Chapter 7: Complex problems have simple, easy to understand, wrong answers
After the initial excitement of finding out about the magical world on Earth, along with Hatter and Harry's history, things began to filter into a routine for the two cousins over the next month…mostly.
With Carol now in on the basics of Wonderland and magic, Robert began spending more time with his former wife when she wasn't working. Taking her to visit Mulberry Street and having long talks about how things had really been for him the past fifteen years. Now that she knew his amnesia story was only partly true, she felt a bit vindicated in her stance that he and Alice had been hiding something from her. Thankfully, the truth only seemed to bring the couple closer together and after two weeks of adjustments and dates, Carol invited Robert to move in.
Alice was only too excited about this breakthrough in her parents relationship with this suggestion, and had quickly offered her room at Carol's apartment (so they could still have some space if they needed it) and insisted that she could move her belongings at her mother's into Hatter and Harry's apartment. Hatter had been all for the move as well. While he'd developed a comfortable dynamic with Alice's dad, and Robert in turn seemed only too pleased with their relationship, he couldn't help but feel that not having his lover's parent around quite so often might help eliminate those few awkward moments they ran into. Like that time when Alice had spent the night and Robert had woken to find his daughter sporting messed up hair and, dressed only in one of Hatter's shirts, had given him a bleary-eyed smile as she passed him with a large mug of coffee on her way back to Hatter's bed.
The tense conversation that followed Alice's departure that morning had been one of the more unpleasant ones Hatter had endured in his almost thirty years of life.
Harry had only shrugged unconcernedly at Alice's suggestion and commented on how she practically lived there anyway before delving back into a book on magical charms that he'd been reading. Hatter had attempted to use his cousin's excellent point as the key influence to convince Alice to just move in fully and sell her little apartment, but she refused to do so. When he'd tried to press how illogical it was to keep the place (his flat was closer to not only her work, but the subway as well, which also meant a shorter trip to her parent's place) she'd gotten into a debate with him that only increased in volume and harshness as it drew on, before giving one last biting comment and storming out of the apartment.
Harry had yet to witness how intense their arguing could get, having not been with Hatter when he'd taken Alice to meet Dodo, and had dropped his book in surprise as he watched them go at it; flinching when Alice slammed the door as she left. Robert was in a similar state of shock at seeing his daughter's aggressive behavior; leaving an unsurprised Carol to take up the mantle and pull Hatter into the kitchen to talk with him about Alice's abandonment issues, and the fierce independent streak she'd developed in their wake.
"You two have something that I've only been able to hope she might have one day," Carol confessed as she'd calmly passed Hatter a cup of tea, "And, if I'm being honest, you weren't exactly what I pictured as the ideal boyfriend either."
"Cheers," Hatter had scoffed with a scowl at his cup before he downed his tea in one gulp.
Carol sighed then and placed her hand over one of his so he'd look up at her. "You may not be what I imagined for her," she'd insisted, "But that doesn't mean you're not a good match. You challenge her David, and she needs that in her life. Too often I've seen her with guys that, if they didn't remind her of her father, were too sweet and complying and just let her do as she pleased with no fuss."
She'd smiled and given his hand a squeeze then, "But you, you push her buttons and tease her, and you won't back down when you think she's wrong…and she needs that in her life." Carol smirked then for the first time that Hatter had seen as she pulled back to take a sip of her own tea, "The problem is, you've pushed too far this time without knowing it. Alice needs her space right now. And I don't just mean from this argument. She's falling for you David, and fast. Faster then anyone else she's been with and…it scares her I think. She needs that little apartment right now so that she can keep her independence. One day she won't need it, but what you need to ask yourself, is how badly you need for her not to have it."
So Hatter took a moment and did just that. In doing so he found he was a bit caught off guard by how fast Alice had moved into his life. They'd only been together for just inside three months and courting for less then half that time. Not since he'd taken on Harry all those years back had he desired to bring someone into his life on a permanent basis so quickly. Taking Carol's advice to heart, Hatter didn't talk to Alice for almost two days while they both sorted out their priorities. It was the first time he'd voluntarily gone without contact since coming to live on this side of the Looking Glass.
Hatter mainly spent the time doing things with Harry as the two hadn't found many opportunities to just spend one on one time with each other like used to when they'd lived in the Tea Shop. He'd been surprised to find that Harry had taken the initiative to set up a place for the tea plants they brought from his old shop up on the roof of their building. A glass house for growing plants had apparently fallen into disrepair and Harry decided to claim it for their own use; even getting Robert to purchase a lock for him so that no one else could use it. Seeing the tea plants had reminded Hatter on what he'd originally planned to do with them before things had gotten all mixed up, and the two cousins then spent the next day researching what they would need to get his idea off the ground with a surprising amount of success. Thanks largely in part to the books they'd picked up from Nook and Crannies on Mulberry Street.
