Out of the Books

Chapter 9 - Leo in trouble

Jack did not know how long he had been standing there, staring at the big unconscious black dog. After what seemed like an eternity, he mechanically crouched down next to the animal and slowly reached out a shaking hand to touch the shaggy head.

Finally, he drew his eyes away from Padfoot reluctantly and looked up to Mrs. Winter.

"Thank you for taking care of him," he croaked.

"This dog means a lot to you," she observed and nodded understandingly. "He will be fine," she assured him.

For some moments nobody said anything. Jack, Liz and Amy were still kneeling around Padfoot, while Leo had taken a seat on the edge of an arm chair right next to his family.

The ringing of the door bell sounded unnaturally loud in the silence and Mrs. Winter went to open the door for the vet.

The doctor wasted no time getting to his patient and only nodded briefly grunting his name, Dr. Abner, as Liz, Jack and Amy quickly stood up to let him through to Padfoot.

While he carefully pulled off the bandages, he asked Jack, "Are you the owner of the dog?"

Jack nodded absently and watched the vet do his work. When he saw the chest of his best friend's animal form, he sharply sucked air in. An area as large as his fist was totally charred. It was surrounded by a circle of ugly yellowish brown blisters, which went over into angrily red inflamed skin, still partly covered with patches of singed black fur.

"A Volcanis Curse," he muttered horrified. "Padfoot, who did this to you?" He had learned of this curse when he had once done a project on timed curses in his NEWT Defence against the Dark Arts. When it hit the victim, it only felt like a forcefull blow, but after a few minutes the touched skin would grow hotter and hotter and burn, finally spreading so far that it effected the whole body.

He barely noticed Liz touching his shoulder. "James, don't worry, it will not spread further, not here," she whispered. She, too, had recognized the curse.

The vet had obviously heard them, as he sharply turned his head. "Do you know anything about this injury?" he asked sternly. "Because I have never seen anything like that."

"No, I don't know," Jack answered. "We have found him like that." How could he inform the vet that he was dealing with a magical wound?

Dr. Abner nodded, obviously doubting the honesty of Jack's answer and returned to his work of disinfecting the wound and applying some kind of ointment on it before covering it with bandages again.

When he was done, he stood up and faced Jack. "That's all I can do for him right now. He will recover, but it will take time. You don't live in London, do you?"

Jack shook his head.

"Well then, Mr. ... er..."

"Pearson," said Jack.

"Well then, Mr. Pearson. It is safe for you to take the dog home with you now. I gave him something for the pain. I suggest you consult your local veterinarian as soon as you get home," the doctor said while he still eyed Jack and Liz suspiciously.

Jack nodded and turned to Mrs. Winter. "Mrs. Winter, I want to thank you for helping Padfoot. Could you please keep an eye on him for another hour, so that we could bring the children back to the youth hostel?"

"Of course, Mr. Pearson," she answered warmly. "If you still have things to do in London, it is much better for the dog to stay here than in a car."

"I'll take the children back to the youth hostel now. Why don't you do all the paper work with Dr. Abner now? Do you have enough money?"

Jack checked his wallet and nodded again. Mrs. Winter led him and the vet in her large kitchen while Liz and the children said good bye and left the flat.

"Mum, do we have to stay in London until tomorrow?" asked Amy when she, her mother and her brother were in the car on their way back to the youth hostel.

Liz glanced at her daughter through the back mirror. "Yes, we would rather go home with Dad and Padfoot," Leo piped up from the front seat next to his mother.

Liz drove on silently for some time, while she was thinking about the request of her children. "Hm," she said slowly after a while, "I will talk to Mr. Carpenter about it. As I see it, he is going to punish you for running away. I may suggest him that he sends you home with Dad."

Leo and Amy shared a look. Until now they had not thought about the consequences of their actions. They were quite lucky that their little trip had such a positive result for their parents so that they were hoping to receive no punishment from their side. But their class mates would surely not be happy with them for spoiling half a day of the trip. Taking that into account, additionally to being worried what happened to Padfoot now, going home with Jack would be no punishment at all.

Leo nodded enthusiastically. "Yes, that's a really good idea Mum. And you know," he added after some thought. "We could help to take care of Padfoot tomorrow when Dad has to go to school and you stay here in London for the European Cup. I mean, we can't leave the poor, injured dog home alone, can we?"

Amy smiled at her brother. She had a feeling that their Mum would do everything now to convince Mr. Carpenter to send them home early.

Only a few minutes later, they arrived at the youth hostel. The police car was still standing in front of it and Liz had a feeling that they would spend more than a few minutes here. The officer must be quite irritated that they hadn't informed him where they were going to pick up Amy.

Liz sighed and walked up the stairs to the grey three-storey building, her children following her.

"Okay, you go and get your stuff, while I talk to Mr. Carpenter, alright?" she told them.

Leo and Amy nodded and darted up the stairs to their rooms. The girls' rooms were on the second floor and the boys' rooms on the third floor. So they parted and Leo went up the final staircase alone.

