open, which allowed a nice cross breeze to blow through the room. My Dad, a tall man of 5'11", sat in the middle of the sectional with his feet up on a stool of the same design and material as the sectional. Dad was wearing his work cloths, and orange shirt with blue jeans and a traffic jacket with reflectors sewn into the back, chest and shoulders.

He looked over to me and grunted with a smile.

"Hey son!" he greeted with tired glee, "My day's been good, we dug up a whole set of Pipes for AT&T today. WE got to watch them put in their new Cable Wires for the Phones before filling the whole trench back up," Dad told me lazily, a wave of his hand indicating that it wasn't much of anything special. To me though, it sounded like the most fascinating thing in the world.

"Did you get to do anything else?" I asked him as I jumped up on the couch next to him to watch the TV with him.

"Don't plop into the couches Ethan, and yeah I guess. I got to use the Backhoe today, those big excavator type machines that you and your brothers like to play with out in the sand box...," Dad said, identifying the machine for me a bit more easily. I loved to dig, it was one of my favorite things to do, beside build massive things out of Legos.

"Cool!" I almost shouted in excitement. I laughed when my dad poked me in the ribs, a smile brightening up his face as he heard my laughs.

"Of course it is," He laughed, his deep voice making it sound almost booming in my ears. It was a comforting sound. As we sat, engrossed in watching Animal Planet's The Most Extreme Countdown, neither of us paid much attention when the sound of the Mailbox at the front door opened and closed loudly. As we sat there, glued to the screen, we both barely paid attention when my two brothers, both younger than me by a few years each, walked in.

Scott, my younger brother by three years, with blond hair and grayish green blue eyes, shimmied up onto the couch next to me. The seven year old smiled at me as I slung an arm over his shoulder and pulled him into my side.

"Hey Scotty!" I beamed down at him. My brother scowled playfully at me and smacked me in the chest.

"Its Scott, Ethan, not Scotty... No matter how many times Dad laughs when you call me that!" He groaned at me. A second later he smiled up and gave me a hug anyway.

My youngest brother, James, whom was nine years younger than me, plopped down on the floor in between Dad's legs and stared up at him with wide eyes. His blue pacifier moved back and forth between his lips as he made doe eyes at us. Dad laughed at the pathetic expression on my brothers face and hoisted him up into his arms. Scott and I both giggled madly at the baby of the family as he squirmed in our Dad's hands.

"Fine, if you don't want to hang with your cool Dad, you can sit with your goofy lookin' brothers!" Dad said in a mock hurt tone as he handed Scott and I our brother. At first he laid across our laps, he baby blue eyes shinning up at us with hidden intelligence. He than began to squirm and giggle behind his pacifier, which then had my brother and I scooting over a bit so we could accommodate James sitting in between us.

Once we were comfortable, we both placed an arm around James and gave him a bit of a tickle. Dad laughed at us when he heard the giggling, but quickly admonished us to quiet down when the show came back on. Dad placed his own arm around us, though over our heads on the top of the couch. As the show progressed, we learned about some of the worlds most extreme bugs.

The fire bug, the Stick bug, the Aphid, the Water Bear, and several others.

Once the show was over, and the next episode was about to start, Dad stretched and looked a the front door.

"Hey, Ethan, you think you could get the mail for me?" Dad asked with a bit of exhaustion creeping into his voice.

"Sure Dad!" I said happily. I carefully disentangled myself from my brothers and walked speedily over to the door. I flicked the deadbolt to the unlatched position, undid the child lock on the upper part of the door, opened it, undid the second deadbolt on the security door and unlocked the doorknob. I kept the wood door open and gently closed the screen door as I turned around and checked the mailbox.

I flipped through the mail rather easily, as I knew what Dad would want the most, and what he would have Mom look at later. What I found though, was not what I would have imagined. I found the regular bills, Power, Gas, Water, Waste, Phone, and Cable bills... Along with the junk mail any person within the USA is familiar with. What was odd though, was the heavy paper envelope that had a wax seal on it.

"Here you go Dad!" I called as I locked up the doors. It wasn't that we lived in a bad neighborhood or anything, the locks were more in place so that my younger brothers and I wouldn't be able to get out of the house. Though, stories on that will be for another time.

