Chapter 161: Fringes of Society

Music Suggestion: "Hell or High Water", The Rescues


Considering Hermione was now truly certain she wasn't leaving the house again for a while, that Sirius's jacket pockets were still full of the day's purchases was an absolute boon. And that she had bought a few pairs of the comfy trousers was too, considering she currently had no ability to keep her knees together under a skirt.

Though he didn't bear her weight, it was in Sirius's arms Hermione made it down to the kitchen for the meeting. She had apologised to him, again, for how much he had to help her. He'd answered with the softly-worded line 'You know I'd rather do this than bury you' and she decided to stop apologising from then on.

The kitchen was already full, and Hermione having to be carried in and lowered into her chair turned eyes on her and Sirius. As no one looked surprised, just concerned, full of well wishes, or watchful, she assumed the story had already made its way through the ranks of the Order.

'Your potion, Sirius.'

It was Remus who'd said it. He slid the potion Poppy had left for Sirius over the table. Without a word, Sirius grabbed up the flask, opened it, and drained the lot in one go. His knees must really hurt then, Hermione figured unhappily.

She hadn't long to muse on it, however. It seemed her backside wasn't as far back on the seat of the chair as it should be. One slip, as her weight skidded her buttocks further forwards, had her grabbing the sides of the seat. Hermione tried to push herself up against it, squirm backwards, but it seemed you couldn't actually do that if your legs were nothing more than immobile weights crumpling under you.

Hermione gave a little squeak as her backside, in its soft cotton trousers, slipped further, grabbing the table before her. Her shove against the table made her chair totter backwards on two legs, and a shock of fear at the idea of either falling backwards or just slithering away under the table, pathetically and likely jarring her sore back, had Hermione calling for Sirius.

It was Harry who got there first. He'd grabbed her arm and the trousers over her leg before Sirius hooked his arms under hers again and hefted her back to sit squarely in the chair.

It turned the eyes of the room, those that had looked politely elsewhere, back on them. Flushing and whispering a thanks to Sirius and Harry, Hermione shook herself.

Louder, she asked, 'Who're we waiting on?'

Wary, Hermione was sure, that she was about to slip off her chair again, Sirius was hovering. Harry answered.

'Kingsley, mostly,' he said. 'But Lee, Brian, and Fred too.'

The eyes of the room had moved and Hermione, taking note of Sirius standing just behind her, was fairly sure she knew where. Most of them were covert looks – small glances, as though at someone yelling in a shopping centre: feeling you shouldn't really stare, but wanting to look at the aberration all the same. It was possibly another part of why Sirius hadn't sat in his usual seat yet. At the head of the table he'd notice them all glancing at him more obviously.

'There are wizards in the square outside,' Remus informed them. 'The house is being watched. We moved your bike into the house,' he added to Sirius, who, surprised, thanked Remus with definite gratitude.

'Yaxley?' Hermione asked, worried.

Remus shook his head.

'He hasn't been seen yet,' he said. 'It is possible he is presently recuperating in St Mungos.'

Flint, at least, would be, Hermione thought with some satisfaction. With hindsight, transfiguring him into a rhinoceros wasn't the best choice, but that he'd knocked himself out with the momentum of a many tonne animal felt, just a little, worth it.

'Well no one else can even see the house,' said Harry. 'So they're just wasting their time.'

Remus agreed. Sirius said nothing. Hermione glanced up at him. He was staring, his face carefully blank, in a direction away from the Order members in the room. Avoiding their glances.

'Oh Sirius,' Hermione said quietly, taking hold of his hand. She'd noticed Neville's lingering, incredulous stare at both of them. 'They're not scared of you. They're amazed. And,' she added, 'likely hopeful that if you can do it, they'd be able to too, if they need to.'

Sirius was silent for a long moment, but he spared her a glance.

'And if I get angry,' he muttered finally, 'and my next great deed is to blow everyone up?'

'I do not know what extreme event would cause that to happen,' Remus said, supremely unconcerned, 'but if that event does come to pass, we shall have far more to be concerned about than any explosion you might cause, Sirius.'

Hermione clicked her tongue.

'You're not a ticking time bomb, Sirius,' she whispered, patting him towards his chair. 'Even when you don't realise you're using it, you are still controlling your magic. Even when you're causing an explosion behind you: you're controlling it. If there's one thing I'm not concerned about, it's that your magic will make any appearance that's not useful.'

Whatever their words had done to pacify Sirius, it was soundly undone as George leant over the table, the moment Sirius had taken his seat, to ask eagerly, 'How'd you do it, Sirius?'

Hermione fought an angry shout.

'George!' Ginny scolded, sounding just like Molly. 'Could you be less tone deaf?' she cried sarcastically. 'We're talking about saving someone's life! Not some parlour trick!'