He didn't meet any of his class mates. Surely they were downstairs in the TV-room, watching TV or playing card games. Some might also be in the sports room, where there was a ping pong table and a dart board. Leo was grateful that he didn't meet anyone and hoped his room would be empty as well.

Leo let out a sigh of relief as he opened the door to the room he shared with three of his classmates and found it empty. It was however not empty of clothes, which lay scattered on the floor mixed with several bags of crisps and half-empty cola bottles. One or two colourful football magazines could be seen among this chaos.

Leo collapsed on his bed and took in the mess around him. It would take some time to sort everything out that belonged to him and get it packed. Listlessly, he started to shove around some clothes with his foot while still sitting on the bed. After some moments, though, he remembered why he was here and with a great sigh, he got up from the bed and started to fish his own belongings out of the chaotic piles. He stuffed everything in his back pack unorderly and ten minutes later, he forced the zipper shut, hoping that he had everything in there.

It was when he took a final look around in the room that the door opened and Kyle Banister, one of his room mates, stepped inside.

"Wow, you're back?" he sneered.

Leo looked up, surprised. Kyle wasn't exactly his friend, but they got along well enough and Leo knew that Kyle was only being sarcastic when he was really upset about something.

"Er, sorry?" Leo answered, unsure what Kyle expected from him.

"Oh, shut up, Pearson! You know how boring it was to sit around in this stupid house all day long, when you and your stupid sister had fun exploring London on your own?" he asked, getting louder and angrier with every single word.

"We had a good reason to run off. It was really important!" Leo snapped defiantly. He could understand that Kyle was angry, but he was clearly overreacting.

"Oh yeah?" he drawled. "And what was so damn important?"

"I can't tell you," Leo huffed. "But if it makes you feel better, Amy and I are sent home. That's why I was packing." He shouldered his back pack and walked towards the door.

Kyle was faster than him and stood in his way.

"You arrogant prat," he hissed, his eyes blazing angrily. "Only because your parents can afford such a trip easily and don't mind if you mess it up doesn't mean that everyone else's parents can, too!"

Leo was taken aback. He remembered that Kyle's father was unemployed and how much Kyle had been looking forward to this trip. He suddenly did feel a bit guilty about the whole thing - no he didn't! He and Amy had saved Padfoot. There was nothing to feel sorry for.

"Yeah, great, Banister," Leo exclaimed. "And what do you think I am supposed to do now?" he asked, his voice dripping of irony.

"Just go home and get lost, Pearson!" Kyle barged roughly into his shoulder, as he passed him and stepped right onto one of the football magazines. The glossy pages slid against each other and Kyle lost his balance. As he fell backwards, he waved his arms frantically and managed to grab a handfull of Leo's shirt, pulling him down to his knees in the process.

Leo spun around his head and upper body. "Kyle, are you alright?" he asked, startled.

Kyle nodded weakly from the ground. Then he sat up and turned around, groaning a little.

"Pearson!" a voice shouted from the door. "Get off him right now!"

Leo turned around and saw Toni Merricks and Brian Russell, Kyles two best friends, standing in the door, glaring at him.

"I didn't do -" Leo began, but was interrupted by Kyle.

"He attacked me from behind, that bloody coward," Kyle whined.

"What?" His head flew around to the boy on the floor. Kyle was shooting him a spiteful glare.

Before he could get over his shock about Kyle's behaviour, he felt himself lifted up roughly by a pair of strong hands on the back of his neck. Leo turned around and faced a very angry Toni Merricks

"Toni, really, I didn't -" he stuttered.

"Is the great and strong Leo Pearson afraid of two 'losers'?" Toni taunted him, while he held him tight by the scruff of his neck.

"Of course, I'm not afraid of someone like you, Merricks," Leo replied. "I'm just surprised about your friend down there on the floor, telling lies in such a shameless manner," he added, disgruntled.

"Shut up," Toni yelled and shoved him backwards violently. Leo stumbled over Kyle's foot and lost his balance. He landed hard on his side and felt a fierce pain shooting through his right shoulder, which intensified a hundredfold, when Toni fell on him only a moment later.

"AAHH!!! Damn it!" he screamed. "Get off me, you blockheaded son-of...!

"Leonard Pearson, watch your language," they heard a stern woman's voice saying. "Toni Merricks, get off him this instance," added a not less stern man's voice.

Toni jumped up while Leo scrambled to his feet, holding his shoulder. The four boys now stood in the room, looking at Mr. Carpenter, Liz Pearson and Amy, who were standing in the door.

Liz glared at the other three, before she focussed on her son. "Are you ready to leave, then?" she asked in a forced neutral tone.

Leo nodded and took his backpack over his left uninjured shoulder, sucking in air as the movement caused him pain.

Liz stepped into the room, took the backpack from him and eyed him critically. "Leo, are you alright?" she asked, concern showing in her eyes.

Leo just pressed his lips together tightly and nodded. He left the room with a final glare at Kyle.

Mr. Carpenter shook Liz's hand and nodded at Amy and Leo. "Goodbye. I see you at school on Monday," he said with a serious and disappointed expression on his face.

