The Morphagus

Chapter 8

By shows him the Lone Pine Gazette. The headline reads

RARE EARTH METAL DISCOVERY

A rare metal in 9 mile canyon has been discovered. SIERRA MINING COMPANY has filed mining claims for an area over 50 miles long and 10 miles wide. This new mine runs from 10 miles north of Highway 178 and goes all the way to Olancha paralleling Highway 14 and Highway 395.

The mine is being mined in the open pit format. It make take a while for SMC to open the mine as the equipment needed is very expensive. Local miners expect it may take a few years for the mine to be fully operational.

SMC is seeking bids to build a rail line from the main mine to the rail head at Highway 58 north of Mojave, Ca.

According to a Geologist, the minerals in the area's of the mine runs to depth of over 10,000 feet.

Operating such a mine in an open pit format would be bad due to the winds of the area that would be blowing the dust from the mine over the lovely Owens River Valley.

Hundreds of Job applicants required. Over 100 workers needed. Heavy Equipment operators, bulldozer operators, steam shovel operators, dump truck drivers. Master Blasters needed.

A new city in the mountains is being built at an elevation of over 6,500 feet. SMC hired recent graduates of a private boarding school to work.

Very little is known about SMC which has filed mining claims from Red Rock Canyon to Mono Lake on millions of acres of federal lands.

SMCRR will then follow alongside the SPRR tracks down to Mojave where LL Labs is building a smelter on the west side of town. Once the smelter is operational it will need several thousand employee's.

Potential employee's who claim residency of Mojave who apply for a job will be required to submit a utility bill as proof of residency within Mojave.

The Los Angeles Times and the Valley Daily News picks up the news off of their telex machines from the Reuters News Service. They run all the articles they can on this new metal strike about a metal worth a lot more than gold.

Send applications to LL Labs, P.O. BOX 100, L.A. Downtown Branch of the Post Office.

Gold is listed as selling for $35 per ounce or $420 per pound, where as this metal was sold for $1000 per pound or $83.00 per ounce.

NEW 'GOLD RUSH' in Mojave Desert for this metal.

Lone Pine Gazette releases information that Sierra Mining Company has filed mining claims from Red Rock Canyon to Mono Lake on millions of acres of federal lands.

The mining claims recorder who released this private information was shot to death in a shoot out with the FBI this morning in an attempt to escape to Canada.

Shortly thereafter the news media quit reporting it.

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The kid stops by the Granite mine to see how things are going on. The rail line siding and loading area are complete. It is 11am and the first 50 cars are loaded with the slabs and the other 50 are waiting for access to the siding. There are 4 engines for each rail line. Three in the front and one in the rear. The train leaves and vacates the loading yard. The next batch of cars are moved into the yard for loading.

The kid heads on over to the business office. He makes a few non business calls and tells the manager, 'good job. after the slabs are delivered and we get their check, give the men a bonus, an extra months pay.' then he leaves and drives around to the castle, goes to his room and goes to sleep until 10 am and wanders out of bed feeling like he did to much the previous day.

He conjures breakfast. He is thinking he should buy some house elves, but he would have to go to Diagon Alley as they are the closest place that allows the buying and selling of house elves.

He is busy drawing with pencil and paper. He is think of adding another bridge over the moat to go to another room, like the great hall at Hogwarts. He wants to add several more towers, extend the moat to circle out around all the building and have bridges and towers. There will be only one main gate that crosses the moat. The moat will then move out and drop over a water fall, about 50 feet. Then the water will be pumped back up to the steeple rock where it will flows down into the moat over a series of small rapids and water falls.

After his folks have moved out of the house in San Fernando, he moves inside. He extends the patio room out another 20 feet and adds a ramp to the patio door so he can park his bike inside the house. He also has a skylight in the patio roof that slides out of the way if he wants to fly out of the house, like at night time.

He buys that 1946 Mercury 4 door sedan from Bill Harkey and parks it in the drive way near the garage. This way it will look like someone is always there. He casts a elemental spell on the car so it always looks like it is freshly washed.

