Disclaimer: We tried to buy the Harry Potter rights off JK Rowling but she turned us down saying our offer of three cookies wasn't enough. So, obviously, we don't own it!

Mistaken Identity

The twins stood dumbstruck. What were they supposed to do? Answer the man? Their mother had always told them never to talk to strangers…but then again they knew it was wrong not to answer when you were being spoken to… and besides, since when did they listen to their mother!

"Yes…" Fred said gingerly, "Sorry we're late." It was a risk. He had no idea who he was supposed to be!

"'Sorry' doesn't make you hex proof, Theron…" the man with the gnarled face paused and raised an eyebrow. "I assume you're Theron?"

"Of course I am!" Fred said. He was scared out of his wits, but it could not have been less obvious from hearing his voice.

The man then turned to George, "So that would make you Caden. Excellent! I'm glad the ministry finally came to its senses and sent someone who could help me handle this situation properly. By the way," The man had one eye fixed on each of the twins, "Your disguises are brilliant. Superb really! They even fooled my eye. Anyone who didn't know would think you were four year old boys!"

"Five years old!" George corrected without thinking.

The man chuckled, "Into character already! Brilliant. Wouldn't you agree, Kingsley?"

"Best costumes I've ever seen," agreed the black wizard with the minimum amount of enthusiasm.

"Thanks!" Fred said missing the lack of honesty, "We worked on them all last night!"

To his surprise all the wizards started to laugh at his remark. Fred knew it was with him, not at him.

"Ah! Theron, you and that humour!" said the scary looking man. With that he grabbed the twins by the shoulders and started to lead them away. "Enough chit-chat though, we need to get a move on or we'll be late…" he said cryptically.

The twin's exchanged looks. Late for what? Fred's amazing powers of deduction were screaming at him, 'It's a party! A fancy dress party! If it wasn't, they wouldn't have commented on our costumes!'

George was thinking along the same lines as his sibling. 'If there's a prize for scariest costume, it'll go to that guy there!' George looked over his shoulder at the man who was pushing them along. 'He wouldn't look like that otherwise…' George's sub-consciousness remarked while studying the mans face, then glancing down at the wooden leg.

Fred looked around at the other wizards who were all sporting grim expressions. If this was a fancy dress party then they were taking it very seriously. Too seriously…

The twins continued to think about the extraordinary situation that they had got themselves into this time as they were steered through the street. Finally, they approached what seemed to be their destination. It was a very dilapidated building, located on the narrowest part of the street. The man pushed them roughly through the broken door of the building.

He and the other wizards led them up some very unsafe stairs and along an old dusty landing. Not a word had been spoken up till now.

"This is our base of operations. We've been watching him from here for the last four months. With no heating. Still it will all be worth it if we get him today!" the scary man said as he stopped by the door at the very end of the landing.

Fred and George didn't know what this man was taking about but they knew that Theron and Caden did, and until they could be themselves again, Fred and George Wesley were Theron and Caden.

"Remember," the man warned, "This operation is highly classified. We're all on a 'need-to-know' basis here. Understand?"

The twins nodded mutely, but neither of them had the foggiest idea what they were supposed to be understanding.

The man pushed the door open. The twins struggled not to gasp. Inside the room looked like the set to a muggle sci-fi show. Contraptions of all shape and form littered the room with two grown adults doing something akin to playing with them. But George had a feeling that these were not toys. Some of them looked threatening and others looked positively dangerous. However some were just strange.

The one the twins took most notice of was a mirror, but this didn't show the room's reflexion. Dark figures were skulking in the background of the glass. None were close enough to make out their features…however as the party moved past it to get into the room, Fred noticed one figure was closer to them than all the rest.

"Hello!" the man who had been at one of the machines turned around. He had an enormous smile on his face displaying slightly horse-like teeth. His hair was dark and windswept. It came down to just below his ears. He had a small beard and a moustache cut in a goatee-ish kind of way. The twins' first impression was that this was a very nice guy. He just gave off good vibes!

He approached them, offering his hand, first to the scary man, and then to the younger man at his side.

