I'd like to thank brianna-xox and fredfred for betaing. They improved the story a lot.
Chapter 20: Countermove
Forest of Bowland, Lancashire, Britain, September 28th, 1999, 12.15 hours
Albus Dumbledore stood with his broom in hand, about two miles away from the cottage where Tom and his last Horcrux were hiding. Had been hiding - Harry had told him that they had moved last night. Not something entirely unexpected, but the timing of the move, the day before the Wands of Britain and the Order of the Phoenix were about to launch their attack, was suspicious. Severus hadn't contacted him yet either. Again, nothing unusual - his spy had to be very careful not to arouse the Dark Lord's suspicion, now that his cover at the Ministry had been blown. And yet he had a bad feeling about this.
"Do you expect a trap?" Sarah asked. The leader of the Corps didn't show any sign of being nervous, even though Albus knew that she was not just concerned with this mission, but also with the revelation of Lucius's betrayal. It was both remarkable and sad to see such a young witch so used to such things.
"I believe, after hearing about the ambush that almost cost Draco Malfoy his life, that it is safe to assume that the building indeed contains a trap. Triggering it will probably alert the Dark Lord as well." It was what Albus would have done in Tom's place.
"Our scouts will be very careful."
"I think it would be best if I went with them," Albus said. He'd prefer to just risk himself and no one else, but he doubted the Wand-Commander would agree to that. There was not yet much trust between the Corps and the Order.
Sarah nodded, then turned and walked towards her Wands. The Corps had gathered an impressive force, over fifty Wands. Next to them, the dozen members of the Order of the Phoenix who had come with him didn't look as imposing. He had picked the most experienced though, and the most essential. They'd carry their weight, and then some.
Albus walked over to where Harry, Miss Weasley and Sirius were standing. The animagus was watching Sarah talk to her subordinates, but turned towards Albus once he noticed him.
"I suspect this is a trap, so I will investigate with a few Wands while you remain safe," Albus said. "The probability of an ambush is rather low." And the chance of such an ambush succeeding was even lower - Harry would notice if the Dark Lord approached, and Anti-Apparition Jinxes had secured the camp.
Harry didn't look happy with Albus's order, but he nodded, if more than a bit reluctantly. Then he glanced at his godfather and his girlfriend, and sighed. "You don't have to look that happy about it, you know."
Sirius grinned widely, showing his teeth in a manner that reminded Albus of his animagus form.
Miss Weasley didn't say anything either. The young witch put her own broom down and wrapped her arms around Harry, resting her head on his shoulder. Albus saw Harry draw a deep breath, before the boy caressed her head and back with his free hand - he didn't let his broom go.
Albus could have said that Harry would have to risk his life soon enough - far too soon - but he didn't. Everyone in their small group was aware of that fact. He nodded at the three of them and then walked over to the Wands.
A few minutes later he was flying towards the cottage. Jasper and Lewis, two experienced Wands, accompanied him. All three of them were disillusioned, relying on Human-presence-revealing Spells to know each other's positions. Once they were close to the building, they split up, circling around it.
Jasper flew down, almost touching the ground, and Albus held his breath. He had not yet been able to check for traps, and if Tom had prepared curses in the area… but the Wand flew around the cottage, before returning to him. "I didn't spot anyone through the windows, or nearby. The spell didn't detect any humans inside either."
"Stay here!" Albus ordered, flying closer. A flick of his wand didn't detect any spell or curse on the door, or the ground around the house. If there was a trap, it would be inside. He returned to the two Wands. "I'll open the door. Be ready."
"Yes, sir," they acknowledged.
Albus took a deep breath and transfigured the door into water, which splashed on the ground and formed a puddle. That was all that happened though. He frowned and conjured a dog next to the door, sending the animal inside. The dog explored the house, then came out again, apparently none the worse for wear. Albus detected no curses on it either.
"Looks safe enough," Jasper commented.
"Unless there's a trap triggered by the presence of humans, not animals," his partner disagreed.
"One way to find out," the Wand said. "With your permission, professor?"
