Loud Silence

Chapter 10

Dennis arrived at the meeting site the next morning filled with nervous energy. Mr. Odpadki leaned against Kate waiting for him. The man scanned some sheets he clipped to the top of document holder. Dennis knew his employer sorted out their route for the day. They both dressed in the same style gray, stained overalls, and they looked very much like any other rubbish hauler.

"What's on for today?" Dennis asked when he got close enough.

"Olivander's got a load of wood shavings and decommissioned wands he wants us to cart off and destroy," Mr. Odpadki informed him.

"Isn't burning wands dangerous?"

"Who said anything about burning?"

"It's wood," Dennis half-stated and half-guessed.

"Alright, you got me on that one, ya snot," the burly man said with a chuckle. His forehead wrinkled in mirth and pale sunlight glinted off his mostly bald head.

Dennis smirked at being called a snot, one of Peeves' favorite insults. Mr. Odpadki stowed his clipboard under his arm and began walking around the front of the lorry. Dennis climbed into the passenger side.

"Got a special furnace back at the house for this, and a Ministry clerk'll be meeting us later to monitor the burning once I send word," said the man while turning over Kate's engine. She came to life with a throaty growl that almost sounded like a real animal. He patted the dashboard and smiled.

"Why a Ministry clerk?" Dennis inquired.

"Can't have magical wood and old wands going missing now, can we? Whoever they send will account for the weight in shavings and scrap, and check the manifest to make sure all decommissioned wands are there," Mr. Odpadki explained. "A person could make a lot of mischief with this stuff. Imagine what the Veloweisses would do with it?"

An involuntary shudder when through Dennis. Since they disposed of the family's unidentified flying object, reports of more sightings trickled through the news media. Several unnamed RAF pilots talked about incredibly fast, supersonic small objects they could not catch and that went into space. Mr. Odpadki said they would never speak again about what they did with the compacted trash heap, and that he would never again let a customer watch special disposal efforts. It seemed to Dennis the kelpie already jumped the berm for the ocean, but he said nothing.

Dennis got a lesson in wand production. While Olivander might sell the wands in Diagon Alley and a few other select places, he crafted the magical items in a separate location. The production facility, a squat barn next to a sumptuous-looking house, existed in heavily fortified location. The number of spells and wards Dennis felt himself pass through once they got permission to enter left him feeling like his first disapparting experience. He heard about the defenses used at Hogwarts during the battle, and he wondered why they never contacted the Olivanders to really protect the castle. While Mr. Olivander, himself, got kidnapped by Voldemort and subsequently freed by Harry Potter, it seemed neither Voldemort nor his forces ever breached the Olivander compound.

When they passed through the final barrier, a wiry, almost stringy, middle-aged man pointed to the barn. Mr. Odpadki seemed to know where to go. When the turned toward the rear of the barn, two young men waited for them. They clearly shared the same bloodline, and looked remarkably like their father. Dennis thought their father looked remarkably like Garrick Olivander, whom he met once. He got distracted by his employer's expert handling of the lorry as he maneuvered it around and backed it up to strange looking silo. He then shut down the motor.

"Ganin, Gerold," Mr. Odpadki called out as he exited Kate.

The two young men approached, but they silently stared at Dennis when he came around from the other side.