Chapter 14: Houseguests and the Trip Home

The wind scoured over the plains relentlessly howling outside the house. Those inside woke up when the sun peeked through their windows and excitedly found their way to the living room. True to his word Gene had piled gifts up around the tree. Unlike the previous day, they were unwrapped and stacked neatly with names of the recipients stuck to each pile with an adhesive memo note. When everyone arrived downstairs they looked at their things.

"Wow!" Maria exclaimed, squealing in delight when she unsheathed a fine basket hilted rapier from it's sheath. The basket on the hit was an intricate webbing of fine silver wire. She traced her finger over the outline of a horse that was worked into the delicate design. "It's beautiful! Thank you Mr. Evans!" she said. On top of a new set of fencing armour were a pair of black leather gloves. "Italian leather!" she squealed, putting the gloves on.

"Hogwarts Robes!" James said. "Great! So I can go back?" James asked his father. Gene nodded. James mouthed a silent cheer as he tried the robes on. On the floor where they were laying there was a flat wooden box. James opened it, and inside were dozens of pencils, pens, paint brushes and other artistic implements. He flipped the tray up, revealing yet another tray of paints and watercolors. Continual flipping revealed more and more trays full to the brim with different objects for sculpting, painting, drawing and a few other things James didn't recognize. "That's a wizard's art set." Elanus said. "It's guaranteed never to run out of anything." James grinned and found a tray with paper and set to work on a picture.

Elanus opened a box that sat in his place. Inside was an old style cap and ball revolver. Shocked, Elanus carefully pulled the firearm from its felt lining and turned it over in his hand. "Is this what I think it is?" Elanus asked. "Sure is." Gene said. "It belonged to my grandfather. One of many, It's a black powder revolver so you can't buy cartridges for it if you deign to shoot it." Replacing it in the box, Elanus examined the cleaning implements that were also in the box and smiled. "This goes on display right behind my desk. Thank you!"

Harry turned over a broomstick in his hands. "Thanks, but I already have a Firebolt." Harry said. Elanus chuckled and shook his head. "That's a special broomstick, Harry. It's been modified for use at my department. I think you find it's quite a bit faster, in fact I don't think they sell broomsticks as fast and manoeuvrable as that. Also, it's got a feature that allows you be invisible while you're on it if you want." Harry stared at the broomstick and looked longingly at the door. "You can try it after lunch." Gene said.

Sirius had a small pile of things as well. Gene had dug out some of the pictures from his visit to England so many years ago. Fascinated by the pictures Sirius thanked Gene and smiled as old memories flooded into his head.

Samuel had by far the largest stack of presents in the room. He picked up the object on top. It was a shirt of fine chain mail, with a crest on the chest. "Dad, this must have taken ages to make, you shouldn't have.". "Three years." Gene replied. "Worth every moment." Samuel fingered the tiny rings that made the mail then slipped it on over the shirt he was wearing. The mail fit Samuel exactly. Maria looked closely at the metal links. "You couldn't get a needle through this." She said. Gene smiled with pride at his work. Samuel stood up and picked up the rest of the pieces of armour. There was a pair of thick but supple leather pants with the same fine chain mail overlaid on them, and free moving metal joints at the knees. A pair of metal topped boots, and a set of greaves for the shins completed the set. Samuel picked up a pair of leather and metal gloves and slipped them on his hands. He picked up a white surcoat and put that on as well, and tied it at the waist with a black sash laying on the floor. The suit perfectly matched up and Samuel no longer appeared to be the average young musician, but instead a warrior who looked as comfortable and right in the armour as he did in the jeans and t-shirt a moment before.

"Fitting armour for a fine wizard slayer." Elanus said, with a nod of approval.

"It looks right on you." Maria said, gaping at Samuel. Samuel blushed and sat down on the couch, trying to remove his boots.

There was a knock at the door and Gene stood up to answer it. Outside stood the Weasley family, and Hermione. Gene let them in and they nervously looked around.

