VII.

Diagon and Dolores

The next week was mercifully clear of visions of Voldemort, though on occasion, Harry's scar would burn and he would feel faint echoes of emotions that were not his own. The regular school letters arrived, and Ginny, to Mrs. Weasley's chagrin, (and much to Ginny's relief, Harry suspected), was not selected as a Prefect. She didn't seem bothered at all by it, saying that she "didn't want to have to deal with all the rubbish of the job," an attitude which scandalized her mother and Hermione, and amused Harry and her brothers.

"It's not a rubbish job at all," Hermione had said heatedly when Ginny made her opinion known. "It's a very good position and one that gives you a great deal of responsibility and authority."

"Yeah, but wouldn't I be a hypocrite if I punished younger students for pranks and then went out and did my own?" Ginny replied, her face the picture of offended virtue. Harry laughed while Hermione just rolled her eyes and gave up.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione also filled out their class selection forms. Harry immediately dropped History of Magic and Divination, relieved that he would never have to hear another death prediction from Professor Trelawney, nor listen to Professor Binns wheeze on like a vacuum cleaner on its last legs. He did stick with the four classes required for an Auror, Transfiguration, Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Potions, as well as sign up for Care of Magical Creatures and Herbology, making a total of six classes, which apparently was the regular load for sixth and seventh years. Ron signed up for the same classes, except Potions, making his year slightly light, something which he never tired of pointing out to Hermione, who was taking all the courses that she'd gotten an O.W.L. in, except for Astronomy and History, which didn't offer N.E.W.T. levels.

A week and a half after Harry's birthday, Mrs. Weasley announced as they all sat at breakfast (Ron had gotten up remarkably early, for him) that they would be headed into Diagon Alley in order to purchase their school supplies. "You'll have a guard," she'd added privately to Harry, who had groaned when she was out of earshot. This was going to get bloody old, bloody fast.

An hour after breakfast, Harry, Hermione, Ron, Ginny, and Mrs. Weasley were standing in the parlor, preparing to Floo into Fred and George's shop in Diagon Alley, where they would meet the escort from the Order. Harry tucked his glasses safely into his pocket, as Floo travel was not one of his strengths. Nearly every time he'd done it in the past, he'd wound up with broken glasses.

A moment after tossing a handful of glittering powder into the flames and calling out, "Ninety-four Diagon Alley!", two pairs of hands caught him as he stumbled out of the fireplace and into a riot of color. Harry put his glasses back onto his face, and looked up to see Fred and George grinning widely at him.

"Manages to duel personally with You-Know-Who—" began George.

"Not to mention fight off ten Death Eaters—" continued Fred.

"But the poor lad still can't travel by Floo!" finished George.

"Oh, shut up," Harry said, but couldn't help but smile. The store was decorated in what appeared to be a purposely offensive color scheme, with lime green walls and bright purple shelves. The floor was bright orange, and Harry had to squint for a second at the assault on his eyes. Fred and George were wearing tie-dyed robes, which only served to add to the visual chaos of the store.

"D'you like our decor?" asked George happily.

"We made it as unique as possible," said Fred.

Harry rolled his eyes and stepped forward just as Ron appeared in the fireplace behind him. "Bloody hell!" he exclaimed, stepping out into the garish store. "Should have brought sunglasses!" Ron immediately went looking through the shelves, grinning in delight at what he found there.

"Hang on a moment," said George, as Harry went to follow him. "Wait until everyone's come through. Fred and I need to talk to you." Harry stood patiently next to the twins as first Ginny, then Hermione, and finally, Mrs. Weasley came through the fireplace. All of them squinted at the colors. Mrs. Weasley went to grab Harry, but he told her that he needed to speak to Fred and George, and she went off to look for their guard.

"Right," said Fred, as soon as their mother was out of earshot. "Now, Harry, since you're the one who provided us with our initial investment—"

"And fought hard against that rotten bint Umbridge—"

"Not to mention drive off You-Know-Who himself about four times—"

"We've decided that anything you want here is yours for the taking. Even if it's a custom order. We'd be honored to make it for you."

Harry had never seen the twins appear so serious. "Guys, you really don't have to do that," he began, but Fred cut him off.

"We know we don't, Harry. But we owe you a huge debt. If there's anything we can do to help you—"

"Anything," said George emphatically.

