Chapter 2: The Letter From Nowhere
The sun begun to rise over the town of Godric's Hallow, giving light to the whole town and its occupants.
Over ten years have passed since the Godric's Orphanage received a certain new tenant, but gaining a new oprhan didn't really change a thing in the Godric Orphanage. The sun crept slowly into the window of a certain boy's room in the attic, at the very top of the Orphanage. The attic was basically an ordinary small-sized bedroom. It held a small closet cupboard, a desk, and a normal sized twin bed, where a boy was sleeping, and only his black ruffled hair could be seen as the blanket covered the rest of him.
This boy was none other than young Simon Ares, an orphan boy who has yet to be adopted by any family. A couple of hours later, with the sun fully risen, the attic door opened, and in walked another orphan boy. He was 13, had blonde hair and green eyes, and wore a simple black t-shirt and shorts, but was barefooted.
The 13 year old boy walked over to Simon's bed, and spoke. "Oi! Ares, wake up!" he said, but Simon didn't move and continued to sleep. "Oi!" the 13 year old growled, grabbing the blanket, and yanking it off of Simon, revealing the younger boy, in his blue striped pajamas.
Feeling the cold air, Simon moved out of his sleeping position and sat up, barely opening his eyes, revealing that they were a piercing blue. Squinting at the older boy, Simon looked annoyed.
"It's saturday, Charles," He said in a hoarse voice. "Why are you waking me up?"
"Because, It's our monthly clean up thing," Charles said, tossing the blanket back onto the bed. "We have to clean our areas and stuff."
"I know," Simon replied, then lied back down. "But as you can see, my room is clean, so I don't have to clean," he said, pulling the blanket back over himself. Charles sneered and pulled the blanket away from Simon. "Oi!"
"What!?" Charles cried, tossing the blanket onto the ground. "What are you going to do?"
"What do you want from me?" Simon asked with a sigh, sitting up.
"I want you to clean my room," Charles declared, crossing his arms and glaring at Simon.
"That's stupid," Simon replied. "Why the heck would I want to clean your room?"
"Because," Charles said. "If you don't, then I guess I'll just have to let it slip to Mrs. Harris about your late night adventures when you sneak out of the house."
Simon glared back at the older boy. On occasion, He would sneak out of the orphanage just to roam around the town, and journey through the woods on the edge of town. He never did anything illegal as far as he knew. Don't get him wrong. He was an exceedingly bright and intelligent boy, He just wanted to explore and go on pretend adventures and have fun. He did this at night, as during the day they always had a chaperone, and he was to never leave the playground area, not even to go to the park that was down the street.
But what Simon didn't know, was how did Charles know that he sneaks out at night? But what he did know was that he couldn't let Mrs. Harris find out, or he'd be in big trouble. "Fine," Simon said through gritted teeth, getting out of bed.
"Good boy," Charles said, moving away from Simon. "Now, you know where my room is, so you can head down there, while I head to the kitchen eat some breakfast, and then go outside and hang out with my friends. And by the time I come back, my room better be spotless!" Charles finished and then exited Simon's room.
Simon sighed, walking over to his closet, opening it, pulling out fresh clothes, changed into them. He threw his pajamas into the closet and closed the door. Simon wore a navy blue t-shirt and black shorts, and put on a pair of black converse. He sighed again and the left his attic room, down to the hallways of the orphanage.
From the outside, the orphanage looked like a pretty normal three-story tall stone building, while the inside looked like a warm and comfy hotel. Simon exited the stairs from his attic room and entered the 3rd floor hallway, passing the open doors that led to other childrens' room, all cleaning their rooms for the headmistress's inspection. Simon entered the stairwell that was in the middled of the orphanage and began making his way down to the first floor, where Charles' room happened to be.
The nearly eleven year old entered the first floor, where a small 7 year old boy bumped into him and fell to the ground. Simon looked down at the brown haired, peach skinned, and hazel eyed boy, still wearing his teddy bear pajamas. He seemed to be holding something.
"Are you alright?" Simon asked, helping up the younger boy.
"I'm okay," the younger boy said, standing up. "I was just coming to see you."
"Why?"
