Hogwarts: Upon the Threshold

Author's Note

Dear readers,

For many years I have wanted to write a nonfiction historical work.  For a long time I thought my first book would be from the revolution, an account of the loyalist regiment The Volunteers of Ireland.  I have always been fascinated by the time period.  More recently I have become fascinated by the stories of World War Two, and the men and women both on and behind the lines.

A friend of mine from high school was born in England.  Three years ago, I asked her family to distribute my card to various people they encountered while on holiday there.  It provided my name, my email address, and a simple request to hear their families’ stories from the Thirties and the Forties.  Specifically, I was curious about the impact that American GI’s, American support staff and European refugees had on the English countryside.  What was it like to have your home turned into a command post? Was it common to see the refugees from the Kindertransport?  What was it like when everyone “went home”?

I received some responses, some interest in seeing the final work, and a few kind words.  One gentleman from Devonshire sent me a lovely collection of scanned photographs showing his mother, his aunt, and his grandfather all posing with an American officer.  The family lore had it that the officer in the picture was Cpt. Lewis Dixon of the 101st Airborne Division, the unit featured in the book and show Band of Brothers.  If I am being truthful I do not believe that Cpt. Dixon was ever in Devonshire during the war, but my research is lacking in that area.

I had been trying to organize these replies for a few weeks when a strange parcel arrived on my door stop.  What caught my eye was the address:

Mr. R. Osterman

The basement home office

-Address deleted-

-City Deleted-, Michigan

United States of America

North American Continent

As it was, the knock at the door had come just as I was sitting down at my computer preparing to type up another series of potential outlines to focus my research.  The box also bore no shipping labels or return address.  Inside was a letter addressed to me.

Dear Mr. Osterman,

I came upon your card while visiting a friend in London.  I have spent many a sleepless night since pondering if I should call upon you or not.  In the end, I resolved that silence was no longer an option.

Please understand that I cannot trust those of my world to do this story justice.  There are too many egos, too many memories, and too many wounds for any to speak with honesty or integrity.  It is for these reasons that I entrust you with this task.

Enclosed with this letter you will find journals, notes, letters, and photographs.  These came into my posession with my aunt’s passing.  When I acquired them, I knew not what to do with them.  But when I received your card, I realized that Fate had a grander scheme than she had shown me before.

Sir, I believe these are meant for you.

Tell this story as seems most true to you.  You have no biases, no history, and no vestment in the affairs of our world.  Relate the events, not as we remember them to be, but as this historical record shows them to have occurred.

But, please, I beg of you, do not allow them to enter into physical print.  My world has no interest in your Internet, in your blogs or your electronic empires.  As long as this tale remains there, in the realm of data and light, we are safe.  Should it find its way to hard copy, however, I cannot vouch for either of our safety.

I realize the terrible burden this places upon you, and for that I am sorry.

I remain, etc etc,

Cameron McGonnagall

And so, here it is, provided to the best of my knowledge from the documents sent to me.  I recognize that some of what is recorded here may conflict with your understandings or preconceptions of events.  I have tried, when practical, to reconcile the timing of events with other known records, but when there was conflict I felt compelled to use the source material sent to me.  I will not apologize for this; I am a historian.

Because these events are so difficult to establish as fact, however, I am recording this history in narrative form.  I cannot claim the quotations are exact, the actions are specific, but I swear, upon my honor, I shall do my utmost to be true to the history as I understand it.

And so, I now give you this record,

Robert Osterman

Writer and Historian