RED SPARROW ➼ George Weasley

[𝟎𝟎𝟖] - new beginnings

    "So, you used a hand-crafted combination of an embarcadero and obliviate charm to essentially turn him into a paranoid schizophrenic and think he was responsible for all those disappearances?"

    "Da."

    "...And when he tried to escape Berlin with the cartridge containing the names of every agent on either side of the... 'Iron Curtain', you made a bomb whilst hanging off the wing of the plane and blew it up?"

    "Da."

   "...But you parachuted down with his unconscious body, and then illegally portkeyed from country to country across Europe and back to Russia?"

    "Da, and let me just tell you, the physical toll that five portkeys in a row have on a fourteen-year-old carrying a grown man's unconscious body on her back is crazy. Also, my lovely friends Evalina and Nina had caused quite a bit of damage in Belarus that same weekend, so much so that their government had closed their portkey borders, so I had to go from Germany to Poland to Lithuania to Latvia, and I could've gotten to Moscow from there but no, St. Petersburg needed the guy, so I had to go through Estonia too. Smekhotvornyy..."

    Magdalina was sitting in a black velvet, high-backed armchair in the second-floor drawing room. Hermione, Harry, Ron and Ginny surrounded her in a sort of comical little semi-circle having pulled up various chairs to hear her better, and Fred and George sat on an opposing sofa, admiring the story from afar. It didn't take long after she had followed them from the kitchen to the drawing room for her to be worn down by their questions – they were persistent little buggers. She'd sworn them to secrecy before sharing some highlights in her espionage career that were guaranteed to impress, obviously. In fact, she'd even made them swear it with a military oath that she'd learned from her father when she was seven.

    "I – state your full name – solemnly swear allegiance to my Fatherland – the Russian Federation, and Koschei the Deathless, High Mage of the North," she had said after numerous pleas for stories from Harry and Ginny in particular. She then made everybody place their dominant hand on their heart and repeat after her. The young'uns looked remarkably serious, and Fred had even adopted a dodgy Siberian accent to prove his devotion to the oath. George, however, was giving her a funny look; a sort of lopsided grin on his face as he recited.

    She very strongly believed the whole 'keeping her mouth shut about the federation' thing was bullshit; Magdalina knew the feeling of being underestimated because of your age all too well, and for a circle of people so close to the imposing danger to the wizarding world, she felt it was only right to give them the answers they wanted. Besides, she figured that daring spy stories would be a great way to break the ice and get in their good books. And evidently, she was right.

   "...Memory charms are a ridiculously advanced form of magic," Hermione said from a chair next to Magdalina, wringing her hands with a curious look on her face. "So are magical explosives – neither are covered in the Hogwarts syllabus, they're too risky; too dangerous."

    Magdalina smirked. "Well, I myself am risky and dangerous. Not now, I suppose, given the fact that I'm not allowed to use magic or even be in possession of my wand until September."

    "And...Evalina and Nina, did you say?" said Harry from a pile of cushions on the floor, looking rather thrilled as he pieced the puzzle together. "They're...Vasilisas? Part of your team, right?"

    "Four and seven, yes."

    "Where are they now?"

    "Nina's in the States, Evalina's in Finland. Koschei knows what they're doing, but hopefully they're alright. It seems not everybody got off as easy as I did."