Chapter 59
Into Knockturn Alley

Molly left her at the landing to her own floor and she went with a slow walk toward the bathroom, wishing with all of her heart that she was brave enough to dart back up the steps and kiss George good night. When she was just mustering her courage, though, she heard Fred's footsteps on the steps and she gave up the idea. She stepped into the bathroom and thought she would probably have to dump out the cold water and run more. Ginny and Hermione were in the bathroom, though, toothbrushes in hand. It was obvious that both girls had just applied some sort of mudpack to their faces and were settling in for a long stay.

"There you are! We couldn't figure out why you had run bathwater and not gotten in!" Hermione was holding some sort of magical fashion and beauty magazine and was flipping quickly through the pages.

"I got distracted."

"By my brother, I'm venturing to guess."

"Yeah. He wanted to show me something." Both girls looked at each other and Cassie was sure they would have raised their eyebrows if they could have but the hardening masks made it impossible. "A present. That's all."

"Right. Well, if you don't mind, you can just hop right into the tub and shut the curtain if you want some privacy. Then we can all talk about the meeting tonight." Ginny's words were a little muffled as she was trying not to move her mouth much. Cassie didn't have any objection to that idea except for one small problem. She had nothing on under the robe at all and if she were to take it off now both Hermione and Ginny would realize that she had been up in George's room in practically nothing. She considered several options, including saying she had changed her mind about the bath. None of them seemed like they were something either girl would actually believe.

"Is something wrong, Cassie?"

"Er, no. I just . . . I sort of came to the bath without my hair stuff or my toothbrush or anything. I should probably go back to the room and get it."

"No you didn't. It's all right here. Did you forget?"

Darn. "Yeah. I didn't see it there."

"We can close our eyes if you need us to while you get into the tub."

"That would probably help." Both girls dutifully closed their eyes and Cassie hurriedly removed her robe and folded it into a bundle that she hoped looked like her nightshirt and knickers would be tucked inside it. Then she climbed into the tub and sighed in contentment as the warmth immediately penetrated her cold skin. She drew the curtain slightly, leaving enough open that she could see the other girls as they spoke but she was in a bit of shadow so it wasn't like she was putting on a show. Of course, with the thick bubbles, they probably couldn't see anything anyway. "All right. I'm in. Thanks."

"That's nice bubble bath. Is that the stuff George made for you?"

"Yes."

"I love the little explosions."

"Yeah, it's very invigorating! Very nice stuff. I told him he should market it."

"They would only market something like that if you were bright purple when you got out." Hermione said in her mumbly sort of voice as she turned to another page in the magazine. Ginny was staring in the mirror, carefully plucking her eyebrows and wincing ever few seconds. Cassie smiled and then, feeling relieved that she had gotten away with her indiscretion, she leaned back against the back of the tub. Unfortunately, this caused a minor tidal wave and water leaked over the edge and ran down onto the floor. That would have, in itself, been no major problem except that it wet the edge of her robe, and Hermione - figuring that hanging the robe and pyjamas up would spare them from future baptisms - picked the robe up off the floor. Of course, there was nothing in it. Both Hermione and Ginny stared at the robe for a minute then looked over at Cassie.

"Uh, you have no pyjamas here."

"No." Cassie was tempted to slide completely under the water and hold her breath until they left but she knew that would never work. She could never hold her breath until they forgot about her.

"You were only wearing a bathrobe! You went up to George's room practically starkers!"

"Ginny - shut up! The whole Burrow will know if you shriek again like that!"

"Cassie, I think you are seriously-"

"Look, you two. He didn't know. I'm sure he thought I had on a nightshirt. I kept the robe-"

"Look, yourself. There's never been a bathrobe in existence that doesn't gape at the front."

"Mine doesn't."

"Uh, huh. Right."

"I'm serious."

"All I can say is you're lucky my mum didn't know you were in his room naked."

"I was not naked. I was completely covered."

"You were exactly one move away from being starkers."

"Ginny, stop using that word."

"Well, it's true. If the tie had caught on something or George had thought to see what his shirt looked like on you - he would have been in for a surprise!"

"He wouldn't have done that!"

"My brothers are anything but predictable! I can't believe you did that!"

"Well, I didn't expect to meet him before I got into the tub. I mean, he was playing Exploding Snap when I came upstairs."

