The caravan was still rocking from side to side after appearing in the hill yard behind the Puddlemere United Training Facility on the Isle of Man. Just as a member of the Ministry’s International Sports Department finished the un-locking spell, Kaitlin popped the door open. Brushing by the startled heavy set man with the walrus mustache, she leapt from the vehicle to the ground and bent over as she struggled not to retch on the grass.
Inside, still taking off their straps, James and Rhys looked at each other, smiling at Kaitlin’s undignified exit.
–Do want the first joke or should I? She is your cousin.â€
Rhys shook his head and said, –No, you’re so much better at getting under her skin than I am.†The two boys laughed.
As the rest of the team gathered their gear and lined up to leave the caravan, Scorpius waited at his seat for Rose and Lily. The two girls had retrieved their luggage and each carried a bag full of Kaitlin’s gear. Scorpius, who had stored his bag under his seat, offered to help Rose, who was carrying a double load. She brushed right past him without acknowledging his offer to help. However, before he could lower his arms, he had his whole body practically drug to the floor by the weight of a two bags slung over his forearm by Lily.
–Thanks,†Lily said, as if he had offered to help her and not her cousin.
He watched Rose walk out the door, leaving him alone in the caravan and her cousin. Lily sighed at Rose’s back. –She’s really embarrassed over that Russian flower business. I’d let her be until you return on Thursday.â€
He gave the younger girl a look of disbelief. She shook her head and added insult to injury by saying to him, –I mean, Malfoy, you need all of the help you can get, because you are pretty pathetic at this boy friend stuff.â€
Ignoring Lily, he adjusted his load and turned to follow Rose out of the door. –Rose, wait...â€.
–Lame,†was all he heard as he exited their home for the last two weeks and into the twilight.
Outside on the lawn, Scorpius saw his father and a group of other well wishers. A female reporter and a male Photographer from the Daily Prophet were asking questions of Rhys and about his lightening fast Snitch capture in their one hundred seventy to nil victory over New Zealand. The capture insured that the U.K. was going to the next round.
Rhys was pleased, but not too pleased. Rhys’ father, Ioan Jones, kept heaping praise upon his son as if he had taken the pitch alone. Scorpius noticed Rhys increasingly squirm as his father went on and on.
Rose was standing with Albus and James, next to her Uncle Harry and her mother. Scorpius’ father stood a step or two the left of the Mr. Potter. Standing away from the crowd, Kaitlin was being assisted by her Aunt Gwenog and Giselle’ LeClaire. Giselle was helping Kaitlin wipe her mouth on a handkerchief.
Scorpius walked over to where Mr. Potter was waiting and placed Lily’s bag at his feet. Mr. Potter looked down at the bag and over to Rose who was lowering her double burden.
–I offered to help,†Scorpius offered in explanation.
–And Lily let you, I see. – Turning toward his daughter, who had followed Scorpius over to her family he added. –Lily, you must learn to carry your own burdens.†The stern words did not quite fit in with an odd looking smile on his face.
Lily seemed taken aback by her father’s comment. –Why should I? Isn’t that what boys are for?†Lily seemed pleased with her observation. Mrs. Weasley laughed and turned her head away from the crowd.
The photographer came over to Kaitlin, who was just beginning to return to her normal color, and motioned for the three females to join Rhys and his father. While Kaitlin began to move to where she had been pointed to, her Aunt did not. Scorpius saw Giselle’ sigh and she leaned down to whisper something into Gwenog’s ear. Gwenog nodded, appeared to steel herself for battle and the two women walked hand in hand toward the rest of the Joneses.
The photographer was trying to orchestrate a kind of Jones family portrait. He placed Rhys and Kaitlin in the front row with Ioan behind his son and Gwenog behind her niece. As the he fussed with Rhys’ collar, Kaitlin’s hair and evening’s affect on the lighting, Giselle’ drifted to her right and out of the frame. Kaitlin noticed and turned to motion for Giselle’ to return to the picture. Ioan said something under his breath and Gwenog answered him by walking away. As the exasperated photographer tried to realign his subject for the picture, Kaitlin walked over to be with her Aunt. Eventually, the Prophet had to settle for a picture containing only the Jones cousins.
