My beta-readers, fredfred and InquisitorCOC, deserve a huge thank you. They helped a lot.
Chapter 14: The Road Trip
Islington, London, July 26th, 2005
A spiderweb of cracks covered half the windshield as Sirius pressed the gas pedal and the SUV accelerated across the crossing. Another shot hit the windshield and also failed to penetrate. Luna stopped screaming and ducked down. Hermione grabbed her bag.
Sniper, Ron thought. Just like with Scrimgeour and Bones. If not for the bulletproof glass, Sirius would've been hit - and possibly killed. He drew his gun. "Expect company!" he snapped. They had shot at the driver to immobilise them.
"Can't see anyone," Harry reported. "Looks… there! Three o'clock, Mercedes, speeding."
Ron glanced over his shoulder as Sirius turned, driving away from the approaching car. Or trying to - the armoured SUV wasn't exactly a race car. But if the other car was catching up, that meant it wasn't armoured very much.
Harry had come to the same conclusion since he was already climbing over his seat into the boot, where they had placed their bags. "Get down!" he yelled as he rifled through the sports bag, pulling out his carbine.
Hermione was still rummaging through her bag, so Ron pushed her head down to the bench, ignoring her yelp of protest. "They won't send just one car after us!" Not after Clissold Park. He looked around. He knew this area. If they wanted to catch the SUV in a pincer attack… "They'll cut us off at the next crossing!"
The first shots were hitting the rear of the car, but Harry had the carbine out and yelled: "Get down! I'm opening the rear window!"
"What?" Hermione yelped.
"He needs to shoot back," Ron explained.
"Hold on!" Sirius screamed. A moment later, the car almost rolled over as he took a too-tight turn on to the pavement, narrowingly avoiding getting rammed by another Mercedes from the side. Screaming pedestrians were jumping to the side as Sirius accelerated next to the Mercedes.
They would be trying to pass them, to cut them off, Ron knew. Probably got stuck in traffic or they would've attacked at the same time as the other car. "Stay down!" he yelled, lunging over Hermione to hit the button to lower the window on her side as the two vehicles drove parallel to one another. And the windows on the Mercedes were being lowered as well!
Ron was a little faster, however, starting to fire while the bloke opposite him was still moving his SMG around to take aim. Most of Ron's bullets missed, but one clipped the man's head, and he fell back, taking his SMG with him.
But the man's accomplice had brought his own gun to bear, and Ron had to duck down as a volley of bullets hit the armoured window. He did a tactical reload under cover.
"Ginny, lower the window!" Harry yelled.
Ron glanced over - his friend had his carbine ready. A moment later, the window started to open. Harry jammed the muzzle through the gap as soon as it was wide enough and opened fire. A burst went wide when Sirius drove over something - Ron hoped it wasn't someone - and the car bucked, but the next burst was on target, and the shooter went down. Ron came up again and emptied his magazine through the open window of the passenger seat.
The car swerved to the side and crashed into a parked limousine. Either Ron had hit the driver, or they had lost control while evading.
That left the Mercedes behind them. Where at least two people were busy peppering Sirius's car with SMGs or rifles.
"Get down! Now I'm opening the rear window!" Harry yelled.
"I can use Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder!" Granger shouted.
"No need," Harry replied.
"Save it for emergencies!" Ron added, crouching on his seat, stabilising himself with his free hand as he took aim at the driver side of the pursuing car.
Harry flipped the window - or what was left of it - open and they started firing.
The other car's windshield wasn't armoured to the same degree as Sirius's, and Harry's first salvo put several holes into it. Ron didn't see if his own shots hit anything since the Mercedes abruptly pulled to the right and rolled over. The shooter hanging out of a window on the passenger side wasn't quick enough to either get out or back inside and was caught between the vehicle and the street as the car rolled over them, while the shooter on the driver side was thrown clear and landed on the pavement, hard.
"Any others?" Sirius yelled.
"Don't see anyone," Ron called back after looking around.
"Keep driving!" Harry snapped. "The sniper's still out there!"
"I am!" Sirius retorted. "To CI5!"
