"Ah… I have been waiting for you, Harry. I even started to wonder if you decided to give up on my school" Carlson greeted harry as he entered his office along with Jacklyn. It was obviously a lie, after all, Harry was his golden goose, so there was no way he would allow the boy to slip through his fingers.
Even though Carlson was acting like he knew nothing, he had been keeping tabs on Harry all this time. While Lucas Trent was one of the alumni, getting him to talk was a bit hard, but Carlson was nothing if not resourceful. He only needed to use some gold to get Lucas talking and Carlson wasn't asking for much.
Carlson only wanted to know the location of Harry's apartment and after that, keeping tabs on the boy wasn't very difficult. After all, Carlson didn't need to know everything, but he simply wanted to keep an eye on Harry so that he could make sure that the boy wasn't planning to leave.
"It simply took me a lot of time to make up my mind, Headmaster" Harry answered cryptically with a smile on his face and Carlson motioned them to take a seat.
"Of course. Of course… It was an important decision for you" Carlson said while nodding his head. Carlson pointed his Wand at one of the shelves and muttered a Spell under his breath. A file flew out of the shelf and Carlson plucked it out of the air before placing it on the table.
"I have already prepared everything for you, and now I simply need your signatures" Carlson said as he opened the file.
"Headmaster, nothing against you, but can we check the papers before signing anything?" Jacklyn requested and Carlson simply accepted her request with a smile.
Carlson knew that manipulating Jacklyn will be a bit hard as she is an extremely stubborn girl and she wouldn't give up her principles, but that is exactly why he choose Jacklyn. He wanted Harry to trust him and since Jacklyn wasn't one of his sycophants, Harry will start trusting her, so Harry probably wouldn't try to leave the country after graduating.
"Thank you, Headmaster" Both Harry and Jacklyn thanked him before the two of them finally started to look through the documents.
Carlson wasn't looking for short gains… If he tried something underhanded then he could have probably gained control over Harry, but it would have short-term. After all, Harry was bound to grow up someday and as soon as he turned seventeen, he would lose control over the boy. That is why Carlson decided to play the long game and slowly build up Harry's trust…
After nearly fifteen minutes, Harry and Jacklyn were finally done looking through the documents. "You sure you want to do this, right?" Harry asked Jacklyn, who simply rolled her eyes at him.
"How many times are you going to ask me that question?" Jacklyn huffed and grabbed the document from Harry's hand. Jacklyn grabbed the quill from Carlson's table and without wasting any more time, she signed the document.
"I was only making sure" Harry pointed out as Jacklyn returned the document to him so that Harry could also sign the document. After taking the quill from Jacklyn, Harry also signed the paper, and with that, Jacklyn became his legal guardian even though she was his guardian only in name.
Carlson clapped his hands, looking quite joyful. "Now that the most important issue is dealt with. Let's get on with the rest of the documents" Carlson explained cheerfully, only to receive a nod from both Harry and Jacklyn.
The rest of the documents the two of them needed to sign were Harry's admission papers. It didn't even take them five minutes to sign the rest of the documents and when they were finally done, Harry placed a pouch filled with 100 Galleons on the table for his tuition. Carlson nodded his head in satisfaction as he cast a diagnostic Charm on the pouch to count the gold inside the pouch.
Carlson levitated the pouch into one of the drawers before he started to check the rest of the documents. "Everything seems to be in order. Welcome to Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Harry" Carlson beamed as he extended his hand toward Harry.
Harry accepted the offered hand and shook his hands… Then Carlson finally turned toward Jacklyn. "Thank you, Miss Harper, for your assistance" Carlson said as he gave her a grateful nod.
"I didn't mind, Headmaster. I really wanted to help him out" Jacklyn said with a genuine smile on her face as she glanced toward Harry. "If that's all Headmaster, shall we leave?" Jacklyn asked curiously. Carlson told them to take care and dismiss them without making a fuss.
