It wasn't the beeping of the alarm clock that woke Michael up.

It was instead the loud rumble of thunder from outside. Although not enough to jolt him from his admittedly sound sleep, it did rouse him enough to cause his eyes to groggily open.

Oh joy, another thunderstorm Gotta love that New Orleans weather. Michael thought to himself, as he sat himself up. Already, he could feel that his short brown hair was sticking up in a variety of different directions, and a small snicker from across the room confirmed this.

"Wow, Michael, you look like something out of an anime." The voice had come from one of Michael's two roommates, a boy of his age named David. After rubbing the sleep from his eyes, Michael turned to face his roommate, who seemed to have also just woken up judging by how he was sitting in bed.

Michael rolled his eyes slightly. "You know, you have a comment about my hair every single morning."

"Not my fault you make it easy for me," David quickly retorted, as he stood up out of bed. His statement was accurate, as Michael's hair was always uncontrollable in the morning, while David's longer hair always seemed to stay in place no matter what happened to it.

Michael was about to respond when another voice came from the door. "Yo, Mikey, Dave, hurry up. Agatha's made her special chocolate cinnamon pancakes for breakfast." The voice came from the third roommate, Daniel. This news was enough to get both David and the usually laid-back Michael going, as this particular breakfast was one of the favorite things of all three of them.

Neither of the two boys even bothered to change out of their pajamas as they hurried to meet up with Daniel, and make their way downstairs. When they arrived in the dining room, they saw that most of the other children had already woken up and began eating. Not wanting to miss out, they hurried over to the woman standing in the kitchen.

"Good morning, Agatha!" Daniel barked excitedly. Agatha turned around and smiled. She was a tall woman, and to anyone who came from outside the Kindred Spirits Orphanage, she would seem like a very imposing and threatening woman with her stern looking face. However, to all the children who knew her, she was one of the kindest old ladies they'd ever know. She also served as mother to most of these children, though the hard work she does every day never seems to show on her wrinkled face.

Agatha looked between the children, and gave a small smile. "Good morning, you three. I was beginning to wonder if you'd ever wake up. We almost ran out of pancakes."

The three children exchanged glances, and stepped forward to get their plates from the old lady. After their "thank yous", they made their way back into the dining room, finding empty spots at the table and eating in a silence that was only broken by the occasional thunder clap.

The heavy rain continued on throughout the day, forcing all the children inside. As they usually do, they all split up into their own groups of friends to play inside wherever they could find room. As the clock struck noon, all the excitement in the building seemed to stop all at once. Every day, the strike of noon signified the approaching mail call, where the children would get any letters or mail they had delivered to them from friends, surviving long-distance family members, or any magazine subscriptions they were signed on for (with Agatha's permission, of course.)

Sure enough, a few minutes later, Agatha appeared in the large living room area carrying a large bag. A group of children ran over, waiting for their name to be called. Michael was not one of those children. He was among the remaining children who never received any mail, as the death of his parents at an infant age left him without any knowledge of any members of his family.

He listened in as Agatha started listing off names, curious as to which of the expectant children would actually be getting a letter today. It was almost a ritual for him, as he sat back and tried to picture each child as their name was called, and guess to himself what type of parcel they would be receiving based on what he knew about them.

However, his ritual was broken when he heard Agatha say a word she had never before said during this time.

"Michael."

It took a little while for Michael to register that his name was called: long enough that Agatha had to say it a second time. He stood up, and walked over to Agatha, giving her a look of confusion. She gave him a similar look in return as she handed him an envelope.

The envelope was rather old-fashioned, with a pastel white color and a red wax seal. The seal had only the letter "H" on it, which made Michael even more curious as there was nothing else on the envelope that would signify who had sent it. There was not even a return address, and the other marks on the envelope were the words "Michael Adler" and the Orphanage's address.

Michael's roommates, along with a few of the other children, had gathered around and started looking over his shoulder. Michael grumbled inwardly, acknowledging the fact that they must be as curious as he is as to what he got, but wishing to himself that he would be able to read it in private.

His curiosity quickly got the better of him, as he opened the envelope. It didn't take long for the curiosity in the room to turn to disappointment, and in Michael's case, a slight bit of heartbreak, as he pulled out a single, completely empty piece of paper. He kept flipping the paper and looking it over, as if one of the times that he turned the paper around would cause some writing to appear on it.

Michael signed, and put the letter back in the envelope before putting it in his pocket. The other children walked away awkwardly, leaving only his two roommates behind.

"Man, that's harsh," David said with a calm tone.

Michael just shrugged. "It might have just been a mailing error. At least now I know someone out there knows my name," he said half-jokingly. Although he was a little upset that he only got a blank paper, at least he knew that someone tried to send him something.

"Who knows, maybe you'll get the actual letter tomorrow," Daniel said. "Maybe it'll be a check for a million dollars or something."

The three chuckled quietly at Daniel's joke, as Agatha went back to reading off names.

