Sophini felt the need to defend herself from my comments. Any of her A/Ns will be in italics. Thank you for all the positive feedback. Because of that this will be a longer fic. Nocens Locus will be updated soon. Either tonight or tomorrow.

Author Note - From Sophini - I'd just like to defend myself for the previous chapter... Although I am from the country, it does not mean I am "a country folk." I can be just as sophisticated as Cheshire who's from the town. Also, just because I'm from the country does not mean I'm superstitious! I'm surprisingly NOT superstitious!

Chapter 3

"So... Uh, why do you have a robin again?" George frowned, walking over and picking the stupefied robin up from the ground.

"I found him," Hermione smiled, "And also, Crookshanks was about to kill him... His name's Punar."

"And he was flying about your house because...?"

"Crookshanks attacked him again... And he managed to escape his cage," Hermione sighed.

"I thought you were against keeping animals in cages," George scowled.

"I am! But his wing's injured! I want to make him better... I mean, just look at him!" Hermione cooed, "He's so cute!"

She did not just call me cute! Rodolphus scowled from his stupefied position.

George snorted as he followed Hermione back into the kitchen after closing the door.

Hermione was one crazy girl. But George liked her anyway.

He'd always liked her.

A lot more than Ron ever would.

Ron didn't know he had a good thing until she started going out with someone.

Hermione quietly set the cage on the table again before turning a vase she didn't like into a padlock, taking Punar from George and securely locking the little robin inside. Hermione revived him and turned back to face George.

"Do you know how to look after robins?"

"Hermione, I think you are forgetting something," George smirked, "I failed my third year Care of Magical Creatures class. Why would I know?"

"I don't know!" Hermione groaned, "I don't know what to do with him!"

"Well, how about getting him something to eat?" George suggested.

"Like what?"

"I don't know... A bug or something? I'll help you catch one, come on," George smiled, putting his arm around Hermione and guiding her through the door, "Oh and by the way, there's an Order meeting next week..."

Rodolphus sat up in his cage.

Did that boy just say Order meeting?

If he did, then he had to be a Weasley.

The voices trailed off as George and Hermione headed outside so Rodolphus explored his cage again.

Now, with the padlock, there was no way out.

But did he need a way out?

Granger was part of the Order... And this boy, George, seemed to like her and would obviously be back again.

He could spy on the Order... From the inside.

It was a good plan and he didn't have any other ideas.

Actually, it was a great plan. Spying was what he was good at. It was his job...

...excepting his rather effective interrogation skills...

And if Rodolphus was going to do his job... Then it would be done better than anyone else.

The Death Eater's would come down on the Order before they knew what hit them.

Yes, everything would be perfect...


Crookshanks leapt up the final stair onto the second floor landing.

He didn't like that robin.

Yes, Hermione often did bring wounded animals back to the house but this robin... There was something off about it.

And Hermione was refusing to see that.

A growl built up in the cat's throat as he head-butted Hermione's bedroom door open and strolled inside. This robin was stressing Crookshanks out. And the best treatment for stress, Crookshanks knew, was a nice long sleep. Especially when it was on Hermione's soft bed when she wasn't there. The growl died down and gave way to a purr as Crookshanks jumped onto Hermione's bed and crawled in between the duvet and the pillows.

He would sort out the robin later...


Hermione laughed and fell back onto the grass outside her house. She and George had been outside for a good ten minutes looking for bugs but with no result. They had then changed their minds about finding bugs and had started to play rugby with the ball that Teddy Lupin had left after he had visited her house with Harry last weekend.

Hermione had loved the way Harry was bringing up Teddy. He was allowing him to experience Muggle and wizard life and Hermione thought it was very beneficial... That was until George rugby tackled her, leaving her laughing on the ground. With a sigh, George collapsed beside her.

"Well, that was nice," George smiled, his red hair shining in the sunlight.

"Yeah," Hermione agreed, "And I found a spider for Punar."

"WHAT?" With a yell, George jumped to his feet. Hermione followed a little more gracefully, with a tiny spider dangling from her finger tips.

"I thought it was only Ron who was scared of spiders," She smirked.

"It is... I just... Don't want it to crawl into my... Ear," George stammered.

"Come on," Hermione smiled, "Let's go give this to Punar."

Still smirking, Hermione led the way back into the house.


Rodolphus stared, wide eyed, at the spider in front of him. Granger had set it in his cage and was now looking at him expectantly. Rodolphus was disgusted.

Do you expect me to eat this?

Another happy tweet escaped his beak, making Rodolphus shake with rage.

"I don't think he likes spiders..." Hermione commented.

"Hey, you never know. He might be a Buddhist robin," George grinned. This earned him an elbow in the ribs before Hermione turned back to Rodolphus again.

"Eat up, Punar. We don't want you to get sick."

Rodolphus' only reply was to stare, before turning his back on the spider.

If this is what the food is like, this will be a long stay...


Rabastan was currently in France, tracking the Malfoys. He had managed to find out that they were staying in one of their mansions near Bordeaux. He knew that convincing the Malfoys would be hard, especially after Rookwood's disastrous last visit, and his previous failed attempt.

But, Rabastan loved a challenge, and talking to the Malfoys certainly was one.

Besides, anything was better than trailing after that Longbottom boy...

He knew that he could win over the Malfoys. Their return to the "good side" was only because of Golden boy Potter defending them. When they were free from all charges they suddenly were back in the Public's good graces, not to mention the Ministry's...

That meant more money, more fame...more people to bribe and blackmail...

In order to get the Malfoys back, Rabastan merely had to win them over.

With the plans for the Dark Lord's return, who wouldn't want to be at his side?

The Malfoys could have the good image, and the Dark Lord's favour...

He knew that Lucius would be a powerful ally, even without the Malfoy name.

That man was, without a doubt, Slytherin to the core...

It would be just a matter of time before they were back, where they belonged.

Rabastan lounged back into his chair. The cottage he was staying in was quite comfortable. All he'd had to do to own it was Avada the couple who lived there. Of course, he had used a wand he had...acquired while travelling to France, just to make sure that he couldn't be traced. Of course, he had to then dispose of it...

The wand wasn't that good anyway...

He started wondering how Rodolphus was doing. The lucky bugger got the Granger girl. A fountain of information all stored in a small, curvy body.

Pity she was a mudblood...

And stuck to Potter's side...

That also got Rabastan wondering why Rodolphus hadn't replied to his letter. Usually he would as soon as he got a new lead...

Which, if he knew his brother, shouldn't have taken this long...

But after all, Rodolphus seemed to inherit the worst luck of the two...

Just look at Bellatrix...

Well, wherever Rodolphus was, he was probably just fine...