The Dragons Return

by viningc

Harry had a war with Earth but he had been given the gift of a lifetime, a place where his dragons and riders would be unconditionally safe. This story continues the trilogy by Bobmin356 and Alyx started at: /s/7591040/18/The-Queen-who-fell-to-Earth

26. Chapter 26: Ex-cons and New Friends

Chapter 26: Ex-Cons and New Friends
Spath's Weyr, The Weyrleader's Quarters, July 31, 2060...
"I don't care what you thought. I don't care if it's your birthday or not. You hurt a lot of people with your little escapade. You will promise me you will never do anything like that again, or I will find it very hard to ever trust you again!" When she finished 'talking' to him, Hermione started crying into May's shoulder. May didn't look too happy herself but had at least let Hermione carry the brunt of the conversation.

Now it was May's turn. "You seem to think that, just because it's your birthday that no one cares. There are a lot of people who love you very much and want to try to show you how much they love you, especially on your birthday. They feel that you don't love them … or us … if you do something as selfish as hiding somewhere when we want to get together with you!" She also started sniffling and then crying against Hermione.

Harry felt wretched. In years past, he had managed to hide for maybe an hour or two before someone found him and dragged him into a celebration he still didn't feel he deserved and wanted no part of. Today, he had managed to hide for most of the day and they still didn't know where he had been.

He reached out to pull his wives into a comforting embrace and stopped when he felt them tense up from suppressed anger. He had really screwed up this time.

He felt extremely conflicted. He loved his wives and children more than life itself and a few others almost as much, yet he really hated the big celebration that had always surrounded this day in the past. Perhaps he could talk his wives into a compromise.

"Alright, I promise never to hide on my birthday again, as long as either of you is still alive. Since I've promised this to you, I would appreciate a promise from both of you as well."

Hermione and May both looked up at Harry and looked less unhappy, but now a little more wary. "What is it you want, Harry?" asked May with apprehension.

"The huge celebrations you two have created in the past are extremely uncomfortable for me. I don't want gifts or cards or even hundreds of people I don't really know eating cake and ice cream while wishing me a happy day that I feel is no different from any other.

"If I am going to be forced to stay where you can find me, I want you both to promise that neither you, nor anyone we know, will try to create a huge celebration for something that I want to include only close family. If we are going to celebrate, please can we do it quietly and use it as a family reunion to renew our bonds with each other. I see little enough of my children now that I don't want to share our time with anyone else."

Both Hermione and May looked shocked and a little embarrassed. "I promise," they both said, almost in unison.

Harry heard the three dragons chuckling in his head. 'Does that mean you are going to stop giving us such delightful puzzles once a year?' asked Cheki so all three could hear it.

'No,' said Harry, 'but in the future, it will probably include more than just me.'

Harry looked at his two startled wives and joined them in a comforting hug of love and reconciliation. Their bond surged and a golden glow rose around the three and their dragons as their bond expanded once again and grew even stronger than it had been. None of them realized immediately that Harry had not talked to them out loud, but they had 'heard' him and understood deeply what he meant.

HMP Erlestoke, November 10, 2060...
Today was the last day of Snape's previous life and the first day of the rest of his life. After 65 years he was due to be released today. Last week he had 'convinced' the Warden to allow a famous tailor to visit him in his cell to get measured for a suit. Snape had selected material for both an upper-class business suit and a more formal suit but in a modern muggle style as well as more casual wear. He didn't know if he was going to go back to the magical world, so it would be best to start dressing for the world he was going to live in. Plus there was no way he was going to meet Nylah and her daughter, Paige, looking scruffy. The muggles didn't have to know that the tailor was also a wizard and Snape's clothes were all enchanted to not only automatically resize to the wearer, but to provide a limited amount of magical and physical protection as well.

He was now 100, almost 101, but looked like a very well-preserved 50. His appearance wouldn't be that far out of line with the age, 43, of his first Internet contact, Nylah. His two suits had been delivered this morning along with a leather satchel which he'd immediately enchanted to be feather-light and bottomless. His business suit would go a long way towards getting her to accept him as the successful businessman he had presented to her. He even had a completely fake identity made up around Brad Tobias Harper.

After breakfast, he had taken a shower and gotten dressed, ready to leave. Everything he had collected while in prison had been packed into his satchel, including the latest iteration of his computer, a small, lightweight, yet powerful machine called a laptop from a company by the name of Apple. All his books and research materials followed it. When he finally arrived wherever he was going, he would have everything he needed to continue with his life as he'd been living it, but this time not locked away.

A short time later, a guard came to escort him out. Snape still had the magic suppression bracelet that had been cut off during his last, almost disastrous fight. He had no idea when but knew someone would be looking for it so they could cut it off his wrist. He wouldn't want to disappoint them.

As he was being processed out, just before he walked through the gate, a small nondescript man approached him and asked to see the wrist the bracelet was on. Snape held up his arm, the man tapped the bracelet with his wand, and the bracelet dissolved.

"I hope we don't see you again, Mr. Snape," said the man.

"I hope never to see you or any of your friends either," retorted Snape. With that, he walked out of the prison a free man … almost.

As he walked through the gate, two heavy-set men approached him.

"Snape?"

"Yes. Do I know you?"

"Nah, dah boss said we should bring ya to him. He said we could even hit ya if ya refused."

"Did he now. And does this, boss, have a name?"

"Boss Carr. He's da head of da London Mafia."

"Well, we shouldn't keep Boss Carr waiting, should we?"

He was roughly 'escorted' over to a large black sedan and almost shoved into the back seat. One of the men sat next to him while the other sat up front with the driver. Snape had seen the bulges under the jackets the two men wore that indicated they were carrying weapons. That didn't bother him, he was far more dangerous to them than they were to him, they just didn't realize that yet. He would go along out of interest. He was curious about what Carr wanted with him. He was annoyed enough at his treatment so far, though, that Carr had better be exceedingly polite or this wouldn't end well … for Carr.

While sitting silently in the back seat, next to one of his "escorts", Snape proceeded to scan the surface thoughts, and later the deeper thoughts of his captors. He found the two initial men he'd met both to be a bit simple while the driver was more intelligent. None of them seemed to have any type of value system except loyalty to 'dah boss'. They had a very underdeveloped sense of right and wrong, seemed to derive great pleasure from keeping physically fit, and had minimal friends. The driver also liked to read, mostly something called Science Fiction and Fantasy, but at least it was something other than bodybuilding. Their only jobs were to do what 'dah boss' told them, be that driving someone to his headquarters or killing someone and disposing of the body. Severus decided he might be able to use them if he could turn their loyalty.

He had learned all he needed to know in the first hour of their ride. He decided to meditate, clear up some of his recently gained knowledge, and store it away for possible future use. That should take all of about fifteen minutes tops. The hour after that, he would be planning what he would do if, as he felt, Carr wanted Snape to do something he didn't want to do.

After almost two and a half hours, Snape felt the car slow to a stop and heard one of the doors open. He came out of his meditative trance and started paying attention, in real-time. Evidently, they had arrived at their destination and the driver had gotten out. Snape watched him as he walked around to the left rear passenger door, opened it, and told Snape to get out. Once Snape was out of the car, the bodyguards also got out.

The driver moved forward and pressed a button next to the door and looked up into a fairly obvious camera above and to one side of the door. A few seconds later a buzzing sound came from the door and the driver led the way inside. They walked along a wide corridor to a door at the end that opened to a set of stairs and climbed to the second floor. Though the stairs continued upward, they exited the door at that level and entered a high ceilinged corridor. It was obvious that the walls on either side were simply temporary partitions, as none of them reached more than about eight feet high, well short of the ceiling.

When they go to the end, the driver knocked on the door and a voice Snape recognized called for them to enter.

"Welcome to my Operations Center, Severus," said Cole Carr. "My brother here, Michael, is my partner in our operations. I've brought you here to be our CFO."

"Really! And if I'm not interested in being your CFO?"

"I'm sure we can do something to convince you," smiled Michael. Snape could see there was no humor or warmth in the smile, only an overwhelming sense of assurance that they would get what they wanted.

"Did he give you any trouble?" Cole asked Snape's three escorts.

"Nah, Boss, he just sat really quiet like in da back seat. I ast him a coupla questions, but he was too afraid ta talk."

"That doesn't sound like the Severus Snape I used to know," said Cole. He turned to Snape and asked, snidely, "Have you turned soft in your old age?"

