...Did that just happen?!

Aegidius immediately strides over and picks up a fluffy, white-furred rabit from among the empty set of clothes where a middle-aged man had been standing mere moments ago. The rabbit is clearly hyperventilating and screams again as Aegidius holds it up by the scruff of its neck. The creature seems to be trying to look down at its own limbs, craning its neck down, but with the change in orientation of its eyes, it can't manage it.

Throughout all of this, you are standing as still as a statue, having frozen awkwardly in mid-step as you recovered from Aegidius pushing you. You're don't dare even breathe until your lungs burn. "Did... did you just... Did that just happen?" you mutter softly, all the sharp anger from minutes ago gone from your voice.

"Take out your wand, Franziska." Aegidius says bluntly.

"My wand?" you ask, your tongue feeling so numb from shock it can hardly function like all the rest of you.

"Yes!!" Aegidius says irately. "Your wand! The transport we were waiting for is coming down the street now! Conjure a fog cloud so I can open the wall!"

As you fumble with your wand, unsure what to do besides obeying, Aegidius lifts the terrified rabbit close to eye level and scowls in its face.

"And you. You meddlesome thug of a corrupt kingdom ruled by monsters. You sermonizing lackey of the merchants of misery threatening my world. Threatening my family's world!" he points towards you while shaking the rabbit by the scruff of its neck. "If you are so fond of offering trite, unsolicited comfort to strangers, I have excellent news for you. You are going to spend the next few hours placating a literal child with separation anxiety. And then, you and I will have a long talk about what you saw tonight, and what might happen to you if you ever tell anyone about any of this."

The rabbit stops screaming and jerks its head quickly up and down.

The mechanized carriage in front of you is huge, boxy, and black, and it seems to be driven by a tiny person... wearing black sunglasses and a ski mask, but with green ears poking out of the sides showing it is clearly a goblin. The back doors swing open. The fog you had conjured with your wand is hiding the side of the house and the entire street.

Aegidius shakes his head. "Franziska, I appreciate that playing along seemed like the thing to do when he came up, since he was armed with that electrical spotlight-club weapon capable of disorienting you." he says sternly. "But you should have realized the risk was growing too great and used your COMMAND spell on him while there was still time." Aegidius says, holding the rabbit in one hand and using his staff to telekinetically deconstruct a section of the wall, leading to the room where the little girl had been sequestered.

"Why didn't you do it then?" you finally get around to asking in a low, bewildered voice.

"A staff is far more powerful than a wand," Aegidius says, "but not only is it more taxing to use, it is impossible to use while hidden in a palm, in a sleeve, or behind the back. That is why I needed you girls here with me, for situations just like this." he states matter-of-factly.

"Were you LYING about being sorry to me?!" you ask, disbelief creeping into your voice.

"No, Franziska, I was being entirely sincere. But I was also keeping a potentially dangerous task in mind. What if the child started crying or yelling and the officer decided he needed to investigate after you told him what a wild party you had been having?" there's his condescending voice again. "That device on his vest can call in a small army armed with deadly weapons within a matter of minutes."

Aegidius snaps his fingers at the boxy vehicle and gestures towards the house. Two middle-aged women in robes, one of them carrying a blanket, emerge from the interior and walk briskly towards the hole Aegidius silently excavated in the side of the house. Neither makes eye contact with you.

You look at the rabbit dangling helplessly by the scruff of his neck from Aegidius's hand. You frown in embarrassment, and give him a shrug and an equally helpless shake of your head. Aegidius walks over and tosses the rabbit-which-was-a-law-enforcer-a-minute-ago into the back.

There is something else in the back of your mind that is making the hair stand up on the back of your neck, even as you are physically reeling from the insane emotional rollercoaster of the past twenty or so minutes. Something your brother said...?

No... Felice. Felice is in there. Felice, who is lazy and hates potions class and always gets someone else to do all her homework for it. "Oh mein Gott I didn't tell her the potion will have worn off." you say breathlessly as you recall Felice draping herself over Hugh after being spurned by your disdainful (and quite possibly asexual) brother.

...and whatever Felice is doing with him inside Ralph's house right now may explain why none of the houseguests came outside in response to you loudly making a scene with Aegidius and threatening to kill him.

Fortunately, your choice of words isn't of a language understood by the pair of innocent little ears being escorted by Aegidius's henchwomen from the ministry into the black-painted vehicle: "Scheiße."

"Ahh! Bunny!" a squeaky high pitched voice comes from inside the vehicle's rear compartment, the first time you heard the shy little girl speak. "Can I pet him, ma'am?"

"Of course, dear, he's very friendly and well-behaved." one of the female ministry agents says softly before the back door of the vehicle is closed up and it speeds away before the fog cloud dissipates.

At least someone has something to be happy about in this situation...