An Unexpected Visitor

Eleven months, thirteen days, nineteen hours, and thirty-seven minutes. Like a prison sentence, George had counted every second he had lived at the Linwood household as their new family member.

"Would Sir George be ever so kind as to pour me another cup of tea? I'm afraid my cup has run dry."

"Certainly my Lady. Would three sugar lumps be sufficient?"

George had spent the first ten years of his life suffering through physical and mental trauma that could have driven the most grizzled veteran to madness.

"You know me too well, Sir George."

"Not at all, my Lady. No loyal subject would ever dare to make assumptions of your esteemed self."

But now, he'd excruciatingly learnt that there were more ways to break an individual's mind than just the Cruciatus Curse.

"Is that what you consider yourself, a loyal subject?"

"Until my last dying breath, my Lady."

George was barely maintaining his composure whilst 'enjoying' imaginary tea with Her Majesty Ellie, the self-appointed queen of Yorkshire. A still-sane man in his position would have run for the hills, but George didn't have a choice. Ellie knew too much, and he couldn't afford to risk her blabbering to Dominic and Amanda. His only option was to wait for his foster parents to rescue him from Ellie's fairy tale nightmare.

Just as George was pouring Ellie her ninety-seventh cup of imaginary tea, he saw two sorely welcomed figures appearing in his periphery. Dominic and Amanda ambled into the living room with warm smiles adorning their faces. They stopped just at the threshold and, to George's dismay, appeared happy to observe their foster children's performance from afar.

Under the critical gazes of his foster parents, George returned the teapot to its designated location on the coffee table and went back to stirring his fictitious tea, all whilst maintaining the decorum of a well-mannered aristocrat. The last dregs of his dignity were at significant risk of being snuffed out if one of those two spectators didn't intervene in the next few minutes.

After George expressed his plea through an intense bout of eye language, Dominic finally relented and moved to interrupt the tea party whilst Amanda took the opportunity to head off into the kitchen to prepare the family's breakfast. The weathered fifty-year-old man cleared his gravelly throat and attempted to imitate George and Ellie's mannerisms.

"Food will be ready in five minutes. If Lady Ellie and Sir George could accompany me to the dining quarters, breakfast will begin shortly."

Dominic's poor excuse for a family butler impersonation didn't make Ellie so much as flinch.

Dominic squatted down to Ellie's level and whispered into her ear, "it's a shame her ladyship doesn't want to join us. You know, your mother is making your favourites. It would be a waste to throw them in the bin."

Like she'd been struck with a bolt of electricity, Ellie sprang out from her stool and disappeared out of the living room. The silver spoons she had carefully adjusted were flung across the table, changing the fine dining atmosphere into utter chaos. Even though George was covered in cheap plastic cutlery and saucers, he felt a massive bout of relief. He stood up, placed all of Ellie's scattered tea party toys back on the table, and made his way toward the kitchen.

"Quite a mess you've got in your room back there."

George looked over his shoulder and noticed Dominic was matching his pace.

"Oh yeah, that. I'll tidy it up after breakfast."

"It's not... Nevermind."

An awkward silence formed between the two of them, George could sense that Dominic had something to say.

To clear the air, he stopped walking and asked, "did I do something wrong?"

Dominic appeared to be a little flustered, which was quite rare for him, and he was seemingly struggling to find the right words.

"No. It's... erm. Your moth... Amanda was wondering if you wanted us to have a word with Ellie."

Is this about Ellie waking me up now and then?", George asked.

Dominic nodded, and George knew where this conversation was going. Ellie's routine of checking his eyes had finally garnered his foster parent's attention.

To appease his foster father, George explained, "I think you've got the wrong idea. See, the thing is... I've been asking Ellie to wake me up."

Dominic's bushy brow scrunched up, "did Ellie put you up to this? Amanda and I aren't stupid you know. We know what she's like."

George firmly shook his head, "it's got nothing to do with Ellie. I don't want her getting blamed for only trying to help me."

Dominic scratched his bald head, "what do you mean, helping you?"

George looked down at the ground meaningfully, he took a deep sigh before unloading his prepared speech.

"Back when I lived at the orphanage, I used to live with over two dozen other children. You couldn't go five minutes without hearing girls screaming at each other or a bunch of boys shouting over football. After a few years, I got used to it, that's probably why I can sleep through anything.

But, that skill backfired when you and Amanda adopted me. This was such a big house and there were only four of us living in it, the contrast from my prior accommodation was huge. Don't get me wrong, I love living here and I'm thankful from the bottom of my heart, but... the silence got to me.

Ellie changed all that. Waking me up by screaming in my ear or jumping on my chest wasn't a pain I was putting up with, it was a blessing. It's weirdly nostalgic and more importantly, makes this place feel like home. So please don't have a word with Ellie. I'm more than happy with how things are."

After listening to the end of George's 'impassioned' speech, Dominic merely smiled and nodded before continuing to walk into the kitchen. Sensing that his deception had worked, George ran his fingers through his hair and took a deep breath. A gurgling sound reverberating through his stomach reminded him what his next priority should be.

