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

Chapter 7: A Bloody Evening

London, Ministry of Magic, August 27th, 1999, 16.55 hours

"You called, sir?" Daphne Greengrass asked, standing in the doorway to his office.

"Yes, I did," Lucius Malfoy, Minister for Magic, said to his secretary, holding up a scroll of parchment. "Please send copies of this to all Department Heads. It's a memo about the recent changes to our security procedures."

"Of course, sir." The young witch approached his desk, and bowed, as she took the scroll.

"After you've done that, you can go home, dear." Lucius smiled at her.

The girl looked surprised. "Are you certain, sir? You generally work late on Fridays."

Lucius didn't frown, even though he found it annoying that the dumb witch had managed to remember this habit of his, and today of all days, instead of his other habits and preferences. "I'm certain. Your parents would not be pleased with me if I keep you up too late." And he'd rather not deal with rumours of him and the blonde having an affair. Narcissa wasn't as smart or talented as she thought, but she had the excessive pride of the Blacks in spades, and knew far too many dark curses.

"Thank you, sir!" The witch beamed at him. "We've got a family dinner this evening. Astoria's back from her trip to Scandinavia."

"Oh? It's a most fortunate timing then," Lucius said, faking surprise. He had known the date the girl's sister would return, of course. It wouldn't do to have a family member survive the attack of the Dark Lord, and in a few days it would be too late - Astoria would be at Hogwarts for her final year, safe from attacks.

"Oh, yes! She visited Oslo and Stockholm, and even Lapland." Greengrass smiled widely. "My parents didn't want to let her go alone, before her graduation, but she wheedled and pleaded all during the Yuletide holiday until they caved in."

Lucius smiled while the twit talked about meaningless drivel he had absolutely no interest in. It helped that she'd be dead soon. To think that Crispin Greengrass might have expected Draco to marry this girl! As if he'd let such a simple witch pollute the Malfoy bloodline!

When the girl started to mention Astoria's friends from school - something about a Naturalist club, Lucius coughed, and rustled a few sheets of parchments.

"Oh, I'm sorry… here you give me the rest of the evening off, and I'm holding you up!" Greengrass blushed, fittingly embarrassed.

He smiled gently, hiding his scorn. "Do not dwell on it, dear. Family is important."

She bowed, and left his office.

He sighed when the door had closed behind her. He'd be able to hire a smarter secretary soon. Parkinson would be a good choice. She and Draco might even get over their unfortunate animosity if they had to interact regularly.

London, Diagon Alley, August 27th, 1999, 19.45 hours

If a Wand wanted to go dancing, there wasn't much of a selection of venues in Wizarding Britain. The clubs that featured 'traditional wizard dancing' didn't admit muggleborns as a rule. Most of them didn't allow half-bloods inside either. That meant that the few locations where half-bloods and muggleborns could dance were always packed. Like 'Ebenezer's', a pub with a dance floor situated in a side alley of Diagon Alley. Hermione would be meeting Antoine there, according to the note an owl had dropped off in the afternoon.

Hermione spotted him outside the pub at once. Her friend was leaning against the wall, watching the people outside, both the guests taking a break, and the passersby. The witch was struck with how similar to a Wand he was acting, tense and observant. It shouldn't be a surprise, she thought, seeing as he had lived through a war. When he saw her, he pushed off the wall and met her halfway.

"There you are!" he said, then kissed her.

"Your note said a quarter to eight," Hermione said. She was perfectly on time, as a Wand should be.

"That it did." He looked her over. "You look fine today."

"A Wand's always ready for duty," she answered with a grin. Despite his compliment, she was feeling slightly defensive about wearing her regular robes instead of dress robes. Not that she had civilian dress robes. She had briefly, very briefly, considered transfiguring one set of robes into something a bit more fashionable, but she was a Wand of Britain, and she'd not hide.

He grinned, and offered her his arm. "And your duty tonight is to enjoy yourself!"

She had to giggle at that as they entered the pub. It was full of people - mostly half-bloods, she thought, with a few Wands and probably even fewer purebloods - smoke, and loud music. A privacy spell and a Bubble-Head Charm allowed them to talk to each other though. A few drinks later - Hermione stuck with butterbeer - they were on the dance floor.

"I thought you couldn't dance," Antoine asked, smiling, but implying a question.

"I meant traditional dances," she explained. Pureblood dances, very formal, very traditional. Very much not for muggleborns. She had thought and maybe hoped a bit that Antoine was talking about those when he had offered to teach her.

"Ah!" He grinned. "I think those here are more fun though."