"Don't you think you should have ducked into the room when you passed it and pulled on some clothes, how long would that have taken?" Hermione wrinkled her nose, obviously it was itching and she couldn't scratch it.

"You're right, I just . . . I don't know."

"You wanted to be starkers with my brother."

"Ginny, if you use that word again, I swear I will drown you in this tub." Ginny just shot her a sardonic glare.

"It's true."

"It is not! We didn't even touch each other and the door was wide open and . . ."

"I don't know what you three girls are all doing in the bathroom - in fact, I am sure that I don't want to know - but could you stop and get out? Harry and I are getting a little desperate." Ron's voice carried through the door and all three girls looked at each other with wide-eyed panic.

"Ow! Harry! Well I'm desperate even if you're not!" The sound of Harry slugging Ron on the arm was pretty distinctive, even through the inch or so of wood that separated the boys from the girls.

Hermione was the one who was brave enough to answer. "You'll have to wait about 10 more minutes, boys. We're, uh, trying to make ourselves beautiful for you." Ginny and Cassie both laughed, Cassie hurrying to get out of the tub and dry herself off, Ginny starting to gather up the various items they had in the bathroom.

"Ten minutes!" There was veiled panic in Ron's voice. "Could you make it five?"

"You're already beautiful- just come on out!" Harry was obviously trying to placate them into coming out, maybe he was a little more desperate than he wanted to let on.

"Thanks, Harry!" called Ginny back in response and Hermione rolled her eyes as Ron chimed in.

"Yeah, Hermione, you're already beautiful. You don't need to worry about a thing." Hermione smirked to the other two girls.

"What about Cassie?"

"She's beautiful, too! Can you just get out of there? Please?" Cassie hurriedly drew her bathrobe on and tied the tie. Ginny and Hermione were washing the mud off their faces quickly. Cassie looked at them.

"We're all decent. We could let them in, I guess."

"We could. But I doubt they want to come in to gaze in the mirror. And they won't want us in here when they come in to do . . . what they want to do." They laughed and dried their faces. "All right, boys. We're done. We're coming out." No sooner had all three of them emerged from the bathroom when Ron pushed his way past Hermione and slammed the door behind him.

"He drank a little bit too much downstairs." Harry said, blushing, as all three girls looked at him.

"Obviously. But you had a little more self-control?" Ginny winked at the other two girls and they all giggled.

"I, uh, yeah. A bit."

"Ah." The girls all giggled again and Ginny trailed her fingers up his arm. "You're rather well-known for your self-control, aren't you, Harry?"

"I, uh, I don't know." He glanced at the door, a slight grimace on his face. "Ron, you almost done?"

"No!" The girls giggled again.

"Are we making you nervous, Harry?"

"Yeah, a bit." Cassie felt sorry for him, really. He was way out of his depth with the three of them ganging up on him but since Hermione wanted to wait around for Ron to eventually emerge and Ginny obviously wanted to hang around with Harry as long as possible, none of them made a move to leave.

"Hurry it up, Ron!"

"Okay. Okay." There was the sound of water running and then the door opened. Harry darted through and slammed the door shut before Ron even had a chance to register what was going on outside. "What's up? Do you three need to go back in there again?"

"No. No. That's not it."

"Whatever." He kissed Hermione hard on the lips. "I'm going up to bed. 'Night." And he went up the stairs, whistling some tuneless little song.

"We could . . . wait for Harry to come out and torment him a little bit more."

"We could. But he might wait until he's sure we're gone." Ginny shrugged. "We might as well go to bed." Cassie looked between Ginny and the door.

"You could at least wait for him. He'd probably be happy to see you." Ginny giggled.

"Okay. Maybe I will." Cassie reached for her toiletry bag.

"I'll take that for you." When she and Hermione got to the door of Ginny's room, she looked back and saw the bathroom door open and Ginny looked up and smiled. Cassie grinned and followed Hermione into the bedroom.

