Chapter 8: Everything's Glitter
The castle walls were still pockmarked. Hermione was outside the front doors, waiting for a steady stream of second years to move through the entrance towards Hagrid's hut for Care of Magical Creatures. None of them would have been present during the Battle, so Hermione relished her anonymity.
On previous visits to the castle, she had been recognized by students who were there on that fateful night. Harry, Ron, Neville, and some of the other D.A. members liked the attention, but she was more casual about everything. She had done what needed to be done.
After the students passed, she walked into the main hall and towards the headmaster's office. She hadn't told anyone that she was coming, so she hoped that the password form last time still worked.
"Purr-fect" she said. The statue stood still.
Since Professor McGonagall's takeover she had ditched Dumbledore's old motif of candy passwords in place of puns based on cats. Part of her didn't want to believe that McGonagall was silly enough to do such a thing, but Hermione acquiesced and tried to think of more puns, but her mind was blank.
"Cat-astophy" a voice said from behind.
Hermione turned and was met by a man with graying hair and a dad-bod build. He looked like he would be more at home in front of a grill, butterbeer in hand, rather than at the best wizarding school in Europe. He also had an accent that clearly wasn't from the UK. But regardless of his appearance, the statue moved anyways.
"Hello!" Hermione said, extending her hand.
"Hello to you too. George Fontaine." he said, shaking her hand.
"Hermione Granger." Hermione said in reply.
"I've heard a lot about you, good to finally meet in person." George said as the two stepped into the statue elevator.
"So, you have. If you don't mind me asking, where are you from?" Hermione asked.
"I'm from America, grew up in Massachusetts and went to Ilvermorny." George said.
"I see, and are you the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher? I remember Harry saying they had an American here now." she said.
"Indeed, my brother, Agilbert, sees the value in cross culture study, and so does Professor McGonagall." he said.
"Oh, so you're one of those Fontaines!" Hermione gasped.
"Indeed, my great-great-great-grandfather was one of the original Twelve Aurors in the States." he said.
"That's so neat, we should have tea some time.' Hermione said as they stepped up to the door to Professor McGonagall's office.
George smiled and knocked on the door. Shortly thereafter it opened and the two were greeted by Professor McGonagall's office, which was largely kept the same as Dumbledore's, the new Headmistress not having found the time to reorganize yet.
Professor McGonagall herself was sitting behind the desk at the center of the room, her eyes adorned with glasses and reading through a financial report on the kitchen budget that she didn't honestly care about. She looked up and waved her two patrons over.
"Hello Ms. Granger, this is a welcome surprise." she said, grinning at Hermione. "And Professor Fontaine, I presume you've been acquainted?"
"Yes ma'am." he said. "And I don't need much, I'm just dropping off the list of guest lecturers I want to bring in for next year." George handed her a long list of names.
She gazed over it briefly. and started crossing off a few names. Hermione tried her best to get a few glances in.
"Professor Fontaine has an affinity for guest lectures, Ms. Granger." Professor McGonagall said, not looking up from her list. "A true globalist we have here, yet a few of these names I cannot allow."
"How come?" Hermione asked, turning to George.
"I'd have to see for myself who she's nixing." he said, his expression read as if he had already been through this process many times before.
"I've met a few of these people before, and I'm not sure of their… qualifications." she said.
"Well, opinions between us may differ, and it's your school at the end of the day." he said.
"Indeed, I will review the rest later and get back to you." Professor McGonagall said. "Now, Ms. Granger, how can I help you?"
Professor Fontaine started to turn away, but Hermione stopped him, "Actually, you may be able to help me with this." she said, giving him a faint smile. She then explained the situation that she was in regarding Revy's magical sensitivity and how they ought to proceed.
"Therefore, I would like access to the Book of Admittance to look up her name." Hermione concluded.
Professor McGonagall leaned back and thought for a moment. George was also thinking, bending his head down.
"Well, Ms. Granger, while I do sympathize with your predicament, I cannot allow you access to the Book. Access is strictly limited to staff, but I am willing to check for you." she said.
"Thank you, Professor." Hermione said.
