The Mysterious Department
Chapter Three: A Wand for a Witch
After a night of troubled sleep, Hermione dressed, washed up, and went downstairs, following the smell of bacon. Everyone was already at the table. Bellatrix reading a paper and eating breakfast with one hand, Dora shoveling hers down quickly, and Ginger arriving with a plate, setting up a spot for Hermione.
"Good morning miss. Ginger hopes miss enjoys breakfast before her day at work!" Ginger cheered and even pulled out Hermione's chair for her as the brunette sat down. Hermione wasn't used to being waited on so this level of service felt a bit weird for her.
"You're up!" Dora exclaimed when she saw Hermione. "You must try the jam on the toast. Ginger makes it herself and it's something else, truly," she pointed at the jam in the middle of the table. There was so much food Hermione wasn't sure she knew where to start.
She took a bit of everything, wondering if this wizarding food was like human- muggle- food, or if it was enchanted like that candy had been.
Seeing that no smoke or screams were coming from the eggs, or anything of that sort, she figured it was alright to eat it. "Kingsley is at work today," Dora supplied when silence filled the air. It seemed she wasn't one for long pauses. "So he should be able to fill you in on anything else you have questions about. Plus, you should get your wand and robes with him, and as soon as you do you can train with auntie. Isn't that right?" she asked her aunt who only 'mhm-ed' without paying any actual attention.
"And do you promise to do it today?"
Bellatrix 'mhm-ed' again.
"And do you promise to take it easy on Hermione?"
Again that distracted sound. Dora only smiled. "Great. You're the best auntie."
"Yes, of course," Bellatrix muttered half heartedly.
With breakfast finished, they were ready to travel by fireplace again. Hermione still felt weird and wary about this. Perhaps with time it would become more comfortable, like a second nature to her.
They entered the office, Luna already there to greet them. She was tinkering with some odd device on her table. It was like a globe with several rings around making it up the insides on which the outer shell portraying continents and oceans was on. She was shifting the rings around and tapping a finger on her chin each time the globe span, stopped, and then she scribbled something down in her notebook, before setting it up to spin again.
"Good morning, dears. Kingsley is in the office, Hermione. He wants to talk to you," she said distractedly.
"Right," Hermione nodded her head, passing by her desk which was still not unpacked and truly claimed by her, to the door on the right by the rusted knight, that had not been there before.
Magic, she figured, and thought better of questioning her co workers on it. She knocked on the door that had a frosted window on it and the letters spelling out Kingsley's name, which shimmered and moved like they were underwater.
"Come in," invited a deep voice and the door swung open by itself before closing after Hermione when she came in.
A tall, stout man of darker complexion, was sitting at the organized desk there. "Sit down," he indicated to the chair in front of the desk while he finished scribbling some notes with a quill on parchment.
She sat down. She wasn't quite sure who this man was, except that he had orchestrated her switch to this force.
"Miss Granger," he said, putting aside his paperwork for now and giving her his full attention. "Surely, you must have questions, and I will do my best to answer them, though there are certain things in our world that only seeing will help explain."
His voice was deep, and calm, like a running river.
She instantly felt soothed by his presence. This was a man who got results. Who was able to handle anything that came his way.
"I want to know, why me? Why no one else?"
"Frankly, it's rare for a muggle born of your caliber to be discovered. Most of the time muggleborn's do not have potent enough magic, or brush off the weird occurrences around them as explained oddities, and go on with life never knowing they are something more. However, your magic is strong if you were able to clearly see and interact with those goblins in the middle of a bank heist. And you are an asset. Rather than have you continue being mocked by the police force, have them think you've gone daft, we found you would be of better use in our department. I'm sure the force- which properly are called the Cleaners, for they clean up magical mishaps brought by magical objects- filled you in somewhat. With your detective background and your magical ability, you're perfect for this job."
"But I don't have any magical training, or even am aware of how procedures work here," she protested lightly.
He smiled gently. "There is no need to worry about that. Our general procedure is capture the artifact, make sure no one is hurt while it happens, erase anyone's memories of it happening, and then keep it safely locked up here."
"Aren't there laws for that? And erasing people's memories?" Hermione was a bit aghast. Did this department just do whatever they wanted against people's rights?