Cassie awoke extra early on Monday morning and pulled on her clothes before heading downstairs to help with breakfast. She realized that she had been a bad guest recently and had not really been helping Molly like she had been when she had first arrived. And now was the time Molly needed it worse than ever. With Christmas now only a few days away, a house full of company and even more expected, decorating still to be done, and all the holiday baking to be finished, she would practically need a full-time assistant. She wondered vaguely if wizards could hire house-elves on a temporary basis for these sorts of busy times. Smiling at the whimsical thought, she climbed down the stairs and was surprised to find the kitchen dark and empty. Her watch said that it was about the time Molly usually started breakfast but then today may not be a usual day. She hadn't really asked when George and Fred were going in this morning. Maybe things had changed a bit, now. She listened for any movement in the house and heard quiet voices in the living room and so pushed the door open tentatively to see who was in there. It was Molly, in a dressing gown and slippers, with a big smile on her face. The reason for the smile became obvious a few moments later as Cassie's eyes followed her gaze to a figure on the couch. Charlie was here! She had never met him, but she knew his face. For one thing, he was so obviously a Weasley that it had to be one of the brothers and since she had met them all except for Charlie and Percy, she didn't have too many questions about his identity,. He was too old to be Percy and his relaxed friendly manner clearly said that he had no difficulties sitting and talking with his mother. He looked up and saw her and smiled and Cassie caught her breath. He looked very much like the twins - just a slightly older version. And he was very handsome, in a sort of rough around the edges way. She could believe that this man tamed dragons. If they were smart, they would just give up when they saw him. He stood up, looking questioningly at her.

"Hi. I'm Charlie Weasley. Who are you?"

"I'm Cassie. It's nice to meet you." She held out her hand and it was engulfed in a firm warm callused grip.

"This is the M . . . girl I was telling you about in my last owl to you." Molly hadn't said Muggle which made Cassie feel a little better. Maybe she was being thought of more now for what she could do rather than who she was.

"Oh, yes. Well, it's nice to meet you. What are you doing up so early? It is early, isn't it?" He glanced down at a very tricky contraption on his wrist that Cassie assumed told him the time. "I'm still functioning on Romanian time, I'm afraid. For me, it's almost lunch time."

"She's so good to get up and help me get breakfast. Which I'd better do soon, or the twins will wind up going into work without any. Do you want to go up and take your things to your room or -"

"No. I'll let Bill sleep a little longer. I'm pretty handy in the kitchen myself . . . maybe I can help."

So the three of them got started quickly on pancakes. Charlie kept the two ladies entertained with stories about his dragons. Cassie still found it nearly impossible to believe that he really worked with them, sort of half expecting him to break into his deep laugh and tell her that he was only kidding, but he never did and she tried not to get too hung up on the sheer impossibility of half the things he was saying. After all, she had seen things in the last month that she would never have believed were possible a year ago. She looked up with eager anticipation as she heard footsteps on the stairs, a little disappointed when it was Fred who came down first.

"Oy! Charlie! When'dja get here?"

"About an hour ago, I guess. How are you doing?" Cassie pinched her lips together in vague disapproval. Couldn't Charlie even tell them apart? George practically worshiped the man. Fred and Charlie shook hands briskly and Cassie wondered if Charlie, who looked so much like the twins physically, had their same sense of humor. She hadn't seen too much sign of it, yet, but it was too soon to judge. A moment later, George practically jogged down the steps and embraced his brother with enthusiasm.

"You should have told us he was here, Mum! We could have come down sooner! It's good to see you, Charlie!" Cassie smiled to herself, hiding her grin behind the pitcher of pumpkin juice she was putting on the table. If Charlie knew his brothers, there was no question now about who was who. George obviously adored the dragon-tamer. She glanced at Charlie and saw that he also looked vaguely relieved. He now knew who was who and would be able to keep them straight for the rest of the day.

"Hey, George! It's good to see you, too!" He stepped back and looked him over critically. "It doesn't look like business is making you too soft - still on the broom when you can be?"

"Of course! Of course! I wish I didn't have to go in to the store today! We could dig the old brooms out of the shed and have a game! With Ron, Harry, Gin, Bill, and Tonks, we could have a full-out scrimmage!"

"Then take the day off and stay home with me!"

"They can't." Molly said and something about her tone made Charlie's face harden and he looked at his mother.

"What's up?" At the same time, George looked over at Cassie, just realizing that she was in the room and he looked a little sheepishly at her. She smiled back, though. It had been rather fun watching him without his being aware of it.

"Are you ready for today?" Cassie just shook her head.

"Not really. I'm scared." This was whispered into his neck as he embraced her.

"It'll be all right. All you have to do is pretend to go shopping - you should be right at home!" He tried for levity and Cassie decided to humor him, although she had rarely felt less like laughing. She smiled.

"You're right, of course. I'll just pretend there are designer clothes and shoes in the store windows rather than rune stones and lizard tongues. It'll be easy."

