Chapter IV – What We Found

Hermione's driving was getting better with each mile. The car no longer jerked when she was in first gear and her corners were no longer so wide other cars had to swerve to avoid her. This morning Ginny was in the front seat, Luna in the middle seat and Ron had asked Harry to sit in the back with him.

"Hermione," Ron said "turn on the muggle radio and find some music."

"I'll do it;" Ginny said "you keep your eyes on the road Hermione."

When there was music playing Ron whispered quietly to Harry, "What do you have to say about what happened last night?"

Harry said softly watching carefully for Ron's reaction to his words, "If you mean Hermione and Ginny coming in the water naked, I was sort of expecting it."

"You were," Ron said "why?

"Well," Harry said slowly "after what they said back at the burrow about how Luna didn't feel being naked in front of friends was odd or unusual I got the impression that if the situation came up again that they would do the same. I didn't think it would happen so soon; but I was pretty sure the next time we went out to your pond it was going to happen.

I think I understand it to; you and I have taken showers in the boy's loo at Hogwarts with other guys present. I imagine happenings in the girl's loo are no different. Luna, and now Ginny and Hermione don't see swimming last night any different than that; we're not boys and girls to them anymore, we're all just friends having fun."

"And what kind of fun did you and Ginny have after I left?" Ron said.

"Ron," Harry said slightly annoyed "I told you at the Burrow there's nothing between me and Ginny. She's seeing Dean and seems happy with that. You know me, I wouldn't try to get between a friend and his girl; so stop worrying about me and Ginny. She's like Luna and Hermione to me; we're all just friends.

No, now that I think about it we're all more than friends. Our lives are tied together more firmly than normal friends could ever be. None of what happened last night was sexual; in fact sex between any of us was the farthest thing from all our minds if that's what you are worried about."

"That's what Hermione said on the walk we took last night." Ron said. "That I have to stop thinking of the girls as girls when we're together; they're like three other guys in these situations. She also said, … uhm, that , … when we're alone, Hermione and me I mean, it would be alright to think of her as a girl then.

Harry, Hermione hints around that she fancies me, Luna said she does, you said she does, why can't she just come out and say so?"

"Why can't you?" Harry said. "Just tell her and give her a kiss and get it over. She'll never tell you first because she thinks the old fashion way; that a boy should approach the girl first. Ron, we've gone over this before and you always say you're going to tell her and you never do."

"Harry's right," Luna said "you should tell her."

Apparently Luna had overheard the entire conversation so Ron didn't say another word for the rest of the ride. In the front seat however; Ginny said, "Ron's talking to Harry about us; that is me and Harry, and you and Ron. Doesn't he know we can hear him?"

James met them at the parking area again. "Today should be it." he said. "Ron and I started our last area yesterday and should be finished around noon."

"Ginny and I are on our last area too." Harry added. "Noon looks about right to finish."

Luna and I are just starting our last area now," Hermione said "so we may not be done until mid-afternoon."

"Well," James said "let's get going and I should have you back to the Burrow by dark."

Hermione set up the GPS a few feet from the Heel Stone, one of the major stone not in the central circle. On the summer solstice the sun is seen to rise directly over the Heel stone when viewed from the center of the circle.

A road passes near the Heel stone opposite the central circle and Luna searched this back area first. She then began to search moving from the Heel stone toward the south sweeping around in a circle west then back north. She was in a straight line between the Heel stone and the central circle, about half way between them when she started to shake.

Hermione didn't notice at first because she had been looking about at the muggle tourists for signs of danger. When she realized Luna had started to speak in an unusual rough tone Hermione turned and saw Luna standing in place with her eyes staring blankly into the distance. In a deep male sounding voice Luna said, "At last, after all these years, someone has come to release me."

Hermione grabbed and shook Luna yelling, "Luna, what is it; what's wrong?"

"Who are you?" Luna asked in that odd voice. "Are you friend or foe?"

Hermione released Luna and pulled out her coin sending to Ron, "Help, something's happened to Luna. She's talking strangely and doesn't recognize me."