When they did meet up with everyone again at Carol's house for dinner on Sunday, Alice had pulled Hatter aside before dinner to sit down and talk about things. Harry had been optimistic at how things were proceeding since he, Carol, and Robert couldn't hear any yelling from the kitchen but as the silence dragged on for well over an hour, Carol began to worry that maybe she'd messed things up with the advice she'd given to the young couple and went to go see how things were.
She walked back into the living room not seconds after she'd left looking equal parts embarrassed and shocked, saying that the pair might need a few more minutes after all. Dinner started late as a consequence, but having Alice and Hatter smiling and happy again made it worth it for all those involved. Harry of course wasn't above teasing them about their behavior and had helped diffuse the initial awkwardness when the couple came back into the room and confessed they'd resolved the issue after only ten minutes or so.
They had agreed that Alice should keep her apartment, even if she didn't stay there often. Hatter really only understood her desire to do so on a few levels, but knew better then to press the issue right now and Alice assured Hatter then when the day came that she felt she no longer needed the place, he would be the first to know. The promise had ended up being sealed with more than just a simple kiss was all.
So it came to be that Alice (mostly) moved in with Hatter and Harry, while Robert moved in with Carol. Harry adjusted to the change in dynamic by making sure to give Hatter gruff whenever he felt Alice was talking over all his time, while Alice slowly began to instill herself into a sort of mothering position with Harry. A concept that Harry continued to wrestle with when Alice began to take over parts of his life that only Hatter had monitored before, including things like requiring him to brush his teeth regularly and assisting with his education in the afternoons before supper. Though he wouldn't admit liking the attention to anyone, Hatter had caught Harry blushing or smiling secretly on occasion when Alice gave him praise for something or another he'd done. The only subject of conflict to come up between to the trio after Robert moved out was the topic of magic.
As soon as things had been settled with the bank after they'd gotten their wands, Harry had taken every waking opportunity to practice this new type of magic. While it initially involving reading through the basic course books they'd purchased, Harry had quickly become bored with the dry instructional text and began to skip ahead to just the important parts that told him how to do the spells.
The morning Hatter woke up to three inches of water on the floor and the landlord demanding to come in and check for burst pipes marked the end of Harry's unsupervised use of magic however, and he'd been forced to haggle with his younger cousin into practicing only in the mornings with him while Alice had class. Even going so far as to take control over Harry's wand at night to make sure the lad didn't 'forget' their agreement and practice on his own. Having never actively used magic before as he didn't count punching things into dust or running quickly in the same skill set as his cousin, Hatter was honestly intrigued by the idea of using magic in such a casual fashion and considered himself to have gotten the better of the deal by far…at first.
With the introduction book open to the first section, Hatter had attempted to duplicate Harry's color changing ability with the indicated phrase and wand movement for the aptly named Color Switch spell, but to no avail. Harry had quickly mastered the ability, being familiar with his own similar version for years, and was doing it silently and repeatedly by the time he noticed Hatter's pillow remained the same shade of violet it had always been. The pair attempted to figure out the solution all morning, with Harry continuing to read up on the subject into the afternoon and evening without luck. By the third day, Hatter was ready to throw his hat in (both literally and figuratively) were it not for his attempt at a new spell in his desperation to get anything to work for him at that point.
"There," Hatter proclaimed with a gesture as he flipped forward a few pages, "That's the one you did in the tunnel on accident yeah?"
Harry looked over the instructions and nodded, "Yeah, Lumos, the light spell. I'd read about it the day before we got our wands so I had it on me mind. Haven't tried it yet again…but are you sure you wanna-"
"Yup," Hatter decreed with a twirl of his wand, "If you made a mini sun on accident, surely I can make a torchlight's worth?" He practiced the gestured required for a minute with Harry until they both felt they had it right before taking a deep breath. Harry nodded, turned off the lights and closed the curtains before giving him the go ahead signal as Hatter focused all his intent on making it light (a technique Harry had suggested with the color spell that his younger cousin swore had caused the pillow to lighten a bit when Hatter tried it).
With his right arm positioned in front of him as he gave a slight downward flick, Hatter loudly stated, "Lumos." Nothing happened for a heartbeat and then, quite suddenly, a tiny light began to flicker and then grow at the tip of his wand. Excited by a show of some success, Hatter grinned and redoubled his efforts by focusing on making a light as bright as Harry had once made it, while his young cousin let out a cheer at the sign of his achievement. Hatter quickly regretted that decision however when the little pin prick quickly burst to life with a white light so intense that it hurt and he had to shield his eyes; dropping his wand in the process.
