Squeaking under the wire for less than a week! I have only just realized that I am actually *reading* several stories by some of you who are following and who have reviewed in the past! I promise to be better about leaving reviews for your work myself! Summer routine is almost established, my house is returning to a semblance of order, kiddos are settling in, so yes, updates more frequently. I will probably be posting some mornings as well, as if I can get some writing done in the mornings it is much better for me.
KEZZ: Thank you for your constancy!
articcat: Yes, it is nice to have Hermione feeling better now. Is she back to 'fighting form'? We'll see!
Arial Wolf: Trust and unity will continue to be a problem for this pair for a while yet.
zeeks mom: There is a reason for Lavender's visit. I hope you did get the vibe that it was a nice break for Hermione, a mental break from everything. I think that is important for her, but equally, she still feels unprepared for being a mom. I think the 'playing' part of your review is a hint about how Hermione thinks she *should* be feeling, versus how she is *actually* feeling about it. Also, there is some groundwork there for other things to come.
Alesia G: You are making be careful with my details about the plot because you keep re-reading! Thanks for that, I need someone to keep me on the straight and narrow. Curious to see what you think here, hehe.
sherriithewriter I hope you are still with us! There are more twists coming, I am having fun and I don't want it to be too predictable!
viola, I will bear that in mind about the digestive biscuits, what a great idea, hee hee!
Bella, eclipse00, gottaloveva, I'm so glad you are enjoying this! I hope it continues to entertain!
dragoon-gal, thank you! Trust me, there is darkness, still lurking here but it's starting to be teased into the open. I hope it won't be predictable, though, as I said.
zxxyxxz, keep reading! Hope you enjoy!
Mystique Fairy, not to worry, I will keep on going with this. :)
Ok, here it is. Please read & hit the review button to let me know what you think! Thank you for reading, and a big WELCOME to all the new story followers! And for those who hit the "favorite" button, awwwwwwwww. I am grateful for the vote of confidence, and glad you like it. And a big thank you to JKR for the marvelous universe in which I dally here, for no pay (to be clear). Thank you!
Harry fiddled with some robes behind a store mannequin, trying to look like he was examining a detail of the workmanship. Unlike most Dark wizards, the one he'd been following seemed to prefer meeting in highly public places, couching his directions as almost thoughtless suggestions. If he didn't know better, he'd think the wizard was a politician. He hadn't recognized him, but at this point he was pretty sure the man was polyjuiced. A glamour maintained for so long would have been draining, and polyjuice was easier to dose.
Harry looked around surreptitiously and spotted a young witch as she sidled over to the wizard and conversed with him briefly. Unlike the last few times, however, this time the man was ordering her to come with him. A barely imperceptible nod had the pair of them moving toward the exit of the store, and Harry moved swiftly to follow them. They wended their way to the public apparition point, and Harry quickly cast the tracking spell with the ease of years of practice. It was one of the subtler spells that Ministry Aurors were taught, and because it was so slight it was rarely noticed. Making his own way quickly to the apparition point, he pulled the signature of the charm and disapparated after them.
He was not disappointed when he found himself in a secluded industrial district. It was Muggle and abandoned or neglected buildings abounded, as well as many unsavory characters that shifted around aimlessly in the waning light of day. Checking to be sure his 'notice me not' spell was still firmly in place, Harry set off after the magical trace.
"I'm telling you it is time to strike! Even with the protections at the Ministry it could still be done."
Harry crouched behind a broken pane of glass, the Extendable Ear firmly in place. The beauty of Fred and George's invention is that it worked despite Muffliato and other concealment spells, and few bothered to look for physical traces of eavesdropping. It was a bad habit of the magical world to ignore physical means of detection, and therefore they sometimes forgot to guard against them.
"And I'm telling you that he would not be so foolish as to leave his wife so apparently unprotected. There are doubtless layer upon layer of defenses in place, and we will not move against them until it is the proper time."
"And what of the research?" The woman's glamour shifted, the visible refraction of light a warning that it was fading. Harry reasoned that she was either only a middling witch, or she was magically exhausted for some reason. He looked as carefully as he could at her true appearance. She was middle aged with dark hair and sharp features, but he didn't recognize her. He had high hopes that someone at the Ministry would recognize her.