She nodded just as the song changed to a slower one. A glance later, she was dancing so close to him, she could rest her head on his shoulder. He was right, she thought, this was more fun than the dances she had seen on guard duty.

Then she felt the enchanted coin in her pocket starting to vibrate. Hermione had created that one back in Hogwarts, during her fifth year, so she could contact Luna and vice versa. It didn't let them talk to each other, but it had three different vibrations Luna had dubbed 'Hey!', 'Let's meet later!' and 'Help!'. It wasn't of much use outside school, where they could easily use owls or the Floo, but it was a memento of their friendship, and so Hermione always kept it on her.

And she was very glad for that right now - her friend was calling for help.

London, Diagon Alley, August 27th, 1999, 21.04 hours

"Luna needs help!" Wand-Leader Hermione told Antoine as she turned away and started towards the exit, pushing past the other guests and ignoring their protests. They shut up quickly once they saw she was a Wand, anyway.

She gripped the enchanted coin. Luna had mentioned during lunch that she was meeting her friend Astoria Greengrass this evening. But would they be in Greengrass Manor, or somewhere else? Greengrass… the Minister's secretary was Astoria's sister.

She felt someone grab her arm and whirled around, wand at the ready, before she realised it was Antoine asking: "What happened, Hermione?"

She hadn't noticed that he had been following her! "It's Luna! She needs help! But I don't know where she is… of course, the Floo! I'm sorry, I have to go!" She hated to do this, but Luna needed her.

"Wait! I'll come with you!" Antoine reached for her again.

"What?" She shook her head. "You can't. This might be an attack by the Fanatics."

He hesitated, then asked: "And what if it's not?"

"If it's not I'll come fetch you. I'll know in a few minutes!"

With that, she apparated straight to the Ministry.

Hermione reappeared at the designated Apparition area, with two wands aimed at her. The Wands on guard there - Seamus and Sally-Anne today - were alert, as they should be - customarily, one entered the Ministry through the Floo or main entrance, not by Apparition.

"Possible attack on Greengrass Manor, I'm going to check the Floo connection. Seamus, alert the Corps!" Hermione barked at them, already rushing towards the lift. Seamus followed her a second later.

The ride down to level 6, where the Floo Network Authority was located, took far too long for Hermione's liking. Luna was in danger… even the wards on an old building like Greengrass Manor wouldn't hold off the Fanatics too long, as the attacks on Malfoy Manor and Nott Manor had proven. She almost blew the doors open when they were not quick enough for her.

There was no guard here, but there was a clerk on duty, looking as if she had startled him. Before he could ask what she wanted, she snapped: "Emergency, come with me!" and stormed past him towards the closest Floo connection.

She ignored his protest that those Floo connections were for maintaining the network, not actual use. It was an emergency. Kneeling down, she threw powder into the fire and shouted: "Greengrass Manor!"

The floo didn't light up. "Check the connection!" she ordered, standing up.

The clerk fumbled with his wand. She couldn't wait for the dolt, not with Luna's life on the line! She was halfway back to the lift when he finally yelled: "The Floo here is working properly, the problem is on the other end!"

Definitely an attack then. Or at least, she thought, there were more than enough reasons to assume one. Her slight guilt at thinking about covering her action disappeared when she imagined Luna trapped inside a burning house, or worse, captured by those animals.

Foregoing the lift, she sprinted up the stairs to the Wands' Headquarters, where brown-robed Wands were already gathered. "Greengrass Manor's Floo connection is down. Luna was meeting with their daughter and signalled for help!" she shouted.

The first squads were apparating out before she had spotted Dean and Colin among the Wands. Linking up with her team, she followed the next wave.

Those cowardly criminals would face the full might of the Corps!

Kent, United Kingdom, August 27th, 1999, 21.15 hours

When Hermione and her team arrived in the field outside Greengrass Manor, the first wave had already conjured staggered walls to provide the arrival zone with cover and break the line of sight. Above them, a squad of broom riders had just taken to the sky. She couldn't help frowning at the memories of flying lessons that the sight brought back.

"With me!" Hermione ordered, and moved away from the arrival zone, Dean and Colin following her. It wasn't dark yet, so as soon as she was past the inner walls, she could see the first squads moving to envelop the estate, and trap the attackers between them and the wards of the manor - like in training. She still had fond memories of 'Exercise Audacity', where she had received a commendation.

A flash behind her startled the young witch. "Colin!" she shouted, "Don't do that!"

"Sorry," the youngest member of her team said, without sounding as if he really regretted it. He continued taking pictures too.

She was about to read him the riot act when Dean shook his head. "We're just reserves, like the youngest Wands. With all of us here, we won't be needed until it's time to bag the bodies.

