Chapter 3: I really wish I could lie
Will's pov
The newcomer was an old man with the longest beard I have ever seen. He was dressed in a very flamboyant purple robe and was wearing a matching hat that made him seem even taller then he already was. His blue eyes had a glint of mischief as he turned his attention to me. "You must be the young man who picked a fight with dear Madam Pomfrey"
"Uhm I'm sorry?" The Newcomer confused me, so my apology came out as a question even though I were sorry for yelling at Poppy, when she was just trying to do her job. But his whole attire threw me off course, normally when people wore as eccentric clothes as this Dumbledore, they were monsters in disguise. Monsters had for some reason never a good taste in clothes or make-up. Not to mention that he was freakishly tall. It was all clues a seasoned half-blood would be wary of, but for some reason I didn't get any monster-y vibes from Dumbledore and Madam Pomfrey seemed to like him, so for the moment I decided that he wasn't a threat.
The nurse came to my rescue "You mustn't be too angry with him Professor. He was after all just trying to protect his friend." I was really glad that I got on her good side!
"Perhaps the young man would like a chance to explain the situation himself?" The old man was looking at me like I was some kind of fascinating bug he hadn't seen before, but I could recognize an olive branch when I was handed one. My sleep deprived brain was however not cooperative, and my next words was far from tactic.
"What kind of professor are you?" I could have smacked myself. In my head I could picture the olive branch burning away.
But Lady Fortuna took mercy on me (for the first time ever) and the man Dumbledore just laughed at my question. "You're absolutely right my boy. We have forgotten our manners. My name is Professor Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore and I am the headmaster of Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry, the school you are standing in right now."
"Will Solace" My name felt anticlimactic next to his and I must admit I was a bit astonished, but damn his childhood must have been rough with a name like that. We shook hands and the professor gestured to the chair I had left.
"Now Mr. Solace would you be so kind to explain what happened to you and your friend and how you got into my school. And why you would yell at poor Madam Pomfrey." The last part was added with a bit of humor, but it was the only part I could answer without lying. I sat down again, and Dumbledore pointed his wand at another chair that came flying towards him. I folded my arms while he sat down as well.
"I couldn't just let anybody preform strange voodoo on my heavily injured boyfriend." The headmaster's expression changed to one of chook, and I frowned. I really hope I wasn't dealing with a homophobe, it was the last thing I need right now!
"I'm sorry my boy, but it would not be wise for you and your friend to go around and announce your relationship."
"Why not?" I knew I sounded angry, but I had fought too much to get Nico to accept himself and our relationship to let some old bigot ruin it. But to my surprise the old man turned serious and said in a sorrowful tone:
"I'm afraid the wizarding world is still somewhat behind when it comes to the matter of acceptance."
Madam Pomfrey came up behind Professor Dumbledore and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Not everyone shares the old families' values, and don't you worry young man, I'll keep your secret." she said to me, but I noticed that she squeezed the old man's shoulder. I wanted to tell them that my sexuality really wasn't a secret and it shouldn't have to be in the 21st century, but she changed the topic before I could open my mouth.
"Headmaster I think you should ask young Mr. Solace about his healing song. I have never seen anything like it" The old nurse said wishfully. Dumbledore patted her hand.
"Of course, Madam Pomfrey you're right as always. Mr. Solace what can you tell me about your abilities? From what I have heard it seemed like very strong and complicated wandless magic that not even adult wizards can preform. But you can, and you don't even seem to know what wand magic is, if your voodoo comment is anything to go on. Now can you explain to me how that is?" the old wizard folded his hands under his chin and looked at me thoughtfully.
I squirmed in my seat. This was really really bad. I knew I couldn't just reveal the demigod world to these strangers I just met, our very survival depended on secrecy. If the mortal world found out about us, they would see us as a threat or experiment on us to figure out our powers, that is just the way human nature is. Everything unknown is frightening. These people had magic and must be hiding from the mortal world as well, but that did not make them friends. There must be a reason why we had never heard of them before. The gods must have kept us apart like they did with the two camps. But then why were Nico and I here? The whole situation was giving me a headage and I wished Nico was awake. He would have handled all of this much better than me. He did after all have more experience than me at keeping worlds secret from each other. I decided to just give them some half-truths, after all the best lies had some truth in them.
