Wand Pumped Laser
Harry saw the three men run into the house, signaled for a pair of Aurors to go around and continued running. As he neared the corner of the porch he heard them crashing out through the front door, saw one hit some Muggle with a spell, then all three turned to point wands at Harry. With his Aurors close on his heels he sprinted hard, lifting his wand toward the New Order Death Eaters as each one sent a bolt of green light from their wands at where he was a split second before.
Aiming, he yelled, "Stupefy!" His spell felled one while the other two turned to battle the Aurors following him. But from behind them a stunner got a second, just as he turned toward the new threat two red bolts from his team hit the third. Three of them were down so Harry slowed and turned, rapidly eyeballing the area, the two other Aurors also scanning for threats as Ron trotted toward the three frozen men.
"Got em, Harry," Ron called back. "There's a muggle here. I thinks he's been nicked with a nasty curse. Bad cut on his arm, like a splinch, maybe worse."
"Secure the Death Eaters first," Harry said as he approached. On the ground was the muggle, looking pasty white with blood pouring from a tear on the man's jacket. It was going to take magic and Dittany to heal and he thought of the paperwork healing a muggle was going to cause.
"I'll deal with this," he said to the obvious question on Ron's face. Harry moved close to the muggle, reached out to touch his neck and got a pulse. Pulling a vial of dittany from his pocket, he unstoppered it and dripped quite a few drops onto the still bleeding wound.
"Incarcerous," Ron said as he pointed his wand, shimmering magical ropes binding one Death Eater. The rest of the team moved in to tie up the remaining dark wizards.
Ron's sweaty face looked at Harry. "We did it, mate. All three. That's a good night in my book," he said and grinned. Then he nodded toward the unconscious muggle.
"Take these gits back to the Ministry. I'll take care of things here. Send a floo to Ginny to let her know I'm safe and mostly sound of mind. She likes to know right away."
Ron gave a mischievous grin and said, "Got a hex for not calling soon enough?"
Harry looked away and sighed. "Didn't talk to me for four days. I'll take a bat bogey any day compared to that."
"Yeah mate," Ron said and muttered something before saying, "Hermione, she,
well ..."
"No need for words, Ron," Harry said with a bit of a chuckle. "I don't think I need much imagination, not with Hermione I don't." He looked at the three bound men and said, "Better leave their wands after you match their owners. Maybe one will tell me what they did to this guy."
"See ya," Ron said and the Aurors popped out with their prisoners.
Harry tore the ripped jacket wider then ran his wand over the slightly smoking but still bleeding wound to find the cut wasn't life threatening despite the amount of blood, but dark magic had caused the injury. He took the wands and Prioried them and, sure enough, one showed a Sectum Sempra and his eyes flared with anger. Would the madness never stop?
He looked at the pale, stirring Muggle to say, "You don't know how lucky you are. A bit more and you'd've been gone for good."
The young man on the ground flicked his eyes open. "G ... gone for good?"
Harry gave him an reassuring smile and said, "Don't worry. I can fix it. Just relax."
He pointed his wand, muttered the counter spell and dripped more dittany. A small curl of smoke rose from the healing wound as the skin knitted itself back together with a couple drops of blood sliding down the arm. His wand turgioed that and the man sat up. Staring at the rip in his jacket he touched fingers to his healed arm.
"Feels weird but thanks," the man said. "Uh , what exactly did you do?"
Harry held back the urge to laugh and said, "The dittany healed it after I countered the Sectum Sepra curse. It's a dark magic cutting spell, very nasty, but it's all over now. Five years ago we couldn't do that. You live here?"
Still staring at his arm he said, "It was my mother's house until she passed away. What happened? There were three of them, ran right through my house and when I chased them out the front door, one of them pointed something at me. Then I'm on the ground looking up at ... whoever you are. I have to say I don't understand what is going on right now."
Harry sighed. "Not to worry, you won't remember any of this," and he brought his wand up.
"NO!" the man yelled. "Stop stop stop. Don't do anything. Just stop. We can talk this over." He tried to scoot back and away.
"I'm not going to hurt you," Harry said. "Just a little memory charm and there won't be anything to worry about."
"Look, don't do that memory thing, okay?" the man pleaded. "Just, let's just talk about this. Besides, even if you do I'll wonder about my jacket getting all tore up and no injury so that won't work."
