I'd like to thank thekingofsweden1 and rpeh for beta reading. Their work and diligence has improved the story a lot.

Chapter 5: Revelations

London, Ministry of Magic, August 18th, 1999, 14.23 hours

Lucius Malfoy, Minister for Magic, leaned back in his chair and watched his artificial hand while he bent each finger individually. As the healers at St. Mungo's had predicted, it felt now almost like his real hand. He glanced at the latest issue of The Quibbler, amused by the headline: 'Dark Dragon Attack!'

The things the Lovegoods came up with were always good for a laugh. And since Lovegood believed the Dark Lord had slain his wife, one of the more capable Aurors at the time, before Lucius could stop him, both father and daughter were staunchly opposed to similar threats to Britain. Not that anyone took them seriously anyway, outside a few naturalists.

Greengrass interrupted his reading. "Minister. Your Defense Advisor has arrived."

Lucius nodded at the girl. "Send him in."

Severus Snape walked in, clad in black robes and sneering at Lucius's secretary, as usual. After the spy had cast a few of his own privacy spells - Lucius couldn't say if the man honestly didn't trust his own precautions, or if this was simply a gesture - he nodded. "The new cover is holding. The Dark Lord is pleased with my position."

"Doubly so after the Notts' demise, I trust."

The spy nodded. "Yes. Though he has been asking when I will be able to arrange a similar situation for you."

"You can tell him that I've grown paranoid, and have found your tool. He should understand that you would need more time to cultivate another," Lucius said, folding his hands.

"He is less understanding of such concerns than you would expect. Mere mudbloods are of no concern to him, and so he does not grant the Wands the consideration they deserve." Severus sneered, either at the Dark Lord's folly, or at the mudbloods.

"I see. Did you find out if he'll attack Diagon Alley again?" That last attack had scared the population, and scared people lost trust in the government. Something he couldn't afford, not right now.

"He plans to attack somewhere else while you focus your mudbloods on the Alley."

"Hm." Lucius would have preferred another attack on Diagon Alley. The Wands would be able to handle it. Maybe even ambush the attackers before they could strike. "Hogsmeade then, or Godric's Hollow."

Severus nodded. "He didn't say so, but they are the most likely locations."

An attack on another manor wouldn't have the same impact on Britain as an attack on one of the two pure wizarding villages in Britain. Godric's Hollow would be more vulnerable, having been a mixed village until a few years ago. "Any child could see that. Would you be blamed if his forces were ambushed?" The Wands might even manage that without any warnings, should the Dark Lord's forces use the same tactic as in Diagon Alley.

"I cannot say for certain. The Dark Lord has been quite volatile since his return."

He couldn't afford to lose his spy. Not until Severus managed to lure the Dark Lord into a trap. "Tell him that the Greengrass family is one of my most important, though secret supporters. That I plan to have their daughter marry Draco."

Severus slowly nodded. The spy understood what Lucius was thinking. "That might be enough to keep me from suffering for his mistakes."

And Lucius could hire a smarter secretary.

London, Ministry of Magic, August 18th, 1999, 17.58 hours

Wand-Leader Hermione walked into the archives of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and nodded at the pureblood guard in passing. He glared at her in return, but she ignored it. He knew as well as she did that he was not allowed to hassle a Wand on duty - and he had no way to tell that Hermione wasn't exactly on duty. Or rather, was stretching the definition a bit.

The witch went past the room where visitors could study the archived files without taking them out of the archives, and stepped into the main repository. Row upon row of shelves filled a hall there, thanks to expansion charms. Many sections were sealed and required the permission of the Minister himself to be accessed. Those housed the cases involving dark wizards, traitors, and forbidden rituals. But she wasn't after that kind of information.

She walked to the shelves where confiscated muggle contraband was stored. Minor cases. Muggle clothes, muggle items, and muggle food. Filth that had no place in Wizarding Britain. She pursed her lips and told herself that she was doing this to fulfil her duty to her country, then grabbed the box labeled 'muggle magazines - Cosmopolitan'. That should be exactly what she was looking for: a magazine detailing the different muggle cultures.

Twenty minutes and five boxes of different magazines later Hermione had learned two things: Muggles were obsessed with sex and dressed utterly inappropriately. She really hoped she wouldn't have to try to 'fit in' while trailing the Obliviators in the muggle world.

London, Ministry of Magic, August 19th, 1999, 01.57 hours

Wand-Leader Hermione was a criminal. Not only had she duplicated muggle contraband, but she was now breaking into the Obliviator Headquarters. It couldn't be helped though - she had to gain access to the tracking charms of that Department so she could follow the Obliviators in the muggle world without triggering the trace herself. Otherwise she'd never expose whatever crimes those wizards and witches might be committing outside Wizarding Britain.

