Chapter 32: Welcome to June

"What first?" Kyle asked.

"How to get to England? Things are tough over there and security is tight. Otherwise, I would suggest the floo network. How would we do it muggle style?"

"How much money do you have?"

Alex pondered the problem, but to no avail. "Enough to buy lunch at the mall."

"Okay, muggle style we have two options. We can fly directly to England, for which we need passports, or we can try calling someone we know who is not a wizard."

"We don't have money."

"But I have a couple of credit cards. I can make reservations over the computer but we still have the problem that we're both minors."

"Someone has to fly with us?"

"Either that or an adult drops us off and an adult meets us at the airport. And we need passports."

"France," Alex said.

"Huh?"

"Remember Louis. His Dad's in France. He can meet us. And we can get Johnny to drop us off. From France we can borrow brooms and fly to England."

"I can't fly a broom. We'll take the train."

"Train? Over water?"

"Train. Under water. It's called the Chunnel."

"And how do we get passports?"

Kyle sighed. "We can't."

Alex smiled. "I guess it's underage use of magic, then." Alex paused. "I'm curious. You said credit cards. Whose cards do you have?"

"Mine. I said I was 24 and a student and they pre-approved me."

"Cool."

"Yeah. Until the first bills come."

"New idea," Alex said. "How old do we have to be to be adults?"

"Passports?" the counter clerk asked.

Alex, arm under his sweater, waved his wand and whispered the spell. Kyle told the clerk. "Our passports are all in order."

"OK, your passports are in order. And here are your tickets. You will be boarding at gate 18b. That is the express boarding."

"Express boarding?" Alex asked as they left the counter.

"Yeah. Frequent Flyers can get special passes to avoid most of the security problems."

"And we're frequent flyers?"

"The computer said we were."

Alex nodded. "There's the gate. What are we trying to do?"

"Show him your ticket as you walk by."

Both boys showed the boarding guard their tickets. The guard waved them through and they boarded the plane.

"This is first class?" Alex asked.

"Yeah. I'll be in hot water at the end of the month. I might as well enjoy it."

Alex and Kyle were stumped. They had managed to get to London. And a nice hotel not too far from the Ministry of Magic. But they had not planned on one thing. How to get in to find out where David Winter was. They decided to take a walk to the American embassy.

"Alex, what happens when we get there? How do we ask for a wizard?"

Alex stopped. "I don't know. They won't have them listed. The staff might not even know about them. This is ridiculous. We've gotten this far."

Alex leaned against the iron fence of the yard they were passing. "How are we ever going to find him?"

"You're Americans," a young voice said with pleased surprise. "Are you looking for a missing person?" it added hopefully.

"Alex?" Kyle said with wide eyes. "Look behind you. Slowly."

Alex turned his head and spied the boy curiously. "You're a ghost."

"I know," the ghostly boy said. "Charles Rowland, Private Investigator, at your service. Would you like to step into my office to discuss the matter?" The boy waved his hand toward an old treehouse.

"Should we?" Kyle asked, he fear replaced by curiosity.

"It couldn't hurt," Alex told him.

Both boys walked to the gate in the fence and entered the yard. Then they climbed the makeshift ladder into the tree.

Edwin Paine, dressed as a schoolboy from between the wars, eyed his partner carefully. While Edwin had died at the age of twelve, his American partner had managed to live one more year. On the other hand, Edwin had been dead at least six decades longer.

"It seems simple enough."

"That's what we said when we started," Alex admitted.

"We need a plan," Charles said with authority.

"Really?" Edwin added with practiced sarcasm.

"We have to find out where this David Winter is. And Edwin knows how to do that."

"I do?"

"It's your country."

"I wasn't a wizard when I died. I don't even know where the Ministry of Magic is."

"I do," Alex said. "I looked up the address before I left."

"There," said Charles, smugly.

Edwin smiled. "And I have a marvelous plan, Charles. This is what YOU have to do."

Charles Rowland walked up to the information counter when it was his turn. The clerk expressed only mild interest because of the ghost's age at time of death.

"Are you here to answer a haunting charge?"

"No. I want to lodge a protest with the American ambassador."

"You need to go to the American embassy for that. Next."

"But I can't find the American Ambassador for Magic there," Charles complained. "And all I know is his name's David Winter."

The clerk gave him an annoyed look, then looked through him and gave an apologetic smile to the witch standing behind him.

