Once more, my beta-readers, fredfred and InquisitorCOC, deserve a huge thank you. Their help is invaluable.
Chapter 55: The President
Kremlin, Moscow, Russia, February 1st, 2006
"Hey!" Ron touched Hermione's shoulder. "Everything OK?"
She took a few deep breaths. "Yes. Just remembered a similar situation."
"Oh?"
"It didn't end well." She sighed before going on: "We wanted to kidnap a Ministry employee. We broke into his home, but he was away. So we prepared an ambush. But he didn't return - instead the Aurors visited."
"Are you talking about Smith?" Wizarding Ron butted in. "Yeah, that was a bloody mess."
Eloquent, Ron thought.
"We did take out the two Aurors who entered the flat through the fireplace, but they must have had backup - we found ourselves trapped in the building and had to fight our way out."
"Yeah." Ron's counterpart nodded. "If they had known who we were, we would've been dead. But they thought we were common burglars, and so didn't have enough wands to take us."
"Well, that's one theory," Hermione said.
The wizard grinned. "It's the truth - we checked with the survivors afterwards, you know." He shrugged.
"And what happened to Smith?" Hermione asked.
"He vanished." Wizarding Ron looked grim for a moment. "Taken down to the Department of Mysteries and never heard of again. Rookwood was in charge of the Department."
"I know that."
"Well, yes. He'd purged it when Voldemort took over. Killed any sympathisers who didn't manage to escape. Probably old rivals as well, and hired more Death Eaters to fill the ranks. The ones who stayed… well, they didn't mind Voldemort's new policies. Most liked them." The wizard had a grim expression. "They could do any and all experiments they wanted."
Ugh. Ron had a good idea of what sort of people had stayed on. And what sort of experiments they would have conducted.
"Clearing them out was a real mess."
Hermione nodded curtly.
"Well, let's hope that this mission goes better," Ron said after a few seconds of silence. "Wouldn't want to capture a body-double."
"I doubt that it's a body-double," Hermione replied. "It's too busy in the office for that."
"Dumbledore said that the Russians would go to great length in their deceptions." And not just the old spymaster - Ron had heard the same from Moody.
"But to set up an entirely fake set of offices?" Hermione shook her head. "And have everyone play along? Department heads, politicians, every single staff member? Never break character? I don't think so. That's no way to run a government."
Ron shrugged. He did actually agree with her, but the possibility of this being a very long con - a trap - remained. "We'll find out the truth soon enough."
"Not quite that soon."
Ron turned and saw that Luna was walking towards them. "We have a few hours until my program's finished, and we still need to find the secondary and tertiary surveillance systems."
"You said you had a way," Hermione reminded her.
"I do." Luna smiled. "But it requires climbing down a shaft. A cable shaft, to be exact."
"And Harry and I are the most experienced in climbing down shafts," Ron said with a wry smile.
"Harry and I could float down," his counterpart offered. "Levitate our clothes. We've done it before."
"Without triggering a sensor?" Hermione asked. "Even if the spells themselves are fine - or should be; we haven't tested them with Russian electronics and we haven't been able to isolate a point after which magic starts affecting electronics, nor do we know how to quantify it in the first place - there wouldn't be any room for error."
Ron smiled politely as the other Ron frowned. Couldn't solve everything with magic, could you?
Of course, it meant that he would be spending a few hours climbing down cable shafts and hoping he didn't step on some shoddy Russian work and get electrocuted. Zapped like a bug.
He suppressed the shudder at that idea. He just had to be careful and take it slow. No need to rush.
So much for rappelling, Ron thought as he stared down the shaft.
"The Russians obviously never thought of cable management," Luna, standing next to him, commented.
"Yes," Ron agreed. Instead of being neatly bundled together, all the cables in the shaft were loose. And from what he could see, it seemed that a number of cables had been too long and, at various points, the excess length had been stuffed into the shaft.