Still angry about the drama dealing with the photo, Ioan levitated his son’s bag and tried to escort his son away from the crowd. Rhys did not follow suit. Instead, he walked over to each of his teammates to say his goodbyes. He saved Kaitlin for last. After he said goodbye to Kaitlin, he turned to offer his Aunt his hand and followed up doing the same to Giselle’. Rhys rejoined his obviously angry father and they left.
–See, Gwen, there’s still hope for you and your family yet. If not your brothers, the next generation,†assured Giselle’ adopting the slight French accent she saved only when she was trying influence or tease Gwenog.
Geoffrey Grindus came over to say goodbye and shake Scorpius’ hand. –It’s too bad your mate, Jimber, won’t be back for the next round.†Scorpius nodded. Geoffrey looked over at the Potters and Weasleys. –Give her some time, Scorp.†He and his mother walked toward the lobby.
Draco helped Scorpius shift the gear and they walked over to say their farewells. When he shook Harry’s hand, he saw a face full of new lines and maybe a touch of grey in his sideburns. Harry locked onto him with those green eyes of his. Draco wanted to ask about the status of the two members of the Wizengamot who had been attacked in Mold-in-the-Wall two days ago. He also wanted to ask about the female Auror got injured trying to protect them. He wanted to ask, but he didn’t know how to broach the subject. If Astoria was here, she’d know how.
–Take care, Potter.â€
–You too, Malfoy.â€
The Weasleys were next. Rose said a soft goodbye, not quite looking his son in the eye. Draco noted the strange behavior, but did not comment. He saw Hermione also looking somewhat confused by her daughter’s reaction.
Draco gave Hermione his usual half bow and nod as he said, –Take care, Mrs. Weasley.â€
Hermione raised her left eyebrow in a questioning look.
–It’s no fun calling you Granger if your husband isn’t around to be annoyed by it.†Hermione nodded. –Is he still at work?â€
–He was supposed to be here by now.†The strain in her voice was more noticeable than any other time they had spoken in the last two years. She forced a smile and took hold of her son Hugo’s shoulders. The boy looked up in annoyance at his mother. She ignored his rebuke.
Draco gave her a reassuring smile and reached down to pick up part of his son’s gear. As they turned towards the training center and the lobby’s fireplace for a quick journey back to the house, Draco looked down at his son and asked, –So tell all me all about America, being a Beater and what has happened to you and the Weasley girl.â€
Ron Weasley and his team apparated into the alley near their target and immediately began to set up an observation perimeter. He had only a half-an-hour to put together his little force. Ron spoke to Rory Smythe, his second in command. –Take Edwin Adams to that alley on the other side of prison. One of you must keep an eye on Willie Bones and the other on the prison. If you see something, send a Patronis, and then act. I must know what’s happening first, understand? I want no heroes. Sarah Broomwright doesn’t need any company in St. Mungo’s.â€
Rory looked up at the small black dot that was stationed above the large building. –Red sparks, right?†he asked for confirmation. Ron nodded.
Rory smiled and pointed to Adams. He looked at Adams as he crocked a finger for them. After a whispered conversation, the pair disappeared. The redeployment left Ron alone with the most junior member of the group: Teddy Lupin. Teddy looked so out of place here; it was the first time he would go into action as himself and not wearing someone else’s face.
Ron gave him a reassuring smile and pointed his index finger towards the sky. Teddy nodded. He was responsible for watching for the signal.
Ron felt the rise of his ‘normal’ battle nerves. He wished he had had more time. He wished he could have let Harry know. Shaking his head, he knew that was a lie. Harry needed this day off to be with his family and relax. He had watched his friend age a year in a few weeks.
He had been ready to leave his office to join Hermione in meeting Rose, when an urgent message had arrived from the Muggle Liaison to Scotland Yard. The Liaison had just read the transcripts of Yaxley’s interrogation after his capture at the auction house. Something that Yaxley said to them had set off alarms in the reader.