"That's my girl!" he replied, bending and kissing her quickly. "I'm sorry about my mum last night. She just can't get it into her head that I'm not-"

"No, it's all right, really. But do I still get to see what's in the box?" He looked at her appraisingly and shook his head.

"I think I'd rather have you wait until Christmas."

"Darn! If she'd only given us 10 more seconds, I could have at least seen what it was." George didn't answer her, though, because Charlie's hand came down on his shoulder.

"Come on, George, Cassie. Breakfast is ready and it sounds like you're going to have a very busy day." They all sat down at the table even though Cassie didn't have to eat this early. She poured a glass of pumpkin juice and nibbled on an un-buttered pancake. She was just too nervous to eat much. George, who was sitting next to her, quietly placed his hand on her leg. She reached down, their fingers intertwined, and he gave her hand several reassuring squeezes. Cassie smiled; she appreciated his comforting gesture.

The twins had finished breakfast and were just preparing to leave when down the stairs came Remus and Tonks, followed closely by Arthur. They all welcomed Charlie home and Arthur gave his son a big hug. Tonks then turned to the twins. "I'll be to your shop in about an hour, okay?"

"Sure, see you then." With that, the twins were gone with the sound of two distinct pops. Cassie stared after them and felt a rush of dreaded anticipation for what was to come later that morning. Cassie sat down again at the kitchen table as the next round of breakfast was served. Everyone was talking about everything except the visit to Diagon Alley and she supposed that was in deference to her.

By the time Cassie had sat through the third wave of breakfasters and had drank at least two to three more glasses of pumpkin juice, it was a little after 9:00. By then, Tonks had left to go shopping for clothes. Cassie and the two other girls helped Molly clean the kitchen, while Arthur put the boys to work decorating the outside of the Burrow with lights and other ornaments. By the time the last dish was put away and the last cupboard cleaned, it was a little before ten and Cassie was feeling the effects of her several glasses of pumpkin juice. She hurried quickly upstairs, and was just coming out of the loo when she practically ran headlong into Molly.

"Oh, there you are, Cassie dear. Here's your outfit. You need to hurry and change into it, it's almost time for you to leave." She handed Cassie black robes, a long black cloak and a hat. Cassie gave Molly a puzzled look.

"But why do I need these?"

"To fit in, dear. You can't very well go into Knockturn Alley dressed in Muggle clothes under your school robe. You'll stand out. You need to blend in." Cassie understood and nodded in agreement. Molly pulled out her wand. "I think we need to change the color of your hair. They're looking for a blond-haired girl. Oh, don't worry, we can change it back as soon as you're done. Now, I think your hair should be very dark. Yes. There you go. That's much better." She waved her wand and Cassie felt a tingling on her scalp. She turned as she heard the other two girls hurrying up the stairs.

"We can't find her anywhere . . .oh, hi, Cassie. There you are. Ooh, your hair. Wow, with your blue eyes, you really look striking - not as striking as Harry's green eyes, but still . . ."

Ginny was interrupted by her mother. "For heaven's sake, Cassie isn't supposed to look striking, she's supposed to blend in and not look like herself. Now, Ginny, Hermione, take Cassie in and help her into those clothes. She needs to hurry."

The three went into their room and Cassie slipped out of her clothes. The other two helped her pull on the long black robe and pulled on some black boots Ginny produced and charmed to fit Cassie's feet perfectly. The robe turned out to be a little too long and Hermione shortened the hem with a spell. Cassie then pulled on the long cloak. She pulled her black hair back into a pony tale and, at the other two girls' suggestion, pulled a few loose strands of hair down in front of her face. She finished by placing the hat on her head. It resembled the ones worn by the students at Hogwarts. However, it had a wider brim and reminded her of the one worn by the wicked witch of the west in the Wizard of Oz. Cassie looked at herself in the mirror and gave her best Margaret Hamilton laugh and then cackled, "I'll get you my pretty! And your little dog, too!" Ginny gave her a puzzled look, while Hermione rolled her eyes and shook her head.

By the time Cassie and the other two girls had descended the stairs, it was almost 10:30 and everyone was in the kitchen waiting nervously. They seemed please with Cassie's transformation. Ron blushed, grinned and commented, "At least you still look like Cassie." The other four kids laughed as Molly scowled.

"I hope not too much, we want her to look like the type of person who patronizes Knockturn Alley."

