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


Chapter 71: The Double Bluff

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

"I wouldn't claim to be an expert on the Dementors," Hermione told Croaker. "And I don't think my presence here could be called an investigation."

"But you will investigate the incident, won't you?" Croaker smiled in that annoying manner of his. "If only to ensure that this wasn't the work of a Dementor. I doubt that you would be able to focus on your research if you weren't absolutely certain that none of those fiends are on the loose."

Another hint that the Unspeakable thought they had done this? Ron kept his face expressionless.

Hermione, though, frowned. "Of course I will look into this - I wouldn't be here, otherwise. But that doesn't mean or imply being employed by the Ministry. I like my independence." She turned to Shacklebolt. "I hope that doesn't mean I'm not allowed to make my own observations."

"Of course not," the Minister replied at once. "We need all the help we can get - our own investigation hasn't had any results so far."

"We have just started." Croaker's smile slipped a little at the implied criticism.

"Research and investigations rarely bring dependable results if they're rushed," Hermione added. "But as I said, I'm not an expert. All I can do is take a look at the scene of the crime and make deductions. And no, that doesn't mean I think it was a crime - it's merely the most plausible assumption at the moment."

"If it was a crime, it's one of the most serious in Britain's history," Croaker said, his expression bland. "An entire village sent to St Mungo's - that didn't happen even during the last two wars."

Hermione glared at the old wizard. "Entire villages were murdered in the last war - I've seen the remains. But they were muggles, so it doesn't count?" She scoffed and walked away.

Ron glanced at Croaker and Shacklebolt as he turned to follow her. The Minister was glaring at Croaker. Shacklebolt had fought in the war, so he wouldn't like the implications that muggle victims didn't count. But could there be more behind this? Both of them wanted Hermione working for the Ministry, after all.

Well, he could ponder that once they weren't investigating their own crime any more.

He saw the first wizard - except for Shacklebolt - who wasn't an Auror, Hit-Wizard or Unspeakable after catching up to Hermione and pointed him out to her. "Who might that be?"

"Probably a member of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures," she replied. "They would've been called in as well - as soon as the possibility of a creature being involved came up."

Which, seeing as everyone seemed to suspect the Dementors, would've happened rather soon.

"Hello?" Hermione called out to the wizard staring at the ground - the ground where they had left the Aurors, Ron realised; he had only seen it from afar.

"Yes?" The wizard - middle-aged and a little out of shape looked up.

"I'm Hermione Granger. This is Ronald Weasley - the other Roland," she introduced them. "We've been asked to look into the incident."

"She's been asked. I just tagged along," Ron said with a wry grin.

To his surprise, the wizard beamed at him. "Oh, but you're a police officer, aren't you? I'm sorry, where are my manners? I'm Humphrey Wilkinson, Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures."

"Yes, I worked for the police," Ron said.

"So, you know how to investigate a crime scene, right? Dust for fingerprints, footprints, DNA-traces?" Wilkinson smiled at him. "We could really use some samples here."

Ron kept smiling even though he wanted to curse. Here, finally, was a wizard who appreciated Ron's skills, and he couldn't show them off without exposing his friends and himself as the culprits. The universe had a strange sense of humour. He nodded. "I would love to, but I fear that the scene has been thoroughly contaminated." He pointed at all the wizards and witches walking and, in some cases, floating around.

"Oh!" Wilkinson's face fell. "That's too bad." He perked up quickly, though. "But since we're looking for a possible creature, there should be inhuman DNA, right? At the very least, we should be able to confirm whether or not a Dementor was involved."

"You have Dementor DNA on file? I didn't think they would have DNA." Hermione sounded as surprised as Ron. He wouldn't have expected wizards to care about such things.

"Well… their, uh, tissue should still be distinctive. I'm muggleborn, and my mother's a biologist, so I know about that…" the wizard shrugged. "But I don't have the experience or tools to secure samples in the field."

Ron nodded. "I'll see what I can improvise. I wasn't with Forensics, but I've seen enough crime scenes that I should be able to help." After all, the Dream Eater had been flying the whole time, hadn't it? Although… "I'm not sure, however, if a Dementor would've left DNA traces or tissue, what with them apparently flying and wearing rags."