He adds safety belts to the car and had the seats recovered. He adds a second battery to the the car, placing it inside the trunk. A second generator charges the second battery which runs the gas powered heater inside the car. He magically enhances gas tank so it will contain 100 gallons of gas. He also has an electric fuel pump installed to pump up the gas to the reservoir that feeds the gas powered heater. He gets some body tools and equipment to remove the dents from the car. He then hires some neighbor kids to sand the car after he shows them how he wants it done. Once done, they get paid off and he drives the car down to Bill's body shop to get the car painted. He layers in the paint, dark navy blue with flecks of silver dust. Then layers of clear paint mixed with the dark navy blue. It looked like the silver flecks were floating in the paint.

Several days later he is finished painting the car, including the last 4 layers of liquid plastic also sprayed over the paint after it had dried. He leave the car their for a week so the paint and plastic can dry and settle.

While the car is there his dad drops by Bill body shop and see's the old car there in the one of two paint stalls. He goes over to look at the car and notices that all the dents are out of the car, there is a new interior and safety belts. Even the ignition system looks new and different.

He heads back on over to the office and he asks about the car. Bill tells him that a young man bought the car and fixed it up and even painted it. The paint will be dry in a few days.

He asks Bill if he has heard from his kid recently as his brother said they saw him in this city, before they moved down to Lakewood. He gave each of them a huge check and he and his wife a small check. It seems he also gave them some information so that his kids set up their money in a trust account that he can't touch. 'What is the world coming to, when you cannot tap into your kids money' he wonders out loud.

Bill, 'how much did he give them'.

His dad, 'he gave them 1 million dollars, each. Where would he get 2 million dollars' the dad asks.

Bill hands him a copy of the Valley Daily News, the one with the headlines about a young man who discovered a rare metal worth millions. His dad reads he article, looks at his friend Bill and asks, 'did he tell you how much he got for it?'

Bill tells him he did,' but before you ask, you had better have a few stiff drinks. He made so much, he could buy this entire city and still have a lot left over.'

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The kid tele-ported into Bills office closet, then exited the office, walked over to the paint stall, started up the car and drove it out for the shop employee's to see. Then he drove the car home to the house. He parked it in the driveway and added the ever clean charm to it.

Then he drove his bike over to the Shaffer's on Gladstone, north of Foothill Blvd. off Mac Clay to visit his friends Ken, Al, Gary, Noreen and Mavis. Mainly he came by to see Mavis. She was the only one who drove a motorcycle. He drove his bike in and the kids looked it over.

Mavis looked it over, 'turbine engine, auto transmission, oil pump, gas pump, fuel cells?, saddle bags, Plexiglas shrouds to reduce wind resistance'. She said, "Are you sure you have enough on the bike?"

Jamie, "I hope so. It gets between 40-60 at speeds between 90 to 160."

Mavis, so where do you live now since you ran off from your family."

Jamie, "I have several places to live. One is the house the folks lived in San Fernando, I bought it. I come here when I want to get out of the Castle."

Mavis, "Well I have things to do, see ya" and she goes back inside the house.

Ken comes over and says, 'she blew ya off, eh?"

Jamie, 'not the way i would have preferred her to do so, if ya get my meaning'.

Ken, 'Hey no sexual remarks about my sister. You know it was bad enough when you and her stripped naked to play doctor and nurse five years ago. My parents still have not forgotten that and neither has she.'

Jamie, 'We were not playing doctor and nurse, we were just looking each other over and comparing the differences.'

Ken, 'That is the best line I have heard. You two were comparing the differences. Well what really ruined things between you two after that, was writing that letter to the sister of that guy in your boy scout group and telling her how much you loved her.'

Jamie is surprised and it shows on his face. 'Just how many people know about this?'

Ken, 'Her brother Harold took the letter and photocopied it and handed out copies all over the place. He humiliated her and that is why his sister will never talk to you again. As a joke he told his friends to pretend that you handed out the copies of the letter. It is also why my sister will not have anything to do with you.'

Jamie, 'I think I should go see him and have a talk with him. ' He then tele-ports and the bike also goes with him. He appears on the bike and drives up into the driveway. He parks in front of the house and walks up to the door and knocks on it. Harold answers the door and see the look of determination on Jamie's face and says, 'so you figured it out, eh wimp' Jamie uses his magic and blows Harold back into the room and suspend him up near the ceiling.

