The Devil in Me

Running on Empty

A/N: The chapter title is from the song:

Running on Empty by Jackson Browne.

McKinnon Castle, Scotland ~ Order of the Phoenix Safe House

"I don't like this."

Andromeda sighed, "Neither do I, Ted, but you heard Severus."

"Are we really going to believe that this is the only way just because Severus Snape says it is?" Tonks asked irritably.

"I'm with you there," Seamus spoke up, "The blokes an arse."

"That may be so," Ted agreed, "But he is also our inside man. If he feels that our only shot is to team up with the Army on this one, then that is exactly what we are going to have to do."

Remus shook his head, "Team up with the people who think it's acceptable to murder innocent people because they are on the other side?"

"The Jones family are not like that," Delia cut in, "They are good, loyal people. Molly Weasley made the militant faction a danger, and she is dead."

"Molly Weasley wasn't the problem," Andromeda said, "I agree with Remus's stance on this. They call themselves the Army for a reason. They are fighters with no real sense of order. Their entire mindsight is the problem, but if collaborating is our last chance to remove You-Know-Who from power, then I see no alternative."

Nobody else spoke up, implying that they knew she was right, even if they did not necessarily agree with what she was saying.

"Now," Andromeda continued, "We received communication from them last night. Two of our leaders are to meet two of their leaders on neutral ground – they will not come to us, and we will not go to them. Where do you suggest we meet that is neutral and far from any traditionalist area of power?"

Remus stepped forward and looked down at the map, "Avoid the midlands; there are snatcher camps everywhere."

"And the purebloods have complete control in the south," Ted added as he looked at the map intently.

"They have a lot of hold in the north too," Remus pointed out, "I would say England is out of the equation."

"And they hold Hogwarts too," Andromeda said. She sighed, "It seems we may have to venture closer to their base than we would have liked. Wales seems to be the safest option."

Ted nodded, "Which one of us goes?" he asked his wife.

"Both of us," Andromeda answered immediately.

"No, we need to make sure we don't make the same mistakes as the Army. Their over-confidence lost them both of their leaders in one night," Ted pointed out, his eyes on his wife, "One of us stays here, and one of us goes."

"I should go," Andromeda said.

Ted nodded in agreement, and Remus stepped forward, "I'll go with you."

"You think that wise?" Andromeda asked, raising an eyebrow at him, "You know what Jones's think of half-breeds."

"And I don't care," Remus said firmly, "Frankly, their political views put them in line with the Death Eaters, not against them."

"Don't tell Matthias Jones that to his face," Andromeda said, giving Remus an exasperated look, "The whole point of this meeting is to come to an amenable agreement."

Remus gave Andromeda a long look, "I am perfectly capable of biting my tongue, most of the time."

With a scoff, Andromeda said, "I'll send a Patronus to Matthias with a rendezvous point. Be ready to move out after sunset tonight."

Remus nodded, and the few people in the room dispersed, leaving just himself and Tonks by the dwindling fire.

"That was foolish."

Remus looked at her disdainfully, "You expect me to sit on my laurels and do nothing for the entire war, do you?"

"If you want to see your child grow up, then yes," Tonks replied irritably.

"The child whose conception I had no say in?" Remus asked coldly.

Tonks laughed, but it was high and cold, "Oh, give it up, Remus. Don't act like I duped you with a love potion. You were entirely willing in the conception of this child; you even enjoyed it."

Remus glared at her, "I told you how I felt. I told you that I was too old for you, too broken, too poor. You knew I didn't feel the same, but rather than dropping the matter, you had to keep pushing, didn't you?"

Tonks glared right back at him.

"And then – in the depths of my misery. When Dumbledore was dead, and Sirius was dead, and I was damn sure they were torturing Harry in the dungeons of Malfoy Manor – you took advantage of that," Remus hissed, "I was drunk."

"You were always drunk," Tonks said with a scoff, "You were drunk all summer, but you still kept coming into my room, didn't you?"

Remus shook his head angrily, "You used me, and I mean come on, you knew protection spells were the last thing on my mind after a bottle of bloody firewhiskey, but you didn't cast them either and then when you told me about the baby…"

He sighed and shook his head, looking into the fire, "Of course I married you because it was the right thing to do, by you and by that child, but don't you dare presume that I consented to its conception."

