"Merlin, there was a monster..."
"Get in, we'll talk back home!"
At the entrance of St Agnes Monastery, a serious Merlin waves his hand at the three kids waiting by the road and tells them to get in the car.
He then nods at the worried father Paul by the road, turns the steering wheel, and drives the nanny van back to his home.
A dozen minutes later, in the living room of Merlin's house, he and the children sit on the sofa; in front of them, the fog-like stone that was emitting a pale light was being held in Merlin's hand.
He looks at Harry and Ron, asking:
"What is this?"
"Dementors!"
Hermione answered Merlin's question, the latter helped hold ice against the sick Ginny's forehead while explaining to Merlin:
"They're the Ministry of Magic's warden in Askaban Magic Prison. Supposedly they only exist in Europe, I never thought that they would also exist in America."
"No, these are the Ministry of Magic's Dementors!"
Harry shakes his head and rejects Hermione's saying.
The young man looked at the wailing stone in Merlin's hand while rubbing the scar on his forehead, saying:
"I know them...my head would hurt every time I encounter them. Just like that time on the train 2 years ago."
"Yeah, I heard from my father."
Ron glanced at the stone slightly fearfully, he says uneasily:
"Father and mother talked about this once, only the Ministry of Magic knows how to control Dementors, they treated these dangerous creatures as hunters and protectors hundreds of years ago."
"Which means..."
Merlin looks at the chilling stone in his hand, he says seriously yet confusingly:
"The officials of the Ministry of Magic dispatched Dementors across the ocean to North America just to deal with a few kids? Even risk infuriating the Magical Congress, why did they do so?"
Merlin looks at the children and asks seriously:
"Are you carrying something important on you? Or did you accidentally know some important secret?"
"No!'
Hermione shakes her head and says:
"We're all just young wizards, the most valuable thing we've encountered was Nicholas Flamel's Sorcerer's Stone, but Dumbledore had already destroyed it, and we don't know any important secrets."
The other three kids nodded, they agree with what Hermione had said.
"Maybe it's because you did something that infuriated that Ministry of Magic."
Erik who sat next to Merlin adds in:
"Like you made a mistake, or offended some big shot."
"Back when I was in Oakland, there was a murder in my neighborhood, the assailant was a gang member from Texas; the dead guy cheated money on their turf, so they chased all the way to Oakland to kill him."
The black kid supported his face with his palm and says:
"Although I don't know who you truly are, I think what you're experiencing now is quite similar to that unfortunate guy back then."
"No, we're just young wizards."
Ginny answers weakly:
"We spent all our magic lives in Hogwarts, we're not related to the Ministry of Magic in any way."
"No! No!"
Hermione thinks deep and hard, recollecting along Erik's train of thought, and moments later, she abruptly stands up and tells the others:
"We did! We did have an encounter with the Ministry of Magic! Just last year, at the end of the Triwizard Tournament, Cedric died in the hands of the mystery man with Harry as the sole witness...remember that? The Ministry of Magic sent people to talk with us afterward, and their attitudes were terrible."
"Oh, right!"
Ron nods and says:
"There's that. Because Harry and Cedric were transported to another location without a second witness, so they falsely accused Harry of killing Cedric; they even claimed in the school that the mystery man was long dead and would never return."
"They forbade us from discussing this, my parents say that Minister Fudge is scared, that he rejects to admit that truth..."
"He's scared that Dumbledore may use this to challenge his authority."
Ginny says in a low tone:
"A few days ago, I heard father and mother talk, they say that Minister Fudge plans on sealing off all news of the mystery man's return across all areas under the Ministry of Magic's jurisdiction; he had claimed more than once on the Ministry of Magic's meeting that Harry was a disgraceful fraud, he even said that they were going to arrest this grandstanding fraud."
"Children, children!"
Merlin extends his hand and interrupts the children's discussion, he rubs his forehead while saying:
"I know that you've discovered a lead, this is good. But please mind us muggles, alright? Can someone tell me who is the mystery man? I know Minister Fudge of the Ministry of Magic, supposedly he's an arrogant yet fatuous man, but why is he afraid of this mystery man? And...Harry, what exactly did you go through last year?"
Merlin looks at the quiet Harry on the side and says:
"Sounds like you witnessed a murder in the wizarding world? And everything seems to be related to this incident."
"The mystery man is called Voldemort."
Hermione seemed to be scared of the name, she lowers her tone and tells Merlin:
"He was a dark lord a dozen years ago, a powerful wizard that was crazy, he used the Imperius Curse to control many wizards, even leading dark creatures like Dementors and Werewolves. He caused a great catastrophe, we never experienced that time, but I heard from Mr. Arthur that Voldemort and his followers nearly subverted the order of the wizarding world."
"It was a dark time."
Ron recalls his parent's words and tells Merlin:
"Supposedly any wizard that dared to defy Voldemort would suffer misfortune, he even killed everyone in a wizard's family for criticizing him, not even their muggle relatives were spared."
"Harry's parents and my parents, along with some other wizards formed the Order of the Phoenix to stand against him; Voldemort personally went to Harry's home to kill Harry's parents, but something mysterious happened that night..."
