Anna Grayson and The Order of Merlin
The Letter

Eric was stunned, totallyspeechless. Anna, listening from her bed, immediately bolted upright. Shecouldn’t believe what she had just heard.

Mister Grayson continued. “Inever told you children because I didn’t want you worried about my safety.There were several attempts to assassinate me sixteen years ago, right after Itook my post at the bank, and they continued over the next five years. Youmight recall I took the family to Indonesia that summer for avacation. The real reason we left was because somebody tired to kill me outsidethe ministry offices in Sacramento.Apparently, they wanted to send a clear message that my position encouragingmore contact with Muggles in the Wizarding world was unacceptable to them.Eventually, one of the men planning my death was caught. He was a remnantsupporter of the nameless-one… Lord Voldemort.”

Hobbs squinted at the sound of the name.Nobody in the wizarding world ever repeated Voldemort’s name out loud for fearof his lingering power. Anna had heard the story of Voldemort many times. Hehad once been the most powerful dark wizard in more than a hundred years. Atone time, Voldemort’s forces where strong and gaining momentum as they began aterrible campaign of murder and destruction. Their final ambition was to takecontrol of the entire Wizarding world. Voldemort’s hate for the Muggles wasespecially wicked, and they unknowingly were at the greatest risk from his evilreach.

And then, almost thirteen yearsago, and just a few weeks before Anna was born, something strange happened.Lord Voldemort suddenly disappeared and was never heard from again. There werestories, of course; almost legendary tales about a young boy, barely a yearold, who defeated Voldemort after the Dark Lord had killed the boy’s parents.That boy’s name was Harry Potter. Nobody really understood how young Harry haddefeated Voldemort, but he was famous for it. And then, just three years ago,Harry Potter surfaced again to begin his wizard training at Hogwarts School ofWitchcraft and Wizardry in England.Anna had often heard her father speaking of Harry and Voldemort in a mannerthat suggested the unbelievable possibility that their battles were still on-going.

Mister Grayson continued,“There have been a few more rather aggressive attempts on my life since then,but they have become somewhat feeble over the years since Voldemort’s demise.”Mister Grayson turned to Doyle again. “If what you’re suggesting is true, thenthis attempt on my family would represent a dramatic departure from what we’veseen in the past. I’m not convinced using a creature like this to bring me harmfits the mold of an assassination. Something like this would have taken yearsto plan. Think of it… just the effort to capture the creature would have beenchallenging enough, and then to replace a way to bring it here and place it on thegrounds without my knowledge? To what advantage? From what you’ve saidyourself, the creature would have only had a few hours at most to attack usbefore dying in the hot climate.”

“Yes,” Eric added, stillstaring at his father in disbelief, “and there are plenty of other animals onthe grounds to hunt. It would have been far easier, and a lot less risky, toattack one of them rather than entering the house looking for us. In fact thecreature killed a deer either before or just after it took Anna. It doesn’tmake sense that this could have been something planned.”

Hobbs nodded. “I have to admit… what you sayis true. But these beasts are drawn to heat and to the breathing of their preywhen hunting after sunset. We really know so little about these creatures; it’shard to say what part of their behavior is normal.”

“Just think for a moment aboutwhat happened here,” added Doyle. “If someone did try to kill you last night,they might have found the perfect way to do it. They release the beast on thegrounds close or actually in the house, it kills its victims, and then it dies.If given enough time, there might have been nothing left to understand whathappened here. And who would assume Mister Grayson’s post if something likethis had succeeded? Putting aside the skill and knowledge necessary for thejob… I doubt there would be any takers for the vacant position if word got outhe’d been murdered. Fear is known to be a very effective tool in extending thewishes of those who…”

“Fear? Fear of what? OfVoldemort?” asked Eric, who now seemed angry at the very idea somebody might betrying to attack his family. Hobbsflinched again at hearing the Dark Lord’s name.

