Chapter 5: A Twist of Fate
"Agreed, the priest said he would let you in."
Outside the door, Bran opened his hands in front of the knob, gave a suspicious look to Professor McGonagall, and reluctantly yielded.
"Thank you."
He glanced at the boy who guarded the door like a sentinel. McGonagall shook her head with a smile, thanked him, and entered the room.
"Hello, nice to meet you for the first time! I am Professor McGonagall, and I am very pleased to see you."
She nodded amiably to the two and looked around the room.
Just as she had seen when she turned into a cat before, the room was not very large, a girl with silver hair was standing at the edge of the bed, and Benitez, the owner of the orphanage, lay on the bed. Next to the table, there was an unfinished breakfast.
—He tried to contain himself, not to think about the "fat Scottish round chicken soup".
Before going to the orphanage, Professor McGonagall had heard about Elena from the villagers.
Unlike most orphans, the relationship between Elena and Benitez actually resembled more of a father and daughter. The two had run the small orphanage together.
Therefore, after careful consideration, McGonagall believed that Benitez, as the "guardian," should know that Elena had been invited to study at Hogwarts, so she did not deliberately sideline Benitez to chat alone with Elena.
Benitez looked at the unexpected visitor with curiosity.
She seems to be slightly older than I estimated. The black curly hair in a high bun and the amber-framed glasses matched Benitez's impression of a professor, but she wore a traditional Scottish tartan coat.
Overall, she did not appear to be an untrustworthy scammer or a layman who came intentionally.
"Professor McGonagall, please have a seat," Benitez showed a pensive look. "Which school are you from? As far as I know, Elena has not applied to any school in the Scottish area."
Professor McGonagall looked at the steaming bowl of soup on the wooden table, hesitated, reached out and pulled the chair closer to the bed, sat back at the wooden table, cleared her throat, and looked at Ai with a smile.
"Our school is called Hogwarts, it is a school for people with special talents. I came here this time..."
"It goes without saying, I refuse."
Before Professor McGonagall finished speaking, Elena shook her head and rudely interrupted.
"Regarding the future, I already have my own goals. Not to mention that I don't believe I can learn anything from this unfamiliar school. So please, leave."
If this world is indeed the magical world described by JK Rowling, then Professor McGonagall hates characters who interrupt during class hours. Faced with such words, it would not be impossible for her to be directly enraged.
"Elena!"
Benitez frowned slightly. In his impression, Elena rarely had this kind of aggressive attitude, let alone directly interrupting others. He was seeing it for the first time in years.
"I'm sorry, this child is not like this." Benitez stroked the head of the little silver Loli and looked at Professor McGonagall with some regret. After a pause, the man continued with a bit of confusion, "However, in my humble opinion, today I heard for the first time about the Hogwarts you're mentioning."
Professor McGonagall smiled indifferently and replied easily. "Being in the Muggle world, Muggles are what we call ordinary people. Not having heard of it is completely normal. Because Hogwarts is a magical school, a wizarding school used to teach young wizards how to use and control magic."
There was a silence.
In response to that answer, Benitez was stunned for a moment, his eyes quickly scanning the two eyes of Professor McGonagall, trying to see if there were lies or jokes in it.
"Magic...magic?" Benitez repeated softly, looking suspiciously at the lady in front of him. He began to lean more towards supporting Elena's original idea. Clearly, this Professor McGonagall was a bit strange.
Benitez sat upright, ready to end this boring farce, thought for a moment, and replied politely, "Do you mean magic, or something like acrobatics? I'm sorry, I still prefer Elena to go to public high school to study."
"No, I mean..." Professor McGonagall shook her head and the smile on her face brightened. She took out her wand from her pocket and waved it towards the chair. The old wooden chair "burst" into a beautiful high chair with goose feather fabric. "...like this, real magic."