"Mad-Eye! Hello! Up to your old tricks again, I hear! Kingsley, long time no see buddy! And…" the man looked down. "Oh! I didn't know it was 'bring your kids to work day'! If I did, I would've brought my Damien! Oh, he'd be a great play-mate for you boys!" The man looked up again at the wizard known as Mad-Eye. "Are these yours, Mad-Eye, you old tiger! Well, if I'd known-"

"Asher!" The wizard called Kingsley was chuckling softly, "Let me present Aurors Jimmy Theron and Robert Caden. They've been called in especially for this assignment."

The talkative man, Asher, was now staring down at the twins in embarrassment. "Oh- oh so sorry!" he mumbled. "I could've sworn- I'm sorry, it's just that you look exactly like a pair of four-"

"Five!" the twins chorused.

"-Five year old lads!" Then, with a pleasant smile, "In character already I see. Good, good!"

Fred and George could do nothing but smile back.

"Anyway!" The man's jovial tone was back in full gusto. "Let me introduce this humble little pocket of intelligence! I'm Asher MacCall but you can call me Asher. Or Boss, I like to be called Boss!" he winked roguishly.

Mad-Eye knelt down- a difficult fete with a wooden leg- and whispered in the twins ears, "Whatever you do, never ever call Asher, Boss. His ego's been inflated enough." He smiled as innocently as was possible up at the glaring Asher.

Asher coughed pointedly before breaking into another great grin and grabbing the other, much quieter, adult that had occupied the room before it had been invaded.

"And this," he wrapped his arm around her shoulders, "is my assistant, Risa Sharp!"

The young woman with dark hair and an angular face smiled down at the twins and at the aurors. She was extremely pretty. Her eyes were almost grey in colour. This and her relatively pale skin made a stark contrast to her hair.

"Assistant, eh? Well, that's better than what you said yesterday," she gave him a nudge in the ribs as he looked guiltily at the dusty floor.

"What did he call you yesterday?" Mad-Eye smirked.

"His… personal secretary." Risa drawled with venom. Asher squirmed nervously as Mad-Eye's eyes fixed on him.

Risa nodded in his direction then said to Mad-Eye, "Can't you have him sacked or something?" but a small smile played on her lips.

"Wish I could Sharp, wish I could, but the harsh fact remains that MacCall is the brains of this operation."

The girl snorted, "Yeah, that must be why we haven't caught Nox after chasing him for three years!"

Asher looked up, "Risa, my dear, I'm hurt! I'm deeply wounded! You don't know how sharp that tongue of yours can be!"

At this point, somehow the entire party knew that it was time to get down to business. No words were spoken but a silent order was issued for everyone to go to their prospected jobs. That left the twins in the middle of the room staring around them. They didn't know their job, they didn't really have one.

Thankfully, Asher addressed them, "I suppose you were briefed by HQ?" he said, "You probably don't need to hear it again from me."

"Actually," Fred said, hit by a sudden brain wave, "HQ didn't tell us anything!"

"We don't know why the sent us!" George said with a small laugh, "I'm sure we can handle it!" he added quickly, "But it would be nice to know what we're up against."

Asher looked slightly surprised and even slightly shocked, "You don't know why you've been sent here! That's not very good of HQ to send you to the front when you don't know what you're fighting." A wicked grin crossed his face.

There was silence in the room as he pulled up a chair.

"Well, sit down gentlemen; sit down, because you're in for a story. Now, gentlemen," they could almost see the stars in Asher's eyes as he began, "this man you're after- to be honest, he's one of the least known dark wizards of our time, but that doesn't make him any less lethal, perhaps he's even more so… Let me tell you the story- nay! Nay! The Legend… of Darcy Nox!"

A.N. Hello again! Told you it would be August before we could write again! Sorry about that! But now that we're done with various places; Scotland, Finland, Belgium, England, Ireland and even a crazy island in the middle of nowhere where if you drink the rain it turns you fluorescent pink!

Thorney: I was there!

Sweetdeath04: Is it possible that this was a dream?

Thorney: Maybe!

SD04: So why aren't you pink now then?

Thorney: It wore off…

Anyways, we're back now. Thanks very much for LC who wrote the end of this chapter with us.

Please read and review!

Thorney and Sweetdeath04