Disclaimer: Harry Potter and his world belong to J. K. Rowling

Part 3/Chapter 12

"Austria now, a short three days in Holland, plus two days here, then three weeks straight, in America," Don told Bellamy.

"All right if I bring my wife for the trip to America?"

Don protested. "Surely you can do without your wife for a few weeks."

Bellamy smiled, "No, I don't think I can possibly do without my wife for three whole weeks!"

"Well, I'll have to check," said Don.

"Check," said Bellamy, "But if Pat doesn't want to come, or someone thinks to say she can't come, then they'll have to do without me, as well."

Don looked surprised, and then chuckled. "We'd best hope she's happy to come then. Madam Abercrombie is rather excited about the American trip, and I believe she's going over and taking her husband for a few days when you're in New York, so she's hardly going to say you can't bring your wife."

The week in Austria passed without incident, except that Bellamy was coming to know his assigned aurors very well. He liked it when there were few changes. Always Dieter in charge, then almost always, Cindy, Bruce, Stan, Alexander and Scott, though there'd probably be a couple more for America, so that they could have days off now and then.

The Ministry had always insisted on bodyguards for him, though he was quite sure that the original reason he was assigned a Ministry 'Observer' when he worked his cures, was to spy on him. But they'd been doing it for so long now, that he took it for granted, and nearly always became very friendly with them.

On Saturday, Pat dressed in new robes ready for Kitty's party, pleased with the effect. Others of the staff were going, too, but when they assembled, Ursula took one look at Bellamy, said that it wouldn't do at all, and herself looked in his wardrobe, and selected a set of robes in colours that didn't clash with Pat's. Bellamy changed, and afterward, Ursula picked the discarded robes from the floor, shook them out, and hung them back up again, shaking her head. She wondered who'd done that for him in the years he'd wandered.

Bellamy gave Kitty a pearl and gold necklace as an engagement present, putting it around her neck himself, and kissing her on the cheek. He also, without hesitation, gave permission for Sidney to visit or take up residence at his property, telling him the apparation coordinates himself, so that the enchantments would not cause an immediate forgetting.

Sidney thanked him. "I've always been grateful to you, saving me from prison."

Bellamy was surprised, "Did I?"

"Of course, you were a witness in court for me."

Bellamy nodded casually, and congratulated him again on his charming fiancée, and only the following day did he go to Archie and ask him what Sidney had been talking about. Archie was surprised, but told him the story in detail.

Bellamy said sheepishly. "No need to tell anyone that I'd forgotten."

"I won't tell anyone," Archie assured him, "Though I'm surprised. You were seeming so normal at the time, that I'd never have thought you'd forget."

Bellamy shrugged, still rather red-faced, and went off, inviting Margaret to join him on her pony for a ride over to Bridon's place. He quite enjoyed the company of the little girl, who looked a lot less sulky these days.

Three days in Holland. Holland was always easy, and the most part of the second two days were taken up with patients from neighbouring countries. There had been no more pumpkin-heads since those in Italy, and Bellamy was hoping that the curse had become rare again, as it had nearly always been. In most areas of the world, it was unknown, though there were other wicked curses, especially in Japan.

Pat came to London for the day on Thursday, and, as Bellamy went off to the Ministry, Archie and Ursula went with Pat as she wandered the streets of London. She wasn't interested in going to Diagon Alley this time, she just wanted a few clothes for normal wear in America. Bellamy had promised her that she could watch him work, if she wanted, and also told her that they'd be at the beach for the first week, and New York for the third week, although he couldn't remember what their base was to be for the middle week's work.

Ursula, Archie and Pat had lunch together in a good restaurant, while Bellamy, at the Ministry, was provided with sandwiches, Dianne having said severely to him that she knew he didn't want any formalities. Bellamy looked with amusement at the stale sandwiches, with the curling edges and Diane said, "Of course, if you want to join me and a few others, we do have a very good meal upstairs."

Bellamy raised an eyebrow. "No speeches?"

Dianne smiled. "No speeches!" So Bellamy joined Dianne, Julia, Nathan, and a few other heads of Department for an excellent lunch. There were no speeches.

Julia, in her role as head of the Auror Department, spoke about the trip to America, asking if he was happy with the choice of Katrina and Therese especially for Pat. Bellamy nodded, "No worries."

