"What is your problem, Ron?" Hermione shouted, advancing on Ron until his back was pressed against the portrait hole. "Ethan was just trying to hold my hand! We've been holding hands for the past few weeks! What's up?"

Ron looked around the Gryffindor common room, searching for help; no one else was there. Everyone else was still in the Great Hall, where Ethan and Rochelle were probably concocting a reason why their girlfriend and boyfriend had left breakfast early.

"Well?" Ron looked at the insistent Hermione, at a loss for what to say. He couldn't tell her the truth; even though there was an understanding between them, neither Ron nor Hermione had ever actually admitted that there was anything between them. And to do so now, when both of them were "dating" other people, would put a strain on their relationship. If Ron and Hermione looked anything more than friendly, then the alibis for Harry's new bodyguards would be exposed, putting all of the Guards at Hogwarts in danger.

Ron opened his mouth to give Hermione some lame excuse, but was saved at the last second when the portrait swung out from behind him, causing Ron to lose his balance and fall backwards. On his way down, Ron saw four confused faces: Harry's, Ethan's, Isabel's, and—Ron gulped audibly—Rochelle's. Ron landed painfully on his back in the corridor outside Gryffindor tower.

Smirking, Rochelle held out a hand to help Ron back to his feet. "It's okay," she assured him when Ron just eyed her hand warily. "A lot of people are scared of me."

"Yeah?" Ron took Rochelle's hand and stood. "How many of them are ex-boyfriends who hated it when you read their minds?"

For a second, Ron though he saw a flash of remorse in Rochelle's eyes, but it was quickly replaced by anger. "First of all, I don't 'read your mind'," she corrected, using her fingers to make quotation marks while repeating the clichéd phrase. "I hear your thoughts. And if you could just learn to block your thoughts, then I wouldn't be hearing them!"

"RONALD WEASLEY!" Hermione burst through the portrait hole. "I'm still waiting for an answer!"

Ron looked from Rochelle to Hermione and back again, confused. "How did I get two women mad at me in less than five minutes?" he asked.

Harry and Ethan were laughing at Ron's situation, but while Harry was laughing silently—albeit clasping both hands over his mouth to be able to do so—Ethan was laughing openly and loudly. Ron gave Ethan a small glare, giving Harry credit for at least attempting to hide his laughter. Ethan, however, seemed to find Ron's glaring at him all the more funny; he began to laugh harder.

"Well?" Ron looked at Hermione, still unsure as to what to say to her.

Isabel took this as her cue and stepped in, clearing her throat authoritatively. "Hermione, Ron loves you and has loved you for a while; that's why he has a big problem with you and Ethan 'being together'. Ron, Hermione loves you too but you've been too busy snogging Lavender to notice."

Ethan and Harry stopped laughing. The two boys had completely different reactions to Isabel's words: Ethan was glaring at Isabel as if she'd done something stupid, whereas Harry appeared uncomfortable, looking anywhere but at his two best friends.

Ron and Hermione didn't notice any of this, though, because they were gazing at each other with odd expressions on their faces. Ron really wished Isabel had left things alone; now it felt too uncomfortable being in Hermione's presence, while at the same time it was exactly where he wanted to be. Looking into her eyes, he knew that what Isabel had said was true; Hermione did love him back.

Suddenly, Rochelle leaned in and poked both of Ron's sides at the same time, causing him to jump slightly and say in a high-pitched voice—one that Harry and Hermione hadn't heard since their fourth year at Hogwarts—"Yipe!"

Ron turned to glare at Rochelle, torn between angry and grateful for her interruption. Rochelle smirked, reminding Ron that she was "hearing his thoughts".

What Ron really wanted to know about Rochelle was: how could someone so beautiful be so horrible? Sometimes, if the light struck Rochelle's face at just the right angle, Ron would be reminded of the veela—SMACK!

Ron looked stunned at Rochelle, wondering what he had done this time to deserve being slapped. He rubbed his right cheek, looking questioningly at Rochelle.

"Don't think that just because I haven't read your books doesn't mean I haven't seen the movies!" Rochelle screeched at him. "The movie for Goblet of Fire… my GOD do you think of anything else but veela?"

Now it was Hermione's turn to laugh. Harry looked confused. "There were never any veela at Hogwarts," Harry ventured slowly, thinking back. "There was Fleur, but she was only part veela. What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about the movie!" Rochelle yells. "In the movie, there's a whole close-up on the Beauxbatons girls' butts, and Rupert Grint—the actor who plays Ron—showed attraction to that sort of thing." Rochelle looked at Harry, suddenly analytical. "Daniel Radcliffe is so much more attractive than the real you are..." she muttered, shaking her head sadly. Harry looked down at himself, looking for something that might be wrong with his appearance, but he couldn't find anything wrong; he might not be the strongest teenager in the world, but after six years of fighting Voldemort, competing in the Triwizard Tournament, freeing Sirius, and playing Quidditch, Harry also wasn't the wimpiest kid on the block.

Isabel immediately ran to Harry's defense. "Harry looks fine!" she said hurriedly, obviously having been infatuated with the character for a while. "He's nothing compared to Arkarian, but he's still attractive!"

"Gee, thanks," Harry said, quirking one eyebrow at his "girlfriend".

"Mr. Roberts, Ms. Thallimar, and Ms. Beckett," Professor McGonagall called, bustling down the corridor. "I need a private word with the three of you. Follow me, please." The headmistress turned on her heel, obviously expecting the three students to follow her.

Ethan, Isabel, and Rochelle did not disappoint the apparently angry headmistress. Ethan immediately began thinking up excuses for possible things they could have done against the rules, but he couldn't think of anything; he and the others had made sure to toe the line here at Hogwarts, trying not to draw any more attention than anyone else dating Harry Potter would normally do. They had even told Harry, Ron, and Hermione to act as they would normally—but without brewing Polyjuice Potion or following through with any other illegal activities.

