Chapter 11 A Minor Setback

Diagon Alley appeared a little deserted now, until you glanced down the cobblestone street and saw the huge white building of Gringotts, then further down you saw the bustling of people at the lit up Marauders' Mall. Wizards and witches were walking in and out of the large, green building with brightly colored packages, chattering cheerfully.

The three mall owners were working with the Ministry to get an Apparation point and a Floo inside the building, but the licensing for those were holding them up, so folks still had to walk down the Alley to go home.

The lights from the indoor shopping center glowed brightly and illuminated the snow covered street with a soft glow. Hydrus still hadn't figured out how to dim them yet. There were still shops open in the Alley like Ollivander's, Flourish and Blotts and Twilfitt and Tats. They had had their shops in the same location for decades, or longer, and had no desire to move.

Christmas trees lined the Alley with old-fashioned ornaments and real fairies that fluttered and glowed as they flit around the trees. They made the street less depressing. There were also boughs of fir and holly strung on the buildings. Yule cheer was in full force.

The mall was also festive, with fairies and trees. Wreaths and garland were placed on doors and walls. Holiday music, magical and non, was piped into the building, making almost everyone joyful. There was even a booth for Father Christmas, where kids could tell their holiday wishes.

This St. Nick was dressed in fine wizard robes of dark green and reds. He had a long, flowing white beard, matching hair and a twinkle in his eyes. Many commented on how he looked like Dumbledore, only younger and no half-moon spectacles. He handed out small gifts of Chocolate Frogs, books and toys. All of the children had a great time with this new concept. Parents were thankful that they now knew what to buy and make Santa's presents.

While witches and wizards didn't celebrate the Christian aspect of the holiday, they did believe in Kris Kringle. He had been a legend on par with Merlin. Though, only for Yule. So, the thought of telling St. Nick what the children wanted as presents, was alright with them.

A few of the spaces in the new shopping center had been filled with stores from Knockturn Alley. They had finally learned what a set price was and were desperate enough to relocate out of the Dark alley to pay it. They were doing well. So now there were only a few empty storefronts left.

There was a closed off section on the first floor of the mall towards the back which no one could see into. This was a mystery to the shoppers and they were all excited to see what it would be when it was done, given that there were so many interesting stores already.

The three rich men were buying up the empty buildings in both Alleys and getting them rezoned for commercial/residential. Mr. Jasper was still working on it and so far was making progress.

The thought was to add flats, inns, movie and playhouses, skating rinks, bowling alleys and pubs. They were intent on adding as much entertainment to Diagon Alley as possible with some decent housing for small wizarding families. And have low cost housing in Knockturn Alley for those with creature blood, where they'd be welcome. Hopefully, the streets would become populated and more people would stay in the magical world.

Hydrus had already started Black Entertainments. The people he had hired were in training right now, learning from the non-magicals how to make and direct movies and how to become actors and actresses. The last timeline it took several months, so he was thinking they would get it together by March, since he started them a month ago.

Right now, he was in Fun For All Trinkets talking to Mr. Weasley.

"Well, Arthur, how do you like working here?" he asked as they stood at the counter, taking a small break from their tinkering and watched the busy shoppers.

"Merlin, it's everything I hoped for," the redheaded man gushed. "I can do so many inventions, and you've made my dream come true. With Molly just having our little girl this August, money was tight, but now we can have a wonderful Christmas."

He had never understood why his wife was so set on making him stay in a dead-end job, but now he was making loads of money and the Burrow was getting some desperately needed repairs. Many of the Christmas presents this year would be new clothes and the new toys that were on the market. He really hoped his kids liked the educational ones he bought at Fun For All Toys.

"That's great," the immortal said, clapping him on the back. "You make a fine addition to the store, some of the things you've come up with I never would've thought of. I, for one, am really glad we hired you on."

They were already selling the clock that Mrs. Weasley used and it was flying off the shelves. Hydrus never knew that it had been Arthur that invented it. The immortal was happy that the Weasleys were finally getting something good in life. While he had given them money in the last timeline, Arthur had never succeeded in his job at the Ministry and had always begged Molly to let him work in one of the Fun For All stores.

"Yes, you'll thank Mrs. Potter for me, won't you?" Arthur asked, still amazed that she had gotten his wife to agree.

