Tuesday, July 8th, 2014. 3:50 PM.

  Grimmauld Place, Borough of Islington, London, UK

  ...Three. Harry opened his eyes to find himself crawling along a tunnel shaped like an ovoid with a flattened bottom. It was taller than it was wide, about a meter and a half by a meter and a quarter. The light was adequate without being bright, emanating from the entire circumference of the tunnels walls. The walls themselves appeared to be made of something just a little firmer than candy floss, but not sticky. Harry discovered this by bumping into one before he got his bearings. The light coming through the walls was colored like candy floss as well, a pastel rainbow that slowly cycled.

  The floor was firmer still, resilient instead of fluffy, in a way that made crawling on it quite comfortable. Wow, Harry thought, This place is just a paradise for children. Or Small People, if you prefer.

  "Hey, M.O.M. File, what was all that back there?" Harry asked.

  M.O.M. File projected the answer, considerately off to the side, so as not to block Harry's vision. THE DISCLAIMER? THE KIDS ASKED ME FOR HELP, I HELPED THEM. THEY WEREN'T SURE HOW TO GO ABOUT SETTING UP A NON-PROFIT, AND PROTECTING THE BUSINESS FROM UNSCRUPULOUS SCOUNDRELS. THAT LAST WAS A DIRECT QUOTE FROM LILY, BY THE WAY. YOU'VE GOT A KEEPER THERE, HARRY.

  "Darn," said Harry. "I was hoping she would go for Seeker, or at least Chaser."

  ASSUMING THAT TO BE A JOKE, I WILL GIVE YOU A PITY 'HA.'

  "Not even a Ha-ha? That's cold, man.

  NOT A MAN, HARRY. NOT A BLOODY MEATSACK MAN. WHAT PART OF 'NON-EMBODIED SPIRIT OF ORDER SERVING AS POINT OF CONTACT BETWEEN WIZARDS, (BOO), AND BUREAUCRATS, (YAY)' ARE YOU NOT GETTING? IF IT HELPS, YOU CAN THINK OF ME AS THE INVERSE OF PEEVES.

  "That," Harry said, "...actually makes a lot of sense."

  THE UNIVERSE IS BALANCE. FOR EVERY HARBINGER OF CHAOS, THERE IS A BASTION OF ORDER. BOTH CAN DO GREAT GOOD, BOTH CAN DO GREAT HARM. BACK TO THE KIDS AND KREACHER, HEY, THEY'RE GOOD PEOPLE. IT DOESN'T TAKE ANYTHING AWAY FROM THE MINISTRY IF I GIVE THEM SOME ADVICE, OR EXPEDITE SOME PAPERWORK, OR WAIVE SOME FEES... OKAY, ACTUALLY, THAT LAST JUST MIGHT TAKE SOMETHING AWAY.

  "Well, I truly thank you." Harry smiled. "Lily has really stepped up on this."

  LIKE I SAID, A KEEPER. HEY, A SPLIT IN THE TUNNEL COMING UP. WHICH WAY DO WE GO?

  When they got there, the direction became clear. One of the tunnels was blocked with tiny little traffic barriers and crowd control fencing. A pixie was hovering over the barrier, pointing the other way, and making 'Move Along' gestures with a pixie wrench almost half as long as he was tall.

  Where did he get the little Metro Police Bobby's helmet, Harry wondered. The crowd behind the fencing scrupulously respected it, even though most of them were flying. They were waving, and, from the tickle at the upper end of Harry's hearing range, they were probably cheering as well.

  Harry thought, Wow, there are a LOT more than I realized. Aloud, he said, "Thank you. Thank you. Welcome to Number 12 Grimmauld Place. It is nice to meet you all. We hope you feel welcome in your new home!"

  The cheering left Harry's range entirely. The little pixie with the Constable's helmet waved Harry and Luna along in a superlatively blasé manner.

  Harry was startled to pass two more cross tunnels, both with roughly the same size crowd of pixies.

  Behind him, Luna whispered, "I'm glad we're crawling. If I had use of my hands, I would feel obligated to do that Royal Wave, and I never figured out how."

  Not long after they passed the third cross tunnel, Harry and Luna found themselves crawling on the roof of Number 12 Grimmauld Place. Thankfully, the resilient flooring lingered long enough for them to get to their feet. The Passages thought of everything, Harry realized. It wouldn't have been acceptable if a child had suddenly found their tender bare feet on the sharp gravel of the roof.

  Once they had gained their feet, Luna said, " M.O.M. File?” Harry handed it to her.

  YES, LUNA?

  “Close Down File, As Per Procedure.”

  HEY! I KEEP SECRETS FROM YOU, YOU DON'T KEEP SECRETS FROM... The red lettering faded from the cover.

  Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  Luna then conjured her Patronus and sent the Hare leaping into the sky. She said, "This is the part you're not going to like, Harry. All I can tell you is there is a reason for everything you are about to learn. Please be patient, and all will become clear."

  Luna's words were not lessening Harry's stress levels. The fact that M.O.M. File didn't have Need To Know was deeply disturbing. He mentally promised himself that he would maintain a calm, dignified front. He saw moving shapes in the air.

  "Is that Kingsley's Patronus?" he blurted out. Calm. Right.

