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

Chapter 54: The Infiltration

Black Lake, Scotland, January 28th, 2006

"So this is the other world."

"The muggle world."

"I expected it to be bigger."

"Yes. It lacks a certain je-ne-sais-quoi."

"Oh, I don't know. For your first impression of a muggle world, I think an underground room with bare concrete walls is a nice touch."

"Definitely. Although, in that case, the entrance should be in the Hogwarts dungeons, to match."

"But that would mean that, sooner or later, some lost Slytherin will fall through the portal. Can you imagine that?"

"Oh, no! They'd die from all the muggleness!"

"But would that actually be a bad thing?"

"Not really, but we aren't supposed to say so. Not in public, at least."

Ron sighed. Wizarding Fred and wizarding George were really just like his own brothers. They were even dressed similarly - though not as stylishly as their counterparts. At least they weren't wearing robes. He glanced at Hermione, who had arrived with them. She was glaring at them.

"It's a good thing that you're running a joke shop. Your comedy routine leaves a lot to be desired," she told them.

"Oh, she's mad!" wizarding Fred said, cocking his head to look at his brother.

"Or just annoyed. We haven't been hexed yet, so I'm going with annoyed," wizarding George replied.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "This is the portal room. It's the key part of the laboratory you'll have to guard. There are defences in place, but they aren't undefeatable."

"I thought we mostly had to guard that Healer so he doesn't take over the place using the Dark Arts," wizarding Fred said.

"Yes. But I'm sure you can multitask."

"We were born to multitask, weren't we, George?"

"Of course, Fred!"

"I think the two of you were born to do the work of a single person - together," Ron said. "Just like my brothers." Fred and George had actually argued that they should only count as one person when it came to chores.

"Oh, did you use that line on our muggle versions?"

"Whom we still haven't met. Just saying."

"That's because they aren't here," Hermione told them. "This is a top-secret facility, and they don't have the clearance to visit."

"And we do?" The two exchanged an exaggerated glance.

"Yes." Hermione sighed. "We're trusting you with a secret that would endanger the lives of our families and ourselves should it get out."

Suddenly, the two wizards looked completely serious. That was almost unnerving for anyone who knew their counterparts. "We understand that," wizarding Fred said.

"It's like the war," his brother added.

Ah. That was the difference between them and Ron's brothers. Fred and George had never fought in a war. The closest they had come to violence had been listening to Harry and Ron's stories. Their counterparts, though, had fought in the war.

And they were already married and had a child.

"We still want to meet our counterparts, though. They already know about us."

"We'll see what we can arrange, once we've dealt with our current problem," Hermione said.

"Ah. The problem for which you needed our special stock!" wizarding Fred grinned. "The kind we reserve for another war. Or the Ministry."

"Yes." Hermione nodded.

"All to deal with muggles? That seems a little…" Wizarding George shrugged. Probably swallowed an insulting term.

"We're facing very clever and resourceful muggles who expect invisible enemies who can teleport," Ron told them with a frown. They looked a little confused.

"They don't know about magic, but expect us to use a muggle version of Disillusionment Charms and Apparition," Hermione clarified.

"Ah."

"Why didn't you say so?"

Ron grinned. "Just to confuse you."

"Ah."

"Well, you did grow up with our counterparts."

Hermione cleared her throat. "So, let me show you the rest of the laboratory and the quarters you will have to guard - and where you can stay while we're away. Remember: Don't be seen outside."

"Don't go outside at all," Ron interjected.

He knew his brothers, after all. Although he was almost sure that wizarding Fred and George wouldn't heed him.

Hermione frowned at him but didn't comment. He took that as agreement. "Afterwards," she said, "we'll go over the items you've brought."

"Oh, you'll love them! We've perfected a number of our prototypes!" Fred beamed at her.

Ron had the sudden feeling that this would be more like a weapons show than anything else. And then his stomach sank when he realised that Dumbledore and Grindelwald would be attending the show.

