Chapter 5 is up:

Chapter 5: The Hogwarts Express

Doreen Murphy rushed her son along the crowded platforms at King’s Cross station. They had come from the “Leaky Cauldron Inn” were they stayed the night after arriving there by floo powder the day before.
Brad pushed his trolley piled high with the trunk he had been provided by Hogwarts. On top of it was the little kitten his mother had bought him the day before in the ‘Magical Menagerie’ in Diagon Alley. It was a beautiful little grey kitten, Brad who had never liked cat’s much had strangely fallen in love with this one something about its mismatched eyes, and soft grey fur caught his eye, and his heart had been set on the kitten from the moment he first saw it. Now they moved along platforms 6,7,8 then 9, they looked at the barrier in between nine and ten, and then looked at each other.
Doreen gave her son a nod of reassurance then together the lent, trolley and all, against the platform. They fell through the barrier as if it wasn’t even there, Brad looked around him at the crowded old-fashioned platform. Sitting on the tracks was a magnificent, scarlet steam engine with a golden plaque on the front stating that it was indeed the “Hogwarts Express”. Brad’s eyes lit up as he saw hundreds of other students crowding the platform.
“Mam! There’s loads of them, look!”
“Yes, I can see, Brad it is 10:55 you had better get on the train now look at me.” She took his face in her hands and said “You are going into a completely new environment, practically a new world. I just want you to remember, whatever happens there. I love you with all my heart, and so does Da it’s just taking him a bit longer to come round to the new idea okay?” Her voice caught slightly as she said these last words and tears came to her eyes.
“Yeah mam, I get it… I love you too, loads. I hope Da comes round, cause I miss him, tell him that for me won’t you mam?” For the first time Brad felt something choke him, he was coming to the realisation that it was a year until he would see his mother, Sarah, or his father again not to mention the twins.
“I will, now go on or you’ll miss the train, I love you.”
“I love you to mam… bye” with that he handed his trunk to a conductor who lifted it onto the train for him, he looked around, waved once more to his mother and climbed onto the train.

He entered the train and saw that it was comprised of lots of compartments down each side of the central passageway. He walked forward looking from side to side, through the little windows on each door, searching for a free compartment. Eventually he saw one with only one person sitting inside; he entered to see a small framed boy with black hair and freckles. He had a slightly vacant look and didn’t notice that Brad had entered straight away.
“Hey, is it okay if I sit here with you?”
“Huh? O yeah, go ahead.”
“So… your first year?” Brad asked eagerly.
“Yep, but I have three older siblings who are all in Hogwarts already.”
“Really?” Brad asked as  he sat down “That’s amazing, do they like it? What’s it like? I didn’t know I could use magic until about 2 months ago! I couldn’t believe it when I found out!”
“Ahh, you’re a muggle born? My siblings love it, they’re all in Slytherin, I hope I’m not though, I don’t like Slytherin.”
“What’s that? Slytherin I mean?”
“You don’t know yet? Slytherin is one of the houses at Hogwarts, there’s they are 
renowned for being sly and cunning, then there’s Hufflepuff, who are known for their loyalty, then there’s Ravenclaw who are known for their clever minds, then there is Gryffindor who are known for being noble and brave!”
“So you don’t want to be in Slytherin.. were do you want to be?”
“I want to be in Gryffindor! It’s the best house, though all my siblings hate it, they say Slytherin is the best and Gryffindor is terrible… when I said I wanted to be in Gryffindor, my older sister Elana turned my chair I was sitting on into a gigantic snake which chased me round our house and garden!”
“Wow, so they REALLY don’t like Gryffindor then? O yeah, I forgot I’m Brad, Brad Murphy who are you?”
“I’m James, my family name is Silver, yeah they really don’t like Gryffindor.”
“Well, I don’t know where I’ll be then… how do they decide? Is it just like normal schools?”
“Normal schools? Oh, you mean muggle schools! No I don’t think so, I don’t know how they do it here, but my older siblings tell me it’s horribly painful… I think they are teasing though! They do that allot with me…” his voice trailed away as he looked out of the window at the sprinkling of rain that was starting to splatter on it’s surface. For the first time Brad felt a tightening in his stomach, his mind started running through the things that they might do to choose houses, would they make them run rigorous tests? Test their magical ability? But he was just a first year, he was muggle-born at that, he didn’t even know how to use magic yet! The note with his books had warned that there was extremely harsh punishment for using magic outside of school before you turned seventeen. His worry must have showed on his face for James said “You look sick, are you okay?”
“Yah, just nervous I guess.”
“Ah, don’t worry about it, I’m sure my siblings were just teasing me.”
“But what if I get there and I can’t do magic? What if they are angry with me for coming at all!”
“You got a Hogwarts letter which means they want you! Don’t worry about not being able to use magic, I can’t control magic yet either, and I’m pureblood!”
“Pureblood?” For some reason the word sent a shiver down Brad’s spine.
“Yep, my parent’s are wizard, and witch as are my grandparents and their parents, and their parents as far back as we can tell. That’s what pureblood means pure magical blood. The rest of my family seem to think it’s important, I don’t though, I don’t see how our bloodline has anything to do with how good we are! I guess I’m just weird that way… my mother was so upset when I said that once, she shut me in the closet for two days with nothing but water!”
“Your family don’t seem very nice… mine are, though my Da still hasn’t come round to the fact that I can do magic, he wasn’t too happy about it.”
“Yeah, my older brother, Rufeus, is okay… in comparison with the others that is. At least he doesn’t tease me, he just ignores me altogether. He is in his last year at Hogwarts, and my sisters are twins Elena and Jocelyn, even I get them mistaken sometimes they are both fifteen, and I’m eleven.”
“Yeah me too, that’s funny, my older brothers are twins as well, also identical, my sister is just annoying really, she’s thirteen.”

