My beta-readers, fredfred and InquisitorCOC, deserve a huge thank you. They helped a lot.
Chapter 73: The Alibi
Azkaban, North Sea, Wizarding World, April 29th, 2006
Hermione was shivering and not reacting at all - this was a bad flashback; Ron didn't recall seeing a worse one in the time he had known her. But then, Dementors were said to bring up your worst memories - and Hermione had been through such a lot…
He touched her shoulder. "Hermione."
She didn't react. She had her eyes squeezed shut and she was mumbling something. He leaned in close...
"No. No. No."
Damn. "Hermione. We're…" No, they weren't safe. Not at all. "I'm here. You're not alone." He grabbed her and hugged her. "Hermione."
She was still shaking and shivering. And her skin - her cheek - was clammy and cold. That wasn't a surprise, not in the middle of the North Sea in April. But she shouldn't be freezing - her spell should be keeping her warm. But with one of the monsters right here, on the ferry… He took out the chocolate bars he had left and handed them to her. "Eat!"
"We need to go," Fleur told him. "This is only getting worse. More of them are coming. They can't get to us, but… So many together, and one right here… My Patronus can keep them at bay, but we will still be affected by their aura."
And there was another Dementor in the water, even closer. Yes. He was feeling cold as well, and there wasn't anything he could do anyway. "Can you move the ferry?" Ron asked.
"Yes."
"Do it." The Dementor in the water wouldn't be able to pass through the wards surrounding the island by itself. They just had to ensure it wasn't hitching a ride. He took a deep breath and whispered into Hermione's ear: "We're leaving now. It'll be better soon. Eat the chocolate."
She sobbed as the ferry started moving, but she was eating one of the Mars bars now. He should check if the sledge was coming along, but… He couldn't let go of her. And there was still a Dementor around in - no, on - the water somewhere and last he had seen the sledge, the suction cups had worked. He couldn't bring himself to care right now, anyway - it wasn't as if he could do anything. Or anything right. He couldn't even help Hermione. He was so… no, he wasn't useless. He wasn't. He wasn't.
"You aren't."
Hermione! "Hermione!"
She sobbed. "Ron."
He hugged her more tightly. "We're going to be fine."
"Yes."
"We're approaching the wardline," Fleur told them.
Good. Just a little longer. Ron was already feeling a little better, even with the damn Dementor in the cage in the aft of the ferry. They must have left the swimming Dementor behind, then - Fleur would've spotted it. Good.
"We're through," Fleur announced. "But I can't apparate all of us. I can't return here."
"I can apparate," wizarding Bill said. He didn't look like he could, though, in Ron's opinion - the wizard was shaking, almost as badly as Hermione. And if he left some body parts behind… no.
"Fleur, can you take the Dementor and apparate? We can fly," Ron said. That would be easier. "At least until, you know…"
The witch looked at him, then nodded, a little more firmly than he expected. "Bring Bill back safely," she told him, flashing her teeth.
Ron nodded without thinking, and Fleur moved to the aft of the ferry before he could protest that he wasn't a wizard.
It didn't matter, though, he realised. He could fly a broom. And he was in better shape than either wizarding Bill or Hermione. He nodded again as Fleur waved her wand and shrunk the cage, presumably until it was almost crushing the Dementor, then reached out and touched the thing.
A moment later, she vanished with the cage.
Ron felt as if a huge weight had been lifted from his chest. He hadn't even realised how bad it had been - and the others had dealt with a horde of those? He shook his head. "Let's go!"
"Y-yes," Hermione replied. She was looking better - but still not well. She almost dropped her broom when she pulled it out.
Wizarding Bill looked to be recovering better, but he was still pale and shivering.
Ron hugged Hermione again. Why had he let her go, anyway? "We're fine," he told her. "But I need to cut the sledge loose before we go."
"I can s-shrink it," Hermione replied. "No need to lose it."
He shook his head. "No need to risk anything for a sledge. Dumbledore can buy a hundred of them from his pocket change." He moved to the railing before she could reply, pulled his diving mask on and slid into the sea.
