The Portkey Solution

CHAPTER 10 - A Family Reunion

Ron pounded down the several flights of stairs in the Burrow, his bag in his hand. He skidded to a stop in front of the dining table, where his mother and father were in their pyjamas and robes, finishing cups of tea by candlelight. He looked expectantly at his father, who traded an amused look with Mrs. Weasley and leaned back in his chair.

"Dad, it's time to go. Why did you put on your pyjamas?"

Mr. Weasley took a scone with elaborate laziness. "Plenty of time, son."

Ron threw his bag on the floor. "Come on, Dad. Harry and Staci are going to be waiting on me. We're supposed to Portkey over in an hour!"

Mrs. Weasley poured out more tea in their cups. "Be patient, dear. Your father has been working himself to the bone all week trying to keep You-Know-Who's supporters from introducing more cursed objects into Muggle hands, not to mention lending a hand with bringing the Giants in to Azkaban. He's tuckered."

Ron fumed and was about to let his temper fly when Bill appeared in the kitchen with a small pop. He had a rucksack slung over one shoulder and was dressed in Muggle jeans and a polo shirt. "Ready to go, Ron?"

Ron narrowed his eyes. "Go?"

"Yeah, didn't Mum and Dad say? I'm going with you."

"No! Mum! Dad! This is my trip with Harry!"

Mr. Weasley sat up and looked at Ron sternly. "That's enough. Bill is going in order to spend some time with Staci--" Mrs. Weasley gave Bill a fond, hopeful glance "--and knowing he's nearby will make us feel more comfortable about this trip. Either he goes with you or you don't go at all."

Ron glared at Bill, who smiled back. "Don't worry, Ron. I won't be in your way. From what Staci's told me about her family, you and Harry will have plenty of tour guides to choose from."

"Well...okay, but you'd better not act like some kind of nanny. I'm fifteen after all." Ron accepted the inevitable grudgingly.

Bill pulled out a leather pouch that held his Portkey to the cottage. As he opened it to reveal a carved and polished tiger's-eye stone, he observed, "It could have been worse. You could have Percy going with you."

The double hit of nausea from the Portkey and the thought roiled Ron's stomach as they appeared in Staci's kitchen.

*****

After what seemed an eternity of being yanked by the invisible hook to the stomach, Harry landed with the others in a room. His first impression was of airy light, mainly from the pink sunshine streaming in through floor-to-ceiling windows. His second impression was of the three people sitting in leather slouch chairs. The women were working busily at something but laid their work aside to stand with the man.

Staci went over to the man and the younger of the women and hugged them. "Hi, Dad, Mom." She then went over and pecked cheeks with the other woman. "Evening, tía Leonora."

She motioned the others forward, and Bill went to shake hands with Staci's father while her mother swept down on Harry and gave him a tight embrace. "Welcome, Harry! Welcome to the States and welcome home!"

She barely came up to Harry's chin. He felt bowled over by her enthusiasm but returned the embrace. He then turned to make introductions "This is my friend, Ron Weasley. Thank you for letting him come as well, Mrs. Patterson."

"Tía Ramona, if you please! We're all family here. And hello, Ron. Welcome!" She shook Ron's hand, clasping his in both of hers. He grinned back.

Staci tugged gently at Harry's elbow. Her dad held out a hand. Harry took it, feeling the remaining nervousness drain away. Staci's dad had the same flyaway hair (brown like Staci's) as he did and also wore glasses, but there any family resemblance ended. Instead of the thin, often intense face Harry remembered from pictures of his dad, this man had a roundness of face and body and an open smile that made him resemble a big friendly dog. Harry fully expected him to start panting when he opened his mouth...

"Neil Patterson, Harry. Glad to meet you at last."

"Thank you, sir--"

"Uncle Neil."

"Uncle Neil. This is my friend Ron Weasley."

Neil shook Ron's hand as well. "Nice to meet you as well, Ron. Heard a bit about you from Bill, all of it very much what a big brother would say." His eyes twinkled as Ron tried to work out whether he should feel complimented or afraid.

Staci turned to the other woman in the room. "And this is tía Leonora, Mom's sister."

Unlike Ramona, Leonora had an autocratic air that reminded Harry of Professor McGonagall. Instead of shaking hands, Harry jerked his head in a slight bow, Ron imitating him. "Pleased to meet you."

