CHAPTER TWO: THE UNUSUAL SUSPECTS
-Authors notes
The muggle work entrance was a new addition to the Ministry's entrance hall but it was not the only thing that had been added, or replaced. In the place of the destroyed fountain of "The Supremacy of Wizardry" was now a large fountain called "The Five Equals" which now took pride of place. It was in the shape of a pentagon and placed on a pentagon shaped pedestal in its centre, it had an elf, a witch and a wizard (on the same side both with raised wands), a goblin, a giant and a centaur both. This was one of the first acts passed by the liberated house elves after getting advice for from their Scandinavian cousins, that, they had finally met, in Hermione and Ron's seventh year. After all, if you want to start change peoples thoughts, where better to change it in the institution where that culture is regulated? It was a symbolic gesture but an important one nonetheless.
For Ron who was walking with her and Neville, who was waiting at the entrance for the pair of them the fountain, had become an extremely accurate indicator of Hermione's mood. If she were in a very happy or excited mood, she'd go up, drop a Knut or maybe a Sickle in, sit, and watch the fountain. If she were in an ok mood, she would look at it and if she were in a bad mood, she would just walk right past it. So therefore it was unsurprising to Ron that Hermione walked directly passed the fountain to the security desk. Ron walked slightly ahead of her just enough for her to notice, "It's ok Ron I can handle this." A trace of firmness was back in her voice and Ron slowed down back beside her. Both handed their ID passes to the security guard Eric Munch (who was retiring shortly) for inspection. "Good Afternoon, Mr Weasley and Ms Granger. I didn't expect to see you both in until Monday"
"Yeah well duty calls" Ron replied casually "Especially with times like this."
"Well As you can see Mr Longbottom has been out waiting for you and your father said he'd be home early at around seven. I also need to weigh your wands. It'll make getting in much easier in future." Ron and Hermione both handed in their wands to the security wizard who placed them on the scale. "Fourteen inches, willow, Unicorn hair core. Been in use about six years 6 months?"
"Yeah that's right" That wand has been a faithful mate since my first one broke, it better not let me down now! Ron thought as he handed it over
Hermione also gave her wand in "13 and a half Inches, Ebony, Unicorn hair core. Been in use 8 and half years?" Now that's my little black number Hermione thought a small smile trying to tug at the edges of her mouth as she heard and verified it.
As he had first done with Harry about four years back, he kept the slips and handed the pair back their wands but instead of impaling it on a brass spike as he had done all these years for visitors he put the slips into a silver drawer marked Ministry Employees and the slips almost auto filed them in to respective folders. "Thank you. You can now go" and then went back to reading his magazine.
"Corporate perks" Ron nudged Hermione, whose smile began to increase just as Neville walked up to them.
"Hey Neville how was your week?" Ron asked. Unlike Hermione and Ron, Neville only had three days to recuperate before being called in for his first stint as an Auror; he was effectively an acting desk sergeant. This was because he was doing specialist training to become a combat healer, which took 6 months more time then the standard training. The good thing about it was that he was working under the tuition of his mother who was a marked contrast to him although personality changes were slowly shifting through him making him more friendly more open and more engaging. He had moved away although not under bad circumstances from his grandmother and was now dating Luna Lovegood although he was pretty guarded on the state of his relationship.
"Pretty quiet but interesting" Neville replied, "Kingsley told me to come and fill you in on what's been going on down here" he motioned to a totally empty one of the silver lifts. All of them filed in and Neville closed the grating. Once the grate was, closed Neville pointed at the wand's grating and mumbled two incantations "Nil disturbarium this made the bars that made up the iron grating covering the lift's entrance quickly expand and merge together into a semi transparent screen. The second incantation espressono
"So what's been going on?" Hermione asked the smile fully retracted and the urgency and returned sadness in her voice clear to everyone in the lift. Neville was expecting this though and his voice although it was quiet it contained a lot of sympathy.
