A Matter of Time

The first week at Middling Academy didn't go as Gideon hoped. To start with, his efforts to connect with his classmates went badly. He found that the ones who weren't afraid of revealing themselves were mostly painfully shy, deeply moody, or openly hostile. Others simply didn't want to associate with "the odd-eyed short kid".

Then, after all the reading Gideon had done, he often thought he knew the answers to questions in classes only to find he was mistaken. When they discussed the topic of levitation during a Charms session, for instance, Gideon knew the wand movement, incantation, and even the estimated range and power of the spell. However, Mrs Hastings wanted to hear about the reasons behind those things, when a witch or wizard might—or should—use the spell, and how Squibs would perform the intended function.

Herbology lessons were similar, not least because there were no greenhouses at Middling Academy. That would be too dangerous. They learned about magical plants and the like from their books. However, Mrs Hastings informed them that there would be school trips to the enchanted greenhouses of Kew Gardens at the end of each semester.

Potions class was especially disappointing. Their teacher was an imposing man whose booming voice often caused the nervous students to drop things. Then, there was the fact that the potions they were making primarily came from Arsenius Jigger's considerably less popular book, Non-Magical Draughts and Potions, which was essentially a list of innocuous tonics and herbal remedies. The point, Mr Moorhouse told them, was to learn the "essence of potion-making", so they could better understand how and why "real wizards" used them.

Gideon struggled with Astronomy. This wasn't because of Middling Academy's interpretation of the subject. On the contrary, he thought studying the enchanted ceiling while the pupils lay on bean bags was a clever idea. It was simply because Gideon found the shapes of constellations harder to memorise and recall than information such as facts, names and dates.

Break times in the Green Room were bizarre. Some students played games and sports in the distance but there were an awful lot of individuals darted around, sitting alone reading, writing, or drawing as Gideon did. He was used to spending time alone, of course, but seeing so many of his peers doing the same thing was unnerving for some reason.

Gideon wanted to try approaching some of them, but the truth was his mind was elsewhere. Every day that week after school finished, he had caught the lift to the library as agreed with his mother, where she waited with a mug of hot chocolate and a chocolate-chip cookie wand for him, and completed his homework at one of the empty desks. However, when he finished, he used any remaining time to search for answers.

The answers he was looking for, Gideon had concluded, were not going to come from his family. He would have to find them for himself. However, after five days of searching, he hadn't come up with any. The problem was, Gideon had no idea what he was looking for, or if he was going to find it in any of the dusty tomes that he was randomly pulling off shelves.

He had barely understood what his father and grandmother were whispering about when he had overheard them talking in the study. What he did know, is that they had a secret, a secret about him. That his grandmother thought there was something wrong with him. That there might have been a procedure of some kind, which he thought she had referred to as "The Weaving".

After spending hours in the stacks scanning vertical titles with his head tilted, looking for even a hint of this phrase, Gideon had developed a deep frustration, not to mention a sore neck.

The irony was, he had access to a knowledgeable source for finding information in the library right in front of him—his mother—but he couldn't risk asking her or her colleagues without knowing what "The Weaving" was. He also suspected she might be in on the secret and didn't want to alert her to his discovery.

***

A few weeks went by, the weather deteriorated, and Gideon began to settle into a mundane routine. He was getting a handle on how to approach Middling's theory-based lessons, he was making good headway through his course materials, and was even on speaking terms with a boy in his class. He hadn't however, made any progress with his search for the truth.

It wasn't until one Friday in October that Gideon's monotonous routine was interrupted. School had finished for the day and Gideon had headed for the lobby to find a problem with the fireplace lifts.

His shy new friend, Jack Hartley seemed frightened by the prospect of arriving home late and assured Gideon he was an expert when it came to Muggle transportation. So, since they had both brought jackets that would hide their robes, Gideon, eager to get to the library, agreed to join him.

