The Core Wars

by old-crow

New problems arise on the evening of the third task. This tale is a Great Wandout Challenge story. Effectively it is as if Unexpected Consequences had been like playing a role play game at the novice level. The Core War tale has a far harder set of challenges. While not a sequel, this story assumes that you've read Unintended Consequences.

13. June 96

Chapter Thirteen

June

Saturday June 1

Fenrir was starting to get short tempered as he always did a few days before the full moon. He was also angry, angrier than he'd ever been. His pack had been decimated. First, the coward, Sarah Goode had bailed on him, accepting the Ministry's offer for amnesty, taking more than half the pack with her. She was a loss for her potion making expertise but most of the rest were just Omegas. Followers. Caretakers. Replaceable. Then the Auror raid with the escape from the Lodge after the abduction was a very near thing. Escaping out the back into the wilderness with the diversionary fire covering them took all of his pride but they got away.

Now three and a half months later, he and the remnant of his once large pack were still hiding out in the Malfoy safe house in Gerrard's Cross Village that he'd taken over when Malfoy disappeared. Aside from collecting most of the gold and other valuables during several trips from the lodge, their only accomplishments since being run off of the lodge had been healing some minor, burning wounds from those inferno shotguns that the Aurors had and remaining intoxicated for twelve weeks in a row.

He was in the small library reading a leather-bound notebook when Carol Phillips came in. Fenrir let out a low growl. "You could knock, you know."

Ignoring his sarcastic comment, she replied, "I figured out what those runes do in the five metal plates you found in the first-floor storeroom."

Fenrir just raised a bushy eyebrow. He wasn't in the mood to talk but Carol obviously wasn't going away until she'd told him what she came to tell him.

She continued, "The large ones are a set of four. They're anti-apparition and anti-portkey ward stones. The red one is a ward sap. I also found a small notebook from someone named Rookwood. It explains how to use them. You place each pair opposite each other to form a square and push magic into the stones. It creates a barrier. It even keeps elves from passing through. If they're inside the square, they can't get out and if outside, they can't get in. The sap rapidly drains an existing ward barrier. You can use it to take down a ward. The notebook states that they'll even stop a Gringotts portkey. They're supposed to be the best."

Admittedly interested, Fenrir whistled, "That could come in handy. He added, "Rookwood was an inner circle Death Eater. I think he was an Unspeakable. Pretty sharp but he had a sadistic twist. He absolutely liked hurting people, for no reason, just to see the pain on their faces. That was before he went to Azkaban. It's a good thing he never got out."

Carol asked, "What's that book?"

"It's amazing is what it is. Malfoy kept a record of interesting things. It's a detailed record of every bribe he ever paid. It even describes a scheme where he paid for muggle born children and parents to be killed or have their magic blocked. It detailed their kidnappings and torture. It also lists Voldemort safe houses, muggle bank accounts, dirt on dozens of prominent people (blackmail) and a list of Harry Potter's friends along with their addresses, if known."

Not having any real interest in bothering the monstrously powerful and connected wandcrafter, she observed, "You've been cooped up in the room for weeks. What are you planning?"

He replied, "I've been thinking about Potter and ways of making him pay. He's really the one to blame for what happened you know. Most of our problems occurred when Potter and his partner Granger started selling wands. He's been re-arming the Wizards. Also, according to Padma, the Creevy's are very friendly with him. He must have obtained the portkeys that they used. If not for that, they wouldn't have been found and the Aurors wouldn't have been able to find the Lodge. He was friends with the ministers - first Scrimgeour and now Bones. I bet he put her up to that damn proclamation because he's friends with Remus Lupin." At her blank look, he clarified, "He's someone I turned years ago who defies me still. My pack abandoned me over that proclamation.

"As the saying goes, All roads lead to Rome. In this case, All roads lead back to Potter. I'll have my revenge."

Hearing nothing and mistaking silence for her agreement, he continued, "His Wand Shop is far too protected. These little gifts from Rookwood and Malfoy give us a real edge. I now know where Granger lives. I want to hurt Potter and hit their house at the full moon. We'll Edge and rip the place to shreds. We'll inflict pain on Potter by slicing up his friend and her family. They'll be defenseless."

Carol didn't like anything about Greyback's plan, but unlike Sarah, she lacked the persuasiveness and physical charms to change his mind. It was a perceived personal grudge. In her mind, the risk was high and the reward was less than zero. She replied, "Shouldn't we just go to Italy and lay low? The pack is decimated. We still have lots of money and potion ingredients. We can disappear for a year or so and rebuild the pack. Look at Padma, she was a good acquisition. They won't look for us outside of Britain. We can't afford to lose more members."

Fenrir's decision to murder Minister Scrimgeour had been the turning point. On one hand, it put Minister Bones in office and made life better for most of the Weres in Britain. On the other hand, it shined a bright light on Greyback and all who followed him. Kidnapping the students did nothing more than write out undated death warrants for him and any who were with him.

He silently admitted that she had a point but his stubborn streak won out. He replied, "Your idea has lots of merit. It's too hot for us to stay here but there's no way I'm letting this go. I want my revenge. We'll do this last bit and then we'll go. We'll pack up the gold and supplies here and be ready to leave right after we're done at the Granger place. Her mother's a squib of some sort and her father's a plain old muggle."

His revenge. Unfortunately she concluded that she had no way of changing his mind. She said nothing. Sarah would have smiled and persuasively pointed out that their little group would be taking an unnecessary risk, with no offsetting reward. After an hour of rough sex, he'd have forgotten the idea. Now he was set on the plan and the ordinary looking truck driver felt powerless to stop him.

… - …

Monday June 3

The spacious Granger house was on a quiet street of old estate sized homes dating back to the mid 19th century and the height of the industrial revolution. Each home sat on slightly more than one acre of land and was set back from the road. A crushed stone circular drive and car park graced the front and generous garden space was on each side and the back. Most of the homes in the area were like the Grangers; some were a bit bigger or smaller but essentially they were all solidly built Georgian style two story brick center entrance colonials. The Grangers' home had a six-foot-wide center hallway that divided the house in two with a stairway to the upper floor midway between the front and back. The ground floor had a rear kitchen and front dining room divided by a butler's pantry on the left side and on the right front stood a generous reception room and the rear had a bookshelf lined study or library space now used as an office for the Granger dental practice. The upper floor contained the bedrooms, all with an en suite.

Emma Granger expected a quiet night with a dinner of take out for what she considered was her extended family - Herself, Dan, Hermione and Harry, along with Sirius and Remus. The only ones missing were the two friendly elves and business associates, Winky and Dobby who were off somewhere above the arctic circle looking to meet other muskox in the Brooks range. They'd taken almost two tons of apples with them in hope of trading for more hair for the wand business next April. They'd been gone for only a few days but she missed the comradely that she'd built with Winky. She was a little apprehensive because Winky had been nervous when she left and told her, "You be's careful on the full moon."

Tonight, was a full moon and Harry and Sirius were out picking up take-away. It was international night with stops for American Southern Barbecue, Italian and Chinese food. They were planning on a real smorgasbord for dinner. She felt anxious and wouldn't feel better until they were home.

… - ...

Unfortunately, they'd gotten quite a late start as they'd stayed at the shop at least an hour later than expected. Between that and Sirius and Harry taking longer than planned, Remus would miss dinner. The moon would be up in a short time. Hermione put a steaming goblet of Wolfsbane in front of him and directed, "Drink up, Moony. Moonrise isn't far off. Mum and I'll make you a big breakfast tomorrow morning."

Resigned to the reality that he'd missed yet another excellent dinner, Remus drank the vile tasting potion and went out to the garage to the safe room that they'd arranged for him. While not strictly necessary while on the potion that Hermione brewed, he felt better safe than sorry. He closed and locked himself in the shark cage for the change. The potion that he had with the additional dragon blood ensured that he be sound asleep in five minutes. He got undressed, squished the pillow just right and a minute later dozed on the thick rug, waiting for moonrise.

… - ...

