Foreshadowing the Past

Chapter 14

Three things cannot long be hidden the sun, the moon, and the truth. - Confucius

Zack threw down his pinch of Floo powder and shouted out the words that he had heard Connor shout only moments before, "Potter Headquarters, Warwickshire!" He began to spin and screwed his eyes up tight and held his breath as he turned faster and faster, feeling the hot ash whirling around him. It seemed an age until he felt himself slowing, and flailed wildly for a moment as he came to a jarring stop and stumbled over his trunk, only to be caught and steadied by strong hands. He could feel a soft brush attacking his clothes, and a lot of shouting before he opened his eyes to see Mr. Potter grinning at him while Mrs. Potter was wielding a soft brush to rid his cloak of excess soot. Connor stood a few feet away, grinning at him as his younger brothers and sister clamored for his attention.

"Welcome to Potter Headquarters!" Connor said happily.

The kids that had been clamoring for Connor's attention now turned to Zack and appraised him for a moment. They took in his straight dark brown hair and hazel eyes and surmised that this was not a new family member to be met, and then the only girl in the lot stepped forward and said, "I'm Lucy and I'm nine. That's Ian, my twin, but I'm older by seven and a half minutes. The little one there is Adam and he's five."

Zack smiled as she made the introductions solemnly. Lucy looked like a miniature female version of Connor, only with brown eyes, but he was reminded of their cousin Rachel in mannerisms. Ian had the trademark red Weasley hair (also with brown eyes), and a mischievous smile that Zack had seen more than once on many of the Weasley kids at school. Five year old Adam also had red hair, and a sprinkling of freckles across his nose, but the eyes that looked back at Zack were a sparkling green as he stepped forward and shoved a custard colored ball of fur into the new visitor's hands.

The youngest Potter then took a deep breath and said, "This is Pit-Pat and he's a Puffskein and he likes to hum and he eats bogies and moths and he was a present from my Uncle George when I turned five and I love him!"

Zack what holding the warm little creature carefully, and was about to make a polite comment about the little boy's pet, but didn't get a chance. It seemed that the pause in Adam's speech was only so that he could draw another long breath of air before launching into speech again. "Lucy said that Muggles don't have pets like Pit-Pat and that they only have cats and dogs for pets and that they only live for about half as long as Wizarding cats and dogs do. We have a cat named Quigley and another Puffskein named Sweetie and they don't like each other very much. One time Quigley tried to eat Sweetie and Dan and Mum had to chase Quigley all over the house and Dad kept saying, 'will someone catch that damned cat?' and them Mum yelled at Dad for swearing and then..."

Zack was just thinking to himself, 'Where's the off switch on this kid?' when Mrs. Potter stepped forward and simply clamped a hand over the boy's mouth.

"Welcome, Zack," she said warmly. "I'll let you decide if you'd like to share a room with Connor, or if you'd like to stay in the guest room."

Behind her, Zack could see Connor gesturing frantically, mouthing the words, "My room! My room!"

"I'll share with Connor," he said firmly.

Connor's dad smirked at his sons' antics, ruffling Adam's hair as he hefted Zack's trunk over to the stairs and set it down. "Everyone who's going to work with me needs to get their cloaks on!" he called, chuckling as the twins and Adam scrambled toward the back of the house. He began levitating the two trunks up the stairs with his wand while his youngest children prepared to leave.

"Your dad is taking the kids today so that you can show Zack around and get settled in without them underfoot." Mrs. Potter said to Connor.

"Cool," Connor grinned. "Come on Zack, I'll show you my room!"