She didn't smile, but looked pleased and sat back down to her work. Staci picked up her bag and gestured to the others. "Second floor guest rooms, right, Dad?" At his nod, she led Harry, Ron and Bill to the stairs. Harry was startled to see that they ad come in on the top floor; Staci led them down a narrow staircase and hall, showing them rooms on opposite sides.

Harry and Ron were sharing a room that was as large as the hallway was cramped. There were small windows that showed the wall of a neighbouring house and very strong lighting to compensate for the resulting dimness. There was a double bed on each wall with a bureau for clothes and a sofa and chairs in the centre around a low table. Several framed posters of Broadway shows decorated the walls.

"Wicked!" Ron promptly dug into his bag for his chess set and dropped it on the table. Harry went to the bed on the left and laid his bag on it.

Staci poked her head in the open door. "Dad's taking us out for dinner. Non-wizarding clothes."

Harry looked in his bag and pulled out a set of trousers and dress shirt. Ron copied him, choosing a sports shirt so as not to be too alike. They changed and came into the hall to see Bill also in less casual clothes and Staci in a blue dress he hadn't seen before. She led them once again as they went down to the ground floor, where Neil and Ramona were waiting.

Neil rubbed his hands together with glee. "I am so glad you all got here in time. We'll go to the Paper Moon and be out before their weekend dancing starts."

"Italian food," Staci said to them. "And quite a lot of it."

Harry's stomach growled at the thought, and Neil led them out the door.

*****

The Pattersons' Washington home was a townhouse in Georgetown. It had an extra floor compared to most others, which let the room they'd Portkeyed into have that great view and light. Pale green windows and shutters stood out against the red brick, and bushy flowering plants created lavender splashes on either side of the steps to the front door.

Staci glanced at the plants. "Mom, you have to convince Leonora to stop encouraging the azaleas. We're months from their flowering period."

"Relax, darling. She put an eye-teaser on them so no one but wizards can see them."

Staci shook her head but let it go. They walked a few blocks in the fading sunlight until the homes melted gently into shops and businesses. In a few minutes they came to a yellow building with a red awning that read "Paper Moon". There were a number of small wrought-iron tables scattered in front of it, but Neil led them inside where he was greeted with warmth by the host and they were quickly seated at a long table near the window, covered in a white cloth.

Neil took a quick poll from Harry, Ron and Bill on what they didn't like, and ordered a variety of appetizers. Warm garlic bread appeared along with their drinks, and soon Harry was munching on olives and trying to work up the courage to try a piece of calamari. Ramona quizzed him and Ron about their lives while Staci and Bill had a more serious conversation with Neil at the other end of the table. When Harry finally tried the calamari, he was sorry; it was chewy and incredibly salty on top of a fishy taste he didn't like.

Staci had not been joking about the food. Their plates were over a foot across and full of pastas. There was a steady trading of samples throughout the meal. As they shoved near-empty plates away, Neil looked around the table. "Dessert?"

Over the groans around the table, Ramona scolded, "Neil Patterson, I have a banana pudding at the house waiting for us!" Neil winked and paid the check.

*****

After the pudding, a delicious creation of bananas, vanilla biscuits and custard, Harry and Ron were feeling the time difference and ready to go to bed. Bill diverted Ron with one more chess game, and Neil got Harry aside for a moment. He had a large manila folder in his hand.

"Harry, this is the research I did that proves the Potter-Patterson connection. At the end is a current Patterson family tree. Take a look. Let me know if you have questions."

Harry took the folder down to his room and sprawled on the bed to look through it. Uncle Neil seemed quite organized. His findings were dated and labelled with where he had found the information. Quite a lot of it had come from computer records. Harry traced back the generations of Pattersons, like the Weasleys in their rate of children, and read through the research of his own direct family line. He frowned as he got farther down the lists. Up until about forty-odd years before, the Potters had been just as prolific as their American cousins, with families of three to eight kids in each generation. Then suddenly a pattern emerged: kids died young or mothers miscarried, accidents happened, and the older generations began dying off rapidly, until there was only Harry's grandfather Angus Potter, who died in 1970, and his grandmother Winifred Mockridge Potter, who died in 1974, leaving Harry's father James orphaned midway through his studies at Hogwarts. Harry kept returning to those names and dates, wondering what was eluding him.

Harry wasn't aware that he'd fallen asleep until Ron was shaking him, advising him to change into pyjamas.

*****

August 26

We'll be leaving for home soon. It's been an amazing day and if I don't get some of it down, I'll forget things I want to remember.