Unlike Remus who'd been given a complete course of the far more expensive version of the wolfsbane which would have put him to sleep for the evening while jazz music softly played on the FM stereo, Fenrir Greyback and the remainder of his pack took their diluted wolfsbane potions. They'd keep their wits and be wide awake for the transformation tonight. Fifteen minutes before moonrise, he'd led his crew to the Granger neighborhood and circumnavigated the house placing the ward breaking and anti-transport rune covered plates in the ground just at the edge of their protective wards. A pack member stood by each plate charging them with their wands while Fenrir charged the ward sapper device that would drain and disable the existing wards. A short time later, Fenrir gave a howl with delight and bloodlust as their anti-apparition and anti-portkey wards shimmered into existence over the Granger home. He was standing in front of the ward sap and stared at it as it glowed a sickly green color and hummed loudly. He could see the Granger wards weaken as the ward saper resonated and shimmered different colors.

… - ...

Meanwhile, the line at the take-away counter at Lee Ho Fooks Chinese restaurant seemed endless. Sirius muttered, "I want to get back for Mooney." Sirius looked at his watch. "We need to hurry, Harry, it's almost moonrise." They should have left the shop at six rather than half seven and they never should have stopped to get those bottles of wine, or waited in the seemingly endless line at the rib place.

The teen replied, "You go. I'll wait in line and be back in ten minutes."

Resigned to the reality that Remus would already be asleep by the time he got back, Sirius muttered, "I'll wait here with you. I just wish they'd hurry up."

… - ...

It was a several minutes before moonrise when Hermione asked, "What could be taking them so long? I should have gone with Harry instead of Sirius. No telling what they could get up to with the mutt along."

Emma smiled and calmly replied, "I'm sure they'll be back soon." Her brilliant daughter had yet to master patience.

Just then, howls sounded nearby and their proximity alarm went off with a clang signifying someone with ill intent was trying to access the property.

Dan looked at Hermione then looked out the kitchen window over the sink and was startled to see naked people climbing over the back fence that divided their property from their neighbors.

Another loud gong sounded and Hermione looked out the window into the darkness.

"They broke through the wards. Shite, that's Greyback! There are eight others that I can see. Activate your portkeys now!"

Nothing happened.

Dan calmly directed, "Don't panic. Everyone into the dining room!" He went to the dining room closet and pulled his shotgun out. He loaded both barrels with his custom cut sickle load shells and cursed himself that he'd locked the rest of the ammunition in the storage container down in the cellar workroom.

Hermione pulled her mum into the dining room and levitated the table into the doorway of the room. She was out of her element, thinking on the fly. She cast an impervious charm at the window and a locking charm at the door to the pantry as Dan jammed a chair at an angle underneath the door knob. Feeling utterly rushed, Hermione quickly summoned the silver flatware set and dropped it on the floor. She used a cutting charm to make multiple pieces. She transfigured four silver serving knives into five foot spears, gave one to her mother and placed the rest against the wall. As fast as she dared, she then transfigured several chairs into iron bars creating a larger version of Lupin's shark cage and floated it against the back wall. She directed her mother and father into it with her and locked the door. She cast her message protronus, "Harry we're under attack. Come quickly!" They smashed a dozen goblets on the floor breaking them, hoping to slow the attackers down until Harry and Sirius arrived. Meanwhile, Emma used her cell phone and called Amelia for help. She'd replied that they'd be right there but the passing seconds seemed like hours.

… - ...

With a deafening flash and bang, the wards on the house fell. Greyback led his pack towards the house. He sniffed the air. His eyes brightened. "I smell Lupin. All of you attack the house, rip them apart and kill them all. I have unfinished business with the deserter." He turned and followed his nose to the garage.

He cast a blasting hex at the garage door hinge, nearly blowing it apart. He walked up to the cage and laughed at the thin, naked occupant. Greyback howled with glee. He growled and swiped at Remus through the bars, leaving a long and shallow three clawed gash in his left leg from his sharp fingernails. Remus was barely awake, in a potion-induced stupor. He couldn't do much to protect himself and whimpered in pain. The broken cage wasn't big enough to completely get away from Greyback who reached in as he swiped at Lupin's side. Laughing, he played with him as the sedated man couldn't adequately respond. Greyback stepped back and used another reductor curse to the hinges and door lock and pulled the door open and leapt onto Remus clawing and biting him.

… - ...

With only seconds to go before they transformed, Brent Buckland led the pack through the back door and down the hall to the dining room. Storming into the room, the Were's spread out facing the cage. Like Greyback - Padma, Ellis Wright and an increasingly reluctant Carol each cast a blasting hex at the top and door of the improvised cage, blasting the broken cage on its side. as the occupants were hurled onto the floor.

Hermione barely got a shield up, so unexpected was the curse. The force of the spell impacting the cage knocked the three Grangers back, with Dan and Emma falling to the floor and Hermione violently tossed back and around to slam face first into the plaster wall.

Emma struggled to her feet. Hermione lay on the floor completely dazed with a nasty looking bump on her forehead and she was bleeding from a badly broken nose. Dan rose to one knee, took aim and shot Wright in the chest, hurling him backwards and into a twitching heap on the floor. If he didn't bleed out, the silver would poison him to death within a minute.

… - ...

As Carol hung back, Clement Cooper, the largest of the attackers rushed towards the now shattered door. The hastily transfigured bars looked like they might revert to their original wooden chair pieces at any second. Emma recovered and rose to her feet thrusting the silver tipped spear deep into his side as he made it to the doorway of the cage. He reeled away, slumped to his knees clutching his side in pain as the silver poisoned his body. Hermione gave a moan on the floor as Emma stepped forward and grabbed the end of the spear. The big man gasped in pain as Emma pulled the spear back and thrust it again into his chest. He fell over whimpering out "Mama" as the silver coursed through his body.

"We'll burn you out," shouted, Geoffrey Ellingham moments before they transformed into wolves. "Incendi..." He never finished his spell as Dan fired again, hitting him full in the face. The retired dentist made a show of breaking open the shotgun, removing the empty shells, placing them in his empty trouser pocket and putting the same empty shells back into the shotgun as if he'd reloaded the weapon. He hoped that his bluff would buy them a bit of time. With the moon rise complete, the other attackers transformed while the two Grangers watched in horrified fascination.

… - …

Just then, Hermione's otter flashed and spoke her distress message. Sirius and Harry dashed out of the restaurant. With barely a glance to see if there were other people around, they immediately activated their portkey watches. For an instant, they each could see the house before the anti-portkey ward bounced them several houses away where they landed on the ground with a thump.

Utterly frustrated with the watch's failure, Harry and Sirius began sprinting the quarter mile back to where they desperately needed to be. Sirius yelled, "You look in on the Grangers, I'll help Remus." With the house in sight, Harry nodded, running extra fast for the last 200 yards.

… - ...

Back at the Ministry, Amelia swore as the Auror room was completely empty. They'd all just left to handle a large, unrelated fire in Knockturn Alley. She swore again as she activated her watch and ended up in the same neighbor's front yard.

Like Harry and Sirius, except decades slower, she began running to their home. She increased her pace when she heard Dan's shotgun fired.

… - ...

Inside, the fully transformed Weres howled. They'd reached something of a Mexican Standoff. The Weres were at one end of the large dining room shielded from Dan's (empty) shotgun. As the seconds ticked by, neither side felt that they could safely attack or escape.

… - ...

Outside, Greyback continued to play with his victim. Lupin was too drugged to form any sort of actual defense. Bleeding profusely from an incomplete neck bite, he huddled up in a corner; one hand covering the neck wound, the other for defense, kicking when Greyback got close. His screams of pain filled the air as he transformed.

Reaching the house, Harry and Black split off in different directions; each silently wishing the other good luck. Black transformed into the wolfhound and was shocked at how much larger Greyback the Were was in size. The scores of times he'd spent running with a teen Were who was a friend, then a lover gave the-still too-thin Sirius the false impression that his 120 pound animagus form was any sort of match against an enraged werewolf Edged on Wolfsbane. He leapt at the hundred pound larger animal and was batted away like an adult dog batting away a persistent, annoying puppy. Undaunted, Sirius tried again. Greyback swatted the dog form of Black into the corner of the garage so hard that almost all of the ribs on one side were broken or cracked. Sirius passed out in extreme pain.

