CHAPTER 3

Neither Harry Potter nor any of the characters associated with him belong to me. They are JK Rowlings. I'm not in this for the money, just for fun!

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Ministry of Magic;

Centaur Liaison Office:

"I can't believe this is happening," Rebecca said in a dead tone.

"Please don't give up hope, Miss Leicester," said Harry, trying to reassure her. "As I told you, the Ministry is still trying its best to talk to the centaurs, to reach a compromise."

She said nothing to that, keeping silent and looking down. The truth was, she had already lost hope, at least as far as reaching a compromise. One of the things she remembered all too well about the centaur race was how proud and stubborn they were. If they wanted her, they would never stop until they had her.

After about half a minute of silence, Harry shifted uncomfortably on his feet, and looked over to Firenze. "Well, I'd better go talk to Ron. See if he can find anything about this Doncaster bloke. I'll be with him in the DSPO office if you need me. I'll be back in a little while."

With that he quietly left the room, leaving Rebecca and Firenze alone together.

"DSPO?" she asked quietly.

"His word for the office where they detect counterfeit defensive magics," explained Firenze. "It's officially called the 'Office for the Detection and Confiscation of Counterfeit Defensive Spells and Protective Objects'. Apparently, he couldn't stand saying such a long name so often, so he thought out a shorter version. He often does that, coming up with smaller titles for the offices with long names. Everyone knows that, from what I've been told, and most call them by those names now."

"Oh."

"I find a human's need to give things such long titles one of the most peculiar traits about your race sometimes," he added, frowning.

"Mm-mm," she replied despondedly.

"Are you alright?"

She shrugged. "Not particularly." She sighed. "It's just not been the best of days for me right now. Less than an hour ago, my only worry was meeting my parents for… Oh my god! My parents!"

"What?" he said, looking at her questioningly.

"My parents, what if the herd comes after them?!" she shrieked. "To get to me!"

"If you are concerned for your family's safety, then have no fear, my friend." He held up his hand re-assuredly. "My race would never stoop so low as to commit such a dishonourable act. My herd wants you, not anyone else. They may seek out your blood relatives, to track and observe, should you go to them, but nothing more than that. We centaurs only go after those who have incurred our wrath, and any who foolishly attempt to get in our way of doing so, but we never seek out to intentionally harm innocent bystanders."

Rebecca felt her heart beat a little slower, as she sighed in relief. "You're certain?"

He looked at her bemusedly for a moment. "I think I know my own race by now, do you not think so?"

"Of course, I'm sorry." She moaned. "I'm just… I'm sorry, it's just…been a long day."

"And you have been through a lot, I understand," he told her, sympathising. "I understand also that during your time with my kind, you did not see or experience the best of us, so it's not really a surprise you would think the worst."

"I didn't mean to," she hastened to explain. "I didn't mean to sound insulting, but with everything that's happened lately…"

"I know, and I told you I understand." Firenze walked over to her. "This is definitely not the way I envisioned the two of us would ever meet again…though I must admit, I am glad."

"Me, too," she admitted, though her face was looking down, her thoughts still on her family. She then looked up. "I've just thought… Won't your herd be angry with you for working with this Ministry against them?"

Firenze sighed. "Yes and no. After that human told us where to find you, I made my position clear to them. I have since formed a close and personal bond with your race, and felt it would be treacherous to go against them, as I knew it would ultimately lead to that if my herd went ahead with their plan. However, my loyalty would always be with my herd as well. So in the end, I…"

"What?"

He sighed again. "I told them that in the end, I suppose what it comes down to is that I wouldn't fight for them by searching for and taking you, but neither would I fight against them by preventing them. In other words, if I were to learn of your existence, I wouldn't tell them a thing. But if they were to learn of it themselves, and come get you, then I wouldn't stop them."

She looked at him a little worriedly.

"I'm hoping it will never come to that," he said hastily. "But you have to understand, after you left, it took a long time before my herd came to accept me once again. Although there are still many things I disagree with them about, and despite my new place among your own people, I always long to be with my own race."

She shrugged. "I guess I can understand that. Now more than ever." Her thoughts were still on her family, so she didn't notice him come up to her, and rest his hand on her shoulder.

She looked up and found his blue eyes staring at her (she had almost forgotten what a striking blue they were).

"I have missed you," he said softly. "I wanted to tell you, your arrival in my herd, meeting you, was an important point in my life. One I never dreamed the significance of at the time."