Zack was only partially listening, though, because once the other kids had left the room, he had finally gotten a chance to take in his surroundings, and was looking around with his mouth hanging open. There were pictures of people all over the walls, most of which were obviously family photos, and most of which were of the Wizarding variety wherein the subjects of the photos moved occasionally. None of the furniture seemed to match, and had obviously been chosen for comfort and durability over style, with lots of brightly colored pillows and throws scattered over the chairs and couches. There was no television, and so all of the furniture faced the center of the room, where there was a large low table scattered with books, magazines and toys as the focus of the room. There were broomsticks in various stages of completion hovering of their own accord in glass fronted cases along one wall, and bits and scraps of parchment tacked to the walls here and there with drawings, scribbles and notes about broom designs and manufacturing. The large windows to the outside showed a panoramic view of countryside as for as the eye could see, giving the impression that this house was situated at the top of a gentle hill.

"Zack! Come on!" Connor called from the bottom of the stairs.

Zack reluctantly tore his eyes from a set of knitting needles working some blue wool into a jumper, and followed his friend up two flights of stairs and down a hallway. "You definitely didn't want to be in the guest room," Connor was saying as they entered his room. "It's all flowery and has this creepy picture in there that our House Elf painted of my dad years and years ago."

Zack had barely had time to register the words "House Elf" when an extremely ugly bald child in an oversized purple jumper, denim jeans and orange and green mismatched socks came into the room and threw his arms around his friend.

"Master Connor! You is home!"

"Hi Dobby!" Connor greeted happily, "Miss me?"

"I did, Sir, yes!" came the enthusiastic reply.

"Dobby, this is my friend Zack. He's staying for the holidays." Connor said by way of introduction. "Zack, this is Dobby, the best House Elf in the whole world!"

"It's nice to meet you?" Zack ventured, holding out his hand uncertainly. He knew that Hogwarts had several House Elves in residence, but he'd never really looked very closely at them, and had never heard of them dressing the way this one did.

Dobby shook his hand eagerly, and said, "I is glad to meet you as well, Master Zack! I must be getting back to my baking now, sirs!" With a loud crack, he was gone, leaving Zack to stare open mouthed at he space where the Elf had only just been standing.

Connor didn't seem to think that there was anything odd in the interaction with the Elf, and so Zack simply shrugged it off and looked around. Connor had a typical boy's room, with posters of Quidditch and popular Wizarding bands adorning his walls.

"Is that your Mum?" Zack asked in amazement as he studied a poster for the Holyhead Harpies, who were wearing robes of dark green with a yellow talon on the chest. All of the players were women, and Ginny Potter's name was signed with a flourish under her photo.

"Yeah, that's her," Connor said with a grin. "She only played with them for two seasons."

"Why?"

"She got pregnant with me!" he said cheerfully. "She says it was a good trade-off. Come on, lets get changed and I'll show your around."

The boys changed out of their school uniforms and into warm winter clothes, and then went back downstairs as Connor kept up a running commentary on the rooms they passed. "That door goes up to the attic. That's Ian's room, and that one's Lucy's... she booby-traps her room, so don't ever go in with out knocking. Adam's room is down here next to the guest room, and at then end there is my parent's room." They reached the ground floor, and were back in the living area where they had come out of the Floo. "This is the family room," Connor continued. "And these cabinets are where my dad keeps all of his projects that he's always working on. We're not allowed to open them without permission. Through here is the kitchen."

They stepped into a large, homey room with another large fireplace, a huge stove where a pot was stirring itself, and lots of pots and pans hanging from racks on the ceiling. The smell of baking bread was making Zack's mouth water, and he was grateful when Connor walked straight to a tin and produced several chocolate chip biscuits for them to eat on the rest of the tour. "Kitchen table's there, where we usually eat," Connor gestured to a table that could easily seat eight. "And that door there goes down to the basement, where my dad's office and workshop are. That door just goes outside." They walked down a hallway with several doorways leading off of it, and Zack began to wonder just how big this house was. There seemed to be three bedrooms and a bath on each of the two top floors, and the ground floor seemed to sprawl in all directions. He got a glimpse of each room as they passed, if the door was open, but Connor didn't stop especially long at any of them. "That door there is Dobby's room, and over through that one is the dining room, for when important company or lots of family comes for meals. Bathroom. This one is my Mum's quiet room; it's got a sound muffling charm on it, and she comes here to get away from the rest of us and read or whatever. Over here is the parlor." Connor drew out the last word for an extra syllable in a haughty tone. "We're not allowed in here unless we have death wish. It's only for very important occasions and receiving very important guests." It was obvious from Connor's tone what he thought of the importance of anyone who might visit, and Zack grinned.