"Of course," Hydrus said and then turned back to the swirly thingy they were trying to charm to make noise when someone came near it. It was like a mild Sneakoscope for when your kids got too close to things they shouldn't be touching, like the fireplace, the stove or Mum's wand. Something the Weasleys could use for the twins.

They were just getting the last rune on the swirly thingy when the bell over the door rang. Both men looked up and Hydrus held back a groan, while Arthur called out a hearty, "Hello, Headmaster, welcome to our store. Is there anything I can help you find?"

Hydrus stayed stoic and nodded his head to the aged man.

"Ah, Arthur, I am so happy to see you. How is your new form of employment?" Albus said as he wandered over to the two men. His yellow and green robes blended in well with the mish-mash store.

"Brilliant," the redhead beamed.

"It does my heart good to see you so happy. I was very concerned when you gave up your post at the Ministry. Are you making enough income at this quaint shop to support your family?" the old man asked, looking over his glasses.

"I make more here than I did there," Arthur said a bit bewildered. The Headmaster had never paid much attention to him before, so he had to wonder why now. He knew about the Order from his brothers-in-law, but he didn't join since his children were so young.

"Marvelous," Albus said merrily. "Hello, Hydrus, my boy, may I ask how you are doing this fine day?" he asked, turning those inquisitive eyes to the other man.

"Headmaster," the immortal nodded his head, "I'm well."

"I must say, this… mall?" he wait for the confirmation, "is doing wonderful business. To think, doing one's shopping out of the snow, I would have never envisioned such. Wherever did you get the concept?"

"Non-magical England has quite a few of them," Hydrus deadpanned, knowing that the old goat was just biding his time to try and get the Potters' location. It was a dance they had done before.

Just to prove him right the Headmaster's next statement was, "I have a gift for young Harry. Could you give me their address so I may give it to him?"

The immortal chuckled, "Albus, that has to be your lamest try yet."

"Alas, I am running out of reasons that you have not heard already," the Headmaster's eyes twinkled.

"If you really have something for Harry, Lily is in her shop and will be more than happy to take it to him," Hydrus informed him, though he knew that the old man knew that.

"Of course, my boy, how silly of me to forget," the old man's eyes shone with mirth.

Arthur watched the byplay more confused than ever. His boss was almost rude to one of the greatest wizards of their time, but Dumbledore seemed to think it was funny.

Just then the wards went off and an alarm was heard throughout the building, telling people to head to the nearest store until security said it was all clear. Screams and yells could be heard as women herded their children into the stores and men ran to the entrance.

Hydrus stopped smiling. "I have to go," he said, running from the store, the Headmaster hot on his heels, who knew the old man could run?

They got to the entrance where there was a crowd forming, mostly men with their wands drawn, with a few determined women mingled among them. Lily's taking down the Dark Lord had made them want to stick up for themselves. Witch Weekly calling her a role model went a long way in firming their resolve. There were also security guards all pointing their wands to the middle of the group or trying to get the shoppers to stand back.

There, in the center of the throng, was a stunned bug. It looked like the wards tried to rope her, but she was too small, so there was merely a pile of cable surrounding the insect, which is probably why she wasn't stepped on.

"It's okay everyone. It's just an Animagus," Hydrus called to the confused customers as he waved his holly wand to stop the alarm, so it now saying that everything was well in hand. "Please, go back to your shopping and I'll take care of this."

The crowd dispersed, excitedly chattering and Hydrus conjured a jar and scooped up the bug. He tucked the jar into his pocket and turned to the slightly out of breath Albus.

"Do you require help, my boy," the wheezing man asked as he put his hands on his knees.

"No, I know this woman and I'm going to question her as to why she felt the need to come here in her alternate form." He dismissed the guards with a nod and a 'good job'. They left and resumed their patrols.

"May I ask why you have such wards on your shopping center?" the old man asked, standing straight and stroking his beard. "Though, I must say, they are ingenious."

"There's no reason for an Animagus to come here in their other form unless they are up to no good," the mall owner said, though it was for this very reason they had been erected in the first place.

"She may have been trying to get out of the weather," was the gentle rebuttal.

"There are umbrellas for that," was the reply.

"Do you mind if I sit in on the questioning?" Dumbledore asked with determination in his blue eyes.

"I've got this. It's mall business. Like I said, I know who it is and she's not a criminal. I'll ask a few questions and then decided what to do. I'm going to have to turn you down." Hydrus waved him away, his face set sternly.

