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Harry had spent the better part of two hours trying to explain a horocrux to Jason.

"Let’s see if I get this,” Jason said. "When you commit a murder it tears your soul. The horocrux spell captures that loose bit of soul and locks it in an object. As long as the horocrux exists you can never die but you can never be truly alive."

“That’s right,” Harry said.

“So what do we do now?”

“Find the horocrux and destroy it. You’ve felt remorse for what you’ve done so your soul should eventually repair itself.”

“Where do we start?”

"We have to figure out which killing was used to create it. Someone would have to be in the room to cast the spell and hold an object in front of you to act as the horocrux case."

"There's only one time that could have happened. It was the first time."

Jason was reluctant to share the memory, but Harry convinced him it was the only way to find the horocrux. Harry borrowed a Pensieve and extracted the memory from Jason. He and Jason peered into the silvery liquid and entered what looked like a hospital room. They saw three men – a younger Jason holding a gun, an older man and a hooded figure handcuffed to a stool.

"Who is he?" Harry asked, pointing at the older man.

"He's Albert Hirsch. He ran the training program."

There was a fourth man in the room. He was invisible, but Harry could hear him whispering the words of a terrible spell.

"You've got to get with the program," Dr. Hirsch was saying. "You have to be with the program one-hundred percent. Just do it."

Jason raised the gun and fired. The hooded figure slumped on a stool. He turned to face Dr. Hirsch who was holding a pair of army dog-tags.

The memory ended. Harry saw that Jason was holding his head in his hands and sobbing.

"Please destroy it. I don't want anyone else to see it," Jason said.

Harry agreed.

Later, he and Jason met with Ron and Hermione to plan their strategy.

"I've check on Dr. Hirsch. He's definitely a Muggle, " Hermione said. "He must have been under the Imperius Curse."

"What's that?" Jason asked.

"It's one of the unforgivable curses. It gives you total control over another person. The Prince brothers must have used him to hold the horocrux and hide it for them. When they need it, they simply have to ask him for it."

"Hirsch doesn't have my dog-tags," Jason said. "They were in the safe in Vosen's office with my file. I gave it all to Pamela Landy."

"Where would she keep them?" Harry asked.

"She's strictly by the book. They would be filed away in the secure records room in CIA headquarters."

This was not the answer Harry wanted to hear.

"There's no way to get it," he said. "I can get past the Muggle security but the American Department of Magic guards the place. There's no way we can break their protective charms."

"I don't think there are any protective charms on the building, at least nothing permanent. Too much magic interferes with electrical circuits," Hermione said.

"So how did they catch me?" Harry asked.

"They have someone planted in the security office watching the monitors," Hermione said. "When Harry used magic on the doors and alarms it would show up as a system failure. The person watching the monitors would look for system failures that are probably caused by magic."

"How could they tell?" Jason asked.

"I think they would watch for patterns in where the breakdowns were happening. Harry got caught because they could see that someone was making a beeline for the records room.”

“So if there were three or four people in different places in the building casting spells at random, they might think that it was just an ordinary breakdown," Ron said.

"No," Jason said. "I know what you're thinking. If you were caught, your careers would be ruined or worse. You're all ready doing more than enough for me. I'll do this alone."

Hermione did some research on the relationship between charms and Muggle electronics. A Russian wizard had done a study of the problem that, by the standards of the magical world, was almost scientific. It appeared that low power charms that operated mainly on the human mind or body were safe. They did not interfere with electrical circuits and could not be traced by magic. On the other hand, charms that affected inorganic matter and the stronger curses did cause electrical interference and could be traced.

She explained her findings to Jason. "It's very simple. You need powerful magic to get past the Muggle security systems, but the minute you use powerful magic, you trigger the magical security alarm."

"Is there any magic I can use?" Jason asked.

"Things like the confundus charm and memory charms are safe. You can also use Polyjuice potion and invisibility cloaks. You might even be able to Apparate as long as they haven't activated the protective charm."

"Well that's something."

"What about all the security doors? How will you break into the computers and find out where your file is?"