Harolds sister walks into the room and see him standing there. Ron Welch is there too with his arm around her. They look like they have been making out. She yells at him to let her brother down. He tells her, 'not until he tells the truth about the letter'. Ron advances on him and Ron finds himself floating up to the ceiling as well. Jamie aims his hand at Harold and says 'CRUCIO'. A red light comes out of his hand and strikes Harold. Harold screams in agony twisting and turning in the air. Then the kid moves his hand over to Ron and he is in the spell and screaming in agony.

He stops the spell. The girl is angered at him and is begging not to hurt them any more. He tells her what Ken told them that her brother was the one to duplicate the letter and pass it around. All his friends were to tell her that he himself had did it, to pass the blame onto him and deny they did it, if she asked.

Jane turned to face Ron and Harold and asked if it were true. Harold is tries to say it is not, but Jamie cast a truth telling spell on him. Harold struggled not to speak but he blurted it out anyways. Ron tried also to deny it, but Jane saw that Ron was also a part of it. She left the room. Jamie let the guys drop to the floor as he exited the house. He got back on his bike and drove off.

On his way home he realized he felt conflicting emotions. As a guy he desired women, but the female within him desired men. He drove into the driveway of the house in San Fernando. He went inside and telephoned Valerie. He told her where he was at. He also said he found out why several of his friendships went away. He also mentioned the wandless magic he did. Valerie told him if he did not use a wand, then the magic is not traceable.

He stripped, went into the bathroom and took a shower. He put on his bathrobe to dry off in and went into the kitchen to fix his afternoon meal. He heard a knocking on the door. He went to the door and opened it.

Jane was standing there. He looked over her shoulder and saw her friends behind her, even the one that hated him. He told them they could come in but he had to get dressed. He went to his room and dressed. He went back out to the living room and the girls were sitting there. He scanned the mind of the one who disliked him the most and saw that she was a witch from a family that did not have a lot of magic, so she was denied admission to Hogwarts and instead went to Sierra Magical Academy.

She felt the scan and told him to get out of her mind as she pulled her wand on him. Jane did not know that her friend Gale was a witch, but the other friend who was a squib knew that Gale was a witch.

Jane asked why Gale was pointing a stick at Jamie. He sat down and goblets appeared before each of them filled with butterbeer. He looks at Gale and tells her to put her wand away as underage magic during the summer will get her expelled.

Gale, "So where is your wand. You just made these goblets."

Jamie, "I do wandless magic."

Jane, "So that is why my brother and Ron were floating up near the ceiling.. You do magic."

Gale, "No. We do not do magic, we have magic within us and we can use that magic to do things."

Other girl, "You have said to much."

Jamie, "Jane, what they are saying is that if they tell you too much and you are not related to them, then the Obliviators will come here and you will have your mind erased as to knowing anything about magic."

Jane, "What. How can they do that?"

Jamie, "They have been doing that the past four hundred years, ever since the witch trials when they tried burning witches. It is not going to change anytime soon. Just what do you think would happen if the mundane found out about the wizarding world."

Jane, "Mundane."

Jamie, "Non-magical. If the non-magical world found out about the magical, it could very well mean war. Why? Because of greed and wanting to do things the easy way."

Gale, "He is speaking the truth. What do you think the FBI would do if they knew? Brand us the half breed children of human and UFO space aliens because of our powers. There would be another witch hunt of which you could not believe. They would hunt us to extinction."

Jamie, "I will not allow that to happen Gale. I can control the orbits of Meteorites. One small incoming in at 44,500 miles an hour is what created the Meteor Crater in Arizona. It is over 1/4 mile deep, at least a mile wide. It size was estimated to be a mere 10 feet in diameter when it came thru the atmosphere. It heated up and had a plasma shock wave over 1000 feet in diameter. When it hit the fireball from the explosion was over 10 miles in size. Rocks were thrown at least 100 miles from the blast zone. After digging thru the bottom of the crater, they found a rock with lots of iron. It was 12 inches in diameter. So if anyone did try anything they would regret it, if they lived through it."

Jane, "Do you realize what you just said."

Jamie, "Which is why we have our own government bodies and they have treaties with the mundane governments."

Jane, "You mean they are aware and have treaties with your kind."

