Notes: This chapter contains some Tom/Hermione moments, but the main arc is profoundly cynical. It ends on an idealistic note, though!

To the reviewer who had forgotten who Rookwood was: In canon, he's a Ministry official who was spying for the Death Eaters. Karkaroff gave his name to Barty Crouch Sr. to get out of prison early. In OotP, after the mass escape, he tells Voldemort that handling prophecies that aren't about oneself triggers a curse. Here, of course, he is still a spy, but since blood supremacism is based out of the Soviet bloc in this AU and the Aurors are about to sew them up, he flips on them instead.

Chapter Thirty-Five: Operation Dark Sunset, Part III: Magical Meddling

"Enter," called Tom as he pressed a button to magically unlock his office door.

Chief Auror Alastor Moody opened the door and strode inside, making sure to close the door tightly behind him. Tom locked it at once. "Minister," Moody said gruffly in acknowledgment. "Good news."

Tom raised his eyebrows.

"Rookwood's ready to make a deal," Moody said. "He doesn't fancy life imprisonment in Azkaban, it seems."

Tom turned his wand over between his fingers. "It's almost a pity," he remarked loftily.

Moody chuckled. "I agree with you. If it were up to me, I'd get the information from him and then throw away the key."

One corner of Tom's mouth turned up in a half-smirk. "I would do it if not for the fact that the press would never let it go, especially with the wizarding justice reforms I've enacted. And I suppose, too, that there would be magical consequences to breaking one's word."

"Didn't stop him," Moody commented.

Tom actually chuckled. "True… but one could argue that magic has exacted its revenge on him. No," he said with a brief sigh, "we really must give him a reduced sentence, depending on what he provides. What has he offered to provide, by the way?"

Moody grinned. "Karkaroff's head on a platter, for one."

Tom raised his eyebrows again. "Really. Well, in that case, if the information he provides does lead to Karkaroff's capture, we're certainly obligated to reward him." He scowled. "I would have been surprised, but for the fact that he certainly felt no loyalty to the Ministry… so why would he feel loyalty to Karkaroff? It's not unheard of for spies to turn."

"Precisely so, Minister." Moody paused. "And there's something else."

Tom waited.

"Rookwood says he can provide evidence to Abbott's team that Abraxas Malfoy knew all about everything: the Soviet wizards' conspiracy in '58, the plot to muck about with wizarding elections, the 'murder potion' research, all of it. Apparently, if the filth can be believed, Malfoy is the mastermind of the 'meddling with elections and discrediting governments' plot. That's exactly the smoking wand, so to speak, that they've been looking for."

Tom sat upright at his desk. His eyes were wide. "If his 'evidence' is incontrovertible, that's fantastic," he said slowly.

Moody nodded. "We're happy with it… though… what about you, Minister? You seem conflicted."

Tom instantly forced his muscles to relax. "I am happy… but you're right, Alastor; I am conflicted. If what he has to offer is that good, then we have little choice but to give him a drastic reduction to his length of time in Azkaban… and even though he's been a help, I can't say I'm thrilled about letting him go free."

"Ah," Moody said. "Well, I understand that." He gave Tom a wry glance. "Perhaps we could make an exception to the criminal justice reforms this once."

"If only. But no, it's too high-profile a case."

"You're right."

Just before Moody turned around to leave the Minister's office, Tom spoke again. "Put him through every legal mode of questioning that you have, though."

Moody crammed his bowler hat onto his head and grinned again as he left the office.

Hermione was pleased to learn the latest news. "That's splendid," she exclaimed that evening when Tom told her in private about Rookwood's cooperation. "I just hope that his information turns out to be true, especially that about Malfoy."

Tom shifted on the sofa and put one arm around Hermione's shoulders. "Apparently, he has told the Aurors where to find Karkaroff and how to get inside the location. If they capture Karkaroff, that alone will help Rookwood."

"Do you have a guess already of where Karkaroff is?"

"It's probably either Moscow or the Soviet Republic of Georgia. The Rods have a base in Moscow—the Russians really should have moved their wizarding capital there; that might have prevented them from gaining a foothold—but unfortunately, they control Georgia."

Hermione scowled at that; she deeply disapproved of that situation. The mob-controlled Georgian government was not recognized as legitimate by any wizarding authority in the world, and it faced constant rebellion, but the rebels could not seem to overthrow it. Although she did not tell this to Tom—and the memories no longer stung—it reminded her far too much of her final year in her original time, when the Death Eaters ran an illegitimate wizarding government in Britain.

Well, she thought, I suppose Rodoslovnaya is the equivalent of the Death Eaters in this time. Tom is not a blood purist in this world, but he was not the source of the ideology in the alternate one either. It was already extant. In this life, it just took root in the Eastern bloc rather than Western Europe due to the rise of Tom's political party for those who want to be "pro-wizard" in their politics.

