Keeper, Beater, Seeker, Spy
Chapter Four
Harry caught the look in Kents' eye when he got back to the safe house, so he was annoyed, but not surprised, to find Ron and Hermione in the work-room going through the files.
"How did you two find out?" He demanded.
Ron shook his head. "Do you honestly think that anything happens in the Ministry or the Wizengamot that I don't know about?" He asked in return. "I'm the CEO of Weasley Enterprises, mate. That muggle, Sun Tzu, he recommended finding out about the enemys' intentions 'by the expenditure of a few ounces of silver in honours and emoluments', and I can hand out honours and emoluments by the ton!"
"So the Ministry is your enemy?" Harry enquired.
"Every time they put up taxes, yes!" Ron said. "I've got folk depending on me for a living, and I have to make up what the government takes away."
"And as Head of Research and Development for WE," Hermione put in, "I have to keep an eye on what other people might be researching so that we can develop it first!"
"Industrial espionage, Hermione?" Gabrielle asked.
"You might say that, but I couldn't possibly comment." Hermione replied. "Besides Harry, if you wanted to keep us in the dark, you shouldn't have come to dinner the other night. You were happier than you've been in years, so we both knew you were up to something!"
"All we had to find out was what." Ron went on. "Then it was just a matter of arranging leave of absence. Easy when you're the boss. Somebody has to watch your back while you're watching Clark and Gabbis'."
"We're supposed to protect him." Kent noted.
Hermione gave short laugh. "You probably are, but that won't stop him from trying to protect you. Besides, we're here to protect Harry from his most dangerous enemy!"
"Voldemort is dead." Gabbi pointed out.
"Harry isn't," Ron told her, "and our job's always been to protect the daft bugger from himself!"
"Thank you for that vote of confidence." Harry gave up. "Have you found anything out?"
"Quite a bit." Hermione allowed. "But how it all fits together will be for my better half to noodle out!
"To start with, Draupnir isn't just one source, but several, reporting through a single conduit. The intelligence comes from all over Europe, you see, but it seems to be collected through regular meetings with a contact in London. It seems that once a month either Percy, Jeremiah or Dean – whoever happens to have time - meets up with Draupnir to collect the take. I can't find out where, but there are occasional references to a safe house.
"The first Draupnir intel -it wasn't called that then – came in during 2018. It came via Jeremiah at the Foreign Office in a memo to Kingsley and Percy. He said it was from an 'independent source' and he couldn't vouch for the reliability, but it was corroborated by other sources that were reliable. After that, more came in, dribs and drabs at first, until 2023."
"That was the year we took down HYDRA." Harry noted. "A lot of our sources dried up after that."
Ron nodded. "Made sense. Like I said at the time, some of the HYDRA people we didn't get moved into other organisations and used what they'd been taught to tighten up security. Lucky for us that SPECTRE sucked up a lot of them. They don't do politics, just money."
"And others went to Latveria, of course." Hermione added. "Where Doom doubtless found some of them gainful employment and recycled the rest as dog food. Or whatever the Latverian equivalent of Soylent Green is."
"You have a ghoulish imagination, dearest." Harry told her. "I doubt even Doom would go that far! He offered me a job after we got sacked, you know."
"Sweet of him." Hermione said dourly. "Mind, he probably sensed a kindred spirit!
"Anyway, after the dust settled, Draupnir started to come through with a lot more stuff. That's when it got code-worded and Dean was put in charge of it."
"It was time to give him a step up." Harry recalled. "Percy and Jeremiah wanted to stay involved, and I saw no reason they shouldn't, and they both agreed to work with Dean. Worked out nicely. Too nicely, it turns out."
"Um." Ron grunted. "Thing is, with the benefit of hindsight and a little distance, I managed to figure out what was wrong with the Draupnir take. It kept us from making big mistakes, allowed us to clear agents before they were blown and close down cells of terrorists and subversives. But it never gave us anything big. It let us think that the main danger, the organised threat, had gone with HYDRA. But at the same time it kept us chasing small game and moving agents around before they could really start to produce. Basically, we were being kept off-balance."
"It also distracted us from other things." Hermione went on. "Other sources that we still had, and were saying different things. It took a long while, because everyone was running about following Draupnir leads. But eventually, people started to put things together. Small things that were happening while we were looking the other way.