If they decided to launch a joint venture or gave the twins ideas…

Ron couldn't decide if that prospect was scarier than his brothers teaming up with their counterparts.

"Dumbledore! And Mr Grindelwald!" The two wizards sounded far too happy to meet the two old men in the lounge. With his and Harry's counterparts visiting their families, it wasn't as crowded as it could've been, but it was still packed. "And Gin-Gin's double! And Harry's double! And Sirius's!"

"Please call me Albus," Dumbledore replied while Ginny bared her teeth. Harry and Sirius nodded with friendly smiles, but Grindelwald's was rather curt. "Thank you very much for volunteering to help guard the portal," the old spymaster went on.

"Call us Fred and George. Of course we'll help out!" Wizarding George smiled widely.

Dumbledore nodded at Rosengarten. "This is Healer Rosengarten."

"Good evening," the Healer said.

Everyone shook hands.

"Hello!" wizarding Fred greeted the Healer. "You're the Yank, right?"

Ron winced. Unless wizarding Fred was very different from Ron's brother, he knew how to be polite and what not to say.

"I'm actually British, but I spent most of my life in the New World." Rosengarten sounded slightly tense.

"And now you're in a real new world!" wizarding George said. "What an adventure, right? You're the… fifth wizard to make the trip, by my count."

"Which makes us the sixth and seventh," wizarding Fred added. "Lucky numbers."

"Well, mine was. Yours is just… common," his brother told him.

Wizarding Fred scoffed. "Six is two times three."

"I see you haven't forgotten how to count."

"And you didn't take Arithmancy."

Ron sighed loudly. As expected, the twins ignored him.

"Please sit down and help yourself to some refreshments and snacks," Dumbledore said, gesturing at the spread on the table. The old man hadn't spared any expense, Ron noted - delicacies of all kinds had been prepared. "I've heard very impressive things about your business," Dumbledore went on and raised his glass. "To success."

That was a toast everyone could drink to, of course.

"Good to hear," wizarding George said. "Hermione loved our products. As did everyone else."

"Other than the Death Eaters," his brother added. "And soon the Russians."

That made Dumbledore raise an eyebrow and glance at Hermione.

"I had to tell them the environmental conditions in which we might have to operate," she said with a frown.

"Figuring out that it was Russia afterwards was easy." Wizarding Fred grinned.

"Russia's the only country that matches those conditions and has the means to strike at Britain," George explained. "Dad agreed when we asked."

"Still an impressive deduction," Dumbledore said, tilting his head with a smile.

"You're too kind!"

"Could you tell that to our Mum? She might believe you!"

Dumbledore chuckled at that.

Grindelwald, though, sighed loudly. "We'd rather not be involved in Weasley family affairs."

"Oh, you've met Mum's counterpart?" wizarding Fred grinned again.

"She was quite vocal about the risks we've taken," Dumbledore said.

Ron frowned - he must have missed that particular talk. But it fit Mum, of course. Dad, too, now that he thought about it.

"Anyway, you've got magic items?" Grindelwald leaned forward, putting his glass down - he had barely sipped from his excellent wine.

"Oh, do we!" Wizarding Fred nodded rapidly at his brother, who reached inside his coat and started to pull out several things.

"We've perfected the Deadly Distractions. We've got the full range of options for the payload," wizarding George said.

"And we've increased the power of our fireworks as well!" Fred grinned. "Now you can pack a whole show into a single rocket!"

"We are more interested in not being seen," Ron said, ignoring the snort that comment earned from Ginny and Harry. And the guffaw from Sirius.

"We've got that covered as well! Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder!"

Ah, good. That powder had saved Ron's life - he certainly wouldn't forget about it.

"Do you have a Hand of Glory as well?" Hermione asked.

"Unfortunately, the Ministry frowns on creating such items," wizarding George told her. "And a criminal's hand is in short supply, anyway."

