A Letter

"Then who are you? What was that silver door just now? And you weren't speaking English, so why could I understand what you meant? Was that magic?"

Like an endlessly curious child, Hermione blurted out every question at once. She truly was fascinated. In her eleven years of life, she had never encountered anything so bizarre. She was also certain that even her parents had probably never seen anything like this happen.

"Stop, stop, stop. Could you ask one question at a time, little girl? Besides, I have some questions for you too. But I'll answer yours first."

Josh thought for a long time but still could not remember who this girl was. Still, he did not care. If this world was merely a technological one, then it probably posed no great threat to him. Do not assume modern weapons were all that formidable; even Garen probably would not be particularly afraid of them.

After all, Piltover existed on the Valoran Continent. It was a place that leaned toward technology. Garen had likely encountered its people often enough. As a soldier of a nation, he would naturally have studied them, so he truly was not afraid of bullets.

"First, I'm a mage, while he is a warrior and my companion. You can think of that silver door as a Magic Gate. Finally, I really don't speak English. We're communicating through Mental Communication right now, so you can't understand what I'm saying, but you can understand my meaning."

Josh gave a simple, straightforward introduction to his situation. Perhaps because the little girl possessed a Magic Seed, Josh felt rather friendly toward her. Of course, if she had been an ordinary person, he might have simply used Magic Hand to seize her and brutally copy the knowledge of this world from her mind.

Do not think Josh was cruel. At the very least, he had no habit of killing ordinary people. Having spent sixteen years in a feudal serf society, and having belonged to the uppermost class where his word was virtually law, the fact that he could still respect other people's lives was already quite remarkable.

"So you aren't messengers from heaven? You're not here to take me to heaven, right?"

Hermione was still fixated on that question. Josh and Garen's manner of appearance had simply been too unbelievable. Little girls loved to let their imaginations run wild; even the most rational and intelligent ones were no exception.

"Of course not. Like I said, I might be better at sending people to hell."

Josh shrugged helplessly. He no longer had much desire to continue talking to the little girl. Turning to look at Garen, Josh found that he had recovered somewhat. Though he was still shaking his head now and then, at least he was no longer dry-heaving and could stand steadily.

"By the way, can you tell me where this is? And what era this is?"

Suddenly, Josh realized that he had let the girl lead the conversation too far astray. He had been answering questions all along without asking what he wanted to know, so he could only turn and ask her helplessly.

"You don't even know that? This is England, and the city we're in is called London. And it's 1991 now. You look like an alien. Wait, you aren't really an alien, are you?"

"I don't think I ever said I was from this world." Josh was somewhat speechless. This girl caught on rather quickly, and her mind was extremely active. If there was a system of magical education here, her achievements probably would not be low.

The most important thing in magical talent was an active mind. Someone with a stagnant mind would never go far down the path of magic. Only those with sufficiently active minds and clever enough brains could become great mages.

Of course, there was a prerequisite: the person had to possess a Magic Seed and be able to awaken it. Hermione met the requirement of having a Magic Seed and awakening it. Now that he had interacted with her, Josh discovered that she also seemed to meet the second condition—she was eager to learn and quick-minded. That was why he thought the girl had a promising future in magic.

"God, you're aliens? Oh my God, there really are beings in the universe besides people from Earth? Other lifeforms really exist?"

"Of course. The vastness of the universe is beyond the understanding of a little thing like you. And you'll never understand the grandeur of time and space either. I've even seen someone travel through time, return to the past, and kill his own enemy. The diversity of life in the universe is beyond anything you can imagine."

Josh rolled his eyes as he explained. Naturally, he was drawing on certain novels he had read in the past. Still, he had answered the question of whether he was from Earth head-on. Strictly speaking, he was not an Earthling from this Earth, only an Earthling from a parallel universe. By now, he was not even an Earthling anymore.

"Then why have you come here? Are you going to invade Earth?"

"..."

A child's curiosity really was a headache. Perhaps because Josh had acted fairly gentle, Hermione gradually became bolder. At least she was no longer so restrained. However, Josh simply ignored her question. He truly did not know how to answer it. Invade Earth? He had not expected to see a day like this.