"As for the US, I can't really say that we have an equivalent." George said. "Usually, when a No-Maj couple produces a magical child, it is up to the Congress to track them down with cooperation from the No-Maj state Departments of Heath. But since it does rely on humans instead of hard magic, I suppose it's possible that a few children would slip through the cracks, especially given the large population and the fifty bureaucracies to deal with." George said.
"I see." Hermione said.
"Regardless of how this happened, I think it more prudent to discuss how to proceed." Professor McGonagall said sternly.
"Agreed, assigning blame isn't going to help." George said.
"Well, the way I see it." Hermione began, "Either Revy is accepted into the magical world as one of our own. Or Harry and I erase her memory as soon as we can."
"Both valid options." George said.
"Yes, but what about the details?" Professor McGonagall asked.
Hermione thought for a moment while Professor McGonagall waved her wand, summoning two chairs for her guests.
"I best leave you two to it while I check the Book." Professor McGonagall said before departing.
"With that second option I can think of some immediate concerns." George said. "Firstly, how many people even know about Revy's magical sensitivity? By my count from what you've said, Revy is one, Rock is two, and this 'Mr. Chang' guy is also probably in on the whole thing regardless of if he knows about Revy. So, would you be prepared to Obliviate everyone he might have told?"
"That's fair. I really don't know much about the Triad angle to all this. That would be Harry's department more than mine." Hermione admitted.
"And as another consideration, have you heard of a man named Jacob Kowalski?" George asked.
"If I recall correctly, he was a companion of Newt Scamander during Grindelwald's war, right?" Hermione said.
"That's right. He's a bit of a folk hero for No-Maj-born wizards and witches in the States. The story goes that after meeting Newt for the first time and having his memory wiped, he opened a bakery where he made pastries that were inspired by magical creatures he had encountered. And later, the memory charm was broken anyways. I would dread to think what would happen if the same sort of situation were to happen to Revy, if she's as bad a person as you say she is." George said.
"That's interesting, but I'm not exactly sure how she would even integrate into our world if she weren't Obliviated." Hermione said.
"Well, I would think that would be easier to figure out rather than taking the risks involved with option two, but that's just my own opinion." George said.
"I suppose that's one way to look at it. But I would hardly see her joining as a student here at Hogwarts. I'd bet that the Sorting Hat would have a fit trying to assign a House to her." Hermione said lightheartedly.
The two gazed over towards the old hat which was sitting on its own shelf in a bookcase. Hermione almost wished it would come alive and tell her what to do, but she was confident that wouldn't happen.
"You're right you know." the Hat said, springing to life as if it had read her mind. George and Hermione were startled a little bit at the Hat's proclamation.
"I didn't know you could… uh…" she tried to say.
"Not to worry Ms. Granger, your friend Harry Potter was caught unawares too when I spoke to him last. But as for your predicament, maybe you shouldn't use your head as much as you tend to." it said, before the folds that made up its face fell limp again.
The Hat's comment left the two sat thinking for a good while before the doors to the office opened again, and Professor McGonagall entered again.
"I'm sorry to say that I could find no mention of a Rebecca Lee or 'Revy' within the Book." she said before taking her seat.
"Well, it was worth a shot at the very least." Hermione said.
"Indeed, and I think it was about time for my next appointment. Best of luck to you Hermione." Professor McGonagall said.
The Lagoon office was still empty. Benny had radioed in and said that Dutch and he were staying out for a few more days. To Rock, this was music to his ears, he didn't need to explain all that was happening to two other people.
The stunning spell he had received during the altercation with Thucrit was still on his mind, almost too literally. He was managing with Aspirin and booze, but they could only do so much when he was in the same room as Revy. The two were sitting across from each other, having just received a call from the Rip-Off Church. Rico was ready to hold the meeting.
"Are you still mad?" Rock asked.
"Huh?" Revy blurted out.
"About getting us mixed up in 'another thing'." Rock clarified with a smirk.
"Dunno, I'm still trying to figure everything out on my end." Revy said. Her turn of humility was not exactly surprising Rock, unexpected as it was. He had noticed that since she had been diagnosed a witch by Harry and Hermione, she had lost a lot of her signature temper. Rock just didn't know if that was a temporary effect, or something more perennial.
