The Welshman
by Hyena Cub
Rating: PG-13 for violence, language, and death, especially later on.
Genre: Harry Potter

--

CHAPTER 14: Winter Term

Super that night was roast chicken, potatoes, and green peppers, a favourite dinner of mine. Mum and Dad usually made a dinner I loved before I had to go back to school. I thought it was a pretty nice thing to do.

'So did you find anything interesting?' asked Dad.

'Yeah,' I said, deciding to omit the part about the booby trap. Maybe I'd tell Mum, since she wouldn't freak out, but not Dad. 'I found this coin…well, I think it's a replica. It's old. And there's no way a coin that old could look so new.' I dug the coin out of my pocket and tossed it to Dad. I caught sight of Killian rolling his eyes in an amused way, and kicked him under the table. He grimaced, but still sort of smirked. He was a great kid, but my coin collecting sometimes exasperated him. He didn't see the point of coins you couldn't use.

'That is interesting,' said Dad, showing the coin to Mum. 'These are the old-style coins…before they began minting Galleons.'

'Yeah, those were called tricoins,' I said. 'Creative, huh?'

'So how much was one of those coins worth?' asked Arcturus.

'Well it was the highest one,' I said. 'You know, the highest denomination, like the Galleons. It was worth about then same for then as a Galleon is now. Of course back then, a Galleon would have been a lot of money.'

'When'd they start making Galleons?'

'Right afterwards,' I said, taking a bite of chicken. '1200, maybe.1225, something like that.'

'Who cares?' said Kieran, sticking out his tongue in an expression of distaste. 'That was way long ago. Who cares about all that old stuff, anyway?'

I felt a rush of irritation at Kieran, as I always did when someone discounted the things I liked because it was ancient history. This much be how archaeologists and palaeontologists must feel sometimes when people disdained their studies. 'I do, brat,' I said. 'Like you drool over the Chudley Cannons all the time even though everyone knows they're rubbish.'

Kieran's face reddened, and he drew in a big breath…that always meant a furious tirade was about to explode, but Dad cut things short.

'That is enough! Kieran, if you yell at this table, you can stay in your room all night. Understood?'

Kieran scowled furiously, but let his breath out in a sulky huff instead of an outraged wail.

'You don't have to like Calen's coin collecting, but if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all,' my father continued, and I nodded rather smugly. It was always nice when my parents took my side. Especially when one of my brothers was being a pain.

Mum had my coin now, and handed it back. 'Well, it does seem like it is a replica, doesn't it?' she said. 'Maybe it was a part of a history exhibit or something. Keep it, maybe it's a good luck charm.' She grinned and went back to her meal.

That was a good idea, I decided I would keep it. A fateful decision, though I didn't know it just yet. I slipped it back in my pocket then went back to my meal.

What little was left of the Christmas holidays was pleasant enough. Arcturus and I spent the evening with my parents, having hot chocolate and talking about what we'd do once we got back to school. Arcturus's answer to that was 'cause trouble', and I concurred. Mum and Dad looked at each other and exchanged a long-suffering sigh. I knew better though – I had heard the stories of what kinds of mischief they'd gotten up to in school!

Arcturus and I went up to my room to make sure we had everything for school, followed closely by Kian, who was in question-mode, and was asking Arcturus all sorts of weird things, like what his favourite food was, and if he thought Creaothceann was weird (he could barely pronounce the word), and what colour pants he had on.

I burst out laughing at the look on Arcturus's face. I was used to Kian's questions, but Arcturus was not. 'How do you know he's wearing pants?' I asked Kian with a grin.

Kian giggled gleefully, and Arcturus gave me a solid punch on the arm. 'Of course I'm wearing them, you prat,' he said, finally laughing. 'And they're white, what other colour would they be?'

'Pink!' said Kian, still giggling. He seemed to be in silly mode this night.

'Pink?' said Arcturus in disbelief. 'No thanks. So what colour are yours, then?'

He'd asked the wrong question. I smacked my forehead as Kian grinned, dropped his trousers, and showed Arcturus his bright orange pants. Arcturus blinked, looked at me, and I shrugged.

'Well, you asked,' I said reasonably, trying not to grin too hard.

Arcturus turned back to Kian, who was pulling his trousers back up. 'Er, nice,' he finally said. 'I like mine a little less bright.'

There were no more underwear displays that night, but Kian stuck around a bit more to talk with Arcturus, and I spent the time going through Fred Weasley's diary. I'd told Arcturus about it, and he agreed this Room of Requirement was probably the one we'd been looking for, and was eager to hunt it down when we got back.

