Later that night, a meeting of the DA was convened in the ballroom of Firewall Castle.
It mostly consisted of the DA members living in the castle and those who worked within the Ministry. A few people were unavailable so soon after getting off of the train and even more were currently in Albania. That's why Amelia looked especially focused from where she sat around the ovular table near the fireplace. She wasn't paying all that much attention to the current conversation.
"They spoke with the elders yesterday but they're still in deliberations," Harry explained to Leanne Kimmi.
"Any other news?" she asked, opening her journal to the section dedicated to werewolves. She'd been heavily involved in those projects.
"Yes, actually," he answered. "They were pleased with the Wolfsbane."
"My father will be happy to hear that," Tracey said.
"Yes, pass on my thanks again, please," Harry said. "Even with that though, they're not sure they'll be able to do much beyond maintaining their neutrality."
"We're amenable to that though."
"Yeah but even that is still not guaranteed," he responded to Hermione. "Apparently, the Ministry restrictions on what wards they're allowed to protect themselves with might mean they won't be able to keep themselves safe from any dark wizards who come calling."
"I'm familiar with those," Leanne said. "We could get around them by selling them an already warded land parcel."
"That's what I thought," he said.
"Is there a problem with that as well?"
"Not so much a problem as a small holdup."
"Well we can manage that," Hannah Abbott spoke up. "What is it?"
"They've made a home for themselves in a rough natural cavern system and a few hand-built cabins," he explained. "They're not going to want to abandon their home on Snowdon for anything with less shelter."
"We could easily manage to build whatever structures they needed, couldn't we?"
"I figured I'd run it past the group first."
"I'm not sure how many more projects my uncle can take on right now."
"Why haven't we just brought Maxwell into the DA at this point?" Harry asked.
"I'm not sure really," Fay said. "I could talk to him about it?"
"And your aunt Georgia, as well," he said. "Assuming no one here has any objections."
"Not at all," Hermione said after glancing around.
"They are very nice people," Fleur said. She'd been working with them a lot on the chateau.
"They've never treated any of us like children," Harry said.
"Unlike some of our parents," Marie Janice muttered under her breath. It was only natural for parents to treat their children like children just as it was only natural for teenagers to be rankled by this fact.
"I'll come find you once I've talked to them, Harry."
"Alright," he agreed with a nod. "Amelia, have we heard anything new from Albania?"
"No, Tonks and Brock have been radio silent since before the meeting began," she reported tersely.
"Are we worried?" Harry asked with concern.
"Yes," she answered before scrubbing at her face in an uncharacteristic sign of stress. "But no."
"There is no cause yet for alarm," Masson clarified for her. "Our men on the ground have reported no signs of unrest from within the meeting venue."
"What or where exactly is this venue?"
"Along the edges of a forest," Amelia answered. "But under an unplottable ward so it's impossible to place exactly where it is on a map."
"Our people are in visual range?" Harry double checked.
"Yes," Ron answered. "Kitty said they have a decent position atop a rock face overlooking the abandoned farmhouse the meeting is in."
"Okay," he said, satisfied with that at least. "And they've seen no one come in or out?"
"Six figures were seen entering at various intervals," Masson reported. "They were likely either late arrivals or Death Eaters showing up to see what's on offer."
"More like who's on offer."
"None of these men are going to work for free," the distinguished older man said. "They must be working with some serious capital."
"We've hurt their finances here or there," Harry said. "But not nearly enough; I doubt money is a huge limitation for Voldemort."
"It appears not," Masson agreed.
"Still, that will be a drain on their resources," Lisa said. "Aside from the paychecks, more men means more overhead if they're bringing them all to Britain."
"Wouldn't make sense to leave them elsewhere, not when they're trying to consolidate their power," Ron pointed out.
"So then they're going to have to pay for more things like food, shelter, and supplies," she pointed out. "They're also going to have to enter the country somehow unless they're like Brock and are already here. Maybe we could keep an eye on that somehow."
"We could try to track those supply purchases," Marcus Theron suggested. "I have a few contacts I could ask to keep their ears open."
"Friends?" Masson asked.
"Just the kinds you buy with gold," he said. "They won't know exactly who's asking but they'll come through if they hear anything."
"Can't hurt," Harry said.
"Good idea," Amelia said. "I can keep a closer eye on any new arrivals from the mainland. It's not going to be a small list but between us, we can filter out returning vacationers and incoming tourists easily enough."
"What about the muggle side?" Hermione asked thoughtfully. "If they took a train, boat, or plane, they could be here without the Ministry having any idea."
"Our two societies are disconnected and most wizards are out of touch, Ms. Granger, but wizards are not entirely ignorant," Amelia said with slight amusement. "The aurors have offices, of sort, in various muggle transportation hubs like Heathrow or the Dover pier."
"More like expanded broom cupboards," former auror and hit-wizard Nathan Kennedy said under his breath.
"They can track magicians entering the country through muggle means?"
"They are able to detect them," Amelia answered. "It's a highly complex system of wards and various recording stations, but essentially yes."
"That system is extremely easy to circumnavigate," Nathan said, shaking his head. "If you can get documents good enough to fool the muggle customs and border enforcement systems, you're pretty much in if you don't use any deceptive magics."
Amelia winced slightly but didn't disagree.
"How does it work?" Hermione asked. "I've never read about it."
"The only aurors involved tend to be those with a connection to the muggle world," Amelia explained. "It's never publicized or written about; it's not technically classified information but it is considered privileged even with the DMLE."
"I see."
"We're the only ones who think to ask the same question you did, Hermione," Nathan said.
"The system works by immediately flagging individuals using, as Mr. Kennedy said, any deceptive magics," Amelia continued. "Things like most hexes, curses, disillusionment spells, polyjuice, glamours, and more. The list of harmful magic that will trigger the wards is long."
"Anyone trying to confound a security officer will find a squad of aurors responding while their face is sent to airport security," Nathan said.
"Any magical being who enters an arrival or departure point is assessed by the wards which will essentially capture a magical image of the person and transfer it to a piece of paper."
"Like a sketch?" Harry asked skeptically.
"More like a black and white photo," she answered. "They are extremely clear. We collate them in files then send them to a portion of muggle government that is aware of magic. They use those with those computer objects, somehow."
"I would assume they use facial recognition systems," Hermione supplied.
"Yes, that's right," she said, the term sounding familiar. "They identify and clear who they can. Usually it's muggleborns and halfbloods who have records in their world."
"And the rest?"
"The rest get passed on to the DMLE with pictures of them from security footage," Amelia answered. "Which they have a very surprising amount of."
"Unfortunately, that entire process takes months and the backlog on both the muggle and magical side is incredible," Nathan said. "Or at least it was was when I was around."
Amelia winced again. She couldn't disagree. Despite the importance of border security, the sub-department was ridiculously neglected.
"I can see about allocating some funds to refresh their staff and deal with the backlog," Amelia said, realizing she had the money available to do that now.
"Won't that raise some eyebrows?" Nathan asked.
"Or alert the Dark Lord?" Harry asked. "We don't want him to know there's a spy within the group of invitees."
She tilted her head in a so-so way.
"I'll pull the funds from the discretionary budget," she said. "The sum of money they'll require is extremely modest compared to even the most minor of auror expenditures."
"Will that alert the Dark Lord to anything though?" Harry asked with concern. "We know he has people within the DMLE and Ministry."
Amelia's brow creased angrily at that reminder. She'd isolated the Death Eaters in her department with the DA's help long ago but she'd yet to act on the information. She couldn't be sure there weren't other leaks, either.
