Chapter 17: Wizard & Muggle Picnic

Date: Friday, 5th November 2010

Time: 1 pm, Hermione's Office

Hermione joined her core team and informed them about Athena and Luna's participation in the discussion.

Hermione called for attention, "As we progress into the deep end of this situation, the defined roles of Arthur, Ginny/Molly, Pansy/Neville, Katie/Zabini, Penelope, Luna, Athena, Percy, Bill and Charlie become more vital. Time and again any of them separately or all of them may wish to visit us. In that case, we discuss only those relevant issues with others. The rest of the issues are not to surface during any such discussion."

Fred nodded, "We understand that perfectly, Hermione. I speak for everybody when I say that we agree 100% on this."

"Right, let us order some lunch. Patrick!" (A young house elf appeared before them and bowed respectfully to Hermione)

Hermione gave him her kindest smile and asked, "Did my House-Elf specific potion reduce your migraine yesterday? I experimented for 1 hour and ultimately came up with a satisfactory solution. If they were not effective, I have a few more ideas up my sleeve."

The tiny house-elf openly bawled, "Over the years, I had many interaction with many employers but your incredible kindness has made me vow my entire bloodline to your personal service. Your effort has worked miracles Ma'am. Thank You."

"If things are in my power, I will take all efforts to serve people and beings who care about me. Coming down to the current task, get my Friday Special for these guys and 2 more people who are to join us. Make lunch ready by 2pm."

The tiny house-elf bowed and left the room.

In 5 minutes, Athena and Luna joined the group.

Athena started, "We anticipated a dirty war. Lucas has opened a can of worms with his greed and now the Cartel is activated. Veena's entry has merely put a face to their dark activities, particularly on force fields, which was OUR biggest weapon. My own sources have revealed background activities of some of the rumored members of this group. Tom with all his heinous cruelty, appears to be an innocent baby, when compared with the atrocities these wizards and witches have meted out globally. Lucas was able to press this Cartel down with his superior intelligence but his lack of focus now has brought this upon us. Draco and Ron, your practice of your learned skills are vitally important now. Before I reveal in detail about what Veena told me and what Veena told Luna (She will speak on that), I need to know about Harry's blunder which has brought the danger from the city borders right up to our own estate border."

Fred sighed, "Yes Harry! Hermione gave you time and did not wish to push you harder in front of everybody but within our little group here, we need to know all about it now."

George gave a consoling pat, "This is not to embarrass you in any way. It is simply our wish that we are clear on all facts because we all love Hermione deeply, from the bottom of our hearts."

Harry sighed, "I also love Hermione, my best friend, mentor and guide. I hate the danger I have put her in. 8 days back, Hermione and I decided to draw out a few cartel members by deliberately going to areas they dominate and make a deliberate mistake. They are power hungry and would not be able to resist a show of power-upmanship against elite English Aurors. My team's instruction was to Apparate to Thailand where our agents were waiting to take them to Singapore, Perth, Sydney, Mexico, USA, Canada, Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, India, and Holland and back home via Muggle transport. With such a complex route plan spread over 3 weeks, no one could have known that we were the ones monitoring this group of 6 Aurors. Unfortunately, when they were attacked by the Cartel in Chennai in masks, they fled to the one place that they should not have. These cartel members know methods identical to Athena's advanced Magic such as invisible rope. My boys and girls went to my office in Bangalore and my name was written there in gold letters. Now they know who are trying to hurt them but we still do not know who they are. My blunder was giving them the address of my safe house, protected by 25000 spells. All the same, I believe I did the right thing. These boys and girls and their safety is my responsibility as their leader. I could not let them be sacrificial lambs. Their blunder was not informing me about their moment of weakness and for one week, the Cartel have set up shop in England with none of us knowing. I do not mind that they had fear overtake them and they fled to the safe house. I mind that they tried to cover up their blunder. My action has put all of us in grave danger and I am responsible for that. I am sorry to you guys and especially to Hermione. I feel I have let her down."

Hermione spoke with tears in her eyes, "You have not let me down Harry. In fact, you have made me proud. Your love and kindness is something I stand for: never abandon your loved ones, whatever may be the subsequent consequences. By protecting the 6 Aurors, you have proven me that my core values find a deep place in your life. I do not care if all of us die, just how all of us live. Your actions have deeply honored me, Harry."

