Chapter 13
Episode - Child of the Moon
Ronald Weasley was down in the mines. He was helping the dwarves. They were looking for diamonds. Magical diamonds that are from the Enchanted Forest that would have been brought over in the curse. While the dwarves were swinging magic pickaxes that were supposed to be able to cut through diamonds Ron was blasting chunks of rock out of the wall with his wand.
It had been 2 weeks since the curse was broken. Ron was getting restless. Part of him feared that he would never see Hermione again. They had barely been apart from each other for longer than a couple days at a time, since the end of the war.
In the last week and a half a number of things had happened. -
-The Mad Hatter was reunited with his daughter.
-It was revealed that Dr. Whale was actually Dr. Frankenstein and brought the Evil Queen's lover, Daniel, back to life. And then she had to kill him again because he was an out of control monster.
-And Belle's father tried to get her to cross the town line so that she would lose her memories so that she wouldn't be with Rumpelstiltskin.
"Hey Grumpy?" asked Ron, "I have a question about you guys."
"Go ahead." Grumpy said.
"You dwarves have names based on your personalities. Are you guys born with these names, or do you wait until your personalities emerge and then you get your names?"
"Well, we're not born like normal human beings." Grumpy explained. "Dwarves and Fairies share a symbiotic relationship, you could say. We are grown in giant eggs by the Fairies. Where when our eggs hatch we are born fully grown. We are an all male species. Where we then mine the fairy dust for the fairies. And the fairies care for all of our needs.
"Anyway, our names. Once we are born, cleaned up, and dressed, we're then taken to the mines where we are handed our pickaxe. And a name will magically appear on the pickaxe and that is our name for life, unless it changes which sometimes it does. I used to actually be called 'Dreamy', because I dreamed of a better life."
"Interesting." said Ron. "Is there a reason that the name might change from time to time."
"Only if your personality undergoes a change." explained Grumpy. "I fell in love with a fairy. And she fell in love with me. Her name is, Nova. The most beautiful creature that I had ever seen. We were going to be happy. Traditionally, dwarves love work, and we do. It's what we do. Unlike most other species that like to rest and relax if they can, laziness is a quality that is magically just stripped out of all dwarves."
"Sounds like house elves." said Ron. "So what happened to her? The fairy, Nova?"
"Oh, she's here in Storybrooke. Brought over with the curse with the rest of us."
"So why aren't you two together?"
"We were breaking the code. The code of magic within the Enchanted Forest. Fairies and dwarves don't get happy endings. They bring happy endings to others. We were willing to defy all of the rules, but that was before I truly understood Nova's destiny. Mother Superior, the Blue Fairy, she confronted me and told me real nice that it was extremely important that I end the relationship; that one day Nova's going to become a Fairy Godmother and bring happiness to countless children and couples. I saw the bigger picture. I broke up with her because as much as I wanted my own happiness I needed to allow all of these other people to get theirs from Nova."
"Well, don't rules apply differently here in Storybrooke, maybe she could become a fairy godmother while being married to you."
"Who knows, we shall see."
"All right everyone, quitting time for the day!" said the dwarf that went by the name of, Happy. "Round of beers at Granny's!"
"No!" said Grumpy with a voice of authority. "We have to keep working. We have to keep looking for fairy dust."
"But it's 'happy hour' at Granny's."
"You know, Happy, just because your name is Happy doesn't mean that you have to be there for happy hour."
"Come on Grumpy, we are all exhausted. We need to eat, drink, rest and sleep and then we come right back here and resume our work tomorrow."
He then began chopping at the wall with his pickaxe with every pound and ounce of all of his body weight.
"No! We need to get Snow, Emma, and Hermione back, and to do that we need fairy dust! And…" he swung, "find fairy dust…" he swung, "is exactly…" he swung, "what we are going…" he swung, "to do!"
But on the last chop the wall broke open, apparently being a very thin layer of rock that made him fall forward into another wide open chamber.
Ron was through the hole and slid down a small slope to grab hold of Grumpy's arm as he lay on the ground.
