Owl Post
Arthur Pendergast isn't what you'd call a normal boy for various reasons. For one, the summer holidays are a time when he feels more restricted and not himself, not enjoying them as much as other kids. For another, he actually liked doing his homework. And there's the fact that he's a wizard.
Right now, it was nearly midnight and he sat at his desk, his lamp on and had the large leather bound book of A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot propped open. He moved the tip of his quill down the page, looking for something to help him write his essay 'Witch Burning in the Fourteenth Century Was Completely Pointless - discuss'.
He stopped moving the quill when he found a certain paragraph that read:
Non-magical people (more commonly known as Muggles) were particularly afraid of magic in mediaeval times, but not very good at recognising it. On the rare occasion that they did catch a real witch or wizard, burning had no effect whatsoever. The witch or wizard would perform a basic Flame Freezing Charm and then pretend to shriek in pain while enjoying a gentle, tickling sensation. Indeed, Wendelin the Weird enjoyed being burnt so much that she allowed herself to be caught no fewer than forty seven times in various disguises.
Arthur dipped his quill into his ink bottle and wrote on a roll of parchment, but he'd pause every once in a while to see if the scratching from his quill woke up the Dentleys, who are really cranky if they wake up too early.
The Dentley family of Number Four, Privet Drive are Arthur's loving relatives that he lives with during the summer holidays. Uncle Nicholas, Aunt Patty and their son, Deacon. They were Muggles and are very accepting of magic. Arthur's dead parents were a witch and wizard themselves.
Up until two years ago, Arthur assumed that he was normal with little knowledge of his parents as his aunt and uncle seemed hesitant to talk of them. Of course, two years ago was when he started going to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, following his parents' footsteps. They accepted him having all of his spellbooks, wand, cauldron and broomstick in his bedroom as they were his things and he'd need a lot of them during the holidays.
Why he needed them was because Arthur's teachers at Hogwarts had given him a lot of holiday work. One of the essays came from his least favourite teacher, Professor Snape, and it was a nasty one about Shrinking Potions. Snape happens to hate Arthur to the point that he delights in getting him into detention any chance he had. Because of this, his essay was the first Arthur tackled, wanting to get it out of the way.
And speaking of all things Hogwarts, Arthur recollected a funny moment that happened a week into the holidays.
David Merlon, one of Arthur's best friends and a descendant of Merlin himself, along with his whole family, too went to Hogwarts, having grown up in the wizarding world, so he knew some things Arthur didn't, having only grown up in the Muggle world. Despite this, he didn't really know how to use a telephone.
So when he rang up, Uncle Nicholas was shocked by the voice at the other end of the line.
"Nicholas Dentley here."
Arthur was in the room when it happened and laughed a lot when he heard David's voice answer.
"HELLO? IS ARTHUR PENDERGAST THERE?"
David's yelling was so loud that Uncle Nicholas jumped in his chair and held the receiver as far as his arm could reach.
"Who is this?" He shouted into the mouthpiece.
"DAVID MERLON! I'M A FRIEND OF ARTHUR'S FROM SCHOOL!" He looked over to his nephew with a raised eyebrow, who looked like he felt bad, assuming that he'd have learned how to use a telephone from the Merlons' family friend, Gideon Weasley, who's obsessed with Muggles.
"Listen, you don't need to shout into the phone. You can talk normally." Nicholas told David on the phone.
"Oh… sorry. Anyway, is Arthur there?" David said apologetically.
The two went on to have a long conversation that day and would end up having talks on the phone once a week. Same for his other best friend at Hogwarts, Chrysanthemum Ranger, a Muggle-Born witch. She had to be the cleverest witch of his year and of course knew how to talk on the phone, being raised by Muggle parents.
Having contact with his wizarding friends during the past five weeks made being away from the wizarding world bearable, though he did have his barn owl, Athena, who could deliver and arrive with letters and packages if she could, but he mainly let her fly out when she wanted, any other time, she'd be in her cage.
