Once again, My beta-readers, fredfred and InquisitorCOC, deserve a huge thank you. They helped a lot.

Chapter 24: The Miscalculation

West of Novorossiysk, Russia, September 29th, 2005

"Alright," Ron said, his eyes still on the compound below him. "That's about thirty yards of open ground between the wall and the buildings."

"And we don't know which building Kirikov is staying in," Harry added.

"Well, he won't be hiding in the guest house, will he?" Ginny said. "And we can exclude the garage as well."

"We cannot exclude the guest house," Hermione replied. "He might count on us doing that."

"The guest house is a bit apart from the others," Ron pointed out. You had to walk about fifteen yards on a roofed path to reach the main house. "Less defensible, more isolated. He's probably got his guards quartered there - the additional ones, in any case." He didn't think Kirikov had so many guards present every time he was here. He would have built a bigger guest house - or barracks - in that case, in Ron's opinion.

"He's a Russian oligarch; people like him don't let their guards have better quarters than their own," Sirius said.

"He's a former KGB agent," Harry retorted. "He might expect us to think that."

"Exactly. But if he's got a mole in Phoenix Gruppe, he'll expect Dumbledore to anticipate that," Sirius replied. "And he'll be staying in the main building since it has the best defences."

"We could observe the house for a few days - see if we can spot him," Luna suggested.

"We can't stay hidden indefinitely. The longer we take, the greater the risk of being discovered," Harry said.

"We can't rush in either," Hermione retorted.

But, apparently, they could have an argument while observing Kirikov's home. Ron chuckled at his own thoughts. "In any case," he pointed out, "we need to find a way to reach the building. I think they've placed mines or other traps under the lawn."

"Or what's left of it," Luna said. "But that won't bother my helicopter."

Ron slowly shook his head. "But whatever he has on the roof to deter people rappelling down from a helicopter might," he told her. Kirikov must have planned for a direct assault that dropped attackers directly on top of him.

"I don't see anything… wait." Luna inched forward a little, and Ron put a hand on her shoulder to keep her from exposing herself. "The roof cover… looks like a second cover. Probably pressure triggers beneath it. But the helicopter won't trigger them, or any birds landing on the roof would do so as well."

"But we would trigger them, once we regain our normal size," Ron pointed out. "And infiltrating while we're shrunk isn't advisable. A single cat could kill us all."

"Well, if he's got mines under the lawn, at least he won't have dogs," Hermione replied. "But I concur: We shouldn't plan to move far on the ground so long as even spiders pose a lethal threat."

Ron shuddered at the memory.

"But that means we still need a way to enter the house," Luna said. "Unless… we could do what we did in Switzerland: Shink ourselves and go disable the pressure sensors on the roof, then land on it! Or wait until we regain our normal size."

"I think the area between the roof and the cover won't be exactly safe for two-inch high people," Hermione retorted. "And we would need to cover a lot of ground, relatively, to disable all the sensors. Kirikov won't have skimped on security."

That was true.

"If we can time it correctly, we could drop on to the ground rather than the roof," Sirius said. "Skip the minefields, go directly to the door. Or, in this case, the terrace."

"He'll have defences there as well," Ron pointed out. "Perhaps claymore-type mines." Some of the flower pots looked a little suspicious.

"And the duration of the Shrinking Solution cannot be predicted too precisely," Hermione added. "The greater the dose, the greater the variation."

"We could go through the sewers," Luna suggested. "Sneak through whatever barriers there are while tiny, and wait until we grow again inside the house, then strike!"

"This far from the village, there'll be a cesspit rather than a sewer," Ginny said. "And he won't want to have his waste pollute his own beach."

"Poo," Luna commented.

"Exactly," Ginny replied, and both of them giggled.

Ron sighed. It looked like their only choice was a direct attack. They could clear the mines, probably - a few well-placed explosives should do the job, Bangalore torpedo-style. But then they'd have to fight the dozens of guards alerted by the blast.