"Go." Albus said. He hated to risk the man's life, but if he died due to a trap, many more would die, and the Dark Lord might even win.
Jasper flew down, still disillusioned, then into the cottage. Five minutes later, he stumbled out of the door, collapsing on the threshold.
Lewis gasped, but Albus was already casting, summoning Jasper's clothes, and with them, the Wand himself, to him.
Jasper's mouth was covered with red foam, and Albus felt a chill run down his spine - that was the poison that had killed Draco. His own poison. He pulled out the antidote from his robe. The Wand was still alive, and struggled to speak even while Albus poured the antidote into him.
"S...Sn...Snape."
After Jasper had been saved and taken to St. Mungo's, Albus Dumbledore took care of the trap. He cast the Gemino Curse on a vial, opened it and sent it into the cottage with a quick Banishing Spell. It wouldn't take long for the agent in the vial to neutralise the airborne poison, but it wouldn't be swift enough to prevent what he was fearing. A glance over his shoulder proved that.
Sarah flew up to him, followed by a dozen Wands, among them Miss Hermione. And behind them, Sirius, Harry and Miss Weasley. Albus didn't wince.
"What happened?" the Wand-Commander asked.
"Jasper was poisoned," Alus answered. "I managed to save his life, but he'll be in pain for a good while, and weak." He pointed at the cottage. "I filled it with a counter-agent, but it will take a few more minutes to clear the entire house." And he'd need to vanish the counter-agent itself, since it would have displaced all the air by that time.
Sarah nodded. "What poison was it?"
"A variant of an alchemical compound," Albus answered.
"Jasper said 'Snape' before he lost consciousness," Lewis added.
Albus could see Sarah's eyes narrow and all the Wands tense up.
"Snape," Sarah said. "The Dark Lord's poisoner."
"The one who murdered the Minister," one of the Wands added.
"Our spells did not reveal him when we scouted the cottage, and unless he has found a new way to hide his presence, I doubt that he is actually in there," Albus said. Or so he hoped. The most likely reason for Jasper stammering the man's name with his last ounce of strength would mean that Severus had misjudged the Dark Lord. Fatally.
His suspicion was proven correct as soon as the cottage had been cleared of poison and checked for curses. In the middle of the main room, Severus was lying on the floor, dead eyes staring at the ceiling. On his chest, a wooden sign declared 'Traitor', and above him floated a small Dark Mark.
"Snape was a traitor? He killed the Minister for the Dark Lord!" a scarred Wand exclaimed.
Whispering and murmurs filled the room. Albus stared at the body. His friend hadn't died quickly, or easily, as his maimed body proved. The old wizard closed his eyes for a moment, hoping the brave wizard would find some rest in the afterlife, after torturing himself for twenty years for his past crimes.
"If he was a traitor, who was he working for?" another Wand asked loudly. There were not that many plausible possibilities, of course. Albus could blame Rookwood. It might be enough to put the matter to rest until the war was over. If the Dark Lord didn't reveal the truth, or was not believed. But doubts would remain anyway.
The decision was taken out of his hands when Lewis addressed him: "You knew the poison they used. You could neutralise it easily."
It didn't take long for everyone else to connect the dots. More whispers, angry ones, followed. Sarah looked annoyed more than angry though. Albus smiled. Best to face this now, than delay by using more lies. "You know the truth about Lucius Malfoy, don't you?" he addressed the Wand-Commander.
That statement made most of the Wands in the room - the ones not part of the Investigative Branch - pause. Sarah nodded, slowly. "I do. You are remarkably well-informed," she added, with a hint of accusation.
Albus inclined his head. "I was certain that once you were aware of how he had deceived you about the muggle world, you would soon unravel the whole conspiracy. When I heard that you asked for Obliviators from my friends, I knew." That would hopefully keep Hermione from being labeled a spy. Until her paramour revealed his true identity, at least. He felt guilty at yet another consequence of his actions, but there was nothing he could do about it without causing even more harm.