Arthur had finished writing about Wendelin the Weird, pausing to listen again. The silence that was in the dark house was broken from the distant snores from his uncle. Of course, he realised that he was being a bit ridiculous right now doing this essay this late at night as his eyes started to itch with tiredness. With that, he decided to continue the essay tomorrow.
He put all of his things away under his bed and stretched as he stood up. Then he checked the time on his alarm clock on his bedside table.
It's saying that it's one o'clock in the morning. This made Arthur's stomach do a somersault or two because today is his thirteenth birthday and he never realised till now.
Arthur decided to walk up to the open window, past Athena's large and empty cage. He leaned on the sill, feeling the cool night air brush his face, something that he finds pleasant to deal with the heat of the summer.
Athena has been gone for two days as of right now. He wasn't worried for her as she's been gone for this long before, though he hoped she'd be back soon. She's one of a group of beings that don't look at him as something that ain't normal.
Arthur hadn't changed much, the only real difference being that he grew a few inches through the past year. Of course, his jet black hair is its usual untidiness to the point of being stubborn, no matter what Arthur did to it. His eyes were a bright green and on his forehead, visible through his hair, is a thin scar in the shape of a lightning bolt.
That scar is the one thing physically makes him come off as odd and significant, even in the wizarding community.
For ten years living with the Dentleys, he had believed that the scar was from the car crash that killed his parents, however, he would learn that his parents, Rose and John Pendergast, did not die in a car crash. They were actually murdered. Their murderer was the most feared dark wizard of all time, Lord Voldemort. Arthur had somehow managed from the very attack that killed his parents with only the scar on his forehead when Voldemort's curse ended up rebounding on him and he fled, though barely alive.
Arthur had ended up coming face to face with him twice more in different ways since arriving at Hogwarts, making him think of how lucky he was to reach his thirteenth birthday. He, in particular, thought about the most recent encounter as it helped him understand how not only is he the heir of Gryffindor, similar to how Voldemor, or Tom Riddle, is the heir of Slytherin, but Arthur's also the descendant of King Arthur Pendragon, which was fitting considering one of his best friends is a descendant of Merlin.
He scanned the beautiful starry night sky, looking for any sign of Athena. Even if she soared back to him with a dead mouse dangling from her beak, he'd be glad to see her back.
As he gazed over the rooftops, he then saw something odd.
Being silhouetted against the currently golden moon and growing larger every second was some large and lopsided creature, flapping in Arthur's direction. He stood as still as a statue, watching it sink lower and lower,
For the briefest of moments, Arthur considered shutting the window to stop whatever it is from getting at him so he placed his hand on the window latch. However, when the odd creature soared over the street lamps of Privet Drive, he realised what it was and ducked down to avoid being hit.
Soaring in through the window were three owls, two of which held up the third, looking unconscious. They all landed with a soft flump on his bed. The owl in the middle was large and grey, keeling right over and laid motionless. It also had a large package tied to its legs.
Arthur knew this particular owl as he shook his head in amusement. It was Errol, the Merlon family owl. He went straight to the bed, sitting next to the owls and untied the cords around Errol's legs, took the package off him and carried the owl to Athena's cage. He opened one of his bleary eyes, giving a cute and feeble hoot of thanks and started gulping some water.
He then turned to the other owls. One of whom was Athena, his large female barn owl. She was also carrying a package and looked pleased with herself.
"Good girl." He cooed to her and she gave him an affectionate nip with her beak as he removed what was her burden. She then flew across the room to join Errol.
With the third owl, Arthur didn't recognise it, though he did think that the tawny owl was handsome. But he did know where it came from aside from it having a third package, there was also a letter that bore the Hogwarts crest.
When Arthur relieved this particular owl from its post, it ruffled its feathers, coming across as important, stretched its wings and took off through the window.
Sitting back down on the bed, he first grabbed Errol's package, ripping off the brown paper and saw that it was a present wrapped in gold and there was even a birthday card. He opened the envelope first and two pieces of paper fell out, one being a letter and the other a newspaper cutting.