The younger boy held out his hands, where he was holding a small box, unprofessionally wrapped in christmas paper. "Happy Birthday!" he said, a big smile on his face. "Ms. Nielson gave me the box and I wrapped it up in left over christmas wrapping paper."
"Thanks, Ralphie," Simon said, smiling and taking the small box. "But my birthday isn't till tomorrow."
"I know," Ralphie said. "But I couldn't wait. I found it a long time ago, and I thought you might like it!"
Simon smiled, and opened that box. Inside was a pretty sizable golden coin. Simon picked it up and examined it more closely. One one side, it had the words Unum Galleon on it with the picture of a dragon, and on the other side, it had the words Gringotts Bank and the picture of a long beared man.
"Ralphie, where did you find this?" Simon asked.
"In the alley behind the playground," Ralphie answered. "I only went out there for a second, I swear! I just heard a loud pop, and I was curious. I came back right after I found the coin! Please don't tell on me."
"It's okay, Ralphie," Simon said, trying to calm down the younger boy. "I'm not going to tell on you."
"Thanks, Simon," Ralphie said, "You're a cool person. I want to be like you when I grow up." Ralphie grinned and then left. Simon, forgetting about cleaning Charles' room, turned around and walked back up the stairs and up to his room.
A couple hours later, Charles bursted into Simon's room. "Why is my room not clean!?" he shouted, walking over to Simon who was sitting at his desk drawing.
"Because I didn't want to," Simon replied. "Clean it yourself. I don't care if you tell on me, I won't get into that much trouble with Mrs. Harris, so what."
Charles sneered down at Simon, not sure of what to do until he noticed his drawings of a red bird, a magnificent sword, a black wolf, and then, he noticed the golden coin. "Well, what do we have here?" Charles said, snatching Simon's golden coin from his desk.
"Hey! That's mine!" Simon yelled, turning to the 13 year old. He tried to grab it back from Charles, but Charles lifted his arm away from Simon. "Give it back!"
"No!" Charles said, and then took off running. Simon growled and then followed after the 13 year old bully.
The two boys ran through the orphanage, and to the front doors, stopping at the front steps. "Give my coin back!" Simon said, breathing heavily, and holding out his hand.
"No," Charles replied, breathing heavily, "but I do have a better idea. Why don't you go find it!" he said, and then threw the coin as hard as he could, diagonally across the street, and into some bushes. He then turned to Simon. "That'll teach you to not do what I say," he said, pushing Simon on the shoulder and walking back into the orphanage.
"Jerk," Simon murmured, as the front doors closed. He sighed and made his way down the steps of the stoop and onto the sidewalk and stopped at the edge of the curb. He looked both ways of the street before running across it, making his way over to the bushes where his coin landed. Simon sighed again and crawled into his bushes and began to look for his golden coin.
He couldn't find at first. He looked everywhere he could, wishing he could have it back, and when he moved the bushes, it fell from somewhere landing right in front of him. "Yes!" Simon celebrated quietly, grabbing the coin.
"What are you doing?!" said a voice. Simon jumped in fright, hitting his head on a branch.
"Ow!" he yelped, and then crawled out of the bushes, stopping at a pair of feet in front of him. He slowly looked up, but as the sun was in his eyes, he could barely tell who it was, but he could tell it was another boy. "You made me hit my head."
"Sorry," the boy apologized. Simon nodded, and stood up to his feet, and with the sun not in his eyes, he could see the other boy clearly. He was a little shorter, had red hair and blue eyes. He wore a orange and white striped collared shirt, blue jeans, and brown shoes.
"It's okay," Simon said, rubbing his head. "Who are you?"
"Hugo, Hugo Weasley," the boy replied, holding out his hand. "And you are?"
"Simon," Simon responded, shaking his hand. "Simon Ares."
"Nice to meet you, Simon," Hugo said, and then looked at the bushes, "So what were you doing in those bushes?" he asked.
"Oh, I was looking for my gold coin," Simon said, then held up his gold coin. "And I found it."
"Hey, that's a Galleon!" Hugo excitedly exclaimed, pointing at the coin. "Are you a wi...I mean...Where'd you get it from?"
