"It's all fascinating stuff," Hermione said. Charms was always a good place to talk because the classroom was always chaotic. Today, was no different. Flitwick had them practicing the color-change charm again. This time they had each been given a long, plain white scarf and had to change each segment a different color. Focussing on a small, specific bit was much harder than changing the color of an entire item.

Hermione's, as always, was the best. She had created a long and complex rainbow scarf with each color evenly spaced out perfectly. Dudley's was quite good—he had gone for Gryffindor colors of red and gold, but each of them was uneven. Ron had gone for all red with different colored polkadots for some reason. Dean was trying to create the West Ham United colors—claret and blue—in a checkerboard pattern.

"Yeah, but I still don't see how knowing how the Death Eaters formed or who is with them will help,' said Ron. He swore, having created a polkadot that was too big.

"Of course it does," said Hermione. "Understand how your enemy works."

"Plus, I think Snape will also tell Dudley more about each member," said Dean, adding a claret square to his scarf. "You know—what sort of spells they use or what their strengths are. That'll be useful—like if, I dunno, Dolohov attacks Dud, he'll know what to expect."

"Yeah, there is that," Ron admitted as he fixed his scarf.

During their next lesson with Tonks, she continued their lesson on healing spells. After a review of what they had learned in the past lesson—episkey and the bandaging charm—today she had them practicing the reviving spell, enervate.

They took it in turns stunning each other onto a large beanbag and reviving them.

Dudley and his group had been able to do this for a long time, so Tonks was very pleased.

"Great work!" Tonks said, as Dudley pulled off a perfect stunner on Ron and revived him. "Let's see, three points for the stunner. Three for the enervate. Good job."

One thing Dudley had quickly noticed about Tonks was that she was very quick to hand points out. He gained more in her class than he did any others combined.

"Ok, let's stop there—I'm glad you've all mastered it," Tonks said, approvingly.

Next, she demonstrated to them the stamina charm.

"Useful this," she said. "Some Auror operations can last for hours, so this is a must for any Auror. Rejuvenates your allies with a swish of the wand."

This spell, they practiced on each other. it was trickier than enervate. Dudley practiced with Ron who somehow managed to make Dudley's eyebrows grow thick and bushy with his first attempt. Dudley's first attempt caused Ron to feint and he had no idea how it happened. By the end of the class, even Hermione, who was practicing with Dean, hadn't managed to get it, though Dean left the class feeling very lightheaded, which Tonks said was a sign that the spell was close to working.

"I hope she starts showing us offensive spells soon," they heard Lavender grumble to Parvati. "This is useful, but I can't really use it to get revenge for Neville."

"Come on, healing is much more important," Hermione said. "Keeping your friends and allies alive stops you from being outnumbered. Even the Death Eaters do that. We saw them, enervating each other during the Battle of the Hogwarts Express."

Dudley nodded, agreeing. He wanted to learn offensive spells too, but he saw the need for healing spells. If he entered a duel and Ron or Hermione got injured, this way, he would have a way to tend to them.

Augusta Longbottom

"This is the place?" Augusta asked Rufus. They were stood in the woods of Northern England, near the Scottish border, staring at a clearing where a decrepit cabin stood.

"I tracked him here," Rufus Scrimgeour said.

"Make sure," Augusta barked. She wasn't good at charms, so left this sort of thing to Scrimgeour.

Scrimgeour looked irritated at being ordered around, but he waved his wand, silently casting a detection spell. "One male, wizard," he said. "Sleeping."

"Protection?"

"Detection spells, anti-intruder jynxes, unplottable, anti-apparation spells ..."

"Can you break them?"

"Yes, it will take an hour or so if you want me to do it without setting off the charms," said Scrimgeour.

"Do it," said Augusta, pulling her coat closer over her body. It was a cold night.

Scrimgeour noticed and gave a wave of his wand, suddenly Augusta felt warmth shooting through her body.

"Heating charm," he said, gruffly. "Now, keep quiet while I work."

Augusta regretted not doing well on charms at Hogwarts. She had called in a soft subject, but fact is, she failed and, as Scrimgeour was proving tonight, some charms were actually useful

She sat down on an old tree stump and waited, watching curiously while Scrimgeour worked at removing Karkaroff's defences. He did it all non-verbally, delicately and slowly waving his wand in various directions. There were no signs of him casting any magic at all.

"Detection spell down," he said, after 15 minutes. "Tricky one. Karkaroff is good. Now I'll remove the anti-intruder hex."

Twenty minutes later, that was down too. Augusta felt the air shimmering when Scrimgeour removed that level of protection.

"Nasty hex on the doors," he said. "Might be tricky to remove. But if I remove the anti-apparation charm, we can apparate right in and bypass it."

Augusta nodded, trusting Scrimgeour to do his job. He had been head Auror after all. He was the best at what he did.