"It's a very, very small sub-department," Amelia admitted. "Only two people."
"What?" Hermione asked incredulously. "That can't be nearly enough."
"See what I mean?" Nathan asked with a flat expression.
"That only makes it easier to secretly overhaul it," she pointed out. "At the very least, I am sure Isolda and Awarnach are not loyal to the Dark Lord."
"How in the bloody hell is old man Warney still around?" Nathan asked incredulously. "Awarnach has been in the Ministry since the last century and it's almost the bloody next century."
"Which is why it should be easy to convince him to retire with a generous pension," she said.
"I wouldn't make it too generous," Nathan said fatalistically. "Christ but he can't have that many years left to use all that money in."
He certainly always said what he thought — it's part of why Amelia had advised him to seek different employment when he'd been an auror aspiring to hit-wizard status.
"Isolda can be sworn to secrecy as sub-department head," she said as she straightened her monocle and ignored him. "She can be put in charge of hiring new personnel."
"How are you going to explain their presence in the Ministry?"
"I won't," she answered with a half smile. "Being the head of the department does have some perks."
"What did you have in mind?" Harry asked curiously.
"I'll purchase space somewhere outside of the Ministry in muggle London and make that their new offices. I can have it warded and have any new employees bound by secrecy oaths."
"That doesn't help the backlog on the muggle side," Nathan pointed out.
"There isn't much we can do about that; I'm sure they work at the quickest pace they can."
"I think if they knew it was important for national security, they might act a lot faster than you'd expect," Hermione said.
"How much do they know about what's going on in the wizarding world right now?" Harry asked, realizing he'd never thought of that before.
"I would assume they know as much as Fudge tells them," she said. "The Minister is in charge of the annual update the Prime Minister receives."
Harry and Hermione shared a long, silent look. They glanced at Nathan who gave them the exact same look, noticing Colin wearing a similar expression.
"What?" Ron asked, looking between them.
"Sorry, it's just-" Colin began before stopping to think.
"Yeah, sorry," Harry said. "It's like…eh," he trailed off.
"Without sounding paranoid," Hermione began as the confused expression grew on the less muggle-savvy members. "Every muggle government has intelligence agencies. It's unspoken but everyone accepts that for every one agency that we know about, there's at least two more we don't know about."
"There's like ten agencies that we know about, by the way," Colin supplied.
"Everyone kind of just accepts that and expects the government to be keeping tabs on everything, always," Nathan agreed. "For example, if you buy the equivalent of a bunch of dangerous combustible potions ingredients in the muggle world, that'll trigger a visit from authorities to make sure you're not breaking the law or making explosives."
"Do you remember that incredible amount of pictures you mentioned them having on suspicious wizards in airports or train stations?"
"Yes."
"That's just the tip of the iceberg. They can do the equivalent of track your broom, apparition, and portkeys as well as your physical body, anywhere on the earth, while monitoring your floo calls, all of your mail, your taxes, and your bank statements."
There were a few mutters at that.
"There's people in our government who specialize in making sanctioned assassinations look like accidents or make it look like you never existed at all," Colin said.
"Well that's terrifying," Justin Finch-Fletchley said flatly.
"With that in mind," Hermione said. "I find it hard to believe that the upper echelons of the government operate only on what Fudge tells them."
"My dad says a lot of those types are complete mugs, but even a complete mug can tell Fudge is a blithering idiot," Colin said jadedly.
Harry supposed there were only so many newspapers one could read containing Ministry statements before becoming jaded. Clearly, the sheer amount of nonsense had driven Colin over the edge.
"Yeah, I don't know why I never thought of this before to be honest," Nathan agreed. "These are the kind of people paranoid enough to make Mad-Eye proud and I'm not even sure he's capable of that emotion."
"He's not," Amelia said surely before frowning. These children were making an uncomfortable amount of sense. As she looked around, she realized these weren't really children anymore. Clearly, they were brighter than most adult wizards. How else could they not have thought of this before now?
"If even one member of the government knows there's a whole world adjacent to theirs that is full of people who can kill you with a stick then erase the minds of any witnesses…" Hermione said. "Well, I'm sorry but there's no way that there isn't a whole office or agency dedicated to gathering intelligence on it."
Harry had a consternated look on his face.
"What is it, Harry?" Colin asked curiously.
"It's just that…" he said before trailing off. "Where do all the muggleborns go?"
"What do you mean?" Hermione asked.
"Well they're not all getting jobs in the Ministry around the British wizarding world," he said.
"It's a sad fact that many of them end up moving to different countries that are less prejudiced," Amelia answered. "Some of them also choose to simply return to the world they grew up in."
"I find the second option more likely in most cases," Harry said. "They'll stick out like sore thumbs, unfortunately, with no muggle records of note since age 11."
"The Ministry issues passable accreditation for any who need proof of education for their age to use in the muggle world."
Harry and Hermione shared another look.
"And how do you get those records to pass muster in the muggle computer systems?" she asked.
"The muggle government provides them for us. Our liaison just brings the names to-" Amelia paused with a growing look of realization on her face. "Merlin, we literally just give them the names of disenfranchised, unemployed, fully trained muggleborn magicians on a silver platter. Maybe we are more ignorant than I realized…"
Harry winced slightly while Hermione nodded with a drawn expression.
"Yes, you can be quite sure there's a government agency dedicated to monitoring witches and wizards," she told the older witch.
"I have the uncomfortable feeling that the Ministry is being scrutinized by their muggle counterpart far, far more than we realized…" Amelia said with a slightly drawn look.
"I suddenly feel rather as if we've failed a test we didn't know we were being given," Augusta remarked.
She had been diligently following the conversation and found herself concerned. Most of the Wizengamot forgot where their power came from; they forgot that the Queen was more than just a figurehead on the magical side of things. She had not forgotten, however, so she knew that the implications were grave indeed.
"Some of those muggleborns return, you know," Nathan said. "They go on to live quiet, inconspicuous lives doing inconspicuous jobs."
"There might be more spies in the Ministry than we think," Ron said with a frown.
Amelia did not even want to think of the implications of that.
"If we're right, they probably won't make themselves known anytime soon," Harry said. "Let's put it on the back burner for now and see what we can subtly find out."
"It's a problem for the New Year," Amelia agreed.
"I'll start a new journal section," Hermione said. "I'll note down all the talking points from today so we have somewhere to start."
Her eyes already distant as she thought about the best possible organization. She always did love starting a new section of a notebook.
"And we've lost her," Ron sighed as she began scribbling away.
"How long have Tonks and Brock been on mission?"
"Last contact was just over four hours ago," Amelia said after checking her watch.
"That's not that long, when you think about it," Hermione said.
"My nerves are making it feel like forever," Harry sighed.
"Much to my chagrin, there was no secure way to make this a Ministry operation," Amelia said, letting out her own small sigh. "The is the first long-distance operation the DA has run. It's bound to be nerve-wracking."
"No kidding."
"Speaking of nerve-wracking," Ron said. "Are you ready for tomorrow?"
"Yes, Lord Potter," Augusta asked with some emphasis on the title. "Are you prepared to sit in your first Wizengamot meeting?"
Though she was his proxy when he wasn't present, he was welcome to attend the meetings whenever he liked. Neville was going to attend as well in a spectator role.
"Somewhat," he answered truthfully. "I've been led to believe the proceedings will be quite boring, at least up until you propose the werewolf measure at the end."
"There is nothing up for vote so you are most likely correct," she answered. "At this point of the year, most of the squabbling is about budgets."
"Everyone will expect you to stick close to Augusta so you should be fine," Andromeda assured him.
