A/N: Hi, it's the debriefing mentioned in The Longer The Wait The Sweeter The Kiss, while thinking of making it a two-shot it kind of turned out to be a full multi-chapter in which I could pour all my strategic war ideas into.Beta'ing thanks go out to Takingflight48 and Pixiekisses
Chapter one: The Debriefing
"Dainty dress, Granger," Blaise mischievously uttered, breaking the silence in the dimly lit dining room. The ragged curtains kept the bleak sunlight from truly illuminating the room. He smirked broadly up at her as she and Draco continued their swift manoeuvre to quickly sneak into the two only unoccupied seats left around the hardwood table. After their shower, Hermione had quickly thrown on one of Draco's Oxfords wrapping one of her belts around her slender waist to accentuate her curves and attempt to look slightly put together.
Harry rose from his seat, he brought his hand to his mouth and coughed exaggeratedly to try to get the attention of the group sitting around the hardwood table in the dining room of 12 Grimmauld Place.
"So, now that everyone is finally decent," Harry tried to kick off the briefing but his speech was already cut short by a loud *snort* coming from the side of the table where Blaise was casually draped over his chair, his legs nonchalantly rested on the antique dining table.
"Potter, decent is not quite the word I would use for you, your hair still seems to be a bit dirty." Blaise started, a broad smirk on his face, "Are you sure you got your shower in this morning?" The dark-skinned wizard shot an amused look in the direction of Draco, shifted his gaze slightly leftward to Hermione and gave her an over the top flirtatious wink. Hermione squirmed in her seat, her cheeks turned a vivid scarlet as she tore her eyes away from his, recalling the position she was in on the shower floor during her best friend's conversation with Draco, just thirty minutes ago.
Harry ran his hand through his unkempt greasy jet-black hair. A look of disgust ghosted over his face as he wiped his hand on his jeans. He swiftly tried to morph his expression into one of sheer focus and determination, but only succeeded partially.
"Right, well, if we can, in fact, get this debriefing in the books, I can go and finally get my morning shower in." He raised his right hand. "And I can clean up this glorious mess," he turned towards Draco, "So, please Malfoy, take the floor."
Unlike Harry, Draco didn't stand up, he simply subtly shifted in his chair next to Hermione. Draco inhaled a deep breath and started speaking in what she had started affectionately calling his commander's tone. "As you are all aware, it has been almost two months of essentially little to no useful intelligence that has come out of our reconnaissance missions from our Forward Operations Base in rural northwestern Hampshire. We finally caught a fundamental break last night when at 1925 hours the reconnaissance mission into the northern sector of the New Forest National Park returned to base with a very valuable prisoner."
Hermione was perplexed, she had undoubtedly known this specific mission had struck a chord within Draco as none of the others had done before, but she hadn't expected something so significant as a prisoner. There was a significant possibility that this valuable prisoner had been someone from his past as a Death Eater. It could even be a family member. He still had a lot of family members high up in the ranks of the Dark Disciples.
"A high-profile prisoner was brought to us by a potential defector," Draco continued steadfastly. All eyes were now firmly fixated on him. Even Ron had promptly dropped the quill from his hand onto the parchment in front of him, the random list he was writing completely abandoned, and had looked at Draco for the first time since the start of the debriefing.
"Could you please elaborate, Malfoy," Harry instructed, urging Draco to continue.
"During the two-wizard nightly patrol last night along the perimeter wards of the Forward Operations Base, Parkinson returned to Base at 1925 hours yesterday evening," He inclined his head towards Pansy, who was sitting pensively at the other end of the table close to Harry, who gave a small nod in acknowledgement. "With two witches held at wand point. It was later confirmed after extensive interrogation took place, that one of the witches was indeed a willing defector, providing us with a lot of valuable information. The second witch, however, did not provide any information at all and is still being held in captivity. As you all know that subject to my defection, I agreed to never use any harsh interrogation methods, so there is almost no reasonable hope of properly breaking her, at this time."
Hermione could spot the slight tightening of muscles in Draco's jaw as he talked, and the tension on everyone's faces around the table out of her peripheral vision. The members of Draco's squad were nervously eyeing each other and the order members around the table, trying the gauge their reactions. Two witches. One willing to give information, one the clear opposite of it.
"Malfoy, the specific names of the two witches, please," Harry instructed.
