I'm not JKR, dammit!
Harry was brought out of his Runes translations when a loud 'tap-tap-tap' came from the window. Getting up from the comfortable armchair, he crossed the room to let a little brown owl in. It dropped a medium-sized envelope in his hands and then flew out of the window again. Harry absent-mindedly closed it, his eyes still on the envelope in his hands. It looked rather ordinary- could it be what he hoped it was? 'There's only one way to find out,' he thought to himself, turning abruptly on his heel and heading out of the common room, forgetting all about his Runes work.
Ron and Hermione were in the library, where Hermione was reviewing Ron's essay. "It's quite good," he heard her saying he came closer to their table, "but you might want to consider writing more". Whatever Ron was about to say was cut off by Harry's sudden arrival.
"Oh! Harry!" said Hermione, surprised, and then blushed as Madam Pince gave them a disapproving look. Lowering her voice, she said, "What is it?"
Just then, Ron saw the envelope in Harry's hands. "What's that?"
Before Harry could reply, Hermione started gathering her things and said, "Let's go somewhere more private".
She bundled them into the same classroom they had hidden in the first time they used the time-turner, and locked the door with a series of complicated charms that left the boys' heads spinning.
"Now," she said, shoving her wand in her pocket and twirling around to face them, her bushy hair flying. "What is it?"
Harry took out the envelope which he had kept in his pocket. "This," he said simply.
They all just looked at it for a minute. It looked very ordinary. But looks could deceive, and no one knew it better than them.
"Well," said Ron, hesitantly. "Let's see what it is"
Slowly, with bated breath, Harry opened the envelope and took out the slip of parchment in it. Ron and Hermione leaned in excitedly to look at it. Harry unfolded it- and immediately felt rather disappointed.
The parchment was blank. Blank, except for a small wax seal right at the center. But what an extraordinary seal it was!
It looked like the sun, with its large reddish-gold circle and reddish-gold tassels spreading around like flames. At the center, a majestic silver phoenix rose up out of the red and violet fire that encircled it. On its chest, was the rune that Harry immediately recognized as Kenaz; the rune of knowledge, understanding and learning. Below the seal was only one sentence.
Tap the seal with your wands.
After glancing at the others, and getting a nod from both of them, Harry took his wand out, and then all three of them touched the seal with their wands. They gasped.
The slip of parchment suddenly shivered and then lengthened into a long sheet of parchment covered in small, neat black handwriting. With trembling hands, Harry held up the letter and began to read...
A few hours earlier
Head Unspeakable Croaker was having quite a good day. He had recruited a promising new candidate, been informed of a sizeable donation to the department funds, received intelligence on the Sirius Black case and had had the good fortune to witness Fudge getting completely and utterly dressed down by Amelia Bones, who had apparently received a letter from her niece complaining about how horribly gloomy the dementors made Hogwarts feel. And he had just received an extremely curious letter from someone he had been hoping to meet for quite a long time.
Harry James Potter. The son of Lily Elizabeth 'Liz' Evans-Potter and James Charlus Potter, two of the best agents he'd had the pleasure to recruit. He wondered what made the boy send a letter to him.
He placed the letter down on his desk after reading it twice. Then he got up, and going to a small cabinet, he got out about ten bottles of butterbeer and placed his palm on a small set of runes at the edge of his desk.
Almost immediately, there were three evenly spaced knocks on the door. "Come in!" he called out, and the door opened to reveal five people, all of whom were wearing the black hooded cloaks and emblems that marked them as Unspeakables. At Croaker's beckoning gesture, they filed in and sat down on the chairs he conjured, before taking the butterbeers he offered.
"What is it, Zeus? You never call unless it's urgent," said one of the figures, voice distorted by a voice altering spell.
"I have received a very surprising letter. One that may hold the answers to many of the questions our people have almost given up trying to answer"
Immediately, their attention was almost fully on him. The corner of his lips twitched upwards, unseen due to the charms shrouding his face. He then read out the letter he had received.
"You wish to meet with him?" said one of the cloaked people. The question was more of a rhetorical statement. Croaker shook his head regretfully.
"I will not deny that I wish to meet him, but the fact remains that I have several responsibilities to look after. Tomorrow is a Hogsmeade weekend is it not?"
One of the Unspeakables nodded "I can confirm that".
"Very well then. Adonis?" he held out a small wooden box to the tall cloaked wizard near the door. "I want you to take this to the son of late Unspeakables Raven and Vixen and his friends. Find out their opinions on magic, war, politics, the Ministry and so on. It is possible they are potential candidates. Enlighten them on how we operate and if they want to work with us, or even be trained, we can consider recruiting them. If they don't, make them take a vow or, in the worst-case scenario, obliviate them. Remember, the only ones you are to speak to are Harry Potter, and his best friends Hermione Granger and Ronald Weasley. No one else should have any inkling of this. I will be sending them a letter shortly. Is that clear?"
Adonis took the box offered to him with black gloved hands, and giving a curt nod, left the office, followed by the others.
