Chapter 12- Blessing in Disguise

Albus' grandmother arrived from the kitchen, carrying with her a tray loaded with steaming cinnamon buns. "Come on, eat", she passed the dessert between them. "You too, it's good for the baby", she pushed half a dozen of them under Percy's wife's nose. Audrey sighed, and took one, " I'm not sure how much of that bump is from the pregnancy", she said once Albus' grandmother was out of earshot, putting a hand on her stomach.

All of his grandparents' kids were invited to their home, known as 'The Burrow', with their families. But Bill visited his wife's family in France; George visited his wife's family in America; Ron stayed at his own wife's muggle parents' house and Charlie was somewhere in Eastern Europe, in pursuit after a rare dragon, and it wasn't even clear if he knew it was Christmas. This left Percy with his wife and two daughters; Albus' parents and siblings and Teddy and his grandmother (despite the last two not having a direct blood connection with the rest).

His grandmother forced a cookie on him as well and Albus, already fully stuffed from the huge holiday meal beforehand, did so reluctantly, knowing there was no point in arguing. She seemed to have cooked enough for the whole extended family and now had to get rid of it somehow. He couldn't even imagine the crammed house accommodating everyone, not understanding why his parents didn't just decide to stay in their mansion.

He stared into the crackling happy fire, spreading its heat. The blaze stung his eyes but even when he closed them, its shape stayed imprinted in his view, like a ghost in the light- seen, but just barely. With his eyes still shut the picture of the hatch came to him. In the end Albus didn't went down to explore it. He wasn't sure why exactly, whether it was because of fear or because of a genuine need to board the soon departing train. His mother voice came up, sitting close by and joking loudly with Andromeda, Teddy's grandmother.

Far from Hogwarts it seemed less important. Not only the secret opening, but the school itself. The last 4 months blended in his head, and sometimes, under the noise, heat, and general festivity he had to remind himself that they indeed occurred. Here, everybody treated him normally, as part of the family. He opened his eyes, even that was no longer true- he saw their faces, their stares, their hushed conversations whenever he passed by… He again wondered what they knew, if his dad told them something he "forgot" telling him…

Right at this point he entered as well, carrying with his lean yet muscular arms eggnog for the adults. Then he sat in the small yellow armchair next to the fireplace, bringing his feet closer to it. Maybe it was because of the time he spent away without seeing him, but only now did Albus really understood how much he resembled him, from the thin face under the perpetually untidy black hair down to the knobbly knees. He wore his regular mismatched very old and very ragged socks, the right one red with patterns of broomsticks and the left green with patterns of golden snitches.

Albus looked again, something was wrong, the socks were on the wrong feet. Examining closely, he also noticed the eye color in the fire light- green, but not the exact bright shade he and his father shared. In addition, the hair wasn't massy enough (the kind that can't be dealt with), the skin was a bit too light and the whole-body shape was somehow incorrect.

His grandmother finished handing out the buns and returned for another round, this time with chocolate cookies. Knowing his tight pants wouldn't stand it Albus got up to get some fresh air, passing the armchair on his way. "You're good...", from up close, there was no doubt, "…but still not good enough, Teddy". "You have a good eye", he smirked, "certainly better than my examiner. He thought I was Harry, complaining to me for ten whole minutes that I was late before realizing", he scoffed.

He changed his hair back to turquoise, drawing a small shriek from Audrey, "I forgot he could do it", she panted. "You know she's not used to magic" Percy irritably said, "stress can hurt the pregnancy". Teddy hair became red with sparks of grey, a bald point revealed on top, freckles grew on his face like mushrooms after the rain and wrinkles formed near his eyes. "It will not happen again" he said in a gravely serious tone, reflecting Percy's face back to him. Albus' uncle's angry response wasn't heard over his daughters' enthusiastic interference, "Do me, make my face", Lucy and Molly began bickering with each other.

Albus didn't stay to see it however, heading out to the cold fresh air. On his way he passed by his siblings, who quietly talked with each other on the old and tattered reddish sofa. Its color blended with their sweaters, made by their grandmother, in a deep crimson shade, in contrast to Albus' green one. James, as he did during the last month, ignored him as if he didn't exist, but Lily gave him a cautious smile. Albus' facial muscles ached as he tried to fake one back, he really had to get out.

