Chapter One: You're a witch!

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. All rights reserved and attributed to JK Rowling and Warner Brothers. I own parts of the plot and certain characters added.

A/N: I'm not really writing this story for anyone. I used to be on a Harry Potter rp site and had to leave due to certain reasons. When I started feeling withdrawals from the hobby that took up most of my free time for half my life, Hogwarts Mystery and Bill Weasley, gave me the idea to write my own story. This is set in Bill Weasley's time, so most of the characters mentioned are of my own creation. Feel free to comment but I'm not really looking for Criticism, this is all for my own amusement and I'm only publishing it here because I don't want to leave it on my desk top. Feel free to PM me about it, because it does have a semi hashed out plot, so I mostly just want to see where it goes.

"Ms Walker?"

Hannah Walker looked at the strange woman in the purple cloak on her doorstep. It was a particularly chilly night as she stood gobsmacked in her bathrobe. She wasn't expecting visitors, especially not this late in the afternoon. "Yes, that's me. Can I help you?" She hoped this woman wasn't selling anything, she certainly wasn't in the mood for door-to-door sales people at the moment. Everything had gone wrong today. Her eldest daughter Aurora was supposed to have her birthday party today, being Saturday, she'd thought that would be the best time to celebrate, only the poor dear had woken up in a pool of her own blood and been in a mood ever since. Apparently becoming a woman was not on her list of things to do this year.

"Apologies for being here so late in the day, Ms Walker, I'm afraid I had quite a few errands to run." The woman said, dipping her head slightly in apology. "Do you mind terribly if I come inside? There is an urgent matter I need to discuss with you."

Hannah stood where she was for a moment, making no move to allow the woman inside. She did look somewhat official, albeit odd, in her cloak. Given her husband's recent divorce suggestions, she figured this woman must be the lawyer. The thought steeled her, and she rolled her shoulders to straighten herself. "Ah, yes, of course. Please come in, Miss…"

The woman nodded and stepped into the townhouse, smiling slightly. "Professor actually, Professor McGonagall."

Hannah wasn't sure what to make of the title, it certainly didn't seem like it would refer to a lawyer, but what did she know really? "Apologies, Professor, you've caught me making tea. Would you like something to drink?"

The woman shook her head. She held herself high, her air carried the sternness she expected from an educator, someone who had been in the field for a long time. As a teacher herself, Hannah could appreciate that, though she was confused what all of this could be about. "Yes, thank you."

Hannah gestured to the lounge as she walked past the stairs to the first and second floors. The townhouse was only small, given they didn't have a lot of money left after the separation. Though Milton sent her money, it wasn't at all what she would have expected given his apparent position in some government job. She could hear Ellie and Logan moving around upstairs but could tell from the lack of movement that Rory was still sulking in her room. A real shame, she was sure she would have enjoyed her birthday. She busied herself making some tea for her unexpected guest as the pasta slowly simmered. All she had to do was add the sauce and dinner was served, but she certainly wasn't doing that until this stranger was gone. "Do you take sugar?"

"I do, thank you, Dear."

Hannah nodded and pulled her sugar jar out of the cupboard, dropping a teaspoon on both of the tea plates before walking quickly back into the small living room. "Here you are."

The woman took her tea eagerly and made short work of the milk and sugar. "I suppose I should be getting down to business."

Hannah took a seat across from the woman and sipped her own black tea. Something she had gotten used to over the last couple of years. Some days it had been her only salvation in her marriage. "Yes, I think you had."

The woman placed her tea on the table and leaned forward. "Ms Walker, I am Minerva McGonagall. I am here to provide you with some basic information and a crash course on your husband's family."

At this Hannah frowned. Her husband never spoke much about his family. She had always believed they had a terrible relationship, or she was sure she would have met them at some point. Having a stranger talk to her about her husband's family, a husband she would soon no longer have, was a little jarring. "Excuse me?"

Minerva nodded again. "Yes, your husbands' family. You see, your Husband was, or rather, is, a wizard."

Hannah's tea cup clinked heavily against her plate. "What are you talking about?"

