Remus Lupin
Undisclosed Location
London
Re: Itinerary
Lupin,
I received your owl regarding your choice of personnel for the position to be filled. Please inform her of status, and that she is needed A.S.A.P.
D. Malfoy
Ministry Reclamation
*******************************************************
Ginny sat in the dilapidated sitting room at Number 12, Grimmauld Place, which, even after being lived in for years, still reeked of disuse and neglect. She stared at a worn spot on the ancient carpet and wondered fleetingly if it held any residual dark magic after the house’s thorough cleaning seven years ago. Her gaze moved up to the wallpaper that had peeled away from the plaster, which looked as if it was trying to escape the clutches of the sinister walls of the home. She sighed, resigned to the fact that she’d be leaving this odd, old house, her residence for the last four years. She didn’t feel excitement as much as a vague sense of relief for the change of scenery. She’d been pleading with her former teacher for months to allow her to leave and do actual work for the Order of the Phoenix. She was a fully qualified witch, after all, trained with a specialty in Herbology. Remus Lupin reminded her after each request that, unfortunately, there wasn’t a lot of call for an expert Herbologist in the midst of war.
Ginny just wanted the war to be over, not only for the reason that there would be no more killing and evil, but mostly for the fact that she wanted to get a greenhouse of her own and be able to spend quiet hours tending some magical roses.
Remus Lupin came out of the study and regarded Ginny. She looked up at him hopefully.
“Come in, Ginny.”
She rose and brushed past him to sit in one of the armchairs by his desk. “Good news, then, Remus?”
Lupin nodded and then stopped himself and looked at the witch in front of him. There was no use in sugar-coating things for Ginny. She’d only be annoyed with him if he tried to protect her from anything. “Well, news, in any case. ‘Good’ might be pushing the envelope a bit.”
“Come on, Remus. Don’t leave me in suspense. You know how I hate that.”
“Right.” He shuffled through some parchment on his desk and pulled one out, peering at it though some spectacles. “The Order is subcontracting you out to the Ministry of Magic.”
Ginny chuckled and then stopped abruptly when she saw that her friend wasn’t joking. “I’m sorry. Subcontracting?”
Remus passed the bit of parchment to her, for her perusal. “Technically, you’ll still work for the Order of the Phoenix, but we’re lending you out to the Ministry of Magic.”
Ginny suppressed an unladylike snort. “That presupposes I ‘worked’ for the Order in the first place. Mucking about in Grimmauld Place’s back garden can hardly be called ‘work’ now can it?
Remus looked at her seriously. “You did discover some new species, didn’t you?”
Ginny shrugged. “Yeah. For all the good it’s done.” A distant cousin to Devil’s Snare and a mutated version of the Venomous Tentacula weren’t exactly going to win her the Order of Merlin or change the tide of the war, in her opinion.
“That’s where you’re wrong, Ginny,” Lupin said. “Your skills have turned out to be invaluable. The other side has resorted to using different methods to gain the advantage. They’ve been laying increasingly intricate traps, transfiguring dangerous things to look benign in order to catch wizards off their guard, basically doing all manner of evil things peripherally in addition to the regular Death Eater racket.”
Ginny raised an eyebrow. “They need other hobbies? Aren’t they all booked up with torturing and killing Muggles and protecting that horror of a thing they call their Lord? Who knew there would be time for anything else?” she asked wryly. She shook her head. “So what part of the Ministry will I be working for? Merlin knows I’m not good enough to be an Auror. I’ve heard that enough times from Ron.”
“Ah, yes, I was coming to that.” Lupin took off his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “The Death Eaters have been rampaging the countryside, you knew that, yes? They’ve been going to random houses, killing the occupants and leaving the Dark Mark burning above the dwelling when they’ve finished.”
Ginny shifted uncomfortably in her chair, nodding. Just like in the first war. Everyone knew this.
“Well, our beloved Ministry, which has been stretched rather thin for the past few years, has decided to profit on what it can. It’s formed a salvage team, if you will, a group of people to go to these abandoned homes and go through them after the Death Eaters have wrecked everything to see what there is that can be reused. They take anything they might be able to sell to fund the war effort.”
Ginny was horrified. “That’s disgusting!”
“The disgusting thing is that it’s been going on for the past three years without anyone knowing. Now the Ministry has decided that they’re in enough dire straits to put this team above board. To the Ministry’s credit, they only do this when there are no surviving relatives.”
“That’s very big of them,” Ginny remarked drolly.
“Mmmm. They’re a charming lot, the Ministry. Anyway, only in the past few months have the Death Eaters figured out what they’re doing. They, of course, want to stop the Ministry from benefiting in any way. That’s why they’ve been throwing up these impediments.”
“Impediments? Remus, don’t talk in code. Just tell me plainly what’s going on,” Ginny snapped.
Remus cleared his throat. “One of the tricks the Death Eaters are grown fond of is to booby trap the houses with deathly plants. It’s as if they have someone working for them with a twisted sense of humour. One of the cleanup crew went to a house last week where all of the Ministry workers had been knocked out by the cry of the Mandrake. Poor chap’s still in the intensive care ward in St. Mungo’s.”