"We tried to use racoon paws, but it didn't work out," his brother said with a shrug. "But we've also got Muggle-Repelling Marbles. Muggles won't go near them - they've got a Muggle-Repelling Charm on them that activates whenever they touch the ground."

"That will certainly help us," Ron said with all the sarcasm he could muster.

"Well… we didn't exactly develop them for muggles." George smiled at him and tilted his head to the side. "Sorry."

His brother coughed. "What about a box of bugs? Put it down and open it, and a few seconds later - instant swarm of a bug of your choice!"

Not something Ron would want to use while shrunken. Not at all.

"And here! Pestering Parakeets! They can mimic any voice you pick. Or Marauding Mice? They'll plunder any food in the room. Or house. Just the thing if you need a non-obvious distraction!"

"We made Ranging Rats first, but they didn't sell as well. We've got some for you, though."

"And Stunning Spiders!"

Ron was starting to wonder if the two wizards had wanted to open a pet shop instead of a joke shop.

Outskirts of Moscow, Russia, January 29th, 2006

They picked another building this time - an abandoned barn on former agricultural land that, according to Dumbledore, had been acquired by an oligarch for his private use in the nineties. Apparently, the barn had been left standing for nostalgic and aesthetic reasons. There was no matching farmhouse nearby, though. Not even ruins. Why would anyone put up a barn by itself?

Ron didn't really care. As long as it protected the trunk from being picked up by the Russian surveillance, it was fine with him. It wasn't as if they would be spending much time outside, anyway. Not with the Muggle-Repelling Charm keeping nosy neighbours or passers-by, as well as anyone who left the barn, away.

He went down into the trunk, then entered the wizarding tent - a new one with more rooms since they had more people on this mission. If it had been his decision, he wouldn't have taken everyone with them. Well, he would've left Ginny behind. But she was the fittest and the most skilled in martial arts. And had been on all their other missions at this point, so trying to argue against letting her come would have been futile and only caused trouble for no gain.

Mum would still be furious once she heard about it, but that was a problem for another day.

This tent had an entrance hall - there was even a fireplace here, which, theoretically, could be connected to the Floo Network. If there were such a network in this world. And if they wanted to let others know about them.

He passed the crate with additional supplies stashed near the entrance - and didn't a house having a tent flap as an entrance look weird from this side? - and entered the living room.

Sirius was there, reading a magazine. "Harry and Ginny are cooking dinner," he told Ron without being asked. "Dumbledore is going over the latest transcripts. The Lunas are… probably plotting something in their room. Hermione is with your and Harry's counterparts in the laboratory, going over the magic items."

"Thank you." To the laboratory, then. "The barn's clear," Ron said.

"But cold," Sirius commented.

"Of course."

"Invading Russia is always a bad idea. Invading it during winter even more so."

"We aren't exactly invading," Ron replied. Was Sirius having second thoughts?

"I know. Just trying to lighten the mood."

Ron nodded, smiled briefly and headed to the laboratory. Hermione and her two friends were sorting through potions, as expected, but all three were looking at him when he opened the door. "Hey." He grinned at her. "Have you sorted out who gets which magic items? If you haven't, I can lend you my dice."

"More or less," Hermione replied with a smile and a short chuckle.

"Dice?" Ron's counterpart asked.

"In my D&D group, we usually had to roll dice when splitting the loot," Ron explained.

"Ah." Apparently, wizarding Harry was familiar with role-playing games. Well, he had grown up in a muggle family.

Wizarding Ron still looked lost.

"It's a muggle game where you play fantasy heroes - like wizards. And you get magic items, which are usually split among the players," Ron told him.

"Not real magic items," Hermione interjected. "It's all pretend."

"I knew that," Ron's counterpart said. He sounded a little miffed.

"So, everyone gets healing potions?" Ron changed the subject.

"Yes," Hermione confirmed. "A full range, so everyone will be able to treat wounds on themselves or others. Also a shrinking potion, just in case."

