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The fact Lisa was used to being alone in the safe house meant living with another person was slightly uncomfortable. It was only made bearable by the fact the other person sharing her space was Bill Weasley. In the past two days since she had met him, Lisa found him a pleasant enough housemate. He didn’t leave messes and was quiet when she needed to work. That in and of itself was an improvement over the last person she had been partnered with.
Bill tended to keep to his study or the library, which was just fine by her. It gave her room to work in her own study, and he tended to make himself as unimposing as possible when she needed to use the library. She knew it wouldn’t last; Bill was here for a reason, and by the end of the first week, Lisa knew they needed to start planning. It helped that Hermione had chosen Bill to be paired with Lisa. She knew their temperaments well enough to know that they would work well together. Even if he wasn’t her long-term partner on her new project, that had yet to be determined yet.
A week out from when they were supposed to leave for Duzce, Lisa cornered Bill as they ate breakfast, a usually quiet affair.
“We leave Sunday. The plan is to raid as many libraries and bookshops as possible. The Ministry of Magic in Italy has given us full permission to take what we need, regardless of cost, as long as we make copies and don’t take the originals.” Bill sipped at his tea before setting the mug down with a sigh.
“I don’t know how much good this will do. Translation spells are tricky on a good day.” Bill wasn’t wrong, but it was better than anything they had come up with so far, and he knew it.
“They have more works in English than you’d suspect.” Lisa paused, choosing her next words carefully. “They’re more aware of what’s happening here than they would let on. They understand we stand to lose everything if this doesn’t go off without a hitch.” Bill ran a hand through his hair, harsher than he intended to before he clenched his hands into fists.
“Then why don’t they do more to help?” Lisa sighed, pushing her hair back from her face before she clasped her hands in front of her.
“It’s a tricky situation, and they’re well aware of it. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is gathering more forces by the day. He’s in full control of our government and educational systems. If they strike and lose, it paints a giant target on their back. They’re willing to help, just not overtly. It’s like she said, our best moves are the ones done in the dark.” Bill perked up at the mention of Hermione.
“Speaking of, when’s the last time you talked to her?” Bill hadn’t seen her in weeks. The last time they had communicated, it had been to tell Bill to meet Lisa at a specific date and time. Lisa sighed and gave him a rueful smile, which told him all he needed to know.
“When she started me on this project.” That had been months ago, which wasn’t the answer he had hoped for. “You’ve talked to her more recently than I have.”
“Four weeks ago then.” Bill sighed, staring off into his mug of tea, the beginnings of a frown marring his face.
“You know why she doesn’t make contact more often. Hermione gives us our missions and trusts us to follow them through.”
“Anymore is dangerous, I know, I know.” Bill had been the one to help set up the system they used, while Hermione had been the mastermind behind it. “I helped write that playbook.” Lisa laughed as she pulled out a heavily charmed notebook. “Just wish we knew she was and that she was alright.” Lisa sighed but didn’t bother responding.
They’d had the same conversation the last time they’d been paired to work together as well. Which Lisa found rather funny as they didn’t work together often. Tapping the book in front of her, Bill sighed before he nodded, and she opened the notebook before flipping to a new page.
“We got up to Basic Transfiguration last time…” Slowly, they worked partially from memory and partially from Hermione’s meticulously kept reading logs as they added book after book to what they had dubbed their shopping list.
Working through Hermione’s list, a Flourish and Blott’s catalog, and several catalogs for the local Turkish bookstores. They had yet to receive a catalog from the magical education system in Alexandria, Egypt, but it was due to arrive any day now.
“Should we risk the library at New Alexandria School of Enlightenment?” They had asked the same question day after day. It seemed that they didn’t have a choice in the matter. They would have to risk it, no matter what the Turkish or Egyptian governments said.
“We’re building a library.” Lisa pulled a face before she sighed and continued speaking. “Well, rebuilding but you get the point. I’m beyond caring whether they really give a flying fuck what we copy or not. Turkish, Egyptian, it doesn’t really matter as long as I can get the books I need, and we can start unraveling this mess.” She had a point, and Bill knew it. There was such a mess between the magical and non-magical governments that they could untangle some of the legalities later.