Hermione frowned. While she shared his view, orders were orders. They might be members of the Investigative Branch, and one Wand short of their full complement, but they were members of the Corps, and every Wand did their duty. Before she could say anything though she saw spells flashing in the distance. "Contact at the gate," she said, pointing at the area and pulling out her omnioculars. "Stay here, Colin, or I'll stun you and portkey you straight to the brig," she added, knowing he was about to move towards the fight.

"We've got the area covered with anti-apparition and anti-portkey jinxes," Dean said unhelpfully, staring through his own omnioculars. Colin was still taking pictures.

"Looks like they have the situation in hand," Hermione said, as she saw three squads of Wands engage about half a dozen dark-robed and masked enemies. Outnumbered two to one, the Fanatics didn't stand a chance. A volley of Blasting Curses broke whatever formation they had, and the shaken survivors were taken down by Piercing and Cutting Curses. She hoped one of them would be stunned as well; they needed prisoners.

"There's another skirmish at the other end!" Colin said in a voice even more excited than usual.

Hermione turned around. Another two squads were engaged there. "Looks like that one's already over…" she started to say when the entire area vanished in an explosion. Bombarda Maxima, she realised, blinking, though how had one spell caught all of the Wands there at once? They had been spread out to avoid exactly that...

"Merlin!" Dean exclaimed.

Through the dust cloud thrown up by the explosion, Hermione could see the flashes of green spells. Killing Curses. "No one authorised them yet…" she said.

Two figures ran out of the cloud. Brown robes - Wands. She recognised one of them: Francis, one year above her at Hogwarts. He was casting blindly behind him, as was the witch next to him. A green spell hit him from behind, and he fell. The other Wand turned around, conjuring a wall in front of Francis and herself, then knelt down. Before she could check on her fallen comrade, the wall was blasted to pieces and her Shield Charm shattered under the hail of stone shards. The witch was about to cast again when a Cutting Curse sliced her in half and she fell down next to Francis, drenching both of them in her blood.

The dust cloud was still settling when a monster walked out. Pale skin, inhuman face, red eyes. Behind him followed more wizards wearing the Death Eater masks, and one witch Hermione recognised at once from the wanted posters and her file.

Bellatrix Lestrange.

"Merlin's Balls!" Dean cursed next to her. "That's Lestrange!"

"Switch to earthen walls and fortifications!" Hermione shouted, conjuring already. Others were not as quick, and the monster in the front sent spells at the stone walls shielding the Corps' command post, turning them into weapons against the Wands as slivers and fragments were sent flying through the air from explosions.

The voice of Wand-Commander Daniel sounded through the camp, amplified by a spell: "Mary, Robert, centre! Keavan, Sarah, flank!"

Hermione was busy conjuring earthen walls while the Wand-Leaders named deployed their squads as ordered. She saw Mary and three more Wands run to a gap she had left between her last two walls, where they stopped to cast. Multiple explosions sounded from up front.

"That'll teach them!" Dean snarled, conjuring more walls himself.

Hermione wasn't certain, and created steps in the wall in front of her, to climb up. She needed to know what was happening. Colin followed her. The Wand was still holding his camera.

The blasting spells from Mary's squad had left craters in the earth, but hadn't stopped the enemy's advance. The pale monster in front was striding forward, a wave of his wand filling the craters while spells splashed harmlessly against his shield. He seemed unstoppable, a force of nature. Hermione felt fear fill her.

Cursing under her breath, she fought her fear down and shouted: "His shield is withstanding multiple curses!" She saw the monster look at her, his wand flashing, and threw herself off the wall, taking Colin with her, a second before the earthen top exploded. Her shield caught the clumps of soil thrown at her easily. If that had been solid stone...

Both Wands landed hard, though Colin had it worse, with Hermione landing on top of him. He cried out in pain, and she thought she had heard at least one bone break. But it was better than getting hit by that curse. Rolling off him, she called to Dean: "Get him to the Healer!"

Her friend dragged the smaller wizard off, not bothering with a levitation spell. Another wall exploded, and more curses tore through the cloud of debris thrown up, striking two Wands who had taken cover there. One screamed, his leg cut off, the other made strangling noises with his intestines wrapped around his neck.

She heard more explosions from up ahead. The broom flyers had started to attack the Fanatics. She heard screams as well, so they had hit at least some of the enemies. A glance through a gap showed her that the monster and Lestrange were still advancing, seemingly unaffected by the bombardment, the dark witch cackling madly. The pale thing flicked its wrist, and shot a few curses up in the air. They burst into green clouds. One of the broom riders couldn't evade them, and flew straight through one. Hermione realised they were acid clouds when he started screaming, tearing at his blistering skin, and fell from his smoking broom, wildly jerking until he hit the ground.