Harry by this time lost complete hold of his emotions and cried hard on Hermione's shoulder. Hermione did just the same on Harry's. At this moment, 2 greatest friends found the greatest strength in each other's arms.

The emotional avalanche threatened to blow away every other person in the room, including Patrick, who returned with lunch. Everyone looked down, trying to control their own emotions.

Harry held Hermione's face after a long bout of crying, "We are all weakening, Hermione. We are all getting too used to your intelligence and kindness. We like your cocky and snappy form better, the one you used to deride Ron and Me, back at Hogwarts. We say war is never a solo effort but this one is exclusively about you. It started out with Lucas trying to harness your power and now, here we are, clinging to you. Should you be out of commission, we would be mortally demoralized. Please stop being so kind, Hermione. You are making this a 1-person show. Even Lucas is now in your fold as is Jack & Adena."

Hermione shook her head, "I can't change who I am, Harry. Especially so, when my loved ones need me. War or not, I will never change my essence."

Luna squeezed her shoulder, "That is why you are our fulcrum, our base of strong support with Athena as your own base."

Luna then updated the group about Veena's bio attack threat and her own efforts to counter this possibility.

Next, Athena took over, still a bit shaken from the emotional flooding her mind just went through, "I am not Hermione's base, as Luna said, but I agree that Hermione is the fulcrum for this war effort. I am simply the material that gives it strength. She does not need me but I make her stronger."

Harry spoke out, "You both are our generals, leading us with love and discipline, motivating us and stabilizing us."

Athena coughed, "Anyways, back to the point. With Veena's help, we have devised a way to uncover the Cartel's identity. Our recent fields' research has indicated a way that we reveal the face behind the mask and also capture genetic material of our attacking Cartel by capturing microscopically tiny bits of cells attached with the outgoing CO2 after each exhaling round. The concept is similar to an X-Ray and an invisible DNA net. We stimulate a mucus release through irritants and get hold of microscopic nose cells exhaled out. Before the victim realizes things in 2 seconds, the DNA would be sent to Hermione's secret lab for analysis. Her science team would analyze things and compare to Hermione's archival records dating back to 1st Century AD and verified by Pansy. It would be immediately codified and securely locked with my Iris information, finding its way back to us. Only Veena and I can open the report. We must make plans to draw them out and lay a trap for them. On the other hand, we ought to defend against them well because if these people are better than Tom, we ought to highly respect their martial abilities. They will naturally not be happy with our manipulation and would come after us hard."

Hermione nodded, "We are prepared to face their reaction. How do you plan to draw them in?"

Athena smiled, "We bait Dudley in the guise of a Muggle and Wizard joint picnic. We also clear the pathway for them to approach us by removing Adena's security layer with the reason being given as Lucas needing extra security cover for a VVVIP guest. The older wise guard will not fall for this trap but their young power hungry members will find this window of opportunity too hard to resist. Even if we manage to get a single DNA sample, we can unravel the entire Cartel in next 3 years. There is one more thing. From this hour onwards, Dr. Celia & Dudley lives with you at your vacant Room Number 4 at Malfoy Manor 3rd Floor. Her human company including her doctor, parents, relatives and loved ones can visit her by using a Japanese System. They knock the front door of Privet Drive thrice and they are magically transported via a special floo network directly to Celia's room. Our Magical security personnel will pose as Muggle security personnel. Your room would be magically simulated to identically appear like Celia's drawing room and bed room. The Muggles will have no idea that they are at your home. When Muggles enter your property, an alert will light up outside the door, so that no wizard enters the room by mistake, else we may have to resort to memory charms."

Hermione had 6 rooms exclusively to herself at Malfoy Manor Level 2, where Room 4 on 3rd Floor was empty and surrounded by 5 other rooms shaped as a pentagon. That was her solo world. Since 2001 till 2007, Hermione and Draco lived in a small villa with a quaint garden in Highbury Gate in North London. It was as heavily protected as Harry's home, given the earlier attack on Hermione's Muggle home. Yet they decided to move back to Malfoy Manor, when they learned they were expecting Erwina. This was her first real motherhood experience from the beginning and Hermione wanted Narcissa to share the joy. Hermione also had complete freedom in designing the 3 bedrooms of herself/Draco and her 2 children. Hermione readily gave up her own space to protect Celia, knowing how critical she was in their Mission.