"Fibre samples would be distinctive, though, wouldn't they?"

Someone had watched too many crime dramas, Ron thought.

But he nodded and started to check the crime scene. The footprints had been, as he had said, trampled over - probably by both villagers fleeing their homes and the arriving Aurors and Hit-Wizards. But when the Dream Eater had attacked the stunned and gassed Aurors, it had sunk into their heads - and might've touched the ground.

Not that he'd know that, officially. "What happened here?" he asked.

"The Hogsmeade Auror patrol was attacked here. Stunned - they were left on the ground in the middle of the street," Wilkinson told him.

"Any curses on them?"

"Only the mental curse they're still trying to identify." Wilkinson shrugged. "I'm not an expert for those spells."

"Right. So they were stunned and then attacked - or the other way round. In any case, an attack took place here." Ron knelt and started searching the area.

Wilkinson pointed at the location. "They were found right in the middle of the street."

"Thank you."

"That doesn't mean that they were attacked there," Hermione said, narrowing her eyes slightly as she looked at Ron.

"I know, but if they were moved here, there might still be traces," Ron told her. He couldn't play too dumb, could he? Otherwise, the Ministry would grow suspicious. Or even more suspicious.

"Do you need tools?" Wilkinson raised his wand. "I can conjure tweezers and vials."

"If I find something, I'll tell you," Ron replied, looking at the cobblestones. There were abrasive traces on some of the stones - and the colour of them matched the colour of the rocks that had been part of the Dream Eater's body. "This is weird," he said, pointing at the traces. "Looks like something hard hit the stones here."

Wilkinson knelt down next to him. "Merlin's beard, you're right! That's a trace!"

"I don't know how to analyse it, though," Ron told him. "That would be lab work."

"Well, we might be able to get some muggle help for that."

Ron was surprised. "You've got access to a lab?"

"I think the DMLE has an arrangement with the muggle police."

"Ah." That would make sense. But it would complicate matters, too - although Ron doubted that, regardless of any deal or understanding, Forensics would prioritise a wizarding request. Not when there were capital crimes to be investigated with the press and superiors pushing for results - Ron was well aware of how much politicking and favour-trading went on in pushing your request to the head of the queue. Well, theoretically - Colin had always prioritised Harry's requests.

Hermione, though, looked like she wasn't aware of that. "Well, that's one trace. But it seems as if there's nothing else to be found here," she said, looking around.

"We haven't checked for fibres, yet!" Wilkinson protested.

"I did, actually," Ron told him. "I could take a few samples if you can summon the tools, but it doesn't look like there are any. Other than from the Aurors' robes, of course." He pointed at a few strands of red stuck between two stones.

"Oh, right. But we can still take the samples!"

Yes, Ron thought, definitely a crime series fan. "You know - odds are we won't get any useful results," he told the wizard. "It's not like on the telly."

"I know that!" Wilkinson said. He didn't sound very convincing, though. "But we can try, can't we?"

"Of course."

"In other news, I haven't found any of the typical cold damage to the environment that Dementors cause," Hermione cut in, holding up a plant. "We need to check the doors and windows now, to see if any were forced - Dementors cannot pass through walls, after all."

"Yes," Ron agreed. "Which is the closest affected house?"

"Take your pick - last I heard, every house was affected," Wilkinson said.

Ron didn't have to fake his grimace hearing that again. This had been a real nasty blunder.


"Well, there's no sign of forced entry," Ron concluded half an hour later, pointing at the back door he had been examining. "The locks haven't been tampered with by muggle means, either - unless they were magically cleaned and repaired after the fact."

"Which is certainly a possibility," Hermione said. "Although if wizards or witches are involved in this incident, then I wonder what their motives were. As a terror campaign, it feels a little…" She shrugged. "Death Eaters would've been much more brutal - and lethal."

"It could be a delayed curse - switching on after a certain time, and letting dark wizards take control of everyone affected!" Wilkinson exclaimed.

"If they wanted to exert mental control over their victims, then they would have been more subtle to avoid tipping off the Ministry," Hermione retorted. "Now that the Ministry is forewarned, the victims will be under observation."

