Angelinus

Chapter 21

Plans and Schemes

"Let the meeting come to order," Daniel said firmly and was totally ignored as the group of mixed witches and wizards continued to speculate amongst themselves. The meeting was being held at St Mungo's to preserve the secrecy of the information but had been called by the Department of Aurors. Confidentiality charms were in place as well as silencing charms on the walls and floor. The given excuse for the meeting was to show the Aurors the pioneering method of recording a witness's thoughts, which excused the security they had put in place. Daniel wasn't at all sure why he had been asked to preside and he was even less sure that he could make any sort of stab at it. On his right, Ginny grinned at him shaking her head in amazement.

"Do you really think that is going to bring this lot to heel?" she questioned gleefully. "This is how you do it. Remus, would you please?"

"I hate this Ginny, you know that?" Remus complained as he threw back his head and howled. The eerie noise touched the primitive roots of every human soul, causing an instant and uncomfortable silence. "Thank you. Doctor Halvorsen has some words for us."

The doctor stood up uncomfortably and introduced himself, spoke briefly on direstium addiction and how it affected those infected with it. He explained that, while he was treating the girl Louise Anderson, they had made a remember-crystal of her memories by a new method the hospital had been pioneering. While it was not perfected yet, it was fairly clear and Inspector Weasley would give more details.

Ron rose and moved onto the podium, surveying the mixed audience with a jaundiced eye. He didn't mind the civilians being present, as most were of the old guard, but the Ministry had insisted on sending a couple of observers in, as if they didn't trust Ron's judgement. He singled a few people out with his gaze before starting.

"This following presentation is based on both the remember-crystal and pensieve evidence given by Louise Anderson. There are some holes and gaps in it, just as there are holes and gaps in your own memory; however it is a reasonably coherent account of her capture, escape and subsequent actions."

"From a direstium addict?" Fergus McTavish, Ministry Representative said derisively, making Ron glare.

"From a young girl kidnapped and subjected to incarceration as well as medical experimentation," Ron replied in a flat monotone that was more effective than a snarl of rage. "To continue, the whole memory is from Louise Anderson's point of view and only shows what she saw, no more, no less. I want each of you to study the scenes and gather as much detail as you can. This is all we have to go on at the moment but hopefully, it is enough. Remember, there are other kidnap victims whose lives are at stake here. Please, start it."

The lights went down and the space in the centre of the hall lit up as a charm was activated. Those at the back stood up to gain a better view of the proceedings. Those at the front leaned forward eagerly, interest in the new phenomenon running high. In the centre, the glowing ball lit up with the beginnings of the memory, rather like a three dimensional movie.

"Now kids, have a good time and do as your Aunt and Uncle tell you. See you in two weeks."

Dream Louise waved and smiled as the car pulled away from the curb outside a perfectly normal Muggle semi-detached. They were given a good view of the girl beside her, as she leaned forward and put her arms on the back of the seat to talk to the Muggle couple in the front. The aunt smiled over her shoulder and told them they were to join their cousins at a country house for a few days to experience farm life first hand. The Uncle nodded through the mirror and told her to sit back and put her seat belt on so she wouldn't get hurt. She did, locking the buckle into the clasp and glancing at her sister Jennifer who was already reading a book and nodding off to sleep. Louise was getting sleepy too, unusual but not unheard of in the car.

The scene darkened then lightened a few seconds later.

The girl was in a white hospital like ward space with screens around her. The ceiling was sloped and made of what looked like corrugated iron. It had been painted white but steel girders still made an exposed framework, giving it a warehouse look. She was laid on her back on a flat, hard bed with restraints on her wrists and ankles, a lumpy pillow under her head. She wondered where her aunt and uncle were, but could remember nothing past nodding off to sleep in the car.

She tried to sit up but was dizzy and felt very sick, the green fabric screens wavering in and out of focus. As she turned her head a wave of dizziness almost made her retch. Gasping from the movement, the girl lay still and waited for her head to settle. She could hear someone talking but the curtains drawn around her bed stopped her seeing who it was. About to call out, she paused as the sense of their words came to her.

