Children and Knights
"Mum, we need more books," said Harry with his little serious face, while Percy seemed to melt at those words. For him, seeing so many letters together was still madness, but he never once complained when searching through information with Harry or for some spell to find their aunt Mor.
Sally, meanwhile, was writing in the book Mor had left them… or rather, trying to put it in order. Everything was jumbled: recipes of all kinds, scattered notes, and half-finished scribbles. Mor had never bothered to organize anything, since she could remember it all effortlessly. She would simply jot things down and leave them anywhere.
"It's only been a day. How could you go through all the books already?" Sally asked with a playful tone, glancing at them.
"Percy came up with a brilliant idea. Instead of searching by ourselves, we can just ask the lady at the shop for the book we want. She surely read them all, that's why she's selling them," said Harry, his eyes shining brightly, completely misunderstanding the reason why bookshops exist.
Sally had to hold back her laughter.
"Sweetie, just because a lady sells books doesn't mean she's read them all," she explained gently.
"But when we went shopping and someone asked her about a book, she knew it!" Percy replied at once.
That was where their theory came from: that bookshop ladies had read absolutely everything.
Sally had no answer to that. She had never thought about it before. It was true that if someone asked for a specific title, the shopkeeper would check a huge ledger before answering. And without modern technology like computers, how did they manage it? Sally suspected that, obviously, magic was involved, but even so, her curiosity was piqued.
"Then let's go," she said with a smile.
The children lit up with happiness, especially Percy, who was grateful to rest his eyes from the endless lines of letters that seemed to dance before him.
"Lia, take care of the house, please," Sally asked the house-elf, who was quietly tidying up the children's books. At times, Sally barely even noticed her; she only saw the cleaned objects and knew Lia had been there.
House-elves had that obsession with not being seen unless called. After so many days, they had already grown used to her odd habits. For example, when they asked her to eat with them, the little elf had started banging her head, frightening Percy and Harry. Sally had been forced to give her serious orders for the first time: not to hurt herself, to rest when tired, to tell them if she was injured, and not to kneel every time she was called. They couldn't convince her to eat with them, but at least she was slowly starting to adapt.
"Lia will take care of it, mistress," the elf replied softly. She still wore an old pillowcase patched up in several places, though Sally and the children had bought her some new clothes. Even so, her favorite remained the very first one Harry had given her, which she always kept clean.
The small family prepared themselves and soon stepped through the fireplace into the Leaky Cauldron.
As always, Percy and Harry were about to run off the moment they crossed, but something in the atmosphere stopped them. The wizards around them looked tense, some even trembling slightly as they stared at a specific point. Three men were speaking with Tom the innkeeper, who answered their questions with visible nervousness.
Those three men were striking. Very striking. They wore full suits of armor from head to toe. Steel plate armor, with closed helms adorned by a red plume on top. Their shoulders were broad and reinforced, their arms and legs protected with articulated plates that still allowed movement. Around their waists hung light-colored skirts trimmed in red, lending them an air of nobility and distinction. The design combined protection with elegance: worthy of knights of high rank.
Only one of them was bareheaded. His neatly combed black hair framed a serious face of about thirty years. Quite handsome, with brown eyes that swept the place as if scanning it. Once he finished speaking with Tom, he turned, and his gaze briefly crossed with Sally's and the children's before moving on to examine the surroundings.
"Awesome!" exclaimed Percy and Harry at once. Sally widened her eyes nervously, trying to stop them, but it was already too late: the little ones ran straight toward the knights. Sally, just in case, laid her hand on the bag at her side where the magic tome was kept, ready in case these men were not what they seemed. After all, the looks on the surrounding wizards' faces made it clear they feared them.
"Are you real knights?" Harry asked, stepping closer to the one without a helmet.
"Your armor is amazing! Though goblin armor is cool too… yours is even cooler," said Percy, his eyes sparkling with excitement.
The witches and wizards nearby froze, waiting for the man's reaction.
The knight, with his serious expression, looked at them a moment before smiling softly.
"That's right… it is amazing armor, isn't it?" he answered calmly.
Then his eyes drifted down to Percy's waist, where a wooden sword was strapped. Of course, they had come from Diagon Alley, and if his master saw him without his sword, Percy would probably earn himself a good kick.
"Do you like swords?" asked the knight.
Percy grinned proudly and drew his little wooden blade.
"Of course! My master even taught me how to use it… to protect my mum and my brother," he said, puffing out his chest.
