Book 1: The First Year (ROTBTD Hogwarts AU) (PREQUEL)

11. Jack's POV: Early October

Although Hogwarts set a limit on the kinds of pet the students could bring, it was slightly more lax when it came to familiars. But the fact remained that the most common familiars amongst students and younger witches were owls and cats.

A lesser known fact about the school was that just as owls had an Owlery where they could rest and reside, cat familiars had their own dwellings in the form of a series of inter-connected, underground cat dens. No one was sure how they'd come about, whether it were the school's Imāris that'd done it, the castle, or the cat familiar's themselves with their own brand of magic.

Like the rest of the school, these dens often changed their location. Most people wouldn't be able to say what the inside of one looked like. Jack, however, wasn't most people.

This had less to do with any special skills on Jack's part and more thanks to an acquaintance of Uncle Vladimir's, a cat familiar that answered to Bumble and who'd been requested to keep an eye on Jack.

So it was that Jack spent one particular Sunday morning in one of the cat dens writing out his letters while Bumble slacked off his babysitting duties to presumably go gossip with the other castle cats.

For a cat den, it was rather big and relatively well-lit, though it was hard to say where the light source came from. Cats of all ages, shapes, and colours lounged in the low-ceilinged room. Most of them left him be, though occasionally one would wander by to curiously sniff at him.

The kittens were a different matter. They didn't seem to have the concept of "personal space" figured out yet. While Jack wrote, a kitten with white fur and orange speckles stood on his shoulder, head moving rapidly with his pen strokes, and he'd had to pull it out of the way several times when a wandering kitten would run up to bat at it. He also had to write the letter on his right knee, the rest of his lap being occupied by a large, purring brown cat who'd taken one look at him and settled down right then and there.

Dear Mum,

I hope you're doing well. Did you get the magazine clippings I sent you? I didn't know there were sewing patterns that could stitch themselves, and I thought Mrs. Tannings would appreciate them and you'd like the crosswords, so I'm sending you more. My classes are going okay. Still haven't started doing wand magic in half of them, but they make up for it with being interesting. There are lots of things the professors talk about that aren't in the text books, especially in history with Professor Thatch. But I think I've decided that I like Charms best, maybe because Professor Llyr reminds me of the lady three floors down who works at the big library and gives out iced biscuits and advice about combit combatt combating dangerous chattering books. And I really like flying classes. I think flying might be the best thing invented.

The kids in my house are loads fun. The older ones are friendly and they're almost always playing games in the common room (that's why I study in my room). It's almost like being back home again. I've made friends with the boys in my room and most of my classmates. I think you'd like them.

I really miss you and Emma. I hope to hear from you soon. Send Emma a hug for me.

Love,

Jack

Jack sat back and reread the letter. Detailed enough to be reassuring...but otherwise vague enough to be passed off as unintentional. It would do.

(One could never be too careful with a mother who was well aware of mischief tendencies. Not that he knew anything about that. Honest, he didn't.)