Thanks for your patience. I hope it was worth the wait.

Chapter 72
The Trap is Set and Sprung

Cassie opened the door, quickly putting her hands into her pockets. George smiled down at her and she, to her great surprise, found herself smiling back at him. "Are you about ready?" She nodded and when he gestured to take her hand, she drew it out of her pocket and placed it into his much larger one. He either didn't notice the trembling or didn't think too much about it, because he didn't make any comment. The downstairs was dark and silent and Cassie looked around the kitchen but made no comment. "What would you like for breakfast? I'll make anything you'd like."

"No, thank you. Are you going to eat?"

"I guess. Maybe just some toast." He made her some, too, and even though she really didn't feel like it, she wound up taking a piece. They both ate silently. Cassie kept thinking that she should talk to him, ask him questions, tell him important things, but she couldn't seem to make the words come out, so instead she just studied the way his hair curled over his ears and the way his one eyebrow wasn't quite symmetrical. It had a scar running through it, not much of one, but it was there and the end of it was not quite even with the rest. She watched him butter his toast and chew. He looked up a few times, meeting her eyes, but he didn't say anything. She ate half a piece of toast and then couldn't eat any more. He didn't say anything about her lack of appetite either, just took a kitchen towel and picked up the portkey Cassie knew they'd be using that morning. There was a noise above their heads and they both looked up to see Harry descending the steps, rubbing his eyes.

"What's going on?"

"Nothing." George looked directly at Harry as he said this, but Harry wasn't fooled.

"She's dressed up and everything. You're taking her somewhere. Where?"

"It's nothing, Harry. Honestly. I just have to go identify the ninth wizard. That's all." Cassie's voice held pretty steady and she didn't think he would detect the tremor at the end.

"They've always brought you pictures before. Why are you going so early and where are you going? Why aren't they coming here with the pictures?"

Cassie and George's eyes met and it was George who answered him. "We don't know who the ninth one is yet, Harry. We're going to go find out now." Harry looked at George for a second and Cassie could almost see the wheels turning in his head.

"No. No. You're setting a trap. You're using her as bait." Cassie nodded briefly and George took her hand.

"That's basically it."

"Are you insane! There's no way you can put her in that kind of danger!" Harry stepped closer to Cassie and she thought he was about to grab her arm.

"She's not in any danger" came out at the same time as "I'm not in any danger." But Harry looked at both of them with narrowed eyes.

"What does she have to do?"

"Nothing. Just sit in a room and look thoughtful. Like she's about to use the pensieve." Harry shook his head.

"I don't like this idea. I don't like it at all." George scowled deeply.

"This is rather ironic. I was absolutely against the idea at the beginning, too, and here I am defending it to you. But she knows the plan and she's agreed to it." Harry shook his head again.

"That's not a recommendation. She is completely careless about her own safety."

Cassie grabbed George's arm. "I am not."

"You're not doing this, Cassie."

"Harry . . . I hate to say it, but you can't tell me what I can and cannot do." Harry glared at her for a minute.

"I can tell you that this is crazy. There has to be some other way."

"Harry. Her parents are in danger. You know that. She wants it over. We're taking all kinds of precautions, she won't be in any danger."

"Can't you just wait a few more days and see what happens? What's the rush?"

"No offense, Harry. But it's not your life that is completely screwed up!" As soon as the words were out of Cassie's mouth, she wanted to take them back. Harry glared at George, who stiffened and glared back. "I'm sorry I -"

But they were ignoring her. "Will you at least tell me what's going on?"

"No. I don't think I should."

"Where is all this happening? When will she be back?"

"It's all supposed to happen at 11. I'll have her back here by noon. I swear it."

"Eleven?! It's only 8:30 now!"

"I know. We want to have plenty of time to make sure everything is in place to protect her. We need to go. They'll start to wonder."

"You haven't told me where this big event is actually happening."

"No. And I'm not going to. I don't want you following us." George took Cassie's hand and pulled her close to him, getting ready to portkey with her. "But I will tell you this, Harry. I will not let her out of my sight. I promise." And then he took the portkey from the dish towel and they were gone.

They landed on the frozen ground and the cold seeped through her thin robes and thin shoes almost instantly. Cassie took a deep breath and felt the frigid air fill her lungs. Even if they had not told her in advance, she would have known she was back in northern Scotland. The cold here just penetrated to the bones, really. "Ooh. It's cold. Where are we?" The house they were standing in front of did not look familiar at all. It was a very old building, she didn't have to be told that. The stone which was probably once a dark black was now a washed-out gray color, with dry, bare strands of ivy covering several of the walls. The windows were dark, no welcoming glow shining through them to assure her they were in the right location.

"Outside of Hogsmeade, like we said. See, there's the town." She turned and looked behind her. Despite her steadily increasing fear, she smiled. The town with its old-fashioned looking shops and winding streets looked empty in the brittle sunlight.

"I like Hogsmeade. Sometime, I want you to bring me back here."

"Of course. We'll have to kiss again behind Honeyduke's. That was nice, huh?"

"Very nice. The whole day was so wonderful." Cassie smiled and bit back the tears she could feel in the back of her throat. She wanted to remember those happy times for a few minutes and did not want to give in to her fright.

