Alfie, Who?

Winter Term

The Doctor joined Alfie, Lily, and Hugo on the Hogwarts Express as they return back to the school for the winter term. The Doctor is still fascinated by the moving photos in wizarding newspapers and reads them just to watch. Alfie leans against the window and watches the passing country side. The landscape is white and is just getting whiter and brighter. He rubs his eyes.

    "So, your great, great, great grandfather was orphaned when his wizard mother was killed and his father was arrested." Hugo summed up between bites of chocolate cauldron cake. "And he was a squib who had his memories changed."

    "Yeah, they had to obliviate a lot of muggles that day." Alfie was quietly. "And rebuild part of the Crystal Palace."

    "I wonder what would have happened if his parents were successful." Lily said. "Your life would be really different!"

    "That was never a possibility." The Doctor spoke up for the first time.

    "What do you, mean, Doctor?" asked Lily.

    "The Grandfather paradox." The Doctor folded his newspaper and placed it on his lap. "It's like, if you go back in time to kill your grandfather, you won't ever have been born to go back in time to kill your grandfather. Damn near impossible!"

    "I didn't try to kill my grandfather!"

    "That's not what he means, Alfie." said Hugo. "Your great, great, great grandfather's fate is a fixed point in time. There was nothing that you could have done to change it. Even if you had helped and succeeded in stealing the diamond. Something else would have intervened."

    "So, you're a Black!" said Lily.

    "Yeah, but they're really into blood purity. The fact that I am 5 generations removed from the magic line of the family isn't going to impress anyone. I'm still a mudblood. But it's ok." Alfie smiled for the first time since leaving 1851. "I know who I am. And that's all that's important."

    The Hogwarts grounds were thick with a blanket of snow. Alfie had taken advantage of his accute sense of Quidditch movement to co-announce Hogwart's Quidditch matches.  At one particularly snowy day, Gryffindor played Slytherin in a game that was running close and running long. The only way for one team or the other to win was for their seeker to find the snitch, and that was nearly impossible with blinding snow whipping through the air.

    Alfie remarked at how the Slytherin beaters use the  Dopplebeater Defense with deadly accuracy. "Yes," said his co-announcer, fourth year by the name of Bruce Stebbins. "But it doesn't mean a thing if Walter Nott doesn't get focused and find that snitch!"

    "Oh!" The crowd gasped collectively as chaser Deak Bletchley takes a bludger to the back of his broomstick and spins out of control. He loses possession of the quaffle to Gryffindor's chaser.

    "Shanon Sloper is moving really fast, Bruce." said Alfie. "Slytherin's keeper, heads up!"

    Sloper fakes to the middle goal post then quickly banks to her left and tossed the quaffle to the keeper's right and into the goal post. The Gryffindor stands go wild. This ties the game 190 to 190.

Alfie had charmed his mug to make his hot chocolate exactly how his mum makes it, with just the right amount of cinnamon and whipped cream, and perfect temperature. In exchange for his perfect food regenerating charm, Bruce charmed their mugs to repeal the driving snow and wind.

Alfie saw the Slytherin seeker turn sharply and dive toward the earth. Soon after, the Gryffindor seeker follows. "It looks like Gryffindor's Samantha Dunbar sees something flying low in the snow!"