Marcel walked over to Mike, "Hey, here," He handed Mike a communications
mirror, "Dark mark, not good at all."
"Totally," Mike replied quickly.
"Like a nightmare."
"Like fucking '81 all over again, Jesus," Mike said in disgust. "I'll be back," Mike told everyone is his best Terminator accent. He walked out of the stables, through the door he had rudely knocked open.
He opened the flap to the dark grey mirror, and started talking to it. "Acting Assistant Secretary Luke Henderson," he said earnestly, hoping that Luke was up and about at this early hour, or at least hear the rumble of the his mirror vibrating. Mike was surprises to see a stern face in its 40's, brown hair with graying temples, hazel eyes, this lips and a concerned look answer him back so quickly.
"Hendersen here," the Secretary replied in a wondering tone.
"This is Mike Kelley," he replied, trying to be upbeat. "You're up early, hey, are you at your office?"
"Yup, we have a problem over here, a mini-crisis has broken out."
"Well, I got a problem here too."
"You go first," Hendersen told him, giving a puzzled look.
"If you insist," Mike started to explain. "I conducted a raid on that group I told you about on Tuesday, the Red Scorn."
Hendersen looked away for a moment, thinking about last week, then he turned back to Mike, "I remember, what about them."
Mike took a breath and let it out slowly with a sigh. "A Concealment Team guy, named Sam, was processing a dead bad guy, who happens to have the Dark Mark. He's way too young to get the mark back iwhen Volde was raising hell, so something is amiss."
"Oh, that fits," Hendersen told Mike without missing a beat. "I want you here at the Department HQ ASAP, and tell the Concealment Team and everyone else to keep their mouths shut."
"Yes, sir," Mike snapped back. His mind went racing, "That fits?" What the magical world does that mean? He continued, "I'll tell Linda to take over and finish everything here."
"Good, see you here shortly, Hendersen out," with that, the image of Hendersen's face was gone, replaced by Mike's puzzled own. He turned around with a huff, and marched back into the stables. He looked around, everything seemed to be going well now. The Red Scorn that were alive, were in the far left corner, being interrogated by members of his team. The now freed prisoners, in the center of the room, still looked startled, but at least they answering questions and being cooperative.
"Linda!" Mike shouted.
"Yes!" was the reply shouted back.
Mike looked around but did not find her, "Get over here, we need to have a chat."
"What?!" Linda shouted, then as she drew closed to Mike, "What is it?" she said in a much lower volume.
Mike turned on his command voice, "Hendersen wants me back at HQ ASAP." He let that sink in and went on, "You have the conn. I want a prelim report in about two hours and everyone out of here in three. Total scrub down, no one should know what happened here. After that, I want the team back in DC this afternoon."
"Okay, boss, I'm on it."
"Good," then raising and turning his head to everyone, he shouted, "Linda is the OC now, I am going to DC, see the rest of you later." He turned and started walking away.
Linda ran a few steps, and caught his left arm to turn him around, "What about Mia?"
"I reserve a room, tonight, at the Other Side Tavern; we'll talk about it then. Okay?" Mike asked.
"Alright, that works, I guess."
Mike turned around and started walking away. Linda watched him as he took his ebony wand out, placed it over his head, and disappeared. Linda sighed, turned on her heel, and went back to take control.
The Department of Magic's headquarters building looked like a non-descript eight-story tall, apartment building, in Upper Northwest Washington. It was by itself, surrounded by trees and a high fence; it looked like just another high priced place to live. The building was enchanted, it was much larger on the inside, then it appeared to be on the outside. Responsible for over-seeing the most populous nation of witches and wizards in the world, the Department was also the world's largest ministry of magic.
Mike appeared in the special Apparition Room of the Department of Magic's headquarters building. There were numerous wards and charms to keep the intruders from just appearing inside the rest of the building. Another room right next to this one was the only places where a wizard or witch could floo to the Department. A number of wards, charms, and aurors protected each of them; no one would ever penetrate the Department's security. Mike walked to the security guard's desk and flashed his FBME ID to her. She acknowledged him with a nod and clicked open the magically locked safe door with her wand. Mike pushed hard to open it and went through, the door snapped shut behind him.
Mike's footsteps echoed loudly as he walked down the empty, marble-floored hallway to the elevator/lift and pressed the up button. His mind started racing again, looking for answers, but going nowhere. What was going on? Why did Hendersen want him here so quickly, instead of asking the Red Scum about the Death Eater? Ugh, life of an auror had its mysteries to say the least. This was definitely one of them. The doors finally opened and Mike stepped in. He pushed seven, the executive floor, the doors closed quickly and Mike felt the elevator/life moving upward.
When the car reached the seventh floor, the doors opened smoothly. Mike exited, turned left, went down the remainder of the hallway, turned left again and his legs carried him to the office door of Assistant Secretary for Magical Law Enforcement (Acting) Luke Hendersen's office. Luke Hendersen had been the Director of the Federal Bureau of Magically Enforcement. When the old secretary had died two weeks ago in car crash, the Secretary of Magic promoted Luke before the Council of Magic had time to approve him, it was just a formality, only a matter of time. Mike was about to knock, when he heard footsteps to his left.
He saw a woman in mid to late thirties walking towards him. He knew that her appearance was deceiving, she was in actually, almost fifty years old, but being a witch did have its advantages. Her hair was in a ponytail, and she wore gray Duke University sweatpants and a plain black t-shirt. "What brings you here Amanda?" Mike asked with respect.