"I would have thought you would already be informed about that," the wizard said snarkily.
"I meant the arithmancy research," she hissed, clearly irritated with the other man. The wizard must have picked up on it, too, because he drew his wand and tapped it meaningfully against his hand. The woman's eyes were drawn to it, but she didn't back down, her own wand clenched in her hand.
"I wonder, Cornelia, if you know what you are about," the wizard said softly, and there would doubtless have been some type of nastiness if a new wizard had not popped into place with a muffled whoosh.
"What the hell are you doing?" snarled Antonin Dolohov to the woman, who bowed her head submissively.
"We were discussing the research," the blonde said, carefully studying the woman. "Apparently Cornelia is impatient to move ahead with the Ministry."
Dolohov turned his black gaze in a steady sweep around the room, then looked at Cornelia with a harsh expression on his face. "We'll discuss this later," he said coldly, then aimed his wand squarely at the Extendable Ear and incinerated it. "We're being watched."
Shit, Harry thought, scrambling back from the window. His invisibility cloak would provide some cover, but that was not infallible and now they would be looking for various types of concealment. He had to get moving, and fast.
The three inside were moving stealthily toward the various exits, their wands drawn and versions of Revelio flicking out with power, seeking even disruptions in air currents or displaced dust. Harry was moving steadily out of the alleyway between buildings that had played host to him, a quick try of disapparation showing that one of them, at least, was proficient at anti-apparition wards. He used his wand steadily, searching for the edge of the wards. Damn. One of them was powerful enough to have covered the block.
"Come out, come out, little Auror," Dolohov sneered, passing within twenty yards of Harry, who had been moving toward the street. Harry paused to consider his options. The other buildings were dangerous, but he remembered what Hermione had said about the Protean charm. They could have others waiting in the streets. Mind made up, Harry silently unlocked a beat up door and entered the next warehouse, intent on working his way diagonally toward the edge of the wards. It was a longer path but probably the safest option.
He could see the woman, but the location of the third was unknown. Harry focused on his training as well as his experience with the Order. Tonks in particular was quite good at hiding, and Harry used every bit of her teaching when the blonde wizard briefly came into view. He had already stilled, but even with the invisibility cloak he dampened his heat signature, causing him to feel very cold, but better that than dead.
"Set the others to sweep as well. Whoever it is has not taken the straight path," the blonde barked, and Harry knew he had to hurry.
He was close to the edge of the anti-apparation ward, with only a wall in the way, when his luck ran out. He identified a series of high windows and a pair of doors as possible exits, but the heat dampening was nearly sending him into hypothermia and he'd have to cancel it soon.
"There he is!"
A curse landed too close for comfort and Harry cancelled the charm and sent a curse right toward the witch, Cornelia. He revised his earlier opinion and decided that she was powerful but weakened, because the curses being thrown at him were not the work of an amateur.
"Over here!" she shouted between flashes of her wand, and Harry knew it was getting far too dangerous for him.
"Diffindo!" Harry couldn't take the time to see the slicing hex hit the woman, instead turning to the wall behind him and casting a nonverbal Defodio twice. He wheeled back to see Dolohov had taken the witch's place, and removed the rest of the cape, its movement hindering him more than helping at this point.
"Harry Potter. I should have known," Dolohov snarled, firing a strong Incendio followed quickly by the entrail expelling curse.
Harry shouted, "Aguamenti!" and threw Locomotor mortis before blocking the entrail curse, then threw the tickling curse and hit gold with the Orchideous curse, as Dolohov's wand spouted trails of orchids and lilies from the tip. It gave Harry just the second he needed to whirl and aim at the weakened wall.
"Reducto!" Harry put a lot of force behind this curse, and reinforced himself with a Salvio Hexia. It was weaker than Protego but he needed out NOW. The blast caused him to stagger, and Dolohov was almost blown off his feet, a large chunk of brick hitting his head with enough force to cause blood to stream from his temple.
"Until next we meet," Harry tossed back, ignoring the stitch in his own side as he stepped through the wall and free of the disapparation wards, turning into himself with a loud crack he didn't bother to muffle.
