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Rescue	By : sarcastrow Category: Harry Potter > General > General Views: 2630 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, and I do not make any money from these writings

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Rescue

Chapter 1

Investigation

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            Two figures sat on a hill overlooking the little French village of Charix. The moonlight played in the hair of one, a blond woman with bright green eyes. Her companion, a man with greying, short, sandy hair, drew his wand from his robes and summoned a pair of cups from their travel bag. The thermos followed closely behind. He smiled at his companion as he poured them each a cup of tea.

            “We’ve been watching them for better than three days now, would you be thinking you’re ready?” he asked.

            “Yes, tomorrow night should be good. How about you, Shay?” the woman asked. “It’s not going to be pretty. I know you don’t like to go looking for a fight, but these people…”

            “Not a problem, Lav me love. I’m not inclined to be nice, not with what they do for a living,” Seamus said grimly.

            “Alright,” Lavender said, “let’s get back to Nantua and the hotel. I’ll make the contact and set up the meeting.”

            They stared at the old mansion and finished their tea. Seamus banished the cups and thermos back to their bag. They stood, twisted on the spot, and were gone.

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*

One month earlier

The environmental control at The Ministry of Magic was acting up badly, and it was snowing in the entry hall. Ron was late. It was a frequent occurrence as he had never outgrown his tendency to sleep in as long as possible before bounding out of bed, dressing at top speed, and rushing to whatever his first appointment for the day was. This particular day his first appointment was with his best friend, and his wife. She had just returned from a three week undercover assignment for her division of the department of Magical Law Enforcement, and he was eager to see her. Cursing himself for his tardiness he ran pell-mell the length of the hall. As he approached the wand check desk and tried to stop, his feet came out from under him. He slid the last twenty feet on his back finally slamming into the desk in a heap.

“Good morning, Mr. Weasley. Glad you could join us today,” the clerk said snidely. “Wand please.” He held out his hand.

Ron shook the snow from his Auror robes as he stood. “How many times a day do people tell you to stuff it, David?” he asked him.

“You’ll be the first today, sir,” David said as Ron handed him his wand.

David did the scan and handed Ron his wand back. “It’s you,” he said flatly.

“Thanks for the news flash, David,” Ron said, and he stowed his wand. “Quidditch practice tomorrow then?” he asked.

“Oh definitely,” David replied. “The new seeker from the Department of Mysteries is supposed to be outstanding. You’ll be there?”

“Oh yeah, I‘m taking the day off, but I wouldn’t miss practice for anything,” Ron said proudly.

“I’m sure Mrs. Weasley appreciates your dedication,” David said with a smirk.

Ron patted him on the shoulder as he passed, heading for the lifts. “Stuff it, Dave,” he said.

David smiled broadly. “And a bright and cheerful morning to you too sir,” he proclaimed in a grand, loud voice.

The lift clattered to a stop on his floor and he dashed down the hall to Harry’s office. The new lettering on the door always made him proud.

Harry Potter

Secretary to the Minister

Auror Division

“They are the scum of the earth, Harry,” Hermione said, shaking her head. “These people, it’s inhuman, they kidnap and sell children.”

The door to Harry’s office opened and Ron walked in. “Who buys kids?” he asked, “And what the hell for?”

Hermione looked at him and shook her head. She loved this man more than humanly possible, and he was smarter than most people knew, but sometimes he could be a bit thick. “I’ll get there, love.” She stood and kissed him, and he kissed her back with fervour. The welcome back kiss was about to rapidly dissolve into a full on snog when Harry cleared his throat.

Hermione, quite red in the face, pulled back and smiled. “Uhmm, yes, right, as I was just telling Harry. You know that elf and pixie underground slavery ring that I’m working on?” she asked them both. They nodded. “Okay, well I was arranging a buy with my contact, and he mentioned that if I was looking for something a bit more ‘lively’ than an elf he could put me in contact with some people who could ‘satisfy my needs’.” She looked disgusted as she and Ron sat in the chairs facing Harry’s desk. “After he clarified what that meant I told him that I wasn’t interested, but that I may have a client that would be.” She shook her head. “I just didn’t think I could pull off that… I don’t know, soullessness.”