"What is this about the Minister? What deception are you talking about?" Lewis, probably because he had already exposed himself, asked.
Sarah glanced at Albus, and he nodded at her. It had to come from her. She was their leader. Sighing, she turned to the rest of the Wands. "Yesterday, we arrested the Obliviators, both the active and retired ones. We found out that our parents didn't abuse or hurt us. The Obliviators murdered them on the Minister's orders and obliviated us, so we would consider the Minister our saviour." Behind her, the members of the Investigative Branch nodded.
"B-but…" Lewis stammered, shocked as were the rest of the Wands. "That can't be true."
"It is. We checked their memories. We used Veritaserum. We searched for alternative explanations, without success," Benjamin said.
"I decided not to reveal this in the middle of a combat operation, but," Sarah said, nodding at the corpse, "this changed the situation."
"You had the Minister killed," Cleo blurted out.
She was correct, but Albus shook his head. "The Dark Lord ordered the Minister's death. I was aware of this though, and took steps to keep Voldemort from profiting from this." It was true, technically.
"Steps like killing his family?" Benjamin asked.
Albus met the man's gaze. "If Draco or Narcissa had tried to lead the Ministry, that would have caused chaos and a lot of deaths. For all his crimes and cruel lies, Lucius had been a cunning leader. His family though…" he trailed off as the Wands started to nod, if a bit reluctantly. They still eyed him with suspicion, but they wouldn't attack him, or so he hoped.
"This operation is a failure. We'll need to clean up here and then deal with these revelations," Sarah told the Wands. With a glance to Albus, she added: "And we need to decide how this affects our alliance."
Albus nodded, smiling politely. He hoped that the Wand-Commander would both keep the trust of the Corps, and honour the agreement Albus had made with the Ministry. It was the logical choice, all things considered, but when trust was broken and lies exposed, logic gave way to emotions.
He sighed as he left the cottage with Sirius, Harry and Miss Weasley. Tom had dealt his plans a heavy blow, causing distrust and opening a rift between the Order and the Corps. The only consolation was that Severus hadn't known about Albus's plans to deal with the Dark Lord. If Tom thought that they had relied on their spy to track him, he might just feel overconfident enough to make a fatal mistake.
London, Ministry of Magic, September 28th, 1999, 16.30 hours
"Everyone not on critical duty, assemble in the hall!" Benjamin's voice rang through the offices of the Investigative Branch.
Wand-Leader Hermione had expected such a command, ever since the Corps had returned from the operation against the Dark Lord's hideout. She stood up and nodded at Dean and Colin. "Let's go."
They left together with the rest of their branch, sticking together more than usual in her opinion - they had received a few nasty glares after it had spread that they had known about the Minister's betrayal since the day before.
They entered the main hall, an expanded area in the centre of the barracks, and Hermione noticed they were not the only ones clustering together more than usual. Teams and branches seemed to cling together, mostly.
Sarah was in the middle of the room, facing the glares of many Wands with a face that showed no emotion. Hermione envied her - she almost cringed when she noticed the glances aimed at herself. She should have expected this, she told herself - the betrayal of the Minister was the biggest shock the Corps had ever suffered, and with Malfoy already dead, it was only natural that at least part of the Wands' anger and pain were directed at those who had hidden the truth from them, if only for a few days. But it hurt anyway - the Corps was her family.
"Attention!" Sarah bellowed suddenly.
Hermione jumped to attention, as did the other Wands - they had been trained and drilled for too long to let their anger and pain overrule their reflexes.
"You all have heard what the Minister did to us, to our families." Sarah's voice filled the hall. No one moved - they hadn't been given the command to rest. "You're shocked, and you're hurting, and with good cause. I felt the same yesterday when I was informed. And the Investigators felt the same the day before yesterday, when they started to find out what was done to us, and our families."
Sarah let her gaze wander over the assembled Wands. "We have been betrayed and deceived by the one wizard we trusted with our lives. The one we all looked up to, loved. Our families were murdered and we were told lies about them to make us hate them."