We took the Muggle bus to the Washington Mall. I've seen some of the monuments here and there on the telly, but they just don't show how big the park is. We went around looking at some of the statues and buildings, then on to some museums. I thought the art museum was fun--I could recognize so many pictures I've heard of or seen in books. Ron was bored to tears, though. He kept waiting for the pictures to move, the silly git.

Then we went to the Air & Space Museum. That was brilliant! They had mock-ups and actual pieces of the ships that have gone into space, showing just how small the cockpits were that these astronauts had to use. I don't know if I could survive travelling like that, even if it did mean being able to look down on the Earth from above.

I have to admit, the best part of touring there was Ron's reaction. He had NO idea that Muggles had done as much as they have with space exploration. I'm not even sure he knew that we'd been to the moon. He's made me feel like a country cousin so often in the past when I didn't know something about the wizarding world. It did feel good to see him constantly picking his jaw up as we moved on to yet another exhibit.

*****

They took the Metro up to the Cleveland Park stop, where they ate lunch at a dingy café called Ivy's Place. Like the restaurant the previous night, Neil was apparently a regular customer, and a small dark man named Leo came out from the kitchen to greet them. Neil asked him to bring out anything he felt like cooking, and then beamed at the boys. "You are about to have one of the best meals of your lives, gentlemen."

And he was right. They were presented with half-a-dozen examples of Indonesian and Thai cooking, with beef and chicken, shrimp and vegetables, rice and noodles in rich sauces. Harry and Ron gorged on everything, barely having room for a dessert of spiced mangoes and sticky sweet rice.

They began walking south, and Harry presumed they would walk some of the meal off and go home, but Neil and Ramona suddenly turned left and Ron poked Hary. "It's a zoo."

Harry smiled, remembering the last time he'd been at a zoo. He reminded himself not to go talking to any snakes this time.

The Pattersons led them through a large portion of the National Zoo, stopping at their favourite exhibits. They saw the giant panda Hsing-Hsing sleeping in the shade of a tree. They watched otters play in a moulded pool, sliding gleefully down the slopes and splashing. They did go through the reptile house, but many of the snakes were asleep and the few that weren't seemed satisfied with a nod in response to their greetings.

They emerged, blinking, in the muggy August sunshine when Neil stiffened and quickly whispered, "Play along!" Ramona looked around and let out a hiss of disgust as they were approached by a man who looked ready to greet an old friend.

"Neil Patterson! What are you doing away from work? And Mona! So nice to see you!" He looked expectantly at Harry and Ron, and Harry had to suppress a shudder. The man appeared ordinary enough, sleekly handsome with grey hair and dark eyes, but the expression in those eyes seemed dead, like Lucius Malfoy, or Voldemort. Harry brushed at his hair, as if to move it out of his eyes, and tried to cover his scar more thoroughly.

"These are a couple of cousins in the family, Hugo. The redhead is Toby Hughes and the other is Quin Douglas. They're visiting from Ireland. Boys, this is Hugo Victor." Neil lied with a glibness that startled Harry.

The man smiled even wider, yet the look in his eyes didn't change. Harry had to fight to act relaxed as the man shook his hand in a firm, intimidating grip, then moved on to Ron. "Now let's see...given the Patterson penchant for nicknames, I'm willing to bet that this one is actually Tobias and the other...hmm...Irish...Quinlan?"

Neil forced a smile. "Both right, Hugo. Now, if you don't mind, we're late meeting the girls--"

"Ah, yes. Please tell them I said hello. And that we're still upset with Staci for abandoning us the way she did. The office isn't the same without her." That deadness in Victor's eyes erased all semblance of the jest.

"We'll tell her. Come on, boys." Neil practically pushed them past and they walked quickly up a hill path that took them out of sight in a short minute.

"Uncle Neil, who was that?" Harry asked quietly, pushing his hair over his scar more firmly.

"Hubert Vicks. He changed his name years ago because he liked the play on words--Victor Hugo is a famous author--and because it sounded better. He works in one of the agencies, in research and development of new magics. Where Staci used to work. And he is most definitely not to be trusted."

"I got that much," Harry replied. "I felt like I was looking at a Death Eater."

Ramona nodded, her dark eyes still snapping sparks. "You've got good instincts, Harry. It wasn't proven, but a lot of people suspected that Voldemort tried to contact a few people here in the States to lay groundwork for his coming here after he'd conquered Europe. Vicks was at the top of the list."