"My friend gave it to me for my birthday," Simon said, noticing the other boy's change in question. "Said he found it in an alley. After he heard a loud popping sound, he went to find what it was but found this coin instead."
"Oh," Hugo said, nodding, his eyes wide.
"Yeah," Simon said slowly. "Do you know what could have made a random popping sound?"
"No idea," Hugo quickly answered and then changed the subject. "Hey, do you want to go to the park?"
"Um," Simon said, looking back at the Orphanage and then back at Hugo. "Sure, why not!" Hugo smiled and led the orphan down the street towards the park.
"So, do you live around here?" Hugo asked. "I mean, did you just move here? Cause i haven't seen you around before."
"Yeah, I live around here somewhere," Simon answered, not wanting to tell Hugo that he lived in an orphanage. "I've actually lived here my whole life, just don't get out much is all."
"Oh," Hugo said as the two entered the park. "I live here too, a few blocks away, with my older sister, and my mum and dad. Do you have any brothers or sisters?"
Simon shook his head, and looked into the park that was full of all different kinds of children, all laughing, cheering, screaming, and playing. He looked over at the swings where he saw a red-headed girl with green eyes, wearing a red and white dress, get pushed out of the swing by a brown haired boy.
"Hey!" Simon yelled as ran over towards the swings, while Hugo followed from behind. He stopped by the red headed girl and helped her to her feet, then turned on the brown haired boy. "What the heck is wrong with you!? You can't push a girl?!" he yelled at the other boy who pushed down the red-headed girl whose eyes were brimmed with tears.
The brown haired boy was a few inches taller than Simon and sneered down at him. Simon glared up into his hazel eyes while other children began to gather around. "I just did," he stated. "Besides, she shouldn't be hogging the swing. I like to swing too."
"It shouldn't matter," Simon said. "You should have waited till she was done. Have some patience you arrogant dolt!" he added angrily, and everyone gasped. Simon raised an eyebrow looking puzzled. Why did everyone just gasp?
"What did you just call me?" The boy growled with a menacing sneer.
Simon rolled his eyes. "What, are you deaf too? I called you an arrogant dolt!" he repeated.
"You shut your mouth you filthy little mudblood!" yelled the brown haired boy, where Simon noticed a few children in the group gasped, including Hugo and the red-haired girl. "You obviously don't know who you're dealing with, so if I were you, like I wanted to be you, but if I was, I'd be very careful to what you say."
"Okay, let's just calm down here," Hugo said, butting in and taking a step forward. "Maybe we can talk about this in a civilized manner?"
"Why don't you shut up with your civilized manners and your big words, you dweeb," the brown haired boy said, pushing Hugo down to the ground. Hugo hit the ground, hissing when his elbow skidded on the ground. The brown haired boy laughed. "Not so tough are you, Weasley?"
"I'll show you what tough is!" Simon growled as he tackled the bully. A second later, the two boys were now rolling around the dirt fighting with the other kids screaming 'Fight!'.
Simon punched the brown haired boy in the eye, but that was it. Since the bully was bigger, he turned over and was now on top of Simon punching him in the face and stomach. Luckily the bully only got two punches in because someone had stopped the fight, and pulled the brown haired boy off of Simon who was then picked up by someone else. Simon looked over at the person who pulled the brown haired boy away and saw it was a tall man with red hair, blue eyes. He then looked at who picked him up and saw that it was another tall man with jet-black hair, green eyes, and wore round-rimmed glasse.
"That's enough!" yelled the black haired man, while the bully shrugged off of the red haired man.
"Gerroff me!" he growled, stepping away from the man."Don't ever touch me!" he hissed, then looked over to Simon and his rescuer. "Just wait till my father hears about this!" he said and then stalked off. The other children began to disperse and go back to their playing.
"That boy sort of reminds me of someone," the red-haired man said. "Don't you think, Harry?"
"A little," the black haired man, named Harry, said. He looked down at Simon who was rubbing his cheek. "Are you alright?" he asked.
Simon nodded. "Yeah, I'll be fine," he answered. "Thanks, I was little out of my league there."
"Trust me when I say this, nothing is out of your league as long as you believe in yourself," Harry said, patting Simon on the shoulder, then walked over to the red headed girl who was sniffling and kneeled next to her. "Lily, are you alright?" Lily nodded as her father wiped away a fallen tear.