With that, Snape quickly knocked out his escorts, drew his wand, and stunned the two brothers. It happened so fast, he was sure the brothers wouldn't remember much of what happened. He bound and gagged the three hitmen and Cole's brother and levitated them out of the office and into the first room outside.

When he returned to Cole's office, he levitated his captive into the roller chair behind the desk and securely bound him to the chair by his arms and legs using rope and with a sticking charm. Cole Carr wasn't going anywhere.

While he was out, Snape started going through his memories, surface first and then he delved deeper. When he was through over an hour later, he knew everything the Mob Boss knew. He then brought his brother in, bound him to his office chair as he'd done Cole, and sifted through his mind, He didn't learn much new except that Michael was, in the depths of his mind, planning on taking over as the sole head of the local mob.

He then enervated Cole and immediately imperioused him. Soon they were joined, one by one, by his mob family that had been spread across Greater London to control smaller gangs of criminals. By the end of the next day, Snape had over thirty of Cole's Lieutenants bound to chairs like Cole and his brother. When he was finished, he knew all there was to know about any major crime in all of Greater London.

He had even found out some very interesting, almost unbelievable, information. Muggles knew all about the magical world! Something for him to investigate further at a later time. For now, he proceeded to use Cole's computer to transfer the entire contents of the crime syndicate's finances to his own accounts. In more than one instance, he was forced to create additional accounts to hold it all. By the time he was finished, his net wealth had increased by almost twenty-five percent.

After he was finished, he woke up his three former captors and offered them a job. When they saw every one of the organization's members tied up in Cole's office, they quickly decided to switch allegiance to Snape. He now had his own small 'gang'. He sent them out to purchase certain items and then cleared a corner of the room to make it ready for creating potions. It had been a long time, but something he would never forget how to do. Veritaserum took a while to brew, 28 days in fact, but he would then have enough to liberally dose everyone he had captured. They were all muggles, so he didn't think any of them would have the means to be able to resist. Just to make sure, he would brew enough to be able to dose them all with six drops each and have some leftover.

The first thing he was going to have to do was create wards around his current location so he wasn't interrupted. One of the spells he would have to cast over the entire building was a Fidelius so that no one could even find his location. He would also have to block any detection of magic usage. He had a lot of people here to control. It would be impossible without magic.

Old Ames Glass Building, 9A Martineau Rd, London, Nov 13, 2060...
It had taken him three days to get his wards in place the way he wanted them. While doing that, he had to also take time to create a mini-prison for his 'inmates'. He used his three new gang members, Archie Morris, the driver, and Charlie Poole and Sean Ross, the muscle, as his wardens. Instead of two rows of offices on the floor, there were now four rows of fairly small cells with narrow aisles between them. The hardest thing for him to accomplish was to get each cell set up so the prisoner would have enough food and water to survive until he was through with them.

Each prisoner was supplied with a single bottle of water and a single meal each day. They would lose a little weight by the time he was through, but some of them would be a lot healthier for it. Because the makeshift cells had no bathroom facilities except for a covered bucket, Snape was forced to use magic to clean the prisoners' cells once a day.

Once the wards were finished, Archie, Charlie, and Sean managed to bring in all the equipment he required, including muggle tape recorders and plenty of tape. Now what he had to do was find all the ingredients he needed. It was time to visit Diagon Alley. He would purchase an owl and get a mail-order form from Slug & Jiggers Apothecary, just inside the entrance from The Leaky Cauldron.

Old Ames Glass Building, Dec 7, 2060...
Snape had plenty of time to complete everything. Tonight was not only a full moon, but a supermoon, meaning his veritaserum would be extra potent. He'd had to brew the potion up to a certain point and put it all in stasis until it was time to expose the potion to the moon. He was pleased tonight would be clear. He had been both lucky and unlucky that the previous full moon, also a supermoon, had occurred on November 8, two full days before he'd been released. Bad luck that he had to wait so long for the next one and good luck because he had plenty of time to prepare.

While he had been waiting for the full moon, he had made the rounds of Cole's Lieutenants and had them bring in a few of the lesser gang leaders. Those he captured and treated as he had everyone else. All the cells on the floor were full and he had no more room unless he wanted to start doubling up occupancy of the cells. He didn't want to do that, because it would cause extra headaches he didn't want to worry about. He had more than enough information for now.

Once a day, he had imperioused a few of his prisoners one at a time and had them maintain their contacts so nothing would change. In all cases where their henchmen asked what they were supposed to do, they were told to lie low as someone was sniffing around in the 'wrong' places. It had been the quietest time as far as crime went that London had seen in centuries.

Old Ames Glass Building, Dec 8, 2060...
His veritaserum was finally ready! Now he could finish what he had started, taking revenge on Cole Carr for daring to try to coerce him into anything. It was entirely secondary that it would utterly destroy one of the biggest criminal organizations in all of the UK.

Snape took a new bottle of water and exchanged six drops of veritaserum he had placed in a small vial with six drops of water. He banished the water from the vial, replaced it with another six drops of veritaserum, and continued on to the next bottle of water. When he was finished, he had enough doctored water bottles so every prisoner would get one. He then placed a Notice-Me-Not charm on the entire stack to keep his 'wardens' from accidentally doing anything with it, and grabbed his first bottle.

He went into the third cell, which contained the first Lieutenant he had captured, and offered him the bottle. The man looked at him warily, but still almost snatched the bottle from Snape. Severus watched as the man's eyes slowly took on a vague look. He then handed the man a tape recorder and a small stack of tapes. He cast a mild imperious on the man and ordered, "Use this tape recorder and any extra tapes you may need to explain who you are and everything you know about what you have been doing for Cole. Leave nothing out. Name every one you know of in all gangs and where they may usually be found. Tell about all crimes you and anyone working for you or over you have committed, not forgetting to tell who committed those crimes. When you are finished, carefully drop the recorder and all tapes through the food slot in the door."

As the man started talking into the recorder, Snape grabbed another bottle and went into the next cell. While he was going to each cell, Archie and Sean were removing all evidence of their having been living in the building, including all the equipment they had originally brought in for Snape. When they were finished, the only thing remaining would be the cells and those in them. Snape had a plan for them soon enough.

Old Ames Glass Building, Dec 23, 2060...
Snape had put off the finalization of his plan until today. He felt the people involved, while not appreciating the timing, would come to think of it as an early Christmas present. All his prisoners, except for his three new assistants, were happily sitting in their cells waiting for the time he had ordered them to drink their dosed water. He had each of them create a sign for their doors with their name, their position in the organization, and some of their major crimes.

Now he turned to the first two cells. One at a time, he brought out the two brothers and cast an imperious on them. He then led them into their original office which he had left alone. There were two ladders forming an inverted "V" up to a thick pipe running through the ceiling. He gave the oldest brother a specially prepared fairly short length of rope and had them both climb the ladders until they were at the top.

The imperious on the older brother had been applied first and was the lightest, so Snape could see Cole fighting against it. When they both reached the top, Snape started talking, "I found out something your brother has been hiding from you, Cole. He had plans to murder you and take over your organization completely." Cole looked at him in some distress, because he believed it. "Now, I want you to put one of those loops over your brother's head and tighten it around his neck enough that it won't come off accidentally."

When Cole had done that, Snape continued, "Now put the other loop over your head and tighten it the same way … no, over the pipe, not under." Snape watched as Cole, fighting against the compulsion, finally did as he was told.

With every ounce of determination left him, Cole asked, "Just who and what are you?"

"I," said Snape with satisfaction, "am the last person you will ever see while you are alive." With that. Snape used a bludgeoning hex to knock the tops of the ladders off the pipe. He was quite happy to see the hangman's nooses he had tied in each end of the rope held firmly.

After the two bodies had stopped all motion, he, Archie, Charlie, and Sean went out to what was now Snape's car.

London Metropolitan Police Department, Dec 24, 2060...
"Have you made any headway in finding out who called this in?" asked the Chief Superintendent, Sir Blake Gordon.

"No, sir. The call came from a cheap mobile phone that was found just outside the door of the building. The scene of the crime, if you can call it that, was most carefully cleaned of anything that would allow us to determine who it was that managed to take down the largest criminal syndicate in the entire UK. Even the recording of the call only revealed a carefully anonymous voice claiming shots were fired from inside the old Ames Glass Company building on 9A Martineau Rd.

