Harry Potter and the Wizards of Waverly Place: The Stone of Dreams

Chapter 24

After Hermione had finished with Alex, she shushed everyone.

"Alright then, this is important, can someone please hand Mr Russo a wand?"

"Here, Dad, you can hold mine," said Justin. Jerry looked extremely puzzled.

"What is this? What's going on?"

"Just hold it Dad. If Hermione is right... well, you'll see." Justin tossed his wand and his father caught it. Sparks shot out of the end, and Jerry gasped. He could feel his whole body buzzing with magic again for the first time since he'd married his wife and given his powers to his brother. He tried a spell, and a jug of lemonade appeared in thin air and poured itself into a glass which had also just appeared and hovered in front of him.

Jerry took a sip of the lemonade.

"IT WORKS!" he squealed loudly and gleefully. I can't believe it. I have powers again." Then he stiffened and frowned. "But that's impossible. The Wizard Power Grid is down. Nobody should be able to use magic--well except for you English guys I guess."

Hermione took a deep breath and explained how the power grid had worked. Jerry's face grew darker and darker. He couldn't believe it, but what Hermione was saying made perfect sense. Everything fit now. It was horrific that exposing the truth had come at the cost of a city full of Wizards and magical beings who had been vaporised. The Wizard Council had been hiding it for years. The Wizard World had been created by constantly draining the powers of every wizard who had ever believed that they were transferring their powers to a sibling.

Once Jerry had heard everything, he was appalled.

"This is going to change everything," he said with an oddly calm voice. "Nobody will want to give up their magic again. I don't know what's going to happen next. Everybody is going to be upset about losing Wizard World City and trying to pick up the pieces. But there will also be a LOT of angry Wizards. I'm one of them."

"Fortunately I still have my old wand," continued Jerry. "We need to find out what's happening and who--if anyone--is in charge. I'll take care of that. You'll be needed too Justin. As a Monster Hunter you might be one of the few Wizard Officials left in the government. It's your duty to step up."

"What about Alex?" asked Justin apprehensively. "Shouldn't I stay with her?" 

His father looked pained. Jerry hated the idea of Alex being on the run with Harry Potter without Justin to look out for her, but there was nothing he could do.

"I think Alex will be okay. It looks like she's got a lot of other Wizards to look out for her right now." He caught Kingsley's eye, who walked over to Jerry.

"Hagrid and I will contact our Ministry immediately for assistance," Kingsley said in his deep calming voice. "Without your grid operating, most of your protections from discovery by muggles will be offline; in Britain we deal with this daily. You will need a lot of us given the gravity of the situation."

"Thank you," said Jerry gratefully. He glanced at Harry who was speaking quietly to George. 

Shacklebolt spoke again. "Harry and Hermione will seek out Alecto and Amycus Carrow and do whatever is necessary to stop them. They're good at that sort of thing." Which was exactly what was bothering Jerry. Kingsley tried to reassure him. "Your son Max has chosen to remain with your daughter, wherever she goes with Harry and Ms Granger. And they will all have the additional protections of the Weasleys who have also elected to stay with the hunt."

In fact, Max and Ginny seemed to be really be hitting it off with each other. Max had Ginny in stitches with his daft antics. Normally, Max would be using some of his prank spells on Justin or his dad. But it didn't really seem appropriate at the moment, so he was hexing himself. Max had just shown Ginny the feet for hands spell and she was roaring with laughter.

"We'll stay here for the night," Harry told George. "Hermione says Alex still needs to recuperate--I suppose we all do. I'll have to see if Mr and Mrs Russo have a spot where you and Ginny can kip for a bit too."

Jerry and Teresa were extremely welcoming. But Jerry bit his tongue when Hermione insisted that Harry would have to stay with her while she kept an eye on Alex through the night-in Alex's room. That made him a bit uncomfortable, thinking about a boy spending the night in Alex's room. But he couldn't really say anything without seeming like a jerk as Harry Potter's girlfriend was hardly likely to let him and Alex get up to anything.

Ginny and George were offered Harper's basement room for the night, as she had fled to Zeke's parents' house when she realised that the Russo's apartment would be full of Wizards. She had freaked out at the idea that there would be so many--especially after Hagrid arrived. Hagrid may have only been a half-giant, but Harper didn't know that. At 11 and a half feet tall, the hairy Hagrid towered over her, and when he had bent down to introduce himself she had shrieked and run out of the room.