Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all associated characters do not belong to me.

Hey everyone! I'm finally updating! I've been so incredibly busy this week with work and soccer it's been absolute chaos! Anywho, thanks to my reviewers, you guys are awesome as always! I apologize for the cliffie in the previous chapter but I had to do it! I just couldn't help myself! Thanks to Foolish Fish and The Nauti Dolphin for their encouraging reviews! Special thanks goes to Jen who helped me make a final decision about a new character who appears in this chapter, I needed that criticism to keep me somewhat sane. Here's the next chapter!

Chapter 8: An Unexpected Vistor

"You!" exclaimed Hermione.

"Me," smirked Bellatrix, as she sauntered over so that she was only a few feet away. "I'm glad to se you remember me but isn't it past your bedtime?"

"Huh?" said a confused Ron.

Hermione drew her wand from her robe pocket, "I bet you were expecting to just waltz right in here without anyone noticing until it was too late," she said, "But you thought wrong! Stupefy!"

"Protego!" shouted Bellatrix, as she deflected the spell. "You know what you're doing, I'll give you that," she said. "I guess I have Potter to thank for that. However, seeing as I am far more experienced and powerful then you I'll have no trouble finishing you once and for all. Crucio!"

Hermione screamed in pain as she fell to the floor convulsing as pain ttacked very sqaure inch of her body.

"Hermione!" Ron exclaimed as he rushed forward.

"Ah, how touching," Bellatrix said, "Little Weasley loves his mudblood. I almost feel sad that you'll have to watch her die, Avada-"

But before she could get the words out, Ron had snatched up Hermione's wand from the floor.

"Expelliarmus!" he shouted, causing Bellatrix's wand to leap out of her hand and clatter to the floor. "Don't even think about it," he said through gritted teeth, as Bellatrix moved to grab her wand, "Stupefy!"

Bellatrix lept out of the way just in time and the spell sailed past.

"What a poor shot you are," she mocked.

"Accio wand!" Ron said and Bellatrix's wand zoomed over to him. He caught it in his left hand and smiled, "I may be a poor shot," he said, "but at least I have a wand and now you don't."

Bellatrix merely laughed at him, "Silly boy," she said, "Do you think I'd be stupid enough to come here alone? It doesn't matter if you have my wand because there are others who can get it back for me."

"I hope you don't mean these two," said a familiar voice from the hallway, and Bellatrix whirled around just as George entered dragging a figure in long black robes behind him, with Fred carting another figure close behind.

"Who would've though coming down for a midnight snack could be so exciting," continued George.

"Good thing we were up," said Fred, "Otherwise we would've missed all the fun, eh Ron?"

Ron stared at the twins for a moment, "Are you mental?" he said.

"A little, yeah," said Fred.

"But you should know that by now," said George.

"I suppose so," Ron said.

"Well Bellatrix," said Fred, "It's been a slice but I'm afraid you'll have to say 'goodnight' now. Care to do the honours Ron?"

Ron grinned, "Alright then," he said, "Stupefy!"

Bellatrix froze and fell over onto the floor.

Ron turned back to Hermione, "You OK?" he asked, as he knelt down beside her.

Hermione nodded slowly, "I think so," she said. "But who are those two?"

"Let's find out," George said, as he bent down and pulled the hood and mask off one of them. "Well this is her husband, that Rodolphus guy" he said, "Who's that Fred?"

Fred pulled of the hood and mask of the other Death Eater, "Victor Poletti?" he said, clearly confused.

"Isn't he that weird guy who's always hanging around the Leaky Cauldron?" Ron asked, as he helped Hermione to her feet.

"Yeah," George said, "Tom has to throw him out all the time bcause he creeps out the customers."

"And with a face like that it's no wonder," Hermione observed, and the boys laughed. "We should get ahold of the Ministry though..."

"Actually," said Kingsley Shacklebolt, as he stepped into view with four other Aurors, "we're already here. Fred and George notified us immediately. Not that you lot needed our help."

"Well, we did what we could," Hermione said with a smile.

"It helped that we had a good teacher," Ron added.

"Not Umbridge," said one of the other Aurors, as her head snapped up quickly in surprise. She was a woman of average height and build, with short light brown hair that fell to just below her ears and shockingly blue-grey eyes.