It took almost two minutes for Ron and James to arrive and another before Harry and Ginny got there from the opposite side of the circle. In the mean time, Luna had begun to speak in another language, some variant of a Nordic tongue Hermione thought though she couldn't understand any of the words.

James didn't touch her at first, but stood several feet back and observed her, listening to her words. "This is the type of thing we were looking for," he said "but it's not Voldemort. Some wizard a thousand tears ago must have done just what Dumbledore says Voldemort did."

With that he stepped toward her; but he to started to shake then froze in place, "What do you seek?" he said in the same voice Luna was using "Do you come to destroy me or release me?"

Ginny extended her arm toward Luna and said, "Expelliarmus." Luna was knocked backward several feet and collapsed to the ground.

Ginny and Hermione ran and knelt by her while Ron and Harry continued to watch and listen to James speak. "Don't go any closer to him." Ginny said. "He's being possessed. I was just like that when Voldemort possessed me first year. If you get closed it will happen to you to."

Hermione said, "I touched Luna and nothing happened to me."

She had been shaking Luna and calling to her and Luna was finally responding. Her eyes opened and she tried to sit up but Ginny held her down. "Don't try to get up yet," Ginny told her "you're drained of energy and need a few minutes to recover."

James was now talking in the same language Luna had been using and a tourist group of muggles were headed toward them. Harry didn't want them to hear James talking in his trance state so finally Harry said, "Enough of this, he went up to James, grabbed him and pulled him down and with Ron's help toward the Heel stone.

Ginny and Hermione helped Luna up and to the shade of the Heel stone just as the tour group arrived.

"Do you need help?" the guide from the group asked.

"No," Harry said "two of our group just got light headed from the sun. We're letting them rest and drink some water; then we'll take a break before starting our survey again."

They waited until the muggle group finished with the Heel stone and moved on before starting to talk.

"Whatever this object is," Ginny said "it did the same thing to Luna and James as Tom Riddle's diary did to me."

"But I don't see an object." Ron said. "Could it be buried?"

"Possibly," James said "but I think it's more likely the artifact is inside a type of Fidelius charm. The wizard that made it would want to protect it as best as possible and a buried object could have been dug up by anyone. In a Fidelius charm only someone the secret keeper told of the object would be able to retrieve it. It would be much safer."

"So safe," Hermione said "that it's been here a thousand years. Why hasn't somebody found it in all this time?"

"Maybe nobody was looking for it." Luna said. She now seemed awake and alert again though she was still sitting. "Maybe the wizard that made it, and whoever he told the secret to, died before they had the chance to retrieve it."

"But even so," Harry said "with all the people that have walked over the spot there must have been a few witches and wizards. Why didn't they find it?"

"Because Legilimency is a rare gift." Ginny said. "Luna and James have the gift, so they sensed it and were possessed. Hermione was next to Luna and touched her but Hermione isn't a Legilimens so it didn't affect her. Harry, you touched James and weren't affected for the same reason. I bet if I stood in that spot it would possess me."

"Don't," James said "we don't want to take the chance."

"I didn't plan to," Ginny said "being possessed once was more than enough for me."

James continued, "Luna, if you're up to it could you and Ginny finish the remaining area in case there is another artifact. I must apparate to Hogwarts and tell Dumbledore what we found. Maybe he'll have an idea on how to destroy it."

"I'll be fine." Luna said. "But I would like to rest and have something to eat before I start again."

James gave Hermione some muggle money and said, "Go eat; then come back and when you finish go back to the camp grounds and wait for me."

After an early meal they returned to Stonehenge and it was nearly four by the time they finished. As they headed to the camp, Hermione suggested they stop at a shop and buy food to cook at the camp since it was too early to eat again and she didn't think they should leave camp again once they had settled in to wait for James.

As Hermione drove down the camp road they noticed two new tents had been set up in the area on the other side of the loo from their river side sites. She remembered James saying they would be alone in camp because it was the middle of the week; but it was Friday evening now and weekend campers were starting to arrive.

