Chapter 6
“Honey!” Martin and Bridgette hugged each other in greeting. He had just walked through the luckily still intact front door and was immediately greeted by his wife, much to his delight. They smiled at each other sweetly, but were startled when they were almost taken down by a tackle hug from behind.
“Hey, Mom, Dad!” Sara giggled and released them, the three laughed, “I just got here too. So who are our mysterious guests?”
Bridgette kept her smiling face, but started to look a bit nervous, “Well, I guess I’ll just be blunt...There are wizards in our kitchen.”
Father and daughter looked at her in shock for a moment, but Sara quickly got out of it and became excited.
“Woah, real wizards? That’s so cool!” She grinned and started to fidget, eager to go meet them.
Martin, on the other hand, frowned in worry, “Who? Anyone...bad?”
Bridgette smiled gently and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, “I don’t think so. They say they work at that school your sister went to!”
“Hogwarts?” His eyes widened, and suddenly seemed very rushed to go meet their guests. So all three of them walked briskly to the kitchen and stood face to face with their two very confused guests.
Bridgette stepped up first, “This is my husband, Martin, and my daughter, Sara.”
Sara waved with a big smile, and Martin’s eyes lit up in recondition. He pointed to them, “You’re Albus Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall, aren’t you?”
Minerva smiled and Albus laughed softly, “Quite right, Mr. Murphy. How did you figure?”
“Oh, uh,” He got sheepish, rubbing his neck, “I recognized you from Lily’s wedding.”
“Ah, yes,” Albus smiled, “Nice you make your acquaintance again then, I suppose.”
They all sat down at the kitchen table, ignoring the wall damage from a bit ago. Though, it was kind of silly to see such fancily dressed people sitting at their dining table, but they didn’t say anything.
“Will Mr. Potter be here soon?” Albus started the conversation.
Sara looked confused for a moment, before remembering her brother’s original name and Martin tensed slightly but answered with a pleasant tone, “Oh, he should be here shortly if Murphy’s Law is in his favor!”
The three Murphy’s shared a laugh at the remark, McGonagall chuckling politely along. Dumbledore stayed silent with an unreadable expression.
“But, Professors,” Bridgette cleared her throat awkwardly, “There is something else I haven’t mentioned yet that you should know about.”
“Oh?” Dumbledore raised an eyebrow.
“Well, Harry doesn’t actually go by Harry. He answered to the name Milo…”
“You changed his name?” McGonagall looked scandalized.
Martin shook his head, “No, his name is still legally Harry Potter, but he goes by his middle name, Milo. And I guess his school has his last name registered as Murphy too.”
McGonagall calmed down, relieved that they hadn’t intentionally disrespected the Potters, but Dumbledore frowned. He didn’t necessarily mind that Harry’s first name was changed, that hardly mattered in the long run, but if the young wizard was too disconnected from his Potter ancestry, then he was worried Harry wouldn't integrate as well into wizardry society. That Harry would be too attached to his Muggle family.
It was just then, before anyone could say anything else, that Milo finally arrived. Surprisingly, it was a very normal entrance. No destruction or chaos or anything! It seemed that Murphy’s law had calmed down for the boy after what happened earlier.
“Oh, hey guys,” Milo waved and casually pulled up an extra seat for the table and sat down. He turned to the guests, “Hi! I’m Milo!” He didn’t react, even to himself, about their strange appearance, seeing much weirder almost all the time.
McGonagall smiled at him, “Hello...Mr. Murphy. I’m Professor McGonagall.”
“Professor?” Milo asked, glancing at his parents. They gave him reassuring looks.
Minerva nodded, “From Hogwarts, school of Witchcraft and Wizardry.”
Milo’s eyes widened. He was rarely surprised by literally anything. So much of his life was filled with pure nonsensical chaos that being shocked itself was shocking. But he was definitely not expecting people from Hogwarts to show up. Wizards in general? Maybe. But from his biological parent’s school? Hogwarts hadn’t crossed his mind since the lack of a letter when he turned 11.
“Oh,” was all he said, not sure what to say.
Dumbledore, who had been silently observing, cleared his throat, “I’m the Headmaster of Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore. I knew your parents very well even after they were no longer students.”
Milo shot another glance at his family. His dad looked sad, but controlled. His mom had a soft smile on her face. Sara was silently watching the exchange, looking scrutinizingly at Dumbledore.
He turned his attention back to the wizard and witch, “It’s nice to meet you. Why are you two here? I never got any letter so I assumed...”