Hermione winced.

'Yeah,' said George, 'but it was saving someone's life with a really neat bit of ma–'

'There was nothing neat about it!' Sirius cut him off, furious. 'So shut the fuck up!'

Had George been looking at Sirius, rather than Ginny, he'd have seen that coming. Sirius's teeth were grit, his eyes cold steel. George shut up smartly. So did everyone else in the room.

'You may not have been,' Ginny snapped at her brother, near as angry as Sirius, 'but we were all there – and Hermione was dying George! A baby was dying! It's nothing to be laughing about!' she cried, her voice tight and high-pitched. 'You can't turn this into some nifty product for your shop!'

George stared at her, then, more contrite, looked up the table towards Sirius.

'Sorry, mate,' he said. 'Didn't think.'

No he hadn't, Hermione concurred. Perhaps, though, as Sirius hadn't blown George up, he could be less concerned about that.

Ginny was swiping tears off her cheeks, her face pink. What that day had done to Sirius, Hermione had been acutely aware of. That Harry, more stoic, gave Hermione a small nod as he reached to rub Ginny's back… That Tonks, too, had teared back up… That Hermione had hurt all of them made her gulp.

Ginny was on the other side of Harry. Hermione reached out a hand. It was snatched up by Ginny, and appreciated with a squeeze.

Tonks sniffed and wiped at her nose with a brusque hand.

'Remus and me approved Skeeter's articles – with a couple corrections,' she told Hermione. 'They've gone out tonight – nah,' she said, shaking her head at Hermione's grimace, Hermione remembering, far too late, about the one task she'd been asked to perform. 'No, seriously, Hermione,' Tonks said frankly, 'we weren't going to wake you up for it. There wasn't a chance in Merlin's sock drawer we were going to bother you about it.

'Anyway,' she went on, 'we figured why not get Skeeter to write about today's events? The Prophet is going to be reporting the other side in the morning, no doubt, so we should send out our version at the same time. Still get everyone to vote on it, but it's written. Here – if you want to look over it.'

From a pocket of her robes, Tonks tugged out a scroll of parchment. She handed it over the table to Hermione. Hermione took and unrolled it.

'And we've got Hogwarts's entire flock of owls on delivering The Quibbler tonight,' Tonks said. 'Xeno is getting them out as quick as possible – and he hasn't included any other articles in it,' she told Sirius. 'Think you got through to him. It's just Skeeter's stuff, no one else is in the line of fire.'

Mutely, still looking like he wanted to hit things, Sirius nodded.

Death Eaters Calling the Curses, read the headline of the article Hermione had unrolled on the table. It was followed by the subtitle Muggle Street Torn Apart in Ministry-Sanctioned Attack. Below that was the first sentence in bold:

At around 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, approximately fifteen Officers for the Protection of Muggle-born Rights, three ex-Death Eaters, and three of Minister Umbridge's appointees to the Wizengamot Apparated into a Muggle street in Yorkshire and began firing curses at eight extant members of Albus Dumbledore's anti-Voldemort movement.

It felt like Hermione was being offered a concession to feel useful, being given the chance to read this article over. She didn't complain, though. Summoning quill and ink, she settled in to make notes for corrections. Few were needed.

It was a blow-by-blow account of the event, and Tonks and Remus had given Skeeter details. The article stated that the first spell cast had been a Cruciatus Curse, used by Carrow and aimed at Harry. A few paragraphs into the article, Hermione found more than just her own name mentioned:

Muggle-born best friend of Harry Potter, Hermione Black (née Granger), received extensive injuries from a high-impact collision with a lamp post and the following twelve-foot fall to the ground below. Witnesses report Mrs Black was hit deliberately with a Hurling Curse cast by Carrow. Three months pregnant with her and husband Sirius Black's first child, Mrs Black was further assaulted by Carrow, who kicked her repeatedly as she lay injured on the ground.

Amycus Carrow, former Death Eater and Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts during Voldemort's reign, is known for his anti-Muggle-born sentiment and violent methods of discipline. He is further implicated of the use of dark magic in a Slashing Curse that left Ronald Weasley significantly injured.

Hermione's quill hovered over the paragraph about her. She hesitated, then turned the quill tip away. She wasn't sure she wanted person after person reading that, but Skeeter's words did have the benefit of casting Carrow, by recitation of simple fact, in the worst light possible. If that didn't shock the numbskull public out of their blind torpor, Hermione didn't know what would. And she decided against changing her name to just "Hermione Granger" too. Sirius's name, considering that twitterpating article in Witch Weekly, may well help stir people's sympathies.

One small concession, however: Hermione scratched out the "r" in "Mrs", and left a note that she wanted it out. Because she might have ended up with her husband's surname, rather without her consultation, but Hermione saw zero reason for why her marital status should be proclaimed by her honorific.

