A/N: Thanks to lissy86, ale-weasley, Miss Finnegan, and evil-mastermind666 for their reviews.

On another note, I had the first nine chapters pre-written. So, now that this chapter is posted, it might take a little longerto post new chapters. I am going to try very hard to post the next chapter soon, but, at this point, I am not sure how long it will take. Of course, this is subject to change. Watch me post the next chapter tomorrow : ). It could happen, I'm just not sure.

We all wear disguises

A loud crack sounded as Lupin appeared in the living room of the apartment he recently started sharing with Tonks.

Hearing the now-familiar crashing sound and cursing coming from the kitchen, Lupin followed the noises and, unsurprisingly, found Tonks.

"Oh, bloody…" the rest of the curse word faded away as Tonks looked up from the fallen pan and saw Lupin standing in the room, smiling at her.

"Wotcher, Remus," Tonks smiled back, stepping over the pan to greet him. Unfortunately, she misjudged the distance and stepped on the pan, but, fortunately, was caught by Lupin before she fell.

"Hi, Love."

Tonks smiled at the endearment, but noticed that Lupin looked upset.

Before she could ask what was wrong, she remembered where he had said he was going, and so, realized what was probably wrong. "They weren't at Grimmauld Place, were they?"

"No. If we just knew half the things Dumbledore had told Harry this last year…" Lupin's voice faded away in frustration.

And, Lupin wasn't the only one who was frustrated. Tonks, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Hagrid, McGonagall, and other Order members who cared about the four teenagers were frustrated. And, poor Mr. and Mrs. Granger, who up until Hermione's voluntary disappearance had thought that everything in their daughter's life was "fine," were beginning to understand, as they learnt more about what was really going on, that their daughter's life, along with everyone else's, was in danger.

In an attempt to find the teenager's whereabouts, many of the Order members had spent hours trying to piece together anything that would lead them to Harry and the others. So far, they had very little luck.

"Hello? Is anyone there?" a voice from the living room echoed through the house and reached Tonks and Lupin's ears.

Tonks followed Lupin out of the kitchen and glanced around the living room until she noticed movement in the fireplace.

"Wotcher, Arthur," Tonks said in greeting as she sat down in front of the fireplace, Lupin following right after her.

"Molly wanted to know if you two would like to come over for dinner. Between the three of us, she has been cooking a lot since the kids left. Trying to keep her mind off things, you know? She doesn't know what else to do…Anyway, we're having Lamb with green mint sauce, potatoes, cabbage and onions, and carrots. Trifle for dessert."

Tonks looked over at Lupin. When his stomach growled, she laughed and turned back to Arthur. "Sure, we'll be there."

"Great. Dinner will be ready in about half an hour."

Arthur faded away and Tonks and Lupin were alone in their apartment once more.

"Think we have time before we have to be at the Burrow?" Tonks looked over at Lupin questioningly.

"What?"

"You know," Tonks said, smirked.

"I'm not sure, Tonks, I mean…"

Any further protest on Lupin's part was stifled when Tonks leaned over, brushing her lips softly against his own. Growing bolder, Tonks pushed Lupin to the ground, climbing atop him.

Harry was the last to come out of the fireplace and into The Crow's Nest. He was dismayed, as were Ron, Hermione, and Ginny when they first stepped into the pub, that it was almost an exact replica of Hog's Head. It was dusty, dirty, and, very possibly, vermin infested.

There still had about an hour before Ian Daley was supposed to arrive. When they went to get some drinks at the counter they asked the barkeep if Daley was there, just incase. He wasn't. After they got their drinks, they sat down at a vacant table to wait.

While drinking their Butterbeers, they decided to get some food, as they had not eaten dinner yet.

Hermione and Ginny went back up to the counter and ordered four meals of chicken with gravy, potatoes, and carrots.

While the girls where up at the counter, Harry spoke up.

"She's your sister, Ron. You can tell her to go back home."

"Yeah, right, Harry. If you know Ginny at all, you know that if I tell her to go home, Ginny not only won't go, but she'll hex my bits off."

"Based off what Ginny saw at Mrs. Dearborn's, you aren't the only one who would be upset about your missing bits, would you?" Harry smirked, telling Ron that he knew what had gone on between him and Hermione.