Hermione thought she heard a sob near her, but she wasn't certain. And she wouldn't turn her head while she was standing at attention.
"All this was done so we would grow up as Lucius Malfoy's personal guard, loyal unto death."
Hermione heard a hiss from Cleo. Her friend, scarred under Draco's command. If they had known the truth a bit earlier… if Hermione hadn't kept her knowledge secret… She ground her teeth together in frustration.
"I know you are angry at those who hid the truth about Malfoy from you. Don't be. They kept the secret on my orders."
Whispers broke out - a bad sign, Hermione knew. You didn't say anything while standing at attention unless asked to by your superior.
"I gave those orders, and I would give them again. The middle of a mission is not the time to deal with such a revelation. Not when the ones responsible are already either dead or captured, and cannot harm us further." Sarah walked back and forth now. "Distraction kills. But the truth was revealed today, and so we will deal with it, as we have dealt with any other threat and problem. Together.
"We may have lost our families, but we still are a family! We still have each other!"
Hermione almost nodded despite standing at attention. Those were her thoughts as well. She might have lost her muggle parents, but she hadn't lost her brothers and sisters. But once they found out that she had known the truth for so long… she could only hope that they would forgive her as readily as they forgave Sarah and the others.
The Wand-Commander stood in front of the Wands with her hands folded behind her back. "We have arrested those who murdered our parents, and those who gave them their orders. They will pay for what they have done to us." Sarah took a deep breath. "We cannot make Malfoy pay. He is beyond our reach."
Hermione knew a way they could make him pay. Dumbledore could summon his spirit. Make him face justice. She suppressed the thought. That was going too far.
"But we can still ruin his plans. He raised us as his tools. His expendable tools. Mudbloods serving him."
Angry mutters filled the room. All Wands were aware of how the purebloods saw them. And now they knew that they were not of tainted blood. That their families had loved them. That they were not inferior to others.
"But we are the Wands of Britain! We are the protectors of our country!" Sarah's voice grew louder. "We are all that stands between Britain and the Dark Lord! The Aurors are useless. Dumbledore and his Order were beaten once before. But we have faced the Dark Lord, and held the line! We will beat him!"
Sarah paused, letting the murmurs die down again. "And we will no longer be mere tools, mere mudbloods, deferring to our 'betters'! We will save Britain because it'll be our country!"
Cheers and yells filled the hall, and for the first time Hermione could remember, the Wands dropped from attention without having been given the command. She yelled as well, but she couldn't help worrying what this new course Sarah had outlined might mean for her and Ron.
London, September 28th, 1999, 17.14 hours
"Cheer up, Ron! No one died, and you can soon get rid of that horrible beard. I'd keep the hair dye though."
Ron Weasley, sitting on a conjured seat in the new safehouse, glared at Harry's godfather. Sirius was sprawled on a couch - colored red and gold - and acted as if there was no reason to worry.
"What's wrong with redheads?" Ginny asked. Ron's sister was perched on the armrest of Harry's seat, one arm around the mec's shoulders. She sounded a tad suspicious, and Ron could see her twirl her wand.
"There's nothing wrong with redheads," Sirius said. "But keeping the dark hair would make it easier for his lover to pick him out of the rest of your family."
"Sirius," Harry said in an exasperated voice, "that was an awful attempt at a joke even for you."
The older wizard pouted. "I'm just trying to lighten the mood here. It's not the end of the world - we all knew that sooner or later, our role would be revealed."
"But we hoped for later rather than sooner," Harry said. "Besides, Snape was killed. That's not exactly a time to make jokes."
"You wouldn't say that if you'd known him." Sirius shook his head. "But I guess he did redeem himself by killing Malfoy and getting killed by Voldemort."
Ron stared at Harry's godfather, then closed his eyes and took a deep breath. There was no need to go there again. He had heard all about 'Snivellus' ever since he had joined the three others in the safehouse an hour ago. "Aren't you afraid that your relationship with Sarah will be wrecked?"
Sirius smiled, obviously ignoring the muttered 'what relationship?' from Harry. "Not at all! As you have proven, Wands dig secret agents."