Harry managed to throw a pillow on the lit wand while Hatter looked up the instructions for how to shut off the light. A turned page and few short minutes of blinding light later had Hatter extinguishing the brightness with a simple 'nox'.
"This is good," Harry smiled cheerfully at his cousin, "Least we know you're not pants at everything then yeah?" He laughed as he ducked the pillow directed at his head his smarmy remark had generated before moving out of reach and prompting Hatter to try something else.
Unfortunately, the Lumos spell was not the breakthrough the pair had hoped for as Hatter continued to have trouble with almost half the spells they attempted, and neither of them could figure out why. Still, the ready use of magic was a novel enough concept for Hatter that he still enjoyed using anything he could learn even a month into the cousins' self teaching. Alice was of course more than happy to point out how not all of the spells were very practical when given a demonstration, and had learned to enter the magical duo's flat with caution after her morning classes, least she get hit with a stray spell or object, as a consequence of living in 'Mini-Wonderland'. Being only human of course meant she'd occasionally forget to do so, which was precisely how Alice found herself being attacked by a wave of pillows and cushions one late April afternoon.
Alice made a muffled 'oof' noise as a violet missile collided with her face and knocked her cell phone out of her hand. Before she even had a moment to find her attacker, a shouted 'duck!' came from across the room and it was only thanks to Alice's increased speed that she managed to move out of the way before a large dark green seat cushion impacted with the door and slammed it shut. Frustrated by this random assault, Alice opened her mouth to tell the mischievous cousins off when she heard something that sounded like her mother coming from under the large couch cushion at her feet.
"Hey mom," she huffed into the receiver after retrieving the phone.
"Alice is everything all right? It sounded like you got into some sort of fight," her mother asked with concern.
"No, no, I'm fine. Just have a pair of kids to tell off is all. I'll call you back in a few," Alice replied before hitting the end button and pocketing the cell. Fixing her best angry/disappointment glare on her face, Alice looked up at the smiling innocent faces across the room.
"Alice!" Hatter beamed and she fixed her glare on him, "You're back early today yeah?"
"I thought you both agreed not to use the front door as target practice any more," she frowned at the pair and crossed her arms, "Seeing as how I almost got hit with a lamp last time?"
"Harry can be very persuasive when he wants," Hatter nodded sagely as he traveled the short distance to stand in front of Alice.
"Don't even try and pin this on me," Harry objected before pointing his wand at Hatter, "You're the one with all the aiming problems."
"That may be but, remind me little Potter, who was it that suggested the front door would be the largest and safest spot to practice on?" Hatter asked innocently with a smile.
Harry gaped at his cousin before frowning and dropping his wand arm, "That's cheating."
"There you have it. A confession," Hatter proclaimed to Alice with a smile before giving a small bow, "I place my head upon the court."
Alice struggled to keep her stern glare going, but a look from Hatter as he stood up easily gave away that it wasn't working. "Nice try," she dryly commented, "But you're the adult here, hard as that is to believe sometimes, so you should know better."
"Speaking of adult things," Hatter sidestepped her remark as he led her into the kitchen, "I got a missive back from that Addams bloke finally. Came by owl of all things just after breakfast." He set the kettle on for tea as he continued, "Says he's found loads of stuff and would very much like me to come by this afternoon."
"Really?" Alice questioned. Her minor ire from the assault upon entering getting shelved for the moment, "Did you already send a response?"
"Yup," Hatter announced with a popped 'p' as he readied three tea cups, "What with you taking Harry for lessons today, I figured it'd give myself something to do as well."
Alice nodded with his reasoning, though he couldn't see it with his back turned, as she took off her purple coat and got comfortable. Looking back into the living room, she could see Harry floating the scattered pillows back to their appropriate homes and gave him a wide smile when he made his way to sit beside her seconds later. "Thank you Harry," she added as he sat down, giving her a smile in return. A look to her right revealed Hatter was busy messing with the tea for some reason so she faced Harry once more. "So you excited about your first class today?" she questioned.
"Definitely!" Harry beamed up at her, "Will I need to change before we leave?"
Alice shrugged, "You can if you want, but we have a pair of small locker rooms you can use at the dojo just for that reason. People don't usually want to go home in sweaty clothing, but the first few days won't be too intense if you'd like to change here instead."
