Chapter Thirteen: A Family Man

Chapter Thirteen: A Family Man

Siofre released Johannes's arm and looked around her. They were in a somewhat overgrown back garden of a small house. Ivy climbed the brick walls surrounding the courtyard, and a large oak tree from a neighbouring garden cast a long late afternoon shadow over the garden.

"My flat has its own entrance in the back, you see," Johannes said. "Quite private and quiet." He removed a key from his pocket, fitted it to the door, and unlocked it. He gestured for Siofre to enter first.

"You lock your door," Siofre observed as she stepped into his kitchen.

"It is common knowledge that I do not spend much time here," Johannes said. "I believe it prudent to lock it when I am not at home. Other than the landlord's Anti-Apparition wards, however, there are no wards."

"Another reason to be prudent and lock the door," Siofre said.

"This, as you see, is my little kitchen...now well-provisioned by Multry. Through here, I have a sitting room," he said, leading the way into the sitting room, "and that door leads to my bedroom. The, um, facilities are also through there. Bath and so forth."

Siofre nodded. There were a great many bookcases in the little sitting room, and each shelf had large gaps. Johannes had brought most of his books to his rooms at the Tyree estate, it seemed...which was quite sensible, Siofre thought, since he spent most of his time there. The sofa was an older one and somewhat worn, but it appeared comfortable, and Johannes had put a few colourful cushions on it. There were two matching armchairs, several lamps, and a low coffee table, as well; a cherry roll-top desk stood against one wall.

"If you would like to have a seat," Johannes said, "I will fetch my few things before we may leave."

Siofre glanced curiously through the door to the bedroom, but saw only a made bed, its simple head and footboards also of cherry, a cherry nightstand with a lamp, and a couple more bookcases.

Rather than sit, Siofre glanced through the books that remained on the bookshelves. Many were in German, but more were in English, and they were on a wide array of subjects. Johannes had a fair amount of literature, too, which did not surprise Siofre, although she had never seen him reading any books other than ones related to his profession in some way. She wandered over to the roll-top desk, which was closed. She didn't open it, but she did reach up and pick up a hinged photograph frame that was on top of the desk.

On one side, there was an unmoving black and white Muggle photograph of a much younger-looking Johannes with a pretty, smiling witch, and a tiny sleeping baby...presumably his wife and daughter. He was standing close behind his wife, looking down at the baby, and smiling. On the other side, there was a black and white wizarding portrait photograph of a slightly older witch and wizard, perhaps his parents...Johannes resembled the wizard fairly well, although Siofre thought Johannes better looking, perhaps because he had inherited his mother's open smile and bright eyes.

Johannes came back out of the bedroom carrying a satchel and another cloth bag. He paused when he saw that Siofre had the photographs in her hands.

"Your family?" Siofre asked.

"Ja. My wife, Beate, and my daughter, Clara, and that is my father, Matthias Karl, and my mother, Rosa," Johannes said, taking the photographs and pointing to them. "After they died, one of my neighbours, a Muggle friend, gave me the picture of Beate and Clara, and a cousin had this one of my parents, and she sent it to me. The murderers did not stop at killing my family, burning my fields, and reducing my greenhouse to sand. They defaced or destroyed almost all pictures and books . . . the house they left standing, and its furniture, but my life, they erased. They took my life without killing me," Johannes said softly. "It was after that, I was hiding by a friend in Freiburg, and Professor Dumbledore came for me. He brought me to England, to Yorkshire, and he let me live in his house there. Later, he helped me to get the job at Hogwarts. I barely knew him before then."

Siofre patted his arm. "That was a tragedy. I am glad that you had friends to help you, and that Dumbledore brought you here and gave you a chance for a new life."

Johannes nodded, still looking at the photographs. "Would you like to see another photograph of Clara?"

"Aye, she was a beautiful bairn," Siofre said softly.

Johannes replaced the framed photographs on top of the desk, then he reached into an inner pocket of his outer-robe and pulled out a small hard leather case. It opened with a click.

"I carried this with me," Johannes said softly. "I had it with me that day, when I should have been there with my family. It was taken only a week before . . ."

Siofre looked at the picture of the smiling, laughing baby, and she swallowed past the lump she felt rise in her throat. How anyone could murder a baby was completely beyond her comprehension.

