V. Ronald Weasley

"RONALD WEASLEY, HOW DARE YOU MESS WITH MY LIST? THAT WAS COMPLETELY UNASKED FOR! YOU HAD NO MOTIVATION, WHAT SO EVER! WHY WOULD YOU DO SOMETHING THAT MEAN TO SOMEONE WHO HAS STUCK BY YOU FOR YEARS?!?! I WAS LOOKING FORWARD TO A WHOLE LIST, AND YOU, KNOWING THAT I HAD NOT RECRUITED A SINGLE PERSON, CAME INTO THAT ROOM, NOT EVEN BOTHERING TO TELL ME. HOW COULD YOU DO THAT? OH! I DON'T EVEN WANT TO GET STARTED ON THE FACT THAT YOU SIGNED UP THE MINISTER OF MAGIC AGAINST HIS OWN WILL! CAN'T YOU SEE THAT HE IS A BUSY MAN? HE HAS BETTER THINGS TO DO THAN HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT S.P.E.W.! I WENT DOWN THERE THINKING THAT HE COULD HAVE MANAGED TO COME UP WITH THE TIME, BUT HE DIDN'T AND I FELT LIKE AN IDIOT: WALKING IN THERE ASKING FOR HIS SUPPORT. HOW DARE YOU DO THIS TO – Ron?" Hermione looked around the room to find that Ron was not at his usual desk. In fact, he was not in the room. Hadn't he been there when she walked in? Instead of Ron, she found a room full of people, who had all simultaneously pulled their wands on her, when she burst into the room, making such a commotion. She knew one thing for sure: she was at the Auror headquarters. Where was Ron, though?

"Hermione?" came a voice from behind her.

Turing around, she found Ron stand in the doorway way, with his hands on his hips, his wand was also drawn. Hermione was speechless. The absence of Ron in the room and the fact that she was surrounded by startled witches and wizards with their wands drawn had made her anger leave just as fast as the fear came.

"I heard yelling, so I decided to check it out. Did you need something Hermione?" Ron asked, while motioning to the other Aurors to put their wands away.

"Yes, I would like to talk to you about my list of names for S.P.E.W. Why did you put false names on there, especially Harry Potter's?"

"Well, Harry Potter isn't a false name…"

"You know what I meant, Ronald Weasley!"

"Firstly, don't use my full name like that, and secondly, I didn't touch your list," said Ron as calmly as possible.

"Yes, you did!"

"No, I didn't!"

"Then, who did?"

Ron drew out his wand, beckoned Hermione closer, and whispered, "There must be evil afoot." As though Ron had commanded them, the other Aurors drew their wands, looking around, as though something evil was going to leap out from behind the trashcans.

"Ron, don't joke," said Hermione, who was starting to get mad.

"I am not joking. Why would I joke about something like this?" He turned to the other Aurors, who were watching him, as though waiting for his command, "I think we should go into lock down. We need to catch this criminal for defacing someone else's property."

The Aurors jumped up, and left the room. Hermione stared at Ron, wondering how serious this situation really was.

"Ron, it's not that big of a-"

Out of no where, a mean looking, masked wizard came through the door, with his wand pointed at Ron, "Ronald Weasley, you shall not move, or you shall be blasted into more pieces than she can count."

Hermione looked at Ron, terrified, but Ron, who was starting to edge forward, did not look even surprised at this man's sudden appearance.

As Ron started to walk forward, the man raised his wand, and shot the most deadly of spells in Ron's direction. He missed, but Ron went so white, that he might as well have died.

"Holy crap!" Ron, who had not expected that, sent another spell in response: "STUPIFY!" The wizard hit the ground with a thump, just as another masked wizard entered the room, with his wand raised. Seeing the man on the floor, the wizard in the doorway lowered his wand and mask, and turned to see if Ron was okay.

"Ron, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, but this git's not. Who is he anyways?"

Hermione, who had been standing back, trying to figure out what was going on, suddenly spoke up, "You mean the criminal thing was a joke?"

"Yeah," said Ron, who was trying to unmask the wizard on the floor. "We Aurors don't have much to do during the day. I think we've played a prank on everyone on this level. Thing is, this guy isn't a part of the prank. He's not even a part of the Ministry." He unmasked the wizard, and Hermione gasped.

"Draco?"

"Appears that way, doesn't it?"

"But, why would he – I don't get it. I thought he turned good in our 7th year. Why would he be trying to kill you?"

The wizard with the mask got up suddenly, startling Hermione. "I had better go tell the others. Harry will want to know about this," he said. "Ron, do you have any Veritaserum?"

"Yeah, I have a spare bottle in my cabinet."

"Should I get Neville first to interrogate him?"

"Yeah, please do. He knows what he needs to know." With that, the wizard left.

Hermione turned to Ron, with a look of confusion upon her face. "Does he mean Neville Longbottom?"

"Yeah."

"Isn't he a bit clumsy to be an Auror?"

"Yeah. That's because he isn't an Auror. Harry personally requested him a couple of years ago. He is more of an interrogator for the Ministry. Dunno what his title is exactly, but he certainly knows how to talk the truth out of people. It's kind of scary if you think about it. He almost knows that people are lying."

"Well, at least he found something to do…" said Hermione, not knowing what else to say.