"We've had a fair bit of action here but only a few things solid Herms. Half an hour after the crash the Bulgarians called Kingsley to ask for our assistance in this case and things got very busy here. Apparently, they would have been in our hands in anyway once they'd flown to Heathrow and the British have always been extremely close to the Bulgarians wizarding-side if not on the muggle side. However, there have been no confirmed sightings of former death eaters in that area in the past month although there has been a lot of activity by the Roma or Gypsies who have been persecuted a lot or it could even be giants some of whom also are pretty annoyed at the Bulgarians. The Truth is we have no idea. In fact until the official cause of the crash is confirmed there are a huge amount of suspect's, especially unusual ones"
"Unusual Ones ... you mean muggles?" Ron asked. Unusual Suspects was an Auror term for muggle involvement. A term that was becoming increasingly outdated but still existed
"Yeah in fact we just got a memo from the Ministry of Defence's Magical Liaison Bureau. One of their senior officers, a Group Captain Menzies is coming over in a quarter of an hour to brief us on the likely suspect's muggle wise and the possibility of this being a mechanical failure"
"Possibility? You mean in two hours we've been able to get absolutely nothing?" Hermione interjected, Irritation and disappointment at the lack of facts, now beginning to seep in to her voice.
"Like I said Herms until we at least have a rough idea of the cause of the crash we won't be able to do anything about the cause of the crash. Currently the on site air crash investigators are looking for the aircrafts black box recorder- A muggle invention, which records different types of data in an aircraft up to a crash. "Neville explained this for Ron's benefit "Once they've found that or something else that can give us a lead that we can work from that but apart from that we're looking at every different angle we can , see if there is anyone we know and seeing what we can to do to get into the area. However the MOD said that from first at glances satellite photos it doesn't seem to be a mechanical failure or pilot error as well as the fact that this Russian General was the plane " The lift slowed down stopped at the 9th floor. The iron screen reverted to the grate, which moved out almost automatically just as three purple memos landed in their hands and unfurled themselves. Imprinted on all of them in gold lettering were the terse sentences:
ALL MEMBERS OF EUROPEAN SI SECTION:
Unfortunately, Bulgarians CONFIRM PREVIOUS REPORT OF THERE BEING NO SURVIVORS. THEY ALSO report THREE more deaths on ground IN CRASH SITE AREA. Assemble in operations room in five minutes as Senior Liaison officer is coming in.-King
The trio increased their pace towards the Auror Headquarters and passed the enchanted windows, which (although it was sunny outside) the ministry were in the midst of a downpour. Either Magical Maintenance are angling for a pay rise again or they have a Leligimens in their midst because that downpour seems to match Hermione's mood to a T Ron thought. In addition, Neville wasn't going to help her, in fact he was going to add more fuel to the flames of her emotions as he added his final bit of news as they entered the European Sections cubicles.
"Oh and Hermione. Kingsley knows about you and Krum. He's been reading the Daily Prophet." Hermione almost came to a complete and total stop at Neville's remark and grabbed Ron's hand and squeezing it tightly making him wince in sympathy and pain in the same time. During her time in Hogwarts, the Daily Prophet had caused more trouble for her then it was worth. First in her fourth year thanks to Rita Skeeter and then in her sixth year making false allegations about lewd sex scenes with Krum (with the odd doctored picture to match) causing a lot of embarrassment and humiliation for her especially from the Slytherins with Malfoy and Parkinson being the offenders in chief. They were later proven to be false but Hermione had never forgiven the Prophet.
Hermione did not know what to say as she was caught with a brief surge shock and anger. She stood for a minute there in mute rage letting the anger run through her with Ron watching in silent sympathy and decided to let it pass , put on a game face and walked down the hallway into the operations room .
This had been constructed two years earlier due to increased pressure and increased intake of responsibilities for the Aurors. "To be an Auror was to be an elite agent and elite agents/officers needed to be armed with the best of resources"-One of the conclusions from an enquiry conducted shortly after Voldemort's downfall. There were other measures too such as the more noticeable system of ranks but those were already in the process of being implemented. However, the rank system did show at the table as each person had a seat assigned to them.
