Leon

"Yeah, the man was in here with some girl. She was gorgeous and had strawberry blonde hair and her nose was very well defined. She didn't look like no workin' girl, if you know what I mean. She was smart looking and-" The owner of the restaurant had been answering questions the whole weekend. He had assumed he would gain some peace and quiet when Sunday came, but another bloke walked in looking for him, this time by name.

Nicholas was an honest man who owned a nice and respectable Italian cuisine restaurant. He bloody well had famous people, criminal and non, in and out of his restaurant daily. He could spot an off duty Bobby, or even an inspector, but the man that was sitting down in front of him didn't look like any law enforcement he had ever seen. Nicholas looked right into the man's brown eyes when he spoke his answer and cut himself off.

"Thank you for your time, Have a good day." Nicholas blinked several times. He had just showed up asking questions and all the sudden he was getting ready to leave. He was a bit shocked, but nodded and made to get up to show him out. "No worries, I can show myself out." Nicholas nodded again and resumed his seat to finish his fag.

Jarred exited the restaurant, sliding his sunglass out of his pocket and onto his face. Parked out front was a black Porsche Panamera, with dark tinted windows that made it impossible to see in. The driver of the car got out and ran around the other side of the car to open the door up for him. Inside he met a blast of cold air from the A/C and a man sitting on the other side of the car.

Leon sat in the back seat watching as the world passed him by. It had been passing him by for over 130 years. He was amazed on the way the world seemed to change every day, yet, stayed the same. It was simply the same titles, the same streets, the same people, all that canged were the names and faces. The lies were always the same, always for the greater good. Minutes passed when the door to his right opened, the sunlight lighting the dark interior of the car. He watched as Jarred slid in next to him and after a few moments the car pulled away.

"Show me." Leon took his dark glasses off the same time Jarred did and the older man held the younger one under a piercing gaze. He entered his mind with a swift frankness, not holding back as Jarred felt the familiar sensation of his mind being entered. He watched as the memories replayed only this time Leon's imposing figure watched alongside him.

The memory was a little faded, but the faces could be made out clearly. The restaurant owner had been tidying a table, making it extra special since one of his best paying guests was to be arriving at any moment. He looked up with a big grin, as Mr. Taddio came into view, the man himself extending a hand with a grin of his own. He gestured for Mr. Taddio to have a seat and that was when Leon saw her. Her face was the same, her lips the shape of a bow, her aristocrat shaped nose, her high cheek bones, the quizzical arched brows that gave her a certain edge and her liquid brown eyes. The eyes till this day that still haunted him, the way they burned with fire as the memory of her stared into his dark soul. She was every bit of perfection that she was back then, except for the hair. He frowned at the coloring of it and could sense that it had been dyed on purpose.

Leon exited Jarred's mind with unintentional force, as his mind was preoccupied with the knowledge he received. 'It can't be!'

"Sir?" Jarred looked on with concern, Leon didn't even finish viewing the memory, before tearing out of the man's mind like hell on wheels.

"Call him and find out what you can." Jarred didn't even have to ask who 'him' was, they never called the mystery man in question, unless it was completely important and Jarred grew slightly concerned. He questioned himself wondering if there was a vital piece of information he had missed. The girl did not seem that important to have to call 'him' in, but then again, Jarred hadn't been around nearly as long as Leon had.

"Right away!" and Jarred began dialing the restricted number.

Hermione

Monday couldn't come soon enough for Hermione. She thrived on her job; it was the only thing that kept her on her toes and her mind going. As usual she started her morning off with John, her trainer for hand-on-wand combat and weapons training, working up a great sweat.

"Damn it girl! I give, I give!" John was pushed up against the wall, Hermione pushing up on the arm wrapped behind him. Hermione backed away with an evil grin as she began to unwrap the tape off of her knuckles. "Getting old, John. Going to have to replace you soon." She giggled as the old man turned rubbing his abused arm.

"Ha! You wish girlie! Now run along while I tend to my sore arm. Augusta wants to see you in his office when you're ready."

"What about?" She looked at him curiously.

"Dunno, just get you're pretty arse down there when your done." He grunted. Hermione raised a questioning brow before walking away from the hunched over man.

After a shower and shrugging into her business wear, she made her way over to central Head Quarters. The Head Quarters was down through the lower levels of the main building of The Gallery. The elevators of the main building took you to the underground vaults and basement of The Gallery itself. That was where the museum kept all of its one of a kind artwork that they had acquired over the years or were sent, for when they did showings. The main vault consisted of all the fakes and duplicates they received, hiding instead the originals out in plain sight with special enchantments. Upon exiting the elevator that brought you down to that level was another elevator next to it. This one, with a special key card and a magic-signature recognition device, gained you access to the National Gallery's true bases of operation.