“If you please, Eric, don’t saythat name,” Hobbsbegged, looking warily around the room.

Mister Grayson smiled slightly.“Mr. Hobbs… nearly everybody in the Wizarding world is afraid of thenameless-one, even though he’s been gone for more than ten years. I believe, byrefusing to say his name, we actually empower his followers with our fear.There are no such restrictions under this roof. The Graysons speak Voldemort’sname openly and without fear.”

Hobbs seemed shyly astonished by MisterGrayson’s words. He had never met anybody who openly said they didn’t fearVoldemort. Doyle looked impressed as well. Hobbs spoke in a hesitant tone. “Well… as Isaid sir, my expertise is rather limited to that of beasts and creatures, andnot the ambitions of evil wizards. I’ll leave that to Lieutenant Doyle here.There will be guards from the CDDC stationed around the property over the nextweek as we continue our search on the grounds. I will leave the higher mattersof your personal security, and that of your family, to the offices of theWizard Authority.”

“Is you feelwing awright, MissAnna?” said a squeaky voice to Anna’s left. Anna turned and saw Gabby sittingnext to her. The elf’s ears were drooped down displaying her obvious concern.

“Yes, Gabby,” Anna lied, “I’m…fine.”

The little elf burst intocrying sobs. “Oh we is so worried about you’s,” she wailed, throwing her armsaround Anna’s waist. Very wet tears were pouring out of her huge oval eyes.

“Anna!” sang Mister Grayson,who swept back into the room and over to Anna’s bed. He hugged his daughter andthe elf tightly together, choking back his own tears. “I thought I had lostyou… I thought…” but he couldn’t finish. Anna reached up and held her fatherclose, sobbing as Mister Grayson kissed her forehead and cheeks and hugged heragain.

“Ahhh… now that’s a wonderfulsight,” said Lieutenant Doyle, still standing and smiling at the door. “Well,we’ll leave you to your family, Eric, and my office will be in touch with yourfather later with an update on our investigation into these matters. I bid yougoodnight,” said the detective smartly, as he turned to walk back down thehallway.

Hobbs was shaking Eric’s hand. He leanedforward to whisper, “If you can arrange it later, I would really like tointerview Anna and Damon about their experience with the creature. I mean,having one living survivor of a Lethifold attack is unbelievable… but two? Wow…this is very exciting for us,” he said, smiling broadly. Eric pulled his handaway in anger before moving to close the door. Hobbs was taken aback, “Oh… well if you needanything… I’ll be just outside,” he said concernedly, his eyes following theever-narrowing gap in the door before Eric closed it in his face.

Eric walked over to the bed andtried to get through the many arms surrounding his sister. “Hey let me in onsome of this good stuff,” he said, smiling.

Anna releasedher father and reached up into Eric’s waiting arms, Gabby still clutchedtightly around her middle. “Oh Eric…you found me… You saved me. I was so cold,”Anna said, still crying weakly.

Eric smiled.“Yes… and hungry too, you said,” he chuckled, wiping her wet face.

“Eeeeekkk,” Gabby squealed, “Iis a bad elf. I is to replace Widwick and get some foods for you’s, Miss Anna.”And with that, she Disapparated with a soft pop!

“Ah… more room for me,” Ericsaid, as he moved in closer to Anna and hugged her again. He peered over hershoulder and into his father’s smiling face. After the last terrifying twelvehours, the man finally looked relieved.

“Thank God,” Mister Graysonsaid in a whisper.

“The Muggle bus!” “The Mugglebus!” “The Muggle bus!” squawked the parrot in the entryway downstairs.

“No school for you, young lady;not until the healers get a chance to check you out,” her father said sternly.

“Yes, sir,” Anna sobbed, smilingup at him.

