I'm trying to get this done as quick as I can for y'all, the next chapter is half done! Beta love goes to SandraSempra. Enjpy :)

There was only one word to describe the scene Hermione found when she came in the drawing room - chaos. Everyone was shouting, trying to be heard over everyone else. Parkinson was gesticulating wildly while Theo shouted in her face. Hermione was sure she'd never seen that shade of red before - not even on a Weasley. Daphne was trying to physically drag Harry from the room as he batted her hands away. There was no chance for her to pick out what anyone was saying in the cacophony surrounding her. Putting two fingers in her mouth, Hermione let out a shrill whistle, causing the occupants of the room to finally fall blessedly silent.

"What in Merlin's name is going on in here? ...Daphne?" Surely the blonde had plenty of time to leave after she left Draco's room. The conversation Hermione had with Draco wasn't a quick one, so seeing her here now left Hermione quirking her brow.

"I did go back to work! Daphne cried, rushing towards the Gryffindor. "But I had to come back and warn you lot after what I just heard."

Parkinson rolled her eyes, "Please. Daphne is just being dramatic. There's no possible way the Ministry is capable of tracking large magical output. The best those idiots can muster up is a sketchy trace on underage magic. It's useless anyhow. Not like they can determine who actually performed the magic in the first place in the wizarding home."

Hermione felt the blood drain from her face. There actually was a way to monitor large areas of land for magical output. It was how they managed to keep a close eye on areas like the Stonehenge. The Ministry needed to make sure the latent magic in the area was unresponsive enough so as to avoid any lasting effects on muggles. They would know rather quickly if there were any sudden spikes in the magic coming from the Stones. If the Ministry thought to expand the charm to a larger area, one of her episodes would allow the Ministry to track them for sure.

Daphne shot a glare at Parkinson. "You all need to get out of here, now. I overheard some of the Aurors talking in the lift. They are getting a task force together and should be here any minute!"

Hermione took in the expressions on Theo and Harry's faces, knowing she would find the same horror written on her own. She opened to her mouth to speak, but her words died in her throat as the Floo roared to life once more as a figure stumbled out of the emerald flames.

All of the occupants in the room froze, a soft whimper escaping Daphne, as they watched the figure dust off his robes, a shock of red hair clearly visible against the fading light from the flames. The air surrounding them seemed to be holding its breath as everyone took in the sight of one Ronald Bilius Weasley standing awkwardly in Pansy Parkinson's drawing room. Hermione had seen some fairly strange things since she had been introduced into the magical world, but she would definitely rank this in the top ten most unexpected events. Noone in the room missed the small movement Harry made to place himself between Ron and Hermione.

"Oh good, now I've collected the entire set of Gryffindor's most insane. Please, make yourself at home, everyone else has. Apparently, I was the only one who wasn't made aware my house had become a communal Floo station." Pansy's snark seemed to break the tension holding everyone hostage. She waved her wand at the fireplace, a tinkling sound indicating she had locked down the Floo. Anyone else trying to come through would need to break the wards first.

Ron looked over at his best friends with a sheepish grin, one hand massaging the back of his neck. Hermione recognized the nervous habit; he didn't like how red his neck became when he was uncomfortable and thus always tried to hide it. He opened his mouth to speak but before he could utter so much as a syllable Theo had stalked toward him, wand pointed at his face.

"How do we know this is really the Weasel and not some Ministry trick to catch us off guard or slow us down?"

Harry looked over his shoulder at Hermione who shrugged. Harry knew Ron better than she did - having lived together for seven years. You tended to learn intimate details about a person when you were forced into such close proximity for an extended period of time.

Harry exhaled, his cheeks puffing out as he thought of something only Ron would know the answer to. "Fourth year, when you asked Fleur to go to the Yule Ball with you and then ran away, what did you tell me when I asked you why you had asked her in the first place?"

There was no hiding his discomfort now as Ron's entire face flamed. He hestated, his eyes darting about the room just before he mumbled incoherently.