Harry propped his head in his hands on the kitchen island as he considered his options so Alice looked back over at Hatter. The kettle was billowing steam (Harry had accidentally silenced it and they'd yet to find a way to change it back) and Hatter had just picked it up to dispense the hot water into his prepared cups. As he did so, Alice noticed a small tag hanging off the edges of each cup and frowned. It wasn't like Hatter to use store bought brands, he claimed they lacked some sort of depth, but perhaps he'd finally run out of his supply from Wonderland?
There was a mischievous twitch in his grin as he passed the cups around, but continued acting as if nothing was out of the ordinary. A glance at Harry revealed nothing either and Alice was immediately suspicious. "So," Hatter spoke up as he sat with them, "When does class end today? Want to make sure I leave with enough time to see young Harry fall flat on his face a few times at least."
"The only one who'll be flat on their face is you," Harry retorted as he pressed the tea bag to the side of his cup with his honey spoon, "just as soon as Alice teaches me that rolly-flippy-thingy she does."
Alice only listened to their banter with half an ear as she inspected her tea, copying Harry's move of draining the bag before setting it on her saucer. It looked like normal tea. She laid the tag facing her so she could read the print there. It simply read 'Excite-mint' in a swirled indigo font over a grass green background and Alice furrowed her brow as she inhaled the smell before blowing on the liquid to cool it. She couldn't remember any brand by that name, but the scent was refreshing so she took a small sip. It wasn't like any commercial tea she'd ever tasted; a strong peppermint flavor with a subtle fruity undertone she couldn't place, and Alice immediately took another drink.
Looking over her cup, she could see Hatter giving her short glances as he drank his own. Confused and not wanting to guess what he was so worried about, Alice set down her cup and looked at him expectantly.
"What d'ya think?" he posed calmly and she could see Harry listening for her response as well.
"It's good," she shrugged, "Though I have no idea why you're so edgy about me liking the tea. I've had store bought tea before so it's not like I think less of you for buying it." She took a longer dredge of her drink now that it had cooled and let the flavors roll across her palette before swallowing, "Trust you to find the best stuff though. What's the brand?"
That mischievous smirk of his twitched on the corner of his mouth before he finished his cup, and moved to ready another, "It's called Curiosity." He set the box down in front of her so she could inspect it. The design was simple and the name was printed 'Curious-I-Tea' with the flavor 'Excite' in smaller letters below it. Out of habit she turned it around and read the description on the back, pausing as she looked at the top hat logo on the bottom with the name 'Mad Hatters Inc.' next to it, and quite suddenly, she understood.
"You made this?" Alice asked excitedly and Hatter sat back down next to her with a self satisfied grin. "Wow, I can't believe, I mean, where did you get the idea to do something like this?" she continued.
"Back when we were packing up the shop in Wonderland, I knew I'd have to do something to support myself in your world. The problem was, what skills did I have that could be of use?" Hatter posed as he leaned back in his chair, "I knew how to be a peddler, a pusher, a seller and swindler but talking with your Dad led me to understand that the rulers here don't take kindly to dealings of that sort in the public. So I had to go back to the chalk board as it were and design a new business for myself, and that's when it hit me," he proclaimed with a flourish at his tea cup, "Tea. I'd done it the better half of me life, with the how-tos and whys being self taught, and figured the bit of silver Harry managed to save from when the shop was sacked-"
"He's promised me half the company if it does well as thanks," Harry grinned; inordinately pleased with himself.
"-would help get things started," Hatter finished. "Would have gotten it in the clouds sooner had we not found out about the whole family history and Goblin business and gotten distracted."
Alice nodded before finishing off the last of her tea, "Yeah I can see how that might have thrown you for a loop, but how did you get this put together in such a short time? I mean, you must've had mounds of paperwork to go through and the packaging is very professional. Does that mean you already have buyers?" As the idea grew on her, Alice wondered how she didn't see this coming as it fit him so well. Even with the inheritance he'd received from the Potter line, she should have known he wouldn't be one to lie around and do nothing.
"In the first part," Hatter began, "Magic, and then the goblins for all the nasty paper business. Carpenter helped out with some of it though as he'd set up his own company before. This box was part of the tester set I put together with the help of that bloke his daughter's courting. Smart guy, Abby's a lucky girl." He gestured to Harry, "What's the lad's name again?"
"Connor," Harry smiled, "He's brilliant! Been helping us by designing the spells for making the tea bags and such."
"Wait," Alice broke in, "You two put these together yourself?"
"Course. After breakfast, we go up the roof, harvest the plants, mix the blends and package everything with spell work."
"That's my job," Harry supplied, "Hatter can only get the bagging spell to work for him, so I do all the assembly."
Alice examined the box and its contents again, "That must take forever. You can't have many ready for resale yet right?"