“Well, Mr. Potter,” Dumbledore smiled softly, eyes unreadable, “You are a wizard. It was just a case of unluckiness and misfortune that led to your letter never being sent.”
Deciding not to mention the Professor saying the wrong name, Milo thought over the rest of what he said. Him being a wizard? Well he would have to wrap his head around it, but it wouldn’t be unbelievable considering his circumstances. But the unlucky part? Yeah, that was believable alright.
He laughed, “Yeah that was probably just Murphy’s Law!” His family let out chuckles of their own, “But, anyway, are you sure I’m a wizard? I’ve never felt very magical.”
“Absolutely,” Dumbledore nodded, “Your name is on the student register list. It names all children with magic that will come to Hogwarts.”
Sara cleared her throat, “I’m sorry, I don’t understand why you couldn’t send a letter to Milo.”
Both Professors looked uncomfortable at that.
“Well apparently there was a blockage with the magic that usually sends the letters. It couldn’t find him and neither could we.”
“Huh?” Milo titled his head, “Why wouldn’t you know I was with my family?”
“Well I might know a little about that,” Martin interjected sheepishly, “After Lily and James died, we didn’t know where Milo was, though we assumed with Wizards,” he gave the professors a look, “But one day I got a call from this British hospital saying that a man had found a baby in the middle of the streets in his neighborhood and had taken him to the Hospital. Long story short, I went to England and brought you back here, Milo.”
Milo frowned, “I was just, like, abandoned or something?” His parents shrugged.
Dumbledore sighed, “Yes, we had him, and were working to find him a home, when he had suddenly disappeared and we have been searching since…”
Sensing the rising tension gathering in the room, Milo decided to change the subject, “Well, anyway, you were both here to ask me to come to Hogwarts, right? No offense, but no thanks,” he chuckled awkwardly.
Both professors frowned. McGonagall asked, “Why not?”
He frowned back, “I’m happy in my normal school, you know. I would miss my friends and I’m not really keen on the idea of moving to Britain…¨
“Plus, wouldn’t you have to catch up on like three years of wizard curriculum?” Sara imputed.
His parents smiled at him and Martian said, “It’s your decision, son. We’ll support you no matter what you choose.” Milo smiled back at his family, feeling very glad and lucky for having them be so supportive of him.
“Well, I would highly encourage you to reconsider, Mr. Potter,” Dumbledore looked very disappointed, “Especially since being an uneducated wizard or witch is dangerous enough to be illegal, here and in the UK.” McGonagall sent her companion a surprised look.
“Um,” Milo was getting a bit confused, “But I have been, for years apparently. And, I mean, Murphy’s Law already is pretty dangerous on its own, so I don’t know if any untrained magic would be that big of an issue…”
Dumbledore shook his head, “It might have been fine before, but that was because you were unaware. Now that you know there is little other option. And I doubt either Wizarding governments will even count this ‘Murphy’s Law’ as a legitimate excuse. Especially if it’s not magic like you say.”
The Murphy family stared at the old man in shock, each one taking in the news.
“And you didn’t mention this earlier?” Sara snarked under her breath, but not loud enough for anyone to pay her remark attention.
Milo blinked and considered this new information. He really, really didn’t want to leave his current school. Not only were all his friends there, but he had been at the same school since Kindergarten. It was easy to say that he had an emotional attachment to that place so this sucked to say the least. But he didn’t want to break the law! Even if it was some weird Wizard government law.
One plus would be learning magic which was pretty. He wasn’t all that interested before when he thought he wasn’t a wizard, but knowing that he actually was was kinda exciting! Maybe he could learn that spell that his dad told him about! Repario or something like that.
But, regardless of his feelings on the matter, did he really have a choice because of this whole law thing? Wait…
“What about homeschooling?” He asked, “A wizard tutor could come to our house and I could just do that on the side of my normal school!” His family seemed to like his idea, but it was shut down by McGonagall.
“Unfortunately,” she shook her head, “ that is only allowed in extreme emergencies or starting straight from a child’s 11th birthday.”
“Oh,” Milo slumped in disappointment.
“You know what?” Bridgette jumped in the conversation, “If it’s no trouble, could we possibly take a few days to decide? We can write you back with the answer.”
McGonagall nodded, content with that solution, though Dumbledore seemed impatient. Though he just stood as well and nodded as well, “Very well. Thank you for your time. I hope you all have great days.”
They all said farewell to them and watched as they apperated away. Milo sighed in dread of the next few days. It seems the only option was going to Hogwarts so now he would just need to find a way to tell his friends he was leaving and learn three years worth of wizard school knowledge by the end of the summer. Great.