A few hours later, a number of wizardhealers were talking to Anna’s father at the foot of her bed. They had spentthe entire afternoon poking and stabbing, and waving their wands over everyinch of her body, turning Anna’s bedroom into a small laboratory with theirmany whirring instruments and gyrating gadgets. Anna was starving when Widwickarrived with a very large plate of sandwiches and some soup. Anna broke downinto tears again at seeing Widwick, happy and safe, handing her a small plateof crustless triangles. It was the first time she had seen him since theterrible dream the night before, and she hugged the elf tightly, nearlyknocking over the plate in his outstretched hands. When Anna was finallysatisfied Widwick was undamaged, she turned her attention to the food andstarted stuffing as many of the small sandwiches into her mouth as she couldmanage.

“Vell, despite all of the testsve could do, seeing her eat like dis is still the best sign everything is goingto be fine,” said one of the burly and beaded healers to her father.

Anna frowned; they were wrong;she was not fine. She wanted to tell them her awful secret. The creatureeverybody was searching for outside was still here, watching and waiting tocome out again; waiting to attack them once more at the first opportunity whilethey were sleeping. She started to feel a burning flow of tears welling up inher eyes again as she reached out to grab another sandwich. She remained quietwhile she ate.

“Mister Grayson, I vood’ like tobe here ven you talk to Anna,” said the bearded healer in a heavy Easternaccent. “I vood like to hear vot she has to say of her experience las’ night.Although she seems physically fine… I am vorried about her mental state. Thethings she’s had to endure are… how you say… unimaginable, and it vood benormal for trauma of this magnitude to have lasting effects. I vood like yourpermission to stay long enough to hear vot she has to say.” Mister Graysonagreed. He too was worried about Anna’s ability to cope with what had happenedto her.

After Anna finished her lunchand Gabby had left with the empty tray, Mister Grayson walked over to her bedand pushed in a chair to sit down. Eric took a seat in the corner of the roomopposite. The doctors and healers packed up their equipment and exited to thehallway and down the long staircase, their many boxes and bags bumped along therailing as they pounded down the steps. The healer who had asked to stay stoodleaning against the wall next to Eric with a small notebook and quill at theready.

“Anna,” Mister Grayson said,leaning forward. “Sweetheart, we need to talk about what happened last night.Do you think you’re up for that?”

The time had finally come, andAnna knew what she had to do. She spent the next fifteen minutes telling themeverything that had happened to her, and then she completely broke down. Shetold her father about her dream of Damon and Widwick, and how, when she awoke,she found herself within the cold blackness of the creature they called the Lethifold.She told them how she left her bedroom to enter Damon’s room, and began to cryas she described the terrible hunger that forced her to attack her brother.

“But daddy — Iswear, I didn’t realize it was him. I really didn’t know what I was doing,”Anna said through her falling tears.

Mister Grayson placed his armsaround Anna and hugged her again. He then looked over at the healer, whowordlessly motioned for him to keep talking to his daughter. “Anna, it’s allright, honey — it wasn’t your fault. The creature hadobviously attacked you before you woke up. It had already taken you…”

“No, daddy…You don’tunderstand… I wasn’t attacked. It was me all along,” Anna said, crying evenlouder.

“I don’t know what you mean,Anna… What are you saying?” asked her father, his face a study of rareconfusion.

Anna looked at her father andthen to Eric sitting in the corner. “I’m saying… I am the creature. The thingdidn’t attack me… I turned into it. It’s still here — inside me! I can feel it.” Anna fell back against her pillow cryingharder than ever, pulling the blanket up to cover her face. “I can still feelit… It’s still here!”

Mister Grayson looked stunned.Seeing Anna’s father struggling with his response, the healer walked over toAnna and lifted her wrist to take her pulse. “You say… Anna has no knownmagical capabilities?”

“That’s right,” replied MisterGrayson, solemnly.