Neil brightened suddenly. "There are Staci and Bill, right on time!" Ron gave a gasp and Harry looked up quickly, then had to bite the insides of his cheeks to keep from laughing. Staci and Bill were deep in an embrace, not quite hidden by the corner of the Small Mammal House. Ron had turned very red at seeing his brother snogging, and even Ramona looked a little disconcerted.

Neil touched Harry's shoulder and pointed slightly. He immediately spotted Hugo Victor, who must have gone around another path, looking at Staci and Bill with narrowed eyes. Neil led them back down and around a curve, and once out of sight pulled out his mobile phone and dialled it.

"Staci, it's Dad. Vicks is nearby, watching you two pretty closely--ah, I see. Smart girl. Let's meet down below at the office instead, in an hour." Neil closed the phone and grinned at Ramona. "She spotted Vicks before we did. They were kissing so he couldn't get a look at Bill's face."

Ron let out a deep sigh and Harry clapped him on the shoulder. "All right there, Ron?"

"The only thing worse than seeing Bill snog would have to be seeing Percy snog," he declared with feeling.

"Oh? How about your parents?"

Ron actually turned green in an effort not to be sick.

*****

August 26, continued

Wizarding Washington is a series of tunnels below Georgetown. Neil explained that the majority of the wizarding population of the area lives in the neighbourhood, and that they help maintain a series of powerful spells that keep the Metro out. You can get there by a tram from a platform in the Metro's Farragut West stop. You have to walk under one of the escalators and slip through the wall to get to the platform, kind of like at Kings Cross.

It's like Diagon Alley, but it's not. Instead of enchanting the roof like in the Great Hall at Hogwarts, they have a system of lights that brighten or dim with the hours of the day. Some of the people were in robes, but even more were in ordinary clothing: business suits, jeans, even a bunch of Goth girls. They have shops like Zonko's and Quality Quidditch Supplies, but there are also other shops: one does custom wands, where you choose the core, and another was full of magical devices. Patterson Transport and Courier is next to the Gringotts branch.

It was interesting to see how the offices work. They have wizards and Muggles working side by side, seeing to all kinds of shipments. There was this one nervous witch trying to send something, and tentacles popped out. The clerk didn't even blink...he just shoved the thing back in and weighed it.

Staci and Bill took us shopping so we could buy souvenirs. Ron and I went in together on a book of American wizarding history for Hermione's birthday at a shop called Tom's Tomes. I got myself a jumper for the Washington Wyverns. And in this neat curio shop, I found a pendant, silver with a pretty blue stone. Staci called it iolite. I think Cho might like it.

We headed back to Patterson's to go home. Turns out that the building has an elevator that goes up to the surface, connecting to a Muggle office for Patterson's on Wisconsin Avenue.

I think I like Washington very much, especially its wizarding district. There's an acceptance of Muggles and nonhumans that I don't see with a lot of wizards at home. Ron was about to jump out of his skin when he saw a couple of full-blood Giants working with a shopkeeper leaning out of an upper-story window, but no one else seemed to care. I could hear conversations about magic, but also about Muggle stuff: there's elections coming up in a couple of months, some Muggle who blew up a building and killed a lot of people is going to trial.

We came back and were ambushed. Just about every Patterson on the East Coast travelled in this evening for a big reunion party. After the first twenty or so cousins they all started running together. I do remember meeting Lise, Staci's sister, and her little boys. She's kind of like Leonora to Staci's Ramona...colder, more snobbish. I ate and came back up here to the room to get away from the crowd. It was too much, to go from having a single aunt for a blood relative to the dozens here tonight.

But they are my family. I have a family now.

*****

Dumbledore motioned Snape to sit down. The Potions Master looked ready to fall over from exhaustion.

"He is back. I don't think he ever arrived at the destination Potter set the Portkey to. I think he used a very powerful spell to break the journey, which drew him to his father's grave. The family connection and all. It drained him and he apparently had just enough strength to send up the Dark Mark. Avery found him and carried him to Malfoy's manor before anyone else arrived, to prevent sharing the credit for rescuing him."

"And preventing an easy end to the matter," Dumbledore mused.

Snape ignored the interruption. "He's in a deep coma, completely unresponsive. I've been with the others, trying all sorts of charms and potions since Wednesday, but nothing has worked. I think it's a matter of letting him heal over time."

"Do you know how much time, Severus?"

"No, HeadmastThere is no telling."