As promised, the week when Ron was gone. The next chapter will be Hermione. It's really only a T story, if that, but I wanted the people who had read my previous stories to read it, so I'm putting it as M, for now. I may change it. Anyway, enjoy!


*Disclaimer* I do not own Harry Potter.

When I parted with Hermione at the door to the Auror's office, I had no idea that everyone inside could hear what we were saying.

"Oh, Ronnie! I'll miss you so much!" Dane pretended to swoon. Allen caught him.

"Don't worry Doll Face. I'll see you on Saturday. Then we can bump some uglies." He wiggled his eye brows, and I could feel myself blush as I walked to the center of the room.

"Don't worry mate." Harry slung an arm around my shoulder. "They did the same to me when I said good bye to Ginny."

"Yeah." Eric, the eldest member of our team, and a happily married man added. "They're just jealous prats, seeing as they haven't got someone waiting for them to get home." The few attached men and women in the room laughed. Most Auror's stayed single until well into their carrier, seeing as the job was so dangerous. I reached into my pocket and pulled out the beaded bag. All of the team stared at me for about 5 seconds, then burst out laughing, Harry excluded. Harry walked over to his bag, and brought it back as I opened the purse.

"Ron, mate, I can't defend you if you're gonna start carrying a man purse." Eric burst out laughing again, but I just ignored the group and talked to Harry.

"Mione kept the bag packed with the essentials." I told him, grabbing his bag, and shoving and pushing until it was inside. All the laughter had died by the time we had finished adding Harry's bag.

"What, the bloody hell, is that?" Allen looked gob smacked as he tried to figure it out.

"When we were on the run last year Hermione charmed this bag to be able to hold as much stuff as we needed. She kept it packed, just in case with things like essence of ditany, and a small vial of phoenix tears, as well as a tent, books of basic first aid magic to more serious magic fixers to serious defense and attack spells, and some weird muggle foods that don't go bad." Harry and I shuddered, remembering what we had eaten while on the run.

"Is that why you owled us, telling us to not worry about mass, just bring what we need?" Eric asked. I nodded. Everyone started loading up their pack's into the bag. When it was done, Harry and I reviewed the final briefing for the team before we apparated out to the Scottish country side, where the wizards were hold up. The department had planned for us to stay in a muggle residence for the week and apparating out daily to observe, but with my bringing a tent, we decided to do that instead. As soon as we landed ended up in our intended camping spot, Harry and I were moving, setting up the wards we had used with Hermione, as well as others that we had learned during training. By the time we were done, everyone was watching us.

"What?" Harry asked, grabbing the beaded bag from me, pointing his wand at it and getting the tent out, to set up.

"We probably could have waited a few minutes guys." John, an Auror of only a few years said.

"Have you ever gone after anyone really powerful?" Harry asked, not looking at the group while I walked the perimeter, making sure that our spells hadn't disturbed the ground. In places where it had, on the outside of our barrier, I erased the traces. I heard murmurs of 'no' from most of the wizards, even a few of the older ones. I realized, not for the first time, that all of these wizard were fairly green. Harry and I were in charge of taking down a cell of dark wizards with newbies. Great. I conveniently ignored the fact that we were considered new as well. "Well we have, and if you let your guard down for even a second, you could die." Many looked shocked by this news, and realized how serious we were about this mission. Harry had set up the tent, I had made sure that all traces of us were gone, and we convened inside the tent.

"Now," I said, addressing all the wizards in our team. "We will have a watch system. You watch for two hours, with one partner, then two hours with another, before you get relieved. That's a four hour shift." All the men looked unhappy about this. "Harry and I will take the first watch, him for two hours, me for four." The group was confused. "This is so we start off on the right track. I have Harry for the first two hours of my patrol, then one of you comes. After my last two hours are up, you will continue, while someone else will take my place. It will continue on like this until we are done with the mission." I passed around the schedule.

"While Ron and I are on patrol, all of you will be watching the various devices we've set up." There was a sneakoscope, a wireless that was connected to a magical plant we had managed to get into the cell's base, and other various devices. "We need to know what is happening, so you will log anything important, as well as every 15 minutes you will write down something, even if it is 'no new activity' and the time. Always write down the time." Harry held up the schedule I had passed out. "This has our estimated timeline, as well as your watch times, your time watching the other equipment, when you eat and when you sleep.

"Hold it. We have scheduled sleeping time?" Dane burst out.

"We need to remain protected at all times." Harry answered calmly. "Any more questions?" Everyone shook their heads. "Ron and I are going on Patrol, at the two hour mark, we will be inside the wards, waiting for the next person to come out." Harry looked at John. "That's you John. Ron will show you the basics of what needs to be done, and it will be your job to learn it and teach it to the next person." John nodded.

"Eric, you're in charge while we're patrolling. Anything that needs us back here, you patronus us, immediately." We had made sure everyone knew how to make a good patronus, and send a message by it. With that, Harry and I made sure that everyone was where they should be, cast illusion spells on ourselves so that we were nearly invisible, since we wouldn't fit under the invisibility cloak together anymore, and left on our patrol. We walked circles around the area, staying within 150 meters. As we walked, we talked. I filled in Harry on how it went with Hermione, and he said 'I told you so.' Too soon, our patrol was over, and I was trading my best mate for John. I taught him what he needed to know, explained the need for two people, and why you're only with someone for two hours. By the end of my patrol I was tired, and I was glad that it was my sleep time.

As it was, I spent all my free time missing Hermione. I knew Harry felt the same, and that made us poor company for the rest of the team. We were love struck, spending more time away from the women we loved than we had in a long time. I could almost feel her sadness at times, and that made me feel sad as well. While I was focusing on my tasks, I could block the pain, but I knew that it would be waiting for me when I got a moment alone. Harry and I talked a lot, guessing what our girl's might be doing. We always said they were doing something that made them extremely happy, like Ginny playing quiditch, and Hermione visiting some big muggle library, but we knew better.

All the men adapted to the schedule quickly, seeing as we were strict that everything went right. It was unfortunate that sleep was in four hour block, same as everything else, but it was necessary. It was nice that there are 3 sleeping blocks per person in a day, however. Within the first three days, we learned more about the cell than we had in weeks. By Thursday, we were ready to make our move. Harry and I took over an extra watch, and let everyone get some extra sleep, so that they would be prepared for the fight. Even though we had twenty witches and wizards in out team, and the cell only had about 9 people, we knew that dark wizards don't play fair.

We snuck to their base, careful to watch for and deactivate any wards that would give us away. We put on our protective gear, including shielding hats, in case they tried spells that we couldn't block in time. When we got close enough, Harry carefully levitated in a package of Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder, used a special light that made it so only we could see, and made our raid. Allen was hit with a stunning spell, and Pen had her side singed by a spell, but no major injuries were sustained by either side. We detained them, and side along transported them back to the Ministry, two people to each convict. We logged them into the system, then had to stay for a briefing. By the time we were done, it was very early Saturday morning. I headed straight home, knowing that the woman I loved would be there.