In one site a man and a woman with three children who looked to be between five and ten were arranging their gear. In the site closer to the loo nobody was visible; and Hermione thought, "I hope there won't be any more campers that might over hear us talking. We'll have to be careful when we said anything to do with magic."

Hermione turned the car around and parked it facing out as James had done the first day and they unloaded the food they bought. Ginny, who often helped Mrs. Weasley in the kitchen, and Luna who did most of the cooking for her father when she was home, worked out a menu that could be done in the simple kitchen of the tent and over the open fire ring outside. By six they had a meal well under way. One pot cooked rice; another contained a gravy mix of vegetables and meat that had been roasted first on a grate over the open fire.

"Everyone wash up." Luna called. "The food will be ready in ten minutes."

They all went up to the loo to wash their hands which had picked up more dirt than previous days since they had all been on their hands and knees with Luna and James.

"You girls go in first," Harry said "Ron and I will wait by the door since we have other campers around now."

The girls had been in the loo less than a minute when two young men in their late teens or early twenties came out from the trees that blocked the upper camp sites from view. Each had a large glass half full of a dark liquid with foam on top; which Harry recognized as a type on muggle beer he had seen ads for in the muggle news papers.

The men were talking loudly in a cockney accent and when they reached the spot where Ron and Harry were standing they attempted to go into the loo.

"You'll have to wait," Harry said "there are girls inside."

"Birds, you say." one of the men said. "Well I hope they're worth lookin' at."

He tried to go around Ron into the door but Ron blocked the way and said, "Harry told you the girls are in there now; you'll have to wait until they come out."

"Out o'the way ginger." the second man said. "I need to go bad."

Harry was expecting one of the men to throw a punch; but just then Mr. Farthington pulled up in his farm truck.

"Problem with the loo." he asked.

"No problems," one of the drunken men said "just meetin the neighbors."

"There are girls in the loo," Harry said "and we told these two they would have to wait; but they wanted to go in with the girls."

"We didn' mean nutin by it." the one man said.

"My wife told you four if you caused any trouble you'd be out on your ears; and she meant it." the farmer said.

Then turning to Harry and Ron he added, "If these men give you kids any trouble one of you come up to the house and let me know. My wife was worried at first about how young you were; but your professor was right about you. In the three days you've been here you haven't caused any trouble."

Turning back to the men he finished with, "If I have to come back down tonight you're out of here."

As he was saying that the girls came out and Ginny asked, "What's happening; we could here some type of argument."

"Nothing important," Harry said "you can head down to the tent and we'll be there as soon as we wash up."

The girls left then the farmer in the opposite direction. Then Harry said, "You two can go in first; we're in no hurry."

As soon as the men went into the loo Ron asked, "Why did you let them go first?"

"They're drunk," Harry said "and if letting them go first avoids trouble so be it. They won't be long and we're in no hurry."

In two minutes the men came out and as they passed one said, "Your lucky you scrawny little git. If the old bloke hadn't showed up I would uv taught you a lesson."

Ron and Harry said nothing but went in and washed up; they were back to the tent in five minutes. While eating they told the girls the whole story.

"Now we have two things to watch out for." Hermione said. "I was worried about being overheard; but now we'll have to watch out for those men. If the get any drunker they might try to come down here to get even for getting them in trouble."

When everyone finished eating Luna collected all the dirty dishes and pots to clean them. Harry said, "Let me help."

But Luna said, "No, that's alright I'll do it." Then she stretched out her arm and said, "Scourgify." And everything was clean.

"Luna," Harry said "you better be careful about doing magic before the ministry sends someone to investigate underage use of magic."

"Don't be silly Harry;" Luna said "don't you remember when the professor put up the muggle repelling charms he also said he put a shield around the camp so we could use magic in this area without the ministry finding out. As long as we're in the vicinity of the tents magic is okay."

"Yes," Ginny said "but be careful not to let any of the muggles see you do it; they can't come into this area but they can see in."