"I'll figure out to do that without magic."

Jason spent several days in internet cafes exploring the shadowy world of computer hackers. At Harry's suggestion, he visited the Bones house and found his father's invisibility cloak in the attic. Aberforth Dumbledore introduced him to Mundungus Fletcher who introduced him to an even more unsavoury wizard who provided him with a fake magical passport, an ever changing identity card and a supply of Polyjuice potion. He mastered the confundus charm and memory charm.

Jason stood under his invisibility cloak in the entrance hall of CIA headquarters. He studied the memorial wall with the names of agents who had been killed in the line of duty. Some spaces on the wall contained nothing but a star. They stood for men or women whose secrets had to be protected beyond the grave. He wondered if any of the stars were for his victims. Perhaps one was for him.

He explored the building slowly, probing its defences, while leaving himself and escape route. He got through the security doors simply by following someone else and slipping through before the door closed. He found an isolated store room and learned that he could Apparate out easily.

Once he was satisfied that he could get in and out of the building with minimal use of magic, he began on the first stage of his plan. He found a suitable agent, a twenty-something man just old enough to have a full security clearance, and watched him. Each morning he followed him to his office and stood over him as he entered the log-on password to his laptop. In a few days, Jason had it memorized. He found the agent's home address by searching his brief case while he was on a break.

Jason heard some interesting news while he was in the building. A federal Grand Jury was about to indict Albert Hirsch and Noah Vosen for conspiracy to murder. There was speculation that rogue agent David Webb a.k.a. Jason Bourne was being offered an immunity deal in exchange for his testimony. At another time, Jason might have been tempted. He could get himself a good lawyer, spend a few years in a minimum security prison and get on with his life.. Now he understood that both he and Hirsch were pawns in a game being played by more dangerous enemies.

He followed the agent home. He lived in a walk up apartment in a nearby suburb. At about midnight the lights went out. Jason broke in using magic. He looked around the room in the faint light of his wand. It was a young man's apartment with cheap furniture and expensive electronics. The decoration was mostly pictures of family and sports teams. There didn't seem to be a girlfriend but some magazines scattered about suggested that was not from lack of inclination.

The laptop was on the dining room table. Jason switched it on and punched in the password. A loud chime announced that he had connected. There was a stirring from the bedroom. Jason took cover behind he couch. The young agent walked into the room and saw that the laptop was running. With a slightly puzzled look, he switched it off and went back to bed. After twenty minutes Jason tried again, taking care to turn down the volume control. He located his file and then covered his tracks with a series of random searches.

The next step was trickier. In order to reach the records centre Jason would have pass three sets of security doors with electronic locks and an armed guard. It was easy to force your way through with magic but that had been Harry's downfall. Jason would have to use his wits rather than his wand.

Jason's first thought was to find a way to sabotage the security network without using magic. He stood by the wall of the main security centre and considered his options. The banks of monitors were closely packed. There was no room to stand behind an operator and steal a password. Even if he did, there was nothing he could do with it. The security network could be accessed only from this room which was staffed twenty-four hours a day. The work stations themselves were encased with steel and plexiglass to prevent tampering. A bomb or bullet might damage them, but that would trigger a full alert.

Then he remembered that there was another wizard in the room.

Septimus Brankovitch felt his pocket sneak-o-scope vibrating. Someone untrustworthy nearby. He looked around and saw only his usual co-workers. Had one of them been bribed? Perhaps someone was hiding under an invisibility cloak. He reached for his omniuclar to take a look around. Just then he remembered a possible virus alert in sector three.

Jason put away his wand and waited for a chance to leave the room. The other wizard had been easy to spot. The room was warm and every man except one was in shirt sleeves. He must have been hiding his wand in his jacket. Jason got him with a confundus charm just as he was reaching for a pair of glasses.

In a corridor where there was no security camera, Jason stood under his cloak and waited. Finally, a man of the right height, build and security clearance came by. Jason jumped him, knocked him cold and dragged him to a nearby store room. He left him bound and gagged with packing tape while he prepared Polyjuice potion. He was already dressed in the standard office uniform of black slacks and white shirt. He took the agent's pass card and tie. For the next hour, he was Agent Wayne Hartman.