"And you, Hugo?" the red haired man asked, helping Hugo to his feet.
"Yeah, dad, I'm okay," Hugo replied, looking at his scraped elbow. "Can you fix this?" Simon noticed the red-haired man glance at him.
"Well, when we get home of course," he said, and examined his son's elbow. "But it doesn't look too bad. Does it hurt?" Hugo's father asked, pressing on Hugo's injured elbow.
"Ow!" Hugo hissed, pulling away from his father who chuckled. "Yeah, it hurts."
"Sorry, sorry," Hugo's father said, smiling, then turned to Simon. "I see you made a new friend, Hugo. And you are?"
"Simon Ares," Simon greeted with a timid smile. Hugo's father and Harry glanced at one another, which Simon noticed.
"Nice to meet you, Simon," said Hugo's father. "I'm Ron Weasley, and that over there is my colleague and his young daughter, Harry and Lily Potter." Simon nodded towards the two Potters. Harry nodded back while Lily smiled back. "So, what made you get in a fight with the infamous, Victor Markovics?" asked Ron. "Did he insult you?"
"Partly," Simon answered.
"And the other part?" Harry curiously asked.
"For pushing me and Lily down," Hugo spoke up, still examining his scraped elbow.
"That boy is a little menace," Ron spoke to Harry. "We should at least speak to his father about him."
"Like he'd listen to us," Harry responded, then glanced at Simon who was watching them. "You know he hates us Aur - Police Officers."
"Yeah," Ron said grumpily.
"So, Simon, we're having a big lunch at my house tomorrow, would you like to come?" Hugo suddenly asked. "My whole family will be there! You can meet all my cousins."
"I don't know," Simon said, turning back to Hugo, "I mean, I don't think I can."
"Why not?" Hugo asked. "I'm sure if you can ask your parents if you can go - "
"Hugo," Ron interrupted, placing a hand on his son's shoulder.
"What?" Hugo said, looking up at his father curiously.
"There you are!" shouted a womanly voice. Simon looked behind Harry and Lily, and saw a woman in a blue and purple dress, a person Simon new as Ms. Nielsen, running up to the group, and ran up to Simon hugging him. "Oh my goodness, we were worried sick!"
"Oh, is that your mum?" Hugo asked, pointing at Ms. Nielsen.
"What?" Ms. Nielsen said, looking over at the two Potters and the two Weasleys. "Oh, hello there. Sorry, but no, I'm not his mother. Simon is...Well, Simon doesn't..."
"I don't have any parents," Simon easily spoke for her, though he was looking down, feeling like they would care if that really mattered in the world; not having parents.
"Oh," Hugo said, bowing his head a little and looking a little ashamed, "I'm sorry. Maybe you can give him permission, Miss?"
"Permission for what?" Ms. Nielsen asked.
"Well, I was hoping that Simon could come to our family lunch tomorrow," Hugo explained. "After all he did stand up for me and Lily."
"Is that so?" Ms. Nielsen said, looking down at Simon who swallowed and looked away. "Well, he is a nice and brave boy, and actually, His birthday is tomorrow and we don't really give give out parties or celebrations unless its Halloween or Christmas cause we can't afford to do so, but I'm sure he could go and have some good fun for once."
"Really?" Hugo and Simon said at the same time, one was surprised while the other was excited.
Ms. Nielsen nodded. "Really," she said, then looked over at Ron and Harry. "And you must be the fathers' of these two? How very progressive."
"What!?" Ron screeched and laughed nervously, "Oh no, no, no. We're not...we don't...Hi, I'm Ron Weasley," He said, holding out his hand. Ms. Nielsen shook his hand. "This is my son Hugo Weasley, and that is my friend and work colleague, Harry Potter, and nothing else. That is his daughter Lily."
"Hi," Harry said, and too shook Ms. Nielsen's hand. "Nice to meet you."
"So, you're not married?" Ms. Nielsen asked.
"Well not to each other if that's what you're thinking," Ron quickly answered.
