Chapter 3: History Lesson
A very large manor stood, at least three stories tall, though Nim had a hard time figuring out just how many stories there actually were because of the architecture. It was ornate, decorated in a gothic style, with gargoyles lined up and down on the roofs. It was dark, but somehow held an air of elegance. Hedges lined the property perfectly, a nice half moon entrance with a fountain in the middle. It was like finding a long lost rich uncle. The lights came on, which were dangling from the stone pillars that stood on either side of the door.
"This is…" Nim blinked and shook his head.
"Everything alright?" Cyril asked.
"Yeah just… didn't know this is the type of house that the Professor had. Impressive." He gaped a bit longer, looking at the features.
"Come now boys." Coremund called to them. "I need to establish a barrier for the place and it will be easier once you are here." He chuckled.
The two boys nodded and followed, entering past the rustic gate that surrounded the perimeter, the only part of the property to not appear as nice as the rest.
Once they'd finally entered, Coremund waved his wand a bubble substance of sorts emitting and surrounding the property. Once it had enveloped the entire perimeter, it slowly dissolved.
"That should do it. Shall we?" He offered opening the door.
The inside looked like something out of a museum. There were marble pillars, lavish stairs, several glass cases that lined the walls with what Nim assumed were family heirlooms. There was a mask, a wand, several different old photographs, a few lavish chandeliers, and even a suit of armor in the main entrance.
"You… live here alone?" Nim asked as he followed the others into the main lobby.
"Except for a couple of house elves that Hogwarts has generously provided, all paid of course." He clapped his hands together as if knocking off dust of some sort.
"Doesn't it get, I don't know, lonely?" Nim asked.
"Well, I wasn't always by myself. This house has been in my family for generations, but after my grandmother passed," He said picking up a picture of an older lady standing next to a younger lad. "It's been just me. Back when I was young, I was told I had a lot of family who lived here. However…" He shook his head. "It's just me now. If I have other family, they've long since abandoned this place." He shrugged.
Nim didn't know just how much he and the Professor had in common. Both had families they grew up with, both were essentially alone. Maybe that's why the Professor had been the one to retrieve him last year and why the two had seemed especially close.
"That sounds lonely." Cyril chimed in. He looked around. "So where are we staying?" He asked.
"Right, we should get you two settled before doing anything. We have a lot of time to get to know each other over the next month, I expect." He grinned. "Gord, Scia." He clapped.
Two elves apparated in front of them.
"Yes sir?" They asked in unison.
"Would you show Mr. North and Mr. Albacore to their rooms?" He asked.
"Certainly." Gord replied and took Cyril's things heading upstairs.
"Your things should be in the room next to him, another elf stopped by earlier." Scia said, she was shorter than her counterpart and dressed in more frilly clothing. No sooner had she finished talking something rubbed against his leg.
"Miranda." Nim's expression softened as he petted his cat. He reached down and rubbed her fur as she weaved in and out of his legs. Cyril stopped and looked back, Nim just waved, he figured there would be time to explore his room for the rest of the summer at some point, for now he wanted to enjoy this moment.
Dinner didn't take much longer. Nim soon heard the house elves calling them. He arrived in the dining hall a couple minutes later. His eyes lit up. It wasn't as extravagant as the meals at Hogwarts, but it was still quite a feast.
"Wow." Cyril said as he entered.
Coremund sat at the head of the table.
"Please, please sit boys." He chuckled. "Figured this might be a good way to start the rest of your summer. A celebration of not getting put in Azkaban." He smiled, his eyes twinkling. "Dig in!" He said once they'd seated themselves.
Nim did just that, tearing into the food piece by piece. The savory, mouth watering tastes mixed together in a euphoric concoction as he stuffed his face. After a few minutes, he'd filled himself to the brim and leaned back.
"Don't hurt yourself." Coremund chuckled. "No need to lose you after coming so far." He held up a piece of turkey as he spoke.
"Can we talk about what Gisele said earlier?" Nim asked.
"I was wondering when you were going to bring that up." Coremund sighed. "Yes, let's talk about it."
"So why is the ministry so focused on me?" Nim repeated himself from earlier.
"It's because you are something they've never dealt with before." Coremund looked at him. "Dead wizards and witches, they've been there, done that. But a boy whose blood is so unique an entire organization is after it? That's new."
"So that's the whole reason why I'm being focused on? The whole reason they won't bother to figure out why so many people died last year?" Nim felt his fists ball.
"It might be silly," Coremund looked at Nim. "But fear of the unknown, appears to be stronger than fear of the known in this case."