"Grumpy are you alright?" asked Ron.
The chamber was dark as the electric lights were not in here.
"Hey Ron, can you light your wand?" asked Grumpy.
"Lumos."
The wand tip lit up and he shined it at the walls and ceiling and there it was. Diamonds! Thousands of them, long pointy prism shaped diamonds halfway sticking out of the walls and ceiling.
"Happy!" Grumpy called out up to the hole where his brothers had all gathered around to stick their heads in. "Call the Prince! Have him come down here at once and take a look at this! And I think this discovery has earned us a break at happy hour!"
Harry Potter was on his afternoon break. He had been working in the kitchen at Granny's as a cook. It took a little practice, but it was no different than learning any other type of spell or Magic. He had become quite good at preparing just about every meal on the menu in a short time with a few waves of his wand. Though he still preferred Mrs. Weasley's cooking, or the Hogwarts house elves.
He was sitting at a booth eating a sandwich while reading his copy of Advanced Potion Making. Not the Half Blood Prince's copy, no, that book had been destroyed. This was a new copy. He was trying to recreate the advanced methods of making the potions, but apparently the official instructions were yielding less results. But in his free time he had been doing some magical experimentation, hopefully he could find a way to cross realms.
It was then that the young blonde woman, Ashley, with a baby came in the door and over to Harry's table, with the handle of a car seat on her arm with the baby inside it.
"Hello Harry Potter." said the woman, Ashley.
"Hello Cinderella." said Harry Potter. "Or Ashley? I'm sorry, I'm confused about what to call everybody after the breaking of the curse."
"Actually, it's just Ella." said Ashley. "But Ashley is fine. It was my name for 28 years."
There was a brief pause as each of them thought for a second.
"I'm sorry Harry, but could I get you to watch Alexandria for a minute?"
"Sure." Harry complied.
She set down the car seat on the table where he then undid the straps in the car seat and picked up the Young infant.
The child seemed happy. Sucking on a pacifier. And utterly adorable as most babies are.
Harry had been taking care of his godson Teddy Lupin for the last couple of years, but he had left him with Mr. and Mrs. Weasley when he went on his assignment.
Ashley went over to the counter to place an order with Granny.
She then came back to sit down and she seemed exhausted. Harry only imagined as it is for any mother with a child.
"So," said Harry, "Is it true that you were really pregnant for 28 years?"
"Yes." said Ashley. "The curse was intended to be an unhappy ending for everyone in the Enchanted Forest that got swept up in it. My unhappy ending was that for my entire 28 year pregnancy I believed that I was the dumped and abandoned ex-girlfriend of my boyfriend Sean who is actually my husband Prince Thomas. We did not age, or mature, and time never moved forward until Emma showed up. Only then was I able to give birth as I was pretty much ready to drop before Emma started weakening the curse."
"Well, I'm just glad that you got your happy ending. Always was a fan of your fairytale story."
"I hear you are a storybook character yourself as this world is also a story book universe." said Ashley. "And that you had some pretty exciting Adventures. But you got your happy ending I assume."
"Yes." said Harry. "I've got great friends. And I am engaged to be married."
"Oh, congratulations. To who?"
"One Ginny Weasley. Ron's sister. Right now she is playing as a Quidditch player for the Holyhead Harpies Quidditch team."
"I'm sorry, what is quidditch?" asked Cinderella with curiosity.
"It's a game." said Harry. "A sport. Played by witches and wizards on broomsticks."
"Really," said Cinderella with skepticism, "witches really fly on those?"
"And wizards." said Harry. "I'm actually an expert flyer myself. Got myself a new broomstick after my old one was lost."
Ashley was about to ask more but they were interrupted.
"Hey Harry!" yelled Granny. "You've overextended your break time. Back to work!"
"You know I'm working for free." said Harry.
"Well, I did offer to pay you." said Granny.
