Chapter Two
Now What?
Sunday June 25
When Harry and Hermione went down for breakfast the next morning, they were surprised by the people who they recognized – Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Mr. Diggory, Minister Fudge and a few of the Aurors were at one of the side tables talking. They all looked to be wearing day-old clothing. All told, there were nearly a hundred guests. Trying to maintain a very low profile, Harry asked, "What do you suppose is up with all of those people?"
Hermione had an idea but replied, "I expect Professor McGonagall will be saying something momentarily."
As if on cue, McGonagall stood and said, "As the floo system and the Knight Bus are currently inoperable, we will be playing host to some guests at least for the day."
Hermione thought they were describing the symptom and were choosing to ignore the root cause.
Harry privately thought that it would be a bit like his Uncle Vernon losing his wallet, eyeglasses and car keys – all at once. Life as they knew it had suddenly gotten a lot harder.
… - …
After breakfast, Harry and Hermione watched Fudge, Ludo, Arthur and Molly walk out the front door. He held a chocolate frog card with Agripa in his hand and held hands with the other three before saying, "Activate."
The single-use, voice-activated portkey landed them at the main lobby in the Ministry building. The light and ventilation charms were still working but the cooling charm seemed to be failing.
Fudge bid the others good day and walked to his office. Unfortunately, when he got there, he recalled that he routinely locked the door with a charm that required both the password as well as his, or his Administrative Assistant's wand. He was effectively locked out.
His cursing the situation did nothing to change it.
Soon yet another oddly dressed person had found and climbed the ladder and walked out of the phone booth.
… - …
Meanwhile, Molly and Arthur were making their way to the Leaky Cauldron. They didn't have access to a car and Arthur had never bothered to get a muggle drivers license. Despite his job title, he really didn't know how to place a telephone call. Between them, they didn't have ten Pounds in nonmagical currency.
As they reached the Alley, Arthur had an idea. He exclaimed, "Perkins."
"What dear?"
"Perkins has a car. I'll owl him and ask if he could give us a ride home."
"Brilliant idea."
They hired an owl, which eventually found Arthur's work counterpart. At noon they left the pub and arrived at their home three hours later.
… - …
As Fudge and associates used their portkey to leave Hogwarts, Hermione and Harry went back to their classroom to continue their discussion. Harry observed, "They didn't say much at breakfast."
She replied, "It's not what they said, it's what they didn't say."
It was Harry's turn to nod in encouragement.
"It's obvious that they don't have a clue what to do. If the floo network and Knight Bus went out, it's fair to assume that the the Hogwarts Express won't run either. House elves can't take a person along for any real distance; living people are too much of a load."
"So the extra people who stayed the night were planning on apparating home or taking the floo? That makes sense."
"Not everyone can make a portkey. I doubt if anyone can without a wand."
Harry thought about the floo network shutting down within hours and observed, "Hogwarts still seems to be operating more or less normally, aside from the fact that the headmaster and two professors died in one day."
She replied, "The castle probably predates the ministry building by seven hundred years or so. We'd have a better idea if Binns would ever drone on about anything other than racial tensions aimed at goblins. You'd think that someone would have provided him with a bit of work direction over the years. There must be loads of ambient magic in the stones along with what the house elves provide as they do their work. Actually, I expect that it's the magic from the house elves doing their work that truly powers the castle along with the wardstones acting like batteries. I really don't know for certain. I don't understand why the floo system would have shut down so quickly.
"If you think of the analogy of a battery, Hogwarts seems to have rechargeable ones while the ministry of magic has the old carbon ones that seemed to have failed. If the ministry batteries seemed to have exhausted theirs within a few hours; the castle will probably shut down in a few months or so."
While Hermione had no way of knowing that she was largely wrong relating the the floo system so far, she had been right about the effect of the elves working. She seemed to have a lot more to say.
"Come to think of it, I was doing some extra reading on wands and spells during third year. The author theorized that spells tend to degrade over time. Factors that would accelerate the degradation of a given charm would be the level of energy of that it required. By example, an active charm that would levitate a train engine would fade instantly after the caster stopped pouring energy into it. In contrast, a passive spell like reparo would last for a comparatively long time.
"An enchanted item cast by a really powerful witch or wizard might last decades or longer.