"You being there during the proposal and at the press conference in the lobby afterwards will make a huge statement in favor of the measure," Augusta said. "Coupled with your attendance at the ball, I am sure the public pressure alone will give us the votes we need."
"It'll also send the press into an absolute frenzy," Hermione chuckled, looking up from her journal for a moment.
"Thanks for the reminder," Harry grumbled.
"We can speak again before leaving for the meeting," Augusta said. "For obvious reasons, we should be seen arriving and leaving together."
Harry nodded in agreement; they wanted it to appear like he was staying with the Longbottoms.
"I think that's everything for now. Thanks for coming on short notice, to those of you who portkeyed in. Thanks for coming downstairs to the rest of you."
The assembled members tittered lightly before saving their various goodbyes. Most of them trickled out of the room.
Hermione stayed, various parchments spread around in front of the large space she'd claimed for her own. Ron and Harry did as well. Lucas Masson and Amelia Bones both stood but rather than leave, they fixed themselves a cup of tea from the serving cart the elves had left in the room for their meeting.
"You guys hanging around?" Harry asked as he stood as well.
"Yes," Masson answered.
He finished pouring his cup then gesturing towards Harry's questioningly.
"Yes, please," Harry said as the frenchman filled his cup. "Thank you, sir."
Amelia began walking over to the corner of the ballroom that served as their tactical center, of sorts. It had a number of interactive maps and dossiers on the wall just like the ones in the Cathedral at Hogwarts. Masson and Harry moved to follow her.
"Let me know if you need any help," Ron said to Hermione before he stood from the oval table.
"Uh huh, sure," she said absently without looking up from her parchments.
He smiled at her fondly before going to join the other three.
"A lot to think about tonight."
"That's quite the understatement," she said brusquely. "And a busier day tomorrow too."
"Are you going to be at the press conference after the meeting?" Harry asked as he sat down at the square table.
"Yes, Augusta asked me to be there," she answered. Since she was also a member of the Wizengamot, she would also be leaving for the press conference directly from the chambers.
"In what capacity?" he asked perceptively.
"What do you mean?" Ron asked as Amelia seemed to be thinking about it.
"Amelia is Regent Bones as well as the Head of the DMLE," Harry answered. "A lot of people forget that her vote doesn't come from her department head status."
"Oh, right."
"She has to be careful about when and where she represents either position," Harry explained. "She had to be careful to balance them so no one can say the interests of her House are biasing her work."
"Which would be ridiculous," Ron said. "She has more integrity than most of the Ministry combined."
"Thank you, Mr. Weasley," she finally spoke, looking away from the map. "I believe I will be attending in my Wizengamot robes as Regent Bones, though my position in the DMLE should encourage spectators and members of the press to behave."
"I sure hope so," Harry said. "I've never done a press conference; I don't think the media circus during the Triwizard Tournament counts."
"It'll certainly be a circus," Amelia muttered disparagingly.
"That's helping my confidence, thanks," he said with light sarcasm.
"You'll be fine, mate," Ron said.
They were interrupted by a staticky noise emitting from their comms units.
"Boss?" they heard Tonk's voice in a low hiss.
"Tonks," Amelia answered immediately.
"Invited to secondary location."
"Denied," Amelia said immediately. "Pull out."
"Negative," Tonks hissed back. "Invitation appears non-optional."
"They're coming this way," Brock's low baritone could be heard before the connection was severed.
The people in the ballroom were all staring at the radio in a mix of shock and festering worry.
"They were not cleared for a second location," they heard a new voice over the radio.
"Kitty," Masson told them quietly.
"No, they weren't," Amelia agreed over the comms.
"What do you want us to do?" the mercenary asked tersely.
"Multiple outbound portkeys detected; they're still going off twice a minute," Brando reported.
"Maintain your current position," Amelia answered after sharing a look with Masson.
"Is it possible for them to track the trails?" Harry asked quietly.
"Possible but risky," Masson answered. "They can confirm the building is empty but they have to have time to circumnavigate any wards."
"They also run the risk of someone returning," Ron said.
"Do we investigate the site?" Kitty asked.
"Hold for further instructions," Masson answered before turning off his comm.
"We need to make a decision soon," Amelia said tersely. "The window is limited."
"We know nothing about the structure, the wards, or their schedule," Harry said. "We shouldn't risk our people anymore than we already are."
"If Tonks and Brock can portkey into this secondary location, they can probably portkey back out," Ron added. "We can't guarantee that, of course, but hopefully their emergency portkeys still work."
"Maintain your position," Masson said as he reactivated his comm. "Alert us if you see any movement or signs of incoming travel."
"Confirm," Kitty answered before the radio went silent again.
"Now we have no idea where they are and no idea when they return," Amelia said, her face stony. "After taking an involuntary portkey, at that."
While they hadn't exactly been kidnapped nor singled out, a non optional invitation to a secondary location set off alarm bells for all of them.
"Myself, Gareth, or one of the Sally's will be here all night on rotations," Ron said. "We'll alert anyone as soon as we hear anything."
"I'll be here as well," Amelia said firmly.
"I need to get some rest," Harry frowned. "Or try to, at least. We're finally moving Hermione's parents into the castle."
"They don't already live here?" Amelia asked curiously. "I swear I've met them."
"They started visiting last summer," he answered. "But with their dental practice, they weren't ready to fully move until now. With the tensions increasing, it didn't seem safe relying on their current wards."
"They were good," Hermione said as she joined them, books and papers stuffed back into her bag. "But not good enough with a war on."
Amelia nodded in understanding.
"We'll wake you if anything changes," Ron said.
"Thanks," Harry said. "Escort you to your room, Hermione?"
"I'll stay here for a little bit and have a cup of tea," she declined, glancing towards her boyfriend.
"Alright," he said with an understanding expression. "Night, everyone."
"Night, Harry."
…
Around four in the morning, Dobby woke Harry from his sleep.
"Misses Boney is sending for you, Master."
"I'm up," Harry said. The thought of Tonks and Brock somewhere in Albania was enough to instantly rouse him.
"Can Dobby help?"
"Is Ron already there?" Harry asked as he cast a switching spell on the sleep pants he was wearing and the trousers he'd left on a chair.
"Dobby can be waking him next."
"Yes, thank you," he said as he cast another switching spell on his top before pulling on a robe and hurrying out of his room.
He cursed the size of the castle a little before cursing again at his own stupidity. He could hear Hagrid's voice in his head saying "Yer a wizard, Harry!"
Taking advantage of the powers that came with controlling the wards around the island, Harry apparated. He landed directly outside the doors of the ballroom.
"What have we heard?" he asked as he strode in.
Almost immediately, he stopped short. There were a lot more people in the room than he expected.
"Wotcher, Harry."
"Tonks!" he said, pace quickening immediately.
"And Brock," Brock added with false enthusiasm.
All of the team that had been sent to Albania had returned and were milling around the room. A few of the other night-owl DA members who saw the journal announcement were also present.
"Right, sorry," Harry said sheepishly.
"It's fine," Brock said. "Tonks is the pretty one, I understand."
"And don't you forget it," she said with a small wink.
"Should have seen her an hour ago," he grunted, referring to her disguise. "Yelena was not nearly so pretty."
Despite the light banter, neither of the two looked like they were having a good night. In fact, they looked grim and Tonks looked slightly shaken.
"What's happened?" Ron asked, entering the room just a few moments behind Harry.
Considering the fact that he didn't have the ability to apparate within the castle, that was actually kind of impressive.
"Everyone's back," Harry said. "That's about all I know."
"I'd like to know that as well," Amelia said austerely.
