39 Chapter 39: End of first year (3)

Inside the Minister's office was the Minister of Magic himself, Cornelius Fudge. A slightly portly man, gray and wrinkled hair, he could easily be recognized by his style of dress which would be described as rather odd: pinstripe suit, red tie, long black traveling cloak, purple boots and a lime green bowler hat. William wondered to himself if this minister was descended from a family of clownish magicians.

The other man in the office was easily recognizable to William as it was the one who was supposed to be at his side at all times, Headmaster Albus Dumbledore.

The first woman inside the office was quickly recognized as the headmistress of Castelobruxo, Ana Guimarães. William had seen a photograph of her in a book while plotting his plan of action. A woman slightly younger than Dumbledore, with dark tes, full lips, wavy gray hair, her height was only a foot shorter than Cornelius Fudge, but from her eyes William could understand how wise the woman was.

Last and not least was the other woman in the room, because of her dress, age and position close to Minister Fudge, William could quickly tell that she was the Minister of the Brazilian Ministry of Magic. Rita Araujo.

William bowed slightly and greeted those present with the utmost courtesy, the two women and the headmaster being the first to return the greeting by nodding their heads, Fudge stepped forward and shook hands with William as he smiled vigorously.

"The world is really different, getting two ministers together in the same office just because of a boy" Fudge said almost laughing.

"of course this is an event that formalizes the friendship between the ministries more intensely than before, Minister Fudge should be happy about this" replied Minister Rita with a friendly but at the same time apathetic tone.

"Besides this is an academic matter, I was actually surprised when Headmaster Dumbledore himself recommended a student for a temporary transfer to Brazil, besides according to the documents that arrived to my office this young man is in first year and has a lot of potential" Headmistress Ana smiled as she studied William from head to toe "it will be interesting to instruct this young man."

"I just hope you don't want him to go back to Hogwarts" laughed Dumbledore as he stroked his beard, Headmistress Anne could simply laugh at her counterpart's comment although William could feel the sparks of revalidation under the table, a bit surprising knowing Dumbledore's personality from the books.

Even as they were all gathered for William's temporary transfer, the matters discussed were of varying relevance and without realizing it William was in the background of the importance, as such William himself was only listening until when Minister Fudge commented that he had another commitment to attend to.

Dumbledore was the first to return to Hogwarts, on the other hand William accompanied Headmistress Anne and Minister Rita Araujo.

Arriving in Brazil was almost instantaneous, William was surprised but the surprise was greater when he saw everything around him. Different from the polluted city of London.

William was appreciating everything around him, the costumes of the people were different, there was not much advancement like in Europe but it was not of much importance "Minister Rita will be on her way from here and I suppose we should get to the castle as soon as possible. Your belongings should already be in place so you need not be worried."

With William's nod they both disappeared from the place and when they reappeared they were in front of large castle of immense height, William swore he had seen it in his previous life while surfing the net but this was completely different, the building was square, it has many stairs on all four sides, at least two hundred steps per side and it was all built with golden rock.

According to the books in the Hogwarts library, William knew that the castle was under an enchantment that changes its appearance when Muggles are around, it makes it look like a ruin of the pre-Columbian tribes.

Everywhere William looked he could see forest, the books he studied were not so wrong, but to call them forests is simply a fault. The name of this conjunction of trees is jungle.

"Impressed?" asked Principal Ana when she saw William's expression who nodded without closing his mouth "it's normal, but don't let other students see you like this, everyone will know you are a foreigner" William closed his mouth.

"come on, I still have to do all the paperwork for you to start your classes and we must make you look worthy of our school."

William looked down at his Hogwarts robes "I don't look that bad" William muttered and then followed the headmistress closely.

As expected from a school of magic, the golden stairs were enchanted and these moved just like the escalators in a shopping mall, a detail William appreciated from within.

"Come on, follow me and don't get lost."