Tonks got to her feet angrily and stalked from the room.

Remus sighed and rested his head against the cold stone wall, wondering how things had ever gotten this bad, this confusing, this desperate.

He was trying so hard to be a better man, to be something close to a good husband, to try and find some way of loving the child he would be a father to soon. But everything in his bones was screaming at him to run, to run from her, to run from the crushing weight of his responsibilities and god, how he wanted a drink.

But he hadn't touched it since the night she told him she was pregnant.

Ten years of alcoholism, living in a hovel, taking odd jobs here and then and spending his evenings screaming at Sirius, throwing old photographs into a fire and wrecking the flat.

Then he had gotten sober, and Dumbledore had given him a chance. There had been Hogwarts and Harry, and then Sirius had been back, and there was hope again for the first time in so damn long.

And then it had all been ripped away from him again, piece by piece – Sirius, Dumbledore, Harry, hope.

They had lost this war. Maybe Severus was right; perhaps if they banded together, they could push the Death Eaters back enough to gain some ground, but if this was what winning meant? If winning meant killing innocents, then as far as Remus had concerned, they had lost either way.

McGonagall and Hagrid knew that. Hagrid hadn't come back from his mission with the giants, opting to stay there because he couldn't take the misery that awaited him at home, and McGonagall hadn't attended an Order meeting in months. She had given up; all she did now was what she could do – her best to protect the students at Hogwarts.

Remus sighed and turned around, his eyes on an old wooden cabinet at the back of the room.

"Don't do it, Remus."

The voice made Remus turn to the doorway where Lydia was standing, her dark blonde hair drawn up into a bun, her blue eyes full of kindness but surrounded by dark marks.

"I wasn't going to," Remus lied.

Lydia stepped into the room, "I know that look. I saw it in my uncle's eyes all the time," she closed the door behind her and sighed, "You remind me of him, actually."

Remus sank into the chair that Tonks had just vacated by the fire, "Do I?"

Lydia nodded; she fixed those knowing blue eyes on him and leant against the map table, "Uncle Julian, he was my favourite growing up. He was all my mother had left so we used to look after him and Merlin knew he needed it. He was an alcoholic for as long as I can remember. He lost everything, like you."

Remus looked up and caught her eye.

"His daughter was killed when she was a baby, in one of the big family massacres that were happening in the early '80s," Lydia said darkly, "And he was never the same since, but despite it all, he loved children. He loved my sisters and me; he would have loved Rhea if he ever had the chance to meet her. He always tried for us, but beneath the false smiles, the pain was always there."

"You are incredibly perceptive for your age," Remus said, looking away from Lydia.

"My mother is deaf. When you grow up having to communicate without words, you learn how to read peoples facial expressions and body language," Lydia said softly. She sat down opposite Remus and took his hand.

Remus looked up in surprise.

"You're not alone in this," Lydia promised him, "I'm just as uncomfortable as you are about banding together with the Army. They tortured my baby sister, and I hate them for that. How can Lee shrug it off? I don't know; maybe it's because they're my family, not his. He's only known my father to be disapproving."

She rolled her eyes, "And in hindsight, he was right. Lee and I? It doesn't work long-term, and it has nothing to do with the fact he's a muggle-born. It has everything to do with the fact that I was in Ravenclaw and he was in Gryffindor, I'm methodical, and he's brash. My father was right. In the long-term, that does lead to an unhealthy relationship."

Remus laughed lowly, "I know all about unhealthy relationships, trust me."

"You know all about staying for the kid too," Lydia said, smiling sadly at Remus, "I had to marry Lee when I fell pregnant because as my father said – a child born in wedlock to a muggle-born is better than a child born out of wedlock to an unnamed father."

"It does sound like the kind of thing your father would say," Remus agreed.

Lydia shrugged, "And you didn't want to ruin Tonks's reputation, so you married her, to do right by her. Is it really any different?"

"No, I suppose not," Remus said quietly.

"Hey, Remus," Lydia said, making him look up once more.

"Hm?"