"No!" Harry, Ron and Hermione yelled in unison.
"They'll expect that," Ron went on. "We need to ditch the car and disappear."
"That sounds familiar," Hermione mumbled as they took another turn.
"We can take the Tube," Harry said.
"I hope my insurance covers attacks by terrorists," Sirius complained as he swerved around a slower car. "This car was expensive."
"You were planning to buy a tank yesterday," Harry told him.
"That's different! And a tank wouldn't have been wrecked like this! Hey, Dr Granger - can you repair it with magic?"
"If I had a wand. But I wouldn't do it, anyway, since repairing the car would reveal the existence of magic," Hermione replied.
"Focus on the street!" Harry yelled. "There might be more of them around, and we're vulnerable."
"We're also attracting a great deal of attention," Ron pointed out.
"Can't be helped," Sirius retorted.
"Which is why we need to ditch the car," Harry repeated Ron's argument.
Five minutes later, as they rushed down into the next Tube station, with their larger weapons stashed in Hermione's bag, almost trampling some of the slower commuters, Ron couldn't help thinking that an invisible flying car would have been very handy right now.
Greenwich, London, July 26th, 2005
An hour and several stations later, they were in Greenwich. Ron didn't think anyone had managed to tail them - there was a lot of surveillance on the Tube, but few would be able to access it.
"Where are we going?" Hermione, her distinctive hair hidden under a cap she had pulled out of her bag, asked as soon as they entered a narrow side alley.
"We've got a car parked around here, for emergencies," Harry told her.
"Another one?" She shook her head. "How many of them do you have?"
"Not enough," Ron replied with a grin.
She narrowed her eyes at him. "That's a quote from Moody, right?"
"Right."
"Figures."
"Can we all fit into it? Or does Hermione need to shrink some of us? If so, I volunteer," Luna said after they had crossed another street, perking up for the first time since the attack.
"We just need the money in the car and some gear, then we'll buy a used van," Harry told her. Ron frowned at his friend as Luna's mood fell again.
"And what will we do then?" Hermione asked. "That was the third attack. And right after our visit to CI5."
"You mean there's another mole? After the police started checking the entire department?" Sirius sounded incredulous.
"Or they had you under surveillance," Harry said. "Or Ginny."
"What?" Ron's sister whirled on Harry. "You mean this was my fault?"
"No," Harry was quick to reply. "Most likely, they had Grimmauld Place under surveillance. Yaxley would have been able to get the address."
Ron agreed. "We should have expected this. It was our fault." They had already known that their families were in danger. But they hadn't expected things to escalate like this. Not after the Secret Service had become involved as well. They should have, of course. Moody would have their hides. Well, if they weren't going to quit CI5 anyway.
"You can't go into hiding for the rest of your life!" Ginny snapped.
"It's only until I finish my project," Hermione said.
"Really? And they'll magically stop looking for you?" Sirius shook his head. "Even if you return to your world, they'll keep searching. And they'll go after Harry and Ron to find out where you are. Or the Grangers here. Should everyone have to hide forever?"
Ron saw Hermione pale a little at that. "But…" She trailed off, biting her lower lip.
"Or to get leverage on you," Luna added.
"That means we'll have to find Yaxley and whoever else is behind this, and stop them," Ron said. Before the information about Hermione's origin - and it couldn't be anything else that would drive anyone to risk so much - spread.
"But you quit CI5," Ginny retorted.
"Technically, we're still police officers. Just on leave," Harry told her. "But you're right - we don't have access to CI5's resources. We'll have to rely on Dumbledore and Grindelwald."
"What?" Sirius said. "You don't trust them."
"We don't," Harry confirmed. "But we don't have any alternative. We can't trust CI5, either."
"And the government can't know about this, or we'll all get disappeared!" Luna said, nodding several times.
And she might be correct, Ron knew. But they really didn't have any other options. "We also need to inform CI5 about the attack. And that we'll be going into hiding again," he said as they finally reached the garage they had rented under an assumed name.
"At least they can't complain about that," Sirius muttered.
"They'll complain anyway," Harry told him. "Especially Dawlish."
Hermione sniffed at the name.