Amanda Ferrington was the Director (Acting) of the FBME. She had been the Deputy Director, like Luke, she was promoted before the Council could vote. After graduating for the Salem Witch Institute, she had forgone auror training to attend Duke University. She had insisted that it helped her greatly with her dealing with noners. After college, the FBME Academy in New Orleans, again accepted her to their regular two year training programming. In her fourth year as an auror, she went to asked and was allowed to attend Duke's Law School.
"I was dreaming about my vacation next month in Italy, when bozo over here roused me out of bed at this ungodly hour," Amanda grumbled. She continued hoping she would be loud enough for Luke to hear through his office door, "He did not even tell me what it was about!" Still waiting for Luke to answer, she pounded on the door with her open right hand. "Anyone in there," she almost hollowed.
The door opened slightly, Secretary Hendersen popped his head out. "Oh, you both are finally here."
Amanda's went red, "You damn well know we have been here. Now what the blazes is going on?!"
Luke opened the door, turned around and turned back at them holding a steaming paper cup of Starbucks coffee. "Good morning to you to Amanda, here," Luke placed Amanda the cup to Amanda's hand. "Now, you won't bit my head off, good morning Mike."
"Good morning boss. Really, what is this all about?" Mike asked, scratching the top of his right hand with his left nervously.
"Hold on," Luke turned around, walked inside his office, and returned with a few pieces of parchment. He handed Mike and Amanda the top two. "Read and walk with me," Luke closed and locked his office door, tugging on it to make sure it was secure. He started walking down the short end of the hallway with Mike and Amanda in tow, both of them reading and watching where they were going at the same time.
Mike looked at the parchment. It was from the Department's Operations Center, they had labeled it *Priority: Flash*, and *Unclassified information*. The document told the reader, Voldemort was back, and he and the Death Eater's broke into the Ministry of Magic in London.
"Holy Shit!" Amanda blurted out. "Voldemort is back?" Mike knew this was going to be the standard phrase for everyone finding this out.
"Yes" Luke looked over his left shoulder to talk to them both. "Our operative in the UK Ministry even saw him. The Wizarding Wireless News already picked it up, and the papers won't be too far behind I'm sure." He paused as he rounded another corner. "The Secretary is pissed, and called meeting, of the principles, for this morning; Mike, why don't you tell Amanda the other good news?"
"What other good news?" Amanda stared at Mike, "and why are you wearing your raid gear?"
Mike looked down and up, "Oh, I led a raid on that group, the Red Scorn, this morning, and we found a Death Eater among them." Mike paused, "He's dead," Mike, added to make sure Amanda did not ask what information was being beaten out of him at this moment.
"So, you see, we have a little situation here." Luke told then and then stopped.
Mike stopped and looked up for the parchment, he had already read it three times, and was about to do it again. The three of them had reached the Secretary of Magic's office. The double, dark wooden doors were huge. At the door two auror guards looked them over.
Luke spoke first, "We're expected."
The guard on the left nodded, opened the left door with his wand, and poked his head inside. He backed his head out and opened the door all the way. "Go ahead in sir." He voice was deep, authoritative, but still showed respect, Mike was certain he practiced on it often.
The three of them entered, Mike allowed Amanda to go ahead of him. "Ladies, first," he had muttered to her.
Mike had never been in the Secretary's office. His eyes scanned the room methodically, like he had been trained to do over a decade ago. The room was quite large, the high ceiling had dark decorative wood crossbeams, three windows in the far wall, the walls had been painted beige and green, the plush carpet was also, a deep, rich green as well. Another two guards sat by a large open door on the right side of the front office. Located along the walls were bookcases and secure filing cabinets. In the center, four ornate desks, but only one of them was occupied at the moment with an older assistant of the Secretary.
She looked up from her paperwork, "Secretary Hendersen, I will tell him you're here." The assistant stood up from her chair and walked through the right side door. Mike heard some talking, and the assistant walked out. "You are the first ones to arrive, please go ahead in," she said with a sweet professional voice.
Luke started walking towards the door, with Mike and Amanda following close behind. "Thank you Gwen," Luke returned with the same sweet voice.
The Secretary's personal office was even more imposing and impressive, Mike thought as he scanned this room as well, committing it to memory. The beige and green was replaced by beige, gold and blue. The carpet was dark blue with glittering gold stars. The lower part of the wall continued the dark blue, till it reached a gold strip the beige chair rail, then beige walls. You could hardly see the walls, paintings of former Secretaries of Magic, other notables and important events in America magical history almost covered them completely. The Sectary's desk was massive. It looked hand carved, with gold inlays, a marble top, and a silver and gold communications mirror on the right side.
Secretary of Magic Gavin LaPomeret was just as imposing as his office. He was black, almost 7 feet tall, built like a main battle tank, muscles on top of muscles; he shaved his head bald, but he had a goatee. This morning he was not wearing his usual robes, but a black blazer, shirt and pants. He stood up, rounded the left side of his desk, and stood in front of it. The anger in his face easily telegraphed his emotions.
"That Mother Fucker Fudge lied to my face at our meeting in February!" He bellowed. "He told me Voldemort was dead, and that anyone who said differently was crazy! Now, look at this!" He held up a copy of the report Mike and Amanda had been reading in the hallway. "You dealt with this maniac before, haven't you?"
Mike assumed the Secretary was talking to him and answered back, "Yes, sir, back in 1980 and '81."
"You think he is capable of this?"
"Sir, Volde was a very power dark wizard, so it is defiantly in the realm of possibility," Mike swallowed hard after he spoke.
