Disclaimer: Don't own HP or M&MS
Mr. & Mrs. Evans
Chapter 24: Revealed
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[A/N]: I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I know it's been forever and I won't bore you with excuses, but just know that I've been working on finishing this and Safe Harbor. Thanks to all the reviewers and everyone who's still interested!
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"Sirius!" Harry yelled, rounding the corner with Ginny and finally seeing his godfather.
Sirius's concentrated look broke and he jerked his head up, "What?"
"Stop, we need to apparate out. I've already sent the phoenix out to let everyone know."
"Do we have Krum?"
"Krum's gone. We'll explain back at head quarters," Harry finished, grabbing on to Ginny's arm so she could apparate them. The pain in his back was making his head spin in circles, and all he wanted to do was get back to Grimmauld Place.
"Sirius," Ginny voiced just as he was about to protest. She nodded down to the blood soaking through Harry's shirt.
Sirius's eyes darted back to the lobby where he could tell the Order was getting tired and overwhelmed. He looked back to Harry and Ginny and nodded, "Fine, let's go."
---
The three appeared simultaneously in the sitting room at Grimmauld Place.
"Now will you tell me what happened with Krum?" Sirius asked more sternly.
Harry grabbed on to one of cabinet stands for support, "He was taken."
"By who?" Sirius asked again, the alarm evident in his voice. Ginny shot a nervous glance at Harry.
Harry opened his mouth to answer when a series of cracks were heard a few feet away.
"Who the bloody hell were all those wizards?" asked Fred immediately, out of breath and with blood flowing from his nose.
"Who got Krum?" Charlie questioned next, easing Ernie Macmillan onto the sofa.
"He was taken before we could get to him," Ginny answered for Harry coming over to help.
"What do you mean he was taken?!" asked Ron this time who had just apparated in with George and Lupin.
Ginny paused from cleaning up Fred's face and looked back to Harry, "Tell them."
"Tell us what? Who took Krum, Harry?" Remus asked.
Taking a look at him, Sirius knew Harry wasn't going to talk with the crowd of people around him, "Everyone who's hurt, head into the kitchen so you can get some potions. We'll regroup in thirty," Sirius ordered.
The group of about thirty-five started to shift and limp out of the sitting room. Ron instantly approached Harry, "What the hell's going on?"
"I'd like to know as well Harry, where's Krum?" Sirius asked, staring hard at his godson.
"He- he…" Harry was so frustrated. How could they expect him to relate what he had just seen? Even the mental image of her was making his anger swell.
"Hermione took him."
The group was silent for a moment. Sirius, Remus, and Ron looked completely dumbfounded.
"What?!"
"Hermione and Sienna grabbed Krum and apparated him in the middle of the lobby," Harry answered flatly. Truth was he was feeling the same confusion and outrage himself.
"Harry, that's impossible. Think about what you're saying," Sirius said after a second.
"I seen her too," Ginny told them, "And that wasn't all. Right before she apparated she levitated a couch right at our heads."
"Brilliant," Ron scoffed, "You've been living with a double crossing bitch-"
"Enough Ron. This is worse enough without you rubbing it in his face," Remus interjected, holding up a wise hand.
Ron stopped talking but Harry was already shaking his head in disbelief. More so, he was disappointed and pissed at himself that he didn't pick up on it before now. He was Harry Bloody Potter- wasn't that what he was good at?
"I can't believe her… I can't believe I fell for this."
"You thought you were in love," Remus tried consoling before Harry looked up and glared at him.
"We were in love."
"Yeah, it's hard to believe she didn't try to kill you before now," Ron shot in, not being able to help himself.
Sirius sighed and turned to Harry. After a few moments of thought, he hadn't been able to get around the inevitable, "Harry… I hate to be the one to tell you this, but Ron's right. Do you really think she didn't know who you really were right from the start?"
Harry glared at Sirius, like he was betraying him for even thinking it, "You think this was some master plan of hers?"
"You don't? You're her enemy- it'd be pretty beneficial for her to be constantly around you for 6 years to learn your habits and weaknesses-"
"I never showed any type of magic around her and I don't have weaknesses!" Harry corrected him quickly.