Regardless, they needed to get ready for the meeting tonight, or at least Rock did. He had spent the last few days formulating a plan in his head to get the Triad to switch their focus, and he had just the thing… a heist.
"Looks like you're thinking about something." Revy said, a fresh cigarette in her hand.
"I think I know how we can divert the Triad's attention." Rock said. "The basic idea is to have you, Harry, and anyone else able preform a heist on the Triad and then frame Thucrit for the job."
"That's pretty hair-brained, especially for you." Revy said, her eyes narrowed.
"It's really not when you think about it." Rock said. "If we can make it believable enough and steal something small and easily concealable, then we should be home free. Just need a target, the location of Thucrit's new hideout, and some gumption." Rock balled his fist in emphasis.
"Okay?" Revy said, waving her hand.
"The way I see this playing out is in four parts. First, the actual heist. Second, the plant. Third, me tipping off Mr. Chang. And finally, the Triad's revenge." Rock said.
"I see. How do you expect us to do any of that?" Revy asked.
"The first step should be easy. The Church probably has tabs on all the transports that the Triads use to move things in this city, that would be a place to start. As for step two, this is probably the trickiest part, but with Harry and Hermione's abilities, I bet they could come up with some way of planting the bait at Thucrit's new hideout undetected. Step three is easy. I should be able to push Mr. Chang in the right direction. And the only hang-up with step four is if the Triad can't finish the job. We might need to step in for them." Rock said.
Revy looked down at the coffee table and thought about Rock's plan.
"You know what?" she said. "Call me Val fuckin' Kilmer."
"Why would we want him more angry?" Harry asked.
He, Rock, Revy, Rico, and Hermione were all sitting around the altar in the Rip-Off Church's chapel, evening beams of sunlight lit their faces. Eda had wanted to attend the meeting, but Sister Yolanda had called her away to deal with a rowdy client. Rock had just detailed his plan to the others, and Harry was the first to raise concerns.
"Because if we want Mr. Chang to overlook my original assignment then we have to give him a bigger prize and making him angry is the easiest way to do so." Rock said.
"I can see the sense in that. To be honest I had roughly the same idea that you did, just minus the Heat-level theatrics." Rico said.
"Heat?" Hermione asked.
"It's just a movie." Harry chimed. "For my part, I think this plan might be brash enough to work. The key issue from me is how you will convince Chang to believe you?"
"I don't follow?" Rock said.
"If we do this yet-to-be-planned heist, plant whatever we steal, and then suddenly you just so happen to know where it is…. If I were Chang, I would see it as too convenient." Harry said.
"That's a valid point." Rock said. "But my solution is to up the ante. This heist needs to be as public as possible. It gives me the cover to say, 'I was going to give you these whereabouts anyways, but then your guys got hit badly.' It can give me an excuse."
"I still don't think that's solid enough. But without any better ideas, we will just have to trust you." Harry said somberly.
At that the group was silent as they mulled everything over.
"If there's no objections, what should the target be exactly?" Hermione posited.
"Well," said Rico. "I'm glad you asked. Because my idea wasn't too dissimilar from Rock's and I already gathered some intelligence that the Church has." He then placed a briefcase on the altar, clicking it open to reveal several documents.
"These are details about the Triad's land routes they use to smuggle things out of Roanapur. Thankfully the only things they tend to smuggle out of the city are the kickbacks they send to Hong Kong. Given the Triad is spread across the city, several armored vehicles, usually vans, are responsible for picking up cash, and then driving it out."
"So, we hit one of them then?" Revy said.
"That's the idea, but we need to hit one in particular." Rico said, laying out a document he had. "This truck is the only Triad van which picks up something other than cash. Rather, it goes around to the few internet cafes around town where it picks up hard drives which contain scraped user data from tourists to be used for fraud and identity theft."
"Oh God not those fuckin' nerds again!" Revy said angrily.
"Huh?" Harry said.
"It's a long story." Rock said candidly.