"Uh my healing hymn is a family gift I suppose, it was my brother who taught me how to do it. I don't know where he got it from, and it is too late to ask him." All of this was correct. When I first came to camp Michael Yew discovered my healing abilities and taught me all he knew, so I could help out in the infirmary from a young age.
"Then how did you get in here? It is impossible to apparat on school grounds."
"That would be Nico's gift. I think it will be better if you have him explain it, he can do it better than I can." So far I was doing alright I thought, I haven't told a lie but not the whole truth either.
"Can you tell me where you're from?"
"We're from the US" I answered fast, thinking I got an easy way out, but the Professor raised an eyebrow at my vague reply. "We both live in a camp for uhm… troubled kids… out side of New York." That was technically not a lie, most kids at Camp was troubled in some way.
"Troubled kids you say… interesting. Perhaps you could be?" Dumbledore was muttering to himself and seemed far away in his musings. I felt like it took forever for him to come back from his thoughts even though it probably only took a couple of minutes.
"When do you think your friend will wake up?"
"In a couple of days" I said sadly. "He sleeps a lot when he pushes himself too much. That reminds me, I'll need to feed him while he sleeps, do you think it would be okay for me to go to the kitchens?" My stomach stated to growl just as I mentioned food, I had after all not eaten anything since yesterday, so sue me there were nothing I could do about it. "I'll pay for it of course"
Dumbledore laughed quietly at my desperation. "Young man as long as you're not a threat to my students, food shall be provided to you freely. And you mean no harm, right?"
"Of course not sir."
"Then let us continue this conversation when your friend wakes up. I'll show you the way to the kitchens so you can get some food. Lunch is over by now, but the kitchen staff is very helpful." The old man rose from his chair and gestured for me to follow him. I would be happy to go with him after all he was showing me the way to food. (This was my hungry stomach speaking, normally you should never go with strangers when they promise you food!) But when I stood up, I lost my sight for a moment and started to sway. I would have felled right on my face had Dumbledore not supported me.
"This will just be a quick trip to the kitchens then I'm sure Madam Pomfrey won't mind if you borrowed one of the beds." I nodded tiredly and followed the wizard out the door.
The journey around the castle was a blur to me and I don't remember anything till we stopped in front of a painting of a fruit basket. I most have looked very confused, but Dumbledore just winked at me and went over and tickled the pear. I started to wonder if I already was sleeping when the pear began to laugh, and a secret door opened. But I'm pretty sure even I can't dream up anything this weird. And If this was my dream then my head wouldn't be hurting so much, and Nico would be on this expedition with me. I signed, that meant this was reality, yay me…
I was almost certain I was hallucinating when we went past the door. (I really changed my mind a lot on whether this was real or not) In the kitchen about a hundred small creatures were busy working. Some were cleaning and others were preparing dinner, but as soon as one of the creatures greeted the Headmaster, they all stop what they were doing and turned their attention to us. It was really unnerving to be the center of attention when the audience was the size of small child, and their eyes were freakishly large.
One of the small creatures stepped forward and spoke "Master is there anything you request?"
The old wizard put his hand on my shoulder and pushed me up in front of the creature. "This is Will solace and he is in need of your assistance. Will this is the house elves of Hogwarts, they will help you find proper food for your friend. It was nice to meet you young Mr. Solace, but I really have to get back to my office. We will talk again when your friend wakes up." With that he was out the door and left me alone with the small army of house elves, as he called them.
A female elf with big brown eyes came up to me. "Would you like some tea sir?" She was carrying a tray with a cup of tea and a small stack of cookies. "Uhm thank you." It didn't take long for me to attack the cookies, even if they were not the healthiest choice for my empty stomach.
"The headmaster said you needed our help"
"Yes I need food that can be eaten without chewing for my friend who's in a coma like state, and I haven't eaten since yesterday so if you have some food to spare…" I didn't get to finish my question before the small creatures started to move around hectically.
