Chapter 62 - Peace and Violence
Pia Russet left as Sir Isaac Umber's body was being covered with earth. After a short distance, she glanced over her shoulder. Two robed figures had broken off from the pack to follow her. Even under the hooded Bruin robes there was no mistaking the pair; Hughes and Quincy. Council had set the mad dogs loose and that meant Council wanted her dead.
She quickened her pace and as she turned the corner broke out into a sprint, blurry white and gray graves went past her. She ran as fast as her legs would take her, icy blades of grass crunching beneath her feet, her lungs screaming for rarefied air. Echoes of heavier footsteps closing in egged her on. Just a few more feet beyond the rear cemetery exit and she could Disapparate.
As she got to the steel gates the half giant Hughes, with his longer strides, caught up to her and held her by the scruff of her robes, abruptly halting her forward motion. He grabbed both her arms and held them behind her back before she could reach for her wand. The older and much winded Quincy was beside them shortly and they escorted her to a spot behind an enormous tombstone marked with a one word epitaph.
PEACE
"I have safe passage," she said to them, still breathless, heart pounding against her chest like crazy.
"From the Council, yes," Quincy replied, their hoods had long come off during the chase and it was no longer covering their faces. "This particular order is not from them."
Hughes took her wand from her robes pocket and broke it in half.
"Council will find out," she bluffed.
"None of us here care about the Council."
"Where is your pride? Spying and taking orders from an outsider like Longbottom? For how much did you sell our family out?"
Whack!
The biting remark drew a physical retort from Quincy who was well known for his easy to incite temper.
"What's the matter? Can't handle the truth?"
Whack!
The second one stung so much Pia could not stop the tears no matter how much she tried. The back of the wizard's hand left a mark on her face and she tasted blood.
"We don't work for anybody and we're doing this for the family just like you are. You don't know what you're talking about so shut up!"
The look on Quincy's eyes was murderous as she spat in his face, but she didn't care. It was coming anyway and she was going to get her shots in before it did.
"Will you stop? Please!" Hughes intervened. He was the kinder of the two and his behaviour was showing the conflict brewing within him, "Let's not make this any harder than it already is!"
"Let her run her mouth off. That will make it easier!" the other dared her.
"She's her sister, for Merlin's sake!" Hughes pleaded with Quincy.
That was a surprise. She never thought they would and it made her wonder in what way they did.
"You knew my sister?"
Quincy chose not to answer and told off his partner instead, "If she cared about her sister then she would understand what we're trying to do."
"How did you know my sister?" she asked Hughes knowing he would be more apt to respond.
"Your sister was the bravest and kindest person I ever met," the half giant revealed somewhat teary eyed. "She was too young and too good to die."
That was true. It was obvious that Hughes knew her sister well. It bothered Pia that not once did her sibling mention knowing Bruin muscle. She took a wild guess.
"She wouldn't have died if she didn't take the potion. Was it you who gave it to her?"
Hughes was about to deny it when Quincy interrupted.
"This is pointless. You can chat with your dead sister in a few minutes and ask her yourself. We, on the other hand, have to be someplace else."
"Maybe we don't have to kill her, Quince," the half giant suggested tentatively. "She has been helping us."
"Don't be changing the plan on me," the other man responded harshly.
"But we have Healer Granger. Toots will join her soon and this will be over in a few hours..."
"You don't know that."
"Maybe a few days at the most. We can keep her quiet until then..."
"And if she screws it up? We've gone this far. She knows too much we can't take this risk, not after waiting for so long and being this close. Do you want to be responsible for that?"
"Fine. Make it quick then," Hughes aborted his attempt to spare her life as easily as he took it up. He then apologized meekly, "I'm so sorry."
Pia took a deep calming breath in and exhaled purposely to steady her nerves, her heart slowing down as she accepted her fate. So this was it, the end, the one she said she was prepared for when she signed up to be an active Bruin. She didn't struggle, finding no good reason to. She always thought that if she were to die it would be more unexpected and in the heat of a duel. The truth was that being a non supporter of the potion she was supposed to be the more violent one and being executed by a pro potion blood relative never crossed her mind. It was a let down. It seemed now that just like that of many Bruins who died because of the potion, her death would be futile and her efforts leading to it meaningless. They could not prevent the potion from becoming public.
Quincy took his wand out and aimed it at her chest. Clenching her jaw, Pia looked at Quincy defiant, steadfast in her belief that even though they were going to fail she was on the right. A red flash reflected off his eyes.
