A/N: Tada! I'm far enough with editing chapters that I thought I would treat you guys to a surprise chapter today! Also I want to pick up the pace and get to something new and more interesting, I feel like we've been stuck in Year One for ages.
And for a more selfish reason I have to admit I want to start writing my own story for publishing but I feel like I should finish this first... But we are going to at least Year Five, so we have a long journey ahead of us. So perhaps keep an eye out for other random chapters popping up frequently in the next fortnight or so!
Chapter Thirty Four – Trapdoor and Truths
Throughout the entire year Albus had sat at the head table for every meal, a constant reassuring presence for the students and a symbol of authority. But he was missing at dinner one evening near the end of May, and Mateo was instantly on the alert. As much has he had viewed the man with contempt for his actions when he had been a child Mateo had to admit the old man was a competent head teacher… mostly. Having a labyrinth of puzzles and possibly a murderer in the grounds could just be a major one off oversight. After his trip into the Forbidden Forest Mateo was sure that whoever was responsible for the attempted theft at Gringotts had made it to the school.
"Dumbledore's gone," he noted as they sat down together.
"I heard some Gryffindors talking, apparently he was seen leaving the school quite quickly earlier with a broom," Hermione said as she started dishing pasta onto her and Mateo's plates.
Mateo said nothing else on the matter, but he was surprised that everyone else failed to notice the tense looks on two members of staff's faces. He had heard Ron muttering about how Snape was an evil git on many occasions in the library, usually when the Gryffindors had a particularly long piece of homework to do, but Mateo knew that he wasn't really that bad. There was certainly another adult in the school that Ron should truly be scared of, and it wasn't the black-haired teacher. In fact it was the other tense professor sat at the Head Table that Mateo was more wary of, and the fact that Quirrell was looking more alert than usual had Mateo on edge. Without Dumbledore at the school he knew the likelihood of something happening tonight increased exponentially.
So when everyone else was walking back up to the common room from dinner he ran off, under the pretence of needing to talk to Flitwick, and collared a specific pair of twins.
"I need that map you have," he muttered to them as he pulled them into an empty classroom.
"The little raven is getting rebellious thoughts it seems dear brother," Fred said.
"So it seems dear brother," George smirked.
"Sorry guys but I am not in the mood for this today, can I borrow the map or am I going to have to do this the hard way?" Mateo huffed.
"What does the hard way involve?"
"Sitting outside the forbidden corridor all night until something turns up. So, can I have the map?" The three of them had barely spoken more than three sentences to each other over the past month but Mateo felt that they were well beyond lying to one another.
"Sure, just try not to get it confiscated," George handed the parchment over without further ado.
"If I do get it taken then I shall compensate you. Although I doubt that there is much you haven't memorised of the school," Mateo smirked.
"Only the dungeons," Fred admitted.
"Thanks for this," Mateo said and abruptly left the room before the twins asked any more questions.
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It was not hard for him to beg tiredness as an excuse to slip away from his housemates that evening, and once he was safely ensconced in his bed Mateo revealed the map and pored over the corridors of the third floor. He heard the rest of his year mates enter and quietly get ready for bed, and then the room fell silent once more. Four hours after everyone had gone to bed Mateo finally saw movement on the third floor. The movement almost shocked his senses, after sitting completely still watching empty corridors the motion at one in the morning was delivered a pleasant jolt of adrenaline to his system.
Quirrell had appeared from one page and slowly, probably hesitantly, trod down the corridor until he reached the locked door. Once there, he paused before stepping through. He again seemed to hesitate for a while before walking to the centre of the room and disappearing entirely. Mateo frantically ruffled through the map but could not find the man anywhere.
He cursed quietly in frustration, in Malayalam to boot, and scrabbled as quickly and as silently as he could out of bed. In five minutes he was outside of the quarters that Professor Flitwick was apparently in and was hammering on the door. He didn't know whether it was possible for someone to drop off the map, but seeing as it correctly identified who he was Mateo was inclined to trust the inanimate object.
