"So?" Hermione asked, as soon as Ron returned to Grimmauld. "Wait. What happened to Mira?" she added in a more suspicious tone as she apparently realised that their...visitor hadn't followed him inside.

Ron tossed the Cloak to Harry and collapsed into a chair at the kitchen table. "She's gone off to Diagon Alley to see what she can find out about Umbridge talking to people, and maybe see if she can bluff her way into the Ministry."

"Alone?" Hermione said, sounding absolutely shocked that someone who would come to another bloody timeline alone would dare risk going to the Ministry without backup.

"She said, and I quote, 'Why shouldn't I? It's not as though I'm Public Enemy Number One. No one in this timeline even knows who I am.'"

"But what if she gets the horcrux without us? Or gets arrested?"

"Arrested for what?" Harry asked.

"Flouting that horrible new law that all school-aged witches and wizards must attend Hogwarts?" she suggested. "Or not having any identification or proof of that ridiculous Blood Status Lupin mentioned?"

"Apparently she's on Team We Have to Kill Thom, now," Ron explained with a shrug. "So I reckon she'll probably bring it back here. And she seems to think she's going to go back up to the school and kidnap the Death Eaters there — greasy git didn't even blink when she said as much, so she was probably right about him — so I'd be more concerned about whoever tries to arrest her, honestly."

"She's going to kidnap a Death Eater?" Harry repeated. "Why?"

Ron shrugged. "Didn't ask. I got distracted by the Hat Sorting her into bloody Hufflepuff."

Harry let out a startled snort of laughter. "What?"

"Her?" Hermione said incredulously. "A Hufflepuff? She can't be. Not really..."

"That's what I said, but the Hat said she is. And also something about Hufflepuffs today not really being much like the Hufflepuff. But, maybe that's a good thing? I mean, if she was actually untrustworthy, I think it would've put her in Slytherin..."

That was probably true, Harry thought. And no one could fool the Sorting Hat. It would've known if she were evil, he was pretty sure. "Alright, so she's probably not evil, even if she is sort of scary. Why's she suddenly on our side, now?" Because he'd gotten the impression earlier that she didn't think much of their chances to kill "Thom", but she was much more interested in preparing for her alien invasion than helping them or trying to stop them.

"Ah...apparently your mum cursed him, somehow, with— Well, it's basically a fairy-tale curse, you know, you sleep for a hundred years or are transformed into a monster until you're woken by true love's kiss or repent the error of your beastly ways, or until you convince the witch who cast it to take it back. Except this one apparently made him a caricature of himself, like, he became what his enemies said he was, I guess?"

Hermione's eyes went very wide. "That's— Fairy-tale curses are real? That's horrifying!"

Ron nodded. "They're called tyngeds, and yeah. That's why they're really bloody illegal! But there's really nothing you can do about it after one's been cast. There's only one way to break them, and it's specific to the curse. So unless we can convince everyone You Know Who's not actually so bad, really, he's going to stay evil, and even if Lily Potter was more willing than Black Alys to take back her curse, she's dead, so there's no way to break it."

"So she wants to kill him, now?"

He nodded again. "She said she was hoping that killing him might break whatever effect it had on Lestrange — apparently they have some bloody soul bond — and maybe she'd kidnap her first and do something to try to help. Snape said she was bloody mental thinking she could just kidnap Lestrange and kill You Know Who like it's easy, and she said something like 'Yeah, they're powerful and dangerous, but so am I, and I want it more. That makes a difference.' which might be the most arrogant thing I've ever heard anyone say, but you do sort of have to admire the balls..."

Hermione frowned. "You were the one going on about how powerful mind-mages are incredibly dangerous, earlier," she pointed out.

"Well, yeah, but crazy people are harder to control, magic or not, everyone knows that. And I wouldn't fancy trying to kidnap Lestrange, anyway. It's not like she can sneak up on her when she's sleeping, and I bet the Cruciatus reaches a lot farther than mind-magic."

Harry somehow doubted that Mira would consider the idea of having to fight one or more Death Eaters to capture her precious "Bella" to be any sort of real impediment. It might've been how bloody fast she was, blocking his Disarming Charm. And she had admitted she was basically a Death Eater, like, had gotten their combat training and everything. "Anything else we should know?" he asked, rather than join in on either side of the speculation.

Ron shrugged. "Not really? I mean, she and Snape just sat there and stared at each other doing some creepy mind-reading thing for about ten minutes, then she announced that she was in to kill 'Thom' and about the tynged, and I don't know why she wants to kidnap the Carrows, but she asked if the Sorting Hat could add her to the wards to make it easier, and that was pretty much it. Um. I think she said something about her Family Magic being on the line, as well as Lestrange's mind? She really admires Lestrange, said she was like, the biggest influence on her, or something, but we already knew that, sort of. But I think that's it.

"Anyway, did you two write that letter?"

Hermione nodded. "It's in my room. I didn't want it to be out in the open when you came back..."

"Great. Let's have a look, and then, Pig's around here somewhere, isn't he? It'll probably take him all night to get to Lupin's, so we should send him off soonest..."