Tom was speaking again. "But whatever Rookwood may say, I don't think that Moody, for one, would give him a reduced sentence unless the information that he gives is actually helpful. They will check out what he offers on Malfoy." Tom hesitated, leaning forward. He removed his arm from Hermione's shoulders and bent over, resting his chin on his closed fists thoughtfully.

"What's the matter?" she asked, noticing his curious posture.

He sighed. "Rookwood knows too much. I don't like the idea of his going free, even if he does serve some time in Azkaban first. So far no one believes what he shouted outside the restaurant, but I have no doubt whatever that he said it to the Aurors at first, when he was in custody, in an attempt to buy his freedom. I don't like the thought of the seed being planted in anyone's mind, especially theirs. Slughorn is a careless buffoon," he snarled in a sudden burst of hostility. "This is his fault."

Hermione did not like this turn of Tom's thoughts. "Tom," she said sharply, "it's very true that Slughorn is careless, but so were you. You carried the diary around openly at the Ministry."

He scowled at her. "Slughorn told him about that conversation. He would not have intuited what the diary was without that context." He reached instinctively for his wand, as though it were a lucky charm, and turned it over in his hands in the motion that Hermione had noted, over the years, meant that he was obsessing about something. "I should have modified his memory years ago! I knew he couldn't be trusted when liquor and bragging were in the mix."

"Modify Rookwood's memory," Hermione said. "He is going to Azkaban for some amount of time, presumably."

"If he hands Malfoy to the Ministry, he may have just a hex on the wrist," Tom countered.

Hermione threw her arms up in exasperation. "What difference does it make? That might make it easier for you. Whether he goes to prison or goes on probation, modify his memory. That should address your—justifiable—concerns."

Tom breathed deeply, considering what she said. After a few moments, he relaxed, nodded, smiled at her, and put his arm back around her shoulders.

"Minister," Auror Abbott said excitedly as she closed the door behind her in Tom's office, "we are ready to make our attempt to capture Karkaroff."

"You know where he is, then?"

"He is hiding in the Soviet Republic of Georgia—this is confirmed—which, as you know—"

"—is the one nation-state that is controlled by the Rods," Tom finished. "It figures."

"It will be a difficult mission, but Rookwood's capture has been hushed up, and the other people at the restaurant who might have seen the arrest have had their memories modified to obscure his identity. Karkaroff and his employer at least should not know that we are coming."

Tom nodded. "That is critical. Take care, though—and good luck to you."

He passed on the news to Hermione privately at home that evening.

She was indignant about the risks that the Aurors were having to take to effect the capture. "I think it is a disgrace that a crime family has openly taken over a wizarding government," she said hotly. "It has happened before, of course, when Karkaroff and Dolohov led Russia, but they kept their affiliation secret. This is different. It should not be allowed to stand. The I.C.W. should not let it stand. It should support the rebels in Tbilisi."

"I agree, but there's a reason it hasn't."

Hermione's lips curled. She had a feeling she knew what that reason was….

"There is a push among the elite—the former wizarding government—for Russian help in ousting the Rods and their supporters," Tom explained sourly.

Hermione groaned.

"And that would be fine if it remained limited to 'help in ousting them.' Of course, the Georgians are right to suspect other motives. We are friends—mostly—with the current Russian wizarding government, but that does not mean that they don't have imperial ambitions like their Muggle counterparts. The I.C.W. is not about to step in the middle of that."

"What about the people? Not the former government leaders, but the ordinary rebels?"

"The people mostly don't want it, but the former leaders do, and our Russian allies have presented themselves as heroes in that part of the world—experts at ousting criminal wizards. The same ones who fought beside me now run the government, so they have some basis for that claim… even though Gr—Baginski and I were the ones to actually remove Karkaroff. But I'm not there, and Poland does not have close historical ties to Georgia like Russia does, so their voices seem to speak louder." He glowered. "It's a stalemate."

"It does sound like a fraught situation," she said delicately, "but this would contribute to the continuation of the illegitimate Rodoslovnaya-owned government—and make it more dangerous for our Aurors."

"That is very true, but I'd prefer that they resolved it themselves. We don't need to get involved in that if it can be avoided."

Tom, Hermione, and the few others in the know waited anxiously for word from the Aurors. At last, Tom received good news from Abbott.

"They took casualties—don't worry, love, no fatalities," he reassured Hermione, "but Karkaroff is in custody, and he will not be escaping this time. They also managed to capture two other criminals."

She breathed a sigh of relief and managed a nod. "And I suppose it's good that the witches and wizards of Georgia saw—or heard of—an operation against Rodoslovnaya that definitely did not involve the Russians."

Tom chuckled darkly. "If they did hear of it. I doubt Rodoslovnaya advertises it."

She sighed. "That's a good point. I just want situations to be resolved in a certain way," she admitted, "and it's tough when there is nothing I can do to assist."

"I understand," he said. He pulled her close. "I understand you perfectly."

