Merlin glanced back over his shoulder. 'I didn't know about the Garage, James Potter. It was beyond the knowledge of the trees, unlike the Anglia vehicle and Madame Delacroix. Improvisation, however, has always been one of my stronger talents.'
'But how'd you get the Wocket in there?' Ralph asked. 'That was totally brilliant!'
'The trees knew about that, therefore, I did as well,' Merlin replied. 'It was simply a matter of encouraging an exchange of environments.'
Zane grinned. 'So the Alma Aleron's cars are out in that old barn in the field?'
'It'll do them some good, I expect,' Merlin nodded.
The group walked purposefully through the Great Hall and climbed the stairs onto the dais. McGonagall opened a door in the rear wall and led the others through, into a large antechamber with a stone floor and a dark fireplace. Sacarhina and Recreant were there, sitting on either side of a third person James didn't recognize.
'This is an outrage, Headmistress,' Recreant said, leaping to his feet. 'First, you bring in this… person to usurp our authority, and then you have the gall to perform the
'Do shut up, Trenton,' Sacarhina said, rolling her eyes. Recreant blinked, wounded, but clamped his mouth shut. He looked back and forth from Sacarhina to the Headmistress.
'Wise advice, if ever I heard it,' Harry agreed, stepping forward. 'And I suspect that the Minister will, in fact, hear about this.'
'We've done nothing wrong, Mr. Potter, as you know,' Sacarhina said, glancing idly at her fingernails. 'Mr. Ambrosius' appearance has secured the secrecy of the magical world. All is well.'
Harry nodded. 'I am glad you feel that way, Brenda, although I find it interesting that you already seem to know 'Mr. Hubert's' real name. No doubt there will be no link proven to connect him, you, and the unfortunate Madame Delacroix. What are we to make of your friend, here, however?'
All attention turned to the man seated in the chair between Sacarhina and Recreant. He was small, pudgy, with thinning black hair and a twitch in his right eyebrow. He shrunk from the gaze of everyone in the room.
Ralph, who'd been the last to enter, pushed his way between Merlin and Professor Longbottom, his brow furrowed in bewilderment. 'Dad?' he said, frowning. 'What are you doing here?'
The man grimaced miserably and covered his face with his hands. Merlin looked down at Ralph, his large, stony face somber. He placed a hand on the boy's shoulder. 'This man says his name is Dennis Deedle. I was afraid you'd recognize him.'
'What is he doing here?' Neville asked.
'I think his role in this debacle is fairly evident,' the Headmistress replied, sighing. 'He is the man responsible for leading Mr. Prescott into our midst.'
'What?' Ralph said, rounding on McGonagall. 'Why would you say that? That's terrible!'
'He came with Mr. Prescott's crew,' Harry said quietly. 'He was trying to remain unobtrusive. Perhaps he was worried that you'd recognize him, Ralph. Later, when it was all over, it wouldn't have mattered, of course. But then again, things didn't happen as he expected.'
'This is ridiculous,' Ralph insisted. 'Dad's a Muggle! He signed the Muggles' non-disclosure contract, didn't he? He wouldn't do this, even if he could! I don't know what he's doing here, but it isn't what you all think!'
Merlin still had his hand on Ralph's shoulder. He patted him slowly. 'Perhaps you should ask him yourself, then, Mr. Deedle.'
Ralph glanced up at the enormous wizard, his face pinched with anger and trepidation. He looked around the rest of the room, from face to face, ending with his father. 'All right, then. Dad, why are you here?'
Dennis Deedle still had his hands on his face. For several seconds, he didn't move. Finally, he took a huge breath and sat back, dropping his hands. He looked at Ralph for a long moment, and then glanced around at everyone assembled.
'All right. Yes,' he said, having composed himself, 'I told Prescott. I sent him the Chocolate Frog and the GameDeck. I'd used it to communicate with somebody on the school grounds, somebody who went by the name Austramaddux. Once I'd done that, I knew that Prescott could locate the school with his GPS.'
Ralph's face was frozen with disbelief and misery. 'But why, Dad? Why would you do such a thing?'
'Oh, Ralph. I'm sorry. I know this looks bad to you,' Dennis said. 'But it's all very… very complicated. Prescott's show, Inside View, they offer money for proof of the supernatural. Well, we haven't been doing all that well, son. I've been looking for work ever since I got laid off, but it's been hard. We needed the money. I thought the Chocolate Frog would be enough. I really did! But Prescott wanted more. I knew I'd have to show him something really amazing, so…' He faltered, glancing nervously around the room again.
'But you never got the money,' Merlin said in his low, rumbling voice. 'And that wasn't the real point, was it?'
Dennis' eyebrows worked furiously as he gazed up at Merlin, apparently struggling with what to say. Next to him, Sacarhina cleared her throat meaningfully. Dennis glanced at her, taking his eyes from Merlin. 'The money,' he said uncertainly, 'Prescott said we'd get it when the program aired. He promised.'
'But there will be no program now,' Merlin said quietly.
'You thought it'd be worth selling out the whole magical world just to help us get by for awhile, Dad?' Ralph said, his voice not accusing, but truly questioning. It broke James' heart to hear the disappointment in the boy's voice.
'No, son!' Dennis answered, but then looked away. 'I didn't think it'd threaten the whole magical world. I mean, it's just a stupid television show. Besides…' He stopped, chewing on his words, wrestling with himself.
'Besides what?' Merlin asked calmly.
Dennis looked back at Merlin, his face tense, his right eyebrow twitching. 'Besides, what did the magical world ever do for me?' he spat, then covered his face with his hands again. He took a deep, shuddering breath. 'Left me all alone, that's what. Shunned and abandoned, like some kind of… some kind of worthless mutant! Stripped of my name and my family, abandoned by my own parents because I wasn't like them! I was forbidden to ever contact them or speak of them again. They said I'd be adopted into the Muggle world, where I belonged. They said I'd be happier there. Well, I guess I showed them, didn't I? They didn't want me to ruin their reputation in the magical world. Well, why should I care about the secrecy of the magical world at all?'
Ralph's face was a mask of unhappy consternation. 'What are you talking about, Dad? You're not a wizard. Grandma and Grandpa died before I was born. You were as surprised as me when we got the letter from Hogwarts.'
Dennis tried to smile at his son. 'I'd almost forgotten about my own past, Ralph. It had been so long, and I'd tried so hard to bury it. I'm a Squib, son. Your grandparents and your uncle were witches and wizards, but I wasn't born with their powers. They raised me for as long as they could, but they hated my nature. When I came of age and they could see for sure that I didn't have any magical skills, they couldn't bear it. They hid me from the rest of the magical world. I was their ugly little secret. But they couldn't hide me forever. Finally, when I was twelve, they sent me away. I went to a Muggle orphanage, under the pretense that my parents had died in an accident. They made me vow never to mention them and never to try and seek them. My mother was… she was sad. She cried and hid her face from me. But my father was hard. She couldn't budge him. He hired a Muggle driver to take us to the orphanage. Mother stayed in the car when my father took me inside. She tried to embrace me, to say goodbye, but
