Here's the next chapter. Hope you guys like it. Thanks a bundle to everyone who reviewed. You guys keep my pen moving. More comments would be appreciated, so would criticisms, as long as it is constructive. :)
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Professor Kai
The next day Rose awoke rather early and eagerly awaited the assortment of wizards that were to be visiting Mr Lancelot's home by mid noon. She was curious to meet the Headmaster, the wisest of all the wizards arriving and the various other professors teaching at Hogwarts. But above all, her anxiety peaked mountain high for the gentleman who was to be the chief guest of the occasion.
Professor Kai was the person who was called upon to come up with a solution to their current predicament. Owing to his expertise in the Dark Arts the Headmaster believed he would be best suited for the job. However, most of the professors, Roslyn's father included, felt it would be dangerous to inform him of the situation at hand, fearing he may take advantage of it.
Roslyn and her father were making extensive preparations just like yesterday to welcome their guests. At half past eleven the group of wizards arrived at their doorstep. Rose who was in the other room heard muffled sounds from the study where the meeting was to take place. As she hurried over to take a peek at all the wizards that had gathered in the room she heard a voice from behind her.
"Great. This was all that was left. To be paraded like a zoo animal in front of a bunch of old wizards," sneered Scorpius, wearing an annoyed look.
"Fine, then stay in the 17th century and raise a family with that wizard in town who admired your pompadour," she replied.
Scorpius ignoring her comment moved a little closer to the door and put an ear behind the curtains to listen to what the wizards in the other room were talking about.
"I thought you weren't interested," shot Rose.
"Well I need to know if they have any crazy plans to permanently colour my hair red. I'd rather die by the hands of Bernaby than look like your brother," said Scorpius.
Before Rose could reply though, another knock was heard on the front door and everyone in the room, including Rose and Scorpius fell silent. For they knew who had just arrived.
Rose braced herself for the image that had plastered itself in her brain ever since Roslyn told her about Professor Kai. She waited to see the dirt stained robes and the wild hair on an ugly scarred face.
Rose saw the rest of the wizards stand up and rush to the door to welcome their guest. Rose saw that all the wizards except the Headmaster were rather apprehensive about this, but felt obliged to follow the Headmaster.
Because the wizards had crowded the front door, Rose couldn't see Professor Kai. After a few moments in which she and Scorpius fought with each other to get a better position to see the newly arrived guest, the men moved aside giving Rose and Scorpius a full view of Professor Kai.
A wave of white flooded their eyes as they saw a man dressed from head to toe in a spotless white robe. The only bit of colour on the man was his dark black hair. The hair was cut so proportionately that it looked as though it had been painted onto his head.
The contours of his face was perfectly lined to give it the shape of a pear. His face looked quite young but it also gave the impression of some one who had been through a lot in life. His dark black eyes glittered like jewels on his olive tanned skin.
Rose could not have imagined a more contrasting image with what was in her head. She found herself stunned silent for a few minutes before realizing that the wizards in the room had resumed their conversation.
But before she could begin comprehending what was being said, she heard her name being called out from the room. Soon Mr Lancelot came into the room in which they were standing and told them that the Professors wanted to meet them.
Rose and Scorpius walked into the room. As soon as they walked in, the wizards broke into whispers. Rose finally acknowledged that perhaps Scorpius was right. It did in fact feel as though they were being gawked at like a cage animal.
Mr Lancelot soon began introducing the pair of them to the wizards in the room.
"Dear gentleman may I introduce Miss Weasley and Mr Malfoy. Our visitors from the future," he said while smiling broadly.
Rose and Scorpius both smiled weakly, not knowing whether they were supposed to say anything in particular or not.
Mr Lancelot started introducing each person in the room starting with the Headmaster of Hogwarts. Rose didn't need an introduction from Mr Lancelot to recognize the Headmaster. He was easily the most wise looking wizard in the room. Even Kai, who was supposed to be the man of the moment, couldn't compete with the wisdom that shone in the eyes of the old man. The Headmaster greeted them warmly with a huge grin. He then joked about Scorpius's hair which Rose found really funny but failed to amuse Scorpius, who smiled forcibly despite of it.
