Neville was leading Mr. Recreant out of the room, with the Headmistress following. Harry gestured with his wand. "Come, Miss Sacarhina. Titus Hardcastle awaits to escort you back to the Ministry, and patience is not one of his stronger suits."
Sacarhina's face went blank as she realized she had no choice but to follow along. No doubt she had a very good defense ready, James thought as she stalked out of the room in front of his dad. People like her always had lots of ways to cover their tracks. Still, it didn't look good for Brenda Sacarhina. As the door leading to the Great Hall swung open, James saw Titus Hardcastle grinning mirthlessly, his wand pointing carefully at the floor.
James found himself left only with Merlin, Zane, Ralph, and Dennis Dolohov
Dennis looked at his son, and then touched him on the shoulder. "I'm sorry, Ralph. I really am. I was… confused."
"You should've told me, Dad," Ralph said, dropping his eyes.
Dennis nodded. After a moment, he raised his eyes to Merlin. "Am I going to go to wizarding prison?" he asked, trying to firm his voice. "I'll… I'll go along quietly, I guess."
"Somehow, I suspect not, Mr. Dolohov," Merlin said, turning to lead the group out of the chamber. He opened the door leading to the Great Hall. "But your actions have resulted in quite a conundrum. It appears that this school's security, strong as it may once have been, is not quite prepared to meet the challenges of modern Muggle technology. Perhaps you'd have some thoughts on how to improve it?"
Dennis frowned. "What are you suggesting? You want my help?"
Merlin shrugged. "I am simply acknowledging a rather curious coincidence. You are in need of employment and we are in need of a revised security programme. As a wizard who also happens to be an expert in Muggle technology, you seem rather uniquely qualified to serve in that regard."
Dennis grinned in relief. "I'll think about that, sir."
"I am in no position to make any offers on behalf of this school, of course," Merlin said, crossing the Great Hall with his long, commanding stride. "But I know the Headmistress. I'll see what I can do."
"So," Zane said, following Ralph and James into the Entrance Hall, "turns out you were of solid magical stock after all, Ralph, even if they were a bunch of cruel, heartless purebloods. Not that it matters, really, but it does sort of explain why you were made a Slytherin."
"Maybe," Ralph said quietly. "This is all too much for me to take in one day. Either way, none of that magic was mine. It was the staff."
Merlin stopped near the stairs, and then turned slowly. He gazed at Ralph speculatively. "You were the keeper of my staff?"
"Yeah," Ralph answered dejectedly. "I kept it from killing anyone, I guess. But barely."
"Don't listen to him," Zane said. "He was spectacular with it. Saved James' life once with it. Grew a peach tree out of a banana, too! So he once burned a bald stripe onto Victoire's head in D.A.D.A. All of us have thought about doing that to her from time to time just to shut her up."
Merlin approached Ralph. James was certain the wizard hadn't been carrying his staff a moment before, but as he lowered himself to one knee in front of Ralph, he now held it in his right hand. The runes along its length were dark, but James remembered how they'd pulsed with green light the night before.
"Mr. Deedle--or shall I call you Mr. Dolohov?" Merlin said.
"I'm kind of attached to the Deedle," Ralph answered, glancing up at his father. "I don't know if I'm ready to be a Dolohov yet. Sorry, Dad." Dennis gave a small understanding smile.
"Mr. Deedle, then," Merlin said. "Not just any wizard could have born the responsibility of the staff. You have heard it said that the wand chooses the wizard, and this is true. Madame Delacroix believed you were merely a vessel to bring the staff to her, but she was mistaken. The staff chose you. A lesser wizard would have been unable even to hold the staff, much less use it. But you, without knowing it, brought the staff under your own power. You had no idea of the strength of it, and yet you managed it. It obeyed you, and that is the mark of a wizard of very, very great potential. Part of this staff now belongs to you, Mr. Deedle. I have felt it. I knew that a portion of it was no longer my own, but I knew not whose it was. Now I know."
Merlin lowered his staff so that it lay across his knee. He closed his eyes and felt along the length of the staff, his hand barely touching the wood. Faint green light moved within the runes, flickering. Merlin wrapped his hand around the lower, tapered end of his staff, then, with barely a twist, broke off the last foot of its length. He opened his eyes again and held the length of wood out to Ralph.
"You are, I believe, in need of a wand, Mr. Deedle."
Ralph took the length of wood from Merlin. As he did, the wood became his wand again, still ridiculously fat and chunky, with the lime green painted tip. Ralph grinned, turning it over in his hands.
"I wouldn't expect it to be quite as powerful as it once was, of course," Merlin said, turning his staff upright and using it to stand again. The staff was noticeably shorter now. "But I suspect you will still be able to do remarkable things with it."
"Thanks," Ralph said seriously.
"Don't thank me," Merlin said, raising an eyebrow. "It's yours, Mr. Deedle. You made it so."
"So the wizard gives the cowardly lion his courage," Zane said, grinning. "When does James here get some brains?"
Merlin cinched his eyebrow a bit higher, looking from Zane to James.
"Don't pay him any attention," James said, laughing and leading the group to the stairs. "It's a Muggle thing. We wouldn't understand."
"Come on!" Ralph called, running up the steps. "I want to show Ted and the rest of the Gremlins I've got my wand back! Tabitha Corsica can keep her stupid broom."
The three boys scrambled up the moving staircases, followed more sedately by Merlin and the newly reborn Dennis Dolohov.
"Will he be okay with that thing?" Dennis asked Merlin, frowning a little.
Merlin merely smiled and clacked his staff on the steps as he climbed. Unnoticed, a jet of lime green sparks shot from the tip, swirling and glowing like fireflies in their wake.
21.The Gift of the Green Box
The last weeks of the school year spun out before James like a blur, remarkably free of deathly peril and adventure, but packed nonetheless with the lesser stresses of schoolwork and final essays and wand practicals, all of which were relatively welcome in the wake of the Hall of Elders' Crossing. To no one's great surprise, Hufflepuff was awarded the House Cup, being the only house to avoid major point deductions for involvement in the various Merlin conspiracy skullduggeries. The broomstick caper alone had cost Ravenclaw and Gryffindor fifty points each.