All Hail the Dark Lord, Or Something Idiotic Like That

The Rebellion pt2

A/N: Not my story! Original available on ao3

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With a deep breath, he forcefully let go of his tension and pushed the hood from his head, running his hand through his long, red hair before pulling a hair tie from his wrist and shoving it into a knot at the base of his neck, just wanting it out of his way and not distracting. He should just cut it, he thought for the thousandth time, even though he never did. The lift dinged and he once more took a steadying breath before stepping into the atrium.

***

"Ah, just the Unspeakable I could use," a man said off to his left side, causing his heart to almost stop in alarm once more. He slowly turned and plastered as kind of a smile as he could fake onto his face as the head of the Department of Relocation and Retrieval walked up to him.

"Mr. Finch-Fletchley, how can I help you?" he held in his grimace at almost the last person on the planet he wanted to run into right then...or really ever, stopped him.

"Call me Justin, please," he said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "We did go to school together. I know it's the end of the day, but we've run into a ward issue that we could use an Unspeakable to help with. It's pressing and needs to be handled today."

Not only were wards nowhere near his specialty, but he might just give everything away in his desire to crucio this monster to within an inch of his life if he had to spend any time at all with him. "I'm sorry, Mr. Finch-Fletchley...I really don't know a lot about wards, but I can recommend someone..."

"Weasley!" Another voice called from behind him, causing him to turn and grind his teeth at literally the last person he wanted to run into...the Head Auror. And what use were their obscuring hoods anyway if people kept calling out their bloody names and title?!

"I already claimed Weasley," Finch-Fletchley crossed his arms and frowned at the tall, well-built man that towered over the former Hufflepuff when he joined them.

"You have a ward issue," the auror gave him an exasperated look with flinty eyes. "Collins called for you a specialist from Gringotts...that isn't the Unspeakables' job. I, however, do actually require the services of Weasley here."

"You aurors," Finch-Fletchley grumbled but did turn to head back towards the lifts. "One of these days, we won't need you anymore..."

"I welcome the day," the auror placed a hand on the Unspeakable's shoulder that made him distinctly feel like he was being arrested. "For now though...you do still need us."

The Unspeakable cleared his suddenly dry throat. "What do the aurors need my help for?" he asked in almost a rasp.

"Nothing," the hand steered him away from the lifts and towards the doors. "Did you get it? Please tell me you did. Merlin, I almost had a stroke when Justin stopped you...It's just your luck to run into that prat on today of all days!"

The Unspeakable's eyes widened, and he had a moment where he both felt like it should have been blatantly obvious that Neville Longbottom would be at the center of this little orchestrated treason and also like his world had just been turned on its head that the Head Auror was plotting against the ministry. "I don't know what you're talking about..." was the most he could get out through the haze that had settled on his mind.

Neville snorted with no humor. "Don't worry, Weasley. I don't know what it is you were asked to get. None of us were told everything. There are too many legilimens around these days."

"I still don't know what you're talking about," he now stubbornly replied as they got closer to the doors to the outside world and where he could escape.

Auror Longbottom gave him a little smirk. "Fine, but please tell him now that I've done my part already that I'm in if he needs anything else...I'll do whatever...there isn't much I can do legally anymore, but he knows I've been wanting to leave this job behind for a very long time now..."

The Unspeakable paused...this didn't sound like a trap. What Longbottom was saying was treason in itself, not even mentioning if he was actually part of his crazy plan. "Longbottom..." he said softly, taking a chance on the young boy he remembered from Hogwarts. "I don't even know what's going on...I promise."

With a grin and a chuckle, Neville clapped him on the back fondly before a sad look settled in his eyes. "I guess that makes perfect sense...if it helps any...this was Hermione's plan. You know she was the one that set it up so that none of us would have all the information. She was the one that initially pushed me to the head of the line of aurors...I don't know how, but some kind of bureaucratic magic only she would have known."

He actually hadn't known that. He was only recently conscripted into this coup even if he'd suspected it was quietly going on for a long time now. At the stabbing pain that hit him in his heart at the mention of Hermione, he suddenly wished he'd been included much earlier. "We shouldn't be talking about this here," he anxiously glanced over his shoulder.

Neville rolled his eyes. "I'm the Head Auror...I have a permanent privacy ward I can activate, which I did as soon as we walked away from Finch-Fletchley," he motioned to a bracelet that radiated a steady stream of magic that caused the Unspeakable to nod in appreciation...and definitely want one of those for himself.

"Look...my part is done," Longbottom said quietly, even with the ward. "That means this is all coming to a head now...take care of yourself and don't let him do anything stupid. I know this was Hermione's plan, but we both know how Harry gets...If he's going to listen to anyone, it'll be you, Weasley."

The Unspeakable gave him a short nod, wishing he'd not been as isolated from Longbottom as he had been. However, if all this had been planned by Hermione, that was probably a part of the plan as well. He'd never heard anything against Longbottom in the ministry gossip mill, causing him to believe the man was completely sold into the ministry propaganda and mission. It was genius...and also very lonely.

"I don't know what I can do, but I'll try. I do know how he gets very well. It was good to see you again, Neville," he said with a little smile.

Longbottom touched his bracelet and the shimmer of magic around them dissipated. "It was good to see you again too, Percy. Don't be a stranger...I'm only a few floors above you," he winked before turning, his red robes flowing behind him, as he strode in long steps towards the lifts.

Percy stepped into the twilight of a winter evening feeling like he was stepping into a new world...or maybe an old one he recognized from his nightmares. This is what he remembered the war felt like, when you didn't know who you could trust, when any day could be your last. With a sharp twist, he didn't even pause in his apparition away from the marble building that suddenly felt exactly like a prison he was leaving.