Chapter 9 - Espionage
"We should talk about what happened last night." Hermione immediately said, while entering the kitchen early in the morning and finding Steve staring at his cup of coffee.
She sat down next to him and poured herself a cup of coffee as well, waiting for his reply.
"I am not going to apologise. However, we've only known each other for a few months, and we've both been through a lot those past few years. I want to see where this goes, slowly." Steve finally said.
"I am not Peggy."
"I know. She was the light at the end of the tunnel, the promise of a date once the war was over. Beyond both being British, you are nothing alike, nor do I wish you were. I liked you when you were just a woman I talked with on a bench in Central Park. I still like you as a witch, as Hermione Stark. I'm not comparing you to her." Steve explained.
Hermione nodded, "Good, that's good. I would like to know where it goes as well, but I will need time."
Steve gave her a small smile and squeezed her hand, "We have time." He kissed her chastely and slowly before going back to his coffee, not letting go of her hand.
"Oh that's lovely Hermione, your aura is simply golden." Luna announced as she came into the room, from her own home presumably.
"Thank you Luna." Hermione replied and ignored Steve's confused frown.
"So, who are you calling for the Death Eaters?" Steve inquired, effectively changing the subject.
"A friend. We used to work together, and he was disenchanted with the Ministry as I was. He's been working on tracking down fugitives on his own instead, and sending them to the Ministry for processing." Hermione explained.
"You never said where you worked." Steve probed.
"Oh, I worked at the Ministry. I started in the Department of Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, but quickly learned I wouldn't be able to make a difference. The name really gives away what they think of who they qualify as creatures. Eventually, I moved into the Law side of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, where I met Theo, the friend I mentioned. We were basically assistant prosecutors, researching and assistant the Ministry lawyers on the best way to send people to Azkaban.
It felt good sometime, especially helping to put horrid people there. But it also felt hollow, the Ministry in itself isn't the best organisation, and so many people were sent to Azkaban for small things, or things we weren't sure they actually did but respecting the due process of law simply isn't a thing yet. The whole system is corrupt and simply not well done, there is no scale. Azkaban is the worst place on Earth, soul sucking demons as guards no matter what you did to get there. A murderer and a thief should not get the same type of sentence, there is something fundamentally wrong with the system.
Theo left first, focusing on the fugitives the Ministry wasn't managing to catch and I quit last year before I came here. I had wanted to for a long time, the Ministry itself has never been a great fit, but it was expected. I finally got the excuse to shed the expectations." Hermione explained.
During her speech, Tony and Bucky had also come in. Bruce Banner, who also had a floor and lab in the Tower, was away to help a researcher on Gamma radiation but would be back at some point this week.
They all listened to her, horrified but not surprised for the most part. Tony and Steve had talked about how backwards and Victorian the Wizarding World seemed at time, and Bucky only had Death Eaters as his introduction to magic until Hermione, so it wasn't hard for him to imagine the world they came from.
"You also shed the expectations when you broke up with Ron." Luna chimed in out of nowhere.
"Who's Ron?" Tony cut in immediately, his protective instinct flaring, completely ignoring his little sister was over 30 years old and could take care of herself.
"One of my best friend growing up. He's in the book, Ronald Weasley." Hermione explained and Tony softened a bit, remembering the man was noted as a war hero, while Steve struggled to quench the jealous flames inside him at the idea she had been with a war hero before. Then he remembered, she was a war heroine herself and he was being really stupid, even if only in his thoughts, although he didn't miss Bucky's amused gaze.
"Everyone expected them to get together, Molly, his mother, was already planning the wedding. They did get together, in the Final Battle." Luna explained.
Hermione rolled her eyes, "We kissed, once, in the heat of the battle. We dated for a few months, we were both broken by the war and grieving. Once I felt like myself again, I realised we weren't a good fit and broke things off before it got too serious. Besides, I had gone back to Hogwarts while he was training to be an Auror so it's not like we could see each other often. It died a natural death in a way."
"Why weren't you a good fit?" Bucky asked, ignoring Steve's glare.
