Meetings, mystery ,shopping and a wand

Wordcount: 1998

His dream had become a reality; he was actually going to Hogwarts. He quickly wrote a reply:

"Dear Deputy Headmistress Weasley,

Thank you for accepting me into such a prestigious school. I would be glad to come here. I am thrilled and grateful for this opportunity. However, I do have a few questions. I am an orphan, and I have no way of getting the funds for the supplies. What would be the best course of action?

I'll await the owl with the response.

Yours sincerely, Nathan Randall"

Nathan gave the letter to the owl and petted it. The bird flew away after receiving Nathan's response. Nathan watched the bird soar to the sky. His heart was pounding. He wondered what adventures he would go through while attending Hogwarts.

Unable to contain his enthusiasm, he quickly left his room to go to the matron's office. He almost ran through the halls. Knock knock Nathan knocked on the door, to which the matron responded, "Come in." Nathan entered the door.

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Matron/3 pov:

"Come in," the matron said to whomever just knocked on her door. Nathan entered her office. He had entered her office a lot of times these days. The matron noticed Nathan's excitement. She quickly found out why; she saw him holding the letter.

"So you finally got it, huh?" The matron said to Nathan, to which he nodded eagerly. "Is the owl still here?" The matron asked. "No, I've already sent my response," Nathan replied before continuing, "I've asked them about funds. Now I have to wait for the reply," Nathan said, answering the matron's question.

"They will probably send a teacher to guide you through Diagon Alley," the matron replied.

"Yes, I came to ask for another thing. Branbock had asked me to come back to Gringotts once I turned 11. Can you take me there today?" Nathan asked.

"Yes, I'll take you later today. Come to my office after lunch." The matron answered Nathan. After which he thanked her and left her office.

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After his conversation with the matron, he encountered Elias on his way back to his room. Elias saw that Nathan was almost skipping out of happiness.

"Hey Nate, what's got you so happy?" Elias asked Nathan. "I finally got it!" Nathan almost shouted out of excitement. "I finally get to go to Hogwarts and learn magic."

"That's amazing!" Elias said, "I can't wait for my letter too. Imagine the pranks we could pull off with magic," Elias said with a playful smile. Nathan nodded along with him. "I hope we get the same house," Nathan said, saddened at the possibility of not being in the same house as him. "Nathan, promise me that we'll stay friends no matter what house we're in," Elias said. "Of course, I pinky promise," Nathan held out his pinky while Elias just looked confused about what he was seeing.

"It means that we make a promise that we will never break. If we do, we must break our pinkies" (A/n: I searched it up on Google and it's actually like this.)

"Then I pinky promise," Elias declared proudly.

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It was already afternoon by now. Rosie had just dropped off Nathan at Gringotts. Nathan walked over to one of the many counters.

"Good afternoon, sir. I would like to speak to my account manager, Branbock," Nathan said respectfully.

The goblin slowly looked up and said, "Wait 5 minutes," while gesturing to the waiting room. After around 5 minutes, Branbock came to see Nathan. The walk to his office was a quiet one, but once they entered, Branbock broke the ice. "So your turn has come" the small goblin said, smiling.

While saying this, a book appeared on the table. The book looked like nothing special. It was quite boring, and Nathan felt like the book wasn't even worth his time. Confusion was heavily showing on Nathan's face.

Branbock broke Nathan's confusion. "This happens every time. The book is enchanted to be like that. You feel like the book is worthless, right? That's to make sure people don't go after it."

The book slowly hovered over to Nathan. On the book's cover was a crest; it was a shield. "Drop your blood onto the crest," Branbock said while also giving him a needle. Nathan made a small cut with the needle, and a drop of blood landed on the crest.

*Fwoosh*

Suddenly, Nathan's surroundings changed. He was standing in a castle. The castle was small, and it looked ancient and like it had withstood many battles. He wasn't alone; with him was a man. The man wore ordinary clothes and didn't look special, yet he felt powerful and mysterious.

"Welcome, my descendant," the unknown man said. His voice contained a lot of power.

"You probably wonder where you are right now. I left a bit of my magic signature in the book. With that, I used legilimency on you to enter your mind. My name is Arthur Randall, and I am the one who created the book. I came to tell you about our family history. We have always blended in. We always stayed in the shadow of fear that people might discover our power. Now you may think, 'It's just occlumency.' It's indeed that, but it's far more powerful than you think. But don't get your hopes up; it isn't physical or magical power," Nathan grew confused hearing this.

"But what is it, then?" Nathan asked Arthur.

"I will not spoil the surprise for you. The book will explain it to you once you reach the required level of occlumency. We don't want any mind readers to find out about it. But never tell anyone about it, or you will be reduced to a mere tool, or they will fear and kill you."

Nathan's eyebrows furrowed. This made him more confused and curious.

"Wait, I have one more que-" Nathan was cut off by Arthur.

"Good luck on your journey. I hope you succeed."