"You need only ask. Ah, and I see that your guard has arrived!"

To Harry's delight, Lupin and Tonks had just walked in the door.

"Wotcher, Harry!" said Tonks cheerfully, ignoring the box of trick wands that she knocked over. Several wands fell onto the floor and turned into an odd assortment of rubber chickens, rainbow handkerchiefs, and various types of cutlery.

"Hi, Tonks," said Harry. "Hi, Remus."

Lupin smiled at him. "Well, let's be off. I don't think there will be any trouble in the Alley today, with the Aurors and Law Enforcement Patrol wizards all over, but no sense being out here any longer than necessary."

Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny, along with Tonks and Lupin, walked out of Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, and the change in atmosphere was a drastic one. The usually lively Diagon Alley was much emptier than usual. There were serious-looking wizards standing every few stores, glancing around with cold eyes. Several stores had broken windows, and the walls of many more had holes or scorch marks in them. "We still haven't finished cleaning up," said Tonks, shaking her head. "But it still looks a lot better than it did right after the battle was over."

They came up to Gringotts. In front of the bank was a solitary figure, in the dark gray robes of the Aurors. He had long flowing red hair, a shade or two darker than the bright Weasley red, and his mossy green eyes never stopped scanning the semi-deserted street for threats. Tonks waved at him. He smiled briefly and his eyes crinkled slightly, before he assumed his previous grim expression and went back to scanning.

"That's Darius Vance," Tonks whispered to the four of them. "He's one of the more senior Aurors, a little bit above Kingsley. Kind of a weird fellow, but he's brilliant, and a very good duelist, as well."

"Vance?" said Hermione. "Related to Emmeline Vance?"

"I don't think so," said Tonks. "They're both in the Order, and they've met a couple times. Darius thinks it's funny; he's Muggle-born, and she's pureblood. Won't stop cracking jokes."

"He's in the Order?" asked Harry.

"Yeah," said Tonks. "Joined up last year, and I guess he was in it when You-Know-Who was first running around. He may work for the Ministry, but believe me, there's no love lost there." She grinned. "Dumbledore says that he's quickly turning into another Ministry malcontent like Moody."

They walked past Darius Vance and into Gringotts, where they were met with Goblin security, which was considerably more than Harry remembered the last time he'd been in the building. At least a half dozen Goblins now flanked the gilded doors of the bank, clad in silver armor and wielding nasty but effective-looking weapons. The goblins definitely seemed to understand the intimidating nature of their equipment; they rattled their weapons at passersby and made horrible faces. He heard one of them laugh about it as they passed.

Harry's vault was fuller than he'd remembered, most likely because he'd added about half of Sirius's gold assets to it. He scooped as much gold as he could into a bag, before closing the door, not meeting the eyes of any of the Weasleys. Mrs. Weasley stopped by their family vault, which to Harry's pleasant surprise, had a considerable pile of Galleons in it.

"Sirius left Mum and Dad some," whispered Ron, and Harry smiled. No one deserved that gold more than the Weasleys.

Their first stop in Diagon Alley was Flourish and Blott's, the bookstore. It seemed busier than the rest of the stores on the Alley, but that really wasn't saying much, Harry reflected. Most of the customers were younger wizards and witches and their parents, presumably doing their Hogwarts shopping.

Harry wandered off, looking for his required schoolbooks. There were quite a lot of them this year, though they'd have to last him over the next two years, so he probably wouldn't be making any stops in the store for books next summer. He had just picked up Advanced Transfiguration and was paging through one of his N.E.W.T. Charms books, One Hundred Very Useful and Irritatingly Complex Spells, when he caught sight of a person he'd never expected to see again.

Dolores Umbridge, the short, tyrannical, and to Harry's thinking, irredeemably evil former Headmistress of Hogwarts was wandering idly through the bookstore. He felt a surge of hatred strong enough to make his head hurt flow through him, and ducked back behind the bookshelf, hoping against hope that she hadn't she seen him. He had no desire to confront her, not with so many other things on his shoulders at the moment. Harry wasn't entirely sure how he would react if she actually tried speaking to him; he only knew it would probably be brief, violent, and probably result in his expulsion from Hogwarts for underage magic and probable imprisonment in Azkaban for assaulting a Ministry official. He put his books down and started to make for the door, looking for his friends to warn them of her presence.

But his curiosity began to set its hooks in him as well.