A beautiful aroma wafted up George's nose as he pushed the large oak door open and entered the kitchen. All of God's tastiest creatures were using their irresistible fragrance to lure him towards the stove. A dozen thick strips of back bacon were dancing in the sizzling oil, begging to be eaten. He reached out to grant these little piggies their final wish only to feel resistance pulling his arm back. Thwarted, George looked up to see Amanda with a concerned look on her face.

"Careful George, you could've burnt yourself."

George apologised, "I'm sorry Amanda. It's your delicious food's fault, it's so irresistible."

Amanda lightly chuckled whilst turning over the sausages with a serving fork.

"Alright, sweet talker. Make yourself useful and carry your plate into the dining room."

George gave a comical salute and sternly responded, "yes chef", before making his way over to the kitchen island.

The cumulation of Amanda's culinary skill and the finest local ingredients had created what could only be described as a masterpiece. The saliva pooling in George's mouth was threatening to overflow, he couldn't wait any longer to start devouring his breakfast. Just as he was about to make his way into the dining room with his plate, Amanda stopped him in his tracks.

"Did Dominic have his talk with you?"

With his way out of the kitchen blocked and his patience waning, George gave a half-hearted response and attempted to walk around Amanda.

"Yeah we did, it's all good."

Amanda's arm sprang up like a bollard across the doorway, she was staring down at George with suspicion written all over her squinting eyes.

"Really? Everything is sorted out between you and Ellie, just like that?"

"Really really. Now please Amanda, I don't want my breakfast to get cold", George insisted.

Amanda's scepticism hadn't abated, but her arm did slowly begin to lower. George didn't hesitate to take full advantage of her pondering. He hurried past her before she could react. After narrowly avoiding his foster mother's wrath, George entered the dining room and found the two other members of the family seated around the table. Since Ellie's animalistic eating habit could be to a certain degree offputting, George sat opposite his foster father.

While George was in the midst of shovelling the fifth strip of bacon into his mouth, Amanda entered the room with her own and Dominic's plate. As the whole family were now present and enjoying their breakfast in relative silence, Amanda began her normal routine of starting a family discussion.

"So what do we all have planned for today? Ellie?"

The little girl in question paused stuffing a whole pancake into her chubby cheeks and stared questioningly at her mother.

Amanda merely smiled at her and reworded the question, "do you have any plans for today? I could drive you to Tiffany's house if you like?"

A cheeky smile formed on Ellie's honey-stained face, "no thank you, Dad's taking me to Blockbusters."

The newspaper lowered ever so slightly to reveal Dominic's perplexed gaze.

"Am I? When did I agree to that?", he asked in a gruff voice.

Ellie's face scrunched up in annoyance, "you forgot, didn't you."

Dominic folded up the paper and placed it neatly down on the table, "go on then, remind me. When did I promise to take you to Blockbusters?"

Ellie pulled a little glittery notepad out of thin air and began flicking through the pages. Her eyes lit up when she reached a particularly colourful page filled with messy pink handwriting.

"On the Second of July, Dad bought a new car from a man with a wonky eye. At the time, he promised that he would take one Ellie Linwood in the new car to Blockbusters next time the weather cleared up."

Ellie gestured at the window before continuing, "since there is not a single cloud in the sky today, the terms of the agreement have been met. What do you say in your defence?"

Dominic listened to the whole recount from nearly a month ago, he appeared to be quite impressed by his daughter's ingenuity.

"I stand corrected. It seems that I had indeed agreed to take Ellie out today."

Ellie maintained her smug grin as she stuffed another pancake into her mouth whilst spluttering, "I told you so."

Amanda decided to chip in, "how about George tags along as well? He could benefit from the fresh air."

Suddenly all the eyes were on George who was just swallowing the last mushroom on his plate.

"What do you think George? Would you like to go out with Dominic and Ellie to Blockbusters? You could pick out a film for us to watch tonight", Amanda insisted.

George wiped his mouth and declined, "sorry, I'm busy. Maybe another time."

"Got another book to read by any chance?", Ellie said snidely.

"Ellie! Be nice, he doesn't have to go if he doesn't want to", Amanda admonished.

George locked eyes with Ellie and indulged her, "as a matter of fact I have. I'm currently learning Latin."

"Why would you want to learn Latin? Isn't it a dead language?", Dominic inquired.

"I'm just curious. You never know when it might be useful", George said nonchalantly.

"Say something funny in Latin!", Ellie suddenly demanded whilst flicking honey across the table.

Amanda stepped in to relieve some of the pressure, "don't pester your brother. Can't you see he's been bothered enough by..."

George thought of something 'funny' and cut Amanda off, "it's okay. How about this Ellie? Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus."

Ellie looked somewhere between excited and confused by George's butchering of the Latin language.

"What does it mean? Draco… Door mens…"

George chuckled, "it's Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus, and it means never tickle a sleeping dragon."

