div style="font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"emEarly the next day/embr /br /Ginny had been taken to St. Mungos immediately after her parents had returned and Binding Hexes had been placed on the defeated Death Eaters. It had done little to help Mrs. Weasley's worrying when she had gone in to see her daughter only to find her eldest son in the bed next to her. Bill was awake and sitting up, though wincing every time he /br /When they asked him about what Michael Jacobs had said (he and the other two had not gone to the Wizarding hospital, instead taking the captured Death Eaters to the Ministry) he just shook his head and said he didn't remember anything about a Michael /br /"So I had just come home, because I hadn't been feeling good, so I took the day off," he was saying. "And there's a knock on my door. I got up to answer it but then someone blasted the door in and I guess knocked me out. Next thing I know, I'm lying here with you lot." He frowned at /br /"You still haven't told me what Ginny's doing here though," he added, looking confused. Molly tried to hide her sob, but to no avail. The Cruciatus Curse could sometimes cause memory loss and…other mental /br /This was the third time he had asked that /br /Harry only heard bits of Bill's story though. While the Weasleys and Hermione were grouped around Bill's bed, he was sitting in a chair next to Ginny's. She was talking quietly to him and had just gotten as far as asking Harry if he thought the girl who had healed her could do anything for Bill when she noticed he wasn't listening at /br /His hand was on top of hers and he was staring down at her in a way that would have creeped her out if it was anyone else, apparently deep in thought. It then hit her that he hadn't said more than a few words since the /br /Instead he was dwelling on what Michael had said, as well as what had happened to Ginny. Harry knew he was about to say Sirius' name, but he couldn't make heads or tails of the question "Have you seen him yet?" He considered the idea that a body had been recovered after all, but there was something in Michael's tone and face that told him that wasn't it. Making a mental note to ask him about his godfather, along with a few other things, he turned his attention fully to the redhead lying in the bed beside /br /hr style="color: #000000;" noshade="noshade" size="1" /br /br /Rufus Scrimgeour was sitting behind his heavy wood desk, staring intently at a memo from his Head Auror. He was just about to put the report down and start on another - again from the Auror department - when the door of his office swung open. Scowling, he put away his drawn wand and motioned for the man in the doorway to come inside. He did so, dragging something large and heavy in his right /br /"Good to see you too, Minister," Michael said as he carelessly kicked the polished door behind him closed. "Hope you don't mind if I brought a friend," he added as he threw his burden onto the floor in front of /br /"I just thought" he went on, ignoring the Minister's look of outrage as he realized what was on his floor, "that the, what is it now, two?" he looked at Scrimgeour inquiringly, "the two Death Eaters who haven't managed to escape Azkaban yet might be getting a little lonely. So I brought them a friend. Jeff and Sarah are downstairs with a few other new playmates," he finished, prodding Greyback with his /br /Scrimgeour finally looked away from Greyback and back at Michael, who was now leaning easily on a wall, his hands in his pockets. "Jeff and Sarah…" he said slowly, "are they your people? Are they, what are you calling yourselves, STRIKE?" he asked in a very polite, very forced tone, his eyes /br /"Yes, they are" Michael said shortly. "And please Minister, don't attempt to have them detained. Their temperament towards the Ministry is similar to mine and if one of the Aurors tried to get too touchy-feely with them, especially Sarah, it wouldn't be pretty."br /br /Scrimgeour glared at him a moment and Michael continued to look at him impassively. He could tell he had angered Scrimgeour with his subtle threat, but both men also knew he was good for /br /"And what about you Jacobs?" he asked quietly. "It's just you and me in here. What if I decided to arrest you for vigilantism? By the time your friends got here my people would have dealt with them…"br /br /To his surprise, Michael smiled. "I'd hate to make a mess in your new office, especially as I see you have a new carpet, I wonder how many taxpayer Galleons that was…? As for arresting me, I'm afraid you'll find that, right before he was sacked, dear old Fudge passed a law making STRIKE an officially unofficial Ministry task /br /Apparently we're a sub department of Magical Games and Sports or something due to some bureaucracy. Anyway… Staffon wants to see you. Says it's time you two had a proper meeting"br /br /Scrimgeour looked even angrier than he did when Michael threatened him. "The Ministry of Magic does not negotiate with terrorists," he said /br /"Oh would you cut the crap?" Michael said impatiently, pushing himself off the wall. "Just agree to the damn meeting so I can get going. Call us whatever you like, the