Wilkinson gasped. "Oh! It could be a distraction!"

Ron managed not to wince in response.

"A distraction?" Hermione, too, remained calm.

"Yes. It keeps St Mungo's and the DMLE too busy to notice the real crime!"

Once again, Ron managed not to wince. That was exactly what it was.

Hermione, though, nodded, almost eagerly. "Yes, indeed. That would fit this incident - although it's just one possible explanation." She ignored Ron raising his eyebrows at her. "But then - what was the real crime?"

"You mean they already did it?"

"Or they are in the process of committing the crime," she replied. "Because the Aurors won't be here forever, will they?"

Ah. A double bluff. Ron nodded. "If they want to distract the Aurors, then they need to strike fast. If it's to overload St Mungo's…" He shrugged. "I don't know how long the hospital will be busy."

"We have to tell the Minister!" Wilkinson shouted. Looking around, he added: "Where is he?"

"Either still in the centre of the village, being seen to be doing something, or back at the Ministry doing his job," Ron told the wizard.

Wilkinson blinked. "But… Oh, you were joking! Let's go!"

Ron hadn't been joking. The Minister, even if he was a former Auror, couldn't do much here. He and Hermione followed the wizard outside.

And, as Ron had half-expected, Shacklebolt was still in the centre of the village. And he was talking to Croaker.

"Minister!" Wilkinson blurted out. "We've got a theory - this could be a distraction!"

"That's an obvious conclusion," Croaker replied, looking at Hermione.

"We've found no sign of forced entry. If this was a Dementor, they must have been let into the houses by someone," Hermione replied. "And the locking charms hadn't been removed or tampered with."

"As far as you know," Croaker said. "There are ways to slip through protections."

"On the entire village? That would've taken an army of Curse-Breakers," she retorted.

"Indeed," Shacklebolt agreed. "We've already considered that possibility."

Wilkinson's face fell. "Oh…"

"The question is: If this was a distraction, what was it for?" Hermione asked. "It looks like most of the DMLE has been deployed here - and at St Mungo's, I assume."

"Indeed. The Healers requested additional guards until they have ascertained that the victims aren't under a magical compulsion," Shacklebolt confirmed.

"So what's happened in other places? Hogwarts? Azkaban?" Hermione asked.

"Hogwarts is secure - that was the first thing we checked," the Minister told her. "Azkaban… we've sent a patrol to check on the island."

"Good. Those are the two most likely targets," Hermione said. "Though if neither of those were attacked, then what else could have been targeted? A manor?"

"That would be more difficult to check - we still don't know the location of every magical manor in Britain," the Minister replied.

Hermione snorted. "We didn't attack every manor we knew about - only those belonging to known Death Eaters and their allies."

"Though many of those living in manors are still concerned," Croaker cut in. "And perhaps with good reason in some cases - we all know that the cellars and attics of old manors often hold dark items."

Was that a hint?

"Do they fear a Ministry raid?"

"It's happened before," Shacklebolt said.

"And the targets generally were warned in advance," Hermione retorted. "Malfoy was never caught out by a raid - and he kept dark artefacts in his manor, as I know from personal experience. But anyone harbouring criminals or illegal items wouldn't call the DMLE for help if they were attacked or burgled anyway, would they?"

"Stranger things have happened," Shacklebolt replied. "But it would be unlikely."

"That means that if this was a distraction, then whoever's responsible must have struck already - or is in the process of striking," Hermione said.

"Yes," Ron added. "The crime scene is going to be secure by evening, freeing the Aurors and Hit-Wizards here. What about the Ministry?"

"The Ministry's protections weren't touched," Croaker said with a slight sneer.

Hermione scoffed in return. "I wouldn't be so confident. If someone is able to break into all the houses in Hogsmeade in one night, without anyone noticing anything, then they might also be able to fool the Ministry's wards. After all, we broke into the Ministry during the war," she added with a smile.

Croaker tensed, Ron noticed. He must not have considered this. Or he wanted to appear tense. "I'll have it checked," he said with a curt nod.

