HJ Morgendorffer An Extraordinary Dinner
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Harry Potter Morgendorffer*Harry Potter Morgendorffer*Harry Potter Morgendorffer
Helen and HJ left the conference site in a mixed company of Goblins and magical humans, along with one of the few hags that had not only discovered that being law-abiding paid better, but had somehow managed to become a successfully book keeper. The party began to break up as subgroups began to head for their separate destinations and Helen and HJ entered the small restaurant alone.
Helen had decided that she and HJ would try a French country restaurant situated off Diagon Alley that she'd heard of. To her disappointment, there was a large crowd there that evening. Crowds in wizarding Britain made Helen uncomfortable. She did not care to be noticed. She particularly didn't care to have HJ noticed. Some witch or wizard might see a woman dressed in Muggle fashion with a boy wearing a baseball cap to cover a scar on his forehead and make the right conclusion.
She began wondering if coming here was such a good idea after all. The waiting area wasn't that crowded, but everyone wishing to enter the restaurant had to pass through it. Dithering, she approached the maitre'd to ask for a table.
"Do you have any particular requests, Madam?" said the maitre'd.
"I'd like a table, someplace inconspicuous, preferably in the back," said Helen.
"You may have to wait for your table," said the maitre'd. "We're busy this evening. We do have a waiting area over there," he said, gesturing towards a couple of thickly-cushioned benches near the front door.
There was already someone seated in the waiting area: an older, elegantly-dressed wizard. He spotted Helen and HJ, his eyes rising briefly. He turned his attention back to the maitre'd.
"Sir," said the maitre'd, "your private room is almost ready. We'll send someone down after we've finished making the final arrangements."
The old wizard turned his head back towards Helen and HJ.
"Madam," said the old wizard, "would you and your young man care to dine with me this evening?"
Helen looked suspiciously at him. There were a lot of old-blood wizards with agendas.
The wizard smiled at her. "You have my word and the honor of my house that I have no evil intentions towards you or this man here," he said.
"Thank you," said Helen. She didn't know that much about the old-blood families of Britain, save that they could be extremely snobbish and that they often had disdain for No-Majs and wizards from No-Maj families.
A waiter came down a staircase over to the side and whispered something to the maitre'd.
Something told Helen that dining with this wizard would be safe.
"I accept," she said.
"Sir," said the maitre'd, "your room is ready."
"Please see to it that my table has two other settings," said the old wizard. "This lady and her young man will be joining me for dinner."
"Sir," said the Maitre'd, turning towards the staircase. The old wizard rose, and Helen and HJ fell in behind him.
"Allow me to introduce myself," he said to Helen. "I am Arcturus Black."
The older wizard watched with amusement as Helen ran down her mental rolodex and remembered that the Blacks were one of the foremost wizarding families in Britain.
The wizard said nothing further until the maitre'd led them to a table now set with three places.
"I hope everything will be satisfactory, Sir," said the maitre'D, who nodded, then bowed himself out. A waiter remained, nervously glancing at the old wizard.
"Please be seated," said the old wizard, gesturing to Helen and HJ.
"I'd like the wine list," he said to the waiter. The waiter left.
The wizard drew his wand and silently worked some sort of spell. Helen's hairs rose, but she wasn't certain what sort of spell the wizard had case.
"Now we have a bit of privacy," said the old wizard.
"I know who you are," he said, looking at HJ. "I'd heard gossip that a certain young man had returned to the magical world along with his mother, but I'd thought it was so much tosh until you came in through the door."
"No, I'm not Lily Evans," said Helen.
"I didn't think you were," said the mysterious old wizard.
"I am related to this young man, but I'd prefer not to give my surname," said Helen.
"I approve of your caution," said the old wizard. "Can I ask you your given name?"
"Call me Helen," said Helen, hoping that she didn't give out too much information.
"May I ask if you come from a magical family?" asked Arcturus Black.
"No," said Helen. "My family's been out of the wizarding game for at least two centuries. I do work for Gringotts Southwest, but that's not the same thing."
"I'm surprised that they hire Muggles," he said.
"Gringotts is a bank, and where there are banks, there is often money, and where there is money, there are often lawyers," said Helen. "And I'm a darn good lawyer, wand or no wand." She'd use that line before on incredulous wizards.
The old wizard chuckled. "I'd never thought of it that way," he said.
"How do you like working for goblins?" asked Arcturus.
"Different," said Helen. "They're bloodier-minded than some of the human law offices I interned for, but they respect me for my abilities, not because I look decorative. I like that."
"Is he?" asked Arcturus.
"He is," said Helen.
"What are you doing about his magic?" asked Arcturus, gesturing towards HJ.
"We may not be a magical household, but we are in touch with MACUSA," said Helen. "My husband and I are working with their social workers while he's staying at home. They also have programs where he can meet contemporaries who live in our area so he won't feel alone and unprepared when he goes off to school when the time comes. In the meantime, he goes to school with other children."
"A magical school?" asked Arcturus.
"No, a public school," said Helen. "Non-magical humans vastly outnumber non-magical humans, and I think it's best for Harry and my girls to know a little bit about the culture that surrounds them."
"Do you play Quidditch?" asked Lord Black, turning to Harry.
"I've done some, Sir" said Harry. Something instinctual told him to add the "Sir" part. "Chasing and some seeking, mostly. Right now, I'm more into baseball. I'm in Little League and I play outfield."
"You play with Muggles?" Lord Black asked incredulously.