"People dropping off the grid – people we'd been watching hard at one time, but slackened up on because Draupnir said they were harmless. Money collecting in odd places. A lot of Dark Market activity – illegal potion ingredients and dangerous or cursed items moving about, then vanishing. It all pointed to an organisation or movement. Very low-key, very discreet, but there.
"But nobody took it too seriously until some people were murdered. People with connections to the Ministry, or the Wizengamot, or even the White Council. At which point, out of nowhere, Draupnir comes up with the New Thule Society, picking up where Grindelwald left off. Except that the only source that talks about New Thule is Draupnir."
"It's too convenient." Ron stated. "Almost as if Draupnir knew what we were thinking and came up with a suitable answer, just at the right moment."
"Are you suggesting, in your Weasleyish fashion," Harry ventured, "that the mole and Draupnir are connected?"
"Like Siamese twins!" Ron said. "It has to be a two-way flow, Harry. Except what we get from Draupnir is…what…chickenfeed? But whoever is running Draupnir is getting pure gold!"
"But that still leaves the question of who's running the mole." Harry pointed out. "I was starting to think Draupnir invented New Thule as a blind, but it could be a double bluff. On the other hand, there could be something in this whole Black Council thing.
"Either which way, I have to go and talk to some people. People in the States. And since I can't Orb, and I daren't take a commercial Portkey or public Floo, I'm going to have to Apparate."
"Which every Auror and Whitelighter in the Home Counties will hear you doing!" Ron said flatly. "Don't be a plonker, Harry! It's just the sort of thing they're watching you for.
"We can spend some more time on these files tomorrow, then have Sunday lunch at Scorpius and Lilys'. I can arrange a flight for Monday morning. Then while you're doing the rounds over there, 'Mione and I can carry on with this little lot!
"But right now, it's getting late, so we're off back to the holiday cottage!"
They said goodnight. Hermione hugged Harry tighter than normal as she kissed his cheek. "It's good to have the old firm back together." She told him.
"What was that?" Harry asked. "The old and infirm, did you say?"
"Speak for yourself, you old codger!" She replied, the turned to Clark and Gabbi. "See that he doesn't stay up all night!" She commanded.
"I will tuck him in myself." Gabbi promised.
"I'll just bet you will!" Hermione said. "When you get to bed, Harry, remember to sleep as well as everything else!"
"I'm sure I don't know what you mean!" Harry protested.
Harry wasn't surprised to find himself on the helipad of Stark London that dark Monday morning. The commercial relationship between Stark International and Weasley Enterprises was almost as close as the friendship between the Stark and Weasley families. He was rather taken aback, however, by the aircraft that dropped almost silently out of the murk. He'd been expecting a helicopter ride to a Stark facility outside London, a transfer to an executive plane and a comfortable flight over the Atlantic.
Instead he found himself staring at the unique profile of an Avengers' quinjet. A rather more welcome surprise was the Amazonian figure that awaited him at the head of the boarding ramp.
"Uncle Harry!" She cried in a pleasant, rather husky, voice, and as soon as he came within reach, she swept him into a crushing hug.
Rose Granger-Weasley stood only a couple of inches shorter than her father -two inches taller than Harry - and was built on similar lines. Not that she looked in any way masculine, even though her flame-red hair was cut in a shortish bob. Her features were softer than Ron's, but she had his piercing blue eyes and iron muscles, as well as his ebulliently affectionate nature.
"Hello, Rosie!" Harry said when he could breathe again. "Lovely to see you, pet, but don't say Ororo sent the Silver Sorceress all the way over here just to give me a lift?"
"Oh, she would've, if Dad had asked." Rose said. "But Johnny and I were over here anyway, giving UNIT a hand with a stray Cyber Converter that AIM were trying to get their paws on! They suspected either MODOK or WODOK might be leading the AIM force, but it turns out neither of them were there. So when Dad got in touch with Uncle Tony to ask for a lift across the pond for you, Uncle Tony told Howard, who asked Ororo, and she re-tasked us.
"Johnny, Uncle Harry's here!"