The cold water hit his face, but it wasn't nearly as bad as the Dementors. Just cold, not bone-chilling. He dived, quickly swimming towards the sledge. He didn't bother with the respirator; he just pulled the suction cups back, then sent the sledge down towards the seabed.
No one would find it down there.
He resurfaced with breath to spare and climbed back into the ferry. "Alright…"
Hermione was straddling her broom, and wizarding Bill was already hovering above them. Ron nodded and mounted Hermione's broom behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist.
"The guards should wake up soon," she said.
"Let's go."
She nodded, and they rose into the air.
Black Lake near Hogwarts, Scotland, Wizarding World, April 29th, 2006
They appeared in the woods near the portal. Ron subtly checked himself for any missing body parts - he trusted Hermione, and she did look better now, after an hour or two spent recovering, but 'trust but verify' had saved his life before.
But he felt whole. Nothing missing, nothing bleeding. It was still night, too - though dawn would break soon. They had to hurry if they wanted to make the switch without the kids in The Burrow noticing.
Next to him, Hermione sighed. "That was… worse than I expected. I should've known better than to assume that it would be easy."
"We didn't assume that it would be easy," Ron corrected her. "We just underestimated how bad the effect of massed Dementors would be."
"Well," wizarding Bill said, also sighing, "I didn't expect things to be that bad. If not for Fleur, we might not have pulled through."
"And without Ron, the Dementors might have overrun the pier," Hermione added. "And we would've been stranded there."
Ron smiled at that - he had done well, hadn't he? At least for a muggle - but shook his head anyway. "We need to move and make the switch."
"After checking that Fleur delivered the Dementor," Hermione replied. "Let's go."
They made their way to the portal. They really needed to move it, or at least hide it better, Ron thought - anyone could stumble upon it, after all. The forest was forbidden, but he knew from Hermione's tales that that didn't scare off everyone. Quite the contrary, for some students.
But so far, no one had stumbled on the portal. So…
"Someone's there!" Hermione hissed. "Disillusioned."
"Fleur?" wizarding Bill called out.
"Bill?" Fleur faded into view. "Bill! I was so worried!" She rushed towards them and all but tackled the wizard. "You took hours!"
"Ah, we were a little more tired than we thought and wanted to make sure we didn't splinch anyone before we apparated."
Bill's attempt to downplay the situation needed some work.
"Bill!" Fleur seemed to share Ron's opinion.
"Did you lock up the Dementor?" Hermione interjected.
"It's in the cell, yes." Fleur turned back to glare at Bill. "Bill..."
He smiled at her, then hugged her again.
Ron turned away when he heard the first sobs. So did Hermione. He looked at her, then held out his arms.
She didn't cry as she hugged him. He hadn't expected her to. Not here, not now.
But she would later.
The Burrow, Ottery St Catchpole, Devon, Britain, Wizarding World, April 29th, 2006
The Burrow was still standing when they arrived - discreetly, at the pond in the woods nearby. Not that Ron had expected it to have burned down overnight, but… With the kids and the twins - both sets of them - in the house, he wouldn't have been surprised by the building sporting some impressive and creative damage, either.
"It's still standing," Hermione echoed his thoughts.
"It better be standing," Fleur commented. "Victoire knows better than that."
The way Bill coughed told Ron that Fleur was a little too optimistic. "Let's go," he whispered.
"Disillusioned," Hermione reminded them. "We don't know who's there - and who might be watching."
They swept the area - well, the others did; Ron stayed at where they'd arrived - but didn't find anyone watching the house.
Then they approached the back door. No lights were on, which was a good sign - if there were Aurors or Unspeakables present, the lights would be on. Wizarding Bill knocked on the door, then opened it a crack. "Hello?" Ron heard him whisper.
"Son, is that you?" That sounded like Dad.
"Dad?"
"Yes. Come inside, quickly."
They snuck in, Ron holding on to Hermione's hand so he wouldn't stumble into their disillusioned companions.
