Chapter Six

Saturday morning, Virginia's parents sits sternly to face what is going to happen. The family gobbles down their breakfast quickly and sees Dad standing beside the door. He keeps looking out of the windows on the door, but nothing is happening.

Virginia thinks it was all amusing but didn't dare to laugh under in such serious environment. At once, the doorbell rings. A women with strange clothes was standing outside. How did she came here? Dad was confused. He just turned back his head for a few seconds and she appeared, as though out of thin air, and rings the doorbell of his family.

He reached the doorknob, hesitated, and opened it.

"Good morning. You must be Mr. Winchester. I am Minerva Mcgonagall, professor at Hogwarts. I mentioned in the previous letter that I would be coming."

Dad is furthur confused. Obviously the woman in front of him is in her fifties, and judging from her look, she must be a serious woman. He thought of those stern old British women of noble families. But this one dresses quirkly. She is very tall, and wears a green cloak and a pointed black hat. She says she was the one who wrote the letter.

Dad tried to push away the amusement and leaned slightly and said, "Well, let's come in and chat." He thought it was no good standing there.

Virginia sees her dad going to the other side, and a tall witch walking in. Mum goes to welcome her.

Soon enough, everyone sat down. Mum is a bit restricted, and Dad seems lost for words. Professor Mcgonagall breaks the silence.

"As to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, I quite understand about your confusion. Hogwarts was built a thousand years ago and grants invitations to children who are eleven years old and has special talent – magic. Professors at Hogwarts teaches them how to use and control their power." Coming to this, she sees Virginia's Dad has something to say, so she stopped.

"I think I've never known such a school." Dad spoke.

"Yeah, I think so. If it wasn't for Virginia's magical talent, you might not even hear of Hogwarts for your entire life." Mcgonagall explained.

"Sorry, but I think all these stuff are ridiculous in themselves, and Virginia never showed any magical talent. She is a normal child." Dad wasn't convinced, and seems getting a bit angry.

Professor Mcgonagall is clearly unaffected by the change of attitude. Again she speaks calmly and sternly, "As to this point, I think we can have a small test."

The parents suddenly sits bolt upright as though wishing to prevent her from taking their daughter away.

"Ms. Winchester, please get focused and follow me in saying, 'Accio Cup!'" The cup in front of Mcgonagall suddenly flew into the air and landed in her hand. No water was spilled. Then she looked at Virginia encouragingly.

Virginia looks petrified. Seeing it for herself is completely different from seeing it on TV. When the cup actually flew, she felt every cell in her body got excited. She completely ignored the astonished parents beside her.

But when she did as Mcgonagall told her to, the cup didn't flew into her hand like Mcgonagall's just did. The cup just shaked a little. But it was obvious, so obvious that the parents saw it clear enough. Not reviving from the scene, they heard Virginia shouting again, "Accio Cup!"

This time, the cup really moved, but it spilled out the tea and broke into pieces.

"Excellent, very good! Now I think we can confirm that Ms. Winchester is truly a little witch." Mcgonagall said excitedly and took out her wand. She pointed it at the cup and said, "Scourgify! Reparo!"

When Mcgonagall was praising their daughter, the parents revived a little, and at the instance they were going to help Virginia get rid of the spilled water, they saw Mcgonagall taking out her wand. Dad reacted naturally to shield his daughter away from it, but he was again driven into astonishment by the following events. Firstly all spilled tea was gone; secondly the broken pieces were repaired tracelessly, and a "new" cup stood in front of him on the table. It was as though they had gone back in time.

Was this a dream?

"Mr. And Ms. Winchester," Mcgonagall spoke, looking at the parents, who were still in surprise, "Ms winchester certainly is a little witch. As for why she didn't show her talent before, I think it may be an accident, because almost every witch and wizard shows uncontrolled magic during their growth, before coming to Hiogwarts. This was often caused by sudden burst of emotions. I have to say that this is something you would be proud of, because it proves that Ms. Winchester either has natural abilities to control her magic or she never has experienced extreme emotional bursts."

She stopped for a while and continued, "Usually, after getting to know about Hogwarts, if you still decide not to let her go, we couldn't force you to attend Hogwarts. But firstly, as she ages, her magical power grows as well. Although she seems able to control her power well now, if she does not attend Hogwarts, then we cannot guarantee no sudden burst of power happens in the future. Also,…."

She suddenly stopped as though not wishing to go on, but obviously she had to, so she continued, "Also, the current condition of the magic word was not pleasant. There is an evil force that exists in our word, and it is also persecuting the Muggles, you know, non-magic people like you. Well, we call guys like you Muggles, and guys like Ms. Winchester muggle-borns, which means little witches and wizards with Muggle parents. Now this force has taken control of the Ministry of Magic, the ministry of the magic world, you know, who also control over all young witches and wizards. Well, if Ms. Winchester does not attend Hogwarts, in fact we cannot guarantee her safety. Only of she decides to go can we professors take care of her safety. And, although the ministry is currently persecuting muggle-borns, but now, every young student who is now going to school will not be inquired if they can provide any prove that they have magic relatives. As to this, I think we can come up with some prove for Ms. Winchester."

"So I wish, sincerely, that Mr. And Ms. Winchester, if you would want to keep your daughter safe, please let her go to Hogwarts." She paused, taking her hat off and continued, "I feel sorry indeed for this."

The countenance of the parents experienced a long process of change. They are getting increasingly nervous and sits alongside Ms. Winchester at last as though wishing to protect her in this way.

Virginia just recovered from using magic when Mcgonagall mentioned all these. Although she was prepared for some disturbances, she didn't think things would go this way. She finds it hard to accept all these. Not mentioning whether her parents can accept the fact that she is a witch, now her safety is in question, she knows that naturally, her parents would feel very concerned.

She speaks in a serious tone, "I decide to attend Hogwarts."

Dad watched her in a complicated manner and turned to Mcgonagall, "I think we need some time for consideration. If it is OK, shall we perhaps arrange another time to meet and then we could give you our answer."

"OK. If you are available, maybe I shall go back a week later. If you decide to let her go, I think I have to take her to purchase necessary equipments."

"No problem." Dad agreed.

Mcgonagall was gone. Dad seems to be in a constantly nervous state. He keeps working around in circles in the living room and throws occasional glances to his wife and daughter. Virginia has nothing to say. She guesses that her parents must be confused; even herself is. This comes so suddenly that she doesn't know what to do.

If she didn't take this matter so lightly in the beginning, not thinking that she could avoid all these by not going to Hogwarts so she could get herself away from such dark periods; if she tried hard to convince her parents that all these things about magic is real and so does Hogwarts, things may not be so bad like now.

If she didn't send the letter, will Mcgonagall come to her home to talk about all these? Virginia thought she was cheating herself by thinking this way. Even if her family all agreed that she can go, Professor Mcgonagall would still come her for herself and explain everything.

She cannot guess about what is going to happen or what would have happened instead. All she can do now is to let her parents accept all these and not to get them worried.