She waited patiently. Finally, Scrimgeour nodded. "It is done."

"Good, now we ..."

Scrimgeour interrupted. "No, I go inside," he said. "This is what I do."

Augusta considered arguing, but she gave a nod. "Do it. We need him alive and well."

"I know, Augusta," said Scrimgeour, irritably.

He apparated with a low crack. There was a yell and a muffled bang from inside the house. The door burst open and, to Augusta's shock, Karkaroff was running out of the shack wearing a pair of greying underwear. Somehow, Scrimgeour had failed.

"Halt!" Augusta shouted.

Karkaroff was fast. He fired a pink colored spell that Augusta didn't recognise. She barely got her shield up in time to deflect it and Karkaroff was already on the offensive, this time with a modifed version of the incarcerous curse that used flaming ropes instead.

Augusta used transfiguration-she had always been good at that-turning the ropes into paper so they fell to the floor in burning shards. She fired a simple stunner at Karkaroff which he blocked. She expected that, the stunner was a feint so she would transfigure the consistency of the ground upon which Karkaroff was standing. He sank down up to his knee but, impressively, kept hold of his wand. He fired a hex at Augusta which she blocked.

"Stupefy!" Scrimgeour was back. His stunner hit Karkaroff on the back of the head, knocking him unconscious.

"I thought this is what you did," Augusta said, icily.

Scrimgeour glared at her. "Tricky bastard-there was a second anti-apparation jinx."

Augusta raised her eyebrows.

"A subtle one-a very minor stinging hex on it. I was looking for darker, more powerful magic-that simple jinx alerted him to my presence. Tricky bastard."

"Well, we have him now," Augusta said. "Let's get him back to my house."

Corban Yaxley

Yaxley stepped into his office, ready for another long day working under that miserable old cow Madame Bones and that pompous peacock of a Minister, Gilderoy Lockhart. He hated the both of them and really couldn't wait for Lord Voldemort to take over. He wanted to kill Bones himself-the way she ordered him about. She was even worse since his attempt at becoming Minister, seemed to take it personally that he had run against her. The old bag.

"Morning, Yaxley," a voice said.

Yaxley jumped. He hadn't noticed Shacklebolt sat behind his desk. Alongside him was Cedric Diggory.

"What's all this about?" Yaxley said, narrowing his eyes slightly. He had never liked Shacklebolt-obnoxious, arrogant prick. He had also never liked Cedric Diggory-he was nothing more than pretty boy with no brains.

Shacklebolt raised his eyebrows slightly.

Yaxley spun around as his door opened and there stood another auror, Penelope Flint, standing just behind her was Marcus Flint.

Yaxley hated her. She was a Slytherin and yet cosied up to the Ministry. She was even, if rumors were true, currently going on dates with a mudblood. She was just a traitor. He didn't know Marcus Flint at all, but he hated him too.

"You are under arrest, Yaxley," Shacklebolt said, standing up.

"What?" Yaxley spun around, reaching for his wand but both Diggory and Shacklebolt had their wands pointed at him. He felt an object pressed against his back. It was Penelope Flint's wand.

"On what grounds?" Yaxley snarled.

"I have recieved information that you are a Death Eater. You will be detained until you're trial. Flint-grab his wand."

Yaxley flung an elbow back into Flint's nose as he felt her hand grope in his robes. It connected with her nose with a sharp crack, the force of the blow knocking her backwards into Marcus.

He reached for his wand.

"Stupefy!" cried Diggory and Shacklebolt together, and Yaxley knew no more.

Voldemort

"You have done well, Severus. Arise," Voldemort said.

Severus Snape, his spy within the Order of the Phoenix, did as asked.

"The idiot Percy Weasley found Umbridge's location for you ... supposedly on behalf of Dumbledore. Clever, Severus. Clever," said Voldemort.

"I will dispatch a team to retrieve her immediately. You have done well, Severus." said Voldemort and declined his head slightly.

Gilderoy Lockhart

"Yes, Minister-I do hope you read the report I have left for you," said Umbridge. "I sincerely think that Albus Dumbledore and his Order of the Phoenix need to be controlled. They are undermining your authority at every turn. My Anti-Vigilantism Bill will ensure that they can't carry out their activities, allowing the Ministry to act unhindered."

"Yes, Dolores, I'll read it," Lockhart said, making a mental note to drop the report in the bin at the first chance he got. Odious woman. He had never liked her, and he had finally saw her true colors when she undermined him at Rufus Scrimgeour's trial. No, he wouldn't listen to her any more, even if she did on occasion have some bright ideas.

Lockhart frowned as Dolores Umbridge left. He felt certain there was something he meant to do. He shrugged and put it out of his mind—he had a photoshoot for Lillian Lenoir's Luxury Robes to get ready for. Whatever he meant to do with Dolores Umbridge could wait.