"We didn't bring invisibility cloaks," wizarding Ron said. "They're a little hard to get, even for Aurors like us. And people would wonder why we needed them. The same goes for Portkeys."

"They wouldn't work here, anyway, since they won't transport you across dimensions," Hermione added.

Which meant that her friends didn't know how to make Portkeys either, Ron deduced. Or didn't know how to make Portkeys that could be activated easily in a pinch. "What about the other things the twins gave us?" he asked.

Hermione sighed. "That's where it gets complicated."

"And dangerous," wizarding Harry added.

"Ah." Ron nodded. He understood the sentiment - a number, higher than he had expected, of the things the twins had presented had sounded quite dangerous for the user. Like handing out hand grenades to people who had no training with them.

"Well, we shouldn't need most of it, anyway," wizarding Ron said. "Not if the plan works out. Five muggles against us?"

"We only have four wands," Hermione pointed out. "We'll have to take them out all at once before they can sound an alarm. We can't just apparate into the office and cast Stunning Spells."

"I said most of it, not all of it, didn't I?" Wizarding Ron grinned. "A few things from the Deadly Distractions should do the job."

"As long as they don't take us out alongside the targets," Ron said. He was sure he had the same idea as his counterpart.

Kremlin, Moscow, Russia, January 30th, 2006

Ron shook his head. Even after he had undergone Side-Along Apparition dozens of times, the experience remained decidedly unpleasant. "There are no cameras I could see," Hermione told him.

"Nor did we find anything," he heard his counterpart say. All of them, including himself, were disillusioned, so he couldn't see anyone.

"Alright." He looked round. They were inside an air duct. At their present size, it looked like a large tunnel. A tunnel with a strong wind, of course.

"We flew to the grate, looked inside and apparated," she went on. "It seems they didn't install sensors that can detect us at our current size."

He nodded, even though she couldn't see him. "Let me check."

He went over the area - from the grate covering the office intake to the grate where the air filter was installed. He didn't find any bugs or hidden sensors, either - and even shrunken, his detector should work.

"Alright, seems we're good here," he told them.

"We'll set up around the corner, out of sight of anyone peering through the grate," wizarding Harry said.

"Follow me," Ron heard Hermione say a moment before her hand touched his back, then roamed until she found his shoulder, arm and hand. Gripping it, she pulled him round the corner and finally ended the spell on him. As he faded into view, so did the others.

He forced himself to smile. He hated being so dependent on her. Wizarding Fred and George had given them a truckload of magic items, but none that would allow Ron to spot disillusioned people.

"I'll fetch the others and the trunk," Hermione said before disapparating.

"So, we got in just fine," his counterpart commented.

"Yes." Ron studied the filters. Nothing high-tech. He couldn't spot any wires, either, that would react to part of it being cut. They could be hidden, of course - but the air duct didn't look like it had been replaced. Still, better have Luna check.

"I would've wanted to start closer to the goal," wizarding Ron went on.

"The closer we are, the higher the chance that they'll have installed more sensors," Ron told him. "And magic only goes so far," he added with a tight smile.

His counterpart scoffed but didn't try to contradict him. They had gone over this before, in the trunk. Even with magic, they couldn't rush things.

Hermione reappeared, dropped the shrunken trunk on the ground and opened the lid. "We're here!"

"Finally!"

A moment later, Luna climbed out of the trunk. "Wow! This will make scanning for bugs so easy! Like looking for camouflaged tanks in the woods!"

"I've already scanned," Ron told her.

"Yes, but it won't hurt if I do it again," she replied with a grin. "Better safe than sorry."

He rolled his eyes. That was payback for his own behaviour back when they had been a couple, and he had been fresh out of Moody's training. For all her seemingly flighty attitude, Luna didn't forget much.

He watched her scan the area carefully as the others climbed out of the trunk.

"Ah, finally we can stretch our legs," Sirius said.

"There's more room inside the tent than outside here," Harry pointed out.

"Should've installed a fitness room if you want to be able to stretch your legs," Ginny added.