The enemy's advance was halted by Keavan's and Sarah's squads attacking from the flank. The masked Fanatics behind the leading group were struck hard and driven towards the wards of Greengrass Manor. Hermione readied herself for the sally that would be ordered and transfigured the earth in front of Lestrange and the monster into a bunch of poisonous snakes to distract them.

Instead of attacking them though, the snakes turned around and slithered towards the Wands' positions. Hermione gaped, and was almost too late to dive behind cover again when the mad witch sent a few curses at her.

She rushed to the next gap while the wall next to her was crumbling from multiple spells, sending an unaimed Blasting Curse at the dark witch, who was already turning towards the Wands who were flanking them.

Why wasn't the commander ordering the sally? She sprinted towards the command post, around a still-standing stone wall, then recoiled. Wand-Commander Daniel and the Wands with him were down - dead it seemed, Daniel's bloody body held within the coils of a monstrous snake of giant size, fangs the size of wands piercing his neck.

Hermione didn't hesitate. She cast a Cutting Curse at the snake, slicing deep into its body and causing it to shriek in agony, further proving its unnatural nature, then vanished the earth beneath it, forming a pit to trap it.

Turning around, she cast an Amplifying Charm. "Wand-Commander Daniel is dead. Special Authorisation granted. Centre, move to engage the enemy! For Britain!"

The Wands behind the walls charged to the gaps or climbed the walls. Hermione herself rushed to the top of the closest wall thanks to conjured steps, pointed her wand at the monster and summoned all the hatred she felt.

"Avada Kedavra!"

All around her, green spells flew towards the enemies. For a moment, she felt elated. No one could dodge that many spells!

The monster was too quick though, and vanished behind a conjured wall himself. Even before the obstacle was shattered by dozens of curses, Hermione was already casting the next Killing Curse.

"Avada Kedavra!"

Another wall shattered, and this time, staggered curses followed it up. Hermione saw several of the Fanatics behind Lestrange fall down, struck. She aimed her wand at the centre of the enemy's formation, where a wall was stubbornly standing. Spell after spell hit it, and it would be destroyed soon enough, no matter what kind of magic kept it standing despite the onslaught.

Before it fell though, two figures shot up into the air from behind it. The monster and Lestrange, both flying without a broom. That … Hermione sent a spell after them, together with several other Wands, but she knew they wouldn't hit them. They were too fast, too far away.

The stragglers on the ground though… that was a textbook encirclement. No one had to give the Wands any orders as they cut the fanatics down with well-aimed spells.

And yet Hermione didn't feel satisfied, much less happy. Too many Wands had been struck as well, by that pale inhuman monster. With a sinking feeling, the exhausted witch realised that those had not been delusional Fanatics led by Lestrange. Whatever that… thing… had been, it had been far more powerful than any wizard she had ever seen.

Kent, United Kingdom, August 27th, 1999, 21.45 hours

"What happened?"

Wand-Leader Hermione stood at attention outside the Greengrass Manor while the Minister for Magic listened to Wand-Leader Sarah report the night's events. According to seniority she would succeed Daniel in command of the Corps, unless the Minister promoted someone else in her place, of course. Hermione's usurpation of command had been as short-lived as the battle itself. She didn't think she'd be punished given the circumstances, but as always when she had done something against the rules, but for a good reason, there was that lingering doubt until matters were settled properly. Which wouldn't happen for some time, she knew, with the losses the Corps had taken today. So many dead…. over a dozen Wands had been killed and even more had been wounded - some with crippling curses, already in St. Mungo's. The Corps would take a long time to recover from such a blow. Time the enemy would not grant them, if they were smart.

At least the enemy had been hurt as well. Over twenty of them had been killed, a handful captured. Among the dead was Rodolphus Lestrange, one of Britain's most wanted wizards. The Fanatics had been struck a heavy blow, but Hermione didn't think it outweighed the loss of Daniel, and so many others. At least Dean and Colin had survived. The younger wizard hadn't been hit by a dark curse, so he'd be back on duty in a day or two.

She stood even straighter when Sarah reported that Hermione had taken command after Daniel's death, and the Minister's attention turned to her. "That was good and quick thinking, Wand-Leader. Your actions may have won the battle. Commendable."

Hermione felt a warm glow inside her upon hearing Minister Malfoy praise her. "Thank you, sir. I was merely at the right place to act, any other Wand-Leader would have done the same I think. I'm sorry that monster escaped."

He smiled. "It won't escape next time, now that its powers are known."

