Wand-Leader & The Spy

Happily Ever After

Watford, Hertfordshire, October 5th, 1999, 17.20 hours

"Betty! Betty!"

"Mum!"

Wand-Leader Hermione watched as the little girl was hugged by the muggle woman. Both were crying. So was the woman's husband, who was embracing both. She felt happy to see the family reunited, ashamed she had let the kidnapping happen, and envious. Her own parents were dead. She also felt a tad uncomfortable in the muggle clothes she was wearing, though Ron had assured her that they fit her cover. Even if she hadn't seen the likes of them in the Cosmopolitan magazines she had read for her research.

It took a while for the Hendersons to calm down enough to address her and invite her inside their house. Hermione didn't mind - she understood their reaction. She just hoped they would be as understanding when she told them what had happened.

"When you called us and said you had news about the kidnapping... we feared the worst," Ben Henderson said. His wife held their daughter, nodding.

Hermione winced. In retrospect, that hadn't been a good way to handle this - she had thought it made keeping magic a secret easier. "I'm sorry. I didn't consider that."

"I'm just happy my girl is safe," Mrs Henderson said.

Her husband nodded. He hesitated. "Did you find out what happened? All we know is that Betty disappeared from our backyard six weeks ago."

"Evil wizards took me!" Betty said. "But good wizards rescued me."

Betty's parents frowned. "Wizards?"

That was addressed as much at her as at the girl, Hermione knew.

Betty nodded. "They had wands, and magic. They messed with my head, but the good wizards fixed it."

"She is correct," Hermione said. She drew her wand. "If I may demonstrate?"

"She's a good witch!" Betty said, smiling.

The Hendersons nodded, staring at her. Hermione transfigured the table into a teddy bear, then animated it. Betty clapped her hands happily, while her parents stared some more.

Hermione sighed. This wouldn't be pretty. "Your daughter is a witch. She can use magic. This is why evil wizards kidnapped her - they wanted to take her from you, and raise her to become an obedient soldier." Mrs Henderson gripped Betty tightly, gasping, and Betty's father set his jaw. Hermione went on: "She wasn't the only victim. This conspiracy has been going on for almost twenty years. More than a dozen children were kidnapped each year."

"But... why didn't anyone notice?" Mr Henderson asked. "So many kidnappings..."

"Magic was used to hide the disappearances. Or frame someone else. Like the parents of the children." That caused another gasp.

"Did they... did they do something to us?"

"They wanted to frame you," Hermione nodded at Mr Henderson, "for her disappearance. Your memories of the kidnapping were wiped and replaced with fake ones. Those were removed during the investigation. At that time, we didn't know the scope of the conspiracy yet, so nothing more was done."

"You knew Betty was kidnapped, but you left her with the criminals?" Mr Henderson sounded both shocked and angry.

Hermione nodded. "I'm sorry for the grief this caused you, but rescuing her and her alone would have warned the criminals. Since the highest levels of the magical government were involved in the kidnappings, you can imagine what would have happened. We had to topple the government before we could arrest the kidnappers." She didn't mention murdering the Minister and his family.