Harry looked at her in askance and she shook her head in response.
"They've yet to be debriefed," she answered.
"Let's have a seat," Lucas Masson said.
An elf appeared in the roof and bowed a little.
"Tea?" he asked.
"We're gonna need something stronger than tea," Tonks said grimly.
"What happened?" Harry asked, brow furrowed.
"We saw the Dark Lord tonight," she said.
And then the room erupted in a clamor.
…
After the uproar that Tonks' statement had caused, a full meeting was immediately called. Sleepy DA members began appearing in droves and when they heard Tonks' announcement, the uproar repeated itself. Amelia got the room back in order. As the most experienced person in the room when it came to both interrogating criminals and debriefing aurors, she asked for silence while she questioned Tonks and Brock.
"…the energy in the air, the magic," Brock was describing. "It was so dark and malicious that it was making me physically nauseous."
"I don't know what was more terrifying, that aura or his face," Tonks muttered.
No one laughed at the weak attempt at humor. Learning that they'd been portkeyed to a remote forest clearing to face Voldemort himself had shaken all of them.
"He was smooth, too, that's what was the most disturbing," Brock recounted.
"The pay's nothing to scoff at either."
Once they had some context and an idea of what to expect, Tonks donated her recollection of the events. Together, they watching it play out over the presentation pensieve.
Needless to say, they were all disturbed.
None more so than Harry who hadn't seen this snaky version of the Dark Lord try the charm offensive, if it could be called that. It was still far too overly threatening. That approached played far better with the youthful face of Tom Riddle. They were lucky he had sacrificed that in his pursuit of immortality.
"Do we have any indication of how many might take him up on his offer?" Amelia asked afterwards.
"That's the catch," Tonks frowned. "He gave us less than a fortnight to decide whether or not we wish to accept his offer. We have no idea who was sold on joining him or not."
"We have to signal our acceptance by contacting whoever invited us," Brock explained.
"So there's no way to track who he's managed to buy," Gareth frowned.
"There's one way," Brock said grimly.
"No," Amelia said immediately.
"The idea has merit," Lucas Masson allowed.
"We are not sending anyone back undercover," Amelia disagreed. "It's too dangerous; we have no idea what we're sending them into. Tonight already illustrated that."
"I'd be willing to do it," Brock said contrarily.
"We already talked about it," Tonks added. "I would go as well but my ability isn't foolproof and there's even wards that can detect it."
"I can think of a few wards based around the solstice that you wouldn't be able to fool unless you're in your natural state," Luna said with uncharacteristic seriousness.
Seeing as none of them even knew what that looked like, they knew that wouldn't be happening.
"Even I were willing, the Black features would give me away immediately," Tonks stated. "I won't be able to go back in."
"I could," Brock said.
"No," Amelia stated again.
"Yet again, this has the potential to provide us with invaluable intelligence," Masson tried to reason.
"A chance to get a mole into the Dark Lord's camp would be huge for us," Tonks argued.
"Are you willing to weigh that against the price of your own life?"
"I am," Brock answered simply.
Amelia made a sound of frustration.
"You would have no backup and no advanced intelligence," she growled. "How do you expect…"
The argument went around and around from there. By the end of it, it was nearing breakfast time and no real conclusions had been reached. Everyone was too exhausted to continue by that point, especially Tonks and Brock.
"We have two weeks to figure it out, everyone," Harry said, finally holding up his hand. "For now, let's give it a rest."
"Ugh, some rest sounds spectacular right now," Tonks groaned.
"I agree," Amelia sighed with a tired look. "I might have time for a quick nap before I have to be in the Ministry."
"Oo," Tonks said, grimacing. "You're going in?"
"Oh certainly," she said with resignation. "I have to have security ready for the media circus in the atrium."
"Then you have a Wizengamot meeting and the press conference itself," Harry said, looking at Amelia with a mix of concern and pity. "How are you going to make it through the day?"
"Let's just say instead of salt and pepper with my meals, I'll be having Pepper-Ups."
There were a few sympathetic looks before everyone slowly began to break up. Some of them went back to bed and some of them went to breakfast but all of their minds stayed in the DA ballroom. The war was beginning and things were heating up. Their New Year's to-do list just kept on growing.
The holiday celebrations would be the last respite that they would have for awhile, it seemed. They would all just have to try their best to enjoy them in-between everything they needed to accomplish.
…
The Wizengamot was boring.
Extremely, extremely boring.
Yet, everyone there seemed to be attempting to look like they were the most interested as if competing for a prize. The loser is whoever falls asleep first.
Needless to say, Harry almost lost a few times. He hadn't had to do anything since the beginning of the meeting. That had actually been a little fun.
An extremely sour-faced Dumbledore was forced to formally welcome him to the meeting. This was accompanied by a round of polite applause from most of the chamber.
"You will need to make a small statement," Augusta whispered to him over the applause. "Stand."
"Oh, alright," he said.
He hadn't exactly prepared for this. Still, he stood up proudly from the traditional seat of the Potters. His grandfather had been the last person to sit in this spot. Augusta was directly to his right; the Longbottoms and Potters truly had been allies for generations.
"Thank you, Lord and Ladies of the Wizengamot," Harry said, wandlessly amplifying his voice slightly. "Thank you for welcoming me into these hallowed halls. I am grateful for the opportunity to learn from some of the finest pillars of our society as I observe our government in action today."
There was another round of applause before he retook his seat. After that, the meeting commenced and the boredom began.
Had he mentioned that the Wizengamot was extremely, extremely boring?
Thankfully, just after he almost lost the fight with his heavy eyelids for the fourth time, the end seemed to approach.
"Before we dismiss this session, I open the floor to the submission of any new agendas," Dumbledore said.
Clearly, he didn't expect anything to be proposed because he looked quite surprised to see August Longbottom silently raise her wand. The tip began to glow softly to signal she wished to speak and a few people began to murmur.
"The chamber recognizes Regent Longbottom Potter has the floor," he said almost reluctantly.
The fact that she held the Potter vote rather than him had really rubbed him the wrong way, if he was honest. He had always imagined that Harry would hold him in high confidence by the time it came time to appoint his proxies.
"Thank you, Chief Warlock," August said.
Like Dumbledore, her tone was also reluctantly civil. She didn't want to thank the miserable old goat for anything but she was nothing if not proper.
August took her time rising from her seat. Once she was standing, she didn't appear to mind that the entire chamber was waiting on her to finish adjusting her robes and delicate black gloves.
Only when she was finished did she step up to the railing in front of their seats.
"Today I will speak on behalf of the Ancient and Most Noble House of Ravenborough in conjunction with the Ancient and Most Noble House of Longbottom," she began, voice ringing clearly through the room.
Already, there were ripples of curiosity spreading. Harry was careful to make sure his face looked mildly surprised.
"The chamber recognizes Regent Longbottom Ravenborough," Dumbledore restated for the record.
Augusta gave him a nod before clasping her hands in front of her.
"It is our opinion that werewolves in our society have been an unchecked problem for too long."
As expected, the topic drew some surprised noises.
"In reviewing the last five decades worth of data related to the rising number of werewolves, we have concluded that the number of new cases has only increased since the implementation of the current werewolf regulations. As these were designed to do the exact opposite, we can only conclude that they have failed to address the problem."
"We need to do more to keep those beasts from breeding, we do," someone jeered.
"I would remind this body that werewolves are not born, they are bitten," Augusta stressed, face impassive.