Great. This felt more like caving than climbing. Well, someone had to do it, and Harry's shaft didn't look any better either.
He checked once more that his harness was sitting correctly, smiled at Hermione and Luna and started climbing down. At least he wouldn't lack opportunities to secure his descent.
As it turned out, Ron did more squeezing through small spaces than climbing as he went down. There were a lot of cables and not much space. He also had trouble in some spots with the cable he was dragging along behind. Overall, it was far more tiring than rappelling down would have been - and he would have to climb up again, instead of letting the others pull him up.
But it also made finding the feed from the secondary sensors easy - the additional cables completely blocked the shaft. He took a few deep breaths, then looked at the opening for those cables. He would be able to pass through it - if he pulled off his climbing harness. Well, there was no choice - he had to know what this cable was connected to.
Shimmying out of the straps was harder in the narrow space here, but he managed. Then it was just a - albeit claustrophobia-inducing - crawl on top of the cables and he reached a sensor. A camera. Multiple modes - he knew the model; Japanese. Good quality, but too expensive for CI5's budget even though it came out ahead in testing.
And it had a free socket for another cable. Unfortunately, not the kind of cable he had brought with him. For once, the Russians hadn't gone with a proprietary solution and so he had dragged their stupid special cable along for nothing.
Ron sighed. Now he'd have to go up and down again.
"You should've let Ginny do it."
Ron, lying in their bed, didn't open his eyes at Hermione's words. "She wouldn't have let me forget it, ever," he said. "Let her do it for Harry."
Hermione snorted, and he felt her sit down on the bed next to him. "Typical." He knew she would be shaking her head.
"Did the other Ron do the same?"
"I don't recall a specific occasion on which he did, but he probably would have."
He grunted in response. Of course his counterpart would do the same!
"Luna's already hacking into the second security system, but it'll take a while."
"I know."
"Is there something wrong with your eyes, or are you just trying to sleep?"
He wasn't that tired. Even if he felt like it. He looked at her with a frown and saw that she was smirking - and dangling a Mars bar in front of him. One of the sensibly sized ones, not the small ones.
"Thanks!" He grabbed it and ripped it open. That hit the spot. "When's dinner, by the way?"
"That depends on whether Harry is letting Ginny do the next climb, or insists on catering to his male ego."
"Ginny can cook," Ron pointed out. "She just doesn't want to."
"Ah." She nodded. Probably expected that - she knew Mum's counterpart, after all, and that witch was almost as good at cooking as Mum, and probably had insisted on teaching her Ginny everything as well, no matter her daughter's wishes.
"As long as it's not Sirius, we should be fine," Ron said.
"I've still got MREs." She was smirking, so she was probably joking. Probably.
On the other hand… "I think I could eat a whole ration," he said. The climb had been exhausting.
She dropped a ration on his chest a moment later. He grabbed it and held it up. Curry chicken. Shaking his head, he handed it back. "I think I'll just rest until dinner." He grabbed her hand and squeezed.
She laid down next to him, snuggling up until her head rested on his arm and shoulder.
Kremlin, Moscow, Russia, February 2nd, 2006
"Alright! I've compromised the secondary security system as well." Luna announced, stretching her arms over her head. "I haven't been able to pinpoint the location of the guard watching the feeds from the office, but it can't be too far away. Probably in Putin's quarters."
"That would make sense. He'd want some guards there as well, and if the same people guard both his office and apartment, that creates a useful synergy - and he has to trust a smaller number of people with his life and secrets," Dumbledore said.
Ron nodded, rotating his shoulder a little. It felt a bit sore. A combination of his climb and Hermione using it as a pillow for the night. Not that he'd complain.
"So, what are the odds of a tertiary security system completely isolated from the ones we know about?" Harry asked.
"It's not impossible," Luna said, "but they would have had to further compromise the walls of the office."