Ron exchanged a glance with Harry and his sister. Harry rubbed his forehead and Ginny shook her head.
Sirius sighed. "You're a really tough crowd, you know?"
"We're in a really tense situation, you know." Harry glared at him.
"Well, I can be serious…" Sirius stopped talking when Ginny pointed her wand at him. Sighing, he continued: "I know it looks bad, but the Wands are not stupid. They know we need each other to defeat the Dark Lord. And they know the truth about Malfoy. It won't take them that long to get over their resentment that we killed the Malfoys and hid it from them."
"I hope you're right," Ron muttered. His and Hermione's relationship really didn't need more strain. And he couldn't help thinking that if Dumbledore shared Sirius's optimism, he'd not have told the wizard to wait with Harry in the safe house instead of remaining in the Ministry with the professor.
An hour and a half and a quick trip to Diagon Alley to buy newspapers later, Harry and Ginny were trying to understand The Quibbler, Sirius was taking a nap in the bedroom of the flat and Ron was reading the Tribune Magique. The headline spoke about the 'return of the exiles', but was mostly speculation. There was no official statement, and no comments from those like Dumbledore who actually knew what was happening. He didn't mind, it was just a way to occupy his mind until...
A knock on the door interrupted him. He went and checked through the spyhole, then opened the door. "Hermione!"
She stepped inside, smiling, but he could tell she was worked up. And when he hugged her, he could feel how tense she was. "I take it that the Wands didn't react too well to the revelations today?"
The witch shook her head. Her hair hit his face. "Better than I'd feared, worse than I'd hoped." She sighed, not letting go of him. "Sarah gave a speech. She rallied the Corps, but… "
"But?"
"She might have appealed to our pride a bit too much. I talked with others, and they were talking about Britain as if it was ours to rule."
Ron winced. "That might be a problem." He didn't think Dumbledore, the exiles, or the other British wizards would like being ruled by the Wands.
"Yes. The Corps will fight the Dark Lord. But afterwards… " She sighed again and let her head rest on his shoulder. "From servants of the Ministry to rulers… from one extreme to the other."
He snorted. "The professor was hit by his own spell there, wasn't he?"
"I suppose so."
"So… what do you think? Should I reveal myself while everyone is still dealing with today's revelation? Or will that make more trouble for you?"
She didn't answer right away. "I think it's best to do so. Not everyone in the Corps will like it, or me for being with you, but I'd rather know where I stand with everyone now," she finally said.
"Will they think you are a spy?" Or a traitor, he thought.
"They might. And they would be right - I did spy on the Ministry. I helped you kill Rookwood and the Malfoys." Hermione snorted. "I even spied on the Corps."
"You're still a Wand."
He didn't ask what she'd do if she was forced to choose between the Wands and him. Though he hoped that her telling him what the Wands were doing was a good sign that she'd not chose her family over him, in the worst case.
London, Diagon Alley, September 28th, 1999, 18.45 hours
Ron had shed his disguise. Shaved off his beard, and dyed his hair back to his natural colour. Or close enough - Hermione at least couldn't spot the difference between his and Ginny's hair. And Harry seemed to think it was the right tone too.
"Nervous?" he whispered, standing in front of the mirror in his room in the Leaky Cauldron.
She took a deep breath. "Somewhat."
He chuckled. "They might think you dumped Antoine for Ron Weasley."
She snorted. "Not many will believe that. Not among my friends." If they were still her friends, once they realised that she had been the lover of an exile spy for that long. She checked her watch. "We need to go or we'll be late."
The Leaky Cauldron was almost back to normal. A dimly lit, more than slightly dingy pub filled with both regulars and new visitors. As Hermione and Ron descended the stairs, they could see a small throng of people surrounding Harry and Ginny. Mostly Ginny, actually.
"Guess the new Star Chaser of the Avignon Aigles is famous even here," Ron remarked.
"There are a number of exiles among that crowd," Hermione said. She could tell from their robes - the style was either too old-fashioned for Britain, or too French.