And that wouldn't go well. Although… He blinked, then looked more closely at the garage. Especially its doors.

"I have an idea," he said.

"I can drop you right on top of the goal." Luna frowned at him. "I did it before, too!"

"Yes," Ron agreed as he checked his gear. The sun was setting, so it was time to set out. "But we can't count on Kirikov being unprepared for something like that. He won't expect shrunken people dropping from a toy helicopter, but after Berisha, he might expect a toy helicopter to fly into his compound. And he is certainly aware of drones."

"He didn't do anything about our drone recon," Luna retorted.

"It was flying too high above the villa," Ron pointed out. "But the helicopter would need to fly at a much lower altitude. And you'd have to get far too close to the villa to pilot it."

"Not with the improvements the helicopter's received!" Luna protested.

"It's still too short-ranged," Ron replied. Kirikov's guards couldn't cover every ridge overlooking his home, but he'd keep those in range of small arms covered. And even after Dumbledore's men improved it, the helicopter was no drone and had a shorter range. And was vulnerable to jamming.

Not to mention that Ron really didn't want Luna to be that close.

She frowned, then pouted at him. "Then I should come with you. You'll need a computer expert."

He shook his head. "Look, we've been over this - you have an important task already."

She scoffed, sounding quite unlike her usual self, and glared at him, though she didn't object any further.

For now, at least. He smiled at her, which made her pout again and turn away.

Sighing, he finished his gear check. It was a little unfair that he'd have to carry so much material himself, what with Hermione's beaded bag of holding being available, but that couldn't be helped - he couldn't count on having access to her bag at every moment.

Speaking of… He smiled as he saw her walking towards him. She was already dressed in dark grey fatigues - including a kevlar vest - but hadn't yet applied camouflage paint to her face. Which made hugging her and placing a quick kiss on her lips much more enjoyable.

Yet, she sighed when he pulled away. "Are you having second thoughts?" he asked.

"No," she said. "Well, in a way. We'll have to walk about fifteen miles. Relatively, at least. Through dangerous terrain."

"Yes." It couldn't be helped - they couldn't get any closer to the compound without being spotted.

"I'll have to drink a potion afterwards, to be able to keep up," she said.

"Is that dangerous?"

"Not if you don't overdo it," she told him. "Still… once its effect ends, I'll crash, hard."

"Ah." She hadn't mentioned that before.

"It'll last for hours," she added as if she had read his mind. "By the time it runs out, we'll be done with the mission."

Or dead. Or worse. He didn't like it. It felt too rushed. And even if it was his own plan, he still had some misgivings. But he nodded anyway. "So, let's go see if Harry and Sirius are ready."

"You know, if we had a miniature tank, we could be riding in it, instead of walking," Sirius said.

Ron rolled his eyes - Hermione sighed loudly - as he picked his way around a patch of grass that blocked his way. He stayed off the road, though - he didn't want to risk exposing himself.

"If you'd managed to rig a control system we could have used…" Harry replied.

"And all the models of toy tanks that could handle this terrain would have been a little too large," Ron pointed out. "Someone might have noticed it."

Sirius grunted. "It would also be safer. Owl-proof."

Ron flinched. Hearing Hermione talk about how owls hunted had been sobering. He looked at the night sky, knowing he wouldn't hear an owl in time. "We're a little small to be their prey."

"Not for young or small owls," Sirius said.

"That's why we're not on the road," Harry replied. And, Ron knew, why they weren't walking in a standard patrol order, spaced out. They didn't have to worry about people with firearms hiding in the jungle, but animals trying to prey on them. They needed to stick together to be able to help each other.

Ron gritted his teeth. Using a toy tank as transport - even if they had managed to rig one up so they could drive it without needing Luna or Ginny to remotely control it - was still more dangerous than walking, shrunk, along the road leading to Kirikov's villa. But right now, he felt far too exposed to worry about human guards. And, as in Kosovo, under-armed. Though he was carrying a G3 now, which, even shrunk, should be enough to deal with most small predators, it wouldn't help much with a fox or owl.

