Chapter V: Owls

Aunt Petunia went back to her own room, and Harry guessed that she must have gone off to sulk.

If everything was as Harry suspected, Aunt Petunia had watched her own older sister get chosen by the Magic School back then while she had failed to go, and now seeing him get chosen as well, her feelings were probably more than a little gloomy.

Harry was not too worried about Aunt Petunia's gloom; she was very good at self-regulating, and should be fine by noon. What Harry was more concerned about at the moment was that that owl had been chased away by Aunt Petunia, so how was he supposed to reply to his letter?

Thinking as he went, Harry unlocked the door, wanting to go out for a stroll.

As soon as he opened the door-whoa! That large owl was actually standing right on the road sign outside the front yard.

In broad daylight, an owl wasn't finding a place to sleep, but was instead poking around here; this really was very magical.

"Are you here waiting for me to write a reply?" Harry walked over to the side of the owl and asked with some curiosity. But as soon as he finished asking, he felt a bit like a fool-why would he think an owl could understand and answer his words? Ever since he had spoken to the snake at the zoo, he had tried other small animals, and every single time it had been a failure.

Yet unexpectedly, that owl seemed to actually understand, let out a couple of coos, and even nodded.

"Well, now this is interesting." Harry grinned. "Then wait for me a moment."

As he spoke, he turned his head and ran back into the house, returning to his room, and began to hunch over his small desk to write his reply.

"Dear... um, should it be this person called McGonagall or that Dumbledore? Well, the letter was signed by McGonagall at the end, so it should be her! Dear Deputy Headmistress McGonagall, I am very honored to receive your letter. I am extremely willing to go to Hogwarts to study and become a magician... wizard? It should be pretty much the same... um, a wizard, but I have encountered a problem right now. I do not know how to travel to the school, nor do I know where to go to purchase school supplies. Even more apologetically, I do not have money to pay the tuition. I wonder if the school might be able to help me with the situation I am facing. Hoping to receive your reply, sign-off... um, yours sincerely, sincerely Harry Potter..."

After finishing writing, Harry checked it over, and there were no writing errors. He polished it slightly as well, to make the wording somewhat more respectful. He was just preparing to go downstairs when he heard a tapping sound coming from his small bedroom window. Turning his head sideways, sure enough, that large owl had flown over to his bedroom window again.

"Wonderful!" Even though plenty of miraculous things had happened to himself, Harry still thought that this clever large owl was quite magical. It was clever to the point of not looking like an animal at all; perhaps this was a wizard transformed? Harry guessed, but quickly felt that was extremely unlikely.

Opening the window, he handed the folded stationery to the owl. The owl gripped it in its beak, then turned around, spread its huge wings, and flew away.

"Flying so openly like this, won't it get shot down by someone with a bird-hunting gun or a slingshot?" Harry watched the gradually receding owl, and a thought that wasn't magical in the slightest popped into his head.

The British postal system was quite terrible, so Harry had actually prepared himself to have no response whatsoever within three to five days.

However, it seemed the magical world's postal system was a good deal more formidable than ordinary people's. After dinner, while lying on his bed in his room reading comic books, Harry heard the familiar tapping sound come from the window once more.

The moment he looked up, he got a start.

Because it was very dark outside, and Harry had only turned on the small bedside reading lamp to read comics, the room was also very dim. Outside the window, all he could see was a dark figure, glaring with a pair of glowing green eyes like little lightbulbs. Harry nearly let out a startled shriek before he subsequently realized it was the owl.

"There's a reply already this fast?" Harry was quite surprised.

Turning on the lamp and opening the window, sure enough, that large owl was at the window with another envelope of that same parchment material clamped in its beak.

Harry took the letter, and the owl did not linger, gliding silently into the night sky... kind of cool.

Opening the letter, the familiar handwriting read:

Dear Mr. Potter:

We have already been informed regarding the problem you encountered.

Please do not worry; we will have the school's Keeper of Keys head to your home to assist you with the preparations prior to enrollment. As for the matter of funding, your doubts will also be cleared up at the same time. Our Keeper of Keys will head to your home between twenty-three and twenty-four hundred hours on the evening of July the fifth.

Yours faithfully, Minerva McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress

P.S.: Our Keeper of Keys is a remarkably tall and burly gentleman. Please do not have misgivings because of his appearance; he is a gentle gentleman.

Remarkably tall and burly? Harry was somewhat curious-would this remarkably tall and burly Keeper of Keys gentleman be taller than Dennis Rodman?

Early the next morning, Harry brought up the matter of tomorrow night, when the Hogwarts Keeper of Keys was coming to pick him up.

Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia both appeared very calm; clearly, the two of them had already discussed this matter late last night. Only Dudley looked very surprised. "Hogwarts? You mean that letter you received yesterday wasn't someone playing a joke, and there really is a school like that?"

"At present, it looks that way." Harry nodded.

"Then, Harry, you're not coming with me to Smeltings School?" Dudley asked in surprise, a trace of panic hidden in the depths of his eyes-that was the panic after thinking to what degree his exam scores would plummet to in days without Harry.

As for the matter itself of his cousin going off to study at another school, Dudley didn't have much of a feeling about it. In fact, while they were in the same school during primary school, they weren't actually in the same class, and usually didn't hang out together much either.