Chapter 3
Hallie woke to the smell of food in the air.
At first, she felt confused when she opened her eyes to a room she didn't recognize, but her memory quickly caught up with her. This is Professor Fig's home. She sat up, peering around the bedroom.
She must have fallen asleep waiting for Professor Fig to finish talking with the man from the Ministry. Light still shone through the bedroom window, so she must not have been asleep for long. She stood up and confirmed that the door on the left side of the room was indeed a small bathroom. Looking into the little mirror on the bathroom wall, she could see that the potion Professor Fig had given her had done its job. There was no longer any physical proof of her brother's actions.
She still felt like she would never be able to wrap her head around everything that had happened, but at least her mind was clearer now than it had been earlier.
She straightened her clothes and hair and made her way out of the room. If Professor Fig had cooked food, surely that meant he had finished talking with the man from the ministry by now and she could come downstairs.
She made her way slowly into the kitchen, where she found Professor Fig sitting at the kitchen table in the center of the room, eating a plate of eggs and toast. He looked up from his plate and smiled kindly at her as she entered the room.
"Good morning," he greeted her.
"Good mo-," she paused, confused. "Morning? Is it not evening?"
She looked at him in confusion as she asked the question. To her suprise, he laughed at her question.
"I'm afraid not. When I realized you had fallen asleep, I decided to let you rest. You slept through the evening, dinner, and the night, it seems. Perhaps the calming draught I gave you was a bit strong," he finished thoughtfully.
"Oh I- i'm sorry," she replied awkwardly. She felt a bit embarrassed.
"Ah, don't worry yourself over it. Have a seat and help yourself," he said, indicating to a plate in the center of the table that was stacked with eggs, toast, and sausages. He paused and a strange look came over his face. He looked uncertain.
"I can make you something else if you don't like that," he said awkwardly.
"No, this is fine, I like this," she replied as she took a seat and filled the plate in front of her. She was rapidly realizing that aside from the lessons they had shared so far, they knew very little about each other. She couldn't help but feel shy and awkward as she began to eat her food and look around the room. She wasn't sure how to react to his kindness and hospitality.
She was also quickly realizing something else. She had never been in a house inhabited by someone with magic and it was very different than anything she was used to. She couldn't help but stare at the pans that were hovering over the sink, seemingly washing themselves.
Professor Fig must have noticed her staring, because when she looked back in his direction, he had a small smile on his face.
"Scourgify. Its a cleaning charm," he explained.
"I don't think i've ever seen dishes cleaning themselves," she said.
He chuckled, "No, I can't imagine you have."
"Will we be starting another lesson today?"
He gave her a thoughtful look, "If you feel ready to, we can. I would understand if your mind was elsewhere today, though."
"No, sir, i'm fine. I'd like to continue my studies please."
Just as she finished speaking, there was a loud rapping sound at the kitchen window. She jolted a bit at the sound. To her amazement, when she looked at the window, there was a large white and brown speckled owl, slamming it's beak into the window pane.
Professor Fig, who seemed completely unsurprised by this, stood and walked over to the window and opened it. The bird flew in and landed on the table, dropping a newspaper as it did so, and held out it's leg, to which a letter was tied.
Hallie stared at the newspaper and letter at the bird's feet as Professor Fig untied the letter from its leg. The bird had just ... delivered the mail!? She had never seen anything like it.
"Do you always get mail delivered by an owl?"
"Owl post is the usual method of delivery among witches and wizards. Although a rare few prefer a flashier delivery. I once had a letter delivered to me by a hawk," he chuckled. "Watch your fingers around this one. Cepheus isn't the friendliest of owls i've owned, he bites on occasion."
Hallie decided it would be best for her to stay to her side of the table, away from the owl, as it watched her with it's narrowed yellow eyes. Professor Fig read his letter as she ate the rest of her breakfast. When he finished, he sat for a moment with a calculating look on his face. He sat the letter down and gave her a solemn look.
"That letter was from the ministry. They have scheduled a hearing for you and I on June 2. They will decide the matter of your custody and of my guilt in attacking a muggle from there," he said, watching her carefully.
She wasn't sure how to respond, but she suddenly felt very small. Her stomach was twisting around uncomfortably.