"Come on. You're getting cold." He led her through the front gate and up the slippery stone steps. He knocked on the door three times in some sort of complicated rhythm that Cassie didn't recognize but a moment later, it swung inward and Arthur glanced out at them.

"Where have you been? I was starting to get worried."

"Sorry. We ran into a little delay."

"Any problems?" George shook his head and didn't tell Arthur about Harry. "Good morning, Cassie. Are you ready for this?"

"I don't know. Yeah, I guess so. It'll be easy, right?"

"Of course. We want to make sure that you know exactly what's going on and what you need to do. So, Albus will be down soon to talk to you. He's taking care of the Pensieve at the moment."

"All right. Who lives here?"

"Nobody, actually. The house has been vacant for many years. It used to belong to the McKinnons."

"McKinnons?" George asked. "I wondered what had ever become of their property."

"Most of it was willed to Albus and the Order. This house particularly was meant to be used for purposes like this."

"Who are the McKinnons?"

"They were members of the Order, well most of them were. They were all killed. Shortly before Harry's parents, actually. Good family. I went to school with-"

"Ah, Miss Robinson! Welcome!" His voice was quiet, but commanding, and Arthur immediately stopped talking. Cassie looked up and saw Professor Dumbledore standing at the top of a long curving staircase. It was, like the rest of the house, very elegant and spoke of large amounts of money. But everything was also very dingy and dusty and looked rather faded, like the outside. It made sense that it had stood empty for nearly 20 years. Considering that, it didn't look bad.

"Hello." She smiled faintly.

"I'm glad you're here. We'd like you to meet the Order members who are here to help today and we want to go over the plans again." Cassie just nodded. "Why don't you come into the sitting room?" He descended the stairs and led her into a small room off the front hall. There were only three pieces of furniture in the room, a dainty-looking couch with spindly legs and two matching chairs. Small puffs of dust rose with every step onto the carpet but the furniture was clean and she sat down on the couch. George sat down by her and patted her knee gently.

Professor Dumbledore guided the Order members into the room in small groups, 2-3 at a time. The first ones in were Remus, Tonks, and Kingsley Shacklebolt who explained that they would be guarding the front door and the hall. "Do you think they'll all come at once? I mean, if one of them comes first, before the others, what will you do?"

"We'll restrain him and hide him so that none of his friends know what has happened to him. Don't worry. We've dealt with these sorts of situations plenty of times before."

"Thanks." The next group was also composed of people she knew: Molly and Mad-Eye Moody explained that they would be guarding the back door and would be helping with restraining anyone else in the house. "Are you going to be able to arrest them or something?"

"We don't have authority to do that. But Amelia Bones does, and she will be here soon." That was interesting. Cassie really couldn't picture the witch she had met three days ago running around arresting a large number of rampaging wizards, but realized that with magic, her relatively small size would not matter. And she had liked Madam Bones. More importantly, she trusted her. That's what she needed today, people around her she trusted.

Mundungus Fletcher was next, along with a young woman Cassie had never met before, Sage. Cassie couldn't catch her last name and figured it didn't really matter. She seemed unfazed by Mundungus and actually stood quite close to him during the introductions. Cassie thought that either proved her bravery or that she simply had no sense of smell, because as usual Mundungus had a cloud of smoke hanging around him like a dark aura. They explained they would be at the top of the stairs, shooting down spells and curses on anyone unauthorized to climb up to her in the library.

Hestia Jones came in with a tall lanky man, maybe 25 years old, with dark hair and laughing brown eyes. His name was Galileo Podmore, which Cassie thought might explain the laughing eyes. With a name like that, he'd have to laugh at himself, at least a little bit. He was friendly and flirted briefly with Cassie before George shot him the death glare at which point he backed off quickly. Hestia greeted Cassie warmly and explained that the two of them would be guarding her in the library where this was going to actually take place. "We are under strict instructions never to take our eyes off you. So you don't need to worry." Cassie actually did feel better knowing that. She had liked Hestia the one time she met her and this other fellow seemed friendly enough. George growled under his breath, but didn't argue.

Galileo's uncle was next on tap. Sturgis. Well, maybe Galileo wasn't a bad name in that family. Sturgis explained that he would be in the room next door to the library and would be able to hear everything going on if there was trouble. That made Cassie feel better. He was very nice and Cassie decided that she really liked him, despite his bizarre name. He had a great sense of humor and he and George were teasing each other for a while and that made her relax even further.

Fred was next into the room and was flirting brazenly with his partner, Juliette Morris, who had long black hair and bright blue eyes. George and Cassie both gave him questioning looks, but neither of them felt like confronting him with the fact that he was practically an engaged man and shouldn't be looking at other women. Fred gleefully informed his twin that they were assigned to patrol the dark basement and that Juliette was very friendly. George just shot him a disgusted look, which then made Cassie not feel so bad when Juliette tripped over her foot, which was "accidentally" sticking out a bit far from the settee. Cassie didn't like her although she knew logically that they should not hold Fred's flirtatious ways against the girls within a mile radius of him. Cassie had to admit that she couldn't blame anyone who thought George and Fred were cute. She certainly did.

