Near the border of the Forbidden Forest

Shelby shuffled some of the things under the seat in search of the pump Indiana had described. She moved more Chocolate Frog boxes and something tiny crawled onto her hand. She pulled her hand back to see that it was a small spider. She gently brushed it off of her outside of the car, letting it fall onto the grass before returning to her search. "You must know an awful lot about cars," she said, listening to him talk about fixing the body.

She finally spotted something that fit Indiana's description. She grabbed it and brought to Indiana. "Is this it?" she asked proudly, handing it to him.

"It's just simple observation and thinking through on what could be possibly done." Indiana replied. "I plan on sending a letter to May to see if she can find a book on making repairs to the Ford Anglia. Just some simple reading would at least give an idea on what to handle."

Indiana patted the car. "Hopefully, that should give Specter here some new life."

The car sputtered, sounding like it didn't like the name "Specter", before blowing a cloud of smoke from the exhaust pipe at Indiana, who quickly moved away.

"Ah yes, that's the one." Indiana spoke amid seeing Shelby holding a mechanical tire pump device.

Shelby giggled at the car's reaction. "I guess it doesn't want to be called Specter. How about Viper?" she asked the car, remembering the name of her brother's old goldfish. It honked angrily. "You're right, Viper is a silly name for a car," she laughed, trying to think of other names that the car might like more.

"Is May your sister?" Shelby asked, leaning back against the car.

"My older sister." Indiana replied. "She's twenty-five and is a recon sniper in the U.K. Special Forces. May is off duty until next year so I don't think she'll mind on doing some information research."

Taking the tire pump, the youth took the cap off one of the rear tires before fitting the mouth of the air tube over the tire's air conduit. He then proceeded to move the T-shape rod up and down, pumping air into the tire. All four tires of the Ford Anglia needed air and he certainly had some work cut for him.

"How about Dora?" he asked, directing the question to the car before seeing the broken wipers activate despite the absence of a windshield, indicating disapproval of the suggested name.

"Come to think of it, I don't even know the gender of this car if that's ever possible."

"Well, that's easy enough to find out," Shelby said to Indiana before addressing the car, "Okay car, would you like a boy name or a girl name? Honk once for boy and twice for girl," she instructed.

Two loud honks sounded across the lawn. "No wonder it didn't like the first two names," she laughed. "How about Elizabeth?" Shelby suggested. She wouldn't mind giving the car her middle name to use.

There was no reaction from the car to indicate that it either liked or disliked the name. "Alright, so Elizabeth is a possibility," she turned her attention back to Indiana, who was diligently pumping air into the tires. "Is there anything I can to do to help?" Shelby asked.

Indiana looked at Shelby before turning his attention to the slots where the windows used to be. "Well if it's not too much trouble, can you clear out the glass shards that might still be embedded in the areas where the windows and windshield used to be? Actually, how about you pump the tires and let me handle the glass shards."

As he stepped away, the youth turned towards the car. "How about the name Karen or perhaps Kallen? Wipers for no. Headlights for yes."

Only the wipers activated as the car disapproved.

Shelby wrinkled her nose, wondering why he didn't want her to get rid of the glass shards, but she agreed and took his spot at the pump. The repetetive motion was much more exhausting than she had thought.

"What about Marie?" she asked the car. "Same thing- wipers for no, headlights for yes."

The wipers flicked once again. Shelby frowned and looked back at the tire. It didn't seem like much was happening. "How do we know when it's done?"

"On the side of the air nozzle is a small cylindrical device used to measure air pressure. Press the side button and a small ruler bar will pop out. If the mouth of the device lines up with the bar's line reading 30 PSI, the tire should be full." Indiana explained.

The youth then picked up a stick before going into the car. Using the thin yet tough stick as a prodding sweeper, Indiana began digging out the glass shards from the crevices in the windshield. He noticed that a good number of the glass had stains that looked like bloodstains on them.

"Well, it looks like the car got roughed up by whatever is in the Forbidden Forest." Indiana remarked. "Some of glass shards had blood stains on them. Not sure what creature but who knows what would happen if you prick your fingers on them."

As Indiana continued cleaning the glass shards, an idea came to his head. "You know, since the car didn't react to the name Elizabeth, it might want a derivation. How about the name Elise?"

The headlights suddenly came to life rather than the wipers.

"Be careful then," Shelby said, continuing to pump air into the tire, "I don't want you to get cut. I'm not sure I'd be able to get you to the hospital wing."

She was surprised when the car finally agreed to a name. "Elise," she said, patting the car affectionately, "I like it."

"I wonder what it ran into in there. I heard there are unicorns in there but I don't think they'd do anything to Elise. Maybe one of the centaurs got annoyed and attacked it," Shelby theorized.

