My beta-readers, fredfred and InquisitorCOC, deserve a huge thank you. They helped a lot.


Chapter 70: The Dream Eater

Black Lake, Scotland, April 26th, 2006

"So, we thought about combining a Swooping Evil with our Nightmare Nuts, but that would be going a little too far," wizarding Fred explained as he paced back and forth in front of the large table in Hermione's laboratory. "What with the brain-eating and all."

"Most Ministry employees cannot afford to lose even part of their brain," wizarding Luna added. "And the Swooping Evil would probably get indigestion, anyway."

"And Swooping Evils are a known threat that the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures will quickly tackle," wizarding George cut in.

"But," wizarding Fred continued, "we were on the right track - what's a better lure for the Unspeakables than a mystery involving minds and memories? So, Nightmare Nuts would've been ideal for enhancing the effect. At least the version we decided not to sell since its effects last much longer than a few minutes - we had to dilute the essence of Boggart for that."

"Essence of Boggart?" Hermione leaned forward in her seat.

"Did you know that with the right worst fear, you can get a Boggart you can boil? It doesn't kill them," wizarding Fred added when he saw wizarding Luna's frown, "but the, uh, solution left behind retains some of the Boggart's magic."

"In short, it's a nightmare solution," George cut in with a very familiar grin that made Ron wince. "But our dear magical versions' product wasn't exactly easy to apply if you couldn't trick someone into eating the nuts. But if you manage to aerosolise the solution? Coupled with a little DMSO?"

"That sounds like a crime against humanity," Ron commented.

"No, no - just a gas that will induce nightmares," his brother replied.

A very effective gas - Ron was sure he'd have nightmares just from hearing about his brothers and their wizarding counterparts handling it.

"That sounds quite the feat. Although I assume there is more to your plan," Dumbledore said.

"Oh, yes!" Luna spoke up. "After all, we want to expose how inept and corrupt the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures is! Which means we'll be using a rare magical creature, too!"

"We've been wondering how best to feed the Dominican Dream Eater Daddy found on his last expedition," wizarding Luna explained. "And since nightmares are a very tasty treat for the dear, this would be perfect - people will have nightmares, upon which the dream eater can feed."

"Testing showed that people will remember having a nightmare, but nothing about it," wizarding George said.

"You've tested it?" Hermione asked.

"Of course we did! We'd never use something without testing it first - certainly not for serious business," he told her. "Such as fooling the Ministry as a diversion for the Heist of Azkaban."

"Or the Kidnapping of Azkaban," his brother added.

"Is it kidnapping if it's a Dementor?" wizarding George asked, cocking his head. "Wouldn't that be Dementor-napping?"

"That sounds like the Dementor is taking a nap," wizarding Fred said. "Or a name for a nightmare-nap."

"Could you expand on your plan before discussing naming options?" Hermione asked. "How did you test it? And on whom?"

"On ourselves, of course!" wizarding Fred replied, grinning.

"Using a diluted version," his brother added. "For safety."

"And that was impressive enough," Fred said, shuddering. "Though we didn't test how LSD added to the solution would work out. Still haven't tested that."

"Despite persistent rumours to the contrary," Dumbledore cut in, "LSD isn't exactly harmless. I would not use it on myself - certainly not in conjunction with a magical mind-altering substance."

Ron hoped his brothers and their counterparts weren't as stupid as to do so, either. "You can't afford to lose any sanity, either," he told them.

"Some say we're gone too far already," Fred said.

"It's not a joking matter," Hermione spat.

"Everything's a joking matter," he replied.

"Except death in the family. Extended family," his counterpart added.

"Something not entirely unlikely if you mix psychedelic drugs with magic," Ron pointed out. "A bad trip, combined with spells and curses?"

All four twins blanched a little. Ron sighed.

"Well, on second thought, perhaps we shouldn't test that particular product," wizarding Geoge said.

"We couldn't sell it, anyway," George added.

"And what exactly is your plan, then?" Hermione looked at the Lunas.

"We dose the victims with the gas, so they produce food for Snappy," wizarding Luna replied. "And we do it in Hogsmeade, so people will talk in the morning, and news will spread."