Professor McGonagall came in to see her again and explained that she and Professor Dumbledore would be patrolling the outside, making sure the wards were holding up and keeping an eye out for the "visitors" they were expecting. Cassie was happy to know that the two of them would be helping out in her defense. They both had very powerful magic and would be able to help a great deal no matter who came this morning.

Arthur came in at the end to introduce his partner, another young man Cassie had never met. Arthur announced that their job was to defend the bottom of the stairwells and make sure that no one went up them and also to duck out of the way of any spells miscast by Mundungus. Cassie laughed but George sat stiffly next to her. Cassie looked over in confusion and saw the look of hatred that passed between George and the other young wizard, David Ashenhurst. She felt a shudder of dislike for the newcomer wriggle down her spine but tried to suppress it. She took George's hand and squeezed. Arthur explained to both of them that all the Order members knew her real story and were prepared to guard her with their lives if necessary. Cassie was surprised, but realized that it only made sense. They would have to know she was not capable of even the simplest spells so that they could defend her properly. He looked over at Professor Dumbledore and indicated that they needed to talk outside and then he looked at the three young people.

"I'll leave you three alone. I imagine that you and George have a lot of catching up to do. I always love to run into people I knew at school. It just takes me back." He was smiling vaguely as the two of them left the room. Cassie watched them go with an increasing feeling of dread.

"Ashenhurst."

"Weasley."

"I take it you two know each other." Cassie tried to prompt a more friendly discussion but George's next answer was terse.

"We went to school together."

"Were you in Gryffindor?" Cassie gamely tried once again to lighten the mood, even though her nerves were extremely on edge at the moment.

"No. Ravenclaw. I was a year ahead of the two of them."

"Oh. Uh, well. It's nice to meet you. I like the Ravenclaws."

"I hardly need a Muggle's endorsement of my house." And then he turned and walked out of the room. Cassie sat there, feeling like she had just been slapped.

"I don't like him."

"Yeah, I can empathize. We never got along. He was on the Quidditch team. He resented both Fred and me because we usually told the Ravenclaw team exactly what was what when it came to actual skill on the pitch." Cassie grinned.

"So. He's jealous of you."

"I guess. I don't know. All I do know is that he is still holding a grudge, after all these years. I really don't like the idea of his being here. He does good work in the Order. I'll admit that. But I wanted people I could trust to be with you."

"I know. But he is here this morning, and as long as he's willing to be here to defend me, at least he's a warm body."

"Yeah. Okay. I'll try not to bite him." Cassie laughed and George smiled, pulling her into his arms and kissing her forehead. "Are you still doing all right with this? Do you have any concerns or anything? Do you still want to go through with this?"

Cassie nodded but before she could say anything else, Professor Dumbledore entered the room again. "Let's go ahead and take you upstairs to the library. We'll show you the safety measures we've got in place there and by then, Madam Bones should be here and we can discuss what she needs to have happen in order to get the right sort of evidence against this man. Cassie nodded at him, too, and she, George, Arthur, and Professor Dumbledore all went up the steep staircase a moment later. As Cassie surveyed the room a few minutes later, she understood why they kept calling it a library. Each wall was lined from floor to ceiling with books; there must have been thousands and they all looked very old and very valuable

.

"Does Hermione know about this place?" She asked George, but he was talking to Arthur and didn't hear her question. Of course, she really knew the answer already. Of course she didn't. If she did, they would have, without doubt, spent that entire Saturday of the Hogsmeade visit, sequestered here. She hoped that one day she found out about it. It would keep her happy for at least a decade or two.

Aside from the books, there was also a fairly large table, upon which rested a pensieve. It wasn't the same pensieve she had used earlier, but she guessed that didn't matter. It was still stone and very impressive looking. It was just smaller. There were five chairs around the table and four additional chairs against one bookcase. The room was very warm and inviting and if it hadn't been for her absolute terror about what was going to happen here in the next couple of hours, she thought she would really enjoy spending time here. Hermione wasn't the only one who liked to read, although as these were almost certainly all wizarding books, she probably wouldn't understand very much of the content. Tonks announced loudly from downstairs that Madam Bones had arrived and Professor Dumbledore and Arthur stepped out of the room to meet her. George drew her a bit farther away from the door and lowered his voice so that he could not be heard. "I wanted to give you this." He pressed something into her hand and she looked down with no small amount of surprise to see her Falcons sticker.

"What is this for? How did you get it out of my drawer?"

"I got it out by walking in there and looking for it yesterday when you were busy downstairs. And it's going to be our secret signal."

"But . . . why do we need a secret signal?"

"If anything should happen and you need me, or you're frightened, I'll be sitting right here, of course, but all you need to do is grab your sticker and I'll know immediately."

"Can't I just say something?"

"Maybe. Maybe not." Cassie couldn't imagine why he wanted them to use the stickers, but she nodded and put it into her pocket.

"Okay. Thanks. I'll try not to grab it by mistake. But I may."