"What are you doing little Raven?" A portrait of a young lady to the right of the door asked sleepily as Mateo waited for his Head of House to appear.
"I need to talk to Professor Flitwick as a matter of urgency. I have reason to believe something we discussed is being threatened," Mateo said vaguely. He cursed when he realised what he had said wasn't exactly as cryptic as he had hoped, but he focussed on the present rather than berating himself.
"Wait here," the fair woman disappeared, leaving only a painting containing a tree with a raven sitting in its branches. The raven seemed to be scrutinising him as if it was as intelligent as the woman who had just left.
Soon after the woman was back and the door to the quarters was opening. Professor Flitwick stood there in the process of tying his dressing gown and looked up at the student in tired confusion.
"Mateo? What is the meaning of this?" he asked.
"I'm extremely sorry for disturbing you at this hour Professor but the Philosopher's stone is in danger," Mateo blurted out.
"How do you know this? Come in," the teacher pushed his door open wider and ushered the child in. Mateo didn't see but felt the silencing and privacy wards being put up to ensure that no one else could accidentally, or purposefully, listen in to the oncoming conversation.
"Some students I know were in possession of this map, and I borrowed it to watch the corridor tonight as I suspected something would be afoot. I saw Quirrell go into the forbidden corridor and he has not come out yet," Mateo pulled out the parchment and flattened it out on the low coffee table near the fire.
Flitwick leaned over it and Mateo could tell he was impressed with the spellwork involved, but as his eyes roved over the parchment to the room they were in his eyes suddenly held a look of shock.
"Are you sure this map is correct?" he asked casually in a failed attempt to hide his shock.
"I'm certain Professor, trust me. But right now can we focus on the more important fact that Quirrell is going after immortality? I'll answer your questions later," Mateo urged. He could tell what had caught the eye of the Charms teacher, and knew that he would be doing a lot of explaining that night.
"Of course," Flitwick seemed to physically pull himself back together and continued to scan the map for the other teacher. "He really isn't on the map, the corridor leads to a trapdoor that probably wouldn't appear on the map as it is only temporary. I need to go and stop him."
"You cannot go alone," Mateo argued.
"I have been the world duelling champion for three years in a row, Quirrell is no match for me," Flitwick stated without boasting.
"But Quirrell has done the impossible and broke into Gringotts. No normal human could do that, are you prepared to fight someone who potentially works with Dark Magic. What if he is possessed, what if it is Voldemort?" Mateo pointed out.
"Hmm, I cannot argue with that," Flitwick mused.
He headed over to the fireplace and grabbed a handful of glittering black powder from a pot next to it. He threw the dust into the fire and the flames suddenly turned green. "Minerva! The stone is threatened! We need to move!"
The fireplace had barely had chance to return to its normal cheery orange colours before the flames turned green and a figure stepped through. Mateo was intrigued by the concept, then realised that Professor McGonagall was standing in front of him in a tartan dressing gown with a nightcap on and was lightly glaring at him.
'This is certainly turning into an interesting evening,' Mateo thought. He knew of the Transfiguration teacher's night attire, but seeing a glare aimed at him for no reason was surprising.
"Mr Banner, what are you doing here?" Professor McGonagall asked suspiciously.
"He is the one who figured it out and alerted me. Quirrell has gone after the stone and could be possessed, do you think the two of us will be enough?" Flitwick asked quickly.
"Probably, we can't wake Severus and compromise him, and Pomona should be left to take charge if things turn sour. And we cannot wait for Albus to return as he could still be a few hours yet," McGonagall did not seem worried by their odds which reassured Mateo.
"Will you stay here so that we can have our little talk when I get back?" Flitwick asked politely.
"I will, if you feel it would be beneficial then Professor McGonagall is welcome to return to hear it too," Mateo sighed but nodded.
