The Spy

Rupert Wilkinson was determined to do his duty towards the Minister. Faced with the Death Eater threat lurking everywhere, he felt, every Gryffindor had to stand his ground as a fighter for Hermione, and those Gryffindors unwilling to do so were the inner enemy. As long as you couldn't destroy them, you at least had to monitor them. What a great idea this resolution had been, he inwardly praised himself. It had forced the enemy to show their colours.

It was Saturday morning. Wilkinson was sitting on his bed in the Gryffindor fifth-year dormitory with his knees pulled up, making plans. He had a list in front of him titled ENEMIES. It consisted of just four names: James Potter, Victoire Weasley, Rose Weasley and Ethelbert Parker.

Who was the most dangerous, who had to be watched?

Preferably all of them, of course, but that would require joining forces with others and sharing the work. But sharing work would also mean: Sharing glory. Sharing the Order of Merlin. Sharing praise from the Minister.

Wilkinson snorted. He wouldn't share. He – he alone! – would bring the traitors to justice! He alone would earn Hermione's grateful, admiring glances. And next year, when the new Gryffindor Prefects were to be appointed, no one would have the chance to get past him, the year after next he would be Headboy, and after school Hermione's most important man in the Ministry, perhaps – he daydreamed – her most important man at all ...

So who? Rose was out of the question, she was too young to be really dangerous, besides she was the Minister's daughter. Her mother was certainly angry with her, but it was better to leave her alone. Ethelbert? A quiet guy, not one who would actively plot against the Ministry, nor one who would rally supporters around him. With him he would be wasting his time. That left James Potter and Victoire Weasley. The two of them would have to be shadowed, surely they were plotting something, why else were they avoiding the common room since the coup d'état, why else were they so often standing together with the Incorruptibles, the ultimate enemy, during the breaks?

Probably they were in cahoots with them all along! Hadn't it been MacAllister who had saved Potter after his Graffiti? And who else had been involved? Parker and Weasley! And what was the result? That they had persuaded the Gryffindors to no longer bother the Slytherins! A set-up right from the start to thwart Hermione's instructions. How clever ...

Potter ... His father had committed the assault, the son probably shared his ideas, and he would certainly do something to spare his father the just punishment.

Potter! He would pay him back for all the jokes the two years younger had so often cracked at Wilkinson's expense to the amusement of the whole house! This Potter was capable of anything! He had that gambler-like coolness that some girls admired so much, and the same lack of hesitation as his father. If he were older, probably he would have been the one to make the attempt on Hermione's life. And who knows? Maybe he was now going on from where the old Potter had failed.

Potter was the one to focus on.

He was probably sitting at breakfast now. Wilkinson leapt out of bed. For him, Rupert Wilkinson, it was time to start his service!

When he reached the Great Hall, he saw James Potter and Victoire Weasley already leaving it – together! Wilkinson cursed in a low voice. Couldn't they have had a slower breakfast? Now he wouldn't get anything until noon. No matter, sacrifices had to be made for the Minister!

It was typical that they were hanging out together again. He knew it – they were plotting something! What else did the seventh-year have to do with the third-year student?

Wilkinson followed them at some distance as they went to the first big staircase, to the first floor, then to the second ... He looked around. The two of them hadn't noticed him, and there were no other students on this floor at this time of day. So now! He pulled out his wand and made himself invisible. Now he scurried closer to them. They had reached the third floor, then they stopped, looked around – and also made themselves invisible!

Wilkinson grinned. He had participated in the patrols that Barclay had set up after the anti-Muggle attacks at the end of October. This patrol service had been stopped after a few weeks, but as a result Wilkinson mastered the Calorate spell. He jumped back a few yards, for the Calorate spell changed the perception of everyone within a twenty-yard radius. If he practised it too close to the targets, not only would they be visible to him, but also he to them. When he thought he had enough distance, he raised his wand: "Calorate!"

