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Harry and Ron sat around the fireplace. Hermione had long since gone to bed, and the warm glow of the fire had heated their faces to a pink hue. They stared into the fire, watching some more of the Daily Prophet samples burn. Ron had a copy of the week's Quibbler, and there was some more pointless information about muggle-born disappearances and the Minister was handing out a security guide to all muggle-borns, and he finally found that he should get rid of some of the pro-pureblood laws. He put it in the fire, watching it smoke, the remnants going up the flue. They sat in silence, watching the fire. "Harry," Harry looked at Ron. "I wonder how it feels if I was Hermione right now." Harry didn't know how to answer that question at the moment, and he surprised himself when he said "She's being strong. She's doing the best she can, being in St. Mungos and all." Ron stared for a moment, and he said, in a hushed whisper "Those tubes, they scare me a little. Like it might get worse. I don't want anything to happen to her, I-" he paused for a moment, holding his breath "love her. I wanted her unharmed from the beginning, heck, I saved her from that troll in the girl's bathroom in first-year." Harry remembered that moment where Ron had knocked it out with the troll's club. "Me neither. She's my friend." they watched the fire burn one of the samples, the headline that had haunted Ron for a month was the last to burn. They suddenly hear screams upstairs. "Hermione!" They rush upstairs, Harry knocking his glasses down in the process, but continued to proceed. Ron flew open the door, and Hermione was laying in bed with a pillow over her head. "Hermione, are you all right?" there was a red smudge on the pillow"I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm fine..." Ron shook her awake from her nightmare. She bolted upright, Harry stumbled through the door, his glasses hanging on one ear. "Hermione, what is it, on your arm?" she looked and gave a yelp. The trace of the word Mudblood was red and bleeding, "We should take you to St. Mungos." She looked at Harry as if he was crazy "No! I'm not going back there. Ron, get a towel, make sure it's damp. Harry, get a bandage." She picked up her wand and cleaned up the bedsheets.
"Get me a blueprint of Malfoy Manor, all the floors Marge," Harry said to his assistant as he walked into the Ministry. His feet were a little bit wet from being flushed, but he was easily able to get the awful squelching noises mute. He sat at his desk, and Marge gave him the blueprints. "I need the Auror performance leaderboard." Marge scrambled off to find it. He unrolled the blueprint, tapping his wand to go through each floor. It was huge. Harry took out the Marauder's Map and watched the new Defence Against The Dark Arts teacher, the real Alaster Moody, twin of Alaster Moody (Confused?), pace around his classroom, with Pansy and a couple of other Slytherin mates being taught. He closed it up and returned to his work. Marge returned to him, and he said "Arrange a meeting today at noon. Call the Order of The Pheonix, we have located the exact positions of the Death Eater's refuge." Marge scrambled off to call. He went to the meeting room and slid the blueprint in the middle of the table. He shot his wand at the blueprint, and it started to build. It folded up like origami, floor after floor, and the holes were made, the excess blueprint paper falling out. Then it added color and texture, and at the end, there was a complete 3D version of Malfoy Manor. The towers stood out in the sky, and the gloom seemed all too familiar from the past year. "Accio Battle Helpers" A bag full of Wizard Chess pieces shot in his hand. Harry reached into the bag and took out the pieces. Slowly, one of the pawns started to Transfigure into Harry. A tiny miniature Harry was in Harry's hand! Several more pieces transformed into the Order members, some turned into Harry's co-workers, and two turned into Ron and Hermione. Harry placed another blueprint, (2D) beside it, and tapped his wand, making the blueprint for the first floor. He placed all the figures on the bridge leading to the gate. Next, he took all the black pieces, and they all Transfigured to Death Eaters and got them through a window, where they scattered. Harry picked up Little Harry by the hood of his sweatshirt and set it in his palm along with Little Ron and Little Hermione. The miniature Ron squeaked as Little Harry turns his eyebrow yellow, Little Hermione just swiped her wand and it went back to its ginger state, the Ron squeaked at the Hermione, and she squeaked back, crossing her arms. The little Harry pointed at the big Harry and squeaked. The Hermione stayed put, but the Ron started to crawl up Harry's arm. Finding out that it was too steep, he went roly-poly back down, and at the bottom, the Hermione scolded him. Harry set them back down at the bridge and all the characters waited in boredom as Harry tried to think of a plan.
Edger Bones was the first to walk into the Meeting Room. Harry stood, and several other Members stepped in. Once everyone filed in, Harry started "Guys. Welcome, thanks for coming." They nodded. "You all know about the... thing that happened last month. We got some information, and checked memories and records, and we believe that all the Death Eaters are at Malfoy Manor. So we are going to attack it." He nodded to the manor blueprint. "We'll do it in stages. One step at a time. It's heavily guarded from the inside out, the weakest at the exterior and entrances. Every day we'll peel back a few defenses, layers. But first, we have to do some observation, see if we can predict where they would go next if they flee, or what they would attack next, or how to get around the defenses. There are pipes and other things that go around the manor, probably with Undetectable Extension charms to try and fool people." As he talked, one of the miniature Order people crawled up to the manor, got over the gate, and in through the pipes. He got back out and shouted to the others. "Stage 2, this is where we peel back the layers. We still got some Dementors that are willing to help to get some unconscious, then our member from Stage 1 will get these people, throw them in Azkaban. We'll try to get some information, of course, but it weakens the defenses." The miniatures did as Harry said, portraying what he wanted to do. "Stage 3. Once we got them stripped down to the core members, then we do a massive attack, arresting all Death Eaters." They all nodded. The miniatures raged in battle, and Harry had to duck to prevent from being shot by one of its spells. All the Death Eaters were in the grasps of the Order and co. of course, and a couple from Harry's side. The battle stopped, and they just looked at Harry expectantly. "Questions?" he asked them. Silence. "It'll take a month for Stage 1 and Stage 2 to proceed, but Stage 3 is a day, I hope. We'll discuss specifics later on. Rejoin here, same time next Wednesday." One of Harry's co-workers asked, "Will Hermione be joining us next Wednesday?" Harry sighed "She will be back at work, but she's not at her best... mental state. I don't want to harm her more than I must. You are dismissed." Everyone left. The miniatures stood at the bridge once again, waiting. One by one, Harry tapped them on the head, and they turned back into chess pieces. Once he got to the last one, Hermione, he picked her up. She struggled in his grip, wanting out. He placed her on his shoulder, and she sat comfortably. She crawled up to his ear and whispered to him "She needs help, I need help. Keep her safe." She hugged his ear, and Harry tapped her on the head and turned back into a pawn. He put it back in the bag with the others.
Hermione was sitting at London Square, gazing at the beauty of the fountain, which had frozen. The water was somehow frozen mid-air, although it was hollow in the middle, so water could still trickle down. The snow-covered concrete was terribly crunchy. Hermione wore her Gryffindor scarf against the cold. Ron came up to her from behind and tapped her shoulder, she jumped a little. "Ronald, you scared me!" She wore a big grin "Sorry." Ron said meekly. "I brought some hot chocolate. It's cold out here." he shivered a little. "Thanks." Ron was curious "Why you here early?" his butt almost slipped on the slick bench "My boss wanted me to go home early, but I objected, and she said she'd call security if I didn't get out at that moment. Smuggled some papers out though." She showed her the papers "Apperation records, from three weeks ago?" Hermione sighed. "I just want to thank... well... whoever had saved me." a moment of silence passed, and Hermione drank some of her hot chocolate. Ron wanted to express his feelings to Hermione, but it didn't feel like the time.