The next morning when Harry woke up he saw that Hermione was already gone. He shook Ron awake and the two of them trumped down the stairs to the basement to see where Hermione had gotten to. She was sitting at the wooden table, deeply immersed in a book on Advanced Charms.
Ron noticed Hermione's puffy red eyes and glanced at Harry curiously. "What's wrong with her?" He asked quietly. Harry and Ron sat down at the table a few seats away from Hermione and pretended to look through that morning's edition of the Daily Prophet.
"I think she just misses Viktor..." Harry said feeling guilty about lying to Ron. Harry still hadn't told Ron that Hermione had gone to see Viktor, he had told him that she went to a nearby Muggle market to get a few necessities for them.
"Why would she miss that smarmy bastard?" Ron said as a deep scowl formed on his face. Harry knew the obvious answers were because he was her fiancee and because she loved him, but he didn't dare tell Ron that. Harry simply shrugged and skimmed through the Prophet before getting up and putting on a pot of tea.
Ron went up to the drawing room to bring down the Wizard's Chess set, so that he and Harry had something to pass the time with, so Hermione got up to help Harry. Hermione pulled the loaf of bread out of the brown bag from the Muggle market and sliced the loaf as Harry pulled out the jam and butter from the bag.
After more than a few glances at Hermione, Harry finally said "So are you going to tell me what happened last night?"
Hermione truly didn't know if she could tell Harry without bursting into tears. "He told me that...if I was only coming to stay for one night he would've rather I hadn't come at all..." Hermione said as she fought to keep control of her voice.
Harry didn't get a chance to say anything because at that moment Ron re-entered the room. He set the chess set down on the table and began setting up the pieces. Hermione took advantage of his reappearance and turned her back on Harry and went back to reading her book. Get a hold of yourself Hermione. Harry and Ron need you and you are useless to them if you turn into a blithering, blubbering idiot.
Harry and Ron passed their time with numerous games of Wizard's Chess and Exploding Snap. Hermione even joined in after a few hours of reading and she taught Ron how to play the Muggle card game, Goldfish.
XxX
When 8:00 came around, Viktor forced himself to get a grip. Hermione von't know how sorry you are even if you sit around moping all day. Da, you made mistake but instead of sitting here you need to be useful to make up for it. Viktor got out of bed and washed his face before pulling on a sweater and grabbing his wand.
Viktor walked down the stairs and called out to his parents "Mama, Papa I am leaving. I vill be back later tonight!" He then quickly exited the house and made his way out of the cottage gate before Disapparating. Viktor arrived in the alleyway of a Muggle street in the heart of London. There were couples entering a nearby restaurant and tourists bustling about trying to find their way back to their hotels.
Viktor discreetly walked out of the alley and joined the throng of people. He walked a few blocks down the street and cut through a beautiful little park and about 15 minutes later he arrived at a quite a fancy apartment building. Viktor assumed that the Muggle Prime Minister was the reason Kingsley was given such perks. Viktor walked into the apartment a bit irritated with the revolving door. Kingsley had told him that his flat was up on the seventh floor.
Viktor simply nodded to the attractive blond receptionist that smiled flirtatiously at him. He entered the elevator and pushed the button for the 7th floor. He then exited the elevator and saw Kingsley's door directly to his right. Room 357. Viktor knocked on the door and after a few seconds had passed, Remus Lupin opened the door.
"Viktor...it's nice to see you again" Remus smiled looking tired. Viktor was confused with the man and his always tired and shabby state until Hermione had explained to him that Remus was a werewolf.
"You as vell" Viktor said as he shook Remus' hand and then entered Kingsley's apartment. The apartment was very nice, apparently the Muggle Prime Minister had pulled out all the stops to make his favorite bodyguard's home as comfortable as possible. There were wooden floors, marble counters, and floor to ceiling windows covered with thick silk drapes. Remus led Viktor into the living room where Tonks, Kingsley, and Mr. Weasley were seated.