"We've got to keep our heads up and keep going, regardless of how miserable we feel," Lydia said, "It doesn't matter how tired we are or how little reserve we have left. We've got to have hope that we will see the people we love again and that we will have the chance to make things right. It's the thought of seeing my mother and my sisters again that gets me through the nights when Rhea is screaming, and I can't calm her because my own thoughts are racing with my heart."

Remus nodded sympathetically and squeezed her hand, "Maybe that's my problem, Lydia. The people I want to see again? I'll only see them when this war gets the best of me."

"And what about Harry?" Lydia questioned, "He's still alive, and I think you and I both know that there is a lot more going on there than him just becoming the 'man-who-turned'. I saw you two together in that year you taught at Hogwarts. I saw how much you loved him and how much he adored having a father figure around. Do you really think he's forgotten that?"

"I don't know," Remus said, shaking his head.

He had found a solid companion in Lydia – they were both as miserable as each other, stuck in this godforsaken castle. It made the whole name 'safehouse' a bit ironic, really. But sometimes, Remus forgot that he had spent a year as her professor. She had been in her fifth year when he taught Defence Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts, and she had been one of his best students. To add insult to injury, she reminded him of Lily, and that just made his chest ache.

"I don't know who he is anymore," Remus confessed.

Lydia sighed and looked into the fire, "I don't think any of us know who we are anymore, Remus."

Castle Jones ~ Army of the Phoenix's Headquarters

"Listen up, everyone!"

The war room fell silent.

"We have received communication from the Order," Matthias said, holding his head up importantly, "And they have agreed to meet this evening outside the boundary of this castle. They are sending two of their leaders, so we shall send two of our own – I suggest myself and Magdalena."

Maggie nodded her agreement, "I can appeal to them. I knew most of them through Kingsley."

"We need to prepare for a trap," Eddie said, stepping forward, "Both Caroline and Percy disappeared before we came here. They could both be spies. Caroline knows the ins and outs of this castle, and Percy certainly knew that our next headquarters upon the fall of Prewett Castle would be Castle Jones."

"Caroline has not joined You-Know-Who, Eddie," Hestia scoffed, "Don't be so ridiculous. She simply left because she did not want to fight anymore."

"Yes, and you let her," Maggie said, giving her cousin a vengeful look.

"She wanted to leave!" Hestia remarked, "Would you have had me keep her here against her will?"

Maggie opened her mouth to argue back, but Matthias put a stop to it, "Enough! If we fight amongst ourselves, how are we ever going to be able to co-operate with the Order?"

Silence fell upon these words.

"Co-operate with the Order?" Griffin asked incredulously, "They are a bunch of dreamers and fools!"

"But they also claim to have important information pertinent to the cause," Matthias said, "We have to hear them out, Uncle."

Griffin scoffed, "No good can come of it, I tell you."

Maggie bit back an irritated comment and looked out at the setting sun, "If we are meeting them after sunset, then we must prepare. David, Wayne – man the battlements in case it is a trap and Hestia – strengthen the shield charms around the castle."

They all nodded, and Maggie looked up at her brother, "Are you ready?"

Matthias smirked, "Of course I am."

The meet was like something out of the old western movies that Remus's mother had watched on telly every Sunday while growing up.

The sky was red and orange. The large setting sun cast its light over the valley as two pairs walked towards each other, hands hovering above their wand holsters just in case.

They stopped – with a gap of about two metres between them – and each pair surveyed the other before anybody spoke.

"Andromeda," Matthias said eventually.

"I am unsurprised to see you leading such a political faction of our resistance. The fact you sully yourself with those lesser than yourself, however?" he said nothing more. He only cast a disdainful eye over Remus.

Remus raised an eyebrow, "And if you view me as lesser because I am a half-breed or your own brother-in-law as lesser because he is a muggle-born. How exactly does that make you any different from those we wish to destroy?"

Before Matthias could damage their cause any further, Maggie cut in, "Because we fight for what is right, Remus. Ruling through fear, that is not right."

Andromeda narrowed her eyes, "Shall we discuss the reason for this meet, then?"

"Yes, please do enlighten us," Matthias said, more than a little sarcastically.

"We have someone on the inside," Andromeda said.

"A spy?" Matthias asked.