The Aurors' combat team brought Karkaroff safely back to Britain, where the trial would begin as soon as the Office for Financial Crimes and Corruption completed their investigation. Thanks to Rookwood's information about Malfoy, that investigation was now moving speedily, much to Tom's satisfaction.

I doubt they will actually capture Malfoy, he thought one day soon after Karkaroff's capture. He will take shelter in Georgia as long as the crime family holds that government, and once the rebels do oust them—with or without Russian help—he will flee somewhere else and probably vanish entirely. It would be nice to be wrong… for once… but I will be surprised.

Tom truly wondered how much Malfoy knew about him. He had had a private interrogation of Rookwood, who insisted that he had not told anyone but Karkaroff about Tom's Horcrux. Tom intended to pay a "visit" to Karkaroff for the same purpose soon. Not too soon—the Aurors had heard Rookwood's accusation against Tom, and although they did not believe it now, some of them might have doubt sprout in their minds if Tom took too much interest in interrogating the prisoners privately. But he would find a good time as soon as it seemed reasonable.

Malfoy has always worked in the political sphere, Tom thought, reflecting on the history of schemes and incidents that might have involved Malfoy plotting against him. None of them had involved violence—except for this assassination attempt, though there did not appear to be a link to Malfoy for that specific plot. It appeared to be a scheme of Karkaroff and Rookwood, carried out by ignorant grunts in Karkaroff's unit. It could be that Malfoy truly does not know, Tom thought. If he knew, he would want it used to oust me from office. That has always been his way.

Tom considered the possibility of a disagreement in Rodoslovnaya about what to do with the information, a disagreement that Karkaroff won, but that too seemed improbable. Karkaroff would not be higher than Malfoy. Malfoy is a very wealthy man with immense political influence across Europe and ties to legitimate parties and factions; Karkaroff is a disgraced former head of government who was part of a mass murder conspiracy that threatened the Statute of Secrecy. It's possible that someone higher in the organization than Karkaroff gave an order to use the information only in the assassination attempt, rather than as a way to discredit me politically, but Malfoy would still have a lot of sway—and there is the ongoing plot of the Rods to take over various Western governments through bribed and extorted political leaders that they install. According to Rookwood, that's Malfoy's big project. I think it's quite possible that Malfoy simply does not have the information.

This was a relief to Tom, but it did not negate the need to eventually have a little "talk" with Igor Karkaroff. Tom just had to devise an excuse for it that would not trigger doubts or suspicions in the Aurors. He was being held in Azkaban, so it could not take place in secret.

I could putatively question Karkaroff about the information Rookwood gave about Malfoy, he thought. That might do. He resolved to do it as soon as was practicable.

A few days later.

Tom loomed over Karkaroff in his cell in Azkaban. Karkaroff was chained and wandless, his magic restricted by wards on the cell. Tom had added an additional one: the very useful Muffliato spell that Hermione knew. No one could hear what Karkaroff and Tom were saying.

Tom pointed his wand at the wretched prisoner. Karkaroff had put up a fight against the Aurors, and he had taken curse damage from it. His fine robes, paid for by gold acquired from the sale of Muggle-born children, were long confiscated, and now he wore the standard prison garb. To Tom's severe annoyance, Karkaroff would not meet his eyes.

"Who else knows?" Tom hissed between clenched teeth. "I can make this very unpleasant if you don't cooperate."

Karkaroff sat resolutely, stonily silent.

Tom flicked his wand, sending a sharply painful hex at the man. Karkaroff doubled over, wincing. It would not leave any physical damage, but it was painful.

"Is your tongue tied?" Tom demanded. "Do they have you under the Unbreakable Vow?"

"No," Karkaroff finally spat.

Tom leaned over and grabbed Karkaroff by the collar. "Then who else knows?" he snarled, jabbing his wand into Karkaroff's chest. "Rookwood obviously told you. Who else knows?"

At last, Karkaroff glared back at the Minister with unvarnished hatred. Tom took advantage. He locked eyes with Karkaroff and instantly gained access to the other man's thoughts.

A foggy, blurry memory swam to the surface of Karkaroff's mind. In this memory, he, Rookwood, and a third man were at a table in a small, dark, cramped room. They were having shots of what appeared to be the traditional Russian wizarding spirit, ice vodka, and muttering in hushed tones. The third man's face was fuzzy… distorted… it was as though Karkaroff had deliberately tried to obscure this memory, just in case this ever happened… but as Tom focused with all his magical might, he made out silvery-blonde hair in a queue….

Malfoy does know! Tom was stunned. How could it be? What was Malfoy playing at, harboring such deadly information about his adversary and not using it? Tom tried to deduce what it meant by examining the memory. Fortunately, they were speaking in English.

"We undermine the wizarding governments of France and Germany," Malfoy was saying in the memory, "and our agents will be prepared to act to install our chosen candidates. Britain is more of a problem, however."