He wanted to run and deny to the Professor that he knew anything about Harry Potter, but the chances of the shrewd charms teacher believing that was less than slim. Especially after he had shown the man the map, and that had been accurate with everything else it had shown. 'Better to get it over with,' he thought resignedly.
"We will be as quick as we can," Flitwick said and they practically ran out of the room.
Now that he was left to his own devices Mateo took the time to survey his surroundings. The room was decorated in blues and golds like the House common room, and pretty much every inch of walling was covered in bookcases. Only spaces for doors, windows and the fireplace were left bare of books, so Mateo wasted a good portion of time surveying the titles on the spines. The majority were on charm work, some on spell casting and duelling, a variety of other school topics, then an odd section of unrelated random books. Seeing as a number seemed to be fiction Mateo guessed it was the professor's personal collection.
With his inspection of the room done Mateo was left with no new source of entertainment and no idea how much longer he had to wait. By his estimate he had perhaps wasted nearly an hour of time just surveying the vast collection of books, and had a small internal debate as to what to do now. Considering the time of night, or morning, it was, he decided to try and nap until the professors returned and woke him up. So he curled up on the rug by the merrily crackling fire and let the warmth of said fire lull him into a doze. It was already approaching two in the morning and he was not willing to try to stay awake for the professors' return if they were going to be a while.
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Mateo was not best pleased when he felt a hand on his shoulder gently shaking him awake. He was warm and comfortable, and unwilling to fully wake up, so he shuffled a bit and sleepily mumbled to the person touching him. "Clint I swear if you sneak into my room through the air vents one more time…"
The sound of two voices chuckling at him tiredly was completely different to those he was used to. In an instant Mateo was awake once more and sat up hurriedly. "Sorry about that Professors."
"It's quite alright Mateo, I shouldn't have insisted we kept you behind seeing as it is so late," Flitwick said gently.
Mateo didn't reply immediately as he couldn't help but spot the signs of injury on the two of them. Both had numerous scratches on their bodies, and McGonagall's hem was still smoking slightly. Thankfully none of the wounds looked too severe or debilitating, and Madam Pomfrey would likely be able to heal them in seconds. However the fact that they were injured at all had Mateo wondering exactly what had been below the trapdoor. It seemed that the Cerberus wasn't the only lethal trap in the school that year.
"I take it there was more in that corridor than just a stone?" he asked hesitantly.
"We enchanted a number of traps to dissuade someone from trying to get to the stone, not all of them were easy to get past," Flitwick agreed.
"Sorry but I still can't believe that the Headmaster thought that that was a good idea to have in a school full of students," Mateo shook his head.
"It will be dismantled and gone as soon as possible now," McGonagall said firmly.
"If you are feeling up to it then perhaps we should get on with our little discussion?" Flitwick nudged the conversation back on track.
Mateo looked at the pair thoughtfully for a while before he blurted out, "Can I trust you?"
Professor McGonagall looked slightly affronted by the question, but Flitwick gestured for her to keep calm, "I swear that whatever is discussed here will not leave this room."
McGonagall watched her co-worker look honestly at the boy and waited patiently. She had no idea what was going to be revealed, but Filius had been rather out of sorts as they had traversed the chambers below the school. He had been as focussed as she ever knew him to be in situations of extreme stress, but there was no denying that as soon as each puzzle had been passed his mind wandered to something else. The fact that he had practically sprinted back here also alerted her that something highly irregular was likely to happen between the man and his student.
At first she was going to bow out of listening to their discussion in preference of returning to her bed, but the Charms teacher's excitement and confusion piqued her interest so she followed him. She waited patiently as Mateo seemed to sit and think deeply over something, until five minutes later he sighed and shuffled to get comfy. He was still sitting on the rug with his back to the fire and seemed to be gaining comfort from the warmth.