What was Umbridge doing here? Shouldn't she be up in the Ministry trying desperately to help Fudge maintain his loosening grip on power? Hoping desperately that Hermione, Ron, and Ginny hadn't seen her, nor she them, he pulled out his Invisibility Cloak (which he'd taken to carrying around with him in a Moody-like act of paranoia), wrapped it around his shoulders, and poked his head out from behind the shelf. She was nowhere in sight.

He had just walked around the corner when he heard a noise behind him, and his father's Auror ring started to burn his finger. Making sure that the Cloak was still fully concealing him, he looked behind him to see Umbridge walking through the aisle that he'd just left, her wand drawn. She obviously had seen him. Wondering why on earth she was looking for him with her wand drawn, Harry carefully circled back through another aisle and came up behind her.

Her flabby, toadish face had confusion written all over it. Harry saw her shrug slightly, then put her wand away and walk towards the exit. He followed her out of the store, and throwing caution to the winds, down Diagon Alley towards the entrance to Knockturn Alley. Why in Merlin's name was Dolores Umbridge going into Knockturn Alley? Evil old hag she might have been, but he would have bet a healthy sum of Galleons that she wasn't a Death Eater.

Then things came perfectly into focus as a figure dressed in black stepped out of a shadowy doorway, the cowl of its robes drawn up over its head. Though Harry couldn't see the face, there was no mistaking the drawling, arrogant voice of Lucius Malfoy. "I saw the Potter boy heading into Flourish and Blott's with the werewolf half-breed and his little friends," said Umbridge, but her voice was flat, dull, and listless. Come to think of it, there was something strange about her eyes... "But he disappeared while I was looking for him." she was saying. Then, to Harry's amazement, her eyes seemed to clear for a moment, and she said, "Wait, what am I doing here? You!" she shrieked, pointing at Malfoy. "You're a Death Eater!" It couldn't have been clearer that she was about to dash out of Knockturn Alley and call an Auror over.

Malfoy quickly raised his wand and muttered, "Imperio!" Umbridge immediately relaxed, and the hazy look came into her eyes again. Then he put it away and continued as though this was nothing special. "Very well," he drawled. "I want you to follow him as best you can while Hogwarts is still out of session. If you get a chance to capture him, by all means take it. Once the school year begins, do your best to incapacitate him or arrange for his transport out of the school without drawing attention to yourself. While he is under Dumbledore's care, he will be exceedingly hard to get to. That will be all." With a sudden crack, Malfoy Disapparated.

Umbridge remained standing still for a moment, then turned around and walked out of Knockturn Alley. Harry followed her, and when he saw that she was headed towards a different store, he went back into Flourish and Blott's, and went straight to Lupin.

He poked Lupin gently in the side, and whispered, "It's Harry. I'm under the cloak."

"Why are you under the cloak?" Lupin asked, sounding slightly exasperated and concerned at the same time.

"I need to talk to you in private," Harry said, ignoring the question. "It's urgent."

"All right, Harry. Follow me." Lupin went over to Tonks, and whispered something in her ear. She nodded and headed off towards Mrs. Weasley. Lupin led Harry out of the store and into a well-concealed corner of Diagon Alley Harry took off the cloak.

"All right, Harry, what's going on?"

Harry briefly explained what had happened with Umbridge and what he'd seen Malfoy do to her in Knockturn Alley. As he did so, Lupin's expression went from curiosity to surprise to disgust and finally to concern. After Harry finished explaining what he'd seen and heard, Lupin stood silently for a moment, then said, "I have to go tell Tonks. I thought you were just being paranoid, but..." He gave Harry a faint smile. "Well done, Harry. This is important information. I'll have Tonks and Molly keep an eye out for Umbridge, and we'll warn you if we see her around."

Harry followed Lupin back into Flourish and Blotts, again under the cover of his cloak. When he'd taken it off and found them, Hermione, Ron, and Ginny were looking quite worried, as he'd up and disappeared for the better part of fifteen minutes. They looked slightly mollified when he mouthed at them, "Tell you later." He quickly hunted down the remaining books he needed (Dark Creatures: How to, Where to, And Why, in the Name of Merlin, to Find Them, and Hexes for the Hurried), bought them, and walked next to Ron and Hermione out of the place. He noticed that Tonks and Lupin were looking particularly alert, probably keeping an eye out for Umbridge.

