They went through a long corridor. There were a lot of portraits at their side hanging on the wall, all of them showing different things. A wand, a castle, a wizard. They had only one connection, every one of them showed the wizard world. As Rupert went along with Amy and Draco he thought about what Draco had said earlier. His whole life had been destroyed by wizards, whether it was because they had killed his family or they had stolen his supposed girlfriend. It was just so much and unrealistic. Minutes ago, Rupert didn't believe in wizards, but past flashbacks were confirming what Amy and Draco said. Rupert was actually terrified. Who knew what wizards could do. With the power of magic they could do anything they wanted.
But were all of them evil? Something in his mind was arguing with him, like he couldn't believe that wizards were evil. Rupert somehow remembered stories of aliens. Sure they hadn't anything in common with wizards, but they were always presented as evil creatures, who just liked to torture the human race and tried to destroy them. It was a very one-dimensioned way of reflecting on their character. If every alien or wizard was evil, then why would they create families and lead or normal life? Rupert was pretty sure that if the humans would visit another planet, the creatures there would see them as the aliens.
Rupert then thought about his family, because he had enough of his mind arguing whether wizards were evil or not. He had three siblings, two sisters and one brother. It was totally bothering Ron that he couldn't remember them, neither their faces nor their names. It was like they had never existed and were just ghosts of the past of him.
"Rupert, Rupert, you alright?"
Rupert interrupted his thoughts and looked up to Amy and Draco. Both had worried looks on their faces, even if Amy looked very serious and watched him curiously. He noticed that they were standing in front of a door now, which led into a office.
Rupert blinked a little bit with his eyes. "I'm okay guys. I was just preoccupied in thoughts." he said.
Amy nodded. She led them through the door into the office. The office was not very huge. In the room there was a small window. There were two book shelves on the left and right of the room and in front of them, there was a desk with a swivel chair. On the chair there sat a man about the age 40. He had brown hair and green eyes. There was a small scar on his left cheek and he wore a silver shirt with a red phoenix on it. Just now Rupert noticed that Amy and Draco also had red phoenix on their shirts. Rupert looked back at Richard. He didn't looked like a boss, more like a normal worker. Sure, he had an authoritarian aura, but his choice of clothing made Rupert think otherwise. On the desk there was a name plate, that said Richard Heathwell.
"Ah, Rupert, I see you are awake now. I hope you are feeling alright." he said with a deep voice. Listening to his voice made Rupert realize that this man had leader skills, but that he also could be a friends to others as he realized that Draco and Amy called him with his first name.
"Yes, I'm a little confused, but besides that I'm fine." he replied. He felt a little bit nervous as he said that words. He didn't knew if it was because he was talking to an authoritarian person or because of his headaches.
Richard nodded. "I'm pleased to hear that. Please sit down." Rupert did what he said. "I'm sure Draco and Amy have already introduced you to our little organization?" Richard asked. His voice was very friendly, but Rupert couldn't help but find his stare very intimidating.
"Yes, Sir, they told me that this a secret organization to hunt down evil wizards." he said respectfully. He chose his words very carefully as he didn't wanted Richard as an enemy.
But to his surprise, Richard laughed. "Oh please, just call me Richard. I hate this whole Sir thing. Makes me feel old and like a huge jerk that is frightening everyone. In this organization nobody calls me Sir or Mr. Heathwell." he said amused. Rupert relaxed. He now at least knew that Richard wasn't that kind of hard boss, that is always serious and critical towards his workers.
"So, you probably have a lot of question regarding or organization here. I mean it is not everyday you run into an association that hunts and search for wizards." Richard said calmly.
Rupert nodded. He had so many questions. Why were they hunting down wizards (although Amy and Draco already explained most of it to him), how did they know about them, where did they get the whole money for this huge project etc.
"Yeah, I have so many questions. Like, why are you hunting down wizards, how did you know of their existence, what do you all do here daily, who are all these people in this organization and where did you got the money for this huge project?" Rupert asked quickly. He had somehow this feeling that this was very unusual for him to ask so many questions. Maybe it was another memory of his.
