The new face of evil - 8 years out

"I'll tell you at the end," Ginny said and started describing the entire weekend. She was good enough friends with Parvati, Lavender, and Hermione to tell them everything and Tina seemed nice enough so Ginny didn't mind her hearing. The girls made Ginny repeat many things. "You really went to Monaco and he wouldn't let you take any clothes?" "He bought you all new stuff?" "A yacht, a real yacht all to yourself?" "No, he kissed you like that in the girl's bathroom?" "No way...on the deck...out in the open?" "You were just standing there and he did that!" "Up against the wall?" "And then you slept out there? That's so romantic." "The shower! Like that!"

"Are you sure you didn't make this up Ginny? No offense, but that's better than those romance novels," Lavender asked not fully believing the stories.

"I swear it's all true, and I'm probably leaving parts out, they just keep coming back to me even now," Ginny said still bright red.

"I can't believe you were like that and went along with it," Lavender said.

Suddenly they heard "I can believe he would do those things." They turned and now it was Hermione turning red.

"You can't believe who would do it; she hasn't even said who it was?" Lavender asked and then turned looking confused to Ginny. "So, who was it Ginny?"

Ginny smiled, still blushing, took a deep breath and said, "Harry." Lavender and Tina gasped and turned to Hermione.

"Oh..." Lavender said and then added, "So, I guess Cho wasn't exaggerating?"

"Not at all," Ginny said with a sigh.

The girls talked a bit more and then they heard the kids yelling from outside and Parvati said. "Your date must be here Ginny." Ginny made them all promise not to tell the boys who her date was with and they went out side to find Harry on the ground, being attacked by the kids.

"Get off me, get off me," Harry fake yelled at the kids. "Ok, I give up." Harry stood up when he saw the girls come out. He hugged Parvati and Lavender and then even gave Hermione a quick hug. "Good to see you again."

Hermione tried to put on her best face. "You too Harry."

Ginny came up next and they had to fight to make it a quick hug before Ginny introduced the unfamiliar guest. "This is George's friend Tina."

Harry shook her hand and said, "Nice to meet you Tina."

"You too. Ginny's told us all about you," Tina said and went to George's side. This comment caused Harry to blush and he looked at Ginny trying to guess how much she had told.

George spoke up, "Hey, saw you both in the Prophet the other day. You better hope Steffi doesn't see that, you two looked pretty chummy."

"Steffi and I broke up a couple weeks ago," Harry said.

Parvati got an evil look and quickly said, "Isn't that interesting, Harry's not dating Steffi. So, guys, do you know where you little sister was this weekend?" She hesitated and then added, "Monaco on some yacht."

Her brothers looked at her in amazement but Ron had an icy look. "Who would want to take you to Monaco?" Fred asked.

"What potion did you give the git?" George added with a laugh.

Lavender then asked, "Harry, what did you do this weekend?" She also had an evil grin on her face.

Harry kind of stuttered and said, "Um...went on a date."

"Really? Where did you take the lucky girl?" Parvati added.

"UmmonacoIthink," he said quickly

"Speak up boy," Fred teased.

"Monaco," Harry stated firmly.

"Really? You were both on dates in Monaco. Now what are the odds of that?" George asked seriously. The girls were just looking at the twins in amazement. How could they be so dense?

"How was your date Harry?" Parvati asked.

"Oh, it was great. By far the best ever," Harry answered honestly.

"So who did you take?" Lavender asked, getting to the point.

"Was it the swimsuit model? She's such a bird," Fred threw in.

"It wasn't the swimsuit model. I'm not sure my date wants anyone to know, she may be trying to keep it a secret," Harry said with a slight smile.

He then heard, "Secret? I'll show you secret." And then suddenly felt Ginny falling onto his lap, giving him a big kiss right in front of her brothers. Harry kept his arms out to his side so the Weasley boys wouldn't think he was instigating this. After she finally pulled away, leaving a winded and thoroughly worried Harry, he saw the look of total confusion on the twin's faces, but could tell Ron wasn't happy.

Suddenly the twins made the connection and they both yelled, "Mum!"

Almost instantly, Mrs. Weasley came running out. "Yes dears?"

"Ginny's dating Harry and now she's sitting on his lap," Fred said hoping to see a row.

Mrs. Weasley just smiled and said, "Well of course she is dear. She went away with him this weekend. Honestly you two." Then she turned and went inside.

The twins turned with open mouths and looked at Ginny. "You told her?" George asked.