Their next stop was the Apothecary, where Harry, Hermione, and Ginny needed to pick up refills for their Potions kits. Ron stood outside, gloating that he didn't have to enter the rank-smelling place, but when Hermione pointed out that if he wanted to be tutored in N.E.W.T. Potions, he'd need ingredients as well, he subsided and tromped in with the rest of them. Despite the stench permeating the place, when they finished, they were all feeling rather hungry, so the four of them got a table at Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor. Tonks and Lupin didn't sit, but instead stood guard several yards away. Mrs. Weasley said she wasn't hungry, and went off into another store to do some more shopping.

"So where did you go while we were in Flourish and Blott's?" asked Ron, through a mouthful of shepherd's pie.

Harry lowered his voice and leaned forward. The other three followed suit. "I saw Umbridge in the store." The effect of this simple sentence was nothing short of impressive. Hermione's face darkened and her jaw clenched, Ginny developed a scowl highly reminiscent of her mother, and Ron's ears turned red, his face practically snarling.

"Umbridge!?" Hermione hissed, sounding like Crookshanks in a remarkably bad mood. "What was she doing in Flourish and Blott's?"

"Apparently, she was after me," said Harry quietly. "I'd thrown on my Invisibility Cloak and crept out of the aisle I was in to follow her, when she walked up into the aisle behind me with her wand drawn. Fortunately, she couldn't see me under the cloak, and I managed to follow her out of the store."

"Where'd she go?" asked Ginny.

"Into Knockturn Alley, and you'll never guess who she met down there," said Harry darkly.

"Voldemort?" said Hermione in a hushed voice. Ron choked.

"Of course not," said Harry. "D'you think he's going to show his face in public when the whole street's crawling with Aurors? No, she met with Lucius Malfoy. Said that she'd seen me in the bookstore, but lost me. She must've been under the Imperius Curse, because her eyes were odd in the bookstore, and her voice was kind of expressionless. But it started to slip off. Malfoy did it again on her, and told her to either find me before the year began, or arrange for some way for me to be removed from Hogwarts."

"Did you tell anyone?" asked Ginny, looking worried. Her ham and chicken sandwich was sitting abandoned in front of her.

"I told Lupin, and he said he'd pass the message on. That's why—"

"Get down!" hissed Ron suddenly, pushing down on Harry's head. Harry slipped under the table. "And put on your cloak, quick!"

Harry had just pulled the cloak over him when he saw a rather squat, short shadow make its way over to the table where the four of them were sitting. He slid out from under the table, and stood up, still concealed by the cloak. Dolores Umbridge was bearing down on the table. Her mousy brown hair was now streaked with grey and held in place by a black Alice band, and she was wearing the same foul pink cardigan that she'd worn at the start-of-term feast last year. Where were Lupin and Tonks? Harry thought, looking around wildly for them. He spotted Tonks, too far away to do anything immediately, but with her hand on her wand and a very tense look on her face. Lupin, he didn't see anywhere.

He turned back to his friends, who didn't have the benefit of invisiblity. Hermione was clenching her jaw so tightly Harry imagined he could hear her teeth grinding together, while Ron's ears were red and his face was pale and angry, never a good sign. Ginny's face was cold and somehow predatory, like that of a cat about to pounce.

"Good morning, children," began Umbridge in her most sugary-sweet voice. Harry pulled his wand out of his pocket. He'd have the element of surprise in case she attacked them. He thought vaguely that attacking from underneath an Invisibility Cloak was unsporting, but quickly dismissed that notion when he remembered that she'd tried to use the Cruciatus Curse on him last year.

"What the bloody hell d'you want?" Ron asked, his voice dripping with contempt. Umbridge smirked.

"Such manners to a high ranking Ministry official," said Umbridge, in that same sickly sweet tone. "You should be more polite to your betters, Mr. Weasley, lest you reflect poorly on your father."

The threat did not go unnoticed. Ron's ears went even redder, something Harry had not thought possible, while Ginny let out a catlike hiss.

"What do you want, Ms. Umbridge?" Hermione asked, her tone cold but courteous.

"I'm merely looking for your friend Mr. Potter. Have you seen him around? I felt for sure that he would be with you."

"No idea where he is," said Ginny. Harry wondered if he should go for Tonks. All three of his friends seemed dangerously close to losing their tempers, and he didn't want them to all get expelled attacking Umbridge. And where the bloody hell was Lupin?!