I didn't sleep that well that night, but I never did when anticipating a return to Hogwarts…excitement and regret all rolled into one. I suppose that was par for any Hogwarts student, though. I could sleep on the train…I'd have plenty of time then!

The next morning, we blew past breakfast at what seemed like high speed, and got ready to bundle everyone off to King's Cross Station. The scene there was almost exactly as it had been at the beginning of the year: Kian was sniffly, Kieran was bored and impatient, and Killian was quiet.

Arcturus, once more, was uncharacteristically shy. I felt a sudden twinge of anger; that he'd have to feel that way just because an adult had shown him kindness…he must be really unused to it. 'Thanks,' said Arcturus to my parents, his dark face a bit darker than normal. 'I really enjoyed the holidays.

Dad and Mum smiled at Arcturus, and Mum actually stepped forward to hug him. He looked very surprised, but pleased, and awkwardly hugged her back, blushing more furiously. I sort of smiled and gave him the thumbs-up.

'It was our pleasure, Arcturus,' said Dad, offering his hand. 'We'll have you next year, too, if you like.'

'I'd love it, sir,' said Arcturus, shaking my dad's hand.

'It's settled then,' said Dad, clapping him on the shoulder. 'Well…I guess you boys should start thinking about boarding. Looks like they're getting ready to head off.'

I hugged my parents and my little brothers. Kian now had me and Arcturus to miss…I felt a little sorry for him. I picked the kid up and gave him an extra-strong hug.

'You squished me!' he accused through his tears.

'I know!' I said, hugging him tightly once more. 'And I did it again, too.' I was rewarded by a little giggle this time. 'Watch over Mum and Dad while I'm gone, okay?'

Kian nodded. 'Okay. Win at Quidditch, okay?'

'Definitely!' That was a promise I intended to keep, too!

Arcturus and I finally pried ourselves away from my family and boarded the train. Arcturus had a sheepish but pleased smile on his face. 'Your parents are nice,' he said. 'That was really cool of them.'

'Yeah, they're the best,' I agreed as we fought out way through the crowded train corridors. 'I've told them about your family. They can't stand when parents don't take proper care of their kids.'

'Yeah…me too,' said Arcturus with a kind of laugh. ' I like your little brothers, too…Kian's a great little kid. I'm kinda glad I don't have any brothers or sisters. I'd hate to think of them growing up in my house.'

'Like you had to,' I thought angrily. Why'd they have kids if they didn't want to pay any attention to them? How stupid was that?

We finally met with the others in one of the first compartments, where they were sitting and talking about Transfiguration class, from what I could see. Faolan and Ke'koa were, anyway. Peter was reading a book.

'Hey!' said Ke'koa with a grin as Arcturus and I came in. 'It's about time!'

I grinned back, taking a seat on the bench, Arcturus sitting next to me. 'Hey at least we made it…and guess what? I found something in the attic of our house…a diary from one of my ancestors. We might have a place to look for that secret room!'

That even pulled Peter's attention away from his book; in fact all three of them were staring at me eagerly.

'Well don't just sit there, mate, tell us!' said Faolan.

Not wanting Faolan to explode in the middle of the train, I did. I told them about the diary, and who had owned it…and about the Room he had mentioned. ''The Room of Requirement', he called it,' I said. 'I've got the journal in my trunk.'

'And it's on the seventh floor?' said Faolan eagerly. 'Brilliant, that's a great starting point!'

'That's not all, either.' I told them about the old trunk I'd found, with the booby trap in it, and showed them the strange coin. I was a bit irritated that none of them seemed as interested in this as in the Room of Requirement, but I supposed I understood. The coin was probably just a replica. Faolan was rather intrigued by the booby trap, but Ke'koa said it was probably just a trap set by some evil-tempered bloke who didn't like people snooping in his stuff.

'There was some valuable rings and stuff in there, wasn't there?' he asked.

'Yeah,' I said. 'Yeah…I guess he could have wanted to protect those.' I still wondered why he'd thrown a trinket in there too, but shrugged it off. Unless I met the person who'd done it, I wouldn't ever know.

My friends spent much of the time talking about candidates for the location of the hidden room. As I had predicted, I fell asleep a couple house after the lunch trolley came round, curling up on my half of the seat and getting a nap of maybe three hours.

When I woke, it had gotten dark, and the compartment was filled with flickering torchlight. I yawned, feeling a bit more energized for my nap, and stretched. 'What'd I miss?' I asked.