"Pretty good try," Harry said with amusement in his tone. "It's better all around if you don't have a memory about any of this. I promise I'm not going to hurt you, but the more we talk about it the harder the charm is. More details to take away, like that. It's perfectly safe when performed by an expert and there's no discomfort at all."
The man pointed to the large tear in his jacket. "I'll remember this. No way will I forget it."
"Easy enough," Harry said and pointed his wand. "Reparo," and both of them watched as the rip closed up with a slightly dark color that faded until it was the same as the rest of the jacket material.
"See?" Harry said. "Nothing to it. Now, just relax and ..."
The man scooted away again. "Don't do it. My mind, it's everything to me. If you mess it up I'm finished. If I can't think I don't have a job. I'm an engineer. Complex problem solving is what I do and if you ruin it ..."
"I won't ruin it," Harry said. "It's a simple charm really. Nothing to worry about."
"It's everything to worry about," the man said with desperation. "I'll do anything,
promise anything, just don't mess with my mind. You can't know how hard I've worked to get where I'm at now. You can't do it. I won't let you."
With a weary sigh, Harry said, "Just how are you going to stop me? Those men tried to kill you because you were in their way. You've seen me heal your wound and fix your jacket. Just what do you think is going on here and how do you think you can stop me from doing what I need to do?"
The man didn't say anything for a moment then said, "There's only one explanation that comes to mind that covers all the facts. I'm not sure I believe this but you healed me from the injury they gave me, you have what looks like a wand in your hand, you talked about a cutting curse and dark magic so it adds up to you being a magical sorcerer. Am I right?"
Surprised, Harry asked, "You remembered every word I said?"
"Trained myself. Helped loads in school," he said. "So we've established one primary fact. Add in this memory charm thing you talked about and it means you wish to remain secret and I'm not supposed to know about you or what you can do. That's understandable. Nothing but trouble when you interfere using magic, I'd imagine."
He gave a little grin and said, "I'd like to propose making a promise to keep this night to myself. Not a word from my living mouth. No one but the two of us will ever know about this whole situation."
Harry crooked his mouth. "There's the Aurors that were fighting with me against, uh, let's see here. Against lawbreakers. That'll suffice. Also, my team knows what happened and will ask. No doubt about Ron asking, he always does."
"Since I didn't see anyone but the three ... lawbreakers as you called them, since they are not here to witness our talking they are out of the picture," he said. "You do see that, right?"
Harry tried to think of a way out but he'd stated the situation quite succinctly. "I'm supposed to Oblivate Muggles that witness magic. There's no exception to this rule. I could be hauled into the Wizengamot for questioning, perhaps thrown into Azkaban. That is something I'm not willing to risk, even without the Dementors. I'm sorry, but I really should Obliviate your memory."
"That's a magic wand right?" he asked and got a nod. "Then it must transmit power in some way, right? If it can ... I've been working on a new project and I'm thinking if your wand emits some form of energy, there must be a way to use it to inject that power into a lasing material and, well, I'm not sure what happens next but the concept alone is certainly worth looking into. Come inside and I'll show you my lab in the basement. This is so exciting!"
With that he jumped to his feet, began swaying then reached out a hand to hold onto Harry's shoulder. "Forgot. A bit woozy there but it's going away. Please, I'd very much like to try this."
"Okay," Harry said slowly. "But afterward you will agree to let me remove the memories of tonight. I'll come with you but our rules are very strict about keeping Muggles unaware of the magical community. It's better that way. I think you can see that, right?"
"Yes, yes, of course," the man said. "Oh, sorry. My name's Arnold," and held out his hand.
Harry chuckled and shook. "I'm Harry. Sorry about laughing but Ginny had a pet Pygmy Puff she called Arnold. Good memory."
"Your wife?" Arnold asked and Harry nodded.
"The most wonderful person I've ever met," he said. "Happily married, three kids and my family's the reason, my reason for, well, my life really. I'd love to introduce you ... but then again ..." and he sighed.
"Sounds like the perfect woman," Arnold said with a grin. "Sheila and I haven't decided what we're going to do yet. We've talked but it scares the bejeebers out of me."
Harry laughed and put his hand on Arnold's shoulder. "Hate to tell you but it gets scarier, loads scarier, but it is so worth it."
"Hmmm," Arnold murmured. "Well, let me give you the ha'penny tour," and headed towards his house.