"Really?" she asked, her smile growing wider. "Are you sure about that?"

"Very sure," said Hermione through clenched teeth. "Please leave us to our food."

"I think that you're lying to me," said Umbridge. "I think that perhaps you need some encouragement to be more honest." She went to draw her wand, but there was a flash of light as soon as she touched it, and it flew out of her fat little fingers.

Directly into Remus Lupin's outstretched hand. Harry blinked. He'd not even seen Lupin for the past minute, nor heard him sneak up on Umbridge, but there he was, Umbridge's stubby wand in one hand, his own wand in the other. It was pointed directly at her face.

Umbridge's toady face went from a sickening smile to a look of pure venom faster than Harry could blink. "Lupin," she hissed, looking at him with utter loathing.

"I certainly hope so," he said, smiling calmly. "And unless you want to deal with the Aurors and with me, I suggest that you leave those students alone."

"Filthy half-breed!" snarled Umbridge, earning a few curious looks from passersby.

"That's me," said Lupin cheerfully, idly buffing his nails on his robe, his wand never wavering. "But I'm only going to ask one more time. Leave those students alone, and get out of my sight. Or I use this lovely little thing," he said, waving his wand slightly. He tossed her wand on the ground at her feet.

Muttering ominous-sounding threats under her breath, Umbridge picked up her wand and stormed off, leaving puzzled glances and whispering in her wake. Lupin watched her leave, then walked over to the table once she was out of sight.

"Where's Harry?" he asked in a low voice once he reached the table.

"Right here," said Harry, taking a final glance around to make sure that Umbridge was nowhere in sight before slipping off the cloak. He turned to Ron. "Thanks for getting me under the table, mate," he said gratefully. "I didn't fancy her finding me."

"No problem," said Ron, though his ears were still red, and he still sounded angry. "That bloody bitch!" he snarled suddenly.

"I can't believe she still works at the Ministry!" said Hermione, not bothering to keep her voice down. "After what she did last year?"

"Calm down," said Lupin. "Fudge has a very high opinion of her, and he's certainly not going to let an inconvenient little thing like the truth get in the way of his opinions."

"But she tried to cast an Unforgivable on Harry!" said Ginny loudly.

"And the only evidence of that is the word of four students," said Lupin. He shook his head. "They're not going to listen to four students, known troublemakers at that, over the word of the Senior Undersecretary to the Minister." Hermione bristled at the appellation of "troublemaker," but Ron and Ginny grinned.

They finished their lunches in silence, though Harry found that his appetite was lacking. Instead of eating his steak-and-kidney pie, he just poked at it with his fork. He finally gave it up as a bad job just as Ron had finished his lunch, and they decided to head off to look for new quills, ink, and parchment, as all four of them were running low. Mrs. Weasley met them just as they walked out of Fortescue's, apparently done with her shopping. No one mentioned what had just happened with Umbridge.

As they were walking along towards the Diagon Alley branch of Scrivenshaft's, something occured to Harry. He pulled Ron back to walk behind the others. "When's Ginny's birthday?" he asked quietly.

"Day after tomorrow," said Ron. "Why?"

"She got me a really nice present, and I want to get her something."

"Any ideas?" asked Ron.

"Not really," said Harry.

"Well, she's always wanted a cat," said Ron. "She just hasn't had time to get one, and she probably doesn't have the pocket money at the moment." He looked at Harry oddly. "Mum already said she could get one, it's just a matter of actually buying it."

"What color did she want?"

"Black," said Ron, grinning now. "Matches your hair."

"Shut it," said Harry, taking a half-hearted swing at him. "If you distract her, I'll slip into the store and pick one up."

"All right, let me tell Hermione. And you better check with mum, just to make sure."

In the end, it was decided that, after going to Scrivenshaft's, Hermione would distract Ginny by taking her into Madam Malkin's to look at dress robes, while Ron would come along with Harry into the Magical Menagerie and offer advice. Harry also ran the idea by Mrs. Weasley, who approved.