Jamie, "Gale, Jane just freaked out. I shall do the honorsOBLIVIATE! As far as you are concerned there is no magic, no witches, no wizarding world. We were talking about school for old times sake and who is dating whom. '

Jane had a funny look on her face and asked what they were talking about. They got up and left. He held Gale back and gave her a business card. He wrote his phone number to the house on it. 'Give me a call if she remembers anything and I will call in a professional.' Gale goes out to their car and they leave.

He goes back inside the house and get ready. He put the phone on the transfer option to transfer the phone calls to his Castle which has a walkie talkie in it to call him if he needs to take a call.

He hops in his car, the Mercury and drives back that evening to his Castle up 9 mile canyon, after shrinking the bike and placing it on the car seat.

Several hours later the kid sat around a camp fire on some piles of grass and crushed leaves about halfway between the Castle and the entrance gate. He had the camp fire going and was cooking some fish on it he had caught earlier in the day.

He heard some movement and then saw a wolf lunge out from the darkness to grab a small bird. In one bite he injured the bird, but as the wolf bit down for the second and final bite the kid did something really brave or stupid.

He reached into the wolfs mouth and grabbed the bird, pulling it to safety. The wolf had bitten him though, but a tail feather from the bird went into the palm of his hand as the bird ignited into flames. The quill burned for a moment and the pain in his hand went away. The wolf bite was also healed as was the wolf.

The kid looked at the ashes of the bird in his hand and then he heard a chirping sound as the bird poked his head up thru the ashes. "WHOA" was he surprised. After a moment, he said, "Hi there little fella. How are you doing." The bird rubbed his head against the palm of his hand. So the kid lifted up the bird, ashes and all and tucked him into a small cloth sack and placed the sack inside his shirt. He left one button undone on his flannel shirt so he could look in and check on the 'little fella'.

The wolf just stood there looking mean and making growling sounds at this human who had the audacity to take his food. The kid reached near the fire and pulled out a piece of half cooked fish. He tossed it to the wolf, who grabbed it midair and 'wolfed' it down. The kid tossed him some more half cooked fish and the wolf also ate it, then the wolf walked away a bit and then laid down, keeping his eyes on the kid. Other wolves came to join that wolf and the kid kept an eye on them.

Bain and several of his herd, he was elected leader, the usual way thru battle. They come by and the wolves get really big eyes and decide they do not want to be there. The last thing the wolves see are the Centaurs launching arrows at them. Bain says he does not eat fish, he prefers raw wolf meat. The Centaurs leave and go after the wolves.

Later a man who looked like he was Navajo came by the campsite. He was driving about 20 to 30 sheep with his sheep dog. The kid told the man there were wolves nearby, but they were taken care of by a herd of horse-men. The man tells him that he is brother to the wolf. They stay there for a few days. The kid checks on his 'little fella' every now and then and makes sure he is fed and has some water to suck from a wet rag tucked in with the baby bird, which seems to have grown a bit.

The Navajo has a permit to run sheep in the scrub brush area that borders the forest and to feed on the grassy areas within the meadows hidden within the forest.

The kids dog, Blacky looks towards the other dog the sheepdog watching over the sheep. The kid looks at Blacky then at the other dog. He nods to Blacky and tells him to go back to his girl friend. Blacky leans upward and licks the kids face and then rushes back to his girl mate where they nuzzle each other.

The sheep-man is camped outside the glade with his small flock of sheep over near the eastern side of the meadow where the scrub brush is. He stops by the campsite of the sheep-man. He see's Blacky running the sheep along with the other dog. The kid parks his motorcycle next to the camp. The Navajo has a fire going and has made some coffee, tortilla's, beans and ground beef. He fold the tortillas, scoops up some beans and ground beef and puts it in the tortilla, then folds it, rolling it over so it looks like a burrito.

The kid hears a chirping sound and looks inside his flannel shirt. The baby bird is no longer a baby. So he carefully removes the bird from under his shirt. It is a beautiful bird in red and golden yellow colors. It flaps it wings and flies to the kids shoulders. The bird rubs his head against the kids head and cheek. The kid gives the bird some pieces of tortilla. The Navajo asks the kid what the birds name is. He looks at the bird and says 'little fella' is the birds name, isn't that right 'little fella' and the bird nods his head.

While they are sipping the coffee and munching the tortilla's. The sheep-man has the dog move the sheep closer to the camp, between their campsite and the middle of the meadow. The dogs make sure they stay put.

