“What?” Dudley asked, hearing the confusing words ring in his ears. “Let me see that!” He snatched the letter from Stanley and skimmed it. “A wizard school?” Panic rushed through him, thinking about his horrible childhood.
Alberta looked at it. “I…guess,” she said.
Shawn, filled with curiosity and unbelief, took a peek. “Maybe it’s a joke.”
Stanley appeared confused. “I’m going to a wizard school?”
“OF COURSE NOT!” Dudley exclaimed without hesitation. “You are NOT going to this dumb wizard school.”
“Are there really wizards out there? I thought they were fantasies,” Shawn asked, taking another glance at the letter.
“It’s probably a joke,” Dudley said, using Shawn’s idea, however, he knew the truth. Flashbacks of Harry Potter and the memories of chaos that occurred each summer, flowed through his mind, and Dudley felt nervous at the thought of his own son being one of them.
“Hey, here’s the list of my supplies,” Stanley blurted, pulling another letter out of the envelope. “I need a wand, spell book, cauldron, and all sorts of magic stuff!” He seemed slightly excited.
“Stanley, this is all a big joke,” Dudley said, yanking the note from Stanley and throwing it and the other note into the trash can. “You know people these days; they just try to lure innocent children into traps.”
Stanley’s face fell with disappointment. He had somewhat wanted to go to the wizard school, Hogwots or whatever it was called. He twisted around and went upstairs to think.
Dudley watched his son disappear before sitting down on the couch to think and take deep breaths.
Why did they choose Stanley and not Shawn? Why did they choose this family? Harry Potter’s parents were magical, but Alberta and I are not. Why is this magical world so complicated? Dudley took another breath and sighed. He didn’t want Stanley to go, who knows what would happen to him?
Stanley, up in his room, thought hard about the letter he had just seen.
Why was I chosen? Is Shawn going to come too? I hope not. I don’t know anything about wizards…do they wear uniforms? Can I turn Shawn into a toad? That would be pretty sweet. How long is this school? Do I take the bus? Or is it a boarding school? Could I bring my goldfish back to life? All these thoughts rushed through Stanley’s head like bullets at the thought of a real wizard world that just seemed like a book he read before.
Later, Stanley joined his family at the kitchen table for dinner. Just when he sat down, his mother spoke after swallowing her piece of meat.
“Hey Stanley, I heard they have free skateboarding classes at the recreation center. They have professionals there to help improve your skills. Do you want to go after dinner? I’ll drive you.” Alberta asked.
“Sure,” Stanley said, with a grin on his face. He turned his head and spotted Shawn, who rolled his eyes at him.
After dinner, Stanley brushed his teeth upstairs and grabbed his skateboard and gear. He then headed downstairs to the garage where his mother was waiting for him.
They drove for about ten minutes when they arrived in front of a Starbucks. Stanley looked at the café with confusion.
“I thought we’re going to the recreation center?” Stanley asked as Alberta parked the car. “You said the lessons begin now. Just drop me off first and get your coffee later or I’m going to be late!”
“Sorry, Stanley but there isn’t really any classes at the recreation center. I need to talk to you and only you privately. Come on,” she said, opening the car door.
Stanley got out, puzzled, and followed her inside. They spotted an empty table near the back. Was this really his mother?
“You decided to choose a coffee shop? Out of all places?” Stanley asked, looking around. “If it’s the “talk”, Dad has already given it to me.” Stanley visualized the day his father was sitting on his bed explaining how he was becoming a “man”. He shivered at the thought of the words that came out of his father’s mouth.
Alberta laughed. “No, but this is about your future.” She hesitated.
“It’s about the letter you got today.”
“What?” Stanley asked anxiously.
“Before I tell you,” Alberta began, risking much, “You must promise not to tell ANYONE. Not your father or your brother or anybody.”
“Ok,” Stanley said. “I promise.” He held out his pinky to her and they shook in a childish way.
“Well, first, you are going to go to Hogwarts,” she began, and she swallowed hard to see the reaction on Stanley’s gentle face.
