According to Macmillan, there were posters of Hannah all over Diagon Alley. It still left a bad taste in his mouth to leave a man behind, much worse one of whose loyalties he remained uncertain. He was a spirited Hufflepuff, and there was no excess in his denunciation of his former House, which would have been suspect, but every so often Ron wondered. His authority over the company was going to have to be maintained; it was not a one-time promotion. Keeping in contact with his injured subordinate through another subordinate seemed to be a good place to start, if nothing else.

The latter subordinate's father lived only a matter of yards from the Burrow, where he was sorely tempted to return, even though he knew it was empty. His father and mother were working for the Order now, which meant his father was auctioning old Ministry secrets to the goblins for gold, one of the only sources of income, after the Black properties of which Crouch's government knew had been seized. He was relatively sure Percy was in good with the present government, but his family's treason would most likely be treated the same as the Mafloy family's treason, so he was being watched extensively to ensure he was not in contact with any of them. Unless he really is playing both sides, I can't figure why he doesn't just quit if he can't help us at all.

"Are you quite ready to begin?" Xenophilius asked from the sitting room. The Gryffindor had found himself staring out the window. He continued to hope that the location was too obvious for the Department to suspect he would actually pick it, but in their eyes he was nothing more than a child, inclined to side with the familiar over the unexpected.

"Best get started," he muttered back, refraining from clapping. He took a seat between Harper and Luna, who had taken to eyeing each other warily. It seemed probable that he was not doing a good enough job concealing the fact that he trusted one more than the other, though perhaps that was to be expected. Recently, the Ravenclaw had brought up some of the same suspicions he had about the Slytherin running off into the crowd during the mostly fabricated Death Eater attack.

"Who founded this resistance organization?" the wizard asked. It seemed the writer for this particular interview would be the editor himself. Either that's some sort of compliment or he's about as short-staffed as we are.

"Terry."

"Hermione." He looked over at Lovegood, who just shrugged. "She was the one who told me about it, so I thought she had the idea for it."

"In part. It was a joint effort, but I did reckon I could count the first leader as the founder." He shook his head. "It actually started as a study group. Guess you know how things are going when a handful of students practicing magic together is an act of rebellion." The editor nodded.

"So, where are these Ravenclaws now?"

There was a pause.

"Uh, if this can be off the record, Hermione and I had a difference of opinion, so she took off for further study elsewhere, but she's still a member and welcome back with us any time. I suppose you could say she's on a specialized training mission."

"Interesting. Did you have a Hufflepuff with you?"

"Most of them were tossers," Ron said, "Go ahead and put that on the record. Hannah got captured at the end of last year, and if she ever gets out, she should look in the place where we practiced that one spell that she couldn't quite get, and then walk ten miles east."

The bit about walking east was an obvious false lead, but it made it harder for anyone to track her. He expected anyone who wanted to catch her would probably set up an ambush to the east of the Shrieking Shack, keeping it in view. That's if they know we were practicing there.

"You expect her to still be imprisoned?" the editor asked.

"I mean, yeah, unless she got out somehow. If I ever saw a wanted poster; I'm pretty sure she'd be out."

It seemed time to move on to the next question.

"Well, the question I should think all of our brave readers would like to have answered- what motivates you?" The eccentric wizard was right about that question being the rub. Hermione said it best, but I can't keep handing her credit while she's someplace else. It'll look like we lost our leader.

"We decided there were things that we valued, like truth and justice. There are more things, like transparency, fairness, freedom- it's not in any particular order, at least not for me. It seems like the blood purists are trying to win the war so they can just write themselves into the history books as the winners of the argument... and while we were in school it seemed like the conspiracy in Hufflepuff, which turned out to be a proxy for the Department, was just trying to do the same, but they put some more effort into the rhetoric rather than keeping everything secret. Basically, after we- sort of- won against Voldemort, the blood purists got a few positions they wanted, but blood purism was connected with him, so they couldn't talk about it. You get some people on the other side who used to work for Crouch keeping up the wartime propaganda, and it's no surprise you end up with this crusade to destroy dark magic and imprison anyone with purist leanings."

He had thought about the speech ahead of time, but had not put the effort into rehearsing it. It's not s'posed to sound rehearsed anyway. It'd make people think we'd been working with the Quibbler.

"Interesting," Xenophilius said, visibly containing himself. What in Merlin's pants got him so excited? "I imagine an entirely new government would be in order after your victory?"

Ron decided not to mention that he had not made plans for victory. Getting somewhere near there would make it seem more worthwhile.

"Don't think the whole system needs to be thrown out, just a ton of the people in it, and then there're some minor changes that'll make this kind of thing less likely. People in the proper government need to be aware of the Department of Mysteries." He was only half-lying. The last thing he wanted was to sound like he was, but the best way to sound honest was to be consistent.

"What would you say to those who argue you need to pick one side or another?" the editor asked. "If you don't have an answer yet, that's fine, it can be off-record." Stop helping me. You don't want it to look like you're helping me.