"I can't-" Hermione could detect a slight hint of a tremble in Draco's voice. "Potter," He dropped his hands from the parchment on the dining table down into his lap. When Hermione reached for his hand, she felt it shaking within hers and squeezed. "Pans?" he turned towards his second in command, his commander's tone having completely left his voice now. "Will you please continue?"
Pansy cleared her throat, straightened in her chair and quickly took over the debriefing.
"During our routine night patrol, around 1920 hours, near the northwestern edge of the perimeter, Boot and I witnessed two people slowly walking towards us. Their identity was obscured by their cloaks, mist and the almost pitch black of the surrounding woods-"
"As I previously said to Malfoy, Parkinson, would you please reveal the identity of these witches to the rest of the room," Harry harshly cut in.
Hermione could feel Draco's entire body tense up beside her. His breath became almost imperceptibly heavier, as he started to forcefully control his breathing, seemingly to try and calm himself down. His hand clutched hers as if it was his only true source of comfort. She could see even Blaise shift to sit upright finally giving the briefing his full attention. Which could only mean; whoever these witches were, their identity had shocked even the members of the 'Seven'.
"Dammit, Potter, if you keep interrupting we will never get to that part," Pansy huffed agitated, "And don't act like you don't damn well know their identities, Draco sent you an encrypted message by owl last night at 2300 hours, after his interrogation with the defector had been concluded. The rest of the Order General Command will hear the identities after I've finished recounting the events of the patrol, is that understood?" With the tension now clearly visible on the faces of the order members around the table, it was clear Pansy had overstepped the normal communications protocol for official meetings. Pansy wasn't an operative that would violate protocol easily, therefore it was imperative she meant it this time.
Harry offered her a slight nod in acknowledgement and Hermione let out a silent huff of breath, content Harry understood the reaction was singular but somewhat needed in this current circumstance.
"As I was trying to say," Pansy ground out looking put out at being interrupted, continued her testimony, "Around 1920 hours, Boot and I encountered two people gradually making their way towards us. However, when they came into full view, it was blatantly obvious that one witch was being held at wand point. Once they were fully within our reach, both wands were willingly surrendered and the prisoner detained. A message was sent ahead of us to the base with the notice of our early return. Also containing the request for another patrol pair to continue on from this point."
Pansy took the moment to seize a dramatic pause by looking around the table and spotting several pairs of eyes glued onto hers. On the other end of the table, Draco and Hermione were sat close together. Hermione, Pansy noted was silently soothing him without knowing with certainty what the exact cause of his discomfort was.
"We made our way back to base, taking in Narcissa Malfoy and Bellatrix Lestrange." There was a collective gasp as all non-squad members looked utterly shocked by her declaration. Several sets of eyes were now fixated on Draco.
"Is she okay?" Hermione whispered subtly so only he could hear.
Draco merely offered her a slight nod while his eyes were still firmly fixated on the parchment in front of him on the dining table. Desperately trying to avoid the prying eyes of the OGC members.
The hand that wasn't holding Hermione's in his lap reached shakily for the glass of water in front of him. He took a sip of water and a big gulp of air before clearing his throat.
"Uhm, as I stated before, Bellatrix didn't provide us with any useful information," Draco said as he took back control of the meeting once again. His entire demeanour swiftly eased back into the confident leader he was known for. "My mother, however, gave us pertinent intel regarding troop movements of the Dark Disciple's forces." A number of OGC members looked shocked at how easily the immensely valuable information Narcissa had brought to them was being divulged. They hadn't had any credible information about troop movements in months.
"They are moving up north, in preparation for a significant assault on our Scottish Forward Operations Base at Branxholme Castle in the Borders. We strongly believe there's something the Dark Disciple Council eagerly wants in Scotland. We're not entirely sure of where in Scotland but that should be easy to narrow done." Draco looked encouragingly over at Hermione, who as head of the intelligence sector of the Order would take the brunt of the Scotland research upon her. "As you all are familiar with it's the region, as we've held it dominantly for years now," Draco explained as he took another sip of water, wishing that it was something much stronger.
"How can we know the intel is legit, Malfoy?" Ron bluntly interrupted as he fiddled with his discarded quill, a small crease appearing between his eyebrows.
"Her husband is part of the Dark Disciple Council, he has been since it's inception," Draco clarified, rubbing a hand across his mouth in an attempt to disguise the grimace on his lips.