"I recently learnt of the existence of an artefact that showed the entirety of the school, every classroom and person in the building. I knew something was going to happen today, so I borrowed it to watch the corridor tonight and saw Quirrell going down. Unfortunately the map never lies, so Professor Flitwick learnt something else when I showed him the map that Quirrell was no longer appearing on," Mateo was mostly explaining for McGonagall's sake, and he produced the map and unfolded it flat on the table.
Professor McGonagall looked at him then the map in confusion. He merely gestured for her to look, which she did. The spellwork and detail created was impressive and she wished that she could meet whoever had made the map. However her wonder disappeared into a less pleasant sensation as she realised that the rooms displayed were Filius' own quarters, and that Harry Potter was standing exactly where Mateo was.
"What?" Minerva said faintly as she sat back on the sofa gingerly.
Flitwick quickly called for tea service and within moments a tray of biscuits, a pot of tea and three cups appeared to the side of the map on the coffee table. Mateo was still impressed with the powers of House Elves to make matter just disappear from the kitchens and reappear anywhere. However he kept his silence as Flitwick made up three quite sweet teas and pressed one into the woman's hands. Mateo nodded his thanks and took a sip of the still rather uncomfortably hot drink, savouring the taste as it flowed over his tongue. He knew that what was going to come next and he would gratefully take whatever fortification the tea could provide for him to face telling people his past.
"I think it would be best if you started from the top… Would you prefer us to call you Mateo or Harry?" Filius asked.
"Mateo please, it has been my name for almost the last 6 years and I prefer it over my old name," Mateo sipped his tea again and gathered his thoughts. Thankfully the two adults sitting on the sofa did not press him to begin immediately so when he started he was able to be quite composed and concise.
"Well, after Voldemort killed my parents I ended up being placed with my relatives, the Dursleys…" Mateo really didn't want to explain everything that had happened in his life, it was his past and no one held the right to know it apart from his dad. However, if he trusted anyone in this school it was Professor Flitwick, and Professor McGonagall seemed to be trusted by the man. And Mateo felt that there would no escaping the two without a satisfactory explanation as to why he was going around the school with a different name.
So the next hour was filled with him retelling his life, starting with the Dursleys. He decided that it was not worth covering up the truth completely so he ensured they understood that he had had a less than ideal life up to the age of six. Although he left out some of the details about their treatment of him, he ensured that they knew that it was only his accidental magic that saved him. It wasn't just the two professors that noticed how he became more animated and happier chatting about living in multiple countries for the next five years before their trip to join the Avengers. The very short explanation of life in America at Stark Tower with his numerous honourary uncles and aunt, and having godparents was also highly animated and enjoyable for all three of them in comparison to the beginning of the narrative.
Throughout it all Minerva and Filius sat in respectful silence until Mateo was finished and he was looking slightly warily at them. The woman was looking like she was expending a lot of energy keeping herself calm and quiet, her hands were shaking and her body was rigid from the effort. Mateo knew his life hadn't been a brilliant one to start off with but through Bruce's help he had gotten over it and now it was mostly just a fact of life rather than a painful topic to be avoided. Only in stressful situations like with Professor Snape a while ago did any of his old habits resurface. He was surprised that a person he barely knew beyond being one of her pupil's was angry, probably on his behalf rather than at him, and Mateo braced himself for the explosion he knew would be coming.
"I am going to kill Albus," Minerva said first. "I told him that the Dursleys were the worst choice to leave you with but he insisted that you would be safe and it was the best option."
Mateo looked quite surprised by the indirect admission that she had known about his first housing arrangement, but remained quiet as the two professors argued.
"He may not have known how bad the Dursleys were, there was no way he knew they would be abusive. It sounded like they were treating their own son fine," Flitwick tried to placate her.
The Charms teacher was looking just as shocked and angry as his colleague, but he was doing a better job of remaining calm and level headed. He had also had the foresight to vanish the tea set in case of accidents, and Mateo wondered whether that was an act of practice or merely good thinking.
"Which just makes the whole situation worse! Why didn't he ever go check on him?" McGonagall spat, then froze. "Hang on… you left the Dursleys when you were six, just before Christmas?"
