"Seamus!"

Seamus hit the ground as jets of red light shot past his head. His hair crackled and sizzled with the heat, and bests of sweat kept falling into his eyes. Dean Thomas, best mate and current partner, were chasing off the last of the now unfrozen Death Eaters. Apparently no one told them when the spell was going to wear off, and they were mostly unprepared when the black clad wizards suddenly started moving again. He rolled over, wand pointing at whatever was in front of him, and shot out a volley of Stunners. Leaping to his feet, Seamus sprinted to where Dean was and helped hoard the Death Eaters into a wall of some sort.

"We gotta box 'em in!" he yelled over the sound of fighting. Dean nodded, hitting no less than three Death Eaters. "I swear, if Harry better be owning us a favor after this!"

Dean laughed, ducking another shot. "Extra rations, for what, Seamus? Three weeks?"

"At least a month!" They were both laughing now-Harry never actually gave them extra rations, he couldn't afford to. But he always did hand them off a massive I.O.U. that paid off pretty well. Last time, Seamus used one to like, sleep for more than five hours. Still, he figured they had to be alive to collect, and he intercepted a Death Eater trying to get the jump on them. He was always better at physical fighting than Dean was, so he jump-kicked the Death Eater in the chest and tackled him to the ground. Dean sent a well aimed Stunner at the man, knocking him out, and pulled Seamus up.

"Come on, that's nearly all of them." he said, wiping blood off his forehead. Seamus grinned, almost feral, and swung around to face the three still standing.

They seemed to a little too cautious to move, a little too smart. That was probably why they were still alive-Seamus narrowed his eyes, barely moving. There was still a wand hanging loosely from one of their hands and he didn't want his first move to set them off. Still, offense was the best defense. His arm snapping like a whip, Seamus sent a curse through the slits in his mask, and one of the others(a woman, Dean thought) squared off with Dean, dodging his own hexes. She was wandless, but she seemed fast enough to keep up with him irregardless of having a Shield Charm. She sidled closer to him through wayward motions and managed to hit him square in the chest. Dean rolled with the blow, crouching and seizing her arm as she pulled it back. He yanked her over his shoulder and onto the rock floor, one foot pinning her down and wand pointing at her throat. Behind him, Seamus Disarmed and Stunned the other Death Eater and look around for the third.

The woman under Dean's wand let out a choking cry as the third Death Eater's cloak whipped out of sight around a corner. "Shit." Seamus hissed, making to go after him. Dean grabbed his shoulder, shaking his head.

"Not what we need, mate. Get rid of this lot and we can take these two back to camp. Interrogate them or something."

"Harry never said-"

"Harry didn't know they were going to wake up. This could be useful."

"Well, he's going to be right pissed." Seamus said grudgingly. "Go on, Stun her and we'll do the rest of them."

Dean removed his boot from her throat, not anticipating the woman's foot to shoot up, knocking him flat on his back. She flipped up and turned to run, but Seamus hit her with a curse to the back, causing to her to double over and retch onto the rock. He helped Dean up, staring at the vomiting girl with disgust. "Ugh. Ron taught me that one."

Dean shrugged. "Ugh is right. Come on, let's go."

Hermione, cloak sweeping through the halls of the Resistance, was absolutely fuming.

Honestly, that wasn't even a novelty anymore. It seemed as though any time she spoke to her old friends or Harry's bloody cabinet, she ended up mad. Maybe it was just that no rescue mission would be provided for Luna, or that Ginny had somehow managed to coerce her way back into Harry's life. God, it was completely illogical, how could he think a relationship was the best idea now? And to make matters worse, Harry couldn't seem to decide whether or not he was playing the objective ruler. Because the decision to leave Luna was just cold, never mind practical. It was hard accepting such bloody rulings, when she knew that even the greater good couldn't be worth Luna Lovegood.