“Something of the trolley?” Brad started as a short, plump young witch stuck her head in at the door of the compartment and gave them a wink. “15% off for first years.”
“No thanks, I have some lunch already.” Brad held up a neatly packed box with bacon sandwiches his mother had made him.
“I’ll take some chocolate frogs, and some acid pops. Thank you!”
“Your welcome dear, here you go, that’ll be four sickles and a knut.” James paid up and stuffed the sweets into his bag.

“So, which Quidditch team do you support?” James asked enthusiastically
“Quidditch? What’s Quidditch?”
“Oh, of course I keep forgetting, your muggle born so you don’t know about Quidditch, it’s far more exciting then that football thing you muggles watch. It’s played on broomsticks, with 7 players per side there are 2 beaters who protect the seeker, and chasers from the bludgers and 3 chasers who score goals with the quaffle, and a seeker who catches the snitch, and also a keeper who protects the goals.” Brad looked twice as confused as before
“I’m afraid I still don’t quite understand.”
James spent the next two hours explaining the finer points of Quidditch and informing Brad that he simply HAD to support Puddlemere United because they were just the best, and oldest Quidditch team in Britain.
Brad heard a soft mewing above his head and remembered the small grey kitten which he had brought along. He stood up on the seat and pulled the basket down from the overhead storage. He opened the lid to let the scared looking little kitten out of the basket, it stepped out onto his lap mismatched eyes darted around the room taking in it’s surroundings. The little kitten’s grey fur was slowly settling back into the sleek grey coat it usually had. “I don’t know what to call her yet… she is so beautiful”
“Haha, I like her, her eyes are like yours! They are weird, and cool.”
“Thanks… what do you think I should call her?”
“I dunno… you should name her, she’s your cat!” Brad stared out the window, his mind was going over all they had discussed when suddenly he burst out
“Seeker!”
“What?”
“Seeker, I’ll call her Seeker! Like in Quidditch!”
“I like it… Seeker, I think it suits her.”
“Yeah, me too… How long is this trip?”
“Oh, we should be there soon, we should get changed into our robes.”
“Right, those dress things, it’ll be hard to get used to for me.”
“Haha, yes you muggle borns aren’t used to robes are you.”
“Nope.”

Right... here's a much longer chapter!

Chapter 4: Diagon Alley

It was the 15th of August and Bradley waited in breathless anticipation, from the moment he woke up. He knew, he KNEW that a person from Hogwarts school would be coming, yet there was still a nagging doubt. One couldn’t help wandering, in such circumstances, whether it was all just a dream. Yet there was the letter he kept next to his bed, and the proof that his mother still believed it all.
He sat on his bed in breathless anticipation, staring up at the large posters of Gareth Bale, and Irish captain Robbie Keane. “Brad! Brad! Come he’s here!” He grabbed his wallet and ran down the staircase.
 