The article went on to broadly describe the battle's descent into more bloody and disorganised territory. Yaxley was named the leader of the gang that had attacked them, Skeeter mentioning that he had attained the position of Head of Magical Law Enforcement when Voldemort was in power. Flint and Rowle were also provided similar brief histories that were both damning and true. Pratt was not: most of what the Order knew of her having been fed to them by their spy, information they didn't want to reveal they had.

Far from Skeeter's usual overblown style, the article was crafty and underhanded, reading like straight fact with cleverly-placed insight. It managed to highlight, too, Umbridge's unannounced appointment of Rowle, Flint, and Pratt to Wizengamot seats and pointed out, in one sentence, that none of them had been publicly nominated into their positions. That these corrupt appointments had resulted in a Wizengamot voting majority heavy on Death Eaters was suggested obliquely:

The eight members of the anti-Voledemort resistance were charged with a single crime, as voiced on scene by former Death Eater Corbin Yaxley: drawing their wands in a Muggle street. While Yaxley was appointed as Head of Law Enforcement by Voldemort, he is presently unemployed by the Ministry and in no position of authority, though is known to serve as "special advisor to the Wizengamot" on occasion.

As the named crime was witnessed by officials following the Apparition of fifteen Officers for the Protection of Muggle-born Rights, the Head of their office, and the Head of the Department of Law Enforcement into the middle of a Muggle street, it is unknown why the Ministry incited their own contravention of the Statute of Secrecy to accost the group. With scant reporting in recent times on Wizengamot appointments and decisions, it is difficult to ascertain the state of the highest court and what voting decisions may be being led by affiliates of Voldemort.

And, as a final snub, the article finished with:

Considering the dominant representation of the Office for the Protection of Muggle-born Rights, it may be assumed Hermione Black, the only Muggle-born present, was the intended beneficiary of the visit. It is as yet unknown whether she and her child survived the attack.

Reading the reporting of her own uncertain survival was a strange moment for Hermione, but she couldn't deny it held impact. As they hadn't proof to back up the article, impact would have to suffice. And, at the same time… Hermione rather did hope the Ministry assumed her dead for as long as possible, for any potential protection that might offer her.

'Doesn't make the Ministry look good,' Harry remarked pointedly.

'It makes them look utterly heinous,' Hermione said, pushing the parchments over so Sirius, who'd likewise been reading over her shoulder, could finish it. 'Then again, neither would Skeeter's articles on the Dementors, Border, and Dragon Pox, I expect.'

'They don't,' Tonks confirmed. 'Skeeter actually seemed a bit disappointed when we told her about you, Hermione,' she added, sending Hermione a raised eyebrow. 'We just told her you were badly injured. She seemed put out by that.'

'I'd imagine,' Hermione said tartly, 'she'd be pretty disappointed were she incapable of writing any further scathing articles about me. Though,' she said, more cynically, 'the tactlessness of writing pure salacious gossip about the dead never stopped her before.'

Sirius, having finished the article, pushed it away with a quiet sigh, breathed out of his nose. Hermione questioned his opinion with a look.

'… I suppose,' he said wryly, 'the Ministry's already pitching for a fight. How much more we have to lose by meeting them with newspaper articles… is probably not significant.'

Sirius said the last looking up at Brian, who'd just arrived. The spy glanced only briefly at Sirius before asking Hermione how she was doing. He took her response with a serious face and a nod.

'I didn't know,' he told both her and Sirius. 'I was at home. I only faund out when Umbridge called me in after the fact. I'm sorry.'

Hermione smiled appreciatively at him. Sirius was searching Brian's face. That Brian met his eyes seemed to satisfy Sirius.

'There is a Tracking charm on you, Hermione,' Brian said. 'Late confirmation, I'm assuming. But Umbridge let it slip today as she was berating those who didn't end up in Mungos…'

Brian trailed off as Kingsley walked in. Looking around, Hermione spotted Fred and Lee as well.

The meeting began with the expected debriefing of the events of the day, the fight laid out in every detail. And, as they ran through it, it seemed to Hermione the tone of the Order had changed. It wasn't as much an eagerness for a fight, as a ready acceptance that the Ministry wanted one. For month after month, the cry to do something had lived under the blanket of toeing the line, staying secret, and avoiding aggravating Umbridge too much. Now, whether Umbridge had lost control of her followers, or whether she'd asked for the attack, it was as though that blanket was gone. All bets were off.

'How many injured on their side?' Sturgis asked.

Harry shrugged.

'Yaxley and Carrow were still standing when we got out of there,' he provided.

'Couldn't tell how many were really injured,' said Tonks, 'or if any are dead. But we got most of them down and out of play.'

'Eight against twenty?' remarked Seamus. He pulled an impressed expression. 'Doesn't make us sound useless.'