"Oh ... okay," she said. Then she added, "I'm sorry."
She felt incredibly guilty that he had gotten sucked into her mess and that she was here surviving on his hospitality. Worst of all, now he was facing trouble with the Ministry on her account.
Professor Fig gave her a sympathetic look and stood to walk over to her. She felt a hand on her shoulder and he leaned down to catch her eyes.
"Don't be sorry, none of this is any fault of yours," he said firmly.
"But ... you wouldn't be in trouble with the Ministry right now if it weren't for me."
"Ah, don't worry about that. I've been in more than a fair share of trouble before. I'll be fine," he said with a sparkle in his eyes. "Anyway, we have another two weeks before we need to worry ourselves with that, don't we? So for now let's try not to worry, shall we?"
She gave him a small smile and nod. Despite only knowing him for a short period of time, Professor Fig seemed to have a way about him that made her feel reassured.
"How about that little tour I mentioned yesterday? We missed our chance for it then, but there's time now."
"I'd like that," she answered.
****
Eleazar had known when he read the letter that he had to tell her about the hearing. She needed to know, but he also knew it would be a hard topic to broach and he had quickly realized that morning that he was out of his element.
He and Miriam had never had any children. It wasn't that they didn't like or enjoy children, in fact, it had been quite the opposite. Both he and Miriam loved children and had wanted to have some of their own, but it had just never happened. The years went by and she never fell pregnant. They began traveling together for Miriam's research, expecting that they would stop their travels once she became pregnant, but it simply didn't happen. Miriam had shed many a tear over it.
Eventually they had grown complacent and accepted that it wasn't an option for them. They loved each other deeply and found plenty of joy to fill their hearts in the company of one another. It became enough for them.
Although Eleazar had spent many years teaching the children of Hogwarts, he had never had one in his sole care or in his home. It occured to him over breakfast that he wasn't even sure what the child would enjoy eating. Outside of what he knew from teaching, he felt like he knew very little about how to parent a child.
He felt very relieved when his attempt at reassuring her had seemed to work.
She also seemed to cheer up considerably as he began to show her around the house. Thankfully, she didn't seem to mind the mess left behind from his bad habbit of leaving piles of books and things in odd places.
She asked him about the dead plants in the garden when he showed her the back garden through the kitchen door. His heart clenched painfully in his chest. Miriam had been the one who was skilled with Herbology. Or at least she was when she wasn't gone on a long enough trip to return to her plants a shriveled mess. He had often teased her about leaving her plants to die in his poor care, now she would never be coming back to revive them.
"Why is your garden all dried up and dead?"
"Im afraid i'm not the best at Herbology, that was more my wife's forte than mine."
"Your wife?"
"Yes, Miriam. She passed a few months ago, in November," he couldn't keep the sadness from his voice as he said it.
"I'm so sorry," she responded. He could see in her face that she meant it too. They both were quiet for a moment.
"You're supposed to be teaching me Herbology over the summer?"
"I am," he said.
"Oh, im going to be hopeless then."
He couldn't stop the laughter from coming out of his mouth at her remark. He had not been expecting her to say that. At his laugh, she began to chuckle as well. They walked back inside with him feeling considerably lighter.
She had already seen the sitting room yesterday, but he showed her again anyway. He explained that he would usually spend his evenings after dinner, sitting there by the fire with a book and a warmed cup of tea. He saw her spot the photographs on the mantle of him and Miriam together. One of the photographed versions of a much younger Miriam smiled sweetly and waved up at her from the frame. He was grateful when she didn't ask about them.
He showed her his study on the ground floor and he couldn't stop his smile when her face lit up with awe at all the books inside. The walls of his study had long since been filled to their entirety with rows and rows of books, hence, why stacks of books had popped up everywhere else. He had run out of room to store them. He had thought she might like this room.
"I thought I had you pegged as a book lover when I saw how you had devoured those school books," he chuckled. "I suppose I was right?"
"Yes, sir. I read everything of interest that the library had at the boarding school, until there was nothing new left to read," she said sheepishly.
"Really? I'm sure they were most impressed by that. Do you like them all or just a particular genre?"