Ginny cleared her throat, losing patience with the man’s stories. “How do I figure into this?”
“You’re our best Herbologist.”
She rolled her eyes. I’m your only Herbologist, she thought. There was one exception, but the other witch trained in Herbology killed plants just by being in the same room with them.
Remus continued. “The Death Eaters have also started leaving plants that can maim, hurt, or even kill people at the scenes of their crimes. In addition, last week they wiped out the Hogwarts greenhouses, so the Ministry’s endless supplies of plants are fast dwindling. I don’t have to tell you that not having more potion ingredients is a bad thing for our side.”
Ginny gaped. “The Hogwarts greenhouses? They’re gone? And Madam Sprout?”
“She’s fine. She’s started a new greenhouse in the Atrium of the Ministry, and no one’s happy about that. But you know Pomona. Plants have the priority over people.”
Ginny smiled, relieved not only that her old teacher was safe, but that the war hadn’t changed her indomitable love for her field.
Lupin continued. “Your new job with the Ministry will be to join this group, this salvage team, to be able to disarm any malicious plants that might keep them from doing their jobs. In addition, you will check the gardens of these homes for potential potions ingredients, gather them, and bring your findings back to the Ministry.”
“Not to you?”
“No. As I said earlier, you’ll still be a member of the Order, but will work for the Ministry of Magic. You’ll live and work there; it’s safer than here, at any rate. They pay better, too.”
“More money at the risk of my morals. Brilliant,” she quipped.
“Yes, well, war does make strange bedfellows, as it were.”
She folded the parchment and stood. “To whom will I be reporting?”
Remus looked distinctly upset. “Oh, erm--”
Ginny narrowed her eyes. “What, ‘oh, erm?’”
Lupin sighed heavily. “Third Floor, room twenty-eight, your superior’s name is Dmphmmph.”
“Is what now?”
“Draco Malfoy,” he whispered.
Ginny raised her eyebrows. “Oh. Oh, yes, yes, of course. Not only do I get a shite job which in its very best light could be termed “vaguely morally ambiguous”, but I also have to work for the biggest, most narcissistic, arrogant, self-serving, insufferable prick in all of Wizarding England.” The two years that he’d worked for the Order of the Phoenix were not a pleasant memory for Ginny. It always seemed as if he singled her out to tease and torment, and now she’d be working for him. She rolled her eyes. “Joy, thy name is the Salvage Crew.”
“That’s not the name of the group actually.”
She chuckled mirthlessly. “Oh? What is it, then?”
“The Reclamation Cooperation.”
“Perfect.”
Undisclosed Location
London
Re: Itinerary
Lupin,
I received your owl regarding your choice of personnel for the position to be filled. Please inform her of status, and that she is needed A.S.A.P.
D. Malfoy
Ministry Reclamation
*******************************************************
Ginny sat in the dilapidated sitting room at Number 12, Grimmauld Place, which, even after being lived in for years, still reeked of disuse and neglect. She stared at a worn spot on the ancient carpet and wondered fleetingly if it held any residual dark magic after the house’s thorough cleaning seven years ago. Her gaze moved up to the wallpaper that had peeled away from the plaster, which looked as if it was trying to escape the clutches of the sinister walls of the home. She sighed, resigned to the fact that she’d be leaving this odd, old house, her residence for the last four years. She didn’t feel excitement as much as a vague sense of relief for the change of scenery. She’d been pleading with her former teacher for months to allow her to leave and do actual work for the Order of the Phoenix. She was a fully qualified witch, after all, trained with a specialty in Herbology. Remus Lupin reminded her after each request that, unfortunately, there wasn’t a lot of call for an expert Herbologist in the midst of war.
Ginny just wanted the war to be over, not only for the reason that there would be no more killing and evil, but mostly for the fact that she wanted to get a greenhouse of her own and be able to spend quiet hours tending some magical roses.
Remus Lupin came out of the study and regarded Ginny. She looked up at him hopefully.
“Come in, Ginny.”
She rose and brushed past him to sit in one of the armchairs by his desk. “Good news, then, Remus?”
Lupin nodded and then stopped himself and looked at the witch in front of him. There was no use in sugar-coating things for Ginny. She’d only be annoyed with him if he tried to protect her from anything. “Well, news, in any case. ‘Good’ might be pushing the envelope a bit.”
“Come on, Remus. Don’t leave me in suspense. You know how I hate that.”
“Right.” He shuffled through some parchment on his desk and pulled one out, peering at it though some spectacles. “The Order is subcontracting you out to the Ministry of Magic.”
Ginny chuckled and then stopped abruptly when she saw that her friend wasn’t joking. “I’m sorry. Subcontracting?”
Remus passed the bit of parchment to her, for her perusal. “Technically, you’ll still work for the Order of the Phoenix, but we’re lending you out to the Ministry of Magic.”
Ginny suppressed an unladylike snort. “That presupposes I ‘worked’ for the Order in the first place. Mucking about in Grimmauld Place’s back garden can hardly be called ‘work’ now can it?
Remus looked at her seriously. “You did discover some new species, didn’t you?”
