The Leaky Caldron

It was warm outside. The weather was very pleasant and Lina promised to buy them ice cream.

The Edinburgh's train station wasn't full on that mourning, so it wasn't hard to get in a train almost immediately after they arrived. They sat on four seats that surrounded a plastic table.

"I brought cards if you want to play." Said Thomas nervously.

"Oh, you two can play. I got a lot to think. I'm a bit nervous about going back there, since it's been a while."

"It will be okay, mom." Elise looked at her with those deep green eyes that seemed to see everything.

She and Thomas were sitting at one side of the table. For a moment, looking at the two of them, Lina thought of Sirius. She had no idea where was Sirius. He never wrote to her, or anything. Nobody ever contacted her about him, at least. Well, maybe that meant he was not dead, at least.

"I was wondering if my friend is alright."

"The one who went to our house that night you told us about?"

"Yes." Lina looked… sad?

"Okay." Said Elise, looking through the window. They spent all the trip without exchanging a word. Each one of them was thinking about what was going to happen when they got there.

Elise was anxious, wondering what everything was going to look like. Would objects fly? It was only natural for her to be a witch, despite the surprise with the letters. It was easy for her to understand that she belonged to that world. As for Thomas, he was frightened that maybe it was all a mistake. And whenever Thomas was nervous, he would open a book and read as if his life depended on it. Lina just kept her eyes on the window and the kids were unsure if she was looking outside or at the glass.

When they finally left the train at King's Cross, they were all hungry, so Lina said they would have something to eat at a place called The Leaky Caldron. Apparently, it was a famous place to the wizarding world.

"I brought some wizarding currency I had hidden with my wand. I guess we can all eat." She discreetly showed some large gold coins to the children.

They walked and walked, and then walked some more, but neither of them saw any establishment where magic wands could possibly be sold. Until they were guided into an old shop, which oddly seemed to pass unseen by all people around except for them. There was no better name for the place for it than The Leaky Caldron, thought Elise.

It was dark inside. And yet it was somehow cosy.

"I can't believe my own eyes. Lina?" A voice came from over the balcony. "Lina Weasley?" The barman was a quite bald man.

"Hello, Tom. Well, my last name is Boyd now." She smiled. Weasley? That was her name, then?

"You married then! And that girl… Is that girl your daughter?"

"Yes, this is Elise. And that's her friend Thomas. He also received a letter last night."

"Do I know your parents, young lad?"

"Oh, I don't think so. My mother isn't a witch. And I never knew my father."

"Have you had any word from Arthur?" Asked Lina.

"Oh, yes. He and young Percy came here just yesterday to buy him a new uniform. He is a prefect now!"

"Prefect? Oh, how amazing! Molly was still pregnant with him when..."

"Oh yeah. You missed the last… how many were there again? Five."

"Five?" Lina sounded shocked. Her eyes were widened, while Elise and Thomas tried to understand who were Percy and the other five children.

"There are no better people. All very educated."

"Oh, I will write to them! There's so much to catch up!"

"I have an owl I can spare for a day or two if you need."

"That would be lovely, Tom. Meanwhile, me and the children would like to get something to eat."

"Oh, alright. sit down, food and parchment will be on the table in a moment."

As they headed to their seats, Elise's eyes crossed with a thin, pale man with a hooked nose. He wore dark clothes, had dark eyes and dark, oily, long hair. For some unknown reason, Elise immediately felt something extremely cold fall into her heart. Something about that man made her deeply sad. And for some reason she couldn't stop looking at him. Even when he stared back.

"Stop staring, Elise!" Lina scolded her.

"Sorry, mom." She finally looked away, just as the food arrived, floating. Also, an owl brought a piece of parchment and a quill along with it.

"An owl!" Shouted Elise as she reached for the animal's feathers. The bird didn't look happy, but wasn't annoyed by the contact either. Suddenly the girl remembered she could bring an owl with her to Hogwarts and considered asking her mother for one.

The food was very tasty, but not enough to take Lina's conversation with the innkeeper out of Elise's head.

"Mom, who is Arthur?"

"Arthur is my elder brother." So Elise had a family other than her mother? She wasn't sure whether she was mad or just curious. She decided to go for curious, in order not to start a fight.