"And I would remind everyone that Regent Longbottom Ravenborough has the floor," Dumbledore said sternly with a glance towards the jeering wizard. "Anyone speaking out again will be asked to leave." He looked away with a properly chastised expression. Dumbledore had a way of making everyone feel like a schoolchild again…
"We believe it is necessary to adjust how we handle the danger werewolves pose to our society," she answered. "Over a hundred innocent citizens have been bitten while going about their lives; it will keep happening unless we do something to protect them."
Dumbledore looked concerned by her wording and slightly puzzled by her angle.
Around the room, heads were nodding despite themselves. Doing more to combat dangerous werewolves was always good in their book. This was something most of them tentatively agreed on whether they were light or dark inclined.
"As it stands, we punish any werewolf citizen extraneously and unnecessarily," Augusta continued, seeing those same heads stop nodding. "They are denied access to many things like stable jobs, shelter, and health care. Without these things, the chance of their curse spreading is higher."
She paused, allowing some whispered conversations to die down. Harry kept careful eye on who talked to who and who looked particularly disagreeable.
"The unfortunate fact is that almost every werewolf citizen registered with the Ministry was once a normal witch or wizard in the wrong place at the wrong time," she continued. "The true dangers to our society, the ones who deserve to be maligned and excluded and locked away, do not register with the Ministry. They haunt our citizens from dark alleys and join madmen like the Dark Lord."
A few more people were nodding again, if more hesitantly. Many of them could see the logic in her words.
"Apprehending and jailing these fiends is the job of our Department of Magical Law Enforcement," she said. "However, seeing to the welfare of all of our citizens is our responsibility. Is that not the truth?"
"I believe we can all agree with that sentiment, Madam," Dumbledore answered after a beat.
Augusta nodded his way shortly in a gesture of acknowledgement before she cast her eyes around the room again.
"It is to that effect that House Ravenborough and House Longbottom would like to propose a new measure to license a large, secluded facility to house werewolves around the full moons," she said. "This facility would be fully funded and sponsored by the Lord Ravenborough."
There was a loud burst of chatter at that. It took Dumbledore a full minute to reign them in.
"So that's why she called the press conference!" someone cried out in a eureka moment.
"Press conference?"
"Yes, didn't you hear?" someone whispered back. "It's in the atrium after the meeting."
"Ahem," Dumbledore said with a reproachful look.
"This measure means we will know, every full moon, where every registered werewolf is. We can be sure that they will be properly secluded and secured. They'll be under lock and key, medicated before and after the moon, unable to pose a threat to our citizens and children."
Harry was surprised to see the number of people that looked agreeable to the idea already.
Apparently, Augusta was right about using fear tactics. Nothing made them quicker to act (or agree to someone else acting) than a bit of fear. She had already apologized to Remus ahead of time for the angle she would use. They needed it to sound more like a jail for werewolves to keep them away from the public than the clinic and retreat they wanted it to be.
"I cede the floor, Chief Warlock, to any questions," Augusta said.
A clamor broke out at that with a number of questions being shouted over others. This time, Harry noticed, it took Dumbledore more than a minute to calm everyone down. Once he managed that, copies of the measure packets were distributed to each member. Then, the inquisition began. Thankfully, most questions could be referred back to the packet and Dumbledore signaled the end of the meeting after an hour of questioning.
"My lady?" Harry said as he offered his arm to Augusta for their descent down the steps.
"Thank you," she said primly as she took it.
She pretended not to notice the wandless privacy ward he threw up around them, one mild enough not to be noticed by their peers.
"That didn't go nearly as bad as I thought it would," he said to her quietly.
"Oh, sonny," she sighed before laughing quietly. "This was the easy part."
Harry gave her a kind of nervous look as they made their way through the grand double doors. Wordlessly, Amelia fell into step with them from Augusta's other side.
"This was the easy part?" Harry repeated with definite nervousness in his voice.
"Definitely," Amelia confirmed. "The Wizengamot, at least, is forced to behave with some decorum. The press have no such qualms."
"Yes, the worst is yet to come," Augusta agreed as they strode down the halls. "The pack of vultures awaits."
"Want to bet they already have a copy of your measure packet in hand?" Amelia groused. "Lord Gamp has probably already lined his pockets with Skeeter's gold."
"That's a suckers bet," Augusta retorted dryly. "And we both saw Lord Selwyn sprint ahead of the pack."
"I'll put my nicest bottle of scotch on Gamp reaching Skeeter first," Amelia said.
"I'll match my finest cognac on Selwyn and that useless gnat of a reporter, Smudgley."
"Is this how you deal with the nerves, then?" Harry asked, adjusting his robes as they walked down the long hall that led to the lifts and eventually the atrium.
"There's no need for nerves," Amelia said with a shake of her head. "You only have one line, after all."
"Right."
"No, the liquor is for after," the DMLE head said seriously. "Once we open up to questions, it's a circus."
"Even you'll be needing a tipple by the time this is done," Augusta commented as they stepped into a lift. Thankfully, both women had enough presence to scare anyone else away from joining them so they had it to themselves for the short trip up.
"We're going to exit and immediately move towards the fountain where we've set up a small stage and podium," Amelia reminded him.
"And I'll stand behind and to the right of Augusta while you stand on her left," he recited, taking a deep breath. "I know."
"Alright," Amelia said with a nod of her head.
"Just remember," Augusta murmured just as the doors began to crack open. "There'll be a nice, strong drink waiting for all three of us after this."
As Harry saw the flashing lights and the tightly packed crowd of press and spectators waiting for them, there was only one thing to say.
"We're gonna need it."
…
They did indeed partake in a drink in Harry's study on Firewall after the press conference. He was given a smaller serving and accepted that without comment. He was still a teenager, after all, even if he was a mostly independent one.
"This was surprisingly good," Harry said as he swirled the cognac around his glass before finishing it off smoothly.
"I did promise my finest," Augusta said with an only slightly rueful expression.
"It almost makes Skeeter getting the scoop first worth it."
"Almost," Amelia said before finishing her own glass and standing up.
"I hear they're doing an early dinner on the lawn outside," Harry said. "Will either of you be joining?"
"I'm afraid I will likely have a number of letters to answer by the time I arrive home," Augusta said. "We're just lucky it's too late for them to run an evening edition."
"Which is why I think I'll join you," Amelia said. "Susan should be there as well. Aside from Christmas day, I'm not sure how much time I'll be able to spend with her during the holiday once the story breaks."
"I'll escort you then," Harry said as he offered his arm politely.
"I see Madam Tonk's schoolings on the social niceties are paying off," Augusta praised as Amelia smiled slightly.
"Indeed," the intimidating woman agreed before accepting his arm. Even the politest of wizards tended to be too intimidated by her position to remember she was also the lady of her house.
"Have a good evening, Augusta," Harry said. "Thank you both for all of your help. The Wizengamot is a whole different battlefield than what I'm used to. Without you guys and Andromeda, I'd be lost and I doubt slinging spells around the chambers would help."
"Indeed not," Augusta chuckle as she stood and followed them from his study.
"No matter how satisfying daydreaming about it may be," Amelia muttered a little too loudly.
Harry laughed at that and so did Augusta. She broke away from them to head towards the floo once they reached the first fireplace. Amelia and Harry made the rest of the trip in companionable silence.
"These topiaries are amazing," Harry said as they passed a row of bushes trimmed into the shape of reindeer connected to a hedge-sled by strings of lights.
"They are quite impressive."
"The last time I was here, the hedges were normal shaped or round." Now, all of the hedges were in the shape of stars, tiny Christmas trees, circular wreathes, reindeer, candy canes, or gift boxes wrapped with ribbons and bows of string lights.
"Do you even know how many elves live here now?" Amelia asked curiously.