Too lazy to say anything else, Josh planned to leave and find someone slightly older whose memories he could copy. The girl before him was still too young and probably knew too little about this world, so Josh did not intend to use her memories. More importantly, he felt that she likely did not even possess the knowledge he wanted.

Just as Josh was preparing to leave, he noticed an Owl circling in the sky. Normally, such a creature would never have caught his attention. But if it possessed magic power, even an extremely faint trace of it, Josh could still sense it sharply.

"An Owl with a trace of magic power?" Josh frowned. He felt that it ought to be someone's pet, because only a mage's pet would carry magic power as proof of ownership. Ordinary people simply could not accomplish that.

Yet that trace of magic power was so faint that Josh had nearly thought he had sensed it wrong. But after checking repeatedly, he found that there was indeed no mistake. That made him interested. A girl who possessed a Magic Seed and was slowly awakening it, and a pet carrying a trace of magic power—Josh felt that this world might be hiding something.

His mental power spread out, and Magic Hand silently snatched the Owl that had been leisurely circling in the sky and dragged it before him. The Owl clearly had not reacted in time. It even froze for a moment before realizing it had been caught, then immediately flapped its wings in an attempt to flee. But with a glance from Josh, it instantly behaved itself. Or rather, it was caught by Josh's Magic Hand and could not move at all.

If one had to say what Josh was best at, it was definitely those unranked tricks taught to unofficial mages and Magic Apprentices for practice. What Josh had gone through in the past meant that he could only practice magical tricks. He had practiced every single one of them, and it could be said that he was incredibly skilled at nearly all of them.

His actions startled not only the Owl, but Hermione as well. Garen merely found it strange that Josh had caught something that looked both like a cat and a bird. Rubbing his still-dizzy head, he walked over to Josh, examined the strange creature, and asked, "What kind of creature is that? It looks strange. Is it our supper?"

"I don't know whether Valoran has owls, but since Garen doesn't recognize one, I can only explain it to him. "It's called an owl. A bird that eats mice, I suppose. But it seems to be someone's Magic Pet. It looks like it has a scroll clutched in its claws. Of course, if you want to eat it, I wouldn't mind."

"Hey! You can't eat owls!"

The moment Hermione heard Josh's words, she immediately objected. Although she could not understand what Garen was saying, Josh was still linked to her through Mental Link, so she could understand what he meant. Naturally, she also saw the scroll clutched by the Owl. Could there be mages in this world too?

Josh directly removed the scroll from the Owl's claws. The creature could not struggle at all and could only watch helplessly as the scroll was taken away. It could not even cry out, because something seemed to be gripping its beak as well, preventing it from opening it.

"English again." Josh opened the scroll and glanced at it. Garen leaned over beside him, but unfortunately, neither of them could understand what was written on it. Still, it looked like a letter. As for whom it was addressed to, they would know soon enough.

It did not really matter whether they figured it out. They were simply curious about who owned the Owl. Josh felt that he might be able to find its owner and copy a set of memories from him. The results would probably be far better than copying an ordinary person's memories.

"Little girl, do me a favor. Can you see what this letter says?"

After thinking it over, Josh directly handed the scroll to the little girl before him. Since she knew English anyway, Josh did not mind letting her come into contact with the mysterious side of things, so he simply gave her the scroll.

"Reading someone else's letter isn't very ethical," Hermione muttered. Still, she opened the scroll and began reading, because she was also curious what a mage's letter to someone else might contain. Without even carefully examining the contents first, she began to read aloud:

"Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry: Albus Dumbledore (President of the International Confederation of Wizards, President of the Wizarding Wireless Network, Order of Merlin, First Class)

Dear Miss Granger: We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Enclosed is a list of required books and equipment.

Term begins on September 1. We await your Owl by no later than July 31 with your reply.

Yours sincerely, Deputy Headmistress Minerva McGonagall."

Hermione froze as soon as she finished reading the first paragraph. Then she immediately folded up the scroll and looked at its cover. Sure enough, it read: To Miss Hermione Granger! She was completely stunned. What was this? This letter was for her? She had been accepted by a school of magic?

Josh was equally astonished. At last, he knew what had seemed so familiar. This girl was Hermione Granger, and the world he had come to was the world of Harry Potter? And he had robbed her letter right in front of its recipient, then made her read it aloud to him?