They crested a small hill - well, for their size - and Ron spotted the gate to the compound in the distance. Halfway there. "I think we should take a rest," he said, after a glance at Hermione. Even without a rifle to carry, she was struggling.

"I can go on!" she protested immediately.

"A break will do us all some good," he told her.

"Yes," Sirius agreed. "I'm not as young as I was."

"That's true for all of us," Harry said. "Every day."

"You know what I mean," Sirius shot back.

"You're growing old, yes," Harry said. Grinning, Ron knew without having to look.

"Something mother never expected of me," Sirius said.

"She never expected you to grow up," Harry corrected him. "And you haven't, have you?"

Ron chuckled at the back and forth as he sat down next to Hermione. "We're making good time," he told her. "If all goes well, we'll be at the villa just before sunrise." When all of the guards would be tired.

She nodded and then drank some water from her bottle. He followed her example. It wasn't as hot any more as it had been in the summer, but marching was still thirsty work.

They spent the rest of the break leaning against each other and listening to Sirius and Harry argue.

Then they continued their trek. They still had to cover half the original distance - seven to eight 'miles'. And then, past the gate, half a mile to the garage. And the clock was ticking - the Shrinking Solution wouldn't last forever. By Ron's calculations, they were still on schedule - if one included the safety margins on which Hermione had insisted.

But they couldn't pick up the pace - not when she was already struggling to keep up. He glanced at her, but she noticed and, clenching her teeth, raised her chin and started to walk faster.

Foolish woman. She'd burn out more quickly that way. On the other hand, she might just be stubborn enough to push herself all the way to their goal. Even if it killed her.

Damn.

After, by his estimate, two more 'miles', everyone had fallen silent. Not even Sirius was complaining about the indignity of walking as a tank commander any more and was instead focused on walking.

With Hermione in worse shape than the older man, it fell to Harry and Ron to keep an eye out for threats. At least by sticking close to the road, they didn't have to re-enact the Burma campaign. The terrain was more like a savannah - which was marginally better. Although, seen through their night vision goggles and them being shrunk, the area looked alien. Not of this world.

But even in the savannah, there were prides of lions hunting. Or, in this case, foxes, smaller mammals, lizards and insects. And branches the size of giant logs on the road's surface.

Ron blinked. That wasn't a branch. That was…

"Snake!" Harry hissed from the front.

There was a giant snake lying on the road. What was it doing there? At night?

Ron blinked. Damn. Of course - it had been soaking up the heat from the road's surface. That allowed it to be more agile during the night. Or something.

Harry had fallen back. "We need to detour. That monster could swallow all of us whole in a single bite."

"Well, that's how snakes eat…" Hermione said, but Ron could see that she was shaking. "But that thing is larger - relatively - than a Basilisk!"

"A Basilisk? The thing your Harry killed with a sword as a kid?" Sirius asked. He was already backing away.

"Yes," Hermione said.

Ron moved in front of her. The snake didn't look like it'd even notice a sword - at least one shrunk to their current size - striking its scales. Nor a few bullets from his G3, to be honest. "We should have taken a Panzerfaust with us," he muttered. "No matter its weight."

"Don't panic," Harry said. "We'll simply take a wide detour. It's resting."

As if the monster had heard Harry - weren't snakes deaf? - it suddenly moved, its head rising and its forked tongue slipping out of its mouth.

Tasting, no, smelling the air. And the wind was behind them. Damn. "Run!" Ron yelled, whirling around. Hermione was still in the process of turning when he reached her, so he grabbed her arm and dragged her with him.

"It's coming!" Harry yelled behind them. Shots followed.

Ron pushed Hermione between two rocks - stones - at the top of the ditch next to the road and knelt down, taking aim. Hell, that thing was fast! Harry and Sirius were sliding down the ditch, but the snake would be on top of them in a few seconds.