She laughed then. "You know you have descendants as Minister for Magic now in Sweden, Dianne here, Hamish Parker in America, plus a headmaster in America, a couple of teachers at Hogwarts, plus half a dozen aurors, plus I don't know how many others in various influential roles throughout wizardry!"

Bellamy grinned. "Well, it wasn't deliberate, but at least my enemies are no longer as likely to come from the Ministry!"

Julia started talking about that prison cell that had been intended for him when he was still young. "Would it have held you?" she asked.

Bellamy shook his head. "Not unless they kept me drugged, and you can't do that forever."

"Docility Potion?"

Bellamy hesitated. "I don't know. I was a lot younger then."

"From what we've been told, Fudge wanted to put you away before you knew too much."

Dianne was listening to the conversation, and remarked, "Our world would be very different if you'd been lost so young."

Bellamy checked his watch, and said, "They'll be waiting for me, I'd best get back."

Pat was excited about going to America, looking all around as she entered the Ministry building for the first time. She halted at a large painting in a corridor. Unlike most, this one didn't move, and she stopped and stared. It was a misty figure, leaning lonely against a wall. A horse grazed nearby. She checked the signature. Bellamy paused, waiting for her.

"Henry, I think this is you!"

Bellamy came and studied the painting, finally acknowledging, "It could be."

"We'd best go and check any more of Clare's exhibitions," Pat said. "We can't have paintings of this calibre being lost to us."

The large gathering at the Transport Bay included all the aurors whom Bellamy knew well by now, as well as Homer Stackpole, whom both he and Pat had met at Kitty's engagement party, and Katrina and Therese Abercrombie. Bellamy was shocked when he saw Therese, who now had a wicked scar across her face, just missing the eye. But Therese only laughed when she saw his shock, and said that Katrina was worse, just that the scars were not on her face. "Illegal dragon-keeping," she said, "And then he loosed them onto us."

Pat looked around at the aurors, most of them big, grim-faced men, with an air of self-confidence, and all of them wearing the black, badged cape that was the uniform. Ryde was also scarred. Stan's scar was faded, and half hidden behind a full beard. The nickname had stuck. He was called Scarface. One who'd tried to call Bruce 'Muggins,' however, wound up with a black eye, and in disgrace, along with Bruce, for brawling in the corridors.

On the aeroplane, later, Therese eavesdropped as Bellamy stated his opinion that only men like Ryde and Alexander should do dangerous things, and Pat rebuked him, saying that women were perfectly capable of fighting as well, and asked him accusingly whether she thought women inferior! Bellamy stuttered and fell quiet, and Therese smirked to herself.

There was still a small, pink painted hotel on the California beach, as there had been for over a century. It was quite close to Zefron School of Magic, and this was where they were based. For security, there were no other guests, except for a couple of aged permanent residents. The hotel was taken over by the wizards and witches, with Dieter reminding them every day that they were in a medj area, and had to be careful how they behaved, or dressed.

Like the others, Pat wore a cape over ordinary dress, and removed the cape when needed. The aurors liked to wear their uniform when possible, as it had a deterrent effect, both for potential attackers, and for aggressive American reporters, who tended to be worse mannered than their English counterparts. Their accommodation was secret, and to keep it secret, they always apparated to work. The work place was in a wizarding area, and for the first time, Pat saw crowds of witches and wizards pushing forward, trying for a better look at the great wizard. She flushed as she noticed how many were pointing at her, too, the new wife of the great wizard. Her husband was obviously accustomed to it, though she noticed him carefully scan the crowd, before turning his attention to Cindy who was pointing to where they were to work.

Cindy and Alexander stayed very close to Bellamy, and Therese and Katrina stayed very close to Pat. Further away from the group were more mostly large men, in flashy, scarlet capes, holding back the crowd.

"American aurors," said Katrina. "Americans always love to be seen."

A group of photographers were being spoken to by Bruce, who waved his wand over their cameras, making sure that they were, indeed, just cameras. Dieter passed on a request, but Bellamy shook his head. He wasn't posing for photos, and certainly not giving out autographs. Pat remembered when she hadn't believed that he was famous, and shook her head. He hadn't told her the half of it.

They passed a few very odd looking witches and wizards, although Pat was unable to see them very well, as two American aurors were in front of them, and Katrina, too, was between her and what had to be her husband's clients. Bellamy confirmed her supposition, when she turned questioning eyes to him. "They've got spells on them that the mediwizards couldn't undo. That's my work."