Nothing. She felt nothing. For a split second she wondered if that was how dying prepared was, an overwhelming surreal feeling it numbed her senses. But that was before she saw the look of surprise on Quincy's face as his wand flew off his hand towards the direction of a figure who had seemingly appeared from nowhere.
"What the...?"
They were all surprised by the unexpected presence of a Bruin robe clad witch who disarmed Quincy and just now did the same to Hughes. The hood concealed the woman's face but Pia had a good idea who she was.
"Is that you, Sienna?" Quincy taunted, "Where is that twin of yours? Is he lurking around?"
He was mistaken. Sienna and Rusty had stayed back in Toronto with Bruno to complete what had to be done.
The witch was bright enough to know not to answer so she wouldn't reveal herself. Quincy took a step forward and immediately received a nasty bat bogey hex for his mistake. Two identical jinxes later, the reporter Weasley handed her Hughes' and Quincy's wands as they walked away, calmly, trying not to draw attention, ignoring the protests from the wizards left shivering behind the tombstone. They would not be able to follow.
"How did you get them undressed completely so quickly?" Pia curiously asked her rescuer once they were out of earshot.
"Years of practice," the red head replied pokerfaced, then mumbled to herself, "Never imagined that would ever come in handy."
They both had to get back to Toronto but Weasley invited her to drop by the Prophet offices first. Without hesitation she agreed. How could she refuse? Weasley just saved her life.
XXXXXXXXXX
Dean saw the entire episode unfold on stage but, as instructed, kept his eye on the Healer. Hama dove under her seat as most of the terrified crowd tried to exit through the entrance they came into. She appeared way too calm, completely unsurprised and evidently guilty of knowing it was going to happen. After Toots disappeared with Harry, Andy and Waterman, the rest of Waterman's men Disapparated and the dust settled.
The MLE was roughed up but at least there were no casualties. There were, however, eyewitness reports of more abductions by Waterman's men, about fifty others so far and counting. As Muller divvied up assignments and dealt with finger pointing from Toots security detail, Healer Hama gave a performance, expressing her disappointment and frustration. She got on the phone and an announcement came over the PA system. The rest of the meeting had been cancelled due to safety and security concerns. Healer Hama then stormed out of the hall.
Muller gave the signal. Leo walked out and stayed a safe distance behind the Healer while Dean and Holly headed her off. A quick disguise later they deliberately bumped into Hama and planted two tracking devices, one inside her robe and the other in her purse.
They hung back and followed her to the conference organizer's office. From the outside Dean could tell there was chaos within. They sat at the coffee shop across from the office entrance and Dean took out the monitor, his familiarity with Muggle tracking devices fortuitous. He tossed the Aurors a couple of wireless buds and stuck one in his ear. Leo and Holly followed suit. She was still in there, in her office according to their enhanced GPS which was able to tap into and display targets within detailed building plans. The red dots blinked and one of them moved within the walled off windowless room as Hama's voice came over the earphones.
"It's done. He should be there with Toots by now."
There was silence as she listened to a response. Hama was obviously on the phone with someone else.
"He must be having trouble with Potter and Marsh," the witch replied with concern, "I know you'd rather keep away from Potter but Tom might need help."
Neville. So, Neville did not want another confrontation with Harry; curious.
"I need to stay a bit to keep up appearances. I'll be there in half an hour," she added, "Tom may be an arrogant prick and may not want your help but help him anyway. We need him."
Hama stopped pacing and stopped talking. Leo was on the phone with Muller and Holly was on her way to the counter to order lattes. Dean hated the next part, hoping something else had or would come up.
"So?" Dean asked Leo after the latter got off the phone with his orders.
The other wizard looked as upset as he felt.
"We wait."
Just as he thought, half an hour of sitting on their arses hoping for the witch to leave and lead them to ground zero. Thirty minutes of Harry and Andy battling two very dangerous magical individuals. He tried not to think what the odds were that they'd survive or what state they'd be in if they did.
XXXXXXXXXX
The arteries and veins in her head were pulsating. Eyes weary from reading the tremendous amount of information over a short period of time she shut them and watched as the darkness she plunged into became infiltrated with the words and images of the document before her.
The idea wasn't overwhelming nor novel. It had been studied before, albeit not on magical creatures because it was fundamentally illegal and not with any significant success. It was obvious, in fact too obvious many had tried. Altering a plant's natural structure and characteristics to incorporate a species trait from a non-plant was a biological improbability.
