For Whom the Bell Tolls

Chapter Two

It turns out Schwartz's was less of a restaurant, and more of a maze. It was placed in a building which reminded Javier of the Parthenon in Athens. Upon entering, they were greeted by man in green robes wearing the most ridiculous cat mask Javier had ever seen. It covered only the top part of his face, and did nothing to hide his identity. So Javier was surprised when his father reached into a bin and pulled out several masks.

"Father, surely you can't be serious about this?" Javier asked, "We'll look ridiculous!"

His father, ignoring him, placed a mask of fox on his face. Javier blinked. His father had disappeared! In his place was a man he had never seen before. A voice which was not his father's spoke out of the mouth that was not his father's. "We will indeed look ridiculous. But we will also not be recognized. Boys, place these masks on," he said, giving Javier and John masks. Looking down, he saw that his was a dragon, while John's was a unicorn. After placing his mask on he looked around and realized that he couldn't recognize anyone present. He knew however that his mother was the female phoenix, and Lucius Malfoy must be the male phoenix.

"Very well, Sir Fox, shall we find our table?" the male phoenix asked. Following the phoenix was all that Javier could do. The entire building seemed to consist of wooden lattice walls with holes too small to peek through. It seemed they were passing completely empty tables, which were surrounded by more latticed walls, but when Javier tried to approach the entrance, the walls would close on him, barely giving him time to retract his fingers. Smirking, the male phoenix said, "It is rude to intrude on other people's property. Did you think you could just walk to any table? That was very presumptuous of you."

Still startled by the walls closing on his hand, Javier could do nothing but stare and continue walking. Finally he asked, "Which is our table then?"

"The one at the end of the hall." And as he said this, the wall ahead of them opened to allow them entrance into a comfortable and cozy room. It had no chairs or table per se, but was a platform of wood surrounded by cushions. On the platform, was the most luxurious meal that Javier had ever laid eyes upon. Cheeses alone made up an entire quarter of it. There were drinks aplenty, wines, whiskeys, and some other liqueurs that Javier did not recognize. As soon as they sat down, the adults turned to each other and began speaking in what Javier recognized as Russian.

"Figures," said John, interrupting Javier's efforts to remember his sparse Russian, "We meet, we're friends. They meet, they're enemies. And they don't want us to know what they're talking about. At least we have a meal in front of us. Hungry?" John reached for a leg of lamb but Javier stopped him.

"What about grace?" asked Javier.

"Grace?" John looked puzzled. "What does elegance have to do with eating? Besides using napkins that is."

Javier was taken aback. Did they not have prayers in the magical world? "No, grace as in praying before you eat."

"Why would you pray before you eat?" John looked at Javier like he was crazy. "And for what, that the food isn't poisoned?"

Javier was flabbergasted that the magical world didn't pray. "Don't you believe in a higher power? Don't wizards have some sort of gods?"

John gave Javier what seemed to be a sympathetic look. "Why would we believe in a power that can do anything when we ourselves can do anything? And besides, most of those 'beings' that you call gods, are either very powerful wizards with over-inflated egos, or magical creatures like balors or archons."

Javier's jaw dropped. "You mean to say that for eleven years all those gods I've been praying to, like Zeus and Athena, have been dead for thousands of years?"

"Javier, you have to understand that wizards think that they are better than muggles. Well, they are, but some took it to the extreme and proclaimed themselves gods. No one can do that now, what with the secrecy laws and all, and anyways, if someone did try it, he'd be hunted down and killed. That's hardly what anyone wants, so why would they try it?"

Javier was quite shocked at all that he had just heard, and took a few minutes to think about it. The only sounds were food disappearing and the heated discussion in Russian across the table. "So John, if there are no gods, who created the world?"

John turned with a corn dog in his mouth, giving Javier a raised eyebrow. Swallowing, he said, "If we took time to ponder those types of questions, we'd be as backwards as the muggles! Besides, I'm hungry, and all this talk isn't giving me time to eat." So for the rest of the meal they ate in relative silence, breaking the drone of Russian from across the table only once in awhile to answer Javier's questions about quidditch and Hogwarts.

"There are seven positions on a quidditch team. There are three chasers, who are the goal scoring members of the team. They take the ball called the quaffle and try to put it through one of three hoops at their enemies' side of the pitch. The keeper is the player who 'keeps' the quaffle from getting into the hoops. There are two other balls, called the bludgers, that are charmed to try and hit the closest player. For that, each team has two beaters. They keep the bludgers from hitting their team, and try to make them hit the other team. The last ball is the snitch. Its charmed to fly around and avoid notice. The game doesn't end until the snitch is caught. That's what the seeker's for. Get it now?"