In a men's washroom, Jason studied himself in the mirror. The effect was perfect except for one thing, Hartman must have been a few pounds lighter. He did his belt up two more notches and prayed that he would not have to break into a run. He did not want his career to end with his pants falling off.

At the records centre, Jason had a new challenge. He could not simply walk in an take a file. He had to ask for it and sign for it. The pass card had a signature and it would be easy to copy. He thought Polyjuice potion disguised the voice, but he was not sure.

Jason filled out the request slip, printing in plain block letters. The records clerk looked at it.

"The Webb file? I didn't know that you were on that?"

"Something’s come up on the Hirsch indictment. They asked me to do a review."

Jason heard himself speaking with a Midwestern accent.

The clerk looked down at Jason's hand.

"You don't look yourself, Wayne," she said. "Is everything alright with you and Joanne?"

Agent Hartman must be married. Jason was not wearing a ring.

"Can't talk now, I'm in a hurry."

Jason tried to appear relaxed as the clerk retrieved the file. Hartman was not well hidden. He might have been found by now.

In the security room the confundus charm had worn off. Septimus realized that he had been confunded. There was another wizard in the building. He checked the security logs. There were no unexplained failures. He reviewed the video from the cameras around the records room. Nothing seemed out of place except one man who seemed to be wearing pants a little too large. He might have taken Polyjuice potion. It wasn’t enough to justify calling for backup of activating the protective charms. He would go and check it out himself.

The clerk brought Jason the file box. He found a desk and quickly removed the and substituted a duplicate set he had prepared. Then he spent a few minutes pretending to review the file. He returned the file and turned to leave. He would return Hartman’s card and erase his memory. The storage room would be a safe place to Apparate.

When Jason reached the hallway outside the store room, the wizard from the security centre was there. Jason dropped the pass card and Apparated to his hotel room just as Septimus was raising his wand.

Septimus picked up the pass card. He found Hartman and modified his memory. As an added precaution he modified the memory of the file clerk and destroyed the file request card. He would file a report with the Department of Magic that night.

In the hotel room Jason placed the dog-tags in a special case. He had been warned that a horocrux carried a powerful curse and could be destroyed only with special magical objects. That made dog-tags a good choice, he thought. They were supposed to be hard to destroy. He looked at the dog-tags again. They were not military issue, or even a good copy, but the sort of thing that you could buy at novelty stores. Someone else had the horocrux.

Jason considered his options. He had broken the terms of his asylum by coming to America. He had not told Harry and his friends of his plans, although he has dropped some broad hints. He had been seen by an American wizard and the MBI would be looking for him. Now he had nothing to show for it.

He switched on the television news and saw his own face on the screen. The item had just ended. All he heard were the words, "the public is warned that Webb is armed and highly dangerous."

He waited an hour for the next news broadcast and learned that Dr. Hirsch was dead. He had been and home with his housekeeper when rogue agent David Webb, also known as Jason Bourne, had forced his way in. He had tied Hirsch to a bed, doused it with gasoline and set it on fire. Hirsch's body was totally destroyed in the fire except for a few teeth. The housekeeper was found in a garden shed, terrified but otherwise unharmed.

The next day Jason visited the Washington wizarding street, disguised once more with Polyjuice potion. His picture was on the front page of the Washington Oracle. The story was basically the same as in the Muggle news ,except that it referred to him as Edmund Bones and advised the public that while he was not a fully trained wizard he was believed to have mastered some duelling spells and should be approached with extreme caution. There was also a side bar.

"British Auror Joins Hunt for Bones"

"Harry Potter of the British Ministry of Magic Auror service arrived today to assist the authorities in their search for accused murderer Edmund Bones. Mr. Potter, who is renowned as the Boy Who Lived and the vanquisher of Lord Voldemort, was instrumental in locating Bones and reintroducing him to the magical world. He expressed his shock that the man he had befriended and helped could commit such a horrific crime."