Part 25
Kyle walked away from the confrontation feeling like he'd taken a football to the gut. The questions raced through his mind. Why now? Where has she been? Why was she so shocked that I was going to Hogwarts but not that there was a Hogwarts? Do I have to see her again? Would she let me see her again? Did she call me squid? I maybe a "shrimp" but I'm not a squid. Did Dad really not know she was a witch? Was she a late-bloomer too? Why did she hide it? And why did she leave? Do I know other witches and wizards in Roswell? I need to go back and talk to her. No, she'd probably hex me. Damn, maybe Max isn't totally to blame for my being here after all. I think he just got downgraded from least favorite to second least favorite. Whaa…?
He jumped, startled out of his reverie by a light touch on his back.
"Kyle, Are you OK?" Liz asked with a quiet voice.
He bit his tongue to keep from snapping at her for asking such a stupid question. He looked in her eyes and saw only concern not sarcasm. He sighed heavily and decided on honesty over hurtful for his reply. "Uh… No. Not really."
"Do you want to talk about it?" she asked.
"Not a lot. But if you would, please, keep pushing me on to the castle so that I'm not tempted to go back to try to talk to her. I know I'm not ready for another confrontation no matter how many questions I have. I never thought I'd say this but I really want to talk to my dad. But who knows maybe he'd be more rattled than I was," he gave a short, mirthless chuckle which sounded more like a bark.
"I think you should talk to him. Maybe Professor Dumbledore can arrange transportation to and from a telephone. We should ask when we get back. And if not then maybe writing it all out in a letter would be more cathartic anyway. It seems to help me to write in my journal," she answered.
"I really wanted to hurt her back there. I wanted to make her feel all the pain and anger that I've felt because she left," he said through clenched teeth, then he exhaled and spoke again, more calmly this time. "No! I have to get back into balance if I'm going to be able to focus on schoolwork this week."
Behind them, they heard the shriek from Fred. They stopped on the path and turned back to see what was wrong.
"Is everything alright?" Liz asked.
"Yes, we're fine," George said nudging Fred with his elbow.
"Wha… Oh yeah, perfectly fine," Fred agreed rather flatly but the Roswell teens had already turned around.
Kyle made up his mind on a plan of action.
"Liz, when we get back I'm going to spend time in the greenhouses, probably until supper. After dinner I'll write to Dad and if tomorrow I still feel the need to call Dad then I'll go and talk to Professor Dumbledore," he said, feeling a lot stronger than before.
"That sounds like a good idea," Liz agreed and started fishing in her bag. She pulled out a medium sized book bound in rich brown suede. "Here, take this."
"What is it?" he asked reaching for it.
"Your birthday present. Look, I know your birthday isn't until the day before we leave but I thought you might need this now. It's a journal, wizard style. No locks but password protected so that anyone trying to read it without the password gets forgets what they were doing and remembers an errand they were supposed to run. I have a separate one for both secret aspects of my life. You may never use it but you have it if you want it," she said.
"Thanks. I may use it in a little while. You don't have a quill and ink with you do you?" he asked.
"Actually, I have my favorite never needs ink, pick the color you write quill. I'll loan it to you. But I need it back for Monday, OK?" she said.
"Thanks. That means I can go straight to the greenhouses without going back up to Gryffindor Tower. If you don't mind, I think I'll go on ahead," he said.
"I don't mind," she said and patted him on the shoulder as he took off.
Then she fell back in step with Fred and George.
"Thanks for letting me hang out with you guys today. Apart from the ending it was wonderful," she told them as they reached her.
"We live to help damsels in distress," George teased a little bit.
"So, um, that was Kyle's mum?" Fred asked.
"Yeah, that was the infamous Michelle Valenti, deadbeat mom extraordinaire. She left three days after Kyle turned eleven. Just disappeared without a trace. Nobody knew she was a witch, so they had no clue that she probably apparated. She just took half of the checking account and disappeared. Kyle hadn't seen her since then, so he was a bit shook up as you can imagine. I think only the fact that his dad taught him not to hit girls kept him from hitting her," Liz explained.
"Yeah, I kind of got the feeling he was in shock. So where is he going now?" George asked.
"He's on his way to the greenhouses to think," she said, then asked, "What's a squim, or whatever it was that she called him?"
"A squib you mean?" Fred asked.
"Yeah that," Liz said and turned to watch their faces as they walked together.
"It's a derogatory word meaning a person born to a witch or a wizard who has no magical abilities," George explained.
"It's rumored that Filch is one," Fred added.
"Oh so she said she left and left him behind because he wasn't magical? What a bi…" she started saying when George clamped a hand over her mouth.
A few seconds later they passed Professor Snape on his way to Hogsmeade.
"Thanks George," she said softly.
He smiled thinking, No, thank you. Then he looked at his hand wondering if an imprint of her lips was burned into his palm. They weren't.
Hermione unrolled the parchment from her dad and found an article clipping attached as well. Dated 5 October 1999 it was from the Checks and Balances newspaper.
Roswell Waitress Survives Shooting
It was just another hot afternoon in the Crashdown Café. The after school crowd was mingling with the tourists in town for the Crash Festival. But something sinister was a foot. Two customers began arguing, supposedly about money but they were overheard to say, "We've got to get rid of her." Then all hell broke loose and turned the ordinary September into something chaotic.
According to witnesses, seconds after stating they needed to get rid of her, a shot was fired from a gun that had been hidden beneath the table. And a waitress fell behind the counter and the men ran out. On their way out they appeared to check to make sure that the waitress, Elizabeth "Liz" Parker was not moving.
A few seconds later the other waitress was screaming for Liz to answer her when a young man appeared at the fallen waitress' side. He spent approximately ten seconds hovering over her when the sound of breaking glass was heard and the young man fled. When the customer's turned back, they saw the young woman standing, dazed and covered in ketchup.
The police report claims that no bullets were found and they speculate the gun was loaded with blanks. If this is the case why was a Crashdown uniform covered in blood and ketchup and containing a bullet hole turned over to the FBI? And why was the ketchup bottle broken after the shooters had left but before Miss Parker stood up? Also if a projectile were not involved why would she have fallen backwards when instincts would have sent her forwards? And why was a glowing silver handprint seen on her abdomen shortly after the incident? Could this be another government cover-up for the aliens among us?
Hermione stared at the page pondering the veracity of the claims made by the article. Based on the statement Professor McGonagall made about Liz's name appearing on the list just last September, the timeline could be true. And with those comments made in the hallway of the Leaky Cauldron about "little green men," then the aliens among us thing maybe true. But how does that explain Kyle? And where is he anyway? I haven't seen him since they left the Three Broomsticks.