"That's okay. I'd rather have several false alarms than miss the important one. So don't worry if you do set it off." Arthur stepped back in a moment later to bring her out to talk to Madam Bones and Cassie dutifully followed him down the stairs. The gray-haired witch peered up through her monacle at Cassie. She was surrounded by six burly-looked guards, all of whom also watched Cassie's (very careful) descent. Cassie almost sighed in relief when she got down the stairs without humiliating herself and falling.

"Miss Robinson? It's lovely to see you again. You recovered sufficiently from Wednesday's experience?"

"Yes. I felt better that afternoon."

"That's good. This should be a simple matter, really. Have they explained what you need to do?"

"Not really. I'm just supposed to sit in the upstairs room with the pensieve and act like I'm waiting for them to come take the memory out. They're supposed to think I'm a witch, so I should play with my wand and do things like that. That's all I know."

"Good. That's basically all you need to do. If and when the eight wizards already identified arrive, they will be allowed to enter the house but then will be arrested, hopefully with very little difficulty. This is my personal law enforcement task force. I rarely use them, but when I do, they are very effective." Cassie could imagine that they were. "Under my direction, they will make sure that the arrests are done properly so that the wizards can be prosecuted. They should be easy. The tricky part is the ninth, of course."

"All right." Cassie wanted to make some profound observation, but couldn't really think of one, so she was just forced to agree and she felt like an idiot.

"Since we have no idea who he is and he may come with several other wizards, we need to get direct evidence of his threatening you or attempting to break into the library to do you bodily harm. That will allow us to arrest him and then once he is in our custody, we can use other means to gather evidence of his part in the conspiracy. I want you to understand that he does not ever have to enter the library and that he really should never do so, but if he does, then the Order members in there have permission to stun him or worse until he can be arrested by my men. Any questions?"

"Do you think just the nine will come?" It hadn't dawned on her until that moment that they might bring reinforcements and the feeling of dread in her stomach increased another notch.

"I couldn't really say. The eight we saw in your memory are very powerful men, capable of recruiting others to come and help them deal with you and still make it seem to be a perfectly legal operation. But, the ninth may also be similarly powerful and may choose to bring only his own recruits and if that is the case, then we will have to wait until he is literally threatening you before we can identify him as the actual one who they were all waiting for that night."

"I see." This information did not really do much to help Cassie feel any better, but she was pleased to note that this was the worst case scenario and that even then she just had to wait for George, Hestia Jones, and Galileo what's-his-name to knock him out. She could do that. Madam Bones and her guards drifted off to another room and Cassie and George both climbed the steps again.

It was almost 10 now according to her watch and she could tell George was getting more anxious as the morning passed. Professor Dumbledore came in and removed a memory from his temple which he then added to the silvery liquid already floating around. He stirred it, muttered something under his breath, and the wavering form of the shop rose from the bowl. Cassie could see the wizards moving along in front of her (him?) and watched as they turned into the door once again. "That is my memory of watching your memory. It would not hold up in a court of law, f course, but it will be enough to fool those we need to fool today." Cassie just nodded as he stirred the bowl's contents again and the shadow of the shop disappeared. "Everyone is getting into position now and hopefully by 10:30, we will be ready for the Ministry." When he left the two of them alone again, George explained that some Ministry officials would be there to witness the memory that was supposedly going to be put into the pensieve. They had been told that she was a witch, hence the robes and the wand.

"If they thought you were a Muggle, they wouldn't even bother to come. And they probably wouldn't trust your memory if they did see it, because this potion Dumbledore used on you is very rare. They would just refuse to believe that a Muggle could use the pensieve at all. So, you need to pretend for just a little longer, okay? Then it will all be over."

"Yes. No problem. I understand." Cassie said the words, but she had never meant them less. She was feeling faint with nerves, now, and hoped that she wouldn't just pass out cold on the floor before the whole thing happened. That would be embarrassing.

A few minutes later, the echo of a loud doorbell echoed through the house and George gripped her shoulder. "That's them. I hope the person we wanted to come, actually came." He stepped out of the room and Cassie could see him looking down over the balcony. "Good. He's here, that will . . . ." His voice stopped and then he swore quite colorfully and ducked into the room again. Cassie looked at him in surprise.

"What's wrong?"

"You'll find out in a minute. I brought this just in case, more for you than me, but I'm going to go ahead and use it." He pulled from his pocket a shimmery piece of fabric that Cassie immediately recognized. She nodded and watched as he sat down and covered himself and the chair he was sitting on with an invisibility cloak. "Just act calm. It'll be all right. Fudge is a . . ." He didn't finish, though, because Arthur was standing at the door escorting a very strange looking man into the room. He was holding a lime green bowler hat in one hand and had on a very old-fashioned looking plaid suit that was about two sizes too large for his frame. He looked like he had lost a lot of weight suddenly and his face was pale with dark shadows under his eyes. Cassie did some quick mental math and realized that it had been three weeks ago today that he had been attacked. She wondered exactly how close to death he had come, because he still looked like it might visit him again anytime.

"Minister, allow me to introduce a friend of the family, Miss, uh Pia Spencer." Cassie was confused and looked at Arthur. She thought everything was out in the open now. She didn't realize she was supposed to be Pia again.

"Yes, yes. Is she the one with the memory?"