"Bye, sir," the twins murmured as they followed their mother outside.

The last thing Leo heard, before they walked down the stairs, was Mr. Carpenter saying, "And now to you, boys..."

Once they sat in the car, Leo had problems fastening his seatbelt because his shoulder was hurting so much.

"What exactly happened?" Liz asked concernedly.

"I fell on it, and Merricks fell on it too." Leo was angry and embarrassed that Toni had gotten the better of him. In a fair fight, that little coward wouldn't have had a chance against me, Leo thought indignantly.

"Let me have a look at it," Liz demanded. Then she carefully opened the buttons of his shirt and slid it off his right shoulder. A large bruise was beginning to form there and the whole area between his neck and the end of his shoulder was swollen.

Liz put the shirt back in place and sighed. "We better show your shoulder to the doctor."

"Mum, really, I'm okay," Leo huffed, now obviously in a very bad mood. But if he couldn't show how strong he was in the fight, he would at least show that he was strong enough to deal with a little bit of pain now.

Liz rolled her eyes, but didn't comment on this. Instead, she just started the car to drive back to the building, which would be the Ministry of Magic in her own world.

When she arrived, she parked the car next to the phone box again.

"Amy, you go upstairs and tell your father that we are back while I try to call Dr. Clifford."

Dr. Clifford was their family doctor and Liz thought it best to try to get an appointment there now. He had an x-ray machine in his practise, and if she would try to find a doctor, she didn't even know one here in London, they probably wouldn't be much earlier than driving the two hours back home.

Liz was lucky and got an appointment for Leo later this afternoon. She exited the phone box and went into the building where she already heard Jack and Amy coming downstairs.

Jack was carrying Padfoot in his arms, who was wrapped in a blue woolly blanket. The dog seemed to be quite heavy, even though it was unnaturally thin, as Jack was swaying slightly under the weight.

They all went outside and Jack put Padfoot gently into the backseat of the car, next to Leo.

"We should paint our little ambulance white and put a red cross on it, shouldn't we?" Amy chuckled. Leo threw her a venomous glare.

Jack and Liz were kissing softly and saying goodbye outside of the car. "Are you sure, we shouldn't take you back to the youth hostel to get your car?" Jack asked her softly.

"Yes, Jack. Just go home and bring Padfoot and Leo to their doctors. I can take the tube, it's no problem."

Jack looked into her green eyes for a moment. Then he nodded. "Okay, Lily," he whispered. "See you next week, then. I'll call you when we are home."

They kissed lightly one last time and then Jack got into the car and they went home to Dawlish.

***

"What were you actually fighting about?" Jack asked, as he, Amy and Leo sat in the waiting room of Dr. Clifford's surgery. Padfoot was lying on a blanket behind the reception desk. There were not so many patients this late in the afternoon and the reception nurse had a weakness for dogs and had taken pity on him.

"It was really stupid," Leo answered. "Banister and I had an argument about me and Amy running off today. He said something about his parents having had trouble to afford the trip, and me messing it up now. Then he slipped on some magazine and pulled me down with him. Few moments after that, Merricks and Russell came into the room and Banister told them to rough me up, because I had supposedly attacked him from behind. I was so surprised by this that I didn't even react when Merricks attacked me," he explained monotonously.

When Jack looked at his son, his eyes were full of sadness. "It hurts when one of your mates stabs you in the back, doesn't it?" he said more to himself than to his son.

However, some seconds later he had caught himself and said sternly, "In one point, Banister was right, though. Through your behaviour you messed up the trip not only for him, but also for all of your other class mates and Jonathan. You had your mother and me terribly worried and you had two police officers looking for you."

"But Dad -- ," Amy interrupted.

"Please, Amy, let me finish," Jack said calmly. "Your Mum and I are eternally grateful that your little adventure today ended so fortunate and you found Padfoot. But I must ask you to think about the consequences of your behaviour before you act. The least you could have done today was to inform someone about what you were doing. There are enough phone boxes in London, and as far as I remember, there was one right in front of the building where you found Padfoot.

Amy and Leo hung their heads and murmured something incoherent.

Then Leo looked up curiously, slightly whincing as the movement effected his injured shoulder.

"Dad, what did 'MoM' on your London map mean? What was so special about that building, and why did we find the dog of your long lost friend there of all places?"

Jack sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I'm really sorry, I can't tell you."

"Dad!" Amy protested. "You know, what happened today was because Leo and I didn't have a clue about anything, but we are nonetheless very curious about what's going on in our own family. And if you don't tell us, we will continue to put our noses in things, and maybe end up doing stupid things, just because we didn't know any better." She looked smugly at her father.

Jack groaned, while Leo grinned proudly at his sister and gave her a thumbs-up.

"Your Mum is going to kill me when I tell you, and you are not going to believe me anyway."

The twins looked at him defiantly. "Well, try us!" Leo challenged him.

"I'm going to regret this," he murmured under his breath. Loudly he said, "It's a very long story. I'll tell you when we get home, alright?"