Taking the glass shards out of the crevices of the windshield slot was easy enough and Indiana managed to carefully gather them into a discarded cup. Once he was sure he was done, the youth ran the stick through the crevices to ensure that he didn't miss any and was satisfied with the clean-up for now. He then proceeded to repeat the procedure on the places where the side windows and the back window used to be.

"I could probably imagine a centaur or a group of them if Elise wandered into their territory." Indiana replied as he worked with efficient precision. "What else lives in the forest besides centaurs and unicorns?"

"Well," Shelby stopped pumping in order to think, trying to remember the creatures that her father had shown her in his old Care of Magical Creatures textbook. Her arms were thankful for the break. "I don't really have any way to know for sure since I've never been in there, but I've heard that there are some of every kind of creature you can imagine in there, everything from acromantulas to hippogriffs," she paused for a moment, "Dad says that there are even thestrals in the Forbidden Forest, not that I would be able to see them if I did go in there."

Amid clearing the glass shards out, Indiana managed to gather them onto a floor mat before carefully placing it on the hood of the car. The paper cup was filled with shards from the windshield, driver, and passenger slots such that he really had to improvise for the other window slots. Once he finished clearing all the window crevices, Indiana took time to check for any that he missed using the branch stick, picking about the crevices and finding none.

Indiana listened to Shelby's response. "Well, I suppose it could be any creature though I doubt that acromantulas bleed red when being turned into roadkill."

The youth then looked around for a place to dispose the glass shards before looking at the ground and finding a large and deep hole not far from a boulder. It was a few meters from his location. Finding it to be a potential disposal site, the youth then carefully placed the cup full of glass shards onto the floor mat that was on the hood, having it join the other pieces of shattered windows before folding it and holding the edges to make sure that none would slip out.

Approaching the hole that had a diameter of one foot, Indiana tossed the floor mat down into the hole, watching it disappear into the darkness beneath the earth before moving the large boulder that was bigger than him over the mouth to close it up.

"I kind of wish there were dumpsters nearby." Indiana muttered to himself before heading back. "Want to take a break, Shelby?"

"Elise, you already look so much better," Shelby cooed to the car, patting the hood affectionately while Indiana took care of the glass shards. The engine revved softly, reminding her of a purring kitten.

She looked up when the Hufflepuff boy came back. "Sure," she replied in response to his question. "Will you tell me more about your sister?" Shelby asked. "She sounds fantastic."

Indiana smiled. "Well, where would you like for me to start regarding May?"

He certainly didn't mind talking about his elder sibling, knowing that May had been there in helping him deal with life after their parents were killed when he was only five. Had he had been an only child, Indiana didn't even know what he would've done or where he would've ended up without May being there. After all, he didn't even think that he would've become the person that he is today.

"Anywhere you want," Shelby said with a smile, "What does she look like? What is your favorite thing about her? What exactly is a recon sniper and why did she choose that job? What kind of soup does she like?" she laughed, tossing out as many suggestions on where to begin as she could think of quickly. "You can start wherever you like."

"Well, that's quite a set of questions." Indiana remarked, deciding to answer the first two at the moment. "Well, she's a 6'2" beauty with brown hair like my dad but with it being long and wavy. Her eyes are a dark blue like my mom and myself. She's thin but strong and very fast."

"The most favorite thing I like about May is her ability in calming and comforting the spirit. Whenever I had nightmares, she would be there to bring me out of the melancholy and I could sleep better, a task that even my mother couldn't achieve. One of May's closest friends, Nonette Alstreim, suffered a terrible breakup and betrayal by a cheating boyfriend that was so traumatic that she was so close to committing suicide if May hadn't intervened and stopped her. It took a while for Nonette to get over the event but May helped her all the way. There are many other things regarding my older sister that are favorable in my opinion but that particular trait is one that I, along with Nonette, like the most. I guess I could say that she's almost like an angel in listening and understanding one's problems and helping that person in finding a way to overcome it."

Indiana then asked. "Shelby, before I proceed, what do you know about the Muggle military?"

Shelby listened intently to his answer and wondered if she had the same calming effect on her little brother. She remembered when he was little that if he was crying, he would stop whenever she came into the room, but she didn't think it was the same. It was more likely that he simply became more interested in pulling her hair than whatever was bothering him in the first place.

She was jolted out of the memory by Indiana's unexpected question. "Not much," she admitted, "I know that there are different groups within it, like the Navy and the Air Force, but that's about it," she looked at him with interest, wondering just how much he would explain.

"That's correct. A military has different groups, each one focused on a specialized aspect and individuals undergo education and training that are different among the groups." Indiana spoke.

