Chapter 3: The Rules of Magic
"Go on," Professor Dumbledore encouraged.
"And another time we were supposed to clean our rooms for the government inspectors, and even though my room is normally clean I had some things lying around that day. And then all of a sudden they went back to their spots." Tom settled back and gave a proud little smile, all the while completely dying on the inside from the disgusting bitter aftertaste of the thickly laid on artificial sugar.
"I figured out how to do that one again, too. So now everything I have is always clean. I'd help my friends clean up, too, but I was afraid of hurting their feelings, because I know they'd ask me how, and I wouldn't be able to tell them, and then they'd get mad because they thought I was hiding something and wasn't sharing…"
Professor Dumbledore held up a hand, and Tom paused, before ducking his head sheepishly again. "Sorry…I just get a little excited sometimes…"
And the title of Drama Queen of the Year goes to…
Shut your face, or I swear to god I'll…
I thought you were atheist.
"That's quite all right," Professor Dumbledore chuckled. "Magic is a very exciting thing. Trust me, there have been students with much more…shall I say, exuberant reactions than yours, and they grew up with magic around them their entire lives."
"You mean there's more?" Tom said, interjecting with as much hope as he could. Professor Dumbledore nodded, and Tom's face lit up, before falling yet again. "I…they must know a lot of magic already, don't they? I'll be so behind. Are there any special rules? Because I've never heard of this stuff until today…I bet I'll be the worst in the class…"
sniff There goes little Tommy, off to conquer the world with his impenetrable charm...
You are the most infuriating person I've ever talked to.
Aren't we the same person?
Hypocrite. Just a few moments before we were separate entities and you were someone real from the future who died.
Funny. You never really believed me before.
They could argue for years over this. In fact, Tom still knew nothing about Jerry, except that he was pretty much a permanent residence in his head.
Tom was sure that, had Jerry shown up, say, now, instead of having been present from his very birth, he would have been much less trusting.
As it was, though, despite Jerry's rather murky background story (for all he knew, Jerry really was an alter ego with a very overexaggerated sense of imagination, or, better yet, an extension of his own consciousness that allowed his genius to spill over into somewhere safe), Tom trusted Jerry. After all, Jerry hadn't failed him…yet.
"Not to worry," Professor Dumbledore said again. "It's a common rule that everyone receives a wand and starts school at the same time. Perhaps students with magical parents might know the names of certain spells, but they will have no way to practice it. You won't be the only one coming from Muggle – that's our term for non-magical people – backgrounds, and anyway, statistics show that students of non-magical heritage perform just about as well as their peers with magical families."
"So this…heritage…doesn't determine how good you are?" Tom asked. "Or are you just saying that to make me feel better?"
"It is actually true. There are teachers at Hogwarts who are Muggle-born themselves."
"And when I finish school…what happens?"
"Generally you would have become integrated into Wizarding society by then, and found a job in our world by then. When I take you to Diagon Alley – the Wizard London – you will receive a more practical view of everything, and I can explain as we go by. "
"So, a sort of secret world, then? And no one knows about it, except for the people with magic?"
"Yes."
"What if I end up not liking it? Can I go back to the, er, Muggle world then?" Tom asked.
Fat chance, Jerry snorted. You're loving the idea of this magic thing already.
I'm just playing it safe! You said "be nice." This is how a shy, nervous kid who's never heard of magic before is supposed to act!
I know. And damn, are you good.
Thank you.
You're welcome. Seriously.
"It is possible, but very rare," said Professor Dumbledore. "There are, of course, restrictions that we would have to place in order to preserve our secret. For example, you cannot use your magic against others, obviously, but especially Muggles because they have no magic of their own and result in a breach of the International Statute of Secrecy. Of course, there are exceptions, such as if you are defending yourself, or saving a life, but it still leads to a lot of legal issues."
"How do they catch those people?" Tom asked. "I mean, if I meet a stronger wizard, say, and I don't know that much magic yet…"
"The Ministry of Magic, our government, keeps tabs on the magic being performed."
"Like, spying?" Tom asked, not having to fake his rather disturbed look..
"Not quite. You have to understand, magic is just energy. When magic is performed, it can be detected, just like, say, a radio signal, I believe? In any event, there are ways of recording and evaluating these situations. There are law records, if you want to spend time looking that up."
One thing he's not telling you: they can only tell that magic has been cast, and not who did it. Pretty stupid, I know.
Wait – so if another wizard did magic inside this orphanage…
They'd think it was you, because this is "your" zone.
What? That's stupid!
Well, that means if you go to someone else's house and did magic…they also can't catch you. Or, if you just move out of your own zone into someone else's zone, I guess.
"Oh, okay! Thank you, sir!" Tom gushed.
Ugh. I think I'm going to be sick.
No kidding.
"Well, if that's all," Dumbledore said kindly, "tomorrow I will be returning to take you to Diagon Alley to get your school supplies."
"You're coming with me?" Tom blurted out.
Accept his help! You're just an average kid with no evil aspirations in you whatsoever! Jerry snapped.
"Sorry," Tom added hastily. "It's just – it's just – well, I've done things alone most of the time before, so, you know. The adults here don't have a lot of time because there's so many of us, so I wasn't really expecting you to come back. But if you can come with me, that would be great."
Jerry was laughing his head off.
"That is understandable," said Professor Dumbledore.
"One last question," Tom said. "Is this really real? Or am I just dreaming?"
"That would be a very deep philosophical question that people have been trying to answer for millenia," Dumbledore said. "But, for our purposes right now – yes, this is real." With that, he tipped his eccentricly patterned hat, and disappeared out the door.
Tom watched him leave, and then let out a breath that he hadn't known he had been holding.
Well. That was...interesting.
Oh, you haven't even seen the start of it yet.
-------
Want to jump 30+ chapters ahead right now?
You can read the advanced chapters and support me directly on p 4 treon.
Link in the synopsis & profile: p 4 treon > ForgottenDaoist