Ron looked at his wife. “I don’t think you could either, love. I still don’t get who would buy a kid. I mean ours are great, but George and Angie would probably sell Fred in a heartbeat,” he chuckled.

Hermione turned to him. “Don’t even say that as a joke, Ron. You don’t know what they do with them.”

“What, do they make them work in a factory or something,” he asked.

Hermione leaned to him and whispered in his ear for almost a full minute. The longer she talked, the stonier Ron’s face became. At the end his was positively seething. “I’ll go,” he said through clenched teeth.

Harry smirked. Ron was a great Auror, but Harry knew his best friend’s limitations. “You’d never pull it off, Ron. They’d spot you as an agent fairly quickly, you know that. It wouldn’t be ten minutes in and you’d come unglued on them. No, we need someone that can be covert, someone that can work from the inside, alone, someone they won’t recognize.” His voice became harsh. “Someone lethal.”

They looked at each other and knew they were all thinking of the same person. Harry spoke first. “Lavender,” he said. “Get as much information as you can, Hermione, and I’ll brief Lavender and Seamus.”

“They do what!!!” spat Lavender in a cold fury. She leapt to her feet and began pacing in Harry’s office. “I will rip them apart, I’ll play cricket with their fucking heads.” She grabbed the edge of Harry’s desk, and her voice became a deep growl. “And after I rip off their heads I’ll ... I’ll…” Eight parallel grooves appeared in the desk behind Lavenders hands as she clenched her fist.

Harry smirked. “Calm down, Lavender,” he said. “I don’t have a problem with you doing any or all of that, but first we have to get inside and rescue the children they’ve already got.”

Seamus leaned forward. “So you say Hermione’s setting up a meeting with her contact then?”

“Yeah,” Harry replied. “I think Lavender should do all of the in person contact on this operation. I want you on this case, Seamus, but as her back up and surveillance. Lavender will do all the close work.” He turned to her. “It’ll be hard, Lavender. I know how you are about kids, it’s why we love you as our kids security, but these guys… we have to take them down.”

“Alright, Harry,” she said, and her expression became hard. “But if I go on this, I go all the way, free rein, no second guessing.”

Harry nodded and a grim smile played on his face. “As I said, I don’t have a problem with that, Lavender. In fact, I’m counting on it.”

Lavender grinned. “So, time to dust off Selene, eh?” she asked him.

Harry smiled broadly. “Yes, I think this is a perfect job for Miss Wolfe.”

The little bistro sat on a corner near the Sloane Square tube station. Hermione had developed a taste for French cuisine during her youth when her parents had taken her to France on holiday. She had to admit that, outside of the restaurants they had frequented in Nice, and the occasional meal Fleur made at family get-togethers, the duck and leek dish she was enjoying was the best she’d had. Her contact, a small thin man with a few remaining wisps of hair left to him, was twitching nervously and looking around the restaurant with frightened eyes.

Bet your patronus is a ferret, you little shit, Hermione thought. She took up her wine glass and smiled at her contact. “My friend will be with us shortly. Calm down, Alfred.”

“I’m just new at this kind of thing,” he said. “I mean trading in elves, pixies, dragon eggs, and centaur foals is one thing, but this is a whole new area for me. The stakes are quite a bit higher, Elise. Hopefully the profit margin will make up for the increased risk,” he said, grinning and rubbing his hands together in the universal sign of greed.

“Oh, you’ll definitely be compensated for this, Alfred. Selene is… thorough in dealing with this type of thing,” Hermione said with a small laugh. You get to live, Alfred. Count yourself lucky, she thought.