The old Navajo man teaches the kid to make sand paintings. Then the old man tells the kid he will be soon having to go back to the city in the canyon, down inside Grand Canyon where his people live. The sheep will have to be shorn there and some set aside as food. He would like the kid to accompany him.

The kid asks the old man how he will get there. The old man says he will have to send a letter to his family relatives who live locally. They will rent a truck and drive up here to load the sheep, then transport them by truck.

A week later the truck is loaded. The kid drives his motorcycle and the old man rides in the truck. They take highway 395 down to highway 58 to Barstow. They they take I-40 to Arizona to Kingman, AZ. From there it is I-40 to highway 89 in Flagstaff, then north towards Page, Arizona where the sheep are unloaded.

They follow a sheep trail down into the canyon to the city in the canyon. The kid drives his bike down the trail. In the city his family welcomes him. While there the old man shows him the canyon and the old places his people used to live in before the white man came and chased them out of.

It is now the second week of august and the kid has been here for two weeks. He tells the old man he should be getting back to the glade. The bird was there by himself. The kid hops on his bike and leaves the city and goes up the trail until he is out of sight, then he teleports himself and bike back to the glade.

The bird 'little fella' flies over to him trilling a song. The birds songs are so soothing. He parks the bike up the side of the tree, enters his tree house, strips and then takes a shower. Afterwards he feels clean. He dresses in muggle clothing, wool socks, hiking boots, blue jeans, t-shirt, flannel shirt and light jacket. He has a heavy coat on the motorcycle.

The kid is sipping a cup of coffee and eating some toast and bacon, when 'little fella' lands on his shoulder. He rubs his head against the kids head and face. The kid passed a piece of bacon to 'little fella' who eagerly took it in his beak and ate it. Then 'little fella' cheerfully nipped his ear and flew off singing.

He lays back on the couch sipping the coffee and snacking on the rest of his breakfast.

Valerie comes by to visit him and tells him it is time to go back to school for another 10 months.

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August 30th

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Valerie holds her hand and apparates herself and Jamie to the Sierra Alley near Convict Lake. They visit the candy shop there and then take the floo in The Squeaky Inn to the floo in The Leaky Cauldron in Diagon Alley.

The take a room at the Inn. The next day Valerie escorts her to King Cross and Platform 9 3/4 and the train to Hogwarts on Sept. 1st 1961.

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Train to Hogwarts - meeting people on the train -

next day classes - next day another class - and another class the following day -- several kids tell her about the wizarding world and their houses -

- Professor Jackson Potter teaches DADA and Professor Lillian Halley teaches Charms, the father and mother of James Potter.

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school year starts and then fades in..

The young Mr. James Potter is born in 1960. Mr. and Mrs. Potter take care of James at Hogwarts, until Mrs. Potter retires and stays home. Mr. Potter retires a little later and goes to work in the Ministry of Magic. They commute to and from work.

The Ravenclaws have their classes with the Hufflepuffs in Potions.

The Ravenclaws have their classes with the Gryffindors in Herbology.

The Ravenclaws have their classes with the Slytherins in Arthmancy

The Ravenclaws have their classes with all the other houses in Ancient Runes.

At the end of the day, Jamie is told to see her head of house. She does and she is given a time turner and told how to use it and the responsibility of using it.

Her schedule is Ancient Runes, Arithmancy, Astronomy, Care of Magical Creatures, Charms, D.A.D.A., Herbology, History of Magic, Occlumency, Potions and Transfiguration -a total of eleven classes.

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next scene it school year fading back in, a year done time to go home

Jamie uses the time turner enough so she can get extra time for afternoon naps. She ages 1.5 years instead of one year.

She also does three years of classes in 1 year

Of 12 OWLS she strived for she got all 12+10 outstanding that counted double. She set a school record with 32 OWLS. She was not aware such knowledge was made public. She was sorry it was and decided not to allow such a thing about her to become public again..

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After Jamie got off the train at Platform 9 3/4 she took the floo to the 'Leaky Cauldron'. From there she took the floo to 'Sierra Alley' and from there she took the floo to 'the Bar-Be-Que Pit', which was located in the glade. As she stepped out from the floo she morphed back into the boy she had lived as outside of the wizarding world.