But the paper claimed that it could be and that it had been done. The mention of unpublished experiments by Professor Snape and a certain gifted Herbologist made her realize why they were in Toronto and who it was from the research conference that Waterman had in his sights. Tilden Toots was key in the plan.
It was ten to nine. They probably already had Toots in the building somewhere. Hermione asked herself what she knew Neville would ask her the next time they spoke.
Are you going to help make this potion better?
Prove that the potion can be made using plants or let others continue using magical beings to make it. The answer seemed so clear but it wasn't as simple a decision to make.
It would have been easy to hide behind laws but unluckily, that ban on experimenting with magic enabling potions and artifacts had just been lifted by the International Confederation of Warlocks. The economic and social implications that were so disadvantageous and made her unwaveringly against the existence of such a potion in the past faded in the background. Maybe they could make the ingredients commonplace and the process to create it idiot proof that it would be available for anyone who wanted it.
And the statute of secrecy?
Hermione sighed. She desperately wished she had an answer for that one. There were just too many things to consider if that were to be broken. Could she live with being partly responsible for the enormous universal implications of an undivided world?
Minutes later she had come back to the question without a definite answer. She had three choices; not help no matter what, help because she had no choice, or help because she believed it was the right thing to do.
Is this the right thing to do?
She heard the door behind her open and someone come in. That would be Neville. He walked around the desk and faced her.
"So? What do you think?"
She had to be honest.
"It might work."
"Might? Not much confidence in our collective abilities?"
"You don't know if Mr. Toots can make the plants and I don't know that I can work them into the potion."
"Mr. Toots can because he has and I know you can because I believe in you."
"Why me, Neville?" Hermione felt a bit childish after she asked the question. "You know how difficult this is for me. You could have found someone more willing to do this."
"I know it's difficult," he said with sympathy, "If I had a choice of someone better I wouldn't have involved you. I just know that if it can be done, it has to be you."
She struggled to find the words to fight him off, finally deciding on part of the problem.
"If you weren't a murderer this would be a slightly easier decision to make."
"So what if I'm the most evil Dark Wizard of all time? What I'm asking you to do is a good thing. The fact that I'm a bad guy shouldn't stop you from taking the opportunity to do something right."
That made too much sense and it disturbed her that it did. All morning she had been wondering. Since when did Neville talk and act like this, with so much confidence and maturity? Guiltily, she thought it was likely just one other change in him that they, his supposed friends, never noticed. He actually understood what struggles she was going through and she found herself being drawn into asking him the questions bouncing around in her head.
"It's not only that. What about after?"
"I'm sure you've already realized that the fate of the statute of secrecy is beyond our control and there is no way to prevent what nefarious minds might do with your work. But if it makes a difference, I meant what I wrote in the end. Once we prove it can be done we're handing it over to the Canadian and British Ministries. They can form whatever committee they want and do whatever they think is best with it. All I want is to let the Bruins know that it has been done and they can stop killing themselves and each other. They can destroy the original potion recipe before magical beings get wind of what's been happening, and prevent future Lestranges and Watermans from doing what Lestrange, Ted and Tom did with it."
She couldn't disagree with that either.
"Why do you care so much? You got your revenge."
"If you created this potion would you leave it the way it is?"
It was so strange looking at Neville at that moment thinking how he duped Lestrange into her own death and was now trying to fix his mistake of making the potion in the first place. It seemed she had run out of reasons not to help. Almost.
"The Hufflepuff prophecy says a Bruin granddaughter will create the potion. You're missing one more person in this mix," she pointed out.
"You can talk about potions but you really shouldn't talk about predictions. From my recollection you flunked divination."
Was that supposed to be a joke?
"I didn't flunk," she corrected his erroneous memory, "I dropped out."
"Since when did you start believing in prophecies?
"I don't."
"Good. Then what Hufflepuff said shouldn't matter. I take it we're a go?"
Were they? There was one other major thing.
"Even if Mr. Toots is able to do what you say he can, to replace something in a potion I need to know how it's originally brewed. That will be a problem."
"Got that covered," he replied, summoning a video player from the table near the entrance, "I didn't think you'd agree to an actual live demonstration so I've taken the liberty of documenting the last batch I did. I can go over the steps with you if you want and we can do mock potions to give you the hang of it..."
He was interrupted by his ringing phone and motioned to her that he had to take it.
