Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
6 September, 1991

Dear Mum and Dad,

          First of all, tell the owl to wait for your reply, because if she leaves I don't know how you could summon another and I doubt regular post will reach me here. Don't worry, the owl will understand your command. Also give her a treat of a piece of meat or bacon as a gesture of courtesy and gratitude, it's the custom and she's certainly used to it. This is one of the school owls, very well trained, so don't be concerned about her messing in the house or anything.

          I hope you two managed to go back through the barrier to King's Cross all right. The trip to Hogwarts was so very exciting, I got to make conversation with many of the older students and they told me all kinds of wonderful things about the school and the classes. I asked them all about the Houses since I wanted an inside view of the matter, and listening to their tales I realised that Hufflepuff wouldn't be the best for me after all, they're hardworking but are mostly guided by practical experience ("If you didn't succeed the first time, try and try again") instead of trusting books and formal learning. Gryffindor and Ravenclaw seemed more like my cup of tea and after talking to the Gryffindor Prefect I realised this would be just the perfect House for me. His name is Percy Weasley, he was very kind and solicitous when I asked his advice and I didn't need more than three minutes talking to him to notice our affinity of interests. He gave me some really good recommendations about studying schedules and a long list of books for supplementary reading and also to help me shift for myself in the wizarding world.

          I also met most of the other first-years in the train, especially after this boy, Neville Longbottom, lost his pet toad and asked for my help finding him. We had to check every single compartment in search for the poor animal and I used the occasion to introduce myself to everyone and make acquaintances, and I'm glad I did that because I even had the opportunity to meet Harry Potter, The Boy Who Lived! I should have known he would be there, I don't know how I could be so stupid, I had checked the dates and realised he was exactly my age but somehow it didn't hit me that he would be there too, I think I thought maybe he would learn from private tutoring since he's so famous, but of course there's no better place for a wizard to have his education than Hogwarts.

          I told you about The Boy Who Lived, remember? He was the one who managed to defeat all by himself the most powerful and dangerous Dark Wizard of this century and he was only fifteen months old when he did it, no one seems to know exactly how as far as I've read, although there are at least sixteen different theories published. Meeting Harry Potter is a really awesome thing. To give you an idea, it's more or less like meeting Prince Charles. Or maybe not, I mean, not everyone agrees on Prince Charles, do we? And everyone does agree about Harry Potter, except of course among whatever is left of You-Know-Who's supporters (that's how we have to call the Dark Wizard, either You-Know-Who or the more formal He Who Must Not Be Named, apparently it's terribly imprudent and ill-mannered to say his name or even write it). So maybe it's more like meeting King Arthur, except that King Arthur isn't among the living and Harry Potter certainly is, and that's why he's so famous and respected.

          He's not what I expect from such a legend though. He's just about my height, scrawny, with sable hair pointing in every direction and glasses. Not at all what you would expect of King Arthur, unless you're thinking of that old Walt Disney cartoon we saw on TV the other day. I had found that cartoon completely inane and implausible, more because of its portrait of Merlin and assumptions about Transfiguration than anything else, and I had thought that the Great King Arthur could never have been a bashful skinny kid like that, but maybe I was too hasty in my judgement. Potter looks almost as frail and harmless as that kid at first sight, and just as shy too, or at least that was my first impression.

          I'm glad I didn't gape at him when I recognised him, most of the other students, even the older ones, lost their composure and made a fool of themselves by gawking incessantly at Potter as if he were a dancing candelabra or something. Although dancing candelabras probably aren't that uncommon in the wizarding world, not that I've seen any yet. But remember what I told you about the enchanted ceiling of the Great Hall of Hogwarts, charmed to show the sky outside? I've seen it, it's really beautiful and impressive, I wish you could see it.