"The information that Augustus has provided should destroy Riddle," Karkaroff objected.

Malfoy leaned forward, a shrewd gleam in his eyes. "I am not so sure. Riddle is a master of deceit. He would lie to the public, and there are many who would believe him—far more than would be willing to entertain the idea of a 'perfect family man,' as he paints himself, with such a deed to his name. No," he said, "we must use this information for a different purpose. Riddle must die. I have lost too many political battles against him to want to attempt that method again. He must be permanently removed from the scene."

Karkaroff and Rookwood considered Malfoy's words, nodding after a few seconds of thought.

"We must keep it amongst ourselves, of course," finished Malfoy. "Otherwise it could reach someone who does want to use it politically. That would put Riddle on his guard and make it very, very difficult to kill him."

Tom pulled out of Karkaroff's mind and stared at him. He could hardly believe what he had just heard. Malfoy had changed tactics. It was hard to believe. Of course, this meant that the Aurors definitely had to capture Malfoy—and quickly. The relief that Tom felt from knowing that so few true enemies of his knew about the Horcrux was countered by the sudden burst of anxiety about capturing Malfoy, a monumental task.

"Thank you, Karkaroff," Tom said in a clipped tone. "Malfoy's reasoning makes sense, but ultimately, it was a poor idea on his part to keep the information so secret. He doesn't even know that Rookwood has been captured, and it will be a while before your capture reaches your 'colleagues' too." He pointed his wand at Karkaroff's head, focusing hard on the man's knowledge of the Horcrux. "Obliviate."

When Tom Apparated back to the Ministry from Azkaban, he instantly noticed how grim Vincent Rosier and several other political cronies of his were.

"What in Merlin's name is the matter?" he asked, startled at the dour faces. A terrible suspicion crossed his mind. Had Malfoy learned of Karkaroff's capture and decided after all to release the damning information that he had?

"Might as well tell you," Rosier muttered. "You'll find out soon anyway. I would love to duel Septimus Weasley one-on-one… though I bet you'll want to do it more."

"Septimus Weasley? What does that buffoonish has-been have to do with anything?" Tom felt a surge of annoyance and contempt. Weasley was attempting, desperately, to hold onto the leadership mantle in his political party against the upstart Nobby Leach, but the Reformists were growing impatient with his headship and its lack of results for nearly a decade. Tom felt that Weasley was doomed as a political leader. What had he done now?

"It's a stupid book that he wrote that just got released," said Rosier. "He got his mates at their magazine, New Camelot, to do an extravaganza about the claims and arguments he makes in it, and the Daily Prophet, Wizarding Britain Weekly, and several other mainstream news sources have picked up the controversy."

"What controversy?" Tom rather wished Rosier would just get to the point.

"The book is called…." Rosier opened his newspaper and read from it. "A Comprehensive History of Magical Meddling in the Muggle World. Rubbish, of course, but Weasley has claimed that we—wizards and witches, I should say—caused all sorts of problems throughout Muggle history."

"It's his answer to the National Museum of Magic," added Connor Lynch darkly. "He never did support your wife's effort in founding it."

That was true enough, Tom recalled. He scowled at the mention of the subject of Weasley's book. "So he wrote a book full of anti-wizard rubbish to try to burnish his rusting credentials among that set. What exactly does he claim magical people did to the poor, poor Muggles?"

Rosier read from the newspaper, paraphrasing. "His main thesis is that wizards caused the Bolshevik Revolution, that there was a wizard named Rasputin in old Russia who caused the tsar to turn bad and act against his people."

"There was a wizard named Rasputin," Tom said, "but the Muggle Lenin raised a following all on his own. Wizards had nothing to do with that. That was all Muggle. The old regime was also quite bad enough in its own right without wizard help." He scoffed. "There are some among the Reformists who simply refuse to admit that Muggles are capable of evil on their own. Our 'esteemed opponents' will not see that Muggles have acted against witches and wizards in evil ways in the past—and would do so in the present, too, what with the nuclear weapons that they themselves have created—and neither will this kind of Reformist see that Muggles do evil things to each other too. They think they are championing Muggles, but in reality, they infantilize them."

"You're right, of course," Rosier said, "but Weasley has seized the platform with the claims he makes in this book."

"Let me see that newspaper," Tom said. Rosier handed him the Prophet and Tom began to read it.

It was worse than Rosier had indicated. Rosier's statements about Weasley's treatment of the Bolshevik Revolution were accurate, but they were not complete. Weasley had made a special point of attempting to paint the troubles in the modern-day wizarding populations of the Soviet Union, especially Rodoslovnaya, as "the beginnings of justice" against the wizarding community as a whole for the supposed sins of one Russian wizard with a tsar's ear. Since millions of Muggles had died in Soviet purges, Weasley intimated, the wizarding population owed much more penance to the Muggles to pay for this spilled blood.

