a/n: Welcome back! I hope you're enjoying this story as much as I've enjoyed writing it. It's nowhere near finished, but all of the important characters for this installment of the Adventures of Mathis and Thomas should now be introduced. So here is the next chapter.
Mathis Garnell Liam-Onexis was an exceptionally respected judge. He had provided more criminals for Azkaban Prison in his first three years than the judge whose place he took had put away over the past five years - since the famous Harry Potter had started school overseas. To his colleagues he was Judge Mathis Liam, nobody knew of his relationship with, the recently outlawed, Thomas Pherell Onexis. That fact made his house the perfect hideout for Thomas.
Judge Mathis was in his kitchen making breakfast the morning after a much respected member of the British Ministry was "Savagely attacked by a young supporter of Albus Dumbledore," as their daily news had described it. Thomas was sitting at the table reading Mathis' copy of the Daily Prophet, wearing striped pajamas. Mathis strode in, his judge's robes billowing behind him, and handed Thomas a plate with eggs, bacon, and toast before sitting opposite him with a cup of coffee and a bagel. He grabbed the sports section of the muggle newspaper that Thomas had signed him up for, "Why are you interested in their news?"
"Because they amuse me," Thomas said dismissively, "Check this out!" He grinned, shoving the Daily Prophet at Mathis, "Apparently I savagely attacked Fudge. Tried to kill him with a mean Bat-Bogey Hex! What do you suppose that means?"
Mathis took the paper, "Oh that's not the greatest picture of me, is it?" He said, frowning at the mobile photograph. Somehow the picture had been taken of Judge Mathis being disarmed, but no photograph had been taken of the actual "vicious" attack.
"Yeah," Thomas scoffed, "that's what's important there."
"You can't possibly be surprised?" Mathis raised his eyebrow at Thomas.
"Of course not," Thomas said indignantly, "but I am insulted."
"By what, I wonder?" Mathis mused.
"Are you making fun of me?" Thomas frowned. Mathis merely smiled in response, so Thomas went on, "By the hex they claim I used. I don't even know what it is. Is it some sort of British hoax? Does anyone even take Fudge seriously anymore? Did anyone take him seriously to begin with?" At this point Thomas was merely proposing rhetorical questions, and Mathis grinned to himself, "What kind of a name is Fudge? I've always wondered what he might taste like."
"Do you know why I keep you around?" Mathis smiled.
"I hope the answer is something along the lines of loving me," Thomas said bluntly, "'Cause otherwise you have a large, flashy piece of shiny to purchase while you're put playing judge today."
"I'll pick something up at Diagon Alley," Mathis chuckled as he stood up to set his dish on the sink.
"Diagon Alley?" Thomas blinked, "The Hell are you going way out there for?"
"Fudge thinks that you and Dumbledore are hiding out together, and, as he no longer feels safe over here, he has asked me to come assist him."
"Because you were both 'viciously' attacked by the same miscreant?" Thomas chortled, "Hoo, I am not gonna get tired of that one."
Mathis smiled as he headed into the front room where the couch and T.V. were, "Yes," He said, and Thomas got up to follow him, leaving his dish on the table, "he thinks that I feel as strongly about catching our attacker as he does," He paused at the door and turned to face Thomas.
"Do you really have to go?" Thomas pouted and shrunk into the much taller man, "Wouldn't you rather stay home and bake cookies with me?"
Mathis smiled and hugged Thomas, "Which reminds me, no magic while I'm gone."
Thomas pulled away and gawked at Mathis, "What! I have to use the muggle devices?"
"If the Government detects magic in my house, they'll investigate. There are instructions by the computer for a couple different games to entertain yourself, as well as how to order a pizza from the telephone."
"I'm so lucky I married a Muggle-Born," Thomas smiled.
"I'll be back tonight," Mathis said, and he kissed Thomas, "Don't break my house," With that, followed by a loud crack, he was gone. Thomas suddenly felt utterly, and horribly, alone.
Thomas walked back into the dining room and stared at the dirty plate he'd left on the table, "Clean yourself," He said hopefully. When nothing happened he sighed and picked it up, along with his empty cup of juice. He set them on the sink in the kitchen, but before he went back into the first room, he got courageous, "I'll bet dishwashers aren't THAT hard to figure out," He picked his cup up. He walked toward the back wall. The dishwasher was on the left under a hanging cupboard that held mixing bowls and spices within it. He pulled open the dishwasher, and was suddenly intimidated by the many (2) racks, and the daunting circular devices on the back of the door. Well it was empty, so he figured the breakfast dishes couldn't be too hard to clean. He pulled open the bottom rack and shoved his cup, open end up, between two prongs that were intended to hold plates, "Yeah, this won't be too hard."