The garden was messy, full of frozen overgrown weeds, bent trees and various magical and non-magical plants. In front, the thin layer of ice on of the large pool reflected the lights of the house behind. There was a little rattle, and fat gnome appeared from the broom cupboard on the side, a limp tarantula corpse in his hands. He made his way through the freshly laid layer of snow, ignoring the cold. His little potato shaped body reminded him of Tom, and Albus chuckled quietly as the creature waddled away, leaving a muddy trail behind him.

He took in the cold refreshing air and began following a pair of deep imprints in the snow that led to the warehouse near the chicken coop. The thick fumes exhaled from his mouth obscured his view and the voices reached his ears before the figures emerged. "In the meantime, I'm hiding... uh... storing it here. It's only natural now that I'm retired", "Are you sure it's safe, Arthur?", Albus approached them, now he had no doubt it was his father, standing next to the open door with his grandfather.

"You scared me there, Al", his grandfather turned quickly at the sound of the squashed snow, wiping (despite the cold) his brow with clear relief. "There's nothing to see here", he failed to hide the shape inside, covered in a thick cloth, that no doubt enclosed a tiny plane. "It's okay, he's not going to say anything to grandma, right?", Harry asked Albus, who immediately nodded. She didn't like her husband's obsessive preoccupation with muggle objects but ignored it as long as it wasn't too extreme, and a plane certainly fell into this category.

"Well, I guess if that's the case I can tell you a little bit about it…", his grandfather couldn't hide his excitement, "Turns out the muggles used it to spray poison on their food for some reason", he shook his head in disbelief and continued, "And I got it at a really good price, there was no serious problem-only the engne… or angine… not sure what it's called, was ruined…". Albus barely listened, following his father, who entered the warehouse and with the flick of his wand made the fabric transparent, exposing the rusty machine beneath. "... by the way, do you know how planes stay in the air?", His grandfather finished.

"The curvature of the wings cause the air on top to move faster than below. And then the higher-pressure beneath lifts it up. Or something like that, it's the leading theory at least", Albus answered, leaving his grandfather in a complete shock. "We took the kids to an airplane museum a several years back", Harry explained, lifting the cloth, and running a finger over the machine, causing rust flakes to fall out, " He was the only one to pay attention that day".

"I'm so glad there's someone else in the family who's interested in...", his grandfather stopped his exhilarated praise and listened carefully. A second later a distant call from his grandmother could be heard coming from the house. "Oh no, she can't find out about it". He promptly drove Albus and his father out, made sure the plane was properly covered and locked the warehouse door with his wand, rushing towards the house as he exclaimed aloud, "Yeah, Molly dear, I just showed Harry why the roof of the warehouse is so dangerous".

"I don't know what would be more dangerous for your grandpa", said Harry with a small smile, "for him to fly on this thing or for grandma to find out about it". The heat that Albus collected in the house began evaporating in the cold and tremors started running through his body. His father noticed it, "Come help me pick a chicken and we'll be home soon, it will be unhealthy for you to stay out too much". "Pick a chicken?", Albus shivered, surprised at how quickly the cold had crept up on him.

"That's why I went out in the first place, grandma wants to make a special meal that should be marinated for full day". Only as they entered the humid chicken coop Albus understood what his father meant, his words finally penetrating his frozen brain. "You can change the properties of food, but not create it out of thin air, it's Gamp's first law", Harry answered the unasked question, wandering among the sleepy chickens, inspecting them, "to my understanding McGonagall has introduced it to the syllabus of those who will continue with transfiguration".

Albus wondered if it would be a good time to ask his father about the correspondence between him and the headmistress. "Do you think I'll drop out of school?", the question spilled out of him without a thought instead. "No", his father said immediately, his gaze fixed on the chicken resting next of him, "you just have to find your way first". He knelt before the fat bird and ran a finger through the dirty ground in front of the beak, making the chicken enter a kind of a trance somehow.

"I know you're having some problems with the wand right now", he swung his own one and created a small cage for the bird, "but I can reassure you you're not lacking in magic". Albus recalled what his father had said at the train station before his departure and heated again, only now it came from his insides. He couldn't stop the angry tone that crept into his voice, "Fantastic, so I'm not a squib, just almost a wizard", for a moment, the transfiguration professor crossed his mind.

"You're not just almost a wizard either, you're just different…", "So that's why you didn't want me to go to Hogwarts?", Albus exploded with anger, cutting off his father, who straightened up and turned his look. His unwavering gaze reflected Albus' green eyes right back at him. He worried his father would punish him for the outburst, and even worse, question him on how he knew about it. But his father just sighed, placed the cage under his arm and signaled out of the coop.