They exited the school via the lobby street entrance and stepped out onto a wet, busy pavement surrounded by the dauntingly high buildings of Central London. Gideon immediately regretted his decision to leave the protection of the somewhat magical school's walls, but Jack insisted The British Library wasn't far from King's Cross Station, where he had recently watched his sister depart for Hogwarts.

Unfortunately, they were never able to put his assertions to the test. A panicky Jack had picked up the pace after checking his watch, while Gideon trailed behind him, his short legs trying to match the taller boy's long strides. Jack made an abrupt turn and crossed the road, beckoning Gideon to follow in his stead. No sooner had Gideon stepped off the pavement to cross the road than a car down the street had emerged from its parking space and began hurtling down the road.

Halfway across the road, Gideon noticed the metallic beast speeding toward him. Even if he could have found the energy for a burst of speed, he could tell it was already too late. As if caught in that moment in time, Gideon watched in horror as the car crept ever closer, and he considered his final actions.

Being hit by a car on the way to the library was tragic enough in itself, but why was he so eager to get there? To find some impossibly vague reference as proof of some strange family conspiracy? Surely, there were better ways to die than that? Better ways to live?

In the final second before the mass of steel collided with his fragile body, Gideon felt a familiar sensation in his brain. He could tell this time that it was coming, and at the worst time imaginable. He closed his eyes and surrendered himself to the impending agony, whether it be from his strange disorder or the impact of the oncoming vehicle.

And then, he felt it. His body crumpled under the force of the impact and pain surged through him. Was this the end? Was this death? He didn't know how to describe the feeling of life leaving its vessel, but it was painful, and he felt it distinctly down his left side, particularly in his arm.

'GIDEON!' cried a nearby voice. 'Gideon, are you okay? I'm so sorry! It came out of nowhere. Please be okay!'

'Jack?' Gideon asked through lips he was certain would no longer respond to their master's bidding.

'Gideon! Are you alright?' Jack replied.

'Stay still, young man, you're injured,' said a kind, deep voice.

Injured? Gideon contemplated. He was supposed to be dead! He opened his eyes to find a growing ring of faces looming over him, two more closely than the rest. On his left, was the sandy-haired Jack, and to his right, was a man he did not recognise, bracing his arm.

'What happened?' Gideon asked.

Jack responded, 'There was a car. It came this close,' he indicated with his fingers, 'but this man pushed you out of the way just in time, I didn't even see him coming. He saved your life, Gideon!'

'Unfortunately, it looks like I pushed you a bit too hard,' the kind-voiced, bearded man explained apologetically. 'You landed badly on your arm. I'm fairly sure it's broken, I'm afraid.'

Gideon couldn't quite comprehend the situation. He was getting away from this with nothing more than a broken arm? He had been so sure that his time was up. Moreover, Gideon was certain he had been about to have one of his odd seizures. Apparently, the good samaritan had quite literally knocked some sense into him.

'The emergency services are on their way,' said one of the other faces above, cradling a mobile phone. 'That's right. Yes. Yes, there are plenty of witnesses, the car crashed into a parked lorry, but nobody saw the driver, it looks like they got away.'

'Any other pain?' Gideon's rescuer asked. 'Do you think you can get up?'

'I think it's just my arm that really hurts,' said Gideon after cautiously testing his other limbs.

'I don't think you should move him,' one of the onlookers commented matter-of-factly.

'Oh, I think he'll be alright, I'll escort the boys back to their school,' said the man as he helped Gideon to his feet and zipped up his jacket over the Middling Academy emblem, which must have become exposed during their collision.

Gideon got the impression that the man recognised it and understood that the boys' presence and uniforms might be difficult to explain to Muggles. Back on his feet, Gideon tested his footing and took in his surroundings. The crowd began to disperse as they saw that his injuries were minor, and as they did so, Gideon spotted the car that had chased him down.

The front end of the silver-coloured vehicle was wrecked. It had indeed slammed into a parked lorry and was now pinned to it, including Gideon noticed, the driver-side door. He found this odd considering the driver was nowhere to be found.