She was on her way to Ron's bunk, where Harry had promised to meet the two of them after the meeting. She was late, but if a happily snogging couple she passed were anything to go by, so was Harry. Ron ended up acting in the role Harry filled at school-she could rant at him all she wanted. And yet, Hermione found herself a little wistful. After the first and only kiss the two of them shared at the Battle, Hermione couldn't find it in her to pursue the relationship, and she knew that Ron couldn't either. After burying Fred, the only thing on his mind was revenge. It was an ugly fire, but it was part of what started the Resistance. He had, thankfully, mellowed out, but nothing was ever the same between the two of them. She did wish sometimes-Hermione's schoolgirl dreams all involved being married and having children with Ron, but right now? Right now they were best friends, allies, and outlets. It was very true that without Ron this past year, she would have gone on a murder spree.

Harry...had changed. When the Resistance was doing well, and he was between meetings, he seemed like his old self. But as soon as hi title and duties came up, Harry turned cold. He was a soldier now, a commander. Hermione suspected that after seeing the D.A. in the Battle made him put a little more effort into literally becoming what the public needed the Boy Who Lived to be.

She missed him, though. And he missed his friends, no doubt. But there was no helping it, Hermione thought. He was who he needed to be to beat Voldemort.

Hermione knocked thrice on Ron's door, and it opened instantly. Ron's exceptionally messy hair was like a flame in the gloom, and he offered her a small smile.

"Hey. You know where Harry is?" He moved aside to let her in.

Hermione rolled her eyes, entering and plopping down on Ron's bed. "Snogging your sister."

Ron groaned. "I'd think Ginny would have waited at least a day before moving in on him." He pulled out a rolling chair and sat down on it, facing her. "I know it's been a while, but-"

"Yeah, tell me about it" she shrugged. "How was your mum?"

"Overjoyed, of course. I haven't seen tears like that since we made prefect."

Hermione smirked, staring up at the peeling ceiling. "Is it just me, or are you less than happy to be reunited with Ginny?"

"It's not that I'm not happy, she's my sister and I love her, but god, she can be so mental sometimes. And it's like-she hasn't changed, you know?" Ron shrugged. "She's still...I don't want to say 'normal', but she's not like us."

"I get it." said Hermione. "We're kind of conditioned, yeah? Soldiers, like she said that one time. And Ginny hasn't been living like us, so seeing normal people just causes backlash."

There was another knock on the door, and Ron yelled a 'Come in!'. Harry poked his head through the door, letting himself in. Hermione noticed the exceptionally bright color of his face and rolled her eyes again.

"What's up?" said Harry, taking a seat against the wall on the floor.

Ron shot him a look. "Bloody hell, mate, it's been what, an hour and you're already exchanging saliva?"

Harry sighed, and buried his face in his hands. "I can't help it." he said, a little muffled. "She just comes up to me and asks me if I bloody care about her, and it's the worst. I'm the worst."

"You are the worst." Hermione said playfully. Oh, look, Old Harry was making an appearance. Maybe having Ginny around was a good thing. "Alright Harry, seriously, why'd you call us here?"

Harry reemerged, frowning. "I just wanted to...throw some ideas around. We haven't been getting much intel lately, so hearing what Nev said to you, Hermione, about the Resistance being played off as fake, I think we should do something about that."

"We haven't got the man power." Ron said. "Not for a strike."

"See, that's not what I'm thinking." Harry said, a little more emphatically now."Remember the Quibbler stunt back in fifth year?"

Hermione grinned to herself. She was particularly proud of that one. "Yes?"

"So what if we just get the word out. The Resistance lives, or something like that. Just so we can lift moral, get the people to support us. Not publicly, but enough to fight on our side in this final showdown we're working towards."

Hermione covered her mouth with her hands. "Oh my- Harry you're talking about a poster campaign. You're talking about running against the Dark Lord in for popular vote."

And now they were all laughing, because the idea of Voldemort in an election was just too much. The worst thing was, it might work.

"Wait." Ron said, sobering. "This is gonna make us a target again."

Harry wiped a tear from behind his glasses. "They sent a full frontal assault today. I think we're already a target. Which means it's time to get risky."

"Oh, good." Ron said. "We're always the best with risky."

Hermione nodded. "I hate to say it, but yeah, we are. How are you going to pitch this to the Order?"

"I'm not." Harry said. "I want a small team on this."

Hermione frowned. "Harry, no."

