Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns everything. Except maybe this fic.
Notes: I have no idea what I'm doing. Re-uploaded chapter three because after x number of years, I finally came back to this baby and saw that I had problems with some of the things here. Just minor corrections though but it would still be best if you guys read through it again, just to refresh your memories. I'll be uploading the next chapter in the next few days or so, so hang on.
Enjoy!
Chapter Three
It was several days after the incident and I was standing in front of Harry's office door. In my hands are two cups, a cup of coffee for Harry, and a cup of hot chocolate for me. I knocked softly on his doors with my left hand, careful not to spill my drink.
"Come in," I heared him say.
I opened the door and leaned on it once inside Harry's office. I see him shuffle his documents to fix them, smiling at the fact that Harry still uses the muggle way instead of muttering a fixing spell.
I sat down at one of the chairs in front of his desk. I set down our drinks at his desk once it was cleared.
"We need to talk about this," I slowly slid a slip of paper towards him. He furrowed his eyebrows and frowned. He looks tired enough from all the paper work he handles. Being the Deputy Head of Aurors, Harry gets double the work of a regular Auror. With tons of paperwork and fieldwork at the same time, circles have begun to show themselves under his eyes. Ron's job wasn't any better. The attacks by the Death Eaters have begun intensifying ever since I came back last Monday.
Four days have passed since then, and I still feel the effects of Nott's poison, my hands and fingers shaking from exhaustion and pain every time I move them. The pain was thankfully less than it was the first few days and I was able to return to my job after. While I pride myself in being a Healer and a curse designer, curing this particular curse seemed to be impossible as I have yet to figure out the right combination of spells to counteract the effects. Ingesting a potion to counteract them was not an option either, as the potion might intensify the effect of the unknown poison.
I have, however, contacted Healers at St. Mungo's to ask if they know of any spells or potions that have the effects such as mine. They have yet to reply.
I recalled that day. Malfoy Apparated-slash-portkeyed (I have yet to research on the spell he used) me directly to Grimmauld place with Harry, Ron, and Ginny waiting inside the room.
It still shocks me, even after days later, to know that Malfoy is one of our spies.
I was mad at them for a few hours for not telling me in the first place. Apparently, Malfoy became the Order's spy after the events in our Sixth year and have been since then. Harry told me Snape and Malfoy came to him after he turned seventeen and explained everything. Not without words, and spells being thrown first, Harry assured me.
"I found it in my robes the other day," I told Harry, looking at his face in expectation.
"You better start," Harry muttered, repeating the words written on the piece of parchment. We look at each with grim faces. We both know that means for the three of us. Voldemort has finally declared war.
"So right now, we only have the ring, the diary, and the fake locket," Ron said through mouthful of turkey in his mouth. I slapped his wrist as he took another bite even with his mouth still full.
"Yes," I glared at him as I shuffle parchments scattered on the floor. Ron, Harry, and I are currently seated on the carpet in our flat somewhere in Chesire. The three of us decided to buy a flat together somewhere in Muggle England so that we could have a place not in Grimmauld to talk about the Horcruxes - no longer worrying about silencing charms and such. "Judging from Voldemort taking great pleasure for anything fancy, I've figured that he would use the rest of the Founder's trinkets." I took a piece of turkey from the plate in front of the three of us.
"But?" Harry looked at me with raised eyebrow and question all over his face. I sighed as I gingerly rubbed my eyes.
"But figuring out the location of each Horcrux would be difficult. It could be as easy as the Gaunt ring, which was situated in the Gaunt house as you said, or as difficult as the locket – somewhere unknown and heavily placed with wards and spells, or maybe even like the diary, in the possession of one of the Death Eaters. It's really difficult to say." I bit my lip, frowning. I really do not know where the possible Horcruxes are, but one thing is for sure, we would be spending hours researching, and spending ridiculous amount of time camping.
I hear Ron grumbling about reading and researching as well, and likewise hear Harry sigh in almost defeat.
"This could take months of research," He said.
"At least a week," I said tersely, not even sugarcoating the fact that this would be the most difficult test we've done in our lives.
Even hours after we had dinner and had everything fixed, the three of us settled back in the middle of our carpeted floor and started filtering through the parchments.
"So let me get this straight, Ravenclaw's diadem, Hufflepuff's cup, Slytherin's locket, and Gryffindor's sword are all Horcruxes? Are you sure, Hermione?" Ron furrowed his eyebrows as he stared at a piece of parchment. I sighed for the tenth time that night, feeling frustration come up.
"Yes, Ron, I'm pretty sure."