"Yes."

"Well, let's get on with this. I'm still not feeling up to snuff. I have no desire to stay here any longer than necessary."

"Er, yes. Albus will be in soon to help with that." Fudge snorted as though he didn't believe it and then he came further into the room, heading for a chair across the table from Cassie. That's when she caught her breath in surprise and realized why Arthur had introduced her that way. She also realized instantly why George had sworn and why he was sitting under the invisibility cloak in the corner of the room. Percy Weasley followed Fudge into the room, bustling importantly to the Minister's side and helping him to sit down. Cassie watched with growing unease. She had been under the impression that Percy had broken ties with Fudge and the Ministry but that was obviously wrong.

She swallowed hard but didn't say anything. She knew that George and Fred both believed Percy had been the one who had betrayed her identity and had indirectly caused her parents to be terrorized so his presence here this morning was not a welcome twist. She imagined that George was wrestling with himself to keep from standing up and strangling his own brother. Arthur, as far as Cassie was aware, did not know anything about their suspicions and seemed to be glad that his third son was here. "Percy, you remember Pia?"

"Yes. I remember her. But I don't understand why she is here today. I was under the impression that this meeting had to do with exposing a plot to kill the Minister of Magic."

"It is. It is all very complex. I think I should allow Albus to explain."

"You mean tell the selective truth, then?" Percy's eyes were cold as they met his father's and Cassie felt another shudder of fear down her spine. She really was not happy Percy was here. She had a sudden feeling that the Order had overlooked something vital - the possibility that the ninth wizard might be someone they let into the mansion themselves. She gulped and let her eyes flick to the corner where George was (theoretically) still sitting but then dragged them back to the surface of the table and pretended to look bored with the entire discussion.

"Arthur? Are you sure the security is good here? I did as you asked and left my guards at home, but I haven't seen any sort of protection." Fudge seemed unaware of the tension in the room and led the conversation away from Percy's question and Cassie breathed a little easier.

"Don't worry, Minister. Everything is very secure. It should just be a few more minutes. I'll let Albus know you are here and wish to go home shortly." Arthur hurried out of the room and Cassie had a feeling that an impromptu meeting would be taking place between him and as many Order members as he could talk to. When the door shut, she thought that Fudge would ask her questions or try to make small talk, but he didn't say anything, didn't even really look at her. Just muttered periodically about needing to get home and occasionally about how he hated waiting for Dumbledore. Cassie did as she had been told and fiddled around with her wand. Percy was looking at her with narrowed eyes and Cassie tried not to squirm.

She was relieved, then, when the younger Podmore and Hestia Jones came into the room before very much longer, shutting the door firmly behind them. Fudge looked very disgruntled that they were not accompanied by Dumbledore but they ignored his scowl and just assured him that Albus was on his way in just a few moments. Galileo looked around for George but when he didn't see him he seemed to take this as a sign that it would be all right to continue the abbreviated flirting from earlier and started chatting at Cassie, making light teasing remarks, trying to get her to smile. She tried to be gracious, but tuned him out as much as possible, concentrating instead on what was going to happen in the next few minutes. He eventually realized that he wasn't going to get a response from her and wandered over to talk to Percy. They knew each other, apparently, judging from what they said to each other. Cassie thought for a moment and realized that this made sense. They were probably no more than four years apart in age at the most, maybe less. If Galileo had attended Hogwarts, it was likely they would have crossed paths at least a few times. Percy didn't seem impressed at this reunion and his answers were terse, bordering on rude. After another few minutes passed, Cassie glanced at her watch. It was almost 11. George thought that whatever was going to happen would happen in the next few minutes and Cassie tried to breathe slowly and not panic.

"I say - How much longer am I expected to sit here waiting? I am still ill. This is not good for me, not at all."

"He's right. I think we should leave, Mr. Fudge. This is really inexcusable." Percy scowled at Cassie, Galileo, and Hestia as though they were personally stopping Professor Dumbledore from coming into the room.

"Oh, now, please. You've only been here 20 minutes. You must understand that we need to protect our witness here. She could be your only chance of knowing what really happened at the Ministry party. And from what she has told us up to this point, we think you will find it very interesting." Hestia spoke calmly, as though unconcerned whether the Minister chose to stay or leave and Cassie supposed she really wasn't. His presence was merely the window dressing to the plot. If he left now, it would make no difference at all to the outcome. Or at least, Cassie thought that was the case. There were so many layers upon layers to this entire scheme that she actually was unsure exactly what the plan involved. She swallowed and tried to match Hestia's expression of disinterest.

"That is why I'm here - but I don't understand why there is all this infernal waiting! Where is Dumbledore?"

"I'm sorry. I don't know."

"Go find him, then!"

"No, sir. He will come when he is ready, sir. And not before." Fudge's pale face flushed and he scowled, hunching down in his chair and looking sulky. But he didn't leave. There was a harried knock on the door and Hestia approached it, wand withdrawn. "Yes?" A password was given through the door and she opened it cautiously. David Ashenhurst entered the room and glanced at its occupants.

"We're under attack. Minister, for your own safety, I think you and your assistant should go to a safe room we have prepared for you."