Sirius didn't condemn him for his naïveté, "You obviously do…"
"What's that supposed to mean?" Harry questioned him with the betrayed tone back in his voice. Is that what they all thought of him? A man of weaknesses? No, he'd done things that proved what strength and amplitude he has as an agent. How could they even question that?
Sirius didn't relent under his godson's hard look, "She is your weakness, Harry."
Harry jerked his head back. That definitely wasn't what he expected and irritated him ever more that he said so. "No, she isn't…"
"Weaknesses aren't just physical. You're telling us you'd be able to hunt her down and kill her for what she's done?" asked Remus this time.
Harry remained silent, thinking over what his father's friends were trying to tell him. He'd never ever thought that he'd be put in the situation where Hermione was a potential suspect…
"Exactly," Sirius nodded, thinking they had got his answer.
Harry shook his head in denial, and after a moment decided, "It's not a weakness… I just need more proof."
"What more proof do you need?" Ron asked, not being able to stay quiet anymore. This was the perfect opportunity for Harry to get reprisal for moping over Hermione for a year. Ron wanted so badly for him to take advantage of that and use it against her, but Harry couldn't even seem to fully accept it yet. "She's a murderer working with more criminals, Harry! She's probably worse than a death eater!"
"You don't know her like I do!" Harry cried back with the first thing that came to mind.
"Harry, you don't know her! The Hermione Evans you know does not exist! She's a
fabrication…"
"Listen to yourself Harry," Ginny interjected calmly, "She's the enemy and you're sitting here defending her."
"I'm not defending her, we just don't have the whole story so ethically we shouldn't be jumping to conclusions," Harry returned instantly.
He was embarrassed and disappointed with himself enough as it was, so he wanted to return the focus to Hermione being a possible threat and not his estranged wife. Yes, they were married but that didn't mean he couldn't handle this business like a professional. He wasn't a child anymore who let his heart and impulses lead him into disastrous situations. Even if they were dealing with a woman he was in love with. Angrily in love with.
'Well you won't be in love with her after you find out her record…' Harry convinced himself with a shake of his head.
"Krum was with her when they apparated. She should be are starting point for finding him," Ginny said sensibly, looking around for everyone's agreement.
"What's the use? They weren't after him to keep him as their pet, their goal was to kill him," Ron muttered pessimistically.
"These people ambushed us and could have possibly done deathly harm to us. Whether it was to get Krum back or not I think we need to take action. And Ginny's right, that starts with Hermione," Sirius agreed, stating it like he wasn't about to sit back and let this other organization cut down at the Order's reputation.
"What if she did something to you last night that affected your magic?" Ginny asked, reverting the conversation back to Harry.
"There wasn't exactly time for that- and if she did I'm pretty sure I would have noticed," he answered, his cheeks tingeing a bit.
"Oh nice Harry…" Ron smirked.
Remus wasn't phased, "What's wrong with your magic?"
"Every time I tried a spell it didn't work right," Harry answered, somewhat demoralized.
"It didn't react to the curse or it didn't function properly?" continued Remus, his voice mixed with concern and intrigue.
Harry shook his head and reached in his pocket to pull out his wand, "It acted like it didn't recognize me…" as he was glancing down at his wand he noticed something that made his heart wrench.
"What's wrong?"
"Bloody hell…" he muttered, still looking at the shorter and lighter wand.
Sirius too was staring at the wand, "Harry, is that you're wand?"
"No," he looked up to his godfather, "It's not."
"I'll be back," Remus said, mysteriously excusing himself from the room and heading up the stairs.
"Unbelievable, it's her wand isn't it?" Ron questioned to Harry who made no response. "I mean, I know I'm pretty daft sometimes, but that's-"
"Ron, shut it!" Ginny told him, giving him a warning glare.
But Ron was right. How could he not notice this before?
Footsteps could be heard coming down the stairs, and a second later Remus entered with a mottled old box in his hands.
"Give it to me," Remus told him, setting the box down and holding his hand out for the wand.