“WHAT?” Stanley said with shock. “You mean it actually exists?”
“You bet,” Alberta replied. “You were chosen because you are a wizard.”
“How?” he asked with curiosity. “I mean, don’t I have to be related to a wizard or something? How can this be?”
Alberta gulped. “Because…,” she hesitated and spilled out the truth she had been hiding for many years,
“I’m a witch.”
Stanley’s mouth opened so wide a jar could slide right through it. “Aaa….. wwwiittcchhh?” he stammered, thinking of ladies dressed in long, black dresses with a pointy hat supplied with a broom, cat, and a cauldron filled with a bubbling green potion.
“The kind that are mean and scare people?”
“No, no of course not!” Alberta quickly replied. “There are good witches, and those myths of witches dressed in black with evil in their blood don’t exactly exist.”
Even though Stanley felt relieved, he was still in great shock. “Is Dad or Shawn a wizard?”
“Unfortunately, no,” she said. “They’re a Muggles.”
“They’re what?” Stanley asked.
“Muggles,” Alberta repeated. “Non-magical creatures.”
“Oh,” Stanley replied. “So if you’re a witch, does that mean you went to Hogwots or whatever it’s called?”
“Hogwarts,” she corrected. “And yes, I did. I got my letter when I was eleven, just like you.”
“So, if you were a witch, were your parents and family magical, too?” Stanley kept asking as questions piled into his small mind.
“Well, no actually. Neither was Uncle George. But just because I didn’t have magical parents, doesn’t mean I can’t be a witch.” Alberta stated.
Stanley hesitated with an interesting question in mind. “Then, if you were a witch, um, why did you marry Dad?”
Alberta was amazed that Stanley had asked such a question. Soon, her mind was clouded with a flashback that had occurred many years ago.
~FLASHBACK~
“We need to talk,” a young woman’s voice began, as she and her boyfriend sat down at the Leaky Cauldron in Diagon Alley.
“Alberta, if this is about the Ministry, I can’t help it, it’s my job,” a young man with wispy red hair replied.
The lady sighed and she tucked part of her dark hair behind her ears. “We have had this conversation too many times, and we need to act on it. You spend too much time at work. There’s no time for you and me! You worship your job, and don’t dedicate your life to anything non-Ministry related. Either we find a solution… or we’re through,” she sternly said to him.
The young man chuckled in his mind. She had always threatened him of breaking up, but never did. He didn’t need to defend himself, she would never do it- she loved him too much.
“Well, I have dreams you know. For many years I have dreamed of one day achieving the position of Minister of Magic,” he responded. “See Alberta, you get upset too often and that’s why you were a Ravenclaw. Luckily, I saw that you were more than that.”
Alberta lost her cool. She hated it when people teased her about being in Ravenclaw. They were known as the brains and were teased by the other houses. About to grab her wand, she realized she was in a public place and held back. All she could do was let the true words flow,
“Percy, we’re through,” she stood up, pushed in the chair and sped out the door without a glance back. Percy sat there, eyes open, hardly believing what had happened.
Two days following, Alberta woke up in her sunny apartment. The bright sun blinded through her eyelids and she opened them to see Perrell, her owl, on her with a the Daily Prophet in his beak. She sat up, rubbing her eyes, and snatched the newspaper from Perell, and he flew over to the windowsill. She unfolded it and nearly died in shock as she read the headline in large bold letters.
MINISTER’S BODY FOUND AT THE MINISTRY
Ministry sends Carrie Guldone to Azkaban for the murder of Scrimgeour
By Rita Skeeter
Rufus Scrimgeour, Minister of Magic, was found dead in his office around two o’clock am this morning. According to Healers from St. Mungo’s Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, Scrimgeour was poisoned by Carrie Guldone, an employee of Scrimgeour who had recently disagreed with him about an important decision.
“Rufus was a good man,” Arthur Weasley, a member of the Ministry commented. “He dedicated his life to help keep the Ministry up and running.”
Scrimgeour had served as Minister for thirty-three years. Not only was he a Minister, but he was also a wonderful father.