Hatter shrugged noncommittally, "Somethin' like two or three hundred boxes right now I believe. Been storin' 'em in the mushroom trunk the plants came over in so not sure on the count. Have to wait till we can do another harvest before we can make more."
While he didn't seem that impressed by his numbers, Alice was amazed at how much magic let them accomplish in such a short time…but something was clawing at her about all of this. "So, you've been working on this for…?" she prompted.
"About two weeks now," Hatter answered.
"And I'm only just finding out about it now because…?" she quirked an eyebrow at him and his self satisfied grin faltered slightly.
"Well, ya see, I've only just found a seller, and it's not like I've only kept it from you," he attempted to save himself, "Your parents don't know either. And I was sort of hoping it'd be a nice surprise all around yeah? Somethin' to celebrate at dinner on Sunday." While he provided a decent reason, Alice felt there was something else there he wasn't telling her. Harry, as he tended to do, supplied that reason seconds later.
"He was just worried you'd think less of him if it failed," Harry quipped.
Hatter frowned and brandished an empty teacup at his cousin, "Ya know, it's moments like these that make me regret telling you to speak back to me. Made you a right pain in the arse it has."
Alice chuckled and Harry grinned as he toasted his own cup at his older cousin, "Cheers!"
Explaining the new tea business to Alice bled into lunch and Harry excused himself right after to water the plants. Hatter and Alice had disappeared from the kitchen by the time he'd come back downstairs so he busied himself by feeding and then playing with Bob. He was working on teaching the little rocking horse fly how to answer yes and no question to some small degree of success finally. After seeing how responsive the birds that delivered the mail were for magicals, Harry had decided his pet had no less potential. A month into training and Bob could now correctly identify colors, the people he saw most often, and general shapes.
Just after three, Alice told Harry it was time to leave for class and he quickly changed into his judo outfit that Alice called a 'gi', securing it with his white belt and placing his off white trilby hat on as the best match. When Alice saw his change of attire, she smiled and then paused to look at his hat. "Harry, I'm afraid you'll have to leave your hat here. We talked about this before," she reminded him.
"It doesn't seem very practical though," Harry insisted, "I've always got my hat and it me. Shouldn't I learn in the most realistic settings?"
She fixed him a look and set her arms on her hips, "If that were true I'd be tossing you into the nearest bar fight. No hats or accessories of any kind. That's the dojo's rules Harry and there's nothing I can do about it. You can wear it there, but you'll have to take it off before class."
Sighing and knowing better than to press for more right now, Harry waved goodbye to Hatter and followed along side Alice the entire trip. Since they were in public he couldn't talk about how his magic learning was going, and they instead filled the time talking about safer topics like the Curious-I-Tea and Harry's studies.
They arrived at the dojo at a quarter till four and Harry waved a greeting to Ms. Nicole at the desk as he passed her on the way into the downstairs left side dojo. Alice showed him where he could set their water bottles and his hat before going off to change herself; leaving him to watch as one of the other instructors picked up some large flat things off the floor while he waited. When Alice walked back in, some kids were following her and Harry frowned when he noticed they were in uniform as well. It hadn't occurred to him before then that when Alice signed him up for a class it would be with a bunch of kids. It immediately made him consider dropping the class, but he knew Alice would be disappointed if he did and he was too interested in learning proper fighting skills to quit so quickly.
He kept his distance though by staying on the far right side and took note of each kid as they entered. From his best guess, they all looked about his age. Some clearly knew each other outside of this class and had entered together, while others introduced themselves as the stood about near the room's entrance. None of them came over to the far side of the room near Harry and he preferred it that way as he wasn't really interested in getting to know them. If nothing else, their presence just confirmed that there wouldn't be anything to distract him from learning everything he could from Alice during his classes. Harry ran a self conscious hand through his flyway hair and glanced longingly down at his trilby. He felt off without his hat.
At four exactly, Alice moved to the middle of the room and clapped her hands once loudly to get the kids' attention. "Alright everyone, welcome to beginners judo," she projected loudly as the din of chatter faded, "I'm Alice, and you may call me either Sensei Alice, or just Sensei. Please form two lines, one on each side of the dojo, so we can get started with some warm up stretches." She tossed a questioning glance Harry's way when she noticed he'd stayed where she left him, but didn't say anything and turned her gaze back towards the front to watch the entire room.
"Good afternoon Mr. Hatter," Margaret tittered as Hatter entered the now correctly labeled offices of Addams and Addams. "Mr. Addams is expecting you," she gestured to the back office.
