Early in the morning, on the second floor of the Leaky Cauldron, a tawny owl dropped the Daily Prophet through the open window of a guest room.
This room belonged to Rey. He was up early. Lately, he rarely left the Leaky Cauldron, trying to stay off Ryan Evers' radar.
So, the daily delivery of the Prophet had become his main source of information about the outside world.
Just a few days ago, he had read a disturbing article.
An Auror named Caradoc Dorry and his partner had been ambushed by ten vampires on the east coast of England.
The partner was killed in action. Dorry, fighting desperately, managed to kill seven of the vampires before breaking out of the encirclement and escaping.
"Vampires typically avoid direct confrontation with wizards. Why the sudden coordinated attack on Aurors? For further updates, please continue to follow the Daily Prophet."
The report ended on that cliffhanger.
Vampires were dark creatures known for their speed. Although they feared sunlight and garlic, if they had the numbers, they were incredibly dangerous to wizards. Physically speaking, a vampire was far stronger than a human.
Rey was hypersensitive to any news about vampires. After all, he was up against Ryan Evers—a high-ranking vampire.
Caradoc Dorry had faced ten vampires and killed seven. That was seriously impressive. Rey couldn't help but fantasize: if he could learn how to fight vampires from someone like that, it would be a game-changer.
"Housekeeping."
Just as Rey was scanning the paper for more vampire news, a woman's voice called from the hallway.
Outside the narrow corridor on the second floor, a young witch with messy hair and shabby robes knocked on Rey's door. A broom, seemingly alive, bobbed behind her.
"Julianne! Sorry to trouble you again," Rey said, opening the door to let her in. He had been living here for over two weeks and had quickly become friends with the cleaning lady.
"Oh, Rey. The room is messy enough today. Good job. Cleaning is my job, after all. If the room was spotless every day, old chrome-dome Tom would dock my pay," Julianne joked as she entered.
She teased Rey about his cleanliness but whispered the part about Tom so the landlord wouldn't hear.
"Mr. Tom isn't that bad, is he?" Rey shrugged at her dramatic flair.
"Oh, really? Then why did he charge you for that juice the first day you arrived?"
Julianne blinked mischievously. Rey was speechless. The nickname "chrome-dome" was actually Rey's invention, and he was the one who had told Julianne about the juice incident once they became friends.
"Hey, come on, Julianne. You promised to teach me some simple spells if I told you something bad about Mr. Tom. I'm just a kid. I can selectively forget anything I've said."
Rey shifted the blame without skipping a beat. His soul might be older, but he knew how to play the innocent kid card.
"Oh, save it, you little rascal. sometimes I want to crack open that head of yours and see what your soul actually looks like."
Julianne started changing the sheets. Meanwhile, the broom and dustpan got to work on their own, sweeping up the minimal dust in the room and dumping it into a trash bag.
Rey had asked Julianne about the animated cleaning tools. They were standard magical items bought from shops—basically the wizarding equivalent of a Roomba, but much smarter.
"So, kid, have you mastered those spells I taught you?"
Julianne finished the duvet cover quickly and turned to check on his progress.
"The Wand-Lighting Charm and the Levitation Charm are okay, but the Scouring Charm... it always makes a huge mess."
Rey was eager to learn. Being helpless in Knockturn Alley had been a wake-up call.
Once he settled in, he wanted to learn magic immediately. Julianne, being around every day, naturally became his first teacher.
She was just a staff member at the Leaky Cauldron, but teaching a few household charms to an eager kid wasn't a problem.
Over the last couple of weeks, Rey had nailed Lumos and Wingardium Leviosa, but Scourgify was proving difficult.
Every time he used it, the room ended up in chaos.
"Wait... you're trying to use Scourgify to organize the entire room?"
Julianne looked at Rey like he was a monster. She looked genuinely baffled.
"Is... is that a problem, Julianne?"
Rey felt a bit panicked under her stare.