"Erm, no," Harry answered truthfully.
She gave him an amused look before continuing her perusal of the gardens.
"They've outdone themselves," she praised as she looked around.
Fairy lights were strung elegantly along bushes and in trees. Water features were carefully frosted over and decorated with un-melting snow. Candles appeared to float on the frozen surfaces. In courtyards, snow seemed to fall without ever touching their heads.
"Yes, they've really done a wonderful job," Harry agreed.
"I don't think I've ever seen so many fairies around one place."
"You should see the Christmas trees in the castle," he said.
"I've seen the one in the great room," she said. "I'm pretty sure some of the children made ornaments specifically for fairies to live in, which they seem to do with great relish."
"Apparently the small trees in personal suites have some tiny inhabitants as well."
"Interesting."
As they walked, they noticed dozens of elves working around the gardens. All of them were wearing the dark purple velvet winter cloaks with silvery fur lining that matched the style of DA robes. Some of them were tending to various plants and some of them were putting out trays of fruit, honey, and sugar water for the fairies.
"Is that what you're supposed to feed them?" Harry asked curiously.
"I don't know," Amelia answered in a similar tone.
"Excuse me?" Harry asked one of the elves.
"Yes Master?" he asked enthusiastically. "What can Dippy be doing for Master?"
"How do you know what to feed the fairies?" he asked curiously.
"Missus Lavender be telling us that's what they's be liking most," he answered. "So's we elves be feeding all the fairies on the island."
"Huh," he said, looking a little confused. "Okay, thank you. Everyone's doing a great job out here — the gardens look beautiful."
"Thank you, Master," Dippy said excitedly. "Dippy be telling the other elves Master said so!"
"Please do," he said with a smile before continuing his walk with Amelia.
They made their way down the final set of cobblestone steps that led down the terraced surface. They could hear a number of cheery voices coming from the stretch of open lawn not far away.
"I think I smell barbecue," Harry said as they got closer.
"You think right," a deep voice said.
"Oh, hello Mr. Granger," he greeted.
"Harry," he said, clapping the boy's shoulder briefly. "A couple of us dad's got together and had some grills set up over here. Those elves of yours have really taken to it, they barely let us help now."
"Yeah, it's a nightmare getting them to let anyone else use the kitchen," he chuckled.
"I don't mind it," Dan confided in a secretive tone. "It leaves us more time to stand around the fire drinking beers."
They were on the lawn now and Harry was surprised by the changes, to say the least. There was a small white tent with some tables and chairs under it as well as a cozy looking fire pit with seating around it. An iceskating rink had been created on the far side of the lawn and the sounds of giggling and screaming rang out loudly.
"Wow," Harry said with wide eyes.
"Auntie!" Susan said excitedly as she ran over and grabbed her aunt's free arm. "Come on, you've got to see the hedge maze. It's a snow maze now!"
"Thank you for escorting me, Harry," Amelia said politely before letting herself be dragged away.
"Of course," he said with a wave. "Have fun!"
"Harry!" he heard Hermione's voice say. "How did it go?"
"About as well as it could, according to Augusta," he answered as she showed him over to the table Ron and Ginny were occupying near the BBQ grills.
"That's good, right?" she asked perceptively, hearing something in his voice.
"Rita Skeeter probably has the lead on the story," he sighed. "So we'll have to see how it goes."
"Well she knows better than to print anything too bad so I'm sure it'll be mostly positive."
"We can only hope."
"Hey mate," Ron greeted as Harry dropped down onto one of the benches.
"Hey, Ron," he greeted. "Hey Gin."
"Aren't they adorable?" Ginny asked with a nod towards the little elves manning the barbecues. Over their winter cloaks, they had a variety of child-sized aprons on. They were in a multitude of colors and some had silly sayings or images.
"Some of the mums have been shopping online and having deliveries dropped off at their houses for the elves to pick up," Hermione explained. "They're doing a massive gift exchange around the castle because it's too much to expect everyone to get gifts for everyone."
"That sounds nice," Harry said.
"My mum got Adriana," Hermione said with a slight shudder.
"What's she gonna get her?" he asked curiously.
"Some sort of perfume, I think," Hermione said. "Something fancy and French."
"Muggle?" he checked.
"Yep," she answered.
"That's nice then; she can be pretty sure Adriana doesn't have it already."
"Exactly," Hermione agreed. "A lot of the muggle parents here drew pureblood parents so there are bound to be some interesting exchanges."
"I got Mum something from that Harrods place your mum took us to," Ginny said. "The wizarding world doesn't have nearly as many lotions and scented stuffs as the muggle world does."
"I got her some yarn."
"What?" Ginny asked, blinking as she looked away from an elf who was enthusiastically flipping burger patties.
"Yarn," Ron repeated.
"You're gonna show up after sneaking off for the summer and escaping from the train platform with yarn?" she asked incredulously.
"It's luxury yarn," he said defensively. "And a lot of it too, like fifty of those rolls in different silks and wools and cashmeres."
"Oh, okay," Ginny said in a different tone. "That's actually very thoughtful, Ron."
"I know," he said in an insulted tone. "I can be thoughtful."
"I know," his sister said in a tone that implied she didn't exactly know that.
"He can be," Hermione defended him. "The yarn goes with the yarn bowl he sent her for her birthday last month."
"Alright," Ginny said with a nod of her head. "I'm impressed, Ron."
"You shouldn't underestimate me," he huffed.
"Wait, wasn't her birthday the day before Halloween?"
"Yes," Ron said tersely.
"So that's more like two months ago."
"Yes," he said in the same tone.
"So if her birthday was the end of October…"
"Yeah yeah yeah, I didn't forget her birthday," her grumbled.
Hermione sniggered.
"What?" Ginny asked, eyes gleaming.
"I forgot to send the package, that's all," he huffed, glaring at all of them as they stifled sniggers. "She got her present in the beginning of November, okay?"
"Middle," Hermione coughed into her hand.
"Burger for Master?" a squeaky voice interrupted from Harry's elbow.
"Oh yes, please," he agreed. "Thank you."
"Me too," Ron said immediately, happy for the excuse to change conversational topics.
"Chicken?" the elf asked, adjusting his slightly too-large chefs hat.
"Yes, thank you," Hermione said.
They happily dug into the food being served. Eventually, the conversation widened to include the people coming in from the skating area for warm drinks and food. Laughter rang out and gentle Christmas music played from a gramophone in the corner of the tent.
Afterwards, the house-elves set up the maze for candy cane hunts (with the winners getting a nice stash of Honeydukes chocolates). Then they all played a few of the lawn games that had been setup. Harry even tried skating for the first time. A few parents were snapping pictures and keeping track of smaller children, smiling as their children giggled and squealed with excitement. Harry looked around, taking in the cheery atmosphere and ruddy-faced adults as drinks continued to flow, and couldn't help but think that this was one of the best Christmases yet.
"Despite everything, we have some good moments, don't we?" Ginny asked perceptively.
"Yeah," he agreed. "I know there's a war on but…"
"We have to enjoy the moments we get even more because of that," she agreed.
"Exactly."
"Come on then," she prodded as she pulled him back towards where Ron and Hermione were waiting. "Enjoy it."
"Alright, what are we doing?"
"Hide and seek, apparently," she said.
"Come on, Harry!" little May Li squealed excitedly, a ring of similarly-sized children cheering along with her. "We get to hide first!"
"We're playing in teams with May's friends," Ginny explained.
"We've been conscripted, I see."
"Indeed."
"Hurry!" May yelled enthusiastically, waiting near the archway that led into the gardens.