Athena continued, "Dudley is our x-factor and our critical weapon. He will perform at his best only when he knows that Celia is safe. This is the best arrangement because they are secure 24*7 and they also have complete social access at all times. We will tell him that his mission is to protect Luna on the picnic afternoon. Picnic venue shall be St Ives Island. The calm waves of the Atlantic Ocean will sooth our own nerves. Hermione, you decide the Menu and let Patrick, Kreachera and Pernie execute your choice. All wizards, witches and Dudley will be there from 11am to 6pm. Once we get concrete results, we will be able to make plans for the Quidditch World Cup Final, which will be held on 28th November 2010."

All people in the room agreed with Athena. Fred and George quickly executed Celia's move, even as Luna updated Athena's plan with Dudley, Celia & Narcissa. Arthur was sent there upon Hermione's request and within just 25 minutes, the move was complete and Celia was safe with Fleur and Narcissa in Room 4. Their house had 3 Z group security members protecting each permanent occupant and 75 Y-Level security members and 200 visible X-Level security members guarding each entry and exit of the property. 60 more Y level members were assigned exclusively to protect Celia and Dudley, securing everything from visitors to food and any possible avenue of threat, including staged accidents by fire, water or slippery surfaces. The manor was no less than a fortress. This was not counting Hermione's personal Z* security. All of them were back at Hermione's Office by 2pm to enjoy a sumptuous feast prepared by Patrick, but not before Celia personally thanked Hermione for her concern and hosting.

Sunday, November 7th, 2010

Time: 11-10 am, Venue: The Island, St Ives, England

The entire group of wizards and witches along with Dudley were by this time well settled on the grass plot overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. The elves were warming up the food in the BBQ pit. Children except those attending school were frolicking at the beach. It was an exuberant moment of happiness for 30 odd people. Every person, including Hermione, enjoyed the glorious moments but they were also on high alert. All children had an escape route with the elves and their own port-keys back to Malfoy Manor, the main place for assembly tonight. Adena and Jack had kept their end of the deal and publicly announced the need for additional security to accommodate a VVVIP guest of Lucas. All main guards preventing the Cartel's movement, were deployed at Lucas's home, leaving the gates free. All Athena had to do was wait. She and Veena had finalized the entire modality earlier that morning and Hermione's trusted team of Scientists were ready at her lab. Athena had already secured the access device with her retina information and it was useless to any one else. The DNA information was to be stored here and sent to her by a cryptic code that she had shared with only 2 people: Veena and Luna.

Bathing in beach and lunch was over by 2 pm and all of them pretended to sleep, to make themselves appear further vulnerable to a surprise attack. Only Athena kept her eyes open, leaning her back head against a gigantic rock.

At approximately 4 pm, as dark clouds surrounded them, all hell broke loose. There was a blue light in the horizon. Athena suddenly stood up, instantly alerting the rest to stay status quo and not give up their act. The enemy was here. At the same time, Hermione felt her head was getting crushed by a dull vibration. Seconds later, it was back to normal and Malcom was urgently buzzing her. 3 masked figures came to them out of nowhere. Athena was ready. All of them sneezed and coughed and Athena had a look of immense satisfaction that she passed on to Luna. Luna had to act in the second stage, to buy them time.

"We know you are the Cartel members. Stop being cowards and show your faces."

They gave their signature cruel laughs. "We are not here to obey. We are here to play. We have seen a juicy, vulnerable Muggle after a long time. We want to play with him for our entertainment purposes. Give us this toy and we will walk away peacefully. We do not negotiate so it is our way or the highway. The alternative will involve plenty of bloodshed-all yours."

Luna glared at the 3 masked people, "The so called toy is my student. I will never allow you to take him away."

In a tense standoff, they discussed things with each other. The leader spoke, "We do not have the word no in our dictionary. We will forcefully take him or will kill you to get to him.

Luna bowed to him, "I am ready, Senor."