"A memory devouring - or, at least, dream eating, nightmare-inducing - creature in Hogsmeade? I daresay the Unspeakables will link it to the Dementors." Wizarding George nodded at his own words.

"That would lead them to us," Hermione said. "Or to check the Dementors' numbers on Azkaban."

"Which is why we will add another distraction, of course," Dumbledore told her. "Which will also grant you the perfect alibi. The Unspeakables will provide it."

"You want to use Polyjuice Potion," Hermione said.

Dumbledore smiled.


Outside Hogsmeade, Scotland, Wizarding World, April 27th, 2006

"You'd expect people to have better protections on their homes," Ron heard Hermione mutter as they looked at the village below them from the same vantage point they had done so shortly after the first time he had travelled through the portal. In the dim light of a new moon, he needed night vision gear to see the details of the village.

"You'd expect it, yes, but you'd be disappointed," wizarding Bill replied. "Gringotts was ready for a flood of requests for stronger wards. They pulled all Curse-Breakers still working for them off the tomb raiding in the Valley of Kings and called them back to Britain as soon as Voldemort's death had been confirmed. Even made them take refresher courses in the latest warding advancements." He chuckled. "And they paid for it, which would have been a nice bonus if I'd still been working for them. But the expected requests never arrived. Apparently, with Voldemort dead, most wizards didn't see any need to improve their home protections."

Hermione groaned. "That's… so irresponsible!"

"The goblins should have offered those services during the war," Fleur said with a scoff. "But they were too afraid that such a service would make them a target for one or the other side."

"Not entirely without justification," wizarding Bill added. "The Death Eaters wouldn't have tolerated the goblins helping to protect others from them. And both the Death Eaters and the Order would have wanted to know the secrets and keys to their enemies' homes. Which would have made the goblins a target."

"And then we had to break into Gringotts anyway," Hermione said. "They really didn't choose wisely."

"You and your friends didn't leave them dead or with their minds broken after interrogation," wizarding Bill told her.

"We only set their strongest dragon free and had it rampage through the heart of Gringotts," Hermione retorted. "I'm certain that, and the loss of face and reputation, hurt them more than the death of a few employees would have."

"Not quite," the wizard corrected her. "They take deaths very seriously."

"Blood calls for blood," Fleur quoted - presumably - the goblins.

"Ah." Hermione cleared her throat. "In any case, the miscalculation of the goblins and the lack of common sense - or an instinct of self-preservation - can only help us. If they had decent protections, we would have to break through several wards. I still can't believe Air-Cleaning Charms aren't standard after what you did to the Nott summer house."

"They were - for a time. But they were a little too effective, and people complained about every scent being removed as well. And adjusting the spells so they don't remove the scent of a freshly cooked meal, your partner's new perfume or the flowers in the garden is difficult, which means it's expensive," wizarding Bill explained.

"And adjusting your anti-vermin spells to keep out exotic magical creatures from the New World is expensive as well," Fleur added.

"We probably should've accepted Xenophilus' offer to get us creatures to help us fight during the war," Hermione muttered.

"Your Luna wouldn't have been happy," Ron pointed out. She had been adamant about ensuring the safety of her 'dear Dream Eater'.

Hermione scoffed. "She would've accepted it in time."

"Hindsight's always 20/20," he replied. "But what that means is that our targets are unprotected, right?"

"Yes," she replied. "We'll have to check the wards, of course, but their protections shouldn't be able to repel either the gas or the creature."

"How exactly did you pick the targets?" Fleur asked.

"We didn't. The twins and Luna did," Hermione told her.

"Oh. This is revenge, then?"

Hermione nodded. "Probably. Although not for anything serious - as I was told, they've already 'dealt with those'."

Wizarding Bill and Fleur nodded. Ron pressed his lips together. After a bloody civil war, a lot of people would've been wanting to settle accounts, and he doubted that the Order had been above it. "Anyway - has the Auror patrol passed already?" he asked. "I didn't see them."

"It should've, but Ron said that the night patrol schedule is more a suggestion for some," wizarding Bill told him.

"Well, patrols are supposed to be irregular," Ron pointed out. "So criminals cannot figure out a pattern. That's how they handle it in the army as well."

"I don't think the Aurors patrolling Hogsmeade considered that," Hermione said.

