London wasn't kind to orphans.
The rain fell lightly, almost politely, as if afraid of disturbing them, but it ended up wetting everything anyway. I sat on the windowsill of the only window in the dormitory of St. Mary's Orphanage, watching the drops chase each other on the glass.I didn't remember my previous name.
I only remembered... that it had been there.
A life before this, clearer in dreams than in waking life. Internet, video games, university... and books. So many books.
Among them, a certain saga about a boy wizard with glasses.Only now it wasn't a story.My name, in this life, was Elias Ward.
And at eleven, I had already learned not to expect pleasant surprises.
When the social worker called my name and handed me a cream-colored envelope, sealed with red sealing wax, I thought it was a joke.
But then I saw the seal.
An H carved on a shield, surrounded by a lion, a badger, a snake, and a raven.My breath caught in my lungs.
"No. It can't be..." I whispered.The elegant handwriting read:Elias Ward
Dormitory 3B, St. Mary's Orphanage,
London.My hand was shaking as I broke the seal.I already knew every word of the letter—or at least, I thought I did—and yet actually reading it, hearing the rustle of parchment, the smell of ink and ancient magic... it was different.
It was real.I didn't know what awaited me at Hogwarts. Except that, if this was the world I remembered from books, I had one advantage: I knew the future, however little I remembered of it.