It took all of Hermione's AIP training to hide the panic she was
feeling. Ron walked along side her with his head held high.
*This can't be happening!* she silently screamed at the sinister
looking wizards, *don't you see? Not now, with Norris still at large!*

Ron gave her hand a quick squeeze, and she felt a little calmer.

The taller of the two wizards opened a door to a room Hermione had
never been in before. "After you."

The room was bare except for a table and four chairs. It was just
like the interview rooms on the police shows Hermione watched as a
young girl.

She took her seat next to Ron, and tried to mimic his collected
expression.

The smallest wizard cleared his throat. "We're just going to ask you
a few questions, kids. Nothing at all to be worried about." He looked
over at his partner nervously and continued. "Those were very good
rubber ducks you conjured."

Ron shrugged. "Hermione's really good at charms. She's been teaching
me."

"You've never done that particular charm before?"

Ron shook his head. "No, I've never even heard of it."

The tall wizard looked at Hermione. "What about you, Miss Granger? You
ever seen that charm before?"

Hermione shook her head, "no."

"I see," he raised an eye brow, "ever heard of the AIP?"

Hermione gulped and shook her head slowly and prayed for an escape.

Sometimes prayers are answered.

A loud, yet almost familiar, wailing filled the hall. Hermione, Ron
and the two wizards dashed out to see what it was.

Cho Chang* (an AIP since her second year), stood in the hall, her
golden egg from the tri-wizarding tournament open at her feet. She
grinned sheepishly, "I'm so sorry! I was taking this to show my
sister's first year friends, and I kinda dropped it..."

"Well," said the taller (and definitely meaner) wizard, "whatever it
ruddy well is, shut it up!"

Cho grinned sheepishly.

"I'm so sorry, sirs! I..was....uh....just taking the egg for a walk!
I know that it wasn't mine, but I...I like to look at the egg, to
remember C-cedric. He was my boyfriend, you know, Cedric Diggory."
She stopped talking, apparently overcome by her tears.

The men loked ast each other awkwardly, obviously thinking the same
thing: What do we do now to this poor girl whose boyfriend was
murdered?

Both of the men shrugged. One of them finally barked out, "Well,
don't let it happen again, Miss......?"

Cho looked up through her staged sobs and saw a figure with bright
red hair looking back at her with concern. She mouthed, 'go', to him,
then looked back at themen and workd herself up again.

"....{sob}.....Ch-ch-{loud sob}-Chang.....{hiccup}...."

What to say now? Was the thought on everyone's minds. Cho was trying
to figure out how to stall, and the agents were thinking: Oh lord, we
can't just leave her here like this, can we?

Meanwhile, Ron and Hermione were jogging through the gardens whenthey
came upon a figure. They looked at each other in alarm, and then
recognized the person as...

Argus Filch.

Ron hissed in alarm and quickly pushed Hermione behind a conveniently
located bush, reaching for his wand. "Let me just say," he
muttered, "that this is not good."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Whatever gave you that impression? Has he
got Norris with him?"

Ron peeked out from behind the bush. "Nope. He's alone."

"Do you think you can hit him with a stun hex from here?"

Ron considered a moment, judging the distance. "It's possible," he
said finally, "but I wish there was another way. It's risky."

Hermione bit her lip in concentration. "Is there any way to distract
him?"

"Yeah," said Ron under his breath. "Take off all your clothes and run
screaming into the lake."

Hermione blinked. "What?"

*Oops. I must have said that out loud. Smooth, Weasley.* "Nothing. I
don't know how we can distract-"

But Ron was interrupted by Filch's infuriated shouting. "Potter! Get
your hands off that woman *immediately*!"

Ron and Hermione exchanged glances, then simultaneously peeked out
around different sides of their cover.

Ron's jaw dropped at about the same time that Hermione let out a
noise that sounded suspiciously like a giggle. Sitting on the bench
underneath a maple tree were Ginny and Harry in an extremely
compromising position. Both of them were studiously ignoring Filch.
Ron made a strangled sound under his breath. "I am going to kill
him," Ron said lightly, standing up straight and making his way
around the bush.

Hermione grabbed him by the back of his robes and yanked him back
down to the ground. He landed flat on his back, the wind knocked out
of him. Hermione gave him a look. "You might be a bit more lenient,
as they've just saved our bums."

Ron looked at her somewhat helplessly. "That's my *sister* he's
snogging out there!"

"Not just snogging, by the sounds of it," Hermione grinned.

Ron covered his ears. "Make it stop," he moaned.

She laughed. "Let's go. This is the perfect time to make our escape."
Hermione reached down to give him a hand up, but he took it and
yanked her down on top of him. Some unnamed missile flew right
through the space her head had occupied a moment before.

