Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. If I did, Harry and Hermione would be married right now.
A/N: My take on the challenge "Secrecy" by reptilia, you can find the requirements here: http://talk.portkey.org/index.php?showtopic=26369 . Hope you'll like it, and if you read, please review to let me know how I'm doing ok? Thanks!
Secret Wizards
Chapter Two: Broken Trio
It was six months after the psychiatric evaluation, and the three of them had long forgotten their little row over that question on if they were ready to lie to their friends and family to save the kingdom and its citizens.
Not that they had much time to think about it, as work had been hectic for them. Many Death Eaters sightings had been reported, and their team was often on field missions of unknown length to try and capture them.
Harry was more than happy for the distraction those mission caused from his private life. Ginny had started dropping hints herself about marriage, and while he was sure he would marry her one day, at the moment he wasn't ready to settle down, which lately caused rows between them.
The fact that Ron and Hermione had gotten engaged the previous week wasn't helping, not at all. As he suspected, now that his two best friends had given in to Molly's convincing, the ball was in his and Ginny's field, and they were expected to follow suit soon.
Pushing the thoughts out of his mind, he concentrated on the task at hand.
"Hermione, reach your position" he hissed, then nodded at Ron to let him know to do the same.
The redhead had devised a plan to block Dolohov from escaping, and this time Harry was adamant to bring the Death Eater in. Too many times he had slithered through their fingers, but tonight was different. They had been tailing him and his men for three days now and they would arrest him, no matter what.
As they approached the little house, Disillusioned, Harry grabbed his wand. With a deep breath, he caused the door to fall down, but no one of them entered the building.
As expected, no one left too. Harry and Hermione fired more curses at the building, making it shake on its foundations, but they didn't bring it down. They needed Dolohov and who else was inside alive to give them useful information, and as it's known, dead bodies don't speak.
Ron, in the meantime, had circled the house in search for a second exit, some secret passage of sorts, in case the dark wizards had already started to flee. Soon later, he spotted a chunk of land moving aside.
He rushed there, alerting Harry and Hermione with the device they had come up with. It was something like the Galleons of the Dumbledore's Army, but these gave a strong vibration instead of heating themselves.
Hermione had enchanted them, and the Head of the Department had liked the idea, so they were now standard equipment for all Aurors.
Wand in hand, Ron stunned the first one to exit the hole, but soon later Dolohov and other five fled, with Shield Charms in place.
"Fancy a run in the countryside, Antonin?" Harry smirked as the Death Eater stopped in his tracks, having almost run over the Auror.
"Potter" he snarled. "Move aside, or I'll kill you"
"Should I be worried by your threat?" Harry replied, an hint of boredom in his voice.
"Avada Kedavra!"
The green light flew toward the raven haired wizard, which conjured a rock in front of himself to stop the curse.
"Expelliarmus!" he then cried, and the other man dodged. Harry kept a straight face, but inwardly he was grinning.
Dolohov didn't have the slightest idea that Hermione was there and that she had already stunned four of his men, thanks to Silencing Charms put on herself and silent spell-casting, while Ron was binding the last one.
"Expelliarmus!" Harry cast again, knowing very well the man would dodge.
"Such childish spell work, Potter. I expected better from the Boy Who…" Dolohov taunted him but he never finished the sentence, as Hermione slammed her elbow in his head, knocking him unconscious. It was only fair that it was her to defeat him, as he was the one who cursed her in the Department of Mysteries years ago. It was a little revenge, but a sweet one nonetheless.
"Good job, guys" Harry congratulated both his best friends. "Let's bring these to the Ministry, shall we?"
Ten minutes later, they were enjoying an hot cup of coffee in their office. It was freezing outside, as it was the end of November, and they had spent the last three days camping and scouting the countryside to find Dolohov's hideout.
They were all laughing over a joke Ron had said when the door of their room slammed open.
"Potter, Granger, I need you to come with me to the Department of Mysteries" their boss, Glembers, bellowed, and then left not even waiting for a reply.
Harry and Hermione sighed. "We will see you later, Ron?" the brunette asked, giving his fiancé a smile.
The redhead shook his head. "I think I'm gonna call it a day, you know. Three days out there knackered me. See you at home, luv" he said. The two of them were now living together at Ron's flat, it was a month that she had moved there but Hermione still owned her own place.
She had grown fond of it and was reluctant to let it go, even if she knew she would probably have to soon or later.
With a nod to their friend, Harry and Hermione walked out of the room and made their way to the lower levels, where the Department of Mysteries was.
"This place always gives me chills" Hermione admitted, wrapping her arms around herself in a protective fashion.
"Better chills than nightmares" Harry moodily replied. He still hadn't completely forgiven himself for Sirius' death, and Hermione almost dying too. It was one of the reasons he was so determined on going after Dolohov, it was some kind of revenge for himself too. The images of Hermione struck with that purple curse flashed into his head and he balled his hands into fists.
"What is it, Harry?" Hermione said, placing an hand on his shoulder and trying to soothe him. He looked sideways at her, and gave her a small smile.
"I'm sorry" he said. "For letting Dolohov hurt you, years ago" he then explained to her bewildered expression.
Realization dawned upon her, and she grinned at him. "It's in the past, you don't have to worry about it anymore" she said. They finally caught up with their boss, who was waiting for them.
