Disclaimer: I am not George Lucas or J.K. Rowling.

Enter Ron and Dean, on the Ford Anglia.

Dean. She'll be fine. She's as safe now as she's ever likely to be. Don't worry.

Ron. You know, that's almost exactly the same thing you said back at Exmoor. That botched dittany run, remember? You said, "It will be fine. Don't worry about it."

Dean. [laughs] Yes, but this time I mean it.

Ron. That's nice to know. So what do you have planned for entertainment?

Dean. Well, the first thing we ought to do is have Percy send off a message to London, give the impression that Hermione's aboard to any Ministry officials who might be listening. After that, we could move a couple of regions over and send another message. And after that, I thought we might like to do a little sightseeing.

Ron. [suspicious] Sightseeing? You mean as in flying all over the galaxy looking for replacement mole miners?

Dean. Ron. Are you suggesting I'd stoop so low as to try and con you into helping me run my business?

Ron. Forgive me. I forgot. You're respectable now. So what sights are we going to see?

Dean. Well, you mentioned earlier that you hadn't been able to get in touch with Aberforth Dumbledore. I thought we might take another crack at it.

Ron. [frowns] You serious?

Dean. Why not? You want cargo brooms, and you want a good slicer. Aberforth can supply both.

Ron. I don't need a slicer anymore. Hermione's as safe now as she's ever likely to be. Remember?

Dean. Sure . . . until someone leaks the news that she's there. I don't think the half-giants would, but there are non-half-giant traders flying in and out of Minsk all the time. All it takes is one person's spotting her, and you'll be right back where you were when you first got here. And Aberforth might also have something on this mysterious Ministry commander who's been running you in circles lately.

Ron. The Ministry commander who is almost certainly behind the attacks on Hermione . . . You know how to make contact with Aberforth?

Dean. Not directly. But I know how to get to his people. And I thought that as long as we had Percy and his umpteen million languages aboard anyway, we'd just go ahead and cut a new contact path.

Ron. That will take time.

Dean. Not as much as you might think. Besides, a new path will cover our trail better, yours and mine both.

Ron. [grimaces] All right . . . assuming we don't wind up playing tag with a Ministry cruiser or two.

Dean. Right. The last thing we want is to draw the Ministry onto Aberforth's tail. We've got enough enemies out there as it is. [through tranceiver] Percy. You there?"

Hermione's Voice. [Percy] Of course.

Dean. Come on up here. Time for your debut performance.

Exit all.