Biting down on Lupin's hind leg, Werewolf Fenrir dragged Werewolf Remus out of the garage and into the back garden. Though drugged with a full dose of Wolfsbane potion, Remus's adrenalin kicked in and rather than simply roll over and die, he fought back, albeit feebly. Greyback had inflicted horrendous damage on Lupin and he was getting weaker by the minute from the multitude of cuts and slashes in his fur covered hide. One leg hung limply with a broken bone protruding through his fur. Remus panted in exhaustion; each breath labored by the four broken ribs on his right side. He slowly turned keeping his front and snout towards his attacker as Greyback circled him anti-clockwise growling. The two victims were in dire straights.

… - ...

Inside, Harry reached the battered front door and wand in hand, charged inside. Hearing noises in the dining room, he crept to the door where his extraordinary situational awareness kicked in. He cast a sweeping, overcharged Diffindo, bisecting Emily Krupp and Brent Buckland who were facing the Grangers before ducking back out of the door.

Padma Patil and Joe Alton took the distraction as an opportunity to attack Hermione and Dan respectively. Dan held the barrel of his empty shotgun tightly and swung as hard as he could, hitting Joe in the side of the head. The legendary golfer Bryon Nelson would have been proud of his effort. The mortally wounded Were, sporting a crushed skull and broken neck was batted over to the far side of the dining room. Not to be outdone, Emma held two of the silver spears out, impaling the jet black Were as Padma charged at her.

… - …

Carol Phillips and Harry unintentionally dashed past each other in the doorway. She ran outside, just in time to hear the demise of Greyback, as Minister Bones fired an expertly placed Percuttio piercing spell through his back, exploding the dangerous Were's heart. He dropped like a marionette with its strings cut. Carol ran off into the night.

Hearing the screams from inside, Bones put out a second call to Kingsley, for reinforcements and healers.

… - …

Inside, Harry held Hermione as if his very life depended on it, though she wasn't seriously injured. There was always a lot of blood with head injuries. Meanwhile, Dan dashed downstairs and grabbed a handful of shells before returning to the dining room. No one was certain how many Weres were left in the area. He looked out as Amelia had disabled one of the wardstones, causing the anti-portkey/apparition ward to fall.

Moments later, he heard Pop, pop, POP, pop, Pop as three Aurors and two Healers arrived.

Harry was shooed away to let the Healer treat Hermione. He went outside where the other Healer was assisting Sirius back to his feet. Harry asked, "What about Lupin?"

The Healer replied, "There's nothing we can do, kid. He'll die in another minute or two."

Not accepting that the man was simply practicing Triage, Harry summoned the supply of blood replenishing potion out of the Healer's bag as well as his pair of dragonhide gloves. Over the man's whining protests, he immediately dumped three units down Were Lupin's throat. Seeing almost nothing bleed out due to low blood pressure, Harry screamed, "Fawkes!" as more help arrived.

Almost instantly, the magnifacent phoenix appeared in a flash of flame. Harry asked, "Can you help cure him?"

Nodding, Fawkes hopped onto the Were's shoulder and shed a river of pearly tears on Lupin's ripped open neck. Within seconds, the pearly white tears bubbled. For a moment, there was a horrid smell like a combination of wet-dog and sulphur before the skin began to knit together. Fawkes repeated the process in a dozen places and Harry (with newly arrived Head Healer Amanda Crabtree's assistance) poured another four units down the wolf's throat.

Meanwhile, the other healer had completed his work on Sirius, who was back in human form.

Suddenly, to their collective astonishment, the Were resumed human form in the full moonlight, though he was still unconscious. Crabtree had used a magical version of the EMT's electrical paddles to restart Lupin's heart. Moments later, he had a regular rhythm, though still with dangerously low blood pressure. Fawkes continued to seal up his various wounds, though they'd stopped bubbling and there was no longer a horrible smell as they sealed shut.

… - ...

Sirens were sounding and the local Constabulary were responding to multiple calls about strange lights, animal howls and sounds of gunshots. Kingsley met them, showed the necessary credentials and with a fair amount of persistence, sent the reluctant law enforcement team on their way. By now, there were twenty Aurors on the scene maintaining perimeter control. Connie and Anna had arrived and were taking photos of the dead and collecting memories from the survivors. It would be a day before they realized that one of the Weres was missing.

Finally Lupin and Black were declared well enough to be transported to St. Mungo's. The Aurors split up into two groups, one maintaining the perimeter as the other helped the Grangers put their home back together. Neither group noticed a group of gray robed Unspeakables examine the perimeter ward stones as they collected their long-missing property.

… - ...

Tuesday June 4

Remus woke up the next morning and noticed Emma and Hermione sitting in chairs next to his bed. He felt strange and upon a moment's reflection,wondered if he were actually alive. One of the Healers immediately came in, followed by Head Healer Crabtree, along with her assistant. As the first Healer waved his wand in a series of diagnostics, Crabtree inquired, "Good morning, Mr. Lupin. How are you feeling today?"

Remus admitted, "Tired... thankful to be alive... different... How did I get here?"

"Mr. Potter's stubborn persistence saved your life and with a massive gift of phoenix tears from his amazing friend, most likely cured your lycanthrophy and gave you much of your health back. To my knowledge, this has never been reversed before. We're hoping that you'd be willing to stay here another few days. Enough talk. These two women are under the impression that they owe you a breakfast." She winked at her patient and added, "I'll be back in a few hours to poke and prod you."

After Crabtree and her entourage left, Remus asked, "Did everyone make it?"

Emma replied, "Dan and Harry are at the ministry, talking with the Investigators. Sirius won't be up for playing tennis this week; you probably won't either. Both of you still have all of your bits, limbs and pieces. Apparently Fawkes cured you of your lycantrophy, though no one knows what that really means. Hermione took a hard blow to the face. Rather than getting help from Fawkes, Harry tried to kiss it and make it feel better. She'll be fine." She smirked at her daughter's annoyance.

Remus couldn't quite find the words to ask his question. He paused and Emma added, "There were a total of eight attackers, or so. Eight of them were brought to the ministry morgue. The police came and were sent away by officer Shacklebolt. There were some other investigators out last night trying to understand how our wards were breached and replaced by ones of Greyback's liking. If there are any answers there, they haven't been announced. The ministry people spent most of the night, setting the house back to right. We were here, waiting to hear how you and Sirius were getting on. I believe the Gringotts Wardcrafters were demanding information from one of the ministry groups – business as usual, I suppose."

Still exhausted but famished, Remus ate the sliced bananas and the still-warm cinnamon muffin that they'd prepared for him and drank the coffee. Emma gently squeezed his arm and said, "We'll have a proper breakfast for you both when you get out of here."

He replied, "I feel weak."

Emma replied, "As I understand it, a person isn't supposed to have more than three or four doses of the blood replenishing potion at a time. I believe that you were given a total of seven. I'm certain that your red blood cell count is ever so low and will be for another few days as your body begins to regenerate them. You'll likely get your magic back in another day or two as well. As Healer Crabtree mentioned, there's also a real liklihood that Fawkes' tears destroyed the lycanthrophy in your body last night as he was putting you back together. You were back in human form when they brought you here an hour after the attack. I suppose they want to run some tests to see if it will return, or is gone for good."

"Thank you..." He'd closed his eyes and was back sleeping. The two women left to check on Sirius again before returning home.

… - …

That evening, after repeating an exhaustive list of tests, Britain's best medical minds met to discuss their findings. By reviewing Harry's and her own memories, Crabtree and two of the Senior Healers watched as a man who'd been a Were for over thirty years was cured of the incurable affliction in under an hour.

Poppy Pomfrey, who'd been called in for consultation observed, "He must have been gifted with at least four ounces of tears. I've never seen Fawkes do anything like that in the fifty years that he'd stayed with Dumbledore."

Crabtree agreed, "We don't have a repeatable remedy, or a cure but we've had the honor of witnessing what could be classed as a miracle. We've witnessed the only known man in history being cured of that horrible affliction."

Pomfrey added, "It may be years until Fawkes will have a fully recharged supply of tears; we simply don't know. That's assuming that he would even be willing. He seems to have a far stronger bond with Wandcrafter Potter than he did with Headmaster Dumbledore."

They agreed to wait and see what happened with Lupin.

