FicWad

Harry was at a picnic table in a state park just outside of Washington. He had spread a map on the table and was setting up his tracking compass. If Jason had the shield shirts with him, he could get a bearing on the tracking charm. The needle moved and came to rest. Harry plotted the bearing on his map and noted where it crossed the highway. Harry mounted his broom, flew to another picnic spot a few miles away and took a second bearing. The line crossed the highway at the same spot.

It was a weekday in early fall and the park was empty. He cast a disillusionment charm on himself and flew just above the trees, taking care to keep at least a hundred yards from the road. Since Jason would probably not be pleased to see him, Harry landed some distance away and approached, cautiously, through the woods.

When he reach the scene, all he found were four bodies. The three Muggles were stunned but otherwise unharmed. Harry cast a warming charm to prevent hypothermia and left them. Septimus was dead from a Muggle bullet.

Harry tired to work out what had happened. One of the Muggles was in a uniform and the other two were in business suits. They must have been agents escorting Nicky. There were some tire tracks along the side of the road. The Muggles must have been in a car. Jason must have ambushed the car. There had been a fight and Septimus had been shot. Jason had stunned the three Muggles and driven away in the car.

So far everything was clear, but it didn’t solve the problem of finding Jason. He couldn’t follow him on his broom. A Firebolt had a top speed of 60 miles an hour. Even if Jason was only driving the speed limit, Harry had little hope of catching overtaking him. Besides, he had no idea what the car looked like and the tracking charm didn’t work well on moving targets.

Harry surveyed the scene again. Some things did not fit. Why had Jason taken the car when he could have used magic to escape? Why was Septimus here? Jason could have stopped the car and overpowered three Muggles even without magic.

Then Harry saw the old can. It was not rusty and there was no other litter in the area. Jason had been planning to make a Portkey. He had brought Septimus along because he didn’t kn ow how to cast the spell himself. When Septimus was killed he was forced to escape by car. Harry searched Septimus and found what he was looking for in his coat pocket – a map with a 'x' marked on it and a photograph of a truck parked in the clearing. He touched his wand to the map and the photograph and concentrated on each of them. Then he pointed his wand to the can and said, "Portus."

Before he left, Harry cast a Muggle repelling charm around the area and sent up a shower of sparks with his wand. That would give the Department of Magic a chance to remove Septimus before the Muggles started asking questions.

Jason leaned against the pickup truck for support. His first attempt at a side-along Apparation had not gone well. He was shivering. There was a huge gash on his arm and part of his finger was missing.

“Are you okay?” he asked Nicky.

“I think I lost part of my eyebrow but other than that I’m fine. You’re bleeding badly. Do you have any bandages?”

“Yes, there’s a complete first aid kit in the truck.”

Jason had prepared well for his mission. The first aid kit was a full military wound kit. Nicky tried to bandage his arm and fingers but the bleeding wouldn’t stop.

“It’s no good Jason, a splinch is a magical injury. Muggle bandages won’t stop the bleeding.”

“There’s a shirt in my bag. It has a protective charm on it. See if it works.”

Nicky tore the shield shirt into strips and wrapped them around Jason’s arm and finger. They held and the bleeding stopped.

“Now let’s find Demetra,” Jason said.

Nicky, looked around and said, “There’s someone else here.”

Harry Potter was walking out of the woods. Jason drew his wand. Harry did not react.

“Jason, I finally found you. We have to talk.”

Jason watched Harry approach and sized up the situation. He still did not trust Harry. The stories about Sirius Black might be a tissue of lies but Jason couldn’t afford to take the risk. Harry said that he just wanted to talk, but talking could to turn into fighting. Jason was stronger, fitter and a better all round fighter. Harry knew more magic and had incredibly fast reflexes. On a good day they would be evenly matched. But today was not a good day. Jason was weak from loss of blood and still shaken by the death of Septimus. There was also the possibility that Sirius Black was lurking in the bushes and, Jason had been told, Black was a wizard of exceptional ability.

