"'My Journal of Being 13 and Our Trip to Scotland' by Adela"

by Kelly Chambliss

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Chapter Six

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June 21, 2001, later

I wrote so much this morning that my hand felt ready to fall off, and by that time, Pop and Dad were up and dressed, and we went out to brunch. (They slept right through breakfast because they stayed up half the night talking over what Pop called the "mind-breaking" story of magic. I got too tired, though, and went to sleep about midnight.)

Then we did some sight-seeing and tonight we'll meet Matt and Julia again. But I have an hour before we leave, so I will write some more now.

We learned so many new things last night that I'm sure I've probably forgotten something. But here are the highlights.

After Miranda did the hamster thing, there was some more talk and explanation, but eventually Dad and Pop were convinced that magic existed (Dad calls it "a different science"). And we all know now that Matt, Julia, Stephen, and Miranda are actually witches and wizards.

But I can't call them Stephen and Miranda any more! Because Dr. Reese was right about what she guessed a year ago, that their names "Stephen Smith" and "Miranda Richardson" are actually aliases!

Their real names are Severus Snape and Minerva McGonagall. (I actually heard them use these names last year, only I thought they were just pet names.) Miranda said I am welcome to still call her Miranda if it would be easier for me, and maybe it will be, I don't know. But I love the name Minerva, it means "wisdom" and "goddess of war," which seems perfect. I'll have to see how I feel.

For now, though, I'll just call them SS and MM.

Here's what Uncle Matt told us about himself and about how he knows SS and MM.

At one point Pop said, "Matt, I just can't take this in. You've been a wizard all this time, and you never said? When did you learn this? Why didn't I know?"

Uncle Matt said, "I learned about it when I was twelve, although I'd done magic without knowing it long before that. Remember when Mom and Dad had me tested by that neurological specialist when I was four? Because I could make the electric lights turn on just by blowing on them?"

Pop nodded. "That's when I was a senior in high school. It was weird as hell to watch," he told the rest of us. "Here was this little kid blowing the lights on and off and laughing like a tiny maniac."

"Well, it was funny," Matt said. "Our parents thought I might be one of those people whose bodies make abnormal electrical discharges or something. The doctor didn't find anything wrong, though, and eventually I stopped it. Turns out I was doing magic."

"Amazing," said Pop.

"And of course you know I went to boarding school."

"Better you than me, pal," Pop said. "I would have hated it. I never knew why Mom and Dad wanted to send you."

"It wasn't just any boarding school," Uncle Matt explained. "It was a school for magical children. When I was twelve, I got a letter inviting me to attend, and a teacher from the school came and explained all about it."

"Salem Academy," MM said. "A well-regarded American institution."

"Yes," said Uncle Matt and then laughed. "Tim, if you think you and Jim had trouble accepting that I'm a wizard, you should have seen Dad. It took months for him to get used to the idea."

"But why wasn't I told? Was Doug?" Pop wanted to know.

"There's a statue of secrecy," Matt said. "For good and probably some bad reasons, the magical world works very hard to keep itself secret from Muggles. When a magical child comes from a Muggle family, the immediate family is allowed to know, but no one else. Mom and Dad decided that since you and Doug were already grown and living on your own, it would be safer and better not to tell you."

He held up his hand as if to stop an argument, even though no one was saying anything. "Now, you might disagree with that decision, and I can understand if you're angry, but they meant it for the best, and over the years, it just seemed easier for me to go on keeping it a secret. I didn't want to disrupt your lives. All our lives."

"But you're telling us now."

"Well, things have changed, haven't they? I'm not a kid any more, and I've got Julia now, and . . ."

"We talked it over," Julia said. "We both find family really important, and we want to be part of your lives and have you be part of ours. Matt does travel a lot - - "

"I work for an international wizarding bank," Uncle Matt put in, "helping the magical systems interface with Muggle computers."

" - - but that might not be forever," Julia continued. "And we couldn't be a real family if we kept this big a secret from you."

"Yes," said SS drily. "By all means let's play happy families."

"I think it's wonderful," MM said, giving SS a stern look. He didn't say anything more.

"Have you told Doug and Cheryl?" asked Dad. (Aunt Cheryl and Uncle Doug and Douggie and Alicia were not able to come to the wedding, but Uncle Matt and Aunt Julia will see them next Christmas.)

"Not yet," said Uncle Matt, with a kind of grimace. "I still have that fun to look forward to. But I think it's something best done face-to-face, don't you?"

"I definitely do," I said. "Douggie and Alicia will love it if you can turn a glass into a hamster. But I want to know about Stephen and Miranda - - I mean, Severus and Minerva - - about how you know them?"

"That's where I come in," said Aunt Julia. "I went to a magical boarding school, too, but not Salem Academy. I went to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

Wow! A school called Hogwarts! The very word sounds like magic, doesn't it?

"It's in Scotland," Julia went on.

Scotland! I began to have an inkling of how SS and MM fit in. I looked over at them, and MM nodded.

"Yes," she said. "You already know that Severus and I were once teachers. Well, Hogwarts is where we taught. Julia was one of our students."

"But it was after I left school that I really got to know Professor McGonagall," Julia said. "I wanted to do advanced study in Transfiguration - - her branch of science, you know," she grinned at Dad - - "and Professor McGonagall agreed to supervise my apprenticeship. This was about ten years ago."