"A charm can also be powered by a fully charged wardstone and last years if the charm doesn't draw too much power. Having house elves around working also tends to keep charms powered and wardstones fully charged. The more power the caster put into a spell the longer it would last.
"The professor also made the point that two things that tended to degrade a charm much faster were the death of the castor or the destruction of the wand that originally created the charm. He stated that the same principle applied to transfigurations."
Harry replied, "It all sounds reasonable but I'm not snapping my wand to test his theory, nor do I believe that he did his test fifty times either. How does that fit with the floo system collapsing?"
After a bit more thought, she admitted, "Honestly, it doesn't. Either it was already down for repairs, or it took a series of high powered charms reapplied on at regular intervals to run it... I honestly don't know. I know it works on a hub and spoke basis, in that if you were to floo from here to the Three Broomsticks, you would be transported from Hogwarts to the central floo office and resent to the Three Broomsticks. So more likely than not, the problem originated at the Ministry side.
"Until people get new wands, charms and transfiguration are done for. I expect the same for advanced potions and rune activation. The wizarding world in Britain is shutting down but people just haven't realized it yet. Did you notice that there was no Daily Prophet delivered this morning? Ekeltricity my eye."
"So, what should we do?" Harry revised to his earlier thought – Car keys, wallet, eyeglasses and cell phone.
That was exactly what the brilliant brunette was pondering.
… - …
As Auror John Dawlish wasn't with Fudge when they left, he was still at the castle as Harry and Hermione were having their discussion. Ninety-nine percent of Britain's witches and wizards can't apparate wandlessly. Of course, Dawlish placed himself in the one percent. Years back, he had earned Os on all of his NEWTs. That said, he walked out of the gates until he had reached the ward lines – about where the forest fire had started.
To test his self-perceived ability, he attempted a hundred yard, line-of-sight jump.
crack!
He did it. He gave himself a quick self check – ten fingers, two ears and the like.
Emboldened by his success, he focused on the area right outside the three broomsticks, which was some three miles from where he was standing.
Crack!
He'd made it. Thinking that he could go as far as usual, about two-hundred miles, he envisioned his favorite pub in Glasgow.
CRACK!
He made it again. Repeating his self-check, everything was fine. He decided on Sherwood castle. Destination Determination, Deliberation.
BOOM!
While Auror Dawlish doubtless had many fine qualities, geography wasn't among them. The Wounded Fox pub in Glasgow was barely one hundred-fifty miles from Hogsmeade, not the two-hundred that he had estimated. To make matters worse, Sherwood castle in Nottingham was nearly three-hundred miles, not two-hundred. In short, Auror John Dawlish vanished into the ether, never to be seen again.
… - ...
All throughout the castle, a handful of conversations were being held over and over -
How are we going to get home?
Why isn't the ministry saying or doing anything?
What's going to happen next?
Car keys, wallet, eyeglasses, cell phone missing and the electricity was out.
They waited for answers. Well, most waited for answers.
... - …
DMLE Director Amelia Bones had many fine qualities; an infinite amount of patience was not among them. From her home in Folkstone, on the southeast coast of England, she made a comparatively reasonable sixty mile wandless jump to the Leakey Cauldron and from there, walked to Harrods. Taking the stairs to the electronics department, she purchased two cell phones, extra batteries and charged them on her Barclay's charge card and was on her way in less than an hour. Seeing Andromeda Tonks at the Leaky Cauldron she asked, "Be a dear and answer the phone in a minute when I call?"
"Certainly. I'll be right here when you come back."
Amelia apparated back to her home, walked into the kitchen and called Andromeda.
"Hi. Can you hear me now?"
"Perfectly my dear. Stop back and I'll buy you a cuppa."
"I'll be back in two minutes."
She was. Amelia had a plan.
… - ...
That afternoon, Harry and Hermione had gone back to the classroom again. Ron, who was bored, had nagged Harry about playing chess for far too much of the morning until Seamus agreed to a few games. Harry had never really made up with Ron for slandering him after his name came out of the cup. Aside from Hermione, Fred and George, Neville Longbottom and his girlfriend Luna Lovegood had been the only students who believed that he'd had no desire to be in the tournament. Ron and Ginny apparently had expected Harry to accept their half-arse attempts at an apology. When he didn't, they became fairly vocal with the other students and convinced their mother that Rita Skeeter's reporting about cheating was factual. Harry hadn't found her howlers amusing.