Yaxley had told Harry seemingly in jest, –You should wait to go to Puddlemere because Malfoy will soon be going to be getting his wands worth and he’d want you to be there to see it.†The comment had sounded just like another in long line of Yaxley’s taunts and it meant nothing to Harry and Ron.
However, to the Liaison, the phrase wands worth did mean something. Wandsworth meant the ancient Muggle prison in London. Why it would be a target was uncertain. After all, no wizards were or had ever been locked up there, but when crossing plots with Lucius Malfoy you accepted that things from your perspective didn’t always make sense.
Ron’s thoughts were interrupted by a nudge in the side. He looked up to see red sparks flying across the sky. The sparks were fired toward Smythe. Looking down the road, he saw three black hooded wizards mounted on brooms. The trio swooped over Muggle motor vehicles and turned toward the center of the wall. As Ron and Teddy moved out of their hiding place, the ground under Ron’s feet seemed to shake. A roaring filled his ears and he lost sight of the trio as a cloud of dust flooded onto the street. As the dust settled, he saw a large section of the granite wall had been pulled down into the right lane of the road. Two of the flyers had disappeared, probably by flying through the breech in the wall. The third one began to fire stunning spells which took out the guards visible on the walls.
–Damn it,†shouted Ron.
Ron looked up and saw Bones on his broom diving to intercept the attackers. An eagle Patronis appeared. The bird said, –Joining Bones at the breach.†The bird disappeared.
The mounted criminal took a stunner from Bones before he even knew the Aurors were present. He crashed hard on his back into the traffic lanes of Heathfield Road and was almost struck by a lorry that was attempting to stop before it struck the collapsed wall.
Alarms sounded and shouts came, two brooms flew through the breach and on the back of brooms, seated behind the black robed fliers, sat two Muggles holding on for dear life. Ron felt an explosion from inside the building rock the street. The force of the blast made Lupin and him bump together. He looked down the street at the partially destroyed wall. He pointed frantically for Auror Bones to follow the two broom riding wizards that had blown the down a hundred meter section of the outer wall of the prison. Four large men wearing prisoner uniforms had just jumped through the gap and were running down the street toward him and Lupin.
–I don’t see any witnesses,†advised Teddy.
Ron quickly pulled out his wand and Teddy joined him. –Stupefy.†The four large men collapsed onto the sidewalk. Ron rechecked up and down the street. He reached into his suit jacket pocket and pulled out a picture of the shackles Muggle’s called handcuffs. He closed his eyes and copies of the devices appeared around the wrists of the unconscious prisoner. Rory’s team had joined him, but before he could began to give orders to help Bones in his pursuit of the brooms, three Muggle prison guards came charging out the wall in pursuit of the escapees. The men ran up to the team of incognito Aurors.
Ron pulled the little leather cover which held his fake credentials that identified him as an inspector from Scotland Yard out of the jacket’s pocket. Smythe and Adams aided the two guards into getting the prisoners back into the prison. Unfortunately, the lead guard stuck by Ron and Teddy asking about how they were there at this time.
Teddy answered in a voice flavored with just a touch of a Cockney accent, –Well, I was driving the inspector up to the prison to follow-up with a prisoner about a former partner of his. You know, strike a deal.†Lupin pulled a face showing his displeasure about such things.
The guard nodded. He seemed to share Teddy’s resentment to cutting deals with such scum. Ron was really impressed with the depth of perception of the Muggle world the younger generation seemed to have. However, no matter how Lupin tried, they could not rid them of the Muggle without drawing attention to themselves, so they followed the group as they lead the prisoners back into the prison.
Ron and Smythe separated from the guards and began to look at what remained of the Muggle prison’s outside wall. Burned into the part of the still standing stone wall was the phrase, –Wizard’s rule and Muggle’s serve.†Ron pretended to capture the phrase with the camera on his fake Muggle device. As put the box back into his pocket, he pulled out his wand and put an obscuring spell onto writing on the wall.
Smythe, also dressed like a policeman, walked over to report. –An even dozen escapees, nine of them are really hard cases. I think we came help the Muggles round up most of them without them knowing we used magic to help.â€
Ron looked at the chaos of the real inspectors, building maintenance people and guards trying to piece together how the escape occurred. How men in locked cells had disappeared and what made the wall fall? Pitching in and settling this mess quickly was very tempting, but he needed to meet with Harry and maybe the Minister.