"Or not-patrolling, as may be the case." Ron chuckled.

"Let's give them fifteen more minutes. Then we go get the twins and the Lunas," Hermione said. "We'll need to keep a lookout, though, so we can avoid the patrol, should they appear."

"I can do that," Ron said at once. That was something he couldn't just do but was good at. Much better than just following Hermione around while she checked wards with Bill's counterpart.

"Alright."


The Dominican Dream Eater was a sight to see, even through binocs. It looked like a vague, man-sized collection of feathers, rocks and plants, moving like a miniature tornado in slow motion. In fact, it looked a lot like the 'dreamcatchers' Ron had seen over some cribs, though whether that would indicate a connection - didn't dreamcatchers originate in the Americas as well? But according to Luna, the species hadn't been known until her father had discovered it - and the ICW was still doubting its existence. So how could it have influenced muggle customs? In another world? Another mystery related to dimensional travel, he decided.

"Strike Team to Watcher, status?" he heard Hermione over the radio.

"Watcher to Strike Team, no sign of the patrol," he replied, looking at the main part of the village again. He couldn't spot even a hint of the red robes the Aurors wore. If Ron, in his rookie days, had neglected his duties like that…

He snorted - he was complaining about the enemy making a mistake, instead of being glad.

"Moving in."

Since the team was disillusioned, he couldn't see the others move, but he caught a glimpse of the Dream Eater floating in the sky, seemingly aimlessly - though Ron knew that it was following Luna somehow.

"I'm about to deploy the gas," Hermione reported. "Ensure that you've cast a Bubble-Head Charm."

"We're fine."

"OK here."

"Ready!"

"Do it!"

"Deploying the gas."

Once again, Ron couldn't see anything. But he knew Hermione would use a spell to switch the air inside the house with the invisible gas in the pressurised container she was carrying.

"Done."

Now all they had to do was wait. Ron scanned the streets again. There was still no sign of the Auror patrol. None that he could see, at least. And it had been hours. Sloppy and lazy. Irresponsible, even.

But as he studied the area around the Hog's Head Inn - a dive if he had ever seen one - he suddenly noticed that the Dream Eater was moving slowly towards the first target's house. In the dim light of the stars, it was almost invisible, but Ron's night vision gear allowed him to follow the creature's movements as it circled the house, then sank through the roof as if it were but a hologram.

"Snappy's feeding!" wizarding Luna's delighted voice sounded over the radio. "Look at him! Look how happy he is gobbling up the nightmare! He's the cutest!"

Ron noted the distinct lack of agreement from the others down there and tried not to imagine what was happening. Luna - both Lunas - had weird views of what they considered cute.

Mostly weird - Luna had dated him, after all.

"Alright - as soon as he's done eating, lure him out. We're moving to the next target," Hermione announced.

"We have to wait a moment, or he might get indigestion," wizarding Luna replied. "And you don't want the poor dear to vomit nightmares all over the place."

No, they definitely didn't want that.


"Alright - that's the fifth target down," Hermione reported.

"Still no sign of any Aurors," Ron told her. "I'm tempted to report them to their superiors," he added.

"Harry and Ron will hear about this," Hermione told him. "But they won't be able to act upon it. Not without giving the game away." After a moment, she added: "Let's go to the last target."

"But slowly! Snappy overate and can't rush things!" wizarding Luna replied.

"Should you feed him another nightmare then?" Hermione asked.

"Oh, yes. He likes them. It would be cruel to deprive him of dessert!"

Ron reminded himself that Luna had once eaten an entire birthday cake in one go. And not one meant for a two-person party. And the pains she suffered afterwards hadn't kept her from finishing the remains of the second cake for breakfast. If her counterpart was the same with regards to dessert - and, as far as he knew, that was the case - then she might not see a problem.

"Alright, we'll take it slow."

"No problem - I'm getting a little tired myself," wizarding Fred said.

"You're not even in the village; you're rear echelon," Ron told him. Then he frowned - he should show better radio discipline, as Sirius called it.

"So you claim!"

"Bet he slept the whole time!"

Great. He'd set the twins off - the wizarding twins. That was a stupid mistake to make. Ron would have to… His eyes widened. Had that been… yes. Someone was walking the streets. Dressed in wizarding fashion.