"Miss Granger, we are the law on these matters. And erasure of memories are a necessity. As you will soon find out some of the artifacts here cause severe damage and trauma and in the case of the victims, it is best if they do not recall what happened. But, I know you are one for sticking to laws and morals and doing what is right, so let us take this time to discuss those procedures."
And that is what they did for several hours, and by the time Hermione had everything in order on how this department functioned, she felt more in control of the situation she was in, and in how she could successfully complete her job. She wasn't one for doing a half assed job.
"Now, let us get you some robes, so you can wear them when you want to blend in. And most importantly, we must get you a wand." He stood up, his midnight blue robes swishing around him.
They took the elevator to the outside world, stopping this time in front of a clothing store that specialized in cloaks and robes.
The fitting was quick, as a man of short stature let a self measuring measure tape take her measurements. It felt vaguely disturbing to see it working by itself like it was something alive, but she didn't complain about it. She was going to have to get used to things like this from now on.
She left with three pairs of robes. One olive colored pair for everyday use. A pink one to switch it out with and one deep blue one that was for more high brow events.
Getting her wand was the fun part.
"The wand chooses the owner," Kingsley explained once in the wand shop, which was a small narrow store, with shelves crammed full of boxes of wands.
"How does that happen?"
"You'll just know it when it does. It's a gut feeling."
Hermione had trouble wrapping her mind around that. She was used to relying heavily on science for drawing to conclusions or explaining certain situations but she had a feeling she would need to stop thinking so logically in this world as a lot of it couldn't be reasoned with physics. And feelings had a surprising amount of input to much of how the world functioned.
A funny looking small man with spectacles upon his face came up to them. "A wand, yes, a wand. You'll need a good sturdy wand. I think I know just the one for you," he said, taking one look at Hermione and waddling to the back room.
"How does he already know what kind I need?"
"He's a wand's expert. He makes most of them himself. Each wood and core of the wand is unique and has it's own properties. For example, Bellatrix's wand is made of walnut tree wood which is stubborn and unwieldy, much as how others might describe her," he chuckled to himself at that and the wand marker came out carrying three thin boxes.
"Try these. One of them should be the perfect match," he urged and Hermione opened up the first box. Truly, wands looked like nothing special to her. Just sanded down sticks. She picked it up and held it. It felt dry in her hand.
"Go on, give it a twirl," the wand maker urged.
She did, but nothing happened and he snatched it out of her hand and replaced it with another wand. "Try this one."
She did, and a small spark erupted from the wand tip, startling her.
"Hmm, no," he said, frowning under his thick mustache. And he snatched that one away too, giving her the last wand. This one was slender and lighter in color.
As soon as it slid into her hand, something about it felt right. She gave it a twirl and a shower of magical sparkles erupted from it, softly dropping around her.
"Ah! Of course, vinewood and dragonheart. That would be the perfect combination for you!"
"How does it feel?" Kingsley asked.
"Good," she said, unable to fathom why she felt a sudden connection to her wand. It was like she could sense it was being friendly to her. Like it was now an extension of her.
"We'll take this one, thank you Ollivander," Kingsley smiled and wand packed away, the two of them left back for the department after the wand was paid for. "Now, I must run to attend to things in the ministry, but do go train with Bellatrix. She needs to teach you some basic spells that will provide useful on the field."
Hermione nodded her had but she highly doubted she would be able to actually produce spells. He escorted her to the elevator and bid her goodbye. She arrived back to the office and let out a scream when that shrunken head from before hopped by her.
"Ah, Hermione's back!" Luna announced jovially, the scream giving away Hermione's arrival.
Luna took the wrench the shrunken head had brought her and gave the globe she had been working on a whack. The wrench snapped in half and she frowned, rubbing her chin and scribbled something more down in journal as the head hopped away.
Bellatrix was at her desk, her desk lamp on as she scowled down at the paper report she was reading. The stack of files had only grown since yesterday. Dora was missing. Wonder if she was under the floor again.
Hermione pressed a hand to her chest, giving a wide berth to the shrunken head which seemed fine on not bothering her either.
She took the time now to finally organize her desk, taking out her cat post it note dispenser, her paper weight, and pens, pencils, and her trusted mug for drinking tea. She didn't have much, not even a picture frame of friends to put up.