"When the officers who had been dispatched arrived, everything was quiet, but the door was open. After additional backup arrived several officers started searching the building. When they got to the second floor they found the scene of the massacre … or suicide, it still hasn't been proven either way. There were forty small cells on the second floor and a large office overlooking the entrance. It appears that the inhabitants of the cells, except for two, had all drunk from poisoned water bottles at the same time. The only two exceptions were the brothers Carr, whom Scotland Yard has been after for years.

"Outside each door was a small box containing a tape recorder and extra tapes that identified the cell's occupant and described, presumably in their own voices, all of the crimes they had committed and more than enough corroborating information to close hundreds of open cases.

"The brothers Carr were hanging from a large pipe by a short rope with a hangman's noose tied in each end. There were two ladders lying on the floor under them, apparently where they had climbed up to get to the pipe. The two empty cells had the same box of tapes and identified them as the occupants."

"Well," said the Superintendent, "I know this is frustrating, but it's not like they are going anywhere. They are all in the morgue and the evidence is safely in custody. Let everyone know it's time to go home for Christmas. We can revisit all this when we come back from the holidays."

"Thank you, sir, I will pass that on to all departments."

Sir Gordon gave a frustrated shake of his head and started to pack up his desk preparatory to following his own orders. He hoped that this year would prove to be a lot quieter than previous years … other than yesterday's discovery.

11 Lindley St, Stepney, London, Dec 23, 2060...
Snape had decided weeks ago that when he was finished with the Carr brothers, he would visit his Internet acquaintance. To that end, he had started doing in-depth research on both her and her daughter. He found out where she lived, what her family situation was, and even what they had planned for the holidays. He had also created a fake passport for 'Brad Harper', complete with all sorts of stamps showing him to be a frequent world traveler. He had studied the places he had supposedly visited, so he had extensive knowledge of these areas should he need to talk about them. He had even used his network of couriers over the years to set up bank accounts in many of the locations and send back local information.

If at all possible, he would move from the old Ames Glass building directly to her new house, near the Royal London Hospital where she now taught. The money from the insurance policy her father had taken 'mistakenly' out on himself instead of her mother now allowed them to live within walking distance of her work.

While he had researched Nylah, he had also come across many amazing anomalies. Evidently, Hogsmeade was now a popular "magical" tourist destination. Dragons and their riders seemed to be everywhere he looked, and muggles and magicals now freely mixed. It appeared there was no more International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy! He hadn't gotten out much in the past month or so, but he had still overheard many muggle conversations that would have horrified him before he went to prison.

Not having had any contact with women for over 65 years put Snape at a severe disadvantage which he wanted to remedy. He made an appointment with a 'full service' escort agency to get back into practice and enjoyed the ministrations of one of their best models/teachers. He didn't want anything to risk all those years of investment he had in Nylah or Paige if he couldn't control himself when he met them.

Now he was quickly approaching Nylah's new home of the last several years. As they pulled up in front of the house, Snape turned to Archie and said, "Just drop me off in front of the house, then you can all go enjoy yourselves for the holidays, just stay out of trouble. I've given you each five-thousand pounds spending money as a 'bonus', so you should be able to do just about anything you want. We all have cell phones, so we can get in touch if something comes up. I don't think I will need you again until the middle of January sometime. Look for a call from me around then."

He got out of the car in the slowly dimming light and stood there watching as Archie carefully drove off. Now it was time to find out if his investment was going to pay off. He was wearing his best business suit, his passport was in his pocket, and all his other possessions were packed in a special trunk which had been shrunk down and put in his pocket. He turned towards the door and, for the first time in years, found himself unsure of his actions and actually anxious about the outcome. Nevertheless, he walked, outwardly confident, up to the door to meet his Internet acquaintance for the first time, in person. He knocked firmly on the door.

The woman who opened the door was obviously a successful professional woman. Snape knew she was 43 years of age, but she still looked quite youthful. When she looked out into the late afternoon light, she saw an older gentleman of about 50 in an obviously expensive suit looking calmly back at her. He could be anything from a Barrister to a prosperous businessman, but she didn't recognize him as anyone she knew.

"Yes, may I help you?" asked Nylah, guardedly.

"Nylah Harper?" asked Snape, though he knew exactly who she was. He had a sudden feeling of panic. He wasn't sure he could go through with what he had planned, at least not now, not here.

"Yes," she said, now puzzled who this man could be that seemed to know her.

"I believe we know someone in common and I would like to invite you and your daughter to an early lunch tomorrow, if you have no other plans, so we may have a chance to talk about it in a public setting where you will feel safe."

Now intrigued, Nylah said, "Tomorrow for lunch would be fine. Do you have a specific place you want to go?"

"No, I am relatively new to the area and was hoping you could recommend somewhere you enjoy."

"Well, there is a place about three blocks from here my daughter and I used to love to go to called The Gourmet Hut. It's nothing fancy, but they have wonderful burgers and we haven't been for years. From what I remember, though, they don't open until 2 p.m. on Fridays."

"Two PM is fine with me if that is where you want to go. Shall I pick you up here or meet you there?"

"It might be best to meet there since we don't really know each other yet."

"Perfectly understandable," agreed Snape. "I may be a few minutes late, but will look for you when I arrive."

"Thank you for the invitation, Mr …?"

"I will let you know my name tomorrow," smiled Snape. "That is part of what I wish to discuss."

"Very well," said a very puzzled and slightly concerned Doctor Harper. "We will see you tomorrow, sometime after 2 p.m. at The Gourmet Hut."

Snape bowed slightly, turned, and walked down to the end of the drive. Now he didn't know what to do. He had originally planned on sleeping in her house. Now he had no car, no place to sleep, and it was getting colder. When he reached the end of the sidewalk to the street, he turned to look at the woman staring at him with a puzzled expression on her face. He made a sudden decision and Disapparated to Diagon Alley.

Nylah Harper's mouth dropped open in shock. She had just seen someone disappear from sight right in front of her eyes! It was like magic … then she remembered what had been in the news almost exclusively for the past two years. The man who had just been here must be one of those magicians … no, what were they called? Wizard, yes, that was it. He must be one of those wizards. Now, why would he be interested in her and her daughter?

"Who was that, Mum," asked her daughter, Paige.

"Someone who just invited us to lunch tomorrow and I think it might be interesting to meet with him to find out his story."

"Do you think he would mind if I brought Dave?"

"I definitely think you should bring Dave. I don't know anything about this man except that he wants to talk to us. Just because he didn't try to force his way inside doesn't mean I trust him. It wouldn't be a bad idea to invite a 6 ft. 5 in. strapping policeman to go to our meeting with us."

"In that case, I'd better be getting home. David will get worried if I don't get there soon and he will need a little warning that we are going out tomorrow."

"Just warn that husband of yours to wear something comfortable that he won't mind getting stains on. Those burgers are so juicy it's almost impossible to eat without getting a few stains on your clothing."

"Will do, Mum. See you tomorrow, around one." The two women shared a quick embrace and Paige left to go home. Nylah sat up for some time after wondering who this stranger could be.

The Gourmet Hut, London, Dec 24, 2060...
Snape walked into The Gourmet Hut at 2:05 p.m. And looked around. Since it was Christmas Eve, there weren't many people, but enough to show that it was a very popular retreat. Five minutes after opening on a holiday and it was already at least a quarter full. He looked around and finally spotted Nylah sitting with another young woman he assumed was Paige and a young man.

As Snape approached their table, Nylah looked up, saw him approaching, and spoke inaudibly to the other two. They all then turned to watch him approach the table.

"Good afternoon, Nylah," said Snape pleasantly. "I presume this is Paige and the young man must be someone close or you wouldn't have invited him."

"I would introduce you, but I don't know a name to use for you," countered Nylah. "Won't you let us know who you are now?"

"Of course," replied Snape. "Sorry for the minor mystery, but I felt you would appreciate meeting like this, just in case you feel uncomfortable with some of the information I'm about to impart. Being in a public place tends to make one feel safer, no matter what the circumstances."

"Now I am starting to feel uncomfortable," snapped Nylah. "Please stop being so mysterious and let us know who you are!"

"Please let me finish what I'm about to say, then, before you comment further. For the past thirty years, you have known of me as Brad Harper ..."

Snape got no further before there were twin feminine squeals of delight and he was engulfed in hugs from either side. It took him a while, but he finally managed to get them seated again so he could continue. Before he could, though, Nylah cut in.

"Please sit down, Mr. Harper," said Nylah. "I don't know why you had to be mysterious, but at least you can be comfortable while talking to us. This is David Hamilton, Paige's new husband. We call him Dave and he works with the Met."

Snape eyed the young man warily, he then seemed to come to a decision and sat down as directed.