Everyone quickly wished Cassie good luck. Remus stepped close to her and smiled down into her face. "You'll do fine today. Just do as Tonks and Moody direct you to and you have nothing to worry about." He produced the ugly little statuette that had been her emergency portkey the entire time she had been at the Burrow. "Dumbledore reconfigured this for you. It will now bring you straight back here if you need to use it today."

"Thanks, Remus. I appreciate it." She looked around at the assembled group, all with various degrees of concern on their faces. "Hopefully in an hour or two, this whole mystery will be solved and we can all get back to normal." Everyone nodded and Arthur handed her a tin of kippers. She looked up at him with an bemused expression to see a twinkle in his eyes. Cassie was beginning to think that Dumbledore had a very odd but enjoyable sense of humor. She was still thinking about that when she felt the now-familiar tug behind her navel.

Cassie arrived in the backroom of the twins workshop in her usual fashion. Fortunately, George, who had apparently been waiting for her to arrive, was there to help her up off of the floor and into his arms. Cassie decided there were worse things.

George swung her up in his arms and placed her on an open work counter, brushing the hat off her head immediately. She smiled and snuggled into his arms as he began to softly kiss her. "Hi."

"Hi. Who are you, because I was expecting my girlfriend to come, but you showed up instead."

"Yeah. I met her and she said she didn't want to come because she was afraid you might want to kiss her or something. But I said I didn't mind."

"Brave girl." Cassie didn't answer him after that because his mouth covered hers. His kiss was hard, possessive, demanding. Her arms slid around his neck and held him close. He moved from her mouth over her face, kissing her cheek and eyebrows and eyelids. Cassie smiled when he kissed her mouth again. "I really hate this idea. I wish you didn't have to go."

"I know." He leaned his forehead against hers. "But I do. And I'll be careful. I'm sure nothing bad will happen. No one will even know it's me."

"You do look different." His hands threaded through the ponytail.

"Now my hair is black - I'm starting to think that you people don't like my blond-ness." He smiled at her.

"I like you blond, but it doesn't really matter to me. If you like another color better or something."

"No, thanks. Besides last time we had this discussion, you seemed pretty convinced that you wanted it back to normal. Or was it just that you didn't want it red anymore?" George flushed slightly.

"Well . . ." and then before they could continue, he kissed her again, holding her head tightly. Cassie moaned softly into his mouth and he pulled back. "Did I hurt you?" She shook her head.

"I just wish I could just stay here forever, and never have to go out there." He held her hands tightly in his large ones. He bent toward her again to kiss her but before their lips actually met, a voice came from behind him.

"Hey, you two, I don't mean to interrupt, but everyone's due here in just a few minutes." Fred approached with the grin he usually reserved for the two of them when he had caught them kissing. Cassie glanced down at her watch. It was only five more minutes until 11, when this whole thing was supposed to happen. George helped her down from the counter and she grasped his arm. She didn't want to admit how terrified she actually was. She remembered very clearly how that street had made her feel and did not relish the idea of going back in there. Having Tonks beside her and it being the middle of the day would probably help, but now she was much more aware of how powerful dark magic was, also, and she may be even more sensitive to it than she was before, when she only had the slightest idea about it.

The voice that announced when a customer came into the shop echoed loudly and Fred popped his head out through the curtain to see who it was. A few moments later both he and someone who Cassie thought was Tonks approached them.

"Wotcher, George, Cassie." Cassie tried not to stare openly at the woman. She looked so completely different than she normally did, although her smile and the sparkle in her eye testified to the fact that it was her. "You look good, almost unrecognizable. I'm going to change, too." As they all watched, her nose lengthened and hooked, her complexion took on a pasty look, wrinkles multiplied on her face until she looked no younger than 100, her shoulders stooped, and the joints of her fingers swelled and curled. "How's that?"

"You look, uh, good, I guess. I wish I could do that."

"It does come in handy in this business. I have some clothes, too. Let me hurry and get into them." She stepped into the shop's small bathroom and emerged just a few moments later dressed in clothes very similar to Cassie's, which she then proceeded to rip and dirty with her wand and a few interesting spells. She did the same thing to Cassie's clothes. "Your face is too clean, by the way. When we get out into the street, I'll dirty you up a bit. Do you have a hat or anything?" Cassie showed her the wide-brimmed hat from the Burrow. "I don't know if that will really do the trick. Your face has got to be almost completely covered. Try the hood of your cape."