It took a moment before Hermione realized two things. The first was
that she was laying on top of Ron, and should probably move but
didn't feel like it. The second was that Pigwidgeon was a dangerous
owl and should be given a lesson in avoiding human obstacles while
flying.

Hermione sat up and reached for the letter, wondering who it could be
from. She unrolled the parchment carefully. It said,

*I know what you are trying to do. I also know you should be a lot more
careful. Just because the Ministry only knows you as Assassins-
something-or-other doesn't mean they can't figure out that you're
members.

I can help you. I know you know about Norris, and I also know you're
after her. I know the best way to get her.

Meet me in the AIP headquarters in Hogsmeade at eight p.m. Quack three
times to let me know it's you.

Signed - A well-wisher*

Hermione let out a startled gasp. Ron moaned and rolled over.

"Don't suppose you could be any heavier when you're landign on soemone,
could you?" Hermione shot him a warning glance.

"This isn't the time!" she hissed angrily, handing him the letter. As
he read it his eyes widened until it seemed that if they got any larger
they'd pop out of his face.

"Who sent this?" Hermione gave an exasperated sigh. Ron rolled his eyes
at her and sat up. "I know you don't know! I was thinking out loud!" he
said defensively. She sighed again.

"This could spoil all our plans!" she hissed. "Another setback! And we
don't even know ... I mean, it could be a trap for all we know!"

"I know that!" Ron snapped. Hermione gave him a reprimanding look.

"Do you want my suggestions or not?" she exclaimed. Ron sighed.

"Well?"

"I think we need to SHAG!"

"Good thinking!" Ron said. "Do you have it?"

"Of course!" Hermione answered. She retrived the plastic protective
package from the depths of her bag and quickly unwrapped the SHAG.

"You should remember to use it more often," she admonished, and stuck
it on Ron's wand.

"Shaggus Alertus, Vriesen, Katie; Mancini, Amanda; Davis, Erica;
Cameron, James," he muttered. After the affirmation that all four
group leaders were listening, Ron proceeded to read out the letter.
When he had finished he asked, "How shall we handle this?"

"Hmm... could this be a trap?" Head Honcho Kaitie replied. "I mean,
this person could be in the Ministry, heck, this could be You-Know- I
mean, Voldemort himself!"

"We are aware of that," Hermione said, happily noting that Katie was
following the new rule about using the proper name, so as to improve
morale. "But if this person really can help, we can't afford to miss
out on such an important opportunity!"

"That's true," James said. "Why don't we just bring back-up, I mean,
you can have the SHAG with you, and there can be a Group waiting
outside."

"Good idea, Cameron!" Ron exclaimed. "But I would hate to
have someone discover our secret SHAG. Maybe if we use that charm
Herm was talking about?"

"Oh! That's right!" Hermione said, smacking her forehead. "Suprema
Accio! It's a very advanced summoning charm. So strong it can summon
people. We can use it to bring in the squad if we need it."

"But if it's so advanced, who would work it?" Amanda asked.

"Well, I've worked it successfully..." Hermione started.

"No! You can't go into such a dangerous situation!" Ron interrupted.

"Why on earth not?" Hermione said, annoyed at being cut off.

Ron turned very red. "Uh.. erm... because... You just shouldn't be
put in that situation," he stuttered.

"Ron! I've been in situations much more dangerous! You know that. My
coming along will ensure safety for all the members of the team,
plus, we'll have the cloak. Harry won't be using it. Ginny usually
tells me before they mee- oh... Damn."

"What?!" Ron was livid.

"Enough of that," Hermione said quickly. "We're in the middle of a
SHAG! Cameron, Davis, Vriesen, Mancini. We want you to put your
members on alert. Tell them that they need to be extremely careful.
The Ministry is on the prowl. Skip Charms whenever possible!" This
was met with a couple of choked affirmations, and a snort covered by
an embarrassed cough.

"Will do!" said Erica, sounding like she was gasping for
breath. "Who'll be back-up at the rendez-vous tonight?"

"Group DeathKatz," answered Ron. "Amanda, alert your members to be in
their uniforms; you need to be ready to be pulled from whatever you
were doing. I would suggest hiding out in the Sirius cave outside of
Hogsmeade." Only Ron and Hermione knew the real spelling of the
cave's name.

"Righto, Sir!" said Amanda.

"The rest of you, be prepared to be called in for backup. That's all
for now! Finite Incantatem!" Ron turned back to Hermione. "What-"

"Ron, can we have this conversation some other time? Please?" said
Hermione in a pained voice. "We need to plan, I need to practise the
Suprema Accio, and you need to find a way to manage to keep from
killing Harry." She stood up and extended her hand for Ron to do the
same. "I'll see you at 7:30 in front of the common room."

Ron grasped her hand and stood up, feeling a tingle go through his
arm. "Yeah. I'll see you..." he said as he casually stepped out from
behind the bush. He walked towards the school, gently massaging his
hand with a thoughtful expression on his face.