"Perhaps it is best that Mr. Hamilton is here then, given what I am about to reveal to you. It will give you an added feeling of safety. As I said, you have known me as Brad Harper, but that is not my real name. When we first became acquainted, I had reason to believe that using my real name could be dangerous for me and, by extension, for you. Over the years, even after I was sure that the danger no longer existed, it was simply easier to maintain the fiction of my appellation rather than confuse you any further.

"Through a series of interesting circumstances, I have access to quite a bit of money and … other resources. I knew about your plight and felt it would be a good investment to do what I could to ease your path through life as best I could. ..." Snape saw the speculative look in Hamilton's eyes, but continued anyway. "... By the time I had you safely settled, your daughter cared for so you could finish your schooling, and other matters taken care of, it really was simpler to continue the fiction.

"Helping you and your daughter has come to mean a great deal to me and has been almost my sole source of comfort for many years."

Dave, looking concerned, spoke up, "You aren't involved in any criminal gangs or activities, are you?"

Snape looked over at him a moment, sighed, and then said, "No, Mr. Hamilton. I have never been involved in any criminal gangs as you put it, but the entire reason I'm being so circumspect is because I was justly sentenced to prison over 65 years ago for something I have come to regret. This is why I suggested meeting in a public place rather than identifying myself last night. I didn't want to put Nylah or Paige in a position where they might be concerned they were in danger."

Suddenly, Nylah's eyes widened. "You disappeared last night. I saw you! One second you were there, looking back at me, the next second you simply disappeared! You are one of 'Them' aren't you?"

Paige looked puzzled and Dave looked both puzzled and protective. Snape looked at Nylah and said, "If by 'Them' you mean I'm a wizard, then, yes, I am a magical being. Before I went to prison, I would never have dreamed of saying this to anyone, not of my world. Now, I understand it is common knowledge."

"But you don't look old enough to have been in prison for 65 years. You only look about 50.," said Nylah, plaintively. "Just how old are you?"

"Thank you for that," said Snape amusedly. "The beginning of January next year, I will be 101 years old."

Everyone at the table just looked at him as if he'd suddenly grown another head, a particularly ugly one at that.

"Well, I can see by your expressions that I was wrong to reveal myself to you. I should simply have maintained our Internet acquaintance and saved myself the pain of losing your friendship." Snape started to rise from his seat.

"Wait," snapped Nylah and Snape settled back down. "I would probably be dead now and Paige never born if not for your intervention. We at least owe you a hearing and a friendly lunch, if not more. You seem to know all about us, please let us get to know you a little better."

After they'd all placed their food orders and received them, Snape surreptitiously cast a Notice-Me-Not charm and a Privacy charm so they could talk in private. They talked for over an hour while other patrons came and went. Snape talked about his early schooling, about being bullied, and about him becoming a professor and becoming a bully in turn. Finally, he noticed the time, and suggested they leave and perhaps continue the story somewhere else where they might be a little more comfortable. He then removed the charms he had placed on the area around them and the waitress realized they needed her to pay the bill.

Dave started to get his wallet out, but Snape stopped him. "Believe me, I can easily afford this. If you are truly a policeman, you cannot be earning all that much and if you are now married to Paige, you will need everything you can save to put towards your new family."

Dave looked both embarrassed and grateful as Snape paid the bill, adding an overly generous tip for the waitress who had to work on Christmas Eve.

11 Lindley St, Stepney, Dec 24, 2060...
Nyah and Paige had just finished serving tea when Snape looked up at Nylah curiously. "Where is your mother? I thought she would be living with you."

Nylah looked a bit startled by Snape's question, but replied, "She went back to live in her old home after my father died. She loved the area and the neighbors."

"My condolences," said Snape, "it must be hard to lose one of your parents, no matter how distant they are."

"It couldn't have happened to a 'nicer' man," replied Nylah. "He was abusive to us both and, like I implied earlier, I would have soon been dead if I hadn't gotten out of there. I'm just glad Mum left when she did, or she might have died as well."

"Oh?" said Snape curiously.

"My father wasn't at all domesticated and didn't know the first thing about caring for himself. Evidently, he had tried to turn on one of the burners on our gas stove, but the pilot light had gone out. He slipped on some of the trash he had left lying on the floor, hit his head on the corner of the table on the way down, and was knocked unconscious. Before he could come to, the gas had settled and he suffocated. A few days later, a passerby notified British Gas that there was a strong odor of gas in the area. We were fortunate that they were able to open the doors and windows and allow the gas to dissipate or there probably would not have been a house for my mother to move back into.

"On the table where he hit his head was an insurance policy for £500,000! It listed my Mum and me as beneficiaries, but I have a feeling he meant it the other way and was planning to get rid of us. He would never have done something that would have benefited us and not him."

Snape just smiled to himself. He knew all about the insurance policy, but this was the first time he had heard about exactly how his 'contractor' had managed to carry out his contract. He would have to get in touch and give him a bonus. It was really masterful. He wouldn't be surprised that, if he were to look into the 'disaster', he would find that his contractor was the one who raised the alarm before anything could actually blow.

He looked up at Nylah and said, "I'm just glad that it turned out the way it did. You and your family are safe and have a bit of extra money out of it."

"A bit!" exclaimed Nylah in shock. "I came away with almost £250,000! Without that, we could never have been able to afford to live so close to my work. It was a miracle!"

"Miracles come in different ways," said Snape cryptically.

"What do you mean?" asked Dave, markedly.

"Shortly after I first came to know Nylah, she 'won' an Australian contest and received a thousand-pound first prize. I told her I had entered in her name, but in fact, it was a contest with only one entrant," smirked Snape. "It was the only way I could get money to her at the time. I then made 'suggestions' to her about how to invest the money and she trusted me enough to do what I suggested."

Nylah just looked at Snape wide-eyed in shock. "That was you? Because of you, I had food, shelter, and clothing when no one else even seemed to care if I lived or died. And all this time you were in prison!" She started to quietly sob and Paige moved over to comfort her mother.

Dave looked at Snape curiously. "What were you in prison for?" he asked.

"I would prefer not to answer that question at this time, if you don't mind, however, I will give you the name I was imprisoned under ..." Snape passed his prison name written on a slip of paper to David. "... and you should be able to find any pertinent records. If not, I will tell you later, after we have all become a bit better acquainted. I would hate to lose the friendship of this accomplished and beautiful woman because of something that happened long before she was even born and that I have since paid my debt to society for. Does that sound fair?" He looked pointedly at them all.

Dave looked at the name written on the paper, refolded it, and nodded, as Paige did the same hesitantly and Nylah looked at him in wonder. Snape hurriedly spoke up, "I don't want anyone to do anything they might regret later before getting to know me as I am now, not as I was when I was sent to prison."

"The child-care for Paige and tutors for my A-levels and … and … did you have anything to do with my scholarship?"

"Don't you think you earned it?" countered Snape. "They were quite happy to see such an excellent student apply. They were even happier when they received an anonymous deposit to cover any and all fees associated with you going there."

"And the nannies?"

"I couldn't have you distracted because you were worried about your daughter, now could I?"

Suddenly Nylah looked startled. "What about that boy who started bothering me in my Sophomore year and suddenly disappeared?"

"That would probably have had something to do with the security guards I hired to quietly make sure you weren't distracted. From what I understand, after talking to the young man after he initially caused you distress, he changed all his classes so you would never have to see him again."

"How about the monthly 'stipend' I get? Is that really from the government because I'm a single mother?"

"Have you ever known the government to do anything that makes sense?"

Nylah looked horrified and looked at him with eyes now wide in near terror. "I talked to you about everything! I even asked your opinion about my mother when she left Dad. It wasn't too long after that he had his 'accident'! Was that ..."

"Now, Nylah. I was in prison. I could study and invest, but how could I do anything other than electronically?"

Nylah calmed right down, but Snape noticed that Dave eyed him a little closer.

"Oh, thank God!" cried Nylah. "I was starting to worry you might have somehow been responsible. Not that he didn't deserve to die, but I'm so thankful you aren't involved in any way."

Dave grimaced at that but held his counsel.

"Mum said you disappeared from the end of the sidewalk and you admitted you are magical. Can you show us some tricks?" asked Paige.

"Do you want to see tricks or would you really prefer to see magic?" asked Snape as he silently levitated Paige's armchair so slowly she wasn't aware it was happening. Out of the corner of his eye, Snape saw Dave stiffen and Nylah opened her mouth in an 'Oh' of silent surprise.