He brightened. “Good. You know, if this works out I may have a whole new sideline. Can’t say I much fancy dealing in, you know,” — he looked around suspiciously and lowered his voice to a whisper — “kids, but if the money’s good?” He smiled, and jiggled in his seat.

Hermione shook her head. “As I said, you’ll be fully compensated for your actions, of that you can be sure.” Because I am personally going to kick your arse for you. “So they’re in France you said. How do they arrange transport?”

Alfred looked around, hunkered over the table, and moved closer to her. Hermione didn’t pump him for information, she’d learned over the course of a few covert investigations that little questions in the middle of otherwise banal conversations got the job done. Talk about the finances for your particular deal, the methods of doing the exchange, all the little minutiae of an underground sale, and then slip in an off-hand question about what you really wanted too know.

“The man who runs the whole operation is a wizard, former buddy of Grindelwald. He gets them where they need to be delivered, no problem,” Alfred said.

Hermione nodded. She had been working on disguises for years, and she thought the one she had worked up for this assignment was particularly good. Her hair, or rather Ginny’s hair, slid in front of a young Narcissa’s face, and she brushed it back. I’ll have to show this little glamour to both of them, she thought. “He doesn’t fancy himself the new Dark Lord, I hope. We’ve had enough of that foolishness.”

“Oh no, he’s just interested in wealth,” Alfred said. “It takes a bit of scratch to run his operation but he’s very rich from it. I just hope my piece is substantial.”

“I’m sure you’ll get everything that’s coming to you.” You arsehole. “Ah, Selene’s here.” Hermione looked to the door and Alfred followed her gaze.

He let out an audible gasp. “You didn’t tell me your friend was…”

“Staggeringly beautiful? No, I didn’t, and yes, she knows,” Hermione said with a smirk. “I’ve known Selene for a long time; you’re not the first man to notice that.”

Lavender approached the table. Hermione was so proud of her friend; she had completely submersed herself in the role. The haughty, superior look she had cultivated for her character was spot on. Andromeda and Narcissa had helped her refine the character of Selene Wolfe into a persona that was the epitome of upper class, Pureblood, British witch.

“Good afternoon, Elise,” she said as she air kissed Hermione on the cheek. “This is your associate you told me about?”

Hermione smiled genuinely at Lavender. “Alfred Alger, this is my friend Selene Wolfe.”

“Pleasure,” Alfred said, and he gazed hungrily at Lavender.

You were right, Hermione. He is an idiot. “Yes, I’m sure,” she replied as she sat next to Hermione. “What does it take to get a glass of wine in this dump?”

Hermione smiled inwardly. You love this, don’t you? “I’ll get the waitress for you, Selene.” She gave a curt nod to the waitress when she caught her eye.

Lavender levelled her gaze at Alfred. “I’ll get directly to the point, we have a mutual interest. I have clientele that has certain… appetites, and you have a connection that can supply my needs. I’m prepared to offer you a finder’s fee of ten percent of the sale price, would that be acceptable?”

Alfred flinched visibly under Lavender's piercing gaze. The wolf, always with her, shone in her eyes. It spoke to the deep psyche of anyone and anything she levelled that stare at. The predatory nature of her other half cowed them without them even realizing it. “Th-th-that would be f-fine,” he said.

“Excellent,” Lavender said, and turned to the waitress who had just appeared at their table. “Do you have something in an eighty two Bordeaux?”

The waitress stepped back a pace. “Um, yes, Chateau Figeac St. Emilion,” she said haltingly. “It’s bottle only at two hundred and sixty.”

“That will be fine, and three glasses,” Lavender said dismissively, and then turned back to Hermione and Alfred. “I usually do my own procurement, but my business has grown quite a bit recently, and I’ve acquired a few clients with some very specific requirements.” She smiled at Hermione. “Elise tells me that your supplier can meet these very specific needs, if that’s the case I would like to move on this within the next few weeks. One of my newer clients has a toy that’s coming to the end of its usefulness, and he’ll be needing a replacement soon. I have five others that have also put in similar requests.”