'Not much,' said Arcturus, busy with a came of chess with Peter. 'Though your git of a cousin here's beat me four straight games.'

Peter smiled serenely, maybe even a little smugly, and I laughed. 'Maybe he needs to find someone who's a bit more of a challenge,' I said, and Arcturus sent a rude gesture my way.

'Is that a challenge?' asked Peter, making a move and watching his bishop beat up Arcturus's queen. Arcturus swore.

'No way,' I said. 'I'm not a challenge, either. Challenge me to a Quidditch game, and I'll accept.'

'I'll pass, thanks.' Peter wasn't a good flier, and was a bit afraid of heights. Not a lot, just enough that he didn't like flying much.

The game ended with a checkmate that gained Peter another win, and Arcturus sighed in a resigned sort of way.

'Another one?' asked Peter, and laughed when Arcturus said he'd rather jump in the lake.

'That's okay,' I said. 'Read up on that book my parents gave you and challenge him to a duel.' Ke'koa asked what book we were talking about, and Arcturus said he'd gotten a book about duelling that we could all use for when the Slytherins started a fight.

'That's neat,' said Faolan eagerly. 'It'll be brilliant for Duelling Club, too!'

I hadn't thought of that! My first thoughts about the book had been revenge on Gideon and Cuthbert Moor. 'Hey, that's right!' I said. 'That should be a lot of help. And maybe Arcturus'll even break down and join the club sometime.'

'Too many rules,' said Arcturus. 'And my favourite curses are illegal in tournaments!'

We all had to laugh at that; he did have a good point.

It had begun to snow again when we reached Hogsmeade Station, but I didn't mind. Ke'koa complained rather vehemently about it, and I agreed the cold was no treat, but at least it wasn't storming.

--

The first days back to school are never very fun. Our first day was Monday, which began with Care of Magical Creatures…and that reminded me that Professor Forrester was the one who wanted to know about the hidden room to begin with. It also got me thinking again as to why on earth he did. It was a bit odd, I thought, a teacher asking the students about that kind of thing. They didn't normally like to give kids any more ammunition to cause trouble than we already had. I thought about telling him what we'd learned, but decided to wait until we'd found something a little more concrete.

January was always a slow, boring month. There were two Quidditch matches, one between us and Hufflepuff, then one between Slytherin and Ravenclaw. (We won our match; so did Ravenclaw, which I was smug about.) It was fun except for the mind-numbing cold.

The five of us – six when we included Sekhmet Stark – spent a great deal of our free time looking for the Room of Requirement. Sekhmet actually had more time than we did; being a second year, she didn't have the extra classes. But to our utter frustration, we couldn't find anything that could be a Room of Requirement. We found a secret passage, an unused classroom with a hole in the ceiling that led up to the pipes and insulation, a loose floorboard in a little-used hallway, and several paintings and portraits we'd not seen before. But no strange room. I was beginning to think that this room either never existed, despite Fred Weasley's journal, or that it wasn't there anymore.

On the first of February, I got a letter from home with the morning post. Mum had written, saying that someone had broken into their home the night before, apparently looking for valuables…but they didn't take anything. I felt a tickling of unease as I read Mum's postscript, that the thieves had ignored her jewellery and gone up to the attic to ransack it. She didn't think anything had been taken, but the first thing I thought of was that little wooden chest.

'What's wrong, mate?' asked Ke'koa.

'Someone broke into my house,' I said, giving them a significant look. 'In the attic.'

'After the old books maybe?' said Faolan. 'Or the jewels?'

'My mum's got jewels, and they didn't touch those,' I said. 'Why would some normal thief look in a dusty attic for jewels? Unless any of them are special?' I felt the outline of the tricoin in my pocket, biting my lip. I was beginning more and more to think that just maybe it was no replica. Maybe it was special. Of course…we'd not gotten into half of what was up in the attic. It was entirely possible it was something else entirely.

'Do they have any idea who did it?' asked Peter.

'No…they didn't leave a damned clue.' I didn't like that, either. It sounded far too much like all those murders that left no clues. Maybe I was being paranoid, but still. This was my family.

'Well, they didn't attack anyone,' said Ke'koa, correctly interpreting my worried look. 'If they found what they wanted, they should leave you alone. If they didn't find it, they probably figure it's not there.'

'Yeah,' I said. 'Maybe….' And maybe not. I'd have to write back and ask if they'd noticed a small, wooden chest up there…I had left it on the shelf. If it was gone….