"Of course it's a problem, kid! Scourgify is for cleaning stains off clothes or scrubbing cauldron sludge. But you want to use it to organize objects in a room? I have to say, that's a very... ambitious idea."
Julianne was helpful, and when it came to cleaning spells, she was practically an authority.
"Kid, if you want to put everything in a room back in its place and tidy it up, Scourgify won't work. The spell you're thinking of is probably Reparo, or a specific tidying charm. But to restore an entire room? That requires incredible magical power and control."
She reached out and pinched Rey's cheek, enjoying his squirming. "Although... if you stretched the definition of Scourgify... maybe you could use it to 'scrub' away living things. Like pests."
Julianne was always amused by Rey's way of thinking. She often threw out hypothetical uses for spells just to mess with him and watch him hit a wall.
"Magic can be used like that?"
Rey forgot the pain in his cheek, his face lighting up with curiosity. Despite Julianne's teasing tone, her logic made sense to him.
As an outsider, he felt that the boundaries between spells were sometimes blurry. If you stretched the concept, you could theoretically achieve different results.
Julianne nodded, satisfied with his reaction. "Of course. Many spells are just extensions of how you apply your magic. They share common principles. The spell is singular, but human thought isn't."
"So, Julianne... can you use Scourgify to banish a person?"
Rey asked excitedly. His feigned wide-eyed innocence fed right into Julianne's vanity as a "senior witch."
But honestly, Rey respected her insight. Sometimes she spoke with such wisdom that Rey wondered if this cleaning lady was actually some hidden master, like the "Sweeping Monk" in martial arts legends.
"Uh... well... that is purely a theoretical concept derived from my years of cleaning. The practical application is... currently under development. As for you, stick to cleaning stains off your robes."
Julianne laughed awkwardly, ruffled Rey's hair with her dusty hands, and backed out of the room.
Rey didn't mind the teasing. It felt familial.
Julianne was an ordinary witch. Rey had once asked her about fighting vampires, and she had given him a very serious answer: If you meet a vampire now, don't try to fight. Run.
Rey could only smile bitterly at that. The problem wasn't that he wanted to fight a vampire; it was that a vampire was hunting him.
---
"Housekeeping."
After finishing Rey's room, Julianne moved to the next door, continuing her cleaning crusade.
Rey closed the door and went back to practicing.
"Scourgify."
This time, it went smoothly. With a flick of his wand, a tea stain on his shirt vanished instantly.
He had been struggling for days because he was using the spell for the wrong purpose.
In the Harry Potter movies, he vaguely remembered Dumbledore using a spell to restore a trashed room to perfect order.
He had assumed it was Scourgify. But judging by Julianne's reaction, Dumbledore's magic was far more complex.
Reparo could fix broken objects, but an entire room?
If Dumbledore really used a simple spell to do that, his control over magic must be terrifying.
Magic was a deep subject. Becoming a wizard on Dumbledore's level—someone who could stand against Voldemort—wasn't something that happened overnight.
Step by step. You couldn't rush these things.
Dressed in his freshly cleaned clothes, Rey packed his belongings.
It was September 1st. The start of term at Hogwarts. He had a train to catch at King's Cross.
"Wingardium Leviosa."
He waved his dark, purple-tinged wand, and his trunk and owl cage floated into the air, following the tip of his wand.
The Levitation Charm was incredibly convenient. He wouldn't need help hauling his luggage downstairs.
Magic changed life.
And magic would change his world.
"Rey! Today's the big day. Study hard. Here's a little going-away present."
Tom, sporting his shiny bald head, smiled as Rey came downstairs. He tucked a small package into Rey's luggage before the boy could refuse.
"Thank you, Mr. Tom. I'll do my best."
After saying his goodbyes, Rey dragged his trunk out of the Leaky Cauldron. With the help of the hunchbacked waiter (who Rey learned was named Garter), he loaded his things into a taxi bound for King's Cross Station.
---