"Yes, sir!"

The Minister turned back to Sarah, when a Wand approached them: "Sir! The Greengrass family has left their manor!"

Hermione turned and drew her wand, as did the other Wands. It was highly unlikely that the Greengrasses were a threat, but no Wand took the security of the Minister lightly. Especially out in the field. There was the family, and there was...

"Hermione!"

Wand-Leader Hermione had to struggle to keep her composure when she saw her best friend rush towards her. She almost shouted 'Luna!', despite the Minister's presence. Knowing nothing she could do would dissuade the blonde witch from her chosen course of action, Hermione opened her arms and braced herself just in time for Luna to slam into her and hug her hard. She just knew she would get teased about this later by her friends!

"I knew you'd save us, but when I saw the snake-creature attack I was so worried…" Luna sniffled.

Hermione was briefly confused. How had her friend seen the snake that had killed the Commander? Maybe afterwards, when the unnatural animal had tried to climb out of the pit she had created? No, it had been cut to pieces with multiple curses from a squad of Wands before it reached the top.

"And when he flew off… I wanted to go out right away, but the Greengrasses said we should stay until we were certain it was safe!"

Ah, she was talking about that creature! Upon reflection, the monster had looked a bit like a snake, with its missing nose. Hermione nodded. "We beat it, Luna, no worries." No need to go into the terrifying details; the younger witch was unnerved enough already. "I got your message, and alerted the Corps." And she really should create a better way to communicate; a way to send actual messages.

Looking around, she saw that the Minister was talking with the Greengrasses. From what she could overhear the family was, of course, very grateful that they had been saved by the Minister's forces. Daphne Greengrass even looked like she wanted to hug him. Hermione understood the sentiment.

"Come, you have to meet them!" Luna started to drag her off before she could object.

"Wait!" Hermione said, but to no avail.

"Mister Greengrass? This is Hermione, the friend I contacted when the Floo was down! I told you she'd save us all!" Luna yelled, heedless of the fact that she was interrupting the Minister himself. At least, the embarrassed witch thought, the Minister looked amused rather than annoyed. He was fond of Luna's family, she remembered hearing.

Once more Hermione found herself the centre of attention. She tried to say that she had just done her duty, but Luna was already talking about the coin, and Hermione's achievement in creating it.

Hermione could only nod and hope Luna didn't start telling tales of their time at Hogwarts.

London, Diagon Alley, August 28th, 1999, 01.29 hours

An owl pecking at the window of his room had Ron Weasley up from his bed and letting the bird inside in a few seconds. He hadn't been able to sleep anyway, worrying too much about Hermione and Luna.

The owl had a ring with the Ministry seal and was carrying a rolled-up parchment. He all but ripped it off the bird, ignoring its protests, and read it. It was curt, but told him what he wanted to hear after worrying for hours: Both Hermione and Luna were safe and unhurt. She'd talk to him later.

He sat down on the bed again, sighing with relief and smiling, then closed his eyes. He couldn't really deny it anymore - he had fallen in love, and hard, with the enemy. A misguided enemy, lied to and exploited by her commanders, but an enemy nonetheless.

"Merde alors!"

He had a mission, he reminded himself. Hermione had been called away because Luna needed help. Given her words before she had left, and the note stressing that both were safe and unhurt, the logical conclusion was that they had been in danger, probably in battle. Not against his family, he thought - he doubted Tonks would have attacked Luna, or if she had, wouldn't have given her time to call for help, and Fred, George and Percy were all busy with their own tasks.

But once they were ready… he didn't want his family to fight Hermione, and he certainly didn't want to fight her himself. He had to find a way to get her out of the war. Capture her, and move her to France, or somewhere else. She'd hate him, but she'd be safe.

London, Ministry of Magic, August 28th, 1999, 10.21 hours

'Albino Half-Naga Attacks Greengrass Manor'

Minister for Magic Lucius Malfoy shook his head, staring at the headline of the special issue of The Quibbler. He briefly skimmed through the speculation that the giant snake that had been killed was a foster parent or sibling of the 'Half-Naga', then dropped it on his desk. "The things Lovegoods come up with…" he said with a smile. It was useful though. An exotic monster attacking Britain was certainly better for the country's morale than speculation about the Dark Lord returning from the dead.

The wizard sitting across from him didn't share his amusement. Severus, his nominal advisor in Defense matters, was quite agitated - understandable, since he was likely to be held responsible by the Dark Lord for the failed raid on Greengrass Manor. The spy scoffed. "I'm less interested in reading this nonsense than in finding out how the attack failed." He stared at Lucius. "You assured me that all precautions had been taken."

