King’s cross station was alive with activity. People rushed past Celeste, in a hurry to get to school and work. Her own classes would begin in a few days and she would be in even more of a hurry trying to juggle her new studies and her many responsibilities at the orphanage and the few little things she did for herself. But now she was seventeen and it was September the first and she stood absolutely still, watching the world rush by her.
A flustered-looking mother was pushing a trolley laden with trunks, three children trudging along behind her. An owl hooted from his cage atop this trolley and the mother drew her eleven year old son closer to her as his older siblings broke into a run. They were headed straight for the wall between platforms nine and ten, gaining speed. In the blink of an eye they were gone and the mother and her youngest son followed them through the barrier between worlds.
Celeste pushed her hand into her pocket and pulled out a small letter. She stood there, staring at the Hogwarts seal, and allowed herself to be lost in the memory of the fateful day when she had received it.
The old woman called McGonagall looked down at Celeste, not unkindly, from behind her glasses. She had just finished explaining that she was a witch and that she was here to offer Celeste a place at a school for young witches and wizards. Miss Kate was still making incredulous sounds from beside Celeste and the old woman took out a long, thin piece of wood and pointed it at her teacup. It was instantly transformed in a small mouse.
Celeste took a deep breath and asked the one question she had been steeling herself to ask every since this stranger had showed up at the orphanage. “Will my brother be there?”
A brief look of confusion passed across McGonagall’s face. Celeste’s heart fell several feet and she looked down to hide her tears, but Miss Kate spoke up.
“She has a twin, a boy. They were left at the door of the orphanage together. Only a few months after their arrival a nice young couple, Mr. and Mrs. Acton, showed an interest in adopting them. On the day of their scheduled visit a young woman arrived, pretending to be Mrs. Acton. I showed her in and she looked at the babies, but then – it all happened so fast and I was in bed for a couple of days recovering from the injuries – I’m still not sure how exactly she did it with the orphanage full of people and two grown women in the hall just outside the room, but she took off with the boy and left poor Celeste here alone.”
“My Goodness!” McGonagall gasped, “Did you contact the authorities? Was nothing found out about her?”
“We did call the authorities, but they couldn’t find anything. Mrs. Grey told me that when I was unconscious some government people showed up and sorted it all out. That’s the strangest thing, too, because after that everyone else insisted that the young boy had been adopted and that nothing had occurred. It was as if they had completely forgotten, but I remembered. I knew he had been kidnapped and I fought for Celeste to stay here in case anyone ever came looking…”
“I believe,” McGonagall said in a very calm voice, “That you are correct. The boy must have been kidnapped by a very skilled witch or wizard and your colleagues’ memories must have been erased by someone from the ministry of magic. However, I am afraid that I know nothing about this incident,” she turned to Celeste, “…or about your brother, my dear.”
“But will he be there?” Celeste insisted. “If I’m a witch then he must be a wizard, right?”
“Not necessarily,” McGonagall said, and it was like a stab in Celeste’s heart, “No one knows exactly how or why witches and wizards end up with their powers. Some young people from Muggle – non-magical, that is – families end up with powers and some young people born into Wizarding families can end up with no powers at all. Because you are twins I would think he would most probably have magical powers like you, but I cannot say for sure where he is or whether he will attend Hogwarts.”
There was a long painful silence. Celeste tried to hold back her tears, but they broke through.
“If you’ll excuse me, I would like to go contact the ministry of magic and take a look at their records on the incident; there might be some information which could help us locate your brother.”
So McGonagall had gone and Celeste had stared at her letter and the strange booklist and tried not to put up her hopes again. Celeste ran a finger across the Hogwarts crest. She watched a young man with a very pale face and rather haunted looking eyes pass her by and disappear through the barrier in a swirl of robes. McGonagall had never been able to unearth any information about her brother, and back then, after watching the woman transform things around the room and make things fly Celeste had had complete confidence in the woman’s powers. Today, thinking of the frightened looking witches and wizards and the pale haunted looking young man, Celeste was not so sure.
“The Ministry records indicate that various spells were preformed in the Orphanage that night. They also indicate that one baby at the Orphanage showed signs of magic before and after the incident and that these signs continued to manifest themselves until your name was put down for Hogwarts. I am afraid that no trace of your brother could be found. The Ministry has recorded this incident as one of the acts of the Death Eaters – a dark wizard group that was active back then. I have found no young man in this year’s record’s of Hogwarts students whose birth or upbringing was at all suspicious. I am sorry, my dear, but I cannot tell you anymore. I am sure of one thing and that is that when you go to Hogwarts you will make many friends and you will be able to develop your own powers so that perhaps one day in the future you can search for him yourself.”
“Do I have to go?”
“Pardon me?”
“Do I have to go to Hogwarts?”
“Attendance is not mandatory, my dear, but very few Wizarding families choose to educate their children at home or send them to other schools and as there is no one here who can teach you… It is dangerous not to learn to control your powers. And surely you want to come join other young witches and wizards your age – to see the wonderful things that our world has to offer.”
“I- I would like to,” Celeste said, “But this Orphanage is my home and…if he’s a – a Muggle and he comes looking for me I want to be here.”
Celeste sighed, looking at the portal between worlds that she had chosen not to go through. These days it seemed as if the Wizarding world was spilling back out into the Muggle world. The menacing, frightening things that were happening all around her: kidnappings and murders and inexplicable accidents, they all reminded her of the kidnapping of her own brother. She had waited for him, she had kept contact with McGonagall, and through her with other witches and wizards who helped her keep her magic in check and she had been happy, but now…now an evil wizard was threatening the Muggle world the last Hogwarts train was leaving her behind and she wondered if she had made the right decision.