"Of course we did. Ron and Parvati knew as well," Ginny stated standing back up, much to Harry's relief.

"I didn't know about this weekend," Ron said angrily.

"You told us not to tell you when we started doing things," Ginny said calmly and Harry's eyes got huge.

Ron still looked mad but Fred said, "Come on Ron, he's a sight better than the other gits she goes around with."

"Got to wonder about him though," George added. "I mean, did you see the swimsuit model that's been after him?"

Ron got up and walked toward the lake and Harry saw Hermione go after him.

Lavender came and hugged Ginny. "I'm happy for you Ginny." She then looked at Harry. "And, if you hurt her, I'm on the list after her brothers to kick your arse."

"Man, everybody I know is on that list. If I screw up, I'm going to have to live a Muggle life," Harry said.

Hermione had just caught up to Ron. "Does this really bother you?" Hermione asked once she got next to him.

"When they told me they had gone out on a Muggle-date, it didn't really, but this is just a big jump. Harry normally goes much slower with girls. Why are things going so fast with Ginny?"

"Maybe because they've been so close for so long. I mean they know almost everything about each other. Ginny said something inside about thinking Harry had been trying to take things too slow."

Ron sighed. "That's what I was afraid of. I mean, she's been crazy about him forever. What if something happens, she'll be really hurt," Ron said, clearly worried about his little sister.

"Do you really think Harry would intentionally hurt her?"

"No, not really. I mean, he's like my brother, and she's my sister, so having them together is a bit weird, but I'm happy for them both. I saw how he was after you left and it wasn't pretty. If something like that happens between them, it'll be worse since I always see them both. He'll stop coming around and she won't be the same. I'll lose them both."

"I don't see that happening. I think they've already talked about making sure they talk about any issues quickly. Harry also admitted that he wished he had handled things differently with me before so I think he'd be better and I don't see Ginny doing things the way I did either. She'd go to Harry, hex him and make him talk instead of just staying away like I did."

Ron smiled. "You know, you're probably right." He looked at her for a minute and said, "It's good having you around more. Are you ok with them?"

"Of course I'm right," Hermione said putting her arm around Ron and starting to walk back. "I like being around and will try to do it more often, and yes, I'm ok with them. I really want to get things better with Harry. I think things with Ginny are great now."

When they got back, the food was just getting to the table and Hermione sat down next to Ginny and they had a wonderful and enjoyable meal. After the meal Mr. & Mrs. Weasley went inside and left their children out to talk. The kids had worn themselves out and were asleep in on the couch. Hermione spoke up, "Taking any more trips for work Harry?" The other Weasley's looked like they couldn't believe she was asking about his job since they never did.

Harry didn't seem bothered. "I'll be around for a couple weeks and then on a business trip for a bit."

Ginny then asked, "How long will you be gone?"

"Could be two or three weeks. Then I should be able to take a break," he said turning to Ginny for this last bit.

"Three weeks. I'll miss you," Ginny said kissing him on the cheek.

"I'll be back as soon as I can, then I'm here for a long while I hope," he stated and then added, "Now, who's having the next party?"

The group allowed the subject change and began talking about which of them would throw the next party so they had an excuse to get together again. Everyone began going home and only Harry, Ginny and Hermione were left sitting at the outside table.

"I'm happy for you two," Hermione said, trying to sound confident.

"Thanks Hermione. That really means a lot," Harry said. "Out little talk made me see what an idiot I've been so I'm trying to set things right. I owe you one."

"Me too," added Ginny.

"However it happened, I'm happy for you. I should be heading home, I've got an early day tomorrow," Hermione said, sounding a bit sad.

"Any thought to chucking the whole corporate executive thing and finding something a bit simpler around here?" Harry asked.

"Thoughts, that's it. It is nice being around everyone again. Especially when we can say more than two words to each other."

"I agree. Don't either of you let me act like that again. One of you come and hex me or something. I can be such an arse."

"Yes you can but it took two of us to make things so bad. At least we both want that part behind us," Hermione said.

"So, you were both arses. Now we just need to make up for lost time," Ginny added. "I do hope you can come back more Hermione."

Hermione went home and then Ginny took Harry back to her place. "You two are making real progress," Ginny said. "Nothing for me to worry about is there?"

Harry grabbed her and pulled her tightly to him. "Nothing at all to worry about, I promise you. I'll make sure to do everything I can to make sure you believe that every day."

"You know, I do believe it. So, are you ready for bed?" Ginny asked with a sly look.

"I can't stay so often. That's not taking things slow."