"Arthur Weasley!" Elanus said, shaking Arthur's hand. "How have you been?"

"Elanus Green?" asked Arthur. "It's been years."

Hermione smiled as she passed small boxes around to those gathered in the living room. Molly Weasley pulled a white cardboard box from her hand bag and handed it to Samuel.

"Merry Christmas, I hope we did a good job with it."

Samuel opened the box and pulled out a shimmering silver cloak. The cloak appeared to have tiny scales on it, and was lined with some sort of silk like fabric. Standing up, Samuel threw the cloak around himself and clasped it with a dragon shaped pin at the collar. The cloak wrapped around Samuel so that while he was standing perfectly still nothing but his head was exposed. Maria reached out and touched the cloak and ripples of colour spread out from her fingertips much to her surprise. Samuel's eyes went wide and he turned his head to the Christmas tree. Almost immediately the cloak's color shifted to that of the tree. Pine needles, and branches could be seen in the cloak as well. Samuel stood in front of the tree, and his outline all but disappeared. Moving over to the wall, he expected the cloak to turn the off white color of the paint. Instead the cloak remained green.


"I like green, but this is strange." Samuel said. He glanced at Maria, who was smiling brightly at him. The cloak suddenly burst into a riot of blues and purples that swirled and rippled towards the edges.

"Must respond to thought." Samuel said, blushing. The cloak turned a shade of red to match Samuel's face as everyone laughed. The cloak's colour deepened to match his embarrassment. Samuel shook his head and the cloak was once again a shimmering silver colour.

"That will go really well with your armour." Gene said approvingly.

James snickered. "It will, just as long as there aren't any pretty girls around."

Samuel muttered something under his breath and removed the cloak. "Thank you Mrs. Weasley."

Fred sat on the floor fingering his broomstick. "Say, when do we get to try these out?"

"After lunch." Gene said.

"I haven't started lunch yet. The 'goose' isn't done yet anyway." Maria said. "They might as well go try them."

"Alright." Gene said as he stood up from his chair. "I only got to see Quiditch once, I'd like to see those things in action again."

Ron, Harry, Fred and George ran out the door with their broomsticks and surveyed the area.

"You can fly over anything behind the house." Gene said. "I'd suggest very strongly not flying towards those factories."

"Why not?" asked George.

"One of 'em is a nuclear armaments disassembly plant." Gene said. "They won't even think before shooting you down."

"How dreadful." Molly said, stepping behind Gene. "Won't they be seen?"

"Probably." Gene said.

Elanus gave a small box to Fred and instructed him to take it to the middle of the field and open it.

"What is that?"

"Invisibility Dome." Elanus replied. "It'll make sure they aren't seen."

Fred flew out to the middle of the field and set the box down the area around it up to the street flickered and distorted. From the road all anyone could see was the Evans house and a few cars. Harry and Ron were the first ones in the air, followed closely by George. They flew around each other whipping back and forth for what seemed like ages. Finally Maria came out of the house and called everyone in for lunch. The flyers grudgingly landed and trudged inside. Molly, Maria, Hermione and Ginny had set the table perfectly and a large roast bird sat in the centre of the table.

"These wizards sure know how to cook fast." Maria commented. "This bird was roasting all night" she said to Samuel.

Samuel grinned at Maria, and went into the kitchen to wash his hands. The girls brought out the rest of the meal while everyone was cleaning up. It was by far the best Christmas dinner any of them had ever had. After giving thanks they all filled their plates and moved to different parts of the house, as the table wasn't nearly large enough to accommodate all the guests. The adults, excepting Samuel and Maria stayed in the kitchen, the students went into the living room.

"I hear you're a department head like Elanus." Gene said to Arthur Weasley

"Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office." Arthur said between mouthfuls.

"That must be a very interesting job." Gene said. "You work with muggle stuff a lot?"