"Maybe we could put a mark on Gryffindor's sword for now?" Harry suggested. "The sword has been in Dum—sorry, Headmistress McGonagall's office since. The glass case it's currently resting on looks pretty secure to me."
"Oh, alright." I frowned as I put an asterisk near the word sword on the parchment.
"Dumbledore told you there would be seven right, Harry?" Ron looked at Harry who nodded. "We only have five for now. What do you guys think the other two are?"
I warily rubbed my eyes as I say, "I honestly don't know, Ron." It was quarter past midnight and the rest of my body feels exhausted. Every movement still feels like it's being set on fire, but fortunately not as extreme as before, only the feeling of being accidentally burnt remains. I leaned my head on the couch behind me.
"Maybe we're going at this the wrong way," Harry sat up straighter and pushed all the parchments aside. I look at him curiously. "What if we're complicating things? I mean," He took a deep breath. "I get what Hermione is saying, that Voldemort uses things precious to him like the diary, but what if it's not as complicated as Merope Gaunt's necklace? No offense, Hermione."
I nodded at Harry and secretly smiled. I'm proud of how he and Ron have turned out these past few years. Gone were the days when the two of them would go to me for help. Auror training had taught them to think on their feet, far more times than what we were used to during our adventures at Hogwarts. They don't just nod and accept everything I suggest either; while the thought of having an intellectual debate with me scared them even until now, neither have yet backed down from getting their point across.
Now that we've begun discussing about the Horcruxes again, reading up on the Gaunts weren't thankfully dumped on my lap as soon as we started. Even Ron and Harry took on my habit of highlighting important words and phrases, even sometimes writing their own comments at the margin. Ron may have grumbled a few times about the amount of papers but that was just Ron being Ron.
"I think," Ron started slowly, "that Nagini is his other Horcrux."
I sat up straighter, my exhaustion gone. Harry's eyes widened.
It makes total sense. While the other Horcruxes signified something special to Voldemort, Nagini likewise signifies his ancestry, his ability to speak parseltongue that is exclusive only to Slytherin's ancestors. I look at Harry.
"You might be right, mate," said Harry.
"Yeah, Nagini is always at Voldemort's side so making him into a Horcrux would be ideal," Ron scratched his chin. "No wards or special traps needed."
But killing Nagini would be the most difficult task of them all. It'll be a one shot kill. It should be a one shot kill - no room for errors.
"I think we would have to kill Nagini last." I said in finality. The two of them nodded. The last Horcrux would have to wait.
A couple of days after, Moody called an Order meeting to track the progress of the previous assignments. Harry, Ron, and I went to Grimmauld early enough to smell Mrs. Weasley cooking dinner.
I saw Fred and George sitting cross-legged in the drawing room talking in hushed voices.
"What are you guys up to?" I say behind them. I stifled a laugh as both of them jumped.
"Christ, Hermione!" Both of them said. "Never do that again!"
I snickered as I walked pass them. I go straight to the dining room to see Mrs. Weasley charming the kitchenware to set itself up on the table. Surprisingly enough, I see Ginny in front of the counter in the kitchen, stirring the batter while several other knives are charmed to chop up strawberries and blocks of chocolate on the chopping board.
"I didn't know you bake," I heard Harry behind me. He strolled by me to give Ginny a peck on lips.
"Me neither," Ginny joked.
Despite getting together in the middle of our Seventh year, Harry decided to break up months later, using his status as Voldemort's number one target as an excuse. Ginny, on the other hand, wanted to hear nothing of it. This led to countless of arguments that could be heard even in the Gryffindor common room despite the argument occurring in Harry's dormitory room ("This is worse than mum's howlers," Ron commented once).
They broke up weeks after an intense argument that left Ginny crying for days (and Ron swears he can hear sniffling from Harry's side). They got together again soon enough after several girls complained that Ginny has been sending them nasty looks ("It was because they were making a pass at Harry!"). One even came to me crying, saying that Ginny used the Bat-Bogey Hex on her.
After getting together again, Ginny hasn't let go of Harry since, only becoming firmer in her position in Harry's life.
Half an hour later, voices could be heard coming from the drawing room as the other Order members come in one by one.
"Let's get this going," the gruff voice of Moody said.
Minutes after dinner and pudding was done, the kitchenware was magically sent to the kitchen to clean itself and the dining table was made clean in order for the meeting to start.
I sat between Harry and Ron and across from Remus.
