The family was having dinner in the dining room, Adam was mid-rant about some unreasonable patient and their increasingly strange demands when the doorbell rang.
“I’ll get it,” Aegeus said, getting up from his chair.
He opened the door.
An old woman stood on the doorstep, dressed in a dark green robe and a pointed hat with two feathers sticking out the back, staring at him without blinking.
“May I come in?” she asked, in a tone so calm it was almost eerie.
“No, you certainly may not,” he said simply.
There was no way in hell he was letting someone this suspicious into the house.
“…”
They stared at each other for a long moment.
Aegeus got bored of the standoff first and broke eye contact.
SLAM
He closed the door.
It’s a bit early for Halloween, don’t you think?
He thought, bemused.
Although it was a good costume, she had me fooled for a second…
“Who was that?” Adam called from the dining room.
“No one,” Aegeus answered.
He’d barely made it back two steps before—
DING.
“I will get that,” he said for the second time.
The rest of the family exchanged a thoroughly confused look.
~~~At the door~~~
“You again,” he said.
“Indeed. I would appreciate it if you didn’t close the door on me a second time,” the old woman said, crisp and unruffled.
“I am here on official business, and I intend to finish it.”
“…” He blinked once, then twice, then he studied her face for a long moment.
“Fine. You can come in,” he said finally.
‘Someone dressing this ridiculously really has no business looking this intimidating,’ he thought.
“One minute, please,” he said, and went to inform his parents about the guest.
~~five minutes later~~
Over her decades at Hogwarts, she had seen thousands of children, but rarely one with such flawless, unearthly features.
Far too many young witches are going to suffer, she silently lamented for their poor little hearts.
“So, who exactly are you?” Adam asked.
“Professor Minerva McGonagall. Deputy Headmistress and Transfiguration professor at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry,” she said, with the crisp precision of someone who had introduced herself this exact way more times than she cared to count.
Aegeus had to admit— she carried herself with an unmistakable air of authority.
Not a hair out of place, not a word wasted.
Jean pressed a hand to her mouth and said with hope, “There are more like him?”
“A great many more. Every country maintains its own Ministry of Magic,” McGonagall said.
“Right,” Adam said slowly.
“And Hogwarts is…”
“A school to learn magic,” McGonagall said.
Wasting no further words, she moved straight to the demonstration.
With a small, precise flick, the vase of flowers on the sideboard shimmered—its edges softening and reshaping in a single fluid motion until a sleek tabby cat sat in its place, blinking placidly at the room with an idle flick of its tail.
“You will learn to do that and more if you decide to attend,” she said.
“Meow.”
Silence settled over the room.
Nobody could utter a word.
Then, with a second flick of her wand, the cat rippled back into porcelain, flowers and all, exactly as it had been.
Aegeus, for his part, watched the whole thing so intently that he didn’t even blink for a full minute.
He could feel the magic as it happened— but still had no idea how he would even begin to repeat it.
For the very first time since she arrived, he began to feel genuine respect for the person standing in front of him.
Will I be able to do that if I go to Hogwarts?
he thought, a sudden wave of genuine enthusiasm and anticipation warming his chest.
She then handed Aegeus a letter.
“Will I get one too?” Hermione asked, practically vibrating in place.
McGonagall’s gaze settled on her, measured but soft.
“That’s unlikely, I’m afraid.
In the first place, it’s rare enough for a wizard to be born among Muggles— She paused to explain the term before continuing, “and for two of them to be born in the same household is particularly unheard of.”
Hermione’s face fell.
“She does have it too,” Aegeus said, before his sister could spiral.
Jean and Adam exchanged a look.
It clicked for both of them at once— Hermione had mentioned that a while ago.
Neither of them had believed her at the time.
They knew how desperate she was to do things like her brother, but she couldn’t show them on command.
Her situation was too different from Aegeus, who could produce magic at will, so they hadn’t taken her seriously.
“You’re serious?” Jean asked, turning to Hermione with something between disbelief and delight.
Hermione nodded so hard she nearly gave herself whiplash.
Did he say he felt it?
McGonagall’s expression shifted— a flicker of genuine interest breaking through her composed exterior.
“That indeed sounds like accidental magic.”
Hermione, for her part, looked like she might combust from excitement.
She had been genuinely hurt moments ago, doubting herself on the assumption that a wizard would automatically sense another wizard.
But with Aegeus backing her up, her doubts evaporated completely.
She trusted him without question.
If he said she possessed the gift, then it must be real.
Then they all turned their full attention to the letter in Aegeus’s hands.
He broke the thick red wax seal and pulled out the crisp parchment.
(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.
Granger, We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry…)
Flipping to the second page to scan the required supplies, Aegeus couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow at the uniform section.
A plain pointed hat and plain robes…
It’s as if these people are terrified someone might fail to notice they’re wizards.
“Where will you get all that?” Hermione asked, peering at the list over his shoulder.
“Diagon Alley, of course,” McGonagall said, as though it were the most obvious place in the world.
_________________________________________________________________________
TO BE CONTINUED
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