Chapter Ten: A Few Friendly Faces
Upon approaching the headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix, Hermione was sure there was no possible way she could have ever been prepared for what she saw.
From the outside, the building looked like nothing more than an old teaching facility that someone had tried to renovate, but had run out of money and abandoned, but as they approached, Draco explained that the building had actually just been erected not even three years before.
"It was your friend Neville who started it," Draco said as they approached. "He received funding from various sources… some of the money even came from Potter's own pocket though I doubt even he was aware of what it would go towards."
"It doesn't look like much…" Hermione said, noting the roof, which was noticeably offset and un-level with the ground. "Is it even safe?"
Draco looked over at her, an arch expression on his face as he said, "It may not look like very much, but have you forgotten everything magic can do?" They reached the front steps and he motioned for her to go in ahead of him.
Hermione sucked in a deep breath when she saw the inside. Tall ceilings supported above black and white polished marble floors… People rushing about importantly, some talking loudly to themselves, others talking loudly to others. Ghosts, goblins, and cloaked creatures Hermione didn't recognize were everywhere. Voices came from overhead, paging so and so of the department of such and such research on level E…
"Not quite a bunch of rag tag do-gooders anymore, huh?" Fred asked with a smile as he looked around.
"No… not quite," Draco said and Hermione observed in him another sudden shift in attitude. She watched as his back straightened, his chin leveled, and his entire manner became suddenly very brusque and businesslike.
"You're saying all this only took two years?" Hermione asked.
"This has been in the works for decades… ever since Lord Voldemort first gained power…" Draco said, leading them towards a large set of silver elevators. "But before any of it could be put into proper use, Voldemort was gone. From history, and what they knew of what happened that night, they discarded the plans, seeing no reason or use for them."
They entered the elevator and the doors closed. There was a loud pop and a small, fat, little man appeared, floating before them looking very put out.
"Where to and who are you?" The little man asked, his accent so thick Hermione could barely understand him.
"Malfoy and we're on to level E…" Draco replied, his tone bordering on dislike and disgust.
"Malfoy… Oy…?" the little man asked, narrowing his eyes. Curling his lip up in a vicious smile, he said, "Right oh… here we go!" The little man closed his eyes, concentrating very hard on something and Hermione soon followed suit when they began to plummet at a speed that couldn't have been safe.
"Here we are, stop the car!" Hermione's knees buckled and she fell, growing angry as she heard the little freak's laughter. "Level E, here we be…" the man drawled in a playful voice as she glared up at him.
The doors opened and Fred and George helped her to her feet. As she walked out, brushing off her knees, Hermione turned to Draco angrily and said, "Is he always like that?"
"The rhyming or the—"
"The insane urge to scare the piss out of people?"
"No… the little bastard doesn't like me much," Draco said with a laugh.
"Then next time, we're riding in our own elevator," George said. "That ride almost cost me my breakfast."
"It was a good breakfast, too," Fred cut in and everyone looked at him. "What? It's a fact. Mum always cooks better when there're guests… It would've been a shame to lose a good meal when we see so few of them."
"Shut up," George said, slapping Fred playfully upside the head.
"All right," Fred said, placing his hands on his hips as he looked at George in earnest. "You tell me to my face that you like Mum's morning surprise more than you like fresh eggs, bacon, and toasted bread with…" Fred went on and on and they stopped listening after he began describing the difference in consistency of Molly's orange juice when there were guests and their grapefruit juice when there weren't.
"Here we are," Draco said. "All the way down this hallway on the right is my office. To the left is Neville's…" Looking at Hermione, he grew uncomfortable and his gaze shifted often. "Neville will want to be seeing you, I presume. I'll take these two and get their paperwork started."
"Paperwork?" Fred and George exclaimed at the same time. "Since when do you need bloody paperwork to fight overwhelming evil?"
"Since we discovered death eaters are good liars," Draco said. "Now follow me, if you will." He turned swiftly, his cloak flaring behind him.
Fred and George hesitated then followed, mocking Draco the whole way down. "Follow me if you will sirs!" they said, sticking their noses high in the air and prancing like ceremonial horses in a parade. Draco suddenly swirled around and they immediately stopped moving, one looking like the cat that ate the canary and the other looking plain amused.
"You'd like your first set of papers to be lost then would you?" He asked and Fred and George looked at one another. They shrugged. "That should be fun for you both considering that the resubmission forms are forty pages longer…"
"What?" Fred burst out.
"No, we're good," George immediately said, walking forth again. "One set's fine for us." Draco nodded, motioning for Fred to follow his brother's lead.
Hermione laughed, watching as they disappeared into Draco's office. Draco slowly closed the door, nodding for her to go in and see Neville.
The door clicked and Hermione would be lying if she said that she wasn't nervous… quite to the contrary actually… she was a mess of nervous flutterings and crazy, paranoid situations took hold of her mind as she slowly walked towards the door. Pausing outside, she read the letters on the door, stringing them together like a child would. Longbottom, unforgivable curse defense…
"Just like him…" Hermione whispered to herself, tracing her fingers across the black lettering.