"Nonsense. Really, this is ridiculous. I'm leaving immediately."

"You won't be able to do that. The wards are powerful and no one can disapparate from inside the house. Please, come with me."

"What about the girl?" Fudge looked at Cassie briefly but she felt no concern for her well-being in his gaze, just a desire to protect the memory that would allow him to know who had attacked him.

"She'll be fine. Your safety is Dumbledore's primary concern. Please, come now." He left with Percy and Fudge in tow. Galileo and Hestia started talking excitedly about who could be attacking but they made no move to leave. They were under strict orders to guard Cassie with their lives and Cassie was grateful. She listened hard for the noises of approaching battle, but didn't hear anything. It was only a few moments later that Ashenhurst returned after again giving the password.

"How's the battle going? How many are here fighting? Who are we fighting?"

"I don't really know. Everything is complete chaos down there. We're really taking a beating. I think there may be more of them than Dumbledore expected. I just wanted you to know. I'll go down and see how things are going." About five minutes passed before he came in again.

"Things are really going badly. I think we should get down there and help as much as possible. Two more wands may make a difference. And George, if you're in here which I think you are, Fred has been seriously hurt and he's calling for you." Cassie caught her breath and could almost feel the sudden tension in the air as George heard that announcement. "He's still under attack and he's hoping you can come help him." Cassie knew that George was debating what to do, so she made his mind up for him.

"Go, George. Go. I'll be fine." George took the cloak off and both Hestia and Galileo stared in surprise at him.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. I'm positive. Go. You need to be with Fred."

"Hestia, maybe you should go. No offense, but you've had the most experience fighting. The two of us would probably be better guards for Cassie."

"I'll curse you for mentioning my age later. But I know you're right. You two will be all right?"

"Of course, of course. I don't think they'll even get up here. Go, go!" She left and Galileo sealed the door behind her. Cassie smiled faintly.

"Is it really bad out there?"

"Yes. Very vicious."

"Could you see-"

"No. I couldn't. But I was worrying about Fudge and Weasley so I could only hear the yelling and see the blocked spells flying around." Cassie continued playing with her wand out of nervousness now, wondering what was going on downstairs and praying in her soul that George would not be hurt. So she didn't really register what had happened when she heard the words "Avarda Kedavra" and the following thud of a body hitting the floor. She turned, though, almost instinctively and saw the bright eyes of David Ashenhurst. She looked down at the floor. Galileo Podmore was laying there, the laughter gone from his eyes, his face frozen permanently in shock.

"What-"

"Pity, isn't it? He killed you and then tried to kill me, but I defended myself bravely and accidentally killed him. Such a bright future, gone so terribly wrong. He must have fallen in with the wrong crowd. A traitor in the Order! Imagine the scandal!" Cassie looked between Galileo and David, still expecting him to stand up and laugh and tell her it was all a joke. But when she saw the mad light in David's eyes, she knew it was no joke. He was here to kill her. And it would take exactly half a second for him to do it. She had a sudden clarity of thought and time seemed to slow down. She knew that if she wanted to get out of this room alive, she would have to think quickly and not give up. If she died, she would die fighting, not standing there waiting for the spell to hit her. She reached into her pocket and grabbed the Falcons sticker, praying that George would know this was no false alarm.

"You're a Muggle girl - what a surprise that was! So this . . ." He grabbed the pensieve "was a joke. Muggles can't use them, did you know that? They go insane and you can't get a good memory out of them no matter what. So Dumbledore never intended to take a memory from you! But no matter. I don't care about that. What I want to know, what I want you to tell me, is who you actually saw if you even saw anyone. Imperio!"

Cassie felt the warmth and peace that accompanied this curse and tried to focus her mind on resisting it. But she was caught by surprise and she wasn't able to really get a grip on her will like she had in Remus' class. "Tell me, Muggle! What did you really see in Knockturn Alley that night?"

"I saw wizards, going into a meeting in a shop. I heard them talking." Cassie wanted to keep talking. Every neuron in her brain was telling her to keep talking, but she ignored them as best she could.

"Which wizards?"

"I didn't know any of them. I didn't recognize them at all." The happy feeling was edging away now and instead she just felt the pressure, the drive to do what she was told and she shook her head to try to clear it.

"But you know them now?"

"A few of them. Not all."

"Is that the truth?"

"Yes." Ashenhurst lifted his wand off her and she blinked, pretending to come out of the trance that the Imperious curse induced.

"I don't believe you. You're lying to me. Through Imperious. That's rather interesting. But Dumbledore told us you had identified everyone - well, almost. Imperio! Tell me who you know was there! Now! And don't fight me. Just tell me!"

"Dumbledore was lying. He wanted to make it sound like we were further along in identifying them than we really are. I know Lucius Malfoy now, and Richard Blackman. And Nicholas Nightscall. That's everyone I recognized."

Suddenly there was a pounding on the door and Cassie heard George's panicked voice through the door. "Cassie! Cassie! Are you there? What's going on?"