They made their way over to Harry and Ginny, and Hermione found another difference between the returning British exiles and the natives: The former didn't move quite as fast out of the way of a Wand.
"Ron? Is that you?" A young wizard cocked his head sideways and smiled widely.
"Neville?" Ron said, grinning before he clapped the wizard's shoulders. "Fancy meeting you here! Are you staying in the Alley?" Before his friend could answer, he wrapped his arm around Hermione's shoulders. "This is my girlfriend, Hermione," Ron introduced her. "Hermione - Neville Longbottom. We grew up mostly together."
So that was Neville Longbottom, Hermione noted. She had seen pictures of him, and had heard stories from Ron and his family, but this was the first time she'd met the wizard. He was not as tall or muscular as Ron, but slightly taller than Harry.
"Hermione's the youngest Wand-Leader in the Corps," Ron added.
"Ah." Longbottom's smile slipped a bit.
"Investigative Branch," Hermione added, smiling brightly. She did notice that several among the crowd were listening to their conversation. "But we should be off; Luna will be waiting for us already."
"Well, you took your time up in Ron's room," Ginny said, smirking.
"Luna Lovegood, a friend of mine from Hogwarts," Hermione told Longbottom. "Daughter of the owner of The Quibbler."
"Ah." Apparently, he knew that magazine.
"And our neighbour in Ottery St Catchpole," Ron added.
"Do you want to join us for dinner?" Ginny asked.
"I'd love to," Longbottom said, "but Gran's expecting me. She's having a few old friends over. Though I'm not certain if they are still her friends."
Probably wizards and witches who had stayed in Britain when Malfoy had taken over, Hermione thought. The others must have come to the same conclusion, since no one asked for details.
"Well, I'd wish you an enjoyable evening, but it sounds like a chore," Harry said. "Will you be the youngest there?"
"I think there'll be a few my age." Longbottom winced.
"Mostly witches, I bet," Harry said. "Well, please give your gran our regards."
"Will do," Longbottom said, nodded at the group, and headed to the Floo connection.
They entered the alley. Unlike their other dinner dates, they were headed towards a pureblood-only restaurant. A former pureblood-only restaurant, Hermione corrected herself. No one tried to bar her from entering, though she thought the maître d' glanced at her brown robes a bit longer than at the others in her group. And she caught a lot of glances from the other guests, the pureblood ones. For a moment she felt as if she was underdressed and should leave. Then she raised her chin. She was a Wand of Britain, and they were equal to anyone in Britain. She wouldn't let those she was protecting with her life look down on her!
Luna was already seated, but jumped up when she saw them, and hugged Hermione. "There you are! I was worried you might be stuck at work!" In a whisper, she added: "Or that you were hurt on the mission."
"We would have informed you if I was hurt," Hermione whispered back, but she felt guilty anyway. And wondered why Luna would know about the operation against the Dark Lord.
Luna hugged Ron next. "You look fine. Less scruffy," she commented, patting his cheek.
Hermione was as confused as Luna looked when the other three chuckled and Harry said: "He's still a nerf herder."
"What are nerfs?" Luna asked.
After the explanation, Hermione was certain that the next issue of The Quibbler would feature nerfs.
Once they were seated, had ordered and cast a privacy spell - even though the tables were supposed to already have such spells on them - Hermione asked: "Who had the idea to dine here?"
"Dumbledore said it was the best restaurant before Malfoy took over, and that the cook stayed in Britain," Harry explained. "So, we thought we'd see how it measures up to the restaurants in Paris."
Hermione nodded. She should have known. Dumbledore probably wanted the British public to see the returning exiles and the Wands together. Ron looked at her, frowning slightly. She mouthed 'tell you later' to him. He nodded in response.
"Poor Neville… he's probably neck-deep in old wizards and witches, and potential brides now," Harry said, shaking his head.
Ginny frowned. "His grand-mère never thought French witches were good enough for him, and she did what she could to sabotage any relationship he had."