"And that is a little lock of her hair," Johannes said, pointing to the side opposite the photograph. There was a small, light tuft of hair closed behind glass. He handed the picture to her, almost thrusting it at her. "Excuse me . . . pardon me."

He turned quickly and went back into the bedroom, closing the door behind him. Siofre could hear the bathroom door open and close. She sighed and allowed a few tears to well up in her eyes before she wiped them away with the back of her hand. With one finger, she gently traced the curve of the child's face, then she closed the photograph case with a snap.

A few minutes later, Johannes reemerged from the bedroom, and Siofre was sitting on the sofa with a book open in her lap.

"I apologise..." Johannes began.

"Nay, do not apologise," Siofre replied, setting the book aside and standing.

"I do not look at the picture. That little one. I carry it still, but . . . It has been so many years. It should not bother me."

"Bah! If anyone tells you that, do not believe them. Your feelings change over time, your circumstances change, your life moves on, but that was your daughter. You cannot lose every drop of grief in you, not if you live to be two hundred." She handed him the closed photograph case and took his hand as she did. "Thank you for showing me." She squeezed his hand briefly, then let go.

Johannes nodded once and smiled slightly. "It was good to share it with you. You are easy for me to speak to."

"I'm glad you're returning to the house with me," Siofre said as he bent to retrieve his bags. "Your flat is cosy, certainly, but our house . . . it's as Lydia says: it feels emptier when you leave."

"It will be good for you to have Bertrand and Sally returning, then, even if it is just for a visit. And to have your grandson and his family living so close. You will feel more life with them all there with you."

Siofre nodded. "But it will not make your company any less welcome, Johannes."

"Thank you. I fear sometimes I become too comfortable there, but also that I intrude upon the privacy that I know you enjoy."

"Nonsense! You're right that I enjoy my privacy, that I am happy up there in my hills, as Florrie put it this afternoon, but you are very welcome there with us...besides, the house is large enough to accommodate far more people with ease. We each still have our privacy...it is you I worry about, and I would feel guilty about persuading you to return for the rest of the weekend if it weren't for the fact that I'm too pleased about it."

"You worry about me? And why feel guilty?" Johannes asked as he opened the outer door for Siofre.

"Well, as my oldest grandson pointed out to me, living at the Tyree castle may be comfortable for you, but it does nothing for your social life to live up in the hills with two old widows. He dared almost scold me for...how did he put it?...for cramping your style."

Johannes chuckled as he turned his key in the lock. "Hardly. Malcolm is intent on seeing that I have sufficient amusement in my life. He also thinks that I would be happier if I were . . . um, seeing a lady. Dating. It sounds like very much work when he speaks of it, and hardly amusing at all. Not that I am averse to that. To dating. If it were a witch with whom I enjoy spending time. But I am not in any hurry, nor am I unhappy living in your hills with you and Lydia. Malcolm's 'style' is not always the same as mine. So do not worry or feel guilt."

"You know, Johannes, you are welcome to have guests, to have friends visit. It is your home, too, and I know you would not invite someone to visit who would be unacceptable to any of us. And if you care to have a guest stay, speak with Multry. She can make whatever arrangements you may require."

"Thank you. That is most generous."

"In fact, is there anyone you would like to invite to Beltane and to Murdoch's party?" Siofre asked. "I'm sure we could find room, or even set up a bed in your sitting room."

"I . . . I had not considered it. I was uncertain whether I was included, you see. It is over a weekend."

"Ach! Shame on us both, then! I for not clearly inviting you, and you for doubting that we would include you! Of course, you needn't stay for it if you don't wish to, but naturally you are invited. It can get a wee bit raucous, and the bonfire goes very late, but I would . . . it would be a disappointment to me if you were not there. I was looking forward to it, you see," she said, linking her arm through his in anticipation their Apparition, "looking forward to having your company there."

"In that instance, I could not fail to attend," Johannes said with a smile and raising his free hand to pat her arm. "I will be very pleased to stay for the bonfire and the weekend. And now, shall I Apparate us?"

"Aye. You may," Siofre said. "Bring us home, Honnie."

"So, you came back together," Lydia said, sitting down in her favourite chair in the sitting room.

"As you could easily see, as the magister greeted you before going up to his rooms."

"And together, by Side-Along," Lydia teased.

"Mm. Sensible." Siofre picked up the Dublin edition of the Daily Prophet, which she hadn't found time to read earlier in the day.