"Actually, they thought I was quite strange for it," she said slowly. There was a distant and forlorn look in her eyes. Then she blinked, and in an instant it was gone. "I'll read almost anything, but what I really like are stories. Things that aren't real. Mysteries, adventure novels, fantasy, fairy-tales, and classic literature tales."
"Well you are welcome have a look and read whatever you want from my books, and I won't think you are strange for it," he said. He couldn't believe anyone would try and discourage a child from reading, but he supposed muggles often had ridiculous opinions on many topics. He and Miriam had always shared a deep love of books, returning from each of their travels with arms ladden down with new ones. It was of the many things he adored about her.
"Thank you." Her eyes were alight with interest. He couldn't help but smile at her enthusiasm as they made their way upstairs.
He opened the door for her to look inside Miriam's study, but he turned his head away from it when he did. He couldn't look at it anymore. He knew what he would see anyway. He had ransacked the room after she had died, desperately searching for answers. Of course there were none, and he had abandoned the room in a mess. She would have been terribly disappointed in him for abandoning the room in such a state.
To his suprise, a hand grabbed the wrist of his that clung to the door and gently pulled it away. Hallie shut the door and turned to face him with a soft look.
"You don't have to," she said. He was stunned by her response, but he understood and appreciated the understanding she had displayed, so he nodded and they moved on.
He showed her where his bedroom was and where the second spare room was and of course, she knew already where her's was. He encouraged her to make herself at home while she was here. She shouldn't have to live out of a trunk, he had thought to himself. So he told her to feel free to make use of the wardrobe and nightstand there.
Having finished their tour, they made their way back downstairs and chose the kitchen table to start her lessons for the day.
Supringly, she was still able to focus rather well today. He had been a bit worried that with all the sudden changes, and the disaster that was yesterday, that she might not be able to focus much on her studies so soon. She was proving him wrong though, and he found himself, once again, feeling impressed with how quickly she learned.
By the evening she had successfully learned and repeated the softening charm, spongify, and two transfiguration spells. He had been very pleased that she had managed to turn a goblet into a mouse almost perfectly in one day. Transfiguration rarely came easily. He assigned her to read in her beasts book for the rest of the evening and when she finished that, they reviewed what she had read together.
He allowed her to enjoy some free time whilst he got started on making them supper. An idea came to mind as he did so.
"How would you like to have your first real Astronomy lesson tonight. Since we are here and have access to a telescope now, I think it would be far more beneficial than just staring at that old book."
He had been expecting her to not be too eager. Most students he knew did not seem to enjoy or see the point in Astronomy. They would often show up to his class the morning after Professor Shah's class yawning and complaining. To his suprise, her eyes lit up.
"Really!? I would love that," she said excitedly.
He chuckled, "I'll admit, I was not expecting enthusiasm."
"Oh, why? I like Astronomy," she hesitated. "Is it that much different than the Astronomy muggles study?"
"Well, you'll have to forgive me, I am not very versed in muggle studies. From what I understand, both focus on the study of the sky, but I can't say they share much in common beyond that," he turned to face her for a moment. "Have you studied Astronomy before we met?"
She was quiet for a moment. "My dad used to show me the stars and constellations when he was home between voyages."
She was eyeing the floor again. He felt like she had more to say but she was hesitant.
"You're father was a sailor then?"
"A ship's captain. He was away a lot. Looking at the sky was one of the few things we shared and enjoyed together. His ship went down around two years ago."
"Im sorry, you must miss him terribly."
"Its okay, it was a long time ago, and he was gone long before that," she replied.
It sounded like she was trying to make it sound like a simple thing. He knew well that grief was anything but that. He couldn't help but wonder also what she meant by her father being gone 'long before that', but he didn't pry.
Instead, they ate their dinner quietly and went out to the back garden to start the lesson. She did in fact, recognize several of the stars and constellations. They quickly discovered however, that their Astronomy was far more advanced than muggle Astronomy. You could see far more through his telescope than any muggle telescope could ever even begin to pick up on.
It was also very clear that she did genuinely enjoy the subject. Although she had clearly been interested in everything he had to teach her thus far, her eyes shone brighter during this lesson than all of the others. They ended up spending more time on the lesson than he had intended simply because they both enjoyed themselves during it far too much to cut it short.
That night, he retired to bed with the feeling that each of them had come to understand the other just a little bit more than they had before.