Roses' Avengers team-mate and long-term boyfriend, Johnny Richards, stuck his handsome blond head around the co-pilots' seat and gave Harry a wide smile.
"Hey, Uncle Harry, you good?"
"For my age." Harry allowed. "How's your Gran?"
"Pretty good, now she and Steve can be together more." Johnny told him. "They said you're to come for dinner before you leave the States."
"C'mon." Rose said. "Let's get going. You want to have a go at flying this heap, Uncle Harry?"
"I'd love to." Harry admitted. "I still have my pilots' license, but I'm not rated for supersonic any more. You'll just have to do some work for a change, Rosie!"
"Geez, he doesn't let up, does he?" Johnny commented.
"No more than Mum and Dad do." Rose replied. "Been that way as long as I've known him.
"Right, first stop Chicago – somebody wants to meet with you there – then on to Arizona and Triskelion 2, then the North-West and hope you find who you're looking for!"
Funny how things turn out. Harry thought to himself as he settled for the flight. Ron had been convinced that Rose had inherited Hermiones' brains because she had done better than him academically. Actually, she was entirely her father's daughter, with his keen analytical and tactical mind, but without the ADHD that had made Ron's schooldays so difficult until his growing closeness with Hermione had effectively neutralised it. Rose had also inherited Rons' physicality and combativeness. So when Ron stepped down from the Avengers in order to keep them untouched by the 'Shacklebolt Scandal' , it had been only natural for Rose to replace him, along with a newer version of the magical armour Arthur Weasley had designed and built.
There she had met Johnny Richards, son of Franklin Richards and his Inhuman wife Karilla. Like his father, Johnny was an Omega-level Mutant. His ability to 'shift' matter through time and space, as well as between states, had earned him the codename 'Quantum'. Johnny had been named for his great-uncle, Johnny Storm – the Human Torch – who had died along with his grandfather, Reed Richards, in the 2008 Dalek invasion.
Nothing ever turns out the way you think it will. Harry decided. Which was not, in and of itself, a bad thing.
Cho Chang Westleigh ushered Ron into the bright, airy kitchen and provided him with a mug of tea and a plate of biscuits.
"David is playing golf, so he won't be back for yonks." She told him as she sat down. "Now, I had a good natter with Hermione only the other day, so I take it this isn't a social call.
"Is this something to do with Harry?"
"You still have a soft spot for him, don't you?" Ron asked.
Cho rolled her eyes and laughed. "Of course I do!" She answered. "He's The One That Got Away, isn't he? Seriously, though, after all he did – bringing poor Cedrics' body back, and all that other stuff – I can't help but think a lot of him. It was awkward when we split up, but we were teenagers then. We've always been friends as adults.
"So, what can I do?"
"You were at the Ministry, the night it all went West." Ron said. "None of us were, but we need to know exactly what happened. I can't tell you why, but it's important.
"D'you think you can remember?"
Cho laughed again, but not happily this time. "Apart from the Battle of Hogwarts, I don't remember anything half so well!" She stated.
"You remember how things were, Ron. Kingsley was ill -he never told anybody it was cancer – but he wouldn't resign because he couldn't find a successor. Harry wasn't interested, neither were you or even Ernie Macmillan. Meanwhile, Percy Weasley was snapping at his heels, pushing his anti-modernisation agenda, saying we were losing our wizard identity and wizard culture. I think he's just a nostalgia-freak, you know. But he had a lot of support, still does, in certain parts of our world, and being part of Jormungand, with all that Draupnir intelligence coming in, gave him a lot of leverage.
"Anyway, I was Hermione's deputy at Records and I was on night duty that week -we always had somebody in in case the files needed searching in hurry. Ernie was Duty Officer. Everything was quiet until a crash call came into the Mirror Room. It was a UNIT wizard in Budapest who told us that a British wizard had entered the country incognito and been kidnapped. They had a picture and Ernie recognised Neville.
"Ernie asked UNIT if they could get a location and started pulling a Whitelighter extraction team together. He also tried to call people in. You were away with the Avengers and we couldn't reach you. He tried Harry and got Ginny, who said he was out on a job. So Ernie carried on.
"But then Dean arrived, out of nowhere, and took charge -he was Head of Aurors by that time. He told Ernie that Neville was doing something illegal and was to be disavowed, and told him to stand the Whitelighters down. Ernie told him to go to Hell."