The very idea of his entire people deserving punishment due to the sins—even real sins—of a forebear was repugnant to Tom. Even if Rasputin did manipulate the last tsar, he thought in anger, the country effectively practiced serfdom into modern times. The Russian Muggles revolted not because of magical oppression practiced by a wizard; they revolted due to oppression and war from other Muggles—and they followed a dangerous leader because they were kept ignorant by their Muggle masters. Wizards did not cause Soviet Russia, and we are not fighting Rodoslovnaya today as penance for the supposed evil of Rasputin.

Of course, Tom realized as he read on, it was not just about Rasputin, nor was it just about Russian wizards.

"He thinks that the wizarding population as a whole should apologize to Muggles!" Tom exploded. Rosier checked the door; it was a good thing that it was closed and locked. Tom threw down the newspaper. "Apologize to Muggles and put ourselves under their authority!" He picked it up at once again and began to read Weasley's words. "'In Britain, the title of the Minister for Magic follows the convention of Muggle government ministers beneath their Prime Minister, yet our Minister for Magic acts independently of the Prime Minister—as his coequal. Previous Ministers for Magic have referred to him as the Prime Minister of Muggles, as if to say that he is not their Prime Minister, and some have reported that the Prime Minister regarded the Minister for Magic as the Other Minister, accepting wizarding usurpation of authority. This is certainly not sanctioned by the Crown or Parliament, and it should not continue.' Listen to this," Tom continued, his mouth curling into a snarl. "He gets personal. 'The current Minister for Magic has severed ties with the Prime Minister over a situation that, as I show in my book, wizards themselves are ultimately responsible for. This too should change, as it only enables this unlawful and immoral magical supremacy.'" Tom threw down the newspaper again in utter fury. A small blue flame, a sign of accidental magic, darted from the tip of his wand, which he held in hand.

Rosier and Lynch stood silently as their boss spent his rage. Finally Lynch spoke. "Minister, we stand by you, needless to say. Weasley is a fool."

"Of course he is," Rosier agreed reassuringly. "He is doing this to try to stave off Nobby Leach's threat. That's all it is."

"You're right," Tom said, cooling off as he fell into his chair. "No one outside his band of self-hating radicals will back these ideas, especially once others attack his terrible historical research—assuming he did any at all. Even Bathilda Bagshot doesn't blame wizards for the rise of the Soviet Union, and she's as pro-Muggle as one can be without actually being a self-hating blood-traitor."

Hermione was also displeased with the release of Weasley's controversial, explosive book. "I do not remember hearing of the existence of such a book in my original time," she said that night in bed. "I could have forgot, of course—it's been nineteen years—but more likely, Weasley must not have written it in that timeline."

"What was he in that timeline?"

"Just a Ministry bureaucrat," Hermione said. "He was not a major political figure."

"Hmm," Tom mumbled. "That's the difference, then. You tell me that there were no political parties in the wizarding world in your time either."

"There weren't—unless you count the Death Eaters as a party," she said pointedly, giving him a wry, dark smirk.

"I don't," he said, smirking back. "They sound like Rodoslovnaya of Britain, to be frank. It's hard for me to believe that I could have… but I digress. There were no formal, named parties or factions, just loose coalitions of people who basically agreed on the big issues. That's how it used to be for me too, before I left Hogwarts and immediately after. When the Minister disagreed with you, your career was on hold or worse unless you were independently wealthy. No one cared what you thought. The party structure gave outsiders a platform… it is what has allowed Weasley to remain important—to hold onto dreams of power—and that's why he wrote this book. Nobby Leach threatens the power that he has."

"That makes sense, I agree," Hermione said. She leaned over and kissed him. "It'll pass. Weasley will have his moment, but it will be over quickly. With the information that Rookwood and Karkaroff have provided, it's possible that Abraxas Malfoy will actually be taken into custody. He will definitely be charged with serious crimes. That should steal the headlines when it happens."

Tom thought about that. "I think you're right."

"Just watch," she said, rolling on top of him with a smile. "This will pass. Now, if you will not put it out of your mind, I will do it for you." She reached for his robes with a bold smirk on her face.

Tom laughed. Ordinarily he would want to take the lead, but this was very nice, and since she clearly wanted to attend to him, he decided that tonight, he would let her….

Unfortunately, Hermione was not correct—at least not immediately. The controversy that Septimus Weasley's explosive statements ginned up took over the Daily Prophet and its editorial page for a full week. The man held several book signings, which instantly turned into press conferences and—in a way—political rallies. Almost immediately, Isolationists and a number of Wizarding Nationalists began to show up to heckle and shout at Weasley, who gladly shouted back. The Prophet dutifully covered all of these raucous events.

"This is exasperating," Tom remarked to his political cronies one night at the Serpents' Chalice. "The wizarding world is discussing whether to apologize to Muggles for something we didn't do, and put ourselves under their control, rather than the news about the Aurors' investigation."