"I'm rich." said Harry. "I don't want your money. I'm working out of the kindness of my heart. Now no disrespect intended but if I choose to take a few extra minutes on my break then cut me a little slack. You're getting production for free."
"I stand corrected, just get back to the kitchen quickly." said Granny.
Harry placed the infant back in the car seat where he was about to return to work but then David and Henry entered through the door.
"Harry, we just got word from the mines." said David. "They need us to come over right away."
Harry got to his feet.
"Sorry Granny, I got to check this out."
"But I was expecting your help in the kitchen. I'm short staffed now."
Harry paused and he thought for a moment.
"What if I could offer you an alternative worker?" Harry offered.
"Who?" asked Granny, intrigued.
"Just someone who can help out with work." Harry vaguely generalized. "Just does it matter how tall they are or whether they are not human?"
Granny seemed a little confused, but still eager for the work.
"I suppose not." said Granny.
"Kreacher." Harry deliberately called out in a clear voice.
Crack!
A two foot tall humanoid creature in a clean pillow case as a t-shirt going down to his knees magically materialized out of thin air.
"You summoned me master?" the house elf acknowledged.
"Oh my gosh!" said Ashley with a look of disgust as she grabbed her baby and stepped backwards. "What is that?"
"This is Kreacher, he's an elf. He's sort of my…servant. He is a competent laborer." explained Harry. "Kreacher, this is Granny. The owner of the establishment. Until I get back you are going to do everything that she tells you to do. Do you understand?"
"As You Wish master." Kreacher complied obediently.
Harry, Henry, and David all arrived at the entrance of the mines just as Mother Superior and several of the other fairies arrived as well.
They entered the mines and made their way through the mining carts' train tracks until they saw the Seven Dwarfs after a few twists and turns. There was a big hole in one of the rock walls.
"Where is he?" asked David.
He poked his head into the hole where then they saw it. Thousands and thousands of diamonds in the walls and ceiling.
"Is this it?" asked Henry. "Is this fairy dust?"
"That's right Henry." said Mother Superior. "The Dwarves Mine them, and then we refine them, grind them into powder. Where we can then use powerful Magic."
"And hopefully get Jefferson's hat to work again."
"Lock it up. Keep it safe." said Mother Superior.
There was a celebration in honor of the dwarves and Ron who had found the fairy dust.
Kreacher was acting as a server as he carried a tray around with an assortment of drinks on it for people to take. Some people welcomed Kreacher as the Enchanted Forest had many unusual creatures. While other people were still wary of him. Irrational human Prejudice will always be what it is.
Henry looked sleepy, only because he had been having nightmares.
Harry noticed some kind of altercation between David and a man with a receding hairline that Harry had learned his name was Spencer. Apparently he was the district attorney at the courthouse.
Harry went back to the kitchen where he was going to assist with some after dinner clean up. And he couldn't help but notice that there was apparently some kind of construction project that Granny was doing with a welding torch and a mask.
Ruby and Belle were also there.
"What is going on here?" Harry asked.
"We're building a cage." said Granny.
"A cage?" said Harry, confused. "What for?"
"Me." said Ruby. "It's the first full moon since the curse broke."
Harry was still confused.
"Oh," said Ruby in Dawning comprehension that Harry was ignorant of the facts. "I'm a werewolf."
"What?" said Harry in surprise.
"The curse kept me from transforming. But now that it's broken I don't know if that will hold."
"Haven't you long since learned to control the wolf?" asked David.
"Yes, but since it's been 28 years I'm a little out of practice."
"Ruby, I trust you." said David with confidence and moral support.
"It's not a matter of how much you trust me, your highness." said Ruby with respect. "It's a matter of whether or not to take the risk."
"What about your Red Hood?" Asked David.
"It's missing. I even checked at Mr Gold's. I don't even know whether or not it came over with the curse."
"We have werewolves in The Wizarding world." said Harry. "There is a potion, it's called the 'wolfsbane potion'. They take it on the full moon and when they transform it prevents them from turning into a Savage monster, they simply curl up in their room a harmless wolf until the full moon sets in the morning."