"We have two more donors for the project. The elder one is very strong and will make a very significant contribution to the deliverance of the children," a female voice said with smug satisfaction. "I'm a bit worried about the aunt and uncle though, I hope they will be alright. How did you arrange the crash?"

"That was the easy part. They will be fine, a small bump and a memory charm and they didn't even realise the girls were supposed to be staying with them. The parents will be fine too, when they realise what a service we have performed for them. Their niece Melanie was killed more than ten years ago but they haven't forgotten. She was killed in the Second Voldemort War," a man replied with genuine sadness in his voice.

"She was murdered by those monsters too! I will never forgive any of them for all those deaths, ever!" the woman behind the screen screeched then moderated her tone with an effort. "No, we must save as many of them as possible with this new treatment. The medicine destroys the disease and we draw out the bad blood and let them make new, good blood by themselves."

The picture focussed on Louise's right arm and the tubing that led down to a hole in the floor, her blood draining down into it. Horrified, she glanced left and saw a conventional drip stand holding up a bag of pale straw coloured liquid that was being fed into her left arm. She couldn't believe what was happening. She shook her head as if trying to wake up. As she moved her head, she realised her earrings were still in place, the ones she and her sister had worked so hard on making this holidays.

At the thought of her sister, she managed to focus her mind a little more despite the swirl of drugs in her system.

"Where is my sister?" she yelled.

The curtain swished but Louise could not see who came in. Instead the woman's voice asked what she wanted. "Oh, don't fret; we have her safe in the program too. She will get well just as soon as you do. And Jason will never get sick; we'll make sure he had his medicine early. After all, he has enough problems without adding magic to the mess too."

For a second Louise had to agree with the strange woman that having Jason running around as a wizard might be very hard to take, but then the magic might cure him of his autism. She stiffened her resolve.

"I really, really need to go to the toilet!" she said loudly, a real whine in her voice.

"Oh dear, do you have to? Can you not hold on for another hour or two? Oh well, I suppose I can bring you a bedpan. See, you aren't allowed to move until the first three doses have gone through your system and that is only the second one. Wait here and I'll get you a pan," the woman said then tittered in a high pitched tone. "Silly me! Of course you will be waiting here." The curtain swished and Louise knew she had gone.

The image in the sphere wobbled for a second then firmed as the girl said an engorging charm. One of the wooden spikes on her outrageous earrings became a full sized wand. She quickly transfigured it into a knife to cut the bandages holding her wrists to the bed. It only took a second to free the other and her ankles. She heard someone returning. In a panic, she glanced out the small, square windows as an unrecognised woman entered and yelped to see her sitting up.

Louise apparated and ended up standing on the concrete of the yard outside.

Sirens went off almost immediately. Louise glanced back over her shoulder fearfully, realising her sister was still trapped and there wasn't a thing she could do about it right now. Two men appeared by the roller-doors, running in her direction. She gathered her resolve and apparated again, hopping a few miles, and then stopping to regain her strength before apparating again. She made twelve jumps before she landed in front of a truck and a very familiar person picked her up.

The recording stopped and the enthralled audience drew a collective breath.

"So, did anyone recognise any of those places where she jumped to?" Ron asked mildly into the growing speculation.

Remus tentatively put his hand up and was acknowledged. "The place was north, north west of London, a light industrial estate, probably attached to a small town or village in the Home Counties."

"Oh, come now, that is pure speculation on your part," McTavish scoffed mockingly. "How can you justify such outrageous speculation from the poorly presented maundering of a direstium addict on a bad trip? We should be more concerned about the illegal use of under aged magic, apparating without a licence. That's just two of numerous charges I want brought against this...this drug addict!"

Furious, Severus was about to snarl at the Ministry Representative but Remus' hand on his arm stilled him. Ignoring McTavish, Remus continued, "the day was sunny, the time was morning. Studying the shadows at each point, she made a steady if slightly erratic journey to the south, southeast. She made twelve apparitions. The first was a matter of twenty feet from the building to its yard. The second, when she looked back at the warehouse, was perhaps a distance of two miles, the rest of the jumps were line-of-sight. Ten jumps followed and, working on the formula of experience, energy, adrenalin, line-of-sight and exhaustion, at best I could only see her jumping four miles at a time. Since I pulled her out of the road in the middle of London, one can only assumes she was held in the Home Counties. Of course, I could be wrong." He looked at the Ministry Representative, "but werewolves have to learn to navigate by the sun and estimate distance balanced by energy very early in their lives, if they want to survive," he added with a curled lip, showing perfect, sharp white teeth.