Suddenly, the door flew open and a secretary, arms full of loose papers ran straight into her. Papers went flying every which way and Hermione thought she would help and bent down, proceeding to bang her head against the young woman's.
Hermione jumped back, one hand pressed to the front of her head, the other risen in the air in surrender.
"Sorry," Hermione said with a groan, stepping forward once again to help, but the woman, looking at her as if she were the stupidest creature in the world motioned her violently away.
"No thank you, miss!" the woman snapped. "I'm sure I've got it."
"I'm sorry, I…" Hermione looked up as a young man in the stride of his youth stepped to the doorway and peeked out. They both stared at one another, as if unable to believe what they saw standing before them.
Neville Longbottom was taller than she remembered… and much thinner. His eyes, still their same shape and color, were changed only in the fact that Hermione could see them more clearly. He had most obviously had his teeth fixed, for Hermione could have sworn that if she had just taken a photo of his mouth and sent it into Witch Weekly, they would post it as the mouth of Gilderoy Lockhart…
"Hermione!" He finally exclaimed. "Can that be you?" he asked. "You look dreadfully like a muggle!"
"And you!" she said right back. "Look at you… the brunt of Snape's jokes no more!" His smile widened and his chest puffed out.
"Still coming to my rescue though, eh?" he asked reminiscently, motioning for her to enter. The young witch finished picking up her papers and zoomed down the hallway. "Come in, come in!" He said, placing his hand familiarly on her shoulder while pulling her inside gently. "Sit," he commanded, walking behind the desk and sitting in his chair. He straightened his tie and folded his hands nervously on his desk. "Wow," he breathed, the smile returning. "Merlin, it's great to see you…"
He offered her a drink of some strange green liquid sitting on her desk, but she passed.
"Blast…" He began, knocking back a large glass of the stuff. "How long's it been?"
"Seventh year… you disappeared after school let out…" Hermione said. "I can honestly say that this is the last thing I suspected you were up to!"
"Well," he said, his face squinting as he finally swallowed. "You can't be a first year forever…" He paused, looking at her very seriously. "I had a calling that I couldn't ignore."
"How're Alice and Frank?" she asked awkwardly.
"Same," he said a little quickly and Hermione took his look to mean that the conversation was going to turn. "I received frightening intelligence this morning," he said, suddenly turning very business like and formal and Hermione regretted her impulsive inquiry. It was personal… too personal, even for an old friend and classmate to delve into and she understood more than he knew.
"I imagine so," Hermione said. "But before I go into the details of what I witnessed, I first ask for a full breakdown of everything that's been happening these past few months that led your teams to the Burrow."
"Fair enough," he replied, tapping the end of his pencil nervously on the desk. His awkwardness struck her as odd, but she ignored it. It was, after all, still little Neville Longbottom, even if he was all grown up. She nodded, waiting for him to continue.
"A few months back, in April, I believe, we received a strange message from Ginny Potter," Neville began. "She said that Harry was visiting her in her dreams through some means of astral projection." Neville paused, pulling a folder from a file organizer on his desk. He opened it, flipped through it until he found the page and passage that he was looking for, highlighted it with a flick of his wand, which he had pulled down from behind his ear, and handed it across the desk.
Hermione looked down at the page and her eyes were immediately drawn to the highlighted section. In fact, it was the only section she could read. All the rest was fuzzy and unclear. Looking up in confusion, Neville shrugged bashfully. "Sorry… Order policy. Unless pertaining to the investigation at hand, all intelligence given from a private source must be kept private."
Hermione rolled her eyes then looked back down at the highlighted passage. Her eyes roved it quickly, looking for anything that applied to the current situation.
"Paranoid delusions… Voldemort's return…" Hermione read on, every once in a while reading a specific statement aloud, just to confirm that what she was reading was correct. "So everything that Draco said, Harry told Ginny in a dream?"
Neville's face grew dark. "Draco discussed the content of Ginny's statement with you?" Hermione felt a pang of guilt, but caught, she could hardly lie.
"Yes… But only under the understanding of complete confidence…" Hermione said even though she knew her words would make no difference.
"He is lucky he's such a good agent or his arrogance and self-importance would have had him out of here and on his ass a long time ago," Neville said.
"His sharing that information with me was not out of either arrogance or self-importance, though I own he has an overabundance of both," Hermione said. "The fact is that, at your orders, he burst into my life, shattering the remnants of everything I formerly believed to be true, and Draco tried to soften the blow by explaining to me what he could."
Neville looked at her, a hardened expression on his face. He reached held his hand out for the file and Hermione handed it over.
"So what did you do after you received this call from Ginny?" Hermione asked.
"I, of course, contacted as many witches and wizards specializing in metaphysics as were available," Neville said.
"Why metaphysics?" Hermione asked.
"Because what we are dealing with is a metaphysical phenomena known as astral projection," Neville stated. "Along with those specializing in metaphysics, however, we were also forced to consult those well-schooled in possession of spirits and transferring of magical energy.