"Anyways." Rico said. "The actual return on the resources put into this venture isn't too great for the Triad, but since it is profitable, they keep running the scam. And since it requires the transfer of hard drives with the data, the loot will be easier to transport."
"Makes this an easier job, but let's get to the real details." Revy said. "How many cars we have to take down, how many bodies need dropping, what's the exit plan?"
"Now that's where the fun of it all comes in." Rico said as he unfurled a map of downtown Roanapur. "Revy, you'll be positioned near the Sankan Palace Hotel in this alleyway. You'll be driving a tow truck that should be powerful enough to knock over the armored vehicle. I have details on where to, uh… acquire, one. Once you do this, Harry, Hermione, and I will be positioned here across the street. We'll spring into action, incapacitating the guards. Then, once we get the loot, we'll all Apparate back to a secure location."
Revy blinked at the plan while the two magic-users nodded along.
"Apparate?" Rock asked.
Harry stood up and stretched his back. Revy and Rock looked at him oddly before he quickly turned and vanished with a crack. The two looked at where he was in astonishment.
"Over here!" Harry said from the other side of the chapel.
The two turned and ogled him in astonishment as he walked back to the altar.
"Holy shit! You gotta teach me that!" Revy said, a giddy expression on her face.
"Maybe someday, but for now we have to get this sorted." Hermione said.
Rock put his hand to his chin, "This is great and all, and the Apparition trick is… interesting. But I'm still wondering about some details. First, when exactly is this vehicle coming? How do we get inside? And where is the rendezvous?"
"We can unlock the doors to the thing pretty easily." Harry said.
"And I need to get a safehouse up and running here anyway, so we can use whatever I find." Hermione said.
"I got the predicted times all figured out with this intel." Rico said.
"Well, that was quick." Rock said.
"Yeah, yeah." Revy said. "But I still want to know how many guys we'll be facing down."
"That's a bit harder to guess." Rico admitted. "But it shouldn't be no more than four guards inside the vehicle, and there is a possibility of a tail car, but the Triad is good at masking the patterns they use for those."
"Fine, shouldn't take more than two mags." Revy said, patting her holsters.
"Oh no, we don't want any of them dead." Rock said.
"Why the fuck not?" Revy asked.
"Because, if you can use the same stunning spells on the guards there, it makes my job of selling the plant to Mr. Chang much easier. So, Revy, if you want to bring along the guns, that's fine, but don't kill anyone." Rock said.
Revy grumbled and Rico spoke up. "With that also, the good thing about a plan like this is that it's in a very public area with lots of witnesses. These witnesses will generate rumors, and if magic is used, those rumors will naturally get in bed with the stuff going around about the morgue and the initial conflict the Hit Wizards had with Thucrit. Not because they're accurate or fully understood, but because they're so weird to non-magic people."
"And? What does this have to do with anything?" Revy asked impatiently.
"It means that you can't use pistols." Rico said.
"And why the fuck not!?" Revy said, slamming her hand on the altar and standing up menacingly.
"Because people know you around here. All it takes for us to get made on this is for one of the guards to recognize you by your fighting style." Rico said as the gunslinger bored into his head. "The Church can give you plenty of options!"
"Revy, it's fine. You won't even have to use them anyways." Rock said calmly, putting a hand on her shoulder and sitting her down.
"Fine." Revy growled. "But I want something fucking bougie, gimme a 'roided M4 or I walk."
Rico smiled uneasily as the two magic-users looked on.
"So, if we need to be anonymous, that means we need masks too, right?" Hermione asked.
"That's right. And I think it's about time we divide the prep work too." Rico said.
"I already said that I can take care of the safehouse." Hermione said.
"I think us two should try to get a tow truck." Harry said to Revy, she nodded in agreement.
"I guess I can tail a few of these convoys and see if they have any backup cars. Maybe I can sus out something. I'll get disguises too." Rock said as he gathered up some maps with routes drawn onto them.
"And I'll get started on weapons, I'll find something for you two. Can't go in with just wands." Rico said, nodding to Harry and Hermione. "I'll also get started on tracking down Thucrit's new hideout. We don't need to plant the hard drives right away, but the sooner the better."