There was a loud crack and Malcolm walked calmly in the operations room with the words "Good Afternoon everyone" there were murmurs of acknowledgement with the senior officers. He was carrying a case in his right hand, which seemed to be carrying documents of some sort. Tucked under his left arm was a circular cardboard tube, which had plastic lids, so what ever was in did not fall out. He proceeded to take the lids out and remove the thin sheet of what seemed to be film from the tube and placed it on the board. Then he tapped the roll with his wand, uttering the word Attiro and the roll flattened into a square. Ron looked closer catching the attention of Malcolm who explained for him.
"This is a Satellite Photo of the area where the plane crashed Ron. I'll let you all look at it once I've given my briefing. Nice to meet you earlier by the way despite the circumstances, Hermione's told me a lot about you." His voice was much friendlier and his stance was slightly more relaxed then when they had last met. Ron was about to reply when Kingsley called the Aurors seated around the table to order.
"OK everyone listen up. For those of you who don't know him, Group Captain Menzies here is the senior liaison officer at the Joint SIS-MOD's Magical Liaison Bureau. I asked them to look at two things for us. The first one was how likely this to be just a plain mechanical failure? Secondly if the crash does turn out to be a terrorist incident who would be the prime muggle suspects and why." He nodded to Malcolm who began talking
"Always happy to help out. Well the short answer to the first question: it is a possibility but highly unlikely. The owner of the plane: Bulgarian National Airlines was a new start-up formed about 4 years ago using relatively old aircraft such as Tupolev 154's but unusually for carriers in the area it had won an international award last year for its aircrafts reliability and distance covered.
"What is the Tupolev 154's safety record like?" Tonks asked.
"Despite its NATO codename: Careless it's pretty good for the conditions it operates in which are very tough. Out of 923 that were built, only 28 have been destroyed in accidents. However, the main cause of those crashes has been freak accidents like coming under fire from enemy fire in civil wars like Afghanistan and Georgia. The important thing is that only three aircraft have been involved in accidents due to mechanical failure. The last real air disaster before this one involving this type was on July the 1st 2002."
"What happened and what was found to be the fault?"
"I'd thought you'd ask that. This one was a mid air collision" There was a nod amongst the wizards , all of them knew what that meant " involving a chartered 154 belonging to Bashirkiran Airlines of Russia and a Boeing 757 which was a freighter for DHL, an express delivery service. It was not at all pretty. All 71 lives on both planes were lost, most of them were 54 school kids who missed their first flight to Barcelona for a festival held by UNESCO. An investigation found that the accident was due to a lot of mistakes by Air Traffic Control, nothing related to the plane itself although the pilot did make errors due to pressure from an investigating officer and a Swiss air traffic controller was indicted."
"So what you're saying is there is a low chance of this crash being caused by something to do with the plane or airline?" Kingsley asked
"Yes and this moves me into the second thing you asked the bureau to research King: If this was a terrorist incident what threats does Bulgaria face that would use this sort of method?"
Out of the corner of his eye, Ron saw Hermione's hands visibly clench at Malcolm's use of the last word. Her face was neutral, unemotional but you could see the indignation rippling through her at the word "method."
"Well the biggest threat at the moment from a terrorist group internationally is Al Qaeda or one of its cells. This is because of Bulgaria's decision to send troops to Iraq in around April 2003 and the president was a staunch supporter of the US military action there. In Iraq, Arab insurgents executed a Bulgarian truck driver and his colleague in July 2004. Bulgaria would also be relatively a soft target to for them to hit with a suicide bomber. However while we think this is possible and they are the most likely suspects it would be low on its list of countries with the UK and US at the top of the list. Besides, with the US elections out of the picture the UK and the international community including the US has managed to turn the tide in Afghanistan at least denying them the opportunity to set up camps. Not so much in Iraq he did not add
Hard-line Eco terrorists could also want to take a shot at Bulgaria: as it just happens to have built a large reactor at Belene on its Northern Border with Romania" The map developed a red circle with the name of the location to show the location of the town. "This has annoyed environmentalists for two reasons. One it draws in water from the Danube for cooling and secondly most of the orthodox environmentalists are against nuclear power for obvious reasons although there has been a slow shift in the environmental lobby. As it stands, Bulgaria is one of the leading energy producers and thanks to that reactor; it has managed to maintain its grip on that market. If it were they, then it would be a significant and worrying shift in their tactics heralding a new intensity of international eco-terrorism, which is exactly why we don't think it's them. It would also look extremely bad for moderate groups such as Greenpeace and Friends of The Earth as they would more likely than not be tarred with the same brush especially when things are now moving their way politically and publicly. For them Nuclear power may be an aggravation but it's not a thing to detonate bombs over. " He didn't have to say... for most of them.