The Minister didn't like the suspicion audible in his spy's tone, even though it was to be expected. He had done all he had promised. "Everything had been prepared. But no one could have predicted that Miss Lovegood would invite herself to the Greengrass' family dinner to welcome their youngest daughter back, nor that she would have a way to alert the mudbloods. No one but a Seer, and as you know, those are in short supply."

Severus's eyes briefly opened, then they narrowed again. For the dour potioneer, that was as good as gaping, Lucius thought. "Lovegood fouled this up?"

Lucius nodded. "It's quite a coincidence, but I looked into it. She's friends with a Wand-Leader, and they had created a way to contact each other during their time at Hogwarts."

"A communication mirror?"

"Not exactly. It was a variant of the Protean Charm. Quite primitive, of course, and unable to convey any information other than danger, but the mudblood in question assumed the worst, and mobilised the Corps." Lucius sighed. Hermione was proving to be even smarter than he had expected, but her tendency to act as she saw fit, evident in her taking command at the battle, was a two-edged blade.

"Who was the mudblood?"

"Hermione, from the Investigative Corps." Lucius knew his spy needed as much information as possible to placate the Dark Lord. Maybe the potential problem in his ranks would be solved by the Dark Lord himself?

"I think I remember her. Obnoxious attitude, and more eager to please than your average Ministry sycophant?" Severus sneered.

"She's very loyal and shows a lot of initiative." And would serve as a good scapegoat for the Dark Lord, Lucius thought.

The other wizard nodded. "I trust your relations with the Greengrass family have improved considerably as a result of this… mishap."

"They have." Lucius almost sighed. While the gratitude of the family was useful and would certainly serve to further prove the information Severus had delivered to the Dark Lord, Daphne seemed to suffer from a bad case of hero-worship. She had all but thrown herself at him last night, and he was not quite certain how to handle her once she returned to work - he had ordered her to take a day or two off, to recover from her ordeal. If Narcissa mistook her attitude for something else… his wife had a rather large, and usually irrational streak of jealousy.

"How many losses did the mudbloods suffer?"

"They are still treating some at St. Mungo's, but the estimate is that the Corps suffered fewer than twenty total losses. More than that was inflicted on the Dark Lord's forces. Among the dead was Rodolphus Lestrange."

Severus winced. He might have to pad those numbers a bit, or so Lucius thought, to avoid the Dark Lord's anger. Though according to some rumors his spy had revealed, the Dark Lord might not be that concerned about the loss of Bellatrix' husband.

"The commander of the Corps was killed as well. You can portray that as a grave loss." It wasn't, actually, in his opinion. Wands were replaceable.

Severus nodded. "I'll inform you as soon as I have more news about the Dark Lord's reaction."

If he survived, Lucius thought. The man was quite the accomplished spy, but the Dark Lord sometimes lost his temper. He hoped Severus survived - he needed the man to win this conflict.

London, Ministry of Magic, August 28th, 1999, 11.35 hours

Wand-Leader Hermione hadn't had a good morning. None of the Wands had. Everyone was dealing with the aftermath of the biggest battle the Corps had seen so far - and the most costly too. Her joy at having saved Luna had been replaced with sorrow about the losses the Corps had taken, and anger at the mistakes she and her fellow Wands had made in that battle.

She had already made a list of weaknesses that had to be addressed, first among them communications. The wands needed a better way to communicate in a battle. Communication mirrors wouldn't work, and the Protean Charm she was thinking of using as a way to send messages to Luna wouldn't work well either, not in battle. It would have to be a sort of … a charm that let the commander address all the Wands, or a group of them, and let the Wands report back. But mirrors were limited to a pair. Maybe if each Wand-Leader received one… though the Wand-Commander would be stuck juggling them, unable to do much else.

She sighed, leaning back in her seat. Colin was still in St. Mungo's, but would be back later today. He'd have to fill out the paperwork then though. Dean was helping out Sarah. And she was supposed to be working on her investigation. But she hadn't found a lead on Keagan Banks and Ottokar Merriweather yet. They were not listed in the Wards License Registry. Which meant they were from families who already had warded houses. Which meant they were the heirs.

She'd have to check the wills. After she met with Antoine for lunch. Her boyfriend? Lover? She didn't know how he saw her. He was a pureblood, and a foreigner. But she knew that she considered him her friend. He had worried about her, as his note had told her. She felt guilty at having let him worry for so long - especially since she knew he had experienced war himself.

She checked the clock. Time to go and meet him.

London, Diagon Alley, August 28th, 1999, 12.00 hours

Ron Weasley hugged Hermione as soon as he reached her. "You're safe!"

