Chapter 5:The Spy and the Escape

Disclaimer-Watch out, Warner Bros. My Mum' s the best lawyer. They're not my books, their Miss Jo Rowling's, I'm not taking credit, and if you don't believe me, I'll get my Mum to kick your bum.

Ron stared at the boy named Noss for a second. Noss walked over to the staircase and yelled, "Hurry up, Dennis! We're gonna be late!"

"We, uh, we met your little sister, and we're visiting Dumbledore, um, official Ministry business…" Ron trailed off.

"Oh, well, don't tell her what I said before. She'll get all mad at me, and send an owl to Mum or something. Not to mention Dad. Man, he's got a temper." Noss put on a low, angry voice. "Don't you ever treat your sister like that again! She looks up to you! If you put one more toe out of line-" he stopped to laugh at this. "Anyway, what are you guys here for again? Ministry stuff? Is it some kind of inspection?"

"Well… it's, uh, kind of, confidential stuff…if you know what I mean."

The other boy staircase with the brooms in his hands and skidded to a halt. "Ron! Hermione! Er, Malfoy, right? It's Dennis Creevey, remember? Collin's a pal of Harry's!"

He had dropped the broomsticks and hurried over to shake their hands, wearing an excited look. It was the same expression he wore after falling into the lake on his first day at Hogwarts. "Well, we better be off to quidditch practice! Nice to see you!"

"Bye," they all said.

"Okay, bye!" He yelled, and ran off. Hermione suspected that all three of them were thinking the same thing, or at least she thought, What's happening? Everything going on is extremely odd, and I don't get it.

"Do you happen to have another brother, cousin, or other siblings that look so much like you?" Draco asked, obviously perplexed.

"No, not that I know of anyway. But, but, uh, we should be working on our polyjuice potion plan. We need to find Harry." Ron tried to sound determined and noble, but it didn't work. He still sounded like he was distracted by that boy, Noss.

"How about this? Let Draco and I handle it for a while. Why don't you visit Dobby and Winky? Then you can get us some supper, too. Okay? Then we all can get something done." Hermione said all this very fast, in a reasoning voice.

Ron crinkled his brow, and thought for a second. "Er, alright then," he said, and headed out of the common room, muttering to himself about where the painting to the kitchen was.

For about ten minutes, they worked quietly, until Draco broke the silence. "You know what this means, don't you Granger?" He smirked.

"What what means? And why can't you just call me by my first name?" Hermione said exasperatedly.

"I'll go in reverse order. If you must insist, then I will call you H- H- Herm-ione," he finally said, "and didn't you notice the children we just met? Augury! Just look at her name, not to mention the bushy brown hair, yet blue eyes, freckles, and height unlike yours. Then there's Noss, short for Nostradamus, who looks just like Ron, except for his eyes, which are deep brown, and the fact that he has no freckles. Don't you see it? Look in the mirror!"

Hermione scowled, searching for a point that could contradict his. She couldn't find one. So she went for the overwhelmed-situation argument. It had always worked on Ron. Well, almost always. "I don't understand what wildly imaginative point you are trying to make, but I'm worried, all of us are, we're all under so much stress! It's hard! Plus, Ron has had the closest people to him taken away! Harry is his best friend, and I don't know if you've noticed, but Ginny is the closest person he has a relationship with! They are so loyal to each other, remember our second year? No, neither of us would. But I heard all about it! He was so worried. He's probably equally as concerned about his parents, or his brothers, or…or…"

"Again, what you're saying just proves my point even more. And if you don't understand what I'm trying to say, then Snape is the Queen of England! ("Professor Snape," Hermione added, causing Draco to smirk.) You know what, I've thought of another person, to add to that list of Ron's worries, but since you deny it so much, and since I don't feel like being hexed out of the window at the moment, I'm not going to say any more. " He finished at this, his fair cheeks tinged with pink.

Ron walked back into the room with a large plate of food, a jar of chilled pumpkin juice, and a genuine smile. He was definitely in a better mood than he'd been in before, and promptly asked, "So, what did you guys get done?" Both turned to him with innocent smiles on their faces. "Okay, what were you talking about?"

"Oh, nothing, nothing at all. I'm hungry, are you hungry? I'm hungry."

Ron sighed, and dropped the subject, realizing it wasn't going to go anywhere. "Well, anyway, Dobby's doing exceptionally well, and Winky's found her niche finally. I thought she would be dead by now, but there you are." He talked about the house-elves for a good fifteen minutes. While they were eating, the students were coming back from dinner. Ron was challenged by Augury to a chess game, which ended in a draw. It was a first for Ron. Hermione lectured and gave advice to a crowd of eager prefects, and Draco was telling tales of escaping muggles in helicopters on his broomstick.

A bark resounded in the common room, and all heads turned to look at the big black dog, casually standing inside the portrait hole. Several people screamed and shouted, running to their dorms. "It's not the Grim!" Ron yelled, which caused everyone else to flee from the room. "Hmm. That got rid of them. Good job," said Draco, patting Ron on the back. The dog approached, and transformed into his human self. He then sat down in one of the squashy armchairs near the fire. He spent no time beating around the bush, and got right down to speaking.