With his mother in the lounge stood a tall gangly man, young, with red hair and freckles. When Brad reached the bottom of the stairs the red-haired man looked up and stuck out a hand, a friendly smile cracking his freckled face. “Hey there! You must be Brad, great to meet you! I’m Hugo, my job’s to show new muggle-born’s round Diagon Alley… you’re my first one” he added with a wink.
“Good to meet you, umm… Mr. Hugo.”
“Haha!” Hugo barked with obvious mirth, “Never thought I would be called Mr. Hugo… that’s great that is. Right shall we go? Mrs. Murphy you’ll be coming along won’t you?”
“Yes, yes I’ll be accompanying you and Brad.”
“Great, now where’s your fire place?”
“Fire place? Well there’s a fire place in mine and Cliff’s room, but why?”
“Floo powder of course… ahh wait, you don’t know what floo powder is do ya? I forgot… well, floo powder is a wizarding way of travelling, there is a powder which is mass produced which you throw into a fire, step into the fire and state the place you want to travel too and you will come out in the fire place at your destination.”
“Okay… so do you have some of this powder?”
“Of course! Every wizard travels with a bag of flu powder. Especially me because of my job…” and with a smirk he pulled out a small, leather pouch which was sagging with white powder.
“Right then, let’s head up to your room Mrs. Murphy.”
“Ummm… okay then, follow me.” With that she turned around and walked up the stairs followed by Brad and Hugo.

They entered the room with a stylish fireplace, obviously just for show.
“That’s a small fireplace… so you’re going to have to crawl in.” Hugo said looking slightly confused at the impractical size of the fireplace. “Okay… but there isn’t any fire, and if there was wouldn’t we get burnt?” Mrs. Murphy raised the question,
“Oh, no problem on either count!” Hugo replied robustly removing the same kind of stick that Poppers Poppington had used (Brad had figured out by now that this, was called a wand) he pointed it at the fire place and muttered ‘incendio” under his breath, an orange flame leaped up in the fireplace. “Also, to answer your second query, all you will feel is a gentle, warm sensation then you must CLEARLY say “Diagon Alley” and you will come out in the official Diagon Alley fire place. We’ll go one at a time, Brad, how about you first? Here’s a pinch of powder now throw it in, crawl after it and say what I told you and you’ll be fine, trust me! I’ve done it loads of times.”
“Err, ookkaayy” Brad said uncertainly, “How long will it take?”
“Oh, only about 10 seconds I would imagine, it depends how crowded the floo network is.” Brad wasn’t even going to bother asking what the “floo network” was, he was too confused already. “Right, off you go!” He said enthusiastically.
Brad moved forward slightly unsteadily, then with an unsure movement he threw the powder into the fire, he started slightly as the flame turned an emerald green then crawled with a sudden confidence he certainly didn’t feel into the fire place. He stopped for a moment, it was true all he felt was a sensation like that of a warm wind blowing upwards then he said in as clear a voice as he could muster “Diagon Alley!”
A tightening sensation took hold of him, everything went dark and he started to spin faster and faster he caught glimpses of fireplaces as he passed, and then suddenly it all stopped and he found himself standing in a large fireplace looking out on the most unbelievable scene he had ever laid his eyes on.

He couldn’t take it in all at once his eyes darted one way then another. He was looking out on a long cobbled streets lined on either side with shops of a most unusual nature. The first shop sign he saw said “Magical Menagerie” then “General Quidditch Supplies: For all your Quidditch needs” and “Flourish and Blotts book store” that was as far as he got when he was tapped on the shoulder, with a start he looked behind him and saw his mother and Hugo standing in the fireplace. “Well? What are you just standing there for? Let’s go!” Hugo hurried them out of the fireplace, it was the most breath taking place that Brad had ever been, he stood for a minute on the cobbled pavement, he was finally filled with a sense of finality and belief. Now he knew it was all true, this couldn’t be fake.