Andromeda smirked, enjoying the one-up she was getting on the Jones's, "Yes – he has informed us that our only chance at retaliation is to strike against the Death Eaters together. He has suggested a multi-pronged attack."

"On what targets?" Maggie asked curiously.

"The Ministry and Hogwarts would be the obvious ones," Matthias added.

"The Ministry? Perhaps, but Hogwarts is too defensible and also, full of innocent school children," Andromeda remarked coolly, "The source suggests we attack pureblood strongholds – their family homes."

Matthias and Maggie shared a look, "We put together teams then? And send them all out at the same time, force the Death Eaters to fight in small groups rather than together?"

"Precisely," Andromeda replied, "He has provided us with a list of homes that he feels are easy targets or which would cause maximum damage to morale. But the key one is Malfoy Manor; it is You-Know-Who's base."

"Therefore, it will require a large task force to take," Matthias said with a nod.

"Does your source have a date in mind, or a timescale for that matter?" Maggie asked.

"No, he left that up to us," Andromeda confessed.

"Then we shall confer with our people," Maggie said, "Give us a copy of the list of locations, and we will see what we can come up with. Communicate with this and only this, from now on."

Maggie handed Andromeda a two-way mirror, and Andromeda looked up sharply, "Do not presume you can take control of the situation, Magdalena. This is our source and our information."

"We are not taking control; we are merely offering to show you what we can do with the information at hand," Maggie promised.

She held out her hand, "The list of locations?"

Andromeda's jaw set, but she saw no alternative. She reached into her pocket and handed the piece of parchment to Maggie.

Maggie smiled, but something in it looked false, "We will be in touch."

She and her brother turned on their heels without another word and began to stride back towards the castle in the distance.

Remus scoffed and shook his head furiously, "And now it's in their hands, their murderous hands, but yes Andromeda, I'm sure you're right, I'm sure this is the right thing to do."

"And what alternative was there, Remus?" Andromeda spat, turning on her heel and apparating out of sight.

McKinnon Castle, Scotland

"We have no control!" Remus exclaimed to the occupants of the war room, "The one plan we had, our last vestige of hope and the Army just yanked it out of our hands because they think us incapable."

"Perhaps we are incapable!" Andromeda snapped.

"Andi, love," Ted said, taking her hand, "You don't mean that."

"No, Edward, I do," Andromeda said, her eyes burning angrily, "We have tried being peaceful, we have tried being defensive, and where has it gotten us? Our numbers depleted; we are all that is left, and the others either had the sense to turn or have died. Is it time to accept that we cannot win this war peacefully?"

Lydia crossed her arms over her chest and glared out at them all, "Or perhaps it is time to accept that we cannot win this war at all. If we have to resort to being like them, then I would rather lose!"

"Lydia!" Lee exclaimed, "You're practically surrendering with talk like that."

Lydia looked at Lee in disbelief, "And what world do you see for our daughter right now? Because I don't see one at all! I see her growing up in an orphanage because we both die in this bloody war. And then what? It turns out she's not a squib, so she goes to Hogwarts and avenges us? What kind of world is that, Lee? What kind of life is that?"

"The life that Harry Potter led," Remus said quietly.

Tonks scoffed, "Stop defending him, Remus. He lost that right a long time ago, around about the time he murdered Dumbledore."

Remus swallowed but said nothing.

"Dora is right," Ted said, "The kid, if he has any good left in him, is too far gone now."

Lydia shook her head and took a step towards the fireplace, "This is the problem with you lot! You see everything as black or white, but maybe it's because I grew up in a neutral family. I don't. There are shades of grey everywhere; this war is full of them."

"I see the shades of grey too, Lydia," Andromeda assured her, "I grew up in a dark family, and I found the strength to defy them and to live my life on my own terms. I can understand where the traditionalists are coming from, but I cannot justify the actions they are taking to attain that goal."

"But you can justify the Army using a 15-year-old girl as a goddamn pawn?" Lydia snapped, spinning around to look Andromeda in the eye.

"Would you even care this much if she wasn't your sister?" Lee asked in disbelief.

And that was the final straw.

"Yes," Lydia said, her blue eyes darkening to the colour of a grey, stormy sea.

"I would, but I do care more because she's my sister because regardless of the way my father has treated me, I am a Greengrass and our motto isn't 'family first' for nothing, Lee!"

