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Dear Milo Potter,
I must say in all my years alive, you've turned out to be the best penpal I've made yet. I wanted to thank you graciously for the sample of basilisk skin that you sent me. I would have never suspected receiving such a thing in the post or at all really. I certainly hope you kept some for yourself, as I would think it would be very valuable, not in the sense of the monetary value of course but for the sake of holding the skins of such a rare beastie. To show my gratitude, I have enclosed something special for you and I certainly hope you enjoy adding it to your collection as much as I will enjoy adding the shed skin to mine.
Sincerely,
Newt Scamander
P.S. Let us also pray that our posts never get lost and wind up in the hands of others, people would be dreadfully confused and concerned. Our posts are far from what I consider to be "Muggle worthy."
The letter remained opened on Milo's bed as the boy was currently busy trying to coax his bowtruckle out from underneath. When Milo had opened the envelope from Newt, whatever the man had sent him in return had fallen to the floor and Paden, the mischievous bowtruckle had snatched it up and proceeded to make a game out of keeping it out of Milo's reach. Now the boy was desperately trying to catch Paden, but the little creature was fast and enjoying the chase.
"Milo!" His mother's voice rang out from the area of the living room bringing Milo's head to jerk up and slam against the wooden frame of his bed. Paden flinched as Milo mumbled angrily to himself as his eyes watered in pain. The boy's hands covered the spot he had hit as he rubbed over the sore area over and over.
"C-coming!" He called back, but moments later, his mother appeared in the doorway to check on the loud noise she heard.
"I heard a banging sound and-....Milo, what are you doing under your bed?"
"Mr. Scamander sent me something in the post," Milo said as he crawled out from under the bed, still rubbing the part of his head that stung, "and Paden took it and he won't give it back!"
"Paden Potter!" The stern voice echoed slightly in the room and moments later, Paden peeked out from the other side of the bed. A little chirp sounded from the bowtruckle before it threw whatever the gift had been onto the bed and then disappeared. Milo quickly jumped onto his bed to retrieve the item, only to completely forget the pain in his head. He lifted up the small piece, bringing Minerva to look confused as she entered the bedroom further.
"What is it?"
Milo turned to her excitedly, nearly knocking the woman in the face as his hand out was outstretched to show her. "It's a chimaera scale, or at least, a fragment of it. Isn't that amazing? Do you know how rare it is to even come upon a chimaera and those that have hardly live to tell the tale! I can't imagine what he went through, well, actually, I could imagine but it probably be wouldn't be as accurate. But I suppose that's why they call it imagination, right? I-"
"Milo," Minerva sighed with a small smile as she ended the boy's rambling before he could go on. "You're supposed to be meeting up with Rosmerta at the Three Broomsticks to help her today, remember?"
He glanced up at her, a wave of confusion washing over his face before he quickly tried to cover it up with a smile.
"You did forget, didn't you?" Minerva gave her a look.
"Actually, I didn't, I simply placed that bit of information to the back of my head and it temporarily displaced-"
"When you hit your head chasing your bowtruckle around?"
"Precisely," he leaned forward and gave his mother a kiss on the cheek before he called Paden to follow him. "Bye, Mum!"
The summer was off to a good start, especially considering how Milo's term had ended on a near tragic note. But the boy was doing well, fully recovered and trying to make the most of his summer. He had volunteered to work at the Three Broomsticks for a couple of weeks in order to make some money of his own. His mother and Rosmerta were both surprised but happy to hear that he was starting to show his own financial responsibilities. What they didn't understand was Milo was hoping to save up his own money, in hopes that when he turned of age that he could start off by travelling the world just as Newt Scamander had done.
It was a dream of his that replayed over and over in the boy's head and he was hoping that he would be able to go through with it. Of course, he understood that he had the Potter fortune to fall back on but it would make him feel a whole lot better knowing he had done it on his own. Plus it never hurt to have a little extra spending money when it came to Hogsmeade trips and buying gifts for his friends and family during the holidays and their birthdays.
Rosmerta didn't have him doing much, mainly because she managed the pub and Inn with magic mostly, but she had him approach patrons to see if they were satisfied with either their meal, drink, or stay. He cleaned here and there, took some orders, but mainly kept the woman good company for most of the day.
During his time working, even though it had been less than a couple of weeks, Paden's addiction to butterbeer had grown immensely. Milo was going to have to wean the bowtruckle off or they were going to have quite the problem when they returned to the school.
Minerva felt better about Milo keeping himself busy as the summer began and she found herself along with the other professors working to revise their lesson plans due to the way the prior term had played itself out with the Chamber of Secrets being opened. Much to the surprise of everyone, Elspeth had taken up residency in Hogsmeade, but Remus did not join her. The man didn't trust himself fully but the woman was still travelling back and forth to keep an eye on him and for her own work.
Upon hearing about Milo's near death experience, even Remus couldn't deny paying a visit to the boy to make sure that he was okay. It had been brief but it definitely meant a lot to Milo to have his family check in on him. He tried to question Remus further about Silas and the map but Remus refused to say anything about it and Milo didn't want to bring it up with Elspeth out of respect for what Remus had told him about the situation being complicated. But did the adults honestly expect Milo's curiosity to subside so easily?