… - …

While Remus and Sirius were being treated at St. Mungos, Carol Phillips was packing up the last of the valuables found in the safe house. She took Malfoy's journal, the pre-made potions, along with the paper currency and considerable stack of galleons. . She estimated them at 50,000. She also took the single bundle of unicorn hair that Joe had kept.

Among the potions that she'd taken were a dozen pre-made doses of polyjuice. She took on the shape of a random 30ish wizard and made her way to Hogsmeade. She spent ten minutes in Folgard's, where she traded some of Lenny's own gold for $150,000 dollars. She estimated that she had 20,000G left and assumed that the remainder of the gold was still stashed on the grounds of the farms. She hoped that Sarah and the others knew where it was and would make good use of it someday.

It had been unfortunate chance that she'd been on a day-long driving trip the day that Sarah had made her speech to the other pack members and had missed it. They say hindsight is 20-20. If she'd been at the farm that day, she was certain that she'd have joined the others and left for the ministry. Instead, she was on her way to Vancouver via France and hoped to settle down either there, Seattle, or in Portland. She had more than enough money to purchase a rig and make a good living truck driving again. Following Greyback's practice, she torched the home and left.

… - …

At the Ministry, Sarah had been brought in for yet another interview. She was shown the memory of the Were's climbing the fence and identified most of the attackers. As for the last person, Sarah pointed out, "It's too dark to tell. Fenrir could have recruited a new person. Based on your question, I assume that he or she ran away. They probably didn't want anything to do with hurting anyone."

Connie wasn't positive that she believed her but she'd had a point – the person may well have decided that they'd been coerced into going along. Beyond that, she and Anna already had a very large case-load as it was. She wasn't expecting any problems with Weres in the near future and wasn't looking for another project. She thanked Sarah and focused on the Weres that Sarah had identified.

… - …

Thursday June 6

After they'd been released, Sirius and Remus used their portkey watches to get to their beach house at St. Ebb. They each walked with a pained look on their faces. Lupin's limp was more pronounced and painful, though one of the younger healers, Roberta Evans suggested that they go to a nonmagical physical therapist who could recommend specific exercises. Black's repaired ribs still hurt when he walked but he was told that his pain would disappear in another week or two. As neither had been cleared to apparate for a week, or in Lupin's case, perform any magic, their travel options were limited to the locations preset on their watches – St. Ebb, Crawley, the Wand Shop and Hogsmeade. Remus called and ordered pizza to be delivered. While they were waiting, Sirius asked, "Are you still planning on helping the Weres who registered to get back to their farm?"

Remus nodded and replied, "Yes. Harry mentioned that Neville Longbottom could help with substantial improvements to the soil and with the design of some greenhouses. I think that with some help, they could do a lot better than simply trying to eek out having a bit of food to eat."

Sirius asked, "What can I do to help?"

"Let's ask them when we get back on our feet. I expect a bit of money and expertise. After that, we need to get back to the Wand Shop. It should be another busy week."

… - ...

Saturday June 8

Neville gladly took Professor Lupin's call. He stopped over to the Wand Shop. After inviting him in, Remus said, "Neville Longbottom, this is Sarah Goode and Colleen Wilson. Neville is the finest Herbology student to come from Howgarts in decades. Neville, Sarah is primarily focused on growing potion ingredients inside greenhouses. Colleen has been trying to farm an area with weak soil and they both could use your help. I'd like to hire you as a part-time consultant for them for the next three months.

"You have whatever budget that you may need to improve their operation, be it equipment, fertilizers, cuttings or the like. Let me know whatever you need to help their operation and I'll get it, reimburse you, or buy it for you. I'd like you to go with them and look at their operation and meet again on Monday to review your plan and your requirements. Here's a portkey watch to allow you to get th their farm and back."

Neville agreed and ten minutes later he and the two witches were at the farm. The two women hadn't been there since leaving. Everything in the greenhouse had died and nothing had been planted in the fields Colleen explained, "It's going to be tougher than usual as we lost six weeks of our growing season. We could grow beans this year and get a better start next year."

Neville asked, "What would you normally grow?"

Colleen replied, "Potatoes, tomatoes, corn and squash. We sell them at the farmers market."

Neville checked the calendar and his notebook. He asked, "How many acres are each of the farms?"

Colleen gave him the numbers for each farm and observed, "We don't have enough time."

Neville replied, "You be ready to plant on Friday. I'll have your fields fertilized."

She was about to fire off a snide remark about ambitious teenagers talking big. The fields were tired and weak and had been for decades. Sarah gave a slight shake of her head at her friend. She'd concluded that Lupin was the real deal. With the resources at his disposal, he could have chosen any herbologist to help them, yet he chose the teen who had hands that obviously knew the soil and hard work. She replied, "We'll be ready."

An hour later, Harry called Charlie Weasley and asked if there was a quantity of dragon dung that they could purchase and pick up today.

Charlie replied, "Sure. How much do you want?"

Harry looked at Dobby, who'd heard both sides of the telephone conversation and had his arms stretched wide. Harry replied, "All of it."

They agreed on a very reasonable price and an hour later, a not-so-small army of elves had finished collecting the high-grade fertilizer and had worked it into the soil of the farms.

… - …

Friday June 14

By sunset, all of the fields had been planted.

Neville had met with Sarah and advised her that he'd bring seedlings or cuttings of everything that was on her list when he returned the next day. Remus hadn't mentioned that the two women were Weres or that one of them was directly involved in the abduction of the Patil Twins. If Minister Bones was willing to put that behind them, he was too.

… - ...

Saturday June 15

Amelia and Saul Croaker sat and politely listened to Ragnok summarize his points as Barchoke observed. "Our society is built upon the creation, maintenance and most importantly, the faith in the security of the wards that we sell. The four devices which were used to remove the security that had been set up to protect some of your society's most prominent citizens and prevent their escape in an organized assassination attempt were banned in 1968 by former minister Leonard Spencer in this very room. Mr. Croaker, if my memory serves me correctly, you attended that meeting and were specifically direct by minister Spencer, who signed the agreement, to destroy the devices as well as the knowledge of the runesets used to create them. Is this not correct?"

"It is, Director."

"Further you were directed to remove the knowledge from the memories of any of your employees who may have come in contact with the devices. Is that not correct?"

"It is, Director. I directed that the devices be destroyed. It is my belief that a copy of the notes relating to their construction was missed, and operative Rookwood reproduced the devices. As best as we can determine, they were made in 1975 and used twice, once in August 1991, the second time this last June 3rd."

Regnok observed, "They weren't crude copies; they were perfectly crafted replicas. The knowledge was perfected in the time of the Pharaohs. Spencer and Dumbledore begged for our aid in 1945. The devices were presented, used and Dumbledore was able to subdue and capture Gellert Grindlewold. The devices were destroyed and we were assured that the knowledge used for their creation would not be stolen. We long suspected that he was honorless."

Bones wasn't positive if Ragnok was referring to former minister Spencer or Dumbledore. She remarked, "To my knowledge neither were rune masters. It's more likely that Dumbledore took some clear photographs of the devices while they were in his possession and passed them along at some point. Rookwood was a respected unspeakable for decades before he joined Tom Riddle."

Croaker said, "If such photographs or journals exist within the ministry, or the known possessions of Rookwood, I'll personally destroy them or hand them over to Barchoke – whichever you prefer."

It was the best that Ragnok could hope for. They agreed and went on their ways. None of them knew that the notes and photographs that they'd been discussing had been destroyed a week earlier when Carol torched the safehouse that had contained Rookwood's notebook.

… - …

Sunday June 16

After Dan and Harry had cleared Customs in Boston, checked into the Inn, arrived at Daryl's shop and each had a cold beverage, Daryl asked, "How many wands have the five of you made so far?"

Harry replied, "To be fair about it, there are at least nine of us. Hagrid watches over the larger animals. He provided almost all of the core material that we used for the first few months. Dan's wife, Emma sees Auras. She puts people into the proper queue where they're handed a wand that's likely to work well for them on the first attempt. Dobby's friends grow and move trees for us. Remus keeps track of the inventory and Sirius does the production planning. To answer your question, about 80,000."

Daryl observed, "You've managed to create the world's only wand factory."

Dan asked, "Are you implying that it's a good thing or a bad thing?"

