Wand-Leader & The Spy

9- The Date

A/N: I am very sorry for the long break. I had lasik surgery in April and it took me a month to fully recover and I lost motivation to write a story but now I feel better and have decided to keep writing. Now on with the story...

London, Diagon Alley, August 25th, 1999, 22.15 hours

Ron Weasley, wandering through the less reputable sections of Diagon Alley, felt the communication mirror in his pocket vibrate. He pulled it out and faked checking his appearance. Percy was calling.

"Someone's been in my room."

His brother's message was but a whisper, but the communication mirror transmitted his voice loud and clear, protected by a privacy spell against eavesdroppers - the twins had improved on Sirius's design. The wizard concealed the mirror in the palm of his hand and asked: "Did they take anything?"

"None of the gold I had left there was taken. But they went through my notes." Probably copied then.

That meant it wasn't a thief, but a spy. "Who do you think sent him?"

"I can't say for certain," Percy answered. "It could be the Department of Mysteries, checking on my trustworthiness, or the Minister's faction, or even the Dark Lord - he has spies in the Ministry, and they might have noticed my visits. But it clearly means someone's suspecting me."

"If they just wanted your notes they'll not return," Ron said.

"But if they do return we can trap them." Percy said, knowing what Ron meant. The twins' gadgets that had detected the spy's entry could also be used to trigger a trap. They would have to be both quick and careful to avoid breaking Percy's cover though.

"Yes." Ron would have to be ready to apparate to his brother's room at a moment's notice. And he'd need a very good excuse if that happened during a rendezvous with Hermione. James Bond never had to deal with that, he thought.

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London, Ministry of Magic, August 26th, 1999, 18.00 hours

"What do you want for dinner?" Colin asked, parchment and quill in hand. Ever since he once had mixed up an order, he had been taking notes. Hermione might have overreacted a bit, but in her defense, she hadn't been able to eat lunch that day.

"Fish and Chips," Dean said, not looking up from the parchment he was reading.

"Nothing for me, I've got a dinner date in 30 minutes," Hermione said.

"Ah, Luna?" Dean asked. The blonde witch had shot down his advances during his sixth year at Hogwarts, but he still showed quite an interest in her, Hermione knew that from his regular questions if her friend had taken a boyfriend yet.

"No," Hermione said, somewhat distracted since she was checking the ward licenses issued in the last twenty years to see if she could find the addresses of Keagan Banks and Ottokar Merriweather, the retired obliviators she was hunting.

"No?" both members of her team said together, and with obvious surprise.

Hermione looked up, frowning when she saw both Colin and Dean stare at her. "What?"

"Who are you meeting?" Dean met her eyes, while Colin at least had the grace to blush and look away.

Hermione briefly debated telling him that it was none of his business, but decided against it. She was already keeping too much from them, and these days, knowing what your partners were up to was important. "I'm meeting Antoine Dupont. A tourist from Québec."