"Harry, we need to get to Inverness. Hogwarts is about fifteen miles south of Inverness. If we could transfigure a couple of bicycles and shrink our trunks, we could ride there and find some way to get home. We should be able to get on the A833 from Hogsmeade."
Harry admitted, "I've never had a bicycle. I snuck a ride on one a few times but, I would have trouble with the visualization trying to transfigure one. I can't picture all of the parts."
Hermione replied, "I've had a couple. I can make us a pair that are serviceable."
"What about everyone else?"
"Harry, it's obvious that the Ministry doesn't have a clue what to do. I don't want to stay in a dark castle that's probably going to run out of food pretty quickly. Without magic, 3/4ths of the students and most of the professors are completely helpless."
"But I was..."
"No buts, Harry. If He-Who, if Riddle had taken over, almost everyone in the castle would probably be dead or enslaved by now. Deciding how to get everyone home is their job, not ours. They can figure it out."
Harry admitted that she was probably right.
Hermione replied, "You go to the kitchen and get some sandwiches and fruit for tomorrow. I'll work on the bicycles. We'll leave at six tomorrow morning. Have your trunk shrunk and send Hedwig to my parents. I have enough money to get us tickets. When we arrange the booking, I'll call Mum and tell her where to meet us."
… - …
Minerva was at her wits end.
A school of magic, with no magic, aided by a government that was worthless, led by a self-serving buffoon of a minister, who objectively, was worse than worthless – they were in a very dire situation.
As for Minerva, to her credit, she was an excellent instructor. Dumbledore would have said that she displayed exceptional loyalty, as she was easily swayed to his line of thinking. He would have said that she was an excellent administrator, as she took on far too much of the work that as Headmaster, he had been getting paid to do.
In that same lens of objectivity, she was a horrible head-of-house. There was a wide continuum between hands-off as she preferred to think of herself as and flat-out neglectful where she should have been rated.
Grasping at some from of normality, her perceived top priority was the administration of the NEWT and OWL examinations which were scheduled to start on Wednesday – three days from now. Filius had suggested giving the tests – at least the theoretical part. He had also suggested that the students could sound out the incantations and use a stick to simulate wand movements. They both agreed that their solution was far from ideal but was the best of a very bad situation.
Her ability to implement their solution was further hampered by her inability to contact more than half of the school governors.
Just before dinner, she finally received a note from Grishelda Marchbanks, Examination Manager who wrote back that she and two other examiners would arrive at the castle Tuesday for dinner. They would need accommodations for the remainder of the week, as portkeys were in an ever-increasing short supply. Marchbanks pointed out that without a specific rejection from the Board of School Governors, most of which were unable to be reached, approval would be assumed.
… - …
Sprockets, wheels, chains, frames, saddles, handlebars and a brake each. By any unbiased measure, her finished bike was... ugly, awkward and ill-fitting. That said, they were both serviceable and the finishing fourth year was quite proud of herself. The solid rubber tires were heavy but she wouldn't have to worry about punctures.
She met Harry in the common room at nine PM, gave him a nod and held up two fingers.
Harry sat on the couch beside her and whispered, "Dobby made us a good meal. He and Winky will meet us at your parents home when I call for them."
Hermione softly replied, "I'll leave a note on my bed tomorrow. Do you think he could give it to Professor McGonagall tomorrow at noon?"
"I'll ask him when I get up to my room. Do you have enough money for the tickets? I can pay you back."
"Don't worry about it. Mum gave me a credit card for emergency use. If this doesn't constitute an emergency, I don't know what would. Harry, do you have an ID card?"
Harry turned his head down and muttered, "No. Dudley has his school ID and his NHS card. I don't have either,"
She replied, "I have my NHS card. I'll make us some IDs tonight that I think will pass." She leaned over, gave him a quick kiss and said, "Goodnight Harry. I'll meet you here a bit before six."
… - …
Monday June 26
They left the common room at six; each silently wondering if they would ever be back. As quickly as they could, they reached the front doors, just as they were opening for the day and made their way out to the Quidditch changing rooms, where Hermione had stashed the bicycles. Rather than risk a tumble in the uneven grounds, they walked their bikes to the path leading to Hogsmeade. "The path on the Northwest side of the village should lead us to a proper road," remarked Hermione. Harry nodded.