"We are, to our wives," Harry corrected, looking calm. Simon was watching him, feeling a strangeness to him; as if something were radiating off of him, but Simon couldn't place the feeling. He then noticed a faded lightning bolt scar upon Mr. Potter's forehead, and he suddenly wondered how that kind of scar got there. In the shape of a lightning bolt no less.
"Oh, shame," Ms. Nielsen said, looking Harry up and down. "So, I'm guessing Simon doesn't know exactly where you live so - "
"Yes, I will be by to pick him up," Harry said, nodding, glancing at Simon and giving a gentle smile.
"Well, Okay, then it's settled," Ms. Nielsen said, placing her hands on Simon's shoulders. "Well, let's go Simon. Better get back before Mrs. Harris has a fit." Simon nodded and began to leave, waving goodbye to Hugo and Lily who both waved back.
Ms. Nielsen and Simon entered the Orphanage, but as Simon tried to walk away to his room, Ms. Nielsen stopped him. "Simon, what have we told you time and time again about leaving the area," she said.
"I know, and I'm sorry," Simon replied, and turned to look up at Ms. Nielsen. "It's just, Charles threw my present from Ralphie across the street and I had to go get it, and that's where I met Hugo and he invited me to the Park. And you know I've never been, and not many people here like me but Hugo was nice to me and stuff. I'm really sorry."
Ms. Nielsen smiled down at Simon. "It's okay," she said. "Next time ask to go so we can have a chaperone go with you, okay?"
"Okay," Simon replied with a nod.
"Good. Now why don't you run along," Ms. Nielsen said. "You have a big and fun day ahead of tomorrow." Simon nodded and ran off to his room.
That night, Simon couldn't fall asleep right away as he was just too excited to. He was going to hang out with a new friend and most likely meet a whole bunch of new ones. Another reason he was excited was because it was his 11th Birthday tomorrow. And after a while, Simon did fall asleep, having a very interesting dream, where he was inside a circular room with a highly polished floor that looked almost like standing water and twelve handle-less doors. And Whenever he entered a door, he turned to see that walls had shifted. He felt like he was lost in a maze of some kind.
The next day, around 11:45 in the morning, Simon was downstairs on the ground floor, sitting in a chair, waiting for Mr. Potter to pick him up and take him to Hugo's. He had been sitting there for an hour, not caring how long he had to wait.
Simon leaned his head back against the back of the chair and stared at the wall where his eyes began to get heavier and heavier, and they finally shut, but once the shut, he saw a face of an angry, growling, and menacing head of a black-eyed and black haired werewolf.
"No!" Simon yelled, waking up and falling out his chair.
"Simon!"
Simon felt some arms around him, helping him up and back onto the chair. He looked up to see it was Mr. Potter who had helped him up, and Ms. Nielsen was standing behind him, looking worried.
"Are you alright?" Mr. Potter asked, staring into Simon's eyes.
"Yeah, I'm fine, Mr. Potter," Simon answered, rubbing his arm. "Just a nightmare is all."
Mr. Potter nodded though Simon noticed that his expression was that of worry as if the older man knew of nightmares. "Are you ready to go?" he asked. Simon nodded. "Are you sure?" Simon nodded once more. "Alright, let's go."
"Alright, now, Simon," Ms. Nielsen said, moving next to the small boy. "Now, be on you best behavior, alright?"
"I know," Simon replied, nodding. "I'll be good," he added and then left the Orphanage with Mr. Potter. "How far are we going?" Simon asked once they entered the sidewalk and starting walking down it.
"Just a couple of blocks, is all," Harry answered, nodding ahead. Simon nodded, and minutes later, Mr. Potter and Simon were entering a front yard through a white picket fence. Simon looked up at that two-story house he was walking up to. It looked simple, homey, and ordinary. He walked up the porch steps, noticing that it was very spacious.
Mr. Potter entered the house first, and Simon entered after him, Mr. Potter closing the door behind him. Simon looked around. He was in a small foyer area with a hallway straight ahead, ending with stairs that went up. A large empty two doorway was right to his left, and a two doors, closed off, to his right; and there a few doors lining down on the hallway.
