Hogwarts: A little lion in the skin of the Eagle School

January 2, 1993, early morning.

knock knock knock.

knock knock knock.

A rhythmic tapping sound woke John from his sleep.

"...What the hell sound?" John opened his eyes groggily, checked the time, and saw it was only 7:30 in the morning, half an hour before his alarm went off.

Following the sound, John looked toward the window with its curtains tightly closed.

John threw off the covers, got out of bed, and went to the window. He suddenly pulled back the curtains, and the sunlight made him squint.

Once my eyes adjusted to the sunlight, I looked closely and realized that the culprit behind the noise was actually an owl.

Is this some kind of weirdo? Owls are up earlier than people?

The owl, with a yellow letter in its beak, tilted its head when it saw John and then tapped on his windowpane with its beak.

Upon seeing the owl that appeared to be delivering a message, a question mark slowly appeared on John's forehead.

Do carrier pigeons still exist in Britain today?

Oh right, today is the day Hogwarts sends letters. Could it be the wizarding world's owl? That makes sense.

With that thought in mind, John opened the window without hesitation, forgetting that the owl was right outside. The window blew the owl away.

The owl, which had been swatted away, squawked twice in surprise, dropped the letter in its beak, hurriedly flew to retrieve it, and then flapped its wings and flew back to John.

"...Would you believe me if I said I didn't do it on purpose...?"

John spoke to the owl with a hint of apology.

However, the owl seemed unwilling to accept John's excuse, and flew angrily to John's head, then dropped the yellow letter and pecked hard at John's forehead.

After being pecked a few times on the forehead, John winced in pain: "Ouch, sorry, sorry, don't peck Eagle anymore."

John scrambled to catch the owl, but the owl kept flapping its wings, trying to maintain its balance while pecking at John's face.

Squeeze! Keep pecking!

John was getting a little annoyed by the pecking.

Just then, hurried footsteps came from outside the door, and Mrs. Merrick quickly pushed the door open: "John, what's going on? Why is your room so noisy..."

Mrs. Merrick was preparing breakfast when she suddenly heard a lot of noise coming from her son's room, so she quickly ran over to check.

As soon as he opened the door, he saw his son holding an owl by the neck with one hand and its leg with the other. The owl was flapping its wings and squawking, trying to break free from John's big hand.

"...What are you doing?"

.....

8: am.

John was in the living room looking at the yellow letter brought by the owl, while his mother sat beside him, helping her son to treat the wound on his face that the owl had pecked at.

The father was feeding the owl and playing happily with it.

This letter is the Hogwarts acceptance letter that Mr. David mentioned to them last year.

The first thing you see when you open it is the Hogwarts crest, which is somewhat similar to a cross shield. The four corners are printed with four animals: a lion, a snake, a badger, and an eagle. In the center of the four animals is a capital H.

[To John Merrick...]

The gist of the letter was that he had been accepted to Hogwarts. If he wished to enroll, he was asked to write back, and a professor would visit him that evening to deliver his acceptance letter. He could also ask the professor directly if he had any other questions.

After reading the letter, John shared its contents with his parents. With their permission, John wrote a simple reply expressing his willingness to enroll and then handed it to the owl.

Mr. Owl saw the letter John handed him, clucked twice in displeasure, but still obediently took the envelope and flew out the window.

Seeing the owl fly away, the father was a little reluctant to let it go.

However, his mother pushed him out of the house the next second, saying that he was going to be late for work and told him to come home early that night.

As the owl slowly disappeared into the horizon, John, who had been waiting for almost a year, couldn't help but feel a sense of anticipation.

Being given a second chance at life was already an immense blessing for him, but to be transported to this fantastical magical world in this life only made him more excited.

Over the past period of time, he had been studying the "Basic Guide to Magical Families" that Mr. David had given him, which introduced many aspects of the daily life of wizards that he had never heard of before.

Although it only contains guides on how wizards can disguise themselves in Muggle society, some interesting information can be gleaned from these snippets.

For example, there's Floo Powder that allows people to teleport long distances, a spell that automatically cleans up, and a flying broom that you can ride.

Speaking of flying brooms, this concept seems to have appeared in many movies and TV shows from my past life.

But I don't really remember where I first saw it. It must have been in the early 2000s, when my family was still using an old-fashioned color TV. Back then, you watched whatever the TV was showing, there was no choice.

Later, many film and television works adopted this setting of riding a flying broom.

Could it be that I've traveled into a movie or TV show?

John shook his head and stopped thinking about it. It didn't matter whether it was true or not, since he didn't know the plot anyway. He might as well look forward to the story he was about to encounter.

......

At 6:30 p.m., the family was having dinner at home, and the evening news was playing on the TV in the living room.

This is their family's dinner habit. Even though they don't watch TV, they still need to put something on so they can hear something.

"John, did the Hogwarts professors say what time they'd be coming over tonight?" Mr. Merrick had made a point of leaving get off work early today so he could accompany his son to meet the Hogwarts teachers.

"8 p.m. is still early."

After John finished speaking, the table fell silent again, with only the crisp clinking of forks against plates.

Just as John's family was having a quiet meal, the news anchor on TV suddenly stopped, then resumed speaking, this time with a tense and impassioned tone.

[Breaking news! According to the Home Office, a convicted murderer, Celias Black, has escaped from a British prison. Police say he is extremely dangerous and may be armed. If anyone spots this suspect, do not attempt to approach or pursue him. Immediately seek shelter in a safe place and call the police.]

Upon hearing the news, John stopped eating and turned to look at the television in the living room.

At this moment, in addition to the host, a wanted poster was also displayed on the television screen.

The wanted poster features a fierce-looking man with messy hair and a beard. The poster freezes on the moment he opens his mouth and roars, seemingly venting some kind of anger.

"My God, what is the government doing? How could they let such a dangerous criminal escape!"

When Mrs. Merrick saw the news, she felt a sense of unease. How dangerous it would be if the murderer were roaming around London.

"Zoe, until this criminal is caught, I'll pick you up and drop you off at get off work," Mr. Merrick said earnestly to his wife.

"But sometimes I have to work the night shift, you..."

"It's dangerous precisely because it's the night shift, but it's okay. My work is almost finished recently, so I'll have some downtime for a while. I believe there will be more news about the perpetrator during this time. If he leaves London, then there's not so much to worry about."

Mr. Merrick's tone remained as firm as ever.

"My dear..." Mrs. Merrick's eyes flickered, gazing at her husband with deep affection.

"My dear," Mr. Merrick said, putting his arm around his wife's waist and gazing at her with equal affection.

John, with a deadpan expression, ate his food with a smacking sound, watching his parents show affection without any emotional reaction.

John remained silent, simply eating dry rice.

After finishing dinner and tidying up the dining room, the family sat in the living room to continue watching TV, waiting for the Hogwarts teachers to arrive.

Just as the clock struck 8 o'clock, a knock sounded at the door.