Alfred’s eyes widened. “Your business is that large?”

“I usually deal in fully developed units that are pacified and compliant, but with my recent expansion” — and again she gave a smile and nod to Hermione — “I’ve almost doubled my client base, and some of them have… more refined tastes.”

Hermione turned to Lavender. “Selene, is that government gentleman I sent your way still satisfied?” she asked.

Lavender chuckled. “Oh, very much so. The unit I supplied him as just what he wanted. You know it’s interesting. The higher up in power a man gets the more" — she chuckled again — “interesting his peccadilloes.”

Did you ever consider acting? Hermione thought with a grin.

Alfred leaned forward. “What, specifically, are you looking for?” he asked.

“I have a list.” Lavender dug in her purse for a moment. “Ah, here.” She handed a sealed envelope to Alfred. “Look at this in private and contact me when you can arrange an inspection. If the units are acceptable I can purchase immediately.” She again fixed Alfred with her intense stare.

“I, um, I, uh, yeah I’ll do that, yeah,” Alfred said lamely.

“Excellent,” Lavender said. “Ah, the wine,” she said as the waitress approached.

With some apprehension the waitress wiped the side of the bottle with the label and showed it to Lavender.

“Not the best, but satisfactory,” she said to Hermione. “Well?” she asked the waitress.

“Yes madam,” the waitress said and went about uncorking the wine. She was about to pour when Lavender stopped her. “Let it breathe a moment, silly girl. My god, Elise, don’t they teach anything anymore. Christ, does this shack even have a sommelier?” She turned to the waitress. “First you hand me the cork.”

‘Y-yes , I was about to do that,” the now terrified girl answered.

Lavender snatched the cork from her outstretched hand. She held it a few inches from her nose and sniffed lightly. Oh my god, this some of the best in the world, she thought. “Here.” She handed the cork to the waitress. “Sniff, don’t snort.”

The girl did as instructed.

“Smell that? That’s the earth of France, and that undertone of fruit? Almost apple? That’s the mark of a good bottle,” she told her. “Doesn’t smell sour or perfumey like the crap they make in California.” Lavender held up her glass. “Pour a little into this.”

The trembling young woman did as she was told.

Give the poor thing a break, Lav, Hermione thought, grinning.

Lavender swished the wine in her glass and gave it another sniff. She had to stop the tremble of pleasure it brought. “Take a careful sniff.” She handed the glass to the silent waitress. “That’s how it’s supposed to smell. There’s even a pepper over-note. Umm, yes, this will do nicely.” She took the glass back from her and sipped from it. Oh fuck this is good. Hope you enjoy this, Hermione. Harry’s going to go spare when he sees the bill. She smirked at the thought of the coming conversation. “We’ll just let it breathe for a few minutes. Bring us a cheese platter.” She looked up at the girl. “Now.”

The waitress practically ran from them.

“You enjoy torturing the help, don’t you, Selene?” Hermione asked with a smirk.

Lavender chuckled, raised the glass, and while she contemplated the color of the wine said, “It’s one of the few pleasures someone in my position has. I’ve run the course of men and found them wanting. Women are too compliant, present company excluded,” — she grinned at Hermione — “and too much alcohol dulls the senses. No, abuse is the best entertainment I get these days.”

The waitress returned a few moments later with a wooden platter on which sat an assortment of cheeses, olives and bread slices.

Lavender poured them all a generous glass and held hers up. “To business!” she said, and Hermione and Alfred joined the toast. Nibbling a bit of brie from the platter she asked Hermione, “How’s your enterprise going these days, Elise?”

“As well as can be expected with all the new regulations and such the ministry is putting on the use of the lower creatures. That bitch Weasley is ruining it for the lot of us.” Served that one up nicely, didn’t I, Lav?