Ron turned red, but was saved from further comment when Hermione and Ginny returned with the food.

While Hermione and Ginny stood talking by the counter, waiting to get the food, a man came into the pub and sat down at the counter in a nearby chair.

"Do you think that's him?" Hermione whispered to Ginny while glancing over at the man.

"It might be. Let's ask the barkeep when he comes over here."

A few minutes later, Hermione and Ginny had their chance.

"Here's the food." The barkeep set the four plates in front of them, waiting for the money.

"Thank you." Hermione said as she handed over the money. As the barkeep turned to wait on another customer, Hermione stopped him. "Sir, could you tell me, is that Ian Daley?"

The barkeep looked over to the man to whom Hermione had gestured.

"Yeah. That's him. There aren't any problems are there? I don't want a fight in my pub."

Hermione reassured him that there would be no fighting, but silently thought that fighting was probably a regular occurrence in a pub like this one, what with the patron's it seemed to draw in.

Hermione and Ginny carried the plates to the table where Harry and Ron were talking.

Hermione slid into the seat next to Ron, handing him one of the plates. His face, which had been red, was returning to normal once more.

Ginny sat down across from Hermione, next to Harry, and handed him his plate.

"The man who came in a few minutes ago, the one sitting at the bar, is Ian," Ginny said as she began cutting into the chicken.

Harry and Ron looked up at Ian. Because of their earlier conversation, they had not seen anyone come in to the pub.

"When we finish eating, I'll go up and talk to him," Harry said, stabbing a carrot with his fork and bringing it up to his mouth.

"No, Harry. It's my turn. I'll talk to him," Hermione insisted.

"Why?" Ron asked, looking over, with narrowed eyes, at the Ian bloke. Hermione probably thought the git was attractive.

"Because I want to show Harry that my way of getting information from a person would work."

"Oh," Ron said.

"Why did you think I wanted to talk to him, Ron?" Hermione asked. She hadn't missed the glare he had sent Ian. He probably thinks I think Ian is attractive. She had to bite back a smile. He was so cute when he was jealous. But, she reminded herself, I need to show him later that he doesn't have anything to be jealous or insecure about. Hermione slid her hand other the table and rested it on Ron's thigh, trying to convey this message to him.

After they had finished eating, Hermione when up to the counter and sat near Ian, so that one seat was between them. She thought it would be too strange to sit right next to him when there were a lot of empty seats at the counter.

After Hermione had thought for a second about what she was going to say, she turned toward Ian, but was surprised to see that her preparation had been unnecessary. After she had sat down, when she hadn't noticed, Ian had slid into the seat beside hers. And, he was smiling at her. Or, more correctly, he was leering.

Ron's hand clenched tightly around his drink, his ears and face quickly turning red. "What is that git doing?" he demanded angrily to Harry and Ginny who had been watching the drunken Ian hit on Hermione.

The plan to wait until after they ate to talk to Ian had been a good thing and a bad thing. On the one side, Hermione had been hungry and so she had felt much better after she had put some food into her stomach. Unfortunately, waiting until after she had finished eating had given Ian the time to down several mugs of Firewhiskey.

And now, he was drunk, and hitting on Hermione. And, Ron was angry, and getting angrier by the second.

At one point, Ian had slid his hand along Hermione's upper arm, rubbing slowly. Hermione had winced at this, but, as drunk, or horny, as Ian was, he hadn't noticed. When Ron had noticed this, he had started to get up from his seat, but was stopped by Harry.

Later, when Ian leaned in and started whispering in Hermione's ear, Ron had jerked his arm away from Harry's grasp and gotten out of his seat, but before he was able to any further, Hermione had shot out of the seat, leaving a confused Ian behind, and had gone back to their table.

Hermione started to tell them what Ian had said, but was interrupted by Ron.

"Are you okay, Hermione?" he demanded, cupping her cheek and bringing her face up so their eye met.

"I'm fine, Ron. Why wouldn't I be?" Hermione asked, puzzled.

"That git was flirting with you!" Ron almost yelled, his face turning red once more.

"Oh, that. It was nothing."

Ron sputtered. "But,…but,…"

"What, Ron?" Hermione questioned.

"He wanted to sleep with you!"

Just like Ron, Hermione turned red in the face.