"Very well, I hope nothing unfortunate happens to the young lady," Albus said austerely, looking over his glasses.

"If she is innocent then I'll let her go," Hydrus said just as firmly. "If not I'll hand her to the Aurors. You already have my vow that I don't harm innocents." He sent a glare to the old man. He knew that he couldn't keep her in his button collection or there would be questions about his morals. He was going to have to think of something to do with her, later.

"Then I will bid you good day," the Headmaster reluctantly replied and he made his way to Lily's Book Corner to give her Harry's present, which he actually had.

Hydrus sighed, took the jar out, turned Rita into a button and threw her over his shoulder. Now all he had to do was figure out what to do with her, but it was one less vengeful woman running about.

The rest of the day was uneventful; Hydrus went back to Fun For All Trinkets and worked with Arthur. They got the swirly thingy to work and called it the Kiddie Alarm. It would go on sale in the next week. The immortal then made his rounds to all of his other stores to make sure they were running smoothly, well, as smoothly as the Christmas rush would allow. They were. He had hired many of the same people he had in the last timeline, since he knew they were good people and hard workers.

Hphphp

That night at the Potters, after a nice simple dinner of fish and chips, which was take away, the very tired workers all sat in the living room. Lily, James and Remus were on the sofa, Hydrus and Sirius claimed the chairs and Harry was in bed.

"Oh, Merlin, my feet hurt," Lily whinged, putting her stocking feet on her husband's lap. "Please," she begged with doleful eyes.

"Of course, sweetheart," he smiled and started rubbing her left foot. She moaned in pleasure, making the other men laugh.

Hydrus chuckled and asked, "Did you work hard? Why don't you hire help?"

"I have a two girls coming, who were recommended to me by some people I know," she said with a smirk. "They will start in a few days. Until then, my poor feet will simply have to suffer."

Business was going well; she was pulling in some really good money. The café was cozy enough for the weary shoppers. And with the book-readers to relax with, the customers loved it. Hydrus was telling her about a coffee thingy called an espresso machine, which he was working on to get in her café. It would be the only one in the mall and she couldn't wait.

"Oh, do I know these people?" James asked in concern, a frown creased his forehead. He didn't know that Lily knew anyone he didn't.

"No, I don't think you do," Lily answered, tapping her finger to her chin, a small smile played on her lips.

"How do you know they can be trusted?" her husband inquired as he put down her left foot and took up the right.

"Don't you trust me?"

"Of course I do. I'm just worried they might be using you for your fame," he said, still apprehensive.

The letters and gifts had tapered off, now that she was working, but there were still many who wrote wanting to use her name to further their products. She sent those to Mr. Jasper, who Hydrus recommended for her business, to see if they would be good investments.

"Don't worry, sweetheart, I can tell you for sure they don't want anything to do with my fame. I'll tell you all about it later," she promised, making the other three men frown. "Any news on Mrs. Black?" she asked, desperate to change the subject.

The men let it go and Sirius answered, "No, Mum is keeping a low profile, but we're still working on it. I've stopped all her funding, so I have no idea where she's getting her money. Though, for all I know she had some stashed at Grimmuald Place," he said, cutting a look to Hydrus, who minutely shook his head that she hadn't before. "I looked into Yaxley, but he has an alibi for when Grandfather was killed. So, he couldn't have helped her. The wives of the Death Eaters have all given vows that they are innocents, of this at least," he added with a heavy sigh.

It had taken up much of his time, but the teas were well worth it. He now had many of the wives of the Death Eaters backing his political stance. Not all of them, there were some diehard pureblood bigots in that group, but most wanted to get the allowance he offered if they conformed.

"Are you sure it's not Yaxley? Because, I'm sure it's a man," Hydrus said, thinking hard, "since Gringotts has all the widows' money tied up, it's more than likely one of the male cousins, probably one that wasn't a Death Eater or at least never caught."

"Well, he does have an alibi, so I can't accuse him of anything," Sirius said, rubbing his goatee. "According to Crouch, Yaxley was with him all night going over political campaigns. So, that leaves him out."

"Unless Crouch is lying for him. I mean, the man did keep his son under the Imperius Curse for years. I wouldn't put it past him to lie for someone just to get back at us for our political stance," Hydrus said.

