AN: I still don't own anything. Blah blah blah

Hermione, who was still holding onto Harry and Ron, took another step backward, away from the old lady.

"Wh, what do you want from us?" Harry asked, his voice squeaking a bit.

"I want to show you all a magic trick!" she said, her voice sounded raspy.

"Oh, in that case, alright then," Ron said, confused as to why Hermione wanted to leave a room with that much free candy in it.

"Please, take a seat," the lady said, pointing to the couch.

Hermione looked at Harry. Harry looked at Ron. Ron looked at the big table full of candy once more, sighed, and then headed over to sit down on the couch.

Hermione gave a worried glace toward Harry, but then went to sit on the couch. Harry followed. Hermione made sure to sit between Harry and Ron; she wanted to make sure she could grab them both and run at a moment's notice, if she needed to.

"Who are you?" she asked the lady, her eyes narrowing together.

"You may call me Ms. Duard. What are your names, children?" the lady replied with a smile.

Before Ron could open his mouth, Hermione spoke, thinking quickly.

"This is Alex," she said, pointing to Ron.

Harry caught on to her little game, "My name is James, and this is Lily."

They were the first names he could think of. Hermione gave a small smile to Harry just then.

"Well well well, welcome Alex, James, and Lily. Please, help yourself to anything you see here, the candy is very delicious!" Ms. Duard said.

Ron whispered to Hermione just then, "Hermione, you are aware that my name is not Alex, right? Don't you remember, I'm Ron... one of your best friends..."

"Shhh... don't let her hear you! You are Alex for now, okay? And I'm Lily, and Harry is James," she whispered back.

Just then, a big, brown dog came up to them and started sniffing Ron, er, I mean Alex. "This is my dog, Izumi. He LOVES people too!"

Ron started scratching the dog behind its ears, but that earned a slap in the wrist from Hermione, and also a Look from Harry.

Hermione then whispered to Ron, "Ron, don't touch anything! Ms. Duard, if that is her real name, doesn't seem like a person we can trust."

"Why not? She seems nice enough," Ron whispered back.

"Just don't. Please, Ron. For me, don't touch, and especially don't EAT, anything," she whispered, her voice sounding scared.

The last thing she needed right now was to have Ron die of food poisoning.

Harry put his arm around Hermione to comfort her. He could tell she was scared. She was all tense. "Hey, Mione, calm down a bit, she can't do anything to us. You're a REAL witch, and Ron and I are real wizards, she isn't, she's just a muggle. We could take her, easily," he whispered to Hermione, trying to de-worry her.

Hermione was still unsure about things though. Just then, Ms. Duard took out a stick from her cabinet that was across the room from the couch.

"This is a real magic wand. It was once Merlin's wand," she said, trying to impress them as she walked over toward the couch.

"No it's not. Merlin's wand was not a stick, which that clearly is. It doesn't even LOOK like a wand!" Ron said aloud.

Hermione then put her hand over his mouth to shut him up.

"Oh ye who has little faith. I've met Merlin, we talked once. I used a potion to bring him back from the dead. He just loves to talk about the old times, he was quite fond of the club and was a tad disappointed when he found out that no one uses clubs anymore, not to hit people with anyway," she replied with a sniff and a little laugh, raising her nose up in the air.

"She is such a liar, you can't bring people back from the dead, we learned that in our first year at Hogwarts," Hermione whispered to Harry, who smiled.

"I told you she's not a real witch, if she was, she wouldn't be making stuff up like that, plenty of people hit other people with clubs" he replied in a whisper and chuckled softly.

"Good point," she said with a smile.

Ron was very confused now. He had always learned that Merlin had a phoenix feather in his wand, and this so-called "wand" only had wood in it. He sat there scratching his head in befuddlement for a moment or two.

"I want to show you three a trick, but first, I'm going to need a volunteer. Anyone?" Ms. Duard asked.

Ron was about to stand up, but Hermione pulled him back down next to her.

"Ah, yes, Alex... I think you would make a lovely volunteer, please, don't be afraid, stand up. Lily, you MUST let Alex go, otherwise, you can't see the trick!" Ms. Duard said, noticing what had happened.

Ron got out of Hermione's grasp and stood up. Harry shook his head, and Hermione lowered her eyes.

"Alright now, Alex, please stand over there," Ms. Duard said, pointing to the corner of the room closest to the door, and furthest from the couch. "Oh that's right! I need another volunteer, how about you, Lily?" she added with a smile as she turned to Hermione.

"No, let me, I want to do it," Harry said quickly, standing up. If something was going to happen to the "volunteer," he wanted it to be him, because he didn't want Hermione to get hurt. Especially not if he could do something prevent it from happening. Hermione pulled him back down by his left arm and gave him a Look.

"I think Lily wants to do it, don't you Lily? You don't want all the boys to get all the fun, do you?" she asked.

Hermione looked at Harry. Harry looked at Ron. Ron this time just looked at Ms. Duard, wishing he could have some candy, but he left his bag by Hermione on the couch.

'I'm really confused. Why won't Hermione let me eat any of the candy, and why did she say my name is Alex? And why did Harry say they were James and Lily? I'm so confused... and hungry,' Ron thought to himself as his stomach grumbled in agreement with the last part of what Ron said.

Hermione then stood up and followed Ms. Duard to the corner next to Ron and far from Harry. Harry gave her a reassuring smile. 'This is so not a good idea... I just know it... something bad is going to happen...' Hermione kept saying to herself.

"Now, James, I need you to say the magic words, which are: Töten Sie das Mädchen," she said with a smile as she waved the "wand" around a little.

Harry hadn't been paying attention, and after all, his name isn't really James.

'I hope nothing happens to them. I would feel just AWFUL if something happened. Especially to Mione... she is really worried, I've never seen her so scared. Oh wait a minute, yes I have... just after the third task last year, when I got back with Cedric...' he thought to himself sadly.

"James? James?" Ms. Duard said, waving the wand in front of his face to get his attention.

"Wha? Oh, sorry. What was it that you wanted me to say?" Harry asked after he had been brought back to reality.

"Töten Sie das Mädchen."

"Oh, okay then. Töten Sie das Mädchen," Harry said without really thinking, having a little trouble with the pronunciation.

All of a sudden, Hermione fell through a hole that just appeared where she was standing. Actually, if she had looked close enough, she would have seen the faint marks of the trapdoor, but she had been too distracted, Ron had taken a piece of the candy and had eaten it!

"Hermione!!!" Harry yelled loudly.

AN: So, how is it so far? Kind of weird, I know... but please review!