The hat was discarded and the hood was drawn up over her hair. "How's that?"

"Better, I think. It keeps your face in shadow and hides the color of your eyes."

"When are we going?" Cassie tried hard to keep her voice steady.

"When Moody gets here, I guess."

"Okay. When do you think he'll arrive?"

"I'm already here, girlie," a growling voice came from between Tonks and George. Everyone jumped and George swore.

"Hell, Moody! Do you have to surprise us like that?" A low chuckle came from under the invisibility cloak. Cassie's first thought was a selfish one - she hoped he hadn't been watching her with George. That would be embarrassing.

"Uh, Mr. Moody, how long have you been here?"

"Call me Moody. I've only been here a few minutes -- a fact you all should have known the second I walked through the door! I followed Tonks in when she came into the store! I wanted to see how alert all of you are - and you weren't at all, which is about what I expected. Pitiful really - it could have been any dark wizard under a cloak who could have killed you all before you even got your wands out! I don't know how many times I have to say this to you! Constant Vigilance!" Everyone looked a little chagrined, knowing that he was right. Cassie was just happy, though, that he hadn't been hiding in the back room for the past hour watching her.

A few minutes later, Cassie and Tonks exited the shop, followed by Mad-Eye Moody still under his invisibility cloak. As the three walked out, Cassie glanced back to see a worried-looking George watching from the doorway. His vain attempt at an encouraging smile was met with Cassie's own lackluster attempt. And then, they were out of sight of the shop and to the entrance of Knockturn Alley. Looking at it now, Cassie could not reconcile how lost she had been that night with how close the twins' shop actually was. But, she decided not to ruminate on it now. It wouldn't change anything at the moment. And she had to keep her mind on what she was doing.

The pre-Christmas traffic in Diagon Alley had been busy and although people had cut a wide berth around them as they walked down the street, they had not attracted much attention as people were focused on their own tasks. Once they turned the corner, though, it was like they had entered a different world. Here, their clothes were even more appropriate because almost everyone was swathed in yards of dark material and no one had their faces uncovered. And yet, everyone was busy glancing around them trying to figure out who else was in the Alley. Cassie wasn't sure if this was just so they knew who to avoid or if it was so they could decide who to hex, but either way, it didn't help their mission any. Christmas cheer was decidedly lacking here and she guessed she could understand that. The type of objects someone would buy down this Alley were hardly conducive to holiday making. "Here, Mum. Look what I got you. A shrunken head. Isn't it lovely? I saw it and thought of you!" Yeah. Probably not. Tonks pulled Cassie over to an even darker corner, bent over, and picked some mud up off the road. She then proceeded to smear it over her face and then brushed it off. She did the same thing with her hands.

"That'll darken your skin a bit. And, uh, here. I know it's not pleasant, but it will keep people at a distance." Tonks handed Cassie a cloth which absolutely reeked. Cassie tried not to gag.

"What am I supposed to do with this thing?"

"Put it in your pocket."

"What is it? Oh, never mind! I don't think I want to know." She stuffed it in her pocket and she blinked back the tears that formed as the odor overwhelmed her sense of smell.

"You'll get used to it in a few minutes."

"I sure hope so. If not, I may die before we get there."

"Come on. The quicker we get this done, the better." Tonks leaned against her and Cassie had to support her weight. She was sure that to anyone looking they would look like a couple of old hags out for an illicit grab of some sort of forbidden material. Great. Well, at least their disguises were appropriate. She saw Dung on one side of the street, talking to people who looked furtively around before talking to him and she realized why he was so perfect for this mission. He was obviously at home in this Alley. Not a comforting thought, really.

Cassie tried to look around at the stores with a bored eye, like she was used to seeing shops selling things like petrified body parts, man-eating plants, poisonous draughts, etc. At the same time, though, she had to keep the panic from overwhelming her. As they got further and further down the Alley, the feeling of dark foreboding got stronger and stronger and it was all she could do to keep walking. One time, she thought she saw the store, but as she and Tonks got closer to it, she realized that it couldn't be the right one because there were a few steps down to the door and she knew she had not climbed or descended any steps that night. "It kind of looked like that, though. The door and everything . . . Oh, I'm afraid I don't remember."