Harry handed him the wand and instantly knew what Remus was putting it in. His heart started pounding- if this was Hermione's wand, then he'd get the verification he was looking for.
"Bet you 10 galleons it's Hermione's," Ron whispered to Ginny, who promptly elbowed him in the ribs.
They all watched as Remus tapped the lid of the box with the strange wand and then placed it inside the floating tube. After closing the lid and waiting a few moments, it finally began to hum.
It wasn't long before the noise suddenly stopped and the box became silent once more. The lid cracked open and Harry paused for a moment, feeling as if his heart could beat right out of his chest.
"Harry," Sirius said, motioning for him to open it and take the parchment.
Harry let out a quick breath before reaching for it and pulling it out of the spindle. Instantly, his eyes were met the picture of his wife's face.
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Hermione stepped off the porch of the Stewart home feeling as if no weight at all had been taken off her shoulders. Telling Jude's parents was even harder then she thought it would be, and lying to them about the circumstances made it even worse.
"How'd it go?" Sienna asked Hermione as she opened the door to her car and got in.
Hermione just shrugged and put on her seat belt.
"How'd they handle it?" she asked her friend again, even though it was a pretty silly question.
"As well as could be expected," Hermione answered stiffly.
Sienna nodded and started the engine, sensing that Hermione obviously wasn't up for small talk.
"Jeremy called earlier," Sienna said after they were about a mile down the road. Hermione was replaying the memory of telling the Stewart's, but looked to Sienna when she spoke.
"He said that him and Maggie already dropped off Jude at the morgue and that Maggie would be stationed there until further notice to make sure everything goes smoothly."
Hermione nodded, "Okay."
"So…" Sienna trailed off, feeling Hermione's hesitance on the next matter, "Where do we go from here?"
"I have to wait for Quentin to get back with the wand specialist," Hermione answered quietly, her mind on other matters. After Hermione had hung up with Father, she instructed one of the more brighter interns, one who they could expense at the current moment, to bring her a wand maker with some wands fitting her prototype. She only told him the stats of her wand, and didn't give him any further details like who to bring or where to go so she hoped he was doing okay.
Sienna nodded automatically, already knowing this. It seemed it was going to be harder to get her to talk then she thought.
"Hermione, how are we going to handle Potter?"
Hermione's first instinct was to send a glare at Sienna for her even mentioning the one person she was trying not to think about. "I haven't decided what would be the wisest strategy yet."
"You don't think he's back in London with his people planning an attack to get Krum back and destroy us along the way?"
"Do we know for a fact that he has people?" voiced Hermione, asking the question they really weren't sure on, "What if he's independent in all this?"
"Wasn't his godfather there? And that woman from a year ago… I think it's safe to say he's apart of a group. More or less, the fact is that he was working with Ezekiel to apprehend Krum. We can't just let that slide."
"I know that, Sienna. And yes, he probably is everything you're thinking he is," she admitted, hoping that this knowledge would persist in her head. She was only having doubts because of the nature of their personal closeness. But the facts where facts, Harry Potter wasn't her husband and she had to keep telling herself that.
"Another surprise attack would be devastating to our firm. And most likely, it would kill more than just one. If you don't want Father to take this case from us, then we need to be the first out of the gate," Sienna continued, trying to put the harsh reality as gently as possible.
Hermione sighed, her eyes closed and pinching the bridge of her nose, "What do you suggest?"
"We expose their members and hit them where it would hurt the most."
Hermione looked at her with an impassive face, "You want to kill Harry?"
"Hermione, if you can't do it-"
Her look and voice turned cold, "Do me a favor and don't ever question my ability to do my job. I'd told Father I'd do it so I will."
"He's a bad person, 'Mi," Sienna told her convincingly. "And if we don't end it, he'll only continue hurting people. Do this for Jude," she finished sensitively. She hated herself for playing at her friend's insecurities but she truly felt that Hermione would need to be told these things repeatedly if she wanted to make it through the next few days without going off her rocker.
Hermione let out a breath and nodded submissively, even though she didn't feel ready for what she was getting into at all.