They got on their bikes and both were a bit unsteady at first. The seats weren't really the right height and the solid wheels transmitted every bump of the unpaved road onto their rear-ends, but after fifteen minutes, they reached the A833 road.
At first, there wasn't much traffic, just the occasional lorry driving by. After an hour, they passed a sign that read Inverness and one that pointed to the airport. Harry remarked, "I thought that we'd be taking a train."
Hermione replied, "Let's see what flights are available. I'd rather fly and get home as soon as possible." By chance, there was a flight to London Gatwick airport leaving in an hour that had seats available. Being (and looking) older, Hermione purchased the tickets. They ate an early lunch, made it through security and found seats at their gate.
"I'll call my mum and ask her to meet us at Gatwick airport at noon. You wait here. Don't board until I get back."
"OK."
"Mum, I need a huge favor."
Dr. Emma Granger listened and Hermione gave the barest of outlines and wisely chose not to argue over any of the missing details. Hermione finished the conversation, with "... Just you, OK?"
"All right, dear, I'll see you soon."
… - …
McGonagall never noticed that two of her students had left until the little elves handed her a note and popped away.
… - ...
Back at Diagon Alley, scores of people searched through the burned out remains of Ollivander's shop. It didn't take any of them more than a few minutes, as almost everything in his shop had been combustible. The shellac, glue, bottles of 180 proof alcohol and stacks of wood represented most of his raw materials.
His lifelong habit of storing the raw materials for wand cores in wooden boxes ensured that aside from a few gold coins that earlier scavengers had missed, there was nothing of use to find. Even his notebooks had burned and were now nothing but ashes that were slowly blowing away in the wind.
… - …
Gatwick Airport was south of central London and after the barest of greetings, Hermione announced, "Harry needs to stop in at Gringotts this afternoon." Showing more patience than most, Emma nodded and they headed north towards the city.
"So what can you tell me?" asked Emma, who purposely stuck to open-ended questions."
"Harry single-handedly ended a civil war within wizarding society but there were some unintended consequences."
"Well, congratulations on that, I guess. If I may ask, what are the unintended consequences?"
"Every wand in Britain apparently was destroyed. Well, every one except ours."
They sat in comfortable silence for a minute before Emma asked, "What did they say when they found out about your wands?"
"Hermione replied, "We didn't tell anyone. I don't see a way that most witches or wizards would get by without magic. They even use them to turn their lights on and off."
"So...?"
"If they don't find replacements, I think the wizarding society will effectively collapse. Most people can't apparate without them, previously cast charms begin to fail, they can't print their newspaper, or cook their dinners. Almost everything that they do involves the use of a wand; everything except making simple potions."
… - …
A few hours earlier, as Harry and Hermione were purchasing tickets for their flight into London; a conversation was taking place in the Slytherin common room.
"It can't be too hard; that old geezer, Ollivander didn't look all that smart," drawled the blond braggart. "We'll go in the forest, catch a unicorn, and cut off a bunch of the tail hairs. Then we'll find a few branches, stuff the hairs in and we'll be masters of the castle."
Nott's older sister, Clair nodded and added, "We can glue them in. I have some nail polish that we can use."
Pansy said, "Let's go."
Theodore Nott, Pansy, Crabbe, Goyle, Clair and Draco set out a few minutes later. On their way, they passed by the remains of Hagrid's hut. With all of the branches down, it took a half hour to clear the burned sections.
"Uh, there's one," grunted Vince.
"Follow me," cried Draco as he dashed ahead.
Fifteen minutes later, the six teens were all winded and they hadn't even come close to catching their unicorn. If the truth be told, they had twisted around in circles, turned and tripped over so many exposed roots that they didn't have a clue where they were.
"Here's a strand," announced Greg.
"Let me see," demanded Draco, who added, "That's not a tail hair, it's sticky."
"There it is", announced Clair, who at least had the sense to whisper. Pointing to Greg and Vince, she said, "You two go that way, Pansy and I will go a bit to the right of it. Theo and Draco, you two go in the middle. Try not to make any noise. No talking."
Unknowingly, Clair had pointed the six of them directly at the acromantulas. Ten minutes later, they had slogged through enough sticky web silk that their feet could barely move.
