Chapter 5: Cuthbert Farthing and the Weasley's.
Archie smiled at the startled Professor. She was blushing, one of those rare occasions. Hermione rarely got embarrassed about anything.
"Good Evening Mr Hemming." Hermione managed to reply back in as composed a manner possible.
"I hope you don't mind me staying here a couple of nights." Archie apologised.
"No, no problem at all." Hermione lied, very much like Professor Snape, she valued her privacy.
"Well I'm glad to hear it. I'll just be off for now," the scruffy man said and made his way through the archway.
As soon as he had exited and his footsteps could no longer be heard, Hermione collapsed back into the couch.
This was going to be awkward.
***
The sun rose illuminating the sky and over powering all other stars. Its golden path shone onto the snow topped castle, showering it with a pale yellow glow. Hagrid's hut was seen in the shadows. Smoke coming from the chimney indicated a warm fire burning. Archie cherished the view. It had been many years since he had last seen it. But now that he was back, he didn't want to leave.
The man stepped back from the window. He had made the bed. Something that he hadn't done in ages. He hoped he hadn't insulted the House Elves in any way, but one can miss many things when out in the wild. He knew for sure that Hermione would be chuffed with that!
Archie stepped out of the room and wandered the corridors down into the Dining Hall. As he opened the door, he stopped as he saw the familiar figure there.
"Cuthbert!" Archie exclaimed, "What the hell are you doing here?"
"I trek halfway across the world for that?" Cuthbert said in mock exasperation.
The two grinned, then launched at each other in a huge hug. They hadn't seen each other in years. But they had kept in contact, both for personal reasons and for their mission.
"How've you been 'Bert?" Archie asked as they sat down.
"Not too bad. It's nice to get a little break." He replied, while helping himself to some toast.
"My buddy Albus has let me in on a little secret though," Archie said grinning smugly at Cuthbert, who raised his eyebrow in suspicion.
"What?"
"The Weasley's…"Archie's grin got wider. Cuthbert tinged red. And muttered something under his breath which sounded strangely like "I'm going to kill him…"
Archie just laughed heartily at his friend.
They sat and talked. It had been nearly 6 years since they had last talked face to face. And it was good to finally see each other after so many years. Especially, since it was Christmas time, it felt like they were school pupils again, meeting for Christmas dinner.
After breakfast the wandered the snow covered grounds. The snow was actually waist high, but Cuthbert had cast a spell so that they could walk above the snow. Which Archie was more than grateful for. He really did need to learn that spell, but then again, he spent most of his time underground or in shaded woods or caverns.
"So, I take it you're going to the Order Meeting tonight." Archie stated more than asked.
"I am, and I know that Albus wants you to come as well." Cuthbert replied.
"I've tried my hardest to stay away from those meetings." Archie commented.
"Despite what you may think, the Order has the smarter witches and wizards on their side, and that fool Fudge has no idea that a syndicate like that even exists. I don't think you really have to worry." Cuthbert replied honestly. "I also think that you're life of loneliness is unbearable and that you should at least tell some trustworthy people."
Archie groaned at the repeated words. That was exactly what Dumbledore had said.
***
"Draco!" a voice called from behind the two men. They turned around to see a mass of redheads head in their direction.
"Shit!" Archie cursed silently and made sure that a good portion of his hair covered his head.
Cuthbert chuckled silently, "Don't worry, that thing on your head that you call hair covers up more than enough of your face."
Archie would have hit him, had it not been for the Weasley's.
"Hello Draco dear," Mrs Weasley greeted in a motherly tone.
"Head's up!" called a voice, and out of instinct, Archie and Cuthbert ducked as a few dozen snowballs pelted their way. Draco snickered.
"Fred! George! Behave!" She scolded but couldn't help laughing at the antics. Hogwarts still had that affect of getting fully grown men to act childish, but with Fred and George, it seemed to amplify tenfold!
"You're going to have to be a lot sharper than that if you expect to hit me," Draco grinned and the disgruntled look on their faces.
"Ah, I see you have a friend with you Draco," Mr Weasley noted the scruffy man behind Draco.
"Yes, Mr Weasley, Mrs Weasley, let me introduce to Mr Archibald Hemming. Archie, these are my loyal friends, Arthur and Molly Weasley and their children." Draco introduced them. Bill, Charlie and Percy seemed a little miffed at being referred to as 'children.' Draco just gave them a look that simply said, 'it's the truth.'
"Pleasure to meet you sir, madam." Archie nodded at them.
"Yes, and you too dear," Molly replied.
"Well, I'm freezing out here, let's go back to the castle, I've got a bone to settle with Hermione," Ginny said, chattering her teeth.
With that, the family of redheads, Draco and Archie headed back into the castle. Once inside the castle, they were greeted to a warm fire in the Dining Hall, and nearly all the teachers in the school had come to greet them. Percy would be talking vigorously with Professor McGonagall. They were somewhat alike, very much into their work, but had interests which not a lot of people knew of. Arthur and Molly could be seen talking to Albus at the teacher's table with idle calming chatter. Surprisingly to Archie, Bill was talking to Severus quite warmly. Although Severus still had his cold demeanour about him, if you looked quite closely, it looked as if he enjoyed bill's company. Charlie seemed to be talking animatedly with Hagrid, and Hagrid seemed slightly envious of Charlie and his dragon work. Fred and George were conversing with Madam Hooch who looked quite thrilled at the fact that they had come up with some new ingenious prank. She had enjoyed their pranks, a lot when they were in school, but had never actually told them until after they left. As promised, Ginny was talking to Hermione in the corner. Archie noticed that his name entered in their conversation a lot, and he wasn't so surprised. It's not everyday a mysterious figure comes to a pub and then pops up in a Magic School. Ron was sitting by the fireplace with Cuthbert. It was really ironic to see the once school rivals by family, sit together civilly by the fireplace. Archie smirked, Cuthbert blushed a lot when around Ron, and it was heart-warming.
Archie himself stood by the shadows, his ability to merge with them was incredible; absolutely no one noticed him unless they were looking really hard. Archie really felt at home again. His friends here at Hogwarts, celebrating as the snow fell outside. It was very calming. The fire crackling, merry laughter, warmth…he wished it would last.
***
A/N: Hi everyone, I'm seriously sorry for the lack of updates. I had much schoolwork and my muses left me to go off an play bingo, so I was left all alone ::waits for a wave of sympathy::. Well, I know this chapter seems slightly pointless, but I wanted to try and get things moving along. I actually have a decent plot for this fic, so I just needed to introduce some more of the characters. I'm sorry that I'm a little rusty on it too, I haven't been writing anything creative whatsoever in ages! And…You FINALLY know who Cuthbert is! Although you might have already known, I've finally told you now! But never fear, I will be introducing more characters with codenames! I just hope you can keep up with who's who!
Reviews would be greatly appreciated!