He could just see the yellow light emanating from them as they were climbing the next flight of stairs. He had to be careful with his steps, because since he could only see objects from which heat was emanating, he was almost blind and in danger of tripping with every step and on every stair. Fortunately, the two were in no hurry, so he was able to gradually catch up with them and had almost reached them on the fifth floor. He now had some trouble suppressing his panting, but he managed control it reasonably well. Apparently, they were heading for the seventh floor, but by a strange route, not the shortest, if they wanted to get to Gryffindor Tower.

Once on the seventh floor, they once again did not head for the common room. Since he no longer had to climb stairs, his breathing calmed down a little. At the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy, the yellow light spots stopped again and looked around. Then something strange happened: They walked up and down a few steps three times and seemed to mutter something. Suddenly the wall opened, revealing a room behind it. This couldn't be anything but the Room of Requirement he had heard rumours about! When James and Victoire entered the room, Wilkinson slipped in after them.

"We're too early," James said after he and Victoire had made themselves visible again.

"Better too early than too late," Victoire replied. "Or do you feel uncomfortable with my company?"

"Quite the opposite. It would just be even more pleasant if I were a few years older ..." James leered, his ears turning red.

Wilkinson, who was quite shy in dealing with girls, was outraged: That third-year bastard is brazen enough to even flirt with his seventeen year old cousin!

Victoire raised her eyebrows in amusement and grinned back mockingly, but not angrily.

"Look at that! He's getting perky, the little one!" she teased, while James' ears were getting redder and redder, without him stopping grinning. "That's just what we like: giving a dirty grin when the little brother is cuddling with one cousin, but chatting up the other ..."

James chuckled a little awkwardly.

"What a pity," she continued, "that you can't catch up with me as far as age is concerned!"

"Who knows," James replied, "maybe I can get the recipe for that legendary Ageing potion out of Uncle George ..."

"If you were a bit more in the library, you would know that the recipe can be found there, too. It just wouldn't be of any use to you, I still know you're only thirteen."

"But I'm a lot more handsome than Ted!"

They continued to joke in this tone for a while until James brought up Quidditch. It had become his new favourite topic since he had learned on his return from holiday that he – finally! – had been accepted into the Gryffindor team because their Seeker, who had beaten him by a hairbreadth at the beginning of the term, had resigned after a dispute with the captain. He explained to Victoire in great detail how they were going to defeat the Hufflepuffs, their next opponent. His cousin let it wash over her for a while, then she said, shaking her head:

"How you've got nothing but Quidditch on your mind now – I mean, your dad's on death row ..."

"First of all, it's in my blood, my dad could think of Quidditch even in the most improbable situations, and secondly, we'll get him out of it."

Wilkinson strained his ears.

James looked at his watch. "Roy is supposed to be here any minute. Is he coming alone or with Albus?"

"What would you prefer?"

"Alone, of course! I'm happy to let Roy show me the Patronus, but learning it from my little brother – that would be embarrassing, wouldn't it?"

Patronus? Wilkinson listened with a beating heart. What do they need a Patronus for?

At that moment the wall opened, and Roy MacAllister entered the room.

"Have you been waiting for long?" he asked.

"About a quarter of an hour," James replied.

"You can't wait, can you?"

"Of course we can't!"

Ron laughed. "Well, let's start right away. You know why you need the Patronus?"

"To fight the Dementors," James replied.

"Exactly. We don't know how many Dementors there are in Azkaban, but I suppose there are a lot, so we can't have enough Patroni. So far, we have a little more than a dozen, so two more can make a difference. Later, when you're familiar with the Patronus, maybe we can practice some other spells that are useful in a fight."

"Is it always you who will teach us?"

Roy shook his head. "Not always, we decided that the Incorruptibles will rotate: sometimes Arabella, sometimes Julian, sometimes Albus ..."

"Oh no, anyone, but please not Albus," James groaned while Roy and Victoire laughed.

In the following two hours, they practised with concentration. Wilkinson sat quiet as a mouse next to where the entrance had opened up. He strained to listen, so as not to miss a word, but the subject of Azkaban was, to his regret, not mentioned again.

James and Victoire both managed a formless Patronus that was quite respectable for a start.