"No. I'll protect Mum and Percy with my magic," Harry said instantly, annoyed that his brother wanted to protect him.
"It's my duty as the older brother," Percy replied, shaking his head with a paternal air, as if Harry were just a child.
Sally rolled her eyes at their recurring quarrel and the same phrases they always used.
"You're the younger brother. I'm the older one," Harry shot back immediately, his little face angry.
"All right, Harry. This older brother will let you be the older brother for today," said Percy, pretending to nod. That only made Harry even angrier.
"Mum, Percy is pretending to be the older brother again," Harry complained, looking at Sally, who approached them with her hand still resting on the bag.
"Okay, stop fighting or I won't buy you ice cream at the shop," said Sally with a forced smile at her children, who were not paying attention to the atmosphere at all. She glanced sideways at the knight, who was watching the two boys' conversation with interest.
Harry suddenly seemed to remember something and turned to the knight before asking:
"Aren't knights supposed to protect princesses? Why are you in a bar? Did you run away from your job?"
The other two knights exchanged a look and began to laugh. The man without a helmet smiled, amused, and replied:
"Some knights protect princesses. We protect something else."
He gave Harry a gentle tap on the head. It was impossible not to feel fondness for the two little ones at once.
"Sorry, we won't bother you anymore," said Sally quickly and politely, trying to pull the children away.
"Oh, that's fine. It's interesting to talk with two little wizards. You're not from the… magical world, are you?" the knight asked.
"Uh… we don't live in the muggle world," Sally corrected softly. At the word "muggle," she noticed that, for a moment, the knight didn't like it; he blinked.
"'Non-magical world,'" he corrected with a hint of seriousness.
"Oh, I'm sorry. That's just how people here say it, and it stuck with me. I apologize if I offended you," Sally said, noticing that the knight disliked the term. She didn't like it much herself, since for some wizards it carried a mocking tone. Seeing that Sally's apology was genuine, the knight's expression softened again, and he smiled gently.
"It's fine. We need to go to the Magical Alley. Would you mind showing me the way?" the man asked.
"Ah, of course. It's this way," said Sally, leading them toward the back of the bar.
The children looked with curiosity at the other two knights whose heads were hidden by their helmets; they waved back at the boys. They seemed like good people. The whole bar fell into silence, watching as they walked away.
Quickly, a wizard approached the counter and, with a trembling voice, asked Tom:
"Tom, were those Pendragon knights?"
"Yes. It's best to be careful around them," Tom replied with concern, watching Sally and the children leave with the knights.
"Then the theft is true. Who's the fool who tried to rob the castle? They made those people come here. If they put witches and wizards in danger, what will we do? We don't want another massacre, even if the last one was in Knockturn Alley," said the wizard in fear.
"As long as no idiot tries it again, nothing should happen. There's supposed to be a non-aggression pact, unless they're attacked first. But it'll be better if dark wizards stay in their place, or they'll be decimated," Tom said seriously, lifting a newspaper that had been released as an emergency that very day.
On the front page, an alarming headline was repeated in whispers and worried glances: rumors of a raid on the fortress and the appearance of Pendragon knights walking the streets. Tension inside the Leaky Cauldron only grew as Sally hurried along with the children and the armored men.
…
Scandal in the Heart of the Magical World!
By Rita Skeeter
The broken sword of the so-called legendary hero has mysteriously vanished from its vault, and every eye is turning, with disturbing insistence, toward our own magical community.
The famous Knights of Pendragon, those enigmatic warriors without a drop of magic in their blood but with strength enough to rival any spell, have already appeared in London. And if anyone dares to doubt their power, one need only remember that fateful day ten years ago, when a single knight reduced more than a hundred dark wizards in Knockturn Alley to nothing but smoldering corpses.
Sources close to the Ministry of Magic confirm that the institution is in a frenzy, desperately trying to mediate before the matter escalates to catastrophic proportions. But what hope do we have if the Pendragon choose to accuse the entire community? How long before they unleash their fury on innocent and guilty alike?
Imagine, dear readers, what would happen if the order of knights were sent against us once more. Would the British magical world survive such an onslaught?
One thing is certain: until the true culprit is found, we tread on ground more slippery than the ice of the Hogwarts lake. And if we do not want our society shattered by the Pendragons' wrath, the thief had better come to light soon.
Mark my words, dear readers: chaos is already knocking at our door.
Rita Skeeter, always where the fire burns hottest.