"How did Dean find out what was going on?" Ron asked.
"Buggered if I know!" Cho shrugged. "He was supposed to be on leave. He was ranting and raving at Ernie, telling him he had authority. Ernie told him that they were the same grade and that this was a Whitelighter job and if Dean wasn't going to help he could keep quiet or clear off!
"Then Percy and Jeremiah arrived. They dragged Dean and Ernie off into an office. We could hear shouting, then talking, then swearing. That was when the message came through that you three had gone in and hauled Neville out.
"Dean rounded up a bunch of Whitelighters and dashed off with them. Percy Apparated out somewhere. Jeremiah went off to his office. Ernie called us all into the big meeting room.
"He wasn't himself. He looked…deflated. He told us that Minister Shacklebolt had been running an unsanctioned operation involving a civilian, and that you three had exceeded your authority in an attempt to salvage it when it went wrong.
"In order to avoid a scandal, the Minister had resigned due to ill-health, and you three would be resigning to pursue other careers. We were asked to wait while you all cleared your desks -out of respect at a difficult time, Ernie said.
"That was it. We never saw Kingsley again, and he died a few months later. None of you were allowed to talk about it all, of course, and it was a while before any of us were allowed to go near you anyway. Then Percy was Minister of Magic, Penny Clearwater got Home Affairs and Dean got Magical Enforcement. They made Dennis Creevey Head of Aurors, but the gossip is that he's moving on soon and they'll give the job to Scorpius Malfoy. Ernie stayed put, but he was never happy about it.
"Does that help?"
"Yes." Ron said. "I'm not sure quite how, yet, but there's something there that's nagging at me. Thanks for this, Cho. I'm sorry I had to take you back there."
"Thank you, Ron, it was a relief to get it all off my chest." Cho allowed. "And look, I know Percy's your brother and all, but if you're going after him for what he did to Harry, you'll have a lot of people cheering you on, including me!"
"Thanks, I think." Ron replied. "I'm afraid I've eaten all your biscuits."
"If I'd known you were coming I'd've bought extra!" Cho was grinning now. "I swear I don't know how Hermione manages to keep you fed, you great lump!"
Chicago was colder, wetter and altogether more unpleasant than London, so Harry was more than happy to be quickly escorted into a warm, bright conference room where he was greeted with hot coffee and four familiar faces.
Colonel James Rhodes, Director of SHIELD, spoke without preamble.
"If what Draco tells me is true, Harry – and I've never known him be wrong when it mattered – then I'm glad you're here. If the British Ministry's been infiltrated, then it's possible that the FBS has too. If, as Draco suspects, the so-called Black Council is involved, we're gonna need everyone. So as of now, you've been restored to the active roster of SHIELD agents – not openly, but as a 'grey' operative. I'm also to tell you that your commission in UNIT has been quietly reactivated.
"Mr Dresden?"
Harry Dresden - known to British wizards as 'the other Harry' – was a very tall man with a lined, hangdog face and eyes that had seen far too much.
"The Black Council is something of a wizard legend, as you know, Harry." He said. "Some people date it back to the original White Council of the Third Age, claiming that Saurons' Nazgul were the original Black Council. That's crap, because the Nazgul had very little will of their own – not enough to start any councils.
"When Radagast the Brown reformed the White Council around 100 AD, rumours started about a Black Council straight away, of course. The Wardens have always kept an eye on them, and it's true that from time to time, groups of Dark wizards have gotten together and started calling themselves the Black Council. Usually, they break up because of infighting, but sometimes we've had to shut them down.
"We figure that after the Scholomance was taken down, it was Baron Mordo liberated Justin DuMorne. We have to assume that DuMorne had something that Mordo needed or wanted, or it wouldn't have happened. But we don't mess with Mordo -we leave that to Dr Strange.
"However it was, DuMorne's been off the grid ever since. I don't think he's gone into retirement – he's not the type. But rumours about a new Black Council have been floating around ever since 2023, and they're looking more solid as time goes on. For that reason, Harry Potter, you are hereby granted the status of White Council Warden, and by that authority, I am removing the Trace from your Whitelighter abilities. And putting it on the homunculus Draco has pretending to be you. No need to let everyone know right now."
