Hogwarts Mystery: Kenneth Russell & The Mysterious Room

Chapter 1: The Letter

Mrs. Russell stepped out of the front door of her modest sized home to breath in the warm summer breeze. It had been awhile since she felt the warmth and tranquility over the recent events that took place in her's and her family's lives. It had been a year since her eldest son ran away from home and hadn't been heard of since. It was also nearly three years since Lord Voldemort disappeared leaving behind a poor orphan boy.

Harry Potter, she thought sadly. We hope you're doing fine. She then added with more sadness, Where are you, Jake? It's been four years now.

Suddenly, a small figure flying towards Mrs. Russell brought her back from her thoughts. An owl had arrived. A beautiful barn owl landed and perched itself on top of a flower pot that was nearest to the door. An enveloped letter in its beak.

"Is that −?"she asked, approaching the bird. Taking it from the bird and stroking its cheek as a thank you, it flew off. Turning the envelope over to look at whom it was addressed to, she smiles.

"Kenneth!" called Mrs. Russell from the front door towards the staircase that to the upstairs bedrooms.

"Brownie!" she called. A house-elf had apparated to the front door. She had large tennis ball sized eyes of icy blue, olive skin, pointed bat-like ears and a long, thin pointed nose like a pencil. Unlike many house-elves that served wizarding families, she wore a children's size t-shirt and trousers. She chose to serve the Russell family out of gratitude.

"Brownie at your service," she said in a high squeaky voice, bowing.

"Could you prepare breakfast for Kenneth, please?" asked Mrs. Russell.

The house-elf bowed again, "At once, Saria!" and with that, she apparated towards the kitchen. Brownie was the only house-elf that called every member of the family by name instead of 'master' or"mistress'. The entire family was really fond of her.

"Kenneth!" yelled Mrs. Russell a second time.

"What?" replied Kenneth half-asleep. He began falling asleep until he heard mumbling. "What? Say again!" He was now a quarter-awake.

"I said you have a letter from Hogwarts." Mrs. Russell said with atone of pride in her voice.

With the excitement of a Golden Snitch being caught by the Seeker, Kenneth jumped out of bed and bolted down the stairs. He couldn't contain his excitement. Kenneth had turned 11 years old in mid-January but his letter from Hogwarts didn't arrive. He was either checking the letters on the doormat inside the house or looking out the window of his bedroom every morning to see if an owl would fly by with a letter in its beak. He was starting to lose hope because he had been checking for almost five months.

"Easy, now!" laughed Mrs. Russell as Kenneth ran right into her midsection.

She was a handsome witch with dark brown almost ebony skin that glowed with radiance, high cheekbones, thick lips, a well toned build and bright yellow eyes like a hawk. She had thick dark brown almost black dreadlocks that were adorned with rings. Her hair would lighten in hue when exposed to sunlight after a short amount of time. All that made her look like a mythical elf and people would look at her with awe.

She was wearing a thick red bathrobe, slippers and her long hair was tied up in a single knot. She was trying her best not to fall over from how hard Kenneth ran into her.

"Where is it? Where is it?!" Kenneth said with excitement.

"Merlin's beard, Saria!" came a deep voice coming from the kitchen that belonged to Mr. Russell. "Give him his letter before he wets himself with excitement."

"Dad!" blushed Kenneth.

"All right, John" replied Mrs. Russell.

"Kenneth," called Mr. Russell, "open the letter in the kitchen where your mother and I can both hear you read it."