Dieter pointed Pat to a room adjacent to the workroom. "We can watch from here, and hear everything that's going on. But they can't hear us, and the wall is not as transparent from the other side."

"Why is that?" asked Pat.

"He's apt to get cross sometimes, when people watch. It's better if we're inconspicuous."

Pat smiled. They knew her husband.

More people were shown into the observation room, Adrian, with two professors from Zefron, and two elderly witches with the American Minister for Magic, who was a thin, sandy-haired man with glasses, introduced as Hamish Parker. "I'm his great grand-son," said the man, with a proud smirk. "My grandmother was his daughter, Victoria."

Pat shook his hand, saying, "It's very hard to believe sometimes, that he could be so old."

Hamish turned to watch the room, and they saw Graham take his seat at the desk and open his notebook. Bellamy came in and casually conjured himself a chair. Pat noticed that he used his wand. Dieter murmured in her ear, "He likes to use his wand when people are watching, because he thinks we might forget that he doesn't need it." Pat laughed. Cindy and Alexander took up places at the edges of the room.

Bellamy looked up, straight at Pat, and smiled. Pat lifted her hand, as she spoke to Dieter. "I thought you said he could hardly see us from his side."

Dieter shrugged and said, "Well, I can hardly see from that side. Goodness knows what Bellamy can do!"

The first patient was led in. It was a child, looking perfectly normal, except very frightened, and holding tightly onto her mother's hand.

Bellamy raised his eyebrows at Graham. "Pig tail," he said, in a matter-of-fact tone. Bellamy, leaning against the wall, raised his wand slightly, non-threatening, and the little girl felt her own bottom.

"Gone?" said the mother. The little girl nodded, silent, still frightened. There was a timid thank you from the mother, and they were already being shown out by Ryde.

There was the usual procession then, deformities involving horns, tusks, more pig tails, sometimes faces that looked like that of a pig or a bat. Others seemed to be covered with inflamed boils, warts, or nasty looking abscesses. Once there was one who seemed to have prickles all over his body. It was very fast, Ryde showing in one patient after another, and just his forbidding appearance ensuring that few wanted to linger to thank the great wizard. "He likes a thank you letter, if you're grateful," Pat heard once, as Ryde ruthlessly cut off a rehearsed speech. There were always piles of thank you letters in the office, replied to by Alison with a form letter. She'd never seen her husband read any.

Pat and Dieter joined Bellamy, Graham, and a couple of the aurors for lunch, though the others in the observation room were led off to a different area. Most of them would be with them for dinner, though.

Bellamy leaned against a wall, coffee in hand. "Bored yet?" he asked Pat.

"Fascinated!" she said. "And witches and wizards do that to each other all the time! It's hard to believe."

Bellamy nodded. "We're a barbaric lot. Medjkind, on the whole, are a lot more civilised!"

Dieter and Ryde turned on him, Ryde spluttering in denial, and Dieter opening and closing his mouth like a fish. Even Katrina and Therese were looking shocked at his words. Graham grinned. He rather agreed with Bellamy in this case, and mentioned, "There's a dozen hospital cases this afternoon, and two pumpkin-heads to end the day, but they're six months old and probably dead, so we may very likely finish early."

Bellamy was watching Dieter in high amusement, and said goadingly, "I get into fistfights now and then, just for fun. And wizards think that's barbaric!"

Dieter, with an effort, stifled his irritation, and only asked calmly, "Do you have any plans for afterward?"

Bellamy turned to Pat, "Swim?"

The ocean glinted blue and sparkling, a glimpse of it visible between buildings. Pat was hesitant. "I didn't bring my bathing suit."

Therese made a very good guess at the reason for her reluctance, and said that if Dieter allowed it, she and Katrina would be going in, and she needed a new swimsuit, too. "We'll ask Jane over there, where to go, I can apparate with you, and we'll both be set within the half hour. Probably back before work resumes here." Dieter nodded, and Pat agreed.

As promised, it didn't take long, and Pat was back as they wheeled in the second of the hospital patients, a pitiful object on a hospital trolley. She noticed that it took a little longer than usual. Her husband just stood, wand raised, and with a look of calm concentration on his face. Quite suddenly she felt a tingling in the air. She looked at Dieter, again beside her, who said, "It needed a bit more effort that time - sometimes, they do."

"Is that what he calls the strong magic," asked Hamish, leaning forward.