Disillusioned and under a Silencing Charm, she waited outside the door on the third floor for the shift change. Like the Aurors, the Obliviators had members ready around the clock. Not as many, nor as prepared as the Corps, of course. Wands were always ready, after all. The clock struck 02.00 hours, and no one had arrived yet. Sloppy.

Two minutes past the time, a pair of yawning purebloods walked down the hallway. Hermione pressed herself against the wall and held her breath, but they didn't even glance in her direction. Hidden by her spells, she followed them, slipping through the door before it could close. The loud sound of a chime would have masked her steps even without her charm, or so she realized. Once more she hid at the wall while two equally sleepy wizards left through the door, triggering the chime again.

After a few minutes in the ante-room, she peered into what passed as the ready room for the Obliviators. The two wizards she had seen were sprawled out on the beds there, already falling asleep it seemed. She shook her head at the sight, then reminded herself that they were not Wands and didn't have to be ready for treason or an attack. They could trust the charms to wake them up if they were needed.

It also made it easier for her to reach her goal - the link to the runic array that controlled the tracking charms covering Britain. The runic array itself was located in the Department of Mysteries, of course, safely guarded by the most devious defenses the Unspeakables could think of, and tracking magic all over Britain.

The link was an enchanted quill and a never ending scroll of parchment, set on a sturdy table, noting all magic done in the muggle parts of Britain. Strictly one-way, of course - only the Unspeakables were allowed to actually manipulate the runes detecting that magic. Maps of Muggle Britain and of Muggle London hung on the wall, and more were on another table and in a cabinet there.

She studied the quill for a bit, noticing that someone had tied a bell with an an Amplifying Charm on it to the shaft. It seemed the Obliviators were not supposed to be sleeping on the job. That explained the loud chime on the door too. Shaking her head, she focused on her task again and pulled out a communication mirror and a lens borrowed from Colin. It wasn't quite as good as a camera, but it would allow her to observe the mirror from wherever she was, as long as she held the other mirror. In theory.

Placing the mirror so she had a clear view of the map was something of a challenge though, and took far longer than she had expected. She was still adjusting the mirror when suddenly, the quill started moving and the bell's ringing was amplified tenfold. Surprised, she barely managed to disillusion the mirror before a sleepy wizard entered the room.

"Something up?" she heard the second one ask from the other room.

The wizard who had entered glanced at the scroll and dispelled the Amplifying Charm. "East End," he said. "Just Martin and John, as expected." He waited several minutes while the Quill kept scribbling, then cut the parchment full of notes off. Instead of filing it in the shelves in the room, where dozens of scrolls were on display, he vanished it before he left the room again.

Hermione stared at his back. The Obliviator had erased all proof of magic done in muggle London! And he and his co-worker had expected that entry. Martin and John… Martin Tuckleton and John Merriweather were Obliviators. Her theory of a conspiracy involving the entire section seemed to be right on the mark.

The Wand-Leader adjusted the now invisible mirror until she had the view she wanted, then sneaked out again. The two men were fast asleep once more, as she saw. A Silencing Charm on the door took care of the chime, and she was out of the office. After dispelling the charm, she left the third floor.

All doubts and guilt she had had were gone. She knew now that the Obliviators were committing crimes, she just didn't know yet what they were doing. But they were casting spells in muggle London, without any magic being detected beforehand. To think that the very people tasked with upholding the International Statute of Secrecy were endangering it!

For a moment she considered apparating to the location in the East End, then decided against it. They must have left already, and she would trigger another alert from the quill, warning the Obliviators.

But next time… she grinned. Those criminals wouldn't escape!

Hogsmeade, Britain, August 20th, 1999, 15.00 hours

Ron Weasley looked at the ruins of the "Hog's Head Inn", the location of Aberforth Dumbledore's last stand. The inn keeper hadn't wanted to follow his older brother into exile, or so Ron had been told by his parents, instead choosing to defend his home to the end. A fence surrounded the area, and no grass or any other plant seemed to grow over the blackened rubble and the few walls still standing. Stepping a bit closer, he suddenly felt as if he was in danger. After moving back, he felt fine again. Warning wards, then. And probably something worse behind them. If they ever wanted to use the tunnel that led from the cellar of the inn to Hogwarts, they'd have to deal with that. If the tunnel existed anymore.