"But we know…nothing about the Coven." Nim said, his hands slamming against the table. "How am I more scary then them?" He felt his blood boil. "There's an entire group of people out there killing others and I'm just stuck indoors while people hold trials about me. It's aggravating." He heaved and huffed a bit before sitting down. "Sorry." He took a breath.
"I'd probably be angry if I were you too." Coremund chuckled as Nim calmed down. "I don't fully understand their reasoning myself. All I can tell you is what I know. The public has you in the focus right now. A wizard with powers they can't fathom. The Coven isn't as well known at the moment. The Ministry…" He sighed. "Has a history of siding with public opinion."
"It's really stupid." Nim shrugged. "That's all I'm saying."
"No one's disagreeing." Cyril said. "At least, no one here." He corrected himself.
"You boys have had quite the day." Coremund stood up. "Let's call it a night shall we? I'll give you the grand tour tomorrow, what do you say?" He suggested.
"That sounds great Professor." Nim stood up. Cyril nodded and agreed.
"Do you want the elves to show you to your rooms?" He asked.
Cyril shook his head. "I think I remember how to get there." He said.
"Well then boys, I'll take my leave now and get to bed. I suggest you do the same." He waved to them as they walked off.
"You sure you know where you're going?" Nim asked.
"Yeah. It's just down the hall on the second floor." He sounded confident as he walked down the hallway.
He didn't know where he was going.
That much was apparent after a few minutes.
"I thought…" He'd pause in front of a door and jiggle the handle, only to have it stay locked.
"Maybe we should go try to find the elves." Nim suggested after a few more minutes.
"Alright," Cyril sighed. "Sorry."
"It's no use it's just…" He turned around. Had they been down this hall before? "Oh." He looked around, peering down hallways, but not seeing stairs or anything other than more doors.
"What?" Cyril asked.
"I have no idea where we are." Nim blinked and continued to look around, trying to see if he could find something that seemed famililar. It didn't. "How about you?" He asked Cyril.
Cyril shook his head. "I have no idea. I sorta just remember walking down the hall when the house elf took me here. I didn't know there…were so many doors." He sighed.
"I guess…" Nim shrugged. "We just start trying all of the doors?"
Cyril shrugged back. One by one they started walking along testing all of the doors, some opened into empty rooms, some were locked, and the occasional guest room with no guest in it became apparent.
They were about to give up, when Nim noticed something. "Did you… leave the light on in your room?" He asked, pointing at a door with a soft glow beneath it.
Cyril nodded. "I did!" He said. "Maybe that's it." They walked over and just before Cyril could put his hand on it, Nim held up a finger to stop him.
"Knock first, just in case it's another person." He said. Cyril knocked on the door, but no one answered. He then twisted the handle and opened it. A breeze billowing out at them. They peered inside the room. It was pretty dark, the only thing for certain they could see was a set of stone steps leading downwards.
"We should go…" Cyril said to Nim and took a step back.
Nim would have normally agreed, but his curiosity got the better of him as he began to take a step inside.
"What are you doing?" Cyril looked around worried. "What if this is forbidden or something?" His eyes widened.
"We are lost anyways…" Nim shrugged. "Maybe we should just keep going down."
"You don't think it was strange that there was a glowing light coming from the door and the moment we opened it, complete darkness minus these stairs?" Cyril asked.
Nim hadn't really thought about it that much, but agreed with his friend. It was odd. Almost like the light had beckoned them to go there. He blinked and stepped out of the door. "Maybe you're right." He said as they shut the door. "I'm not going to lie, I'm really curious…"
"When we get better acquainted with this place and maybe learn more about this door," Cyril said. "Then before we go back to Hogwarts we can take some time and explore this more." He started to take a few steps away. "We are here for a month after all…"
Nim nodded. The other was right, tonight they needed to get some sleep after the day they had and it would behoove them not to get more lost then they already were.
Then there was a meow from down the hallway. Nim grinned as he saw Miranda stretching her legs a bit. He walked over to her and saw another door with the light on. "This your room?" He asked Cyril who stood in front of it.
"Probably." He knocked on the door and then opened it. "Yup here it is." He sighed. "How did we get so lost?"
"I guess it's just the place itself." Nim shrugged and opened the door next to his where Miranda was scratching. He probably figured she was hungry and wanted some food. He grinned and silently thanked her hungry demeanor for helping them get un-lost.
The next day, the house elves woke the boys up for breakfast and just like the dinner prior, Professor Coremund did nothing to hold back the lavish delights. He chuckled as the boys ate with a healthy vigor. Once finished, he started to give them the tour that he'd promised the night prior. They started with the outside.