When they were in the basement he said, "This is my form of magic," and pointed to the table covered with little supports holding mirrors, tubes and a lot of things that he saw Harry staring quizzically at.
He opened a drawer and held a small cylinder up. "This is a standard laser pointer for lectures and so forth," he said and pointed it at the wall. "Fractions of a watt,
it can only shine a spot of light. No power really, hardly any at all. Couldn't even melt a snowflake." He looked at Harry and asked, "You know how lasers operate, right?"
Harry shook his head. "I know about them but not how they work."
Armold went over to the end of the table and hung a piece of paper in front of a stack of bricks, then held out a pair of goggles. "Better put these on," and slipped a pair over his eyes as he flicked a switch. A faint buzz came from the bench.
"This is an experimental ultraviolet laser I've been working on. Not as powerful as what we have at the lab but it demonstrates the basics," he said and touched a button. A very bright spot appeared on the paper, then a tiny curl of smoke in a weird, actinic blue color rose from the bright spot. A moment later flame appeared and he switched the device off.
He blew the flame out and held the still smoking paper up. "The laser transmits its power in a coherent beam, it hits the cellulose fibers and heats them up until it's hot enough to ignite and combust," he said.
Without pause he went on, "That power is injected into a special lasing metamaterial I've designed, the mirrors control where it goes until it hits something non-
transparent, that heats rapidly and ignites. The problem I've been having is ramping the power up. Metamaterials can behave quite oddly. This one's output doesn't increase with increased input like I thought it would. Hits a peak and plateaus."
Harry shrugged a little as he stared at the table and the devices on it. "So you put power into this lasing thing and it makes it into something you can control, the mirrors reflect it to where you want it to go and you burn paper. Perhaps you should try a match instead."
Arnold stared at Harry a moment then burst out laughing. "Good one, Harry,
good one. I'll have to remember that. But what I was wondering is what would happen if I used your wand to inject? Will the lasing material accept the power, how much will it accept and will it lase efficiently? I can't wait to try this. Would you mind?"
Harry stared at the man holding out his hand, his arm already withdrawing in reflex. No way was he giving up his wand.
"Ah, I see," Arnold said. "Tell you what. How about if I make a few modifications and you come back sometime and we'll try this out, Oh, you really must help me out.
This could be a whole new field to investigate. I so want to know."
Harry ran his hand through his hair, thought a moment and asked, "Then what? What if it works? What if it doesn't? If it does I have to tell you you won't have an opportunity to use a wand. You're a Muggle, uh, you aren't a wizard so afterwards, what use will it be? I was brought up in the Muggle world and try to keep up on the news so I know quite a lot about guns and weapons of mass destruction. I cannot participate in good conscience in making another weapon for people to kill others with. I've seen what evil is up close and personal so understand that I cannot allow that to happen."
"I just want to make it work ," Arnold said softly, looking at his lab table. "The applications, hadn't really thought about that no, hadn't thought about it in that way at all." He rubbed his hand on his face and frowned.
Arnold looked at Harry to say, "We don't know if it will work or what it will do if it does work. A weapon, not a good thing, really. How about if we just try it? Then we can decide on applications or publishing. Wait, can't publish. Never live it down."
"Do you see what I'm saying?" Harry asked then sighed heavily. "But you seem honest enough so I'll agree to give it a try. If it doesn't work, nothing lost. If it does, then we'll have to see what happens next. You have to know I'm not withdrawing Obliviating your memory. Especially if it works. Neither of us want more problems in the world."
"Yes, I agree with that," Arnold said. "If it works I'll be satisfied with a successful experiment. If it doesn't, nothing lost. As to this Obliviation thing, can we talk about it?"
"Still worried about it, I see," Harry said. "We can talk about it when the time comes. Until then, not a word to anyone. Not even to yourself."
"If I ever said anything, I'd be thought mad. No, not a word. That I promise you," Arnold said.
"I'll give you a call tomorrow afternoon to see how things are going," Harry told him. "I do hope it works out for you somehow. So until tomorrow I'll say goodbye."
Harry grinned, thought about his destination, turned and popped out of the basement, leaving a very astonished engineer alone in his lab.
Late the next afternoon, Harry knocked on the door, waiting until Arnold opened it to gaze at him with surprise, saying, "I thought you'd call."