"In fairness, Riddle, the Aurors haven't announced any news," Rosier pointed out. "They've kept Karkaroff's capture very secret, and nobody at all knows that Rookwood was a spy."

Tom scowled. "They should announce the development with Karkaroff, at least. Rookwood is sensitive—I understand about protecting sources—but everyone knows who Karkaroff is. Weasley is distracting the entire wizarding community with this rubbish, purely to benefit himself in an internal partisan power struggle. And the sheer galling hypocrisy of a pureblood wizard—one of old Cantankerus Nott's Sacred Twenty-Eight, to boot—painting himself as more authentically 'pro-Muggle' than a Muggle-born like Leach. It just defies belief."

Rosier looked distinctly uncomfortable; his family had also been numbered among the twenty-eight "truly pureblood" in Nott's 1930s-era book. So, for that matter, had the family of Riddle's mother. "It's patently outrageous, at least to anyone who isn't a self-hating wizard like Weasley himself," he agreed. "Unfortunately, Weasley does have the ability to shape ideas, since he's a party leader."

"I cannot believe we're even discussing this instead of the investigation," Tom continued, ranting. "The investigation is important. It is important that Russian organized criminals have been attempting to undermine and take over free wizarding governments with secret agents. It is important that there was a spy in the Ministry itself who was helping them, and it is very important that Abraxas Malfoy was up to his neck in all of it! And instead, the newspaper is filled with rubbish about 'the Magical Meddling debate.'"

Tom's friends stared glumly at the table. Finally Lynch spoke. "It'll burn itself out. The cycle is probably nearing its end, and then the Aurors should hopefully have something to announce."

"I hope you're right," Tom said.

The debate did not die down immediately. Instead, a new twist took shape. It was not clear whether this had originated with the Prophet's editorial board itself or whether someone in politics had started it, but two days after the night at the Serpents' Chalice, the Daily Prophet shot through Tom's Floo at the Ministry bearing the headline, "Minister Still Silent on Magical Meddling".

Tom was instantly furious. He picked up the newspaper, left a note behind for his staff, and instantly left the Minister's office, heading home. Hermione, at least, gets to spend the holidays with the children, he thought sourly as he stepped out of the home Floo into the family sitting room.

"Tom!" Hermione exclaimed in surprise, setting down the book she was reading. "What are you doing?"

"I took personal leave," he said brusquely. "Have you seen today's Prophet?"

She shook her head. "No, and honestly, Tom, I think you should not track the headlines quite as obsessively as you do. Nothing relevant to your work is happening right now."

Tom unrolled the newspaper and displayed it to her. "Someone disagrees."

Hermione's face changed as she read the headline. Her mouth became pinched. "What is this?" she said in disdain. "Why should you have to weigh in on the content of someone's political treatise masquerading as history?"

"I shouldn't," he said, "but it seems that our press has nothing better to do. It should be obvious what I think, and I don't want to contribute to Weasley's public stature or give legitimacy to his views. But now that this has happened, I'll have to give a statement."

She sighed. "Make it a good one, and Tom, don't engage Weasley about the specifics of anything that he says. If you do—if you let yourself be drawn into a debate of whether he's correct on this point or that one—the implication is that his overall conclusion is right: that if wizards 'meddled' at all, then we should repeal the Statute of Secrecy, apologize to Muggles, and put ourselves under their authority. And that is just not so. Even if wizards did everything that Weasley claims, that does not follow."

Before Tom left home, he wanted to see the children. Spending time with them calmed his rage rather a lot, especially when he saw Virgil's face and remembered his son's discovery of the diadem of Ravenclaw for the history museum. That is a well-researched depiction of wizarding history, he thought. The museum is even-handed. I don't need to get in a debate with Weasley about historical particulars; debating the details of Rasputin's service to the last tsar—or debating any of his other claims in detail—just means having the discussion on his terms. Hermione is right. Even if such things were true, it wouldn't follow that the wizarding world as a whole should apologize to Muggles or put ourselves under the Muggle Prime Minister's authority. I've already stated my position on magical history through the museum. I don't need to debate Weasley's assertions, just oppose his conclusion.

"Thank you, Minister," said the reporter. Tom had just given his statement to the assembled press, with the writers for The Ouroboros, the partisan weekly that was friendly to Tom, at the head of the group.

Tom nodded curtly. "You are very welcome. It is, frankly, shocking to me that a prominent political leader would advocate repealing the Statute of Secrecy, telling Muggles that we're a danger to them, and putting ourselves under Muggle authority in an era in which Muggles have the power to destroy all life on earth, but some people live a very cloistered life," he said, his words dripping contempt. "I hope that it is now perfectly clear where I stand on this non-issue, but in the meantime, I must return to Ministry business. My Aurors are engaged in a very significant investigation, and it may be nearing a critical point."