"And this is where, my great grandfather had an old statue bird." He said pointing to what looked like the remains of a stone statue. "Though someone decided it a fun prank to break it. Rumor has it the old man loved the statue so much he couldn't bear to get rid of it." He strode over to the fountain and began to rattle off how it was a prized possession of another of his ancestors.
However, the moment he arrived at the fountain, Nim had the distinct feeling he was being watched and began to turn around. He looked, but didn't see anyone. It was a feeling he hadn't had for almost a year now. A feeling like at any minute time would freeze and someone would attempt to attack him. He was quite used to this feeling and didn't really enjoy feeling like this bit of the past was still around to haunt him.
He could practically see his brother staring at him from the Forbidden Forest. The year prior, his brother, somehow brought back to life in a way Nim still couldn't fully comprehend, had attempted to attack him several times. The first time had been trying to lure him into the forest. Like an idiot, he'd fallen for it hook line and sinker, but fortunately others had been there to stop him. Then two more times, one almost ending in his death.
It was during this time that he'd originally run into the Coven, who, like the trial had suggested, wanted his blood for purposes he, himself, could not fully comprehend.
He shook his head and turned back, the others having already moved on to what appeared to be a laundry chute on the side of the house.
"When we were younger, my brother and I used to slide down in the summers. Our own little personal enjoyment, I suppose." He chuckled.
"You have a brother?" Nim asked.
"Had a brother." Coremund sighed. Nim remembered his family was gone too. It was something they shared, and in that moment they looked at each other and understood one another better than they had before.
The rest of the time, Nim had a hard time focusing. He didn't realize just how much he and Coremund had in common. Sure, Coremund's entire family hadn't been massacred, but still, they'd both lost a lot.
"And that concludes the outside of the property, how about we do a tour inside?" Coremund said as they arrived back at the front. "Once we are done, it's probably about lunch. How time flies when you are looking at an old mansion." He chuckled at his own joke.
"It really is a fascinating place." Cyril said, his front teeth whistling a bit at the word fascinating. "Lots of history and what not. We should probably start studying up on our history by the way." He nodded to Nim. "I think Professor Binns is going to be tougher on us this year."
Nim hadn't really given much thought to school thus far, he'd mostly been worried that he was going to be beheaded, or whisked away to some dark dimension, or some other nefarious plot by the wizarding world after they found out about his ability. It was a nice change of pace, to think that he was going to be able to study and actually look forward to going to school in a month.
The boys followed the Professor back inside the house and immediately went upstairs. He took them down the halls explaining how famous members of his family, and other visiting wizards had spent a lot of time there. He also took note of some of the paintings on the wall.
Then Nim noticed it. One of the paintings winked at him and he stopped. He'd seen a similar painting before much like this with the same boy who stared back at him. The boy was cheerful and looked no older than about ten. He tried to put his finger on where he'd seen this picture before, but shrugged, unable to come up with the desired answer he sought.
"Who is that picture of?" Nim asked as he pointed.
"Rude to point." The picture chuckled.
"That's my little brother." Coremund stated. "Say hi, Thurston."
"Hi, Thurston." The picture cackled.
Coremund rolled his eyes. "Thinks of himself as a regular comedian, always did."
"Is there… another painting of Thurston?" Nim asked looking to Coremund.
"I don't think so, why?" He asked.
Nim shook his head still unable to put two and two together. He figured it would come to him eventually. "Never mind I-"
Then he noticed the door that he and Cyril had stumbled upon last year. The glow emitting from underneath.
"What is that door?" He asked.
"It's… oh bother it's acting up again." He tapped twice on it and the glowing stopped. He opened, it and showed that it was just an empty broom closet. "It's just a broom closet that likes to…trade places with other rooms from time to time."
"Trade places?"
"Yeah, occasionally I'll get an unfortunate muggle on the toilet, or open up to some cabin infested with werewolves." He sighed. "Was made to act like a vanishing closet by my great aunt Dixie, but alas, it didn't quite pan out the way she intended for it." He shook his head. "Nevermind, shall we continue?" He asked.
Nim and Cyril nodded, but Nim wondered just what he'd seen prior. Where did those steps lead to, and why did the door glow?
A/N: And that's...all I have written at the moment. From this point on it's all brand new chapters so...seat of my pants writing here we go again haha. As always, please leave feedback and comments. I love hearing from you all and I love my readers! Guessing we are going to be getting on the Hogwarts Express soon yay! Back to more intrigue, mystery, and shenanigans. Glad I decided to keep writing this :)