"Are we ready to start the meeting?" Arthur asked and the group all seemed to nod. Remus and Viktor sat down on the sofas with everyone else.
"Alright well Viktor how well do you duel because there may be a lot of it going on tonight." Arthur asked as he looked at Viktor. "I vould say I duel vell. I did go to Durmstrang and ve learned how to duel since our first year."
"Right, Durmstrang specializes in the Dark Arts and dueling I forgot about that." Arthur said as he smiled and began addressing the group as a whole. "Today we'll be going out into groups of three. We'll be going underground like before."
Viktor looked confused and Tonks noticed and leaned in and said quietly "We've been recruiting and trying to start a resistance against the Death Eaters and Vol-"
Remus roared "DON'T SAY THE NAME! It's Taboo!"
Tonks said "Oh right, His name is Taboo so whenever someone says it, the caster-in this case the Death Eaters-are alerted. They can find you in a matter of seconds. It's a great way to find Order members because they are the only people who aren't scared to use his name."
Viktor nodded and said "Ve learned about it in our second year. Who are ve recruiting?"
"Anyone really. People that have gone into hiding for example. We are trying to convince them to come up and join us in fighting against Them. I've been doing as much as I can with the werewolves but they all seem to be loyal to Him. Hagrid and Madam Maxime have been doing their best to convince a large tribe of giants up North to join us as well." Remus responded.
"From what I've heard that's not going as well as it could be either but we're also doing something else for recruitment." Tonks said as she grinned at Kingsley.
"Fred, Lee Jordan, Remus, and I have started a radio program called Potterwatch. We supply the wizarding community with information involving recent events that haven't been reported by the Daily Prophet. The Death Eaters are trying to keep a lot hidden from the community and use lie after lie to keep wizards ignorant. The Ministry of Magic can't be trusted anymore since it has fallen under His control. We talk about safety measures and try to boost everyone's morale." Kingsley said.
"And how do you keep this hidden?" Viktor asked perplexed.
"We move from location to location and you need a different password to tune into the broadcasts. The passwords are usually something related to the Order. A piece of information that only the Light side would be able to guess." Kingsley replied.
"But if you move from place to place then vhy are ve here? Vouldn't it be easy for Them to find you in your flat? Vhy do you stay here?" Viktor asked and Kingsley smiled.
"This is the first time in weeks that I have been here. Housekeeping keeps the flat looking so nice but I know it isn't safe to stay here so I left as soon as the War broke out. We have word that the Death Eaters are a little preoccupied at the moment so they won't exactly be knocking on my door as long as we're careful."
"We should also try to finish quickly because even if they're preoccupied now I still don't want to take any chances." Arthur said to Kingsley who nodded.
"We all have different tasks for example I'll be leaving soon and starting up tonight's broadcast. Remus is going to go back underground for recruitment reasons. Arthur will be going back to the Ministry. They don't have any suspicions against him because they think Ron is at home with Spattergroit-" Kingsley said before he was cut off.
"Hopefully it stays that way too or I'll have to go into hiding as well and then we won't have any way of knowing what's really going on inside of the Ministry." Arthur said.
Kingsley continued as he grinned "Tonks is only here because she likes to be kept updated and she is stubborn."
"I tried to convince her to stay home but she doesn't listen to me" Remus said as he gently placed his hand on her stomach. Viktor had known since Bill and Fleur's wedding that Tonks was pregnant.
"Vhere does that leave me?" He asked Arthur feeling quite disappointed. He wanted to fight, he wanted to avenge the deaths of the many innocent people that had been murdered at the hands of the Death Eaters.
"Well we need every member we can get. Try to recruit people to our side but only if you know we can trust them. We can't have another traitor among our ranks." Arthur replied as he thought of Peter Pettigrew and Mundungus.
"Don't worry Viktor, you'll get your chance to fight. We all will and I suspect it'll be sometime in the very near future. In the meantime however you are still helping the cause by volunteering yourself and your time." Remus said. Viktor nodded and they wrapped up the meeting. Kingsley explained that they didn't meet up all that often because it was too dangerous but he gave Viktor the next night's password for Potterwatch and told him to tune in. He told him that he would announce the next time they would meet up. He also gave Viktor his code name before they all got up and went their separate ways.