Daryl replied, "In general, it's an exceptionally brilliant idea. You have the best materials acquisition team in the world. You've effectively brought three new core materials into common use. - Dragon wing skin, mixed powdered dragon bone and muskox. On a world-wide basis, historically 3/4th of people have been using legacy wands. In the best case, only half of them would have been good fits. In another year or so, almost all 350,000 people in Europe will be using a wand that actually fits them. I'd be disappointed if you haven't done the same thing in the US within the next five years.

"Compare that with any single wandcrafter. There's no way that they can be good at all facets of the craft. Most have no idea how to properly grow a tree, let alone talk with them and actually get them to move. Most wandcrafters stop searching after acquiring one type of material – two tops. Some are excellent craftsmen; Garrick Ollivander was but he couldn't read an aura to save his life. He compensated by having people try different wands until they happened onto one that was a decent fit. In short, you've created a tremendous economy of scale."

Dan asked, "Are you suggesting that we sell core material?"

Daryl considered his question for a minute then replied, "I don't think so; at least not proactively, It's conceivable that Felix Beadeoux from France would contact you and ask to purchase 1,000 cores. You'd have to decide on pricing, or if you were even interested. I don't think that he represents a serious level of competition in that your costs are always going to be far lower than his. In contrast, he's effectively lost the window of opportunity to sell wands for 5,000 galleons. Those people who were sufficiently well-heeled and who were truly desperate to get a wand, most likely have already visited your shop or another continent."

Dan nodded.

Daryl continued, "The reality is, you've already made the generous decision to support the dragon reserves, the floo system, Hogwarts, Diagon Alley, my nephew and Diane Lind. He's looking at servicing a market of 5,000 quidditch players and she's looking at servicing a market of 40,000 avid broomstick riders. There only so many dragons to be processed. Hermione's idea to double what you've been paying the Dragon Reserve people was both sound and generous. Hopefully, long-term, it will have the desired impact."

Harry replied, "I'm not so sure about that. Charlie told me that the reserve could only support so many dragons. Beyond that, they'd have to purchase a bunch of sheep to accommodate a few more. Somebody could hand them a dump truck full of gold and I doubt that they'd be able to double their livestock count unless they clipped their wings at birth."

Daryl pointed out, "You just answered your own question. The rest is simply logistics; that's how you get fish farms."

Dan continued, "At some level, it's moot. Historically, people made wands from dragon hearts. They'd yield about 500 wands per dragon. For sake of discussion, our yield is about 15,000 per using the wing. A bone set could supply core for another 20-30 thousand wands.

Daryl could see his point. Between their success with the dragons and the astonishing turn-around with the muskox, they were in a position to completely flood the market with quality wands. In two years, they'd finish Europe, another two for America and another decade to completely transform parts of Asia. They didn't need to worry much about competition – they could crush it like a tsunami.

He asked, "On a different subject, how was the first Quidditch League match?"

Harry replied, "The stadium was packed. The broomsticks seemed to work well for all of the positions."

Daryl nodded and remarked, "I think it would have been a tangible indicator that the situation had made great strides and would continue to improve. Thanks."

Harry replied, "It was the right thing to do. Cheers."

… - …

Finally, Daryl asked about pricing.

Harry replied, "Ragnok and Sirius watch over that constantly. Felix from France and Otto Krebbs from Munich both are still in the wand business. As far as I know, they've each bought a bundle of unicorn tail hairs and go through some sort of wood selection routine. I won't say that there's nothing to it but from what Sirius observed when he bought a wand from each one was that they had all the trappings of a carnival fortune teller. The customer wants to believe that they're getting something special. Then they'd discuss length and decide on a 12 ½ inch conductor baton. They'd tell the client that the wand will be ready in eight days and sell them for 3 - 5,000 galleons each. Ragnok believes that they're each averaging three to five a week."

He continued, "Anyway, Ragnok told me that he believes that we have complimentary pricing models. Our standardized pricing plan supports their asking more for their custom wands and their plan lets most people see that ours are a very good value. The goblins are making their own pile of gold with their loan forms and no one seems to be complaining about the price. We agree with your assessment that most people were using legacy wands; there aren't too many people who know what their legacy wand sold for. Now they're getting a wand that's actually matched to them, so in all liklihood, their new wand will work for them better than their old one did."

Harry concluded, "As for the future, I suppose that we'll have to look at each new market and test the pricing. Gringotts is really doing that for us now since they provide the portkey transportation."

Again, Daryl could see the advantage of having different people perform specific tasks. He replied, "I see your point. If the local branch office decides to offer the portkey chains to your shop, they could perform their own due diligence and determine if a barrier encountered was a local wandcrafter or the pricing. How many people are using the loan forms?"

Harry replied, "In excess of 90 percent." Unstated was the reality that the Wandout was nearly a year ago. There was still a massive amount of human suffering to be corrected.

… - …

Monday June 17

DMLE Director Shacklebolt continued, "Miss Edgecombe, the Investigators agreed that you could be charged as an accessory in three murders. They also agree that you held a level of responsibility in the abduction of 14 students.

"If found guilty, the recommended sentence would be a term not less than 25 years in Azkaban Prison. Do you understand the charges?"

"Yes."

"In your case, there was an Amicus Curiae filing. Part of the document requested a one-time pre-trial plea bargain. Should you choose to accept and fulfill the conditions put forth by the petitioner, the accessory to murder charges will be dropped. The primary condition is that you leave Britain within 72 hours of accepting the agreement and never return.

"The accessory in the abduction charges will be dropped if you fulfill the conditions put forth by the petitioner for a period of 24 months. Should the petitioner file that he is dissatisfied with your behavior during the 24 months, you will be re-arrested and charged as an accessory in the abductions. Do you understand the offer?"

The tall 17 year-old blond with streaks of red in her hair was certain that she was being offered the option to be someone's sex slave for two years rather than go to Azkaban for 25 years. As tears streaked down her face she replied, "Yes."

"You will be given two hours to meet with the petitioner. At that time, he'll discuss the details of the conditions. You will return at the end of the two hours and state your preference. Should the petitioner be satisfied with the sincerity of your intentions, the petitioner will also state his acceptance and you will be released in his custody and be subject to his terms for the duration of the agreement. If you are willing, state, I am."

"I am."

"OK. You will be remanded in Auror Tonks' custody for the next two hours. Do not test our patience by returning late."

… - …

Tonks fitted a magic suppressing bracelet on her wrist and they took the elevator to the first floor. Walking toward the visitor entrance, she saw a thin, well dressed man with brown hair streaked with some grey. He turned towards her and she recognized him. "Professor Lupin." Memories of the times that she belittled him within his hearing distance flooded her mind.

"Hello Miss Edgecombe. Shall we go?"

Tonks suggested, "Lead on."

They arrived at the pizza restaurant where the Wand Shop crew frequently ate after work, or picked up take-away. Marietta had never had pizza, so she asked the other two to order for her.

After they received their beverages, Remus began, "I'm here today because somebody cared and helped save my life." He paused for effect and continued, "If you'll let me, I'd like to do the same for you."

"But you're a Werewolf. I don't want..." She wisely stopped talking at the look of rage that Tonks gave her.

The suddenly deadly serious Auror stated, "It's OK to think rude thoughts. You need to develop a filter to avoid blurting out, or acting on them and you need to do it, not now, but right now!"

Marietta had the decency to keep her mouth closed as the Auror continued. "As was mentioned, you'll have 72 hours to leave Britain starting when you sign the sentencing acceptance agreement when you get back. The primary purpose of this meeting is to decide where to send you. You'll do well to listen to every word that Professor Lupin speaks. Understood?"

"Yes."

In an intentionally calm voice, Remus began. "To your statement, yes, I was a Were for 28 years. My condition was cured a few weeks ago. You just turned 17 yesterday. My suggestion is that you return to school for another two years, so you would have the skills to honorably support yourself. Besides English and a bit of Latin, do you speak any other languages?"

"No."

Remus nodded and continued, "There are five other schools of magic where English is the primary language. There's the Wollongong Academy in New South Wales in Australia. There's..."

She blurted, "I have no skills - no accreditations, no friends." Her stress level was impeding her ability to listen.

"As calmly as he could, he asked, "What were you planning on doing after school?"

"Work in the Ministry. My mother's friend, Undersecretary Umbridge was going to get me a job."

