Chapter Text
The springs dug into her back and croaked loudly every time she moved. She stretched her back and huffed, resigned to another sleepless night. The dusty clock on the motel’s side table showed 7:00, but the sun was nowhere to be seen, and it would be a while until they saw it. Her eyes had gotten accustomed to the darkness, and she could make out Gin’s twisted figure on the twin bed adjacent to hers. She didn’t know if her eyes were open.
“No luck?” Said Ginny’s raspy voice. She was awake too. “Not a wink.” Replied Hermione. “Bugger” Ginny said as she tossed the blankets aside and sat on the bed, which made the springs scream even louder. She plucked her wand from the table and waved it over them, the pleasure of the warming charm enveloping them both. “It’s freezing. I’m complaining to Falcon.” She said. Hermione tsked. “No use.” She said, getting up and trotting to the shower.
She hoped the pipes could sustain the charm she blasted onto them to make the water scorching and the pressure stronger, she could not be naked in these conditions with the meagre drizzle the motel offered. This was one of the worst stakeouts she’d been in, a lonely village in North Dakota, buried in snow. The only attractions were a diner, a petrol station and not much else. But it was important. They had been following a lead there for some weeks, a man they were sure was a wizard, was traveling (suspiciously, by car) with a little girl. A tip had informed them of the little girl’s presence in a small village fair nearby, accompanied by this man that claimed to be her father. Hermione knew he wasn’t, of course, having received her picture and missing magical person report, issued by the little girl’s worried to death parents.
To Hermione’s initial horror, Falcon, the code name for their head of task at MACUSA, had refused to immediately rescue the little girl. Hermione understood that he wanted her and Gin, names Dove and Fox, to follow the man and intercept him, to see where he was actually taking the girl. The rescue was to happen that night. Hermione and Ginny had been an annex to MACUSA for some years now, mostly on intelligence and field work. They had gone into Auror training as soon as they had both finished Hogwarts, much to Harry and Ron’s surprises, and their relationships to them remained at most, a bit strained.
Hermione and Ginny were rounding up their 27th and 25th year on earth, and their partnership had become one of the most prodigious on the international network. Besides from the ones they worked with in person, they all had code names and unknown identities. Hermione’s intelligence had led to the dismantling of massive webs of underground DWO’S (Dark Wizard Operations). Mostly fugitives from Voldemort’s ranks who escaped abroad once the final battle was lost, nine years ago. They sometimes encountered stray Grindelwald followers, though they were disappearing. Ginny’s skill in battle and their joint interrogation tactics were unmatched.
The warm water had woken her up a bit, but she had to deal with detangling and drying her hair which was not an easy task. As she emerged, she found Ginny had brought up two foam cups of coffee. The liquid was both watery and oily at the same time, but nevertheless, it would work.
Having downed two Pepperups and their abysmal coffee, they planned the rescue. The man had been staying in this one place for longer than he had the others, which indicated a possible “exchange” or passing of the little girl to somebody else, hopefully, higher up in the pecking order. Hopefully, someone who Dove and Fox could extract valuable information from. They had been following him from afar, often disillusioned, most times transfigured to look like different people, in case he spotted the disillusions and noticed somebody was following him. He was staying at a sort of barn or farm house, and he barely ever turned the lights on inside. He was cautious, but hadn’t taken notice of them. The little girl on the other hand, looked well fed and not hurt, so they’d opted to remain following him, until that night.
The day before, the man had met somebody at the local diner, and they had exchanged a brief conversation. Hermione dared not use Legilimency, in case either him or the other man he was meeting, were Occlumens. It was rare, but no so much in their line of work. If one tried intruding upon the mind of an Occlumens, they were sure to feel it. Ginny had Polyjuiced into one of the waitresses (who lay sleeping peacefully in the deposit) and overheard the exchange partially. She got a date, and it was today. Over the next week, they had thoroughly searched the area for evidence of Dark Magic or surveillance. There was none, as Hermione had predicted, they were cautious, but over-confident. That had been the death of many men.
They were to remain hidden outside (much to their chagrin) the farm house most of the day and well into the night if necessary, and watch for movement. Thankfully, one of the agents on the international network, code name Crow, had created a non-luminescent Lumos charm - The spell caster could see it but nobody else could. It made Hermione quite jealous. When the other man came to collect the girl, they would be ambushed and taken in for interrogation and Legilimency.