“Right look at your letter and tell me what’s first on your supplies list?”
“It says to get three sets of plain black work robes. Where do we get those?”
“Ahhh you’d have to go to Madame Malkins the 2nd’s shop for those!”
“The second?” Mrs. Murphy inquired,
“Yeah, her mother died about 10 years ago, she took over the shop she inherited the knack for robe sizes I’ll tell you, there’s no place better then her shop.”
“Right, but one question… how much will all this cost, in pounds that is, not in wizarding money?”
“Ahhh, of course you don’t have wizarding money yet do ya? Well then we’ll have to go to Gringotts first, the wizarding bank, safest place in the world to keep stuff that you don’t want other people getting at, only had stuff stolen once, and that was Harry Potter who did that, we all know he was special don’t we?!”
“Well we don’t really know who he is, but anyway let’s get to that later. Shall we go to Gringotts now?” She said hurriedly as she saw him take a big breath obviously ready to launch into a detailed description of this famous Harry Potter, whoever he was. “Right, yeah, umm follow me then.” They followed him down the street until they stopped in front of what was undoubtedly the grandest building on the street, tall and imposing it’s greek styled architecture suggested old age, and the massive golden letters over the entrance proclaimed the famous title of the old bank. They walked up the long flight of stairs through the security at the door where they were prodded with long golden rods, which Hugo informed them were called “Proberty Probes” used to uncover spells of concealment. Brad gave a start when he saw the guards standing by the door, they were small and had grey leathery skin, long pointed noses, and thin spindly hands. “Wha-What are those, Mr. Weasley?” He inquired timidly, “Those? Oh, those are Goblins, they guard the gold in the Gringotts vaults, they also run the whole bank, they are the finest bankers in the world.”
“Okay, but were do we go to change money?” Brad’s mother was starting to sound a little overwhelmed, which was something because it took a lot to overwhelm her.
“Just over there, at the desk that says Exchange above it.”
“Right, let’s go then shall we?” With that she led the way over to the desk, behind it sat two goblins, both were crouched over piles of paperwork, muttering to themselves as their quills moved like lightning across the pages.
“Hello and what may I do for you?” The Goblin closest to them rattled off, barely lifting his head from the columns, and figures he was studying.
“The Mrs. here wants to change some muggle money Gorag.”
“Oh, it’s you Hugo, yes she can change with me, how much do you want?” Gorag’s head came up from the page as he said this. Brad stopped listening to the conversation and started to look around the massive room they were in was different to anything he had ever seen, hundreds of desks, all alike to the one they stood at, were placed strategically around the room. All of them with small goblins sitting, bent-headed working hard at whatever their separate tasks were, at the other side of the large room stood large double doors. These did not reflect the shining glory of the rest of the building, they were dark and foreboding, goblins stood at either side of the entrance, armed with proberty probes.

“Alright, thank you, come on Brad let’s go! It appears that we have allot to do before getting home this evening!” His mothers voice called him back from his observations and he turned to follow her and Hugo out the door. “Right, we’ll go to Madame Malkin’s first then shall we?”
“Whatever you say, Hugo.”
“Brilliant, then follow me!” They followed him up the alley, and stopped outside a large shop, emblazoned with the words “Madame Malkin’s the 2nd’s robe shop”. They entered a dark musty room, filled with materials of every shape, size, and colour.
“Hello there, may I help you?” They were addressed by a harassed looking young woman, her dark hair was up in a tight bun, and her tall figure was stooped by the weight of the materials she carried.
“Ahhh, Madam Malkins, I’ve brought this boy to get his Hogwarts robes!” Hugo said genially, and then he added in an undertone “muggle born you see.”
“Yes, thank-you Hugo I gathered that. Now, what size are you,” she asked, turning on Brad. “Err, I don’t know ma’am sorry” he said as he looked pleadingly at his mother, “Probably best you measured him” his mother said, “in-case we use different measuring methods to your kind.”
“Very well then, come over here dear.” Madam Malkins said kindly gesturing to a wooden block on the floor, “Now just hold still for a minute while I measure your height and width.” She started running her wand up, down and across Brad’s body. “Aha! I have just the set of robes for your size, I have started doing packages you see, I get the types of robes Hogwarts students will require before each year, and I have started making up packages, it’s far less trouble to just pick up a package you know!” With that she lifted her wand and said clearly “Accio robes” there was a whooshing sound and a package wrapped in brown paper flew out of a back room and hovered in-front of her. “Perfect, that will be 18 Galleons for the lot! I’m having a 10% off sale for first years only this week, so you certainly chose the right time to come!”
“Thank you Mrs. Malkins, very much obliged!”
“No problem, enjoy the rest of your time in Diagon Alley!” She called after them as they left the shop.

“Right, what’s next on your list Brad?” Hugo asked enthusiastically, Brad consulted the list “It has a list of books next”
“We can go to Flourish & Blotts for those, they also do packages with all the books for each year. Tell you what, we’re right next to Olivander’s wand shop now, why don’t you go in there and get your wand, and I’ll go get your books? That way we’ll get it done quicker!”
“Alright, that sounds fine to me.” Said Mrs. Murphy with a little more energy then she had felt earlier, the whole atmosphere was starting to course through her, and she was starting to feel energised and revived by the jostling crowds of chattering people, all in strange robes and pointy hats, for some reason she couldn’t understand it just made her feel happy.