The horror of the situation hit Malfoy as he saw several pairs of eyes peering at him, just as he heard Pansy scream. A moment later, off to the side, Greg and Vince called out for help. The four-inch blades of their potion knives did nothing to slow down the even dozen garbage-bin sized spiders that charged the two teens. Nott slashed at a bigger one, hacking at a leg, just before he felt the bite on his shoulder. Draco wasn't as lucky. Practically frozen with fear, he dropped his knife as he took it out of his trouser pocket and it caught on his robe. He kicked at one as he felt the bite in his other calf; immediately followed by a bite on the back of his neck.
The last thing that he heard was Vince whimpering, calling for his mum as dozens of the hungry acromantulas finished poisoning him.
The heirs of five old families ceased to exist. Ironically, they were just a hundred steps away from where Carl Warrington and Marcus Flint had fallen earlier that morning.
… - ...
As Draco was meeting a sticky end, Percy Weasley was getting grilled.
"Weatherby, what's your report?" Fudge was desperate for a bit of good news. As there were no house elves working at the Ministry, the ventilation in the lobby had begun to sputter and the magical windows had all stopped working. Fudge was not in a good mood.
"Minister, I checked all of the countries; they're all gone. France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Romania, Germany, Italy and Spain. I even checked Iceland – nothing. The wands and broomsticks are all gone."
"Did you try Finland?"
"Finland, Norway, Sweden, the Czech Republic and Greece. I even tried Albania."
"Dammit. Send an owl to BeauxBatons again. Find out if they have anything we can use."
"Yes, Minister."
"Dismissed Weatherby."
As a thousand miles was the farthest distance that their portkeys would go, it never occurred to either of them to try Asia or North America. Thus Fudge's report to the press ended up being posted as, Wands and Broomsticks Disappear on a Worldwide Basis. Seeing as there was no magical press, a single hand-written sheet of paper was written and copied by hand over and over, then folded and owled. Apparently no one thought to go to a photocopy store and make three thousand copies.
Most of the remaining stock of pre-made portkeys would be consumed within a week.
… - …
Harry and the two Grangers arrived at Charing Cross road. The Leaky Cauldron was packed. Harry momentarily wondered how the brick wall portal to Diagon Alley would open when he saw that it had somehow been pried open.
They walked the alley down to Gringotts, noticing that there were very few witches or wizards in the lobby. Hermione and Emma kept a respectful distance behind Harry, who asked the teller, "I would like to visit my vault and my account manager, if possible."
"Key please." The teller looked at it for a few seconds, handed it back and replied, "This way, Mr. Potter. Are your guests accompanying you, or would you prefer that they remain in the lobby?"
Harry asked, "Would you come with me?"
Emma nodded and they followed the teller, who walked along at a surprisingly fast pace. He knocked on a door and said, "Barchoke, Mr. Potter and his guests are at the door. They have business today."
Barchoke, wearing a dark blue three-piece tropical weight wool suit, stood and waved them into his office, "Please take a seat. How may Gringotts help you today, Mr. Potter?"
Harry replied, "I'd like to visit my vault, withdraw some gold and exchange some for Pounds currency. How much do I have in my vault?"
Without looking, Barchoke replied, "There are 22,000 galleons in your trust vault, just over twenty times that in your family vault, plus your investments. Since you participated in the Tri-Wizard tournament and were declared an adult by the wizard ministry, you have access to all of your vaults. The value of your investments, which are primarily in non-magical companies, is just over 600,000 galleons. Would you like to make any changes today?"
"I would like to withdraw 1,000 galleons, leave 1,000 galleons in the vault and exchange the rest of the gold in my trust vault for Pound notes, if I can? What's the exchange rate?"
"Certainly. Six pounds for a galleon." He pressed a rune on his desk. A minute later, the teller opened the door and handed Barchoke a brushed-aluminum case and a note. Barchoke read the note and announced, "Director Ragnok would like to meet with you. Would tomorrow morning at ten be convenient?"
Harry glanced at Emma, who nodded. He replied, "That would be perfect." Professor Flitwick had mentioned to him that Ragnok was the leader of the Nation in Britain during one of their discussions last winter.
"Very good. Here is a current summary of your account balances. Please ask for me when you arrive tomorrow. Allow me to show you back to the lobby."
"Thank you, Barchoke. Would it be OK if Hermione and Emma came with tomorrow?"