"Obviously not," Kingsley said with a chuckle. "He means Harry Potter. A whole group of kids formed a defence against the dark arts club and he taught them a bunch of spells."

"That Dumbledore's Army thing Fudge kept ranting about?" she asked.

"That would be the one," said Kingsley.

"Well it's a good thing you had at least one decent defence teacher last year," she said. "Guess that'll make my job a lot easier in September."

"Huh?" said Ron.

"I'm going to be the new defence teacher at Hogwarts," the Auror explained, "Name's Julie Goeller."

"I've read about you!" said Hermione.

Julie looked surprised, "You have?" she said.

"Yes!" Hermione said excitedly, "You co-wrote 101 Simple Spells To Protect Yourself with Jessica Albright and you wrote How It Started: A History of the Magical World last year. Not to mention The Enchanted trilogy which is absolutely amazing!"

"Uh, thanks," said a now bewildered looking Julie.

"Hey wait a second," said George, "Didn't you go to school with Charlie?"

"Yeah," Julie said slowly, as if this conversation was not going at all to her liking.

"And didn't you two date at one point?" asked Fred.

Luckily, a now very flustered looking Julie was saved answering the question by the arrival of the rest of the Weasley family; all of whom looked rather dishevaled.

"What's going on down here?" demanded Mrs. Weasley. "Kinglsey? What are you doing here?"

"Your family had a few unexpected visitors," said Kingsley, as he indicated the incapacitated Death Eaters.

Mrs. Weasley did a double take as she looked down at the three stunned Death Eaters.

"Are those....?" she began.

Kingsley nodded, "Death Eaters," he finished.

"But how?" asked Mr. Weasley.

"We're not sure," Kingsley replied, "but luckily all of you are alright."

"Julie?" Charlie said, who had apprently just recognized his former classmate. Immediately Ron's attention shifted from his parents and Kingsley to his brother and Julie.

Julie, had been looking in the opposite direction looked round and nodded. "Yep, it's me," she said with a small smile, but it seemed strained.

"I haven't seen you in years!" exclaimed Charlie, clearly oblivious to Julie's discomfort. "I'd forgotten you were an Auror, how've you been?"

Julie shrugged, "Meh," she said, "It's never boring, that's for sure. How successful were you chasing dragons?"

"Not too bad," Charlie said. "I'm in London though with a bit of a desk job at the moment."

"How come?"

Charlie shrugged, "My boss told me I was being transferred so I was transferred," he replied.

Julie laughed, "So it wasn't really up to you then," she said.

"Not really, no."

"Hey Kingsley!" said one of the other Aurors. He had an unfamiliar accent that Ron didn't recognize. "You want us to take these three while you get statements?"

Kingsley thought for a moment, "Yeah," he said, "I'll meet you back at the office."

"Alright, you heard the boss!" said the Auror, "Move out!"

Julie rolled her eyes and smiled, "You are too much Shawn," she said.

Shawn grinned, "Ah, but I'm the funny Canadian, I'm allowed to be weird," he said.

"Guess I'll see you around Charlie," Julie said with a bit of a wave.

"Yeah," Charlie said with a nod, but Ron could've sworn his brother looked, was it disappointed?

Shawn waved his wand and the Death Eaters rose a few feet off the ground. Using his wand as a conductor's baton he directed them out the door and followed closely behind with the other Aurors.

"Hey Julie," Kingsley called, and Julie poked her head back into the kitchen.

"Yeah?"

"Could you draw a protective shield around the house before you leave?" Kingsley asked. "Out of the five of us your's are the strongest."

"Sure thing," Julie said.

"Thanks," said Kingsley, and Julie disappeared from view.

Ron glanced sideways at Hermione, who had furrowed her brow and was clearly thinking hard about something.

"What's wrong?" Ron asked in a whisper as he edged closer.

"Nothing's wrong," Hermione replied, her voice was so low Ron could barely hear her. "I just think that there's some tension between Charlie and Julie."

"So it's not just me then," Ron said. "I thought I was losing it for a minute."

"Are you telling me you actually noticed something subtle?"

"Yep, surprising isn't it?"

"Very much so."

"Well, what can I say, I'm a very surprising guy," Ron said with an impish grin.

"That you are," Hermione said with a smile.

"Hermione, Ron, could I get your statements please?" Kingsley asked.

"Alright," Ron said, and he and Hermione walked over to where Kinglsey had set up his quill and parchment.