"Milton McKinnon is a wizard. He can perform magic and attended a wizarding school called Hogwarts."

Hannah blinked at the information. She had always had an open mind, she had to as a teacher and she certainly liked her fair share of fantasy books, but this seemed a little too far to go with something like this. "A wizard?"

Minerva nodded gravely. "It is unfortunate that he could not come and deliver the news himself, unfortunately he is currently undertaking some very important Ministry work and was unavailable, he asked me to send his apologies." The look on her face told Hannah that the woman was very much displeased with this development.

Unsure what to make of any of this, the frown on her face increasing, Hannah shook her head. "What is the Ministry, my husband holds a minor position in local government."

Minerva shook her head. "He did when he was still living with you, as a muggle, you were not privy to certain aspects of his life. When you both agreed to no longer share residence, your husband transferred to the magical government and quickly moved up the ranks. He's about mid-tier now."

"That can't be true. I would know. He would have told me he was a wizard. We had no secrets when we were younger." She was finding all of this difficult to believe and placed her cup on the table beside Minerva's, so she could truly show her displeasure with the accusations.

"I'm afraid not. Had your husband mentioned this to you he would have been breaking one of our world's greatest laws. The Statute of Secrecy is extremely important to maintaining the segregation of our world."

Hannah shook her head. "No, this makes no sense. My soon-to-be-ex-husband," she made sure to emphasise the fact, "was a terrible liar. He couldn't keep a secret to save his life. Are you really telling me that he was able to hide this from me for twelve years?"

Minerva sympathised with the woman. This wasn't the easiest thing to find out. She remembered the man in question, Milton McKinnon. Not particularly gifted magically, but he was a determined student, and made up for his lack of magical prowess with his aggressive studiousness. It was really not at all surprising that he was a Ravenclaw. Though marrying a muggle had been a surprise. As a muggle-born, Minerva had seen him immerse himself completely in magic, she was surprised then to discover that he'd wed a muggle, not that she thought there was anything wrong with that of course. Her mother and father had been a mixed marriage after all. "I'm afraid he did, Ms Walker. The only reason I'm telling you now is that your children, Aurora, Logan and young Eleanor, are all considered halfblooded witches and wizards. Aurora is certainly magical and it's also likely that Logan and Eleanora will be as well."

Hannah didn't know what to say to any of this, it was all really hard to believe. Though, if what the woman was saying was true, and honestly, she had thought about this before, then some of the things her children had done over the years was starting to make sense. "I suppose, if I really think about this, that there is some possibility to what you're saying."

Minerva leaned forward and picked up her tea again. "Has Aurora, or indeed Logan and Eleanora, ever done anything to make you question what you'd seen?"

"Well, yes. For when Rory was four, her father had just put her breakfast to the side on the table, so he could go and find out why Ellie was crying. It was well out of the way of her reach." She said, thinking back. "When I walked into the room to take over, it was sitting in front of her again. Mil had sworn blind he'd put the bowl on the table. I just thought he'd forgotten." She said, frowning in remembrance. There had been other instances too, like when Logan had been hysterical and the windows in his room had blown out and when Ellie was a baby and her blanket had randomly changed colour. Mil hadn't said anything at the time, but she'd thought he'd seemed somewhat rattled. "I thought I was going crazy, or maybe my kids were possessed."

Minerva shook her head. "Not an uncommon reaction." She admitted, taking another sip of her tea. "I've come to inform you that Aurora has a placement in the local wizarding school, should you accept."

All of this was a bit much to take in. Hannah sighed. "I'm not sure I want her to go to a wizarding school…"

"She'll learn from the very best, and her magic is volatile at this age. Learning to control it is very important."

Hannah shrugged. "I'm sure that's true, but…"

Minerva held up a hand and shook her head. "Take a few days to think about it, talk to your husband and your daughter. It's as much their decision as yours. I should warn you though, magical children don't always fare well in a society where they are forbidden from using their magic."

Hannah nodded, it seemed she had a lot to consider. "Will I be able to get into contact with you later?"

"Your husband has my details, I've already let him know I've come by, so I would expect a visit from him soon."