The healer leaned over Anna,who was still sobbing into her blankets. “Anna… can I ask you a question?” Annalooked up and cautiously nodded. “Now… I am not here to say ve don’t believeyou, but vot you are describing is magic far beyond anything ve currently know.Ve realize the ability to transform into various animals is indeed possible. Vecall them… Animagi.But these individuals spend years in guarded training before attempting suchmagic, and most never truly succeed. This has alvays been considered veryadvanced magic, and only a tiny handful of individuals have been known toaccomplish such a miraculous feat. In fact, I could give you the names of thefew successful vitches and vizards who have done this on one hand, covering thelast hundred years. And even if they do succeed, it is alvays the most basic ofanimals — adherent to their personal nature, and nevera magical creature like the one you have described. For somebody such asyourself, vith no magical capabilities or training…” the healer shook his head,“vhat you think happened is impossible.”

Mister Grayson looked at Annawith an expression that told her he agreed with the healer’s explanation.

“So… my qvestion is,” thehealer continued, “have you experienced anything strange or different in yourpersonal abilities recently?”

“Yes, I have,” Anna answered,and she told them about how she had found Mrs. Drummond in the woods, and herexperiences in the ocean.

“Vell… although vhat youdescribe is indeed strange… they do not necessarily sound magical in thetraditional sense. It sounds more like the abilities of some of the magicalcreatures ve know. I do not know of any case describing a vitch or a vizardthat can do the things you’ve described.”

“What about the gates?” Annasaid in frustration, looking at her father.

“Gates? Vhat gates?” asked thehealer, looking around and somewhat confused.

Mister Grayson sighed. “Annatold me yesterday she could see the gates beyond the barrier at the end of theroad. I’ve placed several charms on the property to keep the Muggles away. Annashould not have been able to see the gates from that distance outside thegrounds.

Anna looked at Eric sitting inthe corner. “Did you change any of the spells on the grounds for daddy?”

“Me? No — whywould I do that?” Eric said in surprise.

Anna looked at her father, whowas now frowning. “Anna I don’t understand what’s going on here, but we’llfigure it out together — all right?” he said, trying to soundreassuring.

Anna nodded skeptically. Shedidn’t feel a whole lot better, but just talking about her recent experiencesseemed to ease some of her concerns. Maybe the healer was right. Maybe what shethought had happened was wrong. She wasn’t sure of anything anymore.

“Vell, I think it’s best ve lether sleep,” said the healer. “But I’d like permission to see you againtomorrow, Anna, so ve can talk about some of these other strange coincidences.Vould that be all right?” Anna nodded and the healer turned to Mister Grayson.

“I’ll be checking on Damon onemore time before I go, but I see no long-term effects in him resulting fromthis attack. In fact he’s still very angry about vot’s happened, and I thinkthat’s also a healthy sign. I’ll be in contact vith you again tomorrow.” Heshook Mister Grayson’s hand and headed for the door. Eric was following him.

“I’ll walk you down, healer,”Eric said kindly. “My father wants me to check on the ministry representativessearching the grounds anyway.”

The man nodded. “It is verybusy out there, is it not? I mean — a lot of people valking and poking around.”He turned one last time to look back at Anna in her bed. “Yes — itvill be quite a vile, I’m afraid, until things are back to normal,” hewhispered solemnly, as he turned to leave.

“Are you tired?” Mister Graysonasked Anna.

She was thinking about theconversation her father had with Eric when she first woke up. “A little, butI’m okay,” she replied. Then, without thinking, she asked, “Daddy, what did youmean when you told Eric you thought I had some kind of protection from thiscreature?”

Mister Grayson stared at Annawith a somewhat surprised expression. “Hmm — I suppose you heard everything,then?” he asked, looking disgruntled

“Yes, sir… I’m sorry, but Icouldn’t help it.”

Her father paused, as ifthinking of a way to explain something rather difficult. “What I’m about totell you, Anna, should be kept between the two of us — all right? I don’t wanta lot of people prying into our family’s personal affairs.” Anna cautiouslynodded. “I say this because…” he hesitated, and then, “this was not the firsttime you’ve been in contact with a Lethifold.”