The store was just as Harry remembered it. There were still large black rats jumping rope with their tails in a cage on the counter, and racks of owl cages. The jewel encrusted turtle was still on display, though the self-transfiguring rabbit appeared to have been sold. He went deeper into the store until he found the cat section. Here there were cats and kittens of all colors and sizes, ranging from a white kitten no bigger than Harry's palm, to a large calico tom who had to have been twice as large as an ordinary housecat. Ron was not much help, choosing instead to poke fun at Harry, but they finally decided on a pure black female kitten with golden eyes.

Most unfortunately, the store was unable to deliver the kitten on Ginny's birthday, so Harry settled on putting it in a box, then having the saleslady Disillusion, Silence, and Featherweight the box, so he could carry it around (hopefully) without Ginny noticing it. Harry and Ron each also bought a box of Owl Treats, so they'd have an excuse as to why they'd gone in the store.

The two of them headed back to find the rest of the group, when from behind, there was a high-pitched, girlish giggle that sent chills down Harry's spine. He realized that he'd forgotten to put on his Invisibility Cloak. "Down!" he shouted, diving for the pavement, and dragging Ron down with him. A Stunning Spell went right over his head, making the hair on his neck stand up. "It's Umbridge!" Harry drew his wand and stood up. Ron did likewise.

Dolores Umbridge was standing a few yards away from him, looking completely unhinged. Her eyes were crazed and her hair was coming out from under the Alice band. "I've got you, Potter!" she screeched in delight, and sent another Stunner at him.

"Protego!" Harry shouted, deflecting the curse with a Shield Charm. Oh, Merlin, he'd just done magic in front of multiple witnesses. He only hoped it would fall under self-defense. Hopefully, Ron would restrain himself. No sense in both of them facing possible expulsion.

"Do you children really think you can duel a fully qualified Ministry official?" said Umbridge, a note of incredulity in her voice. Another Stunner, another deflection. The deflected Stunner went past Umbridge and hit a man crossing the street, knocking him unconscious.

"I know I can," said Harry. If he didn't stop her quickly, someone else was going to get hurt. But casting an offensive spell wouldn't sit well with the Ministry of Magic. He ducked as she cast a Blasting Curse, which went over his head and blew a chunk out of the wall of a shop. This could go on for a while, and clearly she didn't have any concern for the people now starting to get behind cover. He had to take her down now. Throwing caution to the wind, he decided to try out the Battering Curse he'd learned from the book Hermione had gotten him. He jabbed his wand at her, and shouted, "Everbero!"

A burst of bright blue light went streaking at Umbridge, and her Shield Charm failed to deflect it. She was blown back several feet and landed flat on her ample backside. Harry smiled grimly. The Battering Curse was a very useful spell to know.

"Where the bloody hell is Lupin?" muttered Ron, keeping his wand trained on Umbridge, who was rolling on the ground like an overturned turtle.

With a crack, Umbridge Disapparated, but Harry wasn't fooled. Ron breathed a sigh of relief, and made to put his wand away. "Don't," Harry barked. "Voldemort did this with Dumbledore at the Ministry—"

No sooner had he spoken then there was a crack behind him, and he whirled around to see Umbridge standing barely two feet away, a sick grin on her face. Harry brought his wand around, but he knew he'd be far too late...

Then there was a flash of red light, and Umbridge slumped wordlessly to the ground. Harry looked up, astonished, to see Tonks dashing towards him and Ron, her wand extended, the cheerful look she usually wore on her face gone. "Incarcerous!" she bellowed, and thick ropes sprang out of nowhere and wrapped themselves around Umbridge. "Are you two all right?" she asked, rather breathlessly. Harry and Ron nodded. "Good. Ennervate!" With a start, Umbridge woke up.

"Auror Tonks!" she said, sounding very surprised. "By whose authority am I restrained? I demand to be released immediately!"

"Oh, shut up, you miserable old toad," said Tonks. Umbridge's eyes bulged, and she opened her mouth to shout. Tonks rolled her eyes, and waved her wand at Umbridge. "Silencio! Now, listen to me, and listen good. You've just attacked two underage wizards with no provocation in front of..." She looked up and took a quick survey of the street. "About a dozen witnesses. I'd keep quiet if I were you."

One of the Aurors on duty came running over. "Want me to take her in, Tonks?"

"No, I'll do it. But I'd be much obliged if you'd get the names of these witnesses and kept an eye on these two until someone comes for them."

"Righto," said the man.

"Blimey," said Ron, turning to look at Harry with an expression that was half exasperation, half commiseration. "I can't take you anywhere."