The Enchanted Legacy - A Hogwarts Legacy Story

Prologue

Ravenswood Manor, Hertfordshire, England, 29th of June 1886

Selene was excited. She'd been excited since her 11th birthday in March, and her giddiness hadn't subsided since. She knew that any day now, her turn would finally come. She had risen early today, as she had every day since March. Her routine was the same: she had breakfast in the dining room and then spent her days reading near the window. When she got tired of reading, she took up her embroidery or played her pianoforte. Whatever she did, she did it close to the window or the fireplace. She pestered the servants and house elves to keep all windows open, and when her mother had enough of her antics, she insisted on having her afternoon tea in the garden.

"You know, just because you insist on being outdoors doesn't mean the owl will come faster, right? I'm very sure that Hogwarts's owl will come when it decides to come. You don't have to go out of your way to accommodate them," her brother, Alex, snickered between sips of tea. Alex, seven years older than Selene, had graduated from Hogwarts just before summer. He would be attending Oxford in October and was right on track to become the heir of the Rioghnan barony.

"But it's almost July, and you know we have to send an owl back by July 1st. So I think the owl has become confused in the air and lost its way to our family home. I mean, what other reason could there be? You all got your letters when you were barely eleven! So mine surely must have gotten lost on the way!" Selene whined as she reached for the last biscuit on the tray.

"Well, I can't fault her logic there, brother. After all, London's air has been filled with foul fog for months now. Maybe the owl has indeed gotten lost," Nate, Selene's other brother, said as he signalled the house-elf to bring them more refreshments.

Selene beamed at Nate's words. He was indeed her favourite brother. Five years older than Selene, he had promised to accompany her to Diagon Alley right after her letter came. Nate would start the new term at Hogwarts as a sixth-year, and his last O.W.L. results showed he had a promising career as a healer. Nate had told their parents he would also study Muggle medicine after graduating, and thus he'd recently been seen studying not only advanced potion books but also Muggle chemistry and physiology books he'd bought during an outing in London.

"I think you're forgetting something here, brother. Didn't you notice? Selene has never done any magic before. Don't you think the fact that the owl hasn't come even this late in the summer means she might not get her letter this year?" Alex said coldly, fixing his glasses and pouring himself another cup of tea. Nate quickly protested and tried to contradict Alex's words, but the damage had been done.

Selene felt her stomach drop. She had never considered that possibility before. After all, her brothers and all their family members had always been magical. Everyone in her family had done some random burst of magic before they even reached the age of ten. Yet, she never had.

She had heard that Alex performed his first magic at the age of five. He apparently didn't like the nursery wall colour and surprised their nanny by causing wild roses to grow and fill the nursery wall one morning. He had done wandless magic until he got his Hogwarts letter during a fencing class a couple of weeks before he turned eleven. He was rightfully sorted into Ravenclaw, as was the norm in the Rioghnan family, and excelled in school ever since.

Nate's magic manifested when he was three years old when he found a wounded sparrow in the family garden. He healed and nursed the bird, and like the Pied Piper, he was followed by a wide variety of critters and birds until he got his letter from Hogwarts early one morning a month before his eleventh birthday. Nate was also sorted into Ravenclaw and did very well in school.

Selene had never done such a thing. She couldn't make plants grow or heal animals. She thought she had caused an item to disappear once but it turned out she had simply knocked the item away while closing her eyes, trying to make it vanish. Despite all of that, she never doubted that she would one day also go to Hogwarts.