Edited by the mighty pazed!
Once again I own nothing! Just playing with someone else's toys!
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Chapter 11
James sank back against the seatback in surprise. "You have got to be kidding me!" he said, as he rubbed a hand across his face. "That has got to be the stupidest thing I have ever heard!"
M shrugged, she had said much the same thing when Mr. Gold had given her the information. "As much as I wish I could tell you it was a joke, it's the truth."
James felt like he wanted to scream. "Are all of the employees in the Department of Magical Games and Sports at the Ministry morons?" he asked. "Harry is going to go ballistic when I tell him this!"
M sighed. "I have no doubt he will be upset James," she said. "Unfortunately we have little we can do about it at this time."
"How sure are you about this information?" he asked, even though he knew that she wouldn't have said anything about it unless she knew it was iron clad.
"We got the information from Ludo Bagman himself," she said sliding a folder across the table to him. "He is in debt to Mr. Gold's people for a ridiculous sum, it seems he likes to gamble on the very events he is to oversee and he does rather poorly despite his 'inside information'. Mr. Gold is using him to gather information about the upcoming events."
James nodded; he knew any information Ragnarok had gathered had also been vetted through other sources as well. "Alright," he said as he glanced through the file. "We've got until February to figure something out… Do we have any idea about how the selection will happen?"
"Not at this time," she replied. "There are some factors that are causing issues with the selection process that was originally put in place, but once the decision has been made we will know almost immediately."
James nodded. "Alright, I'll talk to Harry about it and start preparing him for the second task."
M nodded and slid another package across the table to him. "You might want to mention this to him as well."
James opened the folder and a wide grin came across his face. "He won't be happy about the timing," he said with a chuckle, "but this is something he can put some of his more… esoteric training to the test with."
M's left eyebrow rose. "Just make sure he doesn't go overboard… or get into any trouble."
James had already risen, leaving both of the folders on the desk, and made his way toward her door. "And why would you think something like that would happen?" he asked, tugging the inside door open and walking out.
M grumbled as the door sealed shut. "Oh, I don't know… Macao? Tokyo? Las Vegas? Rome? Monte Carlo? Rio? Miami?" She shook her head, then looked at the door again her hand going towards a button on her intercom.
"Yes?" said a tiny voice from the speaker.
"Once you are done exchanging pleasantries with 007, would you put in a call to Skyfall? I would like to speak with Granger as soon as possible."
Harry slapped the bolt home on the MP5, letting it ring with a satisfying 'clack'. "Is everything in place?" he asked, placing the weapon on the table at the edge of the firing range dividers.
Alex nodded, placing her own weapon next to his. "It is. The goblins sent word this morning so they should be on their way soon," she said, looking at her watch. "Are you sure about this?" she asked. "They aren't…the most…" Her voice died off.
Harry chuckled. "I think Hermione's idea was spot on, I've been watching them as well for some time. Despite what people believe, they are something quite different from how they appear."
Alex nodded. "Alright, if you say so."
The lights flickered in the chamber, changing briefly to red then back to normal light. "They are on their way," she said, gathering the weapons off the table into their cases quickly. "Glad we finished cleaning these, I'll put them up. You meet out guests at the door."
"Yes, dear," he said with a chuckle. "You hide the toys. Hermione is following them down, right? After she shuts the entrance?"
Alex nodded. "She's up there, under the cloak Croaker brought yesterday, with the map and watching their progress… Too bad he needs that thing back, it may not be as nice, or as powerful as yours, but it is still useful."
Harry nodded. "Given its rarity I can understand his wanting to keep track of it," he said, making his way toward the sitting area where he picked up a large cloak that would cover him all the way to his feet and swept it around him, then pulled up the hood concealing his identity, and nodded to the man that was already seated there. "Alex will be here in a moment, she's putting up the last of the weapons."
Moody nodded. "It's alright Lad, we have a few minutes," he replied, looking down at the coffee table in front of him where a duplicate of the original map had been re-created as part of the table itself. "They are still on the way down," he said, pointing to a pair of black dots making their way down a hallway.
Harry glanced at their progress then at the other dots representing others in the castle. "Looks quiet."
Moody shrugged. "Anyone up to no good would have… what's that?" he said sitting forward, as a dot moved quickly from one of the dorm common rooms and made its way toward one of the staircases."
Harry glanced up. "Crap!" he groaned, as he jumped up and shed the cloak, and ran for the doorway out, grabbing his school robe as he did. "I've got to stop Hermione!"
"Are you sure this is where the message said to go?" the first figure hidden in shadow whispered. "Moaning Myrtle's bathroom?"
"For the hundredth time, YES!" the other figure hissed back. "You read the bloody thing yourself!"
The pair crossed the hallway as quietly as mice, and slowly pushed open the door.
"H-hello?" the first shade said haltingly.
Pushing on, the pair entered the girls' bathroom clinging close to one another.
"Hello?" it said again.
Both of them stood, mouths agape as they heard stone grate against stone and a passageway open, leading to darkness somewhere beyond.
"Th-Think that is an invitation?" the second form said.
"I believe it is more of an opportunity!" said a voice neither of them expected from the still open doorway behind them. "Isn't it exciting!" it said, rushing past them and into the passage.
The pair of figures scarcely caught a glimpse of the figure as it sped by, trailing silver behind it in the moonlight.
"I don't know if I would call it exciting!" whispered the first figure.
"More like, bloody terrifying!" said the second.
"Shall we?" asked the first after a moment. "You first!" gesturing toward the passage.
"No, you first, by all means!" replied the second.
"Together?" the first asked.
"Together!" said the second.