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"Well, there you have it kid. You still think you can do it?" Sirius tossed the paper in front of Harry who were now both sitting in his office on the second floor. After everyone had gotten their fare share of Hermione's file (despite Harry's protest that it was none of their business) Remus had announced that they would go check on everyone in the kitchen and leave Harry and Sirius to talk.
"This is just basic information on her. None of this is solid evidence," Harry tried. And it was true, the details provided were basic. All they found was that her birth name was really Hermione Granger, and that she went to Beauxbatons for her magical education and was one of the most intelligent pupils ever admitted there. After graduating she had a brief stint with the French Ministry as an auror, but quit for unknown reasons. She hadn't been identified in France since (even though Harry knew that she had been there because her supposed editor job was centralized in Paris). Sienna was still the same old Sienna Cosveaux he'd always known, and was Hermione's best friend at school.
Everything in her file hit so close to home. If Sirius's suspicions were right, and she only married him because she knew his true name, then why wouldn't she protect her identity more? Why would she openly invite her friends into their joint life? Harry didn't know who she was, that was his excuse for doing it. But what was hers?
"This is too evidence, Harry. When are you going to stop with the idea that she's an innocent magazine editor from Oxford? Face it, you don't know this woman and we definitely don't know what she's capable of."
Harry stayed quiet, not having a good enough response. He knew that Sirius was right.
"I'm sorry, but how do you expect me to let you take this dangerous job when you're so emotionally attached to the person of interest?" he went on, becoming less and less sure he was making the right decision.
"I'm not-"
"Stop bullshitting yourself, Harry! You're denial is pointless."
Harry stared straight into his godfather's eyes, "Sirius, give me the time I need so I can find out for sure."
"And if you don't like what you find out?"
Harry shrugged, not relenting, "Then we do what we have to do."
"Harry, I know you. You wouldn't be able to…" Sirius trailed off shaking his head. He knew that Harry had qualms about doing death onto any person; and if it came down to him and Hermione, Sirius feared he'd be too torn to finish it.
Harry frowned, knowing what Sirius was thinking, "When did you stop trusting me?"
"I do trust you." Sirius answered honestly.
"Then trust that I'll do the right thing," Harry finished firmly. He hoped that he sounded persuasive enough.
"This is bigger than just you Harry. She could really hurt people."
Harry gave Sirius a narrowed look, "If you're trying to get me motivated then stop- I'm already aggravated enough."
"We'll give it a shot, but Harry?"
"Yeah?"
Sirius gave him the most authoritive look he could manage, "Going into this, you'll follow everything I say. If I think it's best for you to not be apart of this then you will leave. Do we agree?"
It took a few moments of staring each other down before Harry finally opened his mouth to answer.
"Yes."
As Harry got up and left the office, Sirius was left to pray that his godson's lie wouldn't be the death of him.
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Harry was on his way out the front door when he seen Ginny coming back from the kitchen.
"Hey, everything okay?" she asked, somewhat in a hurry.
"Yeah. I'm going to nip over to Ollivander's real quick to see if he can do anything about a wand for me," Harry told her, rubbing his hands over his back and doing some quick soothing charms.
Ginny noticed, "Can't you just use your wandless magic?"
"I don't really like relying on it you know… it never works the way it's supposed to."
"I've heard," Ginny muttered in agreement before she looked at Harry pointedly, "Hey, did you by chance see Draco at all this morning at the Beaumont?"
Harry frowned and shook his head, "No… why what's wrong?"
"I just realized I haven't seen him all day," Ginny replied with an anxious voice.
"Seriously?" asked Harry, his mind clouding with suspicions.
"Yeah, I don't know what's going on with him but I'm really starting to worry."
"Do you think he's involved in anything dangerous?" Harry asked hoping for some details.
Ginny rolled her eyes and shook her head, "He'd have to talk to me for me to know that. And lately he's just been sulking around all the bloody time."
"Maybe it's because of his mum," Harry shrugged as he pulled on a hooded jacket.
Ginny sighed, "Yeah, well… I'm going to go home and check. See you back here later?"
"Yeah, see ya."