"I wouldn't put it past President Putin to go to those lengths, but I believe he'd value his privacy more than an additional layer of security - even now, Russia's leader has to watch his own people as closely, or more so, than foreign enemies." Dumbledore smiled. "And unlike in Britain, a power struggle in Russia is a very serious, possibly lethal, affair. There will already be some people who haven't been informed about the truth behind President Putin's new security measures now wondering whether he's become too paranoid to function. And the more guards he needs, the more people know both our secret and his vulnerability and fears."
Which meant Putin couldn't just add an unlimited number of guards to his office. Ron smiled. Good enough for him.
"We have isolated the security cameras, but we have to consider that Putin might have a way to alert the rest of his guards, like a panic button in his desk," Hermione said.
"Moody's eye would come in very handy right now," Ron's counterpart commented. "Too bad he and Dumbledore took the secret of enchanting it to their graves."
Ron looked at Hermione, raising his eyebrows. "They were the only ones who knew how to make something like that?" And what did it do? Probably see through walls.
She sighed. "Or just Dumbledore. But… proper documentation of his work apparently wasn't among the Headmaster's virtues."
Ron snorted. "If Moody was involved, I bet he insisted on destroying all records."
His counterpart and both Harrys nodded in agreement. Hermione nodded a moment later. "That seems likely," she agreed.
"Very likely, if your Mr Moody was similar in temperament to ours, who, fortunately, still walks this earth," Dumbledore said. "If I didn't know better, I would suspect that he has Russian ancestry."
Ron chuckled briefly at the joke. "That still leaves us with the problem of taking out Putin and his guards very quickly - before they can trigger an alert."
"Kind of like a bank robber's problem," Harry added.
"Well, we could cast a ward over the room - that would stop all muggle systems, wouldn't it?" wizarding Ron asked.
"And it would most certainly trigger an alert in the sections of the bunker not covered by this 'ward'," Dumbledore pointed out.
"Oh."
"We could cover the entire Kremlin with a ward! Shut all the machines down! That would be a great distraction!" wizarding Luna blurted out.
Hermione gasped.
"That would take a long time to set up, and we couldn't do it while shrunk," wizarding Harry retorted.
"Further, the first thing everyone would do is to check on and evacuate President Putin," Dumbledore added with a gentle smile. "That would run counter to our plan to quietly interrogate him."
"So, we need to be faster than they can react," Ron summed up.
"The problem is that we've got four wands and five targets," wizarding Harry said. "That means one of the targets needs to be taken down without a Stunner."
"We could use a stun gun," Sirius proposed. "They can't do anything if they're twitching on the floor with their muscles locked up."
Ron nodded. In a cyberpunk novel, the guards would have been covered by sensors reading their vitals, but that wouldn't be the case here so it should work. But… "Those stun guns also have after-effects," he pointed out. "A medical examination might reveal them."
"Then we need to ensure that there isn't any cause for such an examination," Hermione said. "We can use some healing spells to deal with at least part of that, but I don't know how sensitive the medical instruments are here."
"President Putin will have the very best and most advanced medical technology at his disposal," Dumbledore said. "Little, if any, of it domestically sourced, of course. Whether he would use them on his guards, though, I cannot say. We should assume the worst."
"So, stun gun for one guard. Stunners for the rest and Putin," wizarding Harry said. "We disable the cameras and other alerts, apparate to the barn, cancel the Shrinking Charm and apparate directly into the office."
"Luna will keep the alerts from going off, but our arrival will still be noticeable," Hermione objected. "Even if we suppress the sound beforehand, they'll still feel the displaced air."
"That can't be helped," wizarding Harry replied. "We'll have to take that risk."
"Well, you'll be covered by shields," Ron remarked with a frown. "And what if between your departure and entry, someone walks into the silenced area?"
"We'll have to be quick," his counterpart said. "Who's coming with us with the muggle stunner?"
"Harry and I," Ron told him. "We've got experience with stun guns."
No one objected.
"A Silencing Charm on the door is a must," Hermione added. "Even before the Muggle-Repelling Charm."