Ron cursed and fired, aiming at the thing's head. Its eyes. Or tongue. Or whatever was soft and vulnerable next to all those scales. Rapid aimed fire. But his bullets didn't seem to hurt the monster - it was still chasing Harry and Sirius.

He flipped the selector switch and fired a long burst at the snake. Weirdly, it was far easier to control the gun than, in his experience, it should have been. Not that he was complaining - he hosed the side of the snake's head down, finally hitting one of its eyes, and the snake reared up.

"Fire in the hole!"

Something flew towards the snake. Ron threw himself back, over Hermione. A second later, the grenade went off.

He jumped up, almost stepping on Hermione, and raised his rifle again. The snake was swinging its head around but didn't seem to be hurt. Not much, at least. Ron emptied his magazine in another burst, reloaded and fired again, but to no effect - other than drawing the monster's attention.

"We'll have to use white phosphorus," Sirius yelled. "Burn it!"

But that would draw attention. Probably start a fire, too - and at night, the guards wouldn't miss that.

But it beat being eaten by a damned snake of gargantuan size. Ron lowered his rifle and grabbed one of the WP grenades. "I'll lure it over to me!" he yelled. "And then I'll burn it." It was too far away for a decent throw - and they didn't have many of the grenades, not until they could access Hermione's bag again, at least.

"No!" Hermione yelled behind him. "That's too dangerous!"

"We have to," he retorted, already moving on to the road's surface, exposing himself. "Come on, you stupid snake!" he yelled.

The snake, once more, seemed to hear him since it whirled and shot towards him. Almost… He gripped the grenade.

"Ron! Down!" Harry yelled. "Down!"

Without thinking, Ron dropped and rolled to the side, between two stones on the road, before he realised that he had just gone to ground in front of a giant snake.

He was dead.

But before the snake reached him, something passed right over him - he could feel the air pressure change as it flew - and hit the snake.

"Move!" Harry yelled. "While they're fighting!"

Ron scrambled up, blinking as he realised that a huge owl had attacked the snake. And was ripping it apart. Or giving it its best try.

That could've been him.

Bloody hell!

He ran.

Everyone ran. They didn't stop running for about half a mile, weaving around knots of grass and the occasional larger rock, until Hermione stumbled. Ron, running behind her, failed to catch her and she fell. He helped her up, but her legs were wobbling, and she was panting. "Harry!" he yelled. "We're far enough."

His friend looked back, then stopped after a glance at Hermione. "Alright. Let's take cover behind that rock there."

Sirius almost collapsed as well after reaching the rock - he leaned against it and slid down to the ground, struggling to breathe as he pushed his goggles up on his forehead. "Bloody damned snake."

"Scarier than a spider," Ron agreed as he helped Hermione sit down, then joined her on the ground.

Hermione's response was unintelligible - she was still gulping down air - but she probably agreed as well.

"And yet, without the snake, the owl might have attacked us," Harry pointed out.

"Swell. Now I have two sources for my nightmares," Ron said.

"Next time, we'll take a tank."

Well, that was a predictable comment from Sirius. Ron still chuckled. They were alive. And even unhurt. But they had been lucky. And they wouldn't be lucky forever. Even with weapons, it was just too dangerous to travel outside when shrunk to this size.

"Let's hope…" Hermione finally managed to say, "... that there aren't more of those snakes in the area." She took another deep breath. "Or more owls."

Damn.

"We need to move," Harry said. "The clock's ticking."

"In a minute," Ron replied, nodding towards Hermione. She wasn't yet in any condition to go on.

"I can take a potion," she said.

"Let's wait with that," Ron told her. It would take them a few more hours to reach their destination.

She was probably glaring at him - it was hard to tell, with their goggles - but, after a moment, she slowly nodded. "Let's go."