"How did the talk go with Kingsley?" a voice asked right next to Hermione's ear and she jumped from her seat, the chair spinning with how quickly she got up.
"Dora, where did you come from?" she asked, half mad at Dora for scaring her like this. The woman had silently walked up behind her and she was clutching the knight's half rusted arm over her shoulder.
"From up there," she pointed to the ceiling where a rope hung from. She must have climbed down it.
"What is even up there?" Hermione craned her head up, but nope, she still couldn't see an end to the blackness there.
"You'll find out one day. Not yet. So, did you get your wand?" Dora asked, excited.
"I did." Hermione pulled it out and Dora nodded her head.
"That wand is so you. Hey, auntie! Hermione's got her wand."
That warranted a grunt from Bellatrix, who didn't even seem to register it. Dora didn't let that stop her enthusiasm. She strutted over to Bella's desk and clanked the arm on Bellatrix's shoulder.
"Nymphadora, what do you want? I'm in the middle of work," she snapped irritably, swatting the arm off.
"Hermione got her wand. You've got to train her."
"I don't recall making such promises."
"You did at breakfast. Several times. While reading the paper," Dora pointed out. "You even promised to be nice."
Bellatrix looked disgruntled at getting tricked. "It's not like anyone else can train her properly. So I guess I have no choice but to do it." She stood up with a heavy sigh, reluctant to leave her paper work. "Miss Granger. Let us go and start training."
Hermione obediently followed Bellatrix's lead, the dark haired woman taking her down the long corridor full of doors and stopping by a heavy looking one. "This is our training room. We use this space to keep in tip top shape, though I use it most frequently and you will probably have to as well, given you will be my field partner," Bellatrix stated as she pushed the door open.
"Does it bother you, having someone so new and incompetent by your side?" Hermione asked, insecurities eating up at her. Bellatrix looked like she had accomplished many things in her life, and Hermione wanted to impress her badly. Wanted to prove she could handle this world of wonder.
Bellatrix gave her an odd look at this, spinning on her heel and invading Hermione's personal space by getting too close to her. This close up, Hermione could see the woman was a good three inches taller than her, and that inside the deep ring of black that composed her eyes, were flecks of bright silver.
"Frankly, I couldn't care less about you being my partner," she said in that crude callous way of hers and Hermione could feel her heart squeeze painfully. This kind of dismissal wasn't something that should surprise her. She was used to others hating her, to not wanting to be her friends. And Dora's openness and friendly behavior had tricked her into thinking that maybe if the human world couldn't accept her she could find complete and utter acceptance here. It seemed she was wrong.
"All I care about is getting my partner back. I consider you just his replacement until he returns and if you can be helpful during that time then great. And if you can't, then too bad. I'm not babying you on missions." She smiled thinly at Hermione and then entered the training room. "Now hurry up. I haven't got all day to go over this."
Hermione swallowed harshly and tried to push the sting of Bellatrix's words away. She would prove this woman wrong. She would prove her worth.
She took up position on the other side of the woman, on the padded floor. The walls were padded as well and there were some practice dummies lined up on one side.
"I'm only going to go over the spells once, so listen carefully," Bellatrix warned and then she launched into basic spells 101. Hermione's head throbbed with the influx of information flooding in, but she wasn't a genius without true reason. She managed to keep up, but by the skin of her teeth. Bellatrix instructed her on spells like accio, which were meant to bring things to her. Spells like wingardum leviosa, which were meant to levitate things. Spells like epiksey which helped with small battlefield injuries.
"Those are just minor things you can practice later on your own," she dismissed them hurriedly without letting Hermione try them out. All she did was showcase them to prove they worked, and then she moved on. "What is important is knowing how to protect yourself on the field. Because you will get attacked, and you will need to do some attacking in some cases." Bellatrix had taken her suspenders off and they dangled around her waist so she could have more upper body mobility. Sleeves rolled up, she held out her wand like a conductor waiting for the orchestra to begin.
"The best defense is a good offense," she said, "and thus the first spell you should learn is Bombarda!" she shouted out and magic rocketed out of her wand and into the ceiling. Plaster showered down and Hermione jumped. It wasn't the plaster falling on her that caused that, but the sheer loudness of that spell. And it's destructive force.