Dieter smiled, "You'll know when he needs that. I've seen it make an auror faint, even though he was standing over a hundred yards away!" At the general consternation, Dieter added, "That was exceptional, though, and he did warn us. Usually, it doesn't get anywhere near that strong." And Dieter smiled to himself, remembering how Bellamy had taken advantage of his keepers' dizziness, and gone off by himself for a drunken spree. It had done him good, too.

The same degree of magic was needed again for the next, and then another was wheeled in. They watched this one as Bellamy went close, and then touched his hand, dropping his head, even closing his eyes. He raised his wand, and again the tingling was felt in the air. Nothing happened.

"The strong magic?" Graham asked. Bellamy nodded, and he was meeting Pat's eyes again, through the glass that should have shown him only dark and indistinguishable figures. Cindy jumped to attention as he left the room, wishing he'd warn them when he was about to do that. But she was on his heels as he opened the door to the observers' room, and told Pat personally that there would be a frightening feeling in the air, and that she might prefer to go to the beach early, or go shopping, or something.

Pat smiled. "I'd rather watch."

Bellamy nodded, "Well, just leave for further away, if you don't like it. Dieter'll look after you." He nodded casually to the others, and left again.

Adrian remarked humorously, "I notice he didn't bother warning anyone else!"

Hamish was wondering how much face he'd lose if he left, and reluctantly decided to stay. And when the feeling of invisible power started resonating, he only clutched the sides of his seat very tightly, and waited. Pat, for some reason, felt it hardly more than the earlier tingling in the air, although she noticed Cindy quietly leaving the workroom, and a few minutes later, Jed replacing her.

The helpless creature on the hospital trolley was replaced by that of a witch, although unconscious. The feeling died from the air, and Bellamy waited, leaning against the wall again, as Graham and another mediwizard held sensor devices to the woman's arm and head.

"Is there any more magic on her, Bellamy," Graham asked him.

Bellamy held her hand again, feeling, and then closed his eyes, feeling her mind. "No more magic," he said doubtfully. "And she seems all right to me."

Graham and the other mediwizard conferred, and after a time, the witch was wheeled away.

The next hospital patients were very easy, and Ryde poked his head in, and said there was an afternoon tea if they wanted, before the last two. Bellamy nodded, and smiled as he saw the tempting array. Using the strong magic always made him hungry. Even that lesser degree of magic, felt by observers as a tingle in the air, seemed to have that effect. Graham noticed that he was eating more than usual, and thought he should do an extra check before he went swimming.

A message was passed. The unconscious woman who had needed the strong magic, seemed fine. Bellamy was relieved.

Pat stared, appalled, at the two man/vegetables that were now in the waiting room. But Bellamy just touched one's hand for a moment, and pronounced him dead, and stated that the other was alive and well, without a moment's hesitation, or need for contact.

The ambulance team waited just outside the workroom, and Cindy conjured a barrier, with the monster standing perfectly placidly behind it. Bellamy went close, looked unseeing at the floor, and concentrated. Pat, back in the observation room, with Dieter beside her, watched.

"These can be very dangerous," explained Dieter, calmly. "They often come out in a berserk rage, and then they go for Bellamy. That's why the barrier, and that's why you'll see him work for a while after they're apparently cured, trying to make them calm. It doesn't always work, which is why there are now three aurors, all with their wands at the ready."

The large patient became human, and seemed to Bellamy to be calm. Bellamy pulled back from his mind. After being so deep in concentration, it always took a few minutes to be fully alert. Abruptly the barrier vanished, and the large man took a swift step forward, and wrapped an arm around Bellamy's neck. Cindy stunned him before he could make the jerk that would have broken it. Bellamy was dropped, but pulled himself to a kneeling position, beginning to turn blue, holding his neck, and making a terrible, hoarse, rattling sound as he tried to breathe. Graham was already there, and a spell repaired the damage to his neck. Bellamy took a deep breath and lay flat, recovering.

"That's one reason why there's always a healer in attendance," said Dieter, calmly.

"I see," said Pat, not quite as calmly. The unconscious ex-pumpkin-head was wheeled out.

When Dieter led Pat back to the workroom to join her husband, Graham was smearing some lotion onto the bruised neck. Bellamy grinned sheepishly at his wife. "Sorry, love. I should have sent you away before I did a pumpkin-head."

Pat said, "He nearly killed you."

