Chapter 21

November 23, 2015

Lethifold Division HQ – Enjolras Residence

Marguerite rests her eyes a bit while leaning on the wall nearest the cabinet door entrance. The hot mug of warm thin chocolate engulfs her senses and makes her smile at the small white marshmallow bits all around the drink. The morning light streams from the window and lands on her right shoulder. Almost everyone around is asleep in the makeshift bunk area in the center of the room. There are floating mattresses with bed covers and blankets on top swirl around the room, replacing the usual tables and chairs around the hologlobe.

Only Luna is awake with her and drinking Hojicha tea on a small Japanese tea cup nearby. "I'm an early riser to be honest. Sadly, none of my kids got that from me." Luna whispers as a floating teapot glides towards her. She lifts her empty cup and the teapot pours some tea into it, while its steam whistles to the tune 'Be our Guest' from Disney's Beauty and the Beast.

Marguerite remarks, "I like the sun streaming down as well. It's refreshing to the mind and a sign of good things to come for the day."

"True, my mother always tells me about it when I'm younger and kept it in my heart up to this point in time." Luna takes another sip and enjoys the caramel-like flavor of Hojicha as it touches the tip of her tongue. She lets out a sigh of pleasure from the tea and a triumphant grin leaves her lips "Still, I do like writing in the Quibbler. Got to love the fact that a few tweaks I did to Dad's magazine increased readership and made a killing after we released the Snorkack finding."

"I'm a fan to be honest. I saw your mother and father start that newspaper like a sibling. Your mother wrote spell theory and placed in new ones she made besides a few tested contributions from readers every now and then. Your father used to work extensively with Newt Scamander whenever he goes out with one of his newly found creatures. I was a new beat writer for the Daily Prophet at the time when the accident happened." Marguerite's joyous eyes slightly lost its luster for a moment, "When I had my bearings and married Percy, we did the same thing with the Wizarding Times. The Quibbler is an inspiration to me to speak truths and question conventional beliefs. And now, we'll report this with all the facts we're getting first hand. Are you ready for it?"

Luna ponders about it for quick while before replying, "Always. I will if you will, Marguerite." Her companion nods with a wisp of a smile after taking another sip of her hot chocolate.

"We'll definitely do an article on this one together." Marguerite suggests and lights up Luna's face.

Gavroche sits up and yawns after sitting up and stretching his arms. After rubbing his eyes, he sees Luna and Marguerite together and he greets them, "Good morning. I suppose I need to get going. I promised Gabrielle that I'll pick her up today." He casts a mouth freshening charm and hurries to the nearby showers. A few minutes later, Gavroche is ready with his rugged overcoat, navy blue jeans with warming charms, a black and red Ballycastle Bats shirt, a dark blue newsboy cap and his heavy steel toed boots.

He opens the cabinet door, as Luna and Marguerite stop their chat to view the excited young man. "Young love." Luna mouths. Marguerite's giggle stops midway when Gavroche is dumbfounded at seeing Gabrielle already there with Apolline and Louis Delacour.

Gabrielle doesn't hesitate and gives Gavroche a feather-light kiss on the lips and a smile amidst the hug.

"Monsieur et Madame Delacour, what brings you early in the morning? This is about the team, isn't it?" Luna asks, leading the three Delacours and Gavroche back inside. Marguerite closes the door behind her and secures it again.

A soft wind chime sound wakes everyone up and the mattresses fix themselves up in the corner of the room. Eponine groggily walks to the Delacours and takes a chair floated in by Auguste. She sits down facing the three Delacours and Joly brings in more hot chocolate with marshmallows for the four. "It's perfect for the cold weather," Joly vows with a smile on his lips before returning to the sickbay to help Combeferre with Harun's treatment.

Apolline takes a deep breath as Louis begins to speak. "Du Pont will go ballistic if he finds out we're going on the field when you command the strike team." Apolline touches her husband's shaking hands and gives him a look of calm resolve.

Louis nods to his wife and adds, "We've been unfair to the entire team. We saw what happened in that last interception from a distance but could not intervene. Apolline was beside herself the entire time and inconsolable for half a day. Knowing this fault of ours," Louis looks directly into Eponine's eyes, "will you still allow us to join with you in the attack Algiz's Libyan compound."

Eponine sighs and leans back on the chair for a moment to ease the minor discomfort. "You didn't even have to ask, Apolline and Louis." She turns to Gabrielle and furrows her brow, "but why is your daughter here?"

"She insisted to join the team, because she has information for us." Louis remarks and an appeasing smile on his lips.

Gabrielle takes out a dossier from her pouch and says, "If I did this as a mundane, I would be court-martialed and possibly hanged or placed inside a body bag." She hands Eponine the folder and leans on her chair, perfecting a calm and collected look she learned from her mother.

"Consider it an early Christmas gift, Eponine." Gabrielle jokes with her dimples showing as she smiles.

Eponine mouths the words, "Highly classified," she opens it and reads the first four letters. Her eyes show her shock, confusion and fear for the woman who loves his youngest brother.