Lavender chuckled. “Yes, did you know I had a passing acquaintance with her at school?” Volley!

Hermione looked to Lavender with a curious expression. “No, what was she like?” And back to you.

Alright, Hermione ,here we go. “Oh she was pretty enough, but she was an insufferable know it all, and when she got on her crusade to free the elves, pfft!” Lavender waved her hand and rolled her eyes. “I’m surprised no one has tried to have her ‘removed from office’.”

Alfred looked on puzzled. “What do you mean?”

Hermione turned to him. “You know, Alfred. When you have a pest problem, you call the exterminator. You’re closer to this than we are. Have you heard anything along those lines?” Well played, Lav.

Alfred shook his head and nervously fiddled with his cutlery. “No, no, I don’t have any dealings in that sort of thing. What we’re doing here is as far as I’m willing to go. I’ve heard her name mentioned a few times, but everyone’s afraid of her husband and Potter. I don’t think you’ll be rid of her anytime soon.”

Hermione frowned. Thanks, Alfred. Good thing to know. “Ah well, that’s too bad. We’ll just have to continue on underground then.” Hermione took another sip of the wine. “Oh, Selene, this is quite good.”

Lavender raised her own glass. “Yes, not bad. What say you, Alfred?”

“I, um well, I don’t get this quality very often, so I’m not much of a judge,” he replied blushing slightly.

“If we do enough business, Alfred, you’ll find yourself becoming acquainted with the finer things,” Lavender said as she patted his hand.

Alfred grinned like a teenager at Lavender, and then all too quickly drained his glass. “I’ll be running along then, I’ve got lots to do and arrange. Thanks for the wine, and you’ll be hearing from me soon Ms. Wolfe, Elise,” he said, and rose from his chair.

Lavender offered her hand to him. “A pleasure, Alfred, here’s hoping for a long and mutually beneficial relationship.”

Alfred took her hand, and looked her over one last time. “Well, cheers,” he said.

“Goodbye, Alfred,” Hermione said.

“Goodbye, Elise.” He turned and strode from the restaurant.

“I think that went very well, Elise,” Lavender told Hermione. “Hopefully he won’t take long.”

“Alfred is not that bright, but he is dependable. He’ll be contacting you within the week, I’ll wager.” Hermione took up her glass and giggled. “Harry’s going to give us an inordinate amount of grief for this, you know that don’t you?” she said in a whisper.

“He’ll get over it. Besides, I’ve got to act the part now, haven’t I?” Lavender whispered with a wink. “Oh, that reminds me.” She drew a small piece of parchment and an old fountain pen from her purse. Grinning to herself she scribbled a quick note on the parchment, wrapped a fifty pound note around the cork, and then wrapped the parchment around it all. Lavender looked quickly around at the nearby tables, making sure they weren’t being watched, and then with a quick few flicks of her wand a bit of string appeared and tied itself around the bundle, and then the bundle disappeared.

Hermione looked at her friend and smiled warmly. “For the waitress?” she asked.

“Yes, she’ll have quite a nice surprise when she turns out her pockets tonight. I do hope she learned a few things, I mean everything I said was true.”

Hermione laughed. “Oh, I’m sure she learned quite a bit tonight.”

Lavender’s smile went all the way to her eyes. The two women shared a quiet moment of friendship and finished their wine.

*

Well this day was bloody awful, Angela Law thought as she closed the door to her flat and threw the keys on the end table by the door. God that bitch was a terrifying, stuck up, hoity-toity cow. “What the hell?” she said out loud as she pulled a small bundle from the inside pocket of her uniform. “How’d this get there?” She untied the string, pulled the fifty pounds from the cork, and read the note.

Sorry I was so ugly to you this evening. There are some children that are in very great danger, and you have helped me to save them. Thank you.

Buy yourself something nice.

L.

“I take it all back,” Angela said to the empty room.

*

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