Wizarding Ron nodded, though Ron felt that he took that for granted.
"I think that is it, so to speak," Dumbledore said. "A straightforward plan with good odds for success and minimal risk."
"Yes," Ron agreed, not adding that Dumbledore wasn't the one going in and taking out a highly-trained guard. Mostly because Dumbledore would probably volunteer to go with them. "Let's do it tomorrow morning, once the shift's changed."
Kremlin, Moscow, Russia, February 3rd, 2006
"The guards have been changed," Luna reported. "Putin's still in the office."
Well, that was to be expected - the man rarely took breaks outside his office. "Give them ten more minutes in case they forgot something?" Ron suggested.
"A good idea," Dumbledore agreed.
Ten minutes later, nothing had changed. Ron checked his weapons, his harness and his bulletproof vest. Everything was in place. Good.
He stood and stepped over to where the others were gathering. Wizarding Harry and wizarding Ron were already there - with magical robes, apparently, there wasn't much to check. They were wearing bulletproof vests, too, though - under their red robes. Hermione was dressed like Ron and Harry - black turtleneck and pants, boots, vest and webbing, as Sirius called it. Wizarding Luna had opted for the same outfit - Luna's influence, Ron hoped. And not Dumbledore's.
Everyone was masked as well.
"Alright. Target check," Harry said.
"Left back corner guard!" Wizarding Luna sounded cheerful and not at all nervous.
"Right back corner guard," wizarding Ron added.
"Right front corner guard," Ron and Harry said together.
"Left front corner guard." Hermione was obviously tense.
"Putin," Wizarding Harry reported.
"Good." Harry nodded. "Everyone ready?"
"Ready," Ron replied.
Hermione took his hand as the others echoed him. "Ready," she said.
"Go!" Harry snapped.
Ron held his breath until they reappeared inside the barn they had used before. At his size, it looked gigantic - and he didn't want to wonder how many spiders were hiding in the straw and dust around them.
"Finite Incantatem! Finite Incantatem!"
Suddenly, the barn looked small again. And much safer. A moment later, he felt and saw himself fading from view, followed by Harry. He got his bearings, took his stun gun in hand and turned so he'd be facing the right guard. Then Hermione grabbed his free hand.
"Ready!" she announced.
"Ready." "Ready." "Ready."
"Go!" Harry snapped again.
And Ron appeared in the middle of Putin's office. As planned, he was facing the guard standing in the right front corner - but there was already an alert sounding. What the hell?
They were committed. And the guard was already raising his gun. Ron lunged, knocking it down, then raised the stun gun - but Harry must have been an instant faster - the guard was already collapsing. Ron followed up for good measure, and the man collapsed. Shots rang out - automatic fire. Ron felt something hit his back and dropped, rolling to the side. A red spell hit the man on the ground, and he stopped screaming.
Ron drew his gun. Who was shooting? Apparently, no one any more - all guards and Putin were down. But the alert was still sounding. "Everyone alright?" He hated that he couldn't see anyone. Really hated it. And his back hurt like hell.
The door to Putin's quarters swung open, an armed man appearing in the doorway. Two red spells took him down before he could shoot.
The next one managed to get a burst off before he fell.
"Going in," wizarding Harry snapped. "We've got shields."
Ron still took cover.
"My bloody leg," Harry said behind him. "I'm bleeding!"
"What?" Hermione gasped. Then Harry faded into view, his black pants wet and leaving a growing red stain on the floor.
"Episkey!" she all but yelled. "Scourgify!" The stain on the floor disappeared.
"Thank you," Harry said. He started to get up, but then winced - his leg must still be hurting if no longer bleeding like a stuck pig. Ron helped him stand and hissed in pain. His back hurt.
"Ron?"
"I got shot in the back," he pressed out. "Doesn't feel like it went through the vest."
Hermione, of course, checked herself. Ron felt almost as relieved as she sounded when she told him he was correct. "I've secured the door to his front office," she went on, "but that won't hold everyone forever - not if they heard the alert or the shots. And the additional guards in the flat will have alerted more."