Over the years the Order has gained more attention from our former classmates. Several of our Gryffindor classmates have joined as well: Dean, Seamus, Colin, Dennis, Susan and some others. Luna joined the same time Su Li did. Even those who freshly graduated from Hogwarts wanted to join. Although the Order had noticeably expanded, there were more supporters rather than members, with Parvati having written a column about us in the Daily Prophet named as 'an organization against He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.'
After that, a vault in Gringotts was surpringly made with the Order of the Phoenix as its owner as it gained more supporters. Most of those who donated had their identities withheld. Remus made sure that no knut was spent for Order assignments. However, he and Molly made sure that every knut, sickle, and galleon was used to help fund the newly created War Relief Center somewhere in Ottery St. Catchpole.
Moody banged his wooden staff on the floor to gain attention.
"All right, you lot," Moody gruffly said in his spot at the head of the table, signifying the start of the meeting. "There have roughly been seven attacks all around Wizarding Britain and several attempts at trying to destroy the Muggle Parliament. Fortunately, stationed Aurors have doubled the Parliament's security.
"And while this goes against the Wizard's Code of Secrecy," Moody grumbled. "We've conducted several talks with the Muggle Prime Minister as well. We've been negotiating about whether or not the Prime Minister should alert the muggles about an upcoming war-"
"I don't think we should." I piped up. Everyone else looked at me, waiting for me to continue. "While alerting them may be well, I don't think the muggles will take anything seriously. They will either shrug it off as a hoax or chaos will ensue."
"Yes, yes, Granger, but isn't that worth the risk?"
"Muggles would be asking who's attacking who and we can't really answer with 'an evil wizard wants to enslave all of you'," Remus noted.
Moody looked as if he's considering everything I said and nodded. "So the negotiations will continue, but protection will be done in the shadows. Anyone else?"
The meeting continued and several other members reported the progress of their assignments. The last time the Order had a meeting was months back, after the Death Eaters tried to infiltrate the Ministry.
I think back to that day when we almost lost George. Seeing Fenrir Greyback straddling him set Ron on fire, screaming spell after spell. Unfortunately, Fenrir managed to get away, and Ron swore to kill the werewolf the next time he sees him.
George fortunately wasn't bitten, only having been grazed in the neck by his fangs. However, like Bill, he has started taking his meat raw.
"There have been an insane amount of creatures being set free by some facility somewhere in Kent." Percy reported. "Level ten creatures."
I blink in surprise.
"How come no one reported this to the Ministry? How come no one in the Ministry noticed this?" Moody shouted.
"No one knows. Some muggles spotted a rogue dementor; one was even kissed. People in the Obliviator Headquarters have been working overtime trying to obliviate as many witnesses as possible in the muggle town several miles across the facility."
People in the table began whispering. The owner of the facility was obviously Imperio-ed, telling his employees to release the creatures.
"Okay, time for your assignments!" Moody was now angry. I myself frowned. How come no one in the Ministry noticed something as big as level ten creatures running amok in a muggle town? And shouldn't the wards in the facility have held the creatures back?
Moody handed out assignments. I sit back, looking at Su across Ron biting her lip. Despite being in the Order the same time as Luna, Moody has never given her any assignment. On the other hand, McGonagall gave Luna her first (and only) mission years ago concerning the welfare of endangered species. Luna was only happy to accept. She worked with Rolf Scamander. He was not a member of the Order, but was willing to help.
Rolf was doubtful of the assignment at first but McGonagall assured him that placing tracking charms on each species would allow them to likewise track the hold of the Death Eaters on the more dangerous creatures.
Others have similar tasks assigned to them as well: track this so we could likewise track the movements of the Death Eaters. Some were assigned to guard a targeted person, and take rounds in guarding. The number one priority was, of course, the Minister of Magic.
"Potter, Twin One," Fred grumbled as Moody still refused to call him by his name. "You are to infiltrate the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. Get the documents listing the location of every level ten and above creatures, duplicate and have it update to real time. Then—"
"But isn't that what Luna is doing right now?" Fred frowned in confusion.
"Then you are to cooperate with Ms. Lovegood and Mr. Scamander. Have them locate each and every creature you have in your list and use a tracking charm on them." Moody glared at Fred for interrupting him.
"Even the Dementors?" Harry asked, concern flashing on his eyes. While Luna can cast a corporeal Patronus, placing a tracking charm on Dementors would prove to be a difficult task, even for Luna and Rolf.
"No, leave that part to us." Harry sighed in relief.