The leader sent a spell at Luna. Dudley screamed, covered Luna and ducked both of them out of harm's way. The fact that his teacher's life depended on him helped him draw superhuman energy from his reserves. They dodged 10 spells and made their way to the tree that Athena had indicated earlier. After that, no spell of theirs were reaching Dudley or Luna. They realized much to their frustration that Athena's field was once again protecting all of them. That is the reason why others could not even hear the argument between Luna and the cartel. They appeared to be peacefully asleep.

Seething with frustration, they warned of dire consequences and Apparated.

The exchange was all of 6 minutes but Athena would have been happy even with 15 seconds, for her original purpose. All the people now got up.

Athena embraced Luna, congratulating for her bravery and Luna in turn warmly embraced Dudley.

"My student was my hero today, protecting me and protecting himself. I am really proud of your efforts, Dudley."

Dudley beamed, "Thank You, Luna Ma'am. I was able to practically carry out all your taught techniques. What I don't understand is why did you have to leave the tree, the area to which Athena's protective field lay? Why did you deliberately expose yourself?"

Luna shook her head grimly, "That is because, we are dealing with the planet's most intelligent wizards. If they could not cast attacking spells at us and yet we lured them here, they would realize that something was up. They would Apparate back instantly or use nasty dark spells against which we have no defense. Both of us had to face real danger to make sure that they felt they had the upper hand. Yet, we could not overdo it for our own safety. Hence, we were just 7 steps from safety and by the time we dodged their 10 spells, we were back under Athena's protection."

Penelope spoke, "In any case, all's well that ends well. Did you get your data, Athena?"

Athena smiled, "I expected a brief look at one member in 15 seconds but thanks to Luna and Dudley, I have extensive DNA data on all 3 of them, including saliva sample (I collected it when they were angrily talking to Luna in my invisible petri dish). I was also able to perform detailed analysis owing to our high quality genetic sample. We will uncover the cartel members in just 2 hours more. Hermione has already coordinated with 350 international nations to share their DNA database to compare our DNA records. We will certainly get a match. Even illegal people have a legal front and they need to be involved with Police, Government, Hospitals and Banks. We will get these guys."

All of them applauded Athena.

Athena called for attention, "Something is deeply disturbing. The Cartel was able to pierce our protection and her own elite Z* protection to gain access to Hermione for 2 seconds. That was the crushing dull thuds she felt in her head. How did their force field penetrate mine and how did it escape Malcom's attention? Did the Cartel notice their small momentary victory? If yes or no, what does this mean for our war strategy? How can 3 protective agents fail: Harry, Malcom and myself? Where are we going haywire? I have so many questions but no ready answer."

Malcom requested an open audience and Hermione permitted him, "Earlier this morning, Veena and you told me that these strong forces, when they interact with water, they give a blue hue. Our whole team went to investigate that hue and we left Hermione vulnerable for 2 seconds. Ally quickly realized our mistake and the fact that this was a trap. We instantly came back. What about you Athena?"

"Now that you mention it, this light fascinated me so much that I momentarily lost my focus and tried to solve the puzzle behind this mysterious light. I dropped my protective force field shield and they took advantage of that. All of us have successively failed Hermione this week. It is becoming a worrying trend."

Harry and Malcom gravely agreed.

Hermione smiled, "Hey guys. Cheer up! Don't be so hard on yourself. We are all here, alive and well in a beautiful spot of Nature. We also have critical intelligence on the Cartel. This has been the best afternoon for our group for a long time. We have a lot of stuff to figure out but that is the fun element in a high stakes chess game of intelligent powers. We will constantly face questions from our brilliant opponents and we need to solve them on a priority basis to proceed with our own plans, which can be accordingly modified with current data. I hate the fact that Luna deliberately faced danger for me but rest assured, given an opportunity, I will do the same for her. As for Dudley, my words fail me. A person who should be relaxing with his wife is saving his teacher. Any expression of gratitude I come up with is woefully inadequate. Let us enjoy our tea and go back home. We have lots to discuss."

After delicious cream scones and ham sandwiches filled their bellies, they left the beach after watching the sunset. Today was a major positive in their war against the Cartel but a lot more was left to do.

A/N: Thank you all viewers for taking your valuable time to read and follow my work. Now that we are thickly into the plot, most chapters will have mystery, action and strategy, all the while trying to elevate Hermione to the status of a true heroine for our generation. Let me remind readers that this is a sequel to Aurelian by Bitty.