Damn. "Plan B," Ron said.
"Going!" wizarding Luna replied. A few seconds later, a rapidly growing Dumbledore appeared in the office - next to a still disillusioned, but probably normal-sized witch.
"Let's hope my observations of President Putin over the last few days will bear fruit," the old spymaster said as he knelt down next to the unconscious president and reached out to the man's eyebrows. "Please start stripping him."
As Ron moved to do so, running into Harry, who was also still disillusioned, on the way, Hermione faded into view, holding a potion vial out to Dumbledore. The old man dropped what Ron hoped was an eyebrow hair into it and swallowed all of it. Then he started to shake and shiver and.. blur. And then, another Putin stood there, with a rather out of character-like smile on his face.
"Hurry!" Hermione snapped. "Even with the charm, they won't wait forever."
A few minutes of frantic dressing and stripping later, Dumbledore was wearing Putin's clothes. And his counterpart reported that they had taken out two more guards.
"We need to go now!" Hermione announced. "Harry and Ron - stay with Mr Dumbledore."
Ron saw the two wizards starting to shrink a moment before Hermione grabbed him and he felt like he was being stuffed through a narrow pipe or hose again.
They were back in the barn. Luna appeared as well, with the real Putin. And she had apparently taken the time to conjure clothes for him.
Another couple of Shrinking Charms and one Side-Along-Apparition later, they were back in their Kremlin base.
"Putin's secured," Ron said, stepping back from the metal chair.
Hermione nodded and drew her wand. She had been looking forward to this confrontation. And Dumbledore had indulged her - probably because he would have loved to talk to Putin under these circumstances himself, but couldn't as he needed to replace the Russian. Ron just hoped that it would give her some sort of closure. Or at least satisfaction after being hunted for so long. There was no real point otherwise.
"Rennervate!"
As soon as Hermione's spell hit Putin, his eyes flew open and he looked around. Ron didn't notice any sign of confusion or disorientation, either. Nor did the Russian look concerned or afraid - he met their eyes without flinching. There was even a hint of a sneer in his expression.
Until he noticed the giant computer to the side. That made him blink - for a second or two. Then he snorted. "I see Dr Granger's research has progressed further than we thought," he commented in unaccented English.
"You might say that - we had a breakthrough after your attack in Scotland," Hermione replied.
Putin scoffed in return. "I had heard that you were taking part in these operations, but I had my doubts. What kind of fool would risk you like that?"
"Someone who knows that I won't let my friends take risks alone," she replied with a scowl that deepened when he laughed.
Ron schooled his features. Yes, taking Hermione on these missions might seem a little foolhardy. If you didn't know about her magic. And if you didn't know her. If you did, you'd know that trying to make her stay behind was far more foolhardy.
Hermione scoffed. "You have no idea of my capabilities. And you have no idea of your own situation, either."
"Oh, but I do," Putin retorted. He laughed again. "I've been kidnapped by British agents. That's an act of war. How much do you think Britain will be willing to surrender to Russia to avoid a war? We've already gathered proof of your involvement in the attack on our shores in the Black Sea. We will find proof of your involvement in this kidnapping as well."
"There won't be any proof," Hermione said. "Because as far as your staff knows, you haven't been kidnapped."
"You bravely fought off unknown kidnappers who managed to take out your guards," Ron added.
Putin scoffed again, but he had to be rattled. "A body double? You plan to replace me with an actor, and expect it not to be discovered? How stupid do you think my men are?"
Ron smiled and glanced at the screen to the side. It was currently showing 'Putin' ordering his men around - the guards had already been moved out of the office. "It doesn't look like they've noticed anything." Well, any minor inconsistencies would be justified as the after-effects of the attack.
Putin didn't look concerned, though, and he scoffed again. "A predictable attempt at psychological warfare. If anything happens to me, Britain will pay the price. Not