"There is a collective called special forces that operate in smaller groups and focus on disrupting a hostile entity or enemy force without direct confrontation. Normally, opposing military armies generally fight direct battles against each other on a conventional manner. Special forces concentrate on activities that can severely weaken the enemy's ability to fight effectively such as sabotaging their communications, hit-and-run attacks on supply lines, and gathering information. They sneak in, carry out their objectives, and then silently withdraw without being detected, all done in secrecy and through stealth. Their operatives undergo much heavier education and training in order to be capable in performing well in sensitive missions."

The youth then pondered a bit on the magical counterparts before continuing.

"I guess one could say that a special forces operative is the Muggle equivalent to an Auror at some degree since their activities require stealth and more complex tactics in contrast to a regular magical law enforcement officer that is somewhat like a conventional soldier."

Shelby nodded to indicate that she understood what he was saying. It sounded interesting, but she was sure that it wouldn't be nearly as interesting if she were actually a part of it. Mostly, it sounded very dangerous. "So where does a recon sniper fit into all of this?" she asked, wondering how his sister fit into the military.

Indiana nodded before continuing. "Recon is a shortened version for reconnaissance, which is gathering information. Here, one tries to gather information of a hostile force such as their location, numbers, and available equipment. A sniper is a type of sharpshooter that shoots targets either from a concealed position or at distances that exceed that of a conventional firearm without his or her location being given away. Such marksmen can cripple a conventional army by taking shots with generally a less chance getting shot back in return unless enemy snipers get involved."

"Recon snipers are simply snipers that engage in reconnaissance activity with their team of special operatives that are coordinating with them in the gathering of such information. That's their general function, although having to engage the enemy is always a possibility."

"Aside from reconnaissance, special forces also take a fair share of combat by fighting enemy special forces, though it isn't very often unless necessity requires it. Almost like the Aurors of Britain fighting the Aurors from France if both countries are in a war. Imagine a fight between recon snipers on opposite sides."

Shelby looked at Indiana, eyes wide in wonder. "Wow, that sounds... scary," she finished lamely, a little embarrassed by her sudden inability to string words together. "I don't think that's something I'd ever like to do." The idea of having such a dangerous job was just a little bit frightening. "Why did May decide to be a recon sniper, then?"

"My late father's past in the Armed Forces of the Crown left a large impression on May." Indiana replied before chuckling a bit. "At fifteen, she joined the military shortly before I was born and I was lucky that my late mother didn't miscarry me after finding out at that time. I suppose May was at a phase when teens believe themselves to be untouchable but that's just what she tells me."

"By the time she was seventeen, her skills with firearms and physical prowess along with her high IQ and critical analysis skills caught the attention of the higher-ups that were in charge of the U.K. Special Forces. At the time, the special forces was males-only by law. I once met her old tactical officer once and he told me that her potential candidacy caused a rather interesting conflict in regards to making her an exception to the rule because May out-shined so many potential candidates by a wide margin. The special forces wanted someone like her in their service but the law was holding them back. It was only after a year that the law was given some amendments and May was offered the position in the U.K. Special Forces and later assigned to their Special Reconnaissance Regiment once she finished additional education and training. From there, it took awhile and a few overseas deployments for her unit to select her as one of their three recon snipers based on her performance both on and off the field."

"Wow," Shelby said, awestruck by the person she had never met. "That's amazing. She must be nothing short of absolutely brilliant in order to be the one that the law changed for," May sounded like a very dedicated person, a trait that Shelby very much admired in others.

"Sorry about your parents," she added with a slight frown. She hadn't known that his parents had passed on and she felt a little guilty for talking about her own so much.

"Her capabilities spoke volumes at a time when Muggle terrorism was running wild and edging closer to the doorstep of mainland Europe. The fact that the conventional military wasn't able to eradicate the problem along with the low number of operatives in the special forces also had a role. But it is rather nice that May was a catalyst to that particular change, slowly opening the gate for others like her." Indiana replied.

Hearing Shelby mention his parents gave Indiana pause for a moment before looking at the sky. He knew that his parents were certainly watching over him and May from beyond. It was a tragedy long ago and he was glad that May was there for him, giving him a chance to mourn and possibly saving him from the precipice of the worst darkness; empathy for none and antipathy towards all. His elder sister had mourn as well but had the maturity to overcome that tragedy while helping him through.

"Thanks, Shelby." the youth replied softly, smiling at her. "I know I'll see my parents some day long into the future. But not yet. Not yet."

The sound of a honking horn interrupted his thoughts and Indiana turned and looked at Elise.

"Well, ready to continue helping Elise get some fixing up?" the youth asked.

"Well, I'm here if you ever want to talk about it," Shelby smiled back and then looked at the car. "Sorry Elise, I promise I didn't forget about you."

She patted Elise's hood. "What else can we do?" she asked Indiana as she surveyed the all of the damages to Elise's body. "I don't know how we're going to get these dents out."