"Was his counterpart a Death Eater?" Luna asked.
"No, just an idiot," Hermione replied.
"No different to ours, then," Ron added with a smirk as he opened the boot and pulled out the bag hidden under the spare tire. "Here are the burner phones. We'll have to wait on calling CI5 or Dumbledore until we're moving, though."
"I know," Ginny said with a glare. "I'm not stupid."
"We'll have to take the car and buy a van," Ron continued, ignoring her outburst. She had just been shot at, after all.
"You and Harry?" Hermione asked.
"No. Harry will stay with you." Ron looked at his friend, then glanced at Ginny.
"Right."
"And you can't come with us since we don't have fake IDs prepared for you," Ron told the others. The Met would be out in force - they had barely managed to leave the area of the attack before it had been locked down.
"I have a fake ID of my own!" Luna spoke up.
Of course she'd have one! "You didn't mention that before."
"I didn't want to force you into a conflict of loyalties," Luna told him. "Between your duty as a police officer to investigate a crime and your friendship with me."
"Will it stand up to a check?" Harry asked. "They won't just glance at it." Their own were in the system. Illegal, but effective, as Moody would say.
"Oh, it will!" Luna nodded with a wide smile. "The government's computer security isn't as good as they think it is. Sabotaged by the shadow government so they can manipulate them more easily."
"You hacked the government's databases?" Sirius laughed. "Oh, that's great."
It was also highly illegal, of course.
"I didn't say that!" Luna replied - but her smile confirmed it.
"Well, let's go then," Ron said.
East End, London, July 26th, 2005
Ron's black beard itched. As did his black wig. But the beard was worse. And while the wig barely reached his shoulders, the beard scratched his chest whenever he looked down. Compared to that, wearing leather biker clothes in summer was only a mild annoyance. If Hermione had her wand, she probably could have conjured a perfectly comfortable disguise. Or a magical disguise - hadn't she mentioned a potion to change one's shape?
But if Hermione had her wand, they wouldn't need to disguise themselves at all, since she could teleport them around. Until she went back to her world.
He shook his head. He had to focus on buying a van, not on what-ifs.
"That's your best van, mister?"
At least Luna wasn't getting distracted by her disguise. The Daisy Dukes and the jeans vest over a hot pink crop top with a matching headband weren't too far from her usual outfits. And a blonde hippie-esque girlfriend fit a biker.
"Oh, yes. German quality. You can't kill a van like this!"
That was because it looked like it had been killed twice already and then stitched back together with parts from two other vans afterwards.
"Really?" Luna bent down to study the wheels and the undercarriage.
Ron caught the middle-aged used car vendor staring at her bottom and growled, which made the lech back off and pale a little. Sometimes, maintaining your cover fit the situation perfectly.
"It looks like it'll hold up!" Luna announced, with her head halfway under the car.
Ron nodded - he trusted her assessment - and turned towards the vendor. "How much?"
A few minutes of haggling later, they were the proud owners of an old, battered Volkswagen van that could have fit into any seventies road trip movie. And which smelled as if it had served as a marijuana delivery van ever since that decade.
Well, it only needed to last the trip back to Scotland.
And, as Ron found out quickly, it did handle decently. "Good choice," he told Luna as he steered the van out of the vendor's parking lot.
"Thanks! It's perfect! No one will suspect that a few good people taking on a world-wide conspiracy would ever drive such an obviously rebellious van!"
"They wouldn't?"
"Of course not! They'd expect us to try and fit in by driving the most average, boring car!"
"Hm. Like the Dursleys?" That would fit them like a glove, in Ron's opinion.
"Harry's boring relatives?"
"Harry's greedy relatives," he corrected her. They only ever visited Harry and Sirius to 'network', as far as he knew. "But they're boring, too."
She snorted. "Sheep controlled by the state media."
Ron nodded in agreement as he slowed down at the next crossing. "Say, did you hack Dumbledore's systems?"
"Oh, I wish!" He didn't have to look at her to know she was pouting. "But his system is frustratingly good. I have to be extra-careful to worm my way into it, and, so far, I haven't gotten very far, yet."