Hannah nodded.

"You're taking this very well for a muggle."

Hannah's frown increased. "You've used that word before, what does it mean?" She asked, her teacup growing heavy in her hands.

Minerva winced slightly, she'd been forgetting her manners entirely. "I do apologise, a muggle is a non-magical person, such as yourself. Your husband was a muggle-born, a wizard born to non-magical parents. Your children are all considered half-bloods, which is the term for those who do not fit the other two. Purebloods have a long history of magical ability, some dating back hundreds, if not thousands of years, though no one really can tell anymore."

Hannah shook her head to stop herself. "I need to think about all of this. I'll let you know."

Minerva nodded. "Of course, I will leave you to your thoughts." She said, standing slowly ad placing the cup and saucer on the table. "I'm so sorry this is how this conversation happened, but I'm sure Milton can fill in any blanks you may have. I look forward to hearing what you have to say and sorry again for taking up so much of your time." She headed towards the door and Hannah followed her. "Thanks for the tea."

Hannah smiled. "Of course, I don't starve guests."

Minerva nodded firmly to her before making her way out. Hannah closed the door roughly as the woman left and leant against it, suddenly exhausted. Milton was certainly going to have to explain to her what just happened, this was all a complete delusion, surely. As much as she wanted to believe that though, many of the things the woman had said were starting to help Hannah connect some unconnected dots in her head after a long time. And she thought that maybe, she was actually beginning to see the bigger picture for the first time ever.

"I need something stronger than tea."

TYA

"Milton, yes, thank you for being here, I definitely would have preferred you had been here the other day, but I suppose now is better than never."

Milton had the grace to look slightly ashamed at the harsh tone Hannah was addressing him with. He'd never really been able to stand against her when she used it, mostly because he knew he was in the wrong whenever he heard it. "Sorry, Hannah, I really was busy. To be honest, I just thought I could do it on another day."

Hannah shook her head. She wasn't quite sure she believed him, and now that she knew he had been keeping secrets from her, she began to wonder if he really was as shitty a liar as she'd always believed. "Just… you're here now. That Professor woman left me with a lot of things to think through and you seem to be the one holding the key to the information treasure trove."

Milton stepped into the living room and sighed, hanging his jacket on the back of the door. As he looked around he frowned. "Rory at school?"

Hannah nodded. She was still in her bathrobe because she'd given up trying to dress for her husband when he'd asked for a divorce. They'd both seen it coming, but that didn't mean it didn't hurt. "Of course, I needed to talk to you before I said anything to her. It will be good to finally have an explanation to everything mind you."

Milton sighed again. "I really couldn't tell you, you know that, right?"

Hannah tucked her hands into her pockets and shrugged. "Not important right now, Love, we've business to discuss."

Hannah had let the school know she wasn't coming in today, it was too big of a conversation to be had whilst the kids were still home. "Do you want some breakfast?"

Milton took a moment to think before shrugging. "Alright, I haven't eaten yet, thanks."

Hannah nodded and half-heartedly gestured for him to follow her to the kitchen. "'spose this explains why you never spoke about your parents."

Milton sighed. "Partially. To be honest most of my family is dead."

Hannah gasped and whirled around. "Mil, oh God, I'm so sorry."

He shrugged. "Nothing to be done about it, they got themselves into it. I got out by marrying you, I warned them to be careful, but I was the one who married a civ, so they weren't too happy." His family had wanted nothing more than for Milton to follow the footsteps of his brothers into the army. Of course, given he was the youngest and his brothers were older than him, their deaths had essentially chosen his path for him. Not that he really would have picked to join the army anyway. He'd always intended on staying in the magical world. Of course, that hadn't happened either. "It was a long time ago."

Hannah nodded, the pain for the new information flashing across her face before she turned back and headed into the kitchen. "Sit down, I already have some bacon sizzling." She opened her fridge and pulled out the carton of eggs before sitting them on the counter. She looked over her shoulder to see Milton perched eagerly on the side of the chair, the place he used to sit when they still lived together. "Do you want your usual?"