She blinked, a little startled. "Because you helped me escape?"

He chuckled. "Partly, but mainly because you helped me separate myself from my herd. Because of that I was able to follow my own path, and make my own decisions."

"I don't understand?"

He looked over at the door, through which Harry had left mere moments ago. "I never told you about Harry Potter, did I?"

She frowned, as she tried to remember. "Harry Potter… Wait. Didn't you mention that name to me once, right after we first met? You asked me if his name or someone else's sounded familiar to me."

"Yes, that's right, but I don't believe I ever told you his significance."

"Not that I can recall, no. Is he the Head-wizard or something?"

He laughed. "No, he is a mere Auror, though from what I know of human-wizard culture, those are considered an elite group. They are a kind of guardian that tracks down and apprehends dark wizards and witches."

"Yes, he mentioned. But what about him anyway?"

"Harry Potter is…" Firenze paused, while shifting his weight. "I am not sure what the correct word is for him in human language, but his name is known and valued by men and creatures of the forest. His birth was foreseen, and his destiny foretold him one day vanquishing the one they call Voldemort."

She raised her eyebrows. "What, so he's like the wizard messiah?"

"I don't know the meaning of that word, but he is revered by many, and even more praise him for the death of the dark one."

"What's that got to do with you and me, though?"

"Before I met you, I had met Harry Potter only once, not long after he first came to the wizarding world. He was but a boy of 11 years, and the dark wizard had tried to take his life whilst he had been walking in our forest. I saved him by driving the dark one away, and then carried the boy to safety on my back. For that, my herd scolded me, declaring me a disgrace and a mockery to all that is centaur, for allowing a human to ride my back like a common mule, and for going against the heavens."

"The heavens?"

"As you know, we centaurs watch and map the stars, and from what we find we are able to determine certain future events. However, what we find we are forbidden to share with any outsiders."

"Why?"

"Long ago, when our kind first realised the importance of the stars, we swore never to set ourselves against the heavens, to intervene in fate."

"But…" She frowned. "Didn't you do that already, when you took me and read my future?"

He shook his head. "You were a special case. We read your future, but saw two possibilities, one of which was with us, so in that case we allowed ourselves to intervene. But in most futures we foresee, we are sworn never to interfere. We simply allow the thread of fate to unwind itself."

"Long ago," he continued, "the stars told us about Harry Potter, his destiny, and all that was to come. And like all other prophecies, we swore not to intervene. I myself took that oath, yet…by chance, I found him in our forest, a mere child, face to face with one of the most evil wizards ever known. I could not allow myself to stand back and do nothing, so I helped."

"And for that your people were angry with you?" she said, amazed.

He nodded. "To be honest, I am unsure what they were most angry with me about…whether it was going against our traditions by defying fate, or allowing Harry Potter to ride on my back."

"Why did you?"

"Like I said, I couldn't just stand back and leave a child in danger. Besides, the stars and planets can sometimes be read wrongly. Even centaurs can sometimes make mistakes."

"I still don't see what that has to do with me, though?"

"When I saved Harry Potter, I did so because my conscience wouldn't let me turn my back. There hasn't been a day or night that I have regretted my decision, let me make that clear, but when my herd found out and begrudged me so, I felt it would be better that I submit to my race's traditions."

"You mean stand back, just let whatever was going to happen, happen?"

He nodded. "That, I'm ashamed to say, was partly the reason why I refused to help you at first. Although there are many traditions of my race that I am still committed to, I am resolved now to never stand by and allow an innocent soul to suffer. Not when there is something that can be done about it. You taught me that when I helped you to freedom. I also learned that sometimes what the stars tell us, does not have to be absolute."

He sighed, seemingly in regret. "The rest of my herd, though, did not believe this, and many still do not. They are solely committed to the Fates. When I realised this, I chose to stand out by myself, which was why when I decided to go teach at the wizard's school Hogwarts, my herd exiled me…"

"Sorry, what?!" Her eyes widened. "They exiled you?!"

"Yes. Recall that my herd were absolutely against having any more human contact than was necessary. So when they learned that I intended to go teach human foals at a human establishment… Well, let's just say they were less than pleased."

"That…must have been terrible for you," she said sympathetically. She remembered what it had been like for her, being stuck as the only human among the centaur herd, and wondered how Firenze had coped being the only one of his kind at a school full of humans.

