Chapter 85: Chapter 85: The Grossmans' unwanted guests (Edited)
At first, Tom thought the package had been sent to the wrong place, but after reading the contents of the second letter, he realized it was for him.
"Professor McGonagall is trying to catch a tough family." Tom realized Professor McGonagall's intentions.
He was a busy man, with two part-time jobs and a lot of reading to do, but Professor McGonagall was giving him too much! The two notebooks and lesson plans provided enough knowledge for Tom to take Transfiguration theory of knowledge to level 2.
More importantly, Tom was not averse to this sort of thing, so he went back to his dorm, packed up his things, took two days off work and went to Eastbourne.
Eastbourne, East Sussex, 8:00 a.m.
It was a bad time for Tom to arrive, it was raining in Eastbourne when he did. Good thing it wasn't windy, otherwise Tom would have been splashed by the water.
Because of the rain, it was very cloudy.
When Tom arrived at 17 Burlington Place, he found a two-story villa with a small western European-style courtyard. It's a bit of a mess, but overall it looks pretty nice.
The rain was still falling steadily and there was already water in the courtyard. In the courtyard there was a pond of sorts that houses various aquatic plants. At that moment, there was a cat struggling in the pond, somehow, this big orange cat had fallen into the pond. It was on its last legs and could have drowned at any moment.
The curtains of the First Floor side window were slowly lowered, and inside a very delicate looking girl is choosing what to wear today: a black vest and a light blue short-sleeved top; a long-sleeved shirt with a little black skirt; a uniform that looks a bit like a maid's uniform.
All three outfits are perfectly laid out on her bed, which is also nicely made, with hardly any wrinkles in the sheets. A small brown bear rests upright in the middle of the pillow, and with clean floors and tidy furniture, it's easy to see that the owner of this bedroom is obsessive compulsive: she likes to have everything under control, without any clutter.
The girl finally chose a long-sleeved shirt with a black skirt.
With a slight smile, she stood by the bedroom wall, looking at her wall full of trophies, medals and certificates. But as her eyes roamed over the letter on the table, her eyes finally flashed with a hint of confusion.
The letter said she had been accepted into a school called Hogwarts, which was fine, it was normal for a bright girl like her to be accepted into all kinds of schools, but this was a school for wizards!
That was a bit crazy.
Peggy's father instinctively thought it was a joke, but Peggy had some doubts: what would she do if the magical world had barged into her little world for no reason?
Suddenly, the doorbell rang. Peggy shuddered, she had a feeling that the visitor had something to do with Hogwarts.
Peggy's father, Mr. Grossman, opened the door and saw a handsome young man standing outside with an umbrella, dressed in a black wizard's robe, and asked politely, "Is this Peggy Grossman's house? I'm Tom Yodel, a second year Hogwarts student, here to help you with the pre-admission process."
Mr. Grossman was a bit puzzled: the author of this joke was taking it a bit too seriously, wasn't he? And to have someone come to the house specifically...
Just as he was beginning to remember which of his business partners had such bad taste, something incomprehensible happened.
He watched as the teenager waved his hand and an orange mass flew out of his pond.
"This cat is drowning in your sink, is it your cat?" Said the teenager.
"No..." Said Mr. Grossman unconsciously.
Tom shook his head, held the dying orange cat gently in his arms and looked at Mr. Grossman,
Mr. Grossman reacted quickly and let Tom in; it was not polite to leave people out in the rain.
Tom entered the villa and closed his umbrella. The rain slid down the umbrella and dripped onto the ground, where it collected in a puddle and soiled the clean floor. Tom was a little embarrassed, so he pointed to the ground again, "(Scourgify)!".
The water stain disappeared.
Tom gently placed the umbrella in a holder and then, holding the orange cat in his arms, asked Mr. Grossman, "Can we talk?"
Soon he was seated at the Grossmans' table, where Mr. Grossman poured him a cup of hot chocolate. Tom looked around the interior: clean, tidy, with new appliances, and in the context of the house's location, the Grossmans were in a good financial position.
Mr. Grossman also looked at Tom, the unexpected guest was so young, with his semi-long black hair, deep black eyes and features that made the boy look quite handsome. His black wizard's robes added a touch of mystery to his appearance.
Thinking about what he had just done, Mr. Grossman was convinced of his identity.
Grossman asked somewhat formally, "So, is magic real? Is Peggy really going to go to a magic school?"
"Yes, Mr. Grossman, your daughter has been accepted into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the number one magical school in all of Europe and the world." Tom took a sip of his hot chocolate and, just as Professor McGonagall had done back in the day, introduced Mr. Grossman to the magical world.
"Well, I have been asked by Minerva McGonagall, the vice-principal of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, to come here to invite her daughter to Hogwarts."
Mr. Grossman hesitated for a moment, it was a difficult decision for him to make, to accept meant that his daughter, who had been with him since she was a little girl, would be leaving him for a world that was completely new to him and he wouldn't be able to help at all.
"Excuse me, but is Hogwarts a multi-year school? Does it have to be a boarding school? I mean, is it possible for it to be a day school..." Mr. Grossman tried his luck, he figured that if Hogwarts was a day school, then he would see his daughter every night, and in that case, it wouldn't be a big deal to learn magic.
Unfortunately, Tom had mercilessly burst her bubble: Hogwarts was a seven-year school in the Scottish Highlands and did not accept day students.
"Hogwarts is a school that has been around for over a thousand years, while the British Ministry of Magic is only three hundred years old. All Hogwarts graduates have found fairly decent jobs, and it's worth noting that all the Ministers of Magic have been Hogwarts graduates. And your daughter will only be eighteen when she graduates, so she had plenty of options." Tom analyzed the advantages of going to Hogwarts for Mr. Grossman.
