Harry Potter And The Lost Hollows

Hearing about the Ministry and being a wizard, he takes it all for a minute—then his face contorts, then calms down, as he starts thinking. 

A small moment passes until he speaks up again.

"But the place you are talking about, Hogwarts… how am I going to afford it? Or like spell books… and everything else to learn?" 

McGonagall's lips curl into a small smile. 

"That's easily solved, Mr. Blair. You have a vault at a bank named Gringotts — a great inheritance left behind by your father's family. They were… pretty powerful." 

Cain thinks for a minute. His mind begins to think. 

"My mother?" he asks softly after a moment of silence. "She could do magic too, right?" 

McGonagall then takes a moment to think, her face stills. She hesitates for a quick second, then continues. 

"Your mother," she begins, talking carefully, "came from a Muggle family. Muggles are what we call non-magical folk. She was what we call Muggle-born." 

Cain thinks about that for a second, trying to understand if that means something. There's something she's not telling him, and the hesitation—he noticed it from her. He doesn't press for answers, but questions to understand. 

"She was a Muggle-born witch?" 

McGonagall nods silently, then continues. "Yes, she was raised in a world without wizards and witches. Like you were. She was one of my brightest students when she attended Hogwarts… a very great woman… You have a lot of her in you. As for your father—you have his eyes, but you look like your mother too… You have a lot of her qualities—her hair, the way you softly speak." 

Cain takes a second to digest that, looking back up. "And my father? And his family?" 

"Yes, your father—you come from an influential family. Very, very fierce people, and very honorable. Your father, did a great service to the world, a fantastic man."

She pauses, choosing her next words. "Your father… well, you—you come from a very old magician family. Influential. Fierce. Honorable. It was a line of pure-blood wizards—though he didn't care for it, as he had you with your mother. But some sad things happened…"

She takes a quick second to gather herself. 

"Your father and mother did a great service for the world. Your father unfortunately passed away to a horrible—a very ugly and horrible wizard… we don't say the name—we refer to him as 'You-Know-Who.' But… he unfortunately came after your parents. Your mother got away, but as I came to realize recently… she…"

McGonagall's eyes begin to tear up slowly. She pauses. "Just know your mother is a great woman, and your dad did a great service… now… we have to quickly go get your items—I'll take you to a place named Diagon Alley…"

Cain softly looks at her and doesn't say a word. Coming back into the office after a few minutes, Ms. Lowry takes a moment to look at them—then hugs Cain as she can see something emotional happening. 

After Ms. Lowry and Cain's brief hug, McGonagall secretly wipes the tears as it happens, then continues, looking at Ms. Lowry. 

"I need to take him to get his supplies. He'll need to get them before the term starts." 

Ms. Lowry's face scrunches. She supposes she can let him go for a few hours to get the items he needs. 

"What about money? To get these items…" Her voice was hesitant. 

McGonagall quickly comes up with a lie so no more questions can be asked. "We have a fund for kids who cannot afford to get items—usually secondhand at times."

Ms. Lowry goes into a half smile with a warm expression. "That's perfect… well, I guess I'll see you later, Cain. Behave, and be good," she says sternly. 

Cain grins slightly and nods. "Yes, I'll be good." 

McGonagall and Cain leave the orphanage in tow. Soon they get to a location where nobody can see the two of them. McGonagall then slightly smirks, her expression betraying her normal sternness. 

"Hold my hand, Cain, and whatever you do… don't let go." Looking at her, he takes her hand, wondering what is going to happen. 

Her expression doesn't change from the slight smirk she has. "Try not to vomit." 

"Vomi—" Before he could say anything—or ask why she said that, the world vanished. 

WOOSH.

His body felt like it was squeezing, then tumbling around. It was like being sucked through a small hole. His lungs felt weird, and he felt nearly sick. Everything felt flattened—his ribs, his arms, his legs—from every direction.

It felt like being ripped apart then put back together—all within a second. He felt squeezed—then— 

WOOSH.

Landing onto the ground, Cain falls down, but he doesn't vomit. She looks down at him. 

McGonagall's voice is calm and composed. "That was Apparition. It's a very common form of magical travel. It takes getting used to." 

Getting up from the ground, he still feels very sick, but soon, his body calms down. 

"That felt like dying." 

She raises a brow. "You lived. Which is what matters—also, no lost limbs…"

Cain doesn't know if she's joking or not—and honestly, he doesn't want to know if she's joking about the lost limbs or not. 

Seeing his expression, her composed face turns into a slight grin as she gets ready to walk. 

"Yes, yes… lost limbs. Happens quite often." She scoffs lightly. "I suggest you never try to learn it until adulthood. You don't want your legs to be split off, do you?" She laughs lightly as she walks away from him. 

Cain looks at her with an expression of fear… mostly fear from Apparition. 

Soon enough, he gets up and dusts himself off. He catches up to her quickly. 

After catching up, he slows down his steps. They are in a narrow brick alley—it didn't look like much. McGonagall raises her wand, then taps on the old brick wall in a careful pattern. 

Click. Click. Pause. Tap.

With a low grind, the bricks begin to shift—folding inward, then rippling outward like water being parted.