"I think I'm a different kind of werewolf. Do they turn into those half man half ape-like creatures with claws and fangs while they stand upright?"
"Yes." said Harry.
"Then I'm different. I transform into a real wolf. But just as Savage and unless I can control the wolf which I can, if I wasn't rusty."
"Okay fine." Said David. "The cage is just an unnecessary precaution. I don't think you're going to go feral."
Harry and Ron had stayed at Granny's for a few nights but they decided to move in with David to help him take care of Henry, just until the women return. Henry had been doing well in school.
Ron worked at the mines with the dwarves believing that the fairy dust was the key to getting Hermione back.
Harry took to studying magic to find a way to cross realms, so far he'd come up with nothing. According to Rumpelstiltskin, Lord Voldemort had searched for months and came up with the curse, and only by accident, and he was a much more talented wizard than Harry was. Harry also took to doing a variety of different jobs around town for free, helping people by use of his magic.
His Royal Highness, Prince Charming had taken to acting as both the Mayor and taking over as Sheriff until Emma returns.
Now, Henry had taken to having nightmares. He would wake up almost every night screaming in fright. He described the dream. It seemed rather unusual dream. It made no sense, it was just a fiery Red Room, with no doors or windows. And he was being burned alive. The best that everyone could do was just comfort him that it was just a dream.
The telephone rang, and David woke up and reached for the cordless on the bedside table and picked up.
"Hello."
Harry listened from the sofa, which is where he slept.
"What?" said David into the phone. "You're kidding!...no!...okay, I'll be right there."
He hung up the phone.
"Harry, Ron, I've got an emergency. I've got to go right now. Sheriff's business. Look after Henry."
"Ron, go with him." Harry ordered but his tone of voice indicated that it was more of a suggestion than a command.
Ron pulled on his jeans, coat, and shoes, and then picked up his wand.
Harry went into the kitchen to make some breakfast. He prepared Henry's favorite. Hot chocolate with cinnamon. Henry was still in bed, not tossing and turning, but rather just twitching every now and then as if in discomfort. He was also sweating.
Deciding that he wanted to help, he got out his cauldron. He began mixing a few potion ingredients that he always kept on hand. He wasn't the most talented potion maker, but he was competent with this one. He had also memorized the modified recipe from the Half Blood Prince's book before it was destroyed.
Henry then began tossing and turning and shouting out in his sleep. At some point he called out, "who are you?!"
Harry decided that Henry's mind and body had had its fill of REM sleep so he went over to him and shook him by the shoulders until he woke up.
"It's all right Henry." said Harry. "It's going to be alright. It's just a dream."
He looked around.
"Where's David and Ron?" asked Henry.
"Police business, they had an emergency."
Harry then walked back over to his cauldron that was bubbling over a small fire on the stove. The Brew was ready. He extinguished the fire and then with a wave of his wand allowed the potion to cool.
He took a cup, ladled a small amount into it and then brought it over to Henry.
"This is a calming draught." said Harry. "It tastes awful but you'll feel loads better."
Henry gulped down the small quantity of liquid and shuddered at the awful taste.
It was then that Harry noticed a red rash and peeling skin as though that spot had been held over the flame of a candle for too long.
Harry wanted to consult his old potions master, Horace Slughorn. But he didn't have the time to get a message to him nor for him to be transported there. So he did the next best thing. He decided to call the boy's mother, Her Royal Majesty The Queen. He picked up the cellular telephone that he had obtained the week before and he dialed the phone number that he had programmed into the phone in case it was needed.
"Hello?" answered Regina's voice on the other side.
"Your majesty." said Harry. "It's Harry Potter."
"What is it?" she asked, curious of why he was calling.
"It's about your son Henry. There's something wrong. I believe it may be due to some kind of dark magic. Unfortunately I'm not an expert. Could I get you to come over right away and take a look at him."
"I'll be right there." she said with eagerness to help and concern for her son.