Bellamy looked warily at his wife, and Graham took the opportunity to pull out an assortment of monitors. "Would you just make sure the observers are gone, Dieter?" asked Graham. "I want to check Bellamy over more thoroughly, and I might as well do it here."

Dieter vanished, coming back only a moment later. "They're gone."

Bellamy was still looking apprehensively at his wife, and obliged when Graham asked him to remove his shirt. Pat watched him, though her gaze switched to Cindy, who was still in the room, and whose gaze was frankly admiring. Cindy looked the other way. Graham was grinning to himself. All it took to get Bellamy to cooperate was his wife's stern eye on him, and he took the opportunity to make a more thorough examination than Bellamy had allowed since his return.

When Graham finally packed away his things, and closed his notebook, Pat asked, "Is he all right?"

Graham nodded, "Fine. His throat might be a bit sore for a while."

Bellamy asked, "Swim?" and Pat nodded. Graham and Dieter were sure that they heard Bellamy heave a very deep sigh of relief.

Dieter asked Bellamy. "Was it accidental magic, do you think, or is there someone else in the world who can work deliberate magic without a wand?" But Bellamy had his arm around his wife, and was whispering something that made her look at him with a smile.

It was still only mid-afternoon, and it was only a short while later that Pat, with the twins, joined Bellamy with a couple of the aurors on the beach. Scott and Bruce were also in swimmers. Dieter said critically to Bruce that his fitness test was due shortly. Bruce looked down at his expanding middle, and said that he'd applied for a job in International Cooperation.

Bellamy was scanning the crowded beach carefully, an alert look in his eyes. Dieter watched, and both Alexander and Ryde were also close, and alert. Bellamy discernibly relaxed, and turned to greet the women, smiling. Pat noticed that the others took their cue from him, and although they didn't relax, they no longer looked as tense as they had a moment before. The three women had large towels wrapped around them. Bellamy had conjured Pat's towel as a special present for her. She wouldn't hurt his feelings by telling him that vivid violet, lime green and exuberant red was not a combination that everyone admired. The twins were giggling. Their own towels were colourful, but not like Pat's.

The towels were put down on the sand. As Therese had said, Katrina's scars were worse than her own, just not on her face. Her self confidence seemed unaffected as she walked down to the shoreline, in spite of terrible scarring over thighs, chest and upper arms, and a missing breast. Pat imitated her proud carriage, putting out of her mind that she was slightly stooped, far too tall, and had an awkward and ungraceful figure. The fact that her husband watched her with an obvious love and desire made her know that she was beautiful, just as he always said she was.

The women didn't swim long, returning to lie on the sand, sunbaking. "This is what happens when you get too close to a dragon," mentioned Katrina, indicating the flat side of her swimmers, although Pat hadn't asked.

Pat said, "I thought you must have had a mastectomy."

In unison, the twins asked, "What's a mastectomy?"

Pat explained, and the twins thought it barbaric, although Therese said that she'd heard that medj healers sometimes tried to heal with a knife.

Each of the twins had a child at home, left in the care of their husbands, so, inevitably, with Pat's pregnancy, the conversation strayed to childbirth.

"Pain?"

"Not with a competent healer," said Therese.

"Healer Esme Rutherford," Pat said. "Know her?"

"My best friend had her," said Katrina, "Said she was very good."

"I wonder how Henry will cope," said Pat, musingly.

"Best not to tell him about it until afterwards," advised Katrina. "We don't want him going to pieces again, do we?"

Pat turned over to do her back, wondering how much the aurors knew of Bellamy's years of confusion. She'd ask Bellamy later; she didn't want to ask the aurors.

Meantime, Bellamy and Scott started playing, laughing and calling, and ducking each other, and then combining to stalk Graham. Dieter, from the shore, watched with a grin. Pat and Fred were long retired, but he'd taken their advice, to include one or more young aurors in the team, so that Bellamy would have a playmate, 'of his own age,' Patrick had said laughingly. 'Keep him happy, and he won't get up to as much mischief,' explained Fred. And then Dieter had been entertained for the next hour with old stories of Bellamy routinely slipping his bodyguards, and getting into fistfights, or playing with women, not always one at a time. But it was perfectly obvious these days that Bellamy was very happy indeed, totally involved with his wife. And Dieter, like Caradoc, was developing a very real respect for Bellamy's wife.

