Not Quite Dark Magic

Constant

Hermione stormed through the door to the meeting room and tossed a thick envelope onto the table, skewing the papers underneath. Moody, the lone occupant of the room, looked up at her with slight indignation. She merely raised her eyebrows before he sighed and reached for it. That was one of the few advantages of this seemingly endless war. There was hardly a need for words when they knew each other well enough that a shake of the head or a furrow of brows could tell them all they needed to know. It was quicker, and in times like these speed was of the utmost importance. Some days it seemed speaking wasn't necessary at all.

She waited patiently for him to read the letter through twice. That was the thing about Moody, given no strict time restraints he liked to be thorough. Which meant he needed to go through everything more than once. So to occupy her time, she perused through the papers on the table she did not recognize. Free time was not a luxury anymore. She couldn't waste any second sitting there and waiting. There was always something to be done.

"Well?" she asked without looking up from the strategy document. She knew by his shifting that he was ready to discuss.

"Another Death Eater spy could come in handy. Snape has always been reliable, but who knows what else we could learn, especially since we know this one sees the frontlines of battle frequently."

"It's a lead worth looking into, at least." she agreed, flipping the page. "But what if it's a trap?"

Silence. She knew better than to repeat herself.

"Always a risk, but a risk worth taking at this point. I assume you agree, or else the letter would never have made it to the table."

Finished reading through the document, she picked up a quill and began to make her edits. Ron was an amazing strategist, but sometimes he had difficulty working with their new battle set up. It was something they would need to discuss at the meeting tomorrow.

"You want to go." It wasn't a question. Maybe they knew each other too well.

"Considering the Death Eater, I am clearly the best option." She laid the quill down, folding her arms across her chest as she looked to his eyes.

Moody shook his head. "You are unbinded."

"As are you."

"As someone who was never bound, my strength has been unaffected. Unlike you, who has recently lost their partner to the killing curse and is therefore weaker than she was before the binding."

Hermione took a slow breath in order to reel in her anger. If she wanted to do this then she needed to keep a level head.

"I am one of the Order's strongest duelists."

"You were, and then your partner died and now you are asking to be put into a dangerous position knowing you are vulnerable."

"Perhaps you'd rather send Ron," she snapped. "Or maybe Pansy? I'm sure he wouldn't think that was a trap."

"You know very well how important it is that we keep the Slytherin members protected and out of risk as much as possible." Moody stood then, hands on the table.

"Exactly my point. And seeing as Harry is too valuable, that puts his partner out as well. Who's left now that you think could salvage this chance?"

Moody merely shook his head. "We'll bring this to the meeting tomorrow."

Hermione let out a huff of breath and stood, heading towards the door. She knew a dismissal when she heard it, and she was taking the tabling of this discussion as a win.

---

"Malfoy wants to become a double agent?" Ron's voice climbed an octave with each word.

"It seems legitimate, he even sent us a slew of useful information to show he was serious," Hermione tossed the envelope over to the lead strategist. "Snape was even able to verify it all." She then turned to answer the onslaught of questions she knew would be coming.