"Coming!" Ginny called. "Come on, Harry."
"We shouldn't keep the little general waiting," he agreed with a laugh.
…
The following evening, the DA gathered with a meeting.
"Good evening, everyone."
"Evening, Harry," a few people chimed back.
Many of them were holding copies of recent papers and magazines, mostly the Quibbler and Daily Prophet.
The Quibbler's sales were still better than ever (much to the Prophet's surprise) and they were matching Witch Weekly for new subscription averages. Xeno was handling the expansion of his consumer base quite comfortably from the Lovegood Lighthouse.
"Everyone's seen the papers then, I take it?" Harry asked unnecessarily.
A sea of nodding heads greeted him.
"What's our take?"
"Well the reception is overwhelmingly positive, insofar," Zara Valli answered as she crossed her legs and settled into her seat in the ballroom of Firewall Castle.
"It's better than we expected," Colin agreed.
"I could do without my picture being the cover," Harry grumbled. "It should have been a snapshot of Augusta's speech."
"While impressive, her speech is less effective than the Boy-Who-Lived's image in promoting our cause," Zara told him.
"I must agree with Heiress Valli," Augusta said with a nod towards the younger witch.
"So our chances of succeeding are good?" Wayne Hopkins clarified.
"I should think so," Amelia answered.
"After the winter ball in Longbottom Manor, I will have a better estimate of voter distributions," Augusta added. "But the public reception to these articles makes me feel confident in saying our chances are quite high."
"At least that's going our way," Ron sighed. "Our map of the Death Eaters is becoming more and more unreliable the longer they're exposed to powerful wards."
"Do we have a solution for that?" Harry asked, looking towards Hermione and Chie.
"No," Hermione answered as she shook her head ruefully. "The best we can suggest is a fresh application of the same protean potion and tracking charms we've been using."
"When it comes down to it," Fred jumped in.
"There's not many changes to make," George continued.
"To either the potion or the charm."
"Without compromising the secrecy of it."
"And we definitely tried."
"Though our research did help us make a nifty new product to sell in the shop."
"Yeah, we call them Lookout Lockets," the other twin agreed.
"Activating one buzzes the other," Fred explained.
"But the tracking charm can't be modified like the protean potion was."
"Not if we want it to remain undetectable to their standard protections," they finished.
Hermione and Chie took a moment to make sense of the disjointed yet cohesive sentences before either of them agreed.
"One of the reasons we chose the tracking spell that we did was because it's uniquely hard to detect and obscure," Hermione explained. "Changing it for a potentially better one is more likely raise an alarm and be quickly detected."
"We have made progress in other projects," Chie spoke up.
"The scrolls?" Harry asked, perking up. He deflated slightly when he saw her slight wince.
"There's no great progress to be had there; it's slow and steady," she answered.
"We can't rush the translations," Bill Weasley agreed. "Each of us can already translate it entirely but the problem is, each one of us would have something completely different and each one of us could argue that we're right."
"Runes have to be translated with an understanding of not just the time they were written in but by whom," Hermione agreed. "Each has unique alterations based on circumstance."
"I understand," he said as he reflexively rubbed at his lightning bolt scar. "I'm just ready to get rid of whatever this bloody thing is."
"That's actually what we've discovered," Chie said.
Harry's head jerked up and his eyes widened.
"We have? How?" he asked. "And what is it?"
"Sirius pointed out that if we're trying to find information on the blackest magics around, as anything involving the soul in this respect would be, we should consider looking in the Black Library."
"Of course, we thought we'd already had full access to the library," Hermione said. "So we combed it and moved on."
"Well there's one alcove we kept hidden," Sirius said with a wince. "Some of the things in there are so bad even my parents wanted to keep them hidden."
"Which is saying something," Andromeda grimaced. "They were wretched."
"That's insulting to wretches," Sirius snorted. "They were worse than that."
"Hello!" Harry waved a hand. "Can we focus?"
"Sorry, Prongslet," his godfather said with a chastised expression.
"It's called a horcrux," Chie answered. The inflection she put on the word made her disgust with the practice clear. "Without going into detail, it's an aberration of nature."
"It's a way to dismember your soul and place pieces into objects," Hermione spoke up. "They'll anchor him to the world to prevent him from dying."
"Like Chie told us about last summer," Harry said with nauseated look.
He could have gone without having definite confirmation that this was more than just some sort of bond. He had an actual piece of the Dark Lord's soul within him and it was making him feel a little green around the gills (like it always did when he contemplated it).
"That's what he did then?" Ron asked.
"Obviously he did worse," Hermione said. "If the map we were given by the Huldra is a map of horcruxes, that means he did this numerous times."
The entirety of the room looked unsettled by that even if they had already suspected something along these lines. Having a name for the practice and seeing how shaken Chie and Hermione looked by it was enough for them to be concerned.
"Until each one of these is destroyed, he can never truly die?" Harry asked grimly.
"He can just be resurrected by one of his sycophants like he was in fourth year," Hermione confirmed in a matching tone.
"Then the map is our new top priority," Ron declared.
"I haven't been this confused by a map since my Grandmother sent directions to her un-birthday party in Wonderland," Luna said with a severe frown that didn't quite match her unique brand of nonsense. "I'm afraid this just won't make sense until we're through the looking glass."
"I…" Hermione began, raising a hand before slowly letting it fall. Surely Luna's grandmother couldn't be the actual Alice from Alice in Wonderland? That was just a story…wasn't it?
"Or have something to go on that will give us an actual idea of scale," Noreen continued, ignoring the look of confusion Hermione wore (it was a common reaction around Luna, after all). "We need another location to triangulate with."
"So we have to find at least one more to even have a hope of figuring out this map?" Harry asked.
"Pretty much."
"Well that's going to be difficult when we don't even know what to look for."
"The diary," Ginny said suddenly.
"What?" Ron asked, looking at her with concern.
"The diary," she repeated. "Tom Riddle's diary."
"It was a horcrux," Hermione realized immediately.
"Probably one of his oldest ones," Lisa Turpin theorized. "Wasn't Lucius Malfoy the one responsible for that ending up in the castle?"
"Yes," Ron answered angrily. "Dirty rotten bastard."
"That gives us a starting point," Lisa said immediately. "That alone tells us what kind of items we're looking for — items of personal significance. Rather obvious to begin with, actually."
"Yeah, he wouldn't pick just anything, would he?" Harry muttered. "Arrogant bastard."
"Lucius Malfoy having one tells us that he might have trusted one to other followers," Hermione continued Lisa's thought, realizing where she was going with it.
"Exactly," the Ravenclaw confirmed. "I'll pull our files on his early life and regime formations."
Harry nodded along in agreement.
"That's a good place to start."
"Let me get you my private transcript of the interview I did with the Headmaster for the article about the Dark Lord growing up in an orphanage," Xeno offered with surprising cognizance. "There were a couple of lines I kept off-record. Better yet, I'll donate the memory."
"Good idea, thanks," Lisa agreed.
"There's something else we need to discuss," Tonks spoke up, crossing her arms. Brock mirrored her position from where he sat at her side. They looked defensive and it was easy to see why; half the room tensed up as soon as Tonks spoke.
"We're not sending someone undercover into a dangerous situation blind and without backup," Amelia said immediately.
The two week deadline to decide whether or not to try to slide Brock into the ranks of Voldemort's new mercenaries as a spy was weighing on them. It didn't help that it wasn't really a two week deadline; in reality, they needed to make the decision within a week or risk looking suspicious or weak.
"Look, I can tell Sutler to rack off then bail and that'll be the last we hear of this," Brock spoke up. "Or I can tell him I'm in and we might get some valuable intel."