"We expected you earlier," Mr Weasley told them.
"It took longer than expected," Hermione replied as she dispelled the Disillusionment Charms on Ron and herself.
"Ah." Mr Weasley nodded and didn't ask anything further. "The others are resting - or sleeping."
"Were resting."
Ron turned and stared at himself. This was… really creepy. Dumbledore in his body, standing there… It was not quite like a mirror. Something was off - but he couldn't tell what it was. Just that it wasn't right.
"Did you have to talk to anyone?" Hermione wanted to know.
"Actually, yes. We were visited by two Aurors," Dumbledore told her. "Only briefly, though - they were alerting Mr Potter and Mr Weasley about an incident on Azkaban. We took the opportunity to be seen and heard."
Mr Weasley nodded, a little curtly, in Ron's opinion.
"It was quite a memorable moment - by coincidence, their arrival occurred at the same time as the children implemented their plan to acquire their toys." Dumbledore chuckled, which definitely sounded wrong. "I have no doubt that, as a result, our alibi has been strengthened - although, since it happened after the ferry was reported stolen, it won't be as convincing as we had hoped."
"And the two guards left on the ferry are alright?" Ron asked. He wanted to know what the kids had done, too, but this was more important.
"Yes. They were the ones who reported the theft."
"Well," Hermione said, "let's do the switch. Before the twins - either set - gets any ideas, now that the mission is over."
Everyone agreed with that.
"How long until your last dose of Polyjuice Potion wears off?" she asked Dumbledore.
The old man in Ron's young body glanced at his mechanical watch - a duplicate of the one Ron was wearing. "We'll revert in fifteen minutes, according to my watch."
So Ron would have to stare at his own body controlled by an old spymaster for a quarter-hour longer. He could think of better ways to pass the time. "What did the kids do?" he asked.
Mr Weasley winced. "Ah, they executed a… I think the correct term is 'heist'."
"A heist?" Hermione sounded doubtful.
"Victoire did what?" Fleur sounded angry.
Wizarding Bill looked like he was hiding a grin.
As did Dumbledore. "They planned and executed a rather ingenious ploy - for their age," the old man said. "They used a distraction to draw our attention while they sneaked into the attic, where the chest was stored. They were even prepared for the ghoul guarding it. However, they hadn't considered the fact that a cornered ghoul can, apparently, be very loud."
"Oh." Hermione looked both fascinated and disgusted.
Wizarding Bill, though, was chuckling. "Ah, we would have never made such a mistake - we used the ghoul as an alarm clock at times."
"We don't do that any more," Mr Weasley said. "Luna insisted that it was cruel towards the ghoul."
"What did they do?" Fleur demanded to know, hands on her hips. "You mentioned a distraction, didn't you?"
"Oh." Mr Weasley chuckled. "It was harmless. They set off fireworks outside - and tried to frame Fred and George for it, of course. Unfortunately for them, the Aurors arrived just when the fireworks went off, which was…"
Ron winced. He could imagine the reaction of two Aurors alerting wizarding Harry and wizarding Ron just as fireworks suddenly went off. "Was anyone hurt?"
"Oh, no! The Aurors took cover, and Molly quickly sorted things out." Mr Weasley smiled. "But then, the ghoul started screaming."
"What did they do to the ghoul?" Hermione asked.
"They used another firework - a sunburst - to frighten him long enough to grab the chest." Dumbledore was chuckling. "But the light and the screaming ensured that the Aurors and Mr Potter and Mr Weasley arrived in the attic before our intrepid burglars managed to vacate it. The rest, as the saying goes, is history. Molly wasn't amused."
Ron could imagine that. Very well. "I guess the twins got blamed for not keeping track of their fireworks."
"Actually, I think Mrs Weasley is saving that particular lecture until she can address her sons in their original bodies," Dumbledore cut in. "Quite understandable, of course."
Oh, yes. Ron nodded and tried not to look at his own duplicated body.
"This is…" Fleur shook her head, huffing. "I will have words with Victoire. And Fred and George - their daughter was the driving force behind this, wasn't she?"
