The warm sunlight of early July washed over the crowded streets of London in 1990. High in the sky, the morning sun reflected off the feathers of a shiny, earthy-brown owl.
Carrying a letter in its beak, the owl began a sudden descent as it passed over the Thames, gliding toward a long stretch of green parkland. Slowing its wings, it circled above a cluster of old houses before finally slipping through an open second-floor window of a Victorian-style mansion.
The room it entered was large, with a spotless, old wood-paneled floor. There were few furnishings — only a queen-size wooden bed, a mahogany reading table, and a cabinet with four shelves filled with books of all sizes.
Near the reading table, holding an exquisite quill decorated with a large raven feather, sat a young boy of about eleven. His raven-black hair fluttered in the slight breeze drifting in from the open window, and his eyes were a deep silver, like a storm of lightning. A faint ring of blue circled their center, giving them a cold, sharp edge.
Ted, tall for his age, stood at 154 centimeters.
The owl landed on the table beside him, but he didn't lift his head, instead continuing to write on a piece of parchment. Dissatisfied with his lack of recognition, the owl hooted pointedly, but Ted only glanced at it briefly before returning to his work.
A few minutes later, he finally ran out of parchment and turned to the impatient bird, which had spent the last several minutes giving him pointed looks and the occasional hoot, as if worried he might forget its existence.
Taking the letter from its beak, Ted opened the envelope, a smile rising to his face. He had been waiting for this letter forever...
[
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. Blake,
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 September 1. We await your reply by no later than July 31. If you are unable to use an owl for communication, please reply by ordinary mail to the address Hogwarts, and an acceptance professor will personally visit you before the start of term to purchase the necessary supplies for the upcoming year.
Yours sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall Deputy Headmistress
]
Reading through it quickly, Ted passed to the second piece of parchment
[
HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY
Uniform:
Three sets of plain work robes (black)
One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear
One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)
One winter cloak (black, silver fastenings)
Books:
The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1) by Miranda Goshawk
A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot
Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling
A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration by Emeric Switch
One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore
Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander
The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection by Quentin Trimble
Equipment:
Wand
Cauldron (Pewter, Standard Size 2)
Glass or Crystal Phials
Brass Telescope
Set of Brass Scales
Students may also bring an owl OR a cat OR a toad
PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS
Yours sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall Deputy Headmistress
]
He already owned all the required equipment and had prepared most of it ahead of time. The supply list wasn't difficult to obtain early, and it rarely changed. All that remained now was the wand. After that day in the alley a little more than two years ago, Ted had managed to visit Diagon Alley several times.
At first, he struggled to decide what he actually wanted to buy. His funds were limited, and he didn't want to waste the little he had. That changed when he began learning potions. Once he realised how profitable they were, he found a way to earn wizarding coins without relying on anyone.
During the summer of 1988, he visited Diagon Alley over and over again, gathering ingredients whenever he could. By the end of that summer, he returned to boarding school with his suitcase packed full of magical materials.
At school, he discovered an abandoned basement and turned it into a small laboratory. The place wasn't much, but it was quiet enough for his experiments. He started brewing simple and cost-effective potions, and by Christmas he had enough finished batches to sell. That allowed him to double the money he had originally spent.
Selling the potions was another challenge. He was only a child, and most people didn't take kids seriously. Fortunately, Reynold — the old shopkeeper at Slug & Jiggers — stepped in. He had taken a liking to Ted's talent and agreed to sell the potions to reliable buyers. He even gave Ted a twenty-percent discount whenever he purchased ingredients.
By the time spring vacation arrived this year, Ted had already reached N.E.W.T.-level proficiency in potions and had even invented his own brew: the Skin Refresher. He created it by combining his knowledge of chemistry with proper potion theory.
The potion could make any witch or wizard appear around fifteen years younger. The effect stopped at sixteen, which meant a seventeen-year-old and a thirty-one-year-old would end up looking roughly the same age. Anyone younger than sixteen drinking it risked dangerous complications, so he never sold it to minors.
Despite that limitation, the potion was cheap to produce and incredibly popular. It brought him substantial profit, and he now owned equipment and funds worth over thirty thousand Galleons. Converted, that was roughly five hundred and forty thousand pounds.
Most of his money, however, was already gone. On one of his visits to Diagon Alley, Ted came across a specially enchanted suitcase. It had expansion charms, anti-theft enchantments, advanced lightness spells, and several other enhancements. The inside was twice the size of his room. It was capable of hiding anything, weighed practically nothing, and looked no larger than a lawyer's briefcase.
The suitcase was sold at auction and reached a final price of eighteen thousand Galleons. Ted placed the winning bid without hesitation. A portable safehouse disguised as a briefcase was, in his opinion, worth every bit spent.
Placing the two Hogwarts letters on his desk, Ted picked up the reply he had written earlier. He blew lightly across the page to make sure the ink was dry, then handed it to the owl. He slipped a silver Sickle into the pouch tied to its leg. He had prepared the reply ahead of time, knowing today would be the day — the 7th of July, his birthday.
<================>
A bit later that day, Ted sat in the library, fiddling with a small box in his hand. The box was green, decorated with thin silver lines, and the letter 'S' curled across the top like a snake.
'Probably meant to look like something Death Eaters would use,' Ted thought as he passed it from one hand to the other. This was his birthday present. Before his mother died, she had prepared a will. Everything she owned was left to his father, except for her books and this box. Those were to be given to Ted only once he turned eleven.
He kept tossing it lightly, but he still couldn't bring himself to open it. He had been doing this for almost an hour, and it was already noon. He still wanted to get his wand today, and the box was beginning to feel like a distraction he wasn't ready to deal with.
'I'll think about it later,' he decided, finally tossing it into the black briefcase on the desk. The case was made of neat leather, carved with thousands of small runes and marked with the letters T.S.B., standing for Theodor Selwyn Blake. It had cost him three hundred thousand pounds.
When he returned to his room, Ted waved his hand toward the closet-room door."Indutus Vestio," he called. A robe shot out of the closet-room and wrapped itself around him, settling over his casual white silk T-shirt and black tailored silk trousers.
He still couldn't buy a wand, but that hadn't stopped him from learning magic. It had been difficult and required constant practice, but eventually he had managed to cast the simplest spells wandlessly. It took six full months of daily attempts before he cast his first spell, and once he managed to make small objects levitate, progress came more easily.
The hardest parts of wandless magic were feeling the magic, concentrating it in a single point, and pushing it out of the body. He had already felt magic once before at Ollivanders, so he had a starting point. Once he learned the rest — things a wand normally guided automatically — all he needed were the correct incantations, a clear idea of the spell's effect, a basic understanding of the theory behind it, and control.
Those things came naturally to him. In time, he mastered everything he attempted and learned several dozen low-level spells. He even managed to cast Expelliarmus, which counted as mid-level magic.
Taking a deep breath, Ted walked down the street toward the center of Kingstown. When he reached an empty stretch of pavement, he lifted his right arm and channelled a small pulse of magic through it.
A minute later, the familiar Bang! echoed across the street as the Knight Bus screeched to a halt in front of him.
A young man hopped off.
"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 Stan Shunpike, and I'll be your conductor this morning."
<==================>