They weren't as fast as before - the sprint had exhausted Hermione, and Sirius didn't look as chipper as he tried to sound, either - but they were still more or less on schedule. If they could keep up this pace.

And if no other monsters attacked them. Ron clenched his teeth at the thought - he should have found another way to close the distance. Perhaps if they had used parachutes and the drone from the yacht… but they wouldn't have been able to hide that from Dumbledore's men. And they couldn't have used Luna's helicopter.

They pressed on, following the road - though they stuck to the tall grass on one side. Ron would rather deal with a spider in the grass than dodging a hunting owl.

They met a large bug - about the size of a boar relative to them - on the way, but it ignored them. No other monsters, fortunately. Nothing that posed a threat, at least, before they reached the gate to Kirikov's compound.

Ron checked his watch. Still on schedule - barely. And that was including Hermione's safety margins. "We'll need to cut across the lawn," he said. The road was too exposed, for his taste. A guard watching it might spot them.

"Yes," Harry agreed.

"But half of it is mud," Hermione said. "That'll be hard to move through."

"Half of it isn't," Sirius pointed out.

"Your soldiers must have loved your comments," she told him, and Ron knew she was rolling her eyes behind the goggles.

Sirius laughed. "They did."

"Let's go," Harry said, already ducking under the gate, followed by Sirius.

"Well, if this were my house, I'd fire the gardener," Sirius said as Ron, bringing up the rear, passed under the gate himself.

He was commenting on the pitiful state of the lawn, Ron guessed - patches of mud alternated with patches of grass. You could easily see where the trees and bushes had been removed. Obviously, Kirikov cared more for security than aesthetics.

A sound stance, in Ron's opinion.

They started the last leg of their trek - about half a mile across the lawn, to the garage. And they had made good time - more or less; the Shrinking Solution's effect wouldn't fade before they were safely inside the garage. Though finding and disabling the expected camera inside might mean they cut it a little close.

"We were right," Harry said, interrupting Ron's thoughts. He was pointing ahead, at a muddy patch. Where Ron could see a sliver of metal.

A mine. "He won't have placed just one mine," Harry said.

"No," Ron agreed. "And he won't have stuck to hiding them in the mud, either."

"We're far too small and light to trigger a mine," Hermione said.

"But what if they can be triggered remotely?" Ron retorted.

Well, in a way they were counting on that.

Ron snorted as they continued towards the garage. He still felt queasy, knowing that he was likely walking over mines the size of, well, a tank. On the other hand, mines meant there wouldn't be any dogs or cats.

He vastly preferred feeling a little queasy to being swallowed whole by a monster the size of a bus.

When they reached the garage, the gap between the ground and the garage door turned out to be a little narrower than Ron had expected - though still wide enough for them to squeeze through. With some effort, and after dropping his webbing, in Ron's case.

"Told you to go easy on dessert," Harry joked on the other side.

Hermione, the traitor, giggled.

Ron rolled his eyes, not that anyone could see it. "Very funny," he said. It wasn't his fault that he was slightly more solidly built than Harry.

"Sure, sure." Sirius snorted. "Now let's find whatever security camera is around before we are discovered."

"We still have…" Hermione trailed off. "About twenty minutes before the Shrinking Solution's minimum duration is reached." That didn't mean that the effect would fade right then, of course - that could vary, and significantly, given the dose they had used.

Still, they had no time to waste if they wanted to play it safe. Ron quickly slipped back into his webbing and started looking around. The garage was large enough to house half a dozen cars, and, currently, two SUVs, a limousine, a sports car and a pickup truck were parked inside.

"Here," Harry announced, pointing at the back wall.

"Is that the only one?" Sirius asked.

"I haven't seen any others," Harry said.

"I didn't see any, either," Ron added. The camera covered the garage door, the door leading to the main house and most of the garage itself. Still, he would have expected another camera covering this one. On the other hand, the more screens a guard had to watch, the easier it was for them to miss something.

"Well, disable the thing," Sirius said. "Before you grow too much to hide."

