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

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CHAPTER 18: Answers and Questions

'STUPEFY!' cried Blake furiously, and I gaped as a red jet of light seared at O'Malley's chest, and he collapsed, out cold by the look of it. I had never seen Professor Blake use his wand for anything other than class work or mundane tasks. I stared at O'Malley for a second, then at Professor Blake, who looked more furious than I had ever seen; his pink eyes were wide with fury, and I was almost afraid of him. 'Calen…are you all right?' he asked, his voice soft and urgent, as he walked quickly over to me.

For a few moments, I could only stammer as he looked me over. Finally I managed to blurt, 'How'd you know?'

'One of the portraits woke me in my chambers,' said Blake. He smiled very wanly. 'He very rudely shoved aside a portrait of my father, who is still complaining about it at this moment I'm sure. Are you hurt?'

'N-no,' I said. 'Well, just a little…not worse than Quidditch. But…. He was in the Room of Requirement, that secret room, we found it…'

I saw Miller's head rise sharply, his eyes widening just a bit, then the expression was gone. I thought nothing of it, especially when he said, 'I can't believe… I never knew why he was so interested. I didn't think there'd be harm in telling him what you told me about that room.'

Oh, great…it was thanks to me, however indirectly, that the git was in there in the first place!

'Come on, Calen,' said Professor Blake. He put an arm around my shoulders, guiding me towards the door. 'Let's let Mr Jacey look you over, just in case, and if you feel like it, you can tell me the story.'

Nothing else sounded so good to me right then. 'Okay.' I finally got moving, looking a bit dazedly at the floor for my wand; it was over in a corner where O'Malley had thrown it. I crouched to grab it, only now beginning to shake. Why I should react this way once everything was over didn't make much sense.

'The whole story,' said Blake in a low voice, almost to himself it seemed, as he led me out of the room. I wondered about that. I wondered if even then he knew something was weird. 'I suppose you did have a reason for being out of bed?'

In all the furore, I'd forgotten I was only in this mess because I'd snuck out, and my ears went hot. 'Well, yes, sir. But…not a reason that'd stop you giving me detention,' I said with a laugh that sounded a bit hysterical to me.

'Well, I think in this case I think we can forget about the detention,' said Blake, still looking worriedly at me as I limped along the corridor. 'Did he hex you? Was any damage magical?'

'No, sir—at least I don't think so.' I tried to think back over the last few minutes, but it was a whole lot of chaos and not much sense. But I didn't think I'd been hit by a curse. Well, I had, but the damage itself wasn't caused by the curse. 'No he just threw me across the room.'

Blake made a low sound, not quite a growl, and I looked up at him. He was still furious, with O'Malley I realized, not me. 'How Miller could've let that one in this school is beyond me. Miller'll be lucky to keep his job after this…he could've killed you.'

I was startled by this; could he have killed me? Would he have? 'I, er, think I'm glad he didn't.'

'As am I,' said Professor Blake, as we reached the hospital wing. He opened the door for me and I thanked him, limping inside and feeling suddenly exhausted.

Mr Jacey obviously knew what was going on, because he was there and waiting with a worried look on his face. 'Well come on in, Mr Weasley,' he said, and I went in and sat down on a bunk. The hospital wing was a place I was familiar with, what with Quidditch and Duelling Club, but that didn't mean I liked being there.

'Nothing magical, Mark,' said Blake, making me blink. I never knew Mr Jacey's first name. 'Just mundane damage, luckily.'

'Oh good,' said Jacey, looking me over to see what was wrong. 'It was O'Malley that did it, you say?'

'Yes,' said Blake before I could answer. 'I've left him with Cory, upstairs.' I wasn't sure who Cory was at first, before realizing that it must be Professor Miller. Guess this was my night for learning the teachers' first names; Blake's I already knew.

'Well why the blazes did he attack a student?'

I cut in first this time, before Professor Blake could. 'Because he's a complete nutter!'

Blake sort of nodded in agreement. 'I'm beginning to think that's just it.'

'Well, Professor Miller ought to be a bit more careful when appointing his teachers, oughtn't he?' grouched Mr Jacey as he went about fixing my minor injuries. 'I'll want you to rest here the night, Weasley…all right?'