She was in awe and horror of it. "When would we need to use a spell like this?"
"When similar spells are being flung back at you," Bellatrix retorted sharply, not in the mood for Hermione's questions right now. "Now focus. I want you to cast the spell."
The ceiling above repaired itself magically- a perk or ability it must have gained for the purpose of being able to be destroyed and rebuilt rapidly for combat. Hermione wished the same could be said for her now sullied state. She dusted the plaster remains off as best she could before leveling her wand up to the ceiling as Bellatrix did. Wonder how she would feel getting the same taste of medicine.
Wetting her lips nervously, Hermione called out, "Bombarda!"
And nothing.
Bellatrix did not look impressed. "They said you had much magical potential in you."
"Maybe it's the wand?" Hermione snapped out, irritated because Bellatrix already had a low opinion of her and she didn't need it descending ever further.
"A pianist should not blame the piano for his faulty tunes," she retorted, before barking out, "try it again. With a bit more vim."
So Hermione did. Still nothing. She began to almost feel embarrassed by her efforts.
Bellatrix sighed out in annoyance. "Still no results. I suppose I'll have to try things the old tried and trued method." She cracked her neck and rolled her shoulders. "Alright, Granger, I'm going to attack you with spells. Try to fight me back."
"What?" that was about as much warning as Hermione got before Bellatrix pointed her wand at her. "Stupefy!"
Hermione let out a yelp and ducked, only annoying Bellatrix further. "Try to use less muggle methods. Use your wand!"
"How the bloody hell am I supposed to use my wand if I've never cast magic before?" Hermione shot back and dodged yet more spells flying over head.
"Defend yourself!" was Bellatrix's holler and Hermione yelped as a blue spell burnt the ends of her hair. She was running out of directions to run in, Bellatrix chasing her across the mainly empty room. There wasn't even anything to duck down under.
"Shit," Hermione cursed out, feeling pressured. A low spell hit her ankle and she cried out in pain, dropping down. Bellatrix approached her, wand held out, holding Hermione like she was at gun point.
"Attack me!" Bellatrix goaded and there was something maniacal in her eyes, like she enjoyed the way Hermione was squirming.
Hermione despised that. She would not be looked down upon like that. Gritting her teeth, she rose up and shouted out "Bombarda!" at the top of her lungs, intent on wiping that smug look from Bellatrix's face.
And something magical happened. It worked.
Hermione could feel a sort of surge coming up her arm, spreading to her fingers, to her wand, and next thing she knew, blue magic was streaming from the tip, right at Bellatrix. Hermione stood wide eyed as she watched it move, almost as if in slow motion. Bellatrix smirked, before lazily flicking the stream of the spell aside with her wand. It hit the mat three feet away from her and detonated there.
"About time," she drawled.
"Magic," Hermione breathed out, flabbergasted. To hear about it, to see it happen from others...that was something else...but to actually do it herself?
She swallowed heavily, her heart racing. She had magic. They told her she had it. But she hadn't really given the notion any weight.
Now...now she held so much potential in herself. She could do anything with magic if it was truly as limitless as it seemed to be.
Her revelations were stopped when she was hit with a spell that knocked the air out of her lungs and sent her flying across the room.
She thumped down hard on the ground, and let out a groan.
"We don't have all day for your daydreaming. You have magic, big deal. Get over it, and get back up. We're not done here. Not yet." Hermione got up, coughing to try and regain her breath. She saw a fire alive in Bellatrix's eyes, and it did not bond well for her. It seemed like Bellatrix was excited to test out Hermione's magic for her. "Let's see how well you master this next spell. Confrigo!"
Hermione exited the training room three hours later, smelling of smoke, and feeling utterly drained. It had been brutal, simply put and Hermione almost regretted being so eager to get Bellatrix to train her. The woman was relentless, not taking pity on Hermione or letting her rest. She kept pressing her and pressing her, zapping or stinging her until she got the spells right. And Hermione had picked up the spells easily after that. It seemed whatever block had been on her magic had been lifted with the horror of Bellatrix hurting her until otherwise.