"The battle can't be over yet! What is he doing back here already? Don't say anything! You're already dead, remember?" Cassie let go of her sticker in her pocket and then, after the Imperious curse was once again lifted off her, she grabbed the sticker again. Ashenhurst muttered a silencing spell and the noisy yelling through the door was gone. Cassie blinked back sudden tears. At least before she had known George was out there. Now there was no indication of his presence at all. It was just her and the madman. And he had a wand. That actually worked. But George was still out there, she knew it. She would just have to survive until he got in here. It couldn't take too long.

"I've never known a Muggle who can resist Imperious. You may think that you can win by keeping the truth from me. But it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter at all. Dumbledore obviously didn't know about me. That's all I care about. The others can take care of themselves." He sat down and drummed his fingers on the table, thinking hard.

"If they're arrested, they'll name you under veritaserum."

"But that's assuming there will be a witness. Which there won't be." He looked at the pensieve and then down into it, stirred the shallow contents and Cassie watched in horror as the wavery form of the wizards and the shop appeared once again. He cursed and threw the pensieve against a wall. The silvery contents dribbled all over the floor. "How did that memory get into the pensieve? Tell me!" He raised his wand and Cassie watched something click in his brain. "Imperious isn't working on you, is it?" He looked at the door and smiled and Cassie's stomach sank. It was a twisted smile. A perverted smile. And she admitted to herself that she was very very frightened. "It's interesting to me that George Weasley has a Muggle girlfriend. I wouldn't have thought he would be one to settle for trash. He always had high class tastes, even if he couldn't afford them. But it does give me some very interesting ideas." He stood up and walked over to the door, lifting the silencing charm. George was still pounding and screaming and there were others out in the hall also. Various charms were being thrown against the door, but none of them were apparently doing the trick. Ashenhurst laughed. "They made this so strong to keep others out. Now they're the ones on the outside trying to get in. And it's you and I in here. All alone." He raised his wand and Cassie knew what was coming before he even said the word. But she didn't even have time to catch her breath before the curse was on her.

Pain. That was the only thought that screamed through her brain and body. Agony beyond comprehensible agony. She heard someone screaming in her ear but didn't realize it was her own voice until he lifted the wand and grinned down at her. She was lying on the floor, shaking, trying to swallow to appease the strain on her vocal cords, but her muscles wouldn't cooperate. She remembered Remus' lesson those weeks ago and tried to remember what he had taught them. She couldn't remember. She couldn't. No one could survive pain like that. No one. She realized that George was screaming louder now and with some still coherent corner of her brain she realized one other thing. Ashenhurst had just given up his plans of getting out of that room the hero. Because he had just admitted that she was still alive. And that meant that now he had nothing to lose. He helped her off the floor and into a chair, throwing the silencing charm again, enveloping them in a cocoon of silence. "That hurt, didn't it? And it was only five seconds. Do you think you could survive ten?" Cassie didn't shake her head although she knew he spoke the truth. "You don't have to answer. I can see it your eyes. I think you can tell me now what I want to know. How did your memory get into that pensieve? Or is it really your memory at all?"

"Not my memory. Fake memory." She gasped out and winced as she forced her abused vocal cords to make noise. He thought about that for a second but shook his head.

"It's not fake. But it's not yours. Do you have any more to add? Like the truth?" This time Cassie did shake her head and she tried to focus. Tried to find a place to escape. She thought of the Burrow, tried to remember something nice. Kissing George. Ashenhurst lifted the silencing charm again but she heard the word "Crucio" over all the screaming and noise from the hall nonetheless. Maybe two seconds. The memory of kissing George had bought her two seconds. It wasn't enough. She didn't want to scream. She really didn't. But she had no choice. He didn't try to get her into a chair this time afterwards, probably knowing that she wouldn't be able to sit there.

It was quiet again, except for her sobs, and she focused on herself, trying desperately to remember how to get control of her pain. Remus had told them to not fight the pain, but to let it just exist while they existed somewhere else. Somewhere nice. Somewhere where the pain was too, but didn't intrude. Her brain scratched around frantically, trying to find someplace nice. A specific memory. She didn't hear his next question. She didn't need to. She knew what he wanted and what he was willing to do to get it. She just focused and wondered how long it would be before they could break through that door. She thought that she could maybe hold out one more time. Then she would tell. She couldn't bear it a fourth time. They would have to get here before then. She heard the hooting from her pocket and registered vaguely that George wanted her to grab the sticker, but she couldn't. All the muscles in her arms were cramped up so tight that she couldn't move them. She tried. Ashenhurst heard the noise and looked at her.

"What is that?" She didn't answer him but he found it, reaching into her pocket and pulling it out. "Why is it making that noise?"

"Signal," she gasped out. "He's still alive."

"Well, that's very touching." He ripped it up. "He can hear you screaming, you know. And I may even let him hear me when I kill you. A shared last moment for the two of you." He walked over to the door and lifted the charm. Cassie tried to focus, anticipating that the Cruciatus curse would be used again on her, but instead, Ashenhurst yelled through the door. "I trust you can hear her screaming!"

"Ashenhurst! I'm going to kill you! Slowly! You let her out of there now!"

"Why should I do that? She's being so wonderfully cooperative. And such a pretty girl, too. For a Muggle, I mean."