Harry Potter didn't think he had ever been more nervous than this, except perhaps at his Sorting. He shifted uncomfortably, sensing Ron and Hermione doing the same. The waiting was not helping their nerves.
They had gone to the Three Broomsticks, and asked for a private room. He thanked the higher powers again that he had had he common sense to ask Aunt 'Tunia to sign the slip before Vernon got back. He couldn't imagine what missing Hogsmeade would be like. He was jerked out of his thoughts as the door slowly opened. He saw his friends stiffen slightly in their seats.
A tall, dark figure stepped soundlessly into the room. He murmured the code they had agreed on. "Libertas". Harry subconsciously relaxed and he reduced the grip on his wand. He studied the man with open curiosity.
He was wearing what ordinary dark blue robes over which he had on a hooded cloak. His face seemed to be shrouded and undistinguishable for some reason. Even his voice sounded muffled, like the radio on a stormy day. 'Probably some charm,' he thought. At the moment, their visitor was waving his wand in complicated motions over the door. When he finished, he slid gracefully into the remaining seat at the small table. Then the meeting began.
It started quite simply, with Hermione handing over the mysterious book and explaining how they got hold of it and what was written in it. They also answered some of the questions the man asked about the book and what was written in it. Then, the meeting took a whole new turn.
"Tell me," the Unspeakable said abruptly. "What do you know about us and our department?"
"Not much," admitted Hermione, looking rather disgruntled. Harry felt his eyes widen as he exchanged a glance with Ron. Hermione Granger not knowing something? "I couldn't find any information in the library".
The Unspeakable merely inclined his hooded head as though he had expected it. "I would have been very surprised if you did, Miss Granger. We are not, as most say, wizarding scientists and researchers. Those are not all we do. You could call us a kind of international magical security service; a magical version of the muggle MI5 and Scotland Yard combined, if you would. The ICW is aware of this. Every country with a magical community has us Unspeakables working to protect them and their towns, villages, et cetera, et cetera. We are not under the British Ministry of Magic, as everyone thinks. We answer to, and only to the ICW. We are almost a separate society. If the Ministry is ever overrun by... undesirable forces, we would do our best to defeat them and perhaps form a sort of interim government till the Ministry is once again secure.
"During the war with Gellert Grindelwald, which coincided with the muggle World War II, the Unspeakables were almost completely decimated. It was so bad, that we haven't yet recovered," the wizard paused to take a sip of butterbeer and observe the reactions of his listeners. They looked shocked and horrified at the same time. Harry finally managed to stammer out, "B-but why? It's been half a century since the Grindelwald war ended!"
"I'm not yet finished. You will understand soon enough. Roughly two decades after the historical defeat of Grindelwald, the Ministry had only just stabilised. However, it was being and (still is) being run by several old pureblood wizarding families. There was nothing wrong about that; it was the extreme families that caused the problem. They bribed and blackmailed people to get the corrupt and prejudiced laws we have today passed. But, I regress. The law is not what I'm about to discuss. We Unspeakables had only just got our own Department in the Ministry to give the illusion of working under them. However, it wasn't the only reason. We had a special institute for the gifted before the war destroyed our resources. It was where Unspeakables were trained, right from the age of nine. The remaining Unspeakables were unable to rebuild the institute. We still haven't. There are simply not enough funds. For a while we thought it could be possible, but then there was Wizarding War I, the first war with Voldemort. It slowed us down even more, and we lost several of our best agents, including your parents, Mr. Potter"
Harry's mouth dropped open. "They were Aurors!"
The Unspeakable chuckled. "Those were their official jobs Mr. Potter. There are several of us who have cover jobs in the most unlikely places. Speaking of which, I have been ordered to offer you a deal"
"What sort of deal?" asked Ron, speaking for the first time.
The man pulled out a small wooden box and handed it to him. Harry noticed that it had the same symbol as the seal carved into the lid. "We are offering to recruit you!"
All the breath left his lungs. His mind was whirling with possibilities, and he didn't even realise that he and the others had agreed. Then he snapped out of his reverie as the Unspeakable stood up and said, "There are some books and other equipment you will find there. There is also an instruction pamphlet. Simply follow them. You will receive further correspondence through this box. Just put your letters into it and tap the symbol on top and it will appear in the department mail office. It is much more secure to communicate this way. Show it to no one. The book will remain with us for the time being. I must also ask you swear secrecy and magical oaths".
They complied, the resulting rush of magic leaving them breathless. The Unspeakable nodded, apparently satisfied. "I now take your leave. You should receive a letter from the Head tomorrow that explains a lot more than I am authorised to. Good day". And with that, he was gone with a swirl of his cloak and a click of the door and its numerous security spells.
Harry was the first to break the silence. "What just happened?"
Hermione slowly took the box from a shell-shocked Ron and looked at it with her eyes glazed over. "I don't know. I just- don't know".
I'm back! Sorry I couldn't update on Thursday, but I updated today! I hope you enjoy the chapter! Please review!