"Perhaps finishing your schooling would be a good option."

"I can't go back to Hogwarts. I've been expelled." Tonks resisted the urge to slap the whinging brat and marveled at Lupin's patience and restraint.

He continued, "I received my Defense Mastery at the Butchart School of Magic in Vancouver Canada. There are also schools in Tucson Arizona and the Boston area in America. I have contacts at the Vancouver and at the Salem schools. They both have summer sessions beginning in a few weeks."

"I don't have any money."

He continued, "Given your word that you'll try your best at school, make quality friends and stay out of trouble, I'll sponsor your education for the next two years. That will include your transportation to the school, admittance fees, books, tuition, room, board and a reasonable living expense allowance. Naturally, I'll check on your progress on a regular basis."

Dumbfounded by his words, she asked, "Which school do you think would be the best choice for me?"

"My recommendation would be the Salem Academy. They teach a blend of magical and nonmagical classes. Given that your education up to this point has been exclusively magical, most of your classes the first year would be nonmagical. You would graduate with what they refer to as a 75/25 student, meaning that 75 percent of your credits were in magical classes and 25 percent were in nonmagical classes. It's likely that you will need to take classes next summer as well."

"That sounds fantastic. How would I apply?"

"We would go see them tomorrow and apply in person."

"OK."

"I need to tell you, Marietta, that ancestry carries no weight at Salem. You may be classed as a pureblood within some circles in Britain but it will be your willingness to work hard, your ability and results that will bring you success in America. Do you understand?"

"I'll try to. I promise."

He believed her. "All right then. Let's finish our lunch and we'll get back to the ministry and sign their forms. Then we'll go to Gringotts and get you the appropriate travel documents and get you settled in for the night at Tom's. The plane leaves early, so I'll pick you up at 5 am."

"Thank you."

… - ...

Wednesday June 19

Back in Salem, Harry's subject of the afternoon was basilisk venom wands. His sample was rated at E-150/C20. Daryl had a sad look on his face and observed, "You're not simply making it for your use today; Antioch Peveral was said to have lived in the early 1200s. Beedle the Bard published his book sometime around 1350. Assume that the wand changed hands every 20 years. Also assume that some of the owners were outright evil, some bad, some average, some good and some saintly. 700 years divided by 20 years per person is 35 different owners. It's reasonable to assume that at least a handful of those owners were very bad witches or Wizards. I'd have hated to have seen Bellatrix Lestrange or Voldemort walking around carrying the Death Stick.

"Harry, my point is, you seemingly have rediscovered the recipe for making a Deathstick. Some users were utterly corrupted by the power that it allowed them to wield. Others like Dumbledore were merely intoxicated by it. My point is, if you go out and make a hundred of the things, where are they going to end up in the next fifty years? I'm simply observing that making them might not be a great thing to do. We'll leave it at that."

Harry wasn't certain that he completely agreed with his mentor but certainly saw his points. He was going to ask about using blood to tie the wand to a specific person when Daryl changed the subject, pointed to the bag that Dobby had delivered a month earlier and asked, "Exactly what do you have here?"

Harry replied, "Powdered dragon bone ground to the consistency of flour."

Did you use the entire dragon?"

"Yes... er, no. We didn't include the skull or the wings."

Daryl asked, "Have you ever heard the phrase, Everybody knows...?

Harry replied, "One of my school mates who grew up in a large pureblood family used it. It was his go-to phrase when he tried to explain things but didn't have any data on hand to back up his statement."

Daryl asked, "Given a few years perspective, how often was he right?"

"Maybe as much as a third of the time."

Daryl thought about Harry's answer a bit and replied, "Everybody knows that dragon bone is too volatile to use in wandmaking, yet you're having excellent results. What's different?"

It was Harry's turn to think for a moment. He replied, "Two things... actually three. I didn't include the skull or the wing bones. Dobby ground the bone into a far finer powder than I ever could or would. Finally Dan pointed out that it should be mixed several times, so it was very consistent."

Daryl replied, "Hermione mentioned to me that you're an excellent cook. Did you ever make anything using hot peppers?"

Harry replied, "No, but I understand your point. Perhaps the dragon skull is the most magical part. Let's substitute the term the most volatile part. Instead of particles the size of flour, say 1,000th of an inch in diameter that Dobby could make, I only got mine 1/16th of an inch in diameter, like sea salt. Further, instead of being truly mixed, it had been only sorta mixed, like a paint can that was only stirred two or three turns."

Dan added, "Suppose I made three wands. One was mostly made of tail bone, another was mostly wing bone and the last was mostly skull bone. They'd be nothing alike."

Daryl replied, "Exactly. Harry excluded the most volatile part, Dobby ground the rest into dust and you truly mixed it together – a perfect combination."

Dan asked, "What about intellectual property rights?"

Daryl replied, "Keep going."

"Everybody knows that dragon bones are unsuitable for wandcrafting. I have to assume that some of the 80,000 wands that we've sold so far have been taken apart and reverse-engineered. I expect that sooner or later someone would take one of the dragon bone wands apart and sooner or later, someone would recognize what it is. Granted, they may incorrectly assume that it's skull, or leg bone but..." He paused for a moment to collect his thought and asked, "In general terms, how accessible are dragon bones?"

Daryl replied."I've two thoughts. It's not a state secret that Harry has been involved in harvesting two very large basilisks. It's not a state secret that he's made wands from basilisk bone. To your question, it's fairly likely that someone would take one of the dragon bone wands apart and incorrectly conclude that it was basilisk.

"There are no patents that I'm aware of relating to wandcrafting. There are secrets and techniques that don't get shared. As to the availability of dragons, I'd be surprised if some of the Diagon Alley Apothecaries didn't have one pound sacks of dragon bone in stock as it's occasionally used in potion making; though I doubt that they're ground up or mixed very well. Sooner or later, the fact that it's being used will come out. It may be four months, or four years. Once that becomes common knowledge, it might be another four years until someone replicated your process or develops an equivalent one. For sake of discussion, the wand market for Europe is worth about a billion dollars over the next two years. If you capture sixty percent of that, or merely half, does it really matter?"

Dan admitted, "Not really. Harry can still only eat one whole pizza for dinner." They both chuckled at the teen's expense.

Daryl continued, "I agree that there's a very finite supply of dragons, but as Harry mentioned, it's not at all unlikely that additional reserves will appear in remote locations that stock clipped wing dragons. They would have a far lower acres per animal land requirement than the flying variety; especially if the food was stocked, or raised in parallel to the dragons."

Harry pointed out, "We all agree that sooner or later, the price structure is going to collapse. It would have before now if someone else, for sake of discussion had 300,000 wands available to ship. You pointed out that on a worldwide basis, 3/4th of the magicals may be using wands that aren't great fits. At 5,000G, how many of them would switch from a wand with a 50-E rating to on that was 60-E? Probably not that many. Europe's current option isn't making the best of using Uncle Fester's old wand, it's having no wand."

Daryl replied, "I don't think it would simply collapse but the price may well plateau at 100 - 350G. At that price, perhaps half of the magicals in the US might trade up from an E-50 to an E-75. It may be another decade before the world levels out at 100G. Time will tell. In the meantime, the best thing that you can do is to guard your process, sell as many as you can and to guard your inventory."

He put down his bottle of Orange Crush and added, "As far as that goes, someone might start their own unicorn ranch." Dan and Harry looked at each other and started laughing. They'd leave that story for dinnertime.

… - …

Monday June 24 – Anniversary of the Wandout

In the DMLE conference room;

"Anna, about time you got here. Oh! You brought biscuits today."

"Well Inspector Hammer, I've observed that you brought a treat yourself, coffee from the muggle side. Too bad no one makes anything near as well in Diagon Alley. But at least you didn't have to go far," replied Inspector Daily as she picked up the Daily Prophet that was on the table. "Let me read the front page to you. It is a full front-page editorial today and it's a doozy! Cuffe isn't complimentary.

A year since the Great Wandout!

A world upended forever!

A Tsunami of Changes for the Wizarding World!

Editorial by Barnabas Cuffe

Were the changes for the better, worse, or simply a different way of doing things?

I, for one, think the Wizarding world has had too much change in too short a time and long for the old days of stability where everyone knew their place in Wizarding Society.