"I mean it. The Order, my cabinet, it's gotten too political. Too Ministry. I'm not having this, if this-uh-poster campaign works, I'm taking over. Completely."

The other two stared blankly at Harry, who nodded defiantly. "I mean it. Don't look at me like that, we got more done at seventeen in a fucking tent than they have. I know, we have to care about these other people too, and perhaps the Order is more for those people's safety, but it's time to attack."

Ron actually stood up. Hermione blinked tears out of her eyes. "Oh, Harry!"

"Thank. Merlin." said Ron. "You have no idea how long we've been waiting to hear that, mate."

Harry blinked. "What?"

"Oh come on, Harry, they've been holding us back for ages, but you seemed so pleased with them-" Hermione cried.

"Pleased? With them? It's been stifling!" They were all standing up, and all Hermione wanted to do was fling her arms around his neck. Oh thank Merlin, thank everyone everywhere that made this happen.

"We've got to proceed properly, though." she said, smiling broadly and yet bringing them all down to earth. "Alright. So how are we going to topple two stiflingregimes before tea?"

"Keep it peaceful." Harry said. "It's not like they're all bad, McGonagall has been talking to me a lot lately, and I think she's fed up with them too. It's blokes like Elphias Doge we gotta worry about."

Ron nodded. "How about you say you're implementing a more streamlined version of the Order? Like, with only the trustworthy people."

"That's an idea." said Hermione. Ron looked decently pleased with himself. "But they're going to protest."

Harry rolled a hand. "Hermione, they can't say that I haven't got the authority. If a split of the organization happens, they know full well every single person here is going to follow me. But that's not what I'm going for, if we split we'll just be that less powerful."

"I agree." said Hermione. "Merlin and Agrippa, I wish Luna were here. She actually knows politics better than any of us."

"She does?"

"Her family runs a newspaper, Ronald. Anyway, we can get some others in on this to help?"

"Yeah, we'll need them. Alright." said Harry, clapping his hands together. "We're going to do this properly. Hermione, can I get a list of trustworthy people we can allow in, and a separate one of Order members? Ron, mate, I need PR. I need to know what the soldiers think of becoming a target, start with the best and move down. I'm gonna track down Parvati Patil and get her to design me some motherfucking campaign posters."

Hermione grinned. "Done and done."

Ron clapped Harry on the shoulder. "It's good to be back, right?" he said, and exited the room. Harry smiled bashfully at both of them.

"Yeah." he said brightly. "It is."

Seamus squatted down by the female Death Eater, now shackled up to a wall. Dean had gone to find Harry, but for know they stuck the two captured Death Eaters in the 'cells'. They were, in actuality, old living quarters, but they made do. "Wanna start with a name?" he asked.

He could see her cognac eyes narrowing behind the mask, and Seamus wrenched it off. The woman's face was pale as snow, her dark hair tucked into a bun by the nape of her neck, her mouth twisted into a snarl made less attractive by the thin stream of bile tracking down her chin. Oh no, Seamus thought sardonically, rolling his eyes. She's fucking pretty.

"Look." he said, "We're not going to torture or kill you unless we absolutely have to, and you're not really opening up any windows."

The woman lifted her chin proudly, and continued glaring at him. She pressed her lips together, and threw him a bitter smile.

Seamus, however, had seen her type before in one Bellatrix Black. "Yeah, okay, you're happy to die for the Dark Overlord, or whatever they're calling him these days. Fine. No problem. I'm just gonna get Harry-Harry Potter, you've heard of him, dear-and he'll figure out what to do with you."

"No!" the woman cried out, surprising the both of them. Her eyes widened, and she looked like she was cursing herself for speaking. "Just-no. Don't bring him down here."

"Why not?" Seamus asked, inwardly praising himself on breakthrough.

"He's a monster." she said emphatically. "I've heard the stories, alright? You people can't fool me, everyone knows Ha-The Boy Who Lived is a cold blooded killing machine."

"I think-I think you might be a little misinformed." he said, shaking his head. "Harry's one of the nicest blokes I know, promise. Went to school with him and everything." She was shrinking away from him now too, and he quickly backtracked. "Okay, anyway, can I get your name?"