"Harry James Potter! Don't you DARE scare me like that again!" Ginny was exhausted, almost sick with relief, and mad as hell when her husband turned up at their doorstep, his side covered in blood.
"Sorry honey. I promise to dodge better next time," Harry joked as Ginny flashed her wand quickly and peeled back the ruins of his shirt and robes from the wound.
"What caused it?" she asked, her eyes intent on the large gash and its jagged edges, wordlessly waving her wand to summon their healing kit.
"Um, I think it must have been the brick pieces from the wall…I don't think it's one of Dolohov's curses."
She deployed her wand expertly to make sure there were no traces of magic in the wound as the blood dripped steadily onto their hallway carpet. Ginny looked up quickly to meet her husband's green eyes, then back to where her fingers were gently probing the wound.
"You were wrong. Just had to be an Auror…" she muttered to herself. It was a familiar refrain whenever he got hurt at work.
"Daddy!" James came tearing down the stairs and halted rapidly when he saw the blood. "Is Dad okay?"
Harry looked up at his son and gave him a smile that turned into a grimace as Ginny gave the injury a particularly vicious swipe with a magical astringent that neutralized the dark magic in the wound with a subtle flick from Ginny's wand. "Yeah, I'm okay, buddy. Just a work injury. Mom's going to patch me up and I'll be as good as new. Why don't you go back to bed and I'll come up to kiss you good night?"
James came over and hugged his other leg, and Harry didn't miss Ginny's soft sigh as he patted his son's hair. "Okay Dad. Just be more careful next time, okay?"
"I will," Harry promised, his son's big brown eyes intent on his own before James nodded and went back upstairs.
"So, tell me about it," Ginny said, glancing up at him again. Her stomach was already rounding out with their baby, her body used to the demands of pregnancy and all too prepared to accommodate. Harry's eyes softened as he looked at her. Her hands were softer now, the healing spells ones he could have performed himself, but he always let her do it if he was coming home. It was their wordless agreement, a compromise for his dangerous line of work.
"I need to talk to Hermione," Harry said. "I'm pretty sure Lucius' family is involved."
"I thought you already knew that," Ginny said, dabbing gently at the blood instead of using a harsh Scourgify on the tender, new tissue.
"We have pieces of evidence, but nothing conclusive still. The bastard was polyjuiced all the times I could track him."
"Who else?" Ginny knew he hadn't gone all that way for that. There had to be something else at stake.
"I'm not sure. I saw one without her glamour, so I hope someone knows who it is. I need to talk to Kingsley and Lucius."
"And Hermione," Ginny said fiercely, and Harry nodded.
"And Hermione."
"Where are you going?" Hermione's tone was suspicious, and Lucius raised an eyebrow innocently.
"I'm sorry, mummy, I wasn't aware I had a curfew," Lucius retorted, taking up his walking stick out of habit.
Hermione returned his glare with interest, her hand cocked on her hip. "I can think of only one reason why you would be leaving at this time of night, and I can verify that with a Floo call the second you leave. Harry is back, isn't he?"
Lucius sighed. It had been a futile attempt, he had known that from the start, but his pride had demanded it. "Yes, he is back. And we are going to the Potters'. Apparently, Ginny won't let him leave the house due to some injury he sustained."
"I'm going to get dressed. Don't you dare leave without me." Hermione turned and went back up the stairs, glad that she had placed that disruption notification charm on Lucius' closet. She couldn't trust him as far as she could throw him.
"Damn Slytherins," Hermione muttered to herself, then started briefly when she saw Lucius leaning against the doorframe of her own closet.
"I would hate to disappoint such stereotypical expectations," Lucius retorted with little or no heat. He was well used to late night summons, while Hermione was not. He watched her don a pair of slacks and a light sweater, the slight bump of their baby now visible. "Ready?"
She was trying to tie back her hair and gave up, so Lucius tied it back for her with one of his ribbons.
"Thank you."
When they walked out of the Floo at Harry and Ginny's, Kingsley Shacklebolt was already there with a mug of tea and chatting quietly with Harry. They both looked up when Hermione and Lucius walked through, and Kingsley stood to greet them.