"Stupefy,” Jason said. Harry fell to the ground.

"Why did you do that?" Nicky asked. "He had his hands up. He wanted to talk."

"Better safe than sorry. I know he looks harmless but he can look after himself.”

Jason took some rope from the pickup and tied Harry securely before he revived him.

“Jason, you can’t believe all this nonsense about Sirius Black,” Harry pleaded. “It’s not true. Sirius was not a dark wizard. Besides, he’s dead. I saw it myself. The guy who’s been feeding you this is some high official at the Department of Magic. It’s a trap.”

Jason listened impassively and then said, “We’ll talk about Black later. Right now I want to know how you got here.”

Harry thought for a minute. If he wanted Jason to trust him, he would have to give him some answers. But he didn’t want to give away everything. The tracking charm was his only hold on Jason if he bolted again.

“I made a Portkey.”

“How did you know the coordinates?”

“I found a map and photograph on Septimus.”

“And how did you find him?”

“I was just ....”

“Don’t be cute. You weren’t just going for a spin on your broomstick when you happened on a dead wizard.”

“No, that’s not it. I was walking around Washington when I recognized this guy from the Department of Magic dressed as a Muggle. I followed his and saw that he was meeting with Septimus. I heard everything he was saying about Sirius Black and also about the plan to move Nicky Parsons.”

“You’re not levelling with me Harry,” Jason said angrily. “If you want to do undercover work you’re going to have to learn to lie better. There’s absolutely no reason why you would ever just be walking around the area Septimus met his contact. Even if I believed you that just means that you knew that I might be somewhere along about two hundred miles of highway. “

“Jason, you have to trust me. I’m the only person who can help you.”

“You could also finish me off if I gave you half a chance. I’m not taking that chance. I’ve been backstabbed too many times. No tell me how you found us.”

“He must have used some sort of tracing charm,” Nicky broke in.

“That’s it,” Jason said. “Nicky, take off that blouse.”

“What?”

“I got it from his friend Weasley’s store. They must have slipped some sort of charm on it. Here, take my jacket. Demetra has spare clothes she can lend you.”

Harry groaned with frustration as Jason shoved him into the back of the pickup.

“What are you going to do with him now” Nicky asked.

Jason thought for a minute. He couldn’t just let Harry go. On the other hand, he didn’t think Demetra would be keen on guarding a prisoner. Driving him to the nearest town and leaving him there without a wand would take too long. Finally, he made up his mind. He gave Harry’s wand and magical wallet to Nicky and said, “Take this and bury it. Use the blouse to make a marker so he can find it.”

He turned to Harry and said, “I’m going to drive for about ten miles and let you go. Memorize the trees and any turns we make. If you move it you’ll be able to get back here before dark and get your wand.”

It took nearly two hours driving over rough roads to find Demetra’s place. As Jason expected, Demetra was glad of some company. She applied Dittany to Jason’s wounds and replaced the bandages.

“The arm should heal in a few days,” she said. “I can’t help you with the finger unless you can find the rest of it.”

“I guess I won’t be taking up he piano when I retire,” Jason sighed. “How can we get rid of these bits of shirt? I think it has some sort of tracking charm on it.”

“Burning them and vanishing the ashes should do it,” Demetra replied.

There was only one spare bed in Demtra’s cabin so she arranged for Jason to stay with an old warlock who live a few miles away. She cast a Fidelius charm over Nicky with Jason as secret-keeper and one over Jason with Nicky as the secret keeper.

“The charm covers everything up to the clearing,” Demetra told Nicky. “As long as you stay away from the trees no one can see or hear you.”

The next morning, Nicky was awakened by Typhon the three-headed dog barking. She looked out of the cabin and saw the huge beast snapping at a grizzly bear, a mountain lion and a rattlesnake. Nicky knew that none of the three beasts had been seen in this part of the country for at least a hundred years. They could only by animagi. She woke Demetra.