And in a matter of seconds, with a whirl of purple smoke, Regina, the Evil Queen materialized out of thin air.
"Your majesty." said Harry Potter as he inclined his head lightly in respect. "Your son. I don't know what is wrong with him. He is having some nightmares. He's in a red room with no doors or Windows filled with fire. And then he wakes up with burns."
"Henry." said Regina with concern.
She and Henry wrap their arms around each other.
"Are you all right?" she asks with concern.
"The people that you placed me in the care of have taken care of me flawlessly." he reassures her. "But I've been having a lot of bad dreams."
She examines the burns to his skin and she gets scared.
"How did this happen?"
"I don't understand it myself." said Harry. "I would like to call in my old potions master, Horace Slughorn. He might be the closest thing to an expert I know. But it could be days before I get a response from him. And I don't quite feel comfortable calling in the Magical Congress just yet."
"Then in that case," said Regina, "desperate times call for desperate measures."
She stood up and called out with a loud clear voice.
"Rumpelstiltskin! Rumpelstiltskin! Rumpelstiltskin!"
With a whirl of purple smoke Mr. Gold materialized out of thin air while leaning on his cane.
"Your majesty." Mr. Gold acknowledged. "Harry Potter. This is quite a surprise for me to be summoned like this."
"You can rest assured," said Regina, "I would not have summoned you unless I was desperate. I need your help."
She then took Henry's hand and showed Mr. Gold the burn on it.
"Henry has been having nightmares of a red room with no doors or windows filled with fire. And he wakes up with burns. I don't understand why this is?"
Mr. Gold gets down on one knee and scrutinizes Henry closely.
"Alright." said Mr. Gold. "I stand corrected about you summoning me just now; this is very very serious. You were right to call me. What we are dealing with here, is a side effect, of the sleeping curse."
"A side effect of the sleeping curse?" asked Regina indignantly.
"Yes indeed, your majesty." said Mr. Gold. "And I must criticize you, your majesty. To be playing around with such a dark and evil curse that you know so little about."
"In my defense," said Regina self-righteously, "my victims…were never supposed to wake up. So therefore I most certainly didn't care what happened to them afterwards. Until now of course."
She stood behind Henry and placed both her hands on his shoulders protectively.
"Now, this sleeping curse, or rather its after effects, are tormenting my son every time he sleeps!" she said with a tone of parental worrying. "I want you to do something to prevent him from going to this nightmare when he sleeps."
"I'm afraid, your majesty," said Mr. Gold, "that that is quite impossible."
With a wave of his hand he made a briefcase appear out of thin air on the table.
He opened the briefcase and inside were a number of items that he began to fiddle with.
"What I can do, is perhaps treat the symptoms. Now, here is what is going on with young Henry." Mr. Gold explained. "You see there exists multiple levels of existence. 'This world' that we live in is one of them. It is 'the world of the living'. Now, when the human body dies, the soul travels to 'the underworld', 'the world of the Dead'. Another level of existence. Once in the world of the Dead the soul must undergo trials and tests before it decides whether or not to move on. However, in the case of someone who undergoes a 'sleeping curse', that is where things become complicated for the soul; the soul becomes confused. The human body is not dead while simultaneously not truly alive, therefore unless the human body is dead the soul cannot 'go on', but while it is not truly alive the soul also cannot stay either, so it travels to a 'third place', we call it 'the Netherworld'. A place between life and death, where inside the mind the 'not completely living or dead' body will experience as a dream. But I can assure you it is not a dream, it is a very real place."
He paused for a few moments to collect his thoughts.
"Now, in the case of someone who has been awoken from a sleeping curse, sometimes, though their soul has returned to their body from the Netherworld, sometimes when the person is asleep the soul travels back to the netherworld, in particular a nightmare, in the form of a red room with no doors or Windows filled the fire."
Once he was done fiddling with a necklace that was in the briefcase he then offered it to Henry.