And so it begun, laying in the snow disillusioned, their backs against tree trunks, and the howling wind around them. Nothing like the freezing cold to make you feel alive.
“My arse is definitely falling off when we get back.” Said Ginny, hard resignation in her voice. “We’ve been in worse situations. This spell.” Hermione said, shaking her head. “It’s genius. I’d been thinking about it.” She said. “Beat you to it, dear Crow.” The smirk was audible in her voice.
“You ever wonder who they are?” Ginny said. “Who. Crow?” Said Hermione. “Yeah. Well, all of them. All the others we don’t see.” Said Ginny. “Yes. I picture them in my head from their handwriting.” Hermione said. “I think of them as their names. Like I’m talking to animals. Like huge, cloaked animals.” Ginny said. Hermione snickered.
“I think they went to Hogwarts but are possibly older. The spell structure looks familiar, but the work is very advanced. I could manage it of course, but not many others our age.” Hermione said. She materialized the web of Arithmantic calculations that Crow had sent the DMLE and projected them on the snow. Ginny grimaced. “Reeks of Vector.” Hermione said. “Nothing like incomprehensible calculations to pass the time.” Said Ginny.
“What if Crow is Vector? This seems incredibly advanced.” She continued. “Hm. I don’t see her working the field undercover, and it wouldn’t make sense with her schedule. Tonks mentioned Crow once, said he or she disappear for long stretches, sometimes weeks, or months.” Said Hermione. “Right. Well whoever it is, they’re sure to be a Ravenclaw.” Replied Ginny. “Oi. Other houses can be clever too.” Hermione complained. “Your hard-headedness won that battle with the Sorting Hat.” Ginny laughed.
Their wands vibrated, and instantly they heard a message from Falcon inside their heads. Hermione was proud of the creation of that one form of communication between Aurors, and quite smug about it too. She’d modeled it after the DA Galleons, implementing some variations she’d adapted from Muggle instant messaging devices. Mobile phones, as they were called. She couldn’t believe wizards still communicated as if they were in Medieval times. Also it made the need for Patronuses which were highly visible and could make one a target, nearly extinguish, save for rescue messages and waring off Dementors. She was sad to see less of Tonks’s wolf Patronus saying “Wotcher Hermione”.
“Movement incoming. Black vehicle approaching target.” Hermione and Ginny tensed and moved immediately to a crouch. Hermione hid behind a small boulder. The car pulled in to the front entrance, they were behind it. Ginny kept moving. “Levicorpus” whispered Hermione. She levitated a disillusioned Ginny to the side of the house, so that her footprints weren’t visible on the snow. Ginny was now peeking at the car behind the wall. Hermione heard the click of the car door and then the whizz of a stunner aimed at him. Hermione stood upright and silenced the patch of snow where the man had just fallen, face first.
She moved now. They both crouched behind the car and waited. The man at the house opened the door and said hello, but his wand was drawn. Not for long. Ginny hit him with a leg locker and Hermione disarmed him. They conjured bindings upon him and the man on the snow. They made themselves visible now. Hermione walked towards the one who wasn’t stunned.
“Fucking bitch.” The man said. “Where is she.” Said Hermione with a smile. “Don’t you see this is how it’s supposed to be? The Mudblood girl will go where she belongs.” The man croaked, twisting on himself on the ground. Hermione furrowed her brow at this. Mudblood? She had noted the girl’s parents were Muggles, that’s why it had taken them so long to report her missing. She ought to think about that, how frustrated and helpless those parents felt, closed off and unable to access a world that was not for them. She put her boot on the man’s wrist and pushed. “Where is she?” She asked again as he struggled. She could probably use Legilimency on him but that would wear her down, and she needed her reserves up, she needed to know if the girl was warded or in any sort of trap. Sometimes she felt herself becoming too lenient towards MACUSA’s crueler methods. She relented. The man was trying to mumble something incomprehensible. “Per…Per… Puritatem”
“Silencio” said Ginny, and the man was quiet.
“Cover for me.” Hermione said. “Legilimens!”