"Yes," Mateo said nervously. He knew that the teacher was not likely to turn on him, but to be glared at by an individual that was crackling with barely restrained magic was not a pleasant experience.
"The old goat, he knew that you had gone that year! Remember when he was really distracted that Christmas?" Minerva turned to her co-worker.
"He knew what was going on, he knew and he did nothing to stop it," Filius was horrified.
"I am going to kill him," she said again.
The situation was deteriorating quickly and Mateo could very much see the head of Gryffindor house marching from the room and obliterating the man who pretended to be a benevolent overseer. As much as he wanted to see the senile smile wiped from the man's face Mateo knew that that would only bring more trouble than it was worth as all his secrets would be spilled. He saw McGonagall start to move as if to rise, so he acted.
"If I may interrupt," Mateo said politely and very quickly. "Acting in the heat of the moment is not going to help anyone, what's done is done and right now we need to focus on what will be productive rather than what will be the most rewarding."
"There's no doubt you are in the right house Mateo," Filius chuckled as Minerva forced herself to calm down. "What do you suggest?"
"There is some information that we need to know, that you may be able to help us with, however I do not trust Dumbledore. Would you be willing to come over to America at some point over the holiday to talk further? My father and godfather have a pretty good grasp of what is going on but we could really do with the input of someone from the magical world. I also need to remain hidden for as long as possible so I need you two to act normally around me and treat me as Mateo, no one can know who I am. You two have proven how even mature adults can react, can you imagine what the entire Wizarding populace would be like?" Mateo said ruefully.
"You seem pretty prepared for this eventuality," Professor McGonagall observed as she settled comfortably once more on the sofa. Although the woman seemed to be in control of her magic and her emotions once more, it was very obvious to Mateo and Flitwick that she was actively forcing herself to calm down for their benefit rather than it being her own choice.
"There was always a risk that someone would find out, and I may as well make the best of the situation that it is two people I trust and can help me," Mateo shrugged.
"Well we are honoured that you would trust us with such a big secret, being able to help you is the least we could do considering how badly Albus has let you down. Now perhaps you should be heading back to your dorm? It is rather late but at least you do not have to get up for anything later," Flitwick said.
"It might just be easier to stay up now," Mateo glanced at his watch at saw that it was approaching five in the morning. "I may as well crack on with my Charms revision and head to bed very early tonight. Professors."
With that Mateo stood and gave a respectful nod of his head before slipping out of the door and off to the Ravenclaw common room.
"That boy is far too sane to have survived the life he has had so far," Minerva said as she stared at the door.
"Albus' plan may have failed but I reckon events have spun things for the better. Mateo is certainly going to be a force to be reckoned with," Filius agreed. "Now, I wouldn't mind examining that map in more detail."
The pair turned towards the table and the object, only to learn that the parchment had somehow disappeared. Both of them smiled and Minerva couldn't help but roll her eyes. "He's just as bad as his father."
Flitwick then subtly hinted that she might want to get back to bed before the woman could become too engrossed in her thoughts. Although the enigmatic first year might be able to pull an all-nighter Filius highly doubted that the two of them would be able to function without a few hours sleep. Minerva quickly realised the same and headed back to her quarters via the floo. She changed out of her slightly bedraggled and smoke damaged clothes and attempted to go back to sleep but her mind was working too fast to allow her to drop off quickly.
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If anyone noticed that Mateo seemed even more distracted over the day no one commented on it. The large dark circles around his eyes were impossible to miss, but thankfully no one brought them up either so all he had to focus on was not falling asleep as they revised. He was almost too tired to summon the effort to eat but Hermione and Kevin cajoled him into at least eating a little bit. Dumbledore had returned and was at every meal again however Quirrell was absent, although no one really seemed to care about it. The last few exams were over the next week so lessons were over and everyone had more pressing concerns than an unpopular teacher being absent. As they no longer had lessons with him either not even the Ravenclaws were concerned with the possibility of missing part of their education.