"It's a date then." Revy said before the group broke up.
"This the spot?" Revy asked.
"Rico said so." Harry responded.
It was the night a day after the meeting and the two were casing a scrapyard on the outskirts of the city, making to steal a tow truck for the heist. While Revy had been doing this sort of thing for a long time, Harry was completely new to it. But he had already violated several Ministry policies over the course of this investigation, he saw no sense in changing his beat now, however.
To him it was only a matter of time before he got a message from Albie that would instruct him to dispose of Thucrit instead of capturing her. He didn't want to kill anyone, and these disposal orders were rare for the Ministry, used to keep things under wraps. 'The rulers of the state are the only ones who should have the privilege of lying, whether at home or abroad; they may be allowed to lie for the good of the state.' Plato had said.
Harry didn't like that philosophy, but he could see the wisdom in it. The last thing that the Ministry needed was controversy as it rebuilt. If the Daily Prophet started running headlines about how the Ministry killed off an old Death Eater in a land where they had no jurisdiction, it would be a blight on what was supposed to be something everyone could be thankful to have.
He didn't know where these thoughts all came from, but it was time to face the task in front of him.
"Let's do this then." he said.
Revy nodded and they approached the chain-link fence that surrounded the scrapyard. Harry took out his wand and used a Severing Charm to cut through the fence. Revy kept watch but she kept sneaking a glance to watch Harry's magic.
After a short wait Harry was through and he discarded the material that he had cut out before climbing through, Revy just behind him.
"I'll bet the truck is parked by the main office." Revy said in a low tone.
"Agreed. Do you know if this scrapyard is protected by any organization in particular?" Harry asked.
"Rico didn't say anything?" she asked, Harry shook his head. "Then I wouldn't know, but we'll find out soon enough." Revy drew her pistols.
The two proceeded to make their way through the rows of scraped cars that lay all throughout the yard, using moonlight and stray rays from the yard's floodlights to see where they were going. Despite the night's dark challenges, they didn't take long to find the office, which had a small garage attached to it. Inside was a night watchman who was sitting back in his chair reading a Gunsmith Cats manga. The two thieves crept up to an open window across the room from the guard.
"Okay, I'll take 'im." Revy said, flicking the safety on her pistol.
"No, use this." Harry said, holding out Draco's old wand.
"You really wanna do this shit now?" Revy asked. She had a deep desire to learn magic, but not while on an operation. Harry meanwhile thought that the pressure of learning on the job suited her.
"Yes, aim this at him and say 'Stupefy'. That's the Stunning Spell." Harry said.
Revy squinted and glanced at the guard again. "Fine." she said, taking the wand in her hand.
She got her eyes level with the window and pointed the wand just over the opening. She aimed the wand, "Stupefy" she said.
A red jet of light burst from the wand and hit the guard in the back of the head. He jerked forward and dropped his book before going limp in his chair.
"Holy shit!" Revy said. "First try!"
"Excellent work. It seems that you take well to offensive magic." Harry said.
Revy grinned and the two made their way over to the door to the office. Revy unlocked the door with an Unlocking Charm, and they investigated the place.
"Let's find the keys then." Revy said as she looked inside a few drawers at a nearby desk.
"We could search by hand, but do you want to learn a new spell?" Harry asked.
That got Revy's attention.
"This is called a Summoning Charm, you aim in the general direction of what you want, then say 'Accio' followed by whatever the object is." Harry said. Revy stood besides him. He aimed at the manga that the guard was reading and said, "Accio book."
The volume flew towards him, and he caught it in midair.
"So, could I just aim anywhere and say, like, accio truck keys?" Revy asked, absentmindedly waving her wand around. When she had said the incantation, a drawer to a filing cabinet ejected from its place and scattered papers all over the floor, startling the two intruders.
Harry recovered his wits. "Yes, you could. Just be careful with incantations, okay." he said, waving his wand and making the drawer reorganize itself.
"Yeah, okay." Revy said and she fingered the wand. She then pointed it out into the room. "Accio truck keys." she said forcefully.
