Chapter 11

George, Chrys, Paula, and Garnic were seated on chairs in one of the larger classrooms, facing the entire teaching staff of Hogwarts. The atmosphere was tense, but the disapprobation was not directed toward the students: it was among the teachers.

"First of all," said Dumbledore, beginning the meeting, "let me make it clear that this is in no way any sort of trial or adjudication. Something significant, even frightening, happened yesterday, something that few of us teachers ever imagined could happen. The best of our efforts to fight an evil were completely ineffective. That is a very difficult experience to assimilate... if you survive it. On the other hand, you four, first-year students, fought it successfully. That alone made the experience humiliating, and no one likes to be humiliated. As for myself, right now I would much rather be comfortably locked away in my office, soothing my badly injured pride. But my job and my duty require me to find out what happened and how– or if– we can prepare for it in the future. That is the purpose of this meeting."

"Sir?" asked Chrys. "I'm completely willing to tell whatever I can, but before we get started, may I ask a question? It has direct bearing on yesterday's events."

"Your question, Mr. Gulder?"

Chrys look around the room. "Around the beginning of this term, did anyone get any sort of... warning, or... premonition about Hogwarts? The reason I ask is because Paula and I did receive one at that time, and we want to know if anyone else at Hogwarts had a similar... premonition."

A few of the Professors glanced at Professor Trelawney; several others looked distinctly away from her. It didn't take her long to compose an answer. "I received no warning from across the Ether. Perhaps in the Cosmic Realm this event was not considered necessarily significant." A few glares and restrained coughs from other professors prompted her to quickly add, "But you may all be assured that had any such warning, or any warning at all, crossed the Inner Eye, I would have reported it instantly to the Headmaster."

"Anybody else?" Dumbledore respectfully inquired. No one responded, so he turned to the four students. "Tell us about this warning."

Chrys told the story. "So you see," he said in finishing, "all we had was a warning. We had no idea what was coming, we only knew it was evil."

"And what did you do to prepare for this unknown event?" prompted Dumbledore.

"Well, George and Paula and I got together frequently and prayed abou... " Chrys stopped suddenly, realizing he had just pronounced a word he'd been unable to pronounce for more than 8 months. Paula and George stared at him, but Chrys decided to forge on as long as he could. "We prayed about it and asked Jesus to guide us in what to do. Prayer is nowhere near as concrete a form of communication as sending an owl,..." George and Paula grinned here, but everyone else intently listened to Chrys. "... but I started to get the impression of friendships between the different Houses. One time when Paula and I were praying together, I mentioned this to her, and said I thought she needed to be making friends from the different Houses." He glanced at Paula, and she nodded.

"I thought Chrys was telling me to do the impossible; making friends at all, let alone from other Houses. And... well, now's as good a time as any." Paula stood up and bowed to the Professors of Hogwarts. "I apologize for my attitude and behaviour during the first term. I was rude, arrogant, and nearly irrational. I thought I was fighting for my faith, but I was just hurting other people, and myself as well. I recognize that now, and I've tried to change this last term. I'm still very irritating and old patterns are hard to break, but with Jesus' help I'm trying." Then she sat down.

The professorial faces were all very carefully neutral, although some eyes did register significant surprise.

George picked up the telling. "So we prepared every way we knew, which wasn't much. We read as much of the Bible as we could from the other books in the castle, and prayed a lot. When the confrontation finally came, our primary fear was realized. We all dreaded the thought that it might be a demon, but I guess deep down we all figured it probably would be one. And it was."

"How did you know it was a demon?" asked Dumbledore.

Chrys replied. "I didn't know until we got there. As Professor Gillooly will tell you, I'm a Namer and when I actually saw it, I knew what it was and who it was. It isn't really necessary to know a demon's name to throw him out, but sometimes it helps."

"You seem to have 'thrown him out' successfully," mused Dumbledore, "and without using magic."

"That was the point, sir," said George. "From what research we were able to do in the Bible, it seems that demons almost never respond to magic. The one time the Bible talks about some magic-workers trying to cast out a demon, it backfired on the magic-workers and the man with the demon jumped them and beat them up. So we knew we couldn't use magic against the demon, and we had to get between you all and it. I... I hope we weren't too insolent, sir, but we were in a bit of a rush."

"The four of you were completely insolent," said Dumbledore mildly. "But it seemed to be necessary under the circumstances."

Paula continued. "So we used the one weapon that we were certain would defeat any demon, and that was the Name of Jesus. And sir, thank you for removing the Memory Charm. That made it much easier to fight the demon."

"Ah, the Memory Charm," said Dumbledore. "A brief digression, if you will allow me. The Ministry recommended that it be left in place for 18 months. That leaves 10 months to go. What would you say to having it re-instated?"

Paula looked very stubborn, but kept her mouth tightly shut. George looked at Chrys, and Chrys looked at the floor for a moment. "I wouldn't like it, sir," said Chrys finally, raising his head, "but if you would get into serious trouble because of its removal, then I would put up with it for another 10 months."

Garnic spoke up. "If they have to have a Memory Charm, I want one just like theirs. Fair is fair, and I'm a Christian just like them."

Murmurs began humming around the room amongst the teachers. No one had quite foreseen this possible effect of having students like Chrys and Paula and George at Hogwarts.

Dumbledore cleared his throat, and the humming subsided. "Mr. Peven, that was nobly spoken. As a matter of fact, I did not remove the Memory Charm from anyone: that seems to have been an auxiliary effect of the... weapon you used. I will not try to re-instate it just now, firstly because it's an immensely complex charm that requires detailed preparation. Secondly, because I, and others, need to think this through a bit. In the meantime, if you three could restrain yourselves in your newfound freedom for a few days, it would be much appreciated."