"The Patronus talent seems to be part of your family genes," Roy said contentedly to James at the end. "Your dad was your age when he made it, your little brother mastered it at eleven, and as for you," he turned to Victoire, "you've got very far for today too. Very good, if you continue like this, your Patroni will be ready for use in a few days."

"Can we bring the operation forward then?" asked James, while Wilkinson again listened.

"No," said Roy. "The operation will only take place if an unfavourable outcome of the trial is to be expected, and even then not before mid-February. So we have some time. Let's stop for now.

Roy pulled out the Marauder's Map.

"Oh, by the way," he asked casually, "did you make sure that no one followed you when you came in here?"

"There was no one to be seen," James replied.

Roy looked up from the map. "That's not what I mean with making sure. Someone could have made themselves invisible, just like yourselves. Did you apply the Calorate spell?"

James looked puzzled, Victoire blushed a little. "I'm sorry, I didn't think of that."

"What kind of spell is that?", James demanded. Victoire explained it to him, she knew the spell, like Wilkinson, from Barclay's patrols.

"Cool," James commented. "I think I'll try that right now."

He raised the wand. Wilkinson felt himself getting hot.

"Leave it", said Roy. "The corridor outside this room is empty right now. Who knows if it won't be swarming with Gryffindors in two minutes."

He opened the exit. Roy, James and Victoire left the room. Wilkinson scurried invisibly behind. He ran off before James could change his mind and try the Calorate, or Roy had another look at this strange map. He stopped at the corner after next and peered back: MacAllister was just saying goodbye to the other two and walking quickly towards the next staircase, while Potter and Weasley were heading for the Gryffindor rooms.

Wilkinson lifted the Calorate spell to regain normal vision and made himself visible again. That had been very interesting, a direct hit right at the first time! He headed up towards Gryffindor Tower, went to the dormitory, took out some writing material and a pad, sat down on his bed and drew the curtains of his four-poster bed. No one should see what he did and to whom he wrote.

Well, to whom, actually? It was a security matter, technically MSO was responsible, but then Hermione would never know who she owed this vital information to. Moreover, two of her relatives were involved. That was something he had to report to her in person.

Dear Minister,

My name is Rupert Wilkinson, I am a fifth year Gryffindor student on the trail of a plot to free Harry Potter from Azkaban by means of violence.

That was a good start, he thought. She couldn't help but be interested in that.

Since James Potter and Victoire Weasley are barely concealing their disloyalty to you and have made suspicious contacts with the Slytherin gang of the so-called "Incorruptibles", being headed by the notorious public enemy and neo-Death Eater MacAllister, I decided on my own to keep the two of them under surveillance. I followed them into the Room of Requirement, protected by an invisibility charm. There they met MacAllister to learn the Patronus Spell from him.

According to their conversation, the Patronus is to be used against the Dementors who guard Azkaban to free Harry Potter by means of violence. This is to be done "if an unfavourable outcome of the trial is to be expected", as MacAllister said. The liberation should not take place before mid-February. Beyond J. Potter and V. Weasley, there are "a little more than a dozen" people with Patroni involved, as MacAllister said. There was no mention of whether even more people were to participate. Nothing has been said about the identity of these people either, but the Death Eaters organisation "The Incorruptibles" is likely to be involved.

Patronus lessons are to be given by different members of the Incorruptibles on a rotating basis over the next days. Arabella Wolfe, Julian Lestrange and Albus Potter were explicitly mentioned in this context, but this list seemed to be only an example and not complete.

I would like to continue the surveillance because I stand behind you one hundred percent and think that traitors must be neutralised. However, I have the problem that MacAllister has instructed V. Weasley to use the Calorate Charm in future before entering the Room of Requirement. This is likely to make unnoticed pursuit difficult. Surveillance outside this room, on the other hand, should be feasible, as they cannot use the Calorate spell all the time.

Again, I emphasise that I am prepared to do anything for the security of the Magical State and especially for your personal safety. Willing to make any sacrifice, run any risk and obey any order, I am urgently asking you for instructions.

I remain, in deepest loyalty, your obedient servant

Rupert Wilkinson

He read through the letter again, very pleased with himself, addressed it to the Minister with the note "PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL" and headed for the Owlery.