"Don't worry. We're only about half-way in. We'll find it." As they hobbled along slowly, Cassie tried not to stare at the people on the street, knowing that making eye contact would definitely be a bad thing. There were many people on the street dressed similarly to her and Tonks and they were selling all sorts of disgusting items that Cassie tried hard not to think about, including one old woman selling what looked disgustingly like human fingernails. Cassie was positive she had not come this far into the Alley. She remembered running as fast as she could out that night, but it hadn't taken her very long to emerge back onto the main street. She told Tonks as much, but she was shushed by her bony deformed hand.

"We're walking slowly. If you were running fast . . . you can't really judge. If we get to the end and don't see the shop, we'll come back."

"I need to rest. You're rather heavy for a 200-year-old woman."

"Hey, I'm not a day over 190." Her wheezing laughter, combined with the air of oppressive darkness on the Alley, the cold, and the stares of the people on the street all combined to give Cassie the willies, and she shuddered for a moment. She turned to look for Dung and to speak quietly to Moody who she heard directly behind her when she saw, out of the corner of her eye, a shop tucked into a cranny that she had overlooked the first time. Instantly, her heart rate sped up and her breath caught. Even Tonks, still laughing at her own joke, noticed and shut up immediately. "You see it?"

"Yeah. It's the one with the black door. There."

"Ah. Let's sit down for a moment." There were some moldy-looking benches in the middle of the road framing a dead tree. Cassie supposed that at one time this was supposed to look inviting but over the years as the tree had died and the benches had fallen into decay it had definitely lost its appeal. Dung wandered over to the black door as though it was just a place that looked interesting, opened it, and called in to the shopkeeper. Cassie and Tonks stood and hobbled over to the neighboring shop which happened to sell (much to Cassie's horror) jewelry bewitched to kill its wearer, particularly effective (the sign announced) for getting rid of troublesome Muggles. As they stared at the window display with feigned interest, Cassie looked over into the open door and knew with a distinct sick feeling in the pit of her stomach that they had found the right place. Dung was talking animatedly with the shopkeeper now, apparently trying to barter some dragon scales for a lovely set of crystal bottles on display in the window. He was trying hard to get the shopkeeper to come outside so Cassie could take a look at him without his really seeing her, but he was having a rough time as the man apparently didn't trust him much. Smart man.

"Look, you wretch. The last set of manitcore eggs you sold me were all bad. I wound up taking a loss on them and what's more, I angered one of my customers, who threatened to roast me alive. And I don't think he was kidding. It took me a great many Galleons to make him happy again, let me assure you."

"I'm sorry 'bout that, dreadful sorry. How was I to know they'd gone bad? After all, I was just the middleman in that transaction."

"You mean you stole them, failed to take good care of them or store them properly, and then passed on your troubles to a poor man trying to make naught but an honest Galleon or two."

"Well, I . . . yeah. You're right. I'll make it up t' you this time, though. Why don't I just give you the dragon scales. They're really lov'y ones. Got 'em from a dragon tamer just last week and he assured me they're of the finest quality."

"I'd need to see them - test them."

"Of cour', of cour'." You're a man of business." Tonks was getting agitated now. They had been standing too long by this window and the shopkeeper had noticed their attention and was heading to the door to invite them in. Cassie knew that something had to be done immediately or they risked having the man go back into the shop. She took a deep breath and backed away from the window with the glittering malicious jewelry and walked right over to Dung.

"Are you Mundungus Fletcher?" She kept her hand concealed in the folds of her cloak, but poked Dung in his chest with her index finger.

"I . . . yes, I . . . am." Tonks was looking wide-eyed at Cassie who turned and looked directly into the face of the owner of the shop where she had almost lost her life three weeks ago.

"Don't do business with him, sir. He's terrible dishonest - sold plain Firewhiskey to me brother and claimed it was -" but she didn't have to finish because the shopkeeper closed the door firmly on the blabbering girl, not wanting anything more to do with the scene in the street. Tonks grabbed Cassie's arm, hauling her away from the shop and a startled-looking Dung. "It was him. Definitely. He was there." Cassie gasped as they walked as fast as their disguises would allow back toward Diagon Alley.

"You cost me dear, girl! You owe me! And don't think I won't be collecting!" the small-time crook yelled at their backs. But Dung walked away from them muttering about snooty witches and no one on the street paid any more attention to the two women walking painfully away from him.

"What were you doing, girlie?" The growl was deep in her ear but she ignored the threat in Moody's voice.

"He didn't know it was me. I was doing what you sent me in here to do. And I did it. Let's just get out of here."