"But beyond that, we had to dispatch a special research team." Neville added. "There were seven and each of them were sent to look into a specific piece of the puzzle…One was sent to the battlefield memorial to look into the site's supernatural potential. Three were sent to Azkaban. Another was sent to interview witnesses who gave a statement. And finally, two, Draco and Jane, were sent to St. Mungo's to monitor Harry and frequently speak with his healers, gaining official progress reports as often as they could."
"Wouldn't Draco have been more suited for… for the other job?" Hermione asked delicately.
"Azkaban? To speak with the prisoners?" Neville asked and Hermione nodded. Neville chuckled a little before shrugging. "That's what we thought, but he refused… Seemed to think he'd be dead within a day, which is a generous assumption considering all that Draco did for the Order."
Hermione nodded in understanding. "Did these teams come up with anything?" she asked.
"Obviously," Neville said. "But before we really had time enough to put it all together, everything reached a head. Ginny sent an owl saying you had visited and showed her a picture of the three of you outside of the burrow, the dark mark billowing overhead like a cloud."
"Draco tried to make contact, hoping to inform you of everything before anything could come of it, but that obviously failed, so all he could do was wait it out at the Burrow. If something happened, him and Jane would intervene… if something didn't, they would leave and the case would be closed."
"All right, so you still have all this information that you obtained through all your other agents?" Hermione asked and Neville nodded. "Well, in order to get started, I'm going to need access to them… all of them and to do that, I assume that I'll be needing to do some paperwork?"
"No need… you're all filled out and ready to go. You've been signed up since this building was constructed," Neville said fondly. "I knew you'd end up here."
"I can't say the same," Hermione breathed, taking in a deep breath.
"Where are Fred and George going?" Hermione asked. Draco was walking swiftly beside her, his mouth almost resolutely closed.
"Training," he replied shortly.
"Training?" Hermione asked. "What kind of training could they need?" she asked.
"It's been almost six years since they've taken a defense against the dark art's class," Draco said.
"But they fought in the war too," Hermione said.
"And you'll be needing training as well," he said with a smile, leading her down a particularly long set of stairs. It grew cold and almost dank as they moved further into the bowels of the building.
"Then why am I going this way? Shouldn't I be training with them?" she asked. "Why did they get to stay up there?" she pulled her cloak tighter around her and they kept moving.
"They're a higher level than you," Draco said. "You haven't used magic in two years… it takes all your concentration to do a first year spell… you need a special kind of training."
"I do not!" Hermione exclaimed, stopping dead in her tracks. Her face turned beet red and her eyes narrowed in indignant anger. "I'll pick it up in no time!"
"I'm sure that's true, but until no time, you'll need to practice with the magical defense instructor," he said with a smile.
"Who is this magical defense instructor?" she asked almost fearfully, running after him as he moved on, afraid to lose him in the dark stairwell.
"You'll see," he said and within a minute, they were at a large wooden door with an iron knocker. "Go on," he prompted. "I'll be here to get you in two hours." He waited for her to open the door but when she didn't move, he rolled his eyes, knocked on the door, opened it, pushed her in, and then slammed it behind her.
Hermione stood stupidly in the doorway, hugging her cloak tightly to her chest. She had no idea what to expect, especially not after the last few days she had had.
After a minute or two of silence, she moved cautiously forward. Once beyond the hallway in front of the door, she was met with an oddly familiar sight. There were jars of live, strange animals all about. There were bookshelves full of every size book spread all throughout the room and there were books that didn't fit on the bookshelves that were stacked on tables, chairs, and anywhere there was room. Papers were strewn about in an almost apathetic disorganized manner.
"Of all the old students I have seen come here to learn, I never thought I'd see you here," said a light voice with a laugh and Hermione started, twirling around to meet the kind face of her favorite professor, Remus J. Lupin.
"Professor Lupin!" Hermione exclaimed, throwing her arms wildly around his neck.
"Well, yes…" He said, returning her hug with a quick on of his own before pulling away.
"How long have you been doing this?" Hermione asked.
"This department is relatively new… but it's bee a full year, I'm sure," he replied. "Why do you look so shocked?" he asked.
"I thought that… You know, it doesn't matter…" she said. "It's really great to see you."
"Ditto, but I can't really say that I know why I'm seeing you…" Remus said. "If I recall, you're one of the most gifted witches of your age…"
"It's a long story," Hermione said, her smile faltering.
"I've got…" he paused, looked at his watch then said, "one hour and fifty three minutes, twelve seconds…"
A/N: Here is the next chapter... just trying to get more character's into play to see the whole picture. Welcome to the new Order of the Phoenix! yay! There'll be more information on that in the next chapter as well. This will give you an insight into what's been going on with Ginny I guess... but her purpose will become more clear.
YAY! I hit fifty reviews!!! more like, you guys hit fifty reviews!
well, here are my personal thank you's:
Bflatgirl: Yay! my little window into Malfoy's soul did what it was supposed to! I think Draco's more human than anyone realizes and I just wanted to show that.
Mysterygalwolf: Fred and George are amazing mood setters... I admit, that was one of the better lines in the story. Going back through it and this new chapter, I laughed.
Grace: He is vulnerable and thats what I wanted to show... here's some more Draco goodness, but he's more in that character.
Thank you all very much for your continued interest and please! keep reading and reviewing!