That was what he was here to find out. He stepped around the area, carefully avoiding and noting the boundaries of the ward, and pretended to study the ruins in a crouch while he set down a "Nosy Niffler", as his brothers had called the thing. It looked like a rock, but would map the underground in an area using sound. Magical sound. Somehow.

He noticed someone walking towards him at a fast pace, and slightly turned to keep them in his field of vision, without looking like he was ready for a fight. Brown robes - a Wand. It was a young witch, probably his age or a year younger. Stepping away from the fake rock, he smiled at the witch.

"Hello."

"Hello, sir," she said. "Please be careful not to enter the area. The ruins are cursed."

"Ah!" He faked surprise. "That's why there is a warning ward."

Her eyes widened briefly in surprise, then narrowed slightly. "Yes. Do you have experience with wards?"

"Some. I'm from Québec. A number of areas have them now, until the traps left from the war are disarmed," Ron said, using his cover. "I'm Antoine Dupont. Enchanté, mademoiselle." He bowed to the girl.

She looked surprised again. "Wand Sally-Anne."

He turned to the ruins. "Do you know why the curse hasn't been dealt with yet? The ruins look rather old, and this seems like a prime location for a house or business."

"A very powerful wizard was killed here, and cursed the area with his dying breath. So far no Curse-Breaker has been able to deal with it."

Ron whistled. Dumbledore's brother must have been powerful indeed, to leave such a legacy. Not quite as impressive as the curse Voldemort had placed on Hogwarts, but still.

The girl frowned. "I'm positive that the curse will be broken soon though."

"After so many years?"

"Yes." She sounded confident.

He couldn't tell if she was just parroting the Ministry's line, or if she had reasons for her optimism, but nodded in acceptance. "I hope you are correct. Such a sight brings back memories I'd rather not remember."

"Oh?"

"The war. In Québec," he added when she looked puzzled.

"Ah."

"It's why I'm here. I am looking to leave my home country, so my future family will not be facing the same troubles I did. Either Britain or France look promising." He pointed towards Hogwarts, visible in the distance. "I had hoped to tour the school, but it's closed for visitors until further notice."

"Yeah. Sluggy's all afraid."

"'Sluggy?'"

The girl blushed slightly. "Horace Slughorn, the Headmaster. He's been very concerned about the safety of the school since those attacks started."

"Ah. A good stance, for a school. I'd want my children to be safe as well."

She snorted. "At the moment, there are only muggleborns there anyway. The purebloods spend the summer with their families."

She didn't sound sarcastic, which should have surprised him, but didn't. "Well, I guess I'll check out Hogsmeade then. Are there any shops and inns you'd recommend?"

That seemed to surprise the girl again. If she and Hermione were typical for the Wands, then they probably were not used to casual chit-chat with others. At least not with those outside the Corps.

"Ah… Honeydukes has the best sweets in the world." She grinned. "And the 'Three Broomsticks' serves good meals."

"Thank you." He bowed again, then started towards the village's center while the Wand went on towards Hogwarts. He should have asked if he'd meet her at the pub later, he thought. She could be a good source of information. On the other hand, he'd rather meet Hermione again. For information, he added, but it was an afterthought.

London, Knockturn Alley, August 20th, 1999, 22.32 hours

The 'Blue Pixie' didn't look any different than during his previous visits, Ron Weasley thought. Only the show on stage had changed. Instead of a cauldron filled with two witches, three almost-nude witches danced around a stake surrounded by fire to the sounds of the Weird Sisters' song 'Fiendfyre'.

It wasn't too hard to keep his attention on the scantily-clad redhead approaching a corpulent wizard in his booth. He was just the backup anyway, and he didn't expect any trouble.

The wizard leering at Tonks was Eberhard McIntosh, a member of the Wizengamot who used the brothels in Knockturn Alley to indulge desires the Ministry wouldn't tolerate if exposed. His position and influence made him the perfect target for blackmail. His habits also made him the perfect target for some lethal spell practise, Ron thought, but they needed him alive. For now. Afterwards though...

The man's smile grew when Tonks slid on the seat next to him, after almost falling into his lap, but froze on his face when the metamorphmagus whispered something into his ear. When he looked at the pictures she had placed in his hand, Ron could see the blood leave McIntosh's face. He masked his smile with his glass, enjoying the man's expression.

Tonks stuck to the plan and didn't give the wizard much time to adjust. She whispered once more into his ear, then stood up and left the booth. He ignored her when she passed his table, keeping an eye on their target. He felt the bugs they had placed a week earlier run up his legs, slipping into the case. Hopefully they'd reveal more useful information.

