Discovering wards was an exercise in tedium. It didn't particularly matter how skilled the witch or wizard was, or for that matter, how powerful they were. It came down to patience… and a knack for enduring boredom. Unfortunately for Hermione, the Unspeakable teams she oversaw were used to dealing with the mysteries of the Universe, and were thus accustomed to more exciting and engaging tasks like weaving together the fabric of time. She could hardly blame them for their wavering focus when she knew they were being held from such projects. If she, someone who had been able to act every part the diligent student through Professor Binns' lessons, found the task boring she could only imagine what the others were feeling.
Despite her empathy she couldn't help but feel annoyed. Her know-it-all persona seemed to be cemented in the minds of her colleagues. She could hear their mutters after she reprimanded a slacking Unspeakable. It wasn't new. It would be all well and good if it was just insults: she didn't at all mind what they called her, especially when they were essentially insulting her for having an above-average intelligence, there were worse things to be called, but there was a direct link between their performance and her own. When she sent off her findings report to the Head Unspeakable, she was unable to write more than "continued documentation and observation." While the department Head had yet to demand better results, Hermione felt like she was once again a school girl who had received a poor grade.
Frustrated with the situation, Hermione took it upon herself to help with the ward uncovering. The ambient magic in the cave was so old and so convoluted that trying to track down an already faint trace of warding magic was near impossible. One had to move slowly so as to not miss a whisper of magic. She decided to tackle one section of the cave at a time until she had covered the entire floor. The entire floor of the very, very, very large cave.
It was why Hermione found herself not 50 feet from her desk staring intently at the cave wall. Her wand clutched in her hand and her faced screwed up in concentration. She did not notice another person standing a few feet behind her watching in silence.
She focused on feeling her surroundings. Slowly, she stepped forward before pausing. When it was clear there was no discernible change, she took another small step. This time she felt a faint pulse of energy. Hermione waited another moment until she was absolutely sure what she felt was indeed what she thought it was. When it became clear it was a pillar trace, she had to make a great effort to quash down the desire to cheer out loud in victory. She managed, but only just. A wide smile graced her face.
Another step forward, this time more confident. The smile slid off her face as quickly as she came. The pulse was gone. She took a step back. The pulse resumed.
The onlooker saw Hermione take several steps back and forth before she buried her face in her hands in frustration. Hermione marked the spot on the floor with a black X before sighing and turning around; starting when she saw who was watching her.
"Ronald! What are you doing here? How long were you standing there?"
"Long enough to be bloody confused about what the hell you were just doing."
"Failing to find the emanated pulse radius."
"You didn't just make that up did you?"
"Of course not, don't be ridiculous."
He narrowed his eyes as he tried to figure out if she was having him on.
"Right, well, I'm here to bring you to lunch."
"It's only just 10."
"Hermione it's half past 12."
"Is it?"
"Mhm. And you're coming with me whether you like it or not. Go grab your purse or whatever you carry around."
"Fine, but you're paying."
"I'm here on business, sort of, but it's on the ministry's dime. So yes, I will pay."
Hermione shot him a smile before making her way to her desk, Ron in tow. Fleur, who had been focused on the papers in front of her, now looked up at the sound of approaching footsteps.
Smiling at Hermione she said, "Look at you, stopping for lunch on your own accord. Where do you want to go today?"
"Apparently I'm getting kidnapped. Ron's taking me to lunch." She motioned to the man who had just appeared at her side.
"Hi Fleur." Hermione was amused to note the blush that appeared as the man focused on the Veela. "Grabbing Hermione here for a bit of business and catch up. You been good?"
"Quite well." She said brusquely.
Hermione shot her a questioning look and said, "I'll be back in an hour or so, do you want me to grab you anything?"
"Non. I will get something later."
"Alright." Hermione said still looking at Fleur who was making a valiant effort to focus back on her papers.
Ron coughed. "Shall we then?"
Hermione nodded and they walked towards the entrance. They were nearly at the threshold when Unspeakable Wallings ambushed them, speaking in his usual rush of words.
"Auror Weasley! An honor, truly. I'm Unspeakable Wallings, but you can call me Wallis if you please! I work quite closely with Hermione here, really we're more like partners than anything. Of course, we often have to work separately, don't want the others thinking she's playing favorites, you know."
"Partners eh? Look at you 'mione! Finally learning to play nice with others?"