Ginny shrugged. “Yeah. For all the good it’s done.” A distant cousin to Devil’s Snare and a mutated version of the Venomous Tentacula weren’t exactly going to win her the Order of Merlin or change the tide of the war, in her opinion.
“That’s where you’re wrong, Ginny,” Lupin said. “Your skills have turned out to be invaluable. The other side has resorted to using different methods to gain the advantage. They’ve been laying increasingly intricate traps, transfiguring dangerous things to look benign in order to catch wizards off their guard, basically doing all manner of evil things peripherally in addition to the regular Death Eater racket.”
Ginny raised an eyebrow. “They need other hobbies? Aren’t they all booked up with torturing and killing Muggles and protecting that horror of a thing they call their Lord? Who knew there would be time for anything else?” she asked wryly. She shook her head. “So what part of the Ministry will I be working for? Merlin knows I’m not good enough to be an Auror. I’ve heard that enough times from Ron.”
“Ah, yes, I was coming to that.” Lupin took off his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “The Death Eaters have been rampaging the countryside, you knew that, yes? They’ve been going to random houses, killing the occupants and leaving the Dark Mark burning above the dwelling when they’ve finished.”
Ginny shifted uncomfortably in her chair, nodding. Just like in the first war. Everyone knew this.
“Well, our beloved Ministry, which has been stretched rather thin for the past few years, has decided to profit on what it can. It’s formed a salvage team, if you will, a group of people to go to these abandoned homes and go through them after the Death Eaters have wrecked everything to see what there is that can be reused. They take anything they might be able to sell to fund the war effort.”
Ginny was horrified. “That’s disgusting!”
“The disgusting thing is that it’s been going on for the past three years without anyone knowing. Now the Ministry has decided that they’re in enough dire straits to put this team above board. To the Ministry’s credit, they only do this when there are no surviving relatives.”
“That’s very big of them,” Ginny remarked drolly.
“Mmmm. They’re a charming lot, the Ministry. Anyway, only in the past few months have the Death Eaters figured out what they’re doing. They, of course, want to stop the Ministry from benefiting in any way. That’s why they’ve been throwing up these impediments.”
“Impediments? Remus, don’t talk in code. Just tell me plainly what’s going on,” Ginny snapped.
Remus cleared his throat. “One of the tricks the Death Eaters are grown fond of is to booby trap the houses with deathly plants. It’s as if they have someone working for them with a twisted sense of humour. One of the cleanup crew went to a house last week where all of the Ministry workers had been knocked out by the cry of the Mandrake. Poor chap’s still in the intensive care ward in St. Mungo’s.”
Ginny cleared her throat, losing patience with the man’s stories. “How do I figure into this?”
“You’re our best Herbologist.”
She rolled her eyes. I’m your only Herbologist, she thought. There was one exception, but the other witch trained in Herbology killed plants just by being in the same room with them.
Remus continued. “The Death Eaters have also started leaving plants that can maim, hurt, or even kill people at the scenes of their crimes. In addition, last week they wiped out the Hogwarts greenhouses, so the Ministry’s endless supplies of plants are fast dwindling. I don’t have to tell you that not having more potion ingredients is a bad thing for our side.”
Ginny gaped. “The Hogwarts greenhouses? They’re gone? And Madam Sprout?”
“She’s fine. She’s started a new greenhouse in the Atrium of the Ministry, and no one’s happy about that. But you know Pomona. Plants have the priority over people.”
Ginny smiled, relieved not only that her old teacher was safe, but that the war hadn’t changed her indomitable love for her field.
Lupin continued. “Your new job with the Ministry will be to join this group, this salvage team, to be able to disarm any malicious plants that might keep them from doing their jobs. In addition, you will check the gardens of these homes for potential potions ingredients, gather them, and bring your findings back to the Ministry.”
“Not to you?”
“No. As I said earlier, you’ll still be a member of the Order, but will work for the Ministry of Magic. You’ll live and work there; it’s safer than here, at any rate. They pay better, too.”
“More money at the risk of my morals. Brilliant,” she quipped.
“Yes, well, war does make strange bedfellows, as it were.”
She folded the parchment and stood. “To whom will I be reporting?”
Remus looked distinctly upset. “Oh, erm--”
Ginny narrowed her eyes. “What, ‘oh, erm?’”
Lupin sighed heavily. “Third Floor, room twenty-eight, your superior’s name is Dmphmmph.”
“Is what now?”
“Draco Malfoy,” he whispered.
Ginny raised her eyebrows. “Oh. Oh, yes, yes, of course. Not only do I get a shite job which in its very best light could be termed “vaguely morally ambiguous”, but I also have to work for the biggest, most narcissistic, arrogant, self-serving, insufferable prick in all of Wizarding England.” The two years that he’d worked for the Order of the Phoenix were not a pleasant memory for Ginny. It always seemed as if he singled her out to tease and torment, and now she’d be working for him. She rolled her eyes. “Joy, thy name is the Salvage Crew.”
“That’s not the name of the group actually.”
She chuckled mirthlessly. “Oh? What is it, then?”
“The Reclamation Cooperation.”
“Perfect.”
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