Seeing that Mr. Grossman was still hesitant, Tom said, "Why not listen to Peggy's opinion?"
Chapter 86: Chapter 86: Opening the door to a new world (Edited)
"Honey bear, come on down, there's something to talk about." Mr. Grossman called his daughter.
Tom thought it was very interesting, it was the first time he had ever seen a father refer to his daughter as "honey bear", he had heard "honey" and "honey" etc. more often. This was the first time she had ever heard anyone call their daughter that.
Peggy Grossman came down the stairs, the black skirt and white shirt looked elegant.
When she reached the table, Mr. Grossman also offered her a cup of hot chocolate, her favorite drink. She sat quietly at the table like an angel and sipped the hot chocolate from the mug.
After taking several sips, he looked at Tom, "You're interrupting my life." Her voice was pleasant, but it was clear that the magical world had intruded into her life for no reason, and she was a little annoyed.
"Your fate is decided at birth, whether you come from a magical or Muggle family, every magically talented child is automatically placed on the Hogwarts admission list as soon as they are born, no exceptions." Tom said this, but in his mind he remembered what Professor McGonagall had told him when she first met him, "But you're not on the list," it had always stuck with him, but given his special identity, something was probably wrong.
"You're lying." Peggy's face suddenly went cold, "You're hiding something."
"???" Tom hadn't realized that the young woman had a keen sense of what was going on.
"I'm hiding something from you, but then I'll talk to your father about it later, whether you want to get into Hogwarts or not." Of course Tom wouldn't say what he was really thinking at the moment, but he did have something to say to Mr. Grossman alone.
"All right," Peggy didn't insist on it, "What did you mean by just saying I'm a born witch?"
Tom thought she was right to interpret it that way, all witches in the magical world were born with the gift, whether the parents were wizards or not. Of course, if the parents were wizards, the chances of the child being a wizard were much greater, but it wasn't an absolute, as Squibs were born into wizarding families but had no magical talent.
In scientific terms, magical talent is probably an extremely rare recessive gene, a bit like Mendel's peas, AaBb, long stems and short stems, but hundreds of times more complicated. It could be that a magician has a special gene in his body that allows him to secrete a magic amino acid or something that allows him to do magic.
Of course, this is all just science fiction, magic is the mystical side of things, but maybe it has something to do with genetics.
Peggy grimaced when Tom answered in the affirmative, "I've heard that a million times since I was a kid..."
"Her teachers say she's a natural painter, scientist, actress, whatever." Grossman explained for his daughter.
"A young woman of good character..." Tom realized there was another reason Professor McGonagall had sent him.
Peggy seemed disinterested in the magical world, not really wanting to change her current situation.
"Well, we'll skip the topic of birth witches, may I ask what your students are offered upon graduation? Going to Hogwarts to study magic will slow down my study."
"Hogwarts graduates have a wide range of careers, the Ministry of Magic and various fields of authority are filled with people who graduated from Hogwarts..." The British magical world is still dominated by Hogwarts graduates, and while there may be other routes to wizarding success, these wizards are generally inferior to Hogwarts graduates.
Magically talented children born in the British Isles and Ireland are admitted to Hogwarts. However, the other two of the three other European magic schools are not as polite, as both Beauxbatons and Durmstrang have barriers to entry, and those who are not accepted have to find other ways to learn magic: small, unnamed schools or "private schools" run by other wizards, etc.
Yes, in addition to the eleven magical schools around the world, there are also smaller magical schools and educational institutions. The eleven prestigious schools are registered with the International Federation of Magicians, while the smaller institutions come and go, are difficult to track, are rarely registered with the proper authorities, and are not guaranteed to offer quality education.
There are far fewer countries with magic schools than those without, so most magicians in most countries choose to teach themselves at home or take correspondence courses. These wizards are inherently inferior to graduates of prestigious schools like Hogwarts.
So, in reality, a Hogwarts student is roughly the equivalent of a Harvard graduate in the Muggle world.
"That talk, sounds like the admissions caliber of a crappy school," Peggy said, looking further down into the magical world, "How much do your graduates get paid?"
At this point, Tom was actually grateful for the goblins' greed, again at 50 galleons a month, according to the optimum exchange rate, Hogwarts graduates will be paid 250 pounds a month at the best official rate, Tom would have had to resort to the theory of silence to convince people to enroll. But not with Gringotts involved, our Hogwarts graduates were earning half a pound of gold a month!
It sounded much better.
Of course, there was a high probability that recent graduates would not be able to earn a monthly salary of fifty gallons.
Not to mention that it was quite shocking to see a graduate earning a few hundred grams of gold a month.
Peggy and her father were dumbfounded: did it look like the magical world was doing well?
"The magical world isn't about money, it's about being able to really control your own destiny once you learn magic, and it's about the comfort of life, like..."
Tom poured the last piece of chocolate on the table and with a wiping spell wiped it clean.
"At least you won't have to clean up."
Hearing Tom say that, and seeing the magic with her own eyes, Peggy's pupils dilated for a moment.
She was silent for a moment.
"Is it true that you can control your own destiny? Am I going to be in charge of my world from now on?"
Tom instinctively sensed something was wrong, but nodded anyway.
"The school has a scholarship for students from Muggle families," Tom said, holding out the small bag of money, "But it might not be enough, you'll need to have some gold to change... if you don't want to use second hand textbooks and old robes. Gringotts has a special rate for students to exchange for galleons, so don't miss out, it's a perk for students."
Looking at the silent father and daughter, Tom was in no hurry, he just watched them silently, waiting for their responses.
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