"Brilliant," Hatter smiled and crossed the short distance to the closed door. The less time he had to spend in this dreary building, the better. Not bothering to knock since he was expected, Hatter let himself in right away, "So what's this news you've got for me th-"
A dagger flew at the door he'd just entered and slammed it shut just as Hatter had fully stepped into the room. Confused and immediately on edge, he looked where the weapon must have come from only to find Mr. Addams now brandishing a thin sword at him and a touch of madness in his eyes.
"Knave!" the man bellowed as he dashed towards Hatter and swiped his thin sword at his head; Hatter only just managing to duck and roll out of the way.
"The bloody hell!" Hatter exclaimed as he continued to dodge his lawyers' attacks, quickly making his way to the opposite side of the room and retrieving a thin sword of his own just in time to parry another attack.
"You sir, are a deceiver!" Mr. Addams exclaimed as he tried to push Hatter into a corner, "A harbinger of lies and fallacies!" Hatter pressed the older man back so he could have room to maneuver. Why hadn't Margaret come to help him yet? Surely she could hear the scuffle! Trying to makes sense of the randomness here, Hatter continued to defend himself as the exchange of attacks grew more intense.
"I-" clash "have-" whoosh "no-" skeerch "idea-" clang "what-" grunt "you're on-" cling "about!"
Hatter switched the sword to his right had and used the extra power there to knock the sword out of Mr. Addams' hand with his next swipe and followed it up with a quick kick to the abdomen; sending the man stumbling off balance until he finally fell upon his desk. Hatter stood at the ready to charge the older man again if need be, sending a flicker at the door to see if the secretary had come in yet, when Mr. Addams did something that completely threw him off balance again.
He laughed.
Loudly and triumphantly before righting himself and sending a bright grin at Hatter. "Good show old boy!" he declared with a clap of his hands; giving them a wave right after causing both Hatter's sword and the discarded one to fly off into the stand against the far wall. "To business!" Mr. Addams grinned as he moved to sit in his chair and gestured at the ones across from him.
The door opened then as Margaret came in bearing a full tea tray and a smile. "I'm sure you're both thirsty now," she gave as her only explanation before leaving once more. Hatter could do nothing but stand there in shock for those few seconds as he tried to get a bearing on what was happening.
He also had a new found appreciation for what Alice must have gone through when she'd first come to Wonderland.
Still feeling the adrenaline from his impromptu fight, Hatter moved to stand behind the chair but not sit in it yet. "Sorry, have I missed something here?" he questioned.
"How do you take your tea?" Mr. Addams inquired as he set about making a cup, "Cream, lemon?"
"Depends on the tea," Hatter automatically responded before giving his head a shake, "What was all that about though?"
"What was what?" Mr. Addams asked as he pushed the tray towards Hatter, "Do make yourself to a cup. Margaret makes a deadly brew. You wouldn't want to miss it." The bit of madness Hatter saw in the smile Mr. Addams gave him after that statement did nothing to help Hatter's comfort level at the moment at all.
"The whole fighting bit!" Hatter objected, "Greeting me with a dagger in my face and trying to chop me head off."
Mr. Addams grinned, "Just a bit of sport. I like to start serious business with a good fight! You can tell a lot about a man from how he fences and you sir, are a fighter." There was a gleam in his eye at this revelation that Hatter still wasn't sure he felt comfortable with, but mostly certain that he wouldn't be killed by sword anytime soon (he couldn't say the same for tea), he slowly eased himself into the chair before him.
"Of course I'd expect no less from the case you've given me to work with," Mr. Addams continued as he pulled out a much larger stack then the folder Hatter had left him and placed it on his desk. "Such a tale of vengeance, and murder, all wrapped in a government conspiracy and political upheaval! It makes the blood boil and cry out for justice!" That grin that edged on the side of madness never left Mr. Addams' face as he spoke on about what Hatter could only assume was the issue he'd first came here with. It was starting to sound like the mess his gut had told him it might be when he'd first looked into it.
"And to have it involve England's Boy who lived as well!" Mr. Addams exclaimed, "Such a case! That and your fighting skill make this venture more than worthy of an Addams at your side."
"Sorry," Hater frowned, the name seemingly familiar for some reason, "Boy who lived? What's this lad got to do with anything?"
"You mean you don't know?" Mr. Addams asked with a sober sound of awe, "It's your ward. The young Harry Potter himself. The celebrated defeater of Voldemort! Surely you must know?"
Hatter felt his gut clench as he ran through what he remembered from the files. Yes, there'd been a mention of someone called Voldemort in them. He'd been the one who'd…
His jaw tightened with determination as dread swept through him at the connection of a few facts on that little bit of information alone. Hatter looked Mr. Addams dead on and demanded, "Tell me everything."