"You mean your dear Death Eater dad?" Ron foolishly asked scoffing in amusement.
"Yes, Weasley, I do refer to my father," Draco drawled with a hint of considerable irritation in his somewhat strangled voice as he avoided any and all eye contact.
Hermione rubbed her thumb over the back of his hand, trying to soothe Draco, recognizing that jumping in at this moment would only make Ron act more senseless.
"My mother told me that they are preparing to portkey to the Cheviot, the steepest peak of the range of uplands of the same name. It's located in northern Northumberland, a little over a mile from the Scottish border. If we set up a series of anti apparition wards and protective wards close to this location, and monitor the hillside closely, there's a significant chance we could strike them hard. Possibly even taking prisoners who have greater strategic intelligence than my mother," Draco explained as he laid out the plan he had hatched with his squad. "It's either that or you let me use some of Bellatrix' own methods on her."
The intelligence Draco's mother had provided them, and the plan he and his squad had hatched, could certainly give the Order a major win. This could be a significant step towards winning the entire war. The only thing they had to discover now was whatever the Dark Disciples Council was looking for in Scotland.
"The defection of Narcissa Malfoy has led to significant intelligence," Harry said in agreement as he took over the meeting, "nevertheless, it also indicates towards certain rumours surrounding the importance and existence of the 'Enlightened Seven'," He locked eyes with each representative of the 'Seven', "have permeated into the Dark Disciples inner circle, leaving me no choice but to remove Malfoy's squad from active duty."
"Potter," Draco exclaimed shooting up out of his seat as he looked at the black-haired wizard in horror, "That makes no sense! You can't do that; we dedicated many miserable months out in Hampshire, away from our loved ones," He looked over to Hermione next to him, his eyes filled with sorrow over the two months they had forcibly spent apart. "And we got you this invaluable intel. We developed the outline of the plan for the ambush. And now, now, you are just going to banish us to the sidelines when we are your best chance of winning this thing?"
"It's not safe," Harry replied justifying his decision, "You all are too valuable, we simply can't risk it."
"What about us?" Oliver Wood suggested, "We aren't part of the 'Seven', are you going to sideline us too?"
Terry Boot and Cho Chang also gazed intently in Harry's direction, waiting apprehensively for his response.
"I will absolutely do just that," Harry started as his green eyes flashed in warning. Terry was about to remark something but Harry held up his hand to silence him. "Until we can find you a spot on another squad, you are sidelined as well."
"That's rather excessive, Harry," Cho exclaimed her dark eyes wide in shock.
"Chang, Wood, Boot," Draco said sternly, "I'm sure Potter will find some other useful task for the squad until he can reassign you," Draco twisted his head to look Harry in the eye, "Right? Potter?"
Bluntly put on the spot Harry didn't answer instantly. " Right ? Potter ?" Draco repeated sternly with a small growl as he emphasised his question sarcastically.
"Uhm yeah, your squad will gallantly support Hermione in her research on what the DDC is looking for in Scotland, Malfoy," Harry finally answered, naturally resulting in a collective sign from the squad members. "And if you'd all like to excuse us. The specifics of the Cheviot Hill mission are now above your security clearance."
"You can't be serious?" Terry queried bitterly, "We acquired that information! Without us, you wouldn't have a clue what's going on and now, it's 'above our security clearance'? That's bullshit Harry and you know it."
"Cheer up, Boot. We have just been given clearance to all get royally fucked whilst they run around like headless hippogriffs trying to improve an already flawless plan, and try to win this war without our incredible skill set," Blaise said as he elegantly rose from his chair a look of indignation on his face.
"It's only 11 in the morning, Zabini," Miles chipped in with an amused shake of his head.
"It's 5 o'clock somewhere. You coming, Bletchley?" Blaise countered cheerfully, as he reached the door.
Hermione rose to join Draco's squad; she often preferred to sit out the detailed mission planning meetings if she wasn't required to be active on the mission. If she could invent a plausible excuse to exit those organizational meetings earlier, she'd typically utilize it nine out of ten times.
"I'm going, too," Hermione shifted towards the gilded door, "so I can properly fill them in on my Scotland research."
A/N: I promise future chapters will contain less plot and more fluff, smut and angst...
Please review and all that stuff.