Milton nodded. He didn't think he'd had his wife's cooking since that night on Hallowe'en just a few months ago. A sudden and horrifying end to an even more horrifying war. One he'd never been able to talk about and one he hoped never to have to again. Though he was sure Rory would ask questions should she go to Hogwarts and read about it all.

Hannah smiled over her shoulder. Despite everything, she still loved him. They just hadn't worked out and given this new information, she was sure she was discovering why. "I don't have any mushrooms; do you want baked beans instead?"

Milton shook his head and Hannah nodded, continuing to heat up the pan. "You know, I suppose this is a good thing, in a way." She started, watching Milton in the mirrored splashback for his reaction. "I was beginning to think I was going mad with the things that happened around here. The other day, the tv shorted out when Ellie threw a tantrum."

Milton barked out a laugh. "I did that once, it was one of those really old tv's you know, with the box. Well, it was new then. I got upset about something one of my brothers had done and the TV went up in smoke. They all thought it was just the TV, wasn't until much later we discovered the truth."

Hannah smiled. "I guess that would have been hard to deal with, especially since you had no foundation." She said, only slightly admonishing him. She could understand that he couldn't say anything, but the least he could have done was not leave her there alone thinking her kids were possessed. "Were you close with your family?"

"No, not really. I don't think they ever understood me. Or my abilities." He'd never been the strongest wizard, but he made up for it with enthusiasm.

"I'm sorry you went through that." Hannah placed the pan on the hobb and dropped the eggs in carefully. She moved the bacon off and shifted them onto plates for the two of them. She'd not had her breakfast yet either. "Can you grab the cheese out of the fridge for me?"

Milton carefully moved around the kitchen to the fridge and peered inside to find the cheese. "It appears you are out of cheese." He straightened and headed for the door.

"Where are you going?"

"I'll go and get some cheese, I'll only be a moment."

Hannah frowned. "Mil, Tesco is a good ten minutes away, this will all be cooked by then."

Milton smiled. "Trust me." He stepped out the door and Hannah rolled her eyes. She was clearly just going to have to keep his breakfast heated for as long as possible. He'd be gone probably at least twenty-five minutes and that's assuming her remembered exactly where the cheese isle was. However, not a second after she'd had the thought, the front door opened, and Milton reappeared with a packet of grated cheese in hand.

Her mouth dropped open as he walked through the living room and into the kitchen. "What?"

"Magic, Darling. I can use it when I'm not around you."

Hannah blinked. "But, what, you conjured up the cheese?"

Milton laughed. "Don't be silly, of course not. I apparated to my apartment and grabbed my cheese."

"Apparated?"

Milton nodded. "It's one of the many forms of wizard transportation. My preferred style, admittedly, I had to relearn after the ten years I spent in the muggle world."

Hannah had no idea what he was talking about but placed it on her ever-growing list of things she would be speaking to him about. "Alright, well, these eggs are done, so have at."

Milton grinned almost gleefully as she placed the eggs on the plate beside the bacon and worked on the tomatoes. He quickly sliced open the cheese and served himself a generous helping over his eggs and a smaller helping over his bacon. Then he put a small smattering of cheese on top of Hannah's bacon. She didn't like it on her eggs.

"Thanks, now for the tomatoes." They only needed a light sizzling, she preferred them this way, Milton preferred them a little more fried, but she knew he wouldn't complain. He never did bite the hand that fed him. It was one of the things she'd loved about him.

Milton took the plates and placed them on the small table before sliding back into his spot. Hannah sat across from him. She reached into the cupboard behind her and pulled out two mugs. The kettle had a home on the table this morning and the water was already hot. "Tea?"

"Always." Milton and Hannah both preferred black tea, a habit they had somehow managed to pick up from each other. "Ask me anything."

Hannah nodded, but settled for letting herself go through the paces before she said anything. Truly her most pressing concern was the woman, the Professor who'd shown up out of the blue. "So, she was telling the truth?"

Milton nodded, he knew who she was talking about. Minerva had already spoken to him about what had happened the other night, letting him know he should go and see his wife, perhaps explain things to her. "Minerva said you reacted well, like a weight had been lifted from your mind."