Almost as soon as she said that the man and women came down the road with their three children. "Alright," the woman said "we can wade in the river a bit but be careful not to go in too deep."

When they were neared the teen's camp the family suddenly stopped. After a few seconds staring into the camp, they changed directions and walked a wide circle around the tents entering the river down stream of the camp site.

"Are we going swimming today?" Luna asked as she watched the family.

"If we do," Ginny said "we have to wear clothes. With them so close, the drunken men near by, Mr. Farthington possibly coming down to check on things, and James returning any time we shouldn't skinny dip today."

Luna looked disappointed and said, "In that case I think I'll skip swimming today."

Nobody else seemed to want to swim either so they sat around the fire speculating about what they had found and when James would be back with new information from Dumbledore.

It was nearly ten and starting to get dark, the family had long since returned to their own camp site, when Hermione said, "Maybe we should shower; who knows when James will return, maybe not until morning."

"We better all go together," Ron said "in case those men show up again. Harry and I will stand guard while you girls shower."

When everyone had their things they all walked up to the loo and the girls went in while Ron and Harry sat down on the ground on either side of the door. They were talking quietly and the girls had only been inside for a few minutes when two men came around one side of the loo and two more around the other side. They were on top of Ron and Harry before they could move or even give a proper yell to warn the girls.

The men tied the boys up and shoved dirty rags in their mouth to keep them quiet.

"Now," the one man said "we're going to show your girl friends a good time at our camp. If they are friendly they won't get hurt and neither will you two."

"I get the ginger first," one man said "you blokes can have her when I'm done with her."

"Alright by me," another said "I liked the little one with the long blond hair anyway."

"Looks like we have to share the one with the bushy hair." The third man said to the fourth. "At least until Willy and Hank gets finished with the other two."

Harry and Ron both squirmed about trying to get free but since neither had managed to master wand less magic, in their panicked state they were unable of loosen their bonds even slightly.

"Remember to gag the birds as soon as we get in there;" one man said "because we don't want that family to hear and go for that bloomin' farmer."

One of the men opened the door quietly and peeked in. "Ginger and Blondie are under the showers, I couldn't see the other so she may be on the crapper. Willy and Hank go after the two you want and us two will get the other one. Ready?"

He pulled open the door and the four men ran in. Hank and Willy only made it half way to Ginny and Luna. Ginny had been rinsing her hair so she was facing the door and as soon as she saw to two men coming at her she opened a new dimension and the men's rush carried them in and they disappeared.

On the other side of the loo the other two men found nothing; Hermione wasn't there, she was sitting on the wooden bench on the shower side with Ginny and Luna out of sight from the door. She was waiting for one of them to finish since there were only two shower heads in the room.

After looking in the two stalls without finding the third girl, the men went to join their friends thinking they had silenced the girls and were ready to take them back to their tent.

By now the girls were ready for the other two whom they could hear talking about where the third girl was. As they rounded the corner, Luna and Hermione silently thought "Stupefy" to petrify both men, then "Incarcerous" to bind them tightly in heave ropes.

Ginny and Luna finished rinsing while Hermione with just a towel wrapped around her went toward the door saying, "I hope Harry and Ron are okay."

She found them in the bushes to the side of the loo and pulled the gags from their mouths then untied them.

"Are all of you safe?" Ron asked.

"Yes," Hermione said "but Ginny used the same spell she did in Diagon Alley and two of the men are gone into another dimension."

"Dead you mean." Harry said. "From what we heard them say they planned to do I'd have to say they deserve it. They must have been waiting to ambush us because they had gags and ropes ready. What about the other two?"

"Stupefied and tied up in the shower." Hermione said. "Now what do we do?"

Luna and Ginny came out in time to hear her say that and Luna said, "We move them to their camp and untie them."

"But the saw us use magic;" Hermione said "which also means the ministry officials will be here soon to check and see who did magic underage."

"Luna's right," Ginny said "the two of them are so drunk they won't remember anything clearly. Besides they didn't see the other two vanish and all they saw were the three of us standing in the shower. None of us had a wand and our spells were non verbal."