"Well if he's like our Ron, then his company is vastly improved as soon as he is aggressively saying nothing," wizarding Fred said.

"Shut up," Ron snapped. "Aurors have appeared in the centre - they're headed towards you."

"Someone must have sounded an alarm!" wizarding Fleur exclaimed.

"No," Ron told her. "They're moving slowly. It's the patrol we've been waiting for." Even without his binocs, he would've been able to tell - no police officer responding to an alarm moved like that. There was no urgency at all.

"It doesn't matter," Hermione said. "We need to move."

"Alright," wizarding Bill agreed.

"But Snappy's too slow to get away, stuffed as he is!" wizarding Luna protested.

Great.

Ron kept track of the Aurors, which was more difficult than expected - in the moonless night, they didn't stick out very much, and with the snow having gone even up here in Scotland, the dark red robes blended together with the cobblestone roads, at least when seen through his night vision gear. "They're on the main road," he reported. "Passing the pink café."

"Stick to the side alleys," Hermione snapped. "And get the Dream Eater down here, Luna!"

"He's got a name!" wizarding Luna replied. "Come to me, Snappy! You can't float so high, or the nasty Aurors will try to curse you!"

And that would give the game away, and keep the Unspeakables from getting called in, which would render the whole operation pointless.

But, as Ron could see with a quick glance, the Dream Eater didn't look like it would deign to listen to wizarding Luna's pleas. "They're passing the centre of the village," Ron told the others. That put them two houses from the team. The two Aurors weren't moving as if they were on a patrol - they looked more like an arguing couple taking a stroll, he noted. But they still presented a risk.

"Move back - we need cover, or they'll detect us with a Human-presence-revealing Charm."

"But Snappy's up there! He's confused!"

"Pull him down!"

"We can't! That would hurt him!"

"They're one house away," Ron told them. "Move!"

"Snappy! Come down! Yes, good boy!"

The Dream Eater started to float down, presumably towards wizarding Luna. Unfortunately, it was too slow - it reached the street just as the Aurors reached the entrance of the side alley - and the Aurors reacted, drawing their wands as they split up.

"No!"

"Stupefy!"

"Stupefy!"

And both Aurors were down.

"Standards really need to be raised," he heard Hermione mutter.

Ron agreed - he had a feeling that the two patrolling wizards would probably have missed the floating Dream Eater if it had stayed up in the air - they didn't seem the type to look up at all.

"Alright - obliviate them, then use the gas on them," Hermione said.

"And then Snappy gets dessert!"

Ron watched, but he couldn't see anything - not even flashes of light.

"We've erased the last few minutes from their memories," wizarding Bill informed them a few minutes later.

"Stay back, then - and recast your Bubble-Head Charm," Hermione ordered. "I'll be using the gas as soon as you're ready."

"Ready."

"Prète."

"Ready!"

"Move over, Ron!"

Ron turned his head. Wizarding Fred and wizarding George were climbing the slope towards him. He snorted. "Find your own spot."

"We did, but it's occupied!"

"By you!"

"Sod off," Ron replied.

"No sense of humour."

"Like our Ron. Imagine a world where Ron has a sense of humour!"

Ron rolled his eyes and tried to focus on the location of Hermione and the others in Hogsmeade.

"I'm deploying the gas now."

"Watch out! Well… it's invisible, so you won't see anything, but it seems the thing to say."

"But that means we won't see anything, either."

Ron rolled his eyes again. The twins - either set of them - weren't even a quarter as funny as they thought they were. He didn't tell them so, of course - he knew them.

And below, in the village, the Dream Eater was moving again. And this time, he could watch it feed. The collection of debris caught in a miniature whirlwind floated towards the first Auror, coming to a stop above the wizard's head. Then it lowered itself until the Auror's face disappeared in its midst, small rocks and feathers orbiting it.

And then it rose up again - and pulled what looked like a glowing ghost of the Auror along with it.

"Blimey!" Ron heard one of the twins - he couldn't tell who - whisper next to him.

"That looks like…" his brother trailed off.

"Like a Dementor feeding on a soul," Hermione said with more than a hint of shock in her voice.