"Come on, let's go outside so I can show you the school and stuff," Connor urged, heading for the door straight ahead.

"I left my cloak upstairs," Zack said, eyeing the bare trees outside of the frosted windows.

"Oh don't worry, there's always plenty of extras lying around," Connor said, swinging open a closet door and rummaging around. He produced two cloaks around the right size for them and then threw open the door and went outside.

Zack hurried out after him, still fastening the borrowed cloak, and looked around to see the outside of the house. He laughed in astonishment to see that from the outside, the Potter's home looked to be a small cottage-style home with only two floors. He turned to see Connor heading toward a small building that resembled a barn, but with windows, and followed him.

"This is where I went to school before Hogwarts," Connor said, pulling the door in the side open and walking in. "Mum and Aunt Susan run it now, and most of the students are Potters or Weasleys, though there are couple of other Wizarding families that send their kids. The room in front of them was like a one-room classroom, decorated not unlike many of the Muggle schoolrooms that Zack had been in, except for the large fireplace against the back wall. The sign above read: 'Stand back away from the fire, and remember to speak clearly!' He supposed this was how the students arrived and departed from the school each day of classes. A quick count told him that there was twenty desks of varying size lined up neatly, and faced a larger desk at the front of the room.

"Uncle Percy!" Connor said. "What are you doing here?"

A tall man with thinning red hair and square framed glasses turned from where he had been crouched in front of a low bookcase. "Hello, Connor! I thought you lot weren't due to get home until after lunch."

"I got through earlier," Connor said. "This is my friend Zack Ellis. He's staying for Christmas!"

"It's nice to meet you Zack. Are you related to the Edinburgh Ellis family?" Percy asked kindly.

"No sir," he said. "I'm Muggleborn."

"I see," Percy said. "Well that doesn't mean you might not be related somewhere down the line." He picked up a box from the floor and set it on a nearby countertop. "I'm just collecting these books for Susan. She wants to go through them before the next term starts and make sure that nothing needs repairing. How is school going?"

"Not bad," Connor said.

"Anymore trouble with that Tillman boy?" he asked with concern. Nothing family related ever stayed a secret for long among the Potter and Weasley families.

"No," Connor said thoughtfully, "We called a truce. I actually tried to convince him to come home with me for the holiday as well. He got a letter from his Mum just before end of term, telling him to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas. His dad is in St. Mungo's I guess."

"Yes, he is," Percy nodded sympathetically. "Poor man. I suppose Mrs. Tillman didn't want her son to see his father in that condition. The Closed Ward is no place for children to be visiting, in my opinion. Still, it's better than visiting him in Azkaban."

"Azkaban?" Connor asked in astonishment, "Why? What did he do, Uncle Percy?"

Percy sighed and motioned for the boys to sit as he, too, took a seat. "Kenneth Tillman is... not mentally stable," he began in a serious tone. "He got word this past summer that his mother's ghost was spotted in a restricted area of the Ministry of Magic where she used to work. His mother disappeared about twenty years ago, and was rumored to be a supporter of You-Know-Who, but her son has always maintained her innocence. He claimed that something terrible must have happened to her, and that Death Eaters must have abducted her, but the Ministry's investigation found that one of the Death Eaters that they caught on the night that Samantha Tillman disappeared confirmed that she was indeed an associate of his. She was never seen again after that night. She had been working that night, and since there was no sign of forced entry other than some stunned guards, it was believed that she had helped them gain entrance and led the Death Eaters to the place within the Ministry that they were looking for."