"Yes...haven't seen him yet..."
It was a woman's voice on the other line, someone with a voice of authority. If the Mystery witch was dead as Neville said then who was this? The Bruin traitor?
"Tom's an arrogant prick he can deal with it himself..."
Neville was visibly annoyed at Waterman for something that wasn't going according to plan. She immediately thought about Harry and worried.
"Let me think about it."
Neville put the phone away.
"It seems my presence is needed elsewhere."
"Is it Harry?" she asked trying to read his face as he answered.
"I don't know. Maybe."
The fact that Waterman wasn't where he was supposed to be was a good sign but she couldn't help herself from wanting to know if Harry was okay.
"Promise me, Neville. No more deaths."
In desperation, she took a chance and appealed to this seemingly normal Neville, believing that the old him was still somewhere inside the one who killed all those beings. The outcomes would be much better if they could get the old Neville back.
"I'm done killing but I can only be responsible for my own actions," he said, apologizing already for the deaths that were sure to come. "I'll be back shortly."
As Neville left he gave instructions to the wizard watching her to get her coffee and something to eat. She wasn't hungry. She felt sick from recalling the many images of Harry and Neville dueling yesterday and how that didn't go well for Harry. When she said to him he'd figure things out she had thought he'd have more time to do so.
Hermione turned the video on and played the scene on it, watched a close up of the potion in the process of being created. She couldn't fight in the physical sense, that much she knew, but if she worked with the potion intimately then she might discover something about it that would be of use.
XXXXXXXXXX
Short of time, Harry jinxed both Andy and Toots before they were on solid ground, throwing both of them in momentary darkness. Thinking it was Waterman, Andy got sufficiently irked and verbally inspired creating the distraction he needed. His feet touched ground slightly ahead of the rest and he aimed his wand directly at Waterman's face, closing his eyelids shut.
Lumos Maximus!
The brightest white light poured out from the tip of his wand and shone straight into his foe's line of sight.
"Aaargh!"
Waterman screamed and spontaneously brought both his hands up to his eyes, releasing Toots in the process. The potted plant smashed into pieces on the hard stone floor. As the git backpedaled and tried to make sense of what was going on, Harry took the magical blindfolds off Andy and Toots, and pulled the big wizard towards his partner, almost knocking her over.
"Take him out!"
"Potter! You son of a hag!" Waterman yelled at him, still unable to see anything.
Andy protested, "I can't leave you here by yourself!"
They didn't know where they were; there would be no way for her to Disapparate back. Waterman was starting to find his bearings and both Aurors began hitting him with Stunners and binding spells, all of which only temporarily effective.
"There's no time! I'll find out and let you know!"
"No!"
"Please, I don't want to be here," Toots whimpered behind them.
Waterman sent a curse flying in their direction, almost hitting the now hysterical Toots. He still could not make them out but was sufficiently peeved he was shooting indiscriminately at any sound or movement.
They had taken cover behind the base of marble countertop at one end of a very long but relatively narrow room. Crouched low with their backs against the cold stone, they tried not to make any noise. Toots was going to get them killed and would have already had Andy not had the presence of mind to put a silencing charm on him.
The Squib spoke to Toots forebodingly, "You'll die if you stay with them, Mr. Toots. They can't protect you."
CRASH!
Cupboards above them splintered as their opponent sent another flurry of curses in their general direction. Persuaded by Waterman, the big man tried to get up to surrender but both instantly forced him back.
Andy got into his already horrified face, glared menacingly and mouthed the words soundlessly, "SIT THE FUCK DOWN!"
Waterman was laughing hysterically. His voice getting closer they knew he was walking towards them.
"You can't hide forever, Potter. I know where you are."
CRASH!
A huge chunk of the countertop turned into fine powder. The urgent became emergent.
"You have to go!" Harry motioned to Andy.
Andy reluctantly relented, cursing under her breath as she grabbed the gardener, gave him short one word instructions and made sure he was clear where they were going. Andy knew he had to stay to at least get Hermione out.
Harry conjured a mirror and found Waterman about fifteen feet away, closer to his side, still blinking off remnant effects of the burst of bright light. Andy nodded at Harry. They were ready.
He moved first, rolling to the right of the counter and out into the open, immediately catching Waterman's attention. The latter raised his arm and went for him. Off the corner of his eye he saw Andy help Toots off the floor with some difficulty.
Impedimenta!
Waterman lost his footing, fell face down and the curse intended for him missed by a mile.