She threw her hand at him, in the process launching a ball of dark, fiery particles at his face. Lee didn't have time to defend against it, but before it could hit him, a fiery barrier had been created between Lee and the ball.

Lydia looked up to the source in disbelief – Andromeda was standing with her hands outright, fire burning from the palms of them.

"Enough," Andromeda said, her voice low and dangerous as she dropped the fire shield.

"How did you…"

"Oh, you think you're the only one who can use raw magic?" Andromeda quipped, "You might come from a powerful bloodline on the Greengrass side – although that usually manifests as ice or water, not black fire – but I come from a powerful family too."

Lydia frowned at Andromeda's hands which were still burning red hot.

"Control your chaos, Lydia, before it consumes you," Andromeda said nastily, "And if you cannot contribute meaningfully to this discussion, then leave. I am sure your antics have woken Rhea up."

With a foul look over her shoulder at Andromeda, Lydia stalked from the war room, and it took everything in Remus not to follow her because here was the last place that he wanted to be too.

Castle Jones, Wales

"That important break that we wanted?" Matthias said with a smirk, "We just got it."

The occupants of the war room watched and listened silently.

"The Order has an inside man, a spy in You-Know-Who's inner circle," Maggie said, "And he gave them a list of locations to target in a multi-pronged attack."

David narrowed his eyes at the list which Maggie had just pinned up on the board, "Malfoy Manor being the top of the list, as the headquarters, I presume?"

"Exactly," Matthias said, "Now these are the locations that are either easy targets or will pack the biggest punch, so I suggest that we pick our time very carefully."

"Winter Solstice would make sense," Griffin spoke up.

Hestia frowned, "When everyone is celebrating?"

"They wouldn't expect it, would they?" Griffin quipped.

"But there will be innocents in their dozens," Hestia said.

"That's not the reason why, but I don't think the Winter Solstice is a good time to attack," Matthias said.

Hestia raised an eyebrow, "Since when did we become okay with taking innocent lives?"

"Nobody on the dark side is innocent, Hestia," Griffin scoffed, "Do not be so naïve."

Hestia glared at her father, but before she could rant any further, one of the Aurors, Dawlish, cut in.

"They'll all be together at the solstice. We've heard rumours that You-Know-Who plans to celebrate gaining control back from the muggles by hosting the solstice at Stonehenge. The whole point of this plan is to catch them alone, isn't it? They are stronger when they are together, after all."

"Dawlish is right," Matthias said, "We want to hit them separately, which is why the solstice is a bad idea. I'm not sure we would be ready by then anyway. We need to train up some of our younger recruits, and we need to try and get some help from overseas. If I can rope the Irish cousins into joining us, it will bolster our numbers at the very least."

"And what of the Order?" Hestia asked, a faraway look in their eyes, "How do they feel about this?"

"They are desperate, Hestia," Matthias returned, "They understand that this war is all but lost. They understand that this is how it must be, for the greater good."

Hestia scoffed and muttered under her breath, "The greater good. Yeah, a hell of a lot of good that did for Dumbledore, right?"

Her words had been muttered quietly, and if anyone heard them, they chose not to respond.

The Pennines, England

"Any luck?"

Caroline shook her head as Hermione sat down on her bunk – she had her own bedroom in the tent while Hermione and the twins slept in a separate one which was always warded with silencing charms.

She never asked about their relationship, but Caroline assumed it was as physical as it was emotional. They weren't shy about kissing or hugging Hermione in front of Caroline, but she could also tell that they played their cards carefully.

"I found something," Hermione confessed, "But as smart as I am, even I can't translate it by myself. Would you have a look with me?"

"Sure," Caroline said, shutting her book and shuffling so Hermione could lie down next to her.

The curly-haired girl propped the book open on the pillow and lay on her front next to Caroline, "It's an ancient North American manuscript about skinwalkers which I believe is how they referred to werewolves?"

Caroline nodded and sucked the end of her sugar-quill, "Mmhmm, the Navajo certainly referred to werewolves as such, but it's a bit different. Skinwalkers can turn at will, not just on the full moon."

