"What is an aura? What is a meta..morph…?" Ceirdwyn asks.
"Auror." Arthur corrects. "They investigate crimes involving the Dark Arts. A metamorphmagus can change their appearance at will. Changing hair color would be an example. The device could have been a number of things, but most likely a sneakoscope. They detect…sneaks."
Michelle looks at the Weasley's nervously.
"What are the dark arts?" Amanda asks.
"There are wizards who study…evil subjects because they desire power or just to be cruel. There are certain spells which are unforgivable. They can kill, cause pain, or steal ones will." Arthur explains.
"Apparently, humans don't have a monopoly…" Alex Raven mutters.
"We are human dear." Molly corrects. "Just with…something extra. You mean muggles…non-magical folk."
"Why would one of these…Aurors… be investigating here?" Ceirdwyn asks Arthur.
"I don't know. I work for the Ministry in a division which investigates the bewitching of muggle-made objects…in case they find their way back into a muggle's possession. Aurors are… they operate on another level."
"Secret police… Gestapo…" Alex snarls to herself. Molly, recalling the first note about Alex is alarmed. Alex is holding her sword; Molly hears a slight sound and looks to see the Alex's knuckles are white with the tightening of her grip. Looking up, she sees Alex's jaw is set and her face is grim.
Molly moves cautiously to Alex's side and caresses her straining forearm. In a snap, Alex turns to her. "Relax dear… No one here practices the Dark Arts."
"You think because you are innocent you have nothing to fear? Those that think so have often been among the first to fall victim." Alex takes back her coat, slips her sword back into it and walks out into the night.
"Where is she going?" Ginny asks.
"Hunting" Ceirdwyn admits.
Ginny looks with panic to her parents. Molly asks "I trust she isn't hunting rabbits or garden gnomes…is she?"
Ceirdwyn shakes her head slowly.
"And what will she do if…" Arthur asks.
Ceirdwyn takes a deep breath. "Alex spent much of the Second World War in the Warsaw Ghetto… After the end, she hunted those that profited from what happened there."
"And when she found one…?"
"May God have mercy upon their souls, for she had none."
"What does that mean?" Ginny asks Ceirdwyn. Ceirdwyn lowers her head,
"It means she killed them Ginny." Arthur explains. Ceirdwyn nods sadly.
"She…?" Ginny stammers.
"Yes" Ceirdwyn confirms.
"She protects from harm those she decides are worthy of it. My guess is that she has found you worthy. Most people will pursue something until they decide that they have tried long enough. She is an exception. Those of us old enough to have had encounters with your people can sense the difference between you and mortal muggles. If she finds one of yours spying on your home…" Ceirdwyn shrugs.
"She'll kill them?" Molly asks.
"It depends upon what they do. If they resist capture…"
"Arthur?" Molly pleads.
Arthur writes a note and ties it to Errol's leg. "Auror Moody" Errol flaps out into the night.
Arthur goes to the door, pauses, looks back, and then starts to leave. "Please be careful." Molly cautions.
Arthur smiles. "Of course."
Arthur heads for the area where Debra had been. "Accio Kindal!"
From the darkness a voice can be heard. "What the… Stop that! Aaaaa! Let go! You son of a…!" To Arthur's surprise Alex is being dragged through the tall grass gripping her kindal which she has trapped inside her coat with all of her strength. Alex digs her heels in but gets flipped onto her face, she whips herself around onto her back again and digs her heels in again. "Cut it out! I'm trying to make sure your family is safe!" Arthur doesn't relent.
"Interfere not in the affairs of witches and wizards for we are not always subtle." Arthur informs her. When Alex has been dragged close enough, Arthur says "incarcerous!" Vines envelop Alex.
"Cut it out!"
"Silencio!"
Alex wriggles silently in her fury.
"Now… Except the worst of those into the dark arts, WE DON'T kill. If we use magic on muggles, it is to deflect them, not harm them. They should not know that anything unusual has happened. But since you already know, I treated you as I would a witch."
By now Ceirdwyn and Molly have caught up. Ceirdwyn starts laughing and pointing at her student. Molly is aghast as Alex struggles. "Arthur? Is this a good idea?"
Ceirdwyn suppresses her laugh long enough to tell Alex "If you stop struggling, he'll probably let you go."
"Arthur?" Molly says. Arthur nods.
Alex slowly stops struggling.
Ceirdwyn nudges the prone Alex with her foot. "Have you learned your lesson?"
Alex nods.
"If he did that to you, imagine what one of those Aurors would do… and I say 'would' not 'could' because I think Arthur has capabilities he didn't use. He might have, if he wasn't so nice."
To everyone's surprise, Alex says "Yes" despite not being released. The vines begin to loosen on their own.
Molly says to Arthur "Ron did say some spells don't last as long on Old Ones."
Amanda, Michelle, and Ginny arrive. Michelle's eyes show white all the way around in panic. She looks to Amanda. Amanda is seeing possibilities. Ginny is upset.
"So, Hermione…we'll need to get an early start tomorrow." Adam says as he sits with her and Ron in the Gryffindor Common Room.
Hermione looks confused. "You can. I'm taking the floo system."
"I've done that…not a fan of it. I'll let you control the radio."
"Let me see… an extra hour in bed and hopefully news about Harry, or fiddling with the radio…"
Ron goes to the window and sees the sleet has built in from the direction his friends are in. "Do you suppose they have shelter?"
Adam responds "They are either with the professors or she has taken them in. She would not leave them out alone in her forest. They are too great a commodity…and she is a healer."
"But… You were worried…?"
"Not about their physical safety… They may find it impossible to not return."
Indeed, in five years, one of the two would secretly return. He stayed for much of the summer. He learned about the plants of the forest and their medicinal uses. He would learn to wield a sword. He would gain a new confidence and conquer fears unimaginable now. The young man who walked out of the forest was not the boy who walked in. What he did not know, and she did not suspect, at that time was that it would not be him helping Cassandra but she helping him at the time of greatest need. For three thousand years her predictions had been ill received and discounted at best. But this highly unlikely warning was heeded.