Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling or Timothy Zahn.
Enter Ron, aboard the Ford Anglia, communicating with the Floo image of Admiral Murcus.
Murcus. I can assure you, Captain Weasley, that we are doing everything in our power to find out how this happened.
Ron. That's what you said four days ago. Come on. There can't be all that many people who knew we were coming to Avalon.
Murcus. You might be surprised. Between the Council members, their staffs, the prep crews at the spaceport, and various security and support personnel, there may be up to two hundred people who had direct access to your itinerary. And that doesn't count friends and colleagues any of those two hundred might have mentioned it to. Tracking through all of them is going to take time.
Ron. That's great. May I ask what you suggest we do in the meantime?
Murcus. You have your escort.
Ron. We had them four days ago, too. It didn't do us a lot of good. Commander Longbottom and Rogue Squadron are fine in a space battle, but this kind of stuff isn't exactly their area of expertise. We'd do better with Lieutenant Peakes and some of his commandos.
Murcus. Unfortunately, they're all out on assignment. Under the circumstances, perhaps it would be best if you simply brought Senator Granger Weasley back here where she can be properly protected.
Ron. I'd love to. The question is whether she'll be any safer in London than she is here.
Murcus. I'm not sure I appreciate the tone of that question, Captain.
Ron. I don't much like it either, Admiral. But face it: if the Ministry is getting information out of Headquarters, they might just as easily be able to get their agents in.
Murcus. I think that highly unlikely. The security arrangements I've set up in London are quite capable of handling anything the Ministry might try.
Ron. I'm sure they are, Admiral. I only meant . . .
Murcus. We'll let you know when we have further information, Captain. Until then, do whatever you feel is necessary. London out.
Exit Murcus.
Ron. Right. Avalon out, too.
Enter Hermione.
Hermione. It's just me. You finished talking with Murcus already?
Ron. It wasn't much of a conversation. I asked what they were doing to find out how our pals with the rifles knew we were coming here, he assured me they were doing everything possible to find out, I managed to step on his toes, and he signed off in a huff. Pretty much like usual with Murcus these days.
Hermione. You do have a way with people, don't you?
Ron. This one's not my fault. All I did was suggest that his security people might not be up to keeping these guys out of Ministry Headquarters. He's the one who overreacted.
Hermione. I know. For all his military genius, Murcus just doesn't have the polish to be a good politician. And with Scrimgeour nipping at his heels . . . He just gets more and more overprotective of his territory.
Ron. Yeah, well, if he's trying to keep Scrimgeour away from the military, he's got the wrong end of the rifle. Half of them are already convinced that Scrimgeour's the guy to listen to.
Hermione. Unfortunately, he often is. Charisma and ambition. Dangerous combination.
Ron frowns at Hermione.
Ron. What do you mean, dangerous?
Hermione. Nothing. Sorry. Talking out of turn.
Ron. Hermione. You know something.
Hermione. I don't know anything. It's just a feeling I have, a sense that Scrimgeour has his eye on more than just Murcus's job as supreme commander. But it's just a feeling.
Ron. [aside] Like the feeling she had that the Ministry is up to something big? [to Hermione] Okay. I understand. So, you all done here?
Hermione. As done as I can be. The rebuilding's going to take some time, but the organization for that will have to be handled from London. Convoys of replacement equipment, consultants and maybe extra workers . . . You know the sort of thing.
Ron. Yeah. And I suppose you're anxious to get right back and start the ball rolling.
Hermione. You sound like you're not.
Ron. Well, it's what everyone's going to expect you to do. So maybe we ought to do something else.
Hermione. Such as?
Ron. I don't know. Find somewhere no one would think to look for you, I guess.
Hermione. And then . . . ?
Ron. And then hole up there for a while.
Hermione. You know I can't do that. I have commitments back in London.
Ron. You've got commitments to yourself, too. Not to mention to the twins.
Hermione. That's not fair.
Ron. Isn't it?
Hermione. I can't be out of touch, Ron. I just can't. There's too much happening back there for me to bury myself away.
Ron. Well, if all you need right now is to keep in touch, how about if we go some place that has a diplomatic station? You'd at least be able to get official London news there.
Hermione. And how do we make sure the local ambassador doesn't give us away? [shakes her head] I can't believe I'm talking like this. It's like we're back to being the Army again, not the legitimate government.
Ron. Who says the ambassador has to know? We've got a diplomatic receiver on the Anglia. We can tap into the transmission on our own.
Hermione. Only if we can get hold of the station's encrypt scheme. And then plug it into our receiver. That may not be possible.
Ron. We can find a way. At least it would buy Murcus some time to track down the leak.
Hermione. True. I don't know. The Wizards' Council's encrypt codes are nearly impossible to break.
Ron. [snorts] I hate to disillusion you, sweetheart, but there are hackers running around loose who eat government encrypt codes for breakfast. All we have to do is find one of them.
Hermione. And pay him enormous sums of gold?
Ron. Something like that. On the other hand, even hackers occasionally owe other people favors.
Hermione. Oh? I don't suppose you'd know any of them.
Ron. As a matter of fact, I do. Trouble is, if the Ministry has done their homework, they probably know all about it and have someone watching him.
Hermione. Meaning?
Ron. Meaning we're going to have to find someone who's got his own list of slicer contacts. [into the transmitter] Longbottom. This is Weasley. You copy?
Neville's Voice. Right here, General.
Ron. We're leaving Avalon, Neville. That's not official yet. You're in charge of telling the rest of the delegation about it once we're off the ground.
Neville's Voice. I understand. You want me to assign you an escort, or would you rather slip out quietly? I've got a couple of people I'd trust all the way to the end of the galaxy.
Ron. [smiles] Thanks, but we wouldn't want the rest of the delegation to feel unprotected.
Neville's Voice. Whatever you want. I can handle anything that needs doing at this end. See you back at London.
Ron. Right.
Ron cuts the transmission.
Eventually. [over the intercom] Hagrid? We ready to fly?
Hagrid. Raarrghhh.
Ron. Okay. Make sure everything's bolted down and then come on up. Better bring Percy, too. We might have to talk to Rougarou Control on the way out.
Ron begins the launch.
Hermione. Do I get to know where we're going?
Ron. I already told you. We need to find someone we can trust who has his own list of illegals.
Hermione. You don't mean . . . Dean?
Ron. Who else? Upstanding citizen, former war hero, honest businessman. Of course he'll have hacker contacts.
Hermione. [rolls her eyes] Why do I suddenly have a bad feeling about this?
Exit all.