Hannah bit into some of her bacon. "Well, it's certainly not every day that one learns one's child is a wizard… uh, witch, I suppose." And up until a few moments ago, she still wasn't sure she'd even believed it, but, for whatever reason, she really couldn't deny it now. "I always knew she was special… all of them."

Milton snorted. "I always told you they were, you just took my meaning as something entirely different."

Hannah rolled her eyes. "Well, how was I to know my husband was living a lie, this isn't bewitched, you're certainly not Samantha."

Milton shook his head. "No, it's not. Magic doesn't work like that, not really."

"Do you have like a staff or something?"

Milton took a sip of his morning tea. "Nothing quite so intimidating," he said, carefully withdrawing his wand from its holster. "This is my wand."

Hannah reached a hand out for it, before snatching it back with a frown. "Can I touch it? It won't hurt me will it?"

He shook his head and held it out to her. "It would just feel like a normal stick to you, but anyone like me, with magic, would be able to tell what it was."

Hannah reached for the wand again, when she touched it she was only slightly disappointed by the truth of what Milton had said. She held it in front of her and studied it madly. It was a light brown colour, the colour of wood she supposed, and it possessed several intricate carvings around where she assumed it would be held and a small knob on top, almost as a way of keeping the wand from simply slipping out of his grasp. "It's really nice."

Milton shook his head. "You don't really appreciate it for what it is, Rory, Logs and Ellie will each get something like this when they go to Hogwarts." He said, not seeing the look of apprehension on his wife's face. "This wand is made of Redwood with a unicorn hair core," he said, turning it over in his hand. "It's 10 and a half inches and considered to be of pliant flexibility."

"What does all that mean?"

Milton shrugged. "I never studied wand lore, so I couldn't say, it's served me well though. I had to get the wand core replaced about two years ago because it had died with disuse."

Hannah frowned. "Does that happen often?"

Milton shrugged. "Ollivander said it was because it had become depressed. Not sure about that. Cost me 40 galleons though, so I was glad it was worth it."

"What's galleons?" All of this casual information was giving her a bit of a headache and it was all becoming much more real. This whole other world had to exist if he was able to talk about it so casually without thinking about it. She wasn't sure she would be able to keep up with such an elaborate lie.

"Wizarding money. Galleons, sickles and knuts." He pulled a handful out of his pockets. His emergency money, the rest of course was sat in his vault. He picked up the biggest coin, gold and sat it on the table. "This is a galleon, its about… 5 pounds I should think." He moved to the next coin, silver this time and about half the size of the galleon. "This is called a sickle, its about the equivalent to 30 p, give or take." Lastly, he dropped the smallest coin on the table, bronze it looked like and pointed to it. "Knut, its equivalent to about 1 p, not much to buy with these, but you make do."

Hannah looked at them curiously. "Suppose we'll be needing to buy a money pouch or something."

"There's 17 Sickles in a Galleon, and 29 Knuts in a Sickle, meaning there are 493 Knuts to a Galleon." He finished, tapping his finger on the table in thought. "Yes, I think that's right."

Hannah nodded. "Math never was your strength."

Milton shook his head. "Certainly not. I only took the good classes in school. Didn't bother with Arithmancy or Ancient Runes, or Divination for that matter. I wasn't a huge fan of the Alchemy classes either, but I mostly took them for credits."

Hannah had to shake her head again. She'd been eating her food as she was listening but hadn't noticed until now that she'd been munching on air for a good thirty seconds. Rolling her eyes and moved on to her eggs and sighed. "I don't think I'm going to be able to understand any of this."

Milton packed the coins back into his pocket and smiled softly. "You've many years to get it, no one expects you to pick it up this quickly, the important thing is to try and you're luckier than some, you've got me to help you wade through."

Hannah nodded. "That's good at least, to be honest I was worried I was losing it, still am."

Milton pushed the rest of his breakfast away and finished his tea. "Now, let me tell you a little bit more about Hogwarts, I know you've felt apprehensive about this, but honestly, Rory will love it."