'Okay,' I said, breathing a sigh of relief as the various aches disappeared. 'Thanks, Mr Jacey.'

'All right. Now take this potion here…it's a Calming Draught. That'll help you relax and get some rest…Lachlan, I imagine you'll want to talk with him, but don't do it too long, okay? He needs rest.'

Blake actually smiled a little, nodding his head in assent. 'I won't Mark, you know me better than that.'

'Yeah, I guess I do. Well, night then.'

I took up the bottle Mr Jacey had left, sniffing it; it smelled like old tyres to me. Professor Blake waited until I had reluctantly downed it before speaking. 'You feel up to telling me what happened, Calen?'

The potion worked immediately, like most of Mr Jacey's potions. My jangling nerves settled, my shaking abated, and my muscles began to unknot. 'Yeah…yeah I do,' I said. I thought for just a moment before deciding to tell him everything…from the first time Forrester asked me about the Room, to finding that trunk in the attic, and even about the booby trap that nearly got me. I told about how our house was broken into, and the man that had come there during Easter break, and about Fred Weasley's journal, and how Arcturus figured out how to work the room. I told him all the stuff I had researched in the Room, and of how I had the coin O'Malley was looking for up in my dorm, but didn't know what was so special about it.

Finally I went into what happened tonight, how I couldn't get into the Room the past few days, so decided to try late at night, and how O'Malley said that I only could have gotten in while it was occupied if I was looking for the same thing the person inside was looking for. I told him about what happened, how he demanded information about the coin, and how things had gone from there.

Blake frowning slightly the whole time, staring absently into space, looking as if he was thinking furiously. Finally, he said, 'When you tried to get into this room before…you could not?'

'No, sir…the past few evenings, now.'

'Interesting,' murmured Blake. 'Maybe a little disturbing. You realize that means that whoever was in there not only knew how to use the room…but was doing something different than researching coins.'

I stared; he was right! How could I have missed that? 'Then…what were they doing?'

'That is a very good question.'

Yeah, it was! Who were they and what were they doing? I'd only told Professor Miller…I wondered how many people he'd told. 'I think Forrester was looking for it too…but he didn't admit it,' I said.

'Strange,' said Blake, still talking more to himself than me. He seemed disturbed, which made me disturbed, too. Something weird was going on… And I hoped it had ended with Professor O'Malley being caught tossing me round that classroom. 'And you have no idea what might make this coin special?'

I looked around a bit furtively before answering. 'The only thing I've seen so far is that it's not worn down. At all. It looks like it was just minted yesterday…it's never been used for currency. But still, a coin that old…the date's in the twelfth century…even if it was never used, it should be more worn than that.'

'Yes, I see,' said Blake, turning his gaze on me. 'By time if nothing else.'

'Yes sir.'

'Well…I think I would like a look at this coin…but tomorrow. For now, rest. I shall inform your friends that you are here if they wish to visit you…perhaps with your permission I shall move your coin somewhere rather safer than your bedside table?'

A nasty chill went through me…the thing was just sitting there where anyone could grab it. Not that I thought any Gryffindors would, but I didn't know if teachers could get in. And with a few exceptions, I was highly distrustful of the staff at the moment. 'Good idea, professor. Where will you put it?'

'For now,' said Blake quietly, 'in my office, locked in my desk. Tomorrow we'll talk, you and I…maybe we can shed some light on the subject, hmm?'

The idea of maybe getting some of this bizarre mystery solved was a very attractive one. 'Can my mates join us?'

Blake didn't answer right away…he only peered at me, that strange, frowning look of thoughtfulness on his face. Finally he said, 'We'll see…I can't see why not. But for now, master Weasley…get some sleep. Or Mr Jacey's going to have my head.' He winked, and I actually laughed. I couldn't argue, either; I was exhausted.

'Night, sir.'

'Night.' I watched him leave, then turned over in the bed to lie on my side. I closed my eyes, and that was all I knew that night.