"I see," the Secretary turned his head towards the door, "Gwen, where are the rest of them?" Gwen walked just inside the room, started rattling off the list. "On their way, Secretaries McHadden and Strauss are in the building and on the way here. Secretary Diaz is at the Comm Center talking to Scribe, but should be done by now. Secretary Cohen is on his way from the Ops Center, and Secretary Kalakos is wondering if you want her to stay at the Asian Ministers Conference to gauge their reactions and then report to you, or return immediately?"
"Tell her to get their reactions and owl me a report in 4 hours. I want her assistant and the rest her staff getting reactions from the rest of the ministries."
"Yes, Mr. Secretary." Gwen turned to leave, when LaPomeret stopped her.
"Oh, and I want the British ambassador here now. If we are still in the meeting, have him wait. Make him, VERY uncomfortable."
"No problem Mr. Secretary." Gwen grinned, turned, and walked out of the room.
LaPomeret was still fuming, "Fudge continued on and on that the Potter kid and Dumbledore were off their rocker. Now, I know who has the problem." He sighed
Gwen walked into the office, "Sir, the other Secretaries are all here."
The Secretary stood up and straightened his clothes out. "Finally, show them in, we will be in my cabinet room, mirror me if anything important comes up."
One by one, the leaders of America's magical government started flowing into LaPomeret's office: Assistant Secretary for Military Affairs Mark Cohen, commander of over 3,000 military wizards and witches; Assist. Sec. for Intelligence Chris Diaz, he had eyes and ears all over the magical and non-magical world, Assist. Sec. for Foreign Affairs Rachel Kalakos was still in Seoul at the Asian Ministers of Magic conference. Assist. Sec. for the Treasury and Economics Francesca Strauss was know as Ms. Money Bags, she held the Department's purse strings, the last one to enter was LaPomeret's right hand man so to speak, Deputy Secretary Helen McHadden, her family helped build the American magic community, it was only natural that she would become the second highest in the Department. She had a personal interest in Education and pulled double duty as the Education Secretary. Hendersen rounded out the top leadership of the Department.
LaPomeret motioned everyone into the adjoining conference room. Mike groaned, he had to get up from this comfy leather chair and move. His body was starting aching finally, from the lack of sleep, and the heavy gear he was still wearing. He only scanned the large conference room table. The table was more modern then the rest of the furniture. At each seat were two rolls and small sheets of parchment, automatic and regular quills, a communications mirror, a small pensive, black display slate and wand holder.
Mike followed Luke and Amanda to the far side of the table. He sat to Luke's left, Amanda to Luke's right. Cohen took the seat to Mike's left, then Strauss took the next seat down, followed by the Dep. Secretary, the Secretary sat at the head of the table, Diaz was still shuffling parchment and almost missed his seat as he sat to the left of LaPomeret, The Secretary groaned and stretched, and started the meeting. "Updates, Mr. Diaz?"
"Sir, just finished talking to Scribe. It seems Voldemort and some of his Death Eaters were trying to get some Prophecy from the Ministry's Department of Mysteries. Scribe has no idea what the Prophecy is about, nor why Voldemort wants it. The Death Eaters arrived first and were stopped by a number of Hogwarts' students, lead by, a Potter, Harry J., son of Potters, James, and Lilly."
"The same Harry Potter Fudge told me was crazy," LaPomeret explained to the rest of the group. "Sorry, go ahead Chris."
"No problem, sir." Diaz reshuffled his parchments, found the right one, and continued. "During the fire fight, Adult wizards arrived to assist the students. They are part of a group that appears to be opposed to Voldemort."
Mike interrupted Diaz, "Mr. Secretary, the group is named the Order of the Phoenix; I was working for them back in '80, '81." He swallowed, he had just interrupted a meeting well above his pay grade, oh well, he added, "And yes they are opposed to Voldemort."
"Thank you Mr. Kelley," LaPomeret said without being angry at all, much to Mike's relief.
Diaz shot a look at Mike and then continued. "Well, yes, anyway, the group lost a member, A." Diaz looked through all his parchments. "A Black, Sirius."
McHadden's mouth dropped. "The mass murderer and escapee?"
"Yes," Diaz looked at another parchment. "It seems he may not be a mass murderer after all, and Fudge and the Ministry did not investigate his crime very well."
LaPomeret fumed, "Why does this not surprise me?"
"I always thought that man was an arrogant buffoon," snapped McHadden, "What else Chris?"
"Also according to Scribe, he is, was the Godfather to the Harry Potter." Diaz turned a page, "Dumbledore, Albus, Headmaster of Hogwarts, arrived a few minutes later and captured most of the Death Eaters. He fought Voldemort to a standoff, Voldemort and a" more turning the pages, "Lestrange, Bellatrix Black escaped."
"Bellatrix is a Black as well?" a confused LaPomeret ask.
Before Diaz could say anything McHadden turned to the Secretary, "She is Sirius's cousin."
"Some cousin," Diaz retorted. "She was the one who killed Mr. Black."
LaPomeret huffed, "Jesus, European wizarding families, why are they so, so?"
"Strange, wacky, weird, and annoying?" McHadden said with a smile.
"Exactly!"
"I think it is the hundreds of years of inbreeding, sir." Cohen laughed.
"Need to add anything more Chris?" the Secretary asked.
"One of the Death Eaters that Dumbledore did manage to captured was none other then a Malfoy, Lucius,:" Diaz beamed at Strauss.
"YES!" Hendersen said punching his right fist in the air.
"Finally! We got HIM!" Strauss shouted with total glee.
