abcnovels
Chapter 1: “Late Owl”
Chapter 1: “Late Owl”
Chapter 1: “Late Owl”
August 27, 1991, 4:40 PM. Heat haze has passed, and crowds are again forming on the street. Northampton is a small city in central England. The darker the sky is, the livelier it becomes.
The once verdant lawns on Witton Road are now replaced with the sad brown withering vegetation caused by the drought and insufficient water supply.
After two months of discussion, the words they exchanged came to fruition. They come up with a plan to temporarily connect a pipeline from the Severn River 30 miles away to keep the drought away from the residents.
Though the lawn is no longer green, it doesnt shy away from a boy lying on it. His name is Matthew Wickfield, eleven years old, with black hair, brown eyes, and a thin figure. He graduated from a local prep school in Northampton a few months ago.
I waited for three days long; August is ending. If Hogwarts doesnt write to me again, I must go to Eton! Matthew sighed while staring at the blue skies enjoying the breeze dancing on his face.
Matthew is a Traveler. Three months ago, when he first came to this world, he traveled back 30 years ago and landed in England in the 90s.
First of all, the frequent owls. He witnessed three different owls flying across the horizon in just one month. Compared to his previous life, the sky was only filled with iron birds.
One morning he saw a beautiful bird with feathers as white as snow with a few black spots marked on its feathers. It stopped for a while under the eaves of a nearby building. Matthew cant help but awe over its majestic look through the window.
He went to the local library after the fated encounter with the majestic white owl; after a lengthy search, he concluded the bird he had seen before was an owl, Snowy owl, to be exact.
This kind of owl travels the tundra, Siberia, and Alaska, bearing witness to its majestic wings from time to time. In 1979 it was listed in the Appendix I species by the CITES.
In other words, it would only be possible to encounter this kind of owl in Central England.
Then he passed by a few people wearing weird cloaks on the street, and it was at the Charing Cross Road in London. He was buying some books, and then he met more of those guys in a strange get-up.
Sensitive to the surroundings and sneaky, trying to get through the crowds without even touching the passer-by. Matthew blinked for a moment, and poof, they were gone.
It is impossible to find these two places on any normal 1991 map of the United Kingdombecause these two place names are both an author named Rowling, who wrote her work Harry Potter. It was made up by myself.
Matthew had doubts growing inside his heart as he recalled how bizarre the whole situation was; he then bought a detailed map of Surrey County.
After observing the map for the whole night, he found a town called Little Whinging and a street named Privet Drive.
Finding these two places on an ordinary map in 1991 was impossible. These two places are fictional, after all; an author named J.K. Rowling came up with that name for her work on Harry Potter.
The pieces finally fit together! He could feel something different inside him. One day during a meal, he made a glass burst a few yards away simply by glaring.
Looking at the scattered broken pieces, Matthew realized perhaps there was a reason why he got sent back in time.
After all that, Matthew has been patiently waiting since the start of July. He waits for the visit of a Hogwarts faculty member.
Because he firmly believes that he has crossed into the wizarding world of Harry Potter and that his true identity is a Muggle-born wizard.
He had hoped to take advantage of his knowledge of living as a wizard with the knowledge of the 21st century, trying to live leisurely.
Now that I am in the wizarding world, I only need to enter Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to learn magic, then quietly master spells such as Obliviate, Sectumsempra, and the Disillusionment charm. or so Matthew thought
Dreams are beautiful, and the future is exciting, but the reality is cruel.
The poor lad had been waiting from the start of July till the end of August. Alas, Hogwarts never sent any faculty member to his house.
At first, he thought it was just Hogwarts being late, but then he doubted everything.
What if all the things he went through before were just illusions? This is not the wizarding world of Harry Potter.
Maybe the snowy owl just got sidetracked and went off the course from Siberia to England, it is not expected, but its not rare for such things to occur. After all, reality is stranger than fiction.
The weird people at Charing Cross Road are just a few eccentric hippies; they are not wizards at all.
As for the glass, it probably shattered because of the heat outside, and the glass doesnt have any room to expand.
Well, even if its not a wizarding world, its not bad, Matthew said to himself, coping. At any rate, I still went back in time from 30 years in the future; that is something I could take advantage of.
A red postal car stopped at the other side of the road.
A letter addressed to Mr. Matthew Wickfield! The postman shouted after getting out of the car.
Matthew got up and then walked to the postman to get his letter, then he was suddenly stunned there by the sight of it.
He observed the letter in detail; he turned it over multiple times and ran his finger through its surface, trying to determine whether this letter was authentic.
He finally stopped and then got his eyes fixated on the wax seal; it is a red crest with the motive of a shield divided by 4 with an H in the middle. From the top left, four sides depicting the coat of arms in Hogwarts follow a Lion, a Snake, a Badger, and an Eagle.
Matthew took a deep breath before finally breaking the seal and tore the envelope open, lying inside a single piece of paper.
To Mr. Wickfield
Standing on the road
226 Witton Road
Upton
Northampton
Dear Mr. Wickfield
We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Students shall be required to report to the Chamber of Reception upon arrival.
The date is scheduled on September 1
Please ensure that the utmost attention is made to the list of requirements attached herewith.
We very much look forward to receiving you as part of the new generation of Hogwarts heritage.
Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus
Yours truly,
Mine
Matthew couldnt finish the letter before he could feel an invisible hand grab him and lift him off his feet; next thing he knew, a gust of wind was bashing against his face while his ears heard the tune of the wind whistling.