Hugo left them with a warning to wait for him before they go anywhere else. Brad and his mother turned and entered Olivanders wand shop, there was a short, stocky, bald headed man sitting behind the desk his head buried in a book. He looked up as they came in, “Good day! Good day, what may I do for you?”
“Are you Mr. Olivander? I need to get a wand you see, and I don’t really know how that works because I’m muggled or whatever it’s called.” Brad said in one breath, he didn’t know why but this place made him nervous. “Muggle? Ahh but of course, I must apologize, you find me most exhausted today. I remember now, I was told that a muggle-born boy would be coming, and to answer your other question, no, I am not Mr. Olivander, Mr. Olivander died 4 years ago, I am his former apprentice the shop’s name was not changed in honour of him. But anyway enough of that, you are here for a wand, so let me help you… one of the things that has always been clear to wand makers is that the wand chooses the wizard, in other words you’ve got to try out many different types of wands before you find the right one. Now there are stacks of wands in the back room, but I think we will start with this shelf here” and he indicated a low shelf lined with boxes, each one had a label with a different description on it. He reached down took a box from the top shelf, opened it, and handed it to Brad. “Here give that wand swing and let’s see.” Brad did as commanded swinging his arm in an arc, but nothing happened. “Hmm, we will have to try a few more then…” after five more attempts Brad swung his arm once more, and a shower of sparks came out of the end of the wand, giving him a strange powerful feeling. “There we go! That’s it, very interesting, elder wood, 11 ½ inches, hippogriff feather core. The only one of it’s kind, I made it as a bit of an experiment. Anyway, that will cost 40 Galleons, I never thought that particular wand would actually choose someone, it is extremely powerful… use it well!” With these parting words he accepted the coins from Brad’s mother and stuck his head once again into the book lying open on the desk.

Once they were out in the street they stopped, and Brad consulted his list again.
“It says I need:
1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)
1 set glass or crystal phials
1 telescope
1 set brass scales
1 Sneak-o-scope

Where do I get all this stuff?”
“Just wait, I’m sure Hugo will be able to help with that, and here he comes!” she gestured to where Brad could see a now familiar shock of read hair bobbing towards them through the crowd.

“Right you got your wand? Here are your books,” Hugo handed them a brown package heavy with books.
“Thank you Hugo, we have a few things left to get but I’m afraid I really don’t understand what most of these things are, where do we get them?”
“You can get that stuff at Potage’s Cauldron shop, Slug & Jiggers Apothecary, Scribbulus Writing shop, and Wiseacres Wizarding Equipment. Hey Brad, how about I go and get those things with your mother, and you go and browse the other shops, you’ll find some great things at ‘Weasley’s Wizarding Wheezes’ and at ‘Sugarplums Sweet Shop’ Oh! But don’t go down Knockturn Alley, nasty place that is!.”
“Ummm, yeah that would be fun, mam?” He inquired looking up at her,
“I think that would be fine, just take some money with you… Hugo how much would be reasonable, you know I’m not very good with wizard money?”
“I’d say about 10 galleons would be enough”
“Okay, here Brad, meet us back here in an hour… be careful, okay?”
“Sure mam, thanks!”
“Your welcome.” With that Brad headed off, peering into the shop windows at the many strange sights that met his eyes. Soon he saw the un-missable building of “Weasley’s Wizarding Wheezes” he walked up to the door and entered, it was like entering another world joke items of every shape and size whizzed around the room. The shelves were stacked with boxes of merchandise with labels that read things like “Skiving Snackboxes: NEW EDITION, with the all new Jelly-Head Jellybabies! Get out of class easily just pop one of these and your head will start wobbling around the place like a big jelly!” and “Dunghead Dungbombs! The tried and tested Weasley dungbomb recipe, it’ll take a month to get this smell out!” Brad wandered around in raptures, it was unlike anything he had ever seen. It was crowded as well, chattering people mostly between his own age and about seventeen filled the shop all exclaiming over products and teasing each other. It took Brad, half an hour to decide what he wanted to purchase, he eventually decided on the highly amusing decomposing-diaries, “Give it to your mate, watch his surprise as he wakes up the next morning and all that’s left is a pile of dust!” It cost 7 Galleons, leaving him with 3 which he decided to save for the sweet shop.
Out in the alley he could hardly believe how much time had passed as he looked up at the large clock on the entrance to Gringotts. He only had fifteen minutes left, he looked from side to side and saw the large lollipop-sign of “Sugarplum’s Sweet Shop”. 

He entered the store and was taken aback by the sweet smell that struck him as he walked in. It wasn’t that sticky sweet smell you usually smell in a sweet shop back home, but a wholesome, fruity kind of smell. Shelves upon shelves of sweets he could never have imagined met his eyes, there were no Mars Bars, or snickers here they were all unique and, to Brad, completely unheard of. Titles such as “Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans” “Cauldron Cakes” and “Chocolate Frogs” jumped out at him, once again that overwhelming feeling that he felt in “Weasley’s Wizarding Wheezes”. His eventual choice was two boxes of chocolate frogs, and one bag of cauldron cakes. He was dissuaded from the “Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans” when he was warned that they were indeed “every flavour”, and the shop keeper could have sworn he got a tree bark flavoured one once.

