"So, what exactly is the plan once I do learn enough wandless magic? Do I actually have to assassinate the Minister of Magic?" asked Liza one day.

"Oh, of course not," Theodore responded, a bit disconcerted. "The Order of the Phoenix is against all killing. Besides, they'd just get a new leader. One part of our goal is to spy on the opposition and find out what their next move is in order to sabotage it. Pauline's handling that part- she's a trained auror. But sabotage is only a delay tactic until our final operation gets off the ground, though. That's where you come in.

We're still in the planning stages, but it's going to go something like this. We get you and a few more people like you to get jobs at the ministry, staggering your starting times so no one gets suspicious. And when they least suspect it, the ministry starts to notice people... disappearing. Without a trace, quite mysterious, of course. That's the job we need you and your colleagues for. When you get a few Walpurgi alone, you knock them out of action with expelliarmus, a body bind, anything that works. Then you apparate out of there with them and bring them to our homemade jail. Then we get some muggles that already know about us, introduce them to the Walpurgi, and before you know it, they'll all be converted!"

Liza frowned. "I'm risking my life for people who can't come up with a better plan than that? People are going to get suspicious with all those disappearances; no one's that stupid and revolutionaries are always paranoid. Even if we get them here, you can't change someone's life beliefs by introducing them to a few muggles! They'll probably become martyrs to their side instead!"

"That's an oversimplification of our plan, of course. And there's wand detectors all over the ministry, so the Walpurgi are too arrogant to be suspicious."

"I don't believe this," said Liza. Maybe magical powers weren't all they were cracked up to be.

A few days later, Liza saw Jeremy for the first time in weeks. "You came back!" she exclaimed.

Jeremy allowed himself to be pounced on, though he was unable to understand why he meant so much to a girl he'd only spent a few hours with. "Nott can't seem to get your potions right, so I came over to experiment. He's got a phenomenal potions lab." Upon entering the smelly, overcrowded cellar, Liza had to agree. Theodore began asking about what effects she'd felt on which days, and Nott started to demonstrate his problem.

"I can't seem to get the right ratio of newt bile to unicorn horn. I've tried dozens of combinations, but none seem to work," he worried.

Liza looked at his experiments. "Why, it's just like an acid base titration! We did these in chemistry. Look, is there any way to get newt bile to change colors when you've got the right ratio?"

"Well, yes, actually. That would only take a few drops of hagswater."

"Then you just add the unicorn horn a few drops at a time until it changes."

"Theodore, I think she's on to something!" Liza was overjoyed. After weeks of stubbornly stationary feathers, she had finally showed a sign that she was meant to be a witch.