"And I'll have our Aurors check for any signs of a break-in," Shacklebolt added, sighing. "This has been a disaster. If we should find that someone broke into the Ministry…"

Hermione nodded, her lips pressed together. "That could've been the entire goal - to undermine the Ministry."

"By cursing an entire village?" Shacklebolt shook his head. "I think this is something worse: the first overt sign of a dark wizard introducing themselves by challenging the Ministry. Perhaps an entire organisation."

Ron was glad that his and Hermione's shocked reactions were perfectly natural even for people who weren't responsible - in part - for the whole incident.

"A new organisation?" Hermione frowned. "That would explain how they managed to break through the protections on every house in an entire village. But the number of Curse-Breakers - experienced Curse-Breakers - you'd need for that… you can't easily recruit that many."

"Indeed," Croaker agreed. But he looked pensive. "However, if one recruited overseas…" He tilted his head. "I doubt that the Ministry has many sources outside Europe."

"That would fall under the purview of the ICW, I would think," Hermione said. "I take it that the Confederation's performance in stopping dark wizards and witches hasn't improved since the war?"

"Their main purpose is the protection of the Statute of Secrecy," Croaker replied. "And the definition of what exactly is a dark wizard or witch tends to differ between its various members."

Hermione snorted. "That's a very diplomatic way of stating that there are dark wizards and witches amongst its members."

"According to our definition," Croaker said, nodding.

"Politics." She scoffed.

Shacklebolt sighed. "We're not totally bereft of sources in the usual circles - we've kept in touch with some of the Order's contacts. I'll see what they can dig up."

"'The usual circles'?" Ron asked.

"The Balkans and the New World are traditional areas for mercenary recruitment," Hermione explained. "But anyone recruiting in such numbers would have made waves - too many factions currently preparing for or engaging in magical conflicts would feel threatened."

"That's a good point," Shacklebolt acknowledged. "Which means that anyone who managed to do so without alerting anyone is even more dangerous than one might expect. They must be experts in infiltration."

Once more, Ron was glad that wincing was an expected reaction to the Minister's conclusion.


Black Lake, Scotland, April 28th, 2006

"A rather unexpected development. Not entirely without precedent, I think - but unexpected."

Dumbledore took the news with his usual poise and polite smile. The old man might even be amused at how much the whole distraction had spun out of control.

"The Ministry's gearing up to fight another Dark Lord," Hermione said. "That is…" She shook her head. "That's about the worst outcome possible, short of being exposed!"

"Not entirely," the old man retorted. "No one actually died. And we know that, contrary to what the Ministry fears, there are no lingering compulsions in the minds of the affected."

"We assume so - no one, as far as we can tell, has ever experienced a Dream Eater vomiting nightmare fragments," Hermione pointed out. "We have no idea about the effects, particularly the long-term effects."

"While we cannot be completely certain that such fragments might not be worse than normal nightmares, there's no reason to assume they are. And we know the effects of the nightmares. Those have been tested."

"Indeed!" wizarding George said. To the twins' credit, they didn't seem to think this was funny. "As harmless as all our other products for the general market."

"Though we might open a new line for aspiring dark wizards," his brother added. "Thaumaturgical Terrors? The easiest way to scare a whole country?"

Or not. Ron sighed.

"It's not funny," Hermione told the twins.

"Well… that's a matter of what you consider funny. For people with a sense of humour, this is…" wizarding Fred started to reply.

Hermione cut him off: "And how will Luna react to this?"

That made the twins wince.

"Where is she?" Ron asked.

"With the Dream Eater," wizarding George told him. "She won't like this."

"That's a worse understatement than Mr Dumbledore's summary," Hermione said.

"Actually, this isn't as bad as it looks," the old spymaster told her. "With the Ministry up in arms, it'll be even easier to distract them during our next move."

"They'll be closely watching Azkaban," Hermione pointed out. "They will probably guard the ferry as well."

"Indeed. I'm counting on that." Dumbledore smiled.

"You want to sneak in disguised as Ministry forces?" Ron blurted out.

"In a manner of speaking, yes." Dumbledore nodded slowly. "It shouldn't be too difficult to arrange things with the help of your friends who are conveniently highly-placed in the Ministry."