"This day reminds me of the day you were born", he said as they slowly made their way back towards the house, gentle snowflakes falling before their eyes, "it was so freezing at our observation spot, but we couldn't cast any spell to heat ourselves up for fear that our location would be discovered". The chill outside dampened Albus' anger and he listened intently to his father recollection of one of his missions as an auror, something he had never done before.

"I took on the task even though I didn't have to, and unfortunately it took longer than expected. I had no contact with your mum, but I still knew she was going to give birth. I don't think in my life I have been so angry with myself. Abandoning my wife, missing my son's first moments in this world", a tone of anger, more than that which Albus expressed a few moments ago snuck into his voice.

"But everything only got worse", he signed, "The crying baby noise reached my ears and instead of waiting as I was told I just busted in, like a stupid kid without boundaries. Years of luck and sharp senses caused me to inflate my abilities, and two of my mates had to pay the price for it that night", he stopped before the house's entrance, its heat just a touch away, "I never apologized to you for that day".

"What happened in the end?", Albus forgot about the cold. "Same as what you read in the letter I received from McGonagall", he turned his gaze at Albus, who felt his ears heating up, "something I promise to tell you, only not now, because now it's too early, okay?", he placed a warm hand on Albus head, protecting it from the snow. Albus nodded shyly and then followed his father into the house.

"You look so similar to me at my age that sometimes I forget how different you are from me", his father said as he led him into the kitchen, "it's causing me to make mistakes sometimes- such as the fact that you would end up in Slytherin". It seemed to Albus that time had stopped for a second, it was the first time anyone directly spoken to him about it, "But I can assure you, with absolute certainty, that you are a wizard, and not just barely!", his father finished.

Albus, speechless, just nodded again and watched his father pulling out the chicken, still in a trance, out of the cage. He hung it from its legs and took a small, sharp knife from one of the drawers. "You're the one who should do it", he handed it to him, "I think you old enough to understand the price". Albus hesitated for a moment, but finally took it, "here", his father pointed to the bird's throat. Albus' hand trembled as he approached the animal- though not moving, it seemed to him that it felt its looming end.

He shook his head, held the knife tightly and in a smooth motion drove the blade over the neck, causing a trickle of blood to appear. He watched as something disappeared from the small orange eyes, his gaze blurred as his own got filled with tears. "Tomorrow," his father said quietly, pulling the knife from his hands, "you will eat it, even if you don't want to, that the least you owe it".

Albus' grandmother and Andromeda entered the kitchen, Lily at their feet, her little arms full of dirty plates. With astonishing speed Harry pulled out his wand and made the plates hover towards the sink, "Come on", he told her and Albus, "we'll do it later", he held her hand and led her out before she could see the bleeding carcass.

His grandmother didn't notice a thing and immediately began plucking the bird's feathers, but Andromeda stared straight at Albus with her light brown eyes. Her face, which was so similar to those of Teddy (and someone else, though he couldn't point exactly who at the moment), expressing empathy. He didn't like how easily she managed to read him and hurried out as well.

The rest of the evening went over smoothly. The warm atmosphere in the homey space made Albus forget about his worries. Even the fact that James didn't speak to him didn't particularly bother him as he sat down with his sister. A sort of barrier seemed to have fallen when she began to ask him about Slytherin and expressed excitement when he described the underground space.

"…I even have a pet shrimp in the hatch over the bed", he said, "I wonder if I should call him Shrimpy…". "Aren't you afraid that the water will burst in, and you will drown?", she asked anxiously, her eyes round with bewilderment. "Don't worry, I know how to swim", Albus laughed, calming her down.

Even Lucy and Molly entered the conversation, and for once it extended beyond just fleeing greetings in the hallways (in fact, he wasn't even sure they had such a comprehensive conversation before). In turn, they described Gryffindor's common room and how, despite being disappointed with the results of the quidditch match, they couldn't help but be impressed by the tenacity of the rival team. It was the only time James, who looked tired than usual and sat next to his parents, reacted. For a moment he turned his head angrily towards them, but after, he continued ignoring Albus and his surroundings.