"Well, there are four houses at Hogwarts, and each house has qualities which it admires in its students. Slytherin admires cunning and ambition. Gryffindor admires bravery and honor. Hufflepuff admires loyalty and perseverance. And lastly, Ravenclaw admires intelligence and wit."

Finally, as the meal ended, the adults returned the conversation to English. The fox, Victor Lizardi, said, "Indeed it would appear we are at an impasse then. Let the boys decide it." Looking up from their own conversation, the boys were very attentive.

The female phoenix, Isabel Lizardi, said, "Boys, Mr. Phoenix here is Mr. Unicorn's lawful guardian. Since it seems that Mr. Unicorn has gotten along with Mr. Dragon, and does not wish to prolong his stay with Mr. Phoenix, it was offered that Mr. Unicorn stay with Mr. Dragon for the rest of the summer. As we cannot come to an agreement, the decision has fallen to Mr. Unicorn and Mr. Dragon."

Javier, a bit confused at the lack of proper names, and seeing that John was equally puzzled, asked, "Why don't you just call us -" but he was cut off by his father, the fox, who said, "Privacy here is not guaranteed. It would be better not to say names than to allow the wrong people to hear the wrong things."

Javier, suitably chastened, replied, "Oh."

John, who remembered the matter at hand, replied, "Alrighty then. I, Mr. Unicorn, choose to stay the summer with Mr. Dragon. No offence, Mr. Phoenix, but I find my sympathies lie more with those who will let me earn my position than with those who would give me it." Javier seemed to be the only one who did not understand this explanation. All the others just nodded, Mr. Phoenix/Malfoy with perhaps a bit more formality than necessary. Javier tried to read him, but his face was completely emotionless. As he did not want to appear silly in front of his parents, he did not ask for an explanation of John's explanation.

After leaving Schwartz's, and taking off the masks, they went their separate ways, not even bothering to bid Mr. Malfoy farewell. Apparently the hostilities ran very deep. And so for the rest of the summer Javier and John enjoyed their last days of freedom and Javier saw his house begin to become more and more magical.

The first magical addition to the house was house elves. Though in truth, they had always been there, but were now allowed to be seen by Javier. From reading books, Javier had always though that elves were taller, and so they always brought a smile to his face when he saw them, which wasn't often, as they still seemed to be as invisible as they were before.

Later, the magical parts of the house, like the attic and the south wing, appeared. The attic had always been there, but there was merely no entrance that Javier had found. Now, he was free to explore it and found many interesting things like his parents' old brooms and many moving portraits of his ancestors. The portraits were later moved into their old places along the hallways of the manor. There was also a moving portrait of dogs playing poker, but Javier insisted that one should go in his room. The south wing was another story altogether. It had been on lease to the Ministry of Magic for the past few years, and was now returned. To Javier and John's delight, they found it housed a veritable zoo of magical animals.

As September First approached, Mr. and Mrs. Lizardi told the boys to pick a winged animal out of the zoo so they could keep in touch. Javier at once picked a young phoenix which had taken a liking to him. John at first refused, saying he did not want to owe them anything and would buy his own owl when they returned to London. Mr. Lizardi then told him to consider it a permanent loan, and that the only condition was that he would have to return it when asked. Javier thought this was a good way to let John keep the pet without owing them, as his father wouldn't ask for it back. John brightened visibly at this and went into the zoo to find his winged pet. He came back a few minutes later with a couatl, a snake-like creature which has rainbow colored wings and a bird-like head.

The day to leave for Hogwarts finally arrived and the boys had their trunks packed and robes on. A house elf was brought to carry Javier and John's trunks, but John wouldn't let anyone carry his. So Mr. Lizardi shrunk both their trunks to the size of a matchbox and told them to carry their own heavy bags if that is what they wanted. Javier, ever amazed at the things magic could do, picked up his trunk and placed it in his pocket.

As the train was to leave in Kings Cross Station in London, Javier was hoping that they would apparate again. Mrs. Lizardi said yes, but only to the portkey station in Salamanca. "It is not wise to use so much magic as is necessary to get to London by apparating," she said. When they arrived they were on the outskirts of the town, by what Javier recognized as the Roman Bridge from his last time here. There was an old statue of a bear on a pedestal by the bridge and it took him a few seconds to realize that they were headed towards it. As they passed through the wall Javier saw a lighted staircase descending in front of him. He was now in a cramped office where a an old man lay sleeping on his desk, drool moistening the papers that served as his pillows.