Mr. Potter led Simon over to the open doorway and entered what looking to be the sitting room, filled with many plump chairs and a couch, a fireplace, shelves filled with pictures of the family, but no T.v. The room was almost empty except for the girl who was sitting in one of the chairs, light brown hair, blue jeans, blue shirt, barefoot; and reading a book.
"Take a seat, make yourself at home," Mr. Potter spoke to Simon. "I'm sure Hugo will be down in a minute." Simon nodded and sat quietly on the couch while Mr. Potter disappeared through another door.
"And you must be the big time Hero," spoke a voice. Simon turned his head as a 13 year old boy with black hair and green eyes, walk into the room, through the same door Mr. Potter had left through.
"Simon," Simon greeted with a nod.
"Yeah, I know," the green eyed boy said, smirking. "Heard all about you from my sister, Lily. I'm Albus. Her cool brother." Albus walked over to the girl who was reading a book. "Oi, Rose, it's the summer. Is that all you do, read?"
"I enjoy it," the girl named Rose, replied, not glancing up at Albus.
"Yeah, that's boring," Albus said, sitting next to Simon. "I'd rather play Qui - "
"Hey, Albus, I think you forgot something in the backyard!" Someone interrupted. It was another boy, about 15 years of age, black hair and brown eyes. He stood by same doorway that Simon noticed looked to go to a dining area.
"What, James?" Albus said, looking confusedly at the older boy.
"Come here, Al, I'll show you," The boy named, James, said, waving Albus over. Albus walked over to James and violently pushed Albus into the dining area, while James began whispering to him.
"Don't mind them," Rose spoke to Simon, still looking at her book. "They may fight, but they're brothers and would do anything to protect one another." She said, standing up and then left the room.
"Simon!"
Simon's head snapped up and saw Hugo poking his damp head out of the hallway. "Hugo!"
Hugo smiled and walked in towards Simon. "I see you've already met my sister," he said, sitting next to Simon who nodded. "Yeah, she's always reading something different."
"Yeah," Simon said. "You have a nice family."
"Thanks," Hugo said, then stood up and waved him over. "Well, come on then, everyone's already outside." Simon nodded. Hugo then led him through the dining area, kitchen, and then to their spacious backyard where there was a pretty long picnic table, with more than a few people sitting at tables full of all kinds of food. Simon was surprised that most of them had red hair, and there in the middle was the biggest man he had ever seen in his life.
"Simon," Hugo said, holding at an arm when they reached the end of the table. "Meet my family, consisting of Weasleys, Potters, and Hagrid." Many heads turned to him. There were many adults, but just as many kids or more. This was the biggest family Simon had ever seen in his whole existence, which made his feel sad because all he had was himself and no one else.
"Hi," Simon said, waving. There were many Hi's and hello's, and names. Hugo led Simon over to a seat next to Lily, while Hugo sat next to him. He looked up and down the tables, seeing Hugo's father and a brown bushy haired woman he figured was Hugo's mother. He also saw a red-haired woman who whispered over to Mr. Potter who nodded in response. And then he looked over at the huge man, obviously making the connection that it was Hagrid.
Mr. Potter then stood up to his feet. "Alright, we know that today is our family lunch," he said to everyone. "But today also happens to be a very special day for a very special boy." Simon looked up when he heard that, hoping that Harry was talking about him, but that's when he noticed in the sky behind Mr. Potter , that some kind bird was flying towards him. And as it got closer, Simon noticed that it was a brown colored owl.
"Today is Simon's Birthday!" Harry stated, looking at Simon who was looking at the Owl flying closer and closer, looking as if it was going to run into Harry. "And for a special treat for you Simon, we'd like to sing Happy Bir - "
"Look out!" Simon interrupted, pointing behind Mr. Potter who instinctively ducked, nearly pulling out something from his pocket. Every head turned to see the owl, nearly missing Mr. Potter's head, and they wall watched, including Simon, as the owl swooped in, next to Simon, and drop something on his plate. All the children and some of the adults leaned in wanting to know what it was, though they all suspected what it already was.
Simon picked up what had fallen onto his plate. He saw that it was a letter, and it was addressed to him...
A/n:Okay here we go. Chapter 2, hope you like it. Now, if anyone knows the ages or estimated years the other next generation weasley children were born or how old they are, could you tell me, that would be great. Please review.