"The young sir hasn't eaten sine yesterday!" the phrase was repeated trough out the kitchen. For a moment it looked like chaos had conquered the small army of elves, but then a plate of potatoes with gravy, chicken and green beans was placed in front of me, before I could form I coherent though.
"We hope everything is to your liking sir. If not, then we can prepare something else."
"No this is perfect thank you." I was so hungry I just sat on the nearest small chair and eat with gusto. The elves were cooking a veggie soup while I eat, but there were always one of them keeping an eye on me in case I wanted something. It was not a situation I had ever been in, and it unnerved me somewhat. I can't imagine anyone being so happy to serve others as these small creatures were, and it somehow felt unnatural, like they had no other choice but to be happy with their jobs. When I studied them a bit more, I could see that all of them were wearing rags or cloths made of mismatching patches.
The female elf, who served me tea and cookies when I first got here, were the one who was currently keeping an eye on me. I tried to catch her attention.
"Excuse me uhm... miss"
The tiny elf looked at me with her big eyes. "Are you talking to me master?" I nodded, and she suddenly started to giggle. "The young sir called me miss. You are too polite sir." She stopped giggling but now she was beaming at me instead. "What can I do for you sir?"
"Can I ask you a few questions?"
"Of course sir" She nodded her head fiercely so her batwing-ears flapped.
"What is your name?"
"I'm Tabby sir" She seemed pleasantly surprised at my question.
"Hey Tabby, my name is Will. Can you tell me why none of you are wearing real clothes?" Tabby gasped horrified. "It is very offensive to offer a house elf clothe sir. That means they haven't been doing a good enough job and you don't want them around anymore. If master Dumbledore gave Tabby clothe Tabby wouldn't have a home anymore." Her eyes filled with tears, and hastily I apologized.
"I'm sorry Tabby I didn't mean to upset you. I just don't know anything about house elves, and I was wondering if you were happy with serving dinner all your life." Tabby dried her eyes in her improvised rag dress.
"You are very kind master Will, but you mustn't misunderstand. It is the greatest honor for a house elf to be working at Hogwarts, and we're all very happy."
"I'm glad you're happy Tabby." I still though the house elves behaved like they were indoctrinated in some kind of cult, but Tabby seemed to be genuinely happy here. I decided I wanted to talk to Dumbledore about the house elves behavior and working conditions next time I saw him!
"Here is the soup for your friend sir" A new elf handed me a warm container, before hurrying away.
"Thank you very much" I called after him. "Tabby do you think you can show me the way to the hospital wing? I can't remember the way." Tabby beamed at me again. "Of course Mr. Will! Right this way." I turned around and thanked all the house elves for their help, before I left the kitchen.
"You made yourself a friend of the house elves sir Will" Tabby smiled gratefully to me "Not a lot of people thank us for our services."
"You deserve to be appreciated" I said but though with regret at how I never thanked Hestia for taking care of the fire, before I saw Nico do it. I decided then that I would never take anyone for granted.
"Here we are sir. If you ever need help for anything then just call Tabby." With a snap of her fingers she was gone, and I stood alone outside the door to the hospital wing with the cooling soup.
Author's note:
Tadaa that was chapter 3. The longest chapter yet! I hope you like it :D I have good news to all my lovely followers, I now have a plan for this story! I have planned out most of the plot and an ending, but you can still send me a message if you have any ideas though, since it is always a good idea to get others input. I believe that is the way to go to get the best results, not just when it comes to writing stories :) What did you think of Tabby? She is officially my first OC. I just created her so Will could interreact with the house elves. If I make more OCs then they will have small roles as well.
I found it very tricky to get into Dumbledore's character since we haven't really read anything from his point of view before, so please say if you think he is too out of character, and I will do my best to fix it. Next chapter will be from Harry's pov.
As always leave a review for me to read! The best part of writing this story, is reading what you think of it
I want to thank Guest specially since you took the time to respectfully correct some of my errors. It actually means a lot to me. All feedback is gold!
Un till next time 3