"You want the American Consul, not the ambassador." The clerk scried a crystal ball. "He's not at his office. He's gone to Scotland for a conference. He'll be back Monday."

The clerk's look let Charles know that it was time to leave.

"Scotland?" Kyle asked. "We'll never find him, now."

"It depends on how he's getting there," Edwin replied. "If he's taking the train, then we might find him at Kings Cross Station."

"How do you know that?"

"All routes northward leave from Kings Cross. At least they did while I was alive. I see no reason to think they moved the tracks."

Alex smiled. "And how far away are we?"

"Twenty minutes walk. We could be there by 10:30."

Alex was beaming. "This is great. We know Winter is going north. I bet he's going to Malcolm's school."

Kyle began to smile. "And Malcolm said he took a train there."

"To the wizards school?" Edwin asked.

"You know about that?"

"Charles and I watch them board every year, ever since we discovered them." Edwin leaned in to whisper. "He fancies one of the girls."

"I do not," Charles protested. "I only said she was pretty."

Alex interrupted. "Do you know how to get to the train, then?"

"Of course," Edwin acknowledged. "The train station is this way."

"Edwin," Charles interrupted. "We shouldn't go into the train station. We might be seen. And since we're with them, it might raise suspicions. Perhaps we should go undercover."

Edwin nodded. "An excellent point." he turned to Kyle and Alex. "Do you mind?"

"Mind what?" Kyle asked as Edwin entered his body. "This is weird."

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Kyle said with a laugh. "I'm only partially possessed. The train station's this way."

"May I?" Charles asked. Alex nodded, and the ghost flew into his body.

"What are we looking for?" Kyle/Edwin asked.

"A secret gate," Alex/Charles answered. "It's in that direction, but I don't know how far."

"I could have told you that," Edwin said to himself, technically speaking. "You could have asked me."

"I'll be back," Alex said in a slightly different voice, and Charles left the body. He made himself invisible and flew in a straight line. Two minutes later, he returned and entered Alex's body.

"I'm not going to get used to this," Alex admitted.

"I could," Kyle told him. "I can talk to myself and not know what I'm going to say." His voice changed slightly. "Do you know where we're going."

"Yeah," Kyle said with a laugh. "The secret entrance is active. It's between Gates . . . They call them Platforms . . . Thanks, Charles. Between Platforms 9 and 10. And we want to hurry. There's a train in the station."

The two boys walked briskly to the entrance. Alex told Kyle to follow him, and walked through. Kyle followed.

"It's solid. I bet it's got a scanner or something. I'm a muggle, so it won't let me in . . . Wait, I have an idea. I'm a ghost, which means that I must be magical to some degree. Kyle, could I try a full possession? . . . Will it hurt? . . . I don't think so, but I've never tried it before. . . .Here's to the first time."

Edwin took complete control over the body. "Blimey. I forgot what it was like. But I'll try this again later." He took a step forward.

"What kept you? Kyle?"

"Edwin. Kyle's a muggle and couldn't get in. I possessed him. That gave his body the magic to pass through."

"What's it like?"

"It's too intense, Charles. I'm letting go. Now." Kyle gasped for breath as Edwin's ghostly form left his body. "That . . . was . . . terrible."

Charles took his cue from Edwin and also stepped out of Alex. "What was it like for you?"

Kyle shook his head to clear it. "I could see and hear everything. But I couldn't feel anything. And I had no control over my body."

The train whistle blew. Four boys ran for the Hogwarts Express and climbed aboard just before the train started to leave.

"Tickets?" the porter asked.

Alex smiled and pulled out a handful of Galleons. "We didn't get here early enough. How much are two tickets."

"You need four tickets. There are four of you."

Alex frowned. "But those two are dead."

"Doesn't matter," the porter insisted. "If they're taking the train, they have to have a ticket."

Alex started to say something but gave up. He held up his handful of coins "How close am I?"

The porter frowned. "You've barely enough for one."

"I have a credit card," Kyle offered. "It's muggle, but . . . "

"We don't take credit cards." The porter looked around. "We're already out of the station anyway." He picked out all but one of the gold coins and most of the smaller ones. "I'm charging you half-fairs because you're minors. But the two ghosts have to leave."

"Then we all have to leave," Alex said adamantly. "It's not out fault we didn't have proper directions or time to buy proper tickets. And the four of us have to get to Hogwarts."