"Well, magic I suppose," said Paige, unsure of where this was going.

Snape then rotated her chair so she was facing her mother and Paige let out a squeal of surprise and a scream of fear when she realized she was halfway to the ceiling and hadn't even realized it. Snape had levitated her up so slowly she hadn't even noticed the change in eye lines. She had to look further and further down to see Snape but hadn't realized what was happening until her chair turned, seemingly on its own, to see the others below her.

"Get me down!" she screamed.

Snape slowly lowered her armchair as he rotated it back to face him again. Paige just sat in her chair and shivered.

"That didn't really hurt you, did it, Paige? It probably scared you, because you didn't really believe magic exists, but it does. That was the simplest and fastest way I had to quickly prove that fact to you. I would never knowingly harm you or allow harm to come to you."

Paige was calming down quickly now that she was back on the floor and Snape was talking to her so calmly. He could still see that Dave and Nylah were still somewhat shocked. Finally, when they'd recovered a bit more from their initial shock. Dave asked the next question.

"Is that all you can do, physically move objects?"

"No, and there are many people who can do things I cannot, just as there are many things I can do that others cannot. It's a matter of training and application. Just as you could probably fix a leaky sink, a plumber would do a much better job of it and be a lot faster as well. While that same plumber could probably defend himself, he could never come close to what you are capable of.

"Take this suit, for instance. Before I left prison, I arranged for a magical tailor to visit me. He created this suit, among other clothes, that is quite unlike anything you can purchase from your local clothing store. The most obvious element is that it will automatically resize to fit whoever is wearing it. I, personally, don't know the spells to cause the cloth to act that way, but, if I had the inclination, could learn them. Instead, I pay someone else to make them for me."

"I don't believe that," stated Dave, flatly. "That suit is obviously finely tailored to fit you well, but it would never fit someone like, say, Paige."

Snape stood up and took off his jacket, surreptitiously removing his passport from the inner pocket. He placed the passport into the bottomless pocket on his trousers and held the jacket out to Paige. She looked a little startled, but gamely stood and accepted it. She looked at the jacket doubtfully. While in her hand, it looked big enough to hold both her and her Mum at the same time, with room to spare. She hadn't realized just how big their visitor was across the shoulders.

She shrugged her shoulders and put it on. There was a faint glow and suddenly the jacket fit her as if it had been custom-tailored to her exact measurements, including darts in the chest so her feminine features were shown to best effect.

Snape conjured a mirror so Paige could see herself in it. As she turned to her left and then right to see different aspects of the fit, Snape looked at Dave. "Care to try it on?"

Looking a bit more doubtful, Dave stood and Paige removed the jacket. After she handed it to him, Dave just looked at the petite garment in his hand and wondered how he was supposed to put it on. He shrugged his shoulders and put one of his arms in the sleeve. This time, there was a flash before he finished as the suit expanded. Once he finished putting it on, there was another flash as it shrunk down to fit him exactly as it had done for Paige.

He looked at himself in the mirror, suddenly realizing that this was yet another example of magic, for there had never been a mirror this big in the entire house before now. Admitting his defeat, he shrugged out of the jacket and handed it back to Snape. Snape banished the mirror, put his jacket back on, and sat down again.

"All your demonstrations so far have been relatively benign," stated Dave. "Surely, there are more dangerous magics you know of or are even capable of."

"There are," sighed Snape. "I can kill a man from across the room with the wave of my wand ..." Snape allowed his wand to snap out into his hand. "... but the spell is visible and can be avoided if the target is nimble enough and knows it's coming. You non-magicals can kill a man across the room and, even if he knows it's coming, he can do nothing about it. I cannot harm, or even affect, anyone much beyond such a short distance. You, on the other hand, have the capability to harm someone over a mile away. Your snipers have routinely made single kill shots during your wars. In fact, your kind can kill millions from halfway around the world and routinely have done so during your wars. When we have a war, at most hundreds or thousands die, compared to millions in your wars.

"If you are afraid of what I and my kind can do, how do you think we feel about you and your kind? I am personally terrified by the new relaxation of the magical secrecy."

Dave sat back with a thoughtful look on his face. He felt a little more comfortable with this stranger he had just met today, but that didn't mean he wouldn't look up his record, the first chance he got.

-oooOOOooo-

They talked for some hours more, covering many topics: personal, politics, the national scene, international events, and dragons. When the last topic was introduced, Paige piped up and said dreamily, "I understand there is a place up in Scotland somewhere that you can actually talk to a real dragon. It's supposed to be near a magical village that, until today, I never thought was true."

"Do you know where this place is?" asked Snape, curiously.

"Someplace called Hogville or Hogswalk or something like that," said Paige a bit vaguely. "I never paid much attention to it, as I thought it just a scam."

"Hogsmeade, perhaps," suggested Snape.

"That could have been it, I just don't remember enough to be sure."

Shortly after that, Snape excused himself, saying that he had some prior business he needed to attend to.

"I'm sure we can get together again after the New Year," said Snape. "If anything comes up, you can get in touch with me, call me on my cell phone, at 7751 4261. If you're outside the London area, you will have to add the 020 prefix."

After the other three wrote the number down, or in Paige's case, entered it directly into her cell phone, Snape tried to say his goodbyes.

"Won't you spend Christmas with us?" pleaded Nylah.

"I don't want to be an imposition. I have sprung myself on you at the last minute and really think you need some time alone, away from me, in order to be able to discuss any possible ramifications. I'm aware that many people think of this time as a religious holiday and celebrate it as such. Personally, I just view it as a chance to get on with my own pursuits. I promise, if you still want to have anything to do with me when I return, I will do my best to include you in my plans."

After more pleas for him to remain that he managed to turn down, he left. He had a sudden urge to go see Hogsmeade again.

Hogsmeade, Jan 5, 2061...
Snape had been staying in The Three Broomsticks in their best room since shortly after he'd left Nylah's place in London. He had apparated near to the Shrieking Shack and immediately noticed the new hotel west of the village.

After getting to his room, he had disillusioned himself and started walking the ward line around the school and checking all the old ways in. It appeared that the wards had been extended to monitor, if not outright block, all the old tunnels he knew about, including the one into the Shrieking Shack and into the Honeydukes basement.

Little known to him, his every move had been watched with great interest by the dragons in the area, both those permanently assigned to Hogwarts and those temporarily assigned to Hogsmeade. Since all he had done was look, they hadn't bothered to try to apprehend him. For most of the dragons and riders present, Hogwarts wasn't their concern, the tourists were … and Snape was about to cross over into their domain of concern.

Snape was frustrated. He had seen a few dragons, some with figures on their shoulders he assumed were their riders, but the number he saw couldn't be near enough to cover all of Hogsmeade if they were really there to protect the tourists. None of the ones he could see seemed to pay any particular attention to him and the ones that did were all inside the Hogwarts wards.

He finally decided to cast Mage Sight on himself and was almost terrified at the huge increase in dragons he saw. It looked like there was at least one on the roof of every building in sight! He didn't understand how the ramshackle buildings held the weight of one dragon, much less the two and sometimes three he saw.

He had noticed that groups of tourists seemed to arrive at regular intervals, so walked through the village in the direction of the new hotel to see if he could determine where they were coming from. He didn't realize it, but all the dragons behind him were watching his progress very closely as he carefully passed through the tourists. The tourists couldn't see him, but the dragons, and those riders who activated their thermal viewers, could.

He got to the other end of the village and saw a large open area with strange metal-looking buildings around it. Each of the buildings had two doors with a colored band across the top of each. No two buildings had the same color. He found a convenient rock, cast a cushioning charm on it, and sat to watch what happened when the next group of muggles appeared. He knew they couldn't apparate, but they had to be arriving somehow.

Shortly after he'd arrived, a large group of tired muggles trudged up the path and entered one of the buildings. It must be some kind of rest station or perhaps accommodations, but then why the obvious hotel? There were two dragons on the roof of the building, something that was obvious to him with his Mage Sight active, but that didn't mean anything to him since there were dragons on top of all the buildings in Hogsmeade. At least these buildings looked strong enough to support their weight.

Suddenly, the dragons sat up and he started watching to see what they would do. The dragons seemed to grab onto something on the roof and started flying up. No sooner had the bottom of the building cleared the ground than dragons and building disappeared! Dragons could disapparate! In tandem! While carrying a heavy load!

