I hope to create an entire Series based on this.
This is Book 1 of hopefully a Four book Series.
This will be possible if you like the book and support it.
If by the time we reach 50 chapters, we reach the top 20 in various rankings, then I will confirm the Second book.
Hope you all like this. Do support.
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When Edmund emerged, coughing, in the cold hearth of the manor's entrance hall, Perseus was waiting for him on the mantelpiece. She hooted once, a sound that might have been approval or might have been impatience.
"I know," he said, brushing soot from his robes. "I was gone too long."
He climbed the stairs to his room, the book Galatea had given him tucked under his arm. *The Old Ways: A Guide to Britain's Magical Places* was slim, but its pages were dense with information—descriptions of standing stones, of ancient barrows, of places where the veil between worlds was thin.
He opened it to the first chapter, reading by candlelight as the wind picked up outside and the first snow of the season began to fall.
---
**The Education of a Nation – Progress Update**
*Research completed: 79%*
*Interview with Professor Galatea Merrythought: Complete*
*New information acquired: The Book of Admittance is not infallible. Magical children are regularly overlooked. The Ministry does nothing.*
*Remaining tasks:*
*- Identify the legal framework governing compulsory magical education (if any)*
*- Determine whether any alternative educational institutions exist within Britain*
*Reward: Unlock Skill Tree: Educational Theory; +100 XP*
---
Edmund closed the book and stared at the interface. He was close now—close to understanding the system, to completing the task, to unlocking whatever came next.
He thought of the children the Book had missed. The quiet ones, the late bloomers, the ones whose magic was too subtle to be noticed. He thought of Augustus, sent away to Wales. He thought of the cousin who had been sent to Beauxbatons, who had thrived in a school that welcomed her when Hogwarts would not.
He thought of the school he was meant to build. A school that would not miss them.
He picked up his quill and began to write. There were more questions to ask, more letters to send. The legal framework of magical education—was there even such a thing? Did the Ministry require children to be educated, or was it all left to Hogwarts and the families themselves? And what of alternative institutions? Galatea had mentioned Beauxbatons, but what about schools within Britain? Smaller ones, hidden ones, places that operated in the shadows of Hogwarts?
He would find out. One question at a time, one letter at a time, one step at a time.
Outside, the snow fell thicker, blanketing the thistle garden in white. Perseus settled onto her perch, her eyes half-closed, and the manor settled into its familiar silence.
Edmund wrote on.
---
The weeks that followed were filled with research.
Edmund wrote to the Ministry's Department of Magical Education, posing as a curious student researching a history project. The response came three weeks later, written in dry, bureaucratic language that told him nothing. *The education of magical children in Britain is governed by the Hogwarts Charter of 993, as amended. No compulsory attendance laws are currently in effect. Parents may choose to educate their children at home or send them abroad, provided the institution is recognized by the International Confederation of Wizards.*
He wrote to Beauxbatons Academy, asking about their admission policies. The response was warmer, written in elegant French-accented English. *Beauxbatons welcomes students from all magical families, regardless of blood status. Our admission process is based on magical potential, not lineage. We do not use a magical book to determine worthiness.*
He wrote to Durmstrang Institute, but received no reply.
He wrote to the Greengrass family, whose name he had seen in his mother's correspondence. To his surprise, a response came within a week—a short, formal letter from a Mr. Septimus Greengrass, expressing interest in the Prince heir and offering to meet at the Greengrass manor during the summer.
Edmund added the letter to his journal. Another thread to pull.
---
**System Notification: Research Milestone**
*Legal framework identified: Hogwarts Charter of 993. No compulsory attendance. Home education and foreign institutions permitted.*
*Alternative institutions identified: Beauxbatons Academy (France), Durmstrang Institute (Scandinavia), various small family schools (unregulated).*
*Task: Identify at least three alternative educational institutions within Britain – 0/3*
He frowned. Within Britain. That was the problem, wasn't it? There were no alternatives within Britain. Hogwarts was the only game in town.
Unless you counted the families who taught their children at home. Unless you counted the secret schools that operated in the shadows, the ones the Ministry pretended didn't exist.
He added a new line to his journal: *Find the hidden schools.*
---
The summer passed more quickly than Edmund expected.
He practiced his spells in the garden until the thistles grew back and he had to clear them again. He read every book in the Prince library, then read them again, taking more detailed notes. He corresponded with Arthur, with Galatea (who had taken to sending him long letters filled with historical anecdotes and sharp commentary on the Ministry's failings), and with the Greengrass family, who had agreed to a visit in August.
He also practiced his healing. The Prince family ring, which he had found in his grandfather's desk, pulsed with warmth when he focused on small injuries—a cut from the garden shears, a bruise from falling off the garden wall. He couldn't heal anything serious, not yet, but he could feel the magic building, growing, waiting.
The system tracked his progress.
**End of Summer – Progress Report**
**Level:** 2
**XP:** 128 / 250
**Skill Progress:**
Charms: Novice (24%)
Transfiguration: Novice (14%)
Potions: Novice (18%)
Warding: Locked (requires study)
**Research Progress:**
Book of Admittance: 85%
Legal framework: 100%
Alternative institutions (Britain): 0/3
---
The morning of September first dawned grey and damp, the kind of Scottish morning that seemed to exist in a perpetual state of indecision between rain and mist. Edmund had been awake since before sunrise, lying in his bed and watching the light creep across the ceiling, his stomach a tight knot of nerves and anticipation.
His trunk had been packed for three days. His wand was in his pocket, where it had lived since the day he bought it. Perseus was in her cage, clicking her beak impatiently, as if she knew something important was about to happen and wanted it to happen already.
Mrs. Larch arrived at eight o'clock, as she always did, but today she was wearing her good robes and had brought a small parcel of sandwiches for the journey. She looked at him standing in the entrance hall, trunk at his feet, owl in his hand, and something flickered across her face—something that might have been pride or might have been sadness.
"You look like your father," she said abruptly. "When he left for Hogwarts. Same expression."
Edmund didn't know what to say to that. He barely remembered his father—the boy whose body he now inhabited had been only seven when the man died, and the memories were vague and distant. But he nodded, because it seemed like what was expected.
"The carriage will be here soon," Mrs. Larch said. "Mr. Thornbury arranged it. He'll meet you at King's Cross."
Edmund nodded again. The solicitor, Elias Thornbury, had been handling the Prince family affairs since his father's death. He was the one who had arranged Edmund's school supplies, who managed the Gringotts vault, who signed the forms that allowed a ten-year-old to travel alone. Edmund had met him twice—once at the manor, a brief, formal visit, and once at Gringotts, where Thornbury had watched him withdraw gold with the same expression he might have worn watching a child handle explosives.
The carriage arrived at half past eight. It was not a magical carriage—just a plain black cab pulled by a tired horse, driven by a Muggle who seemed confused about why he had been hired to collect a boy from a manor that, according to his map, shouldn't exist. Edmund climbed in with his trunk and his owl and watched the Prince manor shrink behind him until it was swallowed by the morning mist.
---
**System Notification: New Objective**
**The Hogwarts Express**
*You have reached an important milestone. Your journey to Hogwarts begins here.*
*Reward for reaching Hogwarts Castle: +50 XP*
Edmund dismissed the notification and watched the countryside slide past the carriage window.
He was on his way.
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