"You could be right. We'll just have to keep an eye out," Lily said, thinking hard.

"Are you ever going to tell us what you did with the Death Eaters?" Remus asked Hydrus quietly, running a hand through his hair.

"No, I will tell you they aren't dead, but that is all I'm going to say."

"What are you going to do with them?" the werewolf asked, not sure what to make of that statement.

"Keep them where they are. Look, if I thought it would help in our current situation then I'd tell you in a heartbeat, but they're not harming anyone where they are, so just leave it." He always had to defend his actions with Remus, even in all the other timelines.

"Fine," was the succinct reply complete with a folding of arms.

"What about Severus?" Lily asked, her eyes watering a bit at the thought of her former friend neutralized.

"Shite, I completely forgot about him," Hydrus said, smacking his forehead.

"Oh, so you have plans for him?" the redhead said with hope in her voice. "And watch your language, just because Harry's asleep, is no reason to get lax."

"Sorry. Yeah, hopefully he'll never darken our doorsteps again."

"Why can't you do whatever you're going to do with Snivellus to the other Death Eaters?" Sirius wanted to know, trying to ease the tension between the immortal and the werewolf.

"Because, whatever you guys think of the man, he did try to do the right thing in the end. He deserves a chance; however, I might give some of the lesser Death Eaters an opportunity to redeem. I'll just need to question them under Veritaserum." He shrugged his shoulders and turned to Remus, "Will that help ease your conscience?"

"Yes, a lot," the werewolf answered, with a relieved sigh.

"I'll do that then. But know this, those like Bellatrix and Lucius are not getting the same treatment," the time traveler warned with a grim look.

"There is nothing I can say to change your mind, so I will let it go," the werewolf conceded.

"Good," the immortal said, glad for the compromise. "Now back to Mrs. Black, I think it is someone we've slighted, though I really can't think of anyone that is still in the country and that Walburga would work with. Kreacher said they were part of the Black family, but that doesn't narrow it down, since everyone in this damn country is part of that inbred family."

"Oi, watch what you say," Sirius snapped, even though he knew it was true.

"Right, sorry. I'm just miffed that we can't think of anyone. I mean, I've seen the family tree and even the Potters and the Weasleys are related," he huffed at the problem of narrowing such a large family down.

"Well that's two families you can rule out," Lily said, still taking pleasure in her foot massage.

"Right, only hundreds more to go," Hydrus sighed. "I almost wish for a prophecy."

"Oh Merlin, don't say that," James groaned. Albus still accosted him whenever they met in the Ministry, trying to get him to see things his way. No matter what James said, the Headmaster was convinced the prophecy was about Harry.

Hydrus had taken the Potters to the side and told them that the wraith was fading and that when it did the orb would turn black and hopefully Dumbledore would back off.

"Right, sorry." He seemed to be putting his foot in his mouth this evening.

"What are you going to do with Skeeter?" Sirius asked, having heard about the Animagus from Lily.

"Probably the same thing I did in the last timeline," was the casual answer. "Or I might just bribe her to lay off us and let her go. I'm not sure yet."

"Right, hopefully one of those will work," the younger Black said. If they got that reporter on their side, it would be a good thing.

"So, how is the politics coming along?" Lily asked James, who went back to her left foot, making her smile lovingly at him. He was such a caring husband.

"Well, Crouch is still cranky that we won't back him, but he is getting some support from the purebloods. Yaxley is one of them. I just thank Merlin that that Umbridge woman disappeared." He shuddered at the thought of having to work with harridan.

That caused Remus to cut a glance to Hydrus, who adopted an innocent face.

"Who do you think has a chance at winning?" she asked, hoping it was Smeller.

"Well, Smeller has the support of the Muggle-born and many of the Half-bloods, so he has a good chance of succeeding," James answered, putting her feet down on his lap with a pat.

"Thank you, sweetheart, that's much better." She swung her feet to the floor and gave him a gentle kiss on the cheek.

"Well, I've got to go, it's getting late and I want to do some things before I retire," Hydrus said, getting out of his chair and heading for the door.

"Yeah, I've got to go too," Sirius said, also getting up and heading out. Remus joined them, and James frowned at the werewolf's back. He was going to have to talk to his friend and find out what his problem was. And the two adult Potters were left alone.

"Are you going to tell me who you've been talking to that I don't know?" James asked, turning to his wife.