And while odd at first, the spells started to feel more normal to her. The whole ordeal of uttering spells out, started to feel more normal to her. With time, she was sure, she wouldn't even bat at eye at all this.
"I was going to ask how it went," Dora winced when she saw the state Hermione came back in, "but I can see for myself." Meanwhile, Bellatrix was striding out of there, not a hair out of place and looking almost serene.
"I'm glad it's not us for a change," Luna commented easily, still pondering over that globe or what remained of it. She had taken it apart. "She and Tom used to tear the entire room apart," she added in a lower voice so the dark haired woman wouldn't over hear. Currently she was stirring her wand over her coffee mug, having just conjured freshly made coffee.
Hermione decided she needed to learn how to do that with tea.
"Yes, well I learned a lot. And I have a lot more studying to do."
"Certainly. Though focus on the battle arts first. You'll need those out on the field. Everything else can be learned as you touch and go," Dora said. She was polishing up the rusty knight in the corner, rubbing oil onto it manually and with special care. "Actually, that reminds me- there's night classes you can take to help you with your skills. Hogwarts offers special courses for struggling students and I'm sure they must have something for muggleborns. The headmaster, Dumbledore, is quite fond of muggleborns."
That sounded like the magical equivalent of night classes. "I'll check that out. It sounds like something that might come in handy."
"For now, why doesn't Luna take you on a tour of the Vault," Dora suggested.
"The Vault?"
"It's where we keep all our magical artifacts. Safely contained, might I add," Luna explained, bright with enthusiasm for showing Hermione around. "This is my area of specialty. I catalog and keep track of everything that comes our way. This is where the objects you and Bellatrix capture will end up."
Luna gave up on her globe and strode off, Hermione following after her. They went down the corridor of many doors and this time boarded the elevator. However, instead of pressing any of the buttons, Luna got out her wand and waved it over the control panel. Hermione couldn't quite catch on to what she was saying only that it resulted in all the buttons melting away to reveal one big one. Luna pressed it with the tip of her wand, and warned, "hold on," when some straps descended from the elevator top. Hermione wisely did so and the elevator went soaring down at such speeds that Hermione's stomach jumped up.
It was so quickly over that she didn't have time to even properly exhale before the doors swung open. "This, is the Vault," Luna exclaimed, her voice echoing as they stepped into a giant dark chamber. Everything was made of granite tiling, steel pillars supporting the ceiling above which towered many feet over their head. The only source of light came from the door, where lights beamed down on it and show cased the giant door that looked heavy and had a bar on front of it, keeping it closed.
Hermione felt nervous. She was about to embark on seeing some of the most well kept secrets in the wizarding world. What could even be in that room?
"The heavy bar is to keep visitors out?" she asked, just so she had something to get her mind off of her slight apprehension.
"No, that's to keep the items inside," Luna said and missed the look of dread that overtook Hermione's face momentarily. What horrifying things needed to be locked in? Instinctively she reached for the gun holstered by her side. She still wore it out of habit, even though she had a new weapon- a wand.
Luna waved her wand and though sparkles came from it, nothing really happened. "What are you doing?" Hermione inquired.
"I'm taking down the protective wards and such before I can actually get the door to open."
"Wards?"
"You haven't heard of them yet?"
"No."
Luna hummed thoughtfully. "Well, there are many kinds. Ones that are easy and simple, ones that can hide a whole castle from view, ones that only allow blood relatives to enter your house, ones that blow up when you accidentally touch them, and so forth."
"The last one does not sound fun."
"Not for the intruder," Luna flashed a sharp grin that coupled oddly with her swirly glasses. "Ward making is a very delicate process. If you are not careful, it could back fire on you. Perhaps if you spend enough time on the force, I could teach you how to make some."
"I would like that."
At last the final ward must have fallen, and Luna was able to wave the door open, the massive bar sliding free. They walked in, and Hermione was surprised to see that the inside looked...normal. Like she had stepped into a warehouse. Everything was labeled accordingly and set on the shelves neatly.
And it was quiet. Really quiet here.
"This is where all the artifacts go," Luna said, leading the way down the maze of shelves. "And do speak in low tones. They're sleeping right now."
"Er, right," because of course magical objects had sentience.