"They didn't 'rat out each other', as they put it," Dumbledore said with a sly grin. "If I weren't retired, I would make a note about future recruitment - they've shown great potential. The distraction was quite skillfully constructed - and, incidentally, would have deflected the blame, at least initially, on to two known troublemakers. And trying to scare the ghoul away with a fake sun also shows creative thinking with limited resources. I am looking forward to what they'll achieve once they are at Hogwarts."
The old man remained utterly unfazed by the fierce glare Fleur levelled at him. "Are you telling me that you plan to encourage my child to become a thief?"
"A thief? Perish the thought! Though I cannot deny that Victoire and the others would make good agents, in light of what they did tonight."
"Agents?"
"Secret agents," Ron told her. "Operatives. Spies."
"People who do missions like the one you carried out tonight," Dumbledore explained with a smile.
"Quoi?"
Ron couldn't tell if the old spymaster was attempting to protect the kids by drawing Fleur's anger on to himself, or if he had misjudged the situation, but Ron would've really preferred if Dumbledore hadn't done so while wearing Ron's face. Watching an enraged Fleur burn it off would...
"It's merely hypothetical, of course - though it would certainly be less dangerous than raiding old cursed tombs, I believe." Dumbledore tilted his - Ron's - head.
That deflated Fleur a little, though it still took wizarding Bill's intervention to calm her down, and she was still fuming - although not literally any more - when she stalked off to check on her daughter.
Of course, Dumbledore might have been counting on that intervention as well. He certainly looked smug enough when he addressed the rest of them. "And now I believe we should gather the others, so they won't take another dose thinking you're still missing."
"Yes," Hermione said. "And then we can head home."
Black Lake, Scotland, April 29th, 2006
Ron sighed with relief after stepping through the portal. Home sweet home. Well, the laboratory still didn't feel like a real home, but it was getting there - they had spent months here, after all. Though he wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not.
"Well, that was an experience," Fred commented. "Impersonating ourselves."
"Drinking a magic potion, only to look like yourself - I feel a little ripped off," his brother said.
"Not as much as Dumbledore, though - he drank a potion and looked like Ron!"
"Ha ha." Ron rolled his eyes.
"Why did you use Polyjuice Potion yourselves?" Hermione said. "You already look identical."
"Oh, only a single child would say that," Fred told her. "But someone who grew up with a twin knows that there are drastic differences even between twins. And any child of one of our dimensional twins would have noticed."
That actually sounded logical. Although Ron wasn't convinced.
"That was the reason we distracted the children," Dumbledore said. "Successfully, I might add."
"Thanks to our superb acting talent," Fred added.
George nodded in agreement. "And it was a very remarkable - inspiring - evening."
"All you did was wait for us to return," Ron said, snorting.
"But it was very intense waiting," Fred replied. "In any case - we need to return to our shop now." He smiled at Hermione.
She sighed, but grabbed his hand, then turned to his brother. "George, give me your hand!"
"Careful, I'll be needing it back!"
Hermione snorted, then disappeared with both twins.
Ron sighed.
"Dr Granger seems a little… off," Dumbledore said.
Ron pressed his lips together before telling him: "The Dementors were much worse than we'd assumed."
"Ah." The old man nodded. "And Dr Granger has survived a lot of traumatic experiences, which would only aggravate their effects."
"Yes." Ron wasn't going to discuss Hermione's problems with the old spymaster.
"You seem to have weathered the ordeal quite well, though."
"I wasn't in the thick of it," Ron said. "I stayed on the pier."
"Ah."
Time to change the subject. "Speaking of - is the Dementor secure?" Fleur wouldn't have just lost it, but… trust but verify.
"Let's check, shall we?" Dumbledore started towards the door. "I must confess that I'm very curious to find out whether I can truly not perceive the creature."
"You can't. You neither hear nor see them," Ron told him. "The only way to detect them is the effect of their presence - the cold and depression creeping up on you. And you can detect them if they disturb the environment."