Crack!!
With Andy and Toots Disapparating, he wouldn't be worried about them getting caught in the crossfire. Greasy was getting up, cackling hard, mocking. Harry was already standing, ready for the next round. Having made the mistake several times before, Harry was not going to underestimate him again. He remembered what Luna said.
Accio!
A ripping sound came from Waterman's waist and a belt-full of unbreakable phials filled with purple potion zoomed in his direction, tearing through Waterman's clothes as it did. He caught it but could not break them or decant them that very second. Waterman had stopped laughing, finger pointing at him again.
Having been on the receiving end of it many times the day before, Harry knew exactly when to repel the incoming curse. There was a vacuum of air sucked out and gradually filled in by the propagating wave of the spell.
Cursio rebundo!
His opponent was as quick, fending it off to the side like swatting a fly. It found and smashed a now unrecognizable piece of furniture. Waterman fired again. Without thinking twice, he jumped and levitated himself over it. Streams of light followed his trajectory, finding other endpoints and scattering debris behind him, deafening explosions reverberating throughout the storage room. Mid air, he summoned a large metal cabinet and sent it hard at the evil git.
Screeeech!!
The Squib stopped his attack when he heard metal grating on stone. He turned, surprised as the careening object hit and pushed him some distance, squashing him against the concrete firewall.
"Ugh!" Waterman could only grunt.
Harry landed on his feet, one hand with his wand the other with the belt of phials, but there was no time to celebrate. Greasy lifted the entire thing and with a yawp heaved it in his direction. Instinctively, Harry dove to his left.
Pop! Pop!
Andy and Toots suddenly reappeared where Harry stood a second ago!
"Get out of the way!!" he yelled.
SMASH!!
Did they make it? Harry swiftly got up, his heart not beating. Waterman was crestfallen, his face ashen as both of them waited for the dust to clear. The edge of the metal frame pierced through the broken floor and right beside it stood Andy and a very pale Tilden Toots.
"You almost made me kill him!" Waterman exclaimed, irked.
Harry knew that would have been a most unfortunately thing for everyone, most especially Tilden Toots. That proved to be too much excitement for the old wizard. The gardener fainted and flopped on the ground, taking and partially pinning down a pissed off Andy beneath him.
"Get off me!"
He would have helped her except...
Protego!
Harry parried off the first few of the barrage of hexes directed at him but Waterman had him on his heels. The Squib's final burst of offensive magic pierced through his defenses and hit him directly on the chest, throwing him off his feet. Explosive pain erupted from the core of the hit and immediately radiated in every direction, his fall thankfully cushioned by empty carton boxes. He coughed a breath and did that a couple more times to wake his stunned lungs into action. The rest of his body, however, was not as compliant.
Opening his eyes he saw Andy cursing Waterman her all but her spells were absorbed by the Squib without a problem.
"Marsh," Waterman taunted, "Let me deal with Potter first. We'll play later, okay?"
Greasy leered at Andy disgustingly before hexing her with the same spell Harry just received.
Thud!
Unable to elude it, Andy fell back the same way Harry did. Even he knew she wasn't joining the fray anytime soon. Assured of that, Waterman turned his attention back to Harry. As much as Harry tried, the last hit got to him so badly he was slow to get up and after he did, realized too late that his hands were empty. He had lost his wand on impact. Concentrating hard he attempted to summon it but it was too late. Wickedness was written all over the Squib's face.
"Crucio!"
He was hit. A flash of heat? That was it? He was expecting the familiar pain of torture. Sensing what had happened, a flustered Greasy did it again.
"Crucio!"
Still nothing. Gone was the air disturbance associated with use of the uncommon magic. The potion effects were waning just as Luna said they would! They finally caught a break!
A spark glinted off Greasy's grey eyes and Harry followed his anxious gaze to the floor halfway between them. Shit! The phials!
Adrenaline surged through him and his abused body had no choice but to obey his command. Harry took a couple of steps and lunged forward as
Greasy made for the potion at the same time.
Crunch!
Their bodies collided, Harry's momentum and his cancelling each other out they fell almost on top of the phials. Greasy swung his legs and gained the upper position, right forearm against Harry's windpipe, choking and keeping the Auror on his back with his weight while he tried to reach for the belt with his left, his long fingers already touching the tip of one phial.
Seeing this and struggling for air, Harry swung a hard right and caught the Squib on the side of his head. The blow temporary loosened Waterman's hold and gave him space to get leverage. A split second was all it took and he sent his foe flying up and over his head.