Hannah nodded and pushed her food away too. "You're not wrong."

Milton pulled her towards the lounge as he carefully pulled a couple of books out of the bag she hadn't noticed he'd been carrying. "I brought some visual stimulus for you, in case you have any other questions."

TYA

When Aurora walked in the door, her siblings trailing in behind her, she knew something was up. Both of her parents, who usually preferred to sit in separate chairs, were huddled over a group of books. Which, on its own was strange enough, but coupled with the closeness and whispers that were passing between them, as well as one or two gasps of shock, she knew there was something.

"Daddy!" Ellie and Logan, dropping their bags at the foot of the stairs, dived over the backs of the lounge and flung themselves into his arms. Her father grinned and crushed them into giant hugs as her mother graciously pulled aside so they could lay all over him. It had been a couple of weeks since they'd seen him.

"Hi Daddy." Rory, much more eloquent than either of her siblings rolled her eyes at her siblings. Since she was apparently becoming a woman now, she supposed she needed to start acting like one. She noticed her mother throw her a knowing look but ignored it and instead draped her arms around his neck and kissed him on the cheek. "I didn't think you'd be here."

He carefully tried to extricate himself from Logan and Ellie, with little success before chuckling slightly and bringing Rory around to face him. "I dropped in to talk with Mum, how are you, I heard about Saturday."

Rory stared at her mother in horror, the answering laugh enough to make her cheeks pinken in embarrassment over her father knowing. "She wasn't supposed to tell you about that."

Her father smiled softly and rubbed his hand slowly up and down her arm in comfort. "Don't be embarrassed honey, it happens to all women eventually. You shouldn't be embarrassed about it, it's very natural."

"She said she's not ready for her life to take a drastic turn." Her mother said, shaking her head. Rory had the feeling something else was going on that she wasn't aware of.

Her father seemed to pick up on that and smiled. "Well, you'll be in for a couple of surprises before the day is over, Pud, your mother and I have something we need to tell you."

Logan perked up and looked between his parents and Rory. "Ooooh, are you in trouble, Rory, did you do a bad thing?"

Rory rolled her eyes are her brother. "You're one to talk, he nearly got into a fight today!"

Her mother gasped and immediately pulled Logan onto her lap. "What?! Logan, Mister, tell me what happened."

Rory tuned her mother and brother out and Ellie was quite content to lay between the pair with her head in her father's lap as he stroked her hair. "Dad, what's going on?"

Her parents exchanged a look, and both turned to look at the stairs. Her father nodded and carefully moved Ellie's head before standing up and taking hold of her hand. "Why don't we go up to your room to talk?"

Rory looked at her mother who nodded before turning back to admonish her brother. "Alright." She didn't know what any of this was about, but she really wanted to know. "I just cleaned it yesterday." She added, leading the way up the stairs. It didn't take her long to get there, her door was right on the landing and she swiftly kicked it open. True to her word, her room was neat, only cluttered with all of her favourite things. "Mum got me a new set of books for my shelves, see?"

Her father roamed his eyes over the additions, making note of what she already had for the next time he bought her a gift. "Oh, the Secret Garden, you'll love that."

Aurora grinned and jumped onto her bed. "What do we need to talk about, Dad?"

He breathed out a sigh and Rory frowned. "Well, to be honest, your heritage."

"What about it?" Rory didn't know anything about her heritage. Not from her dad anyway, because he never spoke about it. She could only assume it was because he wasn't close to his family, but she wasn't sure what might have brought this on. "I don't know anything about your family, Daddy." She tucked her legs up to her chest and leaned her head onto her knees. She was still in her uniform and shrugged off her jumper to make herself more comfortable.

Her father took a seat at the foot of his bed and let out a long breath. "There is a very good reason why I don't talk about them, Honey, and one of them is because we didn't get along." He started, as Rory watched him intently. "When I was a child, I was distant from my parents because they considered me a bit of a freak. Sometimes things just happened around me that I had no control over and no one could explain it." Rory sat up a little straighter, she wanted her father to know that he had her full attention. Even if she didn't know what was going on. "What I'm trying to tell you is that you and me, we're the same, but we're different to other people."

