Ivy looked at her longtime friend Cornelius Fudge, recently elected Minister of Magic to the Queen. Her friend looked tired and as if he had a lot on his mind. Ivy smiled slightly and knocked on the open door to the Ministers office. Cornelius looked up in surprise and smiled “Ivy! I was just about to head up to Hogwarts. What brings you by?” Ivy grinned “I came to London to visit the Queen and conduct some business. Zach is currently taking his girlfriend n a trip to various islands in the Caribbean.” Cornelius smiled slightly “Ivy, would you like to take a trip to Hogwarts? I seem to be in a rock in a hard place.”
Ivy looked concerned “What is the trouble? Maybe I can help out.” Cornelius grinned “Thank you, Ivy. You remember Hagrid, the Hogwarts groundskeeper, don’t you?” Ivy laughed slightly “I do. As a matter of fact, he helped me out a few years ago when the C5 dropped me in the forbidden forest during a mission. Hagrid thought I was a lost child. I guess, in a sense, I was. What does Hagrid have to do with the current issue that is stressing you?” Cornelius Fudge frowned “Ivy, I have been tasked with arresting Hagrid due to the release of a creature that is petrifying students at Hogwarts. The Wizengamot saddled me with this, unfortunately. They want something done, and fast.”
Ivy groaned slightly “Ok. Let’s grab Amelia so that if things go pear shaped, what is going to be done by a political order will at least look official. Hopefully, something will present itself to change things.” The duo left the Minister’s office in search of the head of Magical Law Enforcement. They literally ran into Amelia Bones who collided with the duo. Ivy picked her friends up and smiled “Amelia, we seem to have a problem. Perhaps you can help….”
The C5 car was currently in route to Hogwarts. The sounds of Maureen Evans’ singing “I Can’t Begin To Tell You” was coming from the radio. The only trouble? Ivy wasn’t driving. The C5 car was designed to take passengers directly to their destination as quickly as possible, for an instant world crossing portal, of course. Calculating how to get through heavy wards took all of a few seconds. It was rather amusing, Amelia thought, that a couple of Hogwarts lovebirds were almost ran over by an automobile containing the Minister of Magic to the Queen and the head of the DMLE. She was pretty sure that the boy and girl were breaking curfew. The clothes thrown about randomly confirmed it.
Ivy looked towards Hagrid’s hut. She jumped out of the car and ran towards a tall blond man and tackled him to the ground. Cornelius and Amelia ran up just in time to see Ivy snapping the man’s neck. Ivy growled “I always wondered what happened to Lucius Malfoy. He has been on my priority list for a while now. Something about financing terrorism.” Ivy got a glint on her eye and smirked “Cornelius, that order you have for Hagrid’s arrest is no longer valid, I’ll wager. It was signed by a now dead man, after all.” Cornelius smiled and happily tore the parchment to shreds. Amelia incinerated it. Ivy didn’t see this, as she had an ear to Hagrid’s door, she heard three voices inside: Hagrid, a boy, and a girl. Ivy looked at her friends, smirked, and knocked on the door. A minute later, the door was opened to reveal Hagrid and his dog, Fang. Ivy smiled “Hello, Hagrid, we were just in the neighborhood. Can we come in?” Hagrid smiled widely and motioned the three into the hut.
Ivy smiled “Hagrid, what do you know about a creature roaming around the school? From what Cornelius has told me, it has petrified some students, and could potentially do much worse.” As Ivy was talking, she walked over to where she thought she heard the voices, and quickly pulled off what appeared to be an invisibility cloak. Ivy regarded the two twelve year olds now standing in front of her. She smiled “Well, well, well. Cornelius, Amelia, this is the second set of lovebirds we’ve come across tonight.” Amelia was trying and failing to hold in her laughter. She was currently sitting in a chair holding her side from laughing so hard. Cornelius just smiled and shook his head. Hagrid looked surprised and was muttering that some professors owed him some money now. The boy and girl, Harry and Hermione, were blushing up a storm.
Ivy was grinning, and then looked around quickly, she told Cornelius and Amelia to stay in the hut with Harry, Hermione, and Hagrid. Ivy ran out of the hut like a silent shot. Roughly five minutes later, Ivy returned frogmarching a redheaded girl who looked to be a first year. Ivy was holding a smoking remnant that could have once been a book. She groaned slightly “Hagrid, do you know this girl? I found her skulking about with this book. The problem was there was a ghost coming out of it. I thought it best to burn the book. Alcohol and gasoline make an interesting lighter fluid.
It wasn’t Hagrid who answered, but Harry and Hermione. They said that the girl was one Ginny Weasley. Ivy looked at Ginny who was sitting in a chair and crying her eyes out, “Ginny, what were you doing with that book out her at night?” Ivy wrapped her coat arund Ginny’s shoulders as Ginny tearfully explained about the diary and someone called Tom Riddle and the deeds he made her do. Hagrid poured Ginny a large cup of tea, she looked as if she needed it. Ivy calmly slipped in a bit of her favourite Rum when no one was looking, except Amelia. Amelia raised an eyebrow, Ivy shook her head and motioned to the door.
Amelia looked at Ivy once the duo was outside “Ivy, about the Rum…” Ivy shook her head and smiled weakly “Don’t worry, there’s just enough to make her tired, I’ll take her to Balmoral in a few minutes. Ginny looks like she hasn’t had any sleep in a long while. That particular Rum is a favourite of people like me, that is to say assassins. Ginny will not develop a drinking problem. It’ll just put her in dreamland. Considering the fact that Ginny is still a child, her dreams should be rather pleasant tonight.” Ivy and Amelia walked back in to find a gently snoring Ginny with her head on the table. Ivy smiled and picked the girl up into her arms. Ivy looked at Cornelius and Amelia “Search my jacket pockets while I’m gone. I devised a few plans on the way here for several scenarios. Cornelius, take these two lovebirds to my home in Midsomer. I’ll see you both later. Hagrid, I thank you for your hospitality tonight.”
Ivy walked out to the C5 car wth her precious cargo and laid Ginny carefully in the back seat. Ivy got in the front and set course for Balmoral Castle. As the car disappeared in a circle of blue light, Amelia Bones was searching Ivy’s discarded jacket. She found several things. Among them were plans hastily handwritten to deal with several defcon situations. The last one chilled Amelia to the bone. That defcon plan detailed what to do in the event a basilisk was encountered. Cornelius found Ivy’s C5 corridor wrist control. He used it to take Harry and Hermione to Ivy’s Midsomer home. Amelia followed the trio through the portal after the group bid farewell to Hagrid. Amelia had earlier transfigured Lucius Malfoy’s corpse into a bright yellow stone for ease of transport. She’d have to leave a note for Ivy with the stone.
Tomorrow morning, Hogwarts was to be cleared of all students and teachers while the mother of all snake hunts took place. Amelia spied Ivy’s bar set and poured herself a glass of Scotch Whisky. She felt that come tomorrow, she would need it. HK-47, Ivy’s bodyguard, translator, and butler, walked in at this point. HK regarded Amelia almost curiously “Statement: the Mistress sends her regards and hopes that you can find some enjoyment out of her bar. It is fully stocked. Additional statement: I am to help your meatbag aurors on their mission of hunting for that basilisk tomorrow. Gleeful statement: Oh Joy! I can finally use my personal collection of munitions!” HK walked off to catalog his handheld weapon and explosives collection. Amelia groaned and drank another glass of Scotch Whisky. She almost felt sympathy for that basilisk in regard to what it would face tomorrow. That being Ivy’s casually homicidal assassin droid.
Unknown to Amelia, Ivy stood in the shadows and smiled. All would be well soon enough.