“What? Really? When? How?” Annaasked in stumbled shock.

“It was during that trip wetook to Indonesiaafter one of the more deadly assassination attempts. I must say, at the time,it really shook me up; and to make matters worse, the attempts on my life werenot happening because of something I was doing. They were trying to murder mefor something they thought I was going to do. Something… I eventually succeededin doing well.”

“You mean… bringing us closerto the Muggles?” asked Anna.

“That’s right. The forces ofthe nameless-one were really very strong in those days. Even after hedisappeared they would have done anything to reduce the influence Muggles hadin our world. The Muggles didn’t know it, of course, but their investments inthe Wizarding world were certainly opening the lines of communication unlikeany time before in our history. After these assassins failed to kill me, I tookthe family to the Pacific Rim to think aboutmy personal goals, and how they might affect my family. It was there, in afairly remote area of the jungle, where you were attacked.”

“Attacked? Me?”

“Well… perhaps attacked to toostrong a word. It was very late in the evening, and we were all sleeping in asmall bungalow when I awoke to hear you laughing somewhere outside. You wereabout three-years old at the time. Well… I couldn’t believe it. All of theother children were sleeping, and I had already put you to bed hours beforethem. I ran outside and followed the sounds of your laughter into the woods.”Anna was mesmerized by her father’s story as he continued his amazing account.

“When I finally found you, Icouldn’t believe my eyes. You were standing in the middle of the forest in yourpajamas, playing with something wrapped around your legs. At first, I didn’trealize what it was, because it looked like you were wearing some kind of shirtyou had taken from one of your sister’s bags. But when the creature began tomove around you, I understood what it was immediately. I remember you werelaughing and dancing with this thing clinging to your legs without a care inthe world. My initial reaction, of course, was to pull out my wand, but whatcould I do? I couldn’t hex the thing while it was attached to you.

“Then I noticed the animal wasacting very strange, not at all like I had read in my studies of magicalcreatures. It didn’t seem to hurt you or go near your face; so I waited, andwatched for an opportunity to draw it away from you. As the minutes passed andI continued to watch from my hiding place, I realized it looked as though itwas trying to protect you, or at least remain close to you. At one point, awild pig walked out of the woods and was curious enough to approach you. To mysurprise, the Lethifold’s reaction to this intruder seemed rather violent. Itleft you to strike at the pig, rising up between the two of you and lashing outwildly, while, at the same time, trying to hold on to one of your legs. To myastonishment, the pig wouldn’t leave; it was also trying to get close to you,even though its life was clearly in danger. Eventually, the Lethifold releasedyou to attack the animal, and you hid behind a tree during the fight. It wasthen I saw my chance and grabbed you.”

Mister Grayson seemed tofinish, and Anna was surprised when he continued. “Then, the most amazing thinghappened,” he said, looking back up at her again. “As I was running back alongthe path to the house, we saw the creature again. It was ahead of us, crossingthe path as if to cut off our escape. At first, I thought the thing had somehowmoved around to block our way, and I recall thinking the creature was a lotfaster than it looked. I stopped, and with you still in my arms, I slowlystarted to retreat. Then I heard you laughing and pointing at something in thepath behind us. I spun around, and there, coming out of the woods, was a secondLethifold. I think it must have been the original creature you had been playingwith earlier. I have to say, for such a rare creature, we certainly did draw acrowd that night. The two of them never touched us, but continually circled uson the path.”

Mister Grayson seemed to breakfrom his story long enough to give Anna a slight smile. “You, of course,thought all of this was quite marvelous, but after a time you started to gettired, and yelled at them to ‘go home!’”

Anna smiled a little as shecontinued to listen — not wanting to miss a word.

“To my surprise… the creaturesstopped moving. They just… hovered there in front of us. I tried to step aroundthem, but they always moved to block my way. They seemed to be listening toyou, but they weren’t too keen on letting me take you away. On a hunch, Iwhispered in your ear and asked you to tell them to leave us alone. You pointeddown at them… and shouted — ‘GO AWAY!’” Anna was somewhat surprised by her owncourage at the time. Her father leaned back in his chair and smiled.