"Excellent idea, though I fear that it's a little too late for this mission." Dumbledore was the last to climb out, Ron noticed.

"Alright, this section of the Kremlin's air ducts is safe," Luna announced.

"And there are no Rapacious Dust Mite nests," wizarding Luna added. "There shouldn't be any, but better safe than sorry, right?"

That wasn't an accident. Ron nodded but didn't react any further to the comment. "Let's get through the filter," he said.

"Right!" Luna pulled a thin stick out of her bag. "I'll check the other side!"

She stuck the stick through the filter - it punched a hole through the fabric despite its size, but that wouldn't register - and then connected goggles to it. "Oh… lots of dust. More dust. It doesn't look like they changed the filters recently."

Which meant they hadn't upgraded the filter recently, either. Good.

"I'm through! Let's look for cameras now!" Luna went on. After a minute, she said: "I don't see any cameras or other surveillance devices. No bugs, electronic, or otherwise." She handed the goggles to wizarding Luna. "Look round!"

The witch didn't take long before handing the goggles back. "Alright - we'll be right back!"

Wizarding Luna flicked her wand, and both of them faded from view. Then Ron heard the familiar noise of Apparition.

Five minutes later, they returned. "There's nothing in the second section," Luna announced.

Ron nodded. Time to move up, then.

As expected, it would take them a while to reach Putin.

Kremlin, Moscow, Russia, January 31st, 2006

"Alright… it looks like another camera, a laser and… oh! A heat sensor! And something I think is a chemical sensor," Luna said without removing the goggles linking her to the camera of her probe.

"Any pressure plates?" Ron asked. Two sections had featured pressure plates so far, leading to a much more complicated advance, but they were easy to spot - at least at their current size.

"No," Luna replied. "The floor is undisturbed."

"The camera and the laser aren't a problem," Harry said. "But the heat sensor? That's tricky."

"Only if it's calibrated to detect lower temperatures as well - which I don't think it is." Luna shook her shoulders, her head not moving.

"Block them with a wall of ice?" Ron asked.

"Exactly! They won't register our body heat at all!" Luna said.

"What about the chemical sensor?" Hermione said. "Can we seal it up? Or perhaps a Bubble-Head Charm? That would only let clean air get to it, and we wouldn't have to worry about our scent - or our carbon dioxide."

"I don't think it's sensitive enough to pick up the scent of a human," Ron pointed out. "Because it would probably react to anyone's scent - like Putin's." The size difference was huge, after all.

Hermione nodded. "That's right. They're probably here to identify gases and possibly biological agents."

"Or lubrication oil from machines," Harry added. "Do they look new?"

"No, they even have a little dust on the side," Luna told him.

"Basic defences against assassination, then," Harry concluded.

"Indeed," Dumbledore said. "While, to my knowledge, no such attempt was ever made, no such thing can be said for plans to do so. Our American colleagues were nothing but inventive, if not entirely practical, when it came to such things."

It wasn't paranoia if they really were out to get you. And, Ron had to admit, they were about to get Putin. They were close to his office, now. And according to the transcripts Dumbledore was now checking almost constantly, Putin hadn't left the bunker, nor was he planning to do so.

In theory, he could've had himself replaced with a body double, but… Ron thought that, in that case, there would have been some changes in the Kremlin's procedures which they would have noticed. Still, it couldn't be ruled out - though they would find out for sure soon enough. Or so Ron hoped.

"The cameras will spot the wall of ice," wizarding Harry pointed out. "We'll have to disillusion it before moving it to the heat sensor."

"Let me see how things are laid out," Ron's counterpart said, crouching down next to Luna.

This was wizards' work, Ron told himself. He could help plan what to do, but he couldn't cast the spells.

Wizarding Ron studied the next section for a while, then handed the goggles to his friend. "I think we can do it - the camera can't cover the area directly below itself."

"Yes," wizarding Harry agreed, "but we need to conjure the wall in two pieces. Otherwise, it'll be too tall."