"It all worked out well in the end," he assured her. "When the dark wizard led his forces in the final battle, I fought with Harry Potter, and in the end, my herd fought also. During the battle, they watched as the humans, what they had always thought of as lower creatures, fought and sacrificed for their freedom. When the battle ended, they had no choice but to admit their mistake in judging your race."

"That's very nice, but…I'm hardly the cause of it all."

"To me you are," he said, as he took her hands in his. "By helping you, I helped myself, which led to me helping both your kind, the wizards and my own."

She smiled, blushing a little. "Thank you, Firenze."

They stood like that for a few minutes, neither realising the amount of time that lapsed, until a knock on the door sounded.

"Hello, may I come in?" a female voice said.

Firenze removed his hands from hers, and called out, "Yes". A moment later, a small middle-aged woman with bright blonde hair, deep green eyes and a pale purple robe, walked in. She regarded Firenze for a second, as though sizing him up.

Rebecca supposed she couldn't blame her for that, as Harry had told her that Firenze was essentially the first centaur that had ever used the Liaison Office.

The woman stared hard at him, though, almost as if she were afraid of him.

"Miss Leicester, forgive me, but Mr. Potter sent me to bring you. He has some questions," she said.

Firenze looked as though he were about to follow them out, but the moment he moved, the woman practically shrieked out, "Oh no, Mr. Firenze! You can stay here and wait. They only have a few questions, so she should be back before long."

He regarded the woman for a while, his eyes peering at her closely.

"It's alright, Firenze," Rebecca told him. "I'll be fine."

He spared her a glance, but looked all the more closer at the new witch, until finally he nodded. "I will await you here then, my Rebecca," he said to her.

Rebecca smiled, and gave a short wave goodbye to him.

After she had left, Firenze had given another frown, as he turned to look at some of the paintings decorating the office. They were all unsurprising of centaurs. One was a theme on the historical Treaty made between the wizards and the centaurs over a thousand years ago, and another showed them fighting Voldemort and his forces at Hogwarts.

He gazed at the last painting thoughtfully, though his thoughts were not on it. They were on his friend. Although he knew Harry Potter was being optimistic, he also believed he was being slightly delusional. The Boy-Who-Lived, now a man, still had hopes that they would be able to reach a compromise with his herd over Rebecca.

Harry may have spent some time with the centaurs as a boy, and read of them at school, but he knew very little about the centaur race in general. Firenze knew all too well that his herd would never settle for anything other than Miss Leicester being handed over to them unconditionally, which was obviously something Harry nor his leaders would never agree to. With that in mind, war between the centaur race and the Ministry was becoming more and more likely every day.

Firenze sighed. He had spent literally every second searching and hoping for a way out of all this; ever since the moment that damn man had come to the forest and told his herd where Rebecca was residing. But so far, his hope was dwindling.

He didn't know how much time had passed while he was standing there, but after a while the door opened, and Harry walked in with his friend, the ginger-headed male with the high voice, Ron Weasley.

"Firenze," Ron greeted amiably. "Good to see you again."

Firenze merely nodded, acknowledging him. "Have you completed your questioning then?"

The two looked at him curiously.

"We've gone over each other's reports if that's what you mean," said Ron.

"We just came to tell Rebecca that we've arranged some temporary accommodations for her, and err…" Harry paused, as he surveyed the room. "Where is Miss Leicester by the way?"

Firenze's face grew alarmed. "She just left with a woman, claiming that you sent her to bring Rebecca to you, to answer some questions."

Harry and Ron both went pale.

"I did no such thing," said Harry.

Firenze gave a loud neigh of anger, and immediately galloped past the two young wizards, his hooves echoing loudly in his wake.

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Rebecca had once more reached the main lobby of the Ministry. It was more crowded now than it had been when Mr. Potter had brought her there, as dozens of robed men and women were hustling about, doing their business. As she and the witch, who apparently was taking her to see that Harry Potter chap again, got off the elevator, she looked over at the fountain, as they approached it.

She smiled, once again looking at the way the centaur statue looked as if it were practically worshipping the wizard statue, wondering how Firenze had reacted when he first saw it.

"Hem-hem, make haste, Miss Leicester," the woman said timidly. "We don't want to keep Mr. Potter waiting, do we?"

"Mm? Oh, yeah." She hurried to keep up with the woman. She was small but fast.

'Guess they have a tight schedule with everything,' she thought.