"Got busy so I just showed up. Keeping my whereabouts confusing is a very good thing in my job," he said. "There are more, uh, lawbreakers out there that would like to get hold of me."
"Do come in, come in. Got the kettle on if you'd like a cuppa," he said and he led his visitor to the kitchen.
As they walked, Harry asked, "How did your thing go, you know that lasing thing?"
Arnold grinned and, as he poured he said, "Quite good. Built a holder and an injection site. Put it on a handheld device I like to use for low power tests; proof of concept type of thing. I think it'll work but we won't know until we try."
Harry sipped and said, "When we're done with the tea we'll have to see how things go. Actually, I'm rather looking forward to this. Never tried anything like it."
Down in the basement, Harry looked at the weird looking thing in his hand. It had a handle and what looked like a small pipe but it had no hole, just a frosted bit of what looked like glass on the tip. On top towards the back was a small, angled hole with a bit of metal looking like a holder. When he tired it, his wand fit quite tightly into it.
"Interesting," he said as he turned it in his hand. "You sure this will be safe? We are mixing different energies. I looked up lasers in the office and they make powerful weapons."
"Yes and no, "Arnold said. "There are no field capable laser platforms. There are many test models that do their job quite well, but none of them can be deployed in the near future. At least not for a decade or two, anyway. And I have no wish to produce weapons. I only want to design and test my devices. Afterwards - we can talk about afterwards when we've tested it out. I'm resigned to whatever happens."
Harry saw the worry on Arnold's face and felt all kinds of guilt and dread well up in him. Still, the rules served a definite purpose as it kept the world safe, mostly.
"Shall we do this?" Harry asked.
Arnold grinned. "Yes, let's do this. Just insert your wand in the injection point and we'll try it out. It's battery powered, though I'm not sure the batteries will do anything. Also, I put a spreader on the output, just to be safe."
Harry slid his wand back in the holder and Arnold touched a button on the side then another on a pointer mounted on the bottom. A small dot of red light flicked around the walls as he moved his hand around.
"Point the dot at the paper on the bricks," Arnold said and waited, watching the spot touch then hold steady on the paper. "Now, use your wand. Something very low power, something safe. We don't know what will happen, actually. From this point on, everything is unique."
Harry looked the device over once again, pointed it at the paper and said, "Levi Corpus."
The middle of the paper turned to vapor and ignited, two bricks behind it rose upward then crumbled to dust, even the sandbags behind the bricks had split with a few rivulets of sand leaking from the holes. There was a sharp odor in the air with a faint fog of smoke above what was left of the paper.
"It worked!" Arnold exclaimed in an excited voice. "Look at how much energy was generated. I'm surprised that little handheld device could manage it. How much power did you put into it?"
"Levi Corpus is a very low end spell, a lifting charm," Harry said. "Rather glad I used it. If I'd used something stronger I don't know if we'd still be digging out from under your house or what."
"Spells. Spells," Arnold repeated almost to himself. "I truly wish I could understand what a spell does and how it works. I can't believe any wood would withstand the flux of a powerful spell, so it must merely channel the power in some way. Oh, I'd so like to figure out how that works."
Harry chuffed and said, "Frankly I don't think anyone really understands how magic works, it just does. And wands, that's a whole field of study right there."
"Well, I suppose so," Arnold said softly. "This has been an interesting experiment but, like you said, I'm not a wizard. I'll never have a wand so I'll never be able to repeat this test, though I'd very much like to. Sad, that."
At that moment a small glass ball in Harry's pocket buzzed in a particular pattern, he turned as a thump was heard near one of the windows. His fingers felt the buzzing as he flicked his eyes around the windows near the basement ceiling.
"What was that?" Arnold asked.
Harry pulled his wand from the boxy thing in his hand and looked around. "You better find a safe place to hide. I only told Ron where I was going so there shouldn't be anyone I'd want to meet here. They must have followed me somehow. I thought I was careful but it seems I was wrong."
"What's going to happen? Is it dangerous?" Arnold asked, looking anxious and flicking his eyes to the windows around the top of the basement room.
"Can you turn all the lights out from down here?" Harry asked.
"Breaker box. I'll get it," Arnold said and moved to open a small box on the wall. "Ready?" He saw the nod and pulled the switch.