"This Enchanted necklace, Henry, is a magical talisman. You wear it while you are asleep, where then in your sleep you will be able to control the dream environment of the netherworld. Once you control the environment while you're asleep, you need no longer fear it. And once you no longer fear it, you can freely come and go from the dream world as you please. Use its power well."
Then handed it to Henry to take but Regina placed her hand over Henry's hand preventing him from taking it.
"Everything comes with a price with you!" said Regina with suspicion and caution. "What's this going to cost Henry?"
"For you, your majesty, this house call, you couldn't afford it. But I have a soft spot for Henry. The deal is, this one's on me."
Regina stayed to watch Henry while Harry dealt with some things that he needed to do. Turns out a boy named Billy was murdered. And the angry mob was suspecting that it was Ruby that did it. Turns out the cage at Granny's didn't hold. Ruby was found in the woods apparently no memory of the previous night. Harry decided to leave Henry with Regina and go out looking.
The district attorney, Spencer, who also goes by the storybook character King George the adoptive father of Prince Charming, there was some kind of old feud and Spencer was spreading propaganda saying that Prince Charming was not a fit leader because they knew who the monster was, Ruby, and rather than put her down like the 'Big Bad Wolf' that she is, he's trying to protect her at the expense of the townspeople's safety.
Harry had met up with Granny, David, and Ron.
"So what's the plan?" asked Harry?
"We need to find out who really killed Billy." said David.
"The murder weapon will have Billy's blood." said Granny.
She then held up a piece of bloody clothing that you used to belong to Billy.
"I can track the murder weapon with Billy's scent."
And they followed it. They followed it for several blocks. Eventually they were led to a car.
"The trunk." said Granny.
Ron tapped the lock with his wand. The trunk then opened.
They saw some rope, and a few other things. But David was able to lift up the floor of the trunk and reveal a hidden compartment where there was a bloody ax and, Ruby's Red Hood.
"Whose car is this?" asked Harry.
David tried the driver's side door. It was locked.
"Harry." David gestured.
Harry tapped the door handle with his wand and the lock of the door opened.
Inside he found documents indicating that the car belonged to Spencer, the district attorney.
"King George?" said Granny in confusion.
"He had Ruby's Red Hood." said Ron. "Meaning that he had the means to keep the wolf that he was trying to hunt in its human form. He has a bloody weapon of the murder victim."
Ron then looked confused.
"I thought he wanted to kill the monster. But yet he had the ability to suppress the monster?"
"Because…" David trailed off in thought after just one word, "he doesn't actually care about killing Ruby or the Big Bad Wolf threatening the people. This is about me. He wants to discredit me. He created the threat of the Big Bad Wolf, and then said that I wasn't going to stop it, so that he could turn the townspeople against me."
"Then Spencer is the one who killed Billy. Ruby never killed anybody." said Harry.
"Granny," said Ron, "where's the mob?"
"That direction." Granny pointed.
The mob had Ruby cornered. She was in her wolf form. And she looked angry, though it seemed that the wolf was trying very very hard to control itself.
The mob had their torches and pitchforks. Just like the witch hunts that the Wizards Of The Wizarding World had long since tried to avoid.
Spencer raised his gun and was prepared to shoot the wolf, when all the sudden Ron and Harry apperated right in front of him with their wands at the ready.
"Expelliarmus!"
The gun flew out of Spencer's hand before he could pull the trigger and Harry caught it.
"And here we have two wizards from out of town trying to protect the monster." said Spencer, goading the crowd.
The crowd shouted in protest.
"Wait! Stop!" shouted David as he pushed his way through the crowd and then stood beside Spencer.
"You all have been lied to." said David. "Ruby didn't kill Billy. Spencer did."
He then held up the Red Hood.
"I found this in Spencer's car. You all remember from your memories of the Enchanted forest, the Red Hood is Enchanted in order to keep Ruby in her human form during the full moon. Spencer had the hood but he didn't give it to her. He killed Billy, framed Ruby for it, and then said that I was protecting the monster so that you all would think that I wasn't good enough to lead you."