"Also," Harry said "what would they tell to anyone; "We were planning to rape these three girls and they overpowered us?" I don't think they'll report anything."

The men were levitated to their tent, the ropes vanished and the five teens were back in their own camp site in less than ten minutes.

"I wonder why an owl from the ministry hasn't arrived yet." Harry said. "When I was accused of doing the magic that Dobby actually did second year, an owl arrived in minutes."

"There won't be an owl." Hermione said "The ministry knew you were the only wizard in the area of your home so they assumed it was you that did the magic and sent a warning. There are five of us underage here and they won't know who did what so they'll have to send at least one official to investigate."

"So what do we do?" Ron asked.

"We lie." Luna said. "Tell them we don't know anything about magic being done."

"But they know three was magic done." Harry said. "They'll know we're lying."

"Yes," Luna said "they'll suspect we're lying; so they'll check our wands using Prior incantatum."

"And none of used our wands." Ginny said "So when they find no spells done they'll have to believe us."

"Exactly," Luna said "we just say there must be other underage wizards or witches around but we don't know anything about it. I'm sure they won't suspect that we can do wand less magic; so few adults can they'll never think we can."

She had barely finished when two men apparated into the road just outside the camp and came walking toward them.

"I'm Clive Smelding from the Improper Use of Magic Office and this is my partner Henry Collingswood. We received information of several spells cast by underage witches or wizards in the last fifteen minutes at this location. Your names?"

Harry stepped forward and said, "I'm Harry Potter."

It was totally dark by now and Harry had his back to the small fire so one of the officials ignited the tip of his wand and held it up near Harry's face.

"Of course," the man said "I believe this is the third time you are involved in an incident of underage magic Mr. Potter."

Harry sighed and said, "The first one wasn't me, I was with a house elf that did magic and no charges were filed against me. The second time my life and my cousin's life were in danger and I was found not guilty. As for now, I don't know anything about magic being used; perhaps your information is wrong."

"We'll see about that;" Clive said. "but first the names of the others."

"I'm Ron Weasley, and this is my sister Ginny Weasley." Ron said stepping forward. "And these are our friends Hermione Granger and Luna Lovegood. But none of us have done any magic; we just here enjoying a weekend camping trip."

"So your position is that none of you have done magic in the last thirty minutes." Collingswood said. "We'll see; give me your wand Weasley."

Ron pulled out his wand and Collingwood touched the tip of his wand to Ron's and said "Prior incantatum."

The last spell Ron had done was levitating his camping gear down the steps at the Burrow more than two days ago so it took some time before that showed up from the tip of his wand.

"Roughly two and a half days ago," Smelding said "judging from the time lag."

In turn they did the same for the other four teens and Harry's wand also showed about two and a half days since it was used. The girl's wands showed nearly four weeks since they were used and Collingwood mentioned that it seemed to be an unusual long time.

"I'm muggle born," Hermione said "so my parents forbid me from using my wand when I come home for the summer."

"My father is a wizard," Luna said "but he knows I'm not allowed to do magic out of school so I don't use my wand over the summer either."

Ginny said, "My parents are the same way; I haven't used my wand since my last exam when I had to demonstrate spells for charms class."

Collingwood said, "But your brother used his wand at home, your parents allow him to do magic but not you?"

Ron answered, "No, they don't allow me to use magic, but I suppose you always obeyed your parents; I must not be as good a son as you were."

Smelding looked at Collingwood and said, "Your opinion?"

"I'm not sure." he answered. "It shows no magic done by any of them; but the trace couldn't be wrong, someone underage did magic in this general area in the last thirty minutes."

Hermione interrupted with, "There are other campers up the road. We've seen them but haven't talked. Perhaps one of them is a witch or wizard. Also there's a farmer and his wife that own this camp; they're old but they may have children."

Smelding looked again at Collingwood then said, "Perhaps there is someone else with them hiding, Homenum revelio."