That got their attention, Tom noticed—to his surprise and pleasure. Perhaps the press did still care about important matters….

"Can you say more about that, Minister?" the reporter asked eagerly.

Tom shook his head. "I'm afraid not. You will find out in good time." With that, he gave them a wave and left the podium.

"Well, this is interesting," Tom remarked. Auror Abbott had just given him a draft of the financial report of the Rodoslovnaya investigation, detailing the crime family's sources of income and expenditures. It was one piece of the final report that they would issue. "They were hiding vast sums of money in Gringotts? Not some Russian—or Georgian—wizarding bank?"

"So we found," she said. "Georgia doesn't have its own bank; most of the Eastern bloc countries use the Russian wizarding bank in St. Petersburg. Our Russian allies are attempting to follow in our forebears' footsteps… or, rather, the footsteps of British goblins of the 19th century. However, they are not there yet. Gringotts became the premier wizarding bank of the world due to the influence of the Muggles' British Empire around the world."

"Oh, God," Tom muttered. "Don't tell that to Septimus Weasley. He would claim that meant that wizards—never goblins, just wizards—were meddling with Queen Victoria, or something."

Abbott smiled thinly, not entirely approving of Tom's interjection of politics into her work, but not contradicting the Minister. "We won't tell it to anyone until the final report goes out," she assured him in her most professional tone. "It is true, though. They were hiding much of their gold in Gringotts, which, needless to say, is going to be an embarrassment to us…."

"Why should it be?" Tom asked. "The Ministry isn't allowed to interfere with the goblins' operation of the bank. That was part of the treaty the Ministry signed with them after all the goblin wars centuries ago. Perhaps it's time for a change, if the Rods have been taking advantage of that to hide their wealth."

"The goblins won't like that."

"Then they should have been more discriminating about who their customers are," Tom replied. "When you release that information, I will not let certain people use it to attack witches and wizards." He returned the draft report to her. "Any developments in the Malfoy part?"

"We are closing in on him." She seemed reluctant to say more.

"Ah," Tom said. "I understand. I have faith in your team, though."

Septimus Weasley seemed to regard Tom's statement condemning his ideas as nutritious food. The very day after Tom gave his statement—and privately talked with the Auror leading the investigation—Weasley called a new signing-cum-rally at Flourish and Blotts to attack the Minister as being a "secret supremacist just like Gellert Grindelwald" and then segued into an attack on Tom for having failed to recapture Grindelwald after seven years.

He is a magic supremacist, Hermione thought after Tom came home that night complaining about it. But he doesn't promote policies of that sort.

"Look at this," Tom complained, spreading a newspaper on his lap. "He even attacked the investigation! He says that it's a 'distraction' and 'a way for the Wizarding Nationalists and their allies in other Western countries to avoid political consequences for the moral rot of their positions.'"

"What does he mean by that?" Hermione sputtered. "I don't even understand what he is trying to say."

"No one did. He was asked to clarify," Tom said with a smirk. "He says that a Minister who 'clearly distinguished himself from the blood purists' would not be at risk of being undermined and toppled by foreign interference. He is a true believer! He really thinks that his views would make him so strong, so popular, that nothing the Rods might do could hurt him."

"Sooo," Hermione said darkly, "he doesn't care if there is 'foreign interference'—quite an interesting position for someone so concerned with 'magical meddling' to take, I should add—"

"He only cares about it if it's wizards meddling with Muggles—or he thinks it is."

She sniffed. "He doesn't care about foreign interference with British wizarding politics as long as it doesn't succeed in toppling a Minister who thinks like him, and he believes that he would be such a popular Minister that that couldn't possibly happen. I have no words."

"I have some," Tom said with a grin, "but they're unfit for print."

"Oh," she said, "I have some of those too."

Tom raised his eyebrows at her. "Really? I'm impressed. Even after nineteen years, you still surprise me sometimes."

"I try," she said with a flirtatious smile.

The morning that the Aurors captured Abraxas Malfoy dawned like any other late December day, cold and dreary. Tom rose from his bed, leaving Hermione to snooze, and readied himself for work. Every day that he did this was a drudgery, at least until the news that he was waiting for occurred. He suspected that the Aurors' report would contain many more areas than Gringotts Bank where legal reforms were needed, and he could hardly wait to pounce. However, it was not yet ready.

Tom dressed himself, ate breakfast, and Apparated to the Ministry. As soon as he approached the locked door of his office, he saw that his deputy, Vincent Rosier, was hovering outside the office anxiously.

"Minister!" the other man exclaimed. "Auror Moody and Auror Abbott needed to see you at once!"

Tom's heart leapt. Could it be? "Did they say why?" he asked.

Rosier shook his head. "They kept very mum, which makes me think it's a big development."

Tom unlocked his office door. "Send them to me."

The Aurors soon appeared in Tom's office. Moody nodded to Abbott, who began to speak.

