Chapter Five: Revelations

"Spies in the Ministry?" Ron said. "What in bloody hell are you talking about?"

"Ramona just told me who Mrs Kilborn is... Lucinda Maddox... Bloody Malfoy's cousin!"

"And Kilborn's been Minister of Muggle Relations?" Bill breathed. "Holy hell, Harry..."

"We need to find out if there are any others, Bill. I want a full review of all..."

"There is a much easier way, Harry," Bill said quietly.

"Oh?"

"We flush them out... give them something to chase and see which ones run."

"Bill, in the meantime..."

"Trust me on this, Harry, really," Bill looked at him. "This is why you have me here, right?"

"Right. Okay, do your worst."

"I need to talk to some people," Bill nodded, heading for the door.

"You might start with my bloody secretary, as she seems to have more information than I do!"

Bill grinned, opening the door and leaving almost silently. Harry threw himself down on the sofa in the seating area and leaned his head back on the leather upholstery.

"Harry, we'll flush them out," Ron said.

"Ron, I'm so bloody sick of this..."

"I know, mate, but it's bound to happen, isn't it?"

"What?"

"Well, we had Snape spying for all those years. Voldemort definitely had his informants... it's all part of it, isn't it? I mean, not everyone is a Potter or a Weasley, and not everyone is involved in the Order."

At this, Harry's eyes widened, then narrowed.

"Ron, get Hermione here..."

"Harry?"

"I need her to come... tell her we need to discuss... we need to discuss Marietta Edgecombe."

"Marietta...?"

"Please, Ron, I have to make some calls, and I need to speak to Ramona, and I really need you to get Hermione for me."

"Done, mate. Just... we'll get through this, okay?"

"Of course we will, but we might be short a few members when we're done."

Ron left, and Harry picked up his phone. He needed to talk to Snape and McGonagall, but not here.

When Ron and Hermione appeared at Harry's Ministry office, it was to find Harry sitting in his office with his obviously emotional secretary.

"It's okay, Ramona, it's not a problem, and you'll be safer this way," Harry was saying gently.

"But, Harry..."

"Relax. There's no reason for you to be so upset. And Ramona, if you hear anything, anything at all, I need to know, okay? Like what you told me this morning about Mrs Kilborn."

"Of course, Minister," she nodded, then quickly left the room, leaving Ron and Hermione looking strangely at her retreating back.

"What on earth was that all about?" Hermione came over and sat down at the other end of the leather sofa.

"Ramona lives in an apartment with no floo access, and she is unable to apparate. She's been walking the twelve blocks to work here since she started. I've just put an end to that."

"The secretary to the Minister of Magic has been walking through Muggle London to work?" Hermione looked shocked.

"Yes," Harry confirmed.

"So what's the big deal?" Ron said, grabbing a pastry from the tray in front of Harry. "Lots of people walk to work."

"Ron!" Hermione turned to look at him with stunned eyes. "Ramona has access to all sorts of things and information that the Dark Lord would love to get his hands on. She sees everything Harry sees, and knows Harry's schedule. Security should be nearly as tight around her as it is around Harry, for Merlin's sake!"

"Oh." Ron looked surprised for a moment. "Yeah, I guess that's not a good thing, huh?"

"No," Harry agreed. "So I've arranged a new flat for her, it's in a much better part of town, she was living in a rather disgraceful neighborhood. And this has private floo access, so she can come and go as she needs to."

"A ministry flat?" Hermione asked, knowing that the Ministry kept several flats as safehouses and for visiting Ministry officials from other countries.

"No," Harry smiled. "Can you imagine if something like that got out? I mentioned it to Bronwen Michaels in HR to see if something could be done, and she said one of the girls in that department was looking for a flat mate. It sounds like she and Ramona already know and like each other, so it should work out well."

"But Ramona was upset?"

"No, I don't think so," Harry said, his face showing concern. "She was thanking me, and she kind of... well, started crying. I don't think she was angry or upset though..."

Hermione shook her head, "Oh, Harry! Sometimes I think you'll never get a clue."

"What?"

"She was touched, Harry! That you could show concern for her on a personal level."

"Oh," Harry looked thoughtful, then shrugged. "She's a good kid. I didn't like to think of her living in that neighborhood, anyhow, but walking through it to get to work and back each day... it was a security risk."

"Oh, Harry!" Hermione looked disgusted. "You know, it's okay to admit that you care about someone's welfare."

"Well, of course I do, Hermione."

Hermione rolled her eyes, then reached into her bag, pulling out an elastic and using it to control her curls.

"Okay, Marietta Edgecombe," she said in her no-nonsense, we're-about-to-get-some-work-done voice. Ron groaned.

"Yes,"

"So, who is under suspicion?"

"I'm concerned..."

"What in bloody hell are you two talking about?" Ron asked.

"Marietta Edgecombe was..."

"I know who she was, Hermione," Ron said impatiently. "I was there too, remember?"

"Well, then why are you asking?"

"I just don't know what she has to do with this, twenty years later."

"Ron," Harry interrupted their bickering. "Hermione developed a way for us to tell if anyone betrayed the DA. Now I need the same thing, only on a bit larger scale, and not so detectable."