"Ahem," coughed Mr. Lizardi, trying to get the man's attention. His ear flicked, but nothing happened.

"Maybe he's dead," offered Javier, silently hoping it was true, and then they would have to apparate. Then, as if to prove him wrong, the man began to snore.

"I know a spell that might do the trick," John said quietly, as if only wanting Javier to hear. He pointed at the man with his wand and said, "Enneverate!" The man yawned but remained asleep. John looked puzzled. "It should have worked. Oh well, why don't we just grab the portkey over there in the cabinet labeled London?"

Frowning, and ignoring John, Mr. Lizardi pointed his wand at the man and said, "Communico Muerte!"

All of a sudden, the man began to babble in Spanish. "Madman...London...wanted one to Kings Cross..." this elicited a gasp from Javier, but the others remained silent. "Couldn't be trusted...too old to be a ministry guy, too young to be a ministry guy...Infierno Curse...done too well, too much experience..."

"Finite Incantatem," whispered Mr. Lizardi. "I know what has been done to him. We will do as John suggests. But the portkey isn't in the cabinet, it is the cabinet. Everyone grab a hold of me and I will touch it." Everyone did, and as his father touched it Javier felt something like a hook grab him behind the stomach. He felt the experience of moving without moving. It was dizzying.

Finally, he felt solid ground beneath his feet again. Turning to his father, he wanted to ask what was wrong with the man. With a glare that could freeze the Sahara, his father told him, "In no uncertain terms are you ever to mention that incident. It simply did not happen." Confused, but glad to have that glare gone, Javier decided to do as his father said. Taking a look around, He realized he was in train station. His father told Javier and John to take out their trunks so he could return them to normal size. Having done that, he bid them goodbye, saying he had business to catch up on after such a long absence. His mother gave them each a kiss on the cheek and told them to write often, saying she didn't want to get worried. His parents then disapparated.

There was a scarlet train on the tracks, already sending off plumes of black smoke, which had 'Hogwarts' written on the side. "Well, it looks like we better find a compartment," said John. It'll be filling up soon." They dragged their trunks onto the train, and as it was still early, they found many empty compartments. "This one's as good as the next. As I'm tired, this is the one we're taking." Shrugging his shoulders, Javier followed John inside, where they started talking about the houses and which was the best.

As the door was open, some snippets of conversation came through. Javier managed to ignore them, telling himself he'd get up to close it eventually. Then he heard something which caught his attention completely. A male voice was saying, "...and your skin is like the purest pearls found at the depths of the ocean." There are no pearls in the depths of the ocean, thought Javier. "Your eyes, they show me a stormy sea which I can only drown in."

"Uh...umm..." a female voice said, "I, uh, need to speak with my cousin. If you'll excuse me." At that point a girl walked into the compartment. It wasn't that Javier hadn't seen a girl before, but there was something about this girl which was...different.

"Y'know, there is a third person in here, and if you two would stop staring at each other like you'd been pole axed, perhaps we might get around to having a conversation?"

Javier shook his head, returning from the paradise he had been in. "Where are my manners, I've forgotten to introduce myself. I am Javier Lizardi, and this here is my friend John Jordan."

"Jordan?" The girl seemed exited, "you mean the son of the famous -"

"Yes," John cut her off. "And don't mention my father again."

"Sorry," the girl said, apparently genuine, "I didn't know. I didn't mean to offend you or anything. My name is Avintria Tisep."

"Avintria," Javier mused, "such a pretty name."

"Thanks," she replied, blushing. Now it was Javier's turn to blush. He didn't realize he had said that out loud! "Your name is pretty too." John coughed and they both turned to look at him.

"Nothing, I just had something in my throat." John had the strangest smirk on his face, as if he knew what Javier was thinking. "So, Avintria, where are you from?"

"A town called Annan in the south of Scotland," she replied. And for the rest of the ride to Hogwarts, they talked about where they came from and where they had been. Javier of course had the most to share, as his parents had taken him all over the world.

It seemed almost no time at all had passed when they arrived at the station in Hogsmeade. Avintria left so they could all change into their robes and when she returned, Javier felt like he was ready for any challenge or surprise Hogwarts would throw at him.