Hermione rummaged and saw the image of the little girl, blonde, curly haired and red faced, looking at her from the corner of a dusty room. She looked and didn’t find any wards cast by the man, he was not a particularly talented wizard. “It’s fine.” She said, the Legilimency stinging her eyes.
They walked into the house after stunning the man and summoning Falcon and the local team. “Homenum Revelio” Ginny cast. “Upstairs”. They found the little girl hiding under the bed of a very dusty, unused room. The bed had a new duvet, but everything else was in a state. “Emma?” Hermione said, sliding on the floor to get to her. “We’ve come to take you to your parents. Come.” The girl hesitated but, after looking at Hermione’s reassuring smile, she moved.
Hours later, they were finally out of that manky motel and sat on the equally uncomfortable sofas in the lounge of the local department. They briefed Falcon on the rescue.
“Could you get other Legilimens in? I’m quite depleted. I’m afraid I won’t be able to sustain the trip back to England.” Hermione asked Falcon, the broad shouldered, square faced head Auror at MACUSA. After the interrogations, they had to come back home and report to Tonks, of course. It was also almost Christmas, not that either of them were excited about that. “I don’t think I can accommodate, Dove. We don’t have many around on short notice. Will Veritaserum work?” Hermione sighed. “The answers are less precise.” Ginny said, her voice had lost its animated quality from how tired she was. They had been up for nearly 48 hours, give or take.
“Alright.” Hermione huffed and stalked up to the interrogation room, where both men were tied up to their chairs and mumbling incoherently. She emerged half an hour later, her feet practically dragging on the floor. Ginny was out cold on the sofa, Falcon intermittently looking at her while he reviewed notes. Falcon, although quite a bit older, fancied Ginny. Hermione could tell. He tapped Ginny on the shoulder and she pried her eyes open with difficulty.
“They are part of a bigger operation. The man we were following was tasked to transport the girl to this location and pass her on to the other one. They plan to abduct muggle-born children and re-integrate them to muggle society as far as possible from their parents as they can, and possibly execute the parents. Some they plan to just leave in an orphanage, and I’ve seen conversations with wizards of higher ranks about more… Sinister plans.” Hermione said, her voice cracking a bit. She had heard a conversation about making muggle born children into servants, although she missed out on the part that detailed how. “The faces and voices of the wizards who instructed them, as well as many locations have been obliviated from these men’s minds. Whoever it is behind it they’re not an isolated group working only here. They know what they’re doing.”
Ginny’s eyes had opened completely, wide and red-rimmed now. Falcon had taken off his glasses. “There was one location I saw and recognised. It was the Manor the Malfoys used to live in before the war.” The Manor, home to most of her more sour memories of the war, had been seized by the ministry after the battle of Hogwarts, and it stood vacant and rotting. Narcissa and Malfoy junior had been pardoned, and Lucius had been sent to Azkaban for a life sentence, where he died shortly after entering. She’d heard Narcissa had moved to France, where her family had property. She occasionally returned to host charity events and had donated substantial amounts of the Blacks’s money to St. Mungo’s and other charitable causes. It seemed she wanted to remain in good standing and was very adamant she had only stood where she stood out of fear.
As for her son, he vanished shortly after his pardon, some said to northern Europe, and most likely taught at Drumstrang, as far as the theories on the Prophet went. Durmstrang of course, was almost impossible to find and highly secretive, so nobody knew for certain.
“I think they might be running meetings or operations there.” Hermione said. Falcon raised his eyebrows. “Well, it seems you have to report this to your base and keep us connected.” He said. “Yeah.” Hermione and Ginny both replied at the same time. Now they had to go back. Ginny stood up and stretched, preparing for the upcoming international Floo travel. Hermione was dreading it, she was already depleted, tired and in a sour mood. Falcon bid them goodbye very awkwardly and left them alone in the Floo room.
“You think the Malfoys are involved?” Ginny asked her. “Highly unlikely. Found a conversation in which the attendees couldn’t access a certain area of the house since it seemed to be Blood warded so only the Malfoys could enter. If they’d been there, that wouldn’t have been an issue.” Hermione said. “Ah.” Ginny said, huffing. “I don’t know what I’m dreading more, this Floo or having to go back home.” She continued. “This Floo definitely. I’m positive it could kill me.” Said Hermione, as she plunged into the green flames.