"I'm sorry, Weasley darling, some of us with human hearing didn't quite catch that. Could you repeat that for us?" The smile Parkinson wore reminded Hermione of shark documentaries she had seen as a child. Parkinson could smell an easy kill miles away, and looked to be enjoying Ron's discomfort more than Hermione thought was really necessary. Sure Ron had been a git lately, but that didn't give Parkinson the right to all his secrets.

Ron cleared his throat as he gazed firmly at a couch leg. "I said she had nice skin and I just wanted to know what it smelled like."

Hermione choked on her own laugh as Parkinson let loose; Daphne tried to hide her own sniggers behind her hand. Theo wasn't inclined to hide his enjoyment of the moment either, judging by how hard he was laughing. Harry was the only one in the room who didn't seem affected by this information, instead pushing Theo's wand arm down.

"It's him. You can let him go, Theo." Harry stood in front of Ron, arms crossed over his chest as Hermione came to stand beside him mirroring his stance.

"What are you doing here, Ronald?" Ron winced at the harsh use of his first name. Hermione only ever used it in that tone when she was really peeved at him.

"All right, I deserve that-" He was interrupted by Harry's snort of derision. "Ya, I know, I've been a right arse lately. I know it's not much of an excuse but I was scared. We had just lost Fred, and a lot of other really good people, and then I find out one of my best friends is swamped with Dark Magic. What else was I to think?" He took a deep steadying breath before he looked Hermione in the eye. "I should have heard you and Harry out before jumping to conclusions. I know you better than to think you'd ever have anything to do with evil. You didn't ask for this and, I'm so sorry, Hermione. And you, Harry, I owe you an apology too."

He shifted his gaze to Harry, and held out his hand. "I just hope you both can forgive me in time."

Hermione gave a watery laugh as Harry accepted Ron's outstretched hand, before they both launched themselves at the unsuspecting ginger, engulfing him in a hug.

"I really hate to break up this very Gryffindor display but we need to focus. The Auror's could be here any minute!"As if Daphne's words had summoned them, the chime on the Floo signaled another arrival, only this time the grate remained empty - the wards still securely in place.

Ron cleared his throat again and backed out of the embrace Harry and Hermione still held him in. "Right, they weren't too far behind me. I set up a bunch of Fred and George's prototypes for long distance eavesdropping and heard them planning to come here. We really should get a move on if we don't want them to catch you lot."

The chime sounded again, signalling another attempt from the Ministry to get through the Floo.

"Everyone upstairs now! We need to get Draco. As much as I hate the idea of moving him so soon, we can't just leave him lying there for the Auror's to find. If they find one of you, they'll know the others can't be too far away. I'll meet you up there after I talk to the house elves." Parkinson's tone left no room for argument as she ushered the others out of the room.

Hermione made to follow Theo with Harry, Ron, and Daphne close behind. As they left the drawing room, she made out Parkinson giving her house elf instructions to keep the wards up as long as possible, and then to stall anyone who came through as best they could. Hermione could hear the click of Parkinson's heels close behind her as they all hurried up the stairs. Theo threw the large doors to Draco's room open, jolting Draco from his sleep as they all filed in quickly.

"Sorry about this, Draco, but your beauty sleep is going to be postponed for the time being. We seem to have a bit of an emergency on our hands." Theo moved to the bed to help Draco sit up, his legs swinging over the side of the bed. "Turns out, the Ministry isn't completely filled with idiots whose heads are shoved up their arses. Some of them are just regular idiots."

This caused Draco to bark out a pained laugh. He was obviously still too sore to laugh without it hurting. "And here I'd been hoping to lounge about for a while, take in the scenery, and enjoy the lemonade that only Pansy seems capable of making just right."

"It's the muggle vodka, but my mother thinks I'm just ridiculously gifted at growing lemons. And yes, my mother really is that stupid."

Before anyone could reply to Pansy's assessment of her mother or comment on her liberal use of muggle alcohol, they heard a crash downstairs - raised voices filtered up the stairs towards them.