"Fascinating. I would think such effects would be obvious."
"They seem to gather in colder places - and they sneak up on you. You aren't suddenly shivering and depressed; it's a gradual process." Ron shuddered at the memory. "It's very easy to miss until it's too late."
"Insidious."
They entered the security centre next to the portal room. One of the screens there showed an empty cage in a high tech cell.
"Mr Dumbledore." Filch's successor, Albert Smith, was there, nodding at the old spymaster. And glaring at Ron. The man probably still blamed Ron and his friends for Filch's death.
Dumbledore seemed to ignore that, though. "Albert! How are things? I gather that we've got a very interesting guest."
The other man grimaced. "We haven't opened the cell since the witch dropped the cage in it, and it's isolated - but we can't see what's supposed to be in there. Not through the slit on the door, nor through our cameras."
"Fascinating," Dumbledore said. "I assume that their invisibility is a mental effect - should Dr Granger be able to perceive the creature through our cameras, then that would prove my hypothesis."
Ron shivered. That was even worse. To know that even far away from the Dementor, its magic would affect your mind, hiding it from you…
Smith, too, looked slightly ill.
Dumbeldore, though, remained unfazed. "It's unfortunate indeed that, being bereft of magical talent, we cannot easily check for ourselves if the creature is still present since we cannot perceive it - not with our eyes nor through cameras. Although I assume that Dr Granger has a few ideas on how to detect such creatures without being a wizard or witch. It's also a fascinating opportunity to study how magic and electronics interact, if I do say so myself."
"It's also bloody dangerous," Ron said. "If that thing gets out, it could kill the entire base without anyone being able to stop it - or even notice it."
"Well, it won't get out," Dumbledore told him. "Not as long as we keep these doors locked. It cannot phase through walls."
Smith didn't look convinced. And Ron wondered how easy it would be for a wizard or witch to defeat their security.
Something else to discuss with Hermione - once she was back.
Hermione was taking longer to return than Ron had expected. He wasn't worried - not really - but he was a little concerned. The odds that anyone would want to try to kidnap her, and would be observing the twins' home, and would manage to get the jump on her and the twins, were low, but not nil. And while the Russians were convinced it had been a fake, MI5 might still be interested. And some of the Russians might want to take revenge for her role in an apparent counterintelligence operation.
Not to mention that Hermione hadn't fully recovered from her exposure to so many Dementors yet. He paced a little in her laboratory.
Dumbledore would have people watching the twins' home. Anyone coming after them would have to deal with the old man's agents first, and in a way that kept them from alerting anyone - and that would only work until their next scheduled call-in or until they were due to be relieved. So anyone who wanted to ambush Hermione and his brothers would have to know when they were expected.
Which was nearly impossible. Not even the twins had known when they would be returning. Although they would have expected to return by the morning, so…
He sighed and clenched his teeth. He was driving himself crazy for no reason - it wasn't as if he could do anything about it.
He sat down and grabbed some of Hermione's notes from her desk. He couldn't help with physics or magic, but he could help with finding the best wording for the Fidelius Charm. Or at least with finding holes in the wording.
Dr Hermione Granger's research is valid and worth acquiring.
That would keep anyone from pursuing her for her research. It might even stop other research into her field. It would also make everyone assume she was a fraud. And that could have worse consequences than simply ruining her reputation.
Parallel dimensions exist and can be accessed by a combination of magic and quantum physics.
That would hide the knowledge of dimensional travel, but they weren't certain how it would work across dimensions. And it wouldn't keep anyone from stumbling upon a portal - or the laboratory.
You could combine some of the secrets, but that made casting the spell even harder. They could hide the ritual that way - but that would preclude hiding their knowledge and the portal itself.
And picking one or the other… Ron didn't like either trade-off.
Dr Hermione Granger can create portals to other dimensions.
No. That wouldn't protect the portals themselves.
His next attempt was interrupted by the door opening. "Ron? What are you doing?"
Hermione! He jumped up. "I was going over the wordings. Again."