"What did he say, Hermione?" Ginny asked, trying to diffuse a situation that both she and Harry saw could quickly escalate into a blazing row.

Hermione shifted her gaze away from Ron and turned to Harry and Ginny, clearly relieved to end the 'conversation' she and Ron had been having.

"Ian said that…" Hermione began, but was interrupted by Ron.

"Oh, its Ian now is it?"

"Ron! Shut up," Ginny demanded, reaching over and slapping Ron on the arm.

"Anyway, as I was saying, Ian told me that he sold the locket. It's gone and he doesn't know where Halen Cain, the man who bought it, went."

Harry sighed. "All right. It's late. Let's rent a room and get some sleep."

Harry and Hermione went up to the counter to rent some rooms – the pub doubled as an inn, although not a very clean one.

When they returned to the table, Ron noticed that Harry was looking at Hermione strangely.

Before Ron had a chance to ask about it, Hermione was leading him by the hand up the stairs. Harry and Ginny followed a short distance behind.

Hermione stopped at one of the doors, twisting the knob and stepping inside. Pulling Ron in with her, she shut the door behind him.

"What about Harry and Ginny?" Ron asked, confused.

"They have their own room," Hermione asked, sliding her hands up his chest and wrapping them around his neck.

Her lips were inches from his when Ron registered what she had just said.

Ron jerked back, looking into her surprised face.

"What! What do you mean they have their own room?" Ron was out of Hermione's embrace and half way to the door, when something came soaring through the air, hitting Ron upside the head.

Ron bent down to pick up whatever it was that had hit him. He let out a strangled cry of surprise when he realized he was holding Hermione's shirt.

Ron jerked his head in Hermione's direction and found her sitting on the bed, looking at him expectantly.

"Ah, love. What are you doing to me?" Ron asked, sitting down on the bed beside her and trailing kisses up her shoulders, along her neck, until his lips met hers in a passionate kiss that led to them lying flat on the bed and clothing flying around the room in their desperation to feel skin on skin.

Ginny followed Harry into the room they would be sharing.

He hadn't talked much since they had run away from the attack against Mrs. Dearborn. And, she was sure she knew why. Before she could question Harry, he spoke up.

"You have to go back to the Burrow, Ginny."

Ginny rolled her eyes. Why did she have to be right?

"I thought we talked about this already, Harry."

"But, you saw what happened to Mrs. Dearborn. That could be you next, Ginny," Harry's voice cracked and Ginny caught a glimpse of tears before he turned away from her.

Harry breathed deeply a few times, rubbed his eyes, and turned back to Ginny. "I can't let that happen to you. Why do you even want to stay here with me when you know that death could be the consequence of doing so?"

Ginny blinked back her own tears and came up to Harry, wrapping her arms around his waist. She was happy to feel him hug her back. "Because, Harry whether you realize it or not, accept it or not, you're worth that risk. I love you."

At these words, Harry was unable to control the tears this time.

Ginny led Harry over to one of the beds, and pushed the covers down. She motioned for him to lie down in the bed and lay down beside him, wrapping her arms around him once more. When he calmed down some and Ginny wiped the tears from his face, they fell asleep, wrapped in each others arms.

"Ron?" Hermione asked, laying her head on his naked chest.

"Hmmm?" Ron asked, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her tighter against him.

"Why were you so angry today? About Ian I mean. You don't think I would cheat on you do you?"

Ron sighed deeply. He didn't want Hermione to think that, because that isn't what he thought at all. "No, I don't think that, Hermione. I just don't like when blokes look at you. You're mine."

Hermione smiled, rubbing her hand across his chest. "You don't have to worry about other guys looking at me, Ron. I don't even notice them. The only bloke I ever really see is you."

Ron tipped her chin up and brushed his lips softly against hers. Their kiss deepened, love and passion overtaking them again.

The cloaked figure that had talked to the four teenagers at the Hog's Head, reappeared at what had obviously once been a clean, organized room. Now, it was dark, books and papers now lay abandoned and scattered around. And, it was lonely.

The figure threw off the cloak and flung it on the floor, uncaring of where it landed.

The person sat heavily down onto the couch. It had been hard to see the four of them. A hand came up, running through messy hair. I hope I did the right thing. Please, let them be safe.