"What does that have to do with Andrew's dad being in St. Mungo's?" Connor asked quietly. It wasn't like his Uncle Percy to be so talkative about such things.

"Kenneth Tillman was a Seventh Year student when his mother disappeared. He was two years younger than me, and I vaguely remember him. I worked at the Ministry at that time, and was privy to some of the information from the investigation before Cornelius Fudge was unseated at Minister. He came very close to having a breakdown that year, poor boy, and wouldn't accept the evidence. Ever since then he's never given up trying to prove her innocence, and when he heard that her ghost had been spotted at the Ministry, well... he went there to try to see her for himself."

"But she was seen in a restricted area," Connor said, more to himself than to his Uncle.

Zack sat quietly, absorbing this new information, and tried to be as invisible as possible so that Connor's uncle would continue his tale.

"Yes," Percy said sadly. "He was caught in a highly restricted area, throwing items of a very sensitive nature around and screaming for his mother to make an appearance. He was arrested on the spot, and when the full story came out, he was sent to St. Mungo's. They kept hem there for a couple of months, and he began to show improvement, but he recently had a relapse and was caught sneaking around the same area he had been caught in before."

Both boys were silent at this bit of news. Andrew's poor behavior seemed to make a lot more sense now that they knew what he had been dealing with at home.

"I told you boys this, because I want you to understand that your classmate has a lot of things of a personal nature to deal with, and that it would be the decent thing to do to give him the space he needs. I wouldn't be surprised if he was a very troubled boy, indeed." Percy said quietly, sure that he had gotten his point across when they both nodded. "Right then!" his mood changed from solemn to jovial as he stood and levitated the box of books. "I was told that there was some cinnamon bread in the oven with my name on it once I finished here." He ushered the boys out of the schoolroom and headed for the house.

"C'mon" Connor said, gesturing for Zack to follow him. They walked around the side of the house, and toward the edge of the property to the base of an enormous tree, and Connor pointed out the ladder that hung down from the branches, and Zack followed him up until they were in a huge tree house that looked out over the garden of "Potter Headquarters" and it's surrounding land. The tree house had not been visible from the ground, even though the tree itself was bare of foliage for the winter, and Zack supposed it must have been charmed.

"This place is amazing!" Zack said.

"Yeah," Connor agreed. "I can't imagine living anyplace else. So.... That was quite a story from Uncle Percy, huh?"

"Yeah," Zack said. "It makes me feel guilty about how mean I've been to him."

"You haven't been that mean," Connor assured his friend. "You didn't know what his problem was, and he dished out as much as he got."

"I suppose," Zack agreed.

"I feel a bit guilty, too," Connor admitted after a moment's silence.

He showed Zack around the tree house and then suggested that they go have lunch, and they were just finishing thick slices of pie when the Floo roared to life and Lucy, Ian and Adam came in, all talking a mile a minute.

Zack was welcomed into the warm embrace of the Potter family so naturally, that he marveled that he had only been there for one day when he and Connor bid the rest of the family goodnight. His own parents tended to be much more formal, especially at mealtimes, and the clutter that was as much a part of the Potter home as the furniture would never have been tolerated at his own home. Zack was enjoying it very much, but found himself cringing a bit when various family members shouted up the stairs or into the basement to have simple conversations. Connor's dad seemed to notice his occasional apprehension and simply winked at him from his seat in the family room and said quietly, but with good humor, "You'll get used to us."

The boys found that one of Connor's parents had been in to add another bed to the room, making Connor's bed into a set of bunk beds, and that both of their trunks had been carefully unpacked, with Zack's clothing folded neatly into the expanded dresser. The two boys talked late into the night until Mrs. Potter poked her head into the room and threatened them with a silencing charm if they didn't quiet down. Zack finally settled down to sleep with a smile on his face, and the uncertainty that he had been carrying about whether would really want to live in the Wizarding world after Hogwarts had evaporated.