"Mon Dieu!"

As the ghostly form was drawn into the whirlwind, slowly being torn apart, wizarding Luna spoke up: "Oh, no - that's just the dream consciousness being absorbed. Not the soul at all. Daddy tested it."

It certainly looked like a soul to Ron - at least the movie versions he had seen. And the Auror on the ground looked dead - or comatose. It was a little hard to tell from his position, even using magnification.

"Don't eat so fast, Snappy! You'll get indigestion! Slow down! Good boy!"

When the last wisps of the ghost had vanished, the Dream Eater rose even higher, then started floating towards the side alley. He heard wizarding Luna giggling soon afterwards.

"Luna!" Hermione snapped.

"That tickles! Oh, don't worry - Snappy knows he needs to keep the stones away from me. They only use them in self-defence anyway."

Ron could've done without the mental image of a person caught in a whirlwind with a few dozen rocks…

And when the Dream Eater moved to the other Auror, Ron took care to keep an eye out for reinforcements, or villagers leaving their homes very late - or very early.

But no one appeared - the creature fed on the second Auror without incident. And without listening to wizarding Luna, who kept telling it not to eat too fast.

Only after the second 'ghost' had dissolved in the whirlwind did the creature stop and float back to where Ron assumed the others stood - or, at least, where wizarding Luna stood. And it seemed to be wobbling as it flew - though that might be Ron's imagination.

"Oh, no! I told you not to overeat, Snappy!"

Or not. Had the Dream Eater gorged itself? Wait, what had wizarding Luna said about…

The Dream Eater suddenly seemed to shrink to half its size - no, it contracted.

"Uh-oh."

Then the whirlwind expanded, and transparent wisps started to shoot away from its centre.

"See? I told you you'd hurt your tummy!" wizarding Luna said.

More and more of the wisps were sent forth - and disappeared into the buildings surrounding them. One went for the Aurors on the ground, vanishing as it touched the first one - who quickly started to convulse.

"Is it… vomiting nightmares?" Hermione asked.

"Yes! The poor dear overate!"

"Are those entering sleeping people's minds?" Fleur asked.

"It seems so," wizarding Luna replied. "This is fascinating - do you think those are the dreams returning to their origin? Or do they merely pick a convenient target?"

"They're entering every house," Ron told them. "Not just the ones we targeted."

"And there are a few more than we had targets," wizarding Bill added dryly.

Ron blinked. What did that mean?

"Are those fragments of nightmares? Or buds?" wizarding Fred speculated.

"I don't know," Hermione said, "but we should leave as soon as possible."

"Oui," Fleur agreed. "If those nightmares hit us…"

Ron concurred - he really didn't want those nightmares to spread over a larger area.

"But Snappy can't move yet!"

"Tough," Hermione replied. "We can't stay while half the village is woken up by nightmares."

"Nightmare fragments," wizarding Luna corrected her. "And that's only an assumption."

"Not the part about people waking up," Ron told them - a light had just gone on in a house nearby. "They are waking up."

"Luna! Move it!"

"But… Oh, well. Come along, Snappy!"

The whirlwind, still contracting and expanding, like a parody of a moving worm or caterpillar, started to follow wizarding Luna down the side alley.

More and more lights went on in Hogsmeade as the group withdrew from the village.

"Well… that didn't go as planned," wizarding Fred commented.

"Not quite," his brother added. "Although this should have the Unspeakables rushing to the village."

Ron agreed. And that meant they would have to have their Polyjuice Potion alibi ready.


Black Lake, Scotland, April 28th, 2006

Once he had gone through the portal and was safe - relatively safe - in the lab, Ron allowed himself to relax. Just a little bit, though - the Dream Eater had stopped 'vomiting' nightmares on the way to the portal, but after what he had seen, he couldn't look at the creature without shuddering. It wasn't the worst thing he had seen - that was Azkaban - but it came close. In a way, the Dream Eater was even worse than the Dementors - those monsters looked like the personification of death in some works, but the Dream Eater looked truly alien. No face. No limbs, no body to see - just a whirlwind of feathers and rocks, and other things Ron hadn't been able to identify.