Her eyes fluttered down and to the opposite wall, never daring to have eye contact. "Imogen."

"That's a nice name, Imogen." Seamus said, hoping it didn't sound too stilted. Dean was way better at this than he was. "How old are you, were you at Hogwarts?"

Imogen shook her head. "I was at Durmstrang. I left school last year."

"Huh." he said. "You don't have much of an accent. I know a Durmstrang guy, he's been here for years and he still can't speak English too well."

"I'm good with languages." the woman whispered.

The door opened slowly, and Dean entered. "You got her talking, then? I found Fearless Leader here in Ron's room." Harry trailed behind him, not looking as authoritative as a leader should.

"What did you say about her?" Harry asked. Imogen gasped, eyes flicking to his scar, and yanked at the chains that bound her. When they refused to yield, she exhaled sharply, breathing out the stark terror on her face, and closed her eyes.

"She says she went to Durmstrang." Seamus said, staring at her reaction. Harry looked dumbfounded. "Her name's Imogen."

Harry nodded, walking closer to the shackled girl. "Imogen?" he asked, convincing kindness in his voice.

"I won't tell you anything." She said, had and fast. 'I don't care how good at torture you are, I don't care if you are The Boy Who Lived-just-just kill me already."

Harry frowned. "I don't-what gives you the idea that I'd kill you on sight? You're a Death Eater, right? Doesn't Voldemort still try to convince his followers that I'm a helpless teenager that survived on pure luck?"

Imogen's eyes snapped open. "I am not a Death Eater!" she hissed. "And everyone knows about the people you massacred at the Battle of Hogwarts, and all the Snatchers you killed that year! There are horror stories about you!"

His jaw dropped. "Okay, what? That...literally made zero sense." Harry looked directly at her, and squatted down next to Seamus. "Show me your eyes." he commanded.

She didn't resist, just displayed her bright, glassy whiskey eyes to him in a show of defiance. whatever Harry found in them, he didn't seem to like it. He stood, motioning at Seamus. "I need McGonagall, and Ron and Hermione. She's completely laced with Memory Charms, and I think there might actually be an Imperius on her."

As Seamus turned to leave, Harry grabbed his arm. "One more thing, both of you. We got newcomers during the fight. Neville and Ginny are alive."

It was like Christmas came early.

Harry gave a small smile. "And I owe you guys one.

Voldemort let his pale palms press against the dark wood table, Nagini slithering across his shoulders. No, not Nagini, another snake he had gotten to console himself after her death. Names didn't have importance when the object to be named was a figurehead-he didn't need to name this snake.

"Yaxley." he said coolly. "Avery. What have I told you about retreat?"

The two men, heads bowed, stood in front of him. "You said you wouldn't excuse it, my Lord." Yaxley said quietly.

"Correct, Yaxley, though sometimes I do wonder if there is intelligence in you or just blind memorization." he hissed. "And yet, you retreat. Killing barely any of my enemies, losing half of your attack force, what am I to do with you?"

"That's not all, my Lord." Avery piped up. Yaxley, next to him, closed his eyes in defeat.

Voldemort raised an eyebrow. "Well?"

"Yaxley managed to escape, but they got the girl and Carrow."

"The girl?"

"The Hawkins girl, my Lord. Imogen Hawkins."

Rage boiled up through his veins. He had put a lot of work into Imogen Hawkins. The Greengrass family would not be pleased, and he was downright furious. "How could have you been so foolish?" he spat. "Of all the people, you lose the one person I tell you it is unacceptable to lose?"

Their screams would echo in the dark hall or hours.

AN: Yooooo

New chapter, woo. This is basically me procrastinating during midterms, to be honest, so I'm both short tempered and out of my mind. Anyhow, I hope you liked this one! This is where plot starts happening. Trust me.

I was a little disappointed with reviews this week-er, haven't gotten any, despite the countless hits. I mean, still looking for a beta, so it would be really nice if a couple of you could shoot me a message if I messed something up or got anything wrong.

Next chapter decidedly earlier than expected! I'm nearly half way through.

Love,

13opals