---
Harry had disapparated to Diagon Alley and was heading down the street to Ollivander's with his hood pulled far over his eyebrows. He hadn't made any public appearances in magical London (except for the occasional quidditch match) in years so he didn't fancy being followed at the moment by any onlookers. It was night now in London, so luckily not too many people were still shopping.
As he approached the door to Ollivander's shop he noticed the presence of another person in there speaking with the old man. He passed his hand over the windowed door so he could hear what was going on.
"…any other vine wood's with dragon string core in your inventory?"
Harry was immediately alerted to this bloke because Hermione's stats came back that her wand was a vine wood with dragon string core as well. And he had an American accent.
"Look at my shop," Ollivander said gesturing around to the mess of wand boxes littered throughout the store, "I don't exactly have it all organized lad. If you could bring her in then I'll have something to work with-"
The dark haired man shook his head and stuffed a hand in his pocket, "Actually you'll be coming back with me."
Ollivander raised a daring eyebrow, "I'm sorry, I don't understand?"
"I'll be escorting you back so you can properly evaluate a wand for my boss," the faceless man said again.
"Absolutely not," he replied firmly, shaking his head, "You'll have to bring her in."
"If you won't come willingly…" Harry seen him begin pulling out a wand from his pocket. Acting on instincts, Harry threw the door open to the shop and ran inside. He grabbed the wooden chair next to the bloke and just as he was turning around with a surprised look, Harry smacked the chair across his face. The man fell to the ground out cold.
Ollivander quickly cast a binding charm and then looked up to Harry who's face was still hooded.
"Very cavalier of you Mr. Potter. Nevertheless, I thank you."
Harry grinned and took of his hood, "Any time. Who is he?"
"I haven't a name, but he's here on orders from his boss. A woman if I'm not mistaken," he answered with a knowing look.
It was a good thing that his stares didn't make Harry feel as uncomfortable anymore, "And she wanted a vine wood with dragon string?"
"Correct. Are you familiar with this wand?"
"Unfortunately," Harry mumbled in response, "I'm-"
"Your wand was unique Mr. Potter. I don't think I could find a replacement as remotely effective," Ollivander told him without further explanation.
"Yeah, that's what I was afraid of. Well…" Harry trailed off glancing down to the man, starting to stir from the ground.
"You don't mind if I get rid of him for you, right?"
The wand maker smiled a toothy yellow smile, "I trust you wouldn't do anything too drastic."
"Of course not sir. Have a pleasant night." With a final wave of farewell, Harry grabbed the man tightly and disapparated.
"Insolent boy… breaks my bloody wards every bloody time…" Ollivander scoffed quietly to himself with a roll of his eyes.
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The next moment, Harry was standing inside his homely tool shed. Gripping the mysterious man tighter, he drug him out and across his back lawn until they finally got into his house. He quickly sent an invisible spell to alert him if anyone was in the house that wasn't supposed to be. Luckily, nothing came back.
Harry threw the man into the chair in Hermione's old office.
"Since I don't have a lot of time to waste, and I don't think you would simply tell me the truth- we're going to have to do this the easy way," he told him, right as he was beginning to stir from his unconsciousness. The dark haired bloke's glossy eyes glanced over to Harry rifling through a desk drawer and widened, instantly knowing who he was.
Harry pressed down on a secret compartment inside the drawer and opened it to reveal a few vials of clear liquid. He grabbed one and walked back over to the man.
"Open your mouth please," Harry commanded politely, unscrewing the cap. The man closed his mouth tighter and shook his head.
Harry sighed and lifted his fist. A moment later the man's mouth flew open wide. Harry quickly poured half of the vial down his throat.
"What is your name?" Harry began, grabbing a chair and sitting opposite him.
"Quentin Santos," he answered without a struggle.
"Do you know who I am?"
"Harry Potter."
Harry nodded, "Who do you work for?"
"Hermione Granger and Sienna Monroe."
Harry frowned in confusion. Why was Hermione going under her real name and Sienna a fake? "What do you do?"
"I'm an intern, training to be a secret agent."
"An assassin?" Harry asked, forcing himself to stay calm.
Quentin nodded, "Yes."