"You're from the GIGN?" She stammers in confusion and focuses her eyes on Gabrielle.

Louis chuckles and says, "What makes Du Pont so effective is the fact that he has me and Apolline have our hands on everything France has to offer in mundane and magical worlds, after the barricades at Sorbonne."

Apolline on the other hand, smiles sadly at Eponine, "even with all our influence, we unfortunately failed you, most of all. We let ourselves be blindsided by old friends and now two of them are horribly linked to this mess."

Eponine shakes her head and places a comforting hand on Apolline's shoulder. "We did what we could. A fiend named Montparnasse told me that whenever they fuck up a heist or get horribly injured in their jobs as hitwizards, he tells himself to 'stop dwelling on it'. The other choice would have gone down just as dirty or as fucked up. He may be a right old bastard, but he has his occasional bits of wisdom."

Going back to the dossier, she mutters, "So, they know we've been tapping into a STEM Satellite through M. Valjean, but they're not doing anything?"

Gabrielle nods and remarks, "Because they know Jean is a good man and has even helped us in a couple of our tracking missions like that one where he helped us find those barbarians who went into Charlie Hebdo. Also helps to confound the trigger happy ones in the office."

"Good to know." Eponine breathes a sigh of relief at not having them at anyone's watch list. She takes a look at the satellite images photos of the entire compound from the sky.

Gabrielle quips, "You think that's enough for you? We also have this one." She then gives her a roll of blue prints. "We have a measure of the building. We do have sleeper agents in the extremists' positions after all. We just don't use them when their chance to get out of the place alive is close to zero."

Eponine nods in understanding and whispers, "Welcome back to the Lethifold Division, Gabrielle. And of course, welcome to the team, Apolline and Louis. You have a lot of explaining to Ron though. He's been aching to get the two of you in a corner for a chat." She smiles mischievously at the Delacours before gesturing Ron to come and grill them, while she takes control of the organized chaos for preparations.

AWRI Project Avada Compount, Libyan Desert

As she finishes her shift for handling the logistics of making more of the suits she conceptualized, she lies in her bunk and takes out a worn out photo of an older brother she could only barely remember. She actually sneaked it out of her parents' home in Istanbul along with a few items when she ran away.

"I wonder where he could be. By now, he's probably forty-four years old if he's still alive." Mira mutters to herself.

"I hope you're alright, wherever you are Harun."

"I miss my small Doner Kebab shop in Beirut. These bastards that I'm working with help blow it up a day before we sent that package in Paris." She ponders and remembers the time she first time she tasted Donner Kebab.

*Flashback*

1998 Bazaar of Magic

Mira walks by just beside the Blue Mosque, when her senses catch a whiff of a succulent smell of freshly baked wheat flatbread and beef. She follows the scent and ends up a quaint corner shop with vertical rotisseries. She sees layers upon layers of spiced meats stacked together and slowly spinning around the contraption. The flatbreads zoom off the oven and the queue of twenty people is almost instantaneously served some fresh doner kebab. The garlic sauce dips float and zoom around the customers as they eat and chat about their days.

'The magical institute of Beirut doesn't have one of these.' She observes the surroundings and decides to order one for herself. The singing cabbages, garlic sauce, diced bouncy tomatoes, and some salt and pepper accompany the sliced beef into two halved flatbread pockets. A paper napkin finishes the ensemble and floats towards Mira, as she flicks three sickles towards the portly mustached wizard behind the counter.

Mira takes a bite and remembers the childhood days with her mother and father, who only mentions of an older brother who ran away. She later realizes that he left because the very magic that flows in her veins is haram. She savors the kebab and heads on out, nearly bumping into a tall and lanky man at the door. For a moment, she looks at the older man before her.

He smiles softly at her, muttering 'sorry 'and they lock eyes as they both apologize. Their eyes meet and they feel a certain connection, something that felt right and whole. Her heart skipped a beat and she whispers, "Do I know you?"

"I'm sorry miss. I believe we haven't met, even if you do look familiar." The man tells her, "Perhaps I'm mistaken. Again, I'm sorry for nearly bumping into you." He smiles sadly and heads for the counter.

Mira shrugs and leaves. She pulls out a small photo of a nine-year-old boy from her pouch and she curses. "Damn it, he was my long lost brother!"

She heads back but doesn't see him anymore. Her shoulders sag in disbelief and she heads on back to the portkey to Beirut. "I hope you are well, brother. May my goodwill watch over you, Harun Benayoun."

*End of flashback*

"I hope you really are still alive somewhere brother," she mutters as she lies back down. Her pillow rests beneath her neck and she bundles up for the cold winds of the desert. Mira Haddid places the old family photo and whispers, "I turned my back on being Junah Benayoun when our father and mother decided I was an abomination in their eyes." She wipes the tears streaming from her eyes, trying to bury the old wound still aching after all these years. "It is best to leave the past, Mira. That is why you're here and still alive."

Mira lets out a sigh and closes her eyes to enter the realm of Morpheus once more.