One by one Mr Lancelot introduced each wizard sitting, who each had a question for them, about what it was like in the future.
While one rather obese wizard was curious to know whether they had managed to discover a potion to lose weight , another sour looking wizard wanted to know whether house elves were still employed at Hogwarts causing Rose to chuckle for she was reminded dearly of her mother.
Rose knew that Mr Lancelot was preparing to introduce Kai in the end. He knew that he wouldn't merely be asking them silly questions about the future, but all the details about how they got there. Somehow Professor Kai didn't strike her as a person who was interested in whether they had discovered safer shaving spells.
"Now this here is Professor Kai, a former Professor at Hogwarts. He has kindly agreed to help you children get back to your time," said Mr Lancelot.
Mr Kai didn't smile but looked up at both of them very keenly and after a while gave a very curt nod, which Rose and Scorpius returned. Rose wanted to say more, but all the attention made her too nervous to speak.
"Now if you wouldn't mind, would you be so kind as to elaborate on the events that led to your being trapped in our time?" said Mr Lancelot warmly.
Rose and Scorpius looked at each other. It was hard enough to recall all the strange things that had happened to them over the course of the last week, without a roomful of strangers staring pointedly at them.
Scorpius began telling them about the veil room at the Department of Mysteries, something which hadn't been built in the 17th century and thus required elaborate explanation. Most of the wizards in the room were so interested in hearing about the Department of Mysteries, that they didn't seem too excited when they were told that the two of them had fallen over the veil.
Scorpius did most of the talking and described in detail how he felt when he fell through the veil. Rose didn't remember much because she was knocked out by the force of it.
The only person in the room who didn't ask a single question was Professor Kai. He seemed to understand everything the first time it was said, and didn't need any further explanation. In fact he and the Headmaster were the only people who didn't flinch when they described the Death Room.
When Scorpius finally finished speaking, all the wizards in the room turned towards Professor Kai, who had in turn folded his hands and was now looking down at the floor.
The room was filled with a heavy silence, dripping with anxiousness as to what Kai thought about all this. Rose stood quiet, her heart beating faster than ever. Then after what seemed like hours, Professor Kai spoke.
But Professor Kai didn't explain his thoughts on the matter. Instead he looked up at Rose and Scorpius and asked,
"Which is your wand hand?"
Both Rose and Scorpius raised their respective wand hands. Rose her right, and Scorpius his left.
"Take your wands and perform a spell," he said curtly.
"We don't have our wands with us. We left it behind," replied Rose.
"Then borrow someone else's," he said quite plainly.
Rose was offered Mr Lancelot's wand while Scorpius took his wand from a rotund wizard who was eagerly presenting him his.
"Now, I would like you to you to perform the enlargement spell on any one of the object's in this room,"
Scorpius didn't know where any of this was leading to, but proceeded to do what he was told,
"Engorgio!" he shouted while pointing at a book that was placed upon the table nearest to where Professor Kai was seated.
The book enlarged three folds. When Scorpius looked up to see that Professor Kai seemed satisfied with the results, he smiled complacently.
After Professor Kai returned the book to its original size, Rose took her wand and shouted the same spell.
There was a crack and a loud thud. The book Rose had tried to enlarge was lying on the floor, twenty times its original size on pieces of splintered wood which was once Mr Lancelot's table. The plump man who was seated on the other side of the table was so taken aback by this unexpected result, that he almost fell off his chair.
It took a while for the gasps and murmurs to subside. Amidst all the commotion, one man sat calmly as impassive as the calm moor outside. Professor Kai alone sat as though he was expecting something of this sort to happen.
"What just happened?" screamed Lancelot who was also trying to see whether anything was left of his table, which was lying on the floor under the massive book, the size of giant pumpkins grown by Hagrid at Hogwarts. He shrunk the book with a wave of his wand.
"Reparo!" he then shouted and the table returned to its original state.
Once everyone settled back down, Rose returned Mr Lancelot his wand, which she had been holding on to, completely speechless by what her magic had done. Scorpius on the other hand had a nasty grin on his face, the one that read, "Look what you did,"
But Rose was too interested to know why her wand had acted in such a manner to care about Scorpius's antics.