As he watched, he saw a dot in the sky become larger until he recognized it as one of the strange buildings, which he saw sat on spindly legs rather than directly on the ground. The dragons on top gently lowered the building to the ground, furled their wings, and the doors opened discharging another group of tourists. Now he understood the how, he just didn't understand the why or anything else about this most interesting evolution.

Obviously, he was going to have to study this a lot more. Suddenly, his desire to visit his old alma mater wasn't as much of a priority as it had been. He rose from his seat on the rock, looked around, memorizing the location for future reference in case he wanted to apparate here in the future, and started wandering back to his room. Fortunately, he was still within a large group of tourists, so couldn't be apprehended without causing a huge fuss. By the time he reached The Three Broomsticks, the threat level he represented to the guardians of the village had been downgraded to just curiosity.

Once in his room, he pondered what he was going to do. He pulled the trunk out of his pocket, restored it to its normal size, unpacked his laptop, and signed on to his favorite server using the laptop's built-in satellite phone connection. There he researched dragons in general, dragons in connection to Hogsmeade, and Hogsmeade in connection to muggles. What he found out astonished him. There were actually tourist flights from all over the UK to let muggles see a real live magical village! There was even a terminal at the Kings Cross station, not that far from where Nylah lived.

He came to a decision. He put everything away and shrank his trunk down before putting it back in his pocket. Then he sat in one of the more comfortable chairs to meditate until just before the last group of tourists was scheduled to arrive. He would apparate to the arrival area and mix in with them as they made their way into the village. Perhaps he could learn something by listening to them talk amongst themselves.

-oooOOOooo-

Just before 6 p.m., Snape came out of his meditation, freshened himself, cast a disillusionment and a mage sight on himself, and disapparated to the landing area.

-oooOOOooo-

'Flight Leader, we have an unknown who just apparated near the landing area. It might be the same person who was wandering around earlier. It's very hard to make out features using the infrared viewer.'

'Just watch for now. If he does anything we can charge him with, apprehend him. Do not let him go into any buildings with the tourists.'

'Understood.'

-oooOOOooo-

At a little after 6 p.m., Snape saw the last scheduled flight and started walking slowly down the path towards Hogsmeade. At the leisurely pace he was taking, the crowd should catch up to him quickly and he would speed up to match their pace once they surrounded him. That would give him ample time to hear whatever they had to say. He cast a mild muggle repelling charm on himself so no one would collide with "something that wasn't there" and remark on it. He didn't want anyone to notice him.

Soon he was surrounded by tourists and sped up to keep pace. As they walked along, all he heard was utter drivel. Where did these people come from? They had almost reached Gladrags Wizardwear when he finally noticed that the dragons, all the dragons, even those visible to the tourists, were watching the crowd he was in. It didn't take much to realize they were probably watching him, but how could they see him?

He paused and let some of the tourists go by and noticed the dragons' gazes also stopped. They were definitely watching him! His heart rate spiked momentarily before he forced himself to calm down. He had not been bothered earlier today, what was different now? Then he noticed that the tourists were being guided into forming a single line before going into the store. Snape thought to himself, 'If I join that line, it will be easy for someone to grab me and pull me aside without anyone noticing, especially since the tourists can't see me. How do they know I'm here!?'

Just before he would have joined the line of tourists, he made a decision. He stopped, looked directly at the dragon watching him from the roof of the building, waved to it, and, once he knew the dragon had seen him, disapparated back to his room at The Three Broomsticks.

-oooOOOooo-

'Flight Leader, he waved at me and then disappeared!'

'He obviously knows now that we have been watching him. Maintain heightened security until all tourists have left for the night. I will try to get someone here tomorrow who can see magical auras. That might at least help us to track him if he comes back. I hate mysteries like this!'

-oooOOOooo-

Snape sat shakily on the edge of the bed in his room. That had been too close. He was just after information, but they were clearly trying to detain him. With his history, he didn't want anything to do with anyone who looked like Aurors or police. He needed another way to join a group so he could learn more.

11 Lindley St, Stepney, Jan 15, 2061...
Snape met Dave outside by pre-arrangement. He wanted to give the policeman a chance to air any problems he had with him in private before they entered Nylah's home. Paige had gone on into the house ahead of her husband to talk with her mother. She thought the two men were just getting to know each other better.

"I looked up your record," said Dave. "A lot of it seemed sketchy and some of the earlier information was redacted. I was unable to find out why you went to prison, but it must have been pretty bad since you were sentenced to 65 years. I did find out that about five years before you were to be released you killed another inmate. That they released you on time, indicates to me that it had to have been self-defense and viewed by the guards or they would never have let you out a mere five years later. Most of the reports indicate you to be a quiet bookworm, but I've seen your physique, and you don't look like any bookworm I've ever known. I need some answers."

Snape sighed, "Alright, I will tell you about my sordid past, but I may as well tell it to you all. If you disapprove, I'm sure they won't. If I can convince them that I am rehabilitated, it won't matter what you think."

Turning towards the house, the two entered and joined the two ladies in the parlor.

After Snape had seated himself, he started, "I told you some of my story last time, but Dave here is not very happy with the little he was able to find out about me, so I am going to tell you whatever you want to know. Before I start, I would like to let you know that one of my magical powers is that of the mind. I can easily read your surface thoughts and, with very little effort can read past memories. I don't usually try, because others' private lives, unless it's a life or death situation for me, are usually boring and too trivial to bother with.

"I also have the ability to make you forget anything I wish or to implant any false memories that I wish. I tell you this, not to frighten you but to tell you that I will never do anything like that to any of you without your express permission."

"How would we know you are telling the truth and could actually hurt us or modify our memories?" asked Dave, very much afraid for their very lives now that he knew more about the man in their midst.

"I'm afraid that you will just have to trust me. Since you are not magical, there is no way you can ever know for sure that I am true to my word. I would hope that saying such a thing would help you to at least give me a favorable or neutral opinion of what we are to discuss until further information is available to you."

Not entirely happy with that answer, Dave at last sat and decided to accept for now and hope they weren't being lied to.

Nylah spoke up then, "As far as I know you have never lied to me. You may have not told me everything, but my life is better because of you, so I want to hear what you say and will attempt to retain an open mind until you are finished."

With that said, the others decided to accept her lead and sat down to listen to Snape.

"My real name is Severus Tobias Snape, but I have also gone by the name Brad Harper, which is how you first knew me. I have done truly wonderful things in the name of Brad Harper, but truly vile things in my own name."

Snape went on to tell how a Dark Lord arose in the magical world and how he had been drawn to the idea of a better world for magical beings. He told about his forced initiation, how he killed a man to take the dark mark or die himself. How he went to his headmaster in an attempt to rectify the situation and was turned into a double agent against the Dark Lord. He covered his years of being forced to teach so he would remain near the headmaster. How he took out his frustrations on the students, especially some of the females in his charge. He told about his final moments there and his arrest and trial.

He then told about his dawning horror at being forced into a muggle prison without his magic to protect him, and of being attacked until he was able to build himself up enough to protect himself. He told about his relationship with Otto Monsooni, about the cutting of his magical suppression bracelet, and the self-defense killing of Preston Chaney.

He then also told them of his study of the muggle world and how he absorbed entire genres of knowledge because he had nothing better to do with his time. He told of his learning how to "play the market" using the computer he was allowed to use while studying, how that expanded to helping some of the other inmates to also gain some financial benefit from his knowledge.

He finished off by telling about finding Dr. Leo Spencer, an innocent man in prison, how he had personally hired a private detective to find out what had really happened, find the real guilty party, and get the good doctor acquitted. That at least was a line of inquiry that Dave could follow up on and verify. When he was finally finished, he invited questions.

"You were able to use your Internet access to hire a private detective, you could have equally done the same for more nefarious acts. Did you arrange to have Nylah's father killed?" demanded Dave.

"You know I have to refuse to answer that question, Dave. If I'm guilty, an abusive human is no longer allowed to harm other humans. If I'm not guilty, it was a total accident. In any case, there is no way you can prove, one way or the other, any possible involvement by me in any of it. Since you are a policeman, I refuse to say anything that will incriminate me in anything illegal."

Dave looked decidedly unhappy about that but admitted to himself that Brad/Snape was right. If he admitted to anything illegal, Dave would have to take him in. Looking at the worried looks both Nylah and Paige were sending his way, it seemed that he would have to give this line of questioning up.

Snape could see that he now had the advantage, so decided it would be appropriate to announce his next efforts.