A man, who blended in perfectly with the crowd, walked over to Ron and Smythe. Smythe immediately began to pretend to take notes and peer down at the fallen stones. The stranger walked straight over to Ron.
Ron smiled and said to Smythe, –Rory Smythe, I’d like you to meet the Muggle Liaison with Scotland Yard. Rory meet a former member of Dumbledore’s Army, Anthony Goldsteinâ€.
Smythe stopped his pretence of note taking and extended his hand. The two men shook.
Anthony began to talk out loud about the pattern of the stones. Ron looked at the stones, while a group of Muggles began to examine the remains of the wall. After they had passed out of ear shot, Anthony began to speak.
–I’ve already modified the memory of two of the guards to erase the image of wizards on brooms flying through the hole in the wall to aid in the escape.†Goldstein looked around at the gap in the wall. –I know this is all part of Lucius Malfoy’s plan, but the reason why they did it escapes me.â€
–He’s trying to bring down the Ministry and our office by making the existence of our world known to the Muggles and to start panic in both worlds.â€
–Well, he just might have pulled it off with this. A high ranking member of the Muggle Home Office is already on his way.â€
–And if the Muggle Prime Minister gets involved, the Minister of Magic would be breathing down our necks. Thanks. Anthony, I’ll get you a copy of our findings and we will coordinate through you with our help on getting this lot back behind bars. Anthony, good work on letting us know about-†Ron waved his arms
Goldstein smiled, nodded, turned on his heel and walked back to the small clutch of uniformed men.
Ron turned toward Smythe and said, –Get Lupin and Adams out to track down Bones and assist him if necessary. I’ve got to get back to the office and get our reports ready. I need to find out what Bones found before I can get a proper report to Harry. I’ll need to run this past Harry before the Minister calls him on the carpet. Man, I was sure hoping for a quiet day. Harry needs all the time with his family that he can get.â€
–And you don’t?â€
Ron couldn’t answer. Bones was out there in Muggle London on a broom in a chase with two bad guys. And if Lucius planned the prison break then he would have plotted a trap for any pursuing officers. He began to second guess his order to Bones. A small stone lay about a foot away. Ron kicked it out of frustration. Had he just been a pawn in Malfoy’s little game and was Willy Bones going to pay with his life for his over aggressiveness here.
The moon was in its last quarter hiding behind a high cloud. Ron stood at the door of the Potter’s cottage looking up at the night sky. The sky always looked so peaceful. As he stargazed, he heard through the closed door the sounds of a family at home. Ron closed his eyes, made a fist and with a knock interrupted his best friend’s day off.
A small, female voice spoke through the closed door. –Who’s there?â€
–It’s your Uncle Ron, Lilyâ€
–Mum said if it was you I should say go away. Sorry.â€
–Lily, I really need to talk with your father, now!†Ron heard footsteps from within the house and from the corner of his eye he saw the curtain move in the front bay window. He turned to see Lily eyeing him. She cocked her head and seemed to contemplate what to do about him. The curtain closed and Lily disappeared.
–What is my younger brother’s middle name?â€
–Lily!â€
–Sorry, wrong answerâ€
–Severus, the answer is Severus. Now open up the damn door.â€
Ron heard Lily shout for her father. After a couple of minutes, he heard Harry coming toward the door. –And why didn’t you let him in?â€
Lily responded. –Mum said not to let anyone in if they come to the door after dark.â€
The door opened and Harry looked Ron in the face. –Anyone dead?†Ron caught a light whiff of ale on Harry’s breathe.
–Bones is missing. I’ve had a full search of London.â€
–Come in and tell me everything.â€
Ron entered the cottage and the pair walked toward Harry’s backroom study. Perched half way up the stairs leading to the master bedroom, Ron saw his sister wearing something black and sheer under a half closed flannel house coat. He realized that tonight would have been the first time they would have been ‘together’ in a month and a half. He felt lucky, if Ginny had her wand he might not have made it out of the cottage.