As they landed, JJ and Hotch went to the police station, while Morgan and Gideon accompanied the four magicals to the Congress hotel. It had been explained on the jet that it was one of the entrances to MACUSA. The plan was for Gideon and Morgan to wait outside with two SUVs so that they could all make a quick getaway without using magical means to try and throw off any American aurors that may end up looking for them, it was risky but acted as an additional safety measure if they all got out okay.
"Okay so if we aren't out in an hour, you need to get to somewhere that no one will see you because we will try to send you a message. If you don't receive a message by the time an hour and a half has gone by you need to go to one of the crime scenes and carry on with the investigation. We will meet with you when it is safe." Hermione's tone was tense, revealing her nervousness about this.
Luna, Neville, Hermione and Spencer piled out of the SUV before ducking into an alleyway. After making sure no one was watching they cast a disillusionment charm on themselves, Hermione helping her husband with the wand movement, and they began making their way into MACUSA. There was an immediately noticeable difference between MACUSA and the English Ministry, the atmosphere was almost joyful in MACUSA.
"Did you hear, Harry Potter destroyed Voldemort; we won't have to intervene now."
"I heard that the only British Undesirable that we still need to arrest on site is Hermione Granger: she went MIA after the final battle and there are rumours of her going dark."
"Well she was under the cruciatus for an hour at Malfoy Manor, we all know the cruciatus makes you crazy."
The three British magicals and Spencer were horrified at what they were hearing. They all knew that Ron had something to do with it.
Hermione squeezed Spencer's hand slightly for mutual emotional support before making her way to the elevator, followed by her husband. Luna and Neville waited for their charmed sickles to warm, Hermione had recreated the DA coins as sickles for just the four of them, before setting off some decoy detonators and Peruvian instant darkness powder bombs from the beaded bag and making their way over to the elevator themselves.
The atrium was filled with noise and darkness as the elevator made its way to the department of mysteries level. When they arrived on their desired level the four of them couldn't help but be slightly discomposed at the eerie silence surrounding them. The hallway was nearly identical to the one in the British ministry and neither Hermione, Neville or Luna could suppress the misgivings this brought about in their stomachs but they soldiered on. Luna had ended up in the heritage room in the British ministry back when they had broke into the ministry to save Sirius so she was left to direct the party based on the identical layout.
They reached the correct room almost immediately, Luna's father having explained how the enchantments on the doors worked when she had asked while recovering last time. As they entered the room, the sheer number of stacks and shelves dictated the need to split up to search.
"Spence and I will go right, you two go left. If you find the B families use the sickle to tell us where and we'll join you and like wise if we find them. As soon as we get the right tapestry we get out of here." Hermione's tone was that of a general; slightly dictatorial but with an underlying concern for everyone's wellbeing that soothed everyone's nerves slightly.
As they split off Spencer couldn't help but question how badly everything had gone last time; the memories that he had seen were slightly fuzzy of the time his wife and five of her friends had broke into the British ministry.
"Sirius died, Luna was knocked unconscious, Neville ended up with a broken nose, Ginny broke her ankle and Ron was attacked by brains. I don't know how long they spent recovering because I was out the longest. That was when Dolohov hit me with the curse that means I take longer to regain strength in my magical core." Hermione's voice was slightly shaky as she said this and Spencer swore silently to himself.
"I didn't mean to bring up bad memories Mia,"
"I know," Hermione replied absently while scanning the tapestry scrolls, "I'd have had to tell you at some point anyway because the memory is fuzzy. I don't want to keep things a secret from you – can you feel that?"
Spencer instantly became alert at the abruptness of his soul mate's question and focussed. He could feel something like a slight tug on his arm. At this point Hermione's arm was jerking towards one tapestry scroll in particular. It was glowing a poisonous green colour. Spencer used Hermione's wand to contact Luna and Neville. They would know better how to deal with the situation than him because he was still new to magic.
Within seconds Neville and Luna were at their sides.
"It looks like the Black family magic that Bellatrix imbibed into her knife left residue in your arm. The tapestry scroll recognises the magic in your arm so it's calling you to it. You'll be safe picking it up and putting it in your bag, but if you touch any of the other scrolls no distraction will be big enough to get us out of here." Neville summarised quickly recognising the situation from some of his Gran's stories.
"I agree with Neville, just remember not to use magic to pick up the scroll as it won't like that." Luna concurred.
Hermione nodded and very carefully did as she was bid. With little trouble the scroll was safely tucked into Hermione's beaded bag. The quartet were just about to begin making their way out of the department of mysteries when a scroll began to glow an ethereal blue before zooming towards Spencer and Hermione.
"What the hell?"
Dun dun duuuun. Please forgive the cliffhanger.You will find out about what is going on back in Britain after the rest of the heist is posted because I am going to dedicate a chapter to it. Hopefully you enjoyed this.