"Well, I can tell you that I talked to the Flamels, but I can't tell you what we talked about. Sorry, sweetheart, but I took a vow. What I can say is that I'm doing a bit of matchmaking with their help," she hedged.

"You're going to try and set Hydrus up with a vampire?" he gasped, not sure how he felt about that. While they weren't bad people, they still had to have blood to live and that made him queasy.

"Maybe or there might be more immortals than we know about," she said evasively.

Now, James is not a stupid person, so he figured out right quick what she was not saying. He nodded his head, not voicing his reasoning, not wanting her to break her vow. Though, his eyes got wide at the realization that the Flamels had children.

She sighed and then grinned, "I think this is a good night to try and get that little girl I've always dreamed of."

James smiled wickedly, stood up, pulled his wife into a huge hug and said, "I'll buy that."

And the two went to bed to see if Lily's prediction would come true.

Hphphp

Hydrus went home and pondered on what to do with the bug bitch. He knew he couldn't keep her, but he really didn't want to bribe her, it could come back to bite him in the arse. He could drop her on a reporter's desk at The Times with all the things her spying had come up with. Or he could pay her to be a spy for him. That was something he never thought of and with Walburga running around, it might work.

He gave up his thoughts as a bad job and then started thinking about what to do with Snape. His plan was to drop him in France, or somewhere, and leave him, but this time there would be no vow that he'd never return. He was hoping that the man was desperate enough to just run and stay hidden. He meditated on it for a while and came to the decision to do just that.

So, the immortal brought out the rock that was Snape, returned him to human, kept him stunned, tucked a Mokeskin bag in his robes, made a portkey to France and activated it. With the watch unable to be removed, hopefully Snape would take the opportunity to make something of himself.

Hydrus then spent a few hours questioning the lesser Death Eaters, with the truth serum, to see if they could change. His queries were along the lines of 'Did you kill anyone?' 'Do you want to reform?' 'Why did you serve the Dork Lord?' If they hadn't killed anyone or were forced to join, he released them.

He got half of them to take vows to keep neutral and they got to go home to their families, most weren't marked as they had been lesser minions and for those that were, he simply removed the mark. He had used a disguise watch to change his looks and created portkeys for them, so they never saw the outside of the house.

The rest he transfigured back into rocks. He had the fleeting thought of turning them into statues, but put it away for later. He was too tired tonight to do anything else, so he went to bed.

Hphphp

A day later, The Times and The Daily Prophet both had headlines about the return of many purebloods.

Missing Heads of Families Have Returned

The Times reported that it was a miracle that they appeared, but wondered where the men had been, since they had no recollection on what had happened to them the last few months. They would only say that they were busy one minute, woke up a good time later and an unknown man sent them home. There was a separate article that wondered who the man was and where the rest of the Heads were.

The Prophet commented that all these men were once reported to be Death Eaters, though none of them bore the Dark Mark. They listed all known Death Eaters, including Crouch Jr. Crouch Sr. was vehemently denying that his son was working for a Dark Lord and was still offering a reward for his safe return.

"Thank you," Remus said to Hydrus as they all sat in the living room.

"You were right, some of them redeemed. It's no big deal," the immortal shrugged it off, hoping none of this came back to haunt them.

"Still, you did the correct thing," the werewolf persisted.

"Right, so what are we doing today?" Hydrus asked, not wanting to argue.

"I've to go to the store," Lily answered, from her position on the floor with Harry. "We're having a sale."

The mum and son were playing with the giggling bunny and she was impressed with how well her baby was learning from it. So far he had gotten legs, arms and head correct, in baby talk. She was attempting to get him to say heart, but all she got was 'ert'. Still it was progress.

James glared at the toy. He still hated that damn giggle, but it was one of Harry's favorites. The tot slept with it and it still woke James up whenever his son rolled over.

"I have to go to my store too," Remus said. "We have a new magical mystery novel on sale today, so it is going to be busy."

"Well, I've got nothing to do today," Sirius complained. Since it was Saturday and close to Christmas, the Ministry was pretty much shut down. He didn't have a shop to run and there was little he could do about his mum.

"Sirius, why don't you go and buy the kids at the orphanage presents for the holiday?" Hydrus suggested. "I have some money you can use," he said with a wink and pulled out a large wad of pounds and handed it to the younger Black, who smiled and tucked it away in one of his pockets.