"Thanks son," Dad smiled as he looked through the mail. When he spotted what I had in my hands though, he shifted an eye brow and tilted his head in question. "What's that Ethan? Someone send you a letter?" He asked, pleasantly confused at the simple fact of his son getting mail.

"Um... I don't know... It has 'Hogwarts school For Witchcraft and Wizardry' written across it... And its addressed to me, but the address is funny... IT says, 'To Ethan Andrews George, 5687 N Blackstone Fresno CA 93704 USA, Last Bedroom at the end of the hall.'" I told him as I fiddled with the letter. Dad stared at it funnily enough for a few seconds before he scratched his beard and shrugged at it.

"Go ahead and open it son, maybe its a prank or something from your uncles?" Dad shrugged.

Now, before we continue with this story, some of you might be wondering a few things. Like; why hasn't he mentioned magic, or Why does his Father not recognize anything that he said about Magic... Or even, Are they even AWARE of magic?! Well, They are aware of Magic, but in The USA, Magic was taught more as a secondary to what Everyone else was taught. Also, My Dad did understand what I was telling him, he just hadn't thought that I would be getting a letter from such a school in the United States. But, I digress.

"Alright Dad, I'll be in my room lookin' this over, Ok?" I asked.

"Sure," was his only reply, along with a half cocked smile as I ran off. I heard him play with my brothers as I hunkered down at my personal desk. My room was rather oddly shaped. It was about eight feet wide, twelve feet long, and had two windows in it. One looked out over the side of the house, to the left of me bedroom door on the far wall, and the other was almost directly across from my bedroom door and looked out over what used to be the backyard enclosed patio... Which was later converted into a restroom/closet for my parents... It made for interesting conversations with anyone that decided to open that window.

The room was painted the same off-white as the rest of the house, a small twin bed lay under the far left window, and across the wall to the bedroom doors left, both coming together to make an L shape. Under the window for the bathroom, was my Desk. To the right of the desk, and most the rest of the room, was my closet. Altogether, it was very homey and well lived in, especially seeing as I shared it with my younger brother Scott.

Sitting at the desk I ripped open the wax seal and began to read over my letter. What I found there in, was quite shocking to say the least!

"Dear Mr. George, 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 class equipment and supplies needed for your stay here at Hogwarts. Term begins on the 1st of September, and we await your Owl, no later than August 31st."

"Minerva McGonagall; Deputy Headmistress."

"First year students shall require- Three sets of (black) work robes, one plain black pointed hat, one pair of work gloves(Dragon Hide or similar).

All students will require the following course books- Standard Book of Spells(Grade 1), A History of Magic, Magical Theory, A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration, One Thousand Magical herbs and Remedies, Magical Drafts and Potions, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection.

Students must also bring the following equipment- One Wand, One Cauldron(Pewter, Standard Size 2), One set of either Glass or Crystal Phials(Un-enchanted!), One Telescope, One Set of Brass Scales."

"Students may also bring one of the following: Owl, Cat, or toad. If given permission from a parent or guardian, with School board approval, student may bring another creature/familiar below XX class."

"Parents/Guardians are also reminded that First years are not allowed brooms!"

I stared at the letter for a little bit, amused by some of the wording. I read it over again, just to make sure it wasn't a trick. Seeing that there were none of the tells that my uncles used in their own works, I smirked and folded it back up. I grabbed a pencil and a sheaf of paper from my desk and ran off to the front room.

"Hey, Dad!" I called as I walked in with the Pencil and Paper. "I got somethin' for yah!"

"What'd that be son?" Dad asked, his head lolled back over the top of the couch to look at me as I stood in the door way to the front room.

"That letter I got, I think it's real!" I told him as I handed it over. He unfolded it and lazily ran his eyes over the parchment. He frowned when he saw the name of the person that had written it, but didn't seem all too concerned.

"What do you think, Son? Should we wait for your Mom to get home and talk this over, over the weekend?" Dad asked me, his brow raised in question.

"Yeah, that sounds good to me!" I smiled. Mom knew more about magic than Dad or I did, so it was a much smarter choice to wait for the weekend and discuss it with her, than to make the choice on our own. Besides the point that it would be deciding the next few years of my schooling if I had understood the Letter correctly.