Chapter 7: The Story

Albus and Ashley arrived on a quiet, Roswell side street. Albus immediately sat down; Ashley threw up: she really didn't like apperating. Albus pulled out the article and began reading. "What are you doing?" she asked him.

"Thinking. My dad believes that the best thing to do on a manhunt is stop and think. Figure out where your quarry is going to be, not where he is. The zombie army was here, which means they are probably being kept nearby. I'm hoping for...yes! We need to find Uncle Al's Tires."

"Ok...why?"

"Because its owner, Albert Blake was quoted in the article. He saw the zombies, maybe he saw where they went."

It took them 20 minutes to find the store, a small, corner store which they had passed twice. It looked like a dump, and Albus wondered how it stayed open. A doorbell rang as they walked in, and a middle age man in an old looking, white suit came out to the counter.

"May I help you?" he asked.

"We were wondering if we could talk to Mr. Blake," Albus replied nonchalantly.

It seemed to take several moments for Albus' words to compute before the man responded, "Mr. Blake is on indefinite leave. May I help you?"

"Do you know when he will be back?" Albus responded.

"No, Al, the leave is indefinite," Ashley chided.

"He didn't say when he would be back. He just left orders to watch the store. May I help you?" Albus wasn't sure that he had heard Ashley, which was confirmed when he said "Oh, the nice lass told you that."

Albus looked skeptically at him and asked, "What's your name?"

The man took longer than normal to respond, his face seeming truly confused, as if his brain was trying to run Microsoft XP on a Mac made in 1993. Finally he smiled and said "Lieutenant Lawrence Christian O'Neal at your service," taking off his hat and bowing on these last words.

Albus' wand appeared in his hand, but he made no other reaction. He calmly moved his wand hand behind his back when he asked, "Would you happen to know anything about this zombie attack he saw?"

Ashley moved behind Albus while the Lieutenant tried to figure out what that question meant. Ashley was beginning to think that he was a little off center when a smokey word appeared hovering over Al's wand, "Inferius." Ashley realized that he wasn't just acting slow, he was dead. But she had never heard of an inferius who could talk, slowly or not.

"Zombie? I think I can help you with that. I can show you that last place he saw them. I'll pull around." Three minutes later, a horse appeared at the front door, ridden by Lieutenant O'Neal. Albus pulled a small vial out of his backpack, and tucked it into his shirt pocket. He tapped his wand on the backpack which folded itself into a matchbook sized patch of fabric, which he put in his pants pocket. He put his wand away as he headed toward the horse, but his eyes told Ashley to be ready. There was barely enough room, but the three got on the poor horse and it galloped easily down the road and out into the desert.

"Is this a magic horse?" Albus asked, but the man didn't respond. Apparently he couldn't hear them. Albus turned to talk to Ashley, "He is acting like an inferius."

"But I've never heard of one which can talk," she replied.

"I know. And he's out in the desert morning, which is full of light and heat. But Lieutenant O'Neal was one of the key names mentioned as buried in that New York Graveyard. He won a Congressional Medal for service in the Civil War. It's the only explanation left. Do you have the trace activating potion?" Ashley nodded. "Good, if things go badly, take it and do as much magic as you can, my dad will find you. Get your wand out as soon as we're off this horse." Albus paused and then added, "I love you, Ashley."

"I love you too," she said, but softer than she had wanted. She had a nasty feeling that it was the last time she would hear those words.

The horse traveled much too quickly over the desert dunes and arrived at a tiny main street lined by buildings which should have fallen down 50 years ago. But the street was buzzing with activity. The people who were manning the shops, or fixing them were moving exactly like the zombies in Hollywood movies. But there were other people there, ones which were acting like guards, a group which was playing soccer, even a couple of little girls on the store porch reading a book. What caught Albus' eye was a grouping of people in vibrant conversation with the only man who had enough color in his face, a tall, white man wearing a large black robe.