I wrote to my family that night, sending the school barn owl out into the chilly air, and got a reply back the next afternoon. I didn't much like what it said.

Dear Calen:

The chest is, indeed, gone, if you've told me the right shelf to look. In fact I looked all over the attic for such a chest in case you had made a mistake, and it's not there, neither are the things you described as having been inside.

Do you know something you're not telling us? I know you and Arcturus were up there a very long time and likely know the contents better than we do. Write back.

Love,

Mum

The sounds of lunch around me seemed like they were coming from far away as I brought out the strange little coin. I ran my finger over the curiously sharp and new-looking etching and stamped design. Why was it so new looking? Was it never circulated as a coin? I hadn't thought that they minted uncirculated collector's coins back then.

'So?' The eager voice brought me back to the Great Hall. Ke'koa was looking at me intently, his eyes wide. 'Is that from your parents? What's it say?' Faolan, Peter, and Arcturus were looking interestedly, too.

I handed the letter over, still not sure how I felt about this. We had something that someone wanted badly enough to break into our house.

A jeering voice from behind me made me spin furiously around. 'Love letters, Weasley?' asked Cuthbert Moor, grinning mockingly.

'Let's have a see!' cried Gideon, snatching the paper out of Ke'koa's hands.

'OI!' Ke'koa snarled, lunging at Gideon, but he was still sitting down, and Gideon danced out of his way.

'Awww, 'love Mum'!' Gideon crowed, laughing as Ke'koa nearly knocked me off the bench extracting himself from the bench.

'Give it here, Moor!' I growled, also trying to get out of my seat, but things didn't have a chance to go much farther.

'Here, now! Here, now, stop that, boys!' It was Professor Pender, the Potions master, hurrying over to us from the Entrance Hall where he obviously had just come in. 'What's going on?'

'That git's stolen my letter,' I said, finally able to stand up and glare at the Moor twins.

Gideon snorted, throwing the letter down on the table with a contemptuous sneer. 'There, you big baby. I was only looking.'

'It's none of your bloody business!' Ke'koa growled, clenching his fist and taking a step forward.

Professor Pender got physically between Ke'koa and I, and the Moor twins, holding a hand up in each direction. By that time, nearly everyone in the Great Hall had quieted to look at us and I felt my ears going red. How dare those worthless little brats make fun of my mother?

'That is enough.' Pender's voice was quiet, but absolute. 'You two, get to your own table and stop making trouble,' he said to the Moor twins. 'Ten points from Slytherin.'

The Moors left, but grudgingly, and both of them sent identical evil glares at Ke'koa and me. Ke'koa shook his fist and I merely glared.

Pender then turned round to face us, instead, his voice a little quieter. 'And you two…can't you solve anything without fighting?'

'He grabbed it right out of my hand, sir,' said Ke'koa, making an effort not to sound as furious as he felt. It wasn't Professor Pender's fault, after all. 'It was private…how was I supposed to get it back?'

Professor Pender sighed. 'All right, I understand,' he said. 'But do try to solve it in a civilized manner next time. If you have another shouting match in the middle of the Great Hall, I shall have to dock points. Understood?'

'Yea, sir,' Ke'koa mumbled as I said the same thing at almost the same time. Pender nodded in acknowledgement, then left.

'Those bloody, worthless--' I began, than bit the rest off, unable to find a word strong enough for what I wanted. I scowled and snatched the letter from the table.

'So,' said Rory Brennan, who was sitting nearby, 'what is the letter about?'

'It's nothing earth-shattering,' I said, still glaring in the general vicinity of the Slytherin table. 'Just that someone broke into my house the other night. The point was it wasn't in their damned business.'

'Oh. Well…sorry your house got robbed. What'd they take?'

'That's the weird part,' I said, finally taking a big breath and allowing myself to calm down. 'I think they were after something specific…not sure what, though.'

'Oh. Well…hope they find who did it, then.'

'Thanks.' Everyone seemed to be losing interest now that the confrontation is over, except for my friends…it was closer to home for them than for the others.

'We've got to find out about this coin,' said Faolan, peering at the coin still in my hand.

Yes…we would. I felt a very queer sensation then, as if it was the beginning of something huge, a long journey that I might not like the end of. Half of me wanted to run up to Gryffindor tower, jump into bed, close the curtains, and burrow under the covers. But the other half couldn't wait to get stared, no matter where the journey ended. I ran my hand lightly over the coin's surface, then nodded, stuffing it back into my pocket.