And wizarding Luna was still fawning over it. "Oh, you poor dear… but you really shouldn't have gorged yourself like that. You know you need to slow down to digest nightmares. And no, you don't have to be afraid of the people waking up and taking your food away, no."

Ron shuddered again as the witch led the Dream Eater out of the lab - to use a Portkey to transport it to their habitat 'where Snappy will be safe from the Ministry'.

"You know, Luna's a sweetie, but she really did learn the wrong lessons from Hagrid," wizarding Fred told him in a low voice.

"What do you mean?" Ron asked.

"Most students learn one crucial lesson in Care of Magical Creatures: That every creature is dangerous. And that Hagrid doesn't understand that. Actually, those are two lessons…"

"No Monty Python quotes," Ron told him.

"I have no idea what you mean." The wizard stared at him, but Ron knew his brothers better than anyone else - and that carried over to the wizarding world.

"Yeah, right."

Wizarding Fred huffed. "Anyway, I had a thought - and no repeating jokes that were old when Dumbledore was young. Ether Dumbledore."

Ron made a gesture to get the wizard to come to the point.

"Do you think the Dream Eater did that deliberately?"

"What?"

"You know, spill nightmare bits. If more people have nightmares, it has more food. Like sowing before you reap."

"It didn't get to eat the new nightmares," Ron pointed out.

"That's true - but could it have known that would happen? Luna was leading it around from buffet to buffet, then, suddenly, we had to leave - just when the harvest was starting."

Ron would have dismissed it as just a crackpot theory - but then, the wizarding world wasn't exactly sane to begin with. "You'll have to ask her, I guess."

"I will."

Apparently, the presence of the Dream Eater wasn't enough to scare wizarding Fred away.

Well, no one, ever, said that the twins were wise.


Black Lake, Scotland, April 28th, 2006

Wizarding Harry and wizarding Ron arrived shortly after breakfast. Which was, due to how late the mission last night had been - Ron and the others had returned to base long after midnight - closer to lunch. Or brunch.

"What did you do in Hogsmeade?" Ron's counterpart blurted out. "The entire village was woken up by nightmares!"

"Luna and the twins - all of them - miscalculated," Hermione told him.

Wizarding Ron gaped for a moment. "Bloody hell!" He shook his head. "What were you thinking?"

"Me?" Hermione narrowed her eyes at him.

"Well, it was your idea, your mission, right?"

Ron carefully didn't nod in agreement. Mostly because he hadn't opposed the plan, either.

"I didn't plan for nightmare indigestion," Hermione said.

"Nightmare indigestion?"

"The Dream Eater Luna brought stuffed itself on nightmares created by the twins, then vomited them all over the village," Ron explained.

His counterpart and wizarding Harry turned a little green.

"That's a slightly simplified explanation, but it's basically correct," Hermione added.

"What were you thinking?" wizarding Harry said.

"That we needed a real mystery to attract the attention of the Unspeakables," she retorted, frowning at her friends.

"Well, you got it," wizarding Harry replied. "Half the Department of Mysteries is in Hogsmeade, casting every spell they know at every nook and cranny."

"And the entire village is in St Mungo's, being checked by the Healers for lingering curse damage or mental effects," Ron's counterpart added.

Ron whistled. That was a little more than they had expected.

Hermione winced, then glared at him - as if this was his fault! "We didn't intend for things to go…"

"Out of control?" Wizarding Harry raised his eyebrows.

"...that far," she corrected him. "We only wanted to affect half a dozen people."

"Chosen by the twins," Ron added.

"Well, you got the entire village. Which means that the country's going crazy, too - everyone's afraid they'll be next." Wizarding Ron shook his head "The Ministry's getting swamped by calls for help. Everyone with a nightmare, or just a cold, is screaming about monsters and dark curses."

"It's the biggest panic since… I don't actually remember," wizarding Harry said.

Hermione pressed her lips together. Ron patted her shoulder. "I never wanted this," she said, shaking her head.

"Well, you got it anyway," wizarding Harry told her. "Now we have to deal with it."

"And we need to hit Azkaban," Ron said.

*What?" the others looked at him.

He spread his hands. "I know it's terrible and all, but… this is the perfect distraction, isn't it? We can't let this opportunity pass." And no one had died. At least no one was supposed to die.

