Lily Potter and the Companion Stories

The Man at the Door

The following chapter will make sense after reading Chapter Five of Lily Potter and Neoma's Trance.

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"Mum, there's a man at the door!"

Rudolph Nickelson knew the statement he yelled to his mother was the truth, but the man on the Nickelson family doorstep was certainly unlike any man who Rudolph had seen in his eleven years of life. The man, probably near forty, wore a black floor-length robe with a strange sort of crest sewn on it. Atop his blond hair sat a black, pointy hat like Rudolph had once seen in a costume store during a trip to America.

"A man at the door?"

Rudolph's mother, about forty years of age herself, walked barefoot through the hallway and into the foyer of the rural house—her brown hair wild and frizzy and her plaid apron stained. Rudolph watched as his mother's eyebrows scrunched together as she approached where he stood at the open door with the strange man.

"Mrs. Nickelson, I presume," the man spoke for the first time, his accent English.

"And who are you?" she asked, grabbing the door with her worn hands and putting a hand on Rudolph's shoulder.

"Ah, yes, my name is Professor Neville Longbottom, Mrs. Nickelson," the man said, taking his off his hat. "I've come to speak about your son, Rudolph."

Rudolph blinked. The man at the door was here to speak to him? Rudolph never even had school friends over for a visit, much less a complete stranger.

"Rudolph," his mother began looking down at him, removing her hand from his shoulder to put it on her hip, "do you know this man—Professor Longbottom, was it?"

Rudolph shook his head fiercely; he did not want to end up in trouble for the stranger being at the house.

"May I come in?" the man, presumably Neville Longbottom, asked.

"DAVID!" Rudolph's mother yelled.

Almost instantly, Rudolph heard a door swing open upstairs, "What?"

"There's a man at the door asking to come in and talk about Rudolph," she yelled up the stairs. "You should get down here!"

Soon, there was the sound of feet on stairs as Rudolph's father appeared, wearing an old football t-shirt and a pair of gray sweatpants.

"This is Professor Neville Longbottom, David," Rudolph's mother said. "He's here to talk to Rudolph apparently."

"Yes, I'm Professor Neville Longbottom. I teach Herbology at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry," he said.

Professor Longbottom had barely finished his sentence when Rudolph's dad burst out into a bout of hysterical laughter. Rudolph's mother eyed her husband with confusion while Rudolph stood there without a glint of malicious amusement in his eye. Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry? He was barely sure that he had heard Professor Longbottom correctly. Witchcraft and wizardry? Like magic?

"Thank you very much Professor Longbottom, but we aren't buying what you're selling," Rudolph's father said, beginning to close the door.

"Wait," Professor Longbottom said, stopping Rudolph's father from closing the door, "I know that this all sounds ridiculous, but Rudolph, have you ever experienced something unexplainable or impossible?"

Surprised to be brought into the conversation, Rudolph stood up a bit straighter, "I mean, yeah, I think so."

His father looked at him through narrow eyes, "What on earth are you talking about, Rudolph?"

Rudolph swallowed, nervous to discuss experiences, which he had never shared, "Well, a few years ago, there were these kids who surrounded me in the park, and all of the sudden, they all flew backward like something just hit them all out of the way for me. And then, when someone pushed me off the monkey bars on the playground last year, I started falling but then just stopped. I kind of hovered above the ground before landing without getting hurt."

"Rudolph, stop making these ridiculous stories up," his mother said.

"They did happen, mum," Rudolph said, his hands balling into fists. "I swear that they happened."

"And they probably did," Professor Longbottom said, "because you're a wizard, Rudolph."

"A what?" Rudolph asked, his mouth agape. "I'm a wizard?"

"My son? My son is a wizard?" Rudolph's father said with a laugh. "I'm sorry, but this is the most farfetched thing that I've ever heard. We're just a family of normal Scots. You better leave before I call whatever loony bin that you escaped from."

Professor Longbottom scoffed, "Okay."

Two seconds later, the table behind Rudolph and his family was on fire. Rudolph felt the heat of the fire on his shocked face. There was no doubt that the flames were real, but why Professor Longbottom was trying to set the family house on fire, he wasn't sure.

"Jesus Christ!" Rudolph's father yelped, jumping in front of Rudolph and Rudolph's mother.

And just as quickly as the table had gone up in flames, the flames disappeared quickly into smoke, revealing the table—completely unscathed. Rudolph had to blink a few times to make sure his eyes were working correctly. The table wasn't burnt to a crisp. It was almost like...magic.

"My goodness," Rudolph's mother said, holding her hand over her heart. "What on earth?"

"Are you saying that I'll be able to do something like that?" Rudolph asked, pointing at the table.

"Eventually," Professor Longbottom said before looking between Rudolph's parents. "Now, do you think I could come in?"