The spell seemed to work, and a set of keys flew out of the pockets of the guard. It would've hit her in the face if Harry hadn't caught them.
"Brilliant!" the wizard said.
"That's fuckin' amazing!" Revy said as she eyed the keys. Harry handed them to her in exchange for the wand.
"Well, I think we should get out of here." Harry said.
"No more spells?" Revy asked as they went back outside.
"Maybe later, we have a job to do after all." he said before lifting the garage door upwards.
The yard's tow truck was sat there. The body was starting to rust, but just from the outside, it looked hefty enough to ram and overturn a tank if it needed to. The addition of a ram bar welded to the front was a welcome feature. Revy unlocked the driver-side door and Harry got in shotgun.
"Where we takin' this thing anyways?" Revy asked as she started the engine.
"Rico said that we could park it around back of the chapel. He said he had left a tarp there too to keep it out of sight." Harry said.
Revy nodded and tore out of the garage, ramming the fenced gate to the scrapyard to make an escape.
Albie sat at his desk again. It was an hour before the Ministry closed and he still had one meeting left in the day. He looked at his notes and saw it, Shacklebolt – 4:30 pm. Not that he didn't like the Minster, on the contrary, Albie had immense respect for him. But the old Auror thought that he was taking a lot of unnecessary risks, one of which was going to fall into Albie's lap at this meeting.
Over the last few days since Hermione had visited the office, Albie had been going at it with the Minister and the head of the Magical Law Enforcement Office about how to handle Thucrit. The case had developed to a stage where executive decisions had to be made, decisions above Albie's pay grade.
For his part, Albie was convinced that Harry and Hermione were still capable of capturing their target alive. Meanwhile, the Minister had told him to start looking into the ramifications of an elimination order. Albie had followed his orders to the letter and had his ICW contacts draft up an impact assessment of the diplomatic implications of killing a Hong Kong citizen on Thai soil. Needless to say, it wasn't good for the UK if they did it and it was uncovered.
Initially Albie had thought that since the Thai Ministry had lost a squad of Hit Wizards, they would want to see the killer brought to justice. However, the delegation had become more hawkish, even explicitly saying in a closed-door meeting that they didn't care if there was a body at the end of this or not.
Albie had been present at that meeting, using his intuition, and corroborating with Hermione's report on Thucrit's story, he was confident that whoever was pulling the strings to get Thucrit killed was the same one pushing the Thai delegation towards the edge. Whoever this was, 'Hidden Snake' the report had called them, was extremely good at all this. Almost as if they had done this before. Or maybe had the delegation under Imperious Curses. He honestly didn't know.
But the result, which he had to face, was that it was more politically convenient for Thucrit to die than it was for her to be taken alive, and Albie knew the Minister just wanted this situation resolved, justice be damned. With all this in mind Albie got up and walked to the elevator, taking it to the Minister's Office.
Albie knocked on the door and was told to enter almost immediately. The room didn't look too dissimilar from what Fudge had, each Minister after him had struggled to really decorate it to their own liking considering recent events.
"Sit down Albie." Minister Shacklebolt said, motioning to a chair in front of his desk. The Minister himself was going through a stack of documents, signing his name on the bottom of each one.
"Don't you have an Auto-Quill for that?" Albie asked to break the ice.
"These are all personal, I'm not allowed to use an Auto-Quill for personal matters while at the office." Minister Shacklebolt said nonchalantly.
"I see. That's a silly rule." Albie said.
"Indeed." the Minister said. "But I think it's about time we get to it. I've decided to give the elimination order." Albie's lips thinned at the words, and he looked down into his hands.
"Sir, I respectfully disagree with your decision on this matter." he said.
"I know, and I knew you would try to convince me otherwise. But the truth is Albie, the game was rigged from the start." the Minister said.
"How so?" Albie asked, intrigued by the implication.
"All in due time my friend. Just know that there are some forces out of my control on this one. Now, either you can give Harry the order yourself, or I can." the Minister said.
"I'll handle it." Albie said as he got up. He went to the door and left.
The Minister looked at the door as it closed and went back to signing his documents as if nothing had happened.
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