"It's not worth the risk," Amelia said stubbornly.
"Respectfully, that's my choice to make," Brock said firmly. "I'm not taking your auror in with me, after all; I'd be going in alone."
"I still think it's unlikely they'll check for metamorphmagi," Tonks grumbled.
"You're a known player on the auror and Order of the Phoenix roster," Brock pointed out. "I think it's more likely than you think."
"The advantages of having someone on the inside are pretty hard to argue with," Ron said as he leaned back in his chair.
"The disadvantages are numerous," the DMLE head insisted. "We don't have a secure communications line, backup, an exit plan, or a guarantee he hasn't already been made. We could send him right into a trap."
"The ear pieces are a pretty secure line of communication," Ron responded. "They worked under Hogwarts wards, the Bulstrode wards, and supported cross-country communication with the team in Albania."
"Yes but we can't guarantee that they'll work under the Dark Lord's wards," Gareth said with a sigh. "I want more intelligence as much as the rest of us but we all know the stress of having someone out in the field when we have eyes and ears on them; can you imagine when the opposite is true? We won't have the benefit of the maps and Amelia's right about the exit plans; I can almost guarantee emergency portkeys won't work."
The debate went on from there.
A number of people supported it, like Ron and Masson. Some were outright against it, like Amelia and Harry. Others were open to it if they could get around some of the risks, like Gareth and the Sally's. A few suggestions may provide solutions to some of their problems but as the night dragged on, they were still no closer to reaching a definite consensus.
"There's always going to be a risk," Brock said with a tone of finality. "Most of it is going to fall on my shoulders. I've already told ya, that's fine by me."
"At least we have the communications issue worked out; the DA journal might work," Harry pointed out. "Brock's redback spider patronus is small enough to carry a message without being seen in case of emergency as well."
"There's no wards to block the patronus that we know of," Hermione pointed out reasonably.
"The Fidelius charm over his gear is a good idea," Amelia admitted grudgingly. "If his earbud, journal, or jewelry come into view then no one will be able to perceive them, even the Dark Lord himself,"
"That was a good idea, Bill," Harry said with a nod to the redhead.
"Yeah well, knowing a bunch of teenagers managed to cast it over a whole island reminded me how useful the spell was."
"It's getting late though," Harry continued. "The Longbottom Winter Ball is tomorrow so naturally I'm sure some of you will be up by six in the morning to start getting ready."
He looked towards a particular group of girls as he said the last bit, laughing a little.
"Oh shove off, Harry," Lavender huffed.
"You'd have to wake up that early too if you were going to bother taming that mess you call hair," Marie Janice snorted from where she sat beside her dorm mate, Lavender.
"Nah, why would I?" he said with a faux-casual ruffle of his ebony locks. "It's part of my image now, isn't it?"
"Well Rita Skeeter did call you scraggly in that last article," Hermione joked.
"It's just at an awkward length," Harry whined. "Sirius said I should grow it out a little. Once it gets to the shoulders it should start containing itself, he theorized."
"Why are we trusting anything theorized by the mind of Sirius Black?" Hermione asked with a raised brow.
"He'd take offense to that if he were here."
"It's just nonsense; a little bit of length can't fix that mess."
"You'd be surprised," Amelia said, reminiscing. "James grew his hair out one year. Lily made him chop it off, said it gave her Ringo Starr vibes, whoever that is, but it was considerably tamer."
Hermione giggled at the Beatles reference as did a couple of the others in the room.
"See, it could work!" Harry said. "And what does Skeeter know about hair anyway?"
"Uh huh," Hermione said with unconcealed skepticism and amusement.
"Why do we still let her write things anyway?" he pouted. "We still have the illegal animagus thing on her, don't we?"
"We can't blackmail her to the point of ruining her career, Harry. The fact that we're blackmailing her at all is bad enough," Hermione reminded him. "We do have an auror and the head of the DMLE here, you know."
"Erm I never said you can't do that," Amelia said as she looked up in surprise. "And if you did do that, don't worry about getting in trouble because we never had this conversation. Isn't that right, Auror Tonks?"
"Huh?" Tonks asked innocently. "Sorry, I haven't heard anything in the last couple minutes. What did you say?"
"See?" Harry grumbled. "There's no reason we can't."
"It's better to use her to our own ends as much as possible to take advantage of her wide-readership," Lilian Moon pointed out.
"I say it's better to drag her through the mud like she does to the rest of us," Harry muttered.
"I'm with Harry on this," Amelia grumbled.
"Same," Tonks agreed.
A couple of laughs broke out at that before Harry tapped the table lightly.
"Alright," he said as he pushed back and stood up from his seat. "Everyone can keep thinking on this potential spy situation. We'll meet again after Christmas but before the New Year, unless something comes up."
"That's the latest we can make the decision," Brock said. "I want to send word after that meeting otherwise my cover will be on shifting sands from the get go."
"I understand," Harry said in agreement. "Happy holidays, everyone, if you're not around the castle after this."
"Yeah, happy holidays everyone," Ginny said with a wave as she stood up. "There's a chance you won't see me or Ron alive after this Christmas so we'll see how it goes."
"I'd say you're exaggerating but I've already updated my will and left a letter implicating my mother in my disappearance if I'm not back at Hogwarts for the New Year," Ron huffed as he stood up as well.
"I wish he were joking," Amelia said with a put-upon sigh. "But he's not."
"Thanks for holding onto that letter for me," Ron told her gratefully. "It'd be too hard for even mum to make evidence disappear from the desk of the head of the DMLE."
A few people cast some odd looks at Ron after that.
"What?" he asked defensively. "Have you met my mother?"
"Don't worry, Ron," Harry said as he pat the redhead on the shoulder and started moving to the door. "I've got your back, mate."
"I know you do, thanks mate," Ron said in a surprisingly sincere tone. "That's why you signed as my witness. If mum tries to hide her tracks, you'll be way harder to take out than my previous witness."
"I was your previous witness," Bill said with a furrowed brow.
"Please," Ron snorted. "She brought you into this world; she could just as easily take you out of it."
"Wait…" his older brother said with a look of mildly alarmed contemplation. "Harry, will you be my witness too? I feel the sudden need to update my will."
"You two are ridiculous," Hermione sighed good naturedly.
"Gotta keep it light somehow, Mione," Ron said as he tossed his arm around her shoulder. She shook her head but still smiled and allowed him to pull her closer to his side.
"How mad do you think your mum's gonna be when she sees you in the paper attending the Longbottom Ball?" Neville wondered aloud.
"Huh?" Ron asked, caught off guard as the room emptied around them.
"Is that going to make the papers?" Hermione asked with surprise.
"Well Harry's attendance certainly will," their friend answered. "And no offense but there's not that many muggleborns that have been invited in…well, I'm not sure but I'm sure the press will at least mention it."
"And since Ron's your date and my best mate…." Harry trailed off.
"And mum practically obsesses over the paper," Ginny picked up. "There'll be a howler for sure."
"Ugh," Ron groaned deeply.
"Don't worry," Hermione pat his arm. "I'll be there for you."
"Does that mean you're going to face her with me on Christmas?" he asked hopefully.
"Oh no," she snorted indelicately. "Certainly not."
"Damn."
"Nice try," Ginny consoled him. "I'll be there though, right behind you."
"Pfft," Ron scoffed. "Please. I'm sending you in front and center like a human shield."
"You're such an awe-inspiring leader," she said sarcastically. "A true man of the people."
"What?" he retorted. "That's just good tactics, that is."
"Oh whatever, Ron."