Wand-Leader & The Spy

23- Hunting in the Woods

London, Ministry of Magic, September 14th, 1999, 08.30 hours

"The Minister will see you now!"

"Thank you."

Wand-Leader Hermione smiled politely at the Minister's secretary, Daphne Greengrass. The pureblood witch in turn was beaming at her, no doubt remembering the attack on her family's manor. Hermione didn't like to remember that night; too many of her friends had died, but that wasn't the fault of the Greengrasses.

She entered the office of the Minister for Magic with no small amount of trepidation hidden behind her Occlumency shields. In the past, she had simply hidden her true feelings about the Minister's son, but now she was hiding far more dangerous knowledge. If Malfoy's Legilimency probes slipped through her facade, she would doom not only herself, but Ron as well, and his family. And maybe even Dumbledore and any hope of freeing the Corps from serving this evil man.

"Wand-Leader Hermione, reporting, sir!" She saluted him.

"Good morning, Hermione." The Minister smiled at her, and she felt his mental probe entering her mind when he met her eyes. She focused on presenting the eager, inexperienced Wand the man was expecting. The naive witch in love with a foreigner, but remembering her … dalliances … with Draco fondly. The stupid girl admiring the man before her.

He withdrew from her mind rather quickly, without even coming close to her true thoughts and feelings. She hid her relief as well as she had hidden her hatred.

"I have important news for you. You will be reassigned to a new team."

"A new team, sir?" Hermione was surprised, and worried. She was a good Wand-Leader, and her team was working well.

"Yes. I've decided to form a special team to hunt down the half-naga. You've been doing excellent work in the Investigative Branch, but I think to end this menace, we need to combine the best Wands from the whole Corps to work together. This is not just a criminal investigation, and can't be treated as one if we want to stop this monster from attacking Britain."

A task force, then. It made sense, Hermione thought. Her team alone wouldn't be able to track the Dark Lord, and even in a unit as tight as the Corps, there was friction between branches and teams. "I see, sir." The Minister was not to be underestimated.

"I knew you would. The staff at Hogwarts tells me that you're the smartest Wand they ever taught."

"Thank you, sir." She didn't have to fake her embarrassment at that compliment.

"Good. Dean will take over your team and continue your other work while you're absent. I trust he can do this?"

She had hoped to be able to take her whole team with her. They were working well together, and they knew as much or more about the Dark Lord as anyone else in the Corps. And they accepted her leadership. Some of the older wands might not trust her due to her youth. "Yes, sir. Who will be leading the new team?" Probably Benjamin, she thought.

"My son. He has been looking forward to working with you."

It was a testament to her mastery of Occlumency that she didn't let anything of her reaction to that revelation show until she was out of his office, and behind a privacy spell in the bathroom.

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London, Ministry of Magic, September 14th, 1999, 09.35 hours

"Now that everyone's here, we can finally start!"

Her Occlumency allowed Wand-Leader Hermione to show a polite smile to Draco Malfoy's declaration instead of her real thoughts. She and the other Wands were standing at attention while Draco was addressing them.