"We probably could stay out of sight by standing right beneath it," Harry pointed out. But he was already moving towards the camera.

Ron followed him. "That's one hell of a climb," he said. He couldn't see a lot of handholds.

"Do you want to switch?" Harry asked.

"No, thanks," Ron shot back, chuckling.

"Please get on with it," Hermione said, clearly not amused. Well, she wasn't the one who had to make that climb.

But they couldn't waste time. Harry pulled the modified launch grapnel hook out of his pouch and started setting it up on his M4.

"Remember, if you miss with the first shot, you'll need to use blanks for the second," Sirius told them.

Harry didn't bother answering and shot. The ceiling was, at their current size, almost beyond the range of the hook, but Ron's friend managed to make the shot - the hook hit a cable in the back near the camera, and got stuck.

They tested the line - it held both their weights combined. "Good shot," Ron commented.

"Thanks," Harry replied while he set up his climbing harness.

Then he started climbing and Ron secured him. Harry had to cover roughly seventy-five yards, straight up. Without being able to brace against the wall, Ron didn't think Harry would make it, and even so, his friend had to take breaks on the way.

But Harry reached the camera. Ron saw him pull out the thermite charge, place it and then rappel down so quickly, it was more of a controlled fall for most of the distance.

"You set it for one minute, didn't you?" Ron shook his head.

"We've got no time to lose." Harry disconnected the line from his harness and ran to the side. A moment later, the charge went off, quickly burning through the cables running to the camera - and through the grapnel hook.

Ron waited until the line had hit the ground, then hurried to gather it up before sprinting to hide with the others inside some spare tyres stacked by the back wall. If Kirikov ran a tight ship, guards would be checking on the garage at any moment.

And here they were! Both the door to the house as well as the garage door were pulled open and four men with assault rifles - Kalashnikovs - charged inside and quickly covered the entire garage. They were good - none of them even glanced at the camera until they had searched the garage for any intruders hiding inside, as Ron could see through one of the threaded holes in the wheel's hub.

They didn't bother checking inside the spare tyres, though. Of course not.

And, judging by the way they relaxed after an exchange in Russian, they dismissed the loss of the camera as a short-circuit or something similar. As Ron and his friends had counted on. At this time, close to sunrise, they were also unlikely to force a technician out of bed to immediately replace it.

Which meant Ron and his friends had the window of opportunity they would need to get to Kirikov. Once they had grown back to their natural size, of course. Which shouldn't take too much longer.

Or so Ron hoped. He didn't like waiting. Especially not waiting like this - close to their target, but unable to strike, and not knowing how long they'd have to wait until the potion had run its course for all of them.

The guards left the garage, showing much less discipline or focus than when they had entered. Another sign that their ruse had worked. And they turned off the lights.

Ron heard Hermione let out a breath of relief. "Did you doubt the plan?" he asked.

"They could've suspected some tampering or sabotage," she replied.

"Yes," Sirius agreed. "Russians are supposed to be paranoid, suspecting sabotage everywhere."

"You didn't mention that when we were planning this," Harry said.

The older man shrugged - Ron noticed as he turned his head to check on them. "Those were the old Russians. The communists. These are the new ones."

"Led by an old KGB agent," Ron pointed out.

"Common sense and orders start to fade, kind of, when it's four in the morning and no one's shooting at you," Sirius retorted.

Ron didn't share his rather cavalier attitude, but this wasn't the time to make an issue of it. Their plan had worked. Now it just needed to keep working.

"We should move behind the tyres," Hermione said. "The Shrinking Solution could stop working at any moment now."

Ron nodded. He'd prefer not to be inside a spare tyre when he suddenly grew to several times the size of said tyre. Hermione had been a little vague about the possible risks of that. "Yes. Let's move."

But before they could move, the door leading to the main house was opened again, and Ron saw two figures enter the garage. He froze, holding his breath. Had someone ordered the camera to be fixed right now?