London, August 21st, 1999, 10.02 hours

Wand-Leader Hermione was ready. She had her invisibility cloak, her communication mirror was charmed so only she could hear its signal, she had her maps ready and she had informed her team that she was 'researching facts', so she wouldn't be missed. All she now needed was for the tracking charm to actually give her and the Obliviators a target to apparate to. A target that would reveal more to her than how they dealt with a drunk wizard who had apparated to a muggle plot of land by mistake, and splinched himself.

Which was taking a bit more time time than she had expected. So much in fact, that she had already spent almost the entire Friday actually doing research into Fiendfyre and ways to hide with magic while she had waited. And today she was already a few hours into the latest book she had acquired for her private use.

A sudden ringing sound from her mirror interrupted her reading. The alert! She slipped the cloak on and peered at the mirror. Levitation spell cast in Watford in Hertfordshire. She pulled her map out, and checked where this town was located. Seventeen miles northwest of Central London. She cast a Silencing Charm on herself, then closed her eyes, visualizing the distance. Apparating to a location she hadn't been before was difficult, and more dangerous than normal Apparation, but Wands needed to be able to react to any attack, anywhere, after all.

This wasn't an attack, but it was as important. She waited until the tracking charm announced more magic - Apparitions - then focused and willed herself to travel to her destination.

Hermione appeared on a muggle street. She was about a hundred yards off her target she guessed, after checking the street numbers. A very good result. Under her cloak she hurried towards the source of the alert, a small muggle house. The front yard looked normal, if boring. Close-cut lawn, with a paved part for the family's car, a metal monstrosity. She shook her head - to think that the Ministry actually had used such contraptions, before the Minister had taken over and put an end to such nonsense.

She couldn't see any sign of the Obliviators. Pride filled her - she must have beaten them to their target, despite their far longer experience with such events. Though it also meant she could not simply follow them inside the house, and if she used a spell to open the door, she'd leave a trace. There were ways around that, but the Obliviators might spot them. So she walked past the house, to the backyard. She kept an eye on the sky, since a Levitation Charm had been detected.

She heard a child giggle, followed by a gasp. "Ben! Ben! Come, watch!" Muggles! But what was going on? Hermione turned the corner, and stopped. Sitting on the lawn in the backyard was a little girl, giggling as toys floated around her.

"Look, mum! Unicorns can fly!"

The Wand-Leader whipped her head around, spotting a woman in muggle clothes standing in the backdoor. She had her wand drawn in an instant - if the muggle tried to harm the child… she didn't remember what her own parents had done to her, but she knew she would have died if not for the intervention of the wizards who saved her.

To her surprise, the woman was smiling, not screaming. "That's… a miracle, Betty! Ben, come watch! Quickly!"

Another muggle, a man, arrived. "What's…" he trailed off, staring at the beaming girl while a pink unicorn toy and a small doll seemed to dance with each other.

"I told you, she's special! Our baby girl is special!"

"You did, you did…"

The two held each other. That wasn't the reaction Hermione had expected. Muggles hated magic, instinctively. Her own parents had … were those muggleborns, in hiding? But why would they… they would have known magic would be detected. What was going on?

Popping sounds made her jerk around. Apparition sounds! She saw two robed wizards - the Obliviators had apparated directly into the backyard. Martin Tuckleton and John Meriweather.

The two muggles gasped again, and the man took a step in front of the woman. "What … who are you?"

"Betty, come inside!" the woman yelled. The girl looked at her with wide eyes, the doll and unicorn toy falling to the ground, and stood up.

"Another mudblood! That's our lucky day!" Merriweather announced. "Stupefy!" A red spell struck the little girl before she could run to her parents, and she toppled to the ground, unconscious.

"Betty!" Both muggles screamed. The man charged the wizards, the woman ran towards the girl. Neither made it more than a few steps before he was stunned and she was bound in magically conjured ropes. The woman's scream was cut off by a silencing charm.

Another voice spoke up from behind the thick hedge screening the backyard from the neighbours. "Ben? Jane? Is everything alright?"

Merriweather cursed. "That's why you stun them, damn it! Go and deal with the muggle!"

Tuckleton frowned, but apparated away. Hermione heard another gasp through the hedge, followed by "Stupefy!" and "Obliviate!". Then he reappeared.

Merriweather had levitated the girl up. "How do we do this? Burn down the house?"

Hermione saw the woman's eyes widen. She was screaming, crying, but the Silencing Charm prevented anyone from hearing her.