He left the shop with his purchases held firmly in his grip, and headed back towards were his mother stood waiting with Hugo and armfuls of packages some of which she handed to Brad when he joined up with them.
“Right, that’s all you got to get then?” Hugo inquired, Brad checked his list
“Yeah that’s all.”
“Great now if you want to go back to the fireplace you can head home via floo powder again. Sorry I got to do one more person today, you were the morning ones ya see?”
“Right, that’s fine by us… thank you Hugo for everything.”
“Your welcome, ahh here we are” he broke off as they reached the giant fireplace, “O yeah one more thing, on the 1st of September, go to King’s Cross Station and go to the barrier in-between platforms 9 and 10 you just walk straight at the barrier, make sure no-one sees you, and you will walk straight through it onto platform 9 ¾!”
“Through the barrier? Right that shouldn’t be a problem, thank you again Hugo.” With that she threw a handful of powder into the fireplace stepped in saying in a loud, clear voice “11 Puddlesmere drive, Limerick” in a woosh of green flame she disappeared, then Brad stepped forward and threw his portion in, stepping backwards into the fire to avoid getting smoke in his eyes again he spoke “11 Puddlesmere drive, Limmerick” the last thing he saw was Hugo’s smiling face spinning before his eyes.

Short one but necessary!

Chapter 3: Decisions

“Love! I don’t want him going to any freak school! Even if it is real, which I highly doubt, NO! We aren’t going to let him, I don’t care what you saw! Optical illusionists dear! They are extremely skilled at ‘disappearing’.”
“Listen Cliff! I know what I saw, it was amazing Cliff, it was beyond any doubt! He didn’t do it as a show either, he did it almost nonchalantly, without thinking!”
“That’s what he must have wanted you to think… Honestly dear I never thought you would fall for such cheap trickery!” For a second Doreen’s eyes flashed, she was a brilliant judge of character, of people, and of how they behave, and she had seen deep, definite honesty in Poppers Poppington’s face.
“Dear, you know that I am not easy to trick, from much experience I might add, and I know that he was telling the truth, every word of it. Now, I don’t care what you say but Brad has got to go dear, you have to understand! This is his big chance, he will forever be living with the knowledge of something that might have been. You can’t put him through that, Cliff, it would just be cruel.” Her voice was steady, yet it had a certain commanding quality about it.
“Doreen, I don’t know, it’s too risky. You hear the stories in the paper about kidnappings, and kids being tricked into doing things and then snatched. I can’t let that happen to Brad!”
“I told you already! Poppers Poppington is no kidnapper! He thoroughly believed what he said! Dear let’s at least write back to Hogwarts, tell them he’s coming, then go with them on the 15th and see if it’s all real okay?” She looked ready to fight all night if need be and Cliff knew his wife too well, it was useless, she was as stubborn as she was beautiful, he gave in with shrug of his head.
“Fine, go, but I’m not coming, it’s on your head now okay? Take Brad on the 15th, just make sure you bring him back, if it’s all legit then he can go. But once again I am having no part in it, if it’s legit, then on the 30th of August YOU are taking him, not me, I am carrying on work as usual!” He hoped this final argument would sway his wife, but his hope was in vain.
“Fine” her mouth formed a hard line as she stared him down, “I will go with him, I will help him every step of the way!”
“Okay, just don’t let me hear any of it, when you go to London you are going to see your sister, and when you go to take him to “school” you are going to take him to George’s High, on 3rd st. okay? That’s what we tell people.”
“I didn’t know there was a George’s High?”
“There isn’t! That’s the point, if all this happens to be true, we don’t want anyone to know of Brad’s ‘abnormality’ do we?” For a second Doreen stared at him, almost to shocked to believe it as her eyes filled with tears she turned around and walked quickly from the room.