"Hermione is logical, hard-working, with a big heart and very against injustice of any kinds, always working for a cause. Ron, on the other hand, is lazy, has a bad temper, no interests in common with her and never really took the time to understand hers in any way." Luna explained, in her usual serene voice.
Bucky snickered, and muttered "Made for each other." under his breath, although Steve heard it and bit his cheek to stop a smile.
"Why would you even be with someone like that?" Tony wondered, completely missing the Bucky/Steve by-play on the side.
"I was 18! He was nice to look at, he was my best friend. I don't know." Hermione whined.
"Your other best friend was a much better match." Luna replied primly.
Hermione shuddered, "He's like my brother, never say that again."
"What about Theodore?" Luna asked instead, and Steve perked up to learn more information about her love life, especially if she was to meet someone she had dated previously.
"What about him?" Hermione asked, feigning total innocence.
"You were with him for a year, what didn't that work?"
"It wasn't serious, we didn't love each other or anything. We wouldn't work." Hermione explained, hiding behind her mug of coffee.
"The friend you're bringing in is your ex-boyfriend?" Steve clarified, trying and failing not to sound jealous while Bucky rolled his eyes.
"No!" Hermione exclaimed, a little too fast, "He's a friend. We were never serious like that."
"What she's saying, is that her friend used to be her sex buddy." Tony cut in with a smirk, "Such a Stark thing to do."
"You really need to choose better things to label Stark, the image you're painting is very much sex-obsessed." Hermione told him.
"But very true." Tony said.
"Howard was a womanizer when I knew him." Steve chimed in, not sure why himself.
Tony nodded, "He was, until he met mom. Anyway, what is that?" he asked, pointing at his sister's hand clasped with Rogers' one.
"Whatever do you mean?" Hermione asked innocently, sipping her coffee.
"Rogers, I thought we had a talk about this." Tony said instead, focusing on Rogers' face.
"Hermione and I are together, seeing where it takes us. It's not a big deal." Rogers replied in a firm voice.
"She's a sweet innocent lady!" Tony exclaimed, "She's too young for you!"
"Taking aside the whole frozen in time thing, I'm pretty sure she's older than Steve, and we did just establish how she's not innocent." Bucky chimed in, not hiding his smile.
"He's almost 100 years old!" Tony retorted.
"He's really not. He's younger and much more innocent. Maybe your sister is the one taking advantage?" Bucky replied with a smirk.
"She is right here!" Hermione said.
"You can't be with him!" Tony told her.
"Who the hell do you think you are Tony? I can and will do whatever I want." Hermione replied, kissed Steve's cheek and left the room, Luna following behind her serenely.
"Well done Steve." Bucky said.
Steve sent him a small smile, then turned back towards Stark who had frozen in place and was staring at Hermione's retreating form, "She's independent. I understand you missed out on her life, but trying to be the overbearing controlling older brother won't gain you favour now."
"I know." Tony grumbled, "If you hurt her, I will kill you."
Later that day, the whole group was sharing drinks in the bar. Hermione was sitting next to Steve, too close for Tony's taste but he was restraining himself and focusing on Luna instead, who was talking about Nargles, he needed to ask Hermione what those were, it hadn't been in any of her books so far.
"Princess!" A male voice suddenly yelled.
"Theo!" Hermione exclaimed with a big smile and leapt to her feet, to run towards the guest for a tight hug.
"I'm so glad you could come, here let me introduce you." Hermione said and guided him towards the seating area. "This is Tony Stark, my brother, Luna you already know of course, Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes." she finished with a big smile.
"Pleasure to meet you all. I'm Theo Nott."
He received a nod from Bucky, a firm handshake from Steve and Tony as well, who narrowed his eyes in suspicion.
"Isn't Nott the name of one of the Death Eaters?" Tony asked in the following silence.
"Yes. My father was a Death Eater." Theo replied promptly before sitting himself on an empty armchair.
"And you're here, with a muggleborn and 3 muggles." Tony continued.