As he entered the Three Broomsticks, Rosmerta greeted him and told the boy that she would be with him in just a minute as she was dealing with a man that looked as though he had started drinking early. He had a hungry and lustful look in his eyes as he continued to try to sweet talk the woman, but Milo could only hope for the man's sake that he would stop sooner rather than later as Rosmerta was quite known for having a solid punch to patrons that got carried away.
Sitting on one of the stools and waiting patiently, Milo thought to himself about what he was going to write back to Newt Scamander if he was going to write anything at all. He didn't want to come across as an obsessive fan, so he figured he would hold off until he had something incredible to share with the man. In the meantime, he was probably going to try and write another letter to Harry. Unfortunately, it didn't look like Harry would be permitted to spending any time with Milo soon.
Ron had sent a letter to Milo, explaining the mistake he made as he attempted to use a telephone for the first time to ring Harry up. But it had been Vernon who answered the call instead of Harry and Ron's first time on the phone did not go over well as Vernon hung up in the boy's face after telling him that Harry Potter didn't live there and to never call again. Ron assumed that it was best not to phone Harry again and that Harry had probably fallen into trouble because of it.
But Minerva reassured Milo that they could get a letter through to Harry without the Dursleys knowing, the problem lied with Harry returning any of them. Last summer, the Dursleys had taken to locking Hedwig up for the entire summer, Milo could see them doing the same thing out of spite. Maybe if he sent it by muggle post it would work out better, he wasn't sure but he was willing to do anything to help Harry out.
Scanning the pub area with the help of his new glasses that his mother got for him right away when school ended, Milo looked over the majority of familiar faces that were there that morning. Not to mention the unfamiliar faces of those travelling wizards and witches that were just passing through. He went to turn around and grab Paden before the bowtruckle ran off to find some butterbeer, but he became distracted as he caught sight of Elspeth out of the corner of his eye.
It was rare to see the woman in the pub, it was even rarer to see her there in the mornings as she was usually off working until the late evenings. Milo had to assume it was one of her days off. But before he went to call out her name and greet his godmother, he stopped himself as he saw the upset look on her face. The woman wasn't alone either, as there were three people in her company, two older folks, a couple perhaps, and Silas.
Milo's eyes widened, he couldn't believe what he was seeing, mainly because he didn't think an answer would present itself so easily. Silas and Elspeth were sitting across from each other, it seemed they were taking part in a heated argument, mainly on Silas' behalf as he continued to yell at the woman. However, over the crowd of people talking in the pub, Milo couldn't really hear them. Elspeth didn't yell in response, her face appeared ridden with sorrow as it looked as though she was trying her best to calm Silas down and reason with him.
The older couple, a man and a woman were seated on the outside of the table, watching as the two continued talking, every so often trying to interfere but they would be drowned out. Eventually, Silas seemed to have enough of the conversation as he pushed himself up and left the table, walking right out of the Three Broomsticks. The older man followed quickly, while the woman remained with Elspeth. Her hands rubbed over Elspeth's shoulders in a comforting manner, but it didn't seem to do the job as Elspeth began to cry into her hands.
Milo wasn't sure what to do as he wanted to go over and comfort his godmother as well, she was always wearing a smile and greeting him with a laugh or something along the lines. To see her look so distraught, it was unsettling. But at the same time, Milo wanted to know what Silas had told her and why he seemed so upset with the woman. Not wanting to interrupt the moment of the older woman talking to Elspeth, Milo picked himself up, allowing Paden to remain behind on the counter top before he headed outside.
Off to the side, stood Silas, no longer did the boy wear the grin on his face that he normally greeted Milo with in school. He looked angry but at the same time, there was a mixture of hurt in sadness as the boy's shoulders slouched. The older man before him was attempting to comfort him, much like the scene inside the pub with Elspeth. Milo felt like such a gossip as he peeked around the entrance of the doorway to observe and listen in.
"Silas, your mother is trying very hard but you-"
"Don't call her that! She's not my mother!" Silas spat back at the man, crossing his arms and looking away. "She wasn't there for me when I needed her, that's not how a mother should act!"
"Silas, she has been trying for quite some time, but you have to let this anger go-"
"No, I don't! She won't give me the answers I want, none of you will. But at least you and Grandma raised me! She expects to just come right back in and not give me any answers? No," Silas shook his head. "No way."
"She cares about you very much, she always has, but there are answers that she cannot give you, Silas, for her own personal reasons and you have to respect that-"
"Why should I?"
Milo had heard enough as he headed back inside, trying to keep a calm expression while all the new information came flooding towards him. He was brushed by the witch that had been comforting Elspeth hurrying out to find the other two, she didn't even bother to glance at him in passing as she went out the door. In the distance, he could still see Elspeth covering her face with her hands as she remained alone at the table.
He walked over quietly and took the seat in front of her, before reaching across and pulling her hands down from her face. Upon seeing him, Elspeth quickly tried to clean up her face, wiping away her tears and forcing a smile on her face. But Milo didn't smile back at her and eventually, her own smile faded as her eyes fell to the table.
"Aunt El, " Milo said in a quiet voice," what's wrong?"
Elspeth folded her hands resting her lips against them for a moment as she attempted to compose herself. She finally lowered her hands and let them come to rest on the table before she met Milo's gaze with a slight sniffle.
"The same thing that's been wrong for so long, Milo," the woman sighed, " my son hates me."