A matter of Ministry security
December 28th, 2018
Minster’s outer office, London
Al Croaker never really took time off, he had no family to speak of and the Ministry’s most complex department to manage. It would be a waste of time and resources for the Unspeakable to not be working…or at least that’s how he had justified it to himself. So he’d been in the office when he was summoned to the Minister’s office at this exact moment in time; there was no hint on the parchment as to the reason for his summons but he had been around long enough to know that ignoring this particular minister was a way to find himself announcing his retirement.
And that wouldn’t do, no not with the projects his Unspeakables were working. Particularly that Smith bloke, he has some wild ideas and had nearly destroyed the fabric of time twice with his experiments. No, no it’s best to answer the Minister’s summons so that Croaker can stay in his job and keep an eye on him.
But why she had to call him out of his meeting with the department heads is something that had (and still did) irritate the head of the Department of Mysteries. And this particular Minister for Magic was not someone he was a fan of anyway. Afterall, she and her friends had broken into his department and ruined hundreds of manhours of experiments and research on some half-cocked rescue mission that wasn’t needed until they got trapped. The ancient wizard shook his head and tried to get out of that line of thought as he knew that it wouldn’t do him any good to get angry about something that had happened 22 years ago before he went to meet with Minister Granger.
He started to fidget with the hem on his lilac Unspeakable’s robes, the three silver stripes on the sleave indicated his rank as the head of the department. The middle stripe had started to fray around the edges which had begun to annoy Croa-
“Unspeakable Croaker, the Minister will see you now.” An abnormally thin and tall wizard in pale green robes walked out from the Minister’s office. Croaker had seen them around the building but hadn’t gotten to meet the new Chief Assistant to the Minister of Magic officially yet. And that’s honestly how he liked it, names just got in the way anyway. With a quick nod of his head, he stiffly stood up and walked towards the Minister’s office. Once he reached the door, he went to put his hand on the handle but he was surprised when it opened before he could touch it.
“Come join us Croaker.” That was not the voice of the Minister, that was the voice of the head of the DMLE. As Croaker took stock of the situation, he quickly realized that Mr. Potter and Mr. Ronald Weasley were the only ones in the office at the moment, which was not a fact calculated to make the irritable head of the DoM happy. Before he could object to the fact that the Minister wasn’t there, her private wash room opened and it was the first time that he’d gotten a good look at her in weeks. There had been rumors in the building that she’d been sick on and off for close to a month now…that she was using a series of glamor charms to hide her deteriorating health. But now that he actually got a chance to look at her he could only come to one, logical, conclusion.
“Congratulations Minister Granger, Mr. Weasley. I trust you are both excited?”
“As excited as we can be Unspeakable Croaker. Please, take a seat,” Hermione gestured to the seat opposite her and her husband, the one that was next to Harry. “We have a situation involving time travel that needs your department’s discretion and…experienced hand-“ Oh Smith is going to fucking love this “-so I’m going to give you the authorization to set up an emergency team. You’ll have all the support we can muster from trusted sources in this office and the DMLE to support you guys to the best of our ability.”
“And the rules of engagement?”
“Will be situation dependent.” This came from Potter. “The DoM can’t be running off on it’s own and altering memories at will. I thin you’ll agree that the wizarding population still has issues trusting your department after it’s Civil War during Thicknesse’s administration.” At this a stiff nod was all Croaker could muster. That nine months stretch that Voldemort’s lackies had overseen the Ministry had been among his darkest days. Thicknesse had attempted to install his own head of the DoM but he didn’t follow procedure and the actual room assigned to the department refused to acknowledge him; along with nearly 2/3rds of the staff. Every day at work had been a battlefield, while Croaker was unable to leave at all during that time lest his hold on the DoM’s magic weaken.
“As much as I want to disagree,” Croaker’s was weak with exhaustion, “you’re correct Potter. What’s the size of this team and what is the situation we’re walking into.”
“My godson,” the Minister began, “got into my home office because I had failed to secure the door. I had also failed to secure the cabinet that my time turner from third year had been held in.”
“That time turner was DoM property!” Croaker roared, “We told you and McGonagall that we never got it back yet you both insisted you’d turned-“ Hermione raised her hand to stop the rant, they didn’t have time for Croaker to go on a (completely justified) rant about misappropriated DoM property…property that had since been destroyed.
“You’ll have to take it up with Albus Dumbledore once you move onto the next great adventure, Croaker.” She locked eyes with her enraged department head, “He’d intercepted Minerva’s owl and hid the time turner in his office. Because he was fucking Dumbledore, the magic held until about the December 24th. I got a summons to Hogwarts from Headmistress Vector because she’d found it when she was getting setup in the office after her Minerva’s retirement.” At this, Croaker ran his hands over his bald head in exasperation. “I was going to bring it into the office and give it to you on the 26th, but I was too sick in the morning to work. Which is why I was available to babysit my nephews and nieces.”
“While you were babysitting,” Croaker sighed, “I take it that Potter’s children got a hold of this time turner and are now lost, potentially, anywhere in time?”
“Well,” began Ron, “Not anywhere in time…there actually at Hogwarts on December 28th, 1980. We got a message to them, and a response, yesterday. From what my sister said it appears they’re days are moving at the same pace ours is.”
“Your sister? Mrs. Potter is missing as well?” At this, Croaker took a closer look at the head of the DMLE and could see the utter fear and exhaustion on his face. This was the kind of situation they would normally not trust anyone else with, but the Minister’s pregnancy plus Potter’s worry and exhaustion meant they needed help.
“Yes, and we’re still unclear on exactly how my wife was also taken to the same time frame.” Harry took a deep breath, “She was the first person that Hermione was able to get a hold of. The last time the Minister saw her was when she went outside in a fit of anger.”
“It’s likely the time sands were still active,” Croaker sat back as his mind began to work around the problem. “and she stumbled upon some when she was outside. The fact that Mrs. Potter ended up in the same time in place as the kids is intriguing.”
“She’s not the only one that’s their Unspeakable Croaker,” Hermione softly set down her water glass. “Before we go any further, I want to be clear that you are to invoke the Unspeakable’s oath of silence and secrecy on this. With what you’re about to learn, and you’ll have to tell your team, is a matter of Ministry security.”
That catches Croaker’s attention. The Unspeakables hadn’t agreed to invoke that in centuries. While they weren’t allowed to talk about their work outside of the office, they generally were allowed to reach out to other teams in the department because of the way the projects often ended up researching similar things. Unless, the oath of silence and secrecy had been invoked and agreed to by the majority of the team working the project; it meant that those working on projects designated “a matter of ministry security” weren’t allowed to talk to anyone about it outside of said working group.
“As you know Minister Granger, the oath has to be approved by a majority of the working group for it to go into effect.”
A stiff nod from the Minister was the initial response, “I’m aware. But you cannot tell them what’s happening unless they agree to the oath.” After a moment of consideration, Croaker nodded. “There are a 12- and 17 year old versions of Ron and Harry with them, along with a 17 year old version of myself.”
Oh Smith is really going to fucking love this one.