Perhaps his apprehension of family reunions was unjustified, Albus yawned tiredly as the children made their way up the narrow and twisted stairs, reminding him those who led into the headmistress office. The house was small and cramped, containing many rooms built on top of each other. Its shape was comparable to the uneven structures his grandfather loved to build with its colorful cubes (and probably remained standing only thanks to magic).

But there was still not enough space for everyone, and the majority had to share rooms with each other. One for his grandparents, one for his parents, one for James and Teddy, the master bedroom for Percy and Audrey (because she was pregnant) and one for Andromeda and Lily. Which left Albus alone as he slowly made his way to the last room on the fifth floor below the attic, his meal weighing him down.

Despite the large number of guests in 'The Burrow' they have almost never been hosted in this place, and for a good reason. It was tiny, dirty, and smelly, with a steep ceiling, so low that Albus could reach it with his hand. The walls were covered with faded peeling orange posters and the single bed inside occupied almost half of the space. But other than the fact that the room was high up in the air, Albus had no problem with it, asking for it specifically over sharing one of the more comfortable places along his brother.

He laid in his bed, causing clouds of dust to fill the air, drawing a huge sneeze out of him. He turned off the light, leaving the small little window above as the only light source. In the very nearly complete darkness that prevailed, it almost seemed that he had returned to his section in the school dormitory, for a moment even expecting to see the little crustacean over his head. It reminded him of the candle, and he took it out of his small bag and lit it up, momentarily making the room look as if it had caught fire with its orange walls.

It was easier focusing on the flame in the dark, but it still took him a while until he managed to snuff it out. "That was impressive", Albus' heart jumped, he was so fixed on his actions that he didn't even notice as his mother entered the room. "I was surprised to hear you wanted to stay here", she stepped carefully, illuminating her way with her wand.

"You know, we had a ghoul living here. It was supposed to be a temporary thing, but he refused to go out, and he smelled so bad we just gave up in the end", she sat down carefully on the bed next to Albus, "and before that there was an even more smelly and disgusting creature in here". "Who?" asked Albus, "Uncle Ron", his mother shuddered in disgust.

Albus laughed, now that he thought about it his uncle really was a big fan of the Chudley Cannons, the team depicted in the numerus posters. "You remember when he backed them even though I played?", she passed the beam of light on the walls like a flashlight, "Yes, they were actually pretty good". "You're not a fan of them as well, are you?", she directed the light straight into his eyes, "No, I swear", he laughed again, covering his face, "I don't even care about quidditch". "Well, they finished second to last place this season, so I guess they're really are improving", his mother smiled.

"Speaking of quidditch", she lowered her tone of voice along with her wand, "What's going on between you and James? I have a hard time believing you two fought because of the last game". Albus stopped laughing, "It was related to that", he didn't lie, "it's not my fault his acting like a baby". "Hey", she softly punched his shoulder, "I grew up with 6 brothers, so I know how fights between them go. I just want you to remember that he loves you and cares for you, even if he doesn't know how to show it, okay?".

Albus was in too good of a mood to start arguing with her about it, so he just nodded. "And stop avoiding Hagrid and Neville, they're worried about you". "And what about you?", Albus asked, staring at the candle, "We always knew you were different, you just need to find your own way", she also stared at the candle, "So what is it?", she pointed to it, and he could not help but feel she tried to change the subject. "Elf wax, if you concentrate on the feelings of suffocation and cold it goes out and vice versa", he explained. "Really?", His mother asked and for a moment concentrated intently.

A flame suddenly burst, again blinding Albus' eyes. "Very good", he struggled to hide the jealousy in his voice. "And now ...", she tried to turn it off but failed, "Surprisingly it's much harder, I'm impressed you managed to do it", his mother finally gave up. "Well, it's quite late, so I'll cheat", she strangled the flame with her fingers and leaned over to kiss him.

"Stop it Mum, I'm not a baby anymore", Albus wiped his cheek off. "Oh, my cute little baby is getting so big", she said with feigned excitement and leaned over to smother him with countless kisses until he had no other choice but to hide under the blanket, "Good night", she finally went out, still laughing.

Albus set the candle aside and stared at the ceiling in silence, smiling. There was a strange distant symphony that combined snoring, night birds and disturbing creaks from the walls. Maybe it was okay, maybe he really just needed to find his way... The secret hatch came back to his mind and Albus quickly straightened up. He was so dumb that even a mountain troll would feel sorry for him. After all, he wasn't the only one who knew about it- pain passed through his temple at this thought.