"That's the point, though," Hermione said, "We're trying to find a way for Fred and George to turn at will, and this seems to be about embracing the wolf inside, but the last line of runes is difficult to read."

Caroline frowned, "Hm."

"You said you and your best friend were really good at Ancient Runes, so I thought you'd be able to work it out," Hermione added.

"Maybe," Caroline mused, "Weren't you good at Ancient Runes too?"

"Well, yes, but I should be doing my seventh year now, remember?" Hermione pointed out.

Caroline chuckled and ran her finger along the line of text, "True…I might be able to translate it, but I won't be able to do it overnight-"

"That's fine, take all the time you…" Hermione trailed off when the twins came into the tent, dragging something with them, "…need."

Fred looked over at Hermione guiltily, and she narrowed her eyes, "What the hell is that?"

"A muggle," George answered.

"A dead muggle?" Hermione countered.

"No, he's alive, for the moment, sort of," Fred answered, rubbing his ears as they turned red.

Hermione looked at them in disbelief, "So…you bit him?"

"Yeah…" Fred said sheepishly.

"And you kidnapped him?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah…" George said, wondering if Hermione's eyebrows could get any higher before her hairline swallowed them up.

"And you brought him here?" Hermione asked in disbelief.

"We panicked!" Fred and George exclaimed in unison.

"Oh sweet Merlin," Hermione muttered, letting her head drop into her hands, "Were you in human form, at least?"

"We were experimenting with the turning at will thing, what with it being a half moon up there tonight," Fred explained quickly, "We sort of managed it and then this dumb ass jogger showed up."

"Who jogs at this time of night in the middle of nowhere anyway?" George asked.

"It was sort of his own fault," Fred continued.

Caroline nodded her agreement, and Hermione rolled her eyes.

"This isn't going to end with us scattering the pieces of his body in the North Sea, is it?"

"That would actually be a terrible idea," Caroline piped up, "Because of the gulf stream and it's direction. The chances are that the body parts would wash up on a beach, very likely a British one. The Atlantic Ocean would be a better choice, or we could always vanish each body part into a different body of water. It's a known fact that police forces don't co-operate very well internationally, so nobody would know."

Everyone was staring at Caroline in disbelief.

Fred scratched his ear, "Ravenclaws are scary."

"Yeah, I'm gonna stop judging you for being scared of Luna Lovegood now – with her little icy, knowing eyes," George remarked.

Hermione ignored their remarks and said, "Just to clarify, we aren't actually going to kill him, Caroline. What I said just then was a joke."

Caroline frowned, "Oh, right. But…he is a werewolf, isn't he? And he's a muggle, so if we just let him go, he'll probably end up breaking the Statute of Secrecy, so technically, we should be killing him."

"She has a point," George said.

"Right, you two do not get a say in this!" Hermione snapped, "You stupidly bit a jogger, and before you start – no, it wasn't his fault for being out here at this time of night alone-"

Fred and George caught Caroline's eye, and she shrugged as if to say, 'I'm with you guys'.

"So now I have to figure out how to clean up your mess," Hermione finished, "Disappear and have a bath in a bloody lake or something. Give me some peace to work this out."

"I'd do what she says," Caroline said in an undertone, "She seems pretty angry."

"Yeah, Caroline," Fred said, biting back a fond smile, "We worked that one out."

Hermione turned her glare onto the twins once more, and they left hastily.

Caroline looked at the jogger, and Hermione knelt and examined him. Then she had Caroline do her best to heal him. Between them, they sat him up and bound his hands and feet to a chair before waking him up with, "Enervate."

The jogger looked around in a panic, "What? How are…there was a giant half wolf-man!"

Hermione sighed, "Obliviate!"

She focused and extracted the memory of the attack, then gave the man a minute to come to. He blinked and looked around in confusion, "What the hell? Who are you? Have you kidnapped me?"

"No, we're helping you," Hermione said, "But you need to understand that you were attacked and what happened to you; it's going to change you."

"Are you on drugs, lady?" The jogger asked in disbelief.

"No, just listen to me," Hermione said, beginning to lose her temper, "It's going to change you, but you'll be strong enough to control it."

"Unless it kills you," Caroline interjected.

Hermione looked at her in disbelief.