"Bones, and Weasley," This time Moody looked at Ron and Susan. "You're to infiltrate the Department of Magical Transportation. Get the records of both the Floo Network Authority and the Portkey office to keep track of every international floos made in an out of the country and all international portkeys made. Have someone from each office cooperate with you as well, but don't let them get a whiff of why you're doing what you're doing." Moody pointedly looked at Ron, knowing his weakness with explanations.
"That is all." Everyone stood up from their chairs and either said their goodbyes or stayed to chat with other members.
I walked briskly to Moody who immediately talked to Tonks and Remus after the meeting. I cleared my throat to get his attention.
"I need to talk to you, Moody." He nodded at me then at George from across the room and gestured at him to follow us. George looked at me in confusion. "In private." I hastily added.
"I have something to tell the both of you as well. Weasley is coming with us." I internally grumbled. Moody is as stubborn as ever.
The three of us walk upstairs to the second floor and entered the first empty room we find. I locked it and cast a silencing charm to the room.
"The Death Eaters have a talented curse designer on their side." I began. Moody stood there in shock, slowly turning purple in rage and I braced myself for the incoming rant. George looked at me in confusion.
"Why didn't you report this at the meeting?" Moody bellowed as he paced around the room. George and I cringed.
"I didn't want to scare the others. They have no idea what a curse designer is and never am I going to tell them what it is. They're only going to panic."
"You can't hide the truth, Granger." Moody started massaging his temples as he sat heavily on a couch, dust flying everywhere.
"Err, if I may, is a curse designer what I think it is?" George asked me. I nodded at him.
"It's the opposite of Bill's work. Something like what Professor Snape does in his free time. Curse designers create new curses, deadly spells if they want, for a living." I summarized for George. He paled. I looked at Moody pointedly, raising my eyebrows in a 'see what I mean' fashion.
"I noticed this during my… stay in their hiding place last Monday," I said. Both of them nodded but didn't ask as to what exactly happened. They only know that I was gone for two days. "Someone smart enough to have figured out how to create an Anti-Magic Ward."
Moody exploded in rage, profanities flying off his mouth. I cringed. George had to sit down in shock.
"You could have informed us, Granger!" Moody all but spat in my face. I admit that it was my fault for not bringing this up in the meeting awhile ago, but I still stick to my reasoning: I don't want the others scared of the power that the Death Eaters now possess.
"I know but—"
"Now I have to call for an emergency Order meeting tomorrow to tell them to double their wards and to prepare twice as hard! For Merlin's sake, Granger, think." Moody glared at me.
I mumbled an apology.
It took us a couple of seconds before Moody calmed down. He breathed deeply a few times.
"I took Weasley here because I have a special assignment for you. No one in the Order is to know until I've debriefed the two of you properly, got it?"
Both George and I nodded.
"Both of you will attend the upcoming Wizengamot Ball. It's a formal ball set up by the International Cooperation for Magical Law Enforcers to celebrate magical cooperation between countries. Everyone important will be there. Be on your very best behavior." Moody said this more to George than to me.
"Afterwards, both of you will sneak in to the Wizengamot Administrative Services to duplicate the records of every Death Eater, accused or otherwise. Check, double check, and even triple check if any Death Eater has been sent to trial in secret, meaning the trial is not written in their public records, and if some have been secretly released."
I looked at George and we both nodded. We seem to be having a lot of Ministry infiltration.
"But what will we be doing at the Wizengamot Ball?" George and I asked at the same time.
"This will be the hardest part of your assignment. Influence Marchbanks and Ogden, the two elders of the Wizengamot, to release Narcissa Malfoy in Azkaban. Use any means necessary." Moody looked at the two of us pointedly.
"Why?" I asked, my eyebrows furrowing in confusion. What would Moody need Narcissa Malfoy for?
"Because I made a deal with Draco Malfoy."
—
Author's Notes: According to Harry Potter wikia (it's a credible source, I swear!), Su Li is an actual student in Hogwarts although mentioned only in Pottermore and such; she used to be in Ravenclaw. I'm not sure but I think I'll be giving her a bigger role in latter parts of this fic. Or at least have a speaking role. We'll see.
Also for those of you who are confused: Remember when Hermione said that only Harry, Ron, and Ginny only know that she's a curse designer? I stick by what she said. Moody only knows what a curse designer doesbut he doesn't know that Hermione is an actual curse designer. So there. Hope that's all cleared.
As for George (or other people) not knowing what a curse designer is, I'd like to think that it's an occupation that only those approached by the ministry know of - the Ministry approaches people they think are capable of doing that sort of stuff. Kind of like a special secret agent thingamajig. Or if someone meddles into designing just like how Snape created Sectumsempra. Either way…
Hope you enjoyed!