“I loved my dad. He was always at my side, even when he was overwhelmed at work. He was the best,” Franklin Scrimgeour, the Minister’s son, said.
At Azkaban, Carrie Guldone, the murderer told us the inside of the story.
“Scrimgeour would never listen or understand my opinions. I believed that someone else would better fit the position of Minister. Think about what happened in the Department of Mysteries a couple years ago. If Scrimgeour hadn’t tried to make Harry Potter the Ministry’s poster boy, then maybe the Ministry could have actually helped the boy on his quest to defeat the Dark Lord. Harry might have listened to us then, Guldone stated. “He didn’t deserve to live.”
Scrimgeour was a good man and will be remembered for his work as Minister.
Turn to A3 for a short biography of Scrimgeour’s life.
Turn to B1 for the new minister.
Turn to B5 for funeral information.
Alberta couldn’t believe what she had read. Out of curiosity, she flipped the thick pages to B1 to see who the new Minister was. She turned the crisp pages and gasped at what she saw. There was a big picture of a man shaking hands with the Ministry members.
It was Percy Weasley.
Alberta didn’t bother to read. She crumpled up the paper and burned it with her wand. She hopped out of bed and began to pack.
I’m not going to stay in this wizarding world anymore if Percy Weasley is Minister of Magic. she thought with anger and frustration. She slapped her clothes into suitcases and cleared her closet and room.
That very day, Alberta got a Muggle truck and packed all her stuff. She drove off, leaving the wizard world behind.
The manager of the wizard apartments that Alberta lived in saw her door cracked. He entered and looked around. The room was spotless except for a small pile near the window. He approached it and saw a pile of newspaper ashes crumpled up.
~FLASHBACK ENDS~
“Well, I grew tired of magic a little and decided to live a Muggle life and then I met your father and I couldn’t resist,” she said, bending the truth, coming back into reality.
“Are you still a witch then?” Stanley asked.
“Once a witch, always a witch,” she smiled. “I just don’t use my magic and don’t make much contact with the magical world.”
“You have magic?” Stanley asked with awe.
“Well, my wand does,” she replied. “But I had to learn how to make magic come out of it.”
“Wow, that must be so cool!” Stanley said. “I can’t wait to go! How do I get there?”
“Well,” Alberta began, “On September first, in about a month and a half, you will go to the train station and get on the hidden platform- Platform nine and three-quarters. There will be a specific train that will take you directly to Hogwarts. You will dorm at Hogwarts and come back before summer.”
“Sweet,” Stanley said. “Now where do I get my supplies? And how do I get there without Dad or Shawn figuring out?”
“Well,” Alberta thought. “I’m going to send for somebody to come pick you up at night, a wizard I know well because we use to work together before I decided to live the Muggle life. He’ll take you to Diagon Alley where you will find all you need for school. Then he’ll take you to the train. But from now on, don’t talk to anyone about this.”
“Okay,” Stanley replied. “But isn’t there so much I need to know before I go to Hogwarts?”
“Just don’t use magic in front of Muggles or when you are out of school,” she answered. “Or else you will be persecuted by the Ministry of Magic.”
“The what of magic?”
“Ministry, the governing body that enforces the rules of magic,” Alberta replied.
“Oh,” Stanley said.
Alberta glanced at her watch. “We better head home now or your father might wonder. Here.” She pulled out two scraps of paper. Stanley unfolded them and realized they were the letters from Hogwarts.
“Thanks, Mum,” he said, and they left Starbucks.
“Hey son,” Dudley said as Stanley and Alberta entered through the door. “How were your lessons?”
“Fun, Dad,” Stanley lied. “A little tricky, but I’m catching on.” He walked upstairs to his room. He got his pajamas on and read his book. But he couldn’t concentrate. He kept thinking, “Who’s going to pick me up?”
The Dursley Descendent by krumflies11392
Chapter Notes: JKR owns this all. Thank you phenioxsong22 for editing. Thank you everybody for the 29 reviews from the last chapter!