"The Roma and Gypsy problem you already know about on this one and on this issue the bureau's extremely unsure. While there may have been a lot, of wizarding activity on this over the last decade, there has been no reported activity of muggle terrorist groups over this issue and we don't think they've got the resources or backing to do something muggle related. All of the other groups that I have mentioned do. Added to that, the persecution of the Roma has been flickering on the radar for a long time. This has led the European Union to put pressure on countries that are planning to join the EU, Bulgaria being one of them to get their act together on this issue before they join."
"That covers threats to the country as things stand. Now we were going to leave it at that, until we heard about General Golivar's name being on the list of people who were on that plane."
"...and you got extremely interested in him for reasons which you said you couldn't tell me or everybody else over the phone ,even though it's encrypted." Kingsley's low voice rumbled in showing the interest
"Firstly because Golivar was one of the people tipped to be the new Marshal of The Russian Federation, Secondly because he was Commander of Russian forces in the Northern Caucasus Military District. That covers the disputed areas of Ingushetia, Dagestan and Chechnya, which has become increasingly radicalised by Muslim Fundamentalists and a long guerrilla war for independence. The war came before the radicalisation.
Finally because his eldest Son, who he's survived by is married to the presidents daughter" It was Hermione's turn to notice the wave of increased alertness from all of the Aurors including Ron, at the names of Chechnya and Ingushetia. Why would the wizarding community take a special interest in what is going on with Russia or the surrounding area muggle-wise?
Malcolm put out Golivar's file with a photo of him "Golivar was born in Leningrad 1956 and from when he was 18 rose through the ranks of the Soviet Army. Twice decorated with the Hero of the Soviet Union, He rose through the ranks as a member of Russians Paratrooper divisions to become executive officer of a paratrooper division in East Germany, the 31st Spetsnaz Brigade that was pulled back when Germany reunified at the End of the Cold War in 1990. After that, the Brigade was transferred to the Northern Caucasus region where it stayed and was reduced in size but Golivar moved into Moscow as executive officer for the Central Moscow Military District and worked with agencies like the FSB. Most people viewed him as a highly efficient and respected commander ... "He paused
"Until what?" Ron asked
"Until about two weeks ago when allegations of ties to the head of an unknown Russian Organised Crime mobster going by the name of Yevgeni Konavitch surfaced. They were amongst allegations made by a relatively junior military prosecutor Captain Vladimir Ranichenko who is incidentally wizarding related. Added to that a muggle organisation Amnesty International made allegations of human rights abuses of suspected terrorists in his area. This was a general allegation though and not directed at him per se. However it's not known whether the general had any knowledge of these and if he did then whether he was supporting or trying to curb them".
"How likely is the Russian Mafia to be a suspect?" Hermione ventured the question
"I had one of my men phone a Russian expert. Short story: The Organised Crime groups do not go in for taking out large civilian jetliners. They do go in for assassination but not one that would take out that many civilians. It would be too damaging for them. On the other hand, Chechen Rebels are more likely to be responsible as firstly they are the biggest active group in Russia now and have intensified their attacks despite Russia tightening its own presence in the area and. Added to that most of them have become extremely radicalised into Wahabbi Islam so suicide bombings wouldn't be much of a problem for the most fanatical and dedicated followers. "
"Any further questions
There was silence around the room. No one had any questions to ask
"Fair enough then that covers the bureau's investigation. I have the current reports and files that we got from our research into this matter. Any files and more detailed Intel that you need will be transferred over to you as soon as possible. We're also prepared to see what we can do with getting people in on the Russian side by flagging through a request through the joint NATO/Russia council"
Kingsley considered this "I've already read through his file and this Golivar character sounds interesting. This is why about two hours ago I put an urgent request through to my opposite number in the Russian Security services. So far, there has been no response but we have one as you already know from the Bulgarians asking for our full assistance in this matter. They have also agreed to have a group of Aurors based near the crash site with full access to witnesses and any evidence. If we get the green light from Moscow, I want to cover both leads and send two people up there."