"So I have cousins?"

"Seven cousins, to be exact."

"Wow..." Thomas reacted.

They exchanged looks and Elise could see he was just as surprised as she was.

Once they finished, Lina started writing her letter and let the two kids wander through the pub. They walked around and saw a few mysterious people. There was a woman smoking a pipe and a man wearing a turban. He talked to the children, but seemed so embarrassed they decided to leave him alone. Elise looked around and noticed that the other man, the one in black, was still staring at her. She gathered all her courage and decided to confront him.

"Why are you staring at me?"

"Why am I staring at you?" He asked, coldly. "You were the one who started."

Elise blushed. A lot. For some reason, she felt a little bad around that man. Not that he gave her a reason, he wasn't being rude, just cold.

"I… I'm sorry." She said. Still, she couldn't stop looking at him. She felt just like a baby looking obsessively at someone.

"Oh, my. Seems like we finally got you back, Lina." The man said, even collier, looking beyond Elise. Still, he didn't seem angry.

"Severus… It's been a while."

"Yes."

"How… How is everything?"

"I suppose you know exactly how things are." Answered the man called Severus. He seemed to be the coldest person Elise had ever met.

"I… I see. Look, I need to go to Gringotts. Could you look after the kids for me? I'll be as quick as possible." Elise looked at Thomas and she could tell he was frightened. The man called Severus nodded and Lina left them, promising to bring some ice cream when she came back.

"How did you get to know my mother?"

"Well, aren't you an annoying one?" He answering. Thomas already had sat at the table and opened a book about basic chemistry.

"I'm not annoying, I'm curious!" She knew she should stop asking. She knew she was making him angry. But something inside her was fascinated by that man. For some reason, she felt he was someone to look up to.

"Well..." He granted "let's just say that, when she was your age, your mother was just like you." She didn't make any mistake, his voice was still cool as ice, but he didn't sound like a dead person anymore.

"You were friends with her?"

"Wouldn't say that." He pulled a book out of his cloak. No matter how hard Elise tried, she couldn't see where the hell it had been hidden. "But we did go to Hogwarts together."

"What was she like? She never mentioned anything about Hogwarts until last night..."

"Then you shouldn't ask questions to a stranger." He answered. Elise could spot sarcasm in his voice, yes, but not a bitter type of sarcasm. Neither it was playful.

"But you are not a stranger if my mom knows you."

She stretched her neck to get a peek in his book and saw many notes and texts and pictures of plants she had never seen.

"You teach potions at Hogwarts!" She shouted, accidentally dragging attention from people in the pub. "I'm sorry!"

"Yes, I suppose I will be your teacher this year." He answered, now clearly annoyed. He was probably regretting his decision of taking care of the children.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to drag any attention."

"How very perceptive. I wonder whether you will be sorted in Hufflepuff or Slytherin." For some reason, the man closed the book. Had he taken interest on curiosity? Or was it just him giving up on any chance he had on focusing on his reading?

"I don't think I'll be in Slytherin. My mom said they don't really like muggleborns… And I really like Thomas."

"That's not true. But still, you are a pure-blood, the test might sort you in Slytherin."

"I'm not a pure-blood. My father was a muggle." Elise was shocked that she was already using those words as if she was raised in that environment. Then she noticed that Snape had a very odd expression on his face.

"Are you sure? Your father isn't Sirius Black?"

"No. That's for sure." She answered and resisted the impulse of asking who the hell was Sirius Black and why did Severus sounded so angry when he said his name.

"That is surprising." He concluded after a while.

"Elise, Thomas?" Lina's voice sounded from behind them. She had just passed through the door to the backyard. "I would like to have a word with Severus. Could you go ahead and follow the list in your letters? The stores will be easy to find. I couldn't bring ice cream since it took longer than I expected, but I'll give you some extra money so you can buy some yourselves."

Elise suddenly felt a chill in her stomach, frightened about being left alone in an unknown world. But still, she did as she was told and grabbed Thomas' hand so they would walk together through the the passage her mother had opened on the brick wall outside by tapping bricks on the right spots.

It was wonderful.