Order of the Hidden Dragon

Albus wanted the briefing to be over already. He had already told his father everything, why did he need to repeat it for Hermione as well? He was worried about what Sophia had said. Or rather, what she hadn't said. Could he ask Hermione about that? She probably wouldn't tell him.

"I suggest that we send another small delegation to Marquise, but don't approach the warehouse," Harry said when Albus finished. "And with none of the members that were chasing him today, just in case he is able to track them."

"That sounds like a good idea." Hermione said. "And we should try and monitor the computer in question, in case it moves again. I worry that he has realised that that is how we found him each time. We may walk into a trap, if we attack again. Especially now that he may have had time to put up some defences."

"I agree. I worried about that ever since we saw that he left most of his merchandise behind in Belgium. Why do that, and keep Yang, who has no value for him? Is he worried about what Yang has seen, so he can't let him go?"

"Or he just likes to torture him. I don't think he left the rest of his merchandise behind on purpose, but he did prioritise taking Yang over some of the other cages. The Belgians have reluctantly allowed us to take over most of the creatures, since we mentioned that we may have a way to remove the chains. But they will probably also want to be part of the group in Marquise. It's not far from the Belgian border anyway."

"Assuming the French don't mind, I don't have a problem with that either. At this point, I don't care who stops him, as long as someone does. Preferably with either Yang or some other creatures, so we have irrefutable proof of his crimes. How is it going with finding his identity?"

"Not good. We don't even know if he is British. The ads we found in French were also written perfectly, but we only have a record of him talking in English, and we didn't hear a foreign accent. But he didn't have a distinctive British or American accent either."

"Were Rose able to remove any of the other chains?"

"No, not yet. I asked her to continue trying that tomorrow, with any experts she deems necessary. She took one of the Porlocks home, to see if they are able to recreate the exact conditions of what happened last time."

After a lot more talking, mostly between Harry and Hermione, Albus was finally allowed to leave. He hoped Sophia hadn't left. It had been nearly three hours since he said to meet at the restaurant.

He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that she was still there. She seemed relieved as well.

"I was afraid you had left," they both said as they met. Then they both laughed.

"The meeting ran longer than I thought," Albus said.

"Mary wanted all the details I could give before she would let me go," Sophia said. "And I suspect she only let me go because I said I was meeting you."

Albus laughed again. Like several members of his family, Mary probably thought they were dating. He wasn't sure if they did, but he wouldn't mind. He had never had a girlfriend before, but he couldn't deny that Sophia intrigued him. Her smile made his heart flutter and the face she made when she was concentrating was adorable. And she was among the few people he knew that had been able to stand up to Hermione when she had to. And Rose, during the raid. She had a strong sense of justice, which he appreciated. She wouldn't let anyone tell her what she could and couldn't do, be it McLaggen or Hermione. That reminded him…

"Can you tell me now? What was it Hermione wanted to talk to you about? You aren't in trouble, are you?"

Sophia laughed. "Not at all. Though that's what I was afraid of too, when she asked me to come with her into her office. But as it turned out, she wanted to offer me a job. In the Department of Technology."

Albus gaped, but then he smiled. He had hoped that Hermione would offer her something like that eventually.

"Did you accept?"

"Of course I did! That's all I ever wanted!" Sophia then went into detail about how she had previously been denied, and how Hermione had assuaged her fears.

"I start tomorrow!" she finished with a grin. Albus gave her a hug.

"That's great! I'm so glad everything turned out well for you."

They enjoyed a lovely meal, all their earlier embarrassment temporarily forgotten.

***

Sophia had been worried about her first day at her new job, but her fears were quickly assuaged. Her new supervisor was lovely, and it was fantastic to be surrounded by other witches and wizards that actually knew what a computer was. She thought that she would have many in-depth conversations with them as she got more comfortable with them. For now, she was given some training, or more like a test to see whether she actually knew what she was talking about. It was just a formality in her case, but apparently the Minister had introduced it after Smythe, the man who had turned her away, had hired several other people who barely knew how to turn on a computer, much less how to use it. So far, she hadn't failed a single task.

"It seems the Minister didn't exaggerate, when she talked about your skills," her supervisor said. Sophia had forgotten her name and was ashamed to ask again. She hoped someone would say it again later.

At the end of the day, she was surprised to see Albus waiting for her. He wanted to know how her first day went. She probably went on for way too long, with a lot of details she wasn't sure he understood, but he didn't seem to mind.

"I'm glad you seem to like your new job so far. Do you want to have dinner again to celebrate? I know of a good one near Liverpool Street."

There were a lot of good restaurants near there.

"Eating out two days in a row?"

"We could do it another day instead. I just thought that you would want to celebrate your first day at work."

"I wasn't complaining. Besides, I got quite the payout from being dragged all over Europe two days ago, so I can afford it."

"Actually, I was going to suggest that I pay. Since it's a special occasion."

Sophia almost felt her heart stop. That sounded even more like a date. Did she dare to ask?

"Well, then I have no reason to say no," she said with a smile.

Neither of them noticed Harry and Hermione standing several meters behind them, both trying and failing to hold back a grin.

"At least he isn't quite as hopeless as you or Ron," Hermione said as she watched the two of them leave via the fireplaces. Harry groaned.

"Don't remind me. It's a miracle Ginny ever accepted me at all."

"Well, it helped that you saved her life."

"Or it helped that you talked me up for her. Don't think I haven't heard about that." Hermione just laughed.