His spell went over the tents and surrounding bushes and trees and nothing happened.

"Maybe they have a second wand." Collingwood said. "Accio wands."

Again nothing happened. Smelding returned the wands to all the teens and said,"You seem to have a lot of unexplainable event happen when you're around Potter. But this one isn't over we'll get to the bottom of what happened eventually."

They started to walk out of the camp and Smelding stopped. He looked back for a few seconds then said, "There is an anti apparation spell on this area and a muggle repulsion spell to. If none of you has done a spell for so long how did this camp get protected?"

"My cousin set up those protections for us when we arrived." Harry said. "He knew we couldn't do magic ourselves and he couldn't stay so he set up the spells because he wanted us to be safe."

"You drove here in a muggle car?" Smelding asked.

"Yes," Hermione said "we're all too young to apparate and it was the easiest way to get here with all our gear."

"So your wizard cousin that brought you here and set up the protection spells knows how to drive? That's unusual, most wizards never learn about muggle devices like autos."

Sensing they were still suspicious Hermione said, "No, I drove here. I told you I'm muggle born and my parents taught me to drive their auto."

"Really," Smelding said, "then you wouldn't mind showing us how you drive."

"Of course not," Hermione said "the keys are in the car; get in and I'll drive you up past the other camp sites all the way to the farmhouse so you can check for underage wizards."

When they got to the car Hermione said, "Well get in; you can see how I drive if you not in there with me."

Collingwood opened one door but Smelding hesitated, "I don't trust these muggle devices." he said. "Are you sure it is safe?"

"We came on muggle roads all the way from Ottery St. Catchpole without a problem." Hermione said as she got in the driver's seat.

Smelding slowly got in and Hermione started the engine, put it in first gear and smoothly pulled away going slowly up the camp road. She pointed out the other camp sites as they passed and when they got to the farmhouse she stopped.

"If you want to question the Farthingtons or any of the other campers that's up to you;" she said "but I'm turning around and returning to our camp now. Are you getting out or coming back with me?"

They both got out and disapparated before she got the car turned around. When she got to camp she found the others talking.

"They're still suspicious." Harry said.

"But they have no proof." Ron answered.

"The one said they were going to keep checking into this." Ginny chimed in. "What if those two drunks do talk?"

"They won't." Luna said "That would be incriminating themselves."

"Besides," Harry said "if they talk it would be to muggle authorities; they wouldn't know to tell the Ministry of Magic."

"It's late," Hermione said "and I don't think James will come back tonight. Let's get some sleep."

"I'm too worked up to sleep;" Ginny said. "and we're done at Stonehenge, so we can sleep late in the morning; or at least until James gets here."

"I think I'd like a swim." Luna said. "I wanted to go earlier but we never went in. It's dark now so the other campers and the Farthingtons can't see us; and if the professor isn't coming back there's no reason we can't enjoy ourselves."

She peeled off her clothes and waded into the Avon. Then Ginny followed suit, and then Hermione. Harry looked at Ron and said, "I know you're not happy with the idea; but if we keep wearing our shorts and the girls are naked they're going to think we're taking advantage of the situation."

He took off his clothes and followed the girls into the river. Ron shrugged and said, "I guess I'm out voted on this; and you're right Harry if I can't stop them I might as well join them."

James arrived at the camp at seven the next morning to find five teens still asleep. It took James some time to wake them all up since they had been swimming until midnight and then sat around the fire till one. They told James what happened last night as breakfast was cooking. He insisted on going to the camp of the two men to check on them and Harry insisted on going with him because he was afraid James would eliminate the men just to be sure they told no one what happened.

As it happened the camp was empty, the men, their tent, and all their equipment were gone. "You must have scared them good;" James said. "if they packed up in the middle of the night and left."

They stopped at the loo to wash up before breakfast and then took over the cooking so the others could also wash up.

When they all got back to the tents, James asked, "Have any of you ever heard of Olav the Ogre?"

They all shook their heads and he added, "Neither have I; but let me tell you what Dumbledore found out."