Ron glances at Harry and says:
"Voldemort died...many say it was Harry who killed him, but Harry was just a baby back then."
"Voldemort...such a bad name."
Merlin shakes his head, he looks at Harry:
"So, this is why you're being called the Chosen One? Harry."
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"Mmm."
Harry raises his head and points at the lightning scar on his forehead, he tells Merlin:
"I lost my parents that night, I didn't know what had happened. But Voldemort left me this scar, it hurts, and it hurts every time I encounter all things and events related to him."
"Last year, three magic schools in Europe joined together and held the Triwizard Tournament, me and Cedric were Hogwart's 'champions', but that was just a conspiracy."
Harry recollected what had happened last semester painfully and said softly:
"It was the doing of Voldemort's follower, the mad Barty Crouch. He turned the goblet of fire into a door key, me and Cedric held the trophy and were transported to a strange tomb. I saw...Voldemort's followers kill Cedric, that seemed to be some kind of ritual, and Voldemort was resurrected, right in front of me.
"Ah!"
Harry's scar begins to hurt, he holds his head and says choppily:
"I saw it myself, he was resurrected. But no one, no one is willing to believe me."
"Alright, what a poor kid."
Merlin pats on Harry's shoulder and says softly:
"I think I get it."
"They're fearful of the return of the dark lord, and they're burying their heads in the sand like ostriches in danger, They were fearful, and that fear led them into doing stupid and crazy things."
Merlin turns to look at Hermione and Ron, he says:
"I heard from you that young wizards aren't allowed to use magic during vacation. And if you do, you'll be arrested by the Ministry of Magic, right?"
"Mmm."
Hermione and Ron nod at the same time.
"Alright, now I know why they sent the Dementors."
A smile of disdain appears on Merlin's face as he says:
"This is a conspiracy, without a doubt."
"They used the rules to drag you into a trap, if my guess is correct, soon someone will come to inform you...that you've been arrested for illegally using magic in front of a muggle."
As Merlin finishes, a grey owl lands in Merlin's yard, it had a letter in its beak and was about to cry out.
But then, a flash of yellow lightning pounces downward from above, pressing the unsuspecting owl onto the ground.
It was Goose.
Like it had caught its prey, the orange cat Goose clawed into the owl's neck forcefully, and it didn't take long for the magical owl to lose its life.
Goose drags the owl that was even bigger than its body towards the edge of the yard; behind it, Crookshanks followed behind Goose like an underling, seemingly going to enjoy a wild dinner.
"No! Crookshanks, you stupid cat! Don't eat that disgusting thing, come back!"
Hermione tries to stop her pet, but Merlin stops her.
Merlin tells Hermione:
"Don't interrupt Goose as it's easting...that's very dangerous."
As he finishes, Merlin waves his hand, and the bloodstained letter that fell onto the ground flies toward them.
It lands on the table, and then, it was activated. The letter made of leather levitates weirdly in the air, the blue seal forms into a woman's lips, and it uses a sharp yet mean sound to say to Harry:
"Mr. Harry James Potter, the Ministry of Magic has detected that you've illegally used magic in front of a muggle priest in New York, America, this afternoon; now I inform you on behalf of the Ministry of Magic that you must return within a day..."
"Pa"
Merlin grabs the letter before it could finish, black fog infiltrates from Merlin's hand, and the high heat mixed within that fog quickly lit up the letter.
It lets out a sharp scream and turns into ashes in the heated fog.
Merlin pats his hand and shakes off the ashes into the rubbish bin. He leans on the sofa and tells the four young wizards:
"See! I was right..."
"Those bastards are good at these kinds of things. And I'm guessing that they're hiding somewhere in New York right now...monitoring you."
"Then what do we do?"
Harry looks at Merlin with worry, the latter shrugs:
"We do nothing."
He tells the young wizards:
"Do you know why the Ministry of Magic isn't just appearing here to capture you?"
Merlin points under his feet:
"This land isn't under the Ministry of Magic's jurisdiction, there's another organization upholding the order here, they wish not to anger their peers, so they can only play tricks in the shadows."
"You stay in my house!"
Merlin snorts coldly, he picks up his phone, dials a number, and tells the four young wizards:
"In this country's law, anyone who intrudes someone's home without permission can be shot on the spot! I'll have to see if those sneaking bastards dare to step into my home and rudely take away my guests in front of my eyes!"
He sees the worry and fear in the children's eyes and says:
"Don't be scared, children. I promised Arthur to protect you all and I will fulfill that promise. Regardless of who it is, no one will bring harm to you under my nose."
"Hey, Tuck?"
"I need some powerful stuff to protect myself with. Yeah, the same standard as last time, deliver them now."
As he finishes the call, Merlin lets out a slightly cold smile at the wizards looking at him, saying:
"Do you know what's best about fighting wizards?"
The children shake their heads, Merlin then lets out an odd smile.
He takes out his pistol from his waist, places it on the table, and tells the children:
"Wizards aren't irregulars."
"They may have lots of strange spells, but that doesn't change the fact that they can die if they're hit with bullets."
"Maybe it's time to give these arrogant wizards a small 'warning' with a muggle's way."