"That is a wonderful idea, Hydrus," Lily exclaimed, beaming at the older man.

"Yeah, I can do that. Do you want to come with me, Prongs? We have to go to non-magical London. It'll be an adventure." He turned to his friend with hopeful eyes. "And we can drive my new car." Hydrus had told him about he cameras and he brushed up on his driving, to and from his Martial Arts class.

"Sure, Padfoot, I have nothing to do today either." James smiled at his exuberant friend.

"Sweet, let's go," Sirius said, getting out of his chair.

"Whoa, we'll leave when everyone goes to work. Lily, do you want us to take Harry or are you going to put him in the daycare?" he asked his wife.

"I'd feel much better if he were behind wards, so I'll take him with me," the redhead answered, picking Harry up and taking him upstairs to get him ready. James joined her.

The other three men got up and got their coats and waited for the Potters. "What are you doing today, Hydrus," Sirius asked.

"I told Arthur I'd help him with a product, so I'll be spending most of my day in the trinket shop," he answered.

James and Lily came down the stairs with a bundled up Harry and everyone parted ways at the door. Lily went with Hydrus in his car. James and Sirius took the dogman's new Ferrari. Remus Apparated to the alley near his shop.

Hydrus spent part of his day working with Arthur, but was not really concentrating on what they were doing, since he was still mulling over who was working with Mrs. Black and what to do about Skeeter. Soon enough, Mr. Weasley got frustrated with him and sent him away.

He roamed the mall, looking at all the happy shoppers and made his way to Lily's café. He settled in a chair, discreetly pulled out his book-reader and sat reading.

Lily was too busy to talk to him. He offered to help, but she waved him away. He made sure to purchase tea and biscuits, so he had a reason to take up the table. He got far on the counter-curses in the books, hoping that they would prove useful in the future. For all his education in the last two timelines, he learned that there was always more to learn. He sat and read until the mall was closing.

"Lily," he called to the harried woman, "I'm going to head home. Here's the keys, I'll drop by tomorrow." He dropped the car keys on the counter and waved to her.

She waved back, made her way to the front and pocketed the keys.

Hydrus headed out of the building to get to the Apparation point and was near an alley when a shrilled voice said, "Mudblood! Scum! Betrayer of the Family! Die!" And spells started flying over his head.

He ducked, turned and saw Mrs. Black in all her glory, with her crazed grey eyes, flying black hair and disarrayed clothing come running towards him.

"Ah, Walburga, I was hoping to meet you," Hydrus said with a laugh, keeping her attention on him as the shoppers took cover. Oh, this is going to be fun, he thought as he fired off legal deadly curses of his own. Everyone else was either running or trying to take down the crazy witch.

She banished some of the Christmas decorations in the path of his spells. She screamed incoherently and fired off an Entrail Spilling curse. "You dare speak my name so casually?!"

He batted the curse away and fired off one of his own. "We should really talk about your unhealthy habit of booting people out of the family, you inbred bitch," he said jovially, bending out of the way of another curse. How is she moving so quickly, crazy old bat? She's old, the old shouldn't move like that. He laughed again and ducked a curse.

"How dare you call me such names?! Scum! Dirt! Son of a squib! You are a blemish to the Black name! Die!" she screeched, stepping out of its path and fired off a Killing Curse.

"Shite," the immortal said, ducking down the alley. "Come and get me, you batty old bitch!" he yelled, hoping to draw her away from the crowd. He was toying with her, trying to get her to tell who she had helping her, "Who are you working with, you crazy loon?" he yelled, ducking another curse, still watching the crowd for her unknown ally.

She followed, still screaming at the top of her lungs. "Dirt! Scum! Defiler of my fathers! Die! Why won't you die?! Mudblood!" she completely ignored the question. She turned and put a shield at the entrance of the alley, and then whirled around to block Hydrus' cutting curse.

Hydrus banished garbage from the alley to block the Killing Curses that she was firing off in rapid succession. "You really should get new material, you're repeating yourself," he quipped, moving further back into the alley.

People were now trying to contain the insane woman. The Aurors were at the entrance of the alley attempting to take down her shield.

Hydrus was still firing off his own curses, but she was just as quick to banish the junk. He had to reduce himself to maiming, since the Aurors were there. He was just getting ready to fire off another transfiguration spell when his world went black.