"Well, you knew he was good, didn't you?"
"Yes, but I didn't fully realise just how good he is!" She huffed and crossed her arms, sliding down in her seat. "Old people shouldn't have such good computer security!"
"He probably has hired help doing that for him."
"No doubt. But people like him are supposed to be so arrogant that they sabotage their own security. He's not cooperating."
Ron suppressed a laugh at that.
"You know," Luna went on, "perhaps this attack was a false flag operation by Dumbledore. To scare Hermione into returning to her secret lab as soon as possible." She sat up straight again and leaned over. "What do you think?"
"It's possible," he said - it certainly wasn't impossible. Just unlikely. "But I think he wouldn't have needed to do this, and he knows that. Hermione won't stay away from her lab for long."
Luna snorted. "Everyone has a weakness, and they know hers!"
He took the next turn, then shrugged again. "Or they think they do." Hermione wasn't as easily led along by the nose as Dumbledore might think. But she wasn't as skilled at subterfuge as she thought she was, either.
"You like her."
He still had wet dreams featuring her. But that wasn't a subject he would ever talk about with anyone. So he picked the safe answer. "She saved my life."
Luna sniffed. "That's true, and yet not. You know what I mean."
He shrugged. "She's smart and stubborn. And a witch."
"And you like her."
He tilted his head. Not quite nodding.
Luna snorted again, looking pleased. "She would probably be good for you. And you for her."
"She's going back to her world," he pointed out. "Where her Ron is waiting." Who could work magic and had been her best friend for years. Ron hated him already.
"Mhh." Luna was smiling.
He didn't ask what she was thinking. She was too optimistic, anyway.
Greenwich, London, July 26th, 2005
"Please tell me that this is actually a carefully disguised high-end vehicle that only looks like a rust heap."
Hermione obviously didn't know much about cars. "This is a classic," Ron told her as he got out of the van next to their temporary hideout.
"And it's mechanically sound," Luna added. "None of the important parts are rusting."
"So we won't die to mechanical failure. We will die from blood poisoning after sitting down amidst rusty edges and the accumulated dirt of several decades." Hermione sniffed the air. "It smells like cannabis."
"Olfactory camouflage," Ron replied. "Better shower before visiting Mum and Dad," he added, nodding at Ginny.
"I'm coming with you."
"What?"
She was pushing her chin forward and glaring at him. "It's the safest course of action."
"We're being hunted," Ron retorted. "We're certainly not safe." And more people would now be wondering why someone was using so many resources to get Hermione. They might not realise that she could do magic, but they would soon understand that her research had to be more valuable than everyone had thought.
"It's safer than being separated." She nodded at Harry. "People know about us. They'll try to get me to get to him no matter where I am. And the usual security on the tour won't be able to stop them. Not when they're willing to attack like they did today."
She was right about that, of course. The people after Hermione had attacked in the middle of London, on a busy day, twice so far. They might attempt to grab Ginny from the court. And Ron didn't think that they'd care how many spectators got hurt or killed during an attempt, either. But there were better alternatives to coming with them. "You'd be safer with Mum and Dad."
"They'd lock me up in the house. Perhaps the basement," she shot back.
"Dad wouldn't!" Ron shook his head.
"Mum would."
Luna giggled as she nodded in agreement. Ron sighed. Mum was a little overprotective. Still… "There's also protective custody."
"So I can be locked up in a basement without anyone I know?" Ginny sneered. "I'm coming with you. If it's safe enough for Hermione and Luna, it's safe enough for me."
"It's not exactly safe," Hermione pointed out. "We don't know how far we can trust our 'hosts'."
"So? I couldn't trust whoever the police sent to guard me, either."
Harry hadn't said anything so far. Ron looked at him, and his friend shrugged. So, he wasn't going to be any help. Ron ground his teeth. He didn't like going there, but… "You'd be another person we have to protect, though, making our task harder." She should get the hint now.
Ginny's glare intensified - she knew what he insinuated. "Have you forgotten how many self-defence courses I had to take before Harry stopped being stupid? I can remind you," she added, taking a step towards him. "And it would count as the regular training Harry also insists I do."