"Neither was shagging me out in the open on that yacht, but I thought it was pretty amazing," she replied smiling. "I don't want to take things slow. I want to do what feels right without thinking about it."

"I'll make you a deal. We can forget trying to go slow as long as you promise to tell me if you think things are moving to fast, and promise to not get mad if I ever think they are."

"Deal," Ginny said quickly. "Now, let's go to bed."

The two went straight to her bedroom, undressed and climbed into bed. Harry tried to just snuggle up behind her and go to sleep, but she kept pressing her rear back into him and making it very hard to try and sleep. Things quickly progressed into a very active, very vocal lovemaking session that lasted a couple hours before they fell asleep in each other's arms.

Harry had already woken up, fixed breakfast and was bringing a tray into the bedroom and found Ginny already awake. "I thought you might have left me," she said.

"Never without saying goodbye," he quickly said. "I just thought you'd like a bit of breakfast in bed before a hard day at the office."

"Um...Now I could get used to this," she moaned.

"Well after the performance you gave last night, it's the least I could do," he said leaning down to kiss her.

"I don't know what you've done to me Harry Potter," Ginny replied after the kiss.

Harry stayed until Ginny left for work and then he went home, got cleaned up and met Sirius at the office to continue planning the next mission. Things were tense around Marauders Inc. They knew the next mission was a very important one that could make a big difference in the current rise in trade of a new potion. This potion took two forms, one that gave a very pleasant, very addictive high and was mainly sold as a drug to Muggles. The other form was in some ways worse. It could produce dementor-like paranoia and fear. If the potion was ingested, these fears sometimes lead to total mental breakdown. If the potion was converted into a powder form it produced less severe reactions, but was still enough to be useful to terrorists. The potion had just been discovered about six months ago and Marauders Inc had recently tracked down the source. They knew there was a limited supply and at first had just planned on stopping the distribution and getting the supply off the market. However, sources had been hinting that someone was going to try and steal the original formula.

It had been an accident that the potion was even around. The company was originally working on a potion to actually benefit those with mental disorders, including many of the people dark wizards had tortured in the past. This specific attempt had been deemed a failure and all samples were supposed to have been destroyed. Marauders now knew which company and even which department had originally made the potion and had learned that the original formula. The information was that someone wanted the original formula now that it had been determined the potion was so valuable to criminals.

Marauders had come up with a plan and were putting everything in place to start the end of the following week. Now, all that was left to do was to monitor the contacts to make sure nothing had changed and to wait. The waiting was harder than normal due to someone involved in the company.

Hermione groaned as she got out of bed. The past couple weeks had been very busy and stressful. A small team was being pushed hard to find the potion to help those who had lost their memory or who had been tortured too much and were now no more than vegetables. The team felt like they were close and the president of the company, Dr. Stonham had been insistent they find the final missing piece as soon as possible. The team was made up of the top five researchers in the company, Hermione included and two assistants who didn't know much about potions and research, but had the security clearance to do whatever was necessary to make the researchers more efficient. One of the assistants; Kevin was a relative of a VP in the company and annoyed Hermione to no end. He was efficient, but he always made comments and just didn't seem very professional. She had almost requested that he be taken off of their team, but he was a good worker. She just got irritated thinking about how Kevin questioned things she said and he would always ask, "Are you sure?" Whenever she asked for things. He also refused to call her Dr. Granger, and insisted on calling her by her first name. Normally this didn't bother Hermione, but since Kevin flatly refused to call her Dr. Granger, it rubbed her the wrong way. Hermione could feel her blood pressure rising just thinking about it, and the thought of another long day with the boy didn't make things better.

In the shower, Hermione let her mind wander to things Harry had said about finding a less stressful job closer to her friends. With weeks like this one, she was sorely tempted to do just that. The team finally left the office at about 1:00am and agreed to re-assemble at 9:00 for another long day.

This day had seemed even worse than yesterday. Around 10:00 in the evening, the team had just finished sharing a bite to eat and all were looking very tired; all except for Kevin. This was another thing about him that annoyed Hermione. He never seemed to tire out and having him seem so attentive really irritated her. The team was in an isolated part of the building that was very secure. Other than some security guards, all the other employees had left long ago. The silence of the research room was interrupted by the appearance of Dr. Stonham.

"Are you getting any closer?" he asked in a cold voice.

The entire team kind of jumped but Hermione spoke up, "It doesn't seem so sir. We can't seem to find the missing ingredient. What brings you down here this late?"