--

When next I woke, I was not too disoriented; as I said, I was rather accustomed to waking up from time to time in a hospital bed. But when I remembered what had landed me here, I sat bolt upright as if zapped by an electrical wire, looking wildly around as if expecting to see Professor O'Malley looming nearby. Had the events of last night really happened? It seemed so impossible.

'Whoa, easy, mate!'

I blinked, only just realizing that Ke'koa was sitting in a chair next to my bed, looking a bit surprised. I frowned, rubbing my eyes, and smoothing my hair back from my face. 'Oh wow.'

Ke'koa did not smile, only nodded grimly. 'Yeah…you had a hell of a night. Blake didn't tell us everything, just that you had a run-in with O'Malley…what the hell happened last night?' I opened my mouth to answer, but Ke'koa added, 'Oh…and he told me that he's got your coin safe…the same one you've been trying to research?'

I couldn't say anything, not for several minutes. Instead, I laughed, completely surprising both Ke'koa and myself, but I couldn't help it. This whole school year had been pretty insane, but last night just had to take the whole bloody cake! Ke'koa looked a little worried about me, so I tried valiantly to stem the hysterical laughter, managing to calm myself after a minute or two.

When I could talk again, I said, 'I don't wanna tell it a load of times…where're the others?'

'Down at lunch,' said Ke'koa, still looking a little worried. 'I can go get them though, if you want.'

Lunch? Just how long had I been asleep? 'Yeah…er, you didn't skip lunch on my account, did you?'

Ke'koa shrugged a little, nodding finally. 'Yeah…didn't have breakfast, either. I didn't think I could eat without throwing up. I was…well, I was worried I guess. When Blake told us you'd been attacked….'

Ke'koa could be obnoxious as hell, and sometimes didn't know when to stop teasing, but he was the best friend I could possibly have. Touched by his concern, I leaned over and hugged him. He seemed a bit surprised, but hugged me back. 'I'm okay,' I said as I pulled back. 'Dunno what would've happened if Blake hadn't shown up, but I'm all right…go eat something, okay? I don't like you not having anything to eat.'

'Yeah,' said Ke'koa slowly, looking down at his stomach as if asking it what it thought. 'Yeah…I could use a bite. I'll bring the others up when I come, okay?'

'Sounds great.' I watched Ke'koa leave, kind of wishing I had some food, myself. I glanced over at Mr Jacey's office, then slipped out of bed. My legs shook slightly and I recognized the symptoms of overexertion; I got it in my arms sometimes after Quidditch practice. I had run like blazes last night. I walked slowly to Jacey's office and knocked on the door. I saw him through the window turn around, smile, and come to open the door.

'Good to see you awake.'

'Thanks,' I said. 'I just wondered if I could get something to eat. I'm starving.'

'Oh, yes, yes, I can arrange that. Has Mr Ilima left?'

'Yeah, he went to get some lunch.'

'Well then, sit back down and I'll get you a tray…and no more getting out of bed! Rest for the afternoon and you can eat supper in the Great Hall.'

I sighed, but trudged back to the bed…I was too tired to do otherwise anyway. 'All right, all right…no more walking around.' I hoped Mr Jacey was marking the day on his calendar; I didn't usually capitulate so easily. I didn't much like being still.

Once I was sufficiently still for Jacey's liking, he got a tray of food for me, setting it down over me on a little tray with short legs. I wasn't sure if he just Summoned the food or what. But it looked good. A fresh hero sandwich, a little pile of crisps, a pickle, and a little dish of roast potatoes. I thanked Mr Jacey and dug in; it tasted fantastic. I was hungrier than I realized.

I had only just finished when Ke'koa came back in, with Faolan, Arcturus, and peter behind him. They all looked a bit worried until they saw me, looking apparently unhurt and healthy. Faolan broke into a wide grin, Arcturus smiled, and a look of relief passed over Peter's face.

'It wasn't a big deal,' I said, hoping to ease their worry a bit. 'I mean I've been hurt worse than that in Quidditch.'

'Maybe,' said Peter, coming over to hug me. 'But we were still worried…being attacked by some teacher….'

'So what happened?' said Faolan, coming over to sit next to the bed.