"Yes, Sir," said Harry.
"Do any of them know?" asked Arcturus Black.
"No, sir. Aside from what Mrs. Kettler says about the Statutes, my Mom says what they don't know won't hurt them."
"Do you use your powers in this baseball?" asked Lord Black.
"No, sir," said HJ. Helen could see that HJ looked offended. "That's cheating. Baseball is a sport."
Not entirely naïve, thought the old wizard approvingly.
Helen started to feel strange, as if she was developing a a headache.
Something was in her head. She didn't think it was the old wizard. Something wanted to come out. Something wanted to come out bad. She wondered if she was under the influence of an Imperio curse but she doubted it. Despite the fact that Imperio curses were illegal, Gringotts Southwest had had training sessions where their employees had been Imperiod so they'd know what it felt like. In her case, she'd had to put on a funny hat, stand on top of a conference table, and sing nursery rhymes including a couple of naughty ones she'd composed at Middleton.
She stood up, a part of her mind frightened and surprised, then began speaking in a voice pitched much deeper than the one she ordinarily used,
The ancient house groans, its hearth growing cold
It seed dragged under by unliving hands,
Or set on a rock, despised by friends,
scorned by enemies, left to rot by the master.
The house falls to ruin, its foundation gnawed
By the rat fed by the heedless children and clueless sir.
None caring to see how the twain really died
Foregiveness may save the foundation stones.
HJ looked at his great-great aunt in alarm. "What did you do to my Mom?" HJ asked angrily.
"I did nothing to her," said Lord Black. "She is making a prophecy."
"Is she OK?" asked HJ.
"She should be all right," said Lord Black. "Give her a moment."
Helen came to herself and found herself standing up. "What just happened?" she said.
"You just made a prophecy," said Lord Black.
"Me?" said Helen. "I'm not a witch. I didn't think I could."
"What is your blood status, Madam?" he asked.
"We don't use those terms in the US, sir," said Helen, "although I have taken tests. MACUSA classified me as what they nickname a "wild squib." I can sense magic, I can see magical creatures, but I can't perform magic myself."
"You might wish to review your status again, Madam," said Arcturus. "You definitely prophesied."
"For your information, you are partially right. Squibs generally lack the Sight and usually don't make prophecies. But on very rare occasions they do. You just did."
"Like does it mean anything?" asked HJ.
"That, lad, I do not know," said Arcturus. Actually, he knew that this Helen's prophecy had a great deal to do with the fortunes of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black.
"Madam, my compliments," said Lord Black. "You are a woman of hidden depths. I suggest we remain here for a while longer and have coffee and dessert."
They sat and had coffee and desert. Helen used the opportunity to collect herself. After her reassurance that she was all right, HJ somehow had the instinct to shift the topic to something neutral and started explaining the rules of baseball to the old wizard.
"Madam, may I ask if you remembered seeing or hearing anything else?" asked Lord Black.
"I remembered something about a creature and a locket," said Helen. "There was also something about a cup and a strange vault. I also had this vision of dozens of drowned bodies dragging a boy under water and keeping him under until he drowned."
Lord Black went very still, his face expressionless. What did I just say, Helen worried frantically. She did not care to be hexed.
HJ looked at the old wizard. He knew a couple of old guys who got very still and quiet after something happened that they didn't like. That wasn't good. That meant that they were really hacked off.
Helen and HJ waited for what seemed like the better part of an hour, although it was only several minutes.
"Sir," Helen said quietly, breaking the silence. "I assume that you are a client of Gringott's Bank?"
"Of course," said Lord Black.
"Then I believe that what I've just said falls under the confidentiality policies of Gringotts and I am contractually bound not to discuss them with non-employees," said Helen.
"That means you also keep your lip zipped," said Helen to HJ.
"Yes, Mom," said HJ.
It took Arcturus a moment to recover. This Squib's behavior was quite atypical of what he was used to. A woman lawyer, he thought with amusement. And one that might have a gift for prophecy. One that gave him much to think about. He found the combination incongruous.
"Madam, could you indulge my curiosity?" he asked. "What would happen if you prophesied in a Muggle court?"
"From what I've reviewed in my legal studies, spectral evidence has been disallowed in court since the mid-1700's," said Helen. "I suspect that the judge would either ask me to collect myself or order that whatever I said be either stricken from the record or that the jury should disregard it."
Arcturus Black smiled but said nothing. Helen wondered if he thought what she'd just said was funny.
Neither Helen, the old wizard, or HJ said much more. Helen did say that she did plan to play tourist for a day. She wanted to take HJ on a sight-seeing tour of London before they returned home. The waiter appeared, the bill on a tray.
"Well, this has been an eventful as well as an entertaining evening," said Lord Black. "I insist on paying for dinner."
"That's not necessary, Sir," said Helen. "I can—"
The old wizard politely cut her off. "Madam, here in wizarding Britain sometimes wizards and witches seek out noted seers and pay them hundreds of galleons for what they might see of the future." His lips twitched into a smirk. "I'd get your vision for the price of a couple of dinners. A bargain, wouldn't you say?"
Lord Black had a point, thought Helen. She'd let him pay for dinner.
Lord Black dug into his pocket, dropped several large coins onto the waiter's small tray, then rose.
"So where do you go from here, Madam?"
"We're going back to our hotel. It's on the other side of the wall, off Charing Cross Road," Helen replied.
"You know, I haven't been out on Charing Cross Road for years," said Lord Black. "Let me walk you at least part way there."