"Where's your headquarters?" Harry asked, his stomach now turning.
"Granger and Monroe Financial Group in Los Angeles."
Harry bit his lip, "Is it secretly plotted?"
"No," replied Quentin simply.
"How do you get into this place?"
"The front door."
Harry rolled his eyes at his smart ass tone, "In what way are you screened before you're allowed entrance?"
"Retina scan, voice analysis, touch pad, and antechamber probes for detection of
poly juice potion, invisible persons or any other alarming suspicions."
Harry clicked his tongue, "Any other entrances?"
"I've heard of one, but since I'm not an agent yet I haven't been fully disclosed the
information…" he trailed off unsurely.
"Well?"
"There's an alley entrance that takes you into the infirmary. It's incase an agent is
hurt in combat and doesn't have time to go through the regular procedures," Quentin revealed, squinting his eyes as if searching himself for the details.
"How do you get in?"
"Blood." Harry frowned. What sort of sick organization was Hermione apart of? He had only known an entrance requiring blood once before, and that was a situation related to Voldemort.
"An agent just presses a bloody injury against the wall, and they get in," Quentin finished.
'Oh, that makes more sense…' Harry looked back at him with a small smile, "Hermione has my wand, correct?"
"Yes."
"Where would it be?"
"Sealed inside the evidence lab," he said with a slight shake of his head. It looked like the veritaserum was starting to wear off.
"How do I get into the evidence lab?" Harry asked more abruptly.
"Pass code and wand identification."
"What's the code?"
Quentin gave him an odd look but a moment later relented, "919."
Harry grinned to himself and patted his knees, "I guess I'm going to be needing to borrow your wand, then."
---
"Ms. Granger, Ms. Monroe," called out a first level intern by the name of Natalie rushing up to them right as they passed through the screenings to get in.
"Yes?"
"I just received a call from Father and he said to tell you that he'd be sending an emissary to escort Viktor Krum back to Sofia. He said he's already set it up with the Ministry agents there who will be ready to take him in," Natalie told them, almost out of breath.
Sienna and Hermione shared a baffled look. "What? Why would he go out of the way to send some random person to do this high security drop? Besides, this can't be handled with one person..." Hermione thought out loud with furrowed eyebrows.
"Or why wouldn't he call us personally? I had my mobile, didn't you?" Hermione nodded her answer and they both turned back to their intern.
Natalie shook her head answer-less, "He didn't say anything else on the matter, just that his agent would be arriving shortly and would be automated in."
The two women shot each other wary looks before Hermione turned back to Natalie, "Okay, thank you. We'll handle it from here."
Natalie smiled and totted off to her desk while Sienna began the questioning, "WTF?"
"Huh?" Hermione voiced unaware of what the hell Sienna was on about.
"Pseudonym for what the fuck?" she explained in the same tone.
"Oh, well yeah… I agree. Does he think we couldn't pull this off or something?"
Sienna scoffed, "That's rubbish. And I'd like to see the hotshot git that comes in for him. Probably thinks he's so cool…"
"That's cute," drawled a silky voice from behind the two. Alarmed, Sienna and Hermione spun around to see a tall blonde man, staring down at them with a pair of cold, steely gray eyes. Hermione frowned, thinking she'd seen those eyes somewhere before.
"My name's Draco, I work at the Paris head quarters. I was sent to pick up Krum."
Sienna raised an eyebrow, "You work at the Paris branch? For how long?"
"I don't think that's really any of your business," Draco replied snidely. He really hoped they would just let him do his job so he could go home. His stomach was killing him…
"Actually it is," she corrected him quickly, sharing another look with Hermione, "As you should know we're the head of this division, therefore we have rank over field agents anywhere. You should show some respect."
Draco smirked at them, "That's endearing but I'm not a field agent. I'm just doing this one favor for Father."
"So why are you so important that he'd trust you to do this alone?" Sienna questioned Draco, folding her arms and giving him a penetrating look.
Draco sneered at the woman. Usually he wouldn't have felt obligated to say anything but in the present situation, he felt he needed to prove his status.
"I'm Father's grandson. I think he trusts me enough."
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