As the door slid open, a blinding light erupted and she moved forward as her eyes let the world redefine its self. Hermione's hands met the glass balcony, smiling at the sea of workers bustling about, engrossed with their tasks. There were no cubical, each team of workers were clustered into large groups around large circular glass desks with computers and files at the ready. The second level, which Hermione was currently standing on, was of offices that belonged to the head of each team and the main boss of the whole Gallery itself. She walked around the balcony to the other side where a plaque read 'Fowler, Director and Head Team Member of Hermione Granger.' She looked over through the open glass window and saw Augusta talking on the phone with a look of concern. He was nodding to himself and when he looked up, Hermione could read his lips saying that he had to go. He nodded towards Hermione and she opened his office door, closing it swiftly behind her.

"Why, hello love! You look remarkable, I do hope that you enjoyed you weekend off and I see you wasted no time with your hair." Augusta smirked, summoning the young woman to take a seat in the leather chair in front of his glass desk.

"I was very happy to have this color back. I didn't enjoy my weekend; it was very long and very boring. I am glad to be back." She grinned.

"You'll be eating your words out, you know. Well I've got another mission for you. Where is it? Ah, here it is." He shuffled his paperwork around when he found the bulky cream envelope. Handing it right over to her, he wasted no time informing her of its contacts and what her next mission entailed.

"You have been invited to a Muggle and Magical Chemistry and Potions Benefit ball. You are expected to attend solo in hopes to succeed in finding any and all information that regards this 'Leon' character. It is crucial for you to keep an ear out. From what we found, Taddio had been quite involved with every final decision for this event, and I hope it might mean that we will get some information on this bloke." Augusta fixed her with a piercing gaze as she continued to read the engraved invitation.

"This invitation is address to me personally, you don't mean to tell me I will be attending using my own alias, do you?" Her head snapped up with disbelief.

"I am afraid so, Hermione. There will be important people who will recognize you and it is important that you play the war hero, since both the Minster of Magic and high people of the Ministry from both the muggle world and wizarding world will be in attendance. So, some will not know to keep their mouths shut should they see and recognize you. The Minister and the other two are obviously exempt."

Hermione was still very skeptic about the mission and plan in general, but she trusted Augusta with her life.

"Alright, Augusta you will."

"That's what I like to hear, love. You have training all day tomorrow and you will be shopping and pampered with Linda for Wednesday and Thursday in preparation for Friday night. Now I want you to go light on the training tomorrow, I don't want you all bruised and broken come Friday." Hermione snorted at the last bit, making her way to the door to leave.

"I am a witch, Augusta."

"Yes, I'm well aware of that, love. But, I want you in top shape and I need you to hone your skills in being more helpless. You may be lucky enough that your best mates have the privilege of knowing what you are, but the rest of the world does not. Not sure what will happen if the world knows, might go nuts saying that Dumbledore allowed his golden girl to become corrupt."

"Oh please, if anyone in the world had an inkling of what I was capable of, they would have tried to kill me or worship me like a goddess ages ago."

"Beautiful Princess, get to research and out of my hair!" Augusta joked, Hermione left with a smile on her face, making way to see Alfred and Linda to help with any research.

Severus

Severus entered his shop through the floo, enjoying the feeling of being hung over. He could easily whip up something to cure him of his ailment, but it served a greater purpose to only allow his mind to focus on few and less trivial matters. He had spent the weekend in the Malfoy's company to rid his mind of a certain know-it-all he thought long ago to be disposed of. It seems that he was greatly wrong on that point, to which his godson seemed to rub it in, and he was completely and utterly taken aback.

Lucius had questioned him many times on why it mattered and Narcissa remarked that she found it odd that he would make such a big deal out of nothing. Between the Malfoy trio, Severus did not know who was worse. Lucius for putting words in his mouth, Narcissa for saying that the man obviously had 'feelings' and was experiencing what muggles called it 'being human', or Draco for saying that if he could get along with Potter and his halfwit of a friend then why would Granger be any different. He liked to point out, 'that out of the three she is by far the most agreeable and quite attractive.' Severus felt a twinge of something at Draco calling the minx; 'attractive' because those were the things he was trying very hard not to think about. Especially those bow shaped lips.

So as Monday morning rolled around, he decided against a hangover potion and opted to suffer through so his mind could focus on one of two things, counting inventory and counting the hours of the day till he could crawl into his black satin sheets and sleep the rest of the day away. He truly believed today would be a better day.

"Morin' sir. Didn' know you'd be comin' throu' thee shop today sir." Winston tried his best to hide his smirk as he turned to grab the inventory book before the wizard could bark for them. Winston could tell it was going to be a long day, especially since the 'Master' decided to suffer through a hangover.