2 Chapter-2: Letter and Money
After Ronan understood the kind of world that he was in, he couldnt help but chuckle nervously. The Harry Potter Universe is a very beautiful and interesting world, but it is a very dangerous world for a man like him, more specifically for a half-wizard like him.
He knew that he was half-blood because he had never heard of the surname Johanson before. And as far as he could remember, the main aim of the main villain of the story, Voldemort, was to kill every half-blood. So he feared for his life…
When Professor Sprout sent the Matron away, she turned towards him, "Dont need to be nervous boy, unlike some of my plants, I do not bite."
"Um." He didnt know what to say, but quickly made a decision to act ignorant, "Well, Matron does not let kids near people who weren't verified by the government."
She waved her hand, "You muggles and your ways."
"Pardon?" Her eyes widened with realization, "Muggles refer to people who do not know magic."
"Ah…" Seeing him gobsmacked like that, she gestured for him to sit down, which he did almost immediately.
"The purpose of my visit Mr. Johanson is to give you this," she then fished out a letter from a small fist-size purse that she had around her shoulders. It was an unstamped envelope of yellowish parchment, addressed to Mr. R. Johanson, written in emerald green ink.
_____________________________________
To,
Mr. R. Johanson
The fourth bed on the first-floor dorm,
Little Flower Orphanage, Gulliver Drive,
Little Whinging, Surrey
_______________________________________
His whole body started shaking with the letter in his hands, he flipped the letter to a seal behind the letter. It was a purple wax seal, bearing the letter "H" in the middle, around the "H" were four animals, namely a lion, a badger, an eagle, and a snake. Not seeing the iconic red wax seal, he feared the worst, he might be in some alternative version of the world.
He tore the seal to take out the letter from inside.
_____________________________________
HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY
Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore
(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,
Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)
Dear Mr Johanson,
We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.
Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 10 July.
Yours sincerely,
____________________________________
To act surprised, he asked the old woman, "Is this some kind of weird joke?"
The old woman smiled, "This is not a joke dear. This is the truth, you, my sweet boy are a wizard."
He chuckled nervously, "What? A wizard? I dont think so. I dont even know any magic tricks as well."
The old woman did not back away, "Think about it boy, did something ever happen to you? Something, cannot be explained with normal logic."
His smile vanished, seeing as the woman's grin grew wider, "Hogwarts is a place where we can teach you everything there is to know about magic. How you can control it, and how to channel it and put it to good use."
"I…" He hesitated, and decided to check whether he was not being pranked by someone, "Can you show some of your magic to me?"
She waved her wand and made the telephone on the Matron's table float in the air, which was enough proof for him. It is after that the realization finally hit him, he is going to be a wizard…
With 200 pounds that he had collected over the years, tucked safely in his pocket, and adouring his best clothes, Ronan started heading to London with Professor Sprout. Although Matron didnt like the idea at first, it was nothing that a normal wand swish couldnt take care of. As they got to the curve of their orphanage, Professor Sprout stopped and started looking here and there.
Their orphanage was located at the edge of the village, and their building was middle of nowhere, which was very inconvenient at times. Professor then took out her wand and stretched her hands on the road as if asking for a lift. He was confused at first, as there was no incoming vehicle around them.
It was then out of nowhere a bus stopped in front of them, startling Ronan, and making him fall on the curve. It was a purple triple-decker bus, none of the kind that he had ever seen in his life. From the bus's door came a middle-aged man wearing the messy brown uniform of a bus conductor.
"Welcome to the Knight Bus, emergency transport for the stranded witch or wizard just stick out your wand hand, step on board, and we can take you anywhere you want to go. My name is Adam Humely, and I will be your conductor this mor— What were you doin' down there kid?"
"Oh, Mr Johanson!" Professor Sprout exclaimed, it seemed that she didnt notice that he had fallen down. She helped him get up, and while the conductor stood there confused as to what was happening. As they got inside, he was surprised to see two-by-two comfortable cushioned seats around the bus. Ronan had only seen the Harry Potter movies in his life, but if his memory serves him right then this bus was supposed to be full of beds instead of seats.
Professor Sprout brought them two tickets to Leaky Cauldron, and the bus took off. It was the most horrendous bus experience of his life, the bus swayed left and right swaying their body around in such a way that he felt he might get sick, so he started asking questions to Professor Sprout about their visit in order to divert his mind. She had already told him that they were going to buy his school supplies, but he had a ton of more questions.
"Professor, I dont think I have enough money to buy any of the stuff mentioned in the letter, how am I supposed to go buy these things."
She smiled, seemingly unfazed by the horrendous bumps and swaying of the bus, "Well you see Mr. Johanson, your case is very special. We had many instances in the past where people with no wizard ancestry awakened their magical power. And in one of those cases, if someone does not have the capacity to buy stuff for school, The Ministry of Magic bares their burden."
"Wait.. There is a ministry of magic, and they will pay for everything?"
"More or less. You see they will deposit a certain amount of money every year in your vault. And then you can use it as you see fit. Think of it like what muggles called a stipend."
He nodded, but Professor still continued, "There is one another thing that you must know Mr. Johansonn, your stipend might not be adequate to get you all the new things in the place. But it is enough to get you to hand down items."
He smiled upon hearing that, the guilty look on Professor said words to him, but it didnt matter, "Dont worry about it professor, as an orphan, I am used to wearing hand-me-down clothes. I think I can work with it."
She nodded, and then he put forward a question that had been bugging him for now, "Professor one another thing," she looked at him, "Do I have a family out there?"
Her face more guilty, "I dont think so child. If we encounter a case like yours, we try to find any living relative you might have. This is necessary because we want all the underage wizards to live with their families or guardians. As underage wizards dont have control over their magic, they tend to do some accidental magic that is against the wizarding law. But you on the other hand dont have any relatives."
"Oh." He wasn't sad, just disappointed. He would have given anything to have a wizarding family. But then a thought came to his mind, "So professor, if I dont have any relatives, and my home is a muggle orphanage, does it mean that I cannot live there anymore?"
She groaned with guilt, "You are a clever boy Ronan… I am afraid, that is the case, we cannot have you live there. So after you come to Hogwarts, an arrangement will be made so that you can live in the castle itself."
Realization hit him, "Does it mean that I cannot ever come back?"
She shook her head, "No.no nono… You can come back here. Today a squad of wizards would come and alter the memory of the people of your orphanage. They would think that you have been adopted by a family in Scotland. But in summer holidays, you can visit them…"
Professor Sprout further explained why he was not allowed to live in the orphanage. She also told him the perks that he would get when he lived in Hogwarts. But he didnt listen to half of what she said, he was still recovering from the shock that he wouldn't be able to live in the orphanage. It has been his home for about a decade now, even though it was dingy and old, that orphanage was his home. He felt very sad that he had to leave it like that.