"Well, they both hate us, so if you don't like either of them, you should really join us for the same reason. I'm half-joking about that," he clarified. Lovegood's father looked like the type of wizard who needed to be told. "You really shouldn't join one side because it opposes the other one. You think about it, even if one side were slightly less terrible than the other, why don't they join us? If there are enough of us to make a difference against the worse side, there are enough of them to join us and have something better than either outcome." He breathed heavily from his nose. "I don't think they really thought about the outcome; it's mostly just fear and ancient grievances that they have going for their arguments."

If the Gryffindor had been asked a few years ago about making arguments and conducting debates, he probably would have just said 'why?'. Really, it was Hermione and Terry always making me think about things. Hannah helped. Now I just don't have them with me.

"Daddy, please don't make it too easy for us," the witch next to him requested. "You don't want people to think you're biased. Don't mention me by name, just say that he has members of all four Houses including himself." It was something that had already occurred to Ron, but he mostly thought nothing of it. He had never been prejudiced against Ravenclaws in any way, and the other two were so extreme they were bound to leave some people in the lurch. He glanced to the window again. I could say the same thing about mine, though. Everyone down to Dennis Creevey had picked a side by the time the place was blown up.

"Worry not, dearest. I usually write the final versions of the questions to make me sound more neutral, or even that I am challenging the guest. I rarely challenge guests, though, since few enough people agree to interviews even without the threat of being interrogated." Struggles of an honest newsman, huh?

The questions moved on.

"Have you heard of the views of the blood purists?" the strange wizard asked.

"Yeah, I had to go to school with Malfoy for like three and half years." He decided to omit the fact that he used to trade information with Zabini. "Barely talked to the bloke, but you hear things. Friends of friends and all that. Basically, they're pretty sure the muggles would either win in an all-out war against us, or if they didn't win the casualties would still be mad. They say the history books keep changing so that no one realizes the muggles are a threat, and they're right about the books changing, but we can't really prove the muggles are that bad, we can't prove they don't know about us already, and it's a damn wonder that the people who are the least worried about them are the ones who live among them." He remembered at some point that Harper had said the Hermione types were supposed to side with the muggles. "If it ever did come to a fight, and I'm not suggesting we push it in that direction, the reason the muggles will have their children on their side is because the Death Eaters can't promise to spare their parents. They've got absolute lunatics like the Lestranges working for them, and really that alone should invalidate whatever claim they have to being right."

"Interesting," Xenophilius repeated. About how many times d'you reckon you're going to say that?

"We're aware of the arguments," Harper intervened. "The short version is they have more points than the Ministry will give them, and that's what drives volunteers in their direction, but they're taking a lot on faith and allowing themselves to be subjects to a mass-murderer."

"Ah. Were you driven from their ranks?"

"No." Everyone was looking at him. He's claimed they wouldn't take him if he tried to join since he ran off already. "I left for love." If anything could have made the wizard sitting across from them happier, Ron could not imagine what it was. He was also having difficulty coming up with reasons not to knock the Slytherin's lights out. They were twelve, maybe; that doesn't fucking count, not by any stretch of the imagination. The editor's quill was moving for another five minutes before his daughter reminded him not to be biased, at which point he looked up again.

"Worry not, worry not, I shall let the words speak for themselves. That is the very soul of a proper interview."

The Gryffindor found himself looking around again. He knew there needed to be alternative news sources, or everyone would just be reading the Prophet, but being a good thing for the island and its people did not mean any given magazine or newsletter was not in itself a gossip rag. Well, it'll keep people on their toes, at least.

"Are you not going to ask us how we're getting on?" the Ravenclaw asked, cocking her head slightly.

"Yes, dearest, I might have that question first, even. How fares your war?"

"Well, I'm afraid I can't tell you all of our plans, but we can tell you that we're mainly recruiting and conducting reconnaissance. We found some suspicious characters at the announcement of the new Department of Magical Law Enforcement. You probably heard about the round, black shields, but the killing curses were passing through them, they weren't being blocked. I reckon the Ministry wants you to think the Death Eaters are still here, and they've got some kind of secret spell that blocks everything, but what if there was no one inside the shields? Think about it; what were they accomplishing there? They didn't kill anyone, it was just the one bloke casting the Dark Mark in the sky."

Lovegood stood up and walked out of the house out of nowhere.

"Pay her no mind. She might have heard the croak of a moon frog."

"A what?"

"Oh, you must have heard of them. A fellow from Western Australia flew to the moon on a Cleansweep Six and brought back a whole brood of moon frogs. It was a pleasant time interviewing him."

"You let one live in your garden?" Ron asked, presuming that the moon frogs did in fact exist. Might've gotten over to our property if that's the case.

"Luna and I thought it best to let them run wild. She came up with a weight potion in third year that made them as light as a feather, the better to make them feel at home. She even knew that they would have to ingest them by absorbing the liquid through their skin. Isn't she simply brilliant?"

The Gryffindor had heard of brews that were similar to weight potions, both in the positive and in the negative, and the theory was sound for them. She'd still have to be pretty damned clever to figure it out in third year and bring it home one holiday.