The man had a strange look in his eyes. "A bit of bad news actually. Dr. Granger, can you help me open the vault?"

Hermione looked shocked. "I'm sorry sir, that's against our procedures. After hours, we need two more executives as witnesses."

"I'm aware of the procedures, but this is an exception," the man said with what seemed to be a smile.

The other researchers were looking at each other confused but Hermione said, "I'm sorry sir, I can't do that. If it's an emergency, we could call the others in."

"Very well. Could you all please come with me for a moment?" Dr. Stonham said calmly.

With quick glances to each other, the team followed the older man into a large room that contained the door to the vault. "Are you sure we can't make an exception Dr. Granger?" the man asked again, sounding very cold.

"I'm sure sir, we need to follow procedures. I can ask the others to come immediately if you'd like," Hermione responded still sounding confused.

"Oh, that won't be necessary. I had hoped to do things the easy way," Dr Stonham said and just then, the doors to their area burst open and ten hooded wizards came at them wands ready.

"Don't anyone even flinch. Slowly set your wands on the table," one of the wizards yelled. With glances to each other, the team laid their wands on the table.

"How did they get in here? This is the most secure area of the building," one of the male researchers asked.

"They must have followed me in," the old man said but didn't seem too concerned about the wizards. "Now Dr. Granger, we have one more chance to do this the easy way. Will you assist me in opening the vault?"

"No sir, something isn't right," Hermione said becoming afraid.

The lead hooded wizard yelled, "On the contrary, everything is going exactly as we hoped. Bring her over here." Two of the other wizards roughly pulled Hermione near the vault and brought her wand with them. "Now Dr. open the vault with Dr. Stonham or we start convincing your associates that you don't care about them," the lead wizard said with a hint of enjoyment in his voice.

"I'm not going to help open the vault," Hermione said.

"As expected," the lead wizard said and pointed his wand at another of the female researchers. As soon as the word 'Crucio' came out of his mouth, Kevin threw himself in front of the woman and took the curse straight to the chest screaming in pain.

Hermione looked at Kevin and then to the man casting the spell. He was holding it so long. "Stop!" Hermione screamed and the man stopped casting the spell.

"He must have a thing for the lady to take the pain for her. So, you'll open the vault?"

"You'll kill him," Hermione said still concerned for the assistant.

"Not kill him. You know what happens to people who are under the curse too long. If only you had finished the cure, it wouldn't matter. Open the vault now!" the man screamed and when Hermione didn't instantly move, he called out, 'Crucio' again. Kevin had just been helped up and stayed in front of the female researcher and took the full force of the spell again. He screamed and finally fell to the floor. The screams seemed to go on for so long. Hermione had tried to run to him but was held back.

"Ok! I'll do it!" Hermione finally yelled. The spell was stopped and Kevin lay on the floor, still twitching. Hermione didn't know if it was too late for him or not.

The lead wizard was handing Hermione her wand when he said, "Even the slightest movement from you and next time, he dies, along with the others." Hermione knew the man was serious and took her wand and went next to the vault.

Hermione and Dr. Stonham tapped the specific location on the vault and said a small spell and the door vanished. The wizard took her wand and threw her over near the other employees where she immediately knelt down by Kevin.

Dr. Stonham walked next to her and said, "You could have spared him you know." There was a smile on the man's face.

"You set this up," Hermione said.

"Very good. I got tired of waiting on all of you to make me rich. It seems one of your failures has become very much in demand. The supply we already shipped has almost run out and that only increased the value of the formula."

"What are you talking about?" Hermione asked.

"The thousands of liters of your earlier mistake that Stalantic disposed of for us. It has become one of the most sought-after drugs ever. That formula will make me a very, very rich man."

"You're going to sell it to terrorists? You'll never get away with this," Hermione yelled.

"Oh, won't I? Let's see. International terrorists breach our security and force you and me to open the vault by killing all the other researchers and when you try to escape, tragically you die as well. I end up wounded and unconscious when the authorities finally arrive to find the vault open and everything gone. It will look like a normal robbery and no one will have a clue the formula is gone." Dr. Stonham actually chuckled.

"You're going to kill all of us then?" Hermione asked still not believing this was happening.

"I'm not of course, but he is," Dr. Stonham turned to the lead wizard.

"That's part of my bonus for this job. My employer counted on you not being cooperative. It seems he is not a fan of yours. His exact words were 'Kill the filthy mudblood.'" All of the wizards laughed and Hermione got a very cold feeling in the pit of her stomach.