Richard laughed loudly at his questions. "Boy, you are asking one holes into the stomach. Alright, I'm going to tell you about our organization. What you need to know, that this organization does not hunt down wizards in general, just the one's who want to harm us. You asked, how did we knew about the wizards? Well, about 30 years ago, there happened to be a series of attacks on non-magic people or muggles, how the wizards call us, by dark wizards. Most of them were killed or there memories were erased, which didn't happen a lot, because the wizards were assigned to kill them. But some of them could flee unseen from them. They memorized the whole scenes and tried to convince the publicity of their story. Of course, nobody would believe them. What kind of a normal person would believe someone who was talking about paranormal creatures and wizards. One of them was Bill Ernest Mornington. He had lost his wife because of one of those attacks and swore to revenge her. Because nobody believed his story he decided to search undercover for people who had also experienced similar things that Mornington saw. It was a hard and long way, but after five years he found enough people to create a new association: the Magic Hunting Center, short MHC." Richard told him.
Rupert was listening curious to the story of Richard. He was actually surprised that he was telling him all of this so freely. He expected that he would sceptically see him as a threat and only give him small explanations, but his questions didn't seem to bother him. For him it all sounded like a legend from a fairy tale, but at the same time, he knew that this was all real. Memories of men in black robes flickered through his mind again. He felt a small stitch in his brain, but then he continued to listen to the story.
"The MHC had one job. To search for the wizard world and to explore their lifestyle and policy. I know it does say that we hunt down wizards, but this is just a small aspect of our work. Mostly we try to find out about the wizard world itself. Mornington himself created the name of the organization, but I think it was due to the fact that at that time his hate against the wizard world was larger than his curiosity. At first it was a real magic hunting center, but as time passed the field of duties in the association expanded and we concentrated on exploring the wizard world."
Rupert didn't know what to think of this. When he first heard of this association, he thought it was a pure hunting center like hunting wizards instead of animals. Draco's and Amy's words seemed to confirm his thesis, but apparently there was more behind all of this. Rupert was now curious. He wanted to know more about the wizard world. He somehow had the feeling that he felt a great connection to those wizards. Maybe it was because of his tragic past, but maybe there was something more behind this. He had lost his memory and Draco would probably not know everything about his past life. This feeling already started when he saw the picture of Potter and Hermione. He never saw the two of them, but he already felt attracted to them (not in a sexual way, at least in Potter's case). His thoughts were interrupted by Richard who continued his story.
"We have already found out a lot about the wizard world. Such as, that they also have a democracy or just have one main school named Hogwarts where all the magical students go. It's like an boarding school for wizards. We also know that the darkness is rising among the wizards. Many of them feel threatened by our world and wants to destroy us. Of course there are some who are other opinions, but most of them bare a great hate against us. For now the government is still a peaceful democracy, but who knows what's going to happen. Our spies have told us that there are already a lot of groups who are trying to overthrow the government violently. We assume that one of those groups have also attacked you and that they are responsible to the many attacks on the muggles. IT seems like history is repeating itself. A similar thing has happened in Germany 60 years ago, when Adolf Hitler gained the power in Germany, became their "Führer" and established the national socialism in Germany."
Rupert had no idea who this Adolf Hitler guy was, but if he was similar to those wizard groups who attacked innocent people in their world then he must be one of the very worst kind.
"This Hitler guy, did he done something bad?" he asked naively.
Richard looked at him dumbfound as if he looked at an adult who didn't knew what 2+2 was. But then he seemed to remember that Ron lost his memories and was just an teenager.
"The worst thing in human history. He started the World War II, killed millions of innocent of people, mostly Jews, in war and in concentration camps, those were like industries that were build for to kill people. He was the most evil person in history of the human race. There is no such thing or person that is comparable with this catastrophe that Hitler created." he said gravely while giving Rupert a very serious look, that said, that this topic is not something you joke about.
Rupert just looked at him flabbergasted. He couldn't imagine how anyone could be so twisted, evil and disgusting to kill so many people. Just now he remembered a little bit about Hitler. He probably heard about him from school or from his family or foster parents. He now felt sick as he heard about this man. He just hoped that he at least had a hell of an afterlife, if there was such kind of a thing.
"Let's come back to the real topic, alright? I think Amy or Draco can tell you later more about the crimes that Hitler produced. For now I want to finish my story." Richard said looking at Rupert expecting.
Rupert nodded. He didn't wanted to hear more about this.
"Alright, where was I? Ah yes, like I said, we have already discovered a lot about the wizard world, but in some cases we are still searching in the darkness. The people that are working in this organization are mostly those who or their family members were attacked or killed by wizards. So you probably won't find a lot who would willingly praise the wizard world. But there are some here, that believed us and just are here, because they are curious. Altogether we are about 200 people in here."
Rupert choked and looked at Richard incredulously.
"200 people!" he cried. He just couldn't that so many people either had confrontations with wizards or believed in all of this.