Thump!
Waterman landed loudly on his back, disturbed dust billowing around him. Harry hurriedly got on his feet and saw that the villain had the belt of phials in his hand. He charged at his still recovering opponent, his forward motion taking them up against a shelf of dirty empty flasks and test tubes, most of them breaking as they did. Waterman threw his trademark girly punch. Harry easily ducked under it and replied with a left hook across his face knocking a tooth off and out of his mouth. As Greasy's head recoiled back in position Harry followed it up with a right uppercut, causing it to snap the other way. The Squib's arms were now limp on his side, unable to defend or attack.
Under normal circumstances Harry would stop then, but what Waterman did was personal. The man killed his best friend and took advantage of his and Hermione's mistake. Ron's words echoed in his head and hatred filled his heart.
Harry fell into a trance as he held Waterman up by his shirt collar, his fist pummeling the Squib's bloody face over and over again, not noticing that he was shedding tears as he did.
"Harry...Harry!"
Andy voice broke it. Harry gathered himself one last time, cocked his right arm back and put his entire weight and emotion behind a straight right that found the center of the git's ugly bleeding face. As Waterman slumped down, Harry grabbed a handful of black greasy hair and gave him the business end of his knee.
The Squib keeled over to his right. He was done.
Andy walked gingerly to a spot beside him, the belt of phials in her hand. Greasy moaned listlessly on the floor and made a feeble attempt to reach for it. Her foot found his midsection.
"Ooompfh!"
She put him in a full body bind and made sure he would see what she was about to do.
"Recyclus phialum!"
The phials inverted and crumbled into itself, its contents forcefully leaking out and evaporating into purple smoke before vanishing into the atmosphere. Left of them were pellet sized glass beads indistinct from the broken ones on the floor.
"Why did you come back?" Harry asked as he summoned his wand from the mess of empty cardboards.
"We never left. Wards," Andy explained, "We were stuck against a wall of some sort and all I could do was Disapparate back."
Harry reached into his pocket and took out his phone.
"Dead," he announced.
"So is mine," his partner replied.
"Toots?"
Andy pointed to the still unconscious gardener on the floor opposite where they ended up with Waterman. Without another word, they looked around the room they were trapped in, searching for some way to get out. It was one big storage space, windowless and doorless, walls lined with boxes and shelves in places without fixed cupboards.
His partner spoke her mind out, "There must be an entrance or exit from this dump somewhere."
An answer came from the farthest corner of the room.
"I'm afraid this dump does not have a usual entrance or exit."
Neville emerged from the shadows, hands in his trouser pockets, as if he was out for a stroll in the park. Both Harry and Andy aimed their wands at him, thinking alike. The memory of friends dying and being hurt yesterday still fresh on their minds, they moved forward and attacked, both firing a number of Stunners.
It did nothing to Neville. He put his hands up and Harry couldn't go on; something about the impropriety of continuing to curse someone who wasn't fighting back and gesturing truce. Too bad Neville was not in the same category as Floyd was in his books. Andy did the same after a while.
"I don't want to fight you and you're ill equipped to fight me. Let's not waste time and energy," Neville reasoned with them calmly, not even bothered by their rude greeting.
Harry could not figure him out. Neville was playing mind games with them.
"Let Hermione go," he demanded.
"She has some studying to do," Neville replied dryly.
Harry took that as a 'no'.
"You're not getting away with this," Harry pointed out, "This isn't going to end well."
"Obviously not," he agreed then got distracted by the petrified figure on the floor, "Hmm…Tom's going to be pissed out of his mind. As much as I think he deserves some time out I'm going to have to ask that you free him."
"Can't do that. The asshole is under arrest," Andy answered.
"You really don't have a choice in the matter."
"Do something about it, sport," she challenged.
"Too much violence, Miss Marsh. We're not setting a good example for our youth."
Neville took his wand and waved it in the air in front of them. The air got sucked out of the room as an image of a young man with spiked blond hair appeared.
"Julius is here with us. Nice kid, hat's off to you for raising him well."
Harry had to restrain Andy from charging at Neville. The boys were her one weakness. Without looking at her, he could tell her explosive rage needed some release but first, they had to think about Julius and how to make him safe.
"To set the record straight, this wasn't my idea. I know it's low and unfair; he is only a kid. It'll be tragic if something bad were to happen to him. Now, do I have to make that request again?"