"Dumbledore and I have made a decision that will make things much easier for you." Black said, leaning forward in his chair, his hands clasped.

"What?" They said together, but with different meanings. Draco seemed a little unconvinced, Hermione hopeful, and Ron incredulous.

"Well, you'll have full control of Harry's case, still, but-"

"But, what?" Ron asked, he sounded worried.

"But we're going to find another group to take Ginny's case. Then you can concentrate your efforts on finding Harry."

"Excuse me?! Do you mean to tell me that now I can't, I'm not allowed, to look for my own sister?" Ron was standing up, fire in his eyes and red in the face, gritting his teeth. Hermione got up, and took his arm. "Ron-" she began, but she was quickly interrupted by him. He shook her off. "Get away, 'Mione. It isn't fair! I should have the right to-"

"Ron, listen to me! We all care about Ginny! But we can't look for both of them at the same time. This is a good, a better plan. Listen to him." Hermione was very firm. She was concerned about this situation, and she gave Ron a hug. Then she sat down again.

"Fine," he said, "but we have to have full control of finding Harry. Full control." He forced.

"Right. Thank you. Oh, and Dumbledore wanted me to let you know that he needs to see the three of you at nine o'clock tonight. I better go now, people are going to come back soon. The password to the gargoyle is Ice Mice, by the way. Bye!"

And with that, Sirius turned back into the giant black dog, and started to leave. For a second he paused to sniff the air. He made up his mind, and trotted away.

"Ughhh, it's not right. My poor sis."

All of the sudden, Augury crawled out from behind one of the big armchairs and asked, "that wasn't the Sirius Black, was it?"

All three stared at her with apparent shock, until Hermione gave her a smile, vaguely reminiscent of Professor McGonagall. "Yes, it was," she said, "but you have to keep that secret for us, okay? You see, he's not really guilty of what they say he is. He was framed. He's a very good friend of ours, and Harry Potter's godfather."

"Really?! Wow! I didn't know that my uncle had such a cool godfather! Do you know my uncle? Why are my aunt and uncle missing? Do you know my aunt? Who really did what Sirius Black didn't do? How do you know Sirius Black didn't do it? Where is the guilty person? Are you going to catch them? Why are you going to find my uncle and not my aunt? Why is Sirius Black allowed to turn into a dog? Does Professor Dumbledore know everything?"

"Augury, you know what you just did? That was very brave. Never stop being brave. And always ask questions. You're going to be a great witch someday. Don't forget that."

"Okay, I won't," she said very happily, but seriously, too. (A/N: Not Siriusly! I'm a comedian! But seriously, folks.)

They spent the next hour trying to explain everything to her. "Guys, it's quarter to nine, we'd better get going." Draco suggested, looking at his watch. "Yeah. We better. Augury, you might want to go to your dorm or something, we might take a while."

She sighed, and gave a frustrated look similar to Ron's. "Alright, goodnight Hermione, goodnight Ron, goodnight Draco." She said, and gave them all hugs, before running up the stairs to her dorm. Draco looked slightly taken aback at being given a hug.

They were walking down the corridors, when Ron said, "I need to let nature take its course, so, uh, I'll meet you at Dumbledore's office."

"Okay," said Hermione and Draco. Ron started off toward the bathroom, and Hermione led the way down the stairs. She skipped the fourth step absentmindedly, since it had always been the magic disappearing step, it was second nature, and fell through the fifth step. "Aaaaaaaah!" She almost screamed, "I hate that trick step! It changed!" She turned around to see Draco massaging his forehead in pain and annoyance. She had shrieked into his ear, or close enough. He walked around, skipped over the step and held out his hand to pull her up. She gave him her hands and he pulled her out of the stair. They started walking down the stairs again, when Hermione's robe caught on the broken step, causing her to trip.

Draco, employing his ever so mediocre seeking skills, caught her around the waist, before she could fall. Ron walked around the corner and froze, seeing Hermione in Draco's arms.

"What are you doing?" He asked, stunned.

"Oh, I tripped. The trick step changed, and I fell through. Then my robe caught on it, and Draco just caught me, so I didn't fall flat on my face. Thank you, Draco."

Ron looked unconvinced. They approached Dumbledore's office, and saw him walking towards them.

"There's been a change of plans," he said urgently, "I must know your decision tonight. You can't stay here any longer. Come with me…"

They followed him to his office, and he cautiously closed the door behind them.

"What's wrong, Professor?" Draco asked, surprisingly politely.

"I'm sorry, for being so hasty, but we've received information that the Death Eaters know that you're here, and for all of us, I think it would be better if you go, and it would be good to hurry up and throw them off your trail. We also don't want to risk an attack on the school, especially not right after the Christmas Holidays. You can go to Mr. Remus Lupin's house, he's decided to take you in. It's not very safe to apparate, so you should probably travel the muggle way. Here's a map, and some money."

"What about the Burrow, I mean, my house?" Ron said, anxiety clear on his face.

"The Ministry has already sent a team to your house, "replied Dumbledore. Ron let out a sigh of relief. Hermione gave a worried sigh, and they all looked from one to another, depressedly.

~Evyfleur