“And, believe it or not, that’s exactly whatthey did. The two of them started heading off in different directions back intothe woods. I think it delighted you to see their eagerness to obey, becausethey left you clapping after them. For my part, I counted my blessings anddashed the rest of the way back to our camp. I put you to bed and stood carefulguard until the next morning, and then we packed up and left for home.”

Her father ended his story, butthen he looked up at Anna again. “You know… it’s one thing to see a rarecreature like this once in a lifetime, but now we’ve seen three of them andyou’ve come into direct contact with two. Anna, I’ve had too much experience inmy life to believe in this many coincidences. I am convinced that whateversaved you from these creatures the first time is what saved you again lastnight.” But then, looking as if he had caught himself saying somethingembarrassing, he stopped as if to apologize. “That is, assuming of course, youwere wrong about somehow transforming yourself into this creature.”

“You don’t believe me… do you,daddy?” she asked in a disappointed tone.

He leaned forward toward her.“It doesn’t matter what I believe, Anna. What matters is replaceing the truth.” Herecognized his effort to make Anna feel better had failed so he stood and satnext to his daughter on the bed. “I believe you, honey. I believe you thinkyour experience was real, and that’s why we need to bring the healer backtomorrow. We’ll get to the bottom of this — I swear we will. I’m going to stayhere with you throughout the evening and tonight. I’ll be here watching overyou while you sleep.” Then he smiled and reached up to gently smooth Anna’shair. “And if in your dreams the creature does come back… just tell him to ‘goaway!’ They always seem to listen to you for some reason.”

Anna smiled and hugged herfather, and in her ear she heard him whisper, “There has always been somethingspecial about you, Anna, when it comes to the creatures and animals around us.It doesn’t matter where this creature came from, whether it came from outsideor within, I should have known it would never have hurt you. It’s what makesyou special; it’s your gift; it’s probably not the kind of magic you werelooking for, but in a lot of ways, it’s much more important. Cherish whatyou’ve been given, sweetheart. It’s what makes you unique and one of the manyreasons I love you so much.”

Anna began to sob, stillholding her father close in her arms. Their closeness, however, was broken by ayell from downstairs. Loud thumping sounds could be heard thundering up thesteps in the hallway. There was a quick knock at the door and then it openedsuddenly. It was Eric. He was panting, flush from exertion, and there was asharp expression of surprised shock resident on his face.

Mister Grayson quickly stood.“What is it? What’s happened?”

Eric tried to catch his breath.“It’s all right… something… just came in… from… the owlry,” he said, pantingheavily.

“Well what is it? Speak up,boy. What’s happened?” Anna was lying in her bed again, the blankets clinchedup over her nose as she peered out. She didn’t want to imagine what couldhappen next.

“It’s… a letter! A letteraddressed to Anna,” Eric said, now straightening to take a deep breath as hehanded an envelope to their father.

Mister Grayson took theenvelope and looked at the person to whom it was addressed.

Miss AnnaGrayson of the Grayson Estate,

California.

Anna quickly sat upright. Whowould be writing to her now? And why wasEric so excited?

Eric looked at his sister andbeamed. “Anna — it’s a letter from Castlewood!”

Anna frowned and looked at herfather. “Why would Castlewood be writing to me, daddy?” she said inastonishment.

“I… I don’t know,” said MisterGrayson in a confused tone as he tore open the flap and pulled out the piece ofparchment from within. Mister Grayson read through the note and, scratching hishead, he slowly reached back to sit down in his chair again. Anna could tell hewas re-reading the letter a second time, a look of disbelief beginning toappear on his face.

“What is it, father?” askedAnna and Eric together.

“It’s… an invitation; aninvitation to Anna… to come to Castlewood Academy for the MagicalArts.”