Come 7:25, Ron was angry, nervous, and extremely confused. This was
not abnormal for Ron; in fact, they were three of his most common
emotions, but he didn't relish experiencing them all at once.
Frustrated, he pulled out his wand and the SHAG from his
knapsack. "Davis," he barked.

The answering ring and affirmation echoed in his ear. "Yes, sir," she
said. Ron could hear the smile in her voice. "This is a bad time...
Something I could help you with?"

He frowned. He just wanted to know why she was laughing. "Yeah. You
can tell me what's so funny. There shouldn't have been any reason for
you to be laughing during a conversation with your superior officer,
especially at a time like this."

Erica sounded sheepish. "Sir, this isn't the time... you're meeting
with Hermione in-"

"Tell me," Ron said, not sounding so much like a commanding officer
as he did a very confused teenage boy.

"Hermione told us to skip Charms whenever possible."

Ron grinned. When he thought about it, that *was* pretty funny.
Still, he sensed there was something else. "And...?"

"Well- you and Reconnaissance Leader Hermione- you weren't *really*-
uh, in the middle of something, were you?" Erica sounded somewhat out
of breath again.

Ron turned red. "What!? Why would we call you if we were in the
middle of- oh. But why would you even *think* that? It's Hermione!
She's my best friend!"

"Tuh, Ron. Exactly. You're with her twenty-four seven. Alone,
oftentimes. You told Malfoy you were going to shag; be that as it
may. You understand each other. What part of this- ow- aren't you
getting? Oh, honestly James, *stop* for a second-"

Ron turned even redder. "Have I interrupted something, Davis?"

"Maybe. At any rate- are you telling me you and Hermione *haven't*-"

All of the color drained from Ron's face. Hermione had just appeared
at the top of the stairs. "No," he said quickly. "Thank you, Davis.
Weasley out."


'Oh, great,' Hermione thought, 'I'm late. I'm never late. I'm always
on time- even McGonagall says so- and this is the second time this
week...' She checked her watch. 'Oh well. It's only 8:04- not that
bad, maybe my watch is just fast...' Hermione felt Ron stop in front
of her and did the same, careful not to jar the cloak too much and
reveal their toes.

Ron quacked three times and they stepped inside the headquarters.
Upon seeing its occupants, they were both stunned.

"Professor Dumbledore!" Hermione exclaimed, eyes wide, at the same
time as Ron growled, "Malfoy," and reached for his wand. "What are
you doing here?" they chorused.

With a gentle smile, Dumbledore waved his hand and their wands were
suddenly in his grasp. "No need for these. Ms. Granger, Mr. Weasley,
please, take a seat."

Ron and Hermione sat.

Ron glared at Malfoy's sneering face. "What are *you* doing here?" he
groweled.

"Temper, temper; Weasley," Malfoy warned. "If you say things like
that, I may just forget about helping you. Especially after your
*ahem* blatant breaking of curfew..."

"Oh come off it, Malfoy! We both know you involve yourself in after-
curfew activities as well... do I have to remind you of a certain
blue haired Slytherin who goes by the name Wicky?" Ron shot back.

"You *know* about that?!" Draco looked shocked.

Ron grinned, a cheshire cat grin.

Draco's pale cheeks tinted pink.

"Boys, please, the purpose of this meeting was not to un-earth the
relationships of those here. It was to discuss strategy," Dumbledore
said with a faint smile playing across his face. "Now, I know that
you, Mr. Weasley, are a quite high-ranking official in the AIP?"

Ron swallowed. "That's correct, sir."

"And you, Mr. Malfoy, had discovered this little bit of information,
and planned to help the AIP in capturing a few Death Eaters, using
your connections?"

"Yes, sir," Draco replied.

"And you, Ms. Granger, you are a member of the AIP as well?"

"Yes Professor, sir."

"Now, I had come here tonight, hoping to sit in on a meeting of the
AIP and assist them in their noble cause. I was hoping to offer you
the use of some of my connections in return for you helping me
further my cause by putting your lot in with my Order of the Phoenix."

Ron just stared. Hermione was the one who was able to speak first. "Y-
you mean that you want US? The AIP, in *The Order of the Phoenix*?!"

Dumbledore nodded. "That's correct."

Ron got his voice back. "Wow. Sir, thank you for the invitation.
This, this is a great honour. We need to ask the rest though. Hold a
vote."

"Of course," Dumbledore said. "If you would like, you can give me
your answer anytime. Just walk to the Gargoyle outside my office and
say "Guy Fawkes day Rocks" for yes, and "Phoenix Fricasee" for no.
I'll recieve the message."

Ron sat there, his mouth hanging open in shock. Hermione took
the opportunity to answer before Ron said something foolish -

"We'll have an answer shortly," she said curtly, as she nodded
to Dumbledore and pulled Ron out of the headquarters.