"You lay one finger on her and I'll -"

"Oh, I don't need to force her. She's weak now, and docile. If I tell her to come to me, she will! But maybe one more lesson on what happens if she doesn't obey!" Cassie focused, remembering riding on the broom with George, kissing him, loving him, the feeling of flying. She focused on the way the wind felt whipping through her hair when she was on the broom, concentrated on the way the Burrow looked from above. She felt her muscles tighten, every nerve ending in her body protesting the thrice-repeated abuse, and she gasped, trying to catch her breath. The pain was there, but her mind was elsewhere. She wondered for a moment if she were dead, but then she lost concentration, and the weak scream her aching throat gave at the end seemed to satisfy his perverse sense of humor. He laughed. "You're about done for, girl. You'll tell me the truth now, I wager. But . . . you are remarkably pretty. When Weasley finds your body . . . I would like him to think that I got you to bend to my will. Let's see if Imperious works better on you now. A few episodes with Cruciatus and get the most stubborn person to give in. Don't you agree?"

Cassie thought for a moment and then nodded. "Good girl. What are you wearing under your robes? Imperio! Take them off."

"All right. Just don't do that again. I can't take it again."

"And if you cooperate, I won't. I'll just kill you quickly. But, you do need to do what I say." She nodded. She undid the fastenings on the robe and laid it over her chair. Her hands were weak and it took a while but he seemed in no rush. George and the rest of the group were still in the hall and she heard them trying all sorts of things to get in. Ashenhurst didn't even seem concerned. Cassie moved as slowly as she dared and then walked toward him, giving her cramping muscles a chance to relax and recover. When he saw her robes were off, Ashenhurst smiled. "Muggle clothes. I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Come here." He touched her hair. "Very pretty. What did you ever see in Weasley anyway? He runs a joke shop for pity's sake. I should keep you alive and take you to live with me. I'd love that. Pity I can't risk it, but it would be nice. Kiss me, darling. I'll be able to tell him all about how good you tasted." His thumb brushed her bottom lip and that was the first time she realized she had bitten through it in her agony. "Oh. That must hurt. I'll kiss it better." She smiled and put her hands on his shoulders. He wasn't as tall as George and it was a strange sensation. She stepped closer to him.

"There's just one thing I want to tell you, David."

"What's that?"

"You wizards really need to stop underestimating Muggles!" As she said that, she brought her knee up very hard into his groin and then did it again before he could collapse. "That's for George!" she said as he crumpled to the ground, clutching himself in agony. She smiled. "And this one is in honor of Draco. He taught me a lot." And she pulled back her foot and kicked him once again right where it counted. This time, it was his screams that echoed through the room. There was complete silence in the hall for a split second and then even louder yells. Cassie wanted to reassure George that she was all right because she knew he thought that was her, but she knew she didn't have the strength to make herself heard over the pandemonium.

She looked at the crumpled wizard on the ground. He hadn't moved yet. She tried to grab his wand out of his hand, but his grip was still tight and she couldn't. He grunted and rolled over, pointing his wand toward her. "I'm going to kill you, Muggle! Right now!" The stream of green light that accompanied his next hoarse curse missed her, but barely. Cassie fell to the ground, hiding behind Galileo's body, trying to ignore the fact that he was dead as another curse passed overhead. There would be time for mourning later. She looked around the room and wished more than she ever had that she was really a witch. If she was, she could start throwing those heavy books magically over on top of him and knock him out. She could see him struggling to rise and she realized that she probably only had a few moments before he could get a better aim on her and hit her this time. She glanced toward the wall and gathered what little strength she had left and crawled over to it. He was still lying on the floor when she looked at him next. He was breathing hard and trying to stand. She stood up and hurried as fast as she could toward him, hoping she had the strength to do what needed to be done. The stone pensieve was heavy and she could barely carry it as it was.

"And this is because I had to drink that horrible potion!" she gasped as she brought the heavy stone bowl down on his head. It must have been a good hit, because he didn't even moan as his eyes rolled back in his head and he lost consciousness. She wondered whether she had killed him, but he twitched and she knew she hadn't hit him hard enough for that. Pity. She tried again to grab his wand, but she was so weak that she couldn't pry it out of his stiff fingers. She grimaced but picked up his wand hand and pressed hard against the pressure point at his wrist. His muscles spasmed reflexively and she grabbed the wand before it hit the floor. Black dots were swimming in front of her eyes and she knew that she wouldn't last much longer before joining the madman in his unconscious state. She just needed to do one more thing. Just one. Then she could sleep.

She took a deep breath, braced the wand across her knee, and counted to three. She pushed with all of her might on both ends of the polished stick and it snapped with a very satisfying crack. She pushed harder until the two halves separated from each other. She lay back on the floor with a sigh, expecting the bliss of unconsciousness, but she was still aware as the door opened a moment later. The breaking of the wand that was holding the door shut had canceled the spell. George rushed toward her and grabbed her, clutching her close to his chest. She groaned in renewed agony. "Don't touch me. Please. Don't. It hurts." Dumbledore said something to her which Cassie didn't hear. And then the blessed darkness closed in and she knew nothing more.