"Can it Ronald. Unspeakable Wallings I'm sorry to say we really must be on our way. If you'd just let us by."
"Of course! Don't mind me." He stepped out of the way after securing an enthusiastic handshake from Ron.
Hermione and Ron emerged from the barrier into the sun.
"You seem to be making friends."
"Ugh! Don't get me started. I had been operating under the assumption the Department of Mysteries required an above average intelligence. So far, I've nothing to prove it."
Ron chuckled. "Maybe their intelligence lies elsewhere?"
Hermione gave a non-committal hum in response.
"What are you doing here anyway? And don't give me the 'taking you to lunch' rubbish."
"Can't a friend take his newly returned friend out for a nice lunch without a good reason?"
"No."
"Well in that case, I'm here to talk about the um…" He looked around wildly. Pleased with whatever it was he was searching for he continued. "incident. You remember I told you I was heading up the cleanup? Well there's been another disturbance, this time in York."
"Disturbance? What do you mean?"
"Let's wait until we get to lunch, yeah?"
They walked the short distance to a small café, where they asked for the corner booth and, at Ron's insistence, two pints of beer. Ron, showing a foresight that had been absent in his youth, cast a silencing charm on their booth. In typical Hermione fashion, she wasted no time asking Ron questions.
"Why are you being so paranoid?"
"Did you read the Daily Prophet yesterday?"
"No, I was busy." Busy watching re-runs of Twin Peaks, but that was strictly on a need-to-know basis.
"You might want to give it a look. They're digging into your case like crazy."
"Don't they always?"
"Normally, I'd say yes, but this time they're diving in deeper than normal. I don't know where they got half their information. They shouldn't have it. Apparently the ministry is 'withholding vital information to the public'. As if this wasn't an official investigation! They've been following my team around the last week- I think you've escaped because you've been holed up at the site. You should be careful though, they have ears everywhere."
"Perhaps Rita needs to be reacquainted with my favorite mason jar?"
Ron laughed. "It's not Rita this time. Some new reporters are covering it. But that's not why I'm here."
He took a sip of his drink, savoring the flavor before shaking his head and beginning to talk again.
"Last night there was a bombing down in Manchester."
"A bombing? Isn't that a concern for muggles?"
"It would be, yeah, but it wasn't in muggle part. It was placed directly between a solicitors' office and an estate agent company in the Wizarding section of the city."
"Merlin. And it was a completely muggle device?"
"According to our forensics, yes. I think they called it a bipe bomb? It was triggered by magic though- a spell of some sort."
"Pipe bomb?"
"That's the one."
"How many were injured? And how would they even know how to make one? It's not exactly common knowledge. Especially not in the wizarding world."
"4 dead, another 3 injured. We're not sure. We think it must be someone familiar with the muggle world. How else would they be able to build it?"
"Any leads?"
"No, actually. That's why I'm here. They're calling off most of the team from your case. Top dogs are saying this was likely just a natural breakdown: a tragic accident, but an accident none-the-less. We can't afford to spend the time on this anymore. Besides, the cleanup is done anyway."
"We haven't even had an ounce of evidence to suggest it's an accident! I would never classify it as such until I was 100% sure." Her voice grew more shrill as her frustrations increased. "Are my Unspeakable teams getting pulled too?" She nearly spat, before remembering who she was talking with and quelling some of the anger from her voice.
He held up his hands in surrender. "I never said you did. I think the higher ups are just worried about public opinion. The bombing killed 2 purebloods and 2 half-bloods, while this was all muggles."
"23 muggles died because of our world!"
"I know 'mione. It's not right, but it's what's happening." He continued speaking before she could argue again. "As to your teams, I'm not sure." He frowned. "The Head Unspeakable hasn't contacted you?"
The distraction worked. "No, not that I'm aware. She must be swamped with work."
"Hermione, I wouldn't bet on keeping your team for much longer. This kind of attack hasn't been seen since the War. They want all hands on deck."
"Great. Wonderful. Absolutely ideal."
Ron gave her a sympathetic look. "Any progress?"
Their food arrived a little cold and not at all up to par, if you asked Hermione. She wondered if it was the restaurant's fault or just the news that spoiled the taste. Ron seemed to be enjoying it though, his sandwich disappearing not long after it was first placed down. Then again, Hermione was hard-pressed to remember a time where Ron didn't demolish his meal.
"Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Fleur thinks there's a similarity to some Northern American runes, but beyond the runic design of a pillars, we haven't found anything to support that. Even she says it's a bit of a stretch. We can't even find the wards. We've been searching for over a week and have only found two."
"What do you mean find the wards? Isn't it just a spell? Like what you did when we were on the run?'"
"Honestly Ron, you would have gotten so much more out of ancient runes than divination. Can you even remember a single lesson of Trelawney's?"
"I'll have you know I remember several! First: when in doubt it's a grim in your tea leaves, second: there is such thing as too much incense, third: always be vague and people will fill in the blanks, and fourth" he stopped. "Fourth… well I forget but there's something!"
"Quite essential lessons I see." She said smiling. "There are two main types of wards: cast and runic. Cast wards are essentially short-term solutions. They work, and can work quite well, but don't expect them to hold up for an extended period of time. You'd have to constantly remember to recast them. These are what we used on the run, as we were never anywhere long enough for the protections to wear off. Runic, which uses runes to stabilize the magic, allows the protections to last decades if not centuries, often with little to no upkeep. Hogwarts uses runic wards."
"Huh, so there are pillars around Hogwarts?"
"Yes, you'd know that if you ever even cracked open Hogwarts, a History."
"I've said it before and I'll say it again: why read it when I can just ask you instead?"
She rolled her eyes but continued anyway. "They're hidden. It wouldn't do any good for them to be out in the open, would it?"
"So how did Voldy and the Brotherhood of Bumbling Blockheads get by them?"
"I suspect he already knew where they were from his time as a student. Or perhaps from when he came back after graduation. Once you know where one is it's relatively simple to disarm."
She reached across the table to grab a white napkin and pulled out a pen from her bag.
"Hogwarts protections use the standard Pictish warding formation. It's what is almost exclusively taught at Hogwarts, at least in my time, and is considered the default approach to permanently warding a location. An area is enclosed by a number of pillars; each containing several runes detailing the type of protection or enchantment it provides. The pillars are all different: one might be to prevent apparition, another to hide the enclosure from outside views, you get the picture. The pillars are positioned around an area…"
She drew several small circles.
"Now each one of these pillars has a particular energy radius whose size is determined by the inscribed runes and the power and skill of the wizard who created it. Some may be more powerful than others, but it's the wizard's responsibility to know precisely how large the diameter will be. It's part of the reason why arithmancy is so tightly tied to ancient runes. The goal is to just brush against the border of the adjacent pillar's energy field. Like so."
"A skilled warder is able to predict the precise measurements of each of the pillar's energy dimensions. The more precise the measurement, the less energy the warder has to put in, and the less energy is wasted 'floating' about. When the energy fields all touch they create something akin to a muggle circuit. Essentially, it allows the magic derived from each of the pillars to flow to the others along the perimeter. When the circuit is complete it creates an enclosed area like this."
She drew along the outside of the circles. When the line was closed, the line and the entire enclosure turned red.
"The perimeter extends upwards and inwards. The height of the enclosure is either determined by a central ward," She tapped the center of her drawing, "or, if no central ward is present, by an average of sorts of the power of the perimeter wards. Now, if one of the wards is destroyed, the circuit is broken and the energy doesn't flow."
She vanished one of the circles with a flick of her hand and the drawing turned grey.
"Pillar energy can only overlap in one spot, so it can't loop back around. The pillars become nothing more than a slab of stone with some runes etched on the face. All Voldemort had to do was find one of the pillars and destroy it."
"That seems fragile."
"It is. Although, most wizards spell the pillars with additional protections to prevent the detection and destruction."
"Why don't those spells wear off?"
"They do, but because they're cast on such a small area it doesn't burn out quite as quickly. I believe the board of governors has someone reapply those protections to Hogwarts' pillars about twice a century."
A chime went off around them startling them both.
"Oh bollocks. It's already been an hour. I have to go back."
"I should probably go too. We're getting our new assignments this afternoon." Ron looked a bit nervous at this.
"I'm sure you'll get something impressive."
"Nothing to be done about it now. Oh, hey, Mum told me to tell you that, and I quote, 'you had better come round this weekend or I'm coming up to you whether you like it or not.' And she sends her love."
"Tell her I'll come. I'll send an owl later in the week- I'm not exactly sure when will best."
They parted with a hug that lasted longer than either of them were expecting.