The black motorcycle rumbled into the narrow mews lane. There were cars parked in the lane and not much room. Then Leo saw John waving him into an open garage door. Leo carefully steered into the garage, shut the motorcycle down, and rolled it onto its main stand. The door rolled shut and John came in obviously admiring the gleaming machine. "Your mother has arrived next door, sir. If you care to come up to your rooms, sir, I have a hot bath drawn for you and some fresh clothes laid out. Mister Potter is talking to your mother right now. When you are changed, he would like to meet with you in the main reception room."
Leo enjoyed a hot bath in his own bathroom in his own private suite of rooms on the second floor. The outfit John laid out for him was straight out of the fashion catalogue for a 'man about town'. Leo had never owned anything like it before. He looked around and noticed a few small things from his own room in the flat but not much. John saw Leo scanning the rooms; "Some of the security team combed through your things and picked up a few appropriate pieces. The rest has been crated up and will be disposed of if you don’t really want it. Your lock-up has been cleaned out and stuff from there is in a workshop next to the mews garage."
Leo paused for a moment; "Security team? I suppose Harry told me something about them. I’m having problems with the notion that there are people all around me who are doing all sorts of things on my behalf which I just don’t know about."
John paused for a second; "Yes sir, it will take some getting used to. I, myself have never been in service before, although I did work on the staff of some senior officers in the Royal Marines. That did prepare me for some of this. I know you didn’t ask for my history, but a few things might help settle your mind. I am not magical, but I know a bit about it. My daughter got her Hogwarts letter when she was eleven and went off to be trained as a witch. Every school holiday was a revelation as she practised her skills around the house. I’m on the edge of the magical world, in the secret fold but not really part of it."
Leo stared at John; "Hogwarts! What’s that?"
John started to move towards the door; "Hogwarts is the British school for witches and wizards. My daughter was in Hufflepuff house. There are four houses in the school, Gryffindor for the brave, Ravenclaw for the brilliant, Hufflepuff for the industrious, and Slytherin for the ambitious.”
“Mister Potter will fill you in on what he has planned for your education. It’s time to meet in the main reception room."
John opened the door to the main reception room and announced, "Lord Pimlico." He then stepped aside to allow Leo to enter, giving Leo a huge wink as he passed.
Louisa Blake was standing in front of a sofa with Harry Potter, she was still dressed in her cook’s uniform whites. She stared at Leo for at least four seconds; "Leo! What are you doing here!"
Leo gave a sheepish grin; "Hi mum." Louisa was quite shocked but recovered; "Harry, you and your agent said I would be working for this viscount person for a week just to see if I could stand him. Is this a joke?"
Harry put on his best serious face; "It may take a while for this to seem real Louisa, but Leo really is Viscount Pimlico. It is all because of his father, Sirius."
Louisa took a deep breath, then sat down on the sofa. She bent forward and hid her face in her hands. Leo sat down beside her; Harry sat down in another chair. After some minutes Louisa looked up; "It’s been many years since I thought about him. It looks like I’ve cried all the tears I could over him. As you grew up Leo, I saw more of him in your looks, but you were always your own person. So, Sirius left you with more than an insane love for motorcycles."
Harry slowly stood up; "Louisa, I would like you to move into the house next door. It’s pretty much the same as this one. If you want to, you can start getting used to being Lady Blake, mother of a real lord. There are people there right now to help you. I’ll let Leo tell you about what has happened so far. Leo, I’ll pick you up in the morning at 9 and we’ll go and see some people about your lessons."
As Harry went out the front door the blue Bentley was waiting in the street. On the outside the houses in Purbeck Square looked quite normal. They had been rented out to companies and private tenants since they were built. No magic happened here until the arrival of the real owner, Leo Blake.
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