  The Hare and the Lynx were making a game of Chase out of their approach. Harry had often wondered how much intrinsic personality a Patronus actually had. He had seen Patroni that were basically blocks of ectoplasm, just sitting and waiting for orders. He had also seen those that delighted in romping about their Summoners, like pets welcoming their owners home after a trip. Harry suspected it mostly had to do with the personality of the Summoner.

  The two made a last dash to the roof, and the Hare darted behind Luna, and leapt up to her shoulder. The Lynx waved its stumpy tail in a manner that seemed dismissive, then settled on its haunches. Kingsley's voice emerged from it, though the Patronus did not part its jaws. The deep, resonating baritone was unmistakable.

  "Harry, I'm going to start with an apology, which I will probably have to repeat often as this debrief progresses. Please be assured that none of this is a criticism of you, your character, or your competence." The Lynx's blank eyeballs were fixed on Harry's face.

  I am really not liking this, Harry thought. Surprise.

  "Harry, you have been Head Auror and acting Director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement for several years now. Tell me, does this scenario sound familiar? You have a hot case, but everything just dries up. Information stops flowing, investigations go nowhere, and you have no idea how to proceed. What do you usually do, then?"

  "Bring it to you," Harry shrugged. "Sometimes you set me right. Sometimes you tell me to focus on other priorities while you take a look, and sometimes..." Harry stopped, suspicion growing in his expression.

  "Sometimes I tell you that the case is closed, but I am not allowed to tell you why, and not to ask why."

  The Lynx looked aside for a moment, then back at Harry. "Harry, in all my years as an Auror, you are the only one, that I am aware of, who simply accepted that directive, and walked away. When I was in your shoes, I raised a hell of a stink, and made no friends for myself. It wasn't until I was made Minister of Magic that I was told the whole truth." There was a pause, then Kingsley continued.

  "And, normally, that would be when you were told. Maybe not the actual Minister, but when you had transcended the mindset that makes a good field commander, and had an understanding of the overall picture."

  "There are secrets that need to remain secret, Harry. This is one such. I, by the way, am aware of secrets that I am not allowed to know. Luna and Rolf are in the loop, due to extenuating circumstances which shall become clear as we proceed."

  The Minister for Magic gave a heavy sigh. "Here it is. There is a division of Magical Law Enforcement that is not in your department, Harry, nor is it under your purview. It answers only to me, if, in their opinion, I have the need to know. Even some Ministers of Magic were never allowed to learn of their existence."

  "Bet I can think of three..." Harry muttered. Louder, he went on, shaking his head in disbelief. "No," Harry said. "That's... that's just...insane. What organisation can be trusted with that kind of blank check?"

  "Rem acu tetigisti, Harry. You have touched on the very point. All I can say is that I thought it a bad idea, and I still think so. And the mere prospect of this very situation occurring has haunted me for years." Kingsley paused, then continued. "When this is over, I will meet with the Select Sub-Rosa Committee, and I will insist on a re-evaluation. We can not, however, make changes unilaterally. Even though they are under our roof, so to speak, their mandate extends worldwide. They handle extra-legal and extra-judicial matters for all Ministries, in utter secrecy, and with perfect deniability. And all without sharing any information beyond the organsation that tasked them."

  Kingsley gave another sigh. Coming from the impassive Lynx, it was disturbing. "The only comfort I can take is the fact that Mad-Eye Moody was deeply involved with this agency's mission. He recruited most of the people who are now their senior staff. Mad-Eye even had an eye on you and Hermione for recruitment down the road."

  "This organisation is called the Rare, Obscure, and Confounding Case Division. Among those in the know, it is referred to by its acronym, ROCC. As I said, they operate largely outside the control of your Department of Magical Law Enforcement. They are, for the most part, gifted generalists, rather than dedicated specialists, owing to the multifarious nature of their cases."

  "But they're still Ministry employees, right?" Harry protested. "They have to mix with regular staff to access the sources and records only available at the Home Office. How do people not notice that some of their co-workers never seem to do any work?"

  "Their cover is that they work in the Magical Maintenance Department." Luna supplied helpfully. "Not only is Maintenance the largest department by number of staff, their jobs can take them anywhere, at any hour, with no idea of how long they will be gone. There is a job-booking clerk who is read in, and assigns them to fictitious jobs, as needed."

  Luna looked to the Lynx. "Kingsley, I can handle this from here on. Harry took it much better than I thought he would."

  "Let me get my feet back under me," Harry grumbled, "...and I'll show you how I take it." He winced internally. Not only does that make exactly NO sense, it also comes across as vaguely obscene. The others ignored him.

  "Indeed, he did," agreed Kingsley. "Get M.O.M. File out so that I can authorise the Severing."

  Puzzled, Harry watched Luna, who ran one finger along the closed edge of the folder.

  THE-INFORMATION-YOU-ARE-ABOUT-TO-RECEI...

  "Attention to Orders!" Kingsley snapped. "Sever!"

  The red printing on the cover stopped in mid-word, started melting, and swirled to the center of the surface to form a slowly spiralling shape. This persisted for several seconds, then the color changed to a bright yellow, as the folder itself turned to pitch black. The yellow spiral subsumed into the black, emerging moments later as words.

  Well, said M.O.M. File. THIS can't be good.

  The Chav's Guide to Getting a Beat Down."