"Do we actually need a distraction then?" wizarding Fred asked.

"Azkaban is protected against all forms of magical travel," Hermione said. "And we cannot use Polyjuice Potion, either - after Crouch's escape came to light, they've been checking for that. It's the same for the Shrinking Charm."

"I've read your notes, Dr Granger." Dumbledore's smile widened. "While stealing the ferry would've been preferable, with the Ministry now not investigating a new magical phenomenon but instead preparing to foil a potential attack by an organised group of dark wizards, we would do better to have a small team hitch a ride, so to speak."

Ron sighed. "Thunderball."

Dumbledore beamed at him.

Hermione groaned.

"According to my information, the enchantment would cover attachments to the hull," the old spymaster went on.

"Yes," Hermione confirmed. "Provided they aren't too big - or too far away. The enchantments extend far enough that people can stand on deck without being outside the area of effect, and the spell extends the same distance below the ship's keel. Not the safest or most efficient arrangement, but it's an old enchantment, and back when it was implemented, it was deemed sufficient."

"Couldn't someone have used a spell to breathe water and another to stick to the hull?" Ron asked. That was an obvious tactic - at least to him.

"The ferry's hull is covered by a spell that keeps things from sticking to it - which is a problem we would need to deal with," she told him.

"Not a problem," wizarding Fred interjected with a grin. "If they are using the standard Anti-Sticking Charm, that only counters a Sticking Charm. More sophisticated ways to stick to a surface aren't impeded at all."

"The hull is also charmed to be damage-resistant," Hermione told him.

"We wouldn't use such crude methods!" the wizard protested. "Suction cups don't do any damage!"

Could it be that simple? "Don't octopuses use suction cups as well?" Ron asked. "Wouldn't they charm the ferry against those?"

"That's what the Animal-Repelling Charm is for," Hermione said. "Although I think they feared collisions with large marine mammals more than giant squids."

"Or shark attacks!" wizarding Fred added.

"I don't think any sharks have ever attacked vessels of that size," she replied.

"I wouldn't go that far," Dumbledore told her. "Individual sharks might - out of sheer curiosity, if nothing else - try to take a bite out of anything. But I do agree that attacking a vessel the size of the ferry would be very unusual."

"Well, I'm glad, anyway, that we won't have to worry about sharks attacking us," Ron said. "Provided that the suction cups work."

"Well, if they won't, we'll find out soon," wizarding Fred, somewhat dismissively, replied.

"We will find out, not you," Hermione corrected him. "But while this plan seems to be sound," she went on, "it doesn't solve the problem of us being the main suspects - at least for Mr Croaker."

"And that's where Polyjuice Potion comes in." Dumbledore beamed at them. "Using the fact that people are almost identical to their dimensional counterparts, Messrs Weasley and Mrs Potter can easily use the potion to replace Mr Weasley, his wife and Dr Granger while I should be perfectly capable of acting in Mr Weasley's stead. A family gathering won't be at all suspicious, given current events - it would be quite logical for everyone to gather together for mutual protection."

"As long as we lock up the sprogs," wizarding Fred said. "If they notice what's going on, the jig will be up."

"We can probably bribe them with pudding or something, but… unless we obliviate them, they'll keep bringing it up - we would've at their age," his brother added. "So we should really ensure that they are safely asleep before we switch."

"That shouldn't be a problem since we won't strike until it's night," Hermione said.

"You don't know your darling Beatrice," wizarding George told her with a grin that somehow managed to be both proud and rueful.

"I'm sure that, between us, we can come up with a way to at least keep a group of children safely in their rooms," Hermione retorted.

The twins weren't convinced, though.

"That's what we keep thinking."

"And yet they keep proving us wrong."

"I think I have a plan for that as well," Dumbledore said with a wide smile.

"You never had kids, did you?" wizarding George asked.

"No. But I am something of an expert on bribing people." The old man tilted his head. "And I've yet to hear about a child who doesn't love new toys. Especially if they're told that they can't have them yet."

Oh. That would work, Ron thought. Nothing like presenting troublesome children - like Fred and George - with a challenge to keep them too busy to cause real trouble.