"Our teams have achieved a crucial goal," Abbott said. "This morning—well, it was actually 'last night' here in London, but daylight where it occurred—we captured Abraxas Malfoy in Tbilisi, Georgia."

Tom stared at the Aurors. "He is in custody?" he repeated. This was enormous. This was what he had been waiting to happen for years.

"He is being held as we speak," Moody confirmed. "He has not talked yet—"

"Please don't offer him freedom," Tom said. "He is too dangerous and troublesome to let go."

"We agree," said Moody, "and as it happens, he is one of the top criminal bosses of the organization. That was a surprise to everyone."

"Really?" Tom supposed he was somewhat surprised, but… not entirely.

"They do not operate exactly like the Muggle crime families," Moody said. "Those are usually led by one person, the head of an actual blood-related family. Rodoslovnaya is headed by a small committee." He smirked. "They would hate the comparison, of course, but they truly did use the Muggles' Soviet model, except that they don't even have a Premier. Malfoy is at the highest level, sharing power with three others. We're not letting him go anywhere."

"But… how could Rookwood and Karkaroff not have known that?" Tom said, still taking it in.

Abbott smiled grimly. "We have questioned them about that, and they did know. Since they did not see fit to share this with us, we've decided to increase their sentences in Azkaban."

"Good," he said distractedly. "Well. Abraxas Malfoy… was a leader of the Rods," he repeated, still winded. "I can hardly believe it. That explains so much…."

"Abraxas Malfoy was a co-founder of the Rods," Moody said. "After we got Rookwood to confess that he knew all along, he said that Malfoy intended years ago to promote a blood-purity campaign here in Britain, but that… political developments… precluded that."

"The rise of parties and a third option," Tom muttered. A third option that I created and led, as opposed to letting myself become the figurehead of the radical blood-purity movement that Malfoy and his friends wanted to have here.

"Be that as it may," Moody said, "Malfoy took his agenda abroad with like-minded foreigners, taking advantage of the weakness of the wizarding governments in the Soviet states—and the Russians' choice to keep their wizarding capital in St. Petersburg rather than Moscow—to set up there."

"This is incredible," Tom said. "This is confirmed?"

The Aurors nodded. "We're not going to attempt to keep this under wraps. With your permission, we would like to give a statement to the press in a few hours."

"I think," Tom said slowly, "that that's a splendid idea."

After the Aurors left, Tom sent a letter to Hermione. She needed to know about this.

Tom allowed the pair of Aurors to announce their findings themselves later that day before the assembled gaggle of reporters. They had done all the hard work, after all—other than his own work, and Hermione's, to investigate who had known so much about him in the assassination attempt. And it looks better if the Aurors tell about it, he thought. It doesn't look political that way.

He and Hermione held hands as they watched the Aurors explain their findings. Flash bulbs of several dozen magical cameras popped, making them blink.

"Our Aurors' actions over the past twenty-four hours have crippled a powerful criminal organization," Abbott said, "and our final report on the Rodoslovnaya investigation will be released as soon as we have determined that there is no more information to be found." She and Moody stepped away. He continued to hold Hermione's hand even as the Ministry guests left the room in a slow-moving throng.

"Minister," shouted one of the reporters, "what does this mean for you politically?"

Tom scowled. He did not want to deal with that this soon. "The Aurors are an apolitical division of the Ministry," he said curtly. "I am certainly pleased to have been the one to spearhead this investigation, on a tip from my deputy, but the investigation is not political."

"But—" The reporter's question was, fortunately, drowned out in the noise.

"Mr. Black!" someone else called, referring to Orion Black, the formal leader of the Isolationists, who had also been present. "What do you—"

"I have supported the Aurors' work from the moment it was announced," Black said icily. "In fact, my father and I aided the Riddles in identifying a crucial information source shortly after a Rod-linked assassination attempt on the Minister."

That got a reaction from the press. Tom groaned. He wished Orion hadn't mentioned that. Now he would have to deal with it, in case Malfoy decided to take advantage and made assertions to the Aurors—or the press—about what he knew about Tom.

"I have exhibited no tolerance for conspiratorial thinking among Wizengamot Isolationists regarding this investigation," said Black. "Now that the Aurors have confirmed that Malfoy was even more guilty than anyone suspected, I trust that those who have attempted to undermine their work will be silent." He glared and quickly left the room.

Across the room, Septimus Weasley stood by, a sour expression on his face. I hope you enjoyed your time as the center of attention, Tom thought as he passed by his adversary. As he exulted in the news, he realized that… he had instantly let go of his resentment toward the man for taking the spotlight. Something much more important had just happened, and that was what mattered.

End Notes: You know how this goes by now, since I've performed necromancy on this story several times. Marking it as Complete to keep potential new readers from thinking it's a long abandoned novel, but it could have additional chapters in the future if new ideas occur to me.

Thank you for all the interest in this AU!