"Harry?" Hermione looked at him. "Not...?"

"I'm concerned about the Order, Hermione. We may have found a spy in the Ministry, and it's made me think..."

"Harry, you personally know every member of the Order. Who on earth would you suspect?" Hermione looked shocked.

"I wouldn't have suspected Marietta, Hermione," Harry said bitterly. "She was a Ravenclaw, and at the time, we believed that unless you were Slytherin you were with us. We were wrong. I just don't want to run the risk of it... now."

"Harry, sometimes you have to have faith in the people around you," Hermione said sadly. "I've only been back two years, and I would trust any member of the Order with my life, with the lives of those I love. If you don't have faith, Harry, that your friends are really your friends, you have nothing."

"Hermione, we have some suspicion that a very senior member of the Ministry, namely the man who held the position of Minister of Muggle Relations until yesterday, is a spy for the Dark."

Hermione's eyes rounded with shock.

"I... to find out something like this... it's a shock. This man has been in the Ministry for years. He served under Arthur. To find out... it shakes your belief in those around you."

"But Harry..."

"I trust you implicitly. I trust Ron. I trust pretty much anyone with the last name 'Weasley'. I don't trust many others to that degree."

Hermione looked at him sadly for a moment, then spoke. "Harry, sometimes you have to stop and tell yourself to believe in people, even when there is no evidence that you should. It's a risk we take. It's faith in people. Please, Harry..."

Harry looked at her, then turned and looked out the window. "Sometimes faith doesn't do it, Mione. Sometimes, when you have faith in someone, they fail you."

"Yes, Harry, sometimes they do. It happens, but to stop believing in the good in people... Harry, don't do that to yourself."

Harry sighed, then turned and looked at her. "I believe in you, and Ron. If you two have faith in all of the members of the Order, then... well, I've always trusted your judgment."

"Oh, Harry!" Mione wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tightly.

"But the Ministry... we're going to be looking further into it here, and anyone found guilty of spying for the Dark here will be charged under the High Treason laws."

Hermione nodded in tearful agreement, "Of course!"

"And I want you to talk to Bill about what you did in school, with Marietta. Maybe he can find a way to link an alarm to employment contracts..."

"Harry, do you really think there might be more?" Ron asked. "Just because Kilborn is married to a Malfoy..."

Hermione gasped.

"Ron, one thing I've learned over the years is that there is never, ever, just one Dark Wizard," Harry said tiredly, rubbing his eyes with one hand. "Where there is one, there are always more. We just have to find them."

"Malcolm? What are you doing, love?"

"Writing a letter," the blond man said, turning and smiling at his wife of ten years.

"To who?" she asked, placing a cup of tea on the table to his left.

"To my cousin," he said quietly.

"Your cousin?" the woman's surprise was genuine. The day of their wedding, there had been he, his mother and her. She was without family, and barring his mother, she had assumed for the twelve years she'd known him that he was, as well. "I didn't know you had a cousin."

"Yes," Malcolm said sadly, eying the trunk in the corner by the sliding glass doors. The last of the things left by his mother to be dealt with. In the three months since her death, it had been stored in his garage. "Yes, I do have a cousin."

"Why haven't you told me before?" she asked. "Your mother never mentioned you had any other family."

"Oh, I don't. Just..."

"I don't understand," she said, confused.

"Well, love, when I was a child I was... well, I wasn't very nice to him. Nor were my parents. And... he chose to leave us when he reached his age of majority. I've not heard from him since."

"He lived with you?"

"Yes. My parents raised him."

"But..."

"Come here, love," Malcolm said gently, pulling out the chair next to him. "Sit down, and let me tell you about my cousin, Harry."

Okay, shortie chapter. Things seem to be mixing themselves up a bit – bits and pieces from other already planned chapters are infiltrating my writing... bloody muse. So, as much as I have the outcome of this story already firmly outlined in my head, it would appear that even I am going to be surprised at how we get there.

To my wonderful reviewers... I love you all. You brighten my days!

Whimsical Firefly: I think the whole employment thing is pretty much the same – Lord knows you're not allowed to ask ANYTHING of a personal nature in our world on a work application, so I don't imagine "Are you or anyone you know involved in the Dark Arts and/or a branded Death Eater?" would be an acceptable question on the Ministry application. As for the other, no one can replace Harry in my little world, so forget about it!

Shotgunn: I'm rolling on the floor laughing. I can just IMAGINE that conversation... sometimes I wonder if men have ANY idea of how uncomfortable the later stages of pregnancy are. Imagine carrying a bowling ball around, pushing up your ribs and sitting on your bladder... and add to that swollen ankles and an overabundance of nasty hormones... and the fact that whenever you eat something, you have to sit a foot and a half away from the table. Get the picture? Right!

Saerry Snape: I hope you're talking about plot developments and not my writing style.

Merlindamage: Muse thanked. And, hey, pull a "Harry" and fire your muse if they're not coming back on demand! I believe Kilborn still has a small part to play... but hey, I've been wrong before!

Larna Mandrea: Ramona is definitely a very special person. We'll see where it goes. It may not be in this story to tell – always depends on the muse, I guess! 'Peace, love, and french fries'? I think I'd like your friend!

CQ