"Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday to you. Happy birthday dear JP. Happy birthday to you!"
JP blew out the candles on his birthday cake, as his family cheered for him. Despite being a little embarrassed by his parents' terrible singing, JP couldn't help feeling happy. Cake and ice cream were dished out as they all sat and joked with one another.
The party was a small one with just him, his parents, and his auntie. They were staying in his auntie's house just outside of Edinburgh Scotland, on the border of Pentland Hills Regional Park. It was a small but very well-appointed home. Despite this being his auntie's full-time residence, it didn't seem very lived in. Almost like she was only here a couple months a year. JP dismissed those thoughts since it wasn't like his auntie was rich enough to have multiple homes. Maybe this was just how normal people's homes looked like. His time spent on houseboats, hotels, tents, and shacks may have messed up his perception on these things.
It had been a while since he last saw his aunt. She hadn't really changed much at all in that time though. She was a good bit older than his mom with a stern look about her. Probably from being a teacher for so long and constantly dealing with troublesome students. Despite her initial appearance, she had a soft spot for him and would often dolt on him with a motherly smile. Her gifts were always a source of great fun since they were always a little strange, as many of his requests were taken a little too literal. How was she supposed to know that a lightsaber didn't mean a thin sword that didn't weigh much or that the millennium falcon figurine he wanted wasn't an old-looking falcon statue? Star Wars wasn't really her cup of tea, and that was okay.
They used to spend a lot more time together when he was younger as she would often come visit them when they lived in Britain or whenever they found themselves staying near the country. A few years ago, she had gotten a lot busier with things at her school as she had more and more work to do and less free time for travel. JP could still remember how sad she looked while leaving his 11th birthday party after telling them this. She had been very disappointed she wouldn't be able to see him as much anymore and grew a little distant after that. Now though, he would be able to visit her on the weekends when they were both free.
His parents had actually gone through with what they said, and with auntie's help, they were able to get him a spot at Fettes College, one of the premier boarding schools in the UK. It cost a pretty penny, or maybe it was pound now that he was in Britain again, but his parents had a fair amount of money built up over the years since they had so little expenses. He had also gotten a partial academic scholarship after he had done extremely well on some of their entrance exams, which helped a lot with the cost. JP had wanted to go to his aunt's school, but apparently that was only for very "special" people as his mom so politely put it.
Going to a boarding school here would be significantly different than anything he had ever gone through so far, but he was excited about it unlike many kids his age. Not seeing his parents for so long would be sad, but having the chance to make friends his own age and stay in one place would be pretty great. Both his mom and aunt had done the same thing when they were growing up and only had great things to say about attending school.
Finally, JP got to opening his presents. His parents had given him a couple of different books, as was tradition. One was about interesting sights and things to do around Edinburgh. The other one was an anthology of various mythical water creatures. Something he had been thinking about a lot ever since his encounter with the sea horse. In his mind though, his aunt won in the gift department.
"I asked a nice young man on the street about it, and he said this one was speedy, I believe that is what you called those things you wanted in your letter was it not? It isn't really flying, but the clerk did say this would make you feel like you were flying across the road."
JP couldn't help laughing as he looked over his new bicycle. It was a pretty red and gold color with a convenient basket at the front for storage. It was certainly a great gift, but the speeder he had been telling her about was one of the speeders from Star Wars and how cool they were. He smiled even wider after seeing how flustered she looked after he gave her a big hug. She gave him one of her trademarked reserved smiles as she returned the gesture a little woodenly, as she wasn't used to physical affection. JP knew she secretly loved the hugs though.
"Thank you, auntie. This will be great for getting around. Thanks so much for all my gifts. I think I will go put them all away now, and then maybe I will sneak another piece of that cake."
He gave them a little wink as he hurried off with his stuff causing all of them to chuckle at his antics. JP opened up the back door and started taking his bike outside despite it being dark for a little test drive. Seeing his mom eyeing him critically, he decided taking his books up to his room would be a better option. Running upstairs, he quickly set his books down on his bed before moving back towards the stairs.
A light coming from the cracked door of his aunt's room stopped him from going down the stairs. Thinking she left the light on; he decided he better turn it off. He couldn't help chuckling as seeing the burning candles instead of a lamp. Sometimes she could be so strangely old school about things, like she was still living in the 1800s. Of course, she would be using candles in her room for light instead of regular lamps despite it being a fire hazard. He relished the thought of finally giving her a lecture about how unsupervised burning candles was dangerous. That was a lesson JP took to heart after his father had left one burning on a sailboat since he thought it would be 'cool' and like they did in the old days. No one thought it was very cool when the candle burnt a hole in the sail, making them row the boat back to shore for 5 hours.
He quickly blew out the candle and turned back towards the door. Something in the air felt a little strange after the flames were extinguished though. Looking around revealed a slight outline of a door along the wall which was kind of strange since JP thought his aunt's room was in the corner of the house. Despite knowing he probably shouldn't, JP couldn't contain his curiosity as he pushed on it. Who didn't love a good hidden room or secret passageway?