The crowd then seemed confused. Clearly the whole point that they had gathered together was now no longer a factor. They did however still have a snarling werewolf right in front of them.
That's when Harry turned to the wolf.
"Ruby." Harry spoke to her with a tone of reasoning in his voice. "I understand. Right now, in your wolf form, you have this instinct. The instinct to fight. The instinct to hunt. But that is not you."
Harry spoke to her in a calm rational voice of the friend that he had become to her in the past couple of weeks since the curse broke and they had first met.
"Ruby, I know you. I can understand how scary it is. There was a time when I thought that I was contaminated by a dark wizard who could possess me at any time and hurt those that I love. And, I once knew a werewolf. He struggled his entire life trying to avoid being the monster that everyone accused him of being."
The wolf continued to bare its teeth and let out a growl but it seemed to be listening to Harry's words.
"To be a monster, is a choice. A choice that you can choose to say no to. You didn't kill Billy. King George did. And then he tried to frame you for it. Meaning that you haven't killed anyone. And you can continue to do that; not kill."
He got a little closer to her showing no threat, though he had silently activated a protective spell that would save him should the wolf attack.
"Ruby. You are not The Big Bad Wolf. No, no you're not. So what are you then? I'll tell you what you are."
Harry then held up the Red Hood.
"You are the storybook character that this world knows you as, Ruby!" Harry said in a more firm voice. "Ruby…you are 'Red Riding Hood'!"
It took a few more moments but the last words that Harry had said seem to have gotten through the primeval mind of the monster.
The wolf then assumed a more relaxed stance of submission and then let out a puppy moan.
Harry, trusting that it was safe to come closer and react more quickly, threw the Red Cloak over the shoulders and back of the Wolf.
A few moments later the wolf transformed back into Ruby.
Harry placed his hands on Ruby's shoulders and then looked her in the eye.
"Ruby, are you all right?" Harry asked.
"I'm a little shaken up." said Ruby with emotional shock. "Harry, you saved me!"
"No," said Harry, "you saved yourself."
Harry pulled a flask out of the breast pocket of his jacket.
"Have a swig of this." said Harry. "It's a magical potion. It's a calming draft."
He helped Ruby to his feet. The mob was still there with her torches and pitchforks but they had a much more relaxed stance as though they felt significantly less threatened by Ruby.
"It's all right everyone." said Harry. "She's wearing her Hood which will keep her in her human form. And even if she was in her wolf form she has the inner wolf tamed."
It was in that he noticed that Spencer was missing.
"Where is King George?" asked Harry.
Ron and David looked around.
"He must have slipped away while our backs were turned."
The angry mob had dispersed once they realized Ruby had been framed and that she was no longer a danger to them. They found Spencer and realize that discrediting David as a leader was also another deception. Spencer had stolen the Mad Hatter's hat.
He threw it into the fire and then surrendered himself to his fate. Apparently all in the name of spite so that David would never get his family back.
David pulled his gun while Ron pointed his wand.
Harry was the voice of reason.
"Guys, stop this!"
Harry pointed his wand ready to disarm them if he had to.
"Don't sink to his level!"
David and Ron were both crying.
"He ruined any chance we had of getting them back!"
"Then he will get justice." said Harry. "He will be locked up. And then we will find another way."
In the end they decided to let him live. Harry pulled Spencer's hands behind his back and tapped them with his wand activating a wrist-binding jinx. He was escorted to the asylum.
The Enchanted Forest
Hermione had fished out of her beaded handbag a tent with an undetectable extension charm inside. Everyone was nestled in the comfortable tent that was bigger on the inside than it was on the outside. Aurora was asleep on her cot twitching as she dreamed.
Aurora woke up with a gasp!
"It's okay." said Phillip. "It's just a dream."
"No," said Aurora, "this time it was different."
Everyone had gathered around to listen to her.
"I was in the fiery red room. But I wasn't alone. I saw someone else there in the room with me. And he put out the fire. And then he spoke to me."
"What did he say?" asked Emma.
"He said his name was Henry."
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