"Ah." She nodded with a tired smile. "Another task I need to finish. The most crucial, I believe."
"And one we shouldn't rush," he replied, smiling at her as she walked over to the desk. She didn't look as bad as he had feared - but that was a low bar to clear.
"Yes." She sighed as she sat down, almost slumping over. "We really can't afford to rush things any more. This was…" She shook her head. "It could've been a disaster."
"But it wasn't." He walked around the desk to stand behind her, rubbing her shoulders. "And, speaking of not rushing things - we also need to rest."
She sighed once more, loudly, but he felt her relax a little under his hands. "Says the man working on our project instead of resting."
"I couldn't have slept without knowing you were OK." Ron tensed. He hadn't meant to say that - he must be even more tired than he had thought.
And now Hermione had tensed even more than he had. "Sorry," she mumbled.
He wanted to hit himself. "It's not your fault."
"It is, actually - I spent too long looking at the twins' products. I should've returned at once. I'm sorry, I didn't realise..."
"No, no. I knew you were safe - the odds of anyone making a move today were astronomically low." He squeezed her shoulder gently.
She turned her head and shifted to look at him. To frown at him.
"Fred and George love to show off," he said. "I know how hard it is to resist if they offer a tour - and that's despite knowing they'll prank me with their products - so It's not as if you stood a chance."
Her frown turned into a scowl. "I shouldn't have left you waiting for… prank items."
"If they made you laugh, you absolutely should've," he told her. "After last night, we can use all the laughter we can get."
She hunched over again. "And that's my fault - I should've realised the dangers."
"No one realised it," he retorted. "And we made it through."
"With a lot of luck."
He shrugged. "Not too much." He squeezed her shoulders again. "We did good. We just shouldn't rush things like that any more."
"We won't," she told him, and he could see her jaw muscles twitch as she clenched her teeth. "I promise."
"Unless we must - never say never."
Judging by her glare, she caught the mangled reference. He smiled at her - she looked much better being annoyed than tired and depressed.
"Now, let's get some rest," he whispered. It would do them good.
"But we have a lot to do!" she protested.
"And we're in no state to do any of it," he told her. Hell, he was slipping himself.
"I apparated just fine. Several times."
"Yes, and it tired you out." He started to steer her towards the door. "Let's take a nap."
He felt her tense, then relax again. She sighed again. "I guess a nap won't hurt."
They walked towards their room, arm in arm, without saying anything else, and, once inside, Ron pulled off his trousers and shirt, then helped her get out of her clothes - which still smelled like salt and the sea, he noted; the air filters in her lab must have masked it.
The room was warm, but she had goosebumps when they climbed into the bed, and he quickly wrapped his arms around her under the blanket.
She fell asleep very quickly but didn't stop shivering for quite a while.
Black Lake, Scotland, April 30th, 2006
"Oh, dear Lord! It's morning!"
What? Ron opened his eyes, drawing a sharp breath, and looked around. Hermione sounded frantic, so… Oh! "It's morning?"
"Yes!" She squirmed in his arms, pushing them aside, then slipped out of the bed. "We've slept through lunch and dinner! And the whole night!"
Oh, yes - his stomach was complaining. "Obviously, we needed it," he said.
She stopped on the way to the bathroom and glared at him. He smiled back at her. Huffing, she turned away. "We're so behind! Who knows what's happened in our absence? If anyone tried to contact us, they'll have become suspicious!"
"The other Harry and my counterpart would've contacted us," he replied - but she had already closed the door to the bathroom behind her.
He lay back, hands on the back of his head, and looked at the ceiling. He was hungry, but otherwise… he wasn't tired anymore. Or cold. Or… whatever he had been, back on that pier.
And now he was shuddering again, remembering the Dementors. Damn. He closed his eyes - apparently, it would take more than a good night's sleep to get over their trip. And he hadn't been in the thick of it. Unlike Hermione.
Damn.
Attack On Azkaban! New Dark Lord? Dementors Swarm As Ministry Scrambles!