"And who's going to impersonate me?" Hermione asked. "Ginny?"

"I think Mrs Potter would be best to impersonate Mrs Weasley," Dumbledore said.

Hermione frowned at that, then glared at the twins. "First, the portrait, now one of you?"

"Oi! We know better than to abuse this, you know?" Wizarding Fred scowled right back.

"That would jeopardise the entire mission, wouldn't it?" his brother added.

Then they both smiled. "But we know perfectly well what an annoyed Hermione looks like - we annoyed her often enough when she was a wee little prefect. And we've seen the older you often enough as well," wizarding George said. "It's not as if we need to give a speech - though we could give a lecture, I think. All we really have to do is glare at anyone disturbing us as we read a thick tome."

"Yes, exactly like that!" his brother exclaimed, pointing at Hermione.

"Very funny," she retorted through clenched teeth. "But you couldn't imitate me well enough to fool anyone like Croaker."

"I think we could fool him - as long as we avoid talking to him for any length of time," wizarding Fred countered. "You've never talked to him when you were angry, have you?"

Hermione pressed her lips together before admitting: "No, I haven't."

He smiled. "As we thought. He won't have a baseline for you when angry - unlike everyone who was at Hogwarts during your prefectency!"

"Is that actually a word?" his brother asked.

"I just used it, so of course it is!"

"It won't be that easy," Hermione warned them. "He's good at talking and sounding you out. Very good."

"Without false modesty, so am I - and I'd wager that I have a lot more experience than Mr Croaker," Dumbledore said.

"But Mr Croaker has met me before," Ron pointed out.

"But did he pay attention to you? To a mere muggle? More than to avoid giving offence?" Dumbledore's smile grew a little as he tilted his head.

"He paid attention to both of us."

"And how much did you talk?"

Not overly much, Ron had to admit. Not that he had to say so, since Dumbledore took his short hesitation as agreement. "Quite. I will run interference - provided Mr Croaker shows up in person at all and doesn't send some agents of his to check up on us under a pretext."

"If he does that at all," Hermione said, still scowling a little. "He doesn't know where we supposedly live and has no reason to expect that we're staying with the Weasleys. Certainly not if he suspects us to be behind the incident - which is the whole reason we are preparing this charade."

"Oh, but he could easily make up a sufficiently convincing reason for needing an urgent meeting with two of Britain's most skilled Curse-Breakers," the old spymaster replied. "If, as I suspect, he is looking for leverage on you, Dr Granger. He is, without a doubt, aware of how loyal you are to your friends - and Mr and Mrs Weasley are, as Curse-Breakers of renown, obvious friends you'd ask for help with whatever it is that he thinks you're planning."

"And if he isn't?" Hermione asked, staring at the old man.

"Then we'll have wasted some very expensive potions." Dumbledore smiled. "And enjoyed a whole new experience."

Of course the old spymaster would profit from the plan either way.

Ron cleared his throat. "That's all well and good, but we may be facing an island full of additional guards. With the Ministry expecting a new war, they might pull out all the stops. With just the four of us - and me not even able to see Dementors - on the island, that might be too much."

"We could impersonate a patrol," Hermione suggested. "And I doubt that they can spare too many guards - they'll probably trust that the wards will gain them enough time to send reinforcements. On brooms, I suppose, since the ferry would be too slow. And still on the island."

That sounded reassuring. A little, at least.

"We could create a fake Dementor, and draw them off to one side of the island!" wizarding Fred blurted out.

"Yes," his brother chimed in. "It shouldn't be too difficult to use a few conjurations, a charm to keep them floating, another for the cold aura… mental effects are more difficult, but I think in this case, the island is depressing enough already."

"And then someone sends a Patronus at it, and the fake Dementor ignores it?" Hermione shook her head. "You shouldn't waste time on something like that when we only have half a day at most to get ready for the mission!"

"We could do it. If we get lucky on the first try. Tries," wizarding Fred insisted.

"You need to study your roles first," Hermione told them. "That's more important."

"Oh, but we know Bill inside and out - we grew up together!" the wizard retorted.

"And Fleur?"

Fred's counterpart opened his mouth, then closed it again. Ron wondered what he had been about to say.

