The other was a confundus charm, catching Myers mid-step. The man paused, seemingly unsure about what he was doing. But that pause was enough for Iron Man to finally connect with one of his replulsar blasts, sending the man flying, the boomerangs that he held falling limply from his hands.
A short flight and Iron Man was standing over the guy before he stepped back, gesturing to a pair of police officers not too far away.
"Okay, it's safe now, he's down for the count," Iron Man called, before shrugging at the crowd. "Sorry about the mess, folks. Tourists, eh? Love 'em or hate 'em, they always end up here, just can't keep them away from the Big Apple."
"Come on, Harry," Hermione hissed, tugging on his arm.
One look was enough to tell him that she wasn't exactly pleased with what he'd just done and he was in for a right telling off. He couldn't help but give a wry grin. It was just like old times.
ooo00ooo
"That was incredibly reckless, Harry," Hermione scolded. "You could have been seen!"
Harry'd known this was coming. He was only surprised that she'd been able to restrain herself until they were safely behind the doors of his apartment. He knew the signs and he knew the laws. In fact, he thought it might be something that he could use to at least gain a stalemate in the argument.
Unfortunately, he was stopped before he could reply by a knock at the door. As he moved to answer it, he caught Hermione's eye telling him that the discussion wasn't over. He made a mental note not to forget his counter-arguments.
He blinked at the two uniformed men at his door.
"Oh, it's you two," he deadpanned.
The two aurors glanced at each other before they turned back to him.
"May we come in, Mister Potter?" the one on the right asked.
Stepping aside with a barely supressed sigh, he gestured them in.
"Do you remember us, Mister Potter?" the one who ha first spoken asked.
Harry did, although their names escaped him. These were the two who confronted him in the basement of the Den just after he'd bought the place, thinking that he was using magic in a muggle area.
"Aurors … Steven and … Jerry?" he asked.
"Close. I'm Jenkins. My partner is Auror Stevenson," Auror Jenkins replied. "May I ask who this is?"
"Hermione Granger," Hermione replied, shooting Harry a Look that told him that he had a story to tell her as soon as they were gone.
"I take it you're from Britain as well?" Stevenson asked.
Hermione nodded. "Yes. I'm here on holiday."
The two aurors turned to Harry. "Do you know why we're here, Mister Potter?"
Well, he did, but that didn't mean that he was going to make it easy for them.
"No, I'm afraid that I don't," he replied.
Hermione's roll of eyes told him that she knew that he was lying through his teeth.
"Mister Potter. Two spells were detected being performed in a highly public area. Both spells were low level but contained your magical signature," Jenkins stated.
"Is that right?" Harry asked.
"You know that that's correct, Mister Potter," Stevenson replied. "The last time we were here we informed you that we kept a careful eye on magic being performed within the greater New York area as well as the fact that we now had your magical signature on file."
Harry shrugged. "Fine. I did the spells. A banisher and a mild confundus."
"And you know that performing both of those spells in a nomaj area is a breach of the International Statute of Secrecy, a breach that carries a fine at minimum?" Stevenson asked.
This, Harry thought, would be the perfect time to use those arguments that I was going to use against Hermione.
"Isn't there a clause within the Statute that states that magic may be used in the defence of non-magicals or to aid the saving of lives?" Harry asked.
Hermione's gasp was music to his ears. She'd worked out exactly what his argument was.
Jenkins and Stevenson looked at each other, a slightly uncertain expression passing across their faces for a fraction of a minute.
"There is," Jenkins allowed. "Perhaps you should give us your version of events that would justify using those spells within a nomag-inhabited area."
A parchment and quill had appeared in the auror's hand to take notes.
"Hermione and I were in Central Park," Harry began, "when there was some altercation between Iron Man and some other guy with exploding boomerangs."
"We're aware of the situation that occurred this afternoon," Stevenson stated.
"Then you'll know that with the way the two were fighting, people were getting hurt. A couple of those boomerangs were knocked off course by Iron Man and exploded where there were people. There were at least a dozen people injured before I did anything," Harry relayed. "I saw one the boomerangs heading for the crowd and used a banisher to knock it away where it could explode harmlessly. And then I used a simple confundus to confuse the guy so that Iron Man could take him down quickly and easily.
"No one saw me. I made sure that Hermione was between me and anyone else," he added.
"Under those circumstances, I believe that we can let you off with a warning today," Jenkins said. "A note will, however, be placed in your file."
"Make sure it doesn't happen again," Stevenson stated bluntly.
Harry couldn't resist. "Make sure what doesn't happen again? Stopping people from getting hurt? Or helping Iron Man?"
Jenkins' eyes darkened. "You know exactly what I mean, Mister Potter. We'll see ourselves out."
The door had barely closed before Hermione was on him.
"Did you want to get arrested? Mouthing off at an auror like that. Honestly!" she slapped his arm and shook her head, but before he could reply, she was pointing at the nearby couch. "Now. Sit and tell me why it is that aurors know your magical signature."
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