Ron scowled at her. He could take her in a straight fight. Usually. But she'd probably manage to hurt him - she was too fit, too trained and too nasty to be easily subdued. He glared at Harry, instead. That was his friend's fault.
Sirius laughed. "She's got you there, Ron."
Ron eyed the older man. "Let me guess: You want to come as well."
"I am coming with you as well," Sirius said, grinning. "Everything that applies to Ginny applies to me as well. And I know how to handle a gun."
"As long as it's strapped to a tank," Harry cut in.
"I'm a qualified marksman with combat experience," Sirius shot back. "If Ginny can come, I can come, too."
Ron decided to blame Harry for that as well.
Near Hackthorpe, Cumbria, Britain, July 27th, 2005
"This was a bad idea," Ron heard Hermione mutter before her head appeared next to him as she squeezed through the gap between his and the front passenger seat.
"Hm?" he asked, glancing at her before focusing on the road again. Even - or especially - right after midnight, the motorways weren't free of dangers.
"Nothing," she replied in a whisper, leaning back in the passenger seat. "Can't sleep with the air smelling like a hemp plantation. And the lumpy seats."
"The others don't seem to have problems sleeping," he commented.
She sniffed. "Sirius's claims that the military taught him to be able to sleep anywhere, any time, might not have been bragging. Harry and Ginny are using each other as pillows. And Luna…"
"I know." Luna could sleep in any seat as long as it was soft enough.
"I'm going to smell like a pothead for days. At least I can ditch the clothes afterwards."
"You shouldn't," he said.
"Why not? Do you think I'll need them as a disguise again?"
"Yes. But also, you look good in that dress," he said, without thinking.
He knew without looking at her that she was frowning at him with narrowed eyes before she snorted. "Thank you. But the seventies aren't me."
"Vintage fashion is a thing," he told her. And the strong colours of the dress did suit her. Just as the short hemline suited her legs.
"A thing, yes. Not a good thing, mind you," she said in a hushed voice. "Or would you like to wear polyester suits?"
He chuckled at that. "Well, they look better than robes, at least."
When she didn't immediately reply, he glanced at her again. She looked pensive. "It would be a change to wear robes again."
"Did you have to wear robes?"
"At Hogwarts, yes. It's the school uniform. And the unofficial Ministry uniform. Even Mr Weasley wore robes to work, and he loved muggle fashion."
"Like a suit and tie."
"Yes."
He chuckled again. That did sound like Dad, just with different interests. He passed a slower car - with an older driver, as he saw when he overtook it - then returned to the left lane again. "It sounds weird," he commented.
But she didn't answer. When he glanced at her again, he noticed that she had fallen asleep.
He kept glancing at her for the next two hours, until it was Harry's turn to drive.
Black Lake, Scotland, Britain, July 27th, 2005
"So that's the Black Lake. I thought it would be bigger," Sirius said as they drove along its shore. "What with a giant squid and a village of merpeople located in its counterpart."
"The giant squid isn't actually that big," Hermione told him. "Nothing like in the movies you've probably seen."
"Also, no talk of magic once we've arrived," Harry cut in.
"We could do a double bluff," Sirius replied. "Make them think we're using magic as a code for technology."
"That won't work," Ron said, suppressing a yawn. He hadn't slept well in the van. And not for long enough, either. At least he had been able to get rid of his wig and beard once they had entered the Highlands. "Dumbledore and Grindelwald are too smart for that. You would probably make them think about magic in the first place. They already know that alternate dimensions exist; assuming that magic exists wouldn't be a big step."
"Or psionics, which is totally different from magic," Ginny added. Sitting behind her - Harry was driving, so naturally Ginny had commandeered the passenger seat - Ron couldn't see her face, but he knew she was smirking.
"Psionics?" Hermione asked. "Is that from Dr Who?"
"It's a sort of not-magic magic in Dungeons and Dragons," Luna explained.
"Yes. Ron was very insistent that it wasn't magic," Ginny said.
Ron frowned. "I should never have let you play D&D with us when we were kids."
"Mum would have made you play with me," Ginny retorted.