He felt her grow tense for a moment as she said: "I sent you a note as soon as I could." She sounded more than a bit defensive, and he berated himself mentally- he hadn't wanted to make her feel guilty, or anything.

"I'm sorry, I just…" he trailed off. She would understand the sentiment, he thought.

Hermione nodded. They remained in each other's arms for a bit longer, then separated and sat down at the table. He noticed the waitress grinning, but didn't care one way or the other. Who cared about public displays of affection, as Percy called them, when you were fighting a war?

"What happened?" he asked. "I've read Luna's article, but…" he grinned ruefully. "How is she doing, anyway?"

"She's either with Astoria Greengrass, or her father. It depends on how long she has to convince him to let her out of the Rookery ever again," the witch explained.

"Oh. Understandable, I suppose."

The frown she sent at him made him feel happy that he hadn't joked about wanting to keep her safe as well. She wasn't one of the witches looking for a big Gendarme to protect them, or at least acted as if they were, he reminded himself.

"So… was there an albino Half-Naga?" He asked, after ordering. He was curious, but this would also be very useful intel.

Hermione nodded, though he thought it was a bit reluctant. "The description in the article is accurate, though I couldn't tell if it was actually a Half-Naga. It was not human, that's certain."

"A monster cult?" He had heard of such things, though never encountered one. Some creatures could control the minds of wizards and witches, gathering groups of dedicated followers that way. Veela were said to have done that in the past as well.

The witch pressed her lips together for an instant, before answering: "Maybe."

He was rather certain she didn't think so, and didn't want to lie, but didn't press the question. It didn't take a genius to deduce that this had been the Dark Lord, not if one knew what he did. Dumbledore's briefing had been quite informative. "There was also a fierce battle, according to the article."

She nodded once more, less reluctantly, but her expression told him that the battle had been as costly as described. "That's true as well."

"And you were in the thick of it." He reached out to grab her hand and ran his thumb over the back of it.

"I did my duty. As did everyone else."

"And you won. It won't bring the dead back though."

"No, it won't." She nodded with a faint, sad smile, probably thinking he had been in the same situation.

He felt guilty at deceiving her - he had seen fellow Gendarmes get cursed, but he had never been in a battle of that scale. He had studied enough about the war in Québec to fake it though. "Do you think they'll attack again?" It was a dumb question, of course. They would. The Dark Lord wouldn't stop just because a few dozen people had been killed.

"Their leaders escaped, as did some of their forces," the girl said, then bit her lower lip, as if she had said too much.

He acted as if he hadn't noticed her slip - the article hadn't mentioned other leaders. "I'm certain that you'll be ready for them though," he said, patting her hand.

She nodded with a grim, almost ferocious expression. "We will be."

He continued to lightly prod her for more snippets of information during the meal, feeling guilty all the time.

London, August 28th, 1999, 13.54 hours

"You know, Ron, if you corrupt Harry to your ways, and turn him into a suave seductive spy, Ginny will hex you into a puddle."

Ron Weasley sighed at probably George. He had already briefed the twins on what he had found out, and correlated from the news articles. And of course they had focused on 'the Dark Lord ruining his date', and his 'James Bond act'.

Ron loved his family. Including his brothers. That didn't mean he assumed even for a second that he could ask any of them for advice about his love life. He had learned that lesson in his fourth year. And hadn't forgiven them until his sixth year. And that had been just the general chagrin d'amour of a boy crushing on a girl who didn't return his feelings. Not him sleeping with the enemy on a spy mission.

So, Ron was really glad that Harry would be arriving shortly. He needed a friend he could talk to about his love life. A friend who would not mock him, or spill his secrets to the rest of the family. Harry wouldn't do that, even though he was dating Ginny and Ron's parents considered him family already. That Ron knew a number of embarrassing secrets about Harry, including that incident with Fleur Delacour, was just insurance, of course.

The mirror next to the vanishing cabinet lit up. "I'm coming through now." It sounded like Harry's voice to Ron. He and George had their wands trained on the cabinet anyway before it began to open.

Harry stepped out, straightening and nodding at them. A few detection spells later, Ron patted him on the back. "Good to see you, mec! How's France?"

"The same as usual. Ginny's busy with her new team."

Ron nodded. "And our little sister is annoyed that you spend so much time in Britain, I bet. And that, being the new star player of the Avignon Aigles, she can't come with you."

Harry winced. "She understands how important this is. But with the matches on the weekends, and me not always there to support her, nor at the parties in the evenings… some magazine already speculated that I'm jealous of her success as a Quidditch player, and we're on the outs."