"Paige mentioned Hogsmeade Village to me the last time I was here. I hope I am not being too forward, but I have booked three rooms at the hotel there for a week for us to go and see 'The Magical Village of Hogsmeade'. If you can all get the time off, they have transportation leaving from Kings Cross Station. I have reserved the rooms starting on the night of Friday, 28 January and the last flight is at 1800 hours. If you cannot get the time off, I will need at least a couple of days advance notice so I can change the reservations.

Kings Cross Station, Dragon Flight terminal, Jan 28, 2061...
It had been a near thing, but everyone had been able to get the week off, starting on the afternoon of January 28th. Dave's time away had been the easiest to arrange. He just informed his supervisor who he would be keeping an eye on and his 'leave request' had been instantly converted into an order for 'close observation of a questionable ex-con". He was told to call in for an informal report each evening about 2000 hours.

Nylah had to arrange for a substitute the following week to teach her classes, but there were other available doctors with the necessary knowledge to fill in for her. All it took was the promise of a couple of self-sizing T-shirts. Paige worked at a Tour Guide Center and used the excuse of gathering information for future clients.

Snape had Archie trade in their old car and get a limousine that would easily hold eight plus the driver and two 'guards'. The passengers sat on three sides of the vehicle with a small retractable table that could be raised to hold food or drinks as they traveled along. Snape had Archie pick everyone up at Nylah's house.

When they arrived at Kings Cross Station, the terminal hadn't been hard to find at all, there were big posters of flying dragons and signs everywhere pointing the way. It was worse than Disney Euro! There at the end of the waiting area was a low wide metal building, just as he'd seen outside Hogsmeade. Above the two doors facing them, he could see bright green rectangles painted on the metal.

About 1755 hours, the waiting tourists were allowed to enter the building where they found ten rows of four seats each. Snape led them all to one of the rows and they claimed it for themselves as they sat down. Snape sat on the outside with Dave next to him and Nylah on the outside at the opposite end of the row.

Snape looked around the room. Other than the seats, quickly filling up with other sightseers, it looked like the room was surrounded by windows with more windows on the ceiling. He couldn't tell what they were, but they couldn't be windows, as the outside had been solid metal. It gave him an odd feeling of vertigo when he noticed that all the windows in the ceiling seemed to show what was straight ahead in the direction they were facing.

It didn't take long for everyone to be seated. Two people in odd-looking uniforms rose from their chairs at the front of the room and faced their passengers. The one on the left held up his hand to gain their attention.

"Good afternoon and welcome to DT&T's Flight 5 from London to Hogsmeade, Scotland. For those of you who have flown in conventional aircraft before, this flight will be quite a bit different. For one thing, our minimum transit time from any point to any other point takes an entire 2.6 seconds. We have flown from Earth to Neptune and the time is the same as from Scotland to London. You are in what we like to call a Dragon Egg Transport. It is simply a solidly constructed box with a few amenities … very few, due to the shortness of the flight. The video monitors around the walls and on the ceiling will be displaying what is going on around us.

"Just before we take off, the monitors in the ceiling will rotate down so everyone has a closer view of what is happening ahead of us. For our flight from London to Hogsmeade, we will 'jump' nearly the entire distance immediately, so the outside view will change quite suddenly. Our last mile will be taken a little slower so you can see the area we will be arriving at.

"None of you should notice any of the normal vibrations and surges normal when flying via conventional aircraft. We will simply lift slightly off the ground and will then almost instantly appear above our destination. You will find today's flight smooth and relatively quick for the distance. If everyone would now fasten your seatbelts, we will be airborne shortly."

David had to show Severus how to fasten his seat belt and tighten it. By then the monitors in the ceiling had dropped down and they were over Scotland. Snape recognized the village of Hogsmeade already and could even see the Hogwarts site!

"David, what do you see off to the right of the village?" asked Snape, curious to know if the muggles could see the school as well.

"Some old ruins that look like it was once a castle, why?"

"Just curious. I used to live around here and was wondering what it looked like to you. See that big building off to the right at the far end of the village? That's where we will be staying the week."

"It looks like one of the better hotels in London," said Dave with a note of surprise in his voice.

"I suppose they want to make the best impression possible."

Even though their conversation had been short, they were already coming in for a landing. Looking out to his left, Snape could see the mountain path, newly widened and covered with some kind of uniform-looking surface, that led into Hogsmeade. He would stay visible and hope that he would remain hidden amongst the tourists as they walked through the village.

"Want to take the tour first or check into the hotel first?" Snape asked Nylah.

"Do you know what happened to our luggage?"

"It will have already been taken to our rooms, so they will know we have arrived."

"Then let's go on the tour first. This is kind of exciting!"

Snape just smiled at the excited muggles he had brought with him. They were so like children sometimes. He had to be careful though, these children could be deadly.

Hogsmeade, Jan 28, 2061...
This time, Snape made it inside Gladrags Wizardwear with the rest of the muggles. None of the visible dragons seemed to even give him a second glance. It didn't seem to do him much good though. The conversation inside was just as inane as that outside. He carefully eavesdropped on a conversation between the shop staff when they were unaware anyone else was listening, and all they talked about was how profitable the new tourist trade was for the store and for themselves.

Snape found his three wandering through the store, hopelessly looking at what was offered, but having no idea what to get. He carefully shepherded them to the back where he asked for the proprietor.

"May I help you, Sir," asked the very epitome of the snooty shop owner.

Snape pulled out his Gringotts Gold Card and pointed to his three companions. I would like you to outfit these three with at least four complete sets of magical clothing. Once they have been measured and selected the material, I will discuss the enchantments I wish to be placed on them. This gentleman ..." Snape pointed at David. "... is a non-magical Auror, so his outerwear should have as many protections as possible including those I also select. In fact, do that for all three of them. I don't want anything to happen to any of them while here or after we leave.

"Please include wizarding casual, muggle casual, muggle business, and muggle formalwear."

The shop owner took the card and scanned it with his wand and suddenly his face lit up. Here was a customer who knew what he wanted, wanted quality, and could well afford to pay for it!

"Yes, Sir, right away, Sir! If you three will please step back here to the back of the shop, I will have three of our best seamstresses with you momentarily." Snape watched amusedly at the muggles' startle and wonder as the enchanted tape measure took their measurements. Even a few of the other tourists who had arrived with them were now watching with awe. Before they left, Snape's actions were the cause of several other tourists asking for similar service.

In addition to the protection enchantments, Snape had them add the auto-size, self-cleaning, self-repairing, and self-folding enchantments added.

After about an hour of looking at various fabrics and styles the three had agreed on exactly what they wanted, they were told their new clothes would be ready before the last flight left in about two hours.

"There is no rush," Snape told the proprietor, "Take your time to do it right. If you aren't finished before tomorrow, that will be fine. We are staying in the Hogsmeade Arms. Once everything is ready, you may deliver them to Brad Harper. They will know which room there."

"Yes, Mr. Harper, it will be our pleasure."

Snape could tell the avaricious old man was pleased that he wouldn't have to take shop staff away from the rush of muggles. The clothing would probably be delivered late tonight or early tomorrow.

One of the shop staff had witnessed the exchange between Snape and the proprietor. She was a Dragonrider assigned to inside undercover duty in the shop.

'Flight Leader, there is a Wizard escorting three muggles who just came through Gladrags. He said his name is Brad Harper and the other male in the group is a muggle policeman. They are staying at the Hogsmeade Arms.'

'Good catch, Layla, I will have someone check on them. Keep up the good work!'

Since the name 'Brad Harper' had no criminal record, no one would know until much, much later that 'Brad Harper' was actually Severus Tobias Snape.

Before they left, Nylah and Paige splurged on several self-sizing T-shirts to take home as souvenirs for themselves and their friends. On the front of the shirts, in bold print, it said, "My friend went to Hogsmeade and all I got was this lousy magical T-shirt!" while on the back was printed, "See Hogsmeade via Dragon Express" under a picture of a dragon in flight. Snape had the T-shirts also delivered to their rooms.

As they left the shop, they were no longer in the crush of tourists. The main group they had come with had moved on and the next group had yet to arrive, so it was just the four of them. They had just about reached The Three Broomsticks where Snape hoped to introduce them to Butterbeer when, seemingly out of nowhere, a small figure careened into Nylah, snatched her purse from where it was loosely hanging from its strap on her arm almost knocking her to the ground in the process, and was almost to the alley across the street when Snape hit the figure with a well-aimed petrificus totalus. The small figure skidded to a stop and lay stiff as a board in the dirt of the street.