The lights in the basement went out to plunge them into darkness. Harry moved toward the stairs, thumped the first stair and stopped. In a quiet voice he whispered,
"Arnold, you need to find a safe place to hide."
"Yes, yes. I can do that," he answered in a quiet, shaky voice. "Is there going to be a fight?"
"Most likely. You don't have a fireplace and it wouldn't be connected to the Floo network anyway," Harry whispered. "I'll just apparate out. That way you'll be safe. I'll bring help."
Harry thought of the Ministry, deliberated on his destination, tuned and ... nothing happened. Nothing happened at all. He thought of his destination once more, thought hard and turned. Again, nothing happened.
"Oh, Merlin. Must have cast an anti-disapparating spell. Should have felt that," he muttered to himself. "Nothing for it but to fight my way out of this. I love you, Ginny."
Turning to where Arnold had been a moment ago, he murmured, "You hide. Don't make a sound. Don't let them find you."
"The laser. Can you use it?" Arnold asked quietly.
"Uh, I guess I could. I left it on the table," he said.
"I'll get it. Pop the breaker a lot down here," Arnold whispered. "I can find my way in the dark, no problem." He moved away from the stairs.
A few moments later he returned. "Slip your wand into the injection port. The batteries should hold out for quite a few shots. I think it will anyway, but I'm not sure for how long. New parameters."
Harry raised his wand and said, "Homenum Revelio." Immediately there were sounds of footsteps from above.
"Five of them. They're alerted. Couldn't be helped," Harry said. "Get hidden."
Harry fumbled around a couple times then slid his wand into the holder. There came a sound as Arnold slipped into a storage area under the stairs and Harry got a strange feeling thinking of a cupboard under the stairs, then inched away to position himself to cover the stairs.
The door at the top of the stairs squeaked as it was opened, then a lumos light shone for a brief moment.
A rough voice said, "He must be down there. All of you, come on."
Harry forced himself to relax, listening intently to the soft creak of stairs as the Death Eaters moved while trying not to breathe so loud. The steps came closer, he pushed the device around the corner, closed his eyes and said, "Lumos maxima."
His tightly closed eyes stung as the basement was bathed in painfully bright light. Harry moved in front of the stairs to see four rough looking men rubbing at their eyes.
"Stupefy!" he yelled and a bright red bolt of light shot up the stairs, felling all four of the attackers. Harry wondered at the power he'd unleashed then remembered there had to be another one upstairs. Worse, he'd have to go up to meet him.
"Revelio Homenum" and he could see a flash of light jump from the top of the stairs. He began moving up, keeping low so his hand brushed the steps to find his way around the bodies. He crept up silently, still seeing the faint glow of the Revelio reflecting on the wall. But then it faded away, distancing itself from the stairway, moving left into the living room. No sound so his adversary knew his stuff.
His head reached the top of the stairs, peeked around the edge of the wall and was met with a green bolt that was so close his hair stood on end. In the flash he saw nothing but wall on the other side of hall. Another peek brought another green bolt as he ducked back to safety but he'd seen the kitchen doorway. No way could he get across to hide in time
"What can I do? What can I do?" he asked himself. Then the image of the four on the stairs falling unconscious came to him. If he could get his hand with the device just far enough around the corner, maybe that would be enough.
Taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly, he lowered his hand to the carpet and eased it out, pointed toward the living room.
"Stupefy. Stupefy. Stupefy," he called out and each incantation shot a red bolt at near floor level. He held still for a moment then heard a sigh, poked his head around the edge and peeked out. He pulled back with a chuff of breath and fought to get his nerves under control. Another fast peek but no spell came his way.
"Let's get this over," he muttered to himself, jumped across the hall, sprinted to the kitchen doorway then huddled behind the wall. The weight left his hand and there was a clunk as the device slipped off his wand and hit the floor. Harry ignored it as he listened intently.
Slipping his wand tip just out from the doorway he said, "Revelio homenum," pulled back then peeked out. There was a glow behind a dark shape that had to be the sofa, the soft light holding still but fading as the spell wore off. Keeping his eyes on the dimming light, he crept out into the hall and into the living room, his wand tight in his grip and ready for whatever was needed.
Silently sidestepping across the room's carpet, wand still aimed at the sofa shape, he crept further until he could see the hidden side of the sofa with a smaller dark blob huddled against it. It seemed his spell had done it but his steps were still careful, ears straining to hear any sound. All was quiet, the shape didn't move.