The Friday of that week was the final Quidditch match of the year, and the Ravenclaw team members were feeling rather confident. Gryffindor had won their other two matches, but would have to catch the snitch whilst being over two hundred points up to even have a chance of beating Ravenclaw. The Slytherins were sulking that they were only coming second or third this year, while the Hufflepuffs seemed excited for a tense match and didn't care that their house coming bottom of the league again.
Mateo had argued it out with his family and they were staying at home for this match, he was certain that he wouldn't be playing and so their trip would be a waste. Bruce had been rather insistent but Mateo eventually won and so he sat with his teammates and enjoyed breakfast.
The weather was clear and warm, with a slight breeze and fluffy clouds scudding across the sky. Once the game was started the play was as vicious as any storm as the Lions tried fiercely to gain an early lead. Fred and George were zipping around hitting the bludgers as often as they could intercept them, and Grant was hard pressed to keep the goals covered and dodge the lethal black balls. Thankfully Cho had clocked the threat that was hanging over her teammates and she put her all into catching the snitch. It wasn't a record game, but barely ten minutes later Cho was grinning triumphantly as she held the glittering gold ball aloft.
No one was entirely sure when the partying ended, but they had been going at least for fourteen hours by the time Flitwick arrived and firmly pointed out that they did need to keep a certain level of decorum. He seemed rather reluctant to tell them that though, as it was the first time that Ravenclaw had won the house cup and the Quidditch cup in the same year.
Only Slytherin seemed morose at the leaving feast the next day when the ravens finally emerged from their tower to join in the feast. The lions seemed pretty miffed but were being gracious in their defeat, whilst the badgers were amused by the other two table's behaviour. And it was no secret that all three of the houses were happy to see that the Slytherin winning streak had been broken at last.
Mateo thoroughly enjoyed the feast, especially as his year banded together and joined in communal jokes through the meal. It was surprising to him that he found himself partially wishing that the coming holiday wasn't so long, but seeing as his time would be filled with teaching and games at the tower he knew that it would pass by in an instant.
Overall he was most surprised that he had made many friends that were very close to him. Being on the move so much meant that he had not really had the opportunity to make lasting friendships as a child, and ever since he had left the Dursleys Bruce had always been his best friend. But now Mateo had three strong contenders for the 'best friend' title, and many other regular friends on top of that.
Finally the morning arrived when their trunks were packed, pets put into carrying devices, addresses and numbers swapped, socks discovered, and dormitories emptied. Thankfully the House Elves transported all their stuff down to the train, so all Mateo had to worry about was Garuda, who was sulking in his cage, and his book bag of entertainment for the journey. Neville, Kevin, Stephen, Hermione, Padma, Mandy and Mateo all crammed into a compartment together for the journey and the seven spent the time enjoyably playing exploding snap and eating chocolate frogs. Garuda had been let out of his cage and was contentedly sitting on the luggage rack watching the antics of the children.
By late afternoon the train finally reached London and everyone piled off the carriages. Some of their number had to search for their families, but Mateo was quite lucky in that Thor was taller than pretty much everyone on the platform and acted as a brilliant waypoint. His happiness spiked when he realised that the god was there and that he could catch up with him for the first time in a year.
"Come on Hermione, Kevin, I have a feeling your parents will be with my family," he grinned and wound a path easily through the crush of humans towards the golden haired waypoint.
Mateo was right about his two closest friend's families, but it was a bit of a shock to the trio to see that Padma's parents were also waiting there. However when Mateo could pick out the easy conversation being held between his father and the matriarch he understood why they had stopped there.
"Greetings again ma'am," Mateo said, easily switching into Hindi as he sidled up to Bruce.
"Ah hello Mateo, it's good to hear that you have been helping Padma with her lessons," the woman smiled at him.
"It has been good fun to teach her, she is very talented," Mateo waved off her thanks.
