Chapter Twelve: Defense Against the Dark Arts and how it pertains to you.
Everyone but Eric and Nell went downstairs.
"So who else knows about magic?" Kensi asked.
"My team, the team from Britain, Abbey, Vance, and Ducky." Harry said.
"So everybody?" Kensi clarified.
"Essentially." Harry responded.
They got to the bottom and they split up; Henrietta to her work area and everyone else to theirs. "So, who's next on our perp's to kill list?" Deeks asked.
"Dolores Jane Umbridge, my fifth DADA teacher." Harry responded.
"So all the corpses share a likeness to a DADA teacher, and what does DADA stand for?" Callen inquired. Harry nodded.
"DADA stands for Defense Against the Dark Arts. It's a self defense course for anything that might want to take a bite out of a witch or wizard." Harry informed the L.A. team.
"Course she never deserved the title of professor." Justin mused.
"That's true. Telling the class to copy down a chapter does not make a teacher." Harry agreed.
"Really? That would be awesome." Deeks said.
"Expect that we were expecting a practical assignment, class, option. Something like that." Justin said.
"That and we weren't even learning anything." Harry added.
"I don't understand. How is this terrible?" Deeks asked.
"Well there was this maniac that had been revived that wanted to kill me and enslave non-magic folk and over all just not a nice person." Harry said.
"Who really wanted you dead, and Deeks, we wanted to learn so badly we started an illegal DADA club so we could be taught by the best source we had." Justin sad.
"That is dedication to learn." Kensi said. "
So who taught you?" Sam asked. Harry raised his hand.
"Really?" Callen asked.
"Well, I faced my DADA teacher when I was eleven, killed a basilisk when I was twelve, faced a whole slew of dementors when I was thirteen, and faced the maniac I mentioned before when I was fourteen." Harry said. Sam whistled.
"I see why you were chosen to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts." Kensi said.
"I was lucky, a lot." Harry added, modestly.
"The only two end of school events I'll blame luck on is with Quirrel and the dementors." Justin argued. Harry took a moment to consider what Justin had said.
"I can see how you could see that." Harry said.
"Really? Let's go through all seven of them. A charm placed on you transfigured your teacher to ash. You drew the sword of Gryffindor from the sorting hat to slay the basilisk. A figure appeared and cast a patronus to dispel the dementors. You used a momentary distraction to get away from the graveyard. You and some of the DA's members held your own against Death Eaters until help could arrive. You charged against Snape, after he switched sides. Finally you managed to vsnquishLord Voldemort." Justin said.
Roberts flinched at the name of the most recent dark lord. Callen gave a whistle.
"That's quite impressive. How did you mange to find time for school? Cause where there are adventures that big at the end of a school year there are smaller ones that don't get noticed." Callen reasoned.
"I had a really good, really smart friend who Ron and I managed to get her to do our homework for us." Harry said.
"Hermione, right?" Callen guessed. Harry nodded.
"I agree with Justin. It doesn't sound like you skated by on luck." McGee said.
"Really? Cause as I remember them I had no idea that being loyal to Dumbledore would summon Fawkes, who brought the sorting hat to me and healed my wound when I got stabbed by a tooth of the basilisk. In the graveyard my spell somehow managed to hit Riddle's spell and start essentially a battle of wills, which I somehow won. Said battle created the distraction. I was in the graveyard for a full minute after the distraction ended. Oh, yeah and the only reason why the battle started was because our wands were brothers. The battle at the ministry could have been totally avoided if I was better at protecting my mind. Snape was actually always on my side, even if he didn't seem like it." Harry said.
"Wait, wait. Snape liked you?" Justin said disbelieving.
"No, however he did want Riddle dead." Harry said. Justin nodded.
"What's the difference between this Riddle and Lord Voldemort guy?" Sam asked.
"The name. He's also known as He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named or You-Know-Who. Most wizards or witches flinch at his pseudonym and don't realize you're talking about him when you say Tom or Riddle." Harry said. The muggles nodded.
"Could we please put more time between that name please?" Roberts asked, looking like his sanity was on the line.
"Fear of a name only increases fear of the thing itself." Harry quoted.
"So how did she die?" Kensi asked, talking about Umbridge.
"I don't know and can't honestly say I really care to find out." Harry stated.
"So no love lost between you two?" Deeks asked.
"Let me put it this way. We cheered when Peeves drove the menace out. The castle disliked her so much that McGonagall lent one of her canes to Peeves to help him drive her out." Harry said, smiling at the memory. Everyone who hadn't met Umbridge stared at either Harry or Justin.
"What? She was a witch in more then one way." Justin said.
"Still you drove her from your school. I didn't like some of my teachers but not enough to get them fired." Kensi said.
"We didn't really fire her. We just made it known how we felt about her. Besides it's not like Peeves needed the urging. He is a poltergeist, after all." Harry said.
"And besides it's not like we could have stopped him even if we wanted to. There's only one person Peeves will listen to completely, no matter what." Justin said.
"Who?" Callen asked.
"The bloody baron." Harry said.
At the looks the group was giving them Justin explained.
"Bloody refers to the blood on his shirt. We're not swearing." There were several nods.
"Guys I think you need to see this." Eric yelled. They got up and went to the command center.
"This is the video from the jail." Nell said as one of the screens came alive. It showed a black and white picture of people striding through a hallway.