Arthur shook his head. "Just enchanted muggle things. I coordinate raids on places where dark magic artefacts are in use as well."

"I see." Said Gene.

"He really agitates Mr. Fudge too." Elanus said with a chuckle.

"That's the head of the Ministry of Magic?" asked Gene. "The one that denies that Voldemort character is back?"

Molly nodded. "He's too blind to see it!"

"You know, he sounds like a traitor to me." Gene said with a shrug.

Every head turned to Gene. "How so?" Sirius asked.

"Well, he did bring that dementor to the Crouch boy right?" asked Gene. "He surely knew that Albus would have him subdued. Then the dementor sucked the life out of Crouch. He refused to look after Azkaban, even though all evidence pointed to Voldemort's return right? Sounds like he's destroying evidence to me."

Sirius nodded in agreement, as did everyone else at the table, though hesitantly.

"He just say by when Azkaban was broken into, and all the dementors left. He's continually hampered Hogwarts, and put the students in danger." Gene said. "He may just be an idiot, but it sounds to me like he sympathizes with Voldemort, and his followers."

"If he's not one himself." Arthur finished.

"You know Arthur, you should have had his job." Elanus said. "You're perfect for it. Why didn't you ever run?"

"I feel that mistreatment of muggles is wrong. I felt like I could do more good where I'm at." Arthur said with a shrug.

"If you ever decide to challenge Fudge's position, I'm behind you." Elanus said. "I agree with my uncle completely. Fudge is simply not competent for the job."

Arthur nodded and shrugged.

With that the table fell into lighter conversation. In the living room the laughter of the students broke the monotony. Hermione and Ron sat next to each other while James and the twins cracked jokes about them. Harry sat with a dreamy look on his face, obviously daydreaming about Cho. Ginny sat next to Samuel and Maria quietly eating her meal, and staring at Harry.

"He's kinda cute huh?" Maria whispered to Ginny. Ginny started and blushed. "Why don't you go sit by him?"

"I can't." Ginny replied.

"Sure you can." Maria said. "What's he daydreaming about?"

"Probably Cho Chang." Ginny said quietly. "He thinks she's pretty."

"Prettier then you?" asked Maria, still whispering.


Ginny nodded and sighed. Maria leaned over and whispered something to Samuel, who shook his head at her. She looked at him hard, and Samuel looked shocked and shook his head again. After a few moments staring at each other Maria whispered something else into his ear. Samuel's face paled and he grudgingly nodded his head. Maria turned to Ginny and winked. Samuel muttered something under his breath and shifted his position slightly so that his back was towards Maria. Maria smirked and pushed on his back playfully. The families finished their meals, but sat talking long after they had cleaned their plates. Evening slowly crept up on them, finally turning to darkness. Gradually everyone fixed for themselves a plate of leftovers for dinner. Finally it was time to retire. All the rooms in the house, including the living room were filled with sleeping guests. Sirius assumed his dog form and slept outside on the porch. The hours drug on and slowly the sun began to peek into the windows. Soon the house was bustling with activity. The Weasleys packed their things up, no small task with the number of gifts they received. Maria and Hermione busied themselves in the kitchen while Gene, Samuel and James carried four large wooden crates from the shed. Harry and Sirius were watching the goings on amusedly when Samuel walked up to them, carrying an axe over his shoulder.

"We won't get to England 'til tomorrow morning, or tonight even if we time it right." He said. "I need some help with something, you two care to help?"

Harry and Sirius looked at each other curiously and shrugged. "What do you need help with?"

"I need to cut down a mesquite tree." Samuel said.

Sirius stood up and stretched. "Why not."

Samuel grinned and led them out of the house across the highway and over a barbed wire fence. There was nothing for miles except leafless, short shrubby bushes that covered the landscape. After a few minutes walking Samuel led them to what appeared to be the largest, most expansive of these shrubs. Three shovels were already laying beside the bush.