Rory sniffed slightly. "What are you saying, Daddy."

"I'm trying and clearly failing, to tell you that you're a witch." He said, sitting back against her wall to watch her reaction.

Rory smiled. "Don't be silly, Dad, witches don't exist."

He bit his lip and nodded to himself. "Here," he said, moving something from inside his sleeve and producing a stick for her to see.

Rory raised an eyebrow. "What is it?" She asked, holding her hand out to hold it as he gestured her to do.

"It's a wand." He said, closing her hand over it and holding it there.

Rory sucked in a breath, the wand almost felt warm, like there was a lifeforce pulsing beneath it. "What is it doing?" She asked, holding it closer to her face so she could observe it. This was not the kind of thing she was expecting out of today. "How can this be a wand, it looks like a stick."

"Just feel it, can you feel the heat, almost like it's trying to reach out to you?" At her nod, he smiled. "That's what it is. This is my wand, it helps me to channel my magic so that I can perform spells, because I am a wizard. Your siblings will have this power too."

Rory thrust the wand away from her. "It feels weird. How do you know this stuff?"

"Because I went through the same thing. The difference is, you have me to help you through this, whereas I didn't have anyone because I was the only person in my family who was like me."

Rory dropped her legs. "So… you can do magic, can you show me?"

He frowned. "I can, but unfortunately I'm not allowed to do magic here because we're surrounded by non-magical people. But I promise, it's true. I even have an official letter and everything if you want to see it?"

She nodded, and he quickly fished her letter out of his pocket. Miss A. Walker – McKinnon, the third bedroom, 56 Chichester St, London. The envelope was course and rough and Rory noted that the hand-writing was not from someone she was familiar with, so she didn't think either of her parents had written it. This handwriting was much to neat for her mother and too cursive for her father. She often found it hard to read her mother's tight scrawl and her father usually wrote in block letters. "Who wrote this?"

She looked to see her father smiling calmly at her. "Why not open it to find out?"

Shrugging, Rory flipped it over and stared momentarily at the wax seal. Did anyone even really use wax anymore? It all seemed so strange to her. The seal was red, or perhaps maroon was a better colour though she didn't recognise the crest it held. Carefully, trying not to destroy the seal, she pried it off the paper and pulled the letter out. Just like the front with her address, the letter was written in a green hand she didn't recognise.

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 Ms. Walker - McKinnon

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 31 July.

Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall

Deputy Headmistress

Rory blinked at the letter. She certainly didn't remember applying for any schools. "Did you apply in my name, Dad?"

He shook his head. "No, all magical children in Great Britain have their names down from the moment they're born. Of course, I could say nothing, on the off chance I broke the statute of secrecy."

Rory frowned slightly. "But what about my friends? I don't want to leave them behind."

"You won't have to, Sweetie, at least not completely. You can still see them on holidays and when you're not at Hogwarts. It will be hard, but not impossible."

"Do I have to go?" This was all such a huge revelation. Learning she had magic and was going to have to go to a different school was crazy. "Why can't I see my friends on a weekend, or after school?"

Her father frowned at this. "Hogwarts is a boarding school, Honey, you live there."

"Without Mum!? How can I go to a school without Mum?!" She asked, rearing back on her arse to lean into the headboard. "I can't leave Logan and Ellie!"

Trying to calm his daughter, Milton shushed her softly. "Calm down, Honey, I'm not going to force you to go. All I want is for you to think about it. You still have over a month to fully decide. If you want to go, let me know and we can contact the school. If you flip that page over, you'll see that they have a list of supplies you'll need. I've also brought over my own small selection of old school books if you wanted to have a look too." He said. "I would never want you to do something you don't want to do, but, Sweetie, I strongly encourage you to at least check it out. If the worst happens, you can change your mind and I'll investigate home-schooling for you, though I do warn you, if that happens, you'll have to come and live with me since you'll be learning magic and you can't do magic in front of muggles."

Rory calmed down and nodded. All she wanted was to be able to think about this, after all, it was a really big decision!