Wands and Feathers (Six of Crows Hogwarts AU )

Chapter 1: Something Old, Something New

Year One

July 1979,

"You called me in at 2 AM, for mail?"

Kaz was flabbergasted. Though it was true that Kaz receiving any sort of letter or package was unusual, he deemed it slightly excessive to be woken up at a time this early for it. Per Haskel furrowed his brows, staring at the letter in his hand as if it was going to self-destruct any second.

He straightened his back and looked up at the orphan sitting across the desk from him. "I've got...news." And after taking a deep breath, he blurted out, "about Jordie."

Kaz paled, his heart beginning to race so fast, each beat seeming to blend into the next. This was not what he was expecting. Leaning forward in his chair, Kaz struggled to form his muddled thoughts into words. "D-did you hear back from the police? Is his case going to court?"

"Kaz, I'm afraid it won't be. It was dismissed," Per Haskel confessed, his eyes cast downwards. The room was silent. The dripping of the orphanage's water pipes, the buzz of the fan, and the crinkling of parchment as Per Haskel read over the letter in his hand again was all that could be heard. "I'm sorry, but we did all we-"

"You're sorry?" Kaz stood up, his hands shaking at his sides."My brother was burnt alive by a bunch of street thugs and you're telling me that you're sorry? This was our only chance at making things right!"

"There just wasn't enough evidence to back up our statements, and you only decided to speak up about the incident a couple of months ago when it all happened two years back!"

"No evidence?" He pointed to his walking stick leaning on the side of the desk. "That's evidence! I'm crippled and Jordie's gone thanks to what those bastards did to us and that's not enough evidence for them?"

Per Haskel breathed out in exasperation. "We tried, Kaz. You have to understand."

Kaz stared at the fireplace and thought of Jordie- screaming, suffering, dying. He snatched his gaze away and grabbed his walking stick- a metal pole he'd found lying in the orphanage backyard. 'Well, I don't, so if that's all, I'll be going back to bed."

Regaining his composure, Per Haskel called out. "There's one more thing. Though I suggest that you read this letter yourself."

The orphanage owner slid a thick envelope across the desk, and ringed his hands together, waiting for Kaz. Curiosity got the better of Kaz, so he pushed all memories of Jordie to the back of his mind and made his way back to the desk, sat down, and picked up the heavy envelope.

On the front: a purple wax seal had been stamped; a coat of arms- a lion, an eagle, a badger, and a snake- surrounding a large letter H. There was no stamp anywhere on the letter. He turned it over, his eyes widening as he read the address and name scrawled onto it in emerald-green ink:

Mr. K. Brekker.
Bottom Bunk (23)
Ketterdam Orphanage
6th Street
West Stave

"What the...Who the heck addresses a letter to a bunk?" There was no answer from Per Haskel, so Kaz took that as a sign to open the envelope.

As Kaz scanned the first sentence, he felt a chuckle slip out of his mouth. "Are you serious? You have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Is this some sick way of making fun of those card tricks I do or something? Very funny, sir."

"No, Brekker, you're a real wizard. Wands. Magic. Potions." Noting the unwavering disbelief on Kaz's face, Per Haskell stopped speaking and decided to take a different approach to explain all this. "Your mother was never around. Am I right?" Kaz started to feel slightly unsettled. What did his mother have to do with any of this?

"Yes, she'd stayed with Jordie and Father at the farm until I was born, but she'd gotten sick and died right after that. But why are you asking me about her?" Kaz asked, getting more and more anxious.

"Because that's a lie. Your mother was a witch, and although Jordie didn't turn out to be a wizard because your father was Muggle- nonmagic-you still did. She left for London right after you were born; because she had some important ministry business to attend to here. She died last year, but not before making sure she put you under my care- a wizard's care- so that way you would be able to go to Hogwarts." He paused, waiting for Kaz to talk, but after a moment of silence that Kaz seemed to be set on not breaking, Per Haskell spoke again. "So?"

Kaz was speechless. There was no way this was real. But Kaz never knew his mother, so how could he be sure?

 But then he remembered something Jordie had told him a few years back:

"Mum was always in her room, and she had this cabinet that she always kept locked full of old books and bottles of these weird liquids. It was really freaky stuff."

Still. That could mean nothing. "How do I know you're not lying to me? You have no proof"

Per Haskel sighed. "Fine. I'll show you." He whipped out a long stick from his coat, though Kaz assumed it was a wand- and snapped a button off his shirt. After setting the button down in from of him, he whispered something in what seemed like a foreign language and waved his wand. Kaz blinked, and just like that, the button disappeared, and, in its place, a beetle.

"We'll go buy your supplies from Diagon Alley tomorrow. Go to bed, Kaz," said Per Haskell, a small smile forming on his face as he took in the look of utter disbelief on Kaz's face.

It's easy to say that Kaz didn't sleep a wink that night.

*****

tadaaa!!! that's the first chapter. I'm planning to get chapter 2 written by the end of this week, but then again school might have already killed me by then so??I'm super sorry for any magic plot holes or inaccuracies, it's been a while since i've read harry potter. just point them out to me and i'll try and get them fixed.

till next time then byeeeee

-sara (karuoo)