"Burglary gone wrong?" Tuckleton was looking hopeful, and Hermione had the feeling that he wasn't just thinking about the loot.

Merriweather shook his head. "Can't do that. We do it a bit too often, and the muggles might get suspicious. The Minister wouldn't like it if the ICW started complaining." He looked at the two muggles. "Let's frame the man for killing the girl and faking a kidnapping. No loose ends."

Tuckleton nodded. "If only there wasn't that much paperwork when we discover mudbloods..."

Merriweather shrugged. "Let's do it. You do the woman, plant some suspicions about the man."

"What about the mudblood?" Tuckleton twirled his wands between his fingers. If a Wand had done that they'd had have received extra duties for a month as a punishment.

"Just wipe her memory. No need to go to the trouble of faking her memories or some injuries - Brendan is not on duty today." Merriweather cast a Silencing Charm on the muggle before waking him up.

"Ah, good. I don't know why they hired that idiot. He has no clue how things are done." Tuckleton shook his head and started to wipe the woman's memory.

Hermione was shocked. That wasn't how things were supposed to be. The Obliviators were supposed to save muggleborn children from the muggles, to protect Wizarding Britain. They weren't supposed to… Why would they consider faking abuse? The muggles wouldn't know, and the wizards wouldn't care. Or would they?

She had been abused by her parents. Or had she? What if… no, it couldn't be true. This had to be an isolated case. It had to be. But she had been trained as an investigator. The two wizards had not acted as if this was a special case. It had been routine for them. And she already knew that the entire Obliviator team was hiding something. What if that wasn't just theft, but more? What if this was the norm? This was… this had to be treason.

If not for her own Silencing Charm the two Obliviators would have certainly heard her panting as she reeled from the implications. She almost attacked the two, but managed to control herself. She couldn't be certain they were acting alone. She didn't know enough yet. She needed more information, to catch everyone involved.

So she waited, wand still aimed, when the two apparated out with the little girl - Betty - despite the urge, the need to strike at them, strike them down. She was about to apparate away as well, then hesitated. The two muggles… they didn't deserve this! She hurried over to them and oblivated them of the fake memories. Betty would have simply disappeared from the backyard.

She left the house, still under her cloak. She couldn't apparate back, not without triggering another alert, which would arouse suspicions - she had spent too much time arranging the muggles' memories. She'd have to find a way back to London using muggle means. But this was an easy task, compared to dealing with what she had seen.

Watford, Hertfordshire, August 21st, 1999, 12.11 hours

Wand-Leader Hermione was breaking the law again. It couldn't be helped though - without muggle money, sneaking on a muggle train to Euston Station at Watford Junction wearing an invisibility cloak was the only way to board it. The only way to board it without drawing attention from either muggles or wizards, that was.

It was also educational, to see how muggles traveled. They traveled so slowly, they must be wasting years of their lives traveling! After a quarter hour on the train, to travel such a small distance, Hermione couldn't understand why purebloods and half-bloods voluntarily used a train to travel to Hogwarts. Though they certainly had the time to waste on such frivolity - many of them seemed to waste their years in Hogwarts as well, she thought, with a smirk.

Her mirth vanished quickly though when her thoughts returned to what she had seen two hours earlier. How those Obliviators had acted… she knew they were part of a conspiracy, but she didn't know how far this conspiracy reached. They had mentioned that there was no need to fake abuse, since Brendan - who had to be Brendan Babcoke, one of the caretakers in the orphanage for muggleborns - wasn't on duty. That meant they had co-conspirators who were on duty. It implied that the others handling young muggleborns were in the know, but Hermione couldn't believe that everyone involved in raising muggleborns would be party to the crimes she had observed. They had raised her as well, after all. No, it was more likely that the others were less diligent. More prone to trust the Obliviators, and assume any wounds had been healed already. Probably.

She closed her eyes and sighed. She was making the same mistakes her instructors had warned her about: She was assuming things, trying to fit facts to her theory. A theory born from her own desires. She was a Wand-Leader though, not some silly pureblood girl with delusions about her future husband, like the younger Greengrass!

She would uncover this conspiracy, and each and every last one of those involved. Her duty would not allow anything less. The Minister would expect nothing less. And if she had to break into sealed records, or interrogate an Obliviator with veritaserum, so be it!

The train arrived in Euston Station, and she sneaked out. She had planned to take another train to central London, but those trains were more packed than she had thought - the risk of a muggle stumbling into her was too big. Her lessons in shadowing people in Diagon Alley during the Hogwarts rush were still quite fresh in her mind. She would have to walk until she was close enough to the Leaky Cauldron to apparate to the Corps Headquarters without getting tracked.