The stranger, a rather tall, middle-aged man wearing a trench coat, quickly led the boys away from the scene with a hand on each of their shoulders, despite objections from concerned citizens.

He walked them directly back to the Middling entrance, confirming for Gideon that he must be from their world. However, when Gideon turned to ask him, the man had disappeared.

'He's gone!' exclaimed Jack.

He had presumably Apparated, but Gideon didn't understand why. He didn't even have a chance to thank him for his actions. Jack held the door open for Gideon and he walked inside, annoyed, and relieved to see that the lifts were in operation again.

Jack checked his watch once more and said, 'I'm really sorry Gideon, but I have to get home. Can you get to the Medical Office on your own?'

'I'll be fine,' Gideon told him. 'See you on Monday.'

Jack asked Carol the receptionist for a lift, and to see to it that Gideon got some help. She looked in Gideon's direction, aghast at how he was supporting his left arm with the other. A lift arrived for Jack as Carol jumped out of her chair and jogged around her desk towards him as fast as her high-heeled little legs could take her. She escorted him to the Healing Service, her hands flailing the entire way as if parting an imaginary crowd.

The Middling Academy Healers had no trouble fixing Gideon's arm and gave him a potion to help with the pain and bruising from his hard landing. Physically, he felt fine in no time, but they insisted he remained in his healing bay until a parent or guardian collected him.

Gideon, still a little shaken by his ordeal, reflected briefly on what had transpired while waiting for his mother. If it hadn't been for the unnamed wizard...

'Someone's here for you, dear,' said the Healer who had magically mended his arm.

Unfortunately, when the curtain was drawn back, it was not the concerned eyes of his mother looking back at him, but rather, the furrowed brow of his father.

'What on Earth did you think you were playing at, Gideon?' Mr Maxwell scolded his son. 'Your mother and I never gave you permission to leave the grounds! You could have been killed!'

'I'm sorry,' Gideon muttered to the floor.

'Get your things, we're leaving!' Mr Maxwell commanded.

***

Gideon's excursion earned him a fortnight confined to his bedroom except for school and mealtimes. This had never been the most suitable punishment for Gideon, given how he didn't mind the solitude, but he was smart enough not to have ever pointed that out. The added bonus was that it limited the fussing from his mother, who became near-insufferable after learning what had happened.

After the accident, Gideon decided to lighten up on his studying. He had read more than enough to get through his classes, and he had always been a good student. He was still determined to exceed people's expectations, but he recognised that he was taking the fun out of living. He, therefore, made more time for his artwork, his novels and even practising his piano skills on the drawing room grand.

Consciously or not, Gideon also put aside his obsession with what he had overheard outside his father's study. If there was something to know, he didn't want to, and if he needed to, he would surely be told when the time was right. He slipped into a routine once again but diverged from it just enough to keep things interesting, and time soon began to whizz by.

Gideon didn't have much more success in befriending his classmates, but he quickly became the top student in all classes but Astronomy, which he just couldn't get the hang of. Annabeth Maxwell, weary of hearing Gideon playing the piano off-key, consented to give him lessons.

The continuing controversy surrounding the Minister for Magic meant the Maxwells were never short of dinner conversation, especially after an unannounced visit from the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures' new Elvish Welfare Team, which left Tilly and Tolly in tears.

Anthony's return for the holidays and his birthday brought more laughter to the house. It also meant there was always plenty of cake and party food to snack on, though, Gideon suspected this was in part due to Tilly's relentless new work ethic, which had come about thanks to the Ministry's well-meaning inspection.

Unfortunately, Christmas Day was marred by a large Dementor attack in Edinburgh the night before, which kept their father busy well into the New Year. However, Jennifer brought good news in February by announcing that she and a friend planned to open a clothing store in Hogsmeade Village, Britain's only all-wizarding settlement. Gideon was especially pleased for his sister since her moving out would relieve him of modelling duty.