Taking a deep breath they both stepped into the abyss.
Less than thirty seconds later, with the sound of stone scraping on stone the passage disappeared.
Harry grumbled silently, as he followed the now mostly blond headed girl down the stairs. He had only just avoided colliding with her as she stormed into the entrance to the chamber and down the stairs, as he was hidden under his invisibility cloak.
'How in the world had she even known?' he wondered.
'We took all kinds of precautions!' he thought, staring at her back as she made it to the bottom, and looked around.
"So this is the Chamber of Secrets!" she said cheerfully. "Daddy would have loved to have seen this, and written about it in the Quibbler… though I don't believe the current holder of the Chamber will allow such a thing," she said to no one in particular, as she glanced around and headed towards the vault door that was standing open.
Stepping into the Chamber proper she waved, politely, at the pair seated on the couch. "Hello sir!" she said, skipping down the ramp. "I'm sorry for intruding! I'll just entertain myself until you are done with your meeting," she said as she passed, "This is oh so exciting!"
The pair's heads swiveled to follow her as she passed, then towards each other, the smaller one's shoulders raised in a shrug.
Harry suddenly appeared out of thin air, swinging his invisibility cloak off and under the large armchair, sweeping up the dark cloak and settling it about himself and pulling up the hood.
"Don't ask me!" he hissed quietly. "I have no idea!"
The larger seated figure shook its head in disgust. "Just sit, we'll deal with it later."
Harry had just finished arranging himself when the sounds of footsteps could be heard from up the ramp.
"Come in!" said the largest figure, sitting up straighter.
A pair of redheads appeared looking around the edge of the vault door, their eyes wide.
"I said come in! And have a seat!" he said gesturing to the couch across from him. "Or do we need to stun you and drag you in."
The pair glanced nervously at each other then at the man, but slowly moved to comply.
Their eyes roved the room around them with its massive pillars and roughly wrought walls.
The one on the left finally spoke as they sat. "What is this place?" he asked. "W-we thought we knew every passage in the castle…"
"Even the fabled Marauders never found this place," said the man across from them. "Welcome to the Chamber of Secrets."
Both of their eyes grew wide. "The Chamb… But what about Slytherin's monster?" the other brother asked in a rush.
"Long since gone," he said, waving away their concerns.
The boy nodded, then they both jumped as the grinding of stone came from behind them and the vault door crashed into place.
"Just a precaution, you will be free to leave after our meeting is concluded," the man said.
"Meeting?" the one on the right asked. "We were told that we could get back a piece of our property by coming here tonight."
The man's hood shook back and forth. "I am sorry but that particular artifact will be staying in our possession."
The boy on the left looked crestfallen. "B-but it belonged to our heroes..."
"Yes, yes," the man said. "The Marauders, we know, but that is unimportant at the moment. It is the pair of you that have come to our interest…"
The pair glanced towards each other, then the figures across from them. "You're… You're… Unspeakables!" they said in tandem.
None of the figures moved or offered any form of confirmation.
"What do want from us?"
"Well, George," the figure said, "before we get into that, I want you to answer a couple of questions. Your answers will determine much of what will happen here tonight."
The pair of teens looked at each other, then nodded their consent.
"Why are you manipulating your grades?" he asked.
Both of their eyes widened till Moody thought they would pop out of their skulls. "H-how did...?" George's voice dropped off.
"I said you have garnered our interest," Moody said with a growl. "Did you not expect us to check on something so obvious? Every question that is wrong on one of your papers or tests is correct on the other, every essay topic exhaustively researched and well written with all relevant information on one or the other of your papers! You are manipulating the professors' expectations of you and keeping yourself firmly in the top third of your classes when you could quite easily be at the top! What we want to know is why?"
The boys looked at each other then at the man across from them. Fred looked down at his hands, then spoke. "We don't…" His voice trailed off.
"You do!" The man accused. "What is more, you have 'borrowed' several other books that are in the possession of your housemates at one time or another and are studying muggle subjects!"
Both of them looked up at that, not even their sister had suspected that!
The man across from them stood. "And for that I say…" He stepped around the table toward the frightened pair… "good initiative!" he said sticking out his hand to shake each of theirs in turn. "They have a lot they can teach us!"
Both of them looked at each other confused, after shaking his hand. "I understand that both of you have dreams of your own, but I am here to ask you something important."
George and Fred looked back towards him. "We are here to ask you to become part of the next generation of Unspeakables." They both gaped openly at him, "By all means continue your dreams, we will even help you attain them as a part of your cover."
The pair of redheads turned to each other, a silent conversation taking place in a flash between them, this was an honor they just could not turn down! To think, them, Unspeakables!
In seconds they had given their consent, and he nodded. "Seeing as your birthday has yet to arrive we will need someone in your family to consent to your induction…"
Both of them paled; while their father would be overjoyed he could never keep it to himself! And their mother… She'd kill them both! Not so much for their becoming Unspeakables but for making her think their grades were not as good as they should be.
"Now…" the man said rubbing his chin under his hood. "Glenda, please ask our other guest to join us."
The smallest figure stood and walked deeper into Chamber, returning not long after with another figure in tow, who pushed his cloak down and smiled at the pair of twins as he approached.
"BILL!" The pair exclaimed and leaped off of their seats, hugging their brother. "We thought you were still in Egypt! How long have you been back?" They stepped back realizing now how he was dressed. "You're an Unspeakable?" they asked in tandem.
"Oath first then talk!" grumbled the man under the hood.
Bill nodded, extending his hand showing the Weasley heir ring. "As heir I support their decision."
A short oath later the two newest Unspeakables were ushered into the ranks of the Research Department.