'We were losing badly by the end,' Ginny pointed out.

'Yet you all lived,' Fred returned. Barely, said the glint in Ginny's eyes, but even she didn't seem up to rehashing that dreaded topic.

'I know one Hitter is dead,' said Brian. 'From what I hear, they were trampled by a rhinoceros. Flint, Rowle, and Pratt are in St Mungos, along with several Hitters. I don't know exact numbers.'

Hermione pulled a face. She felt worse about that transfiguration now. Then again, transfiguration didn't stop a person having their own mind. It was easier to think Flint had done his trampling of his own accord.

'We've been named criminals?' Ginny guessed.

'Ja, of course,' said Brian, wry. 'There are currently abaut twelve different charges they've thought up for each of you. Half of them dof. Which ones they'll annaunce officially, I don't know.

'That they knew Hermione was in that street because of a Tracking charm was confirmed,' he went on. 'The location it provides doesn't appear to be precise at a distance, yet multiple spells were used near you, Hermione. It gave them a chance to pinpoint your location.'

So had she left the bathroom the moment she'd realised Kevin's mother was a witch… none of it would have happened, Hermione thought, annoyed at her stupidity. It was only as Brian's report continued that Hermione realised she wasn't in the least surprised the Tracking charm she'd only guessed existed was real. She'd believed and come to terms with that a while ago, it appeared.

'I don't believe Umbridge sanctioned the attack,' continued Brian. 'Not specifically. She did wish Hermione to be tracked, and any available opportunity to be used to subdue and incarcerate any of you. But she'd have preferred there to have been more obvious charges present when it was done. Her authority was ignored in this instance. It was done without her knowledge.'

'So she's lost control?' said Lee.

'In most things,' said Brian, 'I wouldn't caunt on it. Though in this, it appears she did. It doesn't mean, though,' he said significantly, 'thet she won't still be heppy to use any opportunity to her advantage. If they call any of you, for any kind of meeting, don't go this time.'

'Wasn't planning on it,' Sirius said dryly.

'That ship's sailed,' Fred concurred.

'If anyone's home becomes unsafe,' Hermione said to the table, 'come here. Use your portkeys if you need to.'

Remus nodded to that.

'Myself and Dora will be remaining here for a time,' he informed them. 'The threat of Dementors is becoming dire – if anyone else is concerned?'

Pomona and Minerva chose to remain, for now, in Hogsmeade, largely to monitor the situation. Ginny, Ron, and Leonora, though, were moving into Number 12 for a time. Not to escape Dementors, but as added defence in the house, what with the group staking them out across the street.

'What'd you tell the Muggles?' Katie asked, looking over the table at Audrey.

Audrey grimaced.

'Well,' she said, 'I was posed as a representative from the zoo… come to look into the reports of a rhinoceros rampaging through the streets. So I was telling them we haven't lost any rhinos and that private ownership of exotic animals by people who don't know how to care for them properly is a tragedy.

'For the rest of it…' She shook her head, at a loss. 'We're not sure yet,' she admitted. 'We don't have anyone left in the department that grew up around Muggles, so our ideas are a bit stale. We're mostly relying on Obliviators, but there's already media reports…'

Audrey peered up the table towards Hermione and Harry.

'For the damage to the street,' she said, 'we're just saying it was an explosion of unknown cause, and it's being investigated. But a lot of people saw the fight. I was hoping… do you have any thoughts?'

Hermione shared a look with Harry.

'Er…' he said. 'Well, gas explosion's not very believable.'

'An… electrical fault?' Hermione suggested. 'Sparks went flying?'

'Unique pipe bomb,' offered Harry. 'Blame it on some kid who's more inventive than is good for them. Then suggest they skipped town and can't be found so it doesn't start a witch hunt.'

'You can blame it on the internet?' Hermione added. 'Make that how you think the person found out how to make the bomb… That's topical enough that some Muggles might… get distracted by their fear of new technology.'

Audrey looked to be seriously considering it. For the first time, Hermione realised just how dubiously ethical Audrey's job was.

'That's a homemade explosive, right?' she checked.

Together, Hermione and Harry nodded.

'Did any Muggles die?' Hermione asked tentatively.

Audrey nodded.

'A few,' she said. 'One by spell damage, it appears, the others were caught when that building collapsed. There are quite a few injuries, and three Muggles in St Mungos.'

'Wonder if Umbridge will charge their healthcare to them too,' Fred remarked dryly.

Kingsley brought the conversation back to Brian's report.

'Cornfoot being missing has become a bigger issue now. There's a list of criminal trials scheduled with no dates, and the holding cells in the Ministry are pretty full. Then there's whatever they'll want to decide about the lot of you after today. Whether they'll make Cornfoot retake his seat in the Wizengamot or sentence and replace him – either way, they're searching high and low for him. And there's a concern his family won't be safe for long if he doesn't return.'