"Mr. Potter is besieged with cases today," the woman told her, as though reading her mind. "He is hard-pressed for time, so we will need to take a shortcut to his office, to save time."

Rebecca was about to nod, when something made her pause. "His office?" she said. "I thought he had gone to that…office where they go after fake defensive magics?"

"Yes, but he had some other work to finish, and a quiet office is a better place to answer questions than a crowded one."

The woman did not act like she was lying, and she didn't talk like she was trying to hide something, but… Maybe it was paranoia from all that she had gone through that day, or perhaps some second sense that she had developed, but whatever the reason, Rebecca felt nervous.

She also didn't like the way they seemed to be heading toward the area where all those empty fireplaces that had people jumping out of them in green flames were.

"By the way," she added, "what is the name of that office again? The one where they go after those fake magics?"

"The Office for the Detection and Confiscation of Counterfeit Defensive Spells and Protective Objects," the woman answered promptly. The way she said it, though, it sounded like she was reciting from a handbook.

"Yes, it's ever such a long name, isn't it. You'd think they would come up with a shorter version."

"Yes, wouldn't you," she replied, not looking directly at her, but said nothing else.

Alarms started going off in Rebecca's head.

"Actually, I think I need to go back to Firenze. I've just remembered something that Aonghus, the other centaur, said that might be important. Excuse me." She turned to go, only for the woman to reach out and grasp her arm.

"Mr. Potter can listen to anything you have to say," she said in a low voice. "He is the Auror after all." Her tone sounded sweet, like someone's favourite aunt, yet there was an underlying tone to it that was near poisonous. It was like a combination of Mary Poppins and Freddy Krueger.

"No, thank you," said Rebecca, trying to pull her arm out of her grasp, only to find her grip tightening. "I need it to be Firenze. Please let go of me."

"Please forgive me, Miss Leicester," the woman said in a honey voice, as she pulled her up to her side, "but we really have to be going."

"Let go of me right…ow!" She hissed in pain, as her fingers were pulled backwards to her knuckles, nearly making them break.

"Stay calm, be quiet, and all this will work out swimmingly," the woman told her calmly. Rebecca noticed that she seemed to be holding something under one of her robes' sleeves, and guessed it to be her wand, as it roughly poked into her ribcage.

"Why are you…?" she started to ask, only to wince again when her fingers were pulled back further.

"Just come with me, and all will be well again."

Rebecca could do nothing except what she was told, as she was forcibly led to the fireplaces.

Fortunately, they had barely made several steps before a loud neighing sound echoed throughout the whole lobby, followed by the fast clip-clopping noise of a horse's hooves.

This sound seemed to melt the smile straight off the woman's face, as she snapped her head to the right, her eyes widening in terror at the sight of Firenze galloping towards them. Rebecca couldn't blame her for that, as the sight of a huge centaur charging toward you, with a ferocious expression on his face no less, was absolutely terrifying.

Her would-be kidnapper panicked, as she withdrew her wand from her sleeve. There was a small sparkle, as light reflected off something on the woman's wand, before she began shouting what obviously had to be spells at the charging centaur.

"Stupefy! Incarcerous!"

The first spell seemed to fire a small bolt of red light at Firenze, but he was quick to evade it. The second one, however, caused long ropes to appear out of nowhere, as they sprang to life and tried to tangle themselves around Firenze's legs.

He leaped over the ropes, managing to stay out of their reach, but it was as though they were alive, as they leaped and curved their way over to him, wrapping themselves around his back-legs, like a nest of snakes.

To make matters worse, the rest of the hallway was now filled with hysterical wizards and witches, who were pointing and practically screaming at the lone centaur in their midst.

"A Centaur!"

"They're attacking even here now!"

"Someone stop the thing!"

The last comment came from the woman herself, as she struggled to pull Rebecca with her to the fireplaces. She hadn't taken her eyes off Firenze the whole time, apparently finding him more frightening than anything else.

Luckily, only a few of the wizards took her advice, as most of them were still too shocked at seeing a real live centaur, or perhaps because they already knew of him since he had been at the Ministry for a while now. But a few of them still raised their wands, intending to do harm.

"No, stop!" a voice cried out, and Rebecca looked over to see Harry and a ginger-headed man by his side, racing over to them from the distance.

"He's on our side! Get her!" He pointed to Rebecca and the purple robed witch.