At that moment, a loud electronic beeping rang out from beside Dominic's newspaper. The noise was coming from one of two pagers both foster parents carried around the house at all times. All the attention in the room was captured by the constant beeping, effectively killing the family's small talk. Dominic immediately picked the pager up and checked the digital screen.

"Someone's coming up the driveway", he declared.

Without saying another word, Dominic abruptly stood up and left the dining room with the pager in hand. The expression on his face as he paced past George was quite unsettling, he certainly didn't look like the sort of man who was about to pleasantly welcome a house guest. Amanda appeared to be just as concerned as Dominic. She gently placed her knife and fork back on the table, dabbed the corners of her mouth with a napkin, and turned to address her confused step-children.

"There's no need to worry. Your father, Dominic, is just going to see who it is and then he will be right back. In the meantime... George, you can help yourself to Dominic's plate. Ellie, would you like me to make you some more pancakes?"

Ellie nodded her head enthusiastically, and Amanda proceeded to pick up her daughter's plate and head back to the kitchen.

Once Amanda had left the dining room, Ellie leaned over the table and whispered, "hey, George. Wanna go and see what Dad's up to?"

George was broken out of his daydreaming and stared at his step-sister, "what do you want now?"

"Shhh!", Ellie looked over her shoulder before continuing, "we should go and have a look at what's going on whilst mum is busy making me pancakes."

George's eyes lit up after hearing her suggestion. For once in his life, George could honestly say that Ellie had a not-too-shabby idea.

He promptly stood up and gestured towards the dining room's exit, "after you, my lady."

George and Ellie left the dining room and were now navigating through the disorienting corridors. Even after living in the house for nearly a year, George still found this barn conversion ridiculously easy to get lost in. Fortunately, he was in Ellie's company. Not only had she lived in the house five years longer than him, but she had spent most of that time exploring this confusing building.

Ellie must have been leading George in the right direction since he heard the front door close with an alarmingly loud bang. They quickly picked up the pace and reached the entrance hall. Ellie instantly ran over to the window beside the front door, she threw the curtains open and had a good look outside. George would have followed after her, but, he was far too distracted by the door ajar to his left.

There were a few rooms in this giant house that George and Ellie weren't allowed to enter, this unlocked door led into one of those highly restricted rooms. George gave in to his curiosity and pushed the door open. The room was quite small and smelled of iron filings, the lights were off and there weren't any windows which made the room especially dark. The only thing giving off any light was the nine CRT monitors stacked in a three-by-three formation at the back of the room.

George scanned each monitor and spotted Dominic talking to a slender man on the driveway. The resolution was so poor that he couldn't distinguish any features that might give away who this surprise visitor was. Whilst inspecting the presumed-to-be security room, George called out to Ellie who was still looking out the window.

"Ellie, what does the stranger talking to Dominic look like?"

"It's hard to say, Dad is kind of standing in the way."

"Really, you can't see anything at all?"

"Well, I can see a bit. It's a man at least. And he's wearing a suit."

"That doesn't exactly narrow it down."

"Why does it matter, do you think you might know who it is?"

"Never mind that. What does he look like?"

"Err... He's got brown hair, I think, and a moustache too."

After hearing that description, George felt quite confused. He couldn't think of any candidates that fit that description.

Ellie stood up on her tippy toes and excitedly exclaimed, "oh! That's not all. The man has got a big scar on his face. I wonder how he got it?"

George's body froze after hearing those words, all the hairs on the back of his neck stood up simultaneously. Only one person he knew fit that description, but it couldn't be him, could it? At that very moment, the door slammed shut in front of George. He followed along the arm firmly grasping the door handle and saw a very furious Amanda staring back at him.

"What did you see in there?!"

George nervously stuttered, "n nothing...The door was already open and the lights were off..."

Amanda interrupted him, "never mind that! Stay behind me and do not leave my sight. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Mrs Linwood", George answered submissively.

Then Amanda tightly grabbed his hand and pulled him to the front door where she also apprehended Ellie in an equally vice-like grip.

Ellie squealed, "ouch! That hurts."

Amanda was having none of it, "the same goes for you. Do NOT wander off again, do I make myself clear!?"

Ellie lowered her head in submission, "yes, mum."

Having more trust in George than Ellie, Amanda let go of his wrist and opened the front door. The first thing George heard was the heated argument between Dominic and the presumably unwelcome visitor.

"If you don't explain how you know my address in the next ten seconds..."

"Look, Mr Linwood. I'm afraid the answer to that question is going to take a little more than ten seconds to explain. If you could just calm down, I'm sure we can..."

George locked eyes with the man intruding on his family's property. The strange man was in his early thirties and was wearing a worn-out brown suit covered in patches. He had a short moustache and the start of a rough beard. His thinning light brown hair had been neatly combed back. His most distinct feature was undoubtedly the two large scars running diagonally across his face. This man was not a random stranger, and George knew exactly who he was.

A flustered-looking Remus smiled with relief after noticing George, "and you... must be George Linwood. It's a pleasure to finally meet you. I've heard great things."