Julian Adler lived something a little off kilter of a regular life.

There was everything average like going to school, getting only average grades because he never tried, and— actually, that probably was the only normal thing about his life.

He had no friends, a fact that he quite liked. Every time he got close to someone they seemed to disappear. It left him unable to trust very many people in his life.

The only problem with having no friends, it made him an easy target for bullies. They liked to make fun of him for his height. He was big-boned in every way he didn't want to be, giving him this stocky look that was only exacerbated by my height. He'd always have to shout back at them that he wasn't fat, the one thing that he could deny that was actually the truth. When they commented on his height, it was all he could do to not charge at them with all the force that he could muster.

He didn't (usually), though, because his parents insisted that he used my words to fight back. It was the only thing that they ever agreed on.

Julian's dad wanted him to notify a teacher while his mom wanted him to fight his own battles. He didn't like either option, but telling a teacher seemed like giving up, so he never did. Since the bullies never got physical, he opted to just put on a brave face and deal with them on his own.

But it was still summer for a while yet, so all thoughts of his bullies got to take a backseat in his mind. There were other things to worry about.

"Oh, honey, it's not done yet," Stephanie said, leaning against her husband's shoulder as he attempted to take the bacon off the frying pan far before its time.

"What do you mean?" He shrugged her off. "You know this is how I like to eat it."

"It's practically raw!"

Stephanie was grabbing the uncooked bacon with her bare hands and throwing it back onto the frying pan, the sizzling grease splashing up and nearly hitting her in the face.

Gerald grabbed her arm. "No—stop that! I'll cook yours for longer, just settle down!"

"You'll get sick!" And Julian had to agree. The stuff really did look raw.

He was listening to their argument, but he could hardly hear it over the the loud fan. Even with the sizzling bacon — it was all just too much going on to properly make out anything.

And that was another unordinary part of Julian's life. It wasn't that he was deaf, far from it, but his hearing was poor. It was a fact that he often tried to ignore, but in times like this he was reminded once again of his inadequacy.

That was why he never told his parents. He was afraid that they would somehow be disappointed, think lesser of him. While it happened to be far from the truth, his parents actions in the last hadn't been ones to prove that they were proud of their son.

Julian snapped out of it, imagining himself swatting away the dark thoughts like swatting away flies. It was useless to think in such a way. There was a delicious breakfast awaiting him, and there was no reason to feel so down.

Stephanie had finally given up and let Gerald do whatever he wanted. Maybe letting him get sick was her revenge.

"I just don't understand how you eat that," she said, shaking her head.

"But if it's all burnt and crispy then it's hardly even meat!"

"It's bacon! That's the fucking point, Gerald!"

There was a pause, though the sound of sizzling bacon continued.

"Our son is in the room, Steph," Gerald said, his voice dangerously low.

"So? Fuck fuck fuck fu—" she stopped herself. "Sorry, you're right. Julian, how do you like your bacon?"

"I don't." Stephanie seemed unsatisfied with Julian's answer, her brows raised and lips pursed. "I don't like bacon."

Gerald spun around on his heel, a shocked expression on his face. "Since when?"

"Since forever."

They didn't seem to believe him, but he wasn't about to explain himself any further. Really, he never did like bacon, a fact he didn't see how they could have missed.

Once again, the frown he had tried to hold at bay seemed to return.

The tension in the kitchen snapped when there was a knock at the door. It was Gerald who went to answer the door, with Julian curiously trailing close behind.

Faintly, Stephanie's voice carried from the kitchen, "who would be here this early in the morning?"

Gerald's confused and slightly annoyed facial expression asked the same question, but he opened the door nevertheless.

They was met with the sight of a very peculiar women. She looked well into her age, with piles of greying curly hair. Wrinkles lined her brightly smiling face. She wore the most bizarre looking green robes. And strangest of all, a tall pointed hat sat upon her head. She looked welcoming enough, and because of it Julian wasn't sure whether he should laugh or be afraid.

But it wasn't a joke; next the women's eyes fell upon him. Her smile grew even more, if it were possible.

"My dear! You must be Julian Potter!" she exclaimed excitedly. "You look just like your father! Except your eyes, I've never seen anything like them!"

