Wand-Leader & The Spy

29- Shockwaves

London, Ministry of Magic, September 22nd, 1999, 20.25 hours

"The Minister's been murdered!"

"The Minister's been killed!"

"The Minister's been assassinated!"

Wand-Leader Hermione had heard those words, in all possible variations, dozens of times just passing from the atrium of the Ministry to the offices of the Investigative Branch. She had expected that - the Wands had just lost their father figure. The closest person they had to family, outside the Corps. And she knew that if she hadn't found out how muggleborns were 'rescued', she'd be feeling the same shock and loss. Though the Wands were still acting as they had been trained. The Ministry was sealed off, and she'd had to go through a Thief's Downfall to enter.

Dean wasn't in the office, but Colin was. "What's the situation?" Hermione asked.

"Ah..." he began, startled, before he was interrupted by an amplified voice.

"Someone's setting fire to Diagon Alley!"

Colin jumped up. She held her hand up to stop him. "The Ready Squad in the Alley will get it. Where's Dean?"

"He went to... you know, the office..." Colin swallowed, and she saw that he was close to tears. Fortunately, he took her rage at how the Minister had fooled everyone as rage against the assassin.

"Let's go then! Benjamin will be there as well, he can reassign us elsewhere if we're not needed."

They were halfway there when another shout went through the Ministry.

"The half-naga was sighted near Hogsmeade!"

Once again Colin jerked, but Hermione kept walking, and he rushed after her. They were investigators, and there hadn't been a general alert.

The two reached the floor of the Minister's office. Two Wands - a few years above her, she thought - were standing guard at the lift. Two more were in the anteroom, next to Greengrass. The pureblood witch had her face covered by her hands and her shoulders were shaking from crying. At least the pureblood witch had a good reason to cry - the Minister hadn't betrayed her.

Benjamin was inside the office, casting detection spells. The rest of his team was there as well. Even Cleo and Dean. The body of the Minister was still in his seat. From the looks of it, he had died in pain.

"Benjamin. I came as fast as I could. What happened?" she said while entering. Colin started to take pictures behind her. She'd ask him for some copies of Malfoy's corpse later.

"We've just started the investigation, but as far as we know, he was poisoned by Severus Snape, his personal potioneer and Advisor in Defense Matters," Benjamin said.

Snape had to be working for Dumbledore then. No wonder the professor had been so certain he could have Lucius killed - Snape had been among those most trusted in the Minister's circle of friends.

"Merlin's arse!" she said, then looked more closely at the corpse. "How did he get the poison past all the detection spells?"

"We don't know yet, but he is a master of his art. He could have created a new poison that the spells don't detect."

Or rather, a new poison the two leading alchemists in the world had created, Hermione thought. A binary poison, with both components detecting as harmless. She nodded to Dean. "Good to see you."

He nodded back. She could see that he suspected that she had been involved in this, but he didn't know how. And she couldn't tell him. Not yet.

She took out her own wand and started to investigate the scene. She was glad everyone was so worked up about this death that she didn't have to hide her own anxiety. Right now, Ron, Luna and their families were attacking the home of the Malfoys. A home protected by her fellow Wands.