When they had finished recounting their side of the story, Kinglsey rolled up the parchment and gave it a tap with his wand before stowing it away in his pocket.

"I'll be in touch with you at about 9 o'clock," he said. "Clearly your home is no longer safe and you must be moved to a secure location immediately."

"What about if someone comes back?" asked a nervous looking Mrs. Weasley.

"I brought a pair of Guard Thestrals with me," Kinglsey said. "I'll leave them behind to protect you for the time being."

"I didn't think Thestrals could be trained like that," Hermione said with a slight frown.

"Yeah," said Ron, "Hagrid said Hogwarts had the only domesticated herd."

"Funny you should mention Hagrid," said Kingsley, "I got them from him."

"Are you sure Thestrals are safe?" asked Mrs. Weasley.

Kingsley nodded, "Very safe," he said. "My advice though is to not leave your house because we don't know who's lurking out there at the moment. Julie's spells are also incredibly strong so that will give you even more protection-she graduated top of her class in Auror training."

Bill whistled, "Wow," he said, "I knew she was good but I didn't realize she was that good," he said.

"You should've seen her at Hogwarts," Charlie said. "She was in my year and top of the class in everything."

"That's right," Mrs. Weasley said. "My goodness she's changed though, she seems incredibly serious now, not at all like the smiling and care-free girl she used to be."

"That's a relatively new development," Kinglsey said. "She was still pretty laid back up until about three years ago but now..."

"What happened that changed her?" Charlie inquired looking interested.

Kingsley shrugged, "No one knows," he said, "but something happened. She's starting to relax again though. Ever since Shawn, he was the one with the accent, transferred from Canada she's started to return to her former self which is good news for everyone because he spellwork has grown stronger as her stress level has decreased."

Ron glanced sideways at Charlie who now wore a decisively blank expression. Ron frowned as he thought for a moment. He remembered meeting Julie at a Christmas party when he was about seven or eight and seeing her at King's Cross on Platform 9 ¾ but it that was it. Fred seemed to think that she and Charlie had dated at some point and judging from her reaction he had a feeling Fred was right. There was definitely more to the story then people were saying.

Guess I'm not the only one with girl problems, he thought.

His gaze shifted to Hermione, who still looked rather shaken from the curse Bellatrix had directed at her. He frowned, how long did the effects of the Cruticus curse last?

Maybe it's just a psychological thing.

He edged a bit closer, fighting the urge to take her hand in his.

"You alright?" he asked quietly.

Hermione shrugged, "I've been better," she replied. "I'm lucky you were here, otherwise...well it could've been much worse. At least you managed to get my wand before Bellatrix did."

"Oh, speaking of..." Ron said, as he held out her wand to her. "Here you go."

"Thanks," Hermione said, as she pocketed it.

"How come I come I managed to get such good results with it though?" Ron asked. "I thought spells were weaker when cast with someone else's wand."

"Normally, yes," Hermione said, "but there are exceptions. It depends on you relation to the owner of the wand and the emotion behind the spells you're trying to use."

"So since I was trying to be all brave and heroic by saving you it worked?"

"I guess," Hermione said with a shrug. "Although I think something else might've helped, but I'm not sure."

"What do you think helped?"

Hermione started to reply but was cut off by Mrs. Weasley.

"Come on you lot," Mrs. Weasley said, "Back to bed you go."

Slowly the group trudged upstairs to their respective bedrooms without argument. Only Mr. Weasley stayed behind to continue speaking with Kingsley.

Ron took his time going to his room, hoping against hope that maybe, just maybe, he'd be able to continue talking to Hermione, but no such luck. They said their goodnights and Ron watched as she disappeared into Ginny's room, closing the door behind her.

With a sigh, Ron turned and returned to his own room. He fell onto his bed and within a few minutes had fallen asleep.

OK, so that's it folks! This chapter actually took forever and has been rewritten about 3 times! It also doesn't help that I'm never home because of work and soccer. Yesterday I left my house at 7 am and didn't come home until 9pm because I went straight from work to soccer which totally sucked. Well, that's about all, I won't bore you with anymore ramblings-lol. Please review and I promise I'll update sooner! I finish work next Friday and I'm already done about half the next chapter anyway. (OK, so it's only the rough draft, but it's a start.) Anywho, ciao!

-Megan