Wand-Leader & The Spy

20- Ripples

London, Ministry of Magic, September 10th, 1999, 16.15 hours

Wand-Leader Hermione felt the mirror in her pocket vibrate three times. The signal that Ron and the others had safely arrived back in France. She was relieved, but didn't show it - the Ministry was still in turmoil. No one knew what had caused the disaster in the Department of Mysteries, only that the entire floor had been evacuated, and that multiple Unspeakables had been brought to St. Mungo's for emergency treatment.

The muggleborn witch was waiting in the atrium with her team, looking at the Aurors arguing with an Unspeakable. Apparently, the two Unspeakables guarding the entrance were still refusing to let anyone but their colleagues inside. No one could get hold of the Head Unspeakable, Augustus Rookwood, and the Minister had been moved to his home at the first sign of trouble by his security detail.

Which meant that Dawlish's attempts to take over the investigation were not only premature, but doomed from the start. Hermione shook her head when a particularly loud yell from the argument the Head Auror was having with the Unspeakable reached her ears.

"Dean, keep an eye on the situation. Call me as soon as something changes. I've better things to do than wait until the Minister sets the idiots straight," she said. She had to remove the vanishing cabinet as soon as possible from the storage room, after all. "Colin, see if you can take a few pictures of the atrium." Preferably showing Dawlish making a fool of himself, she thought.

"Do you think we'll get to investigate it?" Dean asked.

"If Rookwood is dead or incapacitated, which seems likely since no one has seen him since the alert, then the Minister will send us to investigate," Hermione said. He certainly wouldn't send Dawlish's fools down there. "Though," she amended, "maybe not our team."

They had been doing criminal investigations, not disasters or accidents, almost exclusively since they had been formed. But if her team was ordered to investigate, then she'd know that the Minister suspected the Dark Lord was involved. Sabotage would be suspected soon enough. Dumbledore claimed he had a method to fudge the portkey logs, but a thorough investigation would reveal that the last group of evacuated Unspeakables never arrived at St Mungo's.

"Right." Dean nodded.

"I'll check on Luna, then finish my current case."

Her friend was standing at the back of the crowd on her tiptoes, trying to watch everything. She looked rather concerned too - she was likely worrying about her friends. Hermione nodded at Dean, then walked towards the blonde witch. Colin was already taking pictures. The young wizard didn't need to be told twice to use his camera.

"Hermione!" Luna hugged her as soon as the blonde witch spotted her. Yes, Hermione's friend had definitely been worried about her. Of course, since she didn't work for the Ministry, Luna couldn't have known that Wands were not allowed to enter the Department of Mysteries, and therefore unlikely to be involved in the disaster. "What happened? Did the dragon that attacked Diagon Alley escape from custody?" the younger witch asked.

"We don't know anything yet. The Unspeakables refuse to let anyone enter." Hermione patted Luna's back and her friend calmed down and released her.

"Oh... maybe their Lycanthropic Albanian Bubotuber used the power of the new moon to grow faster than their spells could cut it down?"

Hermione smiled. Luna was back to her normal self. "We'll find out as soon as the Minister returns."

"Oh... isn't it safe yet? He could send Draco down first, to check. He would do something useful that way!"

Hermione scolded her friend. "Don't let the Minister hear that!" She didn't trust the man anymore; who knew how a man who ordered her parents killed would react to such a comment? If something happened to Luna...