Author's Note:Back to the run of the Lavender story line from Summer Rituals. It is likely that you'll get more of these chapters, now that I figured out the rewrite of the one scene that bothered me from the series. You can expect Summer Rituals to be updated at some point with the replacement scene from this story. In the meantime, I believe I've got this story going again to the point that you may expect more of it, soon.
Chapter Five: On Her Majesty's Secret Service
A long deployment in the Med, meant a lot of underway replenishments for the Oracle. The submarine just wasn't big enough to keep the stores on board for such a time. As the submarine surfaced next to a Rover Class tanker just as the sun rose, Commander Bracegirdle considered his command.
It had been two days since Captain and Lavender Brown had come aboard. He was glad that the young witch was only twelve, because he was sure that Lavender Brown was going to be one of those girls who had all the boys eating out of the palm of her hand when they were not too busy drooling in the distance.
A small submarine like the Oracle did not leave much room for crew separation. As commanding officer, Bracegirdle was the only one to have his own quarters. The Browns were bunking together in the ward room, and everyone else were open to one corridor or another. This fact had resulted in Lead Seaman Hood taking over from his First Officer in completing the adjustments to the damaged uniform to fit and other attire issues for Lavender Brown.
The Oracle was traveling light when it came to its ratings. Bracegirdle was without a Chief Petty Officer, or even a Petty Officer. He had the total compliment aboard, just not the appropriate ratings at every post. Hood had just come to his attention, along with Meyers, and he intended to do something about that, as soon as possible. Hood, in particular, was of note. The man had been a late entry into the Royal Navy, being old enough to be Lavender's father. He'd shown initiative in several matters, in particular taking Smythe aside after the young sailor had been embarrassed with his reaction to the young naked girl, and snaring a undershirt from Midshipman Riley, who was just tall enough that when it was given to Lavender it covered her properly.
Bracegirdle felt the impact of the supplies hitting the aft hull as he stood in the middle of the control room. Behind him, several crew members began the passing down of the contents of the pallets.
"Message from the Gold Rover, sir."
"Go ahead, Seaman," Bracegirdle said.
"Detour to South Camino Channel. Zero Zero Eight and Niece Blue Zero Zero Four M after brief. Package Twenty-Two."
Bracegirdle turned to find Captain Brown beside him. "It seems that Double Oh Four is in a little trouble in Malta. I suggest taking care of a package with the twenty-two label on it."
"Take charge of that package," Bracegirdle ordered. "Number One, as soon as replenishment is complete, secure for dive and chart a course to Malta."
Captain Brown did not expect the minor diversion through the South Camino Channel of Malta. As a double oh agent, such diversions were not uncommon, even among senior such agents. M liked to use all of her agents to the upmost of their time on duty. If you were in transit, and it wasn't going to affect the mission, she had no objection to having you set up a few distractions for escaping agents.
The prior summer, Charlie had by the use of the Avis charm, caused a SPECTRE agent who was chasing down double oh seven to crash into a news stand and loose the trail his fellow agent. He wasn't perfect at such distractions. He was never going to work with double oh five to produce distractions after that plate glass in Bern. So he knew it was possible.
But still, he was traveling in a submarine. Diversions on sea voyages were almost unheard of. So when the Oracle diverted course to Malta and he was given the order, well, expectations.
That didn't mean that he wasn't prepared when the Oracle surfaced in the channel. It only took a few minutes for him to exit the sail of the submarine and prepare for just a little bit of a scare for the SPECTRE agent chasing down 004. Up ahead was a buoy that 004 was just passing, stable, moving up and down with the sea. The buoy wasn't going to stay that way, though. Charlie was sure that Professor McGonagall would not approve of his choice of transfiguration, though she might give him a few points if she'd seen the black pilot whale that appeared to have just surfaced right before the SPECTRE agent on his jetski reached it.
The black pilot whale came down right on top of the SPECTRE agent. The agent, and his jetski were slammed between the whale and the water. Charlie timed his finite incantum to catch it just as the whale was about to go beneath the waves. The buoy popped up, right in the place it had been. The SPECTRE agent did not. As for 004, he made a precise turn, hitting the waves jut right to land his jetski on a prepared pad on the top of the Oracle.
Charlie quickly moved to where he could greet 004, receiving a jaunty "Hello Charlie Brown, kick Lucy's football yet?" from his fellow licensed to kill agent.
"Not yet, Linus," Charlie replied, shrinking the jet-ski and the landing pad with a wave of his wand, before summoning them to his hand. "Come meet Commander Bracegirtle, if we're quick we might actually be able to catch my niece before she swims to meet M."
"I envy you, Charlie," Linus stated before both of them descended back inside the Oracle
Lavender swam underwater from the Oracle towards Malta. Her uncle said she was to get a personal briefing about the mission, and perhaps get some information to pass on to both him and double oh four. Her swimming was timed so that she would have little if any time left on her gillyweed when she reached the cove where she was supposed to get her brief.
It was perfect timing when she took the steps up to the doc. Lavender was by no means a girl who had much of a sense of modesty, but the crew of the Oracle seemed to want to make sure she could protect hers. They'd turned the First Officer's spare mess dress into a version that fit the twelve-year-old quite well, and then used the remainder to create a quite fitting bikini for her to swim in, so her stepping onto dry land was much more modest.
That being said, when she passed through the door with Saint Jerome on it, she felt very under dressed. Seated at the solid oak desk was a woman who looked a bit like Professor McGonagall. There was a single chair at the front of the desk that reminded her of the oak chair that was always in front of McGonagall's desk when she called you in for punishment, with five vertical slats and hard oak seats.
"Miss Brown," M said. "I have some more details on your mission, but first, I think it's time that I put you on the books.."
"Yes, M," Lavender replied.
"Your mission is to confirm that the shade of You-Know-Who, or He-Shall-Not-Be-Named, and to his followers, the Dark Lord, has resided in the Albanian park know as Llogora. The Oracle with be transporting to the coast of Albanian, where you will disembark to the coastal village of Dhermi, by the same method as your arrival to the ship. The Oracle shall wait off the coast for your return.
"You will be exchanging transportation with 007 in order to get to the village. You will then scout out the park, looking for the magical residue of his possessions. It is believed that your Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor may not be the first person that he possessed. Should you find the actual shade, 008 shall evaluate the course of action, up to and including restraint of the said shade.
"Before I do send you, I do need to make sure you are up to the task, and unfortunately I don't have a full listing of your skills. Professors Flitwick and McGonagall were able to give me a comprehensive report on your magical skills, but I am a bit short on your language skills. 008 assures me that you can handled Albanian and Greek, my question is, how are with dialects?"
"For Albanian, I consider myself workable in Gheg and Tosk. I could use some work in my transitional dialects," Lavender said. "As for Greek, I'm best in Himariote and Italiot, thanks for my Great-Aunt Anastasia. Just in case, I'm working on my Macedonia, and Serbo-Croatian. I'm fully fluent in Slovenian, to cover the rest of the former Yugoslavia."
"I'm already aware of you Western European languages," M said. "When you complete this mission with your uncle, we will put you through a full assessment. In the meantime, based on the various missions that you have conducted with uncle in the past, assessments from you school, and my personal evaluation, it is time to give you a code name. You will pardon my whimsy, and jab at my aunt, but from this point on you are Agent Nine and Three Quarters."