"Certainly. Though I'm certain that Ragnok will have some candid questions for you, I look forward to seeing you all again. Have a fruitful afternoon."
… - …
On the way back, Hermione asked, "Can we stop at the apothecary and the bookstore?"
Emma replied, ""Yes, but we only have a bit more than an hour before we need to head back to Crawley."
Hermione quickly wrote a list and asked, "Harry, can you get these? Mum and I will pick up our books."
Harry restocked their potions kits and also purchased the ingredients for the year-five and six potion classes. There were also some plant seeds and seedlings from her list. Loaded down with supplies but a hundred galleons lighter, he met Emma outside the bookstore. She asked, "Can you be a dear and put these in your trunk? Hermione seems to have filled hers up."
Harry complied, took a glance around to be sure that no one was watching and reshrunk his trunk.
Just then, Hermione walked out with an armload of extra books, handed half to Harry and announced, "We're ready to leave now."
Emma and Harry glanced at each other, each silently daring the other to ask Hermione if she had bought out the store. They reached the car and loaded the packages in the boot. On the way back, Hermione rationalized, "Without magic, it will be difficult to grow some of those ingredients or to print the books that I bought. If they don't solve this, Hogwarts won't reopen in September. Stocking up right now seems like quite a prudent idea."
They drove back to their home in Crawley. While Harry had been purchasing potions ingredients, Hermione must have had a quick conversation with her mum. She announced, "Hermione, please show Harry the guest room. I'll dash over and pick up Dan. He should be done for the day. I'll pick up take-away from the pizza place. Hermione, you and Harry pick out what you'd like and please call in the order. I'll be back in a half hour."
Harry looked around her home. It had four bedrooms and two bathrooms up, one of which had been converted into an office. The main level had a spacious kitchen, an eating area that would easily seat eight and an open family room with two couches, three oversized chairs and a projection screen television. He looked at the room in awe while Hermione observed, "Mum and Dad really like their movies." As she said that, Harry noticed two floor-to-ceiling bookcases filled with what seemed like hundreds and hundreds of movie titles.
… - …
After dropping the teens off, Emma made the short drive back to their clinic, passed her next morning appointments off with Dan and they drove back to their home. Dan asked, "Why did you have to leave so quickly?"
"Hermione and her friend, Harry flew home a couple days early. Something happened to the magical infrastructure and they flew home. He'll be staying with us for a few days."
Normally Dan's Dad instincts would have reared up, but when Emma gave him, the look he knew better than to say anything.
… - …
After a quiet dinner, they discussed the tournament. Hermione's newspaper clipping with a photo of Harry facing the Horntail added all of the credibility needed for her dad to accept the tale. She made the second task sound more like a game of capture the flag. Emma noted that the details became fewer and fewer as they got to the third task but knew that her daughter must have had her reasons.
As Emma was the managing partner in their business and kept the books, she offered to help Harry look over the documents that Barchoke had given him. After a few minutes, she summarized, "It looks like you own a bit of property. There is an eighty acre section of land in Gloucester where your grandparents had their home. Apparently the home itself had been destroyed in 1979. Your parents received a small cash inheritance that your mother invested. Goodness, she chose her investments well. Your cash holdings are about two million Pounds, the investments are worth about three and I assume that the land has a similar value. Your account manager seems to have everything in hand. Aside from wanting an obscene amount of walking-around money, why did you decide on the big withdrawal today?"
"Hermione seems to think that there will be a run on the bank in the next few days. As you know, she's rarely wrong."
She asked, "Who is this Ragnok that wants to meet with you tomorrow?"
"The closest comparison that I could make would be the Goblin Prime Minister."
"Goodness. We'll make a quick stop at Selfridges and get you something off of the rack."
"Thank you. I hate looking like a street person."
"No problem. Dan can drive his Land Rover to the clinic tomorrow. We'll get an early start, get you an outfit or two, and easily get to the bank. Let's see what Hermione picked out for a movie."
It turned out that she picked out the 1966 release, The Hobbit. When Bilbo and the dwarves got to the mirkwood forest and saw the giant spiders, Harry, who was looking startled, remarked, "That's just what they look like."
When the travelers were captured by the elves, Harry exclaimed, Can you pause this, I forgot."
When Dan paused it and shut off the screen, he asked, "What is it?"