"We've tested the gas, but we haven't tested what happens if partially digested nightmares are sent into people's minds," Hermione replied.

That was a sobering thought. But… "Still, it's the perfect opportunity to raid Azkaban. And it's not as if we can do anything for the villagers without revealing our actions."

Judging by the tense expressions on the faces of the other three, no one could disagree with that.

"Well, we need to go to Hogsmeade now," wizarding Ron said. "They're expecting us."

"And where do they think you are right now?" Ron asked.

"Fetching Hermione."

"What?"

"Since the Unspeakables know you're researching the Dementors, and this incident looks like it's related to Dementors, and since they know we don't trust them blindly…" Ron's counterpart shrugged. "It would be suspicious if we didn't fetch you to get a second opinion. Third, if you count the Hogwarts' staff."

"They're also investigating?"

"Of course they are. An incident like this, next to Hogwarts?" Wizarding Harry shook his head. "McGonagall dragged the Defence teacher there herself, or so I've heard."

"Oh." Hermione sounded surprised.

"And what if they suspect that Hermione was behind this?" Ron asked.

"That was the point of it, right? Now we need to turn this into an alibi," wizarding Ron said. "Well, not literally an alibi - but the foundation for one."

"But… we need to pick a double first," Hermione said. "We planned for the news to spread slowly, taking at least a week to catch the attention of anyone at the Ministry!"

And after another night or two of nightmares. Ron shrugged. "We need to adapt, then. Besides, most people will think the painting is a good example of how you are and act."

That earned him a scowl. "Don't remind me of that… travesty."

"You haven't yet picked a double?" Wizarding Harry frowned.

"Dumbledore said that he's handling it," Hermione told him.

"There aren't any witches who know you well enough to play the role," wizarding Ron said. "Nor many wizards. Hell, Harry and I might have trouble acting like the new you!"

"The 'new me'?" Hermione raised her eyebrows at him.

"You know what I mean," the wizard replied. "Anyway, who did you have in mind? Not Luna, I suppose. Or one of the twins."

Hermione shuddered.


Hogsmeade, Scotland, Wizarding Britain, April 28th, 2006

"Has the village been evacuated?" Ron asked as they appeared on the outskirts of Hogsmeade. He could see dozens of people on the streets - but all of them wore the red robes of the Auror Corps, the grey of the Hit-Wizards or the cowls of the Unspeakables.

"Yes," wizarding Harry said.

"It looks like an invasion;" Hermione commented. "I think the Ministry deployed fewer people in the battles against the Death Eaters."

"Well, it's not the old Ministry any more - and this is the only wizarding village in Britain," Ron's counterpart said.

Which meant this was as bad as the City of London getting hit by a gas attack, comparatively. Or worse, population-wise.

"Auror Potter! Auror Weasley!" An Auror came running up to them. "The Minister requires your presence."

"Where is he?" wizarding Harry asked.

"Centre of the village - can't miss him."

"Alright."

Hogsmeade looked like it had been invaded, too, Ron noticed as they entered the village. The first house they passed had a hole in its roof - blown out from within, he guessed. It was hard to tell with all the debris, and an Auror was peering through the hole, wand in hand, but… "Those must have been some nightmares," he said in a low voice. "If they cast curses after waking up - or could they cast while asleep?" Did any wizards sleep with their wands in hand? Wasn't that like sleeping with a loaded gun in hand?

"Or it was accidental magic?" Hermione suggested with a grimace.

He blinked. "I thought that didn't happen any more after you got a wand."

"It's rare, but it can happen. And there would have been children in the village as well."

Oh. He winced. "Damn."

"Yes, damn," wizarding Harry said.

Ron felt like he had been punched in the gut. Children. Not just civilians, but kids. Damn.

At least there weren't any more damaged houses, Ron told himself as they walked towards the village's centre. That would've been…

"It's just nightmares," Hermione said. "People have nightmares all the time. I spent months having nightmares." She sounded composed, but her grimace… It seemed she was trying to convince herself as much as Ron and the others.

"You fought in a civil war," Ron pointed out.

"I had nightmares about spiders as a kid," his counterpart told them. "It was the twins' fault. But I'm fine now."

Ron nodded, shuddering.