"What is that all about?" McHadden surprised by the outburst.
Strauss and Hendersen looked at each other and laughed. "You tell them Francesca."
"Where to begin, I wonder, mmmmmm." Strauss said with a faked sigh. "Firstly, he has been trying to run rough shot over Magical Customs for years, so he could import defective goods. Next, his financial takeovers of a few companies here were really shady. Luke and I think he was blackmailing or intimidating some of them to sell. Moreover, we thought he was funneling money to Dark Arts groups here, Asia and in Europe. "
"What can we do?" wondered the Secretary.
Strauss smiled, "I'll order all his U.S. assets frozen, bank accounts, and such. The companies he owns will be trickier, because some are noner and the others are important to the magical economy, I guess I will have them seized and held in trust until the Brits decide if he is guilty or not."
Hendersen added, "Under current treaties, if their Ministry finds him innocent, we will have to give his assets back, but we can drag that out for months maybe a year. His arrest does give us the right to go through all his books and ledgers, maybe we can find some criminal activity.
"How the hell do think he can get off the hook on this?" LaPomeret asked Hendersen
Hendersen remembered, the Secretary had never been an auror, nor was he very familiar with the formalities of the law. "One, bribery, he throws a lot of galleons around the Ministry there. Second, he could claim that Voldemort used the Imperius Curse on him, and he was not responsible for his actions. Even if they used Veritaserum on him, he could claim in his defense that everything was true, but he had no control. At least he will get a taste of Azkaban, which is no Salt Lake Penitentiary, but the Dementors nasty guards.
"Um," Diaz interrupted. "Scribe told me that the Dementors have left Azkaban, and have apparently sided with Voldemort, as well as some of the Giant tribes Central and Eastern Europe."
"That's just fucking great," Henderson whined. "They might as well just let any Death Eaters they arrest go, because without the Dementors, Azkaban is wide open."
"My I get a few words in?" Cohen asked.
The Secretary nodded, "Go ahead."
"Sir, clearly Voldemort represents a clear and present danger to the stability of one of our closest allies. He also, could destabilize Continental Europe as well. A Britain and/or all of Europe taken over and controlled by Voldemort represents a threat to us." Cohen swallowed hard, "I recommend we assist or even intervene to stop this madman."
Mike closed his eyes, he knew the next words would be, so this is how wars start.
"I concur with Secretary Cohen," Diaz said flatly. "Voldemort is a threat to OUR national security, I feel we have no choice but stop Voldemort and his Death Eater followers, by any means necessary."
The Secretary pondered their words, lay back in his chair, and scratched his goatee. His mirror shook on the table. LaPomeret rubbed the right side of the mirror to switch it on.
"Yes Gwen?"
"Sir, The British Ambassador is here."
"Have him wait; we will be done in a few minutes."
"Not a problem Mr. Secretary."
LaPomeret looked back up at his senior staff. "For right now, we will only take action in the nationally, BUT. I want the Department ready to move internationally if the need arises. Mr. Cohen, how many of your people can we move to Britain as soon as possible?"
"Well," it was his turn to shuffle the parchments that lay in front of him. "I can have two companies, about 400 military aurors there this week. Another 400 can be moved two weeks after that. Although sir, if we start pushing the numbers over 400, I think the British will notice very quickly what we are doing."
"Fine, move the first two companies, and keep the others on standby." The Secretary looked at Luke, Mike, and Amanda with new determination. "What do we need to do on the law enforcement side?"
"Well, Magical Customs does really have enough inspectors, Immigration we just need to add a few, but we will really have to pump the FBME numbers. I recommend canceling all retirements and leaves." Hendersen was about to continue when he was cut off by the Secretary
"How many are at the Academy now?"
Amanda took the question. "We just graduated seventeen from the Standard two-year course on June 1st. Eight will graduate from the Advanced one- year course, those are students who had extensive training or experience before joining the Bureau, on 1 July. The next class starts on 1 September, with ten in the Advanced course and 27 in the Standard. Usually, we lose a few, so, about six to eight will actually complete the Advanced course and about twenty will complete the Standard one."
"Is that enough?" asked McHadden.
"Well, for normal times yes, but if this Voldemort thing turns ugly, we could be talking about casualty rates like we had in 1937. The Bureau would be devastated."
"Fine, I want both classes doubled, I don't care how you do it, get it done. How many aurors can we send over to the UK, NOW, to assist them?" LaPomeret demanded.
Amanda looked a little stunned by his outburst, but realized he was now under a lot of stress and he was very pissed. "I think we can send about thirty over immediately. After that I will have to see."
"Good,"
Mike lay back in his chair, thinking, it was now official. Over 3,000 military aurors, 2,000 civilian ones, a treasury of 75 billion galleons, and the resources of the largest magical nation in world were not dedicated to destroying one Lord Voldemort. God help us all.
"Mr. Kelley"
Mike woke up his wondering mind and looked the Secretary of Magic in the eye. "Yes, sir?" he asked.
"You know Dumbledore personally?"
"Yes sir, I worked with him and the Order in 1980, '81" Mike replied with the utmost respect.
"Do you think you could talk to him about this situation of the record with him?"
"I think so sir, I can owl and ask, but I bet it won't be a problem."
LaPomeret looked relieved, "Excellent, I want you to talk him off the record, and I don't want it broadcasted to the Ministry either. Send the report directly to me."
Mike began thinking, knowing Dumbledore it won't be a problem. "Consider it done."
"Any final words?" The Secretary went around looking everyone in the eyes. "Okay, we will reconvene tomorrow at 2 PM."