They already had a twenty-four hour watch on Goyle's. The only other thing they could try was to get an owl to Cornfoot. Barely a day ago, it would have been a suggestion the Order hummed and hawed about for longer, weighing up the risks. Now, it was passed fairly swiftly, and the task of trying to contact Cornfoot handed to Percy.

'As of this afternoon,' Brian picked back up, 'enough of a case has been made to assume due cause to enter the homes of a list of part-humans. How long thet list is, I don't know. Don't go home for a while,' he added pointedly to Remus.

It wasn't just Remus Tonks was worried about. She eyed him, chewing her lip, but said instead, 'Mum… I'm officially worried for her, Remus. If they know you lived there – or just knowing she's connected to us…'

'Bring her here,' said Sirius, and Tonks, sucking in a calming breath, nodded.

'Hagrid…' Ginny said.

'I shall speak with him tonight,' Minerva assured.

Grace Malone, the young werewolf they'd met in Diagon Alley, was another to be warned. Remus agreed to contact her mother, Marne. Beyond that… they knew very few of the part humans that lived in the country.

'We can warn them,' Hermione said. 'In The Quibbler.'

The look Brian turned on her was uneasy.

'The information is confidential,' he reminded her.

Hermione pressed her lips together, thinking. Brian was right: it would be too much of a revelation to print outright a warning they got from a spy.

'Did Skeeter make a comment about The Prophet warning people about vampires despite Dementors sweeping the country?' she asked Remus and Tonks

Tonks blinked, thinking. Remus nodded.

'She did,' he confirmed. Hermione accepted it without surprise.

'Well then,' Hermione barrelled on, 'we take that a step further. Build on how Umbridge is dwelling on vampires when that's far from the primary concern right now – suggest Umbridge is focusing on her own hatred of part-humans because she only cares about that. If we decide we're happy to publish Skeeter's article about what happened today,' she said, pointing to the article on the table, 'well, it already paints the Ministry in a poor light.

'If we followed it up with an article on Umbridge sent out tomorrow evening,' Hermione went on. 'One that digs into her history – the bills against part-humans she pushed through years ago, her anti-werewolf legislation, how we knew her at Hogwarts – the words she had Harry cut into his own hand…'

Reflexively, Harry had clenched it. "I will not tell lies" was still there in white scars.

'Umbridge heading the Muggle-born Registration Commission – I saw that and can give a first-hand account,' Hermione continued. 'Her more recent ban that stops any part-humans from visiting public places, this Muggle-born Integration Scheme… It'd establish a pattern of behaviour that surely would show anyone who doesn't refuse to believe it that Umbridge was never under the Imperious Curse – that she's always been the same. We could lay it on thick, in that article: that we have strong fears that Umbridge can and will attack anyone she doesn't like – as she's already done exactly that. We can talk about how she tried it with the centaurs, and then what happened today as well. Suggest Umbridge is ramping up.

'Of course,' Hermione said ruefully, 'that won't sway everyone. A lot of people don't want to care about part-humans or Muggle-borns. So we'd have to pair it with another article – one about Ministry services failing, St Mungos charging people out-of-pocket… And, likely, another about the Quidditch strike.' Hermione fought a roll of her eyes. How much people cared more about Quidditch than blatant injustices would never cease to amaze her. 'But, by making it clear Umbridge will attack those she's bigoted against, hopefully enough people will see it, and it'd be worrying enough that part-humans would get a warning regardless.'

The room remained silent for a moment as the Order contemplated it. Remus was looking thoughtful. If he was already resigned to living in Number 12 for his safety, he'd be the perfect person to give Skeeter information about the legislation Umbridge lobbied for that meant he hadn't been able to get a job for years. And Hermione would make sure Skeeter wrote it in a sympathetic way.

'Well…' said Audrey. She trailed off, gnawing a fingernail. She pulled it from her mouth and hurried on, 'Well – I'd have to leave the Ministry, and less people is the last thing we need…' She met Percy's eye. Hermione got the sense Audrey remaining in the Ministry had been a point of contention between them: Audrey blinked and looked away, and Percy grew red about the neck. 'But… if I do,' she went on, 'I could tell Skeeter all about the disarray in the Ministry. And…'

Audrey looked to Angelina.

'You should probably leave too,' she said. 'Just for safety… And you could give an interview about the Quidditch strike…?'

Angelina looked even less certain about it.

'I was going to Floo in sick for this week…' she said. 'Just until we know… how dire things are.'

The table trailed into another brief silence, Hermione looking around for anyone who'd contradict her suggestion. Tonks spoke up, but it wasn't a contradiction.

