The muggle bus driver had taken a step outside to relieve himself. He took a look around at the buildings as he did his business. Weren't any town he recognized, but that didn't mean anything. He was new on that route. He finished, and was about to go inside when he heard muttering and scraping. He walked a little further down the alley and stopped.
A man dressed like a shoddy Jedi was digging through the snow and pulling up stones while muttering to himself. "Here, is it here? No… No, musn't find. Musn't find. Bad thing, stay. Enslave, enslave us all…" Then he tore at his hair and started digging again with an increased fervor.
The bus driver started backing away.
"You!" the man said to him, looking up.
The driver turned to run, but he suddenly found his legs had turned to jelly and he crashed to the ground. The man put a stick back in his robe and hurried over.
"What'd you do? What are you?" the driver yelped, trying to pull himself away.
The crazy man grinned. "That? That's nothing. They'll do worse, far worse."
"Who?" the driver asked, covering his face with his hand to hide the man's stench.
"You-Know-Who. They made me a slave!" the crazy man said, blue eyes blazing, his frustration radiating off of him. Then he laughed to himself. "Gone crazy. I'm warning muggles. What good are they?" He waved his wand over the driver to break the spell.
The driver got up quickly, brushing the snow off of his bottom.
The man continued, "Can't stop. Must find it," wandering to the far end of the alley.
The driver swallowed. He might have been out of his head, but the driver had never seen anything like what he'd done. And who was they? He had told him he knew who it was… Wait, he remembered last night now, the stick waving the people inside had been doing over him while he lay there, helpless. He shuddered. If they could drive a fellow stick waver mad, what could they do to a regular bloke like himself? He had to go warn the others, about the slavery and the rest of it.
The stew line was moving along quite nicely. The muggle Erin helped Ron stir up another batch when they ran out, and the muggle Stephanie was supervising the handing out of bowls, making sure no one was skipped and everyone got the same amount. Marie insisted on getting up and helping to pass out bowls, even though she could hardly limp around the room. Hermoine and Stephanie tried to get her to lie back down, Marie got stubborn, and the whole thing ended in a shouting match. It ended just the way Ron thought it would, with Hermoine and Stephanie leaving in a huff. Ron applauded as Marie came back to take some more bowls, getting glares from the other two girls.
"I just don't like feeling helpless," Marie said defensively as she walked away with the bowls.
Ron tried striking up conversations with some of the muggles as they ate, but most seemed nervous talking to him. One man, the bus driver, was downright hostile.
"I don't get it," Ron said, sitting back down on his stool.
"Well, they've never seen magic before. If someone had that much power and you didn't have any, how would you feel?" Marie answered, bringing back some empty bowls.
"Yeah, but you and your friends don't seem nervous."
"Stephanie only wraps herself up in work when she's stressed," Marie said, pointing to where her friend was busying herself with changing a bandage.
"Oh," Ron said, abashed.
"She's not really liking the whole magic thing, but she should be fine," Marie continued, setting herself down on the floor in front of a large tub of freshly melted snow.
"What about the other one? Erin?"
"What about her?"
"Well, I mean, does she…"
"The only things Erin cares deeply about are food and sleep. Anything else is, 'Ah, whatever'." She dropped the bowls in and started scrubbing.
"You're arm's working all right?" Ron said, surprised.
"It's a little stiff and it hurts to lift it above my shoulder, but yeah, it's working. And no, this place doesn't bother me," she said, with a grin.
Ron used his wand to squirt in some soap.
"Thanks," Marie responded as the sink filled with bubbles.
There came a crash from the other side of the room. Ron went to go look.
The bus driver had Flitwick slammed against the floor, pinning his wand arm. "Get that thing away from me," he snarled.
Flitwick was too stunned to protest. In two seconds flat it had turned into a brawl, with muggles trying to unwand Flitwick and wizards trying to haul the bus driver away. Ron fished for his wand.
Marie lunged and grabbed his arm, almost falling in the process, and hissed, "Think. If the wand's what's bothering everyone, using yours is going to make it worse."
"Can't just stand here, they're killing each other," Ron snapped back.
"Hey!" Stephanie yelled, hurrying across the room. She elbowed her way in and managed to shove the crowd back.
"He's waving his stick at me," the man said, defensively, as Stephanie glared down at him.
She pushed the driver off Flitwick, and stood the professor up. "You, ask from now on," she said, handing him back his wand. She turned to the bus driver. "You, I don't know what that was all about, but I really don't want to spend the rest of my time here breaking you guys up. And that goes for the rest of you, too," she said, giving her glare to muggle and wizard alike. Then she marched off again.
"Are you okay, Steph?" Marie said to her.
"Yeah," she muttered.
"You, too?" Marie asked Flitwick.
"I was only trying to be helpful," he answered, worriedly.
"We know, Professor," Ron said, giving him a friendly pat on the shoulder.
McGonagal and Dumbledore joined the group. "We never should have taken these people in. They're violent," McGonagal was saying.
"They're scared. They were expecting to wake up in a hospital, not some whacked out place like this," Marie said.
"'Whacked out'?" McGonagal said, appalled.
"Well, to them, anyway," Marie said.
"Do you suppose if there were fewer wizards around, they might feel more at ease?" Dumbledore asked.
"Fewer wizards? What if they riot?" McGonagal asked.
"I agree. Just look at their faces. This could turn ugly again at any moment," Hermoine said, joining the conversation.
"Guys, they listened to me back there. I don't think it'll get too out of hand," Stephanie said.
Dumbledore said, "We did discuss some of us returning to Hogwarts." Everyone avoided his gaze. "Do you feel confident in my leaving you in charge?" he asked Stephanie. She nodded. "All right. I'll leave Professor McGonagal here to assist you. If you run out of supplies, send word to Hogwarts. It's just up the road," Dumbledore told her.
Stephanie swallowed nervously, but it was obvious she was secretly enjoying being in charge.
"Are all your things packed?" Dumbledore asked Marie.
"Yeah. I didn't take anything out."
"Good. Ron, will you be so kind as to loan Miss Marie your broom? It's a bit far for her to walk in her condition."
"But…" Ron said, startled.
"Just get it to float a bit, and use your hand to guide it as you walk alongside. It shouldn't be that difficult," Dumbledore reassured him.
"And you really don't think the bad guy will be back here," Marie said, a little skeptically.
The wizards paused. Dumbledore finally said, "This dark wizard seemed primarily interested in you. The sooner we get you safely to Hogwarts, the less likely it becomes that he will return here."
"Why is Hogwarts any safer than here?" Marie asked.
"It's got protection spells. Keeps anyone from aperating or disaperating from there, as we know only too well," Ron said, with a pointed look at Hermoine.
"Okay, that makes sense now. What about Erin?"
There came a crash, and Erin's "Oops. Hee hee." She had been trying to lift the caldron of leftover stew and had dropped it.
Stephanie watched the liquid run over the floor and said tightly, "Take her. Please."
The next chapter will be a lot longer, and with a bit more going on. I promise.