"And it was fun," Luna said. "Even though the monsters were very unrealistic."
Hermione snorted at that.
"It's true," Luna told her. "Most wouldn't have been able to sustain themselves where we found them in the game. Some wouldn't have been able to enter their own lair."
"That was a mistake," Ron defended his eleven-year-old self. "And it only happened once."
"Anyway," Harry cut in again, "no talk of magic once we arrive. And assume we're always under surveillance inside the building, or near it. The only time we can talk freely is when we're taking a run along a random route around the lake."
"I'm having flashbacks to Sandhurst," Sirius groaned. "Tell me we're not doing the morning run routine."
"We're doing the morning and evening run routine," Harry told him. "You were the one who insisted on coming along."
"Ginny did as well!"
"I'm not the one complaining about a little running." Ginny chuckled. "In fact, I'm glad that I will be able to keep in shape. Somewhat, at least."
Ron rolled his eyes behind her back. Yes, everyone knew who was the fittest among them. He changed the subject. "Also, be on your best behaviour. We didn't announce your arrival."
"They'll have anticipated it," Harry said, "after hearing about the attack in London. And Ginny's statement about having to recover from yesterday's attack, and not wanting to deal with anyone outside her family, should have been released to the press by now."
"They'll still try to force a concession out of us," Ron retorted.
"That's their capitalist nature," Luna agreed. "They can't let any opportunity to amass more wealth and influence go by."
"Well, they'll be disappointed," Hermione declared. "They need me, and I don't see how housing six instead of four could be a significant drain on their resources."
"Oh, but we have expensive tastes," Sirius said. "Ginny is a celebrity, and I'm used to a style of living befitting my station."
"I'm certain that they can afford a daily order of fish and chips and pizza," Harry replied in a dry tone.
"Don't forget the curry!" Sirius told him, chuckling. "More seriously, I don't think they'll object. The more people who know about this who are here, the fewer they have to hunt down should they decide to stab us in the back."
Now that was a sobering thought.
Filch was already waiting for them in the underground garage, standing at parade rest with two guards at his back and a scowl on his face like a drill sergeant in a movie. A show of force.
Ron was the first out of the van. Standard procedure. "Mr Filch." He nodded at the man. "You should be aware that we've brought two friends with us after we were attacked in London. I trust quarters have been prepared for them."
Filch's scowl deepened. Probably at some petty ploy being foiled, Ron thought. "I heard."
"Good." Ron looked around, not bothering to be subtle about it as he checked the garage before he nodded at the van. "Clear."
"Of course it's clear," Filch spat, adding something under his breath that Ron didn't catch.
"Trust but verify," Ron replied with a grin.
"Constant vigilance," Harry added.
Ron saw Hermione roll her eyes as she stepped forward. "Ginny Weasley, Sirius Black - Mr Filch. Head of security of this facility."
"Charmed, I'm certain," Sirius said with a wide grin. "Lovely resort you have here. More than meets the eye, right? Good discipline among the staff, too. I like that. Don't see that as often as one should, these days." He nodded with a condescending expression. "Don't bother taking our luggage; we're travelling light."
Filch gritted his teeth as he stepped to the side, letting them go past and into the lift.
"Was that necessary?" Harry asked as soon as the doors closed. His tone left no doubt that it was a rhetorical question.
"Yes," Sirius answered anyway. "I know his sort; he needed a reminder that he's the help."
"I don't think this was the right time to play officer," Harry replied.
"On the contrary! I know a former soldier when I see one." Sirius grinned. "He was probably drummed out of the service."
And probably had a chip on his shoulder about officers, especially the upper-class ones. Ron shook his head. Between Hermione's demanding nature when working and Sirius's attitude, the facility's staff wouldn't warm up to their group any time soon.
Well, that would make it easier to remain on their guard.
Black Lake, Scotland, Britain, July 28th, 2005
What goes around comes around, Ron thought as he struggled to keep pace with Ginny on their first morning run. His little sister had found a way to push herself without running Hermione, Luna and Sirius into the ground - she was literally running circles around those three as their group ran along the shore. As were Ron and Harry, of course.