Hermione blinked. "She'd prefer British witches raised under Malfoy to French witches for her grandchild?"
Ron shrugged. "She probably fears that he'd stay in France if he married a French witch. Her fear is not entirely unfounded," he added.
"It's the one thing Mum and Neville's grand-mère agree upon," Ginny said. "Even though she blames us for this, after Charlie and Bill."
"Ah."
Harry sighed. "Neville loves her, so he doesn't tell her to get lost even when he should."
Ron shrugged. "I think once he finds the witch he wants, he'll tell her to butt out. He hasn't had the best girlfriends."
"Hey!" Ginny glared at him.
"One date doesn't count as being his girlfriend." He grinned at his sister.
Hermione chuckled, then wondered what her parents would have thought of her dating Ron. Then she wondered what her grandparents would think. And she realised she didn't know if they were still alive, or not.
London, Diagon Alley, September 28th, 1999, 22.17 hours
"And we've had Voley dig out a bigger cellar," Luna said when the group was leaving the restaurant. "Daddy offered to let him dig out a real burrow for the Weasleys, but they said they didn't want an underground house." She looked at Ron with wide eyes. "No offense, Ron, but your family is rather weird. Naming a house 'The Burrow', but not actually making it a burrow? That'd be as if we'd name our house 'The Rook', but would not build a rook!" She nodded sagely. "I hope you'll be more sensible when you and Hermione build your own home."
Hermione had been chuckling when she saw Ron's and Ginny's expressions, but now she was surprised as well. Her and Ron's home… she hadn't thought about that. Not really. She hadn't had a home of her own she could remember - she had always been housed with other Wands, in the barracks or at school. Even getting her own room after graduation hadn't changed much - she had still been living in the barracks. And Ron had had his room in the Leaky Cauldron, but that hadn't been much different. It hadn't been a home at all.
"Hermione?" Ron was looking at her.
She blinked. "Sorry… I've just realised that I never really thought about that."
"I guess it's true that falling in love changes your mind," Luna said, nodding sagely again. "If you didn't think or plan ahead."
"I've had a lot of other things to focus on. We're still at war," Hermione said. "And with the current crisis…"
Ron nodded. "We can decide where and how we live once the war is over."
Luna shook her head, her blonde hair swishing around her shoulders. "If you consider your future not as important, then that'll bode ill for your future!"
She had a point, Hermione had to agree. She glanced at Ron, who was looking pensive, and at Ginny and Harry, who were wincing themselves. It seemed none of them had made concrete plans for the time after the war. And yet… "We don't know yet how things will look like once the war is over," she said.
"No plan survives contact with the snorkack!" Luna said. "But we still make plans to catch one each summer!"
"But not on the street," Hermione said. Her future wouldn't be planned while dodging inebriated wizards.
"Some of our best plans were made in the middle of the road!" Luna said, beaming. "Though it was a tad difficult to take the sketches on the cobblestones home. We managed, but some Auror fell in the hole before we could fill it."
Ron and Hermione took that revelation in stride, while Ginny and Harry were staring at the blonde witch. They weren't really used to the quirky journalist yet. They would grow used to her, though. Hermione knew that.
Shortly before the Leaky Cauldron, she noticed a patrol of Wands watching her. She didn't know any of the four Wands that well, but she recognised Wand-Leader Michael. He had been two years above her. She couldn't quite spot their expressions, they were a bit too far away, but she hooked her arm through Ron's and walked straighter. She had nothing to hide. Not anymore, at least.
London, Ministry of Magic, September 29th, 1999, 08.12 hours
"I hear you are with a Weasley now? What about Antoine?" Sally-Anne asked in lieu of a greeting when Hermione passed her at the entrance to the offices. For a moment, she considered lying. Delaying the revelation for a bit. Then she decided against it. The time for lies was past. "Antoine Dupont is actually Ron Weasley. He was undercover in Britain."
The other Wand gaped at her. "What? He actually…"
She knew what Sally-Anne was thinking, and more importantly, how she was thinking, and shook her head. "He wasn't supposed to fall in love with me, or I with him. It happened though."