Rebecca used this opportunity, and slammed herself into the woman's side, making her lose her grip on her, and drop her wand. The moment she did this, the ropes around Firenze immediately stopped what they were doing, and dropped to the floor, lifeless. A second later, they seemingly dissolved into puffs of smoke, disappearing from sight.

Cursing under her breath, the woman then reached down, grabbed her wand, turned and raced over to one of the fireplaces.

"Stop her!" Harry yelled.

A few other wizards finally seemed to catch on, and raced to apprehend her, but could not reach her before she pushed one witch to the side, jumped into a fireplace, and vanished in a blaze of green flames.

"Get after her!" Harry ordered.

"I'll go, too!" the ginger-headed male said, as he ran past them, hurrying after the other two wizards who each took the same fireplace the woman had used, to give chase.

Rebecca tried to steady her breathing, as she stumbled over to the fountain, sitting on its edge. A moment later, Firenze was by her side.

"Are you alright?" he asked urgently, taking her in his arms. She was too shocked by her second attempted kidnapping to notice.

"Yeah…I'm fine…" she said slowly. "Twice in one day…who knew?"

Harry came hurrying up to them, asking just as urgently, "Are you alright, Miss Leicester?"

She nodded.

"Did you know that woman? Have you ever seen her before?"

She shook her head. "I've never seen her."

"I have never seen her either, and it is doubtful that Rebecca would know any of the witches here or anywhere, Harry Potter," Firenze noted. His tone was mild, yet there was a slight edge to it, almost as though he were annoyed or in angst. "She has never had any contact with any witches before, so why should she know that particular one?"

Harry spared him a quick glance before answering. "She may not have known she was a witch before today. I only asked because maybe she could have seen her somewhere else, such as on her road or near her home. We can't rule out any possibility."

Firenze looked at him shortly, and then gave a small nod, but said nothing.

Harry then looked back to her. "What happened?"

She swallowed. "She said you had sent her to bring me to you, because you wanted to ask some more questions. We had reached here when she said we were going to your office. I remembered that you had said you were going to that DSPO place, and when I asked her about it, she said you had gone back to your office."

"How did you know she was lying?"

"When I asked about DSPO, she referred to it by its full name. I then made a remark about it being such a long name, and that they should come up with a shorter version for it. All she said to that was yes, wouldn't you. And Firenze had told me just recently that you had come up with shorter names for a lot of the offices, and everyone knew about them…except she didn't."

Harry smirked. "Clever," he said. "Very clever. And you're right, I've been making up names for a lot of offices for a while now, which tells us something at least."

"What?" She looked up at him.

"Whoever this woman is, she didn't know about the short names, which are common knowledge now. That means she can't have been in the Ministry for very long for her not to have known that."

A second later, the ginger-haired gentleman emerged from the same fireplace he had jumped into moments before, dusting himself off. He had a vicious scowl on his face that Rebecca didn't like, as it could only mean one thing, which he soon confirmed.

"Lost her!" he said, practically snarling under his breath.

Rebecca gave a low moan, and Firenze held her closer to him.

"What happened?" asked Harry. "Where did you end up at, Ron?"

"Knockturn Alley," the man, whose name was apparently Ron, answered. "At a small shop, not far from Borgin and Burkes. Gave the shopkeeper a nasty turn, I can tell you, when we all blew out of her fireplace."

"What happened to the woman?"

Ron scowled again. "Like I said, we just lost her! When we got out of the fireplace, we found her robe left discarded on the floor of the shop. The shopkeeper said the woman had just appeared, as we did, threw her robe off, and then ran out the door. We caught sight of her just as she turned the corner outside, but when we got there…she was gone."

"Gone? What do you mean gone?"

"Like I said. One moment she was running around the corner, she was out of our sight for less than a few seconds, and the next she was gone, totally disappeared."

Harry frowned. "Could she have Apparated?"

"I thought that, but…I didn't hear any signs of Apparition. It was all as quiet as a mouse. The only people on that street were a couple of shopkeepers at their stalls, and a few customers. No one saw anything, though. Not that they were looking mind you, as they were all busy with their own things."

Apparition was one of the wizarding world's most favoured means of travel. It allowed a witch or wizard to travel from one place to another instantly. It was very difficult to master, dangerous if done incorrectly, and apparently made the traveller nauseous. Getting a licence to Apparate was a trial in itself, but it was still the fastest transportation there was.