Richard smiled at him. "I know what you think. And yes, I'm also surprised by the amount people. It just confirms my theory that the barrier between the wizard world and our world that was once there is slowly vanishing. That would explain, why so many dark wizards are now daring to enter our world and to attack innocent people. To your last question, we mostly finance ourselves through donation from our members, but for a few months there has been a anonymous person who has been financially supporting us via mail. We do not know his identity, but he is willingly to help us. And before you ask, I know it is a risky thing, but I think there is no harm in this until he demands her money back with interest and for now we really need the money for new technologies. But he assured us that this won't happen and I also got a document of him where he signed that he won't demand his money back."
Rupert didn't really agree with Richard. He thought that this was kinda risky, but he didn't wanted to criticize someone who had probably a thousand times more clue of his job than himself.
"One question: Does Mornington still live?" Rupert asked. He probably already knew the answer, but he still wanted to hear it from Richard's mouth.
Richard shook his head. "Sadly no. He died seven years ago from an heart attack. I became the leader of this organization after his death." he said simply. Apparently he didn't wanted to say more about this topic. Maybe it was too painful for him, because he was a close friend to Mornington.
Richard took a sip from his coffee that was filled into a cup next to him. "So, now I have to ask you whether you want to join our organization or not." he said calmly. He took another sip from his coffee and looked at Rupert expectantly.
Rupert looked at him puzzled. "What do you mean whether I join or not?"
Richard put down his coffee. He folded his hand into the shape of a triangle. "Well, after I told you all this stuff of our association, I must know whether you stay or not. You must know that this is a secret organization. I can't just let anyone in and let him out again. If you don't join us, then we have to erase your memories, close your eyes with a blindfold and drive you somewhere far away from this place, so you won't find it again. I know it sounds hard, but this is our rules." he explained calmly.
Suddenly Rupert felt something inside him panicking. Richard has now shown his second face to him, a serious business man who would try everything to keep his organization alive. He suddenly was afraid of what would happen to him.
"You won't…you won't harm or kill me, would you?" he asked nervously. Sweat was dripping down his face.
Richard looked at him incredulously. "No, where did you got that idea? I'm not a mafia boss or something like that. I would just make sure that you won't remember our association and the wizard world. I would never harm you intensionally. This is also for your own safety, if you decide not to join our organization, because I don't want you to live a life in paranoia and panic, because you remember us and the existence of the wizard world."
Rupert looked at him sceptically, but still with a little fear. He tried to find something on Richard face that would blow his lie, but there was nothing. He looked very sincere about what he said and as he thought about that, Richard didn't even needed to erase his memory or drive him away in a blindfold. Nobody would ever believe him, if he said that there was a Magic Hunting Organization. They would stuck him into the next loony bin. Rupert was now thinking about Richards offer. As more Rupert thought about it as more he saw that it would be an advantage for him, if he joined them. As far as he knew he had no home anymore, so there was no place where he would go anyway and this was the chance for him to finally get to know more about the wizard world. Also he wouldn't be so alone anymore among the other workers.
"So, do you accept my offer?" Richard asked.
Rupert hesitated at first having small doubts, but then he nodded. "I would be very pleased to join your organization, Richard." he said in his most formal tune. He normally hated it to talk like that, but in this case he found it was necessary and it kinda sounded awesome.
Richard smiled. "Great. Then Amy and Draco can already introduce you to our system and staff." He pointed at the two of them and they nodded. Rupert already forgot that they were still in the room, because they kept silent over the whole time.
Amy gave him a small smile. "Come on, I'm going to show you around." she said. Rupert turned back to Richard, but he just smiled. "Do not let her wait. She can be very uncomfortable, if she gets pushed off. Have fun!" he said while grabbing a newspaper.
Rupert tuned around to see Draco and Amy waiting at him impatiently. He waited for a second, then he followed the two of them. He couldn't wait to discover more.
So, finally the chapter finished. Puh, I thought I would never finish it. So this was probably quiet a boring and an exciting chapter altogether, being a small history lesson. I hope you liked the chapter and that I didn't rush the chapter too much. Sorry for any grammatical mistakes. My English is not the best. Thanks for all the review and likes. Next chapter, I'm going to do Hermione's POV. Now you're going to see the others reaction to Ron's disappearance. Just to say: Amy and Draco will get a huge role in this story, especially Draco. He is kind of the key character in this, but I don't want to spoiler everything, so I will keep the information low. I will update soon. Please review the chapter. See you soon.