"We need to cut this down, and extract the root." Samuel said. "I've got the low branches cleared, and I'll do the cutting, if you two would be so kind as to pull the branches back, and help me dig."

"Doesn't look to bad." Harry said, reaching for the tree. As soon as his hand touched the tree he jerked back. A small droplet of blood formed on his finger.

"They have thorns. Be careful." Samuel said as he made the first swing at the tree. The axe bit deeply into the wood and after several cuts the first branch fell. Several other branches about as big around as a baseball bat fell quickly. Soon there was nothing left but a stump with severed ends of branches dotting it. Harry and Sirius drug the felled branches away and Samuel picked up a shovel.

"Couldn't we just magic it out?" asked Harry.

"Try it." Samuel said.

Harry took his wand from his pocket and waved it at the stump. For all his efforts nothing happened. Sirius tried the same with the wand he'd received the day before and nothing happened either.

"It's got some sort of resistance." Samuel said. "I wouldn't have thought a weed like this would be worth anything, but apparently they are. Either that or they're just stubborn. I can't even raise them out of the ground, it's too much of a strain." He said as he sunk his shovel into the ground. The three started digging, and after they had broken ground, Sirius cast a charm on the shovels that would make them dig by themselves. After about an hour the shovels stopped and the three looked down into the hole. What they saw was a large ball of wood with many roots shooting off of it. Samuel picked his axe up and started cutting through the roots. Finally he got down to the tap root which was almost as big around as both of his legs. Several axe swings later the root broke free. The three hauled it out of the hole and quickly put the excess dirt back in.

"What are you going to do with it?" asked Sirius.

"You'll see." Samuel said, waving his hand at the mesquite braches and root. They began floating about an inch off the ground. "Just stubborn I think."

The three started back towards the house, carrying their shovels behind them. The mesquite was packed inside one of the crates. Afternoon came and everyone's belongings were stacked with the crates. Maria made them a big lunch and pleaded with them to come along.

"I've only been out of Texas once in my life." Maria said. "Please let me see England, at least your little part of it." She pleaded.

"It's not safe." Samuel said.

"Besides you're a muggle." Elanus said.

"So is Gene, James and Samuel." Maria replied. "You're letting them go. So what if it's not safe?"

"There could be a real war occur." Samuel said. "People are likely to die. We can't take you into that."

"You're taking your kids into that!" Maria said. "Students, besides I could teach some of them to defend themselves, the older ones."

"It doesn't look like we're going to win this one." Gene said.

"I think it would be fascinating to have another muggle around." Arthur said. "Maybe she can explain some things to us."

"That's what Professor Green is for, dear." Molly said.

"She can come along." Elanus said. "She's got a point, I don't know of anyone better qualified then her to teach self-defense, besides her father."

Maria grinned triumphantly at Samuel and ran to a bed room and carried out a suitcase in one hand and a long, hard plastic box in another. She quickly went outside and piled them with the rest of the luggage and came back in.

"It's three o'clock." Elanus said. "We'll arrive about nine, we'd better go."

Everyone gathered outside with the crates and Elanus produced a small disk. He turned it in his hand and the surroundings began to shift. The endless plains changed rapidly into a small forest clearing. The clear blue sky became overcast and dim, and the wind calmed to a light breeze.

"We're here." Elanus said. "This is about a mile outside Hogsmeade. You'll find it fairly easy to Apparate here to wherever you need to be. I'll port the students and whoever else is going to Hogwarts to the train station, along with the luggage."

Hands were shook and hugs given and Gene was thanked for the wonderful holidays. Soon Gene, Elanus, Samuel, James, Harry, Hermione and the Weasley children found themselves at the Hogsmeade train station. Elanus arranged for transportation to the Hogwarts grounds so the luggage could be unloaded. They soon were sitting comfortably in the Gryffindor common room talking amongst themselves. It had been a good holiday, but they were glad to be home.