Isabel, Rochelle, and Ethan followed McGonagall all the way up to her offices, where the door opened to reveal Matt standing there and looking guilty for no apparent reason. McGonagall immediately strode over to stand angrily behind her desk, her lips pursed so tightly that they formed a very straight, nearly invisible line.

"I want the truth this time," she said angrily, throwing a letter onto the desk. "Who are you and what are you doing at Hogwarts?"

Ethan stepped forward to read the letter:

My dear Minerva:
I regret to inform you that you might have a group of imposters currently educating themselves at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Per your request, I checked all of the attendance records ever kept here at Durmstrang Academy, and there have never been students by the names of Roberts, Ethan; Becket, Isabel; Becket, Matthew; or Thallimar, Rochelle. These students have never attended Durmstrang.
I advise you to interrogate the students immediately; if they are spying for He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, or Impiriused to work for He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, there could be dire consequences to allowing these children to stay at Hogwarts even for the few weeks that they have been there. I myself would have thrown the children off of the school grounds as soon as they entered, had they given me such an excuse, but such is your mercy and generosity.
Your ever-faithful friend and colleague,
Igor Karkaroff

We are in so much trouble, Ethan thought to himself, forgetting to screen his thoughts. Rochelle reiterated that fact by kicking him lightly in the shin and giving him a stern look; Rochelle's presence on this mission was also required to prevent their detection through Legilimency or Truthseeing, since the Muggle act of blocking ones thoughts was extremely similar to the magical Occlumency.

Scrambling his thoughts—Ethan still hadn't mastered the ability to completely block his thoughts—Ethan began to look for possible ways out of this situation. He was usually very good at this, but now McGonagall was confronting the group with hard evidence against them.

"I demand that you tell me who you are, and what you are doing here, immediately." McGonagall sat down behind her desk, putting her fingertips together in a gesture she had probably learned from Dumbledore.

Ethan looked into the headmistress's eyes, ready with another reason for their presence—but was suddenly transfixed by the professor's gaze. Her eyes seemed to bore into his, holding his mind captive. Memories seemed to suddenly float through his mind: his sister's death at the hands of Marduke… meeting Arkarian for the first time, when he was going insane at the ripe old age of four… his Initiation into the Guard… his lessons from Arkarian… training Isabel… finally killing Marduke… Arkarian explaining that the world of Harry Potter was real, and that they were going to protect the young wizard…

Suddenly it all stopped, and Ethan gasped, not having realized that he had held his breath the whole time. "Rochelle," Ethan said, his voice cracking. "Truthseeing is not the same as Legilimency."

Rochelle nodded, her own face pale. She had seen all of those memories along with Ethan when Professor McGonagall had opened them for public view. And if she had seen them, then there was a possibility that a Truthseer here for the Order had seen it too, and knew exactly who was here and why. Harry, and every member of the Guard who had come on this mission to protect him, was now in danger. All because an overprotective headmistress had to go displaying Ethan's thoughts for the world to see—well, for any Truthseers to see. Especially since Ethan, who knew more about the Guard than any of the other people standing in that room, had been the one whose memories had been advertised.

Rochelle knew that now the headmistress would know that Rochelle could hear her thoughts; along with all of his memories, McGonagall had also pulled out information on each of the people standing in the room. Rochelle politely withdrew her mind, so that she would not accidentally pick up any stray thoughts unless they were projected at her on purpose.

Isabel stood with fists bunched. How dare this teacher expose them so forcefully, risking everyone's lives? Granted, she hadn't known she was risking lives, but if McGonagall had given them time to explain then she would have known. But no, this teacher had to go do things her own way, without consulting the students. It disgusted Isabel that her first failed mission was ruined because of this stupid little thing.

Matt didn't know what to think about this. This mission was supposed to be observation only. He had been placed into Ravenclaw only because it would have been suspicious if all of them had been put into Gryffindor. Because Matt had no revealed powers yet, he had been put into Ravenclaw to watch from afar, while Ethan, Isabel, and Rochelle hung out with Harry Potter. He had had to watch Ethan playing Quidditch alongside the most popular book character in the Muggle world. He had had to see his little sister flirting with the fictional—no, not fictional—character. He had had to see his ex-girlfriend, who had betrayed his trust and his friends, get close to the character he had only ever dreamed of going to school with. And all this time Matt had been stuck chatting it up with people like Cho Chang—who was very much a prep, it turned out.

Professor McGonagall, like Matt, wasn't sure what to make of this situation. There were Muggles with magical abilities? This went against everything she had ever known! But no, these Muggles apparently had their own supernatural skills, which enabled them to successfully infiltrate Hogwarts. And while it was not difficult to believe that Harry Potter was in danger and in need of protection, it was difficult to comprehend that his malefactor was not the Dark Lord, but a goddess! An evil goddess, evil enough to rival Lord Voldemort himself… that was a scary thought, something that McGonagall did not want to believe at all. But what other explanation was there for the presences of these students?

After a long time when all anyone did was look uncomfortably around the room, McGonagall nodded to the students. "You are here to protect a Hogwarts student; therefore I have no choice but to welcome you temporarily to Hogwarts. However." McGonagall looked sternly around at each of the teenagers before her, but this time none of them was willing to look into her eyes. "As soon as this goddess business is over, you are to leave Hogwarts. You and everyone else who came with you." McGonagall dismissed the students with a small jerk of her head.

Immediately, Ethan, Isabel, Matt, and Rochelle started to leave. At the door, Matt turned to smile at Professor McGonagall. "You're going to need a ready replacement for the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher," he warned happily before following his friends down the moving staircase.