The Ancient Wielder

Chapter 1: The Arrival to Hogwarts

September 1st, 1995 Friday

"We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry as a fifth-year student.

Term begins on 1 September.

Preliminary supplies have been collected for you and will accompany you on your journey to the castle.

As you may be aware, the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery prohibits the use of magic by those under the age of seventeen outside school. However, due to your unique circumstances, the Ministry has graciously agreed to allow Professor Eleazar Fig to help you hone your spell-casting before escorting you from London to the castle for the start-of-term feast and the Sorting Ceremony.

Yours sincerely,

Professor McGonagall

Deputy Headmistress"

Alice Whitlock looks up from the yellow-tinged parchment in her hand as she hears Professor Fig's footsteps rounding from the back of the carriage. "Ah! It appears we are almost ready to depart," Professor Fig says as he just finished charming the rest of their belongings that were positioned in the trunk of the carriage. The spell he cast preventing the luggage from jostling out during their journey to Hogwarts. He stops in front of Alice whom stuffs the letter back into her front pocket, now being the hundredth time she has read through the letter she received about two months ago. To say she was excited was an understatement. "It's a pity we didn't have a bit more time to spend on spell-casting. I presume you've been practicing the spells we worked on," Professor Fig continued, happy with the progress he has made on catching the young witch up with the rest of her class. It was rare for a witch or wizard to not receive their Hogwarts letter on time, students regularly receiving them not too long after they have reached the age eleven. With Alice being fifteen-years old and receiving her letter so late, she was to begin her first term at Hogwarts as a fifth-year student. Nevertheless, Professor Fig was sent to aid her and was very much impressed at how much potential the young witch showed in just a short amount of time.

Alice pulls her temporary wand out of her coat pocket with a smile, "I have, Professor."

"Well, I'm quite sure I've never seen anyone take so quickly to a second-hand wand. You'll be a force to be reckoned with when you get your own."

Alice places the brown wooden wand back into her pocket, "Thank you, Professor Fig. I appreciate your working with me before the term begi-...." Alice stops abruptly, both Professor Fig and she turning their attention to a sudden popping noise coming from her left. Just a few feet away stood a dark-haired man wearing a brown trench coat, his back facing the pair as he looks around wearily. He had appeared out of thin air, apparating onto the wet cobble-stone street.

Finally turning around, the man notices the two watching him and immediately recognizes the professor. "Oh! Eleazar!" He starts making his way towards Professor Fig, pushing his circular-rimmed glasses further up his stubby nose and keeping his eyes on the street to prevent from stepping into any puddles as he takes a few steps forward.

"George! Glad my rather cryptic description of our location did not thwart your finding us," Professor Fig says as he shakes George's hand with a welcoming smile.

"I've apparated to more vaguely defined destinations than this," George chuckles as he continues, "Though, I confess I may have miscalculated slightly on my first try. Gave quite the fright to some theatre-goers in the West End." George looks at Alice as he lets out a small laugh. She smiles back in return, thinking of when the time will come when she will finally be able to apparate on her own. No more long enduring car rides or having to travel via plane. Professor Fig said that she had about two years left until she can apparate since the rule was that you would have to reach the age of seventeen to be able to do so, needing to pass a certain test to be certified. Witches and wizards under the age of seventeen were not allowed to use Apparition, but can instead apparate by Side-Along Apparition with an adult.