Hope kindled in their eyes, and Chrys, Paula, and George promised to behave as if the Memory Charm were still in effect.

"Now, Mr. Pevin," continued Dumbledore. "Would you explain your involvement in this affair?"

Garnic explained how he had been sneaking into the Uncommon Room and listening to the other three. Professor Flitwick was amused by the name 'Uncommon Room,' but when Garnic told how he'd been kept out of it for so long, Flitwick was startled.

"You mean the Lion portrait wouldn't let you into the False Room?" he asked. "I've never heard of that happening before. And a portcullis gate? I'll have to inspect the portrait directly."

"After I was allowed to get in," continued Garnic, "I hid and listened in to them talking and praying. They didn't act like anything I'd ever heard about Christians. So I started borrowing books from the room and reading up. I couldn't escape the logic of some of them, or the joy of others, or the beauty of others, or the brilliance of others. So, as best I could, I prayed... I guess... and admitted that I was self-centered and heading in the wrong direction. I submitted myself to Jesus, and asked if he'd be willing to take on another servant. He seemed to be willing."

There was a long pause, then Professor Snape spoke lazily from the back of the room. "So now you four are strong enough to cast out demons. What worlds are left to conquer?"

"No, sir." "Not at all, sir." The four nearly tripped over one another denying the statement.

"Please, sir," Chrys appealed to Dumbledore. "We are not strong enough to fight demons. Only Jesus is strong enough."

"But you can invoke him and convince him to fight."

"I think," said George, "that's only because throwing out demons is something Jesus specifically told His followers to do when He left this planet. He's not like a genii. We're His servants, not the other way around."

After another long pause, Dumbledore thanked and dismissed the students. When they were gone, he addressed the teachers. "I've sent notice to the Ministry of the damage we've incurred here, and they're sending Aurors and reinforcements. They should arrive this afternoon and start rebuilding the wards and protections around Hogwarts."

"You mean we're exposed now?"

"Completely exposed," confirmed Gillooly, "to Muggles and everyone else. The Ministry agents will have a busy year tracking down rumors of sightings of Hogwarts."

There followed a discussion about the extent of the damage to the castle, and plans to repair it.

"This is all very necessary," intoned Snape, who had not participated in the discussion, "but about the larger question? What about this Christian non-magic which seems able to include wizards as well as Muggles?"

The room became uncomfortably silent as the teachers looked around at one another, seldom making real eye contact with anybody.

"I, for one," warbled Trelawney, "see no reason to change anything at Hogwarts. We are all experts in our fields; we are all teaching what has held the Wizarding World together for centuries."

"And which was completely incompetent to deal with a demon!"

"Oh, demons, demons... you're sounding just like all those Muggles."

"Well, this time they happened to be correct."

"Have Binns review his history notes. Surely wizards have dealt with demons in the past."

The discussion went on for quite a while. Finally, Dumbledore summarized it, for the moment at least. "This situation gives every evidence of being an anomaly. We can't restructure everything at Hogwarts on the basis of one unusual occurrence, so we will continue as before with the addition of more research about the topic of demons. There is no compelling reason to encourage this Christian non-magic, although, based on our experience with these three students, it seems rather difficult to discourage it." He signed ruefully, then continued, "And now, let's all get to work on the castle."

As they walked down the hallway, Garnic asked, "Chrys, when you're in the Uncommon Room you call her Sarah, but everywhere else you call her Paula. Why is that?"

"Because Sarah is her real name," answered Chrys. "I thought it would comfort her somehow to hear her real name, but the Memory Charm held fast and she never recognized it."

Paula stopped, and realization lit up her face. "It is!" she said. "My name is Sarah!"

George rounded on Chrys, almost angrily. "And why didn't you ever tell me my real name?"

"George," said Chrys, "I've always called you by your real name. Someone in the Ministry of Magic slipped up, and your 'new' name is the same as your real name."

"I... you mean..." George searched his memory, looked startled, then burst out laughing. "I really am George! What a gas!"

Everyone laughed with him, then Sarah said, "What's your real name, Chrys?"

"It's Nathan," said Chrys. He paused for a moment, then said, "but I'm sticking with Chrys for awhile." They had reached to Grand Foyer. Clean up was underway, but even with the older students helping, it was going to take a lot of work. No one had attempted to repair the ceiling of the Great Hall yet. "I guess we'd better check in to see how our dormitories are doing. Ravenclaw is basically alright, but it's right next to the Astronomy Tower, which is in bad shape. How is Slytherin, Garnic?"

"Mostly alright, being underground and all. But we have developed a few leaks which need attending to."

"I haven't seen Gryffindor since the battle, so I'll have to find out," said George, and he turned off toward Gryffindor.

Chrys held his hand out to Garnic, who took it firmly. "Garnic," said Chrys, "you were magnificent yesterday. You were so brave to face the demon like you did. I'm honoured to be your friend."

"You and George, and you, too, Pau– I mean, Sarah, you showed me an extra dimension to friendship. And you introduced me to Jesus. How can I ever repay that?"

"Why even think about repayment?" smiled Chrys. "None of us can repay all the debts we owe."

"Coming through! Coming through!" called a sixth-year, guiding a floating load of debris toward the front doors.

"I'm off to Slytherin," called Garnic.

"See you later," called Sarah, as she and Chrys started for the Ravenclaw Tower.