I do not own the rights to Harry Potter. If I did, I'd expand more on Diagon Alley. Where do all the workers live? Not every wizard could be expected to have a huge tract of land in the middle of nowhere.

Wanting to Change the Future

Emmy did her best to keep calm. She took deep breaths, and hoped it would quiet her rapidly beating heart. It didn't.

"Well?" asked the voice, after Emmy hadn't responded.

While her heart was still beating fast, Emmy kept her face calm and turned around to see who the voice belonged to. In recognition of the figure before her, Emmy was proud she managed to keep in a gasp from escaping her lips. However, she couldn't stop her eyes from widening in shock.

Erik Williams, the head of KoC, had caught Emmy like a mouse in a trap. He also picked up on her shocked expression.

"What? Wasn't planning on being discovered?"

Her caught-in-the-headlights expression is quickly replaced by one of contempt. Of course she wasn't planning on being caught. That didn't mean Emmy was completely unprepared, she had learned from her South Korean mistake. The odds of her hologram completely distracting all of the Muggles present, for all the time she was going to spend acquiring her new possessions, and without one single Muggle realizing that it was a distraction were slim to none. As a result she had come up with a story. The one thing that she hadn't expected was having to tell it the KoC's leader.

Oh well, one more bragging point to her exciting adventure- if she succeeded.

"My name's Alice. I'm from the Order of Prometheus."

He sneered. "The Order of Prometheus? You mean that little group that pulled the stunt with the trains?"

Little group? The words were ringing in her ears. Little group? Then a thought broke through her anger- he was a Muggle. All Muggles knew was, as Erik had so eloquently put, the 'train stunt', and then the Manifesto. The rest of the Order's activity- the Gringott's break-in, true extent of the 'train stunt', breaking the Statute of Secrecy- was unknown.

She could boast about the Order's other exploits, claim they were covered up by the government- which in a way was true. Or she could play to William's ego which he was known for having, according to his files at least.

"That's why I'm here sir, to acquire items to aid us in our quest," replied Emmy. It seemed almost futile to hope Williams would swallow the lie- he was vain, but not that dumb. If he was, he wouldn't have lasted as long as he had.

"And by 'acquire', you mean steal?" he replied, confirming Emmy's suspicions. Vain, but smart- a bad combination, and one that Emmy was very familiar with.

"Well," said Emmy, hoping her response wouldn't result in her death- it'd be a shame after everything she had been through, to die in a warehouse because of a Muggle. She hadn't even brought her wand along with her, thinking she wouldn't need it. Although, even if she had brought it, a bullet could end her life faster than she could say the words for a spell. Then again, perhaps she was overreacting, if he was going to kill, wouldn't he have done it already?

"Well," she repeated, and a wide smirk appeared on his face. He had known she was hiding something, and was waiting for her to reveal it as her previous story fell apart. The previous lie she was going to tell, had prepared to tell, slipped from her mind. The story about the Order needing help and guidance, sneaking into the warehouse to meet with KoC members to acquire supplies for a big attack, wasn't going to be believed. She had thought it'd more likely to be discovered by an underling, one who wasn't as smart as his leader.

Then she remembered something that the conman she had hired for the first round of training: "If you're ever caught by a person who thinks you're up to no good, the best thing is to confirm their suspicions. There's no point in denying it, but you can at least conceal your true intentions with a lie. It'll leave them feeling satisfied, and not discovering the actual truth."

In this case, Emmy needed to conceal the fact that she was the leader of the Order. It wasn't for security purposes; if Williams discovered that a teenage girl was in charge, he wouldn't take her seriously. Maybe that was the key. She was a teenage girl, wandering around a warehouse full of illicit goods belonging to a group of criminals, by herself, and belonged to her own group of criminals. Confessing that she was the leader who wanted to prove herself to her doubting members by acquiring weapons all by herself, was not an option, but what if it was just the first part she had to avoid?

For the final time she said, "Well," and then looked at the dirty concrete floor in shame. "Our boss, Prometheus, was talking about needing to do something big to show everybody we were serious, and I said we should do something like the Knights. Everybody laughed at me and said it wasn't possible to do something like the Knights, so I wanted to prove them wrong."

"By stealing some of my goods," finished Williams. Emmy didn't dare raise her head to face him; she was suppose to be a remorseful, scared, teenager who wanted to prove herself to her cause and had gotten caught.

"Tell me, how did you discover this place, Alice?" asked Williams, not giving a hint whether or not he had believed her.

"Some of the other members worked their way into the camera system. It was my job to look over some footage for any dirt we could use on important peoples."

The only lie she had spoken concerned who truly 'worked' their way into the city's camera system. Other than that, the rest was the complete truth.

"I take it you found something. Did you tell anybody else of your discovery?"

Emmy shook her head. " Of course not. I wanted to show to them what I could do."

Once again, the first part was the only one that was false, she had told one person of her discovery. Except she hadn't told anybody about that night's planned excursion and she was starting to wonder if it was a mistake. It really wasn't fair, she had tried so hard to plan for every little detail, every possible thing that could go wrong, and now she was in a situation that she thought she had been prepared for, but really wasn't.