Ron, fresh out of the bathroom and wrapped in a bathrobe, peered at the Daily Prophet lying on the bed. Under the flashy headline, it showed a drawing of Azkaban, surrounded by floating depictions of Dementors. And the date matched today's. "I didn't know owls delivered to other worlds," he commented.
Hermione stopped frowning at the newspaper and frowned at him instead. "That's your first reaction?" she asked.
"Hey! We knew something like this would be coming," he defended himself. "But I don't know how you managed to get a newspaper here in the time I took to shower." Well, she could've apparated, but that would have cut it very close, he thought - and he doubted that she would have risked even such a short trip by herself merely to buy a newspaper. Not without telling him. Though he had thought that he had heard the door opening during his shower.
She pursed her lips in response. "It was delivered by Hedwig, Harry's owl," she told him.
"Ah. So post owls do deliver across worlds." That was… concerning.
"Hedwig is… special," Hermione explained. "And Harry told her where to find the portal, I believe. She flew straight through it, as the camera footage shows, then barked at the guards in the portal room until they called me."
"Ah." That sounded better. And if normal post owls could track them here, they probably would have done so already, wouldn't they? "Is she still around?"
"No. She returned at once. I didn't even have time to write a note." Hermione frowned again. "I don't know if she was mad at me, or if it's something related to the effects of dimensional travel."
"Or she just was in a mood today," Ron suggested. "Occam's razor?"
"It's a possibility," she admitted. "But we'll have to check to be sure this isn't a weakness in our security." She sighed. "Another thing to do."
"Well, we could let the Lunas investigate," Ron said. That would distract them from their current funk - and keep them busy.
"Good idea!" Hermione cheered up. "Now let's go eat breakfast."
"Once I'm dressed," he replied with a grin.
"Of course."
"So what does the article say?" Ron asked as he pulled his trousers on.
"Baseless speculation about a 'New Dark Lord'. Apparently, the fact that no one was actually hurt in the 'raid' is just a perfidious ploy to lull the Ministry into a false sense of security." She shook her head. "Really, I'd almost think it was written by…" She trailed off, pressing her lips together.
Ron nodded before pulling on a sweater. "Anything about the Dementors?"
"According to the Prophet, we went there to make an alliance, but we were repulsed by the Dementors." She scoffed. "It paints them in an altogether far too favourable light."
Ron would've made a joke about the author being either a dark wizard or paid by the Dementors, but he doubted that she would've found it funny. "Let's go eat breakfast; I'm starving," he said instead.
"Well, you were the one who wanted us to take a nap yesterday, which led to us missing two meals."
He snorted and opened the door. "Sirius always said: Sleep before food."
"That's Sirius - which doesn't mean it's correct."
Ron read the article over breakfast. It really was on a par with the worst of his own world's tabloids: speculative, rumour-mongering and panic-inducing. And calling upon all wizards and witches to rally round the flag - even though they called it 'supporting the Ministry in these dark times'.
He shook his head as he put the newspaper down next to his plate, ignoring the way the drawn Dementors gathered at the edge facing the teapot - though only after checking if the air seemed colder there; you never knew with magic.
It didn't, anyway.
"See? Baseless speculation!" Hermione complained. "Everyone is working themselves into a frenzy!"
"To be fair, they've got good reason to," Ron replied. "We did sort of spook the whole country, didn't we?"
Hermione sighed. "Yes, we did," she pressed through clenched teeth. "But that's no excuse for such sloppy journalism! They didn't question the Ministry's policies and reaction at all! Not even a little!"
"We already knew that the Daily Prophet was the Ministry's mouthpiece," he pointed out, stretching his legs a little - with Harry off with Ginny, and Sirius in London as well, handling 'family business', and the Lunas staying at their hidden habitat, they had the lounge to themselves.
"That's worse - that means the Ministry will use this scare for its own ends. Nothing like a threat to the country to push through questionable policies."
"Do you think your friends would do that?" They knew the truth, after all.
Hermione pursed her lips for a moment. "That doesn't matter - Shacklebolt won't hesitate to use this. And since he doesn't know the truth, he might honestly believe that whatever measures he implements are actually necessary."