"Brachio bindo," and magical ropes spun around the body. The man's wand dropped out of a nerveless hand, it seemed safe so he walked to the closest window to look for more of them. Nothing could be seen, a streetlight shone on the corner with nothing moving anywhere, no sound came to his ears. His pocket sneakoscope was quiet and still.
He let out a long breath to relax then went to the stairway entrance. "Arnold. You can turn the light back on. It's all over. You're safe."
With his hand holding the edge he waited, blinking rapidly as the lights flashed on, getting used to the brightness. There were still four unconscious bodies sprawled across the stairway that he bound quickly, walked to the kitchen and retrieved the lasing device before moving down the steps.
"You okay, Arnold?" he asked.
"Still shaking a little but okay," Arnold said, looking at the unconscious bodies on his stairs. "Who are these people and why are they here? That's twice. Am I a fight magnet now? Or is it you?"
Harry checked the Death Eaters and answered the question. "Yesterday was a random event, but somehow they followed me or something. I passed inspection when I got back to the office so there couldn't have been a tracker spell. Which means we have an information leak. But that's my problem. You sure you're doing okay?"
"Fine, fine," he said. "Have to say I am most curious about what just happened, though. Uh, can you tell me?"
"Give me a minute to deal with these people and we'll have a chat." With that he made sure he was relaxed and thought of a good memory, the day James called him,
"Dada," for the first time.
"Expecto Patronum," and his stag flowed out of his wand, stopping to turn, waiting patiently. "Go to Ron." The glow showed in Arnold's wide eyes as the stag flashed through a window and was gone.
"Can I ask..." Arnold began but Harry signaled him to silence. The patronus reached Ron's house, was holding a couple steps away from him when Harry said,
"Ron. Five Death Eaters at the house we were at yesterday. Basement. Stunned and bound. Come now."
Arnold's eyes were even wider. "Wha ... what was that?"
"Patronus. Used it to talk to my partner, Ron," Harry said. "You can't be standing here when they arrive. Best if you lay on the floor by the table. I"ll tell them I gave you a stunner so you wouldn't see anything. Now, can you lay absolutely silent no matter what happens or what you hear?"
Arnold nodded, hands still shaking a little. "I can do that."
"Do it now. Ron will be here in moments."
Arnold trotted to the table, laid himself down and closed his eyes. Harry was proud of him when he hardly flinched at all when four Aurors Apparated with loud,
echoing cracks in the confined basement space .
Ron and three Aurors had their wands at the ready so Harry gave the hand sign that told them all was safe.
"One more in the living room," Harry said and an Auror raced up the stairs. "Now, get these back to the Ministry and find a particularly nasty dungeon cell for them."
Ron smiled. "Mate, there are no dungeons in the Ministry, but I'll find something. Something damp and musty." He turned and asked, "The Muggle? The same one?"
"Yes it is," Harry said. "Stunned him before things went wonky; kept him safe."
"Good plan," Ron said. "You need any more help here? I'll stay if you want me to."
Harry shook his head. "Thanks, but no. I'll be okay. Have to find out what this poor fellow saw and deal with it. Next time I come back to a scene to look for any evidence, I'll remember to take you with me. Which brings up the question of how they found me. Give the team the problem and see what they can do with it."
"Will do," Ron said and turned to the team. "We're done here. The boss will take care of things."
When the team popped out Ron turned to Harry, gave him a strange look then glanced at the man under the table. "Funny how he ended up under the table after he'd been stunned, don't you think? Almost like ... well, you know what you're doing. I'll take this last one. See you at the office." With a quirk of his mouth, he said, "I wish you an interesting evening."
Harry watched as Ron turned and popped out of the basement. With a long sigh he said, "It's over Arnold. You can get up."
Arnold was grinning when he said, "That was exciting! You do this kind of thing every day?"
"There are days like this," Harry admitted. "Most of the time it's fairly calm, we don't have to duel or fight for our lives hardly at all. But the people you've seen are the worst of a bad lot. Power and personal will is everything for them, typical of having the ends justify the means. But with eight of them in two days, hopefully that pretty well takes care of this little group. We'll investigate, of course, but I think this is the lot of them. Stupid move, putting all their eggs in one basket, but then Azkaban isn't filled with geniuses."