"Dobby?"
A moment later, Dobby appeared and said, "You should take this tonight."
Harry said, "Dobby, these are Hermione's parents, Emma and Dan Granger. This is my friend, Dobby. He's an elf."
Certainly the more social of the two, Emma said, "Welcome to our home, Dobby. What did you give Harry?"
Dobby replied, "Bad snake-man cast horrible pain-curse at Harry Potter sir before Harry Potter destroy evil man. Harry Potter needs medicine to stop bad pain. Harry Potter is best wizard ever."
"Thank you for bringing that, Dobby."
"Harry Potter should be taking his medicine and be going to bed. He needs rest before visiting with goblin leader tomorrow. Dobby goes now." With that, he disappeared without a sound.
Dan remarked, "Elves, goblins, dragons..."
Hermione added, "Think Sauron."
Emma said, "Hermione, you should walk Harry upstairs. Goodnight you two." She threw a glance to Dan, who added, "Good night."
… - ...
While Hermione was giving Harry a bit of inspiration for a good night of sleep, Dan was asking, "They were kidding, weren't they?"
"I don't think so. She mentioned something about an unintended consequence. I expect that's the subject of their meeting with the goblin prime minister tomorrow. Before you give Harry another disparaging look, consider three things – Hermione really likes him, he's clearly quite capable and he clearly likes her."
"How...?"
"Just trust your daughter's judgment and keep an open mind. It might be the best summer of our lives."
… - …
While Dan was starting his video, Amelia was still at work. She glanced at some of the paperwork that always seemed to land on her desk when she least wanted it. There were several missing person reports.
Under normal circumstances, they wouldn't act on a report of an adult until they had been gone seventy-two hours. Now, it might take the so-called missing person that long just to find a way to get home. She looked at the names Henry Crabbe, Thomas Goyle, Thomas Avery, Nathan Nott – all former Death Eaters. Honestly she was surprised that half of the adult witches and wizards in Britain hadn't been reported as lost or missing.
When she checked in, she'd give the reports to her Senior Investigator, Connie Hammer. She left for the night. Moments after she left, the owl from Azkaban arrived.
… - ...
Elsewhere at the Ministry, Fudge came to the conclusion that the situation was hopeless. Weatherby had just reconfirmed the same information that he'd previously provided and the old politician decided that he'd rather survive as a pensioner than wait to be strung up on a post.
The last thing that he did for the day was to borrow a quill from his assistant's desk, grab a parchment and write a two line letter of resignation and place it on Amelia's desk.
… - …
A/Ns
Regarding the conversation between Percy and Fudge, I was reminded of the old Mark Twain quote - "It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so." They made some horrible assumptions and spread them around as fact. Worse yet, people accepted his word as fact. Hermione made some incorrect assumptions as well. The book she read was likely to be accurate.
When I was writing this section of the story I attempted to put in some quality thought about wizards and witches, what their houses looked like, how they were made and the like, to arrive at answers to the question, How reliant is a witch or wizard on having magic? Equally important, what happens if it is gone?
The conclusion that I arrived at was that there would be an entire spectrum of answers. Some would be less impacted to begin with, others would be in a very bad way.
The only houses that She showed us were the Burrow, #12, Spinner's End and (briefly) Malfoys' - Kooky, Creepy, Run Down and Snooty. After twenty-some years of fanion, it's hard to keep that baseline in mind. I don't recall any of them having electricity.
… - ...
Small OMAKE
After the teens went to bed, Emma and Dan sat out in their back garden. Emma explained everything that she'd heard and been told. She said, "There was an extra edition of their newspaper the Daily Prophet that was taped to the wall, stating that this was a world-wide event."
Dan replied, "Remember the Scientific Method from when we were in Uni?"
She nodded.
"How many data points are they working from?"
She replied. "The wands in Britain appear to have flown away. Where to, we don't know. We know of two exceptions.
"The floo transportation system was reported to have stopped working at about the same time. It still wasn't working two days later. There's been no explanation published as to the reason for it being or staying down.
"Hermione seems to think that the wizarding world as she calls it is going to implode.
"Harry's friend Dobby seemed completely unaffected.
"His banker also seemed unaffected. Those are all that I can think of."
Dan asked, "How many of these six are verifiably true?
She admitted, "It's hard to tell."