'What we decided on,' she said, 'at the last meeting, was that we were going to try to get the public on our side. We already agreed on it, and that's still what you're suggesting we do, Hermione. I reckon we should step it up. Really report the real news.'

'Eef zere is a story zat will get people to listen,' said Fleur, 'eet ees yours.'

It was by noticing the hardening in Sirius's face and following his eyeline that Hermione realised Fleur was talking to them. Fleur was staring at them, her look significant.

'Do all of ze other stuff,' Fleur pushed, 'but for zose people who do not care about ze real news, geeve zem a 'uman interest story. Your story covers ze Marriage Act completely, and you are famous. People weell want to read about you. Give eet a day for people to think you are dead 'Ermione,' Fleur nodded, as if to herself, 'and zen give zem the full story of what ze Ministry has meant by zeir laws. Make eet fluffy.'

'Fluffy?' Sirius repeated, in a deadpan.

Fleur wasn't put off.

'Yes,' she said, staring him right back. 'Romantique,' she waved her hand, perhaps in demonstration. 'Make eet a tragedy. An exposé, but one zat tugs ze peoples' hearts.'

Sirius was definitely not looking on board with that idea.

'You did promise Skeeter a full interview,' Hermione reminded him.

Sirius turned raised eyebrows on her.

'Bearing my heart on my sleeve to Skeeter is the last thing I want to do,' he retorted.

Hermione had to concur on that. But Fleur was right. In addition to everything else they could publish in the Quibbler, such a story would broaden their net.

'At least this way we get final approval on what she writes,' Hermione pointed out.

Sirius's jaw locked.

'And we don't want to reveal you as skilled to the Ministry,' Hermione went on, wheedling. 'So we wouldn't reveal everything. Just… enough to make it a good story.'

'Think on it,' was Kingsley's verdict when Sirius didn't respond. 'I'm in favour of every article so far proposed.'

'A vote?' Remus prompted the table.

With irritable dismay, Sirius watched the arms of the table rise in agreement. Hermione too voted. Sirius didn't. Though, Hermione was sure, only because he was, as yet, not at all happy about a mushy article about them.

'Decide on that last article by the morning,' Kingsley mandated, looking mostly at Sirius. 'Hermione, I want you to meet with Skeeter then.'

'You do realise she can't walk, right?' Ron said hotly.

'Have Skeeter come here then,' said Kingsley, unsympathetic. It made Ron glower at him. But Hermione didn't complain. She'd rather be useful.

'The last item from me…' Brian unfolded a piece of parchment he'd fetched out of a robes pocket. 'Umbridge sent me to her office to get her Ministry entry token so she could go to St Mungos and yell some more at the rest who attacked you. I had a quick look around.' Brian passed the parchment to Kingsley. 'I faund thet in a folder on her desk. It was in the original mission statement for the creation of the Office for the Protection of Muggle-born Rights.'

The parchment contained what looked to be a copy of a highly filigreed and decorated page of a book. Kingsley's eyes were scanning the parchment. He glanced up to see the Order waiting on him, then started to read it aloud.

'The unique magical abilities of "Muggle-born" persons are an anomaly that has caused much strife. "Muggle-born" is in quotations,' Kingsley supplied, looking over the parchment. He went back to reading. 'Previously, dominant opinions have held that such persons should be assimilated into Wizarding society. It has become clear, however, that such attempts are inevitably unsuccessful, establish and propagate tensions, and are overall detrimental to Wizarding society.'

'Oh yeah,' grumbled Ginny, 'blame the Muggle-borns.'

Kingsley read on.

'In turn, the "Muggle-born" person suffers on the fringes of society, possessing no inherent sense of belonging to either world. Thus, in the interests of protecting "Muggle-born" kind, our aim is to liberate such persons from the bonds of their abilities, those that tie them to the magical world, allowing them to live their lives in harmony with the Muggle society they were born to.'

Kingsley lowered the parchment, evidently having read all of it, then handed it to Arthur, who'd held his hand out for it.

'Well that's much better than Voldemort,' Harry remarked sarcastically.

'I think…' Hanna spoke up bravely, 'it explains why Umbridge can think she's able to shirk her duties as Minister to watching over underage Muggle-borns. She's changed the meaning of what "duty of care" to them means.'

'But the marriages were to make them assimilate.'

The unexpected voice had Hermione, and everyone else, looking over. Kreacher, half-hidden by the kitchen doorframe, was peeking in.

'That is what the papers Master Sirius signed said,' he croaked on, almost defiantly in the face of everyone looking at him. 'Protect Mistress Hermione…' Kreacher squeezed his big bug eyes shut for a moment, then shook his head. 'But it sounded to Kreacher like ownership,' he said. 'Master Sirius doesn't do it, but he can tell Mistress what to do.'