"Damn, that's bad." Ron knew Ginny had a temper, and wasn't one to simply endure such rumours. What she had done to the girl insinuating she was using Harry as a beard to hit on Gabrielle…

"She's already planning a few 'outings' for us to counter such rumours," Harry said while the two went upstairs, to a hopefully bug-free room to talk. "But enough of my love troubles. What about yours?"

Ron blinked, and his friend laughed. "Please. I know you. You're not the type to seduce a girl to take advantage of her. Of course you'd have troubles."

Ron wasn't certain if he should feel flattered or insulted by that. But he had hoped to talk about that exact topic with Harry, even though he'd not have called it 'love trouble'. More like… Well, it was love, and he was in trouble, but still.

Once they were in the living room, he cast a privacy spell and sat down in the old armchair, sighing. "Mec, I feel terrible about lying to her."

"I somehow think you'd feel rather worse if you told her the truth, that you're a spy working for her dear Minister's enemies," Harry said.

Ron frowned at him. He had forgotten about his friend's sarcasm.

Harry held up a hand in a placating gesture. "I'm just saying how it is. How serious are you anyway? I hope that you're not already thinking of names for your children."

Ron snorted. Mum had had Harry spooked right well and proper that dinner, until his friend had realised that she had been joking - mostly. "We both use protection." He hadn't meant to say that yet.

"You're already sleeping with each other? Wow, that's..."

He glared at Harry, and his friend didn't finish whatever he had been about to say. Ron wasn't about to say it had just been one time. It hadn't been a one-night stand, even if they hadn't found the time yet to do it again.

"Merlin, haven't seen that glare since I told you about the rumors about Marie, in 5th." Harry smiled.

"Those were spread by Melanie." That jealous bitch, Ron remembered, had managed to wreck that relationship thoroughly. He'd been an idiot, back then.

"Well, you do seem serious. More serious than I thought." Harry didn't sound like he considered that a good thing.

"I just want to keep her safe."

"Pretty hard to do that, with her being a Wand and all," Harry pointed out.

"Well…" Ron trailed off.

His friend sighed. "And that expression I haven't seen since your 'fool-proof plan' in 6th. You know, the one that wasn't fool-proof at all, you fool. What are you thinking of now?"

"I was thinking of capturing her. Get her out of the country. Keep her safe until the war's over." It would work.

"She'd hate you, and with good reason, mec. Sleep with her, then she wakes up a prisoner? That's not just bricking up the fireplace, that's blowing it up and cursing the remains. And we're not even talking about how she'd feel about you betraying her country."

Ron frowned at him. He knew that, and far better than Harry - who had never met her. "She'll hate me anyway, once she finds out who I am and what I do. At least this way she'll not be fighting us."

"Mec, you're screwed then."

"I know."

The two wizards stayed silent for a while, then started to talk about Quidditch.

London, August 28th, 1999, 15.01 hours

Albus Dumbledore studied the pictures taken of the Death Eater cottage - footage, the twins called it. "Remarkable pictures. To think the muggles have advanced that much in the last few years…"

"Yes, Professor. Dad's been on our case about the 'muggle options', as he calls them, ever since we joined the Order," Fred said.

"The older guard doesn't like his ideas," George added, "no matter how useful they are."

"Old people are often rather conservative," Albus said, smiling gently.

"You're even older," Fred pointed out.

"And I am quite stuck in my ways. It's just that one of my ways is being curious about new things." He chuckled, then focused on the pictures again. The Death Eaters seemed to leave with brooms, under the cover of disillusionment spells, or invisibility cloaks. That made them slow to deploy, and to return, but safe from surveillance. They'd likely be prepared for tracking charms as well.

"So, Professor, will we be blowing the cottage up? Roast us some Death Eaters?"

He shook his head. "No. That would reveal too much about our ability to track them." And threaten Severus's cover, which was already on very shaky ground, after the failed attack on the Greengrasses. "We'll need another way to lure Tom's followers into a battle with the Ministry's forces." He tapped the Daily Prophet and The Quibbler on the table in the safe house. "I think we have a few opportunities here as well."

Albus was quite certain that the Dark Lord would not tolerate looking like a fool, nor was he a wizard who tended to let those who defied him and escaped live. But Tom would take some persuasion and manipulation to launch an attack at either the Lovegoods or the Greengrasses, given his recent setbacks. Severus could work on that, once he had secured his position again.

Of the two families, the Lovegoods, former neighbours of the Weasleys, were the easier and more likely target for a raid. At least the Wand-Leader Severus had mentioned lived in the Ministry itself. That was a good thing, since she was the one young Ron was interested in.

Fate had a peculiar sense of humor, Albus thought.