term I hear the most is heroes, but whatever, I don't care. Just say you'll meet with Staffon, alright?"br /br /Scrimgeour sighed; perhaps it was time to meet the man. "Fine, fine," he said wearily. "I'll have the bloody meeting. But you and me, Jacobs" his eyes glinted malevolently, "we have a lot to discuss first."br /br /"Sure do," Michael said turning for the door. "Just not right now. I'm a busy man, see?"br /br /"Now wait a minute here Jacobs!" he snarled, anger flaring up again, just as Michael was about to turn the doorknob. "You don't speak to me like that. I'm the Minister now!" he /br /"And?"br /br /"And that means you show me the respect you never did when I was your boss! It's things like that that got you kicked out of the Aurors! You think that now that you're with emthem/em you're so important and you can talk to me how you like?"br /br /Michael turned from the door and the expression on Scrimgeour's face changed, though only slightly, at least much less than Michael's had. A cold anger filled /br /It took a lot to make him this angry, and when he finally did reach that point, people stopped wondering how he ever held his own against /br /"You listen to me Minister," he whispered. "You leave my friends out of this. We never asked for your help, nor have we ever interfered with the Aurors unless it was to save a life. Which I have already done today, by the way."br /br /Scrimgeour wasn't quick enough to hide his confusion and Michael noticed. "Your Auror guard did a good job letting a few friendly Death Eaters," he gestured again at Fenrir, "get at Potter. Now I know you don't give a rat's ass about him, but I really can't think of a better way to get yourself sacked than to let Harry Potter get killed a month into your term."br /br /He turned, then stopped again with his hand on the crystal knob. "And just to clarify, you were never my boss and I chose to leave. I think you remember why. Sorry another mutual friend of ours had to miss this fun little party. Bella had to leave at the last minute." And with that he stepped out the door, passed the receptionist without a word, and headed towards the atrium, intent on Flooing his way out as soon as /br /hr style="color: #000000;" noshade="noshade" size="1" /br /br /Six teens and two adults were squeezed into the Burrows sitting room. The adults looked worried, three of the teens who were sitting together looked curious, and the other three on the couch opposite the other three all had different expressions. Nobody was /br /Sarah, sitting in the middle of the couch, was looking around, taking in the room and the people in it while looking politely interested. Jeff, who was on her left, had a very unpleasant expression on and was staring at the floor as though hoping it would /br /Michael had his eyes closed, was sitting straight backed, and was rubbing the back of his neck. The three STRIKE agents were sitting in the living room of the Burrow along with the Trio and the elder two /br /"So…" Michael spoke at last, putting his feet down and looking around. "Uh, nice place you've got," he said feebly. "Listen, I don't like ordering people around, especially in their own house," he addressed Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, "but I… we need to talk to these three," he nodded at Harry, Ron, and Hermione, "alone. I know today's been hard, but this is important."br /br /Mrs. Weasley looked like she was going to say no, but Arthur held up his hand. "Molly, I believe we can trust them." She opened her mouth but he pressed on "Look, dear, they've already saved how many of our children? We'll be in the next room if you need anything," he told the room at large. And they left, leaving the six teens to stare at each /br /"Right," Michael said awkwardly. "Well I'm Michael Jacobs, this is Sarah Crystalake," he indicated the witch next to him, "And this is Jeff Allero." Jeff only grunted, still looking down. "Ignore him," Michael /br /"We shouldn't be here," Jeff said shortly. "Not like this. We should've been faster."br /br /Michael shook his head and looked down. He watched the floor a moment, then looked back /br /Hermione looked at Harry and Ron before starting, "We never really got to thank you for what you did... I'm Herm -"br /br /"Hermione Granger, I know," Michael interrupted. "And you're welcome. So you're Ron Weasley, right?" Michael asked a very startled Ron. Ron and Hermione didn't have Harry's experience with people knowing their /br /"I know about you all. We stay informed," he added to answer their questioning looks. "But never mind that now, we've got more important things to talk about…" he said as though steeling himself for /br /"You're going to tell them?" Jeff asked. "Thought it was top secret."br /br /Sarah looked at him wearily. "That's the whole point of our mission, Jeff. Staffon wants them to know, so we're here to tell them," she said /br /"Sorry, I missed something," Ron said at last "But tell us what, exactly?" Michael noticed he glanced at Hermione as he said it and guessed she had habit of answering his questions. She only shrugged though, so Michael took a deep /br /"So what do you three know about the Slytherin Seven?"/div