The porter reached up to pull the cord that would tell the engineer to stop the train.

"Excuse me," Edwin asked. "Do you have student rates?"

"You're not Hogwarts students."

"Exchange students," Edwin said casually. "These three are from the United States, and I'm from the International School."

"Students?"

"Yes."

"Let's start over." The porter handed all the money back to Alex. "Four students? That's one-third normal each." He paused. "You're all sixteen or under?" The boys nodded. "Twelve or under." The boys shook their heads.

"Excuse me," Edwin said raising his hand. "I was twelve when I died."

"Really?"

"Why would I lie?"

"Right. You were twelve. That's half fare again because you're part of a group." The porter started taking all the coins. "You're still short, but I'll let it go. If I keep arguing with you four we'll be in Hogsmeade before we're done."

Thanks," Kyle said appreciatively. The porter gave them their tickets and walked away muttering that he was too nice sometimes.

"What now?" Kyle asked. "I've never been to a magic school before."

"We sit and wait," Alex answered. "And we get extremely hungry."

"Do they have a club car or something?"

"Doesn't matter. We don't have any money."

"It's our fault," Charles admitted. "We didn't have to come."

Kyle smiled. "We wouldn't be here, then. We can afford to miss a meal or two. For friends."

Charles looked at Edwin. They both smiled.

Malcolm made the effort and managed to stop Draco. It would have been a normal conversation except that Draco was walking with two first year girls. Neither girl seemed pleased.

"We need to talk."

That's supposed to be my line.

"What about?"

"Some things can wait until we get where we're going. Mostly because we're already here." The door to the Room of Requirement appeared as they rounded a corner. "Crabbe, Goyle. You know what to do. Malcolm?"

Draco entered the room and Malcolm followed.

"Draco. What's up?"

"Snape wants you to tell him everything you can about me. And you agreed."

"Yeah."

"Why?"

"Next year, I transfer to Slytherin."

Draco looked puzzled. "Why would you want to do that?"

"Let's see? The most popular kid in my house put you in the infirmary? Moaning Myrtle was very descriptive about what happened."

"I doubt anyone will truly believe her. And remember, he is the Chosen One and I'm the evil Slytherin. No one will feel bad about what he did. Not in the long run. All you'll do is mark yourself as one of the enemy." Draco sighed. "I don't care any more, Malcolm. I've come to realize that it doesn't matter."

They stopped walking when they reached the cabinet. Draco swung his arm and hit the door so that it was realigned.

"Draco. You fixed the cabinet."

"The spells not repaired yet. But it will be soon."

"A fixed cabinet is not a good thing."

"It depends upon your perspective." Draco gave Malcolm a friendly smile. "Mother sent me an owl this morning. My cousin, Norbert, is staying with at Malfoy Manor as her special guest. While he is there, he will be introduced to certain . . . friends. Do you understand?"

Malcolm nodded. "So, what are we doing?"

"The cabinet will be repaired by the end of this weekend. Then we will wait until we know for certain that Dumbledore is away from the castle."

"And Nob?"

"Will probably be one of the first to come through. To make sure it's safe."

"That doesn't give us a very large window," Malcolm said as he began thinking.

"It doesn't give YOU a large window. I will have things to do once the guests start arriving."

Malcolm nodded. "I'll talk to Dewey. That will double our chances. Anything else I should know?"

"We're being watched. Try not to be obvious about anything. Even in your own house. Everyone from Slytherin may be evil, Malcolm, but that doesn't mean that all the evil ones are in Slytherin."

"Point taken."

Dewey smiled as he walked up to Malcolm. "You wanted to talk to me?"

"Why are you smiling?"

"Professor Snape told me you wanted a different house."

"And?"

"And he told me not to tell you that it probably wouldn't happen."

"Well, who cares, anyway."

Dewey frowned. "What happened?"

"Let's go for a walk."

"It's that serious?"

"Not really, but I hate when people listen in."

Dewey nodded, ignoring the fact that they were the only ones in the main hall. He followed his brother out the door.

"Where are we walking to? Dinner is only an hour away. I like to be early."

"We're only walking down to this tree. It'll hide us but we can still see people coming."

Dewey stared. "Malcolm. That's the Whomping Willow."

"Yeah."

"You did hear the word 'Whomping'. From the verb: To Whomp. As in: I Whomp; You Whomp; He, She, IT WHOMPS."