Abruptly, Hermione felt close to tears. Whether it was Kreacher, in a way he hadn't before, getting involved, or what he'd said, or just the horror of the day, she wasn't sure. But it hit a chord that had her blinking rapidly. She wasn't, in the least, surprised Kreacher had read those Protection Papers.

'Yeah,' said Sirius, and he looked less angry than he had a moment before, 'technically, I own her.'

Hermione inhaled sharply.

'Yaxley and Rowle, Sirius,' she said. 'You said they were at Stroud's because of a plan – that Fiona Turnbull had died because of it.'

'That was just a guess,' said Ginny. 'Something like a spell used on Stroud and another who'd died was really all we got from Yaxley. And something about an abandoned house. Oh –' She sucked in a breath herself and looked from Sirius to Kingsley. 'Do you think that's why Yaxley attacked us today? He realised what we did to him and Rowle?'

'Potentially,' Kingsley supplied shortly. He was watching Hermione. So was Sirius.

'You think their plan was to "liberate" Stroud from his magic?' said Sirius.

'Well,' said Hermione uncomfortably, 'it is… easier with children – when their magic is underdeveloped…'

'A plot to remove the magic from kids?' Ron said, disbelieving. He paused, pulled a face, and then said in a very different tone, 'Yeah, I believe that.'

'But…' said Neville. He'd clasped Hannah's hand. She, the one who'd been there to see it, looked ill. 'Turnbull blew up.'

'Yes,' said Hermione. 'Yes – that's what trying to take magic away from a person would do!

'We thought it strange that Fiona's own magic could do that,' she hurried on. 'Childhood magic isn't that self-destructive – and we made sure no other witch or wizard could enter her home. But if her magic was tampered with by people trying to remove it – a spell cast on her earlier – it would make her magic unstable.'

'A person's magic is integral to them,' Filius squeaked. 'Part of who they are – part of their soul, if you will. From those who have had the Dementors' Kiss performed on them, we know those without souls are incapable of magic. Yet,' he said pointedly, 'there is no spell that can remove a person's magic.'

'You always said,' Harry said, glancing at Hermione, 'that what they were doing with the Muggle-borns sounded like experimentation.'

'Ze spells!' said Leonora, likewise staring at Hermione. 'Nadine said about zem! Spells used on 'er!'

That was what Hermione was thinking of too.

'It might be simpler than that,' said Bill. 'For the most part. If the Dementors' Kiss takes away a person's ability with magic, you can bet dying does too.'

It was a grim suggestion. The new silence that fell was broken by Sturgis.

'So the question is what to do now,' he said. 'Besides writing pretty articles in a magazine. The Ministry fought us,' he reminded them, pointed. 'Give me reasons,' he said stoutly, not waiting for an answer to his first question, 'why we can't just go into the Ministry while there's some Wizengamot meeting on, to their meeting room or wherever else, and fight them there?'

Promptly, the reasons Sturgis had asked for rolled in.

'Security on the Ministry's the highest it's ever been,' supplied Angelina.

'The Wizengamot meeting rooms are on the first floor,' said Bill, 'one floor up from the entirety of Ministry Law Enforcement. We'd have to get past that, and they far outnumber us.'

'It is a suicide mission,' was Percy's simple contribution.

'We heve bodyguards,' Brian listed, 'and not every member of Umbridge's majority show up for every meeting. Yaxley and Carrow do not normally attend. And,' he added, 'Wizengamot meetings occur during the day while the Ministry is at its fullest.'

'Seriously outnumbered,' Katie impressed.

'What is it we would be aiming to achieve?' demanded Elphias. 'Without criminal charges to press, there is no overall benefit to physically defeating those in power. A Wizengamot may charge one of their own without a full court, but it necessitates charges.'

'It'd be a coup,' Sturgis pointed out, eyeing Elphias. 'The person taking power from Umbridge would have charges to press. Getting people to want that,' he added, blond eyebrows high, 'is Skeeter's job.'

'The bodyguards wait autside the meeting rooms while we're in there,' Brian said. 'The only other option would be the lunches at the Silver Chalice, but Umbridge stopped those the moment she felt the risk became more severe.'

Sturgis responded to that last one with a nod. He waited another moment for any more reasons before saying, 'Okay, good. So, preferably, we want everyone we'd like to get rid of in the same room, at the same time. We'd also like that room to be as far away from their backup as possible. The biggest issue, though, is how do we get into the room?'

Another beat of silence. Sturgis prompted them with a rallying look. It was Neville who spoke up first.

'You said you can Floo in sick?' he said, looking at Angelina. 'Is there a fireplace in the Wizengamot rooms?'

'There is,' said Brian, as the other former Ministry employees shook their heads. 'You can't use it for transportation though.'