“Brad!” Her choked voice echoed through the house from where she stood in the living room.
“Yeah! Up in my room!” She turned, and headed towards the staircase. When she reached Brad’s room she knocked on the door with rather more force then intended. He opened it quickly and admitted her, she sat on his bed and was silent for a few seconds.
“Mam?” His voice quavered slightly as he spoke.
“Brad, listen, you can go I convinced your father.”
“Brilliant Mam, but… what are you upset about.”
“Brad, your Da isn’t happy, he doesn’t like the fact that you are going to a school he hasn’t heard of, and that you have hidden… abilities which he doesn’t, I don’t for that matter, understand. It’s going to be tough Brad, I’m not making any secret of it. He isn’t going to be quite the same to you for a while probably, but he’ll come round. He’s a good man Brad, don’t ever forget that. I love him and I always will and I know he will come round because he loves you and he always will! Just know it isn’t going to be easy for a while, that’s the risk your going to take by going with this. I want to make all this clear to you before you make a final decision to go. So, what about it? Are you going through with it?”
Brad thought for a moment, he was sorry about his fathers take on this but his mother was right, his Da would come round in the end.
“I’m going Mam, I’m going.” Brad stated this with an air of finality, and it was like a light had been switched on and he was happy, and relieved. It was like living a fairytale one wonderful fairytale. This seemed to have effected his mother too, because she smiled through her tear stained face and said with far more energy then before, as if reassured by her own speech to her son.
“Come on! The owl will be her tomorrow, let’s see a smile! I’m making waffles, I’ll have them ready when your sister get’s home from the movies. We can tell her all about it then. Brad smiled, it was one of his mothers many, wonderful abnormalities that she loved to have waffles for a mid afternoon snack. Without thinking, acting almost on impulse he moved forwards and hugged her, feeling the warmth that one always feels when embraced by a loving mother. They stood like that for a while, the odd tear trickling down her face and falling onto Brad’s head.

Thanks !

Disclaimer:
I don’t own any of J.K Rowling’s characters or places! I only own the characters I created!

Note:
Please feel free to fiercely criticize my writing! It is extremely helpful to have honest views on it.


Chapter 1: A Strange Birthday Card
One, two, three… he jumped, from 12 meters, landing incredibly, unbelievably on his feet without even a wince of pain, or the crack of a breaking bone!
Bradley Murphy was a boy who NEVER refused a dare… why? Simply because he never seemed to get hurt no matter what it was, he just had to want to succeed at whatever the dare was badly enough and he would. He couldn’t explain it, nor could other kids. All he knew is he was practically king-of-the-school in elementary school, and he certainly was none to worried about heading off to high school next summer, he was certain he would be just as looked up to, and praised there as he was here. He started to head off home, walking jauntily a mischievous smile on his dirty face. He was a normal height for his age, with a broad figure and dark-brunette hair. His eyes were another thing that set him apart from his fellow 10 year old friends… one stormy grey eye, one emerald green… he couldn’t explain it, no one could.

It was his birthday the next day, and he had suspected, ever since a few days ago that they all wanted him out of the house to get presents done etc. so he had obliged… after all, who was he to get in the way when there were presents involved! The day of June 23rd was his birthday, a day he looked forward too unreservedly each year. Because it meant the whole family would be home, the twins, who were 20 and both at university, always made the time to come home for his birthday. So it was with a light heart that he entered the house whistling a jaunty tune. “Oh, it’s you” a voice sneered, “I thought it was a cat being slowly tortured.”
“Oh your one to talk Sarah! At least I can get noise out of my mouth unlike YOU!”
His older sister, at the age of 13 she had taken extreme prejudice to the fact that he was so popular in town and decided to take it out on him whenever she could.
“How dare you! You little twerp! Why I’ll….”
“You’ll what Sarah?” he jeered “Shout at me some more? Ooooo maybe you will call all your friends and moan to them about me… scary!”
“You little…” but she stopped before she could go any further, their father had just walked in.
“Ahhhh, how are my angels doing today?” He asked in a strong Irish accent.
“Great Da, how was work?” Sarah said quickly, evidently attempting to make it look like nothing had just gone on between her and Brad. “Same as always thanks love. Now where’s Doreen?” Doreen was their mother, standing at 5’9” she was the beauty of the neighbourhood, her blue eyes, dark hair, and model shaped body made her a stunning figure. This, however, made her no less homely and loving, indeed, Brad often thought (with that unnatural intelligence, and understanding that only a few children are ever gifted with) what a perfect life he had, with a loving family around him, barring Sarah perhaps but he often told himself, she’ll come round eventually!
He made his way upstairs to his room, it was small, but that’s the way he liked it, littered with all the things he loved. His clothes, his swimsuit, his posters of famous athletes, of course his massive poster of Gareth Bale, Tottenham Hotspurs star winger the posters were stuck on every available bit of wall space. He loved it, with the sloping roof, the skylight, and the window that looked across the meadow at the back of their house. One of his favourite hobbies was to climb out of this window and jump into the grass pile below, and then sneak up on his sister while she sat listening to music, oblivious to the rest of the world.