The cutting had come from the wizarding newspaper, the Daily Prophet as the people in the black and white photo moved. He picked it up and smoothed it out before reading:
MINISTRY OF MAGIC EMPLOYEE SCOOPS GRAND PRIZE
Benjamin Merlon, an Auror in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement at the Ministry of Magic, has won the annual Daily Prophet Grand Prize Galleon Draw.
A very pleased Mr Merlon told the Daily Prophet "We plan to use the gold to spend the summer holiday in Egypt, where our eldest son, Rob, works as a curse breaker for Gringotts Wizarding Bank. And we'll take our friend, Gideon Weasley on the trip as well."
The Merlon family will be spending a month in Egypt, returning for the start for the start of the new school year at Hogwarts, which five of the Merlon children currently attend.
Arthur's eyes widened, surprised but glad that they went on this trip. He scanned the moving photograph with a grin on his face as he saw all nine of the Merlons that waved furiously at him, standing in front of one of the pyramids of Giza. And of course, there was a tenth person in the photo, no doubt Gideon Weasley.
Arthur easily spotted Martha Merlon, a strikingly beautiful woman who had her hair tied into a bun, next to her was her husband, Benjamin Merlon, tall and with thick facial hair and around them were their six sons and one daughter. All of them (not really being clear in the black and white photo) had silver hair.
To the side was Gideon, who was as tall as Benjamin, but was balding and wore glasses. He was told that he was ginger.
Standing in the middle was David, who was a bit tall and slim. He had his pet rat Scabbers on his shoulder and his arm was around his little sister, Mary.
He remembered getting a call from David saying how he wouldn't be able to call him for a period of time and that he wanted it to be a surprise. Well, it was indeed a surprise.
He then picked up David's letter and unfolded it.
Dear Arthur,
Happy birthday!
I hope you're doing well with your relatives.
As you can see, we've ended up going to Egypt and it is just brilliant. Rob had taken us through all of these tombs and you wouldn't believe the kinds of curses ancient Egyptian wizards put on them. The last one was so disturbing that mum didn't let Mary go inside it. There were all of these mutant skeletons in there of Muggles who broke in and grew extra heads and such.
Just nasty….
When dad won the seven hundred Galleons from that draw, we just had to go on a trip and take Gideon with us. Of course, we have some left so that I can get a new wand for third year.
Arthur recollected how David's old wand got snapped when they crashed in the Whomping Willow on the school grounds with a flying car. That was not fun.
We'll be back in a week before term starts and be going to London to get my wand and our new school books. Let me know if there's any chance of meeting you there, okay?
David
PS: Sam is now Head Boy. He just got the letter last week.
This had Arthur glance back at the photograph and spot Sam, who would be in his seventh and final year at Hogwarts. Despite being Head Boy, he clearly didn't grow smug as he still looked down to earth and didn't have his Head Boy badge on his clothes.
Arthur finally turned to his present and unwrapped it. Inside was what can be described as a miniature glass spinning top. It also had a note from David under it.
Arthur - I've got you a Pocket Sneakoscope. It lights up and spins whenever someone untrustworthy's around you. Mind you, Rob said it's just rubbish sold for wizard tourists and isn't all that reliable as it kept lighting up at dinner last night. Of course, Rob didn't know that Jack and Kevin put beetles in his soup.
Happy Birthday if this arrives on said day.
Arthur put the Pocket Sneakoscope on his bedside table, where it stood real still, being balanced on its point, reflecting the hands of his clock. It may not be that reliable, but it does look cool.
After looking at it for a few minutes, he finally moved on to unpack what Athena brought.
Inside was a wrapped present as well as a card and letter. This one came from Chrys.
Dear Arthur,
I'm currently on holiday in France right now and I struggled trying to find a way to send you your birthday present and then Athena showed up.
I swear she loves you so much that she makes sure to deliver things to you as soon as possible. I ordered your present through owl order, which I learned from an advertisement in the Daily Prophet.
Also, I've seen that David and his family went to Egypt. I'm so jealous. Ancient Egyptian wizards are so fascinating.
Anyway, there's actually some cool local history of witchcraft here in France. There's even a French wizarding school. I've even reworked my History of Magic essay to include what I've learned here.