"What's interesting about this?" Tony asked.
"Wait for it." Was the reply. As they watched, ice slowly creeped into existence over the lens.
"Dementors. Really?" Harry said, exasperated.
"Wait, what now?" Ziva asked. "Dementors are creatures that feed off happy memories. Muggles can't see them but they look like a floating skeleton with a cowled cape. Their presence has a lot of effects. Ice appearing when it shouldn't is one them." Harry explained.
"So besides the ice what else do they do?" Gibbs asked.
"They feed off happy memories, make you feel like you'll never be happy ever again, and suck out your soul." Harry said.
"I feel sorry for our vic. Being that terrified and not being able to understand or fight back. That's terrible." McGee said. There were several nods.
"So the tape is useless." Harry said.
"Unfortunately." Eric said.
"Though we're still going through the logbook to see if we can catch our perp that way." Eric finished as Harry realized something and rushed out the door with a few murmured words to Gibbs and Callen. Callen started to follow Harry.
"What was that about?" Kensi asked.
"Dementors have a unique presence about them. The prisoners that were next door jail mates to our vic should be able to tell us what our perp looks like, hopefully." Justin said.
Harry rushed into the prison. He flashed his badge at the guard. "I need to speak with the prisoners that have a cell to the sides of our vic." Harry said. The guard nodded.
"Right this way." He said.
He dropped Callen, who had just caught up when Harry started to follow, and Harry at an interrogation room. Harry slipped inside and Callen went to the other side. After a few minutes the guard brought in a prisoner. After he left Harry introduced himself.
"I'm Special Agent Potter with NCIS. What's your name?" He said as he dropped into his seat.
"Call me Vinnie." The prisoner said.
"Do you know why your here?" Vinnie shook his head.
"Well a prisoner one cell over from you died. I'm hoping that you'd be willing to help ID his murderer. We believe that the murderer is female." Harry said, laying on all of his Slytherin charm as he could.
"Don't see many broads killing people. Sure I'll help." Vinnie said.
"Thank you. The person we're looking for probably only visited twice. The second time she came you probably felt like you'd never be happy again." Harry said.
"Her." Vinnie said.
"So you know who I'm talking about." Harry said.
"Yeah, first time I saw her, she was hanging off the arm of Jackson. That was odd. Jackson's nice enough, for a guard, but he's a stickler for the rules and giving a tour is against them." Vinnie said.
"She was playing a dumb blonde but they second time she came she had something that was glowing around her. She's about five foot and six inches. Blonde, green eyes, a mouth that looks better frowning then smiling." Vinnie said.
"Thanks. You've been a big help." Harry said, standing. Vinnie stood too. Harry escorted him out.
"Change of plans. I need to talk to Guardsman Jackson." Harry told the guard. He nodded and took Vinnie back to his cell. A few moments later Guardsman Jackson came into view.
"You wanted to talk to me…?" He said.
"Special Agent Potter." Harry replied, holding the door open for the guardsman to enter.
"So what do you want to talk to me about?" Jackson asked.
"A woman you gave a tour of the jail to." Harry responded. Jackson gave a sigh of regret.
"I should have never got involved with her. She was all wrong in all the right ways. I don't know why but I couldn't get her out of my head. She seemed to hang on to my every word until I gave her the tour. I don't even know why I gave her the tour. I just could not say no. Let's just say I'm glad it's over." Jackson said.
"So a whirlwind relationship?" Harry clarified.
"More like a bullet relationship. Fast in, fast out, twice as painful." Jackson said.
"Do you know where she is and her name?" Harry asked.
"Yeah, I'll write the address down and her name's Jessica Atwell." Harry nodded.
"Thanks." He said as he gave him a piece of paper and a pen.
Once Jackson was done writing Harry thanked him for his time and he and Callen left the prison. Harry tossed the keys to Callen and called Ziva.
"Hey, can you meet me at 2901 West and K street?" Harry listened for a few moments before hanging up.
"Ziva will be meeting us there." Harry informed Callen. Callen nodded his understanding.
When Harry and Callen got there, Ziva, Justin, and Roberts were just pulling up. Roberts and Justin looked a little queasy.
"What took you guys so long?" Harry asked jokingly.
"We got lost and we had around ten near death experiences with stationary objects at corners." Roberts said, stressing the word corners to get his point across.
"Only ten? Ziva I think you're getting a little sloppy there." Harry joked.
"How did you guys get unlost?" Callen joked.
"A spell." Ziva explained quickly.
The group walked up and knocked on the door. There wasn't an answer, so they tried the doorknob. It was locked.
"Do you want me to pick the lock?" Ziva asked.
"No, there are more effective ways of getting through locked doorways." Harry explained cryptically, while pulling out his wand.
"Allohamora." Harry said, tapping the lock with his wand. He tried to open the door and nothing. "
Ziva, pick it if you can." Harry said. After a few minutes Ziva gave up.
"Either this thing has more tumblers then any lock I've encountered or I've just lost all my skill at picking locks." She said frustrated.
"I doubt either is the case. I bet the magic is just preventing you from picking the lock." Justin said, as he stopped down to break a key sized stick off a bush.
"This a good size?" He asked Harry.
Harry nodded. Justin put the stick next to the keyhole and tapped it, gently, with his wand. As the stick changed Justin pushed it in. After a few moments he turned the newly made key and opened the door. He took one good look and collapsed.