"Good evening. Harry has some things to report," Kingsley intoned, gesturing to the opposite couch with his free hand.
"Tea?" Ginny asked, levitating in a tray with tea and cakes, and bless her, digestive biscuits.
"Decaf?" Hermione asked, and Ginny nodded. "Yes please."
Lucius rolled his eyes at the trivialities and sat gingerly on the edge of the couch, as if the furnishings were somehow catching. Hermione snorted at this reminder of her husband's snobbishness, but remembered that he had been to the Potters' house at least once before so she was not going to give his pride any consideration.
"What did you learn?" Lucius asked without preamble.
"I picked up this polyjuiced wizard at the chateau you suggested, but since he was always polyjuiced, I wasn't able to tell who it was—although presumably he is one of your cousins as he was there, or a trusted associate of theirs, as the wards did not have any trouble with him coming and going."
Lucius nodded as if this was expected, and Harry continued, "He held several meetings, most frequently in public places with a middle aged witch whom I didn't recognize. I have the memory ready?" Harry held out a vial housing a solitary, silvery wisp, and Kingsley brought out his pensieve from the office. It was housed in a large box, as you could not shrink a pensieve without damaging it.
"Shall we?" Kingsley asked, looking at Hermione and Lucius before Harry poured the memory into the bowl and the three of them plunged their faces in. It was a tight fit, despite the large size of the Minister's pensieve. The light was poor, but both Kingsley and Lucius' mouths tightened when the woman's glamour faded. Hermione thought her face was familiar, but no more so than the many other witches who worked at the Ministry.
"Who is she?" Hermione asked as soon as they had all pulled out of the memory.
"Cornelia Dextrose," Lucius said.
"Assistant Undersecretary for Magical Transportation," Kingsley said, then met Lucius' cold eyes. "She's not high enough."
"Agreed. Someone else is pulling the strings within." Lucius' lips thinned. He had hoped to have more information on the Ministry's highly placed mole after Harry's trip.
"Tell me more about her," Harry asked.
"I've heard that name before…where have I heard that name…" Hermione was mumbling to herself, but Lucius ignored her and told Harry, "She's a frigid bitch."
"That's a bit harsh, Lucius," Kingsley said, although his lips had quirked briefly at the description. "In her early fifties, if I remember correctly. Unmarried. Been working at the Ministry since she joined it after graduating from Beauxbatons. A bit of a stickler for rules."
"That's it!" Hermione said as the piece of information she was chasing in her brain clicked into place. "Yasmin mentioned her. Lucius, I'm surprised you haven't heard more complaining about her—she is a match for Calvin Yaxley."
That bombshell was not well received by her husband, who stiffened up next to her. It was one of the rare moments that Hermione could recall him losing his composure so visibly. Kingsley turned his intent eyes to Lucius.
"Has he not mentioned his match?" The Minister's eyes were probing and Lucius recovered speedily.
"He only complained about not getting a pretty wife, but no, he never mentioned his choices to me. I was only aware that he intended to drag his feet about the matter as long as could be allowed."
"He should be interrogated tonight," Harry said, his eyes dark with suspicion. Hermione fervently hoped it was directed at Yaxley and not at her husband, but at the moment it was difficult to say. "If he's conspiring with them, he might have already been tipped off, but either way he needs to be brought in immediately."
"Agreed," Kingsley said. "Call Underwood, Harry, and get to it." He turned to Ginny, "I'm sorry to take him away again tonight."
"I understand," Ginny said in the tight-lipped manner that said she didn't like it but she would put up with it as with all the other inconveniences of life with an Auror, simply because it was being asked of her.
"Lucius, I want you to come in too," Kingsley said softly but in a manner that was clearly an order. "He might say something to you that wouldn't be said under an Auror's interrogation."
"Of course," Lucius said coolly, his emotions firmly and rigidly muzzled.
"But not until early morning," Kingsley said coldly. "Let him stew about it overnight."
It was unspoken that this also meant the Aurors would receive a bit more 'liberty' in their interrogation. Lucius knew full well what that meant, and had to swallow the bitter gall the knowledge induced. However, it was pointless and even hazardous to question its necessity.
"As you say."