The lights were turned on again, and he clenched his teeth. "Yaxley!" he hissed. So the traitor was still alive.

And Hermione gasped. "Greyback!"

Greyback? Oh, the werewolf! He didn't look like most werewolves that Ron had read about. He wore his hair long and in a ponytail, but it didn't look attractive, not with the man's receding hairline. And the beer gut didn't really make the bloke look attractive, either. But there was something about his eyes that Ron didn't like. And he was certainly built.

"You're not going to check the damage?" Greyback asked, chuckling.

"Do I look like an electrician?" Yaxley scoffed.

"I thought you were supposed to check for sabotage." The man's voice had a mocking undertone. "Wouldn't want to fail Kirikov for the last time, would you?" He chuckled at his own remark.

Yaxley glared at him. "You've got a big mouth for a scumbag who can be easily replaced by any other thug."

"Really?" Greyback sneered and nodded towards the damaged camera. "The lack of surveillance making you feel brave? Or mouthy? Or has the cabin fever finally got to you? The guards have a betting pool on when you'll crack." He chuckled once more. "At least I can go outside."

"That's because you're a nobody." Yaxley sneered at him. "Just a filthy murderer."

"Oh, acting all high and mighty, are we? Looking down on the criminal, huh?" Greyback shot back. "You're not a cop any more. Just another wanted traitor. Someone who had his own comrades killed!"

"At least I've got useful skills and knowledge," Yaxley snarled. "Unlike you."

"You know too much, you mean." Greyback shook his head and walked between the two closest cars. "And you're a prisoner. He's only keeping you alive until he's got the chit. As soon as you've outlived your usefulness, you're dead and feeding the fishes."

"You think you'll survive me?" Yaxley snorted.

The other man grinned widely. "Kirikov knows everything I know, so my knowledge is already useless. And as you pointed out, I lack unique skills. And yet, I'm still alive and well."

"The only reason you're still alive is that you claim that you 'forgot' where you hid the rest of the body." Yaxley leaned against the wall, and his scowl grew more pronounced. Greyback's taunting had to be getting to him. "Sooner or later, he'll 'help' you remember. Once he's got Granger in his hands, he won't care about any leverage you think you have on him."

"He's already started too much trouble to care about that - thanks to your failures!" But Greyback didn't look as confident as he tried to sound, in Ron's opinion.

"Keep telling yourself that," Yaxley replied. "I know his type. KGB. He'll tie up all the loose ends sooner or later. And he'll enjoy it."

"As long as you're sooner and I'm later…" Greyback bared his teeth, and, for a moment, Ron thought it would come to blows.

But Yaxley turned away and started to walk towards the damaged camera while the other man laughed.

Leverage on Kirikov? What did they mean? Greyback didn't strike Ron as particularly smart. And he apparently didn't know any secrets or have useful contacts, unlike Yaxley. So what…

"Oh, no!" Hermione's gasp interrupted his thoughts. "I'm growing!"

He froze for an instant. No. Then he was moving - she was climbing out of the tyre. "No!" The two men would see her! He grabbed her leg, but she was already twice his size and halfway out of the tyre. And growing even more. He was dragged out of the tyre himself before he could let go, barely escaping from being crushed by her legs as he slid down the tyre.

Hermione had fallen about a foot on to the ground before she was back to her natural size. He saw her roll and draw her gun, but before she could clear it from her holster, Greyback slammed into her, yelling like a madman, and pushed her down on to the ground again. Her pistol slid across the floor, ending up under the closest car.

And away from Ron's still shrunken form. He started to run towards them - if Hermione had regained her original size, then he couldn't be far behind, could he?

But he stayed tiny, struggling to reach her, while Greyback grappled with her. "Intruder!" the man yelled, lashing out. His fist caught Hermione on the chin, throwing her head back and dislodging her cap.