"Right. Do you want to handle it?"

Wizarding Harry nodded. "I'll do it." He drew his wand and waved it around. Ron saw the man's lips move but didn't hear any words. Did that count as silent casting? Or almost silent casting?

He chuckled at his own weak joke and walked over to Hermione.

"They won't take long," she said.

"Better not rush it," he told her. If they were detected, their best shot at getting to Putin would be lost.

"Yes," wizarding Luna agreed. "We can take our time. This is like an expedition with Daddy. Unexplored terrain and unknown dangers! Well, Daddy isn't here, we're much more than just two people, we're in the muggle world and we're not looking for magical creatures but a muggle criminal, but we're planning a catch and release, so it's quite similar anyway."

Ron couldn't help smiling even as he snorted.

"And we're striking a blow against fascist tyranny," Luna added.

"We're not going to alter his mind with regards to his policies," Hermione told Luna.

"Why not? If we're already changing his memories we could do so much more!"

"Or trigger a coup and make things worse," Hermione retorted. "Manipulating his mind so he'll forget about us is already dangerous; trying to make him change further will be too much."

Luna sniffed. "He wouldn't be a great loss for the world. Quite the contrary."

"That may be so, but it's just too dangerous to meddle with his mind more than we absolutely must." Hermione was digging her heels in, but so was Luna.

Ron shook his head. "We haven't even reached his office, much less secured him. Let's not get ahead of ourselves."

"We can't exactly decide this when we've got him," Luna protested. "We need to settle this now."

It was clear what kind of solution she favoured. And what Hermione favoured.

"We can discuss it once we take a rest for the night," Ron said.

Perhaps Dumbledore would be able to convince Luna that they couldn't mind-control Putin even more than planned. Ron clenched his teeth. The old man likely would be able to - but would he want to?

This was a serious problem.

"Well, I have to admit that there certainly is an opportunity to not only solve our own problem but also to right a few global wrongs, so to speak." Dumbledore smiled across the dinner table at Luna.

"Yes! We can do so much good if we rearrange his memories!" Luna said enthusiastically.

Ron clenched his teeth and took a deep breath. He couldn't lose his temper, not over this - he had expected it, after all.

"The risks are too great," Hermione retorted. "Even manipulating his memory regarding us will be a challenge."

Ron nodded. Coming up with a good cover story that would explain the attacks, but make Putin stop coming after Hermione had been tricky. Ron still wasn't convinced that 'revolutionary weapons research revealed to have been a ploy to flush out spies' wasn't a little too convoluted - but Dumbledore had reassured them that it would fit right in with a number of spy operations he and his Russian counterparts had pulled off during the Cold War. The old man was convinced that Putin, who had grown up during the same era, would accept it. 'Using his own paranoia against him', he had called it.

It wasn't as if Ron had been able to think of anything better. Now, if they wanted to, they could even use the same cover story at home, but mind wiping members of the government might be going a little too far even for Dumbledore, so Ron hadn't mentioned that idea yet.

"What's the worst that could happen? He loses his mind?" Luna's exaggerated shrug showed how little she cared about that.

"Well, President Putin does have control over a considerable nuclear arsenal," Dumbledore pointed out.

Ron noted that Sirius had paled and spilt some of his wine. "A crazy Russian with nukes - just what we need."

Luna was pouting. "He's under constant surveillance; if he has a mental breakdown, the other members of his government will step in and remove him from power."

"I would concur with that assessment, although that's only if it's an obvious mental breakdown," Dumbledore said. "If it happens slowly and subtly…" He tilted his head as he trailed off.

"We cannot predict how such things will happen," Hermione said with a frown.

"Yes," wizarding Ron added. "Even the Healers at St Mungo's have trouble sorting out brains."

"Well, wiping his entire mind is easy," wizarding Luna told them. "That would avoid that danger." She wrinkled her nose. "Although that would also mean we couldn't make him change some of his policies." She perked up. "We could do that, and then work on his successor!"