When Hatter didn't show up for the end of Harry's first class, Alice had been concerned but not terribly surprised that the meeting had run late. Her mother had often told her lawyers operate on their own time and Alice reassured Harry that that was likely the case here as well. She could read Harry well enough by now to see he was a bit hurt by Hatter's no show, but understood how it probably wasn't his fault. The walk back to the apartment was quiet as a result and though Alice tried to keep up some glimmer of a conversation with the pre-teen, the last hour and a half with him had given her a few things to think upon. The heart of which she planned to pull Hatter aside and talk to him about when he got home. Something that took longer than even she had guessed.
It was just after seven and Alice and Harry were dishing up dinner when they both heard the door open and shut. Alice smiled at Harry and made up another plate for Hatter before they both moved toward the dinning table. She opened her mouth to try and make a joke about how long he'd been, but it died on her lips the moment she saw him. Before their relationship had even started, Alice had seen a variety of Hatter's expressions. But even when he'd been tortured and bleeding from his ears he had a sort of positive determination about everything he did; ready with a smile or encouraging words when she needed them most.
In all the time she'd known him, she'd never seen him look this tired and…defeated as he stared at the stack of papers in his arms. Clearly something very serious had happened this afternoon. Looking over at Harry lowered her concern a bit though as he didn't seem nearly as taken back by Hatter's appearance as she was, though he did look worried.
As Alice set down both hers and Hatter's plates, the noise broke him out of his trance and he set the papers down on the coffee table before walking over to join them with a smile, "Evening. Sorry I missed the end of your lesson today Little Potter." He gave Harry an affectionate head ruffle before giving Alice a kiss on the cheek and sitting down. "Things took a bit longer than I thought with the lawyer obviously," he wryly commented, "This, smells brilliant though."
"It's some sort of meat bread," Harry informed him, poking it suspiciously with his fork.
"Meatloaf," Alice corrected before having a bite.
He frowned at her, "Yeah, that's what I said." Harry then faced Hatter, "So what was so important that you missed out on seeing my incredible new judo skills?"
Hatter took his time eating his bite of food before replying. "Well, it's quite a story and…it all started the night your parents died." Harry set down his fork stoically and Hatter waved his hand dismissively, "Ya know, I think its best we save this till after dinner yeah? You eat up."
"No," Harry stated quite seriously, "I wanna know. Go on." Hatter looked down at his plate and took a deep breath before meeting Harry's gaze. After a few seconds had passed he nodded and set his own fork back down.
What followed was one of the most fantastical, unbelievable, and anger inducing stories of Alice's life. Quite a tall order when you've been involved with the political revolution of an entire kingdom.
Hatter talked for the better part of a half hour. He informed them about what the lawyer had found out about the night Harry became an orphan, the limited details about his godfather's seemingly unlawful imprisonment, and a few details about the man who'd killed the Potters and the magical and political war England had experienced for over a decade. Voldemort's agenda reminded her of the Queen of Hearts and Hitler combined.
Neither Hatter nor Alice objected when Harry excused himself after Hatter finished his tale. Once she heard the door to his room close though, Alice finally spoke up. "You planning to go talk to him again?" Hatter had told her about Harry's emotional upset when he first found out about his parent's murder, and she figured the two might need a little one on one time with all the new information that had come to light.
"In a mo'," Hatter confirmed, "but first, I have to tell you the rest of the story."
Alice frowned. It wasn't like Hatter to keep information from Harry. "There's more?" she asked and Hatter nodded.
"It's about Harry. See, when that nutter came to kill his parents, he apparently meant to kill Harry as well," Hatter face darkened and his eyes flickered to Harry's room and then back at her. "The thing is," he leaned in, "something happened. Some unexplained magical thingy, and the bloke died instead. Harry is to the magical people of England as the Alice of Legend is to Wonderland. They call him the boy who lived cause he survived when no one else did."
As he went on, she didn't wonder why Hatter was keeping this from Harry any longer and she had no idea how he was going to explain to an eleven year old that he was a beacon of hope to an entire generation of people. Though she did feel she could relate to how overwhelming it could feel. Maybe she'd be able to help Hatter out this time when he went to talk with Harry. The thought of being able to help Harry warmed her heart and she expressed her thoughts to Hatter.
He gave a sigh of relief and nodded, "That'd be brilliant Alice love. That kettle of onions aside though, Gomez says we'll have to make a trip to England for a meeting with the magical government there about the mess with Harry's godfather. There are quite a lot of contradictions mixed up concerning him but Gomez has an interesting plan to clear it all up. Should be good for a laugh." Something about that last remark made a real smile start to grow on his face for the first time that night.