"Sounds like an interesting life," Arnold said and looked away. "Now, this obviating thing ..."
"Oblivate charm,"
"Right, that. Still kind of nervous." He turned to Harry with pleading eyes. "I said before I'd do anything and I will. I'll never breathe a word. I was able to see some very interesting things but it's a life I cannot live. I'm not a sorcerer, wizard, whatever, and never will be. Can we just be friends or something?"
Harry chuckled. "I told you the Obliviate charm is perfectly safe, plus I'm expert at it."
"I'm sure you are," Arnold said. "From what I've seen you are very good at fighting, even against impossible odds. Then again, my little box helped."
Harry nodded. "Yes, it really did. I'm afraid there's scorch marks on your sofa. But I have to think of more than just one battle and the arrest of five ..."
"Death Eaters," Arnold supplied.
"Yes, that. You listen well. But your device, it's dangerous. Imagine if we got plugged into the big one and I used a powerful spell. Would a killing curse take out a whole city? How many people would die? It's just too much a risk. If someone got hold of it with bad intent, there would be no defense," Harry said. "I'd appreciate it if you got rid of that lasing thing I used. It works but it too easily could be a weapon that will cause more harm than good."
"I agree with you," he said, walked over to the device and threw it to the floor. It broke into several large pieces then several smaller pieces when his foot crushed it.
"Thanks," Harry said. "I know that was valuable to you so I'm thinking you will keep your word and not say anything. If any word gets out, even the rumor of something odd, your name might end up in the tabloids with an aluminium foil hat claiming aliens are invading your head."
"That's you people?" Arnold asked with wide eyes.
"No, of course not," Harry said. "But sometimes the charm doesn't hold, there's confusion and confabulation so we check up on people we have encountered. Now,
next Thursday I'm taking the team out for lunch. You know the caf on Thornhill street? Looked like a nice place."
"Yes. I've been there many times," Arnold said. "Tables on the walk with a calzone that's to die for. Good food, good service and tea by the pot load."
Harry gave him a smile. "Outstanding. I promised lunch to my team on Thursday noon and I believe the caf on Thornhill street would be a fine choice. I'm going to be walking by and stop at your table to say you remind me of someone, but you don't know me after this night. You've never seen me before in your life. Friendly confusion is in order. Are we in agreement?"
Arnold seemed to think about it and gave a small grin. "So, who are you again?
Have we met before?"
"Perhaps I can come by some day and you can explain these laser things to me. It sounds fascinating," Harry said and held out his hand.
"It's been a pleasure," Arnold said, the edges of his mouth twitched a little. "At least it would be if we'd ever met."
"Take care of yourself, Arnold. I wish you good fortune in your endeavors," Harry said. Determining the Auror office in the Ministry, he turned and left with a crack of torn air.
At the Ministry he met up with his team and asked, "Got them all under control?"
Ron grinned. "Tried to find a dank dungeon but alas, had to put them in clean, dry cells instead. Already Pioried their wands, one had an Imperio which will mean a quick hearing and they're off to Azkaban. The ones from yesterday are already enjoying their new accommodations. With a Muggle attack and their wands showing the use of Unforgivables, they'll be there for a very long time."
Harry nodded. "I've been thinking about why they were at that house the same time I was. Perhaps they were looking for something from the day before? Did the first three have a valuable thing they tossed as we chased them? It's just a thought but a covert search for magical objects along their line of flight seems prudent. Perhaps a couple new graduates. Other than that, a good two days' work, don't you think?"
"That should take care of their little nutcase cabal," Ron said. "We still on for lunch Thursday?"
"I'm looking forward to it. Thought I'd try a little caf I saw near that Muggle's house. They had several tasty looking dishes in the window." Harry forced the smug grin off his face but Ron gave him that look that said he knew something was up while his nod said he would never ask about it.
"Sounds good. Always good to eat with friends," Ron said, with that look again.
"Anything I need to do tonight or can I go home?" Harry asked. "Ginny expected me an hour ago, so if I don't have work ..."
"It's all taken care of. Get home, mate. I'm off too. Bat bogeys flying around your face are so distracting," Ron said. "See you tomorrow."
With that, Harry headed to the floos for a relaxing dinner at home with Ginny and the kids. What he'd told Arnold was true, they were what he lived for, why he was still Head Auror. After a tough week a comfortable family dinner was what his soul needed.