He grabbed the mug that Mathis drank out of. He pondered, for a moment, how to fit the mug in between the prongs. He decided to lay it sideways with the loop inside a prong. He set the two plates, flat, on top of the prongs wherever he could fit them. He slid the rack back and pondered the circles. "Insert soap here," and "Insert back-up soap here." He shrugged and grabbed the liquid dish and hand soaps from behind the faucet. He filled the primary circle with dish soap, because that made sense to him, and the back-up circle with hand soap because, though it didn't make sense to him, he figured back-up meant the machine would use it only if the dish soap didn't work.
He shut the door and pressed the power button. There was a ding and the screen lit up with green words, "Input Degree," Thomas blinked at it. He searched the door and found a dial that said, "light" , "medium" , and "heavy," and spun it to medium. The whole bottom rack looked full, so half power should work, right? Then it asked him for a "Dry Setting." He looked over the machine, and there was another dial with a time setting. Well, he wasn't sure how long the dishwasher needed, but muggle methods were generally inefficient, so he set it for the maximum time: 2 hours. The machine made a gurgling sound, and then it started revving. Thomas smiled, "Check me out! I did the dishes like a muggle!"
He turned and walked out of the kitchen into the front room. The machine made an odd banging noise, but Thomas shrugged and assumed it was doing his job. It was a rather loud machine. He walked down the hall and began doffing his clothes. He dumped them in the white laundry basket outside Mathis' room, and decided he'd figure out the washer after he took a shower. He grabbed a shirt and a pair of slacks from Mathis' closet. Mathis was significantly taller than Thomas, but he figured he should probably be wearing something in case someone came to the door. Mathis lived in a muggle city, so Thomas didn't have to be afraid to answer the door. He set the clothes on the bed and moved for the shower. He could hear the dish washer banging along down the hall, and he smiled at his success.
It was a half hour later when Thomas exited the shower. He dried himself off and opened the bathroom door. He stepped out, and there was a soft, foamy feeling at his feet. He looked down and saw that the floor was covered in white, soapy bubbles. He cocked his head, "That's peculiar." He pulled on a pair of boxers and Mathis' shirt, which draped down to his knees, before grabbing his wand from the head of the bed, just in case, and heading down the hall. He looked down the hall and saw that the entire hall floor was covered in soap bubbles, "What magic is this?"
He started down the hall with his wand raised. When he entered the front room, he noticed clumps of soap bubbles sparsed around the room. They were covering Mathis' couch, and crawling up his T.V. Just then, Thomas noticed how unbearably loud the dishwasher was. He moved slowly into the dining room. The bubbles in this room were almost knee-high. Then he turned to face the kitchen.
"AHH!" He shouted as the tower of bubbles that had formed in the kitchen fell on him. The doorbell rang.
A woman's voice yelled through the door, "Mathis! Are you alright?"
Thomas swished his arms around, being careful not to cast a spell, "Is that a muggle!" He shouted back.
There was a brief pause, "Who's in there?" She asked as she pulled the door open, "Oh my goodness!"
"Wait, wait I'm not sure what danger we're in," Thomas shouted as he battled his way through the bubbles, "Stay low!"
She giggled, "You're one of his friends," She started moving toward the kitchen, "Aren't you?"
"Stay back!" He shouted urgently as he leapt into the front room and grabbed her. She let out a slight scream as he pulled her to the side and stood in front of her. He kept his wand pointed toward the kitchen.
The woman chuckled at him again. He stood up straight and gave her a quizzical look. She walked out from behind him and shut the door. She eyed the bubbles with her emerald colored eyes; her blonde hair was up in a short ponytail. She whistled, "That's one colossal mess there."
"Who are you?" Thomas asked. He lowered his wand.
"Can't you magick up the answer?" She giggled.
"I'm not actually supposed to use magic until Mathis gets home," Thomas said bashfully, "How do you know of magic?"
"Oh Mathis and I go way back," She said, "but we should probably deal with this, and then you should put on some pants." Thomas went beet red and nodded, "Don't worry I'm not looking."
Somehow that didn't make Thomas feel any better, "So what do we do?"
"Well first we gotta shut off the dishwasher," She grinned, "I'm guessing that was your doing?" Thomas nodded timidly, "Don't worry, it's kinda like a 'muggle' rite of passage," She rolled up the sleeves of her blue plaid shirt and made her way for the kitchen, "Try not to breathe the bubbles in," She took a deep breath and pushed into the bubble brigade. Thomas followed her. Moments later he heard a click, and the dishwasher stopped making noise. She pushed a bunch of bubbles away and made a clearing for their torsos. She extended a hand, "Hi!" She said, "I'm Mary."