"One develops quite a bond with one's apprentices," MM said.

Julia smiled at her. "Yes. So when Matt and I decided to get married - - on Boxing Day, it was, right after Matt came back from visiting you in the States - - the professors happened to be in the country on holiday, and I went to see them. Of course I told Professor McGonagall all about the wedding and about Matt, and I asked her advice about how best to tell his family that he was magical."

Suddenly Julia burst out laughing. "I shouldn't laugh," she said, "but if you could have seen her face when I told her that my American fiance's last name is Jevic, and she found out that one of his US relatives is a niece called Adela."

Pop grinned. "You looked pleased, I hope," he said to MM.

She answered, "I admit, once I heard the names and some details, it did not take me long to make the connection. Coincidences do happen, however unlikely they may seem."

"A reminder, as if we needed one," said SS, "that the universe will have its little jokes."

"That's why you said I might see you again sooner than I'd think!" I exclaimed to MM. "On that day you and Stephen moved. You already knew about the wedding."

"I did," agreed MM. "But of course it was not my news to share. I did tell Julia that I'd be happy to lend whatever assistance I could in the matter of informing Matt's family of his background."

"Evidently that was a plural 'I,' for somehow it ended up including me," SS said, scowling.

"Oh, stop," said MM. "You said you were happy to help as well."

"Willing," corrected SS. "I said I was 'willing.'"

"I wish you still lived next door to us," I said. "Did you come back here because you're going to teach at Hogwarts again?"

"Merlin forbid!" said SS with a shudder. "No, I have opened an apothecary shop in Hogsmeade, and not even the worst of irate customers is as bad as the average Hogwarts dunderhead student."

MM rolled her eyes at this, but patted his arm. "I'm not teaching, no," she said. "But I am doing some consulting work with the current headmaster. You will recall the war that Severus and I mentioned to you last summer? It was quite real and involved most of British wizardom. Hogwarts, unfortunately, ended up at the center of the fighting. The damage to the school building, both physically and magically, was extensive. Repairs are ongoing, so I am glad to lend my expertise where I can."

"It's good therapy for her," said SS. He seemed unexpectedly serious, not ironic at all. He turned to me and went on, "Perhaps you'll regret our moving less if you understand that had we stayed, Minerva would likely have died."

This scared me. "Oh, no!" I cried, and MM smiled at me. "I don't think it was that serious, Adela," she said.

"Yes, it was," insisted SS. "Don't sugar-coat things for the child. Minerva's illness at Halloween," he explained to us, "which the Muggles diagnosed as sepsis, was actually magical atrophy. I suspected it then, but obviously I didn't try to explain it to the Muggle doctors. The statue of secrecy, for one thing, and in any case, there was no point in confusing them with terminology. She was deathly ill either way, and the potions for treatment were similar, so 'sepsis' wasn't exactly a lie."

"A camouflage truth," I said.

SS gave me a sharp glance and said, "Quite." Then he looked at MM and said, "Hear that? Obviously the hat would put her in Slytherin in an instant. 'She'd be a Gryffindor,' my arse."

MM just laughed. I had no idea what they were talking about.

"So what is magical atrophy?" asked Dad.

"It's a fairly rare condition, but sometimes, when a person with powerful magical ability doesn't expend that magic, it builds up toxically in the system and can lead to a catastrophic physical breakdown. Minerva had very little outlet for her magic while we were in the US, and you saw the result. A week in hospital, and worse to come if we'd stayed much longer."

"Then I'm very glad you moved back here!" I told them. And I really am.

I was relieved when Julia seemed to want to talk about happier things.

"As bad as the war damage to Hogwarts might be," she said, "there's a silver lining."

"Oh, really?" said SS in a drawly voice.

Julia laughed. "Well, it's a silver lining for me." To me and Pop and Dad, she said, "To raise money for repairs, the school now lets people hire out the Great Hall for special events - - like weddings! That's where ours is going to be."

"In Scotland? Not here in London?" asked Dad in surprise. "We'll have to check the train timetables - - "

"No, no," said Matt. "Travel is all arranged, and so is lodging. Tomorrow afternoon, Julia and I will take you to Hogsmeade by side-along apparition. It's a way for us to. . .well, teleport you magically. You'll just close your eyes and hold onto us, and presto! You'll be in Hogsmeade."

Pop looked as excited as I felt; Dad seemed less so. He said, "I'm not sure. . ."

"Oh, it's perfectly safe," Julia assured us. "You'll be fine."

"Yes, indeed," said SS, "mere nausea is a small price to pay for instant travel."

"Severus," said MM. "Don't scare them. It's true that you may feel some temporary motion sickness," she told us, "but nothing serious."

"Well, everything is settled, then," said SS, standing up. "The magical information has been successfully imparted, and travel arrangements have been finalized. Minerva, I believe we may depart."

There was a loud CRACK, and he was gone! I mean, he totally disappeared.

MM shook her head. "Sometimes he simply cannot resist his bit of drama," she said. "For what it's worth, that was a demonstration of apparition. He'll already have reappeared at the apothecary."

"And tomorrow, we get to do it!" I said. Pop gave me grin and a thumbs-up.

We're going to see Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry! In Hogsmeade!

And we're TRAVELING BY MAGIC!

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