"I reckon so," he said, still looking to the open threshold.

Ronald, please come outside.

Be there in a moment.

"Harper, take over the questions for a bit," he requested as he rose from the couch and walked out. "Might be we've been made." His fears were not realized as he passed through the door with his wand up his sleeve; it was just the Ravenclaw standing out in the grass, staring off into nowhere.

"I was checking with Ernest," she started, turning slightly. "It appears he may have discovered how Hannah escaped."

"He hasn't found her- has he?"

"No, I do not believe so." A moment passed.

"Then what happened?" he asked.

"Oh, he overheard something about how the Ministry school was in an impossible space, and it was destroyed in a matter of minutes," she explained as though she had not known she was meant to continue. "Theoretically, everyone inside would be dead."

Nothing was said for the moment.

"Are you...?"

"Mad? People have asked me that before. I'm mad for being proud of my father; I'm mad for not being proud of my father. It's a wonder what people consider sane."

"Well, I know that, but just... tell me what you think. Tell me if you think you're mad or not." The witch seemed to think about it for a moment.

"I have uncommon beliefs and uncommon preferences. I'm not mad, no." Another silence came and passed.

"Damned swell to have that out of the way," Ron muttered. "If Hannah was the only known person to have escaped alive, they're going to suspect her. We'll have to find her."

"You told my dad that about a place where she can meet us. As soon as he publishes the story, she will be notified in the fastest and safest way possible. Is Hannah going to make it easy for the Ministry to find her?"

"Well, no, but-"

"Then how would we find her?" Damn. Damn, I don't have an answer for that. "It may be that the information was false and they just wanted to lure us to a specific city."

"You're right." He shook his head. "You're completely correct about that. I'm going 'round the bend, Merlin..."

"Well, you have an excuse for that," she said, smiling. He did not ask her to elaborate, but for once she needed no invitation. "You love her, don't you?" The Gryffindor just nodded.

"We've got to get back in to finish the interview."

They went back inside, and he guessed Lovegood would have instructed Macmillan to stay put and refrain from searching for Hannah. It was something with which he had struggled for a while, but he guessed if he was forgetting himself to go rescue her, maybe it was true, what he had wanted to believe all this time. It seemed Harper had been answering questions to the point of his own nausea, so they let him take a break somewhere. We've put him through enough. It seemed the Slytherin liked being sarcastic and anti-social, so being in a conversation with a curious eccentric would probably be torture.

"D'you have any more questions?" Ron asked.

"I would like to know what happened during the destruction of Hogwarts. Many of our readers distrust the official account."

He started by confessing that he had only seen part of it, and that there were still some things that were beyond him, though Hermione had attempted to explain the magic going on at the time. Apparently, there had been something wrong with the school's warding, which had started her off on this academic crusade on the subject. If the castle could be brought low, without anyone noticing, there had to be some way, known only to the perpetrator, to remove wards, and she was perfectly convinced further study was essential before any progress could be made in the war effort.

When he was basically finished with his account, leaving out the part that it was Hestia Jones who had secured both portkeys for them, since she was a Ministry employee of some sort, probably deep cover. She had to be working with the Order, which made things difficult enough for her already, but he could not help but be a bit suspicious of her. She had received some sort of secret order from Dumbledore to protect Neville two years ago, which might have continued into last year, and if Hannah thought something was weird about her, he had to at least take her judgement into account. What made that difficult was Terry telling him that his prejudice against Slytherins, not just the bad ones, was the result of his trust for his family's judgement, and their judgement was based on what their ancestors thought, and it was turtles all the way down.

With the interview basically concluded, Xenophilius had a thought to ask them a handful of personal questions to humanize them.

"Mr. Weasley, would you happen to have a favorite Quidditch Team?"

"I've always liked the Cannons. I know they're rubbish, but I like rooting for the underdogs."

"As for the young lady who prefers not to be identified- what are your interests?"

"I happen to like going to balls and conducting field research," she responded, sanitizing any detail that would be a dead giveaway as to her identity. It was a few days ago when he said it, but he might have specifically ordered her not to bring up Crumple-Horned Snorkacks. She insisted that there were a growing number of Quibbler readers who reported seeing traces of them, and her father gave them free subscriptions because of it, but she was clever enough to know she was one of the only ex-students of Hogwarts still unaccounted. Merlin knows where Dean is.

"And you, Harper, we heard of your... curt confession to being a romantic. While I would prefer to tantalize the readers with just that..." Come off it, he's fourteen, no one's going to care. "Would you like to tell us more?"

"No,"

"A man of mystery, then," the editor concluded, getting up and looking around for something. "One final matter of business- I confess I did not want to bring it up earlier in the event it was more interesting than the interview- Accio letter- Here it is, yes, in place of a sender I just have 'Order of the Phoenix'. Do you know anything about that?"

The letter was short.

Ron.

Your friend was very wise to reach out to us. Please do not take this out on her. We know about the interview, but there are more important matters to attend. At the earliest possibility, come to meet us in Grimmauld Place, Muggle London. There is someone here to see you.

Dad.