"I'm Thomas," Thomas replied and shook her hand.
"The Thomas!" She asked excitedly, "As in husband Thomas!"
"Er," Thomas blushed again, "yeah."
"Oh he's told me so much about you!" She jumped over and pulled Thomas into a hug.
"Funny," He shrugged, "I know nothing of you."
"I wouldn't expect so," She said as she released him, "He's very clear, all the time, about how much trouble he'd be in if anyone knew I knew about magic."
"Then why were you so open with me before you knew who I was?" Thomas asked crossly.
She waved it off, "Because no one he doesn't trust ever visits him here. You wizards are very timid of being in muggle neighborhoods."
"You see why?" Thomas laughed.
"It is incredible," Mary surveyed the kitchen, "I must say I've never seen quite an accomplished failed attempt at using the dish washer before."
"Well," Thomas bowed, "when I do, I don't hold back."
She laughed, "Mathis said you were a delight. I am surprised he never introduced us before."
"We can crack that mystery later," Thomas said, "How do we get rid of the bubbles?"
"First," She said, "put your wand away. If you're not supposed to be using magic it's probably a bad idea to have the temptation out," Thomas nodded and moved to put the wand in a pocket before realizing no pocket was there. Mary extended her hand, "Here, I'll hold it."
Hesitantly, Thomas relinquished his wand to Mary. She grinned and put it in her pocket. She turned toward the cupboard over the dishwasher, "He has salt," She said and handed a never-ending salt shaker he and Mathis had purchased a year ago to him. Then she pulled down another identical shaker, "Oh good," She said pleasantly, "He has cinnamon too."
"Are we going to make something?" Thomas asked. She chuckled, and then noticed he was serious. She shook her head and sprinkled some cinnamon on the bubbles. The cinnamon ate through the bubbles, "Fascinating! What magic is this?"
"Science," Mary said proudly, "Salt'll work too, but cinnamon is the best bubble killer there is."
"Why?" Thomas asked.
She shrugged at him, "I dunno. My specialty was never Science, but having two children helps you learn these things."
Thomas sprinkled salt on the bubbles and giggled at the reaction. They set off getting rid of the bubbles, "So what is your specialty, if not this Science?"
"I teach History," She said, "to High Schoolers. It's actually quite fun. What is it you do?"
"I was a detective for the Government," He said, "but now I'm a professional outlaw."
"Mathis is harboring a fugitive?" She gasped, "He must really like you. He just scoffed at me when I asked him to make some speeding tickets go away."
"Speeding tickets?" Thomas asked as they moved into the dining room.
"Yeah," She said, "See, we don't have the ability to fly on brooms, so we drive cars instead. When we go too fast, out police pull us over and we have to pay a fine because we broke the law."
"Oh," Thomas said, "Well I doubt Mathis could have done anything about that."
"I know," She laughed as she moved to the other side of the table, "So what is it you did?"
"Well," Thomas grinned, "what I really did was escape before they could incarcerate me for a crime I didn't commit, but what the papers say I did was 'viciously' attack the Minister for Magic who was visiting from Britain."
"That great oaf," Mary scoffed, "I've read all about him in Mathis' Daily Prophet. He sounds like a big cry baby."
"Oh he is," Thomas said, "He had this idea that because I knew Professor Dumbledore briefly 10 years ago that I'm hiding him," Mary shot him a look and he continued, "I suppose you've read all about that?" She nodded, "Well 10 years ago, before I had made detective, I was an Auror. Well there was this dark wizard in England who was threatening to take down the Ministry. She didn't get very far, and I was sent over to lend my assistance. I met Dumbledore then. He's a very friendly man."
They finished getting rid of the bubbles in the dining room. Mary looked into the front room, "This'll take an expert's hand," She said, "Why don't you grab the mop out of the cupboard and clean up the salt and cinnamon in here. You know how to use a mop, right?"
Thomas chuckled, "Yes, we use mops. Usually they're enchanted, but before I was 17 that was my punishment when I misbehaved."
Mary grinned at him. After mopping, they took wash clothes to all the surfaces and Mary opened up the dishwasher. After laughing profusely, she explained the proper way to stack the dishes inside it and how to use solid dish soap rather than liquid. The two of them sank into the couch and let out loud, pleased sighs.
Thomas had an idea, "Say," He turned to face her, "do you know how to work an oven?"