"Neville how do you feel about going off Desk duty. You up for it?"
"Neville nodded "I believe so sir"
"Good because as of Monday you're going with Ron as part of the initial team to the crash site and start enquiries from there. Hermione once we get clearance you're covering the lead on Moscow with Tonks. We will get all three of you accredited today and then this'll give you time to prepare for your first mission. "Kingsley was looking especially at Hermione when he said those words.
Been Reading the Daily Prophet have you Mr Shacklebolt? Well Guess what? The Daily Prophet doesn't have a fucking clue about my private life! Hermione's face was burning .Her normally soft brown eyes blazed with a fury that would have set any wood in the room alight. Unfortunately, for her Shacklebolt was watching her and her mind.
"Those four that haven't been mentioned, dismissed. Malcolm could you stay a moment?" Malcolm nodded Huh what is this, a double backstabbing Ron was first to notice as the others filed out"Yes I do read the Daily Prophet Ms Granger. I happen to read quite a few newspapers as it comes with the job. By the way, with the Daily Prophet, my reading is between the lines with it. I don't believe all the stuff about lurid sex scenes but I do think you've had a serious enough relationship for going to the crash scene to have a profound enough effect on you that could compromise your judgement!."
"With all due respect sir Viktor and I had a purely platonic relationship and nothing more!"
"I don't doubt that but a platonic relationship can have just as much value as an intimate one. Added to that this isn't a revenge mission this is your first assignment as a professional Auror and not one to test your ability to separate your personal and professional life Hermione despite the personal trials you may have been through at Hogwarts. I thought about this and this came up as the best thing to do. Be thankful that I didn't completely take you off the case" Kingsley's low voice was not angry but it was extremely firm and in control. However, there was a trace of sarcasm at first, which had resolved itself. Hermione bristled at the sarcasm but knew Kingsley had a point.
"That resolved?" He looked into her eyes with a penetrating glance.
She nodded resignedly and was about to leave when Malcolm actually chose to made his voice heard in a cold icy and uncompromising tone "If you're going to Russia Hermione you might want to remember a quote made by one of its former leaders : One death is a tragedy , millions are just numbers "
Ron did not catch the unconscious meaning but knew it was nothing good. For Hermione it was the equivalent of squirting water at a cat, capping off neglecting to feed it and give it water. However she was in between a emotional rock and a hard place i.e. she couldn't rip the guy's face or otherwise she'd put her butt straight on the firing line, however this was one jibe she couldn't ignore not after all she'd been through. So turned on her heel, and arched back to face her brother, the group captain, with an expression of pure unadulterated outrage. "Sir I'll bear that in mind" then she turned a right angle with a mock salute and marched out of the room hissing just out of earshot "BATARDE!"
NEXT CHAPTER: Hermione may be angry about her rough treatment at her hands of Shacklebolt and Menzies. However,will she pursue her own personal vendetta against Krum's killers?
NB. Batarde French for Bastard. SIS Secret Intelligence Service
Information on the factual events and details came from Global security's website and BBC news online service
This is something I should have said before the first chapter was posted on but I'll say it now.
As you may have noticed during the first few chapters just as BuckNC did: This story is different from the usual Harry Potter fanfics you may have read. A lot of the main characters are changed from what they were because of events in the sixth and seventh year's and I would say this is effectively a spin-off on the HP series.
I'll explain how and why changes have happened in future chapters but as for the absence of the main character, well you'll have to see. This is more of a spin-off than anything focusing on the supporting characters, which were to be fair in the shadows of Harry and I wanted to experiment with Harry playing a minor role after he defeated Lord Voldemort. Would he really have more energy ready to fight the dark powers on the wider scale without taking a step back or would he want to fade away into a sort of obscurity?
Secondly I was tempted to launch this after the US presidential elections (Which in hindsight would have been a better thing to do as I could have edited it depending on who wins.) and in future I'll keep on a objective non biased when mentioning current affairs but I will mention them.
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