"Why did you act like that for Herm? The man invited our secret-
organised-crime-fighting organisation into his top-secret-
organisation-against-Voldemort's-but-kissing-death-eater-trash
-Uh-" Ron calmed down and took a breath when he saw the look on
Hermione's face. "What was there to decline? We should have just
said yes right then and there."

"Ron, you know as well as I do that we need to talk this over with
the rest of AIP."

"Yeah... you're right... as always," he added with a grin, not
noticing Hermione blush in the dark. They pulled the invisibility
cloak over them and made their way back to the castle. "Should we
SHAG now or wait 'til the morning?"

"Now." Hermione answered solemnly."I have a feeling that we're going to
need a good night's sleep."

*anyone want to tell me how that's going to make them sleep better?
Ouch! Hermione *hit* me!*

***

"Shaggus Alertus, Vriesen, Katie; Mancini, Amanda; Davis, Erica;
Cameron, James." Hermione clearly spoke into her wand. "Despite the
hour, the issues of the meeting with the Anonymous Person must be
discussed."

"Say what now?" a groggy Cameron answered.

"Dumbledore sent the message and we have to figure out what to do,"
Ron said, translating Hermione-talk.

"What?"

"Dumbledore?!"

"Holy $H!%."

"No wonder the password was 'quack'...."

The answers varied, but it call came down to the same thing...

"What do we do?"

Ron watched as Hermione slipped SHAG from her wand.

"See? I said they'd agree." She gave him a reprimanding look. "I still
don't like working with Malfoy," he continued.

"You two had better learn to sort out your differences," Hermione
warned, oblivious to the red rushing to Ron's cheeks at her comments.
He turned his head downwards and kicked at the ground, angry at himself
for blushing.

*What is is with me at the moment?* he thought angrily as he and
Hermione began their walk to the gargoyle.

They had almost reached the gargoyle when Ron was suddenly bowled over
by something invisible.

"Oof!" Harry's voice said as he appeared form under the Invisibility
Cloak. "Oh. Hi, Ron, Hermione," he said casually, trying to sidle
around them.

"Where are *you* going?" Ron said suspiciously. "Not to meet with my
sister at this hour?" Harry flushed. Ron's jaw dropped. "Harry! She's
only ..."

"Ron! Harry!' Hermione cried, stepping between the two of them. "Stop
fighting. We have our *own* business to attend to," she said with a
pointed glance at Ron. Harry raised an eyebrow.

"If you don't say anything, I won't say anything," he said, slipping
past them and disappearing under the cloak before Ron or Hermione could
say anything.

"He won't say anything!" Ron exclaimed when the impact of Harry's words
set in. "We're not .." He stopped. Hemrione was giggling. "And what's so
funny?"

"Well ..." she said, smiling sheepishly. "You have to admit it must
have *sounded* like ..."

"Please!" Ron exclaimed, striding away towards Dumbledore's office.


After giving the message to the statue outside Dumbledore's office,
Ron and Hermione headed back to Gryffindor tower, hopefully to get
the sleep they'd been lacking for days. When they got there, however,
they found that this was impossible. Head Honcho Kaitie of Ravenclaw
was waiting somewhat nervously in front of the portrait of the Fat
Lady, shifting her gaze from side to side. She wasted no time in
tackling them to the side behind a tapestry when she saw them.

"Don't say anything," Kaitie warned, looking around warily. She cast
a Privacy spell. "Anyone could hear you."

Even through the Privacy spell? Right. Ron and Hermione exchanged
glances. It was well-known that Head Honcho Kaitie was a quite
paranoid.

"Well??" Kaitie asked impatiently.

Ron shrugged. "You told us not to say anything."

The Ravenclaw looked a bit embarrassed. "Right. Okay. Well, what I
have to say is this: Plan Katze has to go through tonight. Filch
heard about it- probably a leak in one of the younger kids wanting to
get out of detention; we'll have to ferret him out later- and now
he's laying Stunned behind the trick bookcase. You never know how
long it'll take him to get out, though, so if we're going to get rid
of Norris, it has to be now."

Ron's eyes grew wide and Hermione stifled a groan. "Just when I
thought I was going to get some sleep..."

"That's not all," Kaitie continued, oblivious.

Ron gaped. "There's more?"

"There are Death Eaters in the castle."

Hermione choked on her yawn, a very difficult thing to do. "What!?"

Kaitie looked perturbed. "Sh!" She looked from side to side again, as
if the very walls could be listening. "And they know who you are."

"They know what?!" Ron practically yelled. "How could they know who
we are? We were so careful- excessive screening, polygraph tests,
Secrecy charms, passwords, hiding places- how did they find out?"

Kaitie looked at him blandly. "Like this," she said sinisterly, and
began to change.

Hermione gasped. Before her was not Head Honcho Kaitie at all, but...