“It’s the Dobbs brothers,” Demetra said groggily. “Don’t let them worry you. They’re stupid, greedy oafs, the lot of them. This is their one good trick. Take my arm and point my wand at the snake. ”

Demetra set the grass on fire and the snake transformed into Fred Dobbs. He ran for the woods just in time to avoid Typhon’s jaws.

“Now the grizzly.”

A swarm of bees appeared from Demetra’s wand and the bear also ran into the woods.

“Typhon can look after himself now,” Demetra laughed. The dog turned his full attention to the cougar and chased it up a tree.

“I’ll let you go this time, Tim Dobbs,” Demetra shouted, “ But if you or any of your worthless brothers coming poking around here again you won’t be so lucky.”

She waved her wand again. The big cat transformed into a man and Disapparated.

Harry was tired and a bit bruised from the ride. It would take a good three hours of brisk walking to get back to his wand . The weather turned cold and a light rain was falling. The pine woods seemed darker and more menacing than the English oak trees Harry knew. Jason had told him to memorize the trees, but one scrubby pine seemed pretty much like another. Fortunately, there was only one turn to remember.

The sun was sinking below the trees when Harry finally recognized a strangely twisted pine tree. He began to scan the side of the road looking for his wand. He wanted to get back to his hotel, eat and send a report back to London.

Then he heard a sound. He listened closely. It was definitely human voices. His first thought was that it was hunters. That could be bad news. He was wearing a brown pullover and could easily be taken for a deer. He began waving his arms and shouting, “Hey, don’t shoot me!”

Then he remembered that a Portkey could be traced. He saw a flash of red and took his second stunning spell of the day.

The Dobbs brothers made their report to Gaius Prince. He dismissed them and went to see his brother.

“It’s as I expected. They didn’t see anything. The only surprising part of their story is how fast the old witch sent them packing,” Gaius told his brother.

“What do you mean?” Tiberius asked.

“When she wants to get rid of someone she normally calls off the dog and casts a hex over the whole area. Today, they said that she was pointing her wand as if she could see them.”

“A Fideilus Charm.,” Tiberius groaned. “The Squib must have been guiding her hand. The Dobbs boys couldn’t see anything because she was under a Fidelius Charm.”

“If Studyvance is the secret keeper we can get it out of her.”

“Bones wouldn’t be so careless. He’ll make himself secret keeper for the Squib. If he’s smart, and we know he is, he’ll put a charm on himself with the Squib as secret keeper.”

“So we’re no further ahead than before. Bones is better hidden then ever and we’ve lost our one hold on him.”

“You forget that we have Harry Potter.”

“What good will that do? Bones won’t try to save him. We’ve spent weeks convincing him that Potter can’t be trusted.”

“We’ll just have to unconvince him.”

“Should ask our friend Hirsch?”

“There’s no need. I’m sure he would come up with something very clever but I think we can keep it simple.”

Jason was worried when Nicky and Demetra told him what had happened. He had assumed that nobody knew about his refuge with Demetra. Now it appeared that not only did the Prince brothers know, but they suspected that he was here.

“It’s just the Dobbs boys,” Demetra said. “They always poke around whenever they’re in the neighbourhood looking for trouble. They didn’t see a thing. No one can break a Fidelius charm. Your friend is safe as long as she stays in the clearing.”

Jason was not so sure, but he didn’t have a lot of other options. He offer ed to chop some wood for Demetra. As he was working an owl fluttered over his head. He took the letter from its claws and read,

“Well, it seems that everyone who tries to help you comes to a bad end. The Brankovitch boy is dead and now Potter is our prisoner. (Yes he was your friend. The stories about Sirius Black were a pack of lies.) You won’t be able to protect the Squib or old Studyvance for long. If you give up now, we might spare at least one of your friends.”