Ron winced. That sounded even worse. "I don't think we should try to take over Russia - or any other country," he said.

"Why not?" wizarding Luna asked. "If we can do it better?"

"We wouldn't take over the country," Luna added. "We would just correct some mistakes. More money for education, less money for the military, for example. More care for the environment. More democracy. More rights for minorities."

"Just a few corrections," Harry said with a snort.

"Exactly," Luna replied with a nod.

"I don't think so - the risk is too great," Hermione said with a glare. "Not to mention that someone would have to keep an eye on the Russian president for the rest of their time in office, just in case they have a mental breakdown as a result of such manipulation. And that would mean no more expeditions - and no saving the rainforests."

Wizarding Luna gasped. "You're right! We can't do this by ourselves!"

Luna didn't look convinced, though. She wasn't the witch of the pair, but if she worked on her counterpart... Ron sighed and looked at her. "Luna, if you do this, you'd basically be running the country. You'd have absolute power over Russia. You wouldn't have to answer to anyone, no matter who gets elected as president. No accountability. Sure, you want the best for everyone, but..." He shrugged.

She glared at him in return and huffed, crossing her arms. She knew exactly what he meant - she had told it to him often enough.

Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Ron didn't smile even though he was relieved. But smiling would have been rubbing it in, and Luna deserved better.

"Shall we eat dinner now?" Dumbledore, of course, did smile, as usual.

Kremlin, Moscow, Russia, February 1st, 2006

"Can you see it?"

"Yes. There's a red cable on the outside."

"Yes. Can you tap it?"

"Of course. I just need to reach it."

"Alright. I'll widen the hole."

"Good. But not too wide - we don't want the thermal sensor picking up our body heat."

"Of course not. Bubble-Head Charm still good?"

"Yes."

"Goody! And now: Evanesco! Here goes… nothing! More nothing. Can you reach the cable now?"

"Yes. Thank you. Now let's see how best to deal with this cute little trap. Oh! That's clever!"

Ron clenched his teeth as he listened to the two Lunas deal with the last obstacle in the air ducts before they reached Putin's office. It was bad enough that he couldn't see them behind the grate - well, he wouldn't have seen them even if he were right next to them - but to listen to two pretty much identical voices while they were risking their lives… Hell, this was worse than torture.

"They'll be OK," he heard Hermione say before he felt her grab his hand.

"Yes," he replied - though he wasn't as sure as he claimed. The Russians had secured the air ducts as if they were expecting them, instead of fragile, dumb drones. It had taken them a full day to get to this point, and Ron had felt like they were clearing mines for most of it.

"Luna knows what she's doing. The other Luna too," wizarding Ron said as if that weren't obvious.

Ron sighed and forced himself to remain calm. They were almost there. Almost at - or in - Putin's office. Just one particularly dangerous obstacle left.

"Oh… I think that's a bomb. Well, a small charge, but at our size, it's a bomb," Luna said. No, wizarding Luna.

What? Ron blinked.

"Let me see!"

"Here."

"Oh, right. That's a charge, yes," Luna said. "Can you deal with it?"

"Oh, yes." A moment later, he heard her say: "There! It's now a pudding charge!"

"Oh, nice!"

"Don't eat it, though."

"I'm not planning to. Alright… let me set up the bypass and splice this…"

Ron sighed again as Luna started mumbling. This was nerve-wracking. Worse than trying to defuse a bomb yourself.

"Alright, we're done!" Luna announced. "You can widen the hole now, Luna."

"Evanesco!"

Finally!

Hermione sighed as well and waved her wand in the now extremely familiar motions of the Disillusionment Charm aimed at Ron. She repeated the motions and faded from view herself. Then Ron felt her hand grab his own again, followed by the sensation of being squeezed through a narrow pipe.

Then he stood inside the air duct the Lunas had cleared, looking through the hole into the space between the real and the fake ceiling of Putin's office. Where dozens more sensors and cameras had been installed. Dealing with that would take a while.

