The rest of the day was nightmarish.
Orion had gone no further than two steps outside when he saw his son, clothes torn and bloodied. He was lying on the floor semi-conscious. A muggle man laid beside him, unconscious, the flesh of one of his legs split open neatly. It didn't take a genius to see what had happened. The whimpering, bloodied boy Regulus had involuntarily performed magic on the muggle to protect himself.
Orion gently picked up Regulus, who cried at the touch. The two aurors behind him quickly went forward to take the muggle man. All three then apparated to St. Mungo's.
Manager Alfred remained, staring horrified at the blood over the pavement. Then he rushed back to the shop to tell the others.
Five hours later at St. Mungo's:
Regulus was in stable condition but unconscious. In the bed beside was his Sirius, who took one look at his brother's bloody body before going into hysterics and had to be tranquilized. He was also sleeping deeply.
Mr. and Mrs. Black were in the corner of the room, both quietly gazing at nothing. After an initial moment of panic, where they attacked each other, they now calmed down waiting to hear the worst.
"Wallburga" they looked up to see Alphard, Wallburga's brother. Next to him was the healer in charge, a witch named Amelia Bones. They were both looking grave.
"Well let me get down to it" said Amelia, a straight to the point person. "Physically speaking they are both fine. Regulus will have some problems walking for a few days I'm afraid and will need hourly check-ups on his anal wounds. But it should be healed soon and with bearable pain.
However, there is a problem in the brain waves we are having of both boys. They are experiencing one of the severest trauma I have ever seen. And it gets worse…we're afraid it might even affect their magical abilities as they are both below eleven."
The parents looked woodenly back at them, both unable to speak.
"However, we do believe there is a way out although it may not be easy" said Alphard.
"Yes?" whispered Wallburga.
"We erase their memories. Completely wipe out what had happened. Once we do that we can then stabilize their energy levels."
"Then do it" commanded Wallburga.
"Well, it's not that easy" said Amelia, "because once erased that memory should not ever be brought back again, it will be extremely problematic for them, lethal even in Regulus's case."
"And there were reporters…" said Wallburga weakly.
"Yes. You need to get the approval from the ministry to wipe out the memories of the reporters too, along with other civilians who knew. Everyone in Diagon Alley actually. Not much we can do about aurors or law enforcements but we can depend on them to keep secret."
"How long have we got?" asked Orion.
"Until tomorrow 7 pm."
"It will be done." He said firmly, his jaw set.