The horse pulled up at the end of the street. The three riders got off, Albus and Ashley drawing their wands. O'Neal went over and spoke with the man in the black robe. The man dismissed the group and walked toward Albus and Ashley, who were moving into an advantageous duel position, Hogwarts training taking effect. The man stopped, audibly laughing. "Impressive footwork, but there's no need for dueling. Laurence tells me you're asking about the zombie attack next to his store. You'll have to talk to Mr. Blake about that." He smiled, examining Albus, "You look familiar, what's your name?"

"Albus," he said, stopping shore of his famous surname.

"Ah, British. Interesting. Have you done anything important?" he asked still closely scrutinizing Albus.

"No," Albus said as a look of recognition came over the man's face.

"No you haven't, but what's your father done, Mr. Potter?"

Albus gripped his wand tighter. "He's put more dark wizards away than anyone in history. He'll put you away too."

The man laughed even harder this time. "You think I'm a dark wizard? What have I done? Mr. Potter, in this country the ministry knows if you've done something illegal. And they're not here are they. What does that tell you about my actions?"

"That you've removed the trace. The British government should be here too; I'm underage."

The man seemed stunned for the first time. But he composed himself well. "Mr. Potter, let me show you something that will prove to you I'm not a dark wizard."

The man walked down main street to the porch of the second building, then turned around and beaconed Albus. "I don't even know you're name," Albus called to him.

"Adam Travers," he called back.

Out of options, Albus turned to Ashley and mouthed "I love you," before heading toward the building, turning his wand in his hand. Ashley was left outside, and began noticing the more active inferi forming a circle around where she was standing. She tapped her robe on the pocket containing the antidote vial.

An emerald light flashed across the desert. Ashley froze facing the building which Albus had entered. It took a few seconds for her to recover and reach for the vial. Now was the time to activate the trace; if it wasn't too late.

Suddenly the building exploded, sending a figure flailing outward from where it had been. Albus landed hard on his left shoulder, skidding for 10 feet on the desert sand. He turned his wand on Ashley, but whatever he said was drowned out by the howls of delight coming from the town. A whirlwind formed around Ashley and she felt herself get picked up and thrown away from the scene. But the curse had cost Albus too much time as an inferius picked him up from behind, forcing him to drop his wand.

Travers and a second man stepped out from the rubble of the building. The inferius who had picked up Albus' wand gave it to Travers, who handed it to the other man. He calmly walked up to Albus, "Thank you Mr. O'Neal for capturing our young friend. Mr. Blake will take over now."

The second man pointed Albus' own wand at him, shooting cords out which bound his arms to his side, and cuffed his hands together.

"Thank you, Mr. Blake. Everyone return to town, I must have a word with Mr. Potter." The inferi obeyed. "Mr. Potter, please excuse me. I'm afraid we're going to have to move before the ministry gets here." He turned and pointed his wand toward the city. Suddenly, a fire erupted from the end of his wand, roaring toward the city. As it approached, there appeared a flaming dragon from the front of the flame's movement, spitting fire forward toward the city. The inferi ran in terror, but the fire split off and followed them all, catching them. Most fell victim to the dragon. Travers set the fire free and grabbed Blake and Potter before apperating.

5 miles away, Ashley Wright landed on a wind softened cushion. It had definitely gotten past bad now. She pulled out the vial, downed it in one shot and began sending up as many sparks as she could.

A half hour later, Harry Potter stood outside an SUV talking to Jacob Brown about what they had heard from Ashley. Harry had used the galleon to call in Hermione, but instead Hermione, Ron, Luna Lovegood, Neville Longbottom, Ginny, James and Lily had all shown up. Lily was in the car with Ashley, the rest were watching Harry. Suddenly a man appeared next to them and began conversing with Brown. At the same time, Harry's phone rang. His face enlightened as he listened, and then hung up, motioning the group to come join them.

Harry turned to Brown saying, "A British trace has been activated in western Kansas. It's likely Albus. We're going to check it out," he said, motioning to the group.

Brown looked like his worst fears were confirmed. "We're coming too. An American trace has also been activated in western Kansas: Cruciatus Curse." Harry's smile quickly faded.

They moved quickly, each British person grabbing and American who knew the way. Then the whole group disappeared, leaving Lily and Ashley alone in the car talking about setting Lily up on a blind date with Ashley's brother.