Theo rolled his eyes, "Most of the reports don't mention it, but my father, Thaddeus Nott, was about to kill me during the Final Battle. He wasn't thrilled with my refusal to join his cause and decided he could kill me and simply make another heir.
Hermione saved my life."
"How?" Bucky asked.
"She killed him." Theo said simply.
"Is that why they didn't work out?" Bucky asked Steve, whispering.
"Right, so we need to deal with the base where the Death Eaters are." Tony surmised, "You know where that was?"
"It's near Moscow, I remember enough so Hermione can picture the place." Bucky said.
Hermione nodded, "Yes, and then I can apparate us there after we take a Portkey to Bulgaria."
"Why Bulgaria?" Steve wondered.
"I don't know how much is monitored in Russia, and I have a standing Portkey to Bulgaria." Hermione replied.
"Why?" Tony asked, with narrowed eyes.
"To meet Viktor. We see each other a few times a year."
"He's the Quidditch player you went out with, isn't he?" Tony asked.
Hermione rolled her eyes, "Why is everyone talking about my dating life today, we went to the Yule Ball together when I was 15. We've been friends since, nothing more. He's married, to a man, and I'm the godmother of their son."
"Oh." Tony murmured.
"Whish I had known before he went and got married." Theo said wistfully.
"Why? You had a sort of relationship with Hermione." Steve cut in.
"Yes, and while I like women, I like men as well, and Viktor is fit. All rugged good looks." Theo said, with a wink towards Bucky who simply rose one eyebrow in response.
"Nick!" Hermione exclaimed a couple of hours later when Nick Fury came into the room.
"Hermione, love, it's good to see you." He replied with a side-hug and nods to all the people in the room. While he didn't personally know Theo Nott, he knew enough from his brother to trust him, his eyes froze when he saw Bucky Barnes however.
"Who is that?" He asked, in a harsher tone than intended.
"Bucky Barnes." Hermione murmured back.
"He's supposed to be dead, 70 years ago."
"I know, it's a long story, have a seat."
And he did, they went through the whole Winter Soldier history again, and finally explained the connection to Hydra and Death Eaters.
Fury had been focused the entire conversation, and closed his eyes, "We don't know who we can trust in SHIELD, do we?" he asked no one in particular.
"No, we don't." Tony replied.
They locked eyes for a while, "You don't know if you can trust me." Fury said finally.
"I'm sorry Nick." Hermione said in a small voice.
"No, I understand. Do you have verasiterum? You know I can't beat it."
"Sure."
She poured 3 drops on his tongue and she verified his allegiance towards SHIELD as well as his ignorance towards Hydra and Death Eaters working with them. Once Tony started asking unauthorised questions, she silenced him until the truth serum would be inactive and glared at Tony who simply smirked, unrepentant.
"I think we can trust Romanoff and Barton." Fury said finally, once the truth serum was out of his system.
"We'll have to interrogate them as well." Hermione said.
"I know, but Romanoff could have interesting contacts in Russia still, I'm sure they'll both agree to the serum."
The next day, both SHIELD agents came to the tower and were promptly interrogated under truth serum and both were determined to be trustworthy. Therefore, the group started planning.
They decided Fury, Clint and Natasha would focus on SHIELD itself as that part of the plan required finesse and the work of spies with the help of Tony's unauthorised hacking, while the rest would focus on the Moscow base to take down any and all remaining Death Eaters.
"We'll move to Russia in a couple of days and take down the base. At the same time, you need to infiltrate SHIELD upper levels and see who we can trust and who is secretly Hydra." Steve surmised.
"Are there anyone else we can trust to work on this?" Bucky asked.
"Banner could be helpful, as brute force mostly. He's not back until the day after though." Tony replied.
The group spent the next couple of days training and preparing, and Luna gave a small dose of Swooping Evil to Bucky every night followed by an hour long therapy session, the ritual would last at least a couple of months.
"Good luck." Fury told the team before leaving with Clint and Natasha.
The group all huddled around the rope Portkey Hermione had presented them, and they were soon transported all the way to Bulgaria.
"здравей!"
