'What happened to you?' asked Hermione, standing at the foot of the bed to Myrtle's right, directly between Harry. and Major Price.

'How should I know?'

'What can you remember?' asked Mr Weasley, standing at the end of the bed.

Myrtle frowned, as if deep in thought, while placing her hands in her lap. 'I was sitting on the windowsill, thinking about death. Suddenly, there was a bright light, and I found myself being pulled through the air, looking back at myself, disappearing into the distance.'

'You as well?' said Colonel Kontarsky, from behind Harry. 'That's what happened to me, onboard the helicopter, just before Beckett appeared in place of one of the guards, right before the crash.

'Same here,' added Gant from the gap between the beds. 'Only I found myself on the ground, some way from the helicopter. I was just looking it over when Madame Pomfrey there marched up, demanding to know who I was and what I thought I was doing!'

After determining that everyone else had experienced the same phenomenon, Price turned to Gant. 'Why were you looking the helicopter over?'

'Searching for evidence to explain what had happened,' he replied, pulling out a leather look ID wallet from one of his front pockets. 'I'm currently employed as an air crash investigator with the National Transport Safety Board!'

'Excellent' said Mr Weasley. 'You're expertise will be invaluable' With that, he turned his attention first to Beckett, and then Kontarsky. 'I don't suppose you chaps have any photographic ID on you?''

Beckett was found to be carrying a playing card size ID, bearing his details, photograph and the words Project Quantum Leap, the name of his time travel experiment. Mr Weasley then approached Kontarsky. 'What about you, sir?'

'I seem to have three,' replied the Colonel, handing over the items, each bearing his name and photograph. In addition to his standard KGB ID pass, there was a rectangular card marked UK Driving Licence, which Mr Weasley quickly identified to the others as a Public Service Vehicle Licence, permitting Kontarsky to drive many types of muggle motor vehicles, including buses and coaches,

'What about that other one?' asked Hagrid, pointing to the folded black wallet, which Mr Weasley quickly opened..

'It seems to be what's known as a warrant card, granting automatic arrest powers to an officer of the Metropolitan Police Force.'

'Police?' asked Pomfrey, in a confused tone.

'It's sort of a partial muggle equivalent of the Auror department,' said Hermione. 'Each force, or constabulary, covers a different area, in this case, the whole of London.'

'Hold on a moment,' said Gant' 'Why is a senior KGB officer travelling around with a UK Bus and Coach Driver's licence, and a Metropolitan Police warrant card, in his pockets?

'More to the point,' added Beckett, who turned to face Gant, 'Why does he hate you so much?'

'Oh, that's easy enough to explain!, replied Kontasky sourly. 'Thanks to Mr Gant and his associates. I found myself being flown to Moscow, as part of forced transfer to Lubyanka prison!

'What the hell's wrong with you?'snapped Gant, glaring at Kontarsky 'To hear you talk, anyone would think that Firefox business only took place a few hours ago!'

'Well, for him it did!' said a female voice from the vicinity of the doorway, prompting everyone in the room to turn their faces in that direction.

Standing by the gap between the bed Beckett had been sitting on, and the double doors, stood a young to middle age pale skinned woman with long, light brown hair, wearing a brown jacket over green T-shirt, black trousers and dark grey boots, and holding what appeared to be an electronic display device of some kind. Standing next to her was a darker skinned man, with short black hair greying at the temples, dressed in a black business suit with white shirt, open at the neck, and black laced shoes.

'For crying out load, Beckett,' exclaimed the man. 'What the hell is going on here!'