Dieter continued to spend time with Pat, talking, explaining, and after a few days, discussing the dangers in which Bellamy lived. Pat was appalled to hear the size of the reward for his death, the word being that it was definitely still payable. Dieter concealed nothing from her, telling her even when one of the aged resident guests had been found with a gun in his hand, and acting under the Imperius Curse. "We didn't tell Bellamy," said Dieter casually. "It's our job to protect him, and we don't want him interfering." And when Bellamy noticed that Jed was missing, he was only told that he had a few days off.

But when Jed returned, he had a new badge on his cape, a small red one, that the twins, as well as Dieter, Stan and Ryde also wore. Pat noticed, and asked the twins what the badges meant. "Injured in the course of duty," Katrina said casually.

"Does it help?" Pat asked curiously.

Katrina laughed. "The badge itself doesn't, of course, but the honour, respect, and recognition definitely helps."

Therese touched the scar on her face. "We do a job that has to be done. It's a matter for pride, and if we get hurt or killed doing our job, that's a matter for pride, too."

"We'll have to give it up some time in the next few years," said Katrina, regretfully. "We're nearly forty, and not many aurors can maintain the fitness standards much past that."

"Then what?" Pat asked.

"A desk job in the Auror Department if one's available, or a transfer to a different department."

"You won't lose your jobs altogether, then?"

"Of course not! We're aurors!"

They moved bases to Charleston, in South Carolina, for the second week. Again they stayed at a small hotel, emptied of other guests for greater security, and again they apparated to work every day, in an endeavour to keep their accommodation quiet. Pat, Therese and Katrina now spent their days wandering the town, exploring and shopping, enjoying the beach, and often going to shows or other entertainments at night. Pat saw less of Dieter, and had to go to his room when she wanted to speak privately with him. Dieter opened his door the moment she knocked, wand in hand, but shirt off. She noticed that Dieter, too, bore scars.

The following day, it was Ryde in temporary charge of the aurors as Dieter and Pat went shopping together. Afterward, Pat regarded the eight long and heavy boxes in her room with some dismay. There was an even heavier square one, too. But Bellamy didn't query her when she said they were something that Caradoc wanted, and only sent them to Caradoc's place with a tap of his wand. Pat didn't tell him that she now carried a holstered handgun, snug against her hip. Dieter had put spells on it for her, so that it would not normally be noticed, and also to take away its weight. It was effectively very light to carry. It didn't take long for Bellamy to notice it, but after looking at her frowningly for a moment, he just hugged her, and said that, after all, witches and wizards were invariably armed with their wands.

From then on, Pat and Dieter spent two hours every day at a shooting range, while Pat practised with her new weapon. No-one else was told, not even the twins, who had become so friendly. Pat sometimes thought that, for the first time in her life, she had true women friends, but each time, she remembered that Katrina and Therese were only doing their jobs. She didn't have the confidence to think that anyone might like her for her own sake. She was sure that Dieter spent so much time with her only because it would help to protect the valuable property that was her husband.

An afternoon remained at Charleston, and then they were to go to New York. Pat watched again as Bellamy went about his work, although this time, she and Dieter merely stood in a corner of the large room, which made her feel exposed, unsafe. No-one saw any sign of her trepidation, and only Bellamy knew that she was not as calm as she looked. But the work was perfectly routine, except that a surprising number of the patients were quite magnificent specimens of black manhood.

"Stupid twits," said Bellamy calmly as he sipped coffee, afterwards. "Why on earth they won't just make duelling illegal, I'll never know." Dieter said nothing. He didn't want to get Bellamy started on his hobby horse.

The aurors were wearing their capes, Cindy, Dieter and Stan sitting with them, others on guard further back. Pat was in medj dress, and wore her gun, as she always did now, invisible under her clothing. "You have a different badge," remarked Pat to Cindy. "What's that one?"

Cindy touched the beautifully worked, embroidered badge on her auror's cape. "Baldo Auror Award," she said, trying to be casual, but not quite succeeding in hiding her pride.

Dieter said, "It's awarded when an auror risks their own life, in order to save a workmate." Cindy reddened slightly, as Dieter related the story of the incident that had earned her the award.

"Hasn't Bellamy got one?" asked Stan.

Bellamy shook his head, "When I came to get you and the others, all I risked was loss of sleep. Besides, I'm not an auror."

Pat said, "Alison showed me your awards once, and I'm sure I saw one like that."

Bellamy said, "You couldn't have. And nearly all of those are just because I can break spells. Meaningless, really."

"I remember seeing it."

***chapter end***