Now was a time of action because they wouldn’t last the month without action.
It’s the way things had been since Lord Voldemort won the war. They were constantly on the move. Constantly trying to stay one step ahead of his lackeys.
“Where do you plan on going once we get done with Turkey?” Lisa gave him an incredulous look. “What? It’s an honest question.”
“Where do I plan on going once we’ve raided an entire country for books?” Lisa scoffed as she sipped at her tea. “You realize this is going to take much longer than you’re thinking it will, right? In fact, I have a feeling it’s going to take longer than I think it will. There’s only so many hours in the day. We have to sleep at some point.” Bill nodded, rising and starting the kettle again before leaning against the counter.
“Has Hermione sent over a book list yet?” He propped his head on up on his hands before raising an eyebrow. Hermione didn’t leave a book list often, but when she did, it was usually something that was near impossible to find or cost an arm and a leg.
“She’s actually sent a few over. Some are personal lists for just herself. Others are things Hermione thinks would be a good addition to the library.” Lisa sighed, even as her mind started running through possible buildings to relocate to that would make good safe houses. Or libraries.
There were hours to go till the darkness broke. It was something Lisa had come to understand since Lord Voldemort’s reign had begun.
“So that’s really a thing? The library that is? That’s not just some harebrained idea one of Hermione’s lackeys cooked up on their own?” Lisa shook her head as she motioned to the rather thick notebook she had charmed to hell and back.
“Nope. That came straight from Hermione; with what the Dark Lord and his lackeys keep throwing at us, we need a central hub for research. We’ve lost the library at Hogwarts and the Ministry. He’s getting into deeper and darker magic that no one’s really sure what it is.” Lisa gave him a pointed look, and Bill sighed, even as he knew what she was talking about.
One of Ron’s friends had been hit by such a spell. They still weren’t able to figure out what was wrong with Dean. He was currently hidden away in Grimmauld Place, loonier than a few patients at St. Mungos.
“So we raid half of Turkey, hopefully manage to pop over to Egypt to raid The Alexandrian School of Magic, and then what? Wouldn’t it be easier to just have students smuggle out texts from the new library at Hogwarts?” Lisa gave him a tight smile that was glaring daggers the whole time.
“They already are smuggling out texts as fast as they can manage. Pretty sure a few have come from the headmaster himself though I can’t prove it.” There had been quite a few rumors that even though Headmaster Snape had killed the previous headmaster, that the Slytherin had always been on their side.
Lisa wasn’t sure what she believed anymore.
Intelligence and counterintelligence were being spread so far and so fast that it was hard to keep up with what was true and what wasn’t. So Lisa tended to keep her head down and leave the counterintelligence to people that knew what they were doing.
So far her only orders were to raid an entire country for books and start to put together a library.
Yesterday if Hermione had her way.
“Raid a country of half it’s books and somehow pop over to Egypt? We should be done sometime next year.” Bill’s tone was joking, but his eyes belied the joking tone. It was going to take a while to get this done. Even if they had physical help to gather and collect the books before they arrived, it would still take time to catalog them and figure out what else they needed before they left.
Lisa relaxed back into her chair as she sipped at her tea.
She knew once they hit the ground running, there wouldn’t be time to relax, let alone think.
Working through the libraries and bookstores in Turkey was taking nearly twice as long as Lisa had anticipated. Yet she knew it would be worth it in the end. There were only a few days left on their visas, and they were working around the clock. Sleeping in shifts as they raided bookstore after bookstore. .
“One day, I’ll bring you back here for an actual visit. Get you off the beaten path, so you can see it for what it really is.” Lisa smiled at the promise for it was just that. “Once things calm down, maybe take a few days to really enjoy it.” She gave Bill another tight smile.
They both knew it would be years before they could actually return. There was too much to do with trying to set up the library.
Yet she could dream of arid lands and street vendors. It would give her something to look forward to.
It tasted like something akin to hope.