It was with great excitement then, that he climbed into bed that night switching off his light, and stared out of his skylight at the twinkling stars, as he slowly drifted off to sleep he saw something very strange, an owl sitting on the sill of the skylight, staring down at him with large yellow eyes, almost as if it knew who he was, and all about him. But no! That was silly, it was just an owl looking through his window, nothing strange about that, after all there were quite a few owls in the area around this time of year.
The next morning he woke up and, without a thought about the owl the night before, he jumped out of bed and headed down stairs with a broad grin on his face. The smell of cooking waffles met his nostrils and he sighed with pleasure, he loved waffles.
“Good morning dear! Happy Birthday!” His mother called over the sound of boiling water. “Thanks Ma!” He replied turning a shining face up to her.
“Well… sit down and have breakfast first then we can do your presents!”
“Mam?”
“Yes dear?”
“The twins… aren’t they coming?” His mother looked forlorn at his words.
“I’m so sorry dear, I meant to tell you, but they can’t make it… I’m sorry love!”
“Na, mam, don’t worry… it’ll be fine.” Again Doreen had that strange feeling she got sometimes that it was her son, her newly 11 year old son, who was comforting her, instead of the other way round.
Her thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of the post. “Only three letters today Brad, here, ones for you… it does look strange.” She gave it to him and he examined it. On the front of the envelope his address was written in old fashioned emerald ink:

Mr. Bradley Lewis Murphy
11 Puddlesmere dr.
The small room at the top of the stairs.
Limerick
Munster
The Republic of Ireland
United Kingdom
Europe
The World

The colour of the envelope was that of old parchment. “This is weird, it doesn’t say who it’s from mam!”
“Well, umm, open it I guess… only way your going to find out!”
“Right!”
He opened it with slightly trembling hands, and half curious, half apprehensive look on his face. The letter was the same type of paper as the envelope, and the same slanted hand had written the words, again in emerald ink.


Dear Mr. Murphy,

Headmistress: Mz. Rosaline Hawthoorn
(Order of Merlin 1st class, Deputy Head Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards, Chairwoman of the international witches rights committee.)

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted into “Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizadry”.
You will find the list of all necessary books and equipment enclosed.
Term starts on September 1. We expect a confirmation Owl no later then the 31st of June.
Yours sincerely
Mz. Hermione Weasley
Deputy Headmistress

P.S We understand that as your family are muggles (non-magical people) and you no doubt thought yourself a muggle to this point, you will probably be suspicious as to the origin, and real meaning of this letter. Therefore you can expect a visit from a Hogwarts teacher before the end of the month

Bellow is the list of all the required supplies and books for your first school year:

HOGWARTS SCHOOL
of WHICHCRAFT and WIZARDRY

UNIFORM
First-year students will require:
1.Three sets of plain work robes (black)
2.One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear
3.One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)
4.One winter cloak (black, with silver fastenings)
Please note that all pupil's clothes should carry name tags.

All students should have a copy of each of the following:

The standard book of spells (Grade 1) – By Miranda Goshawk

A History of Magic – By Bathilda Bagshot

Magical Theory for the New Age – By Hermione Weasley

A Beginners Guide to Transfiguration – By Emeric Switch

One Thousand and One Magical Herbs and Fungi by Neville Longbottom

Magical Drafts and Potions for Beginners – By Horace Slughorn

Beautiful beasts or Dangerous Monsters? – By Rubeus Hagrid (actual writing by Hermione Weasley, orated by Rubeus Hagrid)

The Dark Arts: A Guide to Defence Against the Dark Arts for 1st years – By Harry Potter

Students are also allowed either an Owl, a Cat, or a Toad.
Parents are reminded that 1st years are not allowed a broom of their own in Hogwarts.

Other Equipment:

1 wand
1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)
1 set glass or crystal phials
1 telescope
1 set brass scales
1 Sneak-o-scope

All items may be purchased in Diagon Alley.

Brad stopped reading his heart in his mouth, confused, and dazed.
“What does it mean?”
His mother only shook her head speechless…
“Do you think its for real mam? I mean all the things I can do, how I never seem to get hurt” he said earnestly, and then as an afterthought “How I turned Sarah’s hair green that time.” He added this last part with a grin.
“I don’t know… no, it can’t be, I’m sorry Brad it must be a prank, maybe from the twins, you know they are always playing pranks!”
“Mam, who ever heard of these places…? That’s allot to make up for one prank!”
“Well, listen we will wait to the end of the month and see if anyone turns up like the letter said… okay? And honey!”
“Yes mam?”
“Until we know let’s not mention this to the others okay?”
“Sure mam!”
Inside her mind she was in turmoil, she knew, for sure that this was a load of crap that someone had shoved through their door as a prank… all the same, it was allot to make up for a prank, and that paper and old fashioned ink cost a fortune. So maybe…? Nah, she’d just have to wait and see, like Brad, if anyone turned up!