Fwoosh

Arthur and the castle disappeared; his vision turned white. Before he knew it, he was back in the familiar office. The skeletons and weapons this time felt comforting. He looked at the goblin who was smirking.

"So how was Arthur?" The goblin said gleefully.

Nathan didn't expect Branbock to ask that. His eyebrows furrowed. He waited a moment to collect himself and answered.

"Mysterious, and he probably was very childish. He likes playing games."

Branbock broke out in laughter.

"HAHA! That's Arthur alright." The goblin wiped his tears away from laughing. "But I thought you didn't know him? You only knew our family for 3 generations." Nathan asked the goblin

"You misunderstood me. You are the 4th generation of who I am the account manager of. I am far older than you think. I met Arthur a few times when I was but a child. Most of the time, he was the serious type. Unless he was with my father. Then he'd play annoying little pranks and withhold answers to questions I asked."

Nathan had to stifle his laugh. It seems he and his ancestor had a lot in common.

He talked a bit with Branbock before he went home again. The matron was waiting for him at the entrance of Gringotts.

It had been a long day. Nathan had a lot to think about, but that could wait. He was in his room again and opened the book. The book's contents were very direct; it didn't beat around the bush and only contained the necessary information. Only the first page was readable. It was a meditation technique for clearing one's mind. He tried the technique, but after 5 minutes, he got interrupted by something hitting the window.

He had gotten a response from Hogwarts. In the response, it stated that a teacher would come to his home to help him with the supplies. It also stated that Hogwarts had a special orphan fund.

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The following morning, the teacher arrived to guide him.

*Knock knock* Sofia opened the door and was greeted by a woman who emanated warmth. She wore a green dress and had a typical witch's hat.

"Good morning, my dear. Oh, my Sofia, how much you have grown," the woman said happily as she was reunited with one of her past students.

"It's so good to see you, Professor Weasley," Sofia said, smiling.

"It's Matilda to you. You no longer need to address me as such, dear. But I have quite some haste. Is Mr. Randall here?" Ms. Weasley asked. "One second, I'll call him. In the meantime, come in!" Sofia said.

Sofia went to call Nathan. When Nathan arrived in the living room, he was surprised. He had expected someone who looked like Molly. Yet he could see that she was very strict. He forgot that Molly was a Prewett. "Good morning, Ms. Weasley," Nathan politely greeted the professor. "Good morning, dearie. Are you ready for your shopping?" The professor asked.

They went outside of the orphanage and teleported close to the Leaky Cauldron. Thump Nathan lost his balance. He still wasn't used to the apparition. 'I wonder when I'll be able to do that myself,' Nathan thought as he stood up from the ground.

"You'll get used to it with time. The first few times are very rough," the professor said encouragingly to him. 'Even though she looks strict, she's very sweet,' Nathan thought to himself.

They entered Diagon Alley. Nathan was still bewildered by its sight. Every time he entered, it still felt magical. He pinched his cheek to see if he wasn't dreaming. "Come on, let's go and buy your supplies," the professor said, getting him out of his stupor.

They went to Madam Malkin's, where they got secondhand robes. After that, they entered Flourish and Blotts, where they got his books, which were also second-hand. It seemed he had to find a way to earn some money. He is still too young to use his family's vault. But Branbock told him that its contents weren't that impressive.

Up next, they went to Slug and Jigger's Apothecary. Here he did get first-handed stuff. Now they went to Ollivanders while Ms. Weasley went away.

After entering the store, there was nobody. He hit the bell, and an old man appeared. "Curious, very curious. We don't get many Randalls these days. The last one was 17 years ago. Dragon heartstring, yew, 9 ½ inch. Very good wand," the old man kept on ranting. *Cough* I faked a cough to get his attention.

"I'm sorry; sometimes that happens," Ollivander apologized. "You're here for your first wand?" He asked Nathan.

"Yes, sir," Nathan answered. Ollivander put on his glasses. "Wand arm?" Ollivander asked. "I mainly use my right arm," Nathan answered. Ollivander took off his glasses and grabbed a couple of boxes. He gave the first one to Nathan. The wand was a 7 ½ inch birch phoenix feather. Nathan flicked the wand to which the glass window broke. "Definitely not this one," Ollivander said while repairing the window.

It took quite some time, but he finally found his wand. The wand didn't even need to be flicked, and it already glowed.

"Marvelous," Ollivander said. "It's quite a strange combination. Unicorn hair for the kind-hearted and poplar wood for its strength. 9 inches. That would be 7 galleons, please." Nathan gave Ollivander the money, but not before requesting a wand holster, which cost him an additional 1 galleon.

'I finally have my wand. I've waited so long for this,' Nathan thought happily. He met with Professor Weasley, and he bought an owl. It was a beautiful animal with mysterious eyes. He called her Whisper. After that, he had dinner in Diagon Alley and returned home, where he immediately fell asleep.

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Thank you for reading this chapter! I know I promised the sorting but this chapter took longer than expected. I'll do my best to have it tomorrow.

Please let me know if you have any feedback. 

Have a wonderful day!