"So as of now, I'm official?" Harry asked.
"Unofficially official." Rhodes clarified. "You still need to stay under the Ministry radar for now."
"Fair enough." Harry allowed, before turning to the two who hadn't yet spoken. "And why are you pair here?"
Ororo Monroe Howlett – codename Storm – Director of Avengers Branch, was as agelessly lovely as she had been when Harry first met her. Elemental Mutants, he knew, enjoyed enhanced lifespans equal to those of wizards. Ororo must have been at least 55, but looked to be in her mid-thirties at most. The man next to her, her team-mate and second husband, was even older. Lt Col James Howlett, aka Wolverine – Logan to old friends – was at least 200 years old, but had the appearance of a man in his prime and with his almost unlimited regenerative and healing powers, might never change.
It was Ororo who answered him. "Logistics, Harry. Logan and I came in another quinjet. I'll go back to New York with Rosie and Johnny. Logan will be your pilot and the only bodyguard who stands a faint chance of keeping up with you!"
"Oh." Harry said. "But now I can Orb again…"
"Not on your own, not where you're going!" Ororo said firmly. "Besides, non-magical transport will still be more discreet for you."
"Anyways," Logan put in. "You need to get into Tri-2, and even with your SHIELD status back, you don't got clearance for that place. You need me to get you in.
"You're also gonna need back-up in the forest. I can help you find your guy and back you up if things get unfriendly. Big Red is kinda unpredictable."
"And you're not?" Harry asked. "All right, all right. But just so we're clear, I'm not quite in my dotage. I can still handle myself."
"We know." Ororo said. "And Logan is the only one who might be able to handle you! Just try not to kill too many people, guys!"
"OK, ok." Hermione was saying. "I can understand Percy turning up unannounced. He'd had people watching us and Kingsley for years. It got so we couldn't breathe without being accused of cosying up to muggles or Mutants. How many times did he demand Kingsley discipline you for going off with the Avengers without giving two weeks' notice?"
"About five." Ron told her. "Before I sat Percy down at Mums' one Sunday and explained that the Avengers' Charter grants full means and immunity to active members. He said that shouldn't count for wizards. I said that according to the Memorandum of Understanding between the White Council, SHIELD and UNIT, it did. He went on for five minutes about the Memorandum and the Council, he used a lot of words I didn't know he knew!"
Gabrielle giggled. "I cannot imagine Percy swearing! Bill and Fleur always say he has – what is the phrase – 'a broom up his bum'!"
"Personally," Hermione opined, "I think it's his head he's got up there! But that's beside the point. As I was saying, I'm not surprised Percy got alerted, nor am I surprised he brought Jeremiah along, they're as thick as thieves.
"But how did Dean find out? How did he get there before anyone else, apparently knowing what was going on?"
"That's easy." Ron said. "Same way Harry would've found out if I'd been there and he was on leave. There was a full night crew on, one of Deans' mates must have given him a call, like I'd have called Harry.
"What bothers me is that he either knew or assumed that there was a rogue op going on! I mean, Neville's a civilian, has been for years. I know he helped out on the Scholomance job, but that was because Ginny asked him. But he resigned from the Aurors after the years' draft was up and never looked back.
"Not that I'd put it past Neville to try to go it alone, if he had a good reason. He's got the balls for it, Jupiter knows! But as far as anyone there knew, he was just a British wizard who'd been travelling abroad and got kidnapped. We knew it was an op, because Charles told us and he would know.
"You don't disavow civilians, not ever!"
"But you do disavow rogue agents. Happens all the time." Kent said quietly. "Sometimes, you have to disavow legitimate ones."
"I know." Ron said. "Dean's done it before, and so have I, when it was necessary. Used to cause a row with Harry when I did. He's really into that 'no man left behind' style of thing."
Kent nodded. "Figures. Draco's the same way, but he calls it noblesse oblige. Always did talk funny."
"You were always a touch more ruthless than Harry, darling." Hermione remarked. "Makes you that bit more sexily dangerous, or dangerously sexy. Harry can be very rigid and upright, sometimes."
"This I have noticed." Gabrielle commented, causing Kent to choke on his coffee.