Next day I woke up to an owl pecking impatiently and rather loudly on the window. Now, I have seen many things, but this was new. The owl was larger than any I've ever seen, though admittedly that's not many, and speckled gray. At first, I didn't even understand what it wanted, but then, shield ready to go, I opened the window and the owl flew into the room. It circled once and settled on the bed, seeming tired but I'm not sure what made me think that. Anyway, it extended one leg toward me and waited. Upon closer inspection, there was a letter tied to its feet. It took some courage, but the owl didn't seem to be aggressive, so I extended a hand and slowly untied the letter, all the while waiting for the owl to do something, but it just stood there, waiting patiently. It really spooked me, this wasn't the behavior you'd expect from your regular neighborhood owl, but what the heck. After I had the letter in my hand I straightened up and looked at the owl, waiting for it to do something, but the only thing it did was to put down its feet.

"You know, it might be hungry" a voice said from the nightstand. I turned toward the wooden skull surprised. Well, it's not really a wooden skull, she's a spirit of intellect like Bob. She's kind of my intellectual child with the shadow of a fallen angel. Yeah, I have that kind of life. She's been living in a wooden skull I carved ever since she was born from the inside of my head and she's been constantly learning, faster than I expected her to. It seems spirits of intellect don't just remember an insane amount of information, they also learn very quickly, though she was still very young and consequently very inexperienced. That's what was so great working with Bob: centuries of experience.

So far, my spirit refused to accept any name I tried to give her, saying she'd pick out her own, so I just hope she learns some cool names quickly. It can be surprisingly hard to have a conversation with someone when they don't have a name.

"You think so?" I put the letter down on the table. "All right, let's check it. What do owls eat?"

"I don't know" she said.

"Never mind" I started towards the kitchen. "It'll be an experiment."

In the kitchen I filled a bowl with water and picked up some seeds and the leftover chicken from a few nights ago and took them into the bedroom. The owl was sitting where I left it, pecking at its wing, but as soon as I put the bowl down it started drinking greedily.

"So that was it" I said, putting down the seeds and the pieces of chicken next to the water. Next, I went to the table and picked up the letter. It was heavily ornamented and was addressed,

Mr Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden

Warden, Winter Knight, Defense Against the Dark Arts professor

5452 S Ellis Ave

Apartment of Molly Carpenter, Winter Lady

Chicago, Illinois

60615

United States of America

and had a crest on it with the words Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I turned it around in my hand but there was nothing else to see on the outside.

"Looks like a letter from the school" I told my spirit who was listening attentively. "It's addressed in more detail than I would've expected it to be. Perhaps with what I'm comfortable with. But it should only contain a few sheets of paper…"

I took the letter opener from a shelf, sat down and opened the envelope. It contained two sheets, a map which I put aside and a letter. "Minerva McGonagall, Headmistress" I read, looking at the letterhead, before starting to read it aloud.

"Dear Mr Dresden,

Thank you for accepting our request to teach in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for a year. Since we are trying to open to the world, it is a great opportunity to have a teacher from the other side of magic. As we do not know much about your ways of performing magic we request that you arrive by august, so we can work out an adequate curriculum. To make it clear, we do not expect you to provide your usual level of training to the students, merely that you provide a different viewpoint for them to consider.

We trust you have your own textbooks. We ask that you send us your choice by owl as soon as possible to give time to bookstores to purchase it before the start of the year. To our knowledge, you do not use wands but other magical objects. If required for the students, we ask that you send the list of necessary objects as well. The owl which delivered this letter will wait for your return letter.

We have been told that you can get to London on your own, if not, please inform us by owl. In London you'll need to find the Leaky Cauldron, where they will guide you to the school. The uniform for teachers is a standard black robe which we strongly recommend that you wear. If you do not own one, you can purchase it in Diagon Alley, as any other provisions.

Enclosed you find a map of London with the Leaky Cauldron marked on it.

Kind regards,

Neville Longbottom

Deputy Headmaster"

I put down the letter and looked at my spirit. "That was some language, wasn't it?" I asked her. "But at least it contained some information."

"The lettering is unimportant" she told me in a serious voice. "It's the information that matters. And there wasn't very much of that."

"Well," I looked down at the letter. "I have to get there by August, that's a little more than two weeks. I also have to choose a textbook, that must be Elementary Magic. What else did they ask? Oh yeah, objects. Well, I think they should be fine with their wands, don't you think?"

"My knowledge of magical objects is far too small to answer" she told me. "And I don't know anything about their wands. All I know is what you know."

I sighed. "Well, that won't do in the long run." I thought about it a lot, recently. Bob has been one of my most valuable possessions, if not the most valuable, and losing him hit me hard. True, I know a lot more than what I did when I started my business, but that's far from saying I knew a lot. And it's true I had a different spirit of intellect, but she's little more than a newborn.

"I'll have to make Bob teach you as much as he can" I said.

"Won't Butters object?" she asked. "From your memories it seemed he didn't want you to have that kind of knowledge. Wouldn't this be the same?"

Well, that could really be a problem. "I hope not" I said. "I can still reason you'll know only a tiny portion of Bob's knowledge. Let's say we have a week and a half to get there on time for sure. If you spend the whole time there, you can learn enough to assist me in general matters but not enough to pose a threat."

"It sounds possible" she agreed, her voice happy. I sometimes forget but she feels bad for not being able to help me. Knowing stuff is basically the sole point of her existence and so it's not a surprise that not knowing stresses her out. And like it or not, she's my responsibility.

"All right" I decided. "I'll call Butters."

-O-

Butters was reluctant, but in the end, he agreed to it. We agreed that I bring my spirit over so Bob can start teaching her immediately, so after a quick breakfast I grabbed my coat and a bag with the skull in it and headed out. I was just outside the doors when someone fell in step with me.

"I hear all kinds of things" my brother said as a greeting.

"This is becoming a tradition" I muttered as I stopped. "Do you have your car with you?"

"What?" he turned to face me.

"Your car" I repeated.

"No, not that" he waived a hand. "What tradition?"

"Oh" I said, "Yesterday Murphy waited for me, today it's you, it's starting to look like a tradition."

"Yeah, I have my car, why?" Thomas started walking, completely ignoring my amazing observation.

"I'm going to Butters'" I said, catching up with him. "And I don't currently have a car. So you could spare me the cost of a taxi."

"Only if you tell me what's going on" he said, glancing at me.

"Of course" I said. He turned his head toward me, surprised. Oh yeah, I forgot my usual tactics, that is, tell as little as possible. My sudden desire to tell him what's going on must have spooked him.

"Don't worry, I'm still Harry" I patted him on the shoulder. "There's not much to tell either way."

"All right, tell me what you can" he said, reaching his car and stopping next to it.

"You misunderstand me" I shook my head. "I literally don't know a lot. Ebenezar called me a week ago and asked me to do a job. There's a warlock in a school in Scotland and there's no way they'd let the council in, so I'm going unofficially as a teacher."

"A teacher" he repeated. "Do you think you can teach a classroom of kids?"

"No" I massaged my forehead. "But I don't have a choice. So I'll have to."

Now it was his turn to pat me on the shoulder.

"You'll figure it out" he said, then got into the car. "You need any help?"

"As a matter of fact, yeah" I smiled as I got in too. "You up for it?"

He turned toward me, grinning. "Always. It's been some time since I did something fun, anyway."