After leaving the Headmaster's office, Harry and Jacklyn decided to leave the school as they didn't have anything else to do and Harry apparently needed to buy his school robes. The two of them walked out of the Wards while chatting about the coursework. Jacklyn has long realized that unlike her, Harry was a bookworm. As soon as the two of them were out of the Wards, Jacklyn extended her hand toward Harry.
Harry grabbed her hand as he already knew what was going to happen and moments later, the two of them Disapparated with a loud crack. This was the second time Harry was experiencing Apparition and the experience didn't improve in the slightest, but this time, Harry was able to land on his feet even though he stumbled a bit.
"By the way, how did you get to the school? I mean I only realized now that you don't know how to Apparate" Jacklyn questioned curiously, looking somewhat embarrassed.
"I Flooed to the Jenkins and then I walked from there" Harry revealed and Jacklyn finally nodded her head in understanding. That made perfect sense, but she couldn't help but wonder how Harry knew about the Jabkins as she never took him to the village.
Since Ilvermorny was created with the image of Hogwarts in mind, they couldn't have skipped on Hogsmeade as the students needed something to enjoy themselves. Jenkins Bard is one of the pubs in their version of Hogsmeade, which has been named Ingress. The village wasn't huge or anything, but it was still big enough for the students to look around and enjoy themselves during the weekends.
Alas, first years and second years weren't allowed to visit Ingress during the weekends, only the third years and the higher were allowed to visit Ingress during the weekends while the school was in session. Harry noticed the questioning look on Jacklyn's face and decided to clarify.
"Lucas Trent, my agent showed me the village" Harry explained and realization finally dawned on Jacklyn's face as she nodded her head in understanding.
"Okay… so, do you need anything else besides the uniform?" Jacklyn asked and Harry shook his head in denial, so Jacklyn simply started to lead him toward the clothes store.
It only took Harry somewhere around an hour to get two Ilvermorny robes for himself. Somehow the seamstress who was taking his measurements wasn't able to recognize him and Harry was extremely grateful for that. Maybe it has to do something with the fact that he no longer wore the round glasses or the fact that his famous scar was barely visible.
Just after he ran away from the Dursleys, for whatever reason his scar started to fade and after three years, now it was barely visible. According to his mom, there was a small piece of Voldemort stuck in his scar and she was only able to reach out to him after she got rid of it. Well, anyway, after paying for the robes, Jacklyn decided to drag Harry to the ice cream parlor on the Muggle side.
"By the way, how are students supposed to reach the school? I mean do we Floo to Ingress or something?" Harry asked curiously as he finished his ice cream.
"You don't eat an ice cream, you fool. You need to enjoy it like this" Jacklyn said as she licked the ice cream cone to show Harry how to enjoy an ice cream, only to receive a blank look from Harry. Jacklyn released a tired sigh… "Is this the first time you are trying out an ice cream?" Jacklyn asked and once again she received a blank look from Harry.
"This isn't the first time I tried out an ice cream. I enjoy them too and that is why I finish them quickly. I don't want it to start melting" Harry explained with a deadpan and Jacklyn had to admit, Harry's argument made sense. Jacklyn started to wonder if she has been doing it the wrong way all this time… "By the way, you didn't answer the question" Harry pointed out, breaking Jacklyn out of her philosophical musings.
"You know, you need to relax a bit… Take it easy. You are only eleven for god's sake!" Jacklyn whined only to receive a shrug from Harry. Jacklyn finally sighed as she decided to answer the question. "Wait at the entrance of the Alley of Druids and a bus will come to pick you up exactly at noon. Unlike Hogwarts, we don't have a train. Instead, we have buses" Jacklyn answered and Harry nodded his head in understanding.
I hope their buses aren't anything like the Knight Bus| Lily warned Harry, who felt a chill run down his spine. He has experienced the Knight Bus only once and he decided to call it quits… Harry is never going to forget that experience… ever…