As they rushed up to the prone figure, Nylah screamed and put her hand over her mouth in shock. "You've killed him!" she accused.

Just as they reached the prone, stiff figure lying there, a dragon materialized next to it and a rider jumped down to the ground. She waited quietly as the four walked up to her.

"Thank you, wizard, we have been trying to catch this little firebolt for days now. She seems to come out of nowhere and disappear almost as fast. You're the third non-magical group she has managed to steal from in the last week."

Snape reached down, retrieved Nylah's purse, and held it out to her. Nylah just stared horrified at the small pitiful child lying in the street with her eyes open. "You killed her!" she sobbed.

"No, ma'am," said the Dragonrider. "Your companion simply temporarily paralyzed her. Left to herself, she would recover in an hour or so at the strength I saw the spell was cast. As it is, she will be in a cell, ready for questioning within the next few minutes."

"She's not dead?" asked Nylah, hopefully.

"No," said Snape, "I caught sight of her out of the corner of my eye and was almost prepared to stop her by the time she hit you. If I killed her, the Aurors cannot find out who is sending her out to steal." Turning to look critically at Nylah, Snape continued, "Are you alright? You took quite a hit when she rammed into you."

"I'm … I'm …," Nylah tried to say, but instead burst into tears. Snape tenderly held her as she cried. 'What is going on here,' he thought to himself. 'Why am I so concerned for a muggle?'

By now a mixed team of magical and non-magical Aurors had arrived to take the small, now obviously malnourished, young girl away for questioning. Just as they were leaving, one of the wizard Aurors turned to Snape and asked, "The spell you used, Sir?"

"Just a standard petrificus totalus. It might have been a bit overpowered due to the surprise, but you should be able to dispel it with the standard counterspell."

"Thank you, Sir." With that, the Auror turned and followed his team away.

Dave and Paige were gaping at the dragon that was staring back at them obviously highly amused. Snape shifted Nylah in his arms a bit and turned to face the dragon as well. He saw an odd-looking blue dragon of a type he had never seen before. It was much larger than any other dragon he had ever heard about, yet it was just standing there calmly watching to see what they would do. It was well over 50 ft in length!

'Do not fear, tiny humans, we are here to protect and defend.'

Nylah and Paige let out little squeaks of surprise at hearing the dragon 'speak' to them. Dave seemed startled as well, but Snape was flabbergasted. The news he had read must be true, dragons were now intelligent. Holding his occlumency shields tightly in place, Snape said to the dragon, "You mind speak. I thank you, grand dragon, for your opportune arrival. My friends and I were hoping to meet some of you."

'He is totally unreadable,' Hokelth said, privately to his rider, Johannes Brenna. 'If I had not seen him or he hadn't said anything, I would not even have known he was there.'

Turning to Snape, Hokelth said, 'Well met, holder, I am called Hokelth. I am not a very grand dragon, though my rider thinks I am the best of them all. What name do you go by?"

Snape could clearly sense the humor the dragon felt as he made introductions, "I am called Brad Harper, Hokelth." Snape gestured to Dave and Paige. "This is a muggle policeman, what we call an Auror and his wife, Dave and Paige Hamilton. I am comforting her mother, Nylah Harper."

The rider stepped towards Dave with his hand out, "Greetings, Auror Hamilton. I am Johannes Brenna, Hokelth's rider. If you've never worked with dragons, riders, or magical Aurors before, you will find our ways a bit odd at first. Would you like to be present when we question your mother-in-law's assailant?"

"Yes," said Dave, "I think that might be enlightening."

"You aren't going to hurt her, are you?" Nylah almost fearfully asked. "She's so tiny!"

"No, ma'am, why don't you all join me and you can see we will be most gentle. It isn't her fault that someone is taking advantage of her holdless status."

Snape puzzled over the unfamiliar terms, holder and holdless, but decided to keep his peace. Perhaps he could learn more just by listening.

'Hokelth, send word to The Weyrleader that we have someone here who appears to be hiding something. I don't know if he's dangerous or not, but I don't like it when you cannot read anything.'

A short walk and all the humans entered a building that appeared to be just a small shack. Once they entered, it opened out into a very spacious, well constructed and appointed room with five barred cells along one side. The young urchin that had attempted to steal Nylah's purse was inside one of them, still petrified. Everyone in the room had evidently been waiting for Johannes to arrive before doing anything.

As he entered the door, Snape felt the anti-apparation and anti-portkey wards covering the building. He was a bit nervous, but he shouldn't have anything to worry about … as far as he knew.

Severus held on to Nylah when she would have rushed over to the cell. He led her over to a nearby group of chairs where they would be able to see everything that happened.

Johannes walked into the cell, closed and locked the door, and sat in a chair inside. He pulled his wand and cast a finite incantatem on the small figure on the cot. At first, she seemed dazed, but then she grabbed for a button on her shirt and almost yelled "HOME". Nothing happened and she looked terrified, especially when she realized where she was. She tried to scrunch up into herself almost as if it would make her invisible. She looked terrified.

'Someone has made her very afraid of us, Johan. I don't see anything specific, but I can see giant shadowy figures killing small children who can't fight back.'

Johannes grew furious, but didn't allow it to show in his face, but, if anyone had looked at his eyes, they would have become very afraid. Someone handed him a bottle of water as he moved back a bit from the cot so he wouldn't be as intimidating.

"Hello there. My name is Johannes and I'm from Sweden. May I have your name?"

"You aren't from here?" asked the tiny girl in an almost inaudible voice.

"Why no, I come from a country where there is a lot of snow. Sometimes I miss the snow."

"I do too, but not much. I almost froze to death before Sammy saved us. He lets us eat every day!"

"That's very nice of Sammy," said Johannes comfortingly. "Would you like something to drink? I can get you some food a little later as well if you are hungry."

The little girl's eyes got quite wide and she shivered. "Sammy says if anyone offers us food or water, they are trying to poison us!"

Johannes opened the bottle and took a big swallow before offering it to the girl. "If it's poisoned, then I will die too."

She hesitantly accepted the bottle and soon had drunk the rest. Soon she seemed to calm down and her eyes stared straight ahead.

After he was sure the Veritaserum had taken effect, Johannes started questioning her. Her name was Kuvayeva Kristina Zakharovna, or Tina. She was a Russian orphan kidnapped from an orphanage near the border of Russia and Belarus. She was a muggle. Tina was soon cleaned up and dressed in clean clothing. As she answered Johannes' questions, a light meal was brought in for her and she ate it as if she were starving.

"What will happen to her?" asked Nylah as she watched Tina wolf down her food as if she might never see any more.

"We have a very special place where we take orphans," explained Johannes. "Her medical and psychological needs will be taken care of and this part of her life will almost seem to be a bad dream after a while. We have rescued many such children over the years and have a very high success rate with them."

"How do you know she will be OK?"

"Because once I was just like her. The only real difference between us, other than gender, is that she is non-magical and I am magical. She will have just as many opportunities as I had, except for magical training. I understand you are all staying at the Hogsmeade Arms. Why not go get some rest tonight, and I will send someone around tomorrow with news about what happened here."

Nylah looked conflicted, but Snape eventually got them all back to the Hotel near the landing area. When they got there, he offered potions of dreamless sleep to the three muggles, explained what they would do, and they all gratefully accepted. He figured they could sort out the delivered packages tomorrow.

-oooOOOooo-

Tina's kidnapper, Sammy, was actually Saami el-Safar. They didn't get that from her, Hokelth pulled an image of her 'rescuer' from her mind and they sent it out for the different Auror, police, and military groups to check. They got the information back within an hour.

Willow Ball, an Auror who was also a metamorph, assumed Tina's shape, put on her old clothes, took a huge, expensive-looking purse, and went outside. When she grabbed the button Tina had tried to use and said "Home" she was ported away, soon to be joined by invisible dragons and several riders. Willow immediately collapsed as if she were injured and just lay there.

The dragons could sense someone nearby watching, but they just waited for the watcher to make the first move. Finally, the purse lying next to the still 'child' proved too much and the man crept towards the small figure. When he reached her, he shook her and said, "Tina, wake up. It's time to go eat. The others are waiting."

When the small figure made no response, he pulled the button off her shirt, grabbed the bag, and left her lying there, apparently dead. Since the bag had a powerful tracking charm, he was easily followed through several different jumps to where he was hiding with many small children.

One of the wizard riders cast a wide area stunner while another cast a stronger one at their adult target. They had just captured 'Sammy' and rescued 19 more children.

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