"And in Defence Against the Dark Arts, you still face a Boggart at least once," wizarding Harry added.

"Let's hope it's really just normal nightmares," Ron said. Wizarding Luna would be devastated, otherwise. If she felt guilty for hurting a kid...

"Kingsley," wizarding Harry interrupted his thoughts - they had arrived at the centre.

"Harry! Ron! Where… ah." The Minister nodded. "Good morning, Miss Granger, Mr Weasley. Thank you for coming. Did Harry and Ron fill you in?"

Ron nodded, even though he knew the question wasn't aimed at him.

"They did. I'm not sure if I'll be of much use, though," Hermione replied. "This is somewhat outside of my experience."

"But you've been studying the Dementors, haven't you?" the Minister asked.

"I've seen a muggle village after a Dementor attack. This doesn't look like it." Hermione turned to face the street behind her. "No bodies on the road, and the plants are still alive."

"We've had cases of memory loss - and all victims report nightmares similar to those prisoners suffer in Azkaban," Shacklebolt told her. "Croaker thinks this might be a rogue Dementor - perhaps a new variant of Dementor."

"A new variant? Like a spontaneous mutation?" Hermione scoffed.

"Or the result of experimentation." The Minister shrugged. "No one knows how Dementors came to be. Whether they were created by dark wizards or occurred naturally."

"I'm well aware that research on the Dementors is sorely lacking," Hermione said with a huff. "It's almost criminally negligent how the Ministry keeps using those creatures without understanding anything about them."

"You could rectify that," Shacklebolt told her.

She frowned at him. "Mr Croaker told you about his offer."

"He did. And he suggested calling you in."

"Well, he didn't tell us before we went to fetch her," wizarding Ron said, frowning.

"I believe you were already on your way. Where were you, by the way?"

"They were at a vacation home of mine," Hermione said with a glare. "A private vacation home."

"Ah." If the Minister was annoyed at her curt reply, he didn't show it.

"Ah, Miss Granger."

Ron turned and saw Croaker was walking towards them, smiling - he was the only one Ron had seen so far in Hogsmeade who was smiling. Everyone else looked grim - or, in the case of a few younger Aurors and Hit-Wizards, nervous and afraid.

"Mr Croaker." Hermione nodded at him. "You suspect that this is the work of a hitherto unknown variant of Dementor?"

"Or something related to the Dementors, depending on how you define 'variant'. We did find traces of memory loss in the affected people."

"If Dementors had invaded Hogsmeade, the villagers would've been killed." Hermione shook her head. "This was something else."

"Perhaps." Croaker smiled. "But I have a feeling that there is some connection to the Dementors."

Hermione didn't quite scoff, but her expression left no doubt that she disagreed.

"But you're becoming quite the expert on them, aren't you? I'm sure the results of your investigation of this incident will be fascinating to read."

If that wasn't a subtle taunt, Ron would eat the man's cowl. The problem was, he couldn't tell if Croaker was falling for their ruse - or had seen through it.

And neither, Ron thought, could Hermione.


"We need to do something about the Dementors!"

She looked up from the grimoire Dumbledore had given them. Harry stood in the door, holding a newspaper. A muggle newspaper. "What happened?"

"A second 'gas accident'," he replied, dropping the newspaper on her desk - and almost scattering her notes. "Three families died."

"Three families?" She quickly skimmed the article. "A cover-up."

"Yes. They must have removed some of the bodies."

No need to ask who he was talking about: the Ministry under Voldemort. "Sooner or later, this will endanger the Statute of Secrecy," she said. "There's probably already a conspiracy theory about chemical weapon attacks - or accidents."

Harry nodded and sat down in an armchair. "But the Dementors don't care about that. We need to stop them."

"We need to defeat Voldemort," she retorted. "And that's our task. We don't know how to stop the Dementors roaming England."

He lifted his wand. "A Patronus Charm generally stops them."

"I didn't mean literally," she said, huffing at him. "Seriously, sending the Dementors packing isn't enough - we would need to be able to imprison them. Without anyone being able to release them."

And that would take more resources than they could spare at the moment.

She turned the newspaper over so she didn't have to look at the headline: "Three Families Dead."

They couldn't do much about that.