David told me he's going to be in London in the last week before term starts. You'd better make it there. But if you don't, I'll see you on the Hogwarts Express.
Love from
Chrys
Arthur smirked as he set the letter aside and picked up her present. It was pretty heavy. He suspected it could be a pile of books but as he unpacked it, it wasn't that. He was so beyond happy upon seeing a sleek black leather case with silver words stamped on it: Broomstick Servicing Kit.
"Thank you, Chrys!" He whispered as he unzipped the case and looked inside.
There was a large jar of Fleetwood's High Finish Handle Polish, a pair of gleaming silver Tail Twig Clippers, a small brass compass to clip onto a broom for long journeys as well as a Handbook of Do it Yourself Broomcare.
One downside of being in the Muggle world during the summer holidays is that he missed playing the most popular wizard sport at Hogwarts: Quidditch. It's highly dangerous, exciting and played on broomsticks. Arthur ended up being a brilliant Quidditch player, he's actually the youngest person in a whole century to be on any of the Hogwarts Quidditch teams. And one of his most prized possessions is his Nimbus Two Thousand racing broom.
He put the leather case at the foot of the bed and had picked up the last of the packages. Upon seeing the untidy scrawl on the brown paper, he knew it was from Hagrid, the gamekeeper at Hogwarts.
He ripped off the top layer of paper and had glimpsed at something green and leathery. However, before he could properly unwrap it, the parcel made an odd quiver and whatever was inside snapped loudly as though it had jaws.
Arthur made some distance between him and the parcel. He knew that Hagrid wouldn't send him something dangerous intentionally, though he knew Hagrid's view of what's dangerous isn't exactly normal. He is infamous for befriending giant spiders, a three headed dog and sneaking an illegal dragon egg into his cabin from men in a pub.
Deciding to see what he was sent, he poked the parcel cautiously. It snapped loudly once more. Arthur grabbed a rounders bat he had in his room and raised it over his head, ready to strike whatever it is.
He then seized the rest of the wrapping paper with his free hand and pulled.
Arthur was confused to see that it was a book. It had a handsome green cover and emblazoned in gold was the title The Monster Book of Monsters. He frowned in shock and confusion. Who in their right mind would make a book be a monster?
The book itself then flipped onto its edge and scuttled sideways along the bed as though it were a crab.
"Oh no, you don't!" He muttered before he hit the book three times, giving him a chance to clamp it tightly in his arms and grab a belt he had in a desk drawer, which he buckled tightly around it.
Both owls were watching the whole thing with interest as The Monster Book shuddered angrily, not being able to flap and snap. Arthur then threw it down on the bed and reached for Hagrid's card.
DEAR ARTHUR,
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
THINK YOU MIGHT FIND THIS USEFUL FOR NEXT YEAR, WON'T SAY NO MORE HERE. TELL YOU WHEN I SEE YOU.
HOPE YOU'RE DOING WELL.
ALL THE BEST,
HAGRID
How could a book that can bite back be useful for when he goes to Hogwarts? Regardless, he placed the card with David's and Chrys' and then finally grabbed the Hogwarts letter.
Feeling that it was thicker than normal, he opened the envelope with interest and pulled out the first page of parchment.
Dear Mr Pendergast,
Please note that the new school year will begin on September the first. The Hogwarts Express will leave from King's Cross station, platform nine and three quarters, at eleven o'clock.
Third years are permitted to visit the village of Hogsmeade at certain weekends. Please give the enclosed permission form to your parent or guardian to sign.
A list of books for next year is enclosed.
Yours sincerely,
Professor M. McGonagall
Deputy Headmistress
Arthur pulled out the Hogsmeade permission form and looked at it. It would be cool to go and visit at certain weekends a wizarding village, having never set foot in it.
He looked over at the clock and saw that it's now two o'clock.
He placed the cards and the Hogsmeade form on his bedside table and got into bed, ready for his relatives to celebrate his birthday and to ask them about the permission form.
Either way, for now, this was a pretty good birthday.
Considering what will happen in the next chapter, that will be fun to see happen.
