Will You Ever Return to Me?

LunaIsCool

Story Summary:
AU from HBP. The war is a much bigger disaster, so is Harry's relationship with Ginny. When Voldemort is defeated, Harry returns home to find Ginny engaged to his worst enemy. Meanwhile, a new Dark Wizard plots in secret...

Chapter 23 - Episode 2--Chapter 13

Posted:
09/30/2008
Hits:
531


Chapter 13.

August 2002, Cincinnati, Ohio.

"I'd like to say I'm pleased to meet you, Mr. Wilson, but given the circumstances..." Hermione began.

"I understand. How he managed--" Cade Wilson, principal of the Cincinnati Magical Academy, said exhaustingly.

"We're here to find this out," she assured him. "Hermione Bender, MLEA." She had to use the fake name, since someone like Principal Wilson could have recognized the names Granger or Weasley. "This is Joseph Stone, Lydia Jones, and Catherine Hemmings." Hermione hoped their search here would yield some information. Pulling a deception to get in would be a minor miracle.

Late last night, the school suffered an attack that left five students and a teacher dead. Stone, through his contacts, got his information very quickly. The description of the attackers' leader provided by several witnesses, including Principal Wilson, who dueled him and got most of his hair burned off for it, matched Hund's. With that, Hermione and the other got to work.

While Stone contacted the MLEA to make sure they wouldn't be interfered with by the local representatives of the agency, the others hashed out a plan of action. Reluctantly, Captain Sherman and his men had to be left behind. Coming in armed with H&K MP-5 submachine guns would ruin the cover. Lydia and Colonel Hemmings attempting to pass as witches was dangerous enough. Ideally, Hermione and Stone would do this themselves, but they thought they might need Lydia's expertise, and Hemmings ordered that they take her. Still, officially, Hermione was in charge of the team, which pleased her.

"You don't know how he got in?" Stone asked.

"That's what I said," Principal Wilson answered. "They certainly didn't use the Floo Network, anti-Apparition wards were up the whole time, and by tradition, the principal of the Academy is the only one with the knowledge needed to make a Portkey that goes here."

"Inside help?" Hemmings said. Hermione glared at her. Given what Wilson just said, that would be taken... badly.

And it was. "Are you suggesting--"

"Catherine, throwing accusations around will get us nowhere," Hermione said.

Hemmings nodded. Hermione turned back to Wilson. "Could he have simply walked up?"
"There are Muggle repellent charms--"

"Hund is a wizard," Hermione interrupted.

"I know. But he's not authorized to be here, which means they'd work the same way on him as they would on a Muggle. He'd know what it is, but he wouldn't be able to do anything about it."

"Could he have inside help about that?" Hemmings piped in again.

By the look on Wilson's face, Hemmings touched on a painful point.

Hemmings noticed it. "What is it?" she demanded.

"Catherine!" Hermione said. She turned to the principal. "Mr. Wilson, the MLEA has been after Hund for years. He's--"

"If they have, why'd they send someone so young to this investigation?"

Wilson was definitely right about that. She was the youngest of the group, and her being in charge had to be explained. "That's just it. They've been after him for years, and they gave up. The attitude at the top is, 'oh, another Hund incident, it's hopeless, the investigation won't yield anything.' I intend to prove them wrong."

Wilson sighed. "All right. this isn't a pleasant topic... but... we've had a number of students--older ones especially--who took an active interest in the Dark Arts."

"I suspect any magical school has that problem," Hermione said. "Mine certainly did." And there's an understatement of the millennium, she thought.

"True," Wilson admitted. "But these kids were brazen about it. Everyone knew they liked the Dark Arts."

"So why didn't you do anything about them?"

"What could we do? Studying the Dark Arts isn't illegal--not part of the official curriculum, at least here, but we can't prohibit it. Mrs. Patrick tried to stamp it out of them--"

"Who's Mrs. Patrick?"

"Our Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher," Wilson replied. "She's the one who got killed."

"I'm sorry," Hermione said. The report they got did not give a name or job of the murdered teacher.

"Very few people who study the Dark Arts as teenagers continue with it, and even fewer become killers."

That was true. Hermione remembered how even Malfoy couldn't cast the fatal spell... but Malfoy had no problem with killing indirectly. "They didn't have to be killers. They just had to let a killer in. That's easier."

Wilson lost all color in his face by now. "Five members of the Eagle Club are missing."

"Eagle Club?" Stone asked.

"That's what they called their little Dark Arts study group. Aside from the magic, they all passed themselves off as big-time American patriots."

"So it could have been any--"

"No. We know for certain that they were in their dorms until the attack began."

"And you know that how?" Hemmings asked sarcastically. Hermione didn't stop her this time. It was a good question.

"Video surveillance--"

"You use Muggle--?" Hermione asked, surprised.

"We saved money with it. A good system, protected from magical interference, was a lot cheaper than paying for a set of new surveillance wards."

"Do you use any other Muggle technology?" Lydia spoke for the first time.

"Yes. We have another set of wards that keeps us from being detected by radar and other things like that. We use a computer system to control them--"

Another blend developed at Fifty-One, Hermione thought amusingly. But Lydia was on fire now. "Are these linked to the Muggle--or rather, unauthorized person-repelling charms?"

"Yes," Wilson admitted. "Why--"

"Is the computer that controls them connected to the Internet?" Lydia continued.

"No, of course not," Wilson replied. "There's no need--"

"But it can be," Lydia insisted.

"Well, yes. But you'd need physical access--"

"Inside help," Stone concluded. "The Eagle Club."

"Are you saying Hund hacked his way in?"

"There's only one way to find out," Lydia said. She took her laptop out. "Let me connect to your ward computer."

"And then?"

"And then--" she smiled, "--we find out which one of us is the better hacker."

"I wouldn't bet on Hund," Hermione said aside to Stone.

But Lydia heard it. "Why, thank you, Hermione. But we shouldn't waste time. Hund's trail is getting colder."

Reluctantly, Principal Wilson nodded.

"While Lydia's working," Hermione said, "I'd like to interview the remaining members of this Eagle Club."

Hemmings nodded to her. Sigh. I guess I'll have to take her along. she looked at Stone.

"I'd like to say here and help if Lydia uncovers something," he said.

Damn. Alone with Colonel Hemmings. At least she was the one officially in charge, and that put a few restrictions on Hemmings. Nor was she thrilled about the prospect of interviewing a bunch of little Draco Malfoys. But it had to be done, and the division of labor they arranged now was the most sensible.

"I'll call them in," Wilson said.

"One at a time, please," Hemmings told him. "We'll see how consistent their stories stay."

Wilson nodded and left the office. Hermione prepared for a long day's work. This was one of the few times she was glad that, after several years of living in the States, she could completely disguise her accent. If the Eagle Club was a bunch of jingoists like Wilson said, there was no need for them to know that that she was anything other than a red-blooded American.