"What?" Caroline quipped, "He's a muggle, it might. Actually, the bite kills 95% of muggles, so his chances aren't good."

"The bite? What bite? What the hell are you two lunatics talking about?"

"Compassion, Caroline," Hermione muttered in disbelief, "We've talked about this!"

"Does this mean it's back to plan A?"

Hermione nodded and threw a lazy, "Stupefy!" at the jogger.

"Looks like it."

Selkirk Forest, Scotland

Hermione, Fred, George and Caroline were setting up camp in the woods when a flutter caught their attention.

They spun around and saw Charlie and Sarris flying above the treetops – Charlie gave them a wave, and then Sarris shot off into the cloud cover above.

"It's alright; it's just me," A familiar voice said, "Charlie gave me a ride."

"Percy?" Four voices asked in disbelief.

Hermione looked at Caroline in surprise, "You know Percy?"

"Yeah," Caroline said, "He was with the Army for a while until the night his mother went insane, actually."

"Yeah, that was around the time I cut my losses and sold the order out to the Dark Lord," Percy admitted, "Which is why you can lower your wands, by the way, I'm on your side."

"You sold your soul for what? A promotion probably," Fred said.

"Doesn't make you on our side," George added.

"Especially since we aren't with the Dark Lord."

"Yet," Hermione finished.

Percy raised an eyebrow, "Right, because that wasn't difficult to follow at all."

Hermione narrowed her eyes at him, "If Charlie gave you a ride here, then I trust you because I trust him. but I do get the impression that you're only here because you want something?"

Percy shrugged, "I did read something interesting in the paper this morning," he said, waving the Daily Prophet in front of their noses, "Don't suppose you four were in the north of England up until recently? Only two joggers found a body in the woods, near the Pennine Hills."

"A dead body?" Fred and George asked, feigning surprise.

"No, a body of water," Percy returned sarcastically, "Yes, idiots, a dead body."

"Well, I don't know why you assume that it has anything to do with us," Hermione said calmly. She crossed her arms over her chest, "What do you want?"

"It's more a case of who, actually," Percy said, his eyes meeting Caroline's, "I know you don't want to fight, but do you want to heal?"

Caroline frowned, "What do you mean?"

"St. Mungo's has suffered some staffing issues since the Dark Lord rose to power," Percy explained, "And as the new Head of Healthcare and Junior Undersecretary to the Minister, that is now my department."

"Still a pompous git."

"Definitely sold his soul for a promotion."

"Shh," Hermione hushed Fred and George.

"I can offer you a position at the hospital, Caroline," Percy said, and he gave her a genuine smile, "You could do some good, you could make a difference, and you wouldn't have to pick a side because healers are allowed to remain impartial."

Caroline looked torn. She frowned and looked from Percy, back to Hermione, "Can I…."

"You don't have to ask for permission," Hermione said with a smile, "Go if that's what you want. You probably feel like a spare wheel, being stuck with us three in the wilderness."

Caroline chuckled, "Oh, you aren't too bad," she promised.

"But you do want to be a Healer, and you do want to make a difference, so go," Hermione said, stepping forward and hugging her friend.

Caroline smiled and hugged the twins in turn, "Thanks, for everything."

"You're welcome," Fred said with a warm smile, "You look after this little Ravenclaw for us, Perce, alright?"

"We hear anything has happened to her; we might get bitey," George agreed.

"And we'll do a lot worse to you than we did to the jogger in the woods," Hermione added, a smirk on her lips.

Percy raised his hands, "I'll keep her safe," he looked at Caroline, "I promise."

Caroline looked at Percy's out-stretched hand and took it. With a final smile as a farewell, she stepped out of the wards with him, and they apparated away.

"Finally, we can drop the silencing charms and have sex wherever we want."

"No more sneaking around and telling Hermione to be quiet."

Hermione shot them both glares, "If you two think you are getting anything after that show with the jogger in the woods, you have another thing coming," she said as she disappeared into the tent.

"I told you she'd be pissed for longer than a day!"

"And I told you that you should have bought her flowers!"

"What kind of flowers say 'sorry for accidentally chewing a muggle guy half to death', dumbass?"

"It's the gesture that counts!" Hermione called from inside the tent.

"How does she bloody do that?"

~ TBC ~