In The Safety Of Magical World

Chapter 2

" Simply walk straight through the wall between platforms nine and ten and you'll get to the platform Nine and Three-Quarters. Hogwarts Express will be waiting there. Very easy. "

I got all the instructions necessary for getting to Hogwarts with no issues and was allowed to write it down on a piece of paper that I had to destroy later to avoid more Muggles accidentally finding out about the secret world existing next to them. And, although they did their best not to show it, I could see professor McGonagall and the headmaster were quite nervous themselves. I wondered if the teachers in my school would react in the same way if a wizard child had to study with us.

" I'm going to put some enchantments on you, otherwise, you won't be able to even see Hogwarts. Many magical things are hidden from the eyes of Muggles. Yours need to be completely open so that you're aware of where you're going and what you're doing. "

She waved her wand around me a few times. I don't know what was I expecting, maybe some lifting sensation as my eyes were getting cleared from the Muggle vision I had had my whole life. I felt nothing and before I knew it, McGonagall was done.

My parents, still shaken from the things we found out, were getting up from the sofa to bid farewell to the guests but Dumbledore sympathetically refused, claiming that just like they found a way in, they would find one out. Both asked us not to worry and reassured us I would be alright as long as we followed their orders. However, I ran outside barefoot and caught up with the two wizards when they had made it to the gate. I wasn't the one I was actually distressed about.

" What about my parents? I'm going to leave but they...they're staying here. Is it safe? "

" Don't you worry, " Minerva McGonagall said, hiding her wand in her clothes. " We have put strong protection enchantments on your house that's going to last all the time of your absence. Your parents can continue their lives as usual. They're not under any threat. See you in September, Mr. Winters. "

I caught the last glimpse of Dumbledore's crooked, kind-hearted smile before they both turned into a colorful swirl and disappeared from my front yard with a swooshing sound in less than a second. I felt ants crawling over my toes and usually so soft grass all of a sudden felt very prickly against my bare skin. 

Our neighbor – a large lady with extremely thin arms and legs that didn't look proportion to her body, was watering flowers in her garden and didn't even look in my direction. She seemed to be in some kind of daze and focused on the flowers only, a behavior that didn't look like her at all. She was chatty, always loitering in her garden and if you happened to walk by, she would talk your ear off even if you were just going to take out the trash. Today she only came to her senses when I slammed my front door shut, she looked around befuddled like an owl that has been forced into daylight.

These thoughts wandered through my head as I was sitting in the Express that had slowed its speed noticeably, probably moving in on to the destination. This morning, when all of my former classmates walked in the direction of high school, I was hurrying to the train station. A friend of mine I knew from kindergarten already, waved me from a distance, looking baffled I wasn't joining him on the way to school. I waved back, not knowing if I would ever see him again.

When the train finally stopped, I was the last one to get off. My heart was thundering in my chest and I at the same time wanted and didn't want to see what was awaiting me. I listened to the whizzing sound of smoke escaping the Express chimney and waited till the last student stomped off the train. Only then I dared to get up and walk outside myself.

Albus Dumbledore had promised I would be met by the Keeper of Keys and Grounds of Hogwarts Rubeus Hagrid. At the moment, I was simply thankful that I wasn't going to be alone in an unknown place and didn't think much about who I would meet. A little more knowledge would have been useful for me to prepare my reaction adequately.