Chapter Five

Chapter Five

The Letter in the Frame

The rest of the summer was very hot and very boring. Try as he might, Harry just couldn't find anything magical in Mrs. Figg's muggle home. But Harry didn't give up. He was going to find something if it killed him. He simply couldn't go back to school and tell Ron and Hermione that he hadn't found out anything more. Harry resorted to listening in on telephone conversations, peeking at the mail, and even chanced a snoop in Mrs. Figg's own bedroom one day. Still…nothing. She'd even gotten used to Hedwig, so he couldn't even use her as an excuse.

As September the first approached, Harry's heart raced with anticipation of returning to school, but also the fear that he would never have another chance to figure out this mystery. He knew he had to ask for a ride to the station, so late one night, he walked down to the kitchen expecting to find Mrs. Figg and her cats in the middle of their late night snack. Instead, he found nothing. No one was there. He listened very closely for any sounds. Again, nothing…just the thick silence.

"This is too strange," Harry said to himself. Mrs. Figg going out is one thing, but all the cats gone too? He walked through the house again calling out her name and growing a bit more fearful at each corner. Where could she have gone?

He rounded the corner of the kitchen one more time and nearly wet his pants from fright for he ran right into the missing Mrs. Figg. Both of them jumped out of their skin and clutched their hearts.

"HARRY! Oh, I didn't know you were awake!" She panted

"I just came down to…where were you?" Harry sat on a dinning room chair.

"Oh…I…er…I was…" She was obviously flustered. "I was just in the basement. Changing the cat boxes."

Basement? This was the first time Harry had ever heard of a basement. He immediately wanted to ask if he could have a look, but decided that that might not be a wise decision. Harry pretended not to care about the basement and proceeded to ask Mrs. Figg to drive him to the train station for school. She agreed and sent Harry back up to bed.

Harry closed his bedroom door and turned to Hedwig. "She's got a basement, girl! Imagine that! A basement! And I'm sure it's FULL of more magical stuff than Dumbledore's office! Now all we have to do is wait for her to fall asleep!"

* * * * * * * ** * * * * * ** ** * * *

As quietly as possible, Harry tiptoed down the stairs. Avoiding the creaks was a difficulty he hadn't anticipated. He would pause every third or fourth step to glance up at Mrs. Figg's bedroom door. Hopefully she wasn't aware of the snooping houseguest and was still fast asleep.

When he finally reached the bottom, he nearly tripped over a cat sleeping at the foot of the stairs, causing the cat to hiss at him angrily. "SSHHHHHH!" He said putting one finger in front of his mouth. Then, realizing he was talking to a cat, he shook his head and continued to the kitchen.

Now, there were three doors in the kitchen. Harry had seen two of them opened. The first lead to a pantry full of all sorts of food Harry hoped he never would have to eat. The second was a broom closet where Mrs. Figg kept all of her household cleaning supplies. But the third Harry had never opened before.

He approached the door slowly, turned the knob, and peeked inside. It was pitch black, but Harry could see the set of stairs leading down into the dark. "Ah Ha!" He'd found it - the basement! Harry felt the walls for a light switch, but found nothing. He'd have to chance it in the dark.

He took each step slowly, not knowing what exactly lay in front of him. As he reached the bottom, his eyes began adjusting to the darkness and he could just make out a table to the left. On it, he found an oil lamp and some matches. "Of course! A witch wouldn't use electricity if she didn't have to!" He lit the wick and turned around to finally see what Mrs. Figg was hiding.

It wasn't as spectacular as Harry had hoped, but it was still pretty impressive. Trunks…like the one he had up in his room. There must have been twenty of them! Big trunks, small trunks, old ones and new ones. Surely they would be full of magical items! Harry smiled devilishly and went to the largest one to see what was in it.

LOCKED! He jiggled the lock several times hoping it would come loose. He tried several others and had no luck opening any of them. Maybe there was a key. He held up the lantern so that he could see the walls better as his eyes searched for a ring of keys possibly hanging up somewhere. But he didn't see any keys…he saw something even better!

There, on the wall, framed in all its magnificent glory, was a familiar looking letter. Harry read over it, just to be sure he wasn't imagining it.

Dear Miss Malloy,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31.

Yours sincerely,

Eliza Heavensworth

Deputy Headmistress

Malloy? Was that Mrs. Figgs maiden name? He'd have to find out in the morning on his way to King's Cross.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The ride to the station had been a quiet one. Harry was quite tired, having been up so late the previous night. He hadn't thought of a good way to ask her what her maiden name was. Maybe if he got her talking about he husband…

"Mrs. Figg, may I ask you something?"

"Certainly, Harry," she responded.

"Why don't you talk about your husband? I mean, you can talk for hours about your cats, but I've only heard you mention your husband a few times," Harry said. "How come?"

She kept her eyes focused on the road. "I miss him, Harry. Sometimes it's hard to talk about the people we've lost."

Harry knew exactly how she felt. How many times had he been asked questions abut his parents? But still, he had to know the truth about this woman, and time was running out. "Well, what was his name?"

"Falderoy," She cocked an eyebrow at him. "It was a family name."

Harry said the name in his mind. Falderoy Figg. With a strange name like that, he was probably a wizard, too. Trying to sound conversational, Harry went in for the kill. "What was your maiden name?"

"What ever do you want to know a thing like that for?"

"Er…I dunno…just…making conversation," He stuttered, while trying to look very innocent.

"Malloy, but I don't see how that makes conversation," She said, in the closest to a cross voice that Harry had heard yet.

Harry sat stunned. That was it! That was the proof he had needed! And when he got to school, he would ask Hermione to dig up any information on an Arabella Malloy that attended Hogwarts back in the 1950's.

"Ah! Here we are. King's Cross." Harry hadn't even noticed that they had arrived. As they pulled up, he saw a mess of trunks, pets, and red hair that had to be the Weasley family. "Do you need any help getting to your platform, dear?" Mrs. Figg asked.

Harry would have loved to ask her to go to platform 9 ¾, but instead he said, "No thanks. I see my friends over there, and they can help me." He pulled his things out of the car and over to where Ron and his family were standing.

"Hiya Harry!" Ron said.

"Boy do I have news for you!" Harry smiled triumphantly!

***Daphne Affigo is an Alphie creation. Harry Potter and all other characters are property of J.K.Rowling and Warner Brothers.