"What the…" Greyback grunted as his next blow hit her stomach. And Ron was still too far away to intervene - and still tiny. At his current size, his rifle wouldn't do more than, perhaps, sting the man. But… Ron raced ahead, hand dipping into his pouch. He needed to get closer.

Hermione looked stunned and didn't resist when Greyback grabbed her hair and pulled her head up to face him. "The hell! Granger! It's Granger!" he shouted.

And Ron was close enough, finally! He snapped his arm forward and let fly, throwing a grenade that landed on the back of Greyback's calf.

A moment later, the grenade went off, and Greyback screamed like a stuck pig as the white phosphorus started to burn through his trousers and leg. The big man reared back, flailing, reaching for his calf, trying to put out the fire.

And his screams turned into gurgling, wheezing noise when Hermione stabbed him in the throat with her knife. Ron heard her screaming incoherently as she repeatedly rammed the blade into the man's throat and chest. Even with his throat cut and his leg on fire, though, he still managed to lash out, sending her knife flying, before he collapsed, blood splattering over her and the floor.

Yes!, Ron thought as he had to jump back to avoid getting caught by the man's spasming legs. Now they had to… He froze again.

Yaxley was there, gun pointed at Hermione, who was still caught under the dying brute. "Don't move, Dr Granger," he said with a sneer, "or I'll shoot you."

"Kirikov will shoot you," she retorted. But she had stopped moving.

"You'll survive a bullet or two," Yaxley said. "Kirikov's got an excellent surgeon on his staff."

If Ron managed to catch Yaxley's foot with another grenade… But the man was stepping to the side, away from Ron, until he was behind Hermione, then he roughly pulled her out from underneath Greyback's corpse before removing her webbing and bag.

And Ron was still shrunk and couldn't just dash over the open ground - Yaxley would notice. He took a detour, staying under the car. He just had to get close again.

By the time he reached them, Yaxley had Hermione on her feet, gun pushed into her back. Still… a burning foot would certainly distract him, but could Ron risk Hermione getting accidentally shot?

Before he could decide, though, he heard yelling in Russian - the guards had arrived. Too late. But the guards weren't yet in the garage, and Yaxley's attention was on her. And not on the ground.

Ron didn't hesitate - he sprinted across the floor and jumped on to Hermione's boot, then quickly climbed up to her ankle, hiding in the folds of her camouflage trousers.

And then he held on with all the strength he could muster as Yaxley marched Hermione out of the garage.

"Focus, Miss Granger. The key to mastering Occlumency is to focus your mind. Force everything but the object of your focus from your mind."

She tried.

There is a wall. A stone wall. Solid. Unmovable. Impervious to everything.

"Do not close your eyes, please. It is difficult to check your progress like that, and you cannot count on your enemies letting you close your eyes, anyway."

She bit her lower lip and met the Headmaster's eyes, already knowing she had lost her focus. Another failure.

"If they can force you to open your eyes, can't they force you to tell them what they want to know, anyway?" Ron asked.

"That is a distinct possibility," the Headmaster admitted. "However, while they can physically force your eyes open with enough effort, it is much harder to force your mind open - provided you have mastered Occlumency, of course."

"One Imperius Curse and we'll happily tell them everything, anyway," Ron retorted. "Well, apart from Harry."

"That is not entirely accurate," Dumbledore replied. "While Harry's resistance to that particular spell is as fortunate as it is special, Occlumency would be of very little use if a single spell could undo whatever protection it provides."

"If it can protect us against the Imperius Curse, then why is that spell so feared?" she asked.

"Why, Miss Granger, because one would need to be a master Occlumens to have a chance of resisting that curse. And few wizards or witches ever achieve that." He beamed at her and her friends. "However, I am fully confident that you will manage this before the year's end."

Hermione wasn't quite certain she shared the Headmaster's optimism. But she would do her best anyway. Her friends were counting on her, and she wouldn't be the weakest link. If they wanted to beat Voldemort, they had to master this.

"Now, once more: Focus!"