Granted, the odds of getting tracked were slim - it wasn't as if they could find her once she was in Wizarding Britain again, nor was there much of a chance of her being suspected - but the Obliviators might grow suspicious, and stop their crimes, delaying the investigation. And, if she was honest with herself, she was curious about the muggle world, after what she had seen so far.

She stepped into a toilet stall, and removed her invisibility cloak, and her robe. The muggle dress she wore underneath was the most modest she had found in her source material, but it still felt rather indecent to her. On the other hand, this 'cocktail dress' would not hinder her should she need to run or fight.

Half an hour later she was still not used to muggle London. Every street seemed as packed as Diagon Alley on a busy day. There were so many people, and they dressed so differently! If they had wands they'd look like the Quidditch World Cup camp. Nothing in the books she had read at Hogwarts had prepared her for this!

At a crossing, she checked her map again, to ensure she was not lost.

"Do you need help, Miss?"

She looked up and saw a man smile at her. "I'm just checking where I am." She couldn't let a muggle lead her to the Leaky Cauldron, even hidden as it was.

"London can be a bit overwhelming for a first time visitor. Where are you from?"

"Québec. I'm supposed to meet my boyfriend near here," she said, and hid a smirk when his face fell, and his beaming smile was replaced by a polite one, hiding - unless she was very mistaken - his disappointment. He had been helpful though, so she thanked him before walking on. Antoine would be amused, she thought, if she told him the story. Not that she could ever tell him this story; it would be admitting to having broken the law.

But she could imagine his smile at hearing it, at least.

London, August 21st, 1999, 13.26 hours

Ron Weasley wasn't certain if he'd be in at least slightly less danger if he were to conduct a frontal assault on the Ministry of Magic by himself rather than staying a second longer in this so-called 'safe house', where the twins were showing Percy their latest inventions. To think that their father had inspired such horrors with his fascination for all things muggle...

"And this is our best attempt on a binary poison yet. Binary poison is a bit of a misnomer - we used three components," George (probably) said.

"Actually two, and a catalyst, if you want to be precise," possibly Fred added.

"And we know you want to, Percy."

Percy, his hair dyed blond, chuckled. "As long as none of the components by themselves trigger wards we'll be good. Though I'd like to know the components anyway. While I'm not supposed to see any of the experiments in the DoM, accidents do happen."

Ron coughed. "Improved Polyjuice."

Percy grinned, and the twins frowned at their brothers. "That was a fluke!"

The oldest Weasley brother present shook his head. "What about counter-measures? Will a bezoar work? Or a Bubble-Head Charm?"

"A bezoar will slow it down, nothing more," Fred said.

"You still die, just more painfully. A Bubble-Head Charm will do nothing at all - it has a contact vector," George went on. "Stays around for a while too."

"How long will it stay around?" Percy asked.

"A few days until it degrades. It's resistant to the common cleaning spells too."

"Hm. So it cannot be used to deny the Ministry the use of the DoM," Percy pursed his lips.

"No. We tried to make it stay active for longer, but that made it harder to spread."

"Hm. It's not ideal. They are likely to have sealed rooms too, and those wouldn't be affected. It might be better to use that against the Minister." Percy looked at Ron. "What do you think?"

Ron nodded. "The Minister, from what I have been able to gather so far..."

"From his cute Wand-Leader!" Fred piped up.

"In bed!" George added.

Ron ignored them. "... is concerned about assassinations, but his security shouldn't be as hard to penetrate as the DoM. His office is unlikely to be fitted for potion and other volatile experiments." He sighed. "It'll be likely to affect a number of Ministry employees as well though." Wands among them. Maybe even friends of Hermione. Or… No. She was in the Investigative Branch, she didn't guard anyone anymore.

"You'll have to make sure your girl won't be around then."

"Tie her to the bed!"

Percy coughed. "Unhelpful suggestions aside, we will cause collateral damage. That's a given. If poison won't work well in the DoM, what else can you give us?" In that department at least, Ron thought, there wouldn't be any innocents or civilians.

"We were thinking of a magical variant of a fuel-air explosive." Fred pulled out a sketch. "Disperses an explosive fuel-air mix, then detonates it."

George stepped up next to him. "It wouldn't do that much to a place with proper fire wards, as long as they can protect their air or cast Bubble-Head Charms in time."

"Such as any place you live at that's still standing after two weeks," Ron said. Mum had been livid at the loss of that cellar.

