6 New beginnings

Chapter 6 –

On the morning of the 21st of June, 1988, on the southeastern tip of The United Kingdom, in a small town called Norfolk, lay a small Cottage, made of sunbaked brick. The cottage had two floors, with a nice Chimney. It was facing the seaside on the east, which gave for a rather elegant view of the sunrise and the sunset from either side of the home, due to the home being at the tip of the peninsula. This Cottage, christened, the Abode by its inhabitants, gave off a very homely and inviting vibe to all its visitors. It had a well-maintained and gardened walkway, consisting of flowers of all varieties, from roses, jasmines, lilies, sunflowers to the rare purple tulips, to its front door and another brick-paved roadway that led to a small garage, that could easily hold up to two to three standard motor vehicles. The Abode was the home of Nathan Alferian Frye and his adoptive mum, Jolene Shephard.

The young boy, aged eleven, at this moment, was sitting cross-legged on the floor of his well-carpeted room. What was peculiar about him at the moment was the number of objects that were floating around him in a seemingly chaotic pattern. It almost looked like Nathan was sitting in the middle of a hurricane consisting of his books, balls, toys, pillows, beads, pens, and cutlery. If one was to pay attention to each individual item, they would find that the color of each item was also changing according to the pattern of the rainbow, on repeat, and the size of the objects was in a constant state of flux, rapidly expanding and then contracting, despite the items being solid if one was to hold it when it was out of motion.

Nathan Frye was attempting the most complex magical effect he could create using just one 'spell'. He was testing the efficiency of imbuing his intent onto the magic before letting it carry out the desired goal by itself. He had achieved small-scale spell effects without the use of traditional spells, all by himself, and had also managed to expand the capacity of magic that he could use exponentially.

In terms of raw magical power, he could easily lift large boulders, he'd tested it too when he and his mum had visited the creek a few miles away from the peninsula's bay. But, that doesn't really translate into magical power, because lifting a stone does not necessarily equate to being able to handle incoming curses, jinxes, or spells. Neither does it translate, into being able to fight off super soldiers raining bullets at you from multiple directions. That would need skill, precision, and creativity with the magic he wields.

Nathan planned to join Martial Arts classes as soon as he hits puberty, because pre-pubescents who tend to fight and physically lift weights, tend to stunt their growth.

Most people would consider this feat remarkable for a wizard of his age. But Nathan? No, Nathan on the other hand was frustrated. His frustration was because of two rather silly reasons really, he knew that his Hogwarts letter was about to arrive anytime this week, for he had recently celebrated his eleventh birthday, and the wait for it to arrive was not doing his anxiety any benefits. The other reason was he couldn't wait to go ahead and read more books, and get out of the crescendo that he's hit with his magical progress.

Yes, he was able to cause simple magical effects like Unlocking a locked door, lighting the stove on fire, or creating a ball of light, he could do all that without using traditional spells. But, he knows that he needs to increase his capabilities severely if he intends to match against titans and giants in the Universe that he's inevitably preparing to battle.

He avoided attempting to read other people's minds mainly because he doesn't genuinely know what could go wrong, and he could very well leave people in a vegetative state because of him messing with their thoughts. He'd like to be careful not to hurt others around him due to his carelessness if possible.

The wait for the letter was getting to him, he had to admit. And he's damn near chewed his nails off in the anxious hope that someone would come and knock on the door of The Abode and hand him his letter so that he could start his journey into the fantastic world of magic and mystery.

Little did he know, that the nail-biting wait that he'd induced upon himself, was about to end, for the letter that was to kick start his journey into the future was standing right outside The Abode's walkway.

oOOOOOOOOOo

Walking up to the front door of the beautiful cottage, Minerva McGonagall couldn't help but admire the sunrise, that was slowly ascending from over behind the beautiful expanse of the ocean, on the far eastern side of the home. She was also fascinated by the bushes that formed the backdrop to the sunrise, that adorned the walkway up to the home's front door. She had been assigned to hand out Hogwarts admission letters to students on this side of the English countryside, while her colleagues, Filius Flitwick and Severus Snape, were taking care of the other three sectors. She was dressed in dark green Formal Wizarding robes, adorned by a darker emerald hat. This home is meant to be the last of the house visits she was meant to make for the new batch of students, for the coming semester at Hogwarts school, of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Reaching in front of the Warm varnished door, she used the Knocker placed on the outside, she prefers it to the muggle doorbells.

'Knock Knock'

Hearing movement and noises from inside the home, she straightens herself and readies to greet the final family of the student that is to attend Hogwarts.

After a few calm moments, the door opens and Minerva finds herself facing a lady looking no older than herself, with a similar gait and posture, dressed in a Black summer cardigan, due to the chilly climate atop the hill, despite the summer weather in the country.

"Hello, good morning, how may I help you?" The lady asked

"Good morning, I am Professor Minerva McGonagall, would this be the residence of Nathan Alferian Frye, madame?" Minerva responded with her question indicating that the conversation involved the charge of the house.

"Oh yes, I am Jolene Shephard, Nathan is upstairs, shall I call him down? Would you like to come in?" she offered. Minerva couldn't help but smile at the cozy and homey feel of the cottage, much like her own cottage up in Scotland. She took a seat in the lounge area, by the window as instructed by the lady of the house, and waited until Mr. Nathan came down to greet his guest.