Meanwhile everyone sat upright in their chairs, their heads turned in Professor Kai's direction to hear what his reasoning was for what just happened in the room.
"Just as I expected," he said. Before speaking further, however, he stood up and paced around the room once. After a long time, he turned to face the room and spoke,
"Your surmise correctly, Headmaster. A portal was created the moment they fell through the veil. What the young lady's wand just did is evidence enough for it,"
The room sat in rapt attention before Kai went on. "The portal is a magic gateway that has obscure and sometimes bountiful properties. It is perhaps more dangerous than advantageous. Perhaps that is why it has always been a topic of interest for Dark Arts followers,"
"There are several kinds of portals that have been reported by Dark Wizards. The portal that the lady and the gentleman fell through is one of the most lucrative of the lot. Any wizard/witch passing through it is likely to have magical abilities beyond his/her normal means, as the young lady's wand just showed us,"
Scorpius grin turned into a frown. He looked down at his wand and then to Rose who was now wearing the naughty grin which quite clearly said " Look what I can do,"
The elders in the room were in a completely different thought process. Half of them didn't miss the glint in Kai's eyes when he spoke of the rich prospects of a portal. Even the Headmaster for a moment looked worried.
But Kai sensed the fear in the room and spoke at once,
"I am not tempted, in case you are worried about me. I do not believe I have much need for any additional magic than I already have. But I cannot guarantee the same reaction from your brother, Irwin. He has always sought more power. It would be prudent to keep this news out of his ears at all costs," he finished with a frown.
"I have been trying to keep him uninformed of all this. However, I doubt whether he knows already. His abomination of a son has been prying the house for quite some time now. Bernaby must surely have send him to spy on us to gather more information!" he shouted, looking angry.
"I caught him spying on me a few times too Mr Lancelot," added Rose quickly.
Scorpius immediately raised an eyebrow and mouthed "When did this happen?"
"Yes Miss Weasley had to be introduced to him under very unfortunate circumstances," said Mr Lancelot worriedly.
Kai seemed a bit unnerved by this and said "I suggest you come up with a very good story, Irwin. Bernaby will soon send his son to me to inquire about this situation. I would have to lie rather convincingly to assure him that they are not indeed from the future,"
Mr Lancelot looking worried and took his seat. Meanwhile the look of seriousness on the faces of all the wizards in the room made Rose and Scorpius extremely tensed. If such experienced and able wizards were this worried, the situation was surely graver than they had imagined.
"What news do thou bring boy?" barked a haggard looking man, spit flying from his mouth in all directions.
The young boy, despite being used to the verbal abuse, flinched nevertheless at the old man's words. His eyes didn't dare meet his father's which were bulging ferociously.
"They have invited Kai over to discuss about the visitors from the future," he said feebly.
More spit fell on the floor, but this time Bernaby Lancelot spat intentionally. He spewed a bunch of filthy words as he got up from his chair, all groggy and unsteady due to the alcohol he had ingested and paced the room.
After a while he said "Go visit Kai. Tell him I want to meet him tomorrow morning first thing!," he said at once.
William nodded and just as he was about to leave he heard another shout from inside the house.
"And I don't want you to spy on them anymore. We do not want to seem conspicuous. Besides, we already possess what we need," he said, his eyes twinkling while, letting out a wild high pitched laugh.
William once again gave a feeble nod and left the broken hut. He knew it was a good idea to stay out of his father's path until he was sober again.
William strayed from his usual path. He was supposed to go to Kai's house which was on the opposite side of the path he was currently taking. Instead he took the same route he had been walking on for the past few weeks. When he finally reached his Uncle's abode, he took his position behind the same tree where he was tackled by Rose a week back.
He didn't know what he was doing there. He knew better than to disobey his father and face punishment for it. All he knew was that he was curious. And his curiosity was proving to be insatiable. He was befuddled by the red haired witch, now standing in her room and brushing her hair. He knew his father would burn him alive for this insolence, but William didn't bother himself with it. For now his father didn't need to know.
Hope you enjoyed it. Please leave a comment or too to let me know how you felt about it. Even if its a 'It was so horrible I could explode DungBombs all over your profile' . Uhm you get the gist :)