          That's where we've been sorted into our Houses, the Great Hall, and I was so nervous, we had to sit on a stool and put on this old battered hat, and I was trembling, I was afraid I'd fall from the stool right in front of all the teachers, what would they think of me? We were called by alphabetical order of surname, but it didn't take all that long to get to my name because there aren't that many students in each year, I think there were less than forty. When Professor McGonagall (that's our Transfiguration teacher, very stern and skilled) called me I sat there and the hat, the Sorting Hat as it's called, started saying things in my head! It said I was bright, resourceful, inquiring, orderly, "a little too domineering for your own good" (I don't know where it got that from, I'm not domineering!), "but loyal nonetheless". Oh, it said I have great penchant for the academics, that great achievements could be expected from me. I'm sure I was blushing like a tomato then, but the others couldn't hear the hat talking in my head.

          At last it said that my bravery and a compulsion to prove myself (isn't "compulsion" too strong a word?) would make me stick out at Ravenclaw so he'd better put me in GRYFFINDOR! I was so happy, I ran to the table where the other Gryffindors were gathered and they applauded me and some of them shook my hand and Percy Weasley, the Prefect, smiled at me, it was so great! (Of course the applause was nothing like when Harry Potter was sorted in Gryffindor as well, I thought the Great Hall was going to explode with the noise.)

          My room is in the Gryffindor Tower then, all decorated in red and gold, and the entrance for it is behind a picture called "The Fat Lady", and we have to say a password so the Fat Lady (she talks and moves) will let us in. The first-years rooms are in the top of the tower, girls separated from boys, obviously. I have two roommates, Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil, and Parvati has a twin sister called Padma but she was sorted in Ravenclaw, I hope they all become my friends. I haven't got much time to really talk to anyone since the classes began, there's so much to study and so far I've only read three of the books Percy recommended! And sometimes it's just hard to find time to do anything, I mean, we have Astronomy every Wednesday night, and I really mean night, we have to be up at the dome at 12 a.m. sharp or the staircase leading there will change directions and lead us some place else.

          I also had my first Charms and Herbology classes, but the most exciting class is easily History of Magic. Our teacher, Professor Binns, is a ghost no less, and he knows everything there is to know about the wizarding world. Some of my classmates don't like him, they're just interested in practice, you know, they wouldn't open a book to save their lives. They also complain about Professor Quirrell, he teaches Defence Against the Dark Arts, on the same argument: "too much theory and no exercises". I don't think that's fair, they would learn a lot if they quit kidding and paid attention for a change. Percy has two twin brothers (twins between themselves, not Percy's twins), also in Gryffindor but in third year, but they're very different. (From Percy, I mean, they're identical twins.) They keep making mean jokes about Professor Quirrell, saying he wears his turban day and night so he can stuff lots of garlic inside to keep the vampires away. If they would only listen! He told us he was given that turban by an African Prince in gratitude for having got rid of a zombie that was wrecking his country. I bet it's magical. I'll do some research at the library tomorrow, we have Friday afternoons free, so I'll try and find out its properties, there must be a reason why it has such a strange smell. (It's definitely not garlic though.)

          I'm so tired now, this afternoon we had Transfiguration and it's a lot harder than it sounds to turn an object into another. First lesson was transform a match into a needle, we've tried for hours and I was the only one who got to make the match change a little, it became silver. I was very upset that it didn't turn into a needle but Professor McGonagall smiled at me and said it was really difficult and that she hadn't expected any of the students to achieve anything on our first try. She was really, really nice to me, I'm glad she is the Head of the Gryffindor House.

          I'm afraid I have to finish this letter now. It's late and I have my first Potions class tomorrow morning. I'm sure I'll do well, I know all the recipes in Arsenius Jigger's "Magical Drafts and Potions" by heart now. I really want to give them all a good impression, I know I have a lot of catching up to do and I don't want anyone to think less of me just because I wasn't born in this environment or anything like that. You will be proud of me, I promise.

          All my love,

PS: When you send me your reply, show the letter to the owl and wait for her to hold out her leg. Then tie it firmly, but not too tight, and tell the owl to deliver it to me at Hogwarts. She'll know how to find me.

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written by Morgan D.
December 13th, 2002

Harry Potter and its characters belong to J.K.Rowling, Bloomsbury, Warner Bros and Merlin-knows-whom-else. I'm just having some fun while patiently waiting for the fifth book.