It was just a little more difficult than Ron liked. Ginny had always been athletic, and since she was only one year younger than him, she'd been his near-equal, physically - until he had entered puberty. He still remembered the tantrum she had thrown the first time he had easily bested her in arm wrestling after a few months at school.
And, judging by the nasty grin his sister was sporting as she glanced over her shoulder before stepping up her own pace, so did she. Well, he hadn't let her forget it for quite a while, back then.
At least he wasn't suffering alone.
He still had to struggle not to let himself fall to the ground at their first break while Ginny kept bouncing on her feet. "Any bugs?" he asked.
Harry shook his head. "None that I can detect with this," he answered, holding up his scanner.
"Is that really necessary?" Sirius asked from the ground. "They couldn't have bugged the entire area, could they?"
"You never know," Ron told him. "All it takes is getting sloppy once."
"Moody," Hermione mumbled.
"Yes," Ron said. "Words to live by."
She snorted. As did Ginny. At least Ron's sister wasn't rubbing in her athletic superiority.
"You'd never make it on the tour. And I'm talking about the WTA Tour."
Not overly much, at least.
"Not everyone can be a professional athlete," Hermione retorted. "Some of us have other strengths."
Ron smirked as Ginny frowned. His little sister didn't like insinuations - imagined or not - that she was all brawn and no brains.
"And united, we're much more than our individual strengths!" Luna spoke up.
"As long as we work on our weaknesses," Ginny replied.
"I can't teach anyone physics," Hermione said. "I'm busy doing research. And for magic, you need an inborn talent."
Ron snorted. Perhaps the insinuation hadn't been imagined. Hermione did strike him as rather competitive. Even in areas where she wasn't particularly gifted.
"Physics won't help you defend yourself."
But so was Ginny.
"Only if you lack the imagination to apply your knowledge."
There were entirely too many teeth being bared around here, in Ron's opinion. He cleared his throat. "Unless anyone has anything important to report, Hermione and I will need to go over the cover story again."
They had another dinner with Dumbledore, and possibly Grindelwald, this evening, after all.
"Fascinating. So a massively stratified society emerged as a result of a much more intense arms race during the Cold War?" Dumbledore asked as he finished his dessert - chocolate cake with ice cream and whipped cream. A delight, Ron had to admit - Dumbledore obviously loved sweets, and his staff knew it.
"I didn't study history or sociology," Hermione replied. "I can only tell you how things are. And possible reasons why my world is more advanced, technologically, than this one. In my world, the military spent huge sums on research since to fall behind would have meant defeat. No matter the cost to society."
"Like Pakistan's efforts to develop nuclear weapons. Or North Korea's." Dumbledore nodded. "Ironically, while the quote of 'being ready to eat grass to get the bomb' is attributed to the former, it's the latter's population who is currently suffering that fate, as far as we can tell."
"I think those are good examples," Hermione replied. "How far would either country have come, had they not wasted so much money on weapons development? And in both countries, the ruling class lives extremely well."
"As long as they're not being assassinated or executed," Harry pointed out.
"Quite." Dumbledore nodded. "However, neither country might have had a choice - their neighbours might have exploited any weakness."
"I'm no expert on politics," Hermione told him. "I focused on physics."
"A fortunate choice. However, given such a huge gap between our technology levels, what kind of weapons did your world develop?"
Ron tensed. They had expected that question - Phoenix Gruppe was an arms producer, after all. At least Grindelwald wasn't present.
"Most of the advanced weapons weren't revealed to the public, but kept secret," Hermione said. "Presumably so the enemy wouldn't be able to develop countermeasures or copy them. However, there were the civilian derivatives - primarily medical advancements - and there were rumours that simply couldn't be quashed. I wasn't privy to classified research in my field, but I know there was research on personal transporters and a sort of force field."
"Really? Teleportation, as seen in some science fiction series?" Dumbledore rubbed his beard, obviously interested. "Such devices would revolutionise warfare - and, of course, intelligence."
"They'd also revolutionise our lives," Luna pointed out.
"Something to be kept in mind when discussing trade." The old man nodded as if he cared more about raising the standard of living than lining his pockets.
