Twenty-Five
September 19th 2017:
“She did what?” Draco asked Mrs. and Mr. Granger as they recalled the events of the last few days.
“She made a deal with the blonde man, to protect us.”
“Definitely Granger’s daughter.” Theo mumbled.
“When did you even get here?” Draco turned around to ask him.
“I’ve been here. We were all at Hermione’s house together. Milli is in the restroom. I don’t know where Blaise or Pansy went.”
“Anyways,” Hermione drew the attention back to her parents. “What else did she tell you or what else did she do?”
“She took my watch.”
“That’s how she was able to send a signal to my computer and how we found you.”
“She also told me to not let anyone take it from me.”
“Oh!” Jean exclaimed. “How could we forget? She said there was, well I don’t know if it should say it aloud. Is there somewhere where the three of us could go?”
“Let’s go to my office.” Hermione looked at Harry worried. What wouldn't she tell everyone? What did Lyra do or say?
“Lyra told us that there is someone working for the man who kidnapped her that works with you.”
“The ministry has a mole?”
“Yes.” Noah pulled out his smart watch. “She said she wrote you a message.”
Hermione took the watch and looked through it. In the notes app, it read:
Mole, working for Lucius. No clue who.
I’m fine, he hasn’t hurt me.
“So we find the mole, we find Lyra.” Hermione said to herself. “I’ll be right back.” Hermione walked to the door and poked her head out into the hallway. “Draco, Harry, come here.” The two men followed her orders and walked into her office. “Read this.” She handed them the watch.
“There’s someone working for my father?” Draco asked and looked at Harry. “Which one of your bloody Aurors is working for my father?”
“Do you think if I knew, we’d be standing here?”
The fight that would have broken out was stopped by a knock on the door.
“Come in.” Katie Bell walked in and froze at the tension. “Sorry to interrupt. We’ve just gotten word from the French Minister. He’s called Malfoy’s team from vacation. They are on their way now.”
“Perfect timing.” Draco said and Harry gave him a questioning look. “My team doesn’t know your Aurors. They can investigate them under the guise of them being here to help us look for Lyra.”
“That’s actually a good idea.” Harry admitted. “When will they be here?”
“Soon. Minister said they were preparing their gear.” Katie answered him.
The sounds of the floo made Malfoy smile.
“They’re here.” He walked out of the office.
“Malfoy!” A loud voice yelled. Hermione and Harry followed Draco outside into the halls of the Ministry.
“Comment allez-vous? Comment avez-vous voyagé?” Draco greeted six men and women.
“Notre voyage de floo était en douceur. Nous sommes venus dès que nous avons eu le message que vous aviez besoin d’aide.” This was the same man who called Draco’s name upon arrival.
“Le ministre ne nous a pas dit pourquoi nous avons été envoyés ici. Quelle est la mission?” Another man spoke.
“C'est une longue histoire. Tout ce que vous devez savoir, c'est que la fille du ministre Granger est aussi ma fille et qu'elle a été kidnappée par mon père. Elle a disparu depuis le 1er septembre. Elle a été enlevée alors qu'elle se rendait à Hogwarts.” Hermione was in awe of how attractive Draco became when he spoke french. “Permettez-moi de vous présenter la ministre Hermione Granger.” Hermione snapped out of her daydream when Draco said her name. “Granger, this is my team.”
“It’s nice to meet you all. Thank you for coming to help us.”
“It is a pleasure to meet you as well, Minister Granger. Even in France we heard the stories of Hermione Granger helping defeat Voldemort. You are an inspiration to women and to muggle-borns everywhere.” One of the female Aurors spoke up.
“Thank you for your kind words but all I did was help. Harry is the one who did the heavy lifting.” She motioned to Harry. “Please meet Harry Potter. He is the lead Auror on this.”
“Thank you all for coming.”
“Why don’t we go into one of the conference rooms to discuss what we need from you.” Hermione suggested.
“Suivre le ministre autoritaire” Draco said to his Aurors and they all laughed.
“What did you say?”
“Nothing.” Hermione glared but led the group into a conference room.
“I am going to find Ron and update him.” Harry excused himself.
Hermione silenced the room and motioned for Draco to tell his team their duties.
“Granger, you know they all speak English. You tell them.”
“You should do it. They know you.”
“You just want to hear me speak French, don’t you?” Hermione began to glare again. “I know. I’m bloody attractive when I speak French.”
“Malfoy aime le ministre.”
“Elle rougit, elle l’aime aussi.” Two of the French Aurors were whispering together.
“Je vous entends tous les deux.” Draco said to his Aurors. “Vous avez tous été appelés à l’origine pour nous aider à trouver Lyra et mon père. Cependant, votre mission a changé depuis. Il y a quelqu’un dans ce ministère qui travaille aussi pour mon père. Nous devons trouver qui c’est. Ils donnent des informations à mon père et nous empêchent de trouver Lyra. Nous trouvons la taupe, nous trouvons mon père et ma fille. Vous devez fournir une vue impartiale de cette affaire en prétendant aider, mais vous enquêtez sur les autres Aurors.”
“Comment savez-vous qu’il y a une taupe dans le ministère?”
“Lyra a trouvé un moyen de nous envoyer un message. Elle nous dit qu’il y en a un. Elle a dû l’entendre de mon père.”
“On va commencer par faire une liste de tous les Aurors sur cette affaire. Nous allons clarifier cela en le comparant à une liste Aurors qui ont été envoyés à chaque mission.”
“Je vais vous obtenir ces listes. Y a-t-il des questions?”
“Que se passe-t-il entre vous et le ministre?”
“Pourquoi on ne savait pas que tu avais une fille?”
“Vous sortez avec le ministre?”
“Cela ne vous regarde pas. Je l’ai appris il y a quelques semaines. Je ne sais pas. Mettez-vous au travail maintenant.” Draco turned to Hermione. “They need a list of all Aurors in the department and a list of Aurors from each mission. They are going to cross reference each list to see which Auror is on every list.”
“I can get those for you all. You can also use this room as your office.”
“Thank you Minister”
“No, thank all of you. I know you were supposed to be on Vacation. It’s an honor to have you all working here with us.” Hermione smiled at the Aurors. “I will go get those lists for you.”