And so, once again, I told the story, from beginning to end. Though I had to tell far less to my friends than to Professor Blake, since they already knew most of the stuff that happened before last night. When I was done, every one of them wore an almost identical expression: furious disbelief.

'I can't believe it!' exclaimed Faolan. 'I can't believe he—what a git!'

'But why?' said Ke'koa, shaking his head slowly. 'He didn't think he could get away with it did you? You don't…you don't think he was gonna kill you, do you? Once you told him what he wanted?'

The idea was a very unnerving one.

'Probably not,' said Peter quietly. 'More likely is that he was gonna wipe the memory of the encounter…he would've had to do that anyway. He would've had to; you saw him in there, he couldn't risk you telling someone.'

I began to shiver; I couldn't help it. I didn't know what it felt like to have a memory wiped out of my very mind, but I didn't like it. What he'd done was bad enough. 'He did a weird thing…he made…memories come up in my head. The incantation was….' I screwed up my face in concentration, but I couldn't recall the word that he'd used.

Peter's frown deepened. 'There's a spell that'll let you read the other person's mind…I dunno the spell, but…that's really invasive!'

I wondered if he was able to see anything else, anything I didn't see. 'Did they take him to prison?'

I didn't like how they all looked at one another at all; they obviously knew something I didn't. 'Guess you didn't get a chance to hear,' said Ke'koa. 'O'Malley escaped.'

It was probably a good thing I wasn't eating or drinking still—I nearly choked as it was. 'He what?'

'Yeah,' said Ke'koa, scowling in a wrathful sort of way. 'The bastard escaped. Blake said when he went back to where he'd left Miller and O'Malley, he found Miller lying unconscious on the floor, his head bleeding. Blake reckons O'Malley got Professor Miller's wand somehow and used it against him. Miller was pretty miserable about the whole thing. He wasn't even at breakfast or lunch today.'

I didn't like that!I didn't like the idea of the git who'd attacked me was running around. What if he came after me again? I scowled, clenching my fists. 'Oh yeah?' I said. 'Well he'd just better stay the hell away from me…that's all I have to say! I need to learn some more curses from that duelling book of yours, Arcturus.' The more I thought about it, the more I hoped he did show up at my house someday. I'd pound him into the ground.

'Maybe we all should,' said Faolan, looking excited. 'That way if something like this ever happens again, we'll be ready.'

I liked that idea! The others obviously liked it, too. 'We'll do that,' said Arcturus. 'And we'll find out about that coin, Calen. It's obviously something important…or O'Malley thought it was.'

Yeah…or else he thought it was. But I had the funny feeling he was right. 'I wonder,' I said slowly, 'just why he wanted that coin. You think it was just him…or was he working for someone? Remember that bloke who came round my house during the Easter holidays?'

Faolan's eyes got very big. 'Oh, yeah!' he said excitedly. 'I can't believe I forgot him…you don't think it could've been O'Malley in disguise, do you?'

'Maybe,' said Peter, answering for me. 'But it couldn't have been him that broken into Calen's house. He was here at Hogwarts. I bet they do answer to someone…we've got to find out about this coin.'

I looked at all my friends in turn, then down at my empty lunch tray. 'There's a big library in Hogsmeade, isn't there?' I asked. 'I'll ask Mum and Dad to take me there sometime…see if I can't find out. See what you guys can find out, too, during the holidays. The more we learn about it, the better.'

'Brilliant,' said Faolan, looking eager. 'This'll be great. If any of us finds anything or anything happens, we'll owl the others and tell them.'

'It's too bad we only have the two mirrors,' said Arcturus. 'And you know…you said that witch ancestor of yours was a Dark witch…I wonder if my family would know about this coin.'

'If you ask,' warned Peter, 'be careful.'

Arcturus winced a bit, then nodded. 'Yeah…I will. I think I'll start with my aunt. She's a crazy old hag, but she likes me for some reason.' I snorted, and Arcturus grinned a little. 'Yeah, I know. Her way of showing affection is pretty twisted. But she'd be willing to tell me most anything I wanted to know, if I asked her. Especially if it was about magic.'

'Cool,' I said, beginning to feel a bit excited, myself. 'We have a plan.'