"But who gave whom the Side-Along, I wonder," Lydia continued. "Could it be that our Siofre actually allowed a gentleman friend to Apparate her home?"

Siofre sighed and shook her head. "'Twas practical. I was a wee bit tired after Apparating about this morning, and I was also trying to be polite, Lydia. The man's not familiar with Tyree ways, with my ways. It would have been impolite to insist on Apparating myself...or, worse, to insist on Apparating him as though he were a child incapable of bringing himself home."

Lydia laughed. "And isn't that what you said that time when Russ Wainwright offered you a Side-Along to McTavish Street from the Clypeum? I don't think I'd ever seen any man turn as deep red as he did when you told him that you were neither a child nor an ancient witch in your dotage that you were incapable of Apparating a short distance to a place you'd been thousands of times, and he should remove his hands from your person." She laughed even harder at the memory.

"That man was annoying, in any case. Even if I were exhausted, I'd rather accept a Side-Along from almost anyone but him. I think he's had something unnatural done to his teeth. His smile is most obnoxious."

Lydia laughed. "That cannot be said of Johannes, certainly."

"Nay, not at all." Siofre turned to the pages on international news.

"Did you have a good afternoon?" Lydia asked.

"Aye, quite nice."

Lydia waited. "Is that all you have to say about it? You're gone for hours, and you can only say 'quite nice'?"

"Well, it was quite nice." Siofre set her newspaper down, resigned to having to say more than two words about her afternoon. "Florrie Campbell saw us, silly thing, and chattered on about nothing, as usual. She came within a hair of insulting the magister," Siofre said. "We avoided that, however...and Johannes was quite gentlemanly with her, as you might expect...and then Philomena arrived, took her away, saving us. Philly told me she's looking forward to the Beltane celebration."

"Good. And you and Johannes?"

"We had a very nice afternoon, as I said. We were a wee bit early, so we sat in the park a while, then we had tea at the Primrose Room, sandwiches and cakes. It was delicious, as always. Johannes said it was licker."

"He said what?" Lydia asked, blinking.

"I thought that's what he said," Siofre replied, puzzled. "He said it was tasty."

"Ah! Lecker! Yes." Lydia nodded, chuckling. "That's good that you both enjoyed the food, but what about the two of you?" Lydia persisted.

"He is excellent company, as you know," Siofre said. "We enjoyed it. I really don't know what you want me to say, Lydia. After we had tea, we stopped by his flat in Hogsmeade so he could fetch a few things. 'Tis a cute wee apartment he has there. I did invite him to the bonfire...he didn't realise that we expected him for it, and he thought he needed an invitation...and you know that he's staying on for dinner tomorrow with Morgan, Fiona, and the bairns."

"I'm glad you persuaded him to come back with you," Lydia said. "And I should have given him a written invitation, I suppose, just as I did for everyone else, but with him living here, it simply didn't occur to me."

"That's what I told him, that we simply presumed that he would attend. He is a member of the household, after all."

"Practically a member of the family," Lydia added with a nod.

"Well, I didn't adopt the lad, Lydia," Siofre said drily, "but I did tell him that he could never intrude upon any family occasions and he's always welcome."

"'Twasn't adoption I was thinking of," Lydia said with a smile. "He's a bonny one, you admit it yourself. Kind, handsome, intelligent, and you obviously are fond of him..."

"I'm quite fond of a good many people, even an you fail to notice it and I don't show it, but that does not mean that I'm interested in any of them in the way you are implying...and I shan't pretend I don't know what you're implying, as you were plain enough in your insinuations earlier this afternoon, but I do wish you wouldn't speak like that again. In fact, I'm hoping that Lachina will come and spend some extra time here next week. She'd be company for Phoebe, and I think she might enjoy Professor Birnbaum's company. They have many interests in common."

"Lachina? Dervla and Lachlann's daughter? Lachina? You . . . I . . . Lachina . . . Lachina? I am at a loss for words, Siofre." Lydia threw her hands into the air. "Utterly and completely at a loss for words."

"Lachina is a lovely lass!"

"Yes, yes, yes, of course she is, but really . . . Lachina, Siofre?"

"I am not setting them up. I would not presume, unlike Malcolm. I simply think that they might enjoy each other's company. If they do enjoy each other, and well enough, then if nature takes its course, we may be able to welcome the magister to the family in truth. If not," Siofre said with a shrug, "then not."