The Minister backed off, blustering unconvincingly as Ron nodded his approval. "Remus has vast experience in living off the land as most of us will appreciate. I have always found that his insights and conclusions can be relied on." He paused for the weight of his support to hit home. "So, that narrows the search field down dramatically to a mere ninety degree slice of the compass and a radius of forty-five miles to be sure. Do we have a map?"

Severus reached up and caught Remus' hand from his arm, pulling it into a fold of his robes as he muttered, "Nature Boy," into Remus' red tinged ear.

The werewolf's head whipped around fast enough to catch Severus unprepared for the quick kiss he dropped on thin lips. "Prick," he muttered back, his temper subsiding under his mate's light teasing.

Amused, Severus smiled gently and threaded his fingers through Remus', rubbing his thumb across his wrist soothingly. "You did well. Shall I poison McTavish for you; it would be very easy from here, a simple translocation spell to move the potion into his stomach."

"Severus! I thought you said you weren't going to do that anymore, since they tried to kill off us werewolves with it," Remus muttered, slightly scandalised.

"I wasn't, but I could make an exception in his case."

Remus laughed at the deeply meditative tone in his mate's voice but he didn't accept or deny the possibility as the map was fetched.

The map was enlarged and laid out on a table that was dragged into the central space. The top Aurors in the group crowded around it while the rest hung back or wandered over to a table bearing tea and coffee. Severus procured two cups and mused that it was almost like old times, except Molly Weasley made much better coffee than the Aurors did. The crew at the map table were arguing amongst themselves when Potter's voice rose, dominating the discussion briefly. "She hears sirens. They have some sort of security in place, and we must assume that it is based on both magical and Muggle technology. If you don't foil the Muggle stuff, you may as well not bother with nullifying the charms."

"Who the Hell do you think you are Mr Civilian?" a querulous young voice demanded belligerently from the group of Aurors gathered on one side of the map.

"I think I'm Harry Potter, who are you?"

There was a collective wince at the harsh note in Harry's voice and a mutter of what might have been apology before Harry continued. "Didn't Severus design an adapted acclaro spell purely for the detection of direstium? Why not charm glasses with the spell, then get a few people up in the air on brooms to do an aerial survey for any concentrations of the stuff. You can cover a lot of territory on a broomstick, you know Ron? And see a hell of a long way in all directions."

"It makes sense. Put a Dellusionment spell on them and the Muggles won't see them in the air. We can send in a raiding party when an area is found to be checked," Ron agreed thoughtfully. "Nancy? Can you get twenty observers kitted out and put them on a search grid over this area. Tell them to phone in as soon as they find anything and we'll mobilise the ground forces. John, you organise a raiding party set to apparate in on a moment's notice. We may be dealing with a mixture of Muggle and Magical offenders so make sure the group have armour spells as well as anti magic protection. Muggles use those gun things, don't forget."

"Yes Sir!" The two people named saluted smartly and apparated out.

"Doctor Halvorsen, can you have a team standing by to apparate into the area as soon as it is secured to deal with any casualties we might find or sustain? They'd better be steady people who've dealt with messy wounds or direstium addicts before."

"Can do," Daniel agreed and hurried off immediately.

"Aren't you being a little high handed here Inspector Weasley?" Minister McTavish said pompously, pushing his way into the group left at the table to confront the Auror.

"No," Ron said simply then turned to where the old Order Members had congregated by the coffee table. "You lot want in? Good, I could use some steady and experienced hands in the raiding party. Glad Mum isn't here or she would be in like a shot. Oh, and that reminds me, I need to talk to you Snapes about Mother. See me later," he ordered as he turned back to the business in hand.

"Not in this lifetime," Remus muttered as he and Severus exchanged slightly apprehensive looks.

"Yes, and while he reminds me, what did you do to Mum?" Ginny asked curiously. "I went around there last week and she was, was like her old self! Even the old house was just like I remember it, clean and warm and, and home-like. It's a miracle, after so many years of her depression."

