"Obliviate," Percy said clearly, pointing his wand at Runcorn. Runcorn's eyes spun in odd directions for a moment, then they refocused once again. "Good morning," Percy said pleasantly.

"Morning, Weasley," Runcorn grunted.

"Are you feeling alright?" Percy asked concerned. "You don't look well."

"Lot on my mind. You know, being impersonated yesterday when all those mudbloods escaped."

"I understand," Percy nodded.

"Know what's worse?" Runcorn asked. "They had some Muggles. The family of one of those mudbloods and they disappeared."

"They got away with the muggle-borns?" Percy asked sounding curious.

"Naw, they got away hours later. They were being guarded one moment then about a half an hour later, they were gone. No one knows where they went," he heaved a sigh.

"Any idea what happened to them?" Percy asked, trying to keep the worry out of his voice.

"No, I think that Yaxley had something to do with it…" his voice trailed off. "Though, I can't remember why…"

"Was Yaxley guarding the Muggles?" Percy asked as though figuring out a word to a crossword puzzle with which a friend was having trouble.

"No, it was a couple of kids. Just otta Hogwarts. Can't remember their names. But it wasn't Yaxley," Runcorn made a face. "Why do I think that Yaxley had something to do with it?"

"I don't know," Percy mused. "Obliviate." He pointed his wand at Runcorn once again. Runcorn's eyes spun in odd directions again and once again, refocused. "Now, what was that you were saying?"

"Couple of Muggles disappeared. Can't figure out where they went or how they got out," Runcorn rubbed the side of his head. "I'm really not feeling well," he grunted.

"Here," Percy opened his desk and handed him an over-the-counter potion for headaches. "This should help you." Runcorn looked at the bottle and swallowed the entire bottle in one gulp. "And you don't have any idea how the Muggles could have escaped?" Percy asked, interested.

"No," Runcorn said, making a face. "That's disgusting. What is that?"

"Just a headache potion," Percy shrugged. "Sorry, I never bought the flavored kind. Does anybody know anything about the escaped Muggles?"

"No. Why are you so interested?" Runcorn gave Percy a strange look.

"No reason. I just like order and don't want Muggles and Muggle-borns running around all over the place," Percy said.

"Who does?" Runcorn laughed and Percy forced himself to join in. "Well, I won't keep you. You've probably got a lot of work to do."

"There's always paperwork to do," Percy nodded and as he watched Runcorn walk off, he tried to keep from glaring at him.

XXX

Percy came back to Ignatius' cottage to see Joey reading a Muggle novel and to see Audrey carving something long and thin, almost like a wand. "What are you doing?" he asked her just as she sliced it down the middle with a severing charm.

"They know that my wand is elm wood and unicorn hair," Audrey answered, not looking up at him as she measured the bottom end of her wand. "I'm making a maple cover for my wand. It'll be harder for them to prove that it's me." She hollowed out one of the halves of the maple stick so that the shell was barely half a centimeter thick. She did the same with the second half then put her wand in the one of the halves and closed the second half on top of her wand. "D'you mind?" she asked.

Percy blink, startled and it took him a moment for him to realize what she was talking about. "Oh, right. Reparo," he tapped his wand on her wand's new cover. The two halves seamlessly came together. While it was thicker than the average wand, it was impossible to say that it was once a different wand. Audrey smile proudly and picked up her "new" wand.

"Lumos," she said clearly. A dim light appeared at the end of her wand and Audrey made a face. "Lumos!" she said a little louder. A brighter light appeared and Audrey sighed. "I suppose that means no more nonverbal spells."

Percy unsure of what to say blinked a few times and turned to Joey to ask him about the book he was reading.