Instead of something interesting, the truth of the room was a little disappointing. It was mostly filled with old broomsticks and some faded red and gold pendants, most likely for some obscure sports team his aunt liked. A lot of white sheets covered what must have been furniture, and there were some other random trinkets on shelves under layers of dust. The room was significantly larger than JP had expected as he finally came to the shelves at the end of the room. It was filled with a bunch of books with strange titles. He hadn't known his aunt was such a fan of such nerdy things like: A History of Magic, Theories of Transubstantial Transfiguration, The Beater's Bible, The Wonder of Wigtown Wanderers, or his personal favorite The Hairy Heart: A Guide to Wizards Who Won't Commit. Funnily, that last one had the least amount of dust on it.
Seeing a whole shelf filled with those kinds of books made him smile. Seeing this side of her only made him more excited to spend time with her. He was a Star Wars nerd which was filled with space magic, so he could relate and understand her fascination with the nerdier topics. Thinking about his prim and proper aunt hiding away in a secret room looking at magic books was extremely amusing and caused him to laugh aloud.
He grabbed a book called The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 1 by Miranda Goshawk and flipped it open. It seemed like an entertaining read especially after reading its description of "An indispensable guide to your basic magical needs." Before he could flip too far into it though, he bumped into a small table with a little leather pouch on it. How he hadn't noticed the table before was a little strange, but he was pretty distracted by everything else in the room. Picking up the pouch, he found it to be just an unremarkable thing made of plain yet sturdy leather. Unlike most things in the room, this one was at least free of dust.
"JP! You forgot to close the backdoor!"
Faintly hearing his mom yelling, JP darted out of the room as quickly as he could. When he got to the door leading out into the hall, he realized he left the hidden door open. Fighting between the urge to hurry downstairs and close the hidden door, JP really wished the hidden one could close by itself like in the spy movies. Not wanting to get in trouble for snooping where he shouldn't, JP decided he should close the hidden door. Weirdly enough, as soon as he thought about it closing, the door closed all on its own.
"Huh…cool."
Not questioning his luck, JP quickly left his aunt's room and ran down the stairs back to the kitchen where his family all sat while watching him. A quick apology and a peck on his mother's cheek while asking for some more milk and cake caused everyone to laugh at his antics. Everything was normal after that as they all talked for a bit longer before retiring for bed with JP completely forgetting about teasing his aunt as he stuffed his face with cake.
When he was changing into his pajamas, JP discovered he had stashed the leather pouch in his pocket. Deciding it wouldn't hurt to investigate a little bit before returning it; he opened it up and reached inside. His jaw dropped in shock as his whole hand disappeared into the little pouch. Grabbing the first thing he felt, JP was even more shocked when a book four times the size of the little pouch was pulled out! With a hint of trepidation, JP held the book over the small opening and let go. His jaw couldn't fall further as he watched the book slip perfectly into the small opening.
This was impossible! Such things just did not happen. It wasn't until repeating the exercise again and again that JP finally started thinking there may be a chance this was real. Maybe he was just going crazy though. His mind could be failing him and that was why his parents were placing him in a boarding school. Maybe it was actually an institution for crazies and that is why they wanted him there. Shaking those thoughts away, JP grounded himself back in reality. If he was crazy and having such real imaginations, there was no way he was going to know so he didn't need to stress over such pointless wonderings. Besides, people in his books discovered magic and supernatural things all the time. Maybe he was a chosen one?
Thinking about it, JP faintly remembered hearing about something similar. There was an item called the bag of Holden? Or was it Space bag? Maybe bag of holding? That sounded right as he remembered his dad mentioning he could finally afford one for his character in dungeon and dragons after their next quest. JP just stared at the bag as a big smile come over his face.
This was a real-life bag of holding! His smile froze on his face as he touched the bag again. Didn't he hear on the radio one time that Dungeon and Dragons was being used for devil worshiping? Was his aunt into that sort of thing?
Nah. That is just people being stupid. He remembered how his parents had laughed after hearing about such a claim as the game being for devil worship. His dad said it was basically a bunch of nerds imagining things together while writing things down and rolling dice to see if something would work. Feeling better about interacting with this bag of holding, JP reached into the pouch after taking out the book thinking there could be more things in there.
His search proved fruitful as he pulled out a few more items. There was a box the size of a shoebox, 3 boxes maybe half that size, a silver teaspoon, and another journal looking book without a title. Thinking the book may have some explanations, JP picked it up and sat down on his bed to read it.
Professor Dumbledore mentioned keeping a diary and logging some of the more important parts of my day could be helpful, especially when dealing with advance transfiguration spells. I am not entirely sure of the effectiveness of it, but I trust the professor and his guidance. I will need all the assistance I can receive if I wish to complete one of the most difficult pieces of transfiguration known to the wizarding world before I leave school. Then everyone will be calling me Magical Minerva at my brilliance…okay that may be a little too much. I will have to be careful no one reads this, especially none of the snakes, or else I will never hear the end of it.
He sat the book down on his legs as he stared at the ceiling. This was not some ordinary book. This was his aunt's journal. The few words he had read so far captivated his attention like nothing else. What secrets could be hidden in the depths of this book? Who was his aunt really? Was this all just his aunt pretending? Was she crazy? Was she really a witch? Was this for real? More importantly, if it was real, could he learn how to do these magical things?
JP wasn't sure about the answers to those questions, but there was one way he could find out. No sleep would be had this night as he dove into the journal and learned more about his aunt and the magical institution she had attended. He couldn't help but chuckle at its name though. Hog Warts? What an unappealing name. Who names a wizard school after a pig with a skin condition?