At least they wouldn't have to deal with any insects or other animals - those would have immediately set off the sensors.

"OK! Drag the line over here!"

"Alright." Ron took a deep breath and lifted the cable - which was quite heavy - and walked over to where Luna was pointing.

"We can tap into this line!" she told him. "Just set it down here, I'll splice it in."

He did so.

"How's the computer doing?" she asked without looking up from her work.

He turned to look back. Next to the tent, in the spot that the cameras here didn't cover, Harry and Sirius were, under Hermione's guidance, pushing around a miniature computer that had the relative size of a large armoire for the shrunken team. Behind them, an even bigger portable screen floated. And the keyboard under the screen dwarfed both.

"They're working on it."

"OK!"

Luna finished splicing the cables together and stood. "This should work. Now we need the batteries for the computer."

Ron nodded and followed her back to the tent. A few spells later, a stack of batteries - now the size of artillery shells - was on the ground next to the computer while Hermione and her wizard friends were trying to push them into a grid or something to power the computer and screen.

Ron used the opportunity to look at the computer. The keyboard next to it was gigantic - it had keys the size of dinner plates. It looked so absurd, he chuckled and shook his head.

"Is something wrong?"

"No, no, Luna," he was quick to assure her. "I just think it looks funny."

"Oh, it is funny," she replied. "And using it will be fun as well! Like a game of twister!"

"I think it's more like a game of hopscotch," wizarding Luna said. "We used to play that with the muggle children in the village. Me and Ginny - my Ginny."

Luna wrinkled her forehead. "Indeed. We'll probably have to jump to put enough pressure on some of the keys."

"We?" Ron asked.

"Well, you and the others - it would take too long if I had to push every key myself," Luna explained. "We'll need everyone covering a few keys, so we can type quickly."

"Jump-type," wizarding Luna added with a grin.

"Ah." He nodded.

"We wanted to use magic, but Hermione said the risk of affecting the computer was too high," Luna said.

"I'm not sure if I agree - we're not using wards - but better safe than sorry, right?" Wizarding Luna beamed at him. "Besides, it'll be fun!"

Well, it was fun at the start. But after an hour, Ron was heartily tired of jumping on keys on command. After two hours it was simply tiring, rapidly approaching exhausting. But it was the only way to hack the Russian system - they couldn't hook up a shrunken computer, and using a wireless protocol would trigger an alarm.

"A...N...D," Luna said.

Ron sighed and jumped on "A". While Harry jumped on "N", Ron moved past "S" to "D", then jumped on that key.

"X"!

Ron jumped on the next key.

Then Luna rushed over to the cursor keys and started jumping wildly before stepping on the enter key. "And… done! The script's running! Now we just have to wait!" she announced.

Ron wasn't the only one who sighed with relief.

But Hermione looked a little out of it. Another flashback?

"We just have to wait," she heard Ron say. "Sooner or later, he'll come home."

"And we're ready for them," Harry added.

She wasn't as optimistic. And she didn't like waiting - not when it meant lying in ambush. In someone's home. Melchior Smith's home, to be exact. The man wasn't a Death Eater, perhaps not even a sympathiser - though he was working for the Ministry, and should know better - but he was an acknowledged specialist in runes and rituals. And they needed his knowledge to deal with Harry's scar. Without killing Harry, of course.

And Smith, a distant relative of Zacharias Smith's, was not only good but also lived in a house that wasn't too heavily warded for them to break in without being noticed. There were other scholars who had better protected homes. She would have preferred to go after the best, but… they couldn't risk alerting the Ministry to their plans.

So, Smith it was. She sighed. Then she gasped - the fireplace had just lit up. And the flames were turning green.

"He's coming!" she hissed, aiming her wand. Her friends, disillusioned like she was, were spreading out - she could see the markers above them moving.

Then a figure stepped out of the fireplace, followed by another.

And neither was Smith.