Julian took a step back. His heart was racing and even his father looked afraid. He always knew that he was adopted, even if his parents never said so. To him, it was just so adherently obvious that they didn't even need to.

He just hoped that he didn't have any sort of relation to this eccentric woman standing before him.

"Excuse me?" he said uncertainly. "I think you must be mistaken. My last name isn't Potter."

But it very well could have been, once upon a time.

The woman put her hand up to her chest. "Oh, but I must apologize! How very disrespectful of me! I haven't even introduced myself. I'm Pomona Sprout, but I already know who you are, Mr. Potter. I'm the Herbology professor at Hogwarts."

Gerald was blinking, staring at the wall ahead of him. It looked like he had
officially broke. But Julian was young, gullible, and quite honestly believed that regardless of how strange this all was, this Sprout woman was genuine.

He at Sprout, head tilted with curiosity. "Hogwarts?"

She looked confused before continuing on. "But of course, they were told not to tell you. . . I never agreed with Albus on that one."

"Albus?"

She grinned. "Albus Dumbledore. Only the greatest wizard of our age!"

Julian shook his head. "You're crazy."

"Perhaps a little," she admitted. "But I speak the truth. Julian, dear, you are a wizard."

"How do you even know me?"

"I don't really. I only just found out that you existed yesterday. Quite a shock, it was!"

He glanced back at his father again, who still looked to be in shock. Stephanie was now standing the doorway, looking equally as surprised but she still seemed to be there mentally, unlike her husband.

"Julian is right. You must be mistaken," she said. "A wizard? That's just something from a fairytale."

"Do you not know?" Pomona asked, but it was obvious that whatever they were supposed to know they didn't.

While Julian was still pondering the idea of himself being a wizard, his parents thought that this lady was simply just a psychopath, and had no idea what she was talking about.

Pomona's shoulders sagged. "Dumbledore didn't tell you, did he? This makes everything much more difficult."

"I'm a wizard?" Julian had to ask. He waved his arm, hoping that something would just go flying or something, anything, and it did indeed when he accidentally hit a flowerpot that fell onto the floor, scattering dirt everywhere.

Pomona, as if out of some instinct, retrieved a strange looking stick out of her robe pocket, and with a simple wave the flowerpot was restored, the dirt coming together in a swirl before falling back into the pot, and the pot itself landing back on the shelf.

Julian stared at it in awe and Stephanie and Gerald were looking at each other, asking the same question, are you seeing what I'm seeing?

"I suppose you can't both be seeing the same impossible thing, right?" Pomona said, sliding her wand back into her pocket. There was no response from the Adler's. "You aren't both crazy. I'm a witch, and Julian is a wizard."

She turned to him, wearing that same warm smile from when she first came into the house. "Haven't you ever noticed strange things happening around you?"

There actually had been this one time when he had thought it would be a genius idea to attempt to climb out his window. It didn't go so well, and he began to fall. He thought he had just been lucky or the grass was particular soft when a strange force broke my fall. Now, he had to question if it really was his magical abilities.

And then, in the far corners of his mind, he remembered there were these kids chasing him and naturally he tried to outrun them. And he did, running even faster than he ever thought could be possible. Faster than he knew he usually should have been capable of. It was easy overlooked at the time, but now all the pieces were beginning to come together.

Slowly, he nodded.

"At Hogwarts, you will not only learn how to use magic, but how to control it."

She said it as if this were a conversation she had had a million times, like there were rampant kids running left in right with uncontainable magical abilities. Maybe that's the way it was before they went to Hogwarts. Maybe his abilities just weren't strong enough.

He was about to point this out but quickly changed his mind. He didn't want to appear weak. What if they didn't let him come?

"And we're supposed to just believe all of this?" Stephanie asked, breaking the awkward silence.

"Ah, yes. The parents are always the hardest to convince. I think I shall talk with you two a little longer without Julian here. Do you have any tea?"

"We do. But why should we listen to what you have to say?" Stephanie was blocking the doorway to the kitchen, as if she expected Pomona to just let herself in and make herself at home. Quite honestly, Julian wouldn't have been really surprised if she did.

"I think you'll find that I can be quite persuasive. Though I suppose now would be a bad time to tell you all that Julian has a brother."