One year ago today, the start of the day was like every other day. People went about their lives enjoying the everyday things that life and the gift of magic affords. Wizarding folk sat atop the world, as well we should. Few knew the magical world we knew at the time would tilt on its axis and start us on a year of cataclysmic, incredible change, sweeping away the conservative traditionalists, the accepted trappings of the magical world while ushering in unwelcome and unneeded changes to our government. Additionally unnecessary changes in our grand children's education, interactions with our neighbors in the mundane world, disappearances, violence, lawlessness, and new creature rights have all resulting a new society.

What has this brought us? Most of our important traditions lie moldering in the scrap heap.

A year ago today, no one could imagine that today would be so different. That evening, in a strange occurrence, all wands and broomsticks within approximately 2,000 miles were destroyed by an unknown magical event.

What has this brought us?

A crumbling of society along with unwanted dependence on the Muggles and Muggleborn! It soon became apparent that wands and wand core were in very scarce supply across the wizarding world. The wizarding world ground to a halt as charms failed, floo powder ran out, potions supplies, food and anything that required magic was crippled. Long established firms failed as no one had a wand, bringing the economy into a severe depression. Our magical world found itself in dire straits as it tried to navigate the muggle world for necessities like food. This spurred the rise of new businesses that were able to navigate the brave new world and interact with the muggle side.

Violence occurred, with Potion Master Severus Snape murdering Albus Dumbledore with a knife and Alastor Moody murdering Minerva McGonagall. Soon after, both men were writhing on the ground in agony dying from an unknown cause. Senior undersecretary Deloris Umbridge was murdered in Diagon Alley after a night of drinking. Dozens of upstanding conservative citizens disappeared. The Fudge Ministry totally botched the collection and preservation of the only unicorn herd in Great Britain as Fenrir Greyback's pack ran roughshod for months in a robbery and murder spree that included the destruction of the Unicorn herd, the murder of the Minister of Magic Rufus Scrimgeour, who had replaced Fudge after the debacle of the Unicorn's was also murdered by Fenrir Greyback along with the kidnapping of Hogwarts Students.

What has this brought us?

This threw the ministry into disarray as more than thirty employees never appeared again as the Wizengamot and Ministry was crippled and was stressed to provide basic services. Under the leadership of the Fudge Administration, the Ministry reeled from one scandal to the next.

What has this brought us?

A gutting of the ministry, as long-time employees were declared "Redundant" and booted to the curb to find their own way in an unfamiliar world. Over time, a curious fact emerged. According to the present Minister of Magic, who was head of the DMLE then, Amelia Bones, stated that all of the missing "Fine upstanding citizens were members of the Dark Mark Tattoo Club." "And the Ministry was in dire straits due to the ineptitude and corruption that the Fudge Administration allowed to run rampant."

In this Wizard's opinion, it is unseemly for a sitting Minister to denigrate the former administration, the creme de la crème of Wizarding Society and in too many cases, the passing of great houses.

Were the events of the Great Wandout and the disappearance of our upstanding citizens related? Perhaps, but we will never know. As the head of the DMLE at the time indicated, no one reported them missing and by the time attention could be brought to bear, nothing could be determined. This was certainly a failure of the DMLE leadership to ignore the missing.

What has this brought us?

Unwelcome and sweeping changes occurred in the Wizengamot and Ministry as new people, almost all non-pureblood, many with new radical Muggle inspired ideas, replaced the old conservatives and conservative values and ushered in a new era.

With the disappearance of many of the traditionalists, the aforementioned events led a much more liberal Wizengamot to implement many changes in laws that former undersecretary Umbridge had pushed through with the conservative side to restrict non pureblood and creature rights. With these changes the wolf Fenrir Greyback was finally brought to justice and the Weres of Britain entered a program of inclusion back into the wizarding world. Rather than the olive branch, should the problem have been permanently resolved as former Minister Scrimgeour hinted about? I for one, believe we would be better off with out them walking about.

As for the Former Minister Scrimgeour, his legacy was to begin the gutting of the Ministry, and root out the corruption and nepotism that he and others believed had infused the Ministry for years. As for Hogwarts, with both the headmaster and second removed from Hogwarts a revamped curriculum was implemented with promises to shape the future viewpoints of Magical Children for the future. Will these radical new ideas change our society for the better? I think not.

Among the few bright lights is that Harry Potter was trained in wand crafting and opened his Wand Shop. The boy-Who Lived turned into the Boy-Who-Made Wands and The Boy Who Saved Magical Britain. He somehow found sources of rare wand core and woods necessary to craft compatible wands. His shop provided wands for all British Magical's and untold thousands to other nationalities. Their visiting Diagon Alley to purchase wands drove employment upwards and spurned a cottage industry of cart vendors and a revitalization of Diagon Ally businesses and the sales tax generated kept the ministry afloat to provide basic necessary services. His shop worked closely with several broomstick manufacturers which revitalized the sporting community.

Pureblood society and thinking have been swept away in the tidal wave of change. In my opinion this was not a good thing for the Wizarding World and Pure-Blood Society.

I ask my dear readers: Are these changes permanent? Were they for the best? Only time will tell.

"What do you think?" asked Connie. At 36, Anna was half of Connie and Amelia's age and she had a younger person's perspective that Connie had truly come to respect.

Anna observed, "I think there are two separate questions – how are we faring against Wandout minus one; in other words against the old status quo and how far have we progressed since Wandout plus one?"

"Take your pick," replied Connie.

"Cuffe should have stuck to the first comparison; it's more his, the glass is half empty style. A year ago, Wizarding Britain was doing everything possible to look backward; no one ever used Dumbledore and innovation in the same sentence. The minister and half of his department heads were corrupt. Several handfuls were known killers who were allowed to walk free. Whatever happened to the 30 or so Death Eaters and their spouses that night was good for Britain. Their disappearance opened the windows to allow a huge breath of fresh air into the room, so-to-speak."

Connie nodded, Anna was just getting warmed up.

"We have the most competent minister in place that we've had in our lifetimes. I have confidence that this year's finishing Hogwarts students can actually make a simple potion and fire off a stunner without wetting themselves. Fudge and Debit were seemingly making off with grocery sacks full of galleons between themselves. Now there's money available to pay for justifiable projects and programs."

She continued, "Cuffe pointed out the violence which occurred, to and from the Weres. I'd observe that if they hadn't abducted those students and instead had all decided to come in and mind their own business, with the possible exception of Greyback, no one would have been killed – on either side.

"As for Cuffe's conjecture that the Death Eater disappearance and the Wandout were somehow connected, the reality is that none of the spouses called for a search. So I initially believed and still do, that they had a good idea with respect to where their spouses went and what happened to them. Their own laws that were originally put it to make it harder for us to investigate muggleborn disappearances ended up working against the old-liners this time."

Connie nodded and replied, "You brought up excellent points on both groups. Greyback's followers came back to Britain, killing people and pulling off pre-planned robberies. Those Weres who left him are onto better lives and those who didn't brought justice upon themselves. As for the Death Eaters, Dumbledore's blind obsession with redemption never had any basis of fact to back it up. He touted Snape as his poster boy success story and for his effort, he got a knife in the back on top of turning off an entire generation to potion making."

Connie ate one of the delicious pastries as Anna sipped on the excellent coffee. The older Investigator pointed out, "Cuffe had a point with respect to the layoffs. The sorry state of the ministry finances wasn't widely known, Rufus probably didn't want to cause yet another panic by admitting the the ministry was bankrupt, so he resigned himself to taking the fallout and never gave an explanation."

Anna nodded and added, "It wouldn't have been in such a weak position if Fudge and Debit hadn't been lining their pockets every time an opportunity presented itself. Mick Paulson talked with me one day, inquiring if I might be interested in signing on with his team of estate dispositioners. The money would have been fantastic but it was right after that gigantic snake did in Ogden's bunch. Besides breathing on a regular basis, I like solving the cases with you."

Connie smiled. "Me too, sweets. They've made a very decent living doing the work." She added, "Rufus did the right thing and made the hard choice. What he could have done better would have been to explain the justification to the people. He could have typed up a five page position paper, had the nonmagicals photocopy it and sent it out to everyone's home."