Williams chuckled, something that Emmy hadn't expected, and finally caused her to look up. "Ambition, an admirable trait in one so young. I'll make you a deal. Take whatever you can carry, and in return let me know when you're going to use it. Even if you don't succeed, my organization could still take advantage of the distraction."

There it was. When he had told her he was letting her go with everything she could carry, Emmy had wondered what the catch was. All Williams wanted in return was to take advantage of the Order. Of course, it was the wizard Ministry and not the Muggle one Order was going after, but Williams didn't need to know that, and at the moment, she was willing to promise nearly anything.

"Thanks," replied Emmy.

A smile appeared on William's face, and for the first time Emmy knew how others felt when she wore a similar Cheshire Cat grin. While a smile usually suggested kindness and happiness, this one suggested something more sinister. Emmy was left with a creepy feeling in the pit of her stomach, as if she was looking into a mirror of some sort, seeing who she really was for the first time. Emmy didn't like it in the least.

"So we have a deal then? Weapons for a little bit of information?" Williams then stuck out his hand for them to shake on.

"Deal," replied Emmy. Shaking his hand made Emmy feel even slimier, but at the moment, she would have faced a dementor if it meant leaving the warehouse and never seeing Williams and his creepy smile again. The weapons were just a bonus.

As the sun began to set, a figure made its way along Diagon Alley. Given the time of night, Diagon Alley was still well crowded with people finishing last minute shopping or getting some dinner. The figure wasn't intent on buying anything though, and continued to make his way through the maze of streets that made up the Alley.

Eventually, he found what he was looking for- a tall yellow building called "Fortuna's Flats". The building housed flats for middle-class wizards who worked in Diagon Alley. Over the years, the younger generation of wizards had started moving closer and closer to the cities, rather than living in mansions or estates like their parents and grandparents. As a result, more and more buildings in Diagon Alley had been converted into flats for new tenants.

The figure opened the door and walked up the carpeted stairs, before finally stopping at a door labeled '2B'. It raised one hand tentatively, unsure of whether or not it was going to actually knock on the door. A few more seconds of hesitation passed before the figure finally summoned the courage to act.

Opening the door, was one Bradley Swick.

"Devin?" he asked, his voice full of surprise.

"Can we talk?" asked the figure, otherwise known as Devin Swick, the youngest of the Swick brothers.

It took three hours for Emmy to shake the tail Williams sent after her, clearly he had trust issues. This was further evident by the GPS tracking chips she had found in the box of goods she managed to get away with. Thankfully, the hologram was still doing its job and Emmy was able to escape without further notice once she turned off the hologram.

The next day since Ash and Nick were still dealing with 'family issues', Emmy hung out with Louis. Despite agreeing to hanging out with him on the 15th, he had to cancel and with her KoC plan in the works, she hadn't been able to respond back.

After seeing her potential self the other day, she was determined to not end up like Williams. Besides vanity and brains, his file also listed him as having a ruthless ambition who showed no loyalty toward the people under him. Once they were no longer needed or had proven useless, they were disposed. It was probably the reason why he had rewarded Emmy instead of punishing her. She had even found a note-in addition to the tracking devices- in the box, telling her to contact him once she was older, since she had shown promise.

While Emmy was ambitious, she didn't want to be the type of leader who could just get rid of her followers once they had fulfilled their use. She didn't want to be the type of person who could so easily dismiss others, who held themselves above everybody else. That was type of person Voldemort was, and she definitely better than Voldemort. She didn't dismiss Muggles, she didn't go around and commit mass murder, and she most certainly was better than him. He ruled through fear, while Emmy wanted to rule through respect. The wizarding world may fear her now, but once she was in charge, she'd show them a better way of life and they'd be grateful. An era of peace between Muggles and wizards would start, unlike any other age.

At least, that's what she had been telling herself lately, to stave off the doubts and fears that had begun eating away at her ever since South Korea.

Above everything though, she didn't want to be alone. She had been alone for so long until she met Ash, Nick, and Louis. Emmy hadn't even known how alone she felt until she had met them, and it was a feeling she didn't want to experience ever again.

The day with Louis went like any other. They met near the entrance to the Leaky Cauldron, walked along the streets, saw some sort of show, had lunch, talked, did more walking before parting ways at the Leaky Cauldron.

Then something very unexpected happened. As Emmy waved goodbye to Louis who was about to enter the Cauldron, Ash and Nick walked out. They were so busy chatting among themselves, they didn't notice Louis as he went by them. Most of all, they didn't notice Emmy's hurt expression as she flattened herself against the door of the shop next door, watching them as they walked away.

**Author's Note**

I'd like to give a big thanks to Son of Whitebeard, my only reviewer last chapter. I know changing the update day unexpectedly might throw some readers off, but hopefully readers are still finding this story. For those who are, reviews are always appreciated.

So... more plots lines teased in this chapter, and more to be tied up by the end. Speaking of the end, I'm aiming for the end of October.

Thanks for reading, and if possible, please review!