"When we capture them, they have to go through a neutralization process," Luna explained. "That dampens their powers. Some require it more often, and others less. It depends on how potent an object really is. And it's my job to do it, though sometimes Steve helps me."
"Steve? Who is that?" Hermione had not seen another man around here.
"He's a vampire. Poor thing got turned and his family threw him out. But he has a great knack for punctuality and organizing, so we took him in."
Hermione nodded her head. If witches existed than it only made sense for vampires to exist as well, she supposed. Though she wouldn't say she was keen to meet him.
"Would you like to see some of the objects?" Luna asked, stopping by one of the shelves.
"I wouldn't be opposed to it. It would give me a better idea of what I'm working with."
Luna nodded her head, happy to hear this. She delicately picked up a pocket watch. It was fashioned from old with ornate designs stamped into it. Except when Luna flipped the lid open, there was no clock inside, but a big blue eye.
Hermione almost screamed when the pupil looked right at her. "This is the pocket-watch of Kronos. It has the ability to bend time and space when it blinks. The sufferer who had this was tossed from time and place to multiverse to parallel dimensions before we finally managed to neutralize it. It almost lead to a war erupting but we were able to use the watch to stop it. It's very tricky to control it and we only managed it through a combination of luck and skill and lots of research." Luna flipped the lid over it again and placed it down.
Hermione swallowed harshly. Holy shit. A watch that could control time and space? When she had been thinking of magical objects she thought it might be things that cause pranks or something, and not something with world changing dynamics!
They moved on, Luna picking up the next item gently. It looked to be a regular change purse. But when she opened it up, there was a full set of teeth inside. "This object my uncle had. He bought it at a yard sale, from a muggle actually, during his travels. This purse eats money that you put inside it and spits out twice the amount."
While creepy looking, this object didn't seem as bad as the first one.
"Why'd he give it away?"
"Once you start feeding it, it needs to be constantly fed, and it took off three of his fingers, and killed his wife, before he gave it to us to manage."
Hermione's throat went dry. "Oh," she said quietly. "How-how would a coin purse even kill a woman?"
"It ripped her throat out with it's teeth. But now the purse is here, and neutralized, it poses no threat. People's greed is what causes it kill."
"I'm sorry to hear about what happened to your uncle," Hermione consoled, eyeing the coin purse warily.
"Don't be. He has millions of galleons to keep him from his misery," Luna airily responded and moved on to the next place.
The next one was a candle holder, a sort of small gargoyle holding up the spots for the candles. "This one steals people's items and hides them if you keep the candles lit after midnight."
This one had an oddly specific set of requirements. "Does it do other more dangerous things?" because the coin purse hadn't seemed bad but it was actually was.
Luna shook her head, blonde hair swishing. "No. Not all of them are deadly. Some are just trivial or dumb. More nuisances actually than threats."
They kept walking, Luna showing off more items to Hermione and explaining the history of how they got here if it was a particularly interesting one. Hermione had no idea how far they'd gone in but she hoped Luna knew her way around.
There was a break to the mind numbing similarities of the shelves when they came across a giant space in the middle where there was a single carpet there. There were some scorch marks there. Hermione wondered what left them.
"That's where our dragon sleeps," Luna said when she caught Hermione's curious gaze.
"Dragon?!" she sputtered out, not able to contain her shock. She craned her head up to the ceiling, as if thinking she could catch a glimpse of it. As if it might rain fire upon her head.
"They're our security for the night. We have wards but you can never be too safe."
Still, that didn't assuage Hermione's fears. She kept thinking she would catch sight of it now.
"Alright, that's it for the tour of the Vault. I could go on and on, but I figure you could use this time to continue catching up on your wizarding studies," Luna said as they drew to the door they had come in through. How that worked, Hermione did not know, because they had been walking in a straight line ever since they got here, so they shouldn't have been able to reach the door.
"Is there a map to navigating this place?" if Hermione ever came down here, she didn't want to get lost.
"No need for one. The room's been enchanted so that we can't ever got lost in it. Walk far enough, or think of the door, and you'll end up right by it no matter how many turns or twists you take."
"That's reassuring."
Luna grinned widely at the brunette.
"Don't worry, Hermione. You'll do just well with our department."
Hermione really hoped she would.
A/N: Next up: Hermione goes on her first case!
