The Greatest of the Ancient Magics

Chapter 2 - Fri, Jul 21 - Day 1
Busted!

"I am Acastus Abernathy, an Obliviator with the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad, and this is my partner, Samantha Silverdale, an Auror with the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. There has been a great deal of magic put out here and I demand to know what is going on! These Muggles will have to be tended to as well."

"No!" Harry gasped. He slowly stood and managed to get the words out. "Wizard Storm … Death Eaters! And leave the Dursleys alone. They already know about wizards." Harry finally steadied himself, and addressed the Auror, who still had said nothing. "I'm not sure what I did, but I had no choice. My family was in danger, and then I was attacked by magic." All three Dursleys looked at Harry, surprised that he had called them family and had protected them, even if it was using magic.

Samantha stepped forward with a reassuring smile for Harry. " Acastus, suppose you go with Harry and have him explain what's going on. I'll take the Muggles inside and get their side of the story. We need to know just what those power surges were."

Acastus moved closer to Samantha. "But he said there were Death Eaters about. You as the Auror should be the one tracking the magic, and I as the Obliviator should tend the Muggles," he said in a harsh stage whisper.

"Relax! Whatever Potter did here has put them out of commission or chased them away. I'd know," Samantha declared quietly with a small smile. "Come along now … Dursleys, isn't it? Let's go inside and have a nice, quiet talk." Even if she hadn't possessed strong magic, Samantha Silverdale would have had a way about her, a calm authority that put wizard or Muggle at ease.

"We don't want anything to do with you freaks, let me tell you!" Vernon blustered weakly.

"I didn't know witches could be pretty," whispered Dudley to his father, who swatted him on the head for such a traitorous comment.

Vernon then said, "I demand you release us immediately!"

Samantha just smiled. "You aren't captive, you know. I just want to know what happened from your point of view. But I would suggest you go back home after that. Whatever your business here, you would rather not be around while we investigate. Sit down. Sit down. Would you like some tea?" Samantha offered as they settled on the sheet-covered furniture in the parlor.

Petunia said, haughtily, "There's nothing in the kitchen. The owner passed on recently and we were picking up my dear Vernon's inheritance."

"Well, no matter. We can still have tea. Scones, anyone?" Samantha asked as she held out her wand. A lovely tea service appeared on the table, including what looked and smelled like fresh-baked scones. "Now, Mrs. Dursley, I know it isn't quite the thing to discuss business while pouring tea, but if you would do the honors, I can begin, and thereby finish sooner, hmm?"

As Petunia gingerly poured, Samantha began with Vernon. "Now, I'd like you to describe for me everything that happened just now, from the first magic you noticed. And, please, I'd like your wife and son to wait until you have finished before we get their input. Thanks so much."

Samantha was hard to resist under normal circumstances, and she added a small Trust-Me charm under her breath. Vernon told about his catching Harry apparently using magic to help him move the trunk, "though the little mon-… the boy denied it." Then he told about the lightning, the tree falling towards the trailer and his wife and son, the purple light. At that point, he was shaking, and Samantha waited while he pulled himself together. Then he made an attempt to describe the attack, though he had started toward the trailer just as it happened, and he wasn't sure what he'd seen.

Petunia quietly confirmed Vernon's story while sipping tea from a trembling cup and Dudley just nodded his head, saying "Uh huh!" over and over while stuffing scones in his mouth.

The lovely Auror stood and slowly paced around the room, thinking about what she had heard. "You're sure about the purple light around him? Not blue or some other color?" As Vernon sputtered that he had perfect eyesight, Samantha waved her hand. "Yes, yes of course you're sure. Just, so … unusual. And he didn't have his wand?"

Petunia drew herself up and stated, "We don't allow him to use his freakish tools around us, I'll have you know. It's just so … unnatural." Her voice trailed off as she realized who and what she was saying this to.

More pacing. "How old is Harry?" she finally asked the Dursleys.

"Oh, 14 ... I think. He has a birthday sometime in the summer, so, nearly 15, wouldn't you say, Vernon?" Petunia tried to be nonchalant. "Our dear Dudley is already 15, aren't you, duddykins?"

With a sickly sweet smile, Samantha returned to her pacing. They didn't even know when Harry's birthday was? By now, the Dursleys just watched her pacing, heads moving back and forth as though at a tennis match.

Samantha began muttering. "Not quite 15! Impossible! The youngest one in history was 25. But … a purple aura and no wand. And the residual from the magic is extensive. We registered a huge outlay of magic, almost off the scales. Ah, but he is Harry Potter, though. This could explain so many things." She stopped, and raised her wand, changed her mind and said, "Excuse me, I have to send a magical message and I'm sure you'd rather I not do it in front of you. I can see that magic makes you very … uncomfortable. Wait here, please."

As she started out the door, she heard Dudley whisper to Petunia, "But the scones were so good!"

"Alright then, Potter, what's all this about a Wizard Storm and Death Eaters? I warn you, I'll know if you're putting me on!" Acastus declared.

"Well, sir, I was having a ... an argument with my Uncle Vernon … over there." As Acastus waved him on, he went to stand where Vernon had stopped him. "There was a lightning bolt that startled us. And this nasty storm was right overhead. But it couldn't have been, you see, since I saw it building off that way, and storms never move backwards around here. Uncle Vernon called to the others to come in out of the storm, but Dudley was stuck in the trailer and Aunt Petunia tried to get him out. Then another lightning bolt hit the tree by the trailer."

"There's no tree by the trailer, healthy or damaged," Acastus insisted, looking in that direction.

"Well, that's because it's gone now." Harry dipped his head, saying it in a small voice. "This is where I just don't understand what happened. This purple light formed up around me and, I think, inside me, and when I saw that strange lightning hit the tree, everything went into slow motion. I knew I had to try something, but my wand is stashed away at home, since I can't use it away from school. I sort of … reached out and the purple light hit the tree, and the tree … disappeared in a bunch of purple fireworks. Then another bolt hit me at the same time as two curses. The purple light blocked the attacks, then it tracked back to their sources. The storm disappeared, and the two Death Eaters were hit by the spells they tried on me. Then the glow went away and you two showed up. But I don't understand it. I didn't have my wand, and I didn't use any incantations."

The Obliviator had been experiencing a progressively racing heart and dry mouth as Harry quietly described what he had done. His eyes were wide as he thought, It can't be! But how would he even know about Wild Magic to describe it so well? Only Ministry people know much about the legends of the Magi, and not all of them know, either. But is he a Magus? A school boy? I am way out of my league here. I wonder if those Muggles will confirm his story. Then he looked over at Harry. They had both been quiet for a couple of minutes. "How do you know they were Death Eaters?" Acastus asked quietly, asking but not challenging.

"When the curses hit, they didn't get through, but I recognized them both. One sent a Crucio … I think he's still alive … and the other was … Avada Kedavra … he isn't … alive, that is. Somehow, I'm sure of that." Harry looked off into the distance speaking in an emotionless voice, almost in shock as he began to realize what he had done, and with so little effort … until it was over, that is.

"Show me where they are, Harry," Acastus asked softly. He didn't see Samantha come out of the cottage as they went around a rise into some trees.