'But for those in the Atrium,' explained Arthur, 'all Ministry fires work for communication only. Only certain offices have fires, and they are tightly controlled for security. The Floo Network Authority has a team dedicated to ensuring no one can enter or exit through the Ministry's fires.'

Neville accepted it with a disappointed nod.

'Is it so,' said Pomona, 'that there is no better way to guard against portkey entry than a password-protected ward?'

'There isn't,' Sirius confirmed.

'Then we find out what the Ministry Headquarters' password is,' Pomona said, looking nervous. The conclusory jerk of her head she made, saying that, set her hat to wobbling.

'I don't know the portkey password,' Brian told them. 'I'd assume it's a very highly protected secret. Possibly one only Umbridge knows.'

'Umbridge would never be able to cast a ward that big herself,' said Sirius. 'That's the entire Ministry. She'd have had help changing the password.'

'Reg Cattermole!' Ron exclaimed. With perplexed frowns being turned on him, he hurried on to explain. 'That bloke who I impersonated. The one who used to work in Magical Maintenance – he's a security guard now. We saved his wife, didn't we? She's Muggle-born… Or,' Ron said, pulling a face, 'we think we saved his wife… Anyway, if we did, he might want to help us, wouldn't he? Maybe he knows the password.'

'I'd be very surprised if a Watchwizard knew the password,' said Kingsley.

'If Umbridge trusted the Watchwizards,' said Brian, 'our bodyguards wouldn't have been hired from elsewhere.'

Ron deflated a little.

'Worth a try, though, isn't it?' he said. 'I can go try to talk to him?'

'Perhaps it's better if I try?' Arthur suggested, quite gently. 'I know Reg. He's fixed my office a few times. Very interested in Muggle transportation, Reg.'

Hermione had opened her mouth to point out Ron had fed Reg Cattermole a sweet that had made him so ill he'd been unable to attend his wife's hearing with the Muggle-born Registration Commission. She closed her lips. Arthur had done that better. Ron slumped in his seat.

Kingsley nodded to Arthur.

'Ron is right,' Kingsley said. 'It may well prove useful to have a member of Ministry security helping us. See whether Cattermole's wife is alive, Arthur?' Kingsley added ruefully. 'Before you ask him whether he'd like to put his neck on the line. Can you find him?'

'I know he lives in Tinworth,' said Arthur. 'Likes to watch the Muggle boats.'

'Tomorrow?' asked Kingsley.

'Certainly,' agreed Arthur.

'Take an invisibility cloak and another person,' Kingsley instructed. 'Does everyone agree?'

Caution was already largely thrown to the wind: everyone did agree.

'And be vigilant,' Kingsley reminded Arthur, very unnecessarily. 'It's late,' he went on. 'And we have enough to be doing and watches to be set up. We'll reconvene tomorrow evening. Brian…' The Order hadn't risen yet, watching Kingsley consider Brian, waiting for more. 'Brian, I want to speak with you tomorrow when you have time,' Kingsley said, thoughtful. 'Preferably before the meeting. I want to get this portkey password. And… we have both Rowle and Yaxley's hairs. It will take me a month to complete the Polyjuice Potion, but –'

'We have some!' both twins spoke up at once.

Kingsley turned to them. His deep frown shifted slowly into a single raised eyebrow.

'Why?' he asked curiously, then changed his question to, 'Do I want to know?'

'Oh we had a few ideas,' said George blithely.

'But Harry and Sirius shot them down,' Fred mourned.

Harry's gaze growing wary, he leant back in his chair, keeping his hair as far away from the twins as possible. Sirius had been in the process of scooping his hair out of his face. His fingers clawed deeper into his hair, hanging onto it. He shuddered, looking disturbed.

'You do realise,' George said to Harry, 'that you had mum cut your hair? A single black strand stands right out in a place that's only housed an entire squadron of redheads.'

'If we'd wanted to do it without your permission,' said Fred, 'we wouldn't have to get anywhere near your head.'

Discomforted, Harry's eyes had widened.

'Always Vanish your hair,' Sirius advised him.

'Oh what tosh,' said Molly, turning irritable eyes on the twins. 'I did Vanish it. And what are you two planning?'

'Not planning anything mum,' Fred assured. 'Anyway, the point is we have Polyjuice. It works too, we tested it.'

'Became exact likenesses of each other!' proclaimed George.

'You can have it Kings,' Fred offered.

Kingsley looked like he was trying not to laugh.

'I will take it,' he said. 'How it will be, I'm not yet certain, but I suspect it will be useful. All right,' he went on, to the table, 'be vigilant,' he reminded, stern, 'and the Ministry will not be safe to remain in. Call in sick, or just be absent without leave,' he directed, looking from Audrey to Angelina. 'It's late, we need sleep. I want everyone fresh-eyed here tomorrow.'