"Dewey, it's the only safe place we can talk."

Dewey stared as he saw Malcolm walk into the shade of the willow tree. Then he shrugged his shoulders. After all, it was Malcolm. He walked under the tree, whose branches draped themselves as a curtain around the two boys.

"Malcolm, should I ask how you managed this?"

"I didn't. Dewey, you know how, even though we can't stand each other, our family always sticks together?"

"NOB?" Dewey was horrified. "I thought you made all of that up?"

"I did, but . . . She likes that we take good care of him."

"She really knows, though, that we only do that stuff to him because we're brothers. It's what brothers do?"

"I think she understands. If she didn't think we were doing a good job, we'd probably be visiting your friend the Giant Squid, without having to walk to the lake."

Dewey nodded. "Good point. Is this what you wanted to tell me?"

"No. And I wanted to tell you here so that the Whomping Willow knows, too. She has that right. It's about Nob."

Both boy felt the sudden apprehension around them. Dewey cringed out of fear, because he didn't know what was going to happen. Malcolm cringed because he did.

"Here's the deal. Draco discovered a way to let Death Eaters into the school. He's decided to do it."

"But . . ."

"You-Know-Who has Nob as a hostage."

"You-Know-Who? As in You-Know-Who?"

"Aunt Narcissa's taking care of him, but she always does what she's told."

"So they finally figured out that Draco couldn't be trusted. I knew that from when I first met him. And what about Nob?"

"When the Death Eaters come, Nob comes too. And we have to be there to greet them, like we were part of it all along."

"When?"

"The next time we know Dumbledore's not here."

"But he's not here half the time."

"Yeah, but we don't KNOW that he's not here. Dewey, this is all going to be close."

"I'll tell Professor Snape as soon as I can. He'll help us keep an eye on Draco. And he promised Aunt Narcissa he'd watch over him. Are you going to tell McGonagall?"

"No. Draco warned me I'm being watched. My guess is everyone's being watched. And I'm not feeling very Gryffindorish these days."

Dewey frowned. "That's weird."

"After what Potter did to Draco, it's not weird at all."

"Not that." Dewey pointed. "Isn't that a Krelboyne?"

Malcolm turned around.

That's Eraserhead. No, wait, he has a name. It's . . . something or other. Wait a minute. He's a muggle. What's he doing here.

"Is that Alex with him?" Malcolm asked. "And that man is?"

Dewey smiled. "Mister Winter. I never thought I'd be happy to see him."

Both boys left the cover of the tree and intercepted the small group. David Winter smiled at them, but not happily.

He always smiles at us like that.

"This is a curious coincidence. You are just the two I want to talk to."

Dewey smiled. "And we wanted to talk to you. In private. Sorry, guys."

It was Edwin who spoke. "Why don't we give you our news first. Then we can leave you."

"You're with Alex and Kyle?"

"Edwin Paine, Private Detective, at your service. My partner and I were hired to find Mister Winter, which we did with speed and accuracy, plus a bit of luck. We didn't expect him to actually be on the train."

"Do you think you can find my brother?" Dewey asked without thinking.

The other ghost, Charles, scoffed. "You see that. They know about this already."

"It should be obvious," David Winter pointed out to the two ghosts. "These two, and their cousin are the reason their brother was kidnaped. They were told by the kidnapers."

"Then we didn't have to do all this?" Kyle asked.

David smiled. "Had I been by myself, they would not have known I was here. Kyle, because of what you did, I am informed, and I can safely inform others." He turned to Malcolm. "These boys have spent all day on the train with nothing to eat. You might want to take them into the Great Hall. After they eat, I'll take them back with me to London."

"I know," Alex said when David turned to him. "We don't know anything. This whole thing was just to see if we could really get here."

"I am a muggle," Kyle informed David. "We shouldn't have succeeded."

"Duly noted," David said, and left them in Malcolm's care.

"So," Dewey asked as they walked back to the castle. "You two are dead?"

"Edwin has a few decades on me," Charles admitted, "but we both have been dead for a while."

"And you're ghosts? But you're both just boys."

"That's because we were young when we died. I'd just passed my thirteenth birthday, and Edwin was still twelve."

"And you're now Detectives?"

Charles rubbed his chin as in thought. "Dead. Boys. Detectives. Yes, that covers everything."