With a lot of flair and dramatic sounds, Mr. Nathan tumbled down the stairs, stumbling while trying to steady his footing, using the frame of the door. Looking at him, she remarked that the boy was a rather healthy young lad, dark-haired, bright blue-eyed, and tall for his age. His face was slowly losing the baby fat and she could see the strong and sharp bone structure, slowly making its presence known, that will stand out in some years.

Clearing her throat, she spoke "Good evening, Mr. Nathan, I presume. My name is Minerva McGonagall, and I teach transfiguration at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, a school, for all magical students such as yourself."

Nathan nodded and looked at his mum, who breathed a sigh, as she spoke "That is fascinating Madam, to be honest with you Nathan's always been a special child, and a few years ago while he was returning from town, he stumbled upon an old abandoned home, and being the naïve little boy, he decided to go exploring. To make a long story short, Nathan found a chest full of really old Hogwarts books and has been waiting patiently for his own Hogwarts letter, for he was convinced that he was a wizard after reading a few introductory books from the old collection he found. You coming here and confirming its veracity has taken off a lot of worry from my chest. But as a final, confirmation for my poor heart, would you please perform some magic, so that I can rest easy knowing that Nathan isn't getting fooled or anything."

While Minerva had heard of a few muggle-borns and the occasional orphaned, instinctively knowing that they're different from the peers around them, she's never really met one so adamantly insisting that they're magical, either Mr. Frye has remarkable instinctual understanding, or he's very gullible. It's good that he hasn't experimented with some of the easily procurable magicks in those books, like potions or runes.

Nodding to the lady, and not wanting to waste more time, than is necessary, Minerva procured her wand and pointed it to the footstool by the grandmother's chair near the fireplace, and in a swish of her wand it was replaced by a majestic Toucan bird, that flew around the lounge, in a circular motion and returns to its original spot, preening its feathers and returning to its original shape of the footstool.

Looking at the faces of her companions, Minerva held in a chuckle at their bedazzled faces. Trying to bring the conversation to an end, Minerva continued "I hope that was a good enough demonstration, Mrs. Shephard, I would like to now discuss your charge's future at our school and later accompany him to the Magical shopping district, for his school supplies."

oOOOOOOOOOo

Nathan was feeling like a kid on a sugar rush, with excitement filling his veins. The demonstration Prof. McGonagall had given was extravagant and was really a beautiful way of introducing someone to magic. After the demonstration, mum and Prof. McGonagall had decided that Nathan and the transfiguration professor could head over to Diagon Alley, via apparition, after he's dressed appropriately for the trip.

Quickly getting to his room, and rummaging through his wardrobe, he found his brown bomber jacket, a white T-shirt, and black Army pants. He found his old steel wristwatch, on his study table, and raced to find his shoes, nearly forgetting his wallet, if he'd need it. Donning his Red Sneakers, he was ready to leave in under three minutes and based on the amused faces of Prof. McGonagall, and his mum, he'd made a gigantic racket in the house while trying to accomplish the feat.

Prof. McGonagall chuckled and muttered something that suspiciously sounded like 'The joys of youth' which gave Nathan, some flashbacks of a green turtle neck-wearing, bowl-cut fashioned martial arts fighter. Shivering at the thought, Nathan put it out of his mind and exited the Abode, after the Transfiguration teacher.

"Alright, Mrs. Shephard, I'll have him back here, with you in under three hours. Have a nice day!" And she placed her arm on his shoulder, and he was immediately hit with a sensation of being rearranged like a morsel passing through a straw. It nearly made him hurl, but Nathan was able to hold his composure after they'd arrived though he was decidedly a few shades greener.

"You have a good tolerance for that, some of our students throw up at their first experience of apparition. I have to vanish their lunch with my wand, on most occasions." She remarked, impressed by his self-control.

Despite having expected it, Nathan couldn't help but remark "Couldn't you at least have given me a heads-up!?"

"Oh, hush now, young man. You did remarkably, now follow me, the way to Diagon Alley, is right this way, behind the Leaky Cauldron." She brushed forward, at a pace that clearly showed elegance that he could deduce was borne of her feline trait.

Looking around at his surroundings, Nathan couldn't help but wonder at the feat that they'd practically teleported approximately a hundred miles. He could spot the road sign labeled "Charing Cross Street" on the other side of the road, and the sign above the slightly rundown dilapidated pub was "The Leaky Cauldron".

The inside of the pub was filled with patrons and matrons, running about their business, ordering drinks like Fire whiskey, Butterbeer, Old Ogden's Ice Rum etc. Some of the patrons recognized the old Teacher and nodded at her in greeting, while making cursory glances at her young companion, giving small friendly smiles.

Following the Professor through the pub, while she cleared the way while greeting the occasional patron of the pub, she made her way to the back exit that led into a closed-off section. She took a cursory glance at Nathan, who was still looking around at the closed back alleyway, and she huffed pulling out her wand.

She tapped the wall three times with the point of her wands. The brick she had touched quivered, it wriggled, and in the middle, a small hole appeared, it grew wider and wider, a second later they were facing a fairly large archway, an archway that led onto a cobbled street that twisted and turned out of sight.

"Welcome," said Minerva McGonagall, "to Diagon Alley."

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