"Maybe he would have but he didn't get the chance. Greyback made his move and set the buzzsaw in motion. Without the hardline traditionalists voices staring backward, social change was bound to happen, both inside and out of Hogwarts."

Connie asked, "What was your other point about Cuffe's remarks?"

"OK. Whereas the Wandout minus one comparison focused on how has society changed since before anything happened, Wandout plus one evaluates how we're doing compared to the day after the Wandout. The metrics should also look at how Britain has improved relative to comparable countries such as Germany, France or Italy. Much of our change relates to four individuals – Harry Potter, Sirius Black, Amelia and Fenrir Greyback.

"In reverse order – the demise of Greyback and his hardline followers eliminated the largest criminal problem that we've recently faced. Amelia's policies largely contributed to our fighting a dozen, rather than 40 or 50 Weres. The entire ministry is operating due to the funds provided by Black's efforts.

"Britain is thriving financially, singularly due the the effort of the Wand Shop providing wands for Brits in far larger quantities than what the rest of Europe was able to manage. Long-term, Britain is thriving because Diagon Alley in general and the Wand Shop in specific are bringing millions of foreign galleons into the magical British economy.

"Cuffe can yap all he wants but the fact remains that more Brits were able to purchase quality replacement wands sooner and at less cost than the rest of Europe. I know my perspective is a bit different here, being junior. This situation where every Friday, Mr. Potter and the rest of Diagon alley are bringing several million galleons into Britain – week in and week out is brilliant! Long-term, it represents an economic power shift that's likely to go on for another year or two.

"It's not just the Wand Shop; for the most part, the alleys are thriving. The Leaky Cauldron has been doing a year's worth of business every two weeks. Those two lasses running the popcorn stand are probably making more each week than Amelia. It's a thing of beauty. Cuffe missed those points entirely. Taken in total, his comments smack of lamenting for a past that simply isn't there anymore. Instead of pouting that this or that has slightly inconvenienced someone, he should have been speculating about what the next twelve months would bring us."

Connie was taken aback by Anna's words. Like Slughorn she'd perceived the crowds as something of an inconvenience rather than the windfall that they truly represented. She should have recognized the slight inconvenience as being a minor cost of the windfall. Perhaps Cuffe's editorial should have been titled, The Gold Train is here – Grab hold.

… - …

Friday June 28

Between the combination of the magical fertilizer and the encouragement from the elves, the plants at the farm looked they they'd been planted months earlier. The tomatoes were starting to ripen and would certainly be the first to market, where they could command the best prices.

Their challenge now would be to find buyers for all of the produce that they would harvest. Sarah and the others believed it would be a wonderful challenge to have.

… - ...

Ron did pass his OWLs; not with Os but he passed every one that he'd taken. Harry had helped the Comet Broom crafting corporation – really helped them. With the help of Kaia, they always had wood, sliced blanks with bristles sliced, glue and varnish along with a supply of two pound bags of core material, suitable for a day of work.

Thus, rather than sending the FNG out to the forest to collect those things, Ron was actually put to work in the broom crafting business. He impressed the lads working there in that he actually knew his wood. The hours that Hagrid had patiently spent with the teen examining different wood had paid off in spades. That said, his knowledge of runes was comparatively thin. He was like a bartender who only knew how to make three drinks but it was a start and the lads were happy to show the enthusiastic teen the ropes.

Like most newbys, his knowledge of broomsticks was from a user's perspective. That said, the lad could fly. Comet didn't have a master of the wood, like Dobby. Comet didn't have five sets of mithiril tooling either; theirs constantly needed sharpening. They were happy to teach him how and he was happy to do the work. As it turned out, the teen had better than average hand-eye coordination. It may have originated from hours spent stuffing food into his mouth but the lad turned out to be skilled with the tools.

… - …

Saturday June 29

The morning of the day before they were scheduled to leave, Daryl walked in, holding a newspaper and asked, "Was this you?" He showed them the headlines.

Fenrir Greyback and pack of thugs brought down. There were photos of him and the other attackers.

Dan looked at Harry and replied, "Sort of. Amelia Bones finished off Greyback. As for the others, we defended ourselves. There wasn't much to tell. Well, that's not true, Harry's phoenix friend, Fawkes, cured a friend of ours who had been a Were for twenty-some years. If you want a real story, have Harry show you a memory cube of he and a friend getting rid of a 25 foot basilisk this last January."

Daryl rubbed his face and replied, "Devlin was right the first time – you are an adrenaline junkie."

Harry admitted, "Maybe but not intentionally. I think I'm more a victim of May you live in interesting times syndrome."

Daryl set the subject aside and suggested, "Let's go try out those new staffs."

… - ...

That evening, Dan and Daryl were finishing their dinner. Harry was at the Inn, talking with Dobby, who had popped over to discuss something for the shop. Dan ordered another round and began speaking, "We were attacked by a group of Weres a week before we left to come here. A group of eight, led by Fenrir Greyback had come to kill us. Harry and his Godfather were out picking up take-away for us when they arrived. They broke through the wards somehow and blew up the doors just before changing into Weres. I shot and killed two with some silver shotgun shells that I'd loaded. Emma had wounded one by jamming a spear that Hermione had transfigured before being knocked unconscious from a spell.

"We'd reached something of a stand-off. I'd foolishly run out of shells and bluffed that I was taking aim." Daryl nodded encouragingly but didn't say anything. There was nothing in his experience that came close to this.

Dan drained his glass and continued, "Harry came in. One of the Weres had run off, leaving four that were trying to finish us off. Harry sliced two in half before they even realized that he was there. We'd called for help but it was slow reaching us. Anyway, I whacked one and I think Harry finished off the last one when he was distracted. They'd have killed us, or torn us apart. I owe him... I owe..."

"Nothing," replied Daryl. "Let me guess. He apologized a dozen times for taking too long picking up dinner and not getting the other Werewolves. Who has he talked with about this?"

Dan shook his head and admitted, "Aside from the law enforcement people, no one."

"He should talk with Devlin." After a pause, he asked, "Is he still in a relationship with Hermione?"

Dan nodded, "It's remarkably stable, given their ages. She'd been knocked out early in the fight. I don't know if she's been given the specifics."

Daryl replied, "I expect he's heard, It had to be done, by everyone that he's talked with. Are you OK?"

Dan thought for a moment and replied, "I will be."

Daryl asked, "Is Hermione going to stick with Wandcrafting? I know she has a lot of interests."

"Probably. We've all made a good deal of money with this. Even after demand normalizes, I can't see her wanting to work nights and weekends for a hundredth of the money, working as a healer trainee."

Reverting to their previous subject, Daryl asked, "How did Harry react after the attack?"

Dan replied, "I expect that he worked it out with Hermione. After finishing off Riddle along with his henchmen, as well as assorted monsters, I subconsciously view him as a gnarled army veteran – even though he deserves better."

"I see your point and admit that I have about the same viewpoint." He glanced at his watch and said, "Have a good night. I'll see you tomorrow.

… - …

Sunday June 30

Back at Crawley. A month had passed since Greyback and crew had made an attack on their home in a well organized but thoroughly misguided attempt at murdering the occupants at the Granger home. Within days of the attack, Emma had put on her brave-face and sent Harry and Dan off to Salem to attend a previously scheduled two week class with Daryl Whitehorn.

Her rational side knew that Ragnok had assigned four guards to watch the outside of the house while Dan and Harry were gone. Amelia had come to visit and check on her every few days. She knew that at the first sign of trouble, she could call Amelia or the Aurors and the hit team would rain down on any intruders. Yet, her emotional side was getting the better of her. At night, Hermione could hear her mum's whimpers and screams from the nightmares. She would never again set foot in the dining room.

Emma couldn't avert her eyes from looking outside at night. The new floodlights lit up the property as effectively as sunlight. She flinched every time that she saw movement outside – be it a bird or a bunny. Though she didn't complain aloud, she was desperate for Dan and Harry to return.

… - ...

A/Ns

Was Cuffe's editorial the rant of a man lamenting for a past that was gone forever, or did he have some legitimate points?

Story Recommendation;

Harry Potter's Secret Weapon from Vashon Beader is well worth looking at. Apprentice Tom is about to post a new story as well.

On a different subject, has anyone read a completed HP-Star Wars crossover (Mostly HP) that they would recommend?

Cheers

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