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Manipulations

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It didn't really bother him, though, so he stepped forward onto the path the water revealed as it moved. He was just about to cross when he caught sight of a car speeding right at him. The car was coming out of the very statue that was supposed to prevent accidents, and yet, Severus was inches away from being rundown ...

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In a flash the water around the statue whirled around cloaking Severus in a protective barrier and forced the car up into the air removing all its traction. As the young male driver, who seemed to be suffering a panic attack over what nearly happened, was pulled out by the water tendrils the statue came to life and looked down at Severus and the car. Her eyes looked worried and pissed at the same time. The orb in the statue's hands began glowing red and several Aurors appeared with Adina ...

"Dear Merlin! Medical assistance now! Get the rune masters here and the Director of Decoction too!" Adina yelled in an authoritative voice, which was different from her usual friendly tone as the aurors warded off the area, "The rune masters who maintain the statue need to release you so just hold on a second, Severus. The water is meant to protect should the other wards fail."

"I understand." Severus bit out though he wasn't happy about it. Every second that passed made him more and more nervous he became about his potion, which was brewing. After barely a minute of waiting for the rune masters and healers Severus scrapped the idea about going home and was fully prepared to race back to Decoction. The only reason he calmed down was because Harry arrived and was instantly at his side even when the water was pulling back to release him.

Harry watched the healers check Severus over as the rune masters examined the statue's orb, "This is a very strange occurrence."

"Yes, very." Adina agreed and perked up as three wizards and witches in green robes that marked them as the rune masters on duty came over with the glowing red orb, "What's the status?"

The rune master with a badge stepped up, "Someone overrode the first five of the 10 safety wards. It was rather sloppy work, but ... there were a few other alterations. Someone deliberately used a small amount of Potion Master Snape's magic as a trigger. Everything safety wise would shut off and it would become dangerous to cross."

"So, someone tried to kill me." Severus said bluntly after being checked out by the healers and coming over to stand next to Harry, "I don't leave my magic laying around so easily so how could someone take it?" He asked more than a little irritated at the delay.

An auror came over, "That's a good question actually. Can you think of any enemies here or where you may have left any samples of your magic in the last ..." The auror paused and looked at the rune masters for a confirmation on how old the sample of magic used was.

"Oh, right!" The rune master picked up the crystal ball and handed it to the auror, "The magic was about 5 or 6 days old."

Adina sighed "Give the aurors all the information you can find and send word into the news stations saying that the Witching Ball entrance is shut down until further notice. Can you get up a temporary entrance soon?"

"My team can have a temporary entrance up in six hours, but it will be less effective at maintaining a safe traffic flow. We should be able to fix the wards on the statue in two days." The leader of the team of rune masters said seriously as one of the other members already began calling various media outlets to get the word out quickly.

"Good, get it done as quickly as possible." Adina said and as the rune masters went to work she turned back to the Auror, Harry and Severus, "Did the other person involved have any reason to hurt someone or was this just bad luck on his part?"