Life at Maxwell Manor was as it always had been before Gideon had learned of his Squib status. Being a secondary school student may not have turned out how he had expected, but it was certainly an improvement on the years spent at Johnston Primary. The only thing really bothering Gideon was his body's reluctance to grow, which had prompted him to mark his height against his bedroom door frame once a month.

***

The transition from Winter to Spring, to Summer and then, to Gideon's second year at Middling and Anthony's sixth year at Hogwarts was seamless. In fact, the months continued to while away like this until one day in June of the following year. The Maxwells had recently celebrated Gideon's thirteenth birthday, for which he had received a big art box full of high-quality pens, pencils, paints and other materials, and a selection of new books and sheet music among other things.

He was especially pleased with the present from his grandmother, who in the past had also given him his treasured Glowglobe. Although his parents didn't seem to approve, Annabeth Maxwell had given her grandson another of her own inventions, a channelling rod. This was a wand-like crystal imbued with a single spell that the user could invoke freely. This one, she had told him smugly upon seeing his and his parents' varying reactions, contained a levitation charm.

No sooner had she finished explaining how it worked than Gideon had begun tapping every object in reach with the rod three times before zooming it around the lounge. The rod didn't just give him the sense of being magical, it also highlighted an intriguing potential career path. He had always known his grandmother to be a well-known Mageologist but hadn't understood what sort of work that entailed before, confusing her study of the magical properties of the Earth with Magicology, the study of magic in general. Perhaps there were other magical stones and minerals that Squibs could employ?

Naturally, objects like the channelling rod were forbidden at Middling, not that Gideon would have brought such a gift to a school where so many would have coveted it. Besides, he had asked his mother to lock away all his birthday presents for the time being. It was exam fortnight at Middling Academy, and he needed to focus.

He had a very good feeling about the exams he had sat so far, even Herbology, which he always felt nervous about until their end-of-semester visits to Kew. However, his final exam was the dreaded Astronomy. The first-year tests on the subject called for more "yes" or "no"-type answers, but second-year students were expected to be able to recognise and map beginner constellations.

Gideon gave it his best shot, but when he arrived at the library after school, he immediately pulled out his Astronomy textbook and began trying to recall the questions to see if his answers were anywhere close to being correct. After a short while, the star shapes all began to look the same and he gave it up as a bad job.

With no homework to do, he entertained himself while waiting for his mother to finish work, by reading a library book that depicted some of the more gruesome side effects of badly mixed potions.

'Oh, Gideon, you're not reading that again, are you?' Mrs Maxwell chastised her son as she arrived at his regular study desk with her handbag on. 'Put it on the trolley and let's go. Pam says there's a problem with the Floo grate, so we might as well get a cab to the Ministry and go home with your dad. That means you'll get to see the street entrance!'

Gideon excitedly followed his mother past the fireplace that would usually take them home and around a corner to an empty circular area. Mrs Maxwell directed him to stand next to her on one of two shabby rugs. After a second or two, the rug began to rise, lifting them higher and higher until they passed through the approaching ceiling, and into a vertical tunnel that gave Gideon the impression of being trapped down a well.

They eventually emerged into daylight, standing atop three adjacent drain covers. Gideon was pleasantly amused at finally seeing how people accessed the magical library from outside. There didn't seem to be any people around, but he suspected they wouldn't have been noticed anyway.

As they were walking, Gideon observed that it was unseasonably cloudy and windy for an evening in June, and cold, too. Very cold. He felt an odd chill run through his body.

'It can't be!' he heard his mother say out of the blue.

'Mum?' he asked her nervously, noticing the disturbing look of terror on her face.

'Gideon get behind me!' she commanded. 'NOW!'

'Why, what's wrong?' he asked in alarm.

'DO AS I SAY!' she yelled, fumbling with her handbag.

Gideon complied but pressed her again for an answer, fear growing in his voice, 'What's the matter, Mum?'

Sarah Maxwell let her handbag drop to the floor and held her shaking left arm out behind her as if to shield her son. Then, with her right arm, she brandished her wand, and uttered a single word of reply in a tone of disbelief, 'Dementors!'