Mary Smith and The Three-Headed Dog

6. My Dad Was UuuGly

"A Hellgate and a Veil are two different things. A Veil is a one-way ticket to the other side. You walk in, but you don't walk out. A Hellgate...well all manner of things may come back out."

--- Allister Moody

Chapter 6: My Dad Was UuuGly

King's grip on me wasn't as solid as it had been the past few times. The moment we landed, I went stumbling out, landing hard on the plush shag red carpeting. "Oomph!"

"I'm sorry," King rushed over and hoisted me up. There was another sound of blazing fire before the woman Tonks came in behind us.

I looked up at the sound of squawking, letting Kingsley- HEY! I remembered his name!- letting Kingsley help me up off the floor. The most beautiful bird I had ever seen stood perched with his head cocked in my direction. "Pretty," I cooed in awe of the animal. I don't know if he understood but his chest puffed out just a little bit more.

"His name is Fawkes," came a scratchy airy voice from the top of the stairs. A man as thin as Jesus Christ with a beard like Santa came floating down. He was an angel in weird purple clothes. He had the coolest glasses and these bright blue eyes that were staring right at me. Now that I think about it, he was staring at me kind of weird. "I see you've all arrived safely. Kingsley, Nymphadora, nice to see you." They exchanged greetings and that's when I learned that this was him. Dumble-something. He was about to kneel down to my eye level like so many people had been doing that day but I stopped him.

"No," I said, hold out my hands to make sure he stayed upright. He was old- very old by the looks of it. One thing I learned from the very few visits my parents let me pay to my grandfather, old people had bad bones and stiff joints. I grabbed his hand and moved him to sit in the comfiest chair in the room. "You shouldn't bend over. You'll strain yourself." His thick white brows raised to his hairline while Tonks tried to smother a giggle.

"How very polite of you," he said with what I think was amusement in his tone. "But I think you'll find I am just a bit more capable regardless of how old I may appear." He waved a hand at the chair in front of his desk. "You have a seat as well. You and I have much to discuss before you go."

"Go?" I asked in a bit of a panic. "You mean I can't stay."

"O- Oho dear no we aren't kicking you out. You will be back at the start of the term with all the other children." Then he turned to the adults. "May you wait outside while I speak to her alone?"

If I hadn't known any better, I would have thought I was in trouble. That was impossible though. I was barely here two seconds. And while there were more than plenty of knickknacks in this room for me to get into, I hadn't had time to touch a thing I wasn't supposed to. At the site of the candy dish on the desk, I sat on my hands. The last thing I wanted was to start off the school year with a detention. Instead his long fingers reached in and plucked one out himself. "Lemon drop?" he asked, holding the dish out to me. Mama always told me it was rude not to accept a gift. But she also told me never to take candy from strangers.

"No thank you, sir," I croaked. As comforting as his presence was, he made me nervous. I never felt the need to be so at ease with anyone ever in my life and that frightened me.

He just hummed and ate the candy himself. Old people don't usually like sweets so much. Well except for old man Nelson. He ate a bag of chocolates a week from the local chocolatier but the new girl there didn't remember stop selling to him. He's an eighty-year old diabetic. They found him dead on the toilet the next day. I remember because the kids at school were laughing that he was on the toilet. "Mary?" Mr. Dumble said, waving a hand in my face. I snapped my attention to him. Had he been talking this whole time? "You seem distracted."