"Oh…" Sally-Anne was staring at her as if Hermione was one of the heroines in those romances Sally-Anne loved, where love conquered all, and lovers' souls bonded.
"I was ready to curse him when he told me, and didn't believe him until he offered to get Veritaserum." Hermione grinned.
"Oh." Sally-Anne blinked. "That sounds like you…"
Hermione nodded. That should put down any possible rumours that she was the love-struck tool of an exile spy. She waved at Sally-Anne and entered the office. With the biggest gossip now - unwittingly - on the task, soon half the Corps would know about Ron.
And she hadn't lied, not really. Even if she hadn't told them just when exactly Ron had revealed his mission to her.
London, Diagon Alley, September 29th, 1999, 12.10 hours
Ron Weasley saw a rather attractive witch walk through the Alley, stopping at one stall and another, looking at the wares on display. When she almost stumbled over a cobblestone that stuck out a bit more than the rest, he shook his head and cast a privacy spell, then looked at the window of the Quidditch Supplies shop, where a new Cleansweep was displayed.
"Hi Tonks," he said, when she was close enough.
She grumbled something he didn't catch, but didn't ask how he had spotted her. "Changed your disguise?"
"For this meeting only," he answered. New wig, and new beard, both muggle props.
"Why didn't you keep the other identity?"
Because he was sick of hiding his relationship with Hermione, Ron thought, but that wasn't a good enough reason. So he shrugged. "It was best to come clean while everyone's reeling from the revelations about the Dark Lord and Malfoy. Less fallout that way. Dumbledore agreed." He assumed that the professor agreed - he hadn't told Ron anything to the contrary, at least.
"Alright. Looks like I managed to escape from the hôpital just in time to replace you then," Tonks said. "And a good thing too," she added in a more serious tone.
"Hm?"
"There's been rumours about a coup. A number of the people on the streets are worried about the exiles and the Wands taking over Britain, eager to oppress the purebloods."
"What?" Ron frowned. The takeover was true - Dumbledore and the Wands were in control of Wizarding Britain for all that mattered. But to oppress the purebloods…
"That's what people are spreading." Tonks grimaced, and her nose shifted a bit.
"Looks like the Dark Lord at work," Ron said.
"A bit of a change, after his earlier tactics." Tonks looked at the broom a bit more closely.
"Maybe finding out Snape was a spy and traitor shook him up." Ron glanced around. No one seemed to be observing them.
"That could be bad."
He shrugged. "Maybe. But having found the spy, he might think he's now safer than before."
"True." She perked up. "So… fancy taking me out for lunch?"
"I've got a lunch date with Hermione."
"I can change into Hermione. Or her sister." She grinned at him.
He rolled his eyes at her while she snickered and walked off. She hadn't let the time in the hôpital change her, it seemed. Hopefully Hermione would handle her flirting better than Ginny did. That had been one memorable dinner at home, he remembered.
The Weald, Kent, Britain, September 29th, 1999, 14.27 hours
"Milord!"
The Dark Lord Voldemort suppressed the urge to punish Bellatrix, even though her incessant pleading was pushing his patience. He frowned at her. "I told you, we will not strike at the traitors right now."
"But you planned to strike terror in their hearts!"
"That was before I discovered that I had a traitor at my side, who had been working for Dumbledore. Any plan I made and he was aware of is suspect." He sat down in the expanded living room of the safe house he had last used in 1975. It hadn't taken long to restore it, and the anti-muggle spells had held. "My enemies are numerous. If I attack the sheep now, they'll band together, and the purebloods will rally behind them. They have to first be divided before I can conquer them."
The dark witch still looked mulish. She was eager, too eager to shed blood. On the other hand, he could trust her to die rather than betray him. "But there will be opportunities to indulge your taste for battle." And for torture.
She perked up at once.
"After laying the groundwork, some demonstrations might be required to show the British purebloods just how dangerous and unstable the blood traitors and mudbloods are."
Bellatrix's smile widened as she understood his plan.