"Then I think that the matter has been settled and we have a mission for which to prepare," Dumbledore said, beaming at them. "I took the liberty of acquiring Polyjuice Potion already, through inconspicuous channels that, I assure you, won't be traced back to us."

"You sent Healer Rosengarten to Germany, didn't you?" Ron guessed.

"Precisely!" Dumbledore nodded at him. "Good deduction, Mr Weasley."

"Thank you. We should have a sledge and diving gear in the base, right?"

"Yes, we do - it has come in useful, hasn't it?"

"You want to use muggle gear?" Wizarding Fred looked surprised.

"At least as a backup," Ron told him. "Just in case something happens to the Bubble-Head Charm - I can't recast it, after all."

"But you could eat some Gillyweed!"

"And be stuck for an hour underwater?" Ron shook his head.

"Oh, you know about it?"

"We've used it before," Hermione told them.

Ron nodded - it had been a hairy situation, back then. Not one of his fondest moments.

"Neat!"

Not that he'd tell the twins that. He knew better.

"And who's going to tell Luna?" Hermione asked just as everyone was about to get up.


Unnamed Highlands, Scotland, April 28th, 2006

"No! The entire village? The children too? At St Mungo's? Suffering from nightmares?"

Ron winced at the expression on wizarding Luna's face. The witch looked shocked as she shook her head, her lips moving without forming any words.

"Aren't they overreacting?" Luna asked. "They shouldn't have suffered anything worse than a nightmare. As far as we know, anyway."

"Well…" Ron sighed. "The Healers don't know that. And they fear that this was an attempt to place hidden compulsions in the minds of the villagers."

"But if they're still suffering from nightmares…" Wizarding Luna sniffled.

Oh, no. A crying Luna would be… very bad.

"Well, it was probably a traumatic experience," Hermione said. "The entire village being evacuated en masse, being sent to St Mungo's, possibly isolated from others… it's natural to have nightmares after such an ordeal. That doesn't mean there's something magical going on."

"That doesn't matter! We need to get Snappy and help those people - he can eat their nightmares!" wizarding Luna exclaimed.

The whole thing had started with Snappy, Ron reminded himself. "Fred and George - the other Fred and George, not my brothers - say they tested their gas, so it shouldn't cause multiple nightmares. And neither St Mungo's nor the DMLE found any lingering remains of the gas."

"But we didn't test what regurgitated nightmare fragments do," wizarding Luna retorted. "If they stick, changed by Snappy's ethereal stomach acid…"

"It's been less than a day," Hermione said. "Most of the victims won't have slept yet. And a few nightmares are perfectly normal and nothing to fret over."

"How can you say that?" Wizarding Luna gasped again.

"Each of us agreed to cause a few selected targets to have nightmares, didn't we?" Hermione frowned.

"But only them, not the entire village! We might have traumatised an entire generation!" Wizarding Luna shook her head again. "We need to fix this!"

"Well, the Minister looked pretty traumatised when he came to the conclusion that this might have been the work of a new organisation of dark wizards," Ron commented.

"Serves him right," Luna replied. "But the villagers suffering because of our mistake…"

"Yes! We need to make amends!"

"Wait, wait, wait!" Hermione held up her hand. "You can't just rush off. If you arrive with the Dream Eater, they'll immediately suspect it was you."

"And they might have abrasive traces from Snappy's rocks to compare," Ron pointed out.

"No!"

"Yes."

"We need to get those traces replaced by dummy samples," Luna said.

"We need to help the children!"

"We need a plan. A good plan - thought through. No more hasty improvisations!" Hermione put her hand down on the table she had conjured for this talk. With a glance at wizarding Luna, she added: "No rushing off without our agreement."

"But…"

"Rushing off caused this debacle; we need to carefully plan how to fix it," she told her friend.

And they needed to keep Luna from revealing the whole affair - intentionally or not. "And we need to know if there are lingering nightmares. That means waiting at least one night," Ron said.

"But…"

"That's right," Luna agreed. "It's tragic what happened, but we need more information to plan our response. As I've told you, information is key." She looked back towards the area containing the habitats. "Besides, isn't Snappy still full from your nightmare?"