"Then it is a shame that she wouldn't learn from us. Perhaps she just needed the right incentive,"Mrs Patil said, and Mateo was slightly confused by the underlying hint in her words.
"So this is how you get to school," a voice interrupted in a polite manner.
"Phil! It is good to see you again," Mateo smiled at the woman who left with the twins, before turning to greet the man. He hadn't seen the man before but assumed that he had been hiding in the crowd, or had just been shielded by Thor's enormous frame. "How do you all get time off to come get me?"
"Things are quiet at the moment so Clint, Natasha, and I aren't required for a couple of days," Phil explained. Mateo wasn't certain but he thought that there was something else going on other than them not being needed. However he didn't bring it up and run the risk of ruining the day.
His conversation with Phil was interrupted as Tony grappled him in a hug and he was quickly shuttled around to greet everyone. He was rather disorientated by the time he was finished and came face to face with an amused but still star struck Kevin. The visual cue helped jog his memory of something.
"Hey Dad and Tony, would it be alright to have some friends over during the holidays?"
"How many friends are you thinking of?" Bruce asked, wary of having the tower filled with immature adults and hyper kids, and the potential recipe for disaster that that created.
"Hermione, Kevin, and Neville," Mateo replied easily.
"Well I'd say yes, but seeing as I am only the voice of authority I'll have to defer to the walking bank account. Tony?" Bruce glanced over at the billionaire.
"Sure thing! I have no worries about there being more of us in the tower, just let me know a date and the jet will be ready," Tony grinned.
"Thanks Tony! And you Dad, of course," Mateo smiled as Kevin made a few stifled squeaks that sounded like ones of excitement.
"I'll send you guys a text when I'm home, and Neville a letter, and we can start sorting things out," Mateo said to the pair before Bruce gently coughed as a hint.
The gathering broke up quickly after that and, although Mateo couldn't help but wave at Draco across the platform, they easily left the station. It was only as they were safely ensconced in Tony's jet that Mateo felt he could finally talk freely. And the first topic that he wanted to cover was not hard to decide.
"Dad," Mateo said quietly.
The subdued tone immediately caught Bruce's attention. He had been flicking through a science journal, expecting Mateo to be wanting to catch up with the goings on of the team, but immediately dropped it and looked at his son encouragingly.
"Some people know, they found out who I am," Mateo explained.
Bruce slipped his glasses off and rubbed his eyes, a sure sign that he was thinking fast to try to cover every possible angle of the problem. "Who are they, how did they find out, and do you trust them?"
"Two teachers, two students… Oh and a centaur. My Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher was working with Voldemort to steal something hidden in the school, and I figured it all out. There is a map that shows where everyone is in the school and my figure was labelled with my true name, which is how the two Weasley twins found out. They swore on their magic to keep silent on the matter, so I trust them. The two teachers found out as I had to warn them about Quirrell, and then explain how I knew where he was. However I think it may have been useful, they have promised to help and have agreed to come and discuss the problem I have," Mateo gestured to his forehead. "They don't know what I need to talk to them about, but they will come."
Bruce remained silent for a while, and Mateo shifted nervously. Eventually he sighed and spoke, "We can't undo the past, and like you said this could be advantageous. I'm glad we will be able to meet them and decide whether it is still safe with them knowing about you. When are they coming over?"
"In two days, they will apparate to the roof and I'll go meet them."
"And the centaur?" Bruce asked in exasperation.
"He read it in the stars," Mateo chuckled at the stunned look on his father's face.
Bruce spent a while digesting the news which attracted the attention of the others on the aircraft. Mateo quickly explained the reason for the sombre mood, which caused the others for a short while. However Tony quickly got everyone back on track by getting them all involved in a game of poker.
As none of them knew about his journey into the Forbidden Forest Mateo refrained from mentioning it, especially seeing as they were a dangerous distance from the ground. He vowed that he would tell them someday, just not quite yet.