"What do you mean? What have you done?" Albus said, louder than intended as the bangs stopped just as he started talking. He didn't lower the wand. It pointed straight at Sophia.
"Magic can't penetrate this. McLaggen hates it, but he also hates to admit that there is something he cannot do, so he hasn't ordered me to take it down yet."
When Albus didn't lower his wand, she sighed again.
"Listen, this is the only way we can talk and be certain we can't be overheard. It's a mix of magical and Muggle security to make this room impenetrable. I've tested it from the outside, even had some of the others try to break in. They tried their best and didn't stand a chance. Plus, I'd be alerted if they even tried. McLaggen has tried many times and failed. I just wanted to finish the story you started hearing at dinner. Will you please sit down?"
As Albus' adrenaline receded, he was able to breathe calmly again. It seemed his new friend had even more up her sleeve than he expected.
"And how can you be sure McLaggen hasn't just bugged this room? Would your boundary prevent that as well?"
Sophia smiled as he said that, probably because he knew about such Muggle things. His father had made a course on Muggle technology and surveillance a mandatory part of Auror training. He had spent some time going through what he could remember in his head, to try to keep up with this strange woman he had been placed with.
"It blocks almost all sorts of frequencies."
"Almost all?"
"Yeah, well, I can't block off the internet, or I would trap myself in here. But don't worry, neither McLaggen nor any of his sycophants know how any of that works. And even if they did, I would still be notified. And I've swept for bugs both with Muggle and magical means."
"Do you mind if I check as well?"
"Go ahead, smartypants."
Albus ignored the insult, or at least he thought it was supposed to be an insult, and started searching, with non-verbal spells for the most part. He didn't want to say it, but he was impressed. None of his spells could penetrate even the first layer of those walls. Some of his attempts caused the computer to beep. Sophia just smiled and silenced the alarm each time. She probably knew what he was doing.
"Looks good to me," Albus said. "Now, what was it you wanted to talk about?" He feigned nonchalance, but he was acutely aware of the fact that he was essentially locked inside this little room. He had no idea how the computer even worked, much less how to operate it to remove the walls around them. He hated being confined. It reminded him of darker times.
"I wanted to tell you everything that I have been afraid to talk about until now. I trust your story, but I sense that you didn't believe me when I said that we aren't a danger to the Wizarding World. Or at least, not all of us are."
Albus didn't say anything. He couldn't deny her words, not after what had happened this morning.
"We are a fairly old organisation. It's always been a place where witches and wizards gathered, those not content with the tight control of the Ministry, yet also not wanting to associate with the "lower" parts of society. If you paid a little attention to Greg during dinner, he told you that much."
Albus nodded. He had paid a bit more attention than he had let on, but he hadn't really understood. It didn't fit with the picture he had formed, both from intelligence at the Ministry and what he had observed. But the Ministry also thought that a man who didn't even seem to be here was one of the leaders, so he was inclined to disregard that information more and more.
"What he didn't tell you, what I prevented him from telling you, so as not to earn McLaggen's ire, was what has happened in recent years. Ever since McLaggen made himself our leader."
"He made himself your leader? You didn't elect him?"
"We don't have a leader. Not technically. We're a group of individuals with like-minded interests, but we all do our own thing. Then McLaggen joined us and started talking about grand ideas, how we should all gather together and make a better future. It's never anything concrete, nor is it criminal, but it sounds great. Until you truly start to pay attention. Those of us who have no interest in power or glory turned him down, but a surprising number listened. About half of the people here would do almost anything he says by now. And many of the others see what he's doing and make sure to keep on his good side to avoid his ire. He's very selective though, of the ones he lets close. You probably saw how the dining hall was divided. The ones in the middle are the most dangerous, they try to do anything to impress him. Including something illegal. They are the ones who jump at any request he makes. And he's the one who owns this place. That is the main reason we haven't booted him out yet. We need his resources."
"Is he the one who made up the challenge of the guestroom?"
Sophia laughed.
"No. He's not nearly clever enough for that. But if he had his way, that would be a true challenge."
"You mean, something bad would actually happen, instead of just being confined in a room dreading that something would happen?"
"I shouldn't be surprised that you've figured that out already. Basically, the test is to make sure we don't let just anyone join in. If you cannot deal with a little pressure, a little loss of control, you cannot expect to flourish in this sort of environment. Recently, a lot of men with shady backgrounds has tried to join, mostly on McLaggen's suggestion. But most of them can't handle the test. By the second day, they're begging us to just let them go. McLaggen doesn't like it, he clearly wants these people to join us, so he tries to offer alternatives. I don't know what that alternative is, but at least we don't have them here. You are the first who seem completely unaffected by being confined to the room in years. I don't know where the others that fail the test ends up, but I suspect you'll find some of them inside McLaggen's house. Few of us have ever scored an invite in there."
Albus found this interesting. Maybe these men were the ones who had started to use the name and were doing questionable experiments. McLaggen's house warranted further investigation. The question was, how would he get in there? He would definitely not be invited and from what he had seen, his area was off limits even to the other members. It wouldn't be easy sneaking in there, especially since they would probably expect him to try. He would have to try when they didn't expect it. Hopefully he could get Sophia to help him with that. Several ideas had started to form in his head.
"Well, as I said, I've been confined to worse places. And I had my wand. I have a different idea for tonight though."
"I'm going to regret agreeing to be your Minder, aren't I?"
"What does that entail?"
"Basically, it means that I am in charge of showing you how things work, to help you set up your own space, if you wish, and be sort of your mentor. I suppose none of them wanted that part of the job. Plus, if you fail, it is a strike against me for suggesting you in the first place. That is one of McLaggen's new rules, and of course it doesn't apply to himself. I suspect Jack really wanted to be the one to watch over you at night, but he didn't want to be in charge of you the rest of the time."
"So will he be responsible for the test tonight?" If he knew that Sophia would be the only one outside, he might have to revise his plan.
"I don't know, but probably. Neither him nor Cormac trusts me to watch you properly. Besides, Jack truly enjoys it. Anyway, let's not waste time. I can't keep up this barrier forever, it would be very suspicious."
"What else is there to talk about?"
"I want to know what you haven't told me about the Knocker. Why is the Ministry so desperate to catch him? Why is he different from any other sort of trafficker?"
Albus didn't want to talk about that. He wasn't supposed to talk about him at all. Sophia already knew too much, and he still didn't know if he could trust her.