To a witness, someone who Apparated looked as though they had just vanished into thin air, while at the same time emitting a noise, which varied from a faint pop to a loud crack.

"Was there anywhere she could have escaped to, like another shop or down a street?" said Harry.

Ron shook his head. "There were some more streets higher up, but there's no way she would have had enough time to get up there. No one saw anything, and the shopkeepers outside said that no one new had been into their shops in at least the last half-hour or so. And we did check them. The wizards I went with are still there, checking, but I doubt they'll find anything."

Harry swore. "Damn it!"

"No kidding," Ron agreed.

Harry then looked over to Rebecca, and noticed her eyeing Ron carefully. "Oh, Miss Leicester, this is my friend and fellow Auror, Ron Weasley. Ron, this is Rebecca Leicester, the girl I was telling you about."

Ron smiled at her, and she returned a faint one of her own in response.

"Firenze speaks highly of you," he said graciously. "And my father has always thought the same about you muggles. He'd love to talk to you sometime."

She gave him a short look. "Err, okay."

"Firenze," added Harry, "maybe you'd better take Miss Leicester back to the Liaison Office for now? Me and Ron will both be up in a little while, once we've seen to those wizards and everything down here."

The centaur nodded, and gently helped her up to her feet, guiding her back to the Centaur Liaison Office. When they were gone, Harry looked back to his friend.

"Sooo, Harry me pal, tell me…just how screwed are we?" said Ron with bitter humour.

Harry snorted. "We're right up there, Ron, all the way."

"Surely it can't be all that bad?"

He sighed. "It's worse. When I left Miss Leicester and Firenze to go see you, I overheard some more reports come in. Two centaurs were seen by muggles, and two of those muggles got away before our Aurors could modify their memories."

"Bugger!" Ron exclaimed, and immediately silenced, smiling sheepishly at a few of the crowd who were looking curiously at him. "Don't they have any clue who the guys were?"

"The Aurors didn't get a chance. I doubt the muggles will go to the press…at least, not without the risk of sounding like a bunch of complete loons. I mean, who'd believe a centaur was in the middle of London city. But the ugly truth is…" He paused.

"What?" asked Ron.

Harry sighed again. "This isn't the only mishap today. The centaurs are getting more and more bold, and less careful. So many of them are nearly getting spotted by muggles, I'm actually amazed that we're not even more busy than we are, trying to cover up their mess."

"You kidding?" said Ron with mild amazement. "I've barely been back home in days."

"The rate we're going, you'll be lucky to go home in weeks." Harry moaned. "I spoke to Kingsley early this morning." (Kingsley was the current Minister of Magic, and a good friend of theirs.)

Ron looked at him reservedly. "What did he say?" he asked finally.

Harry looked back at him with a sad look in his eyes. "The Prime Minister is upset at all the centaur sightings, and is demanding that we take action. He's afraid that the public might be in danger. Kingsley has managed to calm him for now, but…with the centaurs the way they are, we're gonna be left with no choice but to..."

Ron didn't look surprised, but that was to be expected, as they had all been dreading this for ages now.

"The Ministry is gonna declare war on the centaurs," he finished Harry's sentence.

Harry nodded. "Kingsley says he is still trying to talk with Magorian, but so far all his attempts at conversation have been thoroughly ignored. He wants Miss Leicester, full stop, nothing else. Kingsley obviously won't give her, which leaves us all..."

"Up the sky without a broomstick." Ron groaned.

Harry couldn't help but nod his agreement.

"Even worse than that," he said, looking at his friend sadly. "I almost wish we were fighting Voldemort again. At least with him we knew who the bad guys were, and that they truly were bad. With the centaurs, though… They fought with us, for Merlin's sake! They were our allies, our friends, and now…"

"Things change, Harry. The centaurs have always been a wild and dangerous race, even in the best of times. Hagrid told us that once, remember?"

"This isn't like when we battling Death Eaters, Ron. The centaurs are not evil, not really. None of us are fully recovered from the last war to fight anyone, and if it does come to that, there's going to be even more casualties on either side. And worse, with all our resources stretched beyond the limit, we may not be able to conceal our world from muggles anymore."

Ron looked at him, nervous. "You mean…?"

He nodded. "As well as having to deal with a second war, we may also have to deal with muggles finally finding out about us wizards. And if that happens, it will undoubtedly lead to a panic, and total chaos across Britain."

To Be Continued…