XxX
Harry, Ron, and Hermione had long since gone up to the drawing room and were talking and laughing about when the imposter Mad-Eye had turned Draco Malfoy into a ferret. They all felt a strong sense of nostalgia for the old days when they were still at Hogwarts. "The only thing we had to worry about back then was our Potions essay..." Ron said as he shook his head. They all fell into silence for a few seconds and then heard a CRASH! and then a BANG! from downstairs in the basement.
They all whipped out their wands and ran down the stairs and into the basement. Harry's heart was slamming in his chest at the prospect of Death Eaters somehow finding their way inside and was relieved when he saw that it was Kreacher, Dobby, and Mundungus. The sight before them was quite amusing. Kreacher and Dobby were trying to wrestle Mundungus to the floor. "Harry Potter! So good to see you again!" Dobby cried happily. After a lot of struggling Mundungus shook them off.
Hermione, always observant, was the first to notice Mundungus groping around in his coat for his wand. "Expelliarmus!" She yelled and Mundungus' wand flew right into her hand. Ron looked impressed and gave her a proud grin as Harry turned back to glare at Mundungus. He had never forgiven the man for stealing from the house after Sirius died.
"What's your plan! Settin' a pair of bleedin' house elves on me!" Mundungus yelled although he looked nervous and tried keeping his distance from Harry.
Dobby leapt up onto the table and Kreacher followed him not wanting to be outdone in front of his Master. "Dobby was only trying to help but Dobby saw Kreacher in Diagon Alley which Dobby thought was curious! And then Dobby heard Kreacher mention Harry Potter's name! And then Dobby saw Kreacher talking with the thief Mundung-"
Mundungus looked affronted and said "A thief? You foul little..." He faltered at the sight of Harry and Hermione's warning looks and finished meekly "git..." He fell into an armchair in the corner of the room and mumbled defensively "I'm a buyer and seller of...different objects..."
Ron walked over and said "You're a thief Dung and everyone knows it." Dobby looked elated to see Harry Potter's best friend and beamed.
"Master Weasley! So good to see you again!" Ron smiled at Dobby and offered his finger for Dobby to shake with his small hands. Hermione smiled at their interaction approvingly and Ron was ecstatic to have her approval again after so long.
Mundungus and Harry were oblivious to the moment between Ron and Hermione. Harry kept glaring accusingly at Mundungus. "Listen I panicked that night alright? Can I help it if Mad-Eye fell off his broom?" Ron's eyes darkened at his comment as he came forward to stand by Harry.
Hermione also came forward for fear that she would need to keep the boy's from acting rashly. "Tell the truth-" She began and Harry took over for her.
"When you turned this place over" Harry said and when Mundungus opened his mouth looking offended Harry raced on "...don't deny it! You found a locket, am I right?"
Mundungus looked surprised. He assumed that Harry had set Kreacher on his tail to confront him about Mad-Eye's death. He never expected it to be about some stupid locket...unless..."Why was it valuable?" Mundungus asked curiously.
"He's still got it!" Hermione cried happily.
"Or he's worried he didn't get enough money for it..." Ron said as he tried to gauge Mundungus' reaction.
Mundungus' face fell and he replied "Bleedin' give it away didn't I! There I was floggin' me wares in Diagon Alley when some Ministry aid comes up and asks to see me license! Says she has a mind to lock me up! Would've done too if she hadn't taken a fancy to that locket!"
Harry's heart raced. He had a pretty good guess of who the Ministry aid was and asked "Who was she? The witch, do you know?"
Mundungus said "Oh I..." and thought back hard until he caught sight of that morning's edition of the Daily Prophet. "Well she's there!" He cried as he got up and picked up the Prophet. "Look! The bleedin' bow and all!" He tossed the Prophet back down and they saw none other than Dolores Umbridge, giving them her trademark simpering smile.