After that, the talk turned to less dire things. The guys stayed around all afternoon and evening, which I appreciated, only leaving once in a while to have a walk or use the bathroom. Sekhmet Stark came and hung out for a while, and we told her about the Room of Requirement. (She was thrilled.) Aldora and the other Quidditch players came to visit for a bit after supper, which was cool, too, but we must have been a bit too noisy with all those people, because Mr Jacey came out of the office on the warpath. The team left after that.

As promised, as I'd stayed in bed (with great difficulty…tired or not I was going crazy lying and sitting down all day), Jacey let me go down to the feast. It was the Leaving Feast, after all, and I didn't want to miss it.

As the five of us made our way down to the Great Hall, I was stopped several times by people wanting to know what had happened. At first it caught me by surprise, wondering how they'd known about it at all, but then it was Hogwarts. Secrets weren't always so easy to keep there. I ended up telling those who'd asked that the Muggle Studies had gone mad and attacked me. It was close enough to the truth, anyway.

At the Leaving Feast, Professor Miller stood up and spoke to us all, as he usually did, as we ate the delicious food. He had a bandage on his head, making me think that whatever O'Malley had hit him with, it was magical, and not easily healed. To my surprise, he did not tell anyone about what had happened between O'Malley and me; he only said that we would have a new Muggle Studies teacher next year.

'You think?' said Arcturus with a snort.

'I wonder where O'Malley ended up,' I said.

'Who knows?'

'Who cares?" Ke'koa put in.

'And so, to those seventh-years, I say good-bye,' said Miller. 'And wish you the best of luck on the road of life. And to everyone else…until we meet again.'

I always hated the Closing Feast speech…even when boring old Professor Ryan had said it. It always made me want to cry. And it always did Make Faolan cry…he was crying this time, too. Even when he didn't even know any of the seventh-years to say good-bye to. I didn't blame him; I hated goodbyes, too. I didn't know what I'd do when it was time to leave Hogwarts.

Peter slung an arm around Faolan as I attacked my dessert within enough fervour to distract myself from my melancholy.

'You are such a pig,' said Ke'koa as I crammed my mouth full.

I nearly spit out my food…if I remembered right, we'd had a similar conversation at the Opening Feast…some things just were destined to repeat over and over. I swallowed and said, 'Don't make me ask Faolan what he thinks the Spotted Dick looks like…' I liked the dessert just fine, but it was all dark and speckled and didn't look appetizing.

Ke'koa made a face and held up a hand. 'Sorry…I take it back.' He looked sideways at Faolan, who had a somewhat evil grin surfacing beneath the tears.

Despite the events of the night previous, the school year ended on a pretty good note. We all hung out outside until curfew, enjoying the fairly warm evening, then said good-bye for the night to Arcturus, who went and joined the Slytherins in the dungeons. The rest of us went upstairs and Arcturus joined us in talking half the night via the mirrors.

The next morning, those of us who needed to pack got up early enough to do so (Peter and Arcturus had already packed theirs the night before), and we headed down to breakfast…the last one of the year. Professor Blake pulled me aside out of the earshot of everyone else and gave my coin back. He said he'd done a few tests on it and only was able to find that it was under a magical effect…and that he'd be researching it, too. I thanked him. Surely if anyone could figure it out, Professor Blake could!

And then, all too soon we were headed back to Hogsmeade Station to board the trains.

The train ride was as long as ever, even with Exploding Snap and the duelling practise we tried rather unsuccessfully to get on within our little compartment. When I shattered the glass door with a badly-aimed spell, Peter declared the practise session over, and I didn't argue. Ke'koa repaired the door and I sat down, trying not to let my face get too red.

The five of us said good-bye at the station, reminding one another of our projects for the summer (aside from the summer homework we had…summer homework, what a stupid idea), then went to meet our families. I saw that all of Peter's siblings had come to meet him along with his parents; with my family there, also, the platform was full of ginger hair.

All my siblings were there, too, and I greeted them happily enough. I could save my stories for home…for now I was just glad to see them. I didn't know it then, but that summer was the calm before a very long storm. Things were just beginning, and we were all in for a rough ride.