"They can't hurt, though, can they?" Shacklebolt hadn't struck Ron as a potential dictator. Anf a little more vigilance against dark wizards and other criminals was a good thing in his book.
"It's money and other resources that will be missing in other areas," she pointed out as she finished her second cup of tea. "And there's a significant potential for abuse."
"Ah." He nodded - that was, especially given the reason for the whole affair, not a good thing. He should've thought of that. Though he didn't share Luna's views on the police, of course. "Well, overall, we're still doing good," he added, more than a little lamely.
"But not as much good as we could - and should! - be doing," she retorted. "But we can't change that now. And who knows how long it'll take for all this excitement to die down?"
"I'm sure Dumbledore is already thinking of ways to make that happen," he told her. Dumbledore wouldn't want increased security in Wizarding Britain. That would make the old man's operations - whatever they were - more difficult. Although Ron certainly wouldn't put it past Dumbledore to first exploit the sudden paranoia. Quite the contrary.
Hermione frowned. "Let's hope whatever he's planning won't make matters even worse."
Ron could agree with that. "We're bound to have some good luck one of these days," he said.
"That's not how it works!" she retorted.
"Are you sure?" They were talking about magic, after all.
She opened her mouth, then closed it again and frowned at him.
"Another task for the list?" He grinned at her, and she scowled in return.
There it was. At the end of the long corridor. The cell with the empty cage. Only, it wasn't empty - it held a Dementor. And as they had discovered, Hermione could see it plainly - both through the slit in the door and through the cameras.
But Ron couldn't see it. Or hear it. Looking through the armoured glass forming most of the cell door, he only saw the cage. Well, he knew that the monster was there.
"I could go check myself," he heard Hermione over the intercom.
"No!" he snapped. He could do this - better than Hermione. At least for now.
He took a deep breath, then started walking down the corridor, towards the cell. With every step, the pole he was carrying struck the ground. Halfway there, the air started to feel colder. He marched on, gritting his teeth. By the time he got to the door, he was feeling cold - cold enough for his breath to fog. He shivered - perhaps he should've worn warmer clothes. Or let Hermione do it - she could use magic to keep herself warm. He couldn't do anything - couldn't even see his target. Couldn't...
Not again! He cursed under his breath, angry at himself - and at the invisible monster. "Open up!" he snapped.
The glass door started to swing open, revealing just how thick it was. You'd need heavy weapons to get through it. Or explosives.
The cold air inside billowed out, and Ron shuddered even more. And felt even angrier. He raised the pole and stuck it through the bars in the cage. There! Resistance!
"You're touching it," Hermione told him.
"Good." Clenching his teeth, he leaned forward and stabbed with the pole.
"It's hissing," Hermione told him. "And giving way."
So, it didn't like getting struck. Good to know.
He pulled the pole back and pulled out a small bag. One of Fred and George's more insidious inventions - Glittering Glue.
Time to find out if one could mark a Dementor. Or place a tracker on one. Or a lead.
"Do you think that Thestrals would render saddles and reins invisible, or would they look like ghost horses?"
She rolled her eyes at Ron, huffing. "The reins don't show up when they're pulling the carriages - nothing shows up. Not the yoke, either. Therefore neither reins nor saddles would show up. Simple logic."
"Yes." Ron frowned at her. "But magic's not always logical. Has anyone tested that? Have you?"
"Of course not!"
"Oh?" He grinned. "Because you're not allowed?"
"What?" She scowled at him. "Certainly not! And anyway, not having seen someone die, how could I test it?" Thestrals weren't even on the third year curriculum.
Ron's grin widened. "I'm glad you asked!"
She narrowed her eyes. Had he managed to put one over on her? But how?
But Ron was already turning to Harry. "Harry! Come on - we need to test something!"
Oh, dear Lord! She frowned as she pushed a stubborn strand of her bushy hair off her face. It looked like, once again, she would have to fix another half-baked plan before her friends got themselves into trouble.