"Shush! Anyway, And it'd be affected by air-cleaning charms, which would be in use there. We've solved that, and we've been working on a magical variant that bypasses those wards, but that didn't pan out. The actual blast was still affected."

Ron exchanged a glance with Percy. The twins were still far too fond of exposition. "So, what did you find that works?"

His two brothers frowned at him, then George sighed. "Well, the Magical FAE works, as long as it can spread enough and is large enough. Every ward can be overloaded, after all. But we're not certain that the DoM allows for a build-up with sufficient strength. So we took a look at another project."

"Get to the point please. We're the ones using the things," Percy said.

"You know how wards react when you botch up an attempt to take them down?" Fred grinned.

Ron winced. During his time in the Gendarmerie Magique, he had seen that happen once. An entire team of Curse-Breakers, wiped out.

Fred must have noticed his expression, since he nodded. "Exactly! We found a way to sort of duplicate such an attempt with runes. Just enough to trigger such a reaction."

"Merlin…" Ron could imagine the effect.

"Yes. And the wards will need a short while to regain their power, opening a window of opportunity for a FAE to do its work." George grinned. Sometimes, Ron worried for his brothers. More often, he was worried about them.

"With the personnel in the area already hurt by the wards overloading," Percy said with a grim expression.

"Exactly! And thanks to Gemino Curses, the whole array will fit into a normal pocket even without expansion charms. Takes a bit longer to deploy, but that shouldn't be a problem - it's just about a minute. After you trigger it."

"That's a rather short time to get away," Percy remarked dryly. "You're not still holding a grudge about last year's Yuletide?"

Fred rolled his eyes. "It got a time-delayed trigger, duh. We don't want you to die."

"I was just joking," Percy clarified.

"You need to say that in advance. You joking is such a rare occurrence, we're not used to it."

"I'm joking often, it's just that my jokes usually go over your heads." Percy smiled at the twins while Ron chuckled again.

"Sure, sure." George made a dismissive gesture. "Anyway, we've got a few more things ready. Including a knock-out stunning rune in a fake wand. Someone not keyed to it by blood touches it - poof! Great for taking out someone who disarms you."

"Not so great if your girl is cleaning up after you, so don't let it lay around in your bedroom, Ron!"

Ron rolled his eyes. He loved his brothers, but they could get really tiring. While he listened to another demonstration of a cursed quill, he wondered what Hermione would think of the twins, should they ever met. Would she be impressed by their creativity, or appalled by their antics? She seemed to adhere at least in part to a 'the end justifies the means' philosophy - no surprise, having been raised in Malfoy's Britain - but she also was quite determined to uphold the law. Maybe he should ask Luna.

He shook his head. He was thinking as if the witch was his girlfriend, and not working for the enemy. That sort of mistake could get him and his brothers killed.

And yet he couldn't stop it.

London, August 21st, 1999, 17.00 hours

Albus Dumbledore stepped out of the vanishing cabinet with a smile on his face and his wand ready. Though there were no enemies waiting for him, just one of the Weasley twins, staunch allies - even if some of his colleagues in Beauxbatons might have a different opinion. Albus couldn't deny that they often acted rather recklessly in school, but ultimately, nothing had happened that a few - or a lot, sometimes - Mending Charms couldn't fix.

"Greetings, Mister Weasley," he said, as much out of politeness as to judge if the young man - Fred, he thought - was influenced or controlled somewhat.

"Hello Professor," Fred grinned. "Right on time. George is in the lab. Can't stop our work, you understand."

"Of course." The twins' talent for potions and enchantments would have seen them with a successful business in Paris by now, if he hadn't recruited them for the Order. Hopefully, they'd pursue less lethal projects, once the war was won. But their ingenuity was needed now, to deal with a foe that had had almost 20 years to prepare. He sighed theatrically. "If the Headmistress knew about this…"

Fred grinned. "She'd curse about 'perfidious Albion' again."

Albus nodded, and used a communication mirror to tell Harry and Sirius, who were waiting in France still, that the house was safe. Or as safe as a building inhabited by the Weasley twins could be. "I trust you are careful with your work."

"Always, Professor!" The cheerful claim proved the young wizard's confidence, even if it didn't sound quite as reassuring to Albus, who had known the twins for years.

Sirius arrived in the vanishing cabinet, wand ready. Albus approved. He wouldn't go as far as his old friend Alastor, but they were in enemy country, and could not afford to be too trusting.

"Sirius!" Fred beamed at the older wizard.

"Hello! How are your brothers doing?" Sirius asked, looking around.