"Oh, yes…" Wizarding Luna nodded, rather reluctantly in Ron's opinion.

"Luna! Did you use the gas on yourself?"

"Snappy had regurgitated every single nightmare he had eaten! I had to feed him!" the witch defended herself.

No wonder she had looked so shaken, Ron thought. First a nightmare, then the feeding…. He shuddered. "You need more rest, I think - you can't help anyone like this."

"But I want to help!"

"We all want to help," Hermione told her. "But we need to be smart about this."

"Alright…" Wizarding Luna pouted but agreed.

Ron almost sighed with relief. This could've completely wrecked their plans.

"Alright. We'll go back to our world," Hermione said. "They'll be expecting to find us there soon - we need to be ready before night falls."

"Yes. And you need to break into Azkaban, don't you?"

Luna smiled at their reaction. She had always been too perceptive, Ron knew.


It hadn't taken too long to convince the Lunas that they couldn't tag along to Azkaban. It had cost them a promise to let wizarding Luna examine the Dementor to her heart's content, but that was a small price to pay, in Ron's opinion - the witch was an expert on magical creatures, after all, and might be very helpful.

If she could stand being so close to a Dementor.

"That wasn't our finest hour," Hermione complained as they stood outside the hidden base.

"I thought we handled the situation well," Ron objected.

"I didn't mean this visit; I meant the distraction."

"Oh. Yes." He nodded.

Hermione started walking towards the next hill. Ron followed her after a moment of confusion. "I don't suppose we're going to walk back."

She snorted. "No, we're not. I'm just… I need a moment." She sighed, staring at the hill. "We shouldn't have rushed things," she said. "There was no need for it; not when we had a plan for such a distraction."

"To be fair, if things had gone according to plan, people wouldn't have discovered what had happened until a few days later - probably," he retorted.

"But planning for things to go perfectly is not a good idea," Hermione pointed out. "We need contingency plans. Scripts for when things go wrong."

"That would presume that we could anticipate events such as the one we caused," Ron replied. "I don't think anyone could've foreseen what happened last night." He blinked. "And that sounds like the opening of a bad movie." He imitated a hammy narrator.

She laughed at that, which made him feel better. But she grew serious far too quickly. "This time, we need to be better prepared. If we bungle this…"

He nodded. Azkaban wouldn't be a forgiving environment. Not at all.


She ducked - letting herself fall on to the ground, behind a big sculpted rock. A moment later, a spell flew overhead. Damn!

"The garden route is blocked!" she shouted towards the terrace, where her friends were fighting.

"It's supposed to be open!" Ron yelled.

"Tell that to the enemy!" Hermione yelled back. "They didn't get the memo." Just as they also hadn't gotten the memo about not being in the living room when the three of them had tried to break in.

Despite the seriousness of the situation, Ron laughed as he jumped over the railing and dashed towards her. Another spell missed him by inches, and a second threw up the gravel in front of him.

And then he rolled behind the rock, ending up on her side. "Spotted them?"

"They're in the woods. Shifting positions," she replied. At least that was what she assumed they were doing - it was what she would be doing in their place. 'Rocks or running on the battlefield', as the saying in the wizarding combat instruction manual Harry had found went.

"Alright!" Ron took a deep breath. "Let's make a hole in the enemy lines for ourselves and Harry."

She nodded, a little shakily, she realised with a frown. She wouldn't let her friends down. "Let's go."

"On three. One. Two. Three!"

They slid around each side of the rock, sending spells into the woods ahead. A few smoking craters would help obscure them, and then...

A red spell hit Ron, shattering his shield. A second red spell followed before he could recast it - or find cover - and he collapsed. She gasped - which cost her dearly as her own Shield Charm was ended by a barrage of curses and she found herself bound with magical ropes.

Harry was their last hope!

A moment later, Harry, trussed up like she was, landed between her and Ron.

And she heard Sirius and Remus laugh. Mostly Sirius.

"That was the most pathetic training exercise I've ever seen. Your plan wasn't working, and you had no backup plan, yet you didn't retreat."

She closed her eyes and clenched her teeth. It wasn't as if she could do much else right then.