"Ya know he attacked me when I showed up today?" he idly remarked.
Alice blinked, "He did what?"
"Attacked me," Hatter restated, "Soon as I stepped in. Had to grab a sword to defend me person and when I'd bested him, he went on nice as you please. As if I'd never happened at all!"
She smirked, "Somehow I'm not surprised to learn you that out of all the lawyers you could have met, you, hire the crazy one." Hatter shared a chuckle with her before fidgeting with his jacket sleeves.
"So," he drew out, "I was thinking we could check out that school while we're over in this England place as well." Hatter looked up at her through hooded eyes to gauge her reaction, "Ya know, the one that's already to be paid for?"
Whatever fear he apparently had about mentioning the place passed Alice by as instead it only reminded her of what she wanted to talk to Hatter about after her Judo class had ended. Shelving it for a moment, Alice addressed the issue he brought up first. "I thought you didn't want Harry going to a school?"
Hatter frowned, "I said nothing of the sort. Just don't trust your government run institutions is all."
Alice shrugged, "Same difference, but I'm all for it. I told you before that I think he needs to get a real education." Hatter opened his mouth to object and Alice cut him off, "Not that we're doing a bad job right now, but Harry will exhaust our knowledge one day and he can't learn everything from books."
She took a sip of her drink before continuing, "This topic leads nicely into something I wanted to talk to you about anyway. When you lived in Wonderland, did Harry have any friends?"
"Course he did," Hatter shot her a perplexed look, "You met Reggie of course, but he got on well with lots of the Bargainers. Brought out the less twitchy side of Dormie too."
"I don't mean adults," Alice stressed, "I mean friends his own age. You know, other kids?"
Hatter winced, "Not as much no. But, the thing you have to understand Alice is…children in Tugley city weren't like Harry. Most of the ones he met at the shop were either there with family for a tea party, or trying to find ways to swindle some from me stock. The first group he met were of the later variety and once they found out he was a relative of mine…" Hatter shrugged, "well, it was a hard lesson learned but Harry's always been a fast learner."
Alice nodded to show she understood, "That explains quite a lot of today actually. Harry wouldn't even talk to any of the other kids unless he had to."
"Probably saw it as a similar situation, what with you teaching the class and all," Hatter pointed out, "I'd wager he figured if he got to friendly with them, they'd try to use him. Just like they did in Wonderland."
That made a little too much sense actually and only increased Alice's worry. "Hatter, that's not good for a kid his age and if you're seriously looking to send him off to this school where he'll be surrounded by his peers day after day…we need to do something now to help him trust that he can socialize with other kids his age. I'll do what I can in my class, but we or you should definitely talk to him about this as well." Alice paused as another idea came to her, "We might want to look into a summer class too, maybe something to do with magic since he like it so much. It could help if we have no connection to it as well so he won't automatically think they're trying to use him for something."
Hatter didn't look pleased and Alice could only guess that it was either because they wouldn't be learning magic together anymore, or that Harry would be taken away from his tutelage earlier than he thought. Probably a bit of both.
"Lets start at the beginning first yeah?" Hatter remarked. "We go to England, sort out this mess dealing with this Sirius Black bloke, see if that school is any sort of decent, and then, we'll work on Harry's social skills yeah?"
It wasn't the ideal solution to Alice as she felt they should start helping Harry right away if they could, kids needed friends their own age, but she didn't want to press the issue right now after everything they'd discovered today. She could wait until their trip to England before bringing it up again unless he seemed worse off then she originally thought.
Author's Comments: Ah! I'm so excited about some of the scenes coming up that I get to share. ^_^ The second meeting with Gomez was one of them as well. With the trip overseas coming up in the next chapter, you'll finally get to see more of the original HP cast. Not that anyone has complained about the few OCs I've made, but I'm sure some of you are looking forward to familiar faces showing up. ^_^
Thanks as always to everyone who reviewed! I love the feed back I get (even if it's just grammar/spelling typos),sometimes it causes me to realize 'Opps, I haven't planned anything for that situation. Time to fill a hole! *pulls out dry wall mudd*' I'm also sneaking up on the 100 review mark again which is exciting. I never expected as mainly people to enjoy my series here as much as they do and I see that a nice milestone. Just like with Tumbling, if person 100 has a special request they'd like to make ( be it side piece, omake, or cameo) I'd be happy to work something in as a thank you. :D
Speaking of feedback, I've also put up a poll on my author page that I'd appreciate if people took a few seconds to give me their opinion on. While it won't be the key deciding factor, it does help me make decisions. Hope you enjoyed and I'll see you all next chapter! ^_^
Posted: January 23, 2011