"She agreed to work with us at Hogwarts, bringing up our children," Severus said repressively. "I told her she was being totally ridiculous, carrying on like a martyr to the cause. We had a bit of an argument and then she agreed to give the baby sitting a try."

"She hit him with a frying pan and cracked his skull," Remus put in helpfully, making Ginny goggle then burst out laughing.

"She has a wicked shot with a skillet," Ginny agreed. "Hey, we think it is fantastic that she is recovering and we are so relieved. We, we thought she might, you know, commit suicide if the depression got any worse. So, thanks. Thanks for giving our mother back to us, although I don't think Charlie will be quite so enthusiastic. Mum went to visit him this holidays and I got an owl from him yesterday begging for rescue. She's organising him."

"Well, I did warn him, more than a month ago, but that's what you get for ignoring good advice," Severus said repressively then smirked. "Rather him than you, humm?"

"Oh much rather.... No! I mean.... Oh bugger off Severus!" Ginny snapped then giggled like a schoolgirl. "Poor Charlie!"

~~<*>~~

The sound of a ringing mobile phone was so unusual in St Mungo's; it killed all the conversations in the room and heads turned toward the podium where Ron was sitting. He flipped open the small device and listened as he strode over to the map and traced a path with his finger before tapping it decisively. "Got it. Observe the place closely and don't get caught. We'll be sending out the strike team in half an hour. Rendezvous; let me see, on the common between Grim's Ditch* and Nettleden Road*. Good Luck." He snapped the phone closed and enlarged the relevant section of map until it totally covered the table. "Our teams found a huge concentration of direstium signature right here at Fellmate's Industrial Complex just outside Potten End*. It's thirty three miles outside London Remus, one heck of a close calculation, well done."

Remus nodded acceptance of the compliment even though it made the Minister's ears glow red and angry, especially because it made McTavish so angry!

Ron flipped open the phone and dialled rapidly, speaking to someone on the other end and giving them the designated rendezvous co-ordinates before closing the phone again. "All right, let's go. Ginny, you and Hermione come in with the medical teams, Severus, Remus, Draco; you come in with my team...."

"I most strongly protest!" McTavish yelped angrily, surging to his feet and pointing a stabbing finger in the direction of the three named. "How can you trust them not to be...?"

"Oh, stupefy!" a voice rang out and the Minister flopped into a boneless heap on the floor. "That man is nearly as bad as Fudge at times," Harry said conversationally. "Shall we get on with it, then?"

"Harry, mate, you are seriously scary when you do things like that!" Ron protested then grinned. "Good hit, mind." They high-fived each other; as their palms slapped together they both apparated, Harry taking direction from Ron.

"Shall we?" Severus asked Remus and Draco grinning as all three popped out.

"Stay behind with the non-combatants indeed!" Ginny fumed angrily. "Who the Hell does he think he is?"

"The Divisional Inspector of Aurors," Hermione said mildly, ginning at her friend. "And your big brother of course," she added provocatively.

"I'll give him big brother! And bloody husband too! And they left you behind," Ginny yelped, working herself into a fine old temper.

"Yes, they did," Hermione agreed rather more pensively. "Draco and I decided a long time ago that, if one of us was going into combat, the other would stay home with the children, just in case. That way we could guarantee Lysander would have at least one parent alive at the end of the war. The rule was never revoked."

"And how many times did Draco let you go forth and him stay behind?" Ginny demanded aggressively.

"Draco is Slytherin; he never had a problem with misplaced heroics so he stayed back at least fifty percent of the time."

"Bloody Slytherins!" Ginny sighed, her temper bubble bursting as she subsided into a chair. "So, what do we do about him?" She hiked a finger at the stupefied minister.

"Nothing, leave him stunned until the mission is over then obliviate him," Hermione said carelessly, her voice flat with dislike.

"Sounds like a plan," Ginny agreed. "Or we could just obliviate him now, give us something to do while we wait," she added playfully.

*First a word to anyone living at Potten End in England, Muahahaha! On your toes folks! Second, Potten End, Grim's Ditch and Nettleden Road are real places, Fellmate Industrial complex only lives in my twisted little brain. (Aren't you glad?)