The rest of the day went by normally. With some help from his friends, Michael eventually completely forgot about the letter. The storm had cleared up by the time dinner was over, and a bunch of the children had gone to play outside against the puddles, under the watchful eye of Agatha who wanted to make sure the children would stay safe as much as they would stay clean.

Michael rejected his friends' offers to go outside, electing instead to head up to bed to just relax. Michael knew he wasn't actually tired. Something about the day had just made him want to spend some time to himself.

As he flopped down on his bed, Michael heard a rustling sound from his pocket, and he suddenly remembered the letter that was still in his pocket. Seeing no further reason to keep it, he pulled it out of his pocket, ready to throw it away. Just as he was about to toss it, he noticed something on the envelope that caught his attention.

For your eyes only.

He moved the envelope closer to him to make sure that he wasn't seeing things. This only managed to assure him that the words that weren't there before were in fact real.

Michael quickly opened the envelope again, and pulled out the blank piece of paper. His eyes widened as he saw that the paper was no longer blank and was now a fully complete letter.

Dear Michael Adler,

We are pleased to announce that you have been accepted to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Hogwarts is the premier school for the instruction and advancement of those gifted with the ability of magic, such as yourself.

As a new potential student to this prestigious academy, you probably have several questions. Many of your questions will be answered once you arrive at Willow Keep, the Magic District.

Willow Keep is where you will go to purchase your school supplies, and where you will eventually catch your boat to be taken directly to Hogwarts. Included with this letter is a map of Willow Keep, a list of supplies you'll need, and a single charm necklace. In order to get to Willow Keep, simply travel to your nearest bus stop at night while wearing the charm necklace, and a bus will come to pick you up.

We hope to see you soon at Hogwarts, and we hope that your studies are successful.

Sincerely,
Headmaster Cain.

Michael looked away from the letter, unable to believe what he had just read. In his mind, the only thing that could make him feel like he hadn't gone crazy is if he looked back in the envelope and found the other objects that the letter mentioned. As he grabbed the envelope again, he noticed that it was heavier than it was before. Reaching inside, he pulled out two more pieces of paper, and a charm.

One of the papers was indeed a list of different objects, all seemingly related to what Michael could only think of as a fantastical magical world, including a magic wand, a cauldron, and several books that seemed to be on subjects relating to witchcraft. The second piece of paper was a small, rather easy to read map of a place that seemed to be a shopping area, including a small list of shops on the bottom with the heading "Recommended shopping order." The charm was a medium-sized charm with a shield design, that was decorated with designs of four animals: a fox, a horse, an eagle, and a wolf.

Michael stared in wonder at all the objects in front of him. In his mind, he was torn. Part of him was telling him how impossible all of this was, while the other part was trying to rationalize the fact that everything was really there despite there only being a blank paper prior.

His internal dispute was interrupted by the sound of footsteps coming up the stairs. He quickly put everything back in the envelope and hid it under his pillow just in time for David and Daniel to wander into the room.

"Oh, Michael, you missed it. There was a guy outside handing out free ice cream and money," Daniel joked.

Michael tried his best to act natural, giving a slightly forced laugh, but couldn't think of anything to respond with. Thankfully, the two boys didn't seem that interested in talking much themselves as they both seemed pretty worn out, and slightly wet, from their time outside. They both quietly got ready for bed, and the three boys exchanged their "good nights" before shutting off the lights.

Michael stayed awake. His internal debate had settled itself while his roommates were getting ready for bed, and his mind was made up. He waited until he could hear the soft snoring coming from the two other beds before he grabbed the envelope out from under his pillow and got up.

Moving as quietly as he could, he grabbed a spare baggage from the closet, and started packing away some of his clothes and other belongings. Part of him would feel bad leaving his friends and Agatha behind, but he knew that if this was as real as he was starting to expect, then it would be something he should probably do.

After he finished packing, Michael put the charm necklace on and quietly made his way downstairs. As he made his way to the front door, a rustling sound made him stop in his tracks. He quickly turned around and saw a tall figure standing behind him.

Michael started to speak, fearing he might be in trouble, but Agatha quickly put her hand up to stop him. She looked at him with an almost knowing look.

"I'll tell everyone that a family member came to take you to visit them for a while," she whispered.

Michael looked at her curiously, as that definitely wasn't the response he was expecting, but Agatha just waved her hand as if telling him to leave.

He nodded, and despite there being a lot he wanted to say, he couldn't find anything to say. Instead, he just turned around and walked outside, ready to leave the life he knew behind.

Michael used the street lights to guide him, walking along the sidewalk that paralleled the empty road. He had lived in the orphanage long enough to know his way around town rather well, so he was able to take the quickest and most direct route to the nearest bus stop. When he arrived, he sat down on the bench, and made sure the charm was around his neck and visible.

He hadn't even been waiting half a minute before he noticed a pair of headlights down the road coming his way.