Year Three - Prologue

The butterfly's wings flap and the tornado devastates the Siberian wastes. The mosquito buzzes at the ear of the prime minister, and a nuclear launch sends the moon out of orbit. Still, with all things said and done, my Muggle-Orphanage-Summer wasn't that bad. I enjoyed a newly found level of freedom in being able to manipulate the finest details of rocks, sometimes even letting a few hover as I managed to unsuccessfully climb on them with my feet.

It was a matter of balance, I reckoned. I just needed a large enough, flat stone and then I'd be able to surf over a floating skateboard, zigzagging across the air.

My humming stopped as I heard a branch twitch. The stone floating in my hand landed firmly in my palm, and I gave it a few hesitant throws high in the air as I turned to look at my visitor. It was one of the local kids. I looked at him, and then at the stone in my hand, "Skipping stones," I said.

"You weirdo," he snorted, and then began to throw a few stones too. I did the same.

There, in the silence of the river, I didn't bother with asking the name of the kid. It probably wasn't anything important; it was just a meeting, a random, everyday meeting that might or might not happen every day of one's life. One day you met a random kid, another day an adult. One day you spoke to a tourist lost on the way to the famous town's monument, and the next you stared at a garden snake slithering its way through the undergrowth.

Life was filled with random moments.

Thus, I didn't give it much weight when Deputy-Headmistress McGonagall accompanied me to get my books for the start of the new year.

I was surprised that Professor Lupin would stick around for the third year, but apparently the Jinx didn't work if you didn't do a full term of the school year. This was a great discovery; it meant that if someone played it safe, we'd never risk a problem as long as two different Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers took turns with one another. It was genius.

"Mister Umbrus," the old and stern lady appeared slightly stressed, "We should be careful." Her expression told me that she hadn't signed up for this job, but someone had forced her into it. I didn't understand. It became clear, however, when the Care for Magical Creatures book came up on the list of objects to buy and the woman's eyes hardened like those of a battle veteran remembering the Napalm strikes in Vietnam.

The book in question was sold from a cage. It tried to snap at the wizard that sold it, and while it came bound in a thick leather belt, it pretty much became apparent it was only a stopgap measure, the kind that for any Muggleborn or Orphan student would require the added benefit of a transfiguration professor willing to turn the leather into steel chains, and a hefty padlock to keep the book fully contained.

"There's no need for that, Professor," I acquiesced, rubbing the spine of the book and watching it immediately go limp, and even purr happily at the ministrations. "It's just a scared little thing who needs lots of hugs to get back to being a cute thing, right?" I whispered to the book, who hummed happily back in reply.

The Deputy-Headmistress looked at me sternly, and I looked up at her with a bright smile. My smile would have melted the very foundations of the Ice Queen of Narnia, shattered through the Snow Queen's frozen glass-heart and made even a rock bleed at my smile. It yielded little results on the stern McGonagall, but those results were a wonder to witness.

"Mister Umbrus," she said, kneeling slightly to be at my eye-level. "Do you know how many books I had to transfigure a chain and a padlock to just this month? Every other head of the house would resort to violent means to get the books to comply, and that would ruin the books."

"You could have started with me, Professor," I answered with a smile. "I'd have showed you right at the start how to deal with it. Hagrid told me he was going to become the new teacher so..."

Professor McGonagall sighed. "Why did I not think of asking you first, Mister Umbrus?" her lips twitched in a slight hint of a smile, only to then be sternly squashed down. "Well then, I do hope you have finished your summer homework, for there is little time remaining before the start of your third year."

I nodded, "Yes professor," as we made our way back towards the Leaky Cauldron, I dimly realized there was an ice-cream shop on the way back.

The memory actually hit me like a brick falling from a skyscraper. When was the last time I had eaten an ice-cream? Summer months at the orphanage didn't include tasty, frozen treats often, and when they did, they normally were the kind of cheap stuff you'd find in bulk at a supermarket. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't wizard ice-cream to begin with.

"Professor," I said hesitantly. "I've got a Galleon the Giant Squid gave me," I continued, "Would it be all right if...?" I looked from Professor McGonagall towards the ice-cream parlor, the unspoken question going unanswered only for the briefest of instants.

"Of course, Mister Umbrus," the professor said, "Go right ahead."

"Do you have a favorite flavor?" I continued, "It's just fair."

This time, the smile on the Deputy-Headmistress couldn't be defeated by her sternness or the wrinkles on her face.

For the greatest act of kindness is not to gift when you have plenty...

...but to offer to share when you have little yourself.