"Oh, Siofre," Lydia said with a sigh. "You have no idea, do you?"

"Ach, I am not so dim, hen, not to see that the magister has developed some affection for me...for both of us, Lydia...and I canna deny that my growing affection for him has surprised me, but I'm no fool, either. You know that Johannes lost his family in Germany. It would be good for him to find a nice witch and have a new family in his new life here in Scotland. And if I happen selfishly to hope that it's a Tyree witch whom he finds to have that family with, that would certainly not be to his detriment."

Lydia shook her head and rolled her eyes dramatically. "You don't know what you're doing, sister dear, if you can blithely say that you'd like him with some Tyree witch, and yet be introducing him to Lachina..."

"If not Lachina, then another," Siofre said with a shrug. "There should be a number of nice, single Tyree witches at either the bonfire or Murdoch's party."

"Lachina reminds me of you when you were her age, Siofre darling. Even looks a lot like you did, apart from her hair being a tad darker red than yours was."

"Aye, darker than mine was, Lydia. It hasn't been that shade in a good ten years, at least. And you know why I finally accepted Herbert."

"I know."

"It gave me my last chance for another bairn, I believed, and just a few years later, I was proven right. Maisie never had a younger brother or sister. The magister deserves all that life has to offer, and all that marriage can offer, including children. Even if I were at all interested in him that way...and I am not saying I am...that wouldn't be possible for me and not fair to him."

"There are Tyree traditions that could accommodate that, if it were important to you both. You know that I tried to encourage Murdoch that we should take that option when I was having such trouble carrying my own child."

"And Murdoch declined and you eventually had Bertrand," Siofre said.

"And Bertie was a great blessing, but Murdoch and I had both agreed that if we didn't have a child by our tenth anniversary, that would be our gift to each other. We both wanted a child that much."

"I remember now . . . you even had two Tyree island witches you were considering asking," Siofre said reflectively. "But that wouldn't apply for us...for me, I mean. It isn't as though I have any delusion that I could enter into a relationship with a wizard...any wizard...and offer him the possibility of a family."

"First, from what I know of the Tyree tradition, there is no requirement that the wife be within childbearing years to make the request for the . . . the ritual, only that the couple is incapable of having a child with each other...except, obviously, when the problem is on the husband's side and not the wife's, then the witch must be fertile in order to perform the rituals with another wizard. But otherwise, the wife picks her substitute for her husband, and the child will be theirs as soon as it draws its first breath. From what I've learned from families on the island, this has worked very well for many couples for hundreds of years. If it were important to you and to him, you would both find a way, I'm sure."

Siofre took in a deep breath and let it out. "I'm not interested in having another baby at my age, through the substitute rituals or otherwise, nor am I interested in becoming involved with a wizard who would." She shook her head. "There's no point in discussing this. It's completely irrelevant."

"I don't think it is, Siofre. The witch you're setting him up with...all right, all right introducing him to...she's you. Well, not you, but as close as you could come. You're setting our Johannes up with a witch who is as like to you as any I know. If that doesn't say something, I don't know what does..."

"It says nothing, ergo, there is nothing left to be said. Now, what time did you ask Multry to serve supper this evening?"

Lydia sighed, but acquiesced. For the moment.

Author's note: If you enjoy keeping track of the various RaMverse characters, you may have noticed Philomena Flint Yaxley in the last chapter, and whom Siofre mentions in this one. She is the same Philomena Yaxley who met Minerva in her sodden-Tabby persona in Resolving a Misunderstanding, whom Malcolm describes as "the old harridan" who issued him the permit to import Erumpent horn, and who was with Scrimgeour during the Death Eater attack on the Ministry in Death's Dominion. Florrie Flint Campbell is Andrew Campbell's grandmother...Andrew was one of the boys who took the Hogwarts Express with Suzie in "The Sorting of Suzie Sefton." Florrie's husband's grandmother, Professor Campbell, is mentioned by Albus in Resolving a Misunderstanding. She grew up in Nova Scotia and didn't really approve of the Hogwarts House system, so always paired students from different Houses in her Herbology classes...that was how Albus met Dervilia, a Hufflepuff in his Herbology class. That's probably enough trivia for one author's note!

I hope you enjoyed the chapter. I appreciate all your reviews!