"Sir, if I may, what's the reason for us being here?" Harry asked.
"You'll find out soon enough, Potter. It's not something that can be discussed freely" the man mysteriously replied, leading them down a side corridor, to a locked room. He tapped his wand twice on the oak door, and it glowed white for a moment.
"Aurors Glembers, Granger and Potter" their boss stated, and the door unlocked. Pushing it open, he lead them in.
"Welcome, Aurors Granger, Potter" a deep voice they very well knew welcomed them.
"Minister Shacklebolt" they acknowledged the older man, who had been part of the war just like them and had been appointed minister after Voldemort's fall to guide the magical world through a difficult time of rebuilding.
"Have a seat, please" he instructed them, then introduced the other person in the room. "This is Chief Secret Wizard Hanlemore"
"Chief Secret Wizard?" Hermione asked.
The Minister nodded, allowing the other man to explain.
"Miss Granger, the Secret Wizards are a quite recent group formed by the Ministry as an attempt to stop threats like Voldemort from rising. Our main concern is to stop any kind of possible terrorist action here in England. We may be able to extend our jurisdiction to the whole magical community worldwide in the future, as other Ministries don't have a division like that, but for the time being our focus is just on England"
Both Harry and Hermione listened attentively, wondering why they were being told that information.
After some minutes, their silent question got addressed. "You two are here because you have proved yourselves to be among the top Aurors the Ministry has, and we are in need of new recruitment in our ranks. You have been chosen not only for your field abilities, which are nonetheless outstanding I must admit, but also for your high rank teamwork"
Harry intervened. "Why just the two of us, and not our other team mate, Ron Weasley?"
"Ah, I knew this question would arise" Hanlemore said, looking at the ministry who nodded. "See, Auror Weasley has failed to meet the psychological profile requested to be part of this group"
"Why is that?" Hermione asked.
"Miss Granger, as I said coming here, this is no matter that can be discussed freely" Glembers intervened. "Mr. Weasley is not up to the secrecy levels required for the job, since he is not up to lying to his friends or family, if a matter of national security requesting it arises. Plus, his spell work is good enough for a fight like those you have been involved till now, but not good enough for this job. You'll need to learn some new and complex charms, and frankly I don't think he would be able to, considering his marks in the subject back in Hogwarts "
Harry and Hermione looked at each other, understanding dawning upon them.
"So, for the details of the job. You will have to be available on call 24 hours a day, you won't be able to tell anyone outside the Secret Wizards group what it is that you do, where you go when you are on mission, and anything related to the organisation activities. Your equipment will vary from mission to mission, based on the environment you will be posed in, the characteristics of the target, and the secrecy level required, but I can assure you it will most of the time be far more advanced than what normal Aurors have available" Hanlemore explained, earning himself a grunt from Glembers, who obviously wasn't pleased with that remark.
"Of course, your efforts will be widely rewarded. I understand being part of this group can result in a stressful lifestyle, what with lies to tell and keep up, being called in the middle of the night if need comes, and such. Not to talk about the risks of the job itself, after all we are against terrorists here and they usually don't stop in front of anything, and will be more than glad to eliminate you if you are a threat to them. So, the pay is quite high, one hundred and a half thousand Galleons per year"
Even being rich as he was, Harry's eyes bulged out at the ridiculously big amount of money they were being offered. Not that it mattered much for him, but sure enough with few years in the job, he would be able to provide his family enough gold to sustain them for generations, if shrewdly spent.
"So, what do you say?"
Harry and Hermione remained silent for some time. Finally, Harry cleared his throat, and spoke.
"Could you give us a couple minutes to discuss this between ourselves?"
"Of course, of course. We will be back in ten minutes" Minister Shacklebolt said, leading the other two out of the room.
"Blimey" Harry said once they were alone. Hermione chuckled.
"You can say that again" she said. He could see she wasn't completely happy with the situation.
"You are worried about Ron" he said, knowing her almost better than himself.
She nodded, then looked up at him, as he took her hand in his own, rubbing circles on it to ease her nervousness. It was a normal gesture for them, although some might have spotted something more than friendship there.
"He will be upset" she said. "You know how he is with his jealousy issues, and once again he gets left behind, he won't be pleased"
"No, he won't. But Hermione, you two are about to get married, I'm sure you two will work it out. You will start a family…" he said, and she interrupted him.
"Exactly. What kind of mum can I be if I need to be away for long periods of time, maybe, and might have to leave in the heart of the night?"
"A wonderful one, because you will be doing it to assure your kids, and those of all of us, are safe from another Voldemort-wannabe" he reassured her, and she nodded.
"Plus, aren't you curious to see what equipment they will come up with?" he teased her, and she lightly swatted him on the arm.
"Prat" she said, just moments before the door opened.
Once everyone was seated again, Hanlemore spoke. "So, have you decided? I'll have to tell you, if you refuse the offer we will need to Obliviate you, and the existence of the group will be removed from your knowledge"
"We accept the job" Harry said, looking at Hermione for assurance, and she nodded.
"Very well then. You'll have to sign these contracts, magical contracts where you accept all the secrecy issues of the group, then" he said, passing them two sheets of parchment and a quill.
Twenty minutes later, the two of them were packing their things in the office, ready to go home, still discussing the details of this new adventure.
The Golden Trio was officially broken, one member was left behind.
-->