"Ron's flirting with a Wand-Leader." Fred smirked. "He's taking our Gryffindor tradition to extremes, but that's the youngest brother trying to prove himself for you."

"Good for him!" Sirius grinned.

Albus didn't think young Ron would be quite as ruthless or cunning as to seduce a witch to gain her trust in order to exploit it. The youngest Weasley son was following in big footsteps, but the professor doubted he'd pick such a way to prove himself. Then Harry arrived.

"Well, he's been meeting her often. He claims it's just to keep his cover, of course." Fred grinned.

"Hello … Fred? Who are you talking about?" Harry asked.

"Ronnikins. He's seducing one of Malfoy's enforcers."

"Like James Bond," Sirius added.

"And I'm George," Fred - Albus was quite certain now - said.

"Wow! Living dangerously, is he?" Harry shook his head.

"Says the boyfriend of our sister!" Fred grinned. "What's a Wand-Leader compared to the looming threat of six Weasley brothers, and Ginny's own temper?"

Harry snorted. "As if she'd let anyone, much less her brothers, hex me. Not that you lot could, of course." The boy smirked cockily, but Albus hadn't missed his earlier smile when Miss Weasley had been mentioned. Ah, young love!

"You're lucky you're on a mission, or we'd test that claim," Fred said.

"Keep telling yourself that, and you might sleep more easily," Harry answered, with a grin that could have been taken straight from Sirius - or James. Sometimes Albus wondered how Lily's presence would have changed the boy. Though as his steady relationship with Miss Weasley showed, Harry was not simply following Sirius's example in all things.

Albus coughed. "Loathe as I am to interrupt such a high-spirited discussion, we do not have unlimited time for our task." If they wanted to pin-point the locations of the remaining horcruxes, without apparating through Britain and attracting the attention of Lucius's henchmen, then they would have to work hard in the time they could be absent from France without arousing the suspicion of Olympe, or the French Ministry.

The four younger wizards grumbled, but acquiesced. Soon, Sirius, Harry and Albus were wearing invisibility cloaks - or the Cloak of Invisibility, in Harry's case - and astride the fastest brooms Sirius's gold could buy, three models of the 'Blitzschlag' from Daedalus, Prussian's foremost broom tuners.

"To think we're back in Britain, after all those years…" Sirius sounded nostalgic. "Lily always told me I'd end up banished from the island, but I didn't think she was serious." When neither Albus nor Harry reacted to his line, he sighed. "You're far too serious."

Albus ignored that opening as well, and addressed Harry. "Let us proceed." If his suspicion was correct, then London was a good starting point for their search.

London, August 22nd, 1999, 04.00 hours

A weary Albus approached the safe house. Unlike Sirius and Harry, he wasn't used to staying on his broom for hours and hours, cushioning charms or not. Not anymore, at least. And he wasn't getting any younger either. Though, he thought with grim determination, he was still fit enough to see this war through.

He used the communication mirror again, to signal their arrival to the Weasleys inside, so they could disarm the defenses. After half a minute, the 'all-clear' was given, and the three of them entered the house.

"Took you long enough! Did you fall asleep on your broom, you slacker?" Ron Weasley was there to greet them.

Harry snorted. "After a measly few hours? No chance in hell. The old man though…" he pointed at Sirius. Harry had held up under the strain this mission had put on him, though Albus knew the boy was at least mentally exhausted. Not that the stubborn wizard would admit that, of course - he'd claim he was fine with two limbs missing, the Professor thought.

The older wizard snorted. "As if. Now, what is this I heard about you seducing one of Lucius's hit-witches?"

"She's a Wand-Leader, not a hit-witch, and I'm not seducing her!" Mister Weasley said with an indignant tone.

"So, she's seducing you?" Harry raised his eyebrows.

"Children…" Albus said, before the situation could escalate. Harry and Mister Weasley were good friends, but both were tired, and both had a bit of a temper. He'd rather avoid having a row while they were in Britain on a mission. "We are on the clock, as the saying goes. If we are to keep our trip secret, we cannot linger for too long."

"Of course." Harry's friend grew serious at once. "Were you successful?"

"Indeed. We now know the locations of our targets."

"Great!" Mister Weasley beamed, then frowned when no one else shared his good mood. "I take it that's not a good thing?"

"From a certain point of view," Albus said.

"We'll have to break into Hogwarts, the Ministry of Magic, and Voldemort's Headquarters," Harry announced. "Piece of cake, right?" The boy was grinning, though Albus knew he was all too aware of how dangerous their mission was, and was simply putting up a good front.

Mister Weasley winced.