A Thunderous Funeral

Quinn was about to start questioning the decision but Shikoba interrupted him. "Don't worry kid. This is not FOR you or BECAUSE of you. I've lived my life. I've already secured the futures of my grandchildren thanks to you and your headmaster, make sure he keeps his promises boy." Quinn nodded, rather horrified at what he knew would happen in front of him in just a while.

"Dumbledore doesn't know what I planned to do down here so he will be surprised, but there is a letter for him on my desk, and three letters for my grandchildren. I hope you'll give them in person." Quinn nodded instantly without a clue about where those grandchildren lived. Shikoba now started shaking more and more. "Tell them I loved them, but that they must find their own way. I don't want them to end up hermits on a clifftop."

Quinn looked into the man's eyes. They were bloodshot and teary but somehow exuded a calmness and contentment. "Back to you. Start off by reading the books on my workbench. Then get to the ones on my bookshelf. You don't have to become a wandmaker, but I don't want my knowledge to disappear."

Until now, what the man had been doing felt like a gentle tickle, from the inside of his skull. It wasn't really annoying and he wouldn't really be all that bothered with it until the last few moments when the wand lit up in red. "Once you've gathered everything. Leave me on the bit of metal twenty yards from my house. The birds will want to say their goodbyes and then they will know what to do with me. Are we clear on all this?"

Quinn had started crying at the man's dedication, at his determination. How he could be so clear on that this was his time, Quinn didn't know. But he would follow his every wish and he wouldn't let the name of Shikoba Wolfe be forgotten. The man who literally gave his last moments of life just to tutor him. Now the last push had begun and an intense headache broke out. He didn't let go of his eye contact but it hurt, it hurt more than anything he could think of, and he had pretty much died once already. But then, after he didn't know how long. It stopped.

The glow faded from the wand. A smile broke out on the old man's face. His eyes faded. And he fell down to the ground. Quinn stood there, recollecting what had just happened. He didn't understand much of it. Maybe it would make sense once he found out everything about the man but right now he was still a stranger. It would feel weird to see new memories from a man he just saw die in front of him, but Quinn focused on what was important.

He quickly shrank everything down and put it in the chest. Sadly he couldn't use magic as he was once again registered as a minor, but to his surprise the entire bookshelf, with the books included, shrank. He put everything except for four letters in the chest in the back. Three of them were placed in his chest pocket, also shrinked, and the last he put in his back pocket. With that he went back to the hole he fell down through, into this workshop.

The funny thing was that from here, it wasn't a drop really. It was just two steps on a ladder. Magic can really screw with perception like that. He yelled out "A bit of help here please!" And instantly his mother came running in. She was surprised to see the chest but didn't question it when she took it from his hands and brought it outside. Quinn went back down. He picked up Master Wolfe's wand and put it in his hand, then he picked up the body.

Once Quinn made it through the door with a dead man on his shoulder, he was met with two surprised faces and a gasp from his mother. "Hold on a second. I'll explain soon." He placed the man on the metal bit which was the same size as an ordinary coffin.

Then he stepped back and gave Dumbledore his letter but before he opened it, intense stormy clouds came upon them. When you looked up at them, there was something that seemed alive in there and that wasn't just what it looked like because seconds later, eight Thunderbirds descended from the sky only to land next to the dead man. They stood around in a circle and all let out a single tear on his body before stepping back. Only one remained near Mr. Wolfe. It was obviously the leader as he was a foot taller than the rest and just by his appearance there was something special about him.

Quinn, his mother and Albus all watched the peculiar thing happening in front of them, when suddenly lightning struck at the centre of the body. Nothing seemed to happen though, since the leader had stepped in front of the lightning and took it inside him. He then stood on top of the man, extended his talons and grabbed on hard before take off. To the people's surprise, this lightning strike wasn't an ordinary one, it was continuous. The entire time this had happened, electricity kept on pouring towards the man and when the thunderbird took flight with the Wolfe in his grasp, they did so straight up. They followed the lightning up to the sky until they disappeared among the clouds. "Huh.." was all Quinn could say.

It was a beautiful way to go, truly, but he was just too stunned to get any words out to comment on it, so he just kept staring up at the sky as if something more would happen. Nothing did. The lightning went away, a couple of the Thunderbirds looked at Quinn and gave him something that resembled a nod, and then they left as well. He looked to his side and saw that Albus had read the note and understood what had happened, it was time to go.

They had planned for this to be a trip that probably lasted about a week. The man would teach Quinn something basic, they'd get to know each other just a little. Just enough to pull off the lie. Then they would return to Britain. Instead it had lasted about an hour and a half and ended up with a funeral. There was nothing to do now except accept it and move on.

Once again Albus gave them a piece of rope and one nauseating experience later and they were back in Hogwarts. Albus was the first to speak up "Well..I'll just sort out the paperwork. We'll talk more in depth about what you tell the other students if they ask where you've been the last few years later. If I were you right now, I'd be thinking about how I best spend my time this summer." Albus walked towards the door but before he exited the great hall he turned around and added. "If you and your mother feel like living here for the time being, so you can use magic, there are some rooms prepared by the Ravenclaw tower. Flopsy can lead you there." Then he waved them off.

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A/N: Yes you might find it strange, what Shikoba Wolfe did, but there are reasons behind it and it all stems from his and Dumbledore's agreement. He had already made peace with death and was willing to do this even if he arrived at his final destination a bit faster because of it.