"Hermione's world might not be willing to part with their advanced technology," Ron said. "If it becomes wide-spread in our world, the lower classes in Hermione's world might demand it for themselves."
"If they haven't done so already, I doubt they'll start any time soon," Dumbledore retorted. "Your world's major societies seem remarkably stable, Dr Granger."
"From what we could tell, there were special units who dealt with incidents that might upset the population," Hermione said. "I don't think that the majority of such incidents ever made it into the media."
"That would require tight control over all media and news services."
She snorted. "The most popular newspaper in Britain answered to the government. And its biggest competition was a magazine widely regarded as satirical in nature, with a delusional editor-in-chief. And the less said about the wireless media, the better."
"And yet, you decided to fight for this society?" Dumbledore raised his eyebrows.
"The alternative was far, far worse. No social mobility at all. A person's worth entirely defined by their birth."
"And the best and brightest of the lower classes eliminated instead of elevated." Dumbledore nodded. "Such a policy tends to lead to large-scale violence as revolutionary sentiments grow."
"Yes," Hermione replied. "I would assume that would happen."
Ron suppressed a wince. They had covered the possible questions, and what to reveal, but this was entering an area they hadn't - couldn't have - covered in depth. Alternate history, of sorts, for a fictional universe.
"Provided, of course, advanced technology cannot be used to stop such developments," the old man went on. "But even so, without an enemy threatening to destroy you, I don't think your society can be maintained indefinitely."
"Reforms can be achieved peacefully, though, as this world's history shows," Hermione said. "Even if that didn't happen in my world's USSR and China."
"But our circumstances were different."
"Yet people are people, always yearning for freedom. You cannot suppress everyone forever - sooner or later, any system will be broken!" Luna chimed in.
"You'll find, my dear, that the devil is, as always, in the details - or, in this case, in the definition of 'sooner' and 'later'," Dumbledore told her. "But I think we've monopolised the discussion for too long."
"Oh, don't stop on our account," Sirius said. "It was fascinating."
Dumbledore's smile didn't slip at all, despite Sirius's obvious sarcasm. "If you insist." He turned to Hermione again. "Were there any smaller wars, such as the invasion of the Falklands? Or low-level conflicts like the Troubles?"
"You mean like a war that wouldn't have happened at all at all if there hadn't been a complete intelligence failure with regards to the Argies' preparations?"
Sirius glared at the old man, but Ron didn't really pay attention. Hermione seemed distracted. Which usually meant she was focused on her past.
"Run! Run!"
As she turned the corner, moments before a crossbow bolt hit it, exploding as if it were a grenade - enchanted bolts? In goblin hands? - she tried to apparate. It didn't work, of course - as she knew it wouldn't. But old reflexes were hard to change.
In front of her, Harry turned, wand raised. A moment later, his spell blew up the tunnel behind her, shards of stone pelting her Shield Charm.
"This way!" Ron yelled, waving at her from a side tunnel.
It wasn't on the map they had acquired - but the map had been wrong, anyway. Faulty information. And they had no choice. If they stuck to the bigger tunnels, the goblins would run them down.
She followed Ron, Harry bringing up the rear. They were on… well, the vault level. And the goblins would be blockading the stairs. That left the air shafts - if they could find one. Provided they did actually exist, of course - other than Sally Selwyn's report, no document mentioned air shafts in Gringotts.
They had to exist, though - goblins wouldn't want to depend solely on Air-Refreshing Charms. Not when they didn't have wands.
They had to exist.
She glanced at the bag Harry was carrying. They couldn't die at the hands of the goblin guards. Not when they had found another Horcrux.
Not when they were closer than ever to finally defeating Voldemort.
"Bloody hell!"
That was Ron! She pushed on, turning the corner - and stopped next to Ron.
And stared at the huge dragon in front of them. Even chained as it was, they couldn't get past the beast. And the goblins were coming. This was… this was...
"Bloody hell." Harry had reached them.
"We need to go back," she told him.
"The goblins are too close," he replied, looking around. "No time. Get your brooms. And then destroy those chains!"