"Totally," Mike replied quickly.
"Like a nightmare."
"Like fucking '81 all over again, Jesus," Mike said in disgust. "I'll be back," Mike told everyone is his best Terminator accent. He walked out of the stables, through the door he had rudely knocked open.
He opened the flap to the dark grey mirror, and started talking to it. "Acting Assistant Secretary Luke Henderson," he said earnestly, hoping that Luke was up and about at this early hour, or at least hear the rumble of the his mirror vibrating. Mike was surprises to see a stern face in its 40's, brown hair with graying temples, hazel eyes, this lips and a concerned look answer him back so quickly.
"Hendersen here," the Secretary replied in a wondering tone.
"This is Mike Kelley," he replied, trying to be upbeat. "You're up early, hey, are you at your office?"
"Yup, we have a problem over here, a mini-crisis has broken out."
"Well, I got a problem here too."
"You go first," Hendersen told him, giving a puzzled look.
"If you insist," Mike started to explain. "I conducted a raid on that group I told you about on Tuesday, the Red Scorn."
Hendersen looked away for a moment, thinking about last week, then he turned back to Mike, "I remember, what about them."
Mike took a breath and let it out slowly with a sigh. "A Concealment Team guy, named Sam, was processing a dead bad guy, who happens to have the Dark Mark. He's way too young to get the mark back iwhen Volde was raising hell, so something is amiss."
"Oh, that fits," Hendersen told Mike without missing a beat. "I want you here at the Department HQ ASAP, and tell the Concealment Team and everyone else to keep their mouths shut."
"Yes, sir," Mike snapped back. His mind went racing, "That fits?" What the magical world does that mean? He continued, "I'll tell Linda to take over and finish everything here."
"Good, see you here shortly, Hendersen out," with that, the image of Hendersen's face was gone, replaced by Mike's puzzled own. He turned around with a huff, and marched back into the stables. He looked around, everything seemed to be going well now. The Red Scorn that were alive, were in the far left corner, being interrogated by members of his team. The now freed prisoners, in the center of the room, still looked startled, but at least they answering questions and being cooperative.
"Linda!" Mike shouted.
"Yes!" was the reply shouted back.
Mike looked around but did not find her, "Get over here, we need to have a chat."
"What?!" Linda shouted, then as she drew closed to Mike, "What is it?" she said in a much lower volume.
Mike turned on his command voice, "Hendersen wants me back at HQ ASAP." He let that sink in and went on, "You have the conn. I want a prelim report in about two hours and everyone out of here in three. Total scrub down, no one should know what happened here. After that, I want the team back in DC this afternoon."
"Okay, boss, I'm on it."
"Good," then raising and turning his head to everyone, he shouted, "Linda is the OC now, I am going to DC, see the rest of you later." He turned and started walking away.
Linda ran a few steps, and caught his left arm to turn him around, "What about Mia?"
"I reserve a room, tonight, at the Other Side Tavern; we'll talk about it then. Okay?" Mike asked.
"Alright, that works, I guess."
Mike turned around and started walking away. Linda watched him as he took his ebony wand out, placed it over his head, and disappeared. Linda sighed, turned on her heel, and went back to take control.
The Department of Magic's headquarters building looked like a non-descript eight-story tall, apartment building, in Upper Northwest Washington. It was by itself, surrounded by trees and a high fence; it looked like just another high priced place to live. The building was enchanted, it was much larger on the inside, then it appeared to be on the outside. Responsible for over-seeing the most populous nation of witches and wizards in the world, the Department was also the world's largest ministry of magic.
Mike appeared in the special Apparition Room of the Department of Magic's headquarters building. There were numerous wards and charms to keep the intruders from just appearing inside the rest of the building. Another room right next to this one was the only places where a wizard or witch could floo to the Department. A number of wards, charms, and aurors protected each of them; no one would ever penetrate the Department's security. Mike walked to the security guard's desk and flashed his FBME ID to her. She acknowledged him with a nod and clicked open the magically locked safe door with her wand. Mike pushed hard to open it and went through, the door snapped shut behind him.
Mike's footsteps echoed loudly as he walked down the empty, marble-floored hallway to the elevator/lift and pressed the up button. His mind started racing again, looking for answers, but going nowhere. What was going on? Why did Hendersen want him here so quickly, instead of asking the Red Scum about the Death Eater? Ugh, life of an auror had its mysteries to say the least. This was definitely one of them. The doors finally opened and Mike stepped in. He pushed seven, the executive floor, the doors closed quickly and Mike felt the elevator/life moving upward.
When the car reached the seventh floor, the doors opened smoothly. Mike exited, turned left, went down the remainder of the hallway, turned left again and his legs carried him to the office door of Assistant Secretary for Magical Law Enforcement (Acting) Luke Hendersen's office. Luke Hendersen had been the Director of the Federal Bureau of Magically Enforcement. When the old secretary had died two weeks ago in car crash, the Secretary of Magic promoted Luke before the Council of Magic had time to approve him, it was just a formality, only a matter of time. Mike was about to knock, when he heard footsteps to his left.
He saw a woman in mid to late thirties walking towards him. He knew that her appearance was deceiving, she was in actually, almost fifty years old, but being a witch did have its advantages. Her hair was in a ponytail, and she wore gray Duke University sweatpants and a plain black t-shirt. "What brings you here Amanda?" Mike asked with respect.
Amanda Ferrington was the Director (Acting) of the FBME. She had been the Deputy Director, like Luke, she was promoted before the Council could vote. After graduating for the Salem Witch Institute, she had forgone auror training to attend Duke University. She had insisted that it helped her greatly with her dealing with noners. After college, the FBME Academy in New Orleans, again accepted her to their regular two year training programming. In her fourth year as an auror, she went to asked and was allowed to attend Duke's Law School.
"I was dreaming about my vacation next month in Italy, when bozo over here roused me out of bed at this ungodly hour," Amanda grumbled. She continued hoping she would be loud enough for Luke to hear through his office door, "He did not even tell me what it was about!" Still waiting for Luke to answer, she pounded on the door with her open right hand. "Anyone in there," she almost hollowed.
The door opened slightly, Secretary Hendersen popped his head out. "Oh, you both are finally here."
Amanda's went red, "You damn well know we have been here. Now what the blazes is going on?!"
Luke opened the door, turned around and turned back at them holding a steaming paper cup of Starbucks coffee. "Good morning to you to Amanda, here," Luke placed Amanda the cup to Amanda's hand. "Now, you won't bit my head off, good morning Mike."
"Good morning boss. Really, what is this all about?" Mike asked, scratching the top of his right hand with his left nervously.
"Hold on," Luke turned around, walked inside his office, and returned with a few pieces of parchment. He handed Mike and Amanda the top two. "Read and walk with me," Luke closed and locked his office door, tugging on it to make sure it was secure. He started walking down the short end of the hallway with Mike and Amanda in tow, both of them reading and watching where they were going at the same time.
Mike looked at the parchment. It was from the Department's Operations Center, they had labeled it *Priority: Flash*, and *Unclassified information*. The document told the reader, Voldemort was back, and he and the Death Eater's broke into the Ministry of Magic in London.
"Holy Shit!" Amanda blurted out. "Voldemort is back?" Mike knew this was going to be the standard phrase for everyone finding this out.
"Yes" Luke looked over his left shoulder to talk to them both. "Our operative in the UK Ministry even saw him. The Wizarding Wireless News already picked it up, and the papers won't be too far behind I'm sure." He paused as he rounded another corner. "The Secretary is pissed, and called meeting, of the principles, for this morning; Mike, why don't you tell Amanda the other good news?"
"What other good news?" Amanda stared at Mike, "and why are you wearing your raid gear?"
Mike looked down and up, "Oh, I led a raid on that group, the Red Scorn, this morning, and we found a Death Eater among them." Mike paused, "He's dead," Mike, added to make sure Amanda did not ask what information was being beaten out of him at this moment.
"So, you see, we have a little situation here." Luke told then and then stopped.
Mike stopped and looked up for the parchment, he had already read it three times, and was about to do it again. The three of them had reached the Secretary of Magic's office. The double, dark wooden doors were huge. At the door two auror guards looked them over.
Luke spoke first, "We're expected."
The guard on the left nodded, opened the left door with his wand, and poked his head inside. He backed his head out and opened the door all the way. "Go ahead in sir." He voice was deep, authoritative, but still showed respect, Mike was certain he practiced on it often.
The three of them entered, Mike allowed Amanda to go ahead of him. "Ladies, first," he had muttered to her.
Mike had never been in the Secretary's office. His eyes scanned the room methodically, like he had been trained to do over a decade ago. The room was quite large, the high ceiling had dark decorative wood crossbeams, three windows in the far wall, the walls had been painted beige and green, the plush carpet was also, a deep, rich green as well. Another two guards sat by a large open door on the right side of the front office. Located along the walls were bookcases and secure filing cabinets. In the center, four ornate desks, but only one of them was occupied at the moment with an older assistant of the Secretary.
She looked up from her paperwork, "Secretary Hendersen, I will tell him you're here." The assistant stood up from her chair and walked through the right side door. Mike heard some talking, and the assistant walked out. "You are the first ones to arrive, please go ahead in," she said with a sweet professional voice.
Luke started walking towards the door, with Mike and Amanda following close behind. "Thank you Gwen," Luke returned with the same sweet voice.
The Secretary's personal office was even more imposing and impressive, Mike thought as he scanned this room as well, committing it to memory. The beige and green was replaced by beige, gold and blue. The carpet was dark blue with glittering gold stars. The lower part of the wall continued the dark blue, till it reached a gold strip the beige chair rail, then beige walls. You could hardly see the walls, paintings of former Secretaries of Magic, other notables and important events in America magical history almost covered them completely. The Sectary's desk was massive. It looked hand carved, with gold inlays, a marble top, and a silver and gold communications mirror on the right side.
Secretary of Magic Gavin LaPomeret was just as imposing as his office. He was black, almost 7 feet tall, built like a main battle tank, muscles on top of muscles; he shaved his head bald, but he had a goatee. This morning he was not wearing his usual robes, but a black blazer, shirt and pants. He stood up, rounded the left side of his desk, and stood in front of it. The anger in his face easily telegraphed his emotions.
"That Mother Fucker Fudge lied to my face at our meeting in February!" He bellowed. "He told me Voldemort was dead, and that anyone who said differently was crazy! Now, look at this!" He held up a copy of the report Mike and Amanda had been reading in the hallway. "You dealt with this maniac before, haven't you?"
Mike assumed the Secretary was talking to him and answered back, "Yes, sir, back in 1980 and '81."
"You think he is capable of this?"
"Sir, Volde was a very power dark wizard, so it is defiantly in the realm of possibility," Mike swallowed hard after he spoke.
"I see," the Secretary turned his head towards the door, "Gwen, where are the rest of them?" Gwen walked just inside the room, started rattling off the list. "On their way, Secretaries McHadden and Strauss are in the building and on the way here. Secretary Diaz is at the Comm Center talking to Scribe, but should be done by now. Secretary Cohen is on his way from the Ops Center, and Secretary Kalakos is wondering if you want her to stay at the Asian Ministers Conference to gauge their reactions and then report to you, or return immediately?"
"Tell her to get their reactions and owl me a report in 4 hours. I want her assistant and the rest her staff getting reactions from the rest of the ministries."
"Yes, Mr. Secretary." Gwen turned to leave, when LaPomeret stopped her.
"Oh, and I want the British ambassador here now. If we are still in the meeting, have him wait. Make him, VERY uncomfortable."
"No problem Mr. Secretary." Gwen grinned, turned, and walked out of the room.
LaPomeret was still fuming, "Fudge continued on and on that the Potter kid and Dumbledore were off their rocker. Now, I know who has the problem." He sighed
Gwen walked into the office, "Sir, the other Secretaries are all here."
The Secretary stood up and straightened his clothes out. "Finally, show them in, we will be in my cabinet room, mirror me if anything important comes up."
One by one, the leaders of America's magical government started flowing into LaPomeret's office: Assistant Secretary for Military Affairs Mark Cohen, commander of over 3,000 military wizards and witches; Assist. Sec. for Intelligence Chris Diaz, he had eyes and ears all over the magical and non-magical world, Assist. Sec. for Foreign Affairs Rachel Kalakos was still in Seoul at the Asian Ministers of Magic conference. Assist. Sec. for the Treasury and Economics Francesca Strauss was know as Ms. Money Bags, she held the Department's purse strings, the last one to enter was LaPomeret's right hand man so to speak, Deputy Secretary Helen McHadden, her family helped build the American magic community, it was only natural that she would become the second highest in the Department. She had a personal interest in Education and pulled double duty as the Education Secretary. Hendersen rounded out the top leadership of the Department.
LaPomeret motioned everyone into the adjoining conference room. Mike groaned, he had to get up from this comfy leather chair and move. His body was starting aching finally, from the lack of sleep, and the heavy gear he was still wearing. He only scanned the large conference room table. The table was more modern then the rest of the furniture. At each seat were two rolls and small sheets of parchment, automatic and regular quills, a communications mirror, a small pensive, black display slate and wand holder.
Mike followed Luke and Amanda to the far side of the table. He sat to Luke's left, Amanda to Luke's right. Cohen took the seat to Mike's left, then Strauss took the next seat down, followed by the Dep. Secretary, the Secretary sat at the head of the table, Diaz was still shuffling parchment and almost missed his seat as he sat to the left of LaPomeret, The Secretary groaned and stretched, and started the meeting. "Updates, Mr. Diaz?"
"Sir, just finished talking to Scribe. It seems Voldemort and some of his Death Eaters were trying to get some Prophecy from the Ministry's Department of Mysteries. Scribe has no idea what the Prophecy is about, nor why Voldemort wants it. The Death Eaters arrived first and were stopped by a number of Hogwarts' students, lead by, a Potter, Harry J., son of Potters, James, and Lilly."
"The same Harry Potter Fudge told me was crazy," LaPomeret explained to the rest of the group. "Sorry, go ahead Chris."
"No problem, sir." Diaz reshuffled his parchments, found the right one, and continued. "During the fire fight, Adult wizards arrived to assist the students. They are part of a group that appears to be opposed to Voldemort."
Mike interrupted Diaz, "Mr. Secretary, the group is named the Order of the Phoenix; I was working for them back in '80, '81." He swallowed, he had just interrupted a meeting well above his pay grade, oh well, he added, "And yes they are opposed to Voldemort."
"Thank you Mr. Kelley," LaPomeret said without being angry at all, much to Mike's relief.
Diaz shot a look at Mike and then continued. "Well, yes, anyway, the group lost a member, A." Diaz looked through all his parchments. "A Black, Sirius."
McHadden's mouth dropped. "The mass murderer and escapee?"
"Yes," Diaz looked at another parchment. "It seems he may not be a mass murderer after all, and Fudge and the Ministry did not investigate his crime very well."
LaPomeret fumed, "Why does this not surprise me?"
"I always thought that man was an arrogant buffoon," snapped McHadden, "What else Chris?"
"Also according to Scribe, he is, was the Godfather to the Harry Potter." Diaz turned a page, "Dumbledore, Albus, Headmaster of Hogwarts, arrived a few minutes later and captured most of the Death Eaters. He fought Voldemort to a standoff, Voldemort and a" more turning the pages, "Lestrange, Bellatrix Black escaped."
"Bellatrix is a Black as well?" a confused LaPomeret ask.
Before Diaz could say anything McHadden turned to the Secretary, "She is Sirius's cousin."
"Some cousin," Diaz retorted. "She was the one who killed Mr. Black."
LaPomeret huffed, "Jesus, European wizarding families, why are they so, so?"
"Strange, wacky, weird, and annoying?" McHadden said with a smile.
"Exactly!"
"I think it is the hundreds of years of inbreeding, sir." Cohen laughed.
"Need to add anything more Chris?" the Secretary asked.
"One of the Death Eaters that Dumbledore did manage to captured was none other then a Malfoy, Lucius,:" Diaz beamed at Strauss.
"YES!" Hendersen said punching his right fist in the air.
"Finally! We got HIM!" Strauss shouted with total glee.
"What is that all about?" McHadden surprised by the outburst.
Strauss and Hendersen looked at each other and laughed. "You tell them Francesca."
"Where to begin, I wonder, mmmmmm." Strauss said with a faked sigh. "Firstly, he has been trying to run rough shot over Magical Customs for years, so he could import defective goods. Next, his financial takeovers of a few companies here were really shady. Luke and I think he was blackmailing or intimidating some of them to sell. Moreover, we thought he was funneling money to Dark Arts groups here, Asia and in Europe. "
"What can we do?" wondered the Secretary.
Strauss smiled, "I'll order all his U.S. assets frozen, bank accounts, and such. The companies he owns will be trickier, because some are noner and the others are important to the magical economy, I guess I will have them seized and held in trust until the Brits decide if he is guilty or not."
Hendersen added, "Under current treaties, if their Ministry finds him innocent, we will have to give his assets back, but we can drag that out for months maybe a year. His arrest does give us the right to go through all his books and ledgers, maybe we can find some criminal activity.
"How the hell do think he can get off the hook on this?" LaPomeret asked Hendersen
Hendersen remembered, the Secretary had never been an auror, nor was he very familiar with the formalities of the law. "One, bribery, he throws a lot of galleons around the Ministry there. Second, he could claim that Voldemort used the Imperius Curse on him, and he was not responsible for his actions. Even if they used Veritaserum on him, he could claim in his defense that everything was true, but he had no control. At least he will get a taste of Azkaban, which is no Salt Lake Penitentiary, but the Dementors nasty guards.
"Um," Diaz interrupted. "Scribe told me that the Dementors have left Azkaban, and have apparently sided with Voldemort, as well as some of the Giant tribes Central and Eastern Europe."
"That's just fucking great," Henderson whined. "They might as well just let any Death Eaters they arrest go, because without the Dementors, Azkaban is wide open."
"My I get a few words in?" Cohen asked.
The Secretary nodded, "Go ahead."
"Sir, clearly Voldemort represents a clear and present danger to the stability of one of our closest allies. He also, could destabilize Continental Europe as well. A Britain and/or all of Europe taken over and controlled by Voldemort represents a threat to us." Cohen swallowed hard, "I recommend we assist or even intervene to stop this madman."
Mike closed his eyes, he knew the next words would be, so this is how wars start.
"I concur with Secretary Cohen," Diaz said flatly. "Voldemort is a threat to OUR national security, I feel we have no choice but stop Voldemort and his Death Eater followers, by any means necessary."
The Secretary pondered their words, lay back in his chair, and scratched his goatee. His mirror shook on the table. LaPomeret rubbed the right side of the mirror to switch it on.
"Yes Gwen?"
"Sir, The British Ambassador is here."
"Have him wait; we will be done in a few minutes."
"Not a problem Mr. Secretary."
LaPomeret looked back up at his senior staff. "For right now, we will only take action in the nationally, BUT. I want the Department ready to move internationally if the need arises. Mr. Cohen, how many of your people can we move to Britain as soon as possible?"
"Well," it was his turn to shuffle the parchments that lay in front of him. "I can have two companies, about 400 military aurors there this week. Another 400 can be moved two weeks after that. Although sir, if we start pushing the numbers over 400, I think the British will notice very quickly what we are doing."
"Fine, move the first two companies, and keep the others on standby." The Secretary looked at Luke, Mike, and Amanda with new determination. "What do we need to do on the law enforcement side?"
"Well, Magical Customs does really have enough inspectors, Immigration we just need to add a few, but we will really have to pump the FBME numbers. I recommend canceling all retirements and leaves." Hendersen was about to continue when he was cut off by the Secretary
"How many are at the Academy now?"
Amanda took the question. "We just graduated seventeen from the Standard two-year course on June 1st. Eight will graduate from the Advanced one- year course, those are students who had extensive training or experience before joining the Bureau, on 1 July. The next class starts on 1 September, with ten in the Advanced course and 27 in the Standard. Usually, we lose a few, so, about six to eight will actually complete the Advanced course and about twenty will complete the Standard one."
"Is that enough?" asked McHadden.
"Well, for normal times yes, but if this Voldemort thing turns ugly, we could be talking about casualty rates like we had in 1937. The Bureau would be devastated."
"Fine, I want both classes doubled, I don't care how you do it, get it done. How many aurors can we send over to the UK, NOW, to assist them?" LaPomeret demanded.
Amanda looked a little stunned by his outburst, but realized he was now under a lot of stress and he was very pissed. "I think we can send about thirty over immediately. After that I will have to see."
"Good,"
Mike lay back in his chair, thinking, it was now official. Over 3,000 military aurors, 2,000 civilian ones, a treasury of 75 billion galleons, and the resources of the largest magical nation in world were not dedicated to destroying one Lord Voldemort. God help us all.
"Mr. Kelley"
Mike woke up his wondering mind and looked the Secretary of Magic in the eye. "Yes, sir?" he asked.
"You know Dumbledore personally?"
"Yes sir, I worked with him and the Order in 1980, '81" Mike replied with the utmost respect.
"Do you think you could talk to him about this situation of the record with him?"
"I think so sir, I can owl and ask, but I bet it won't be a problem."
LaPomeret looked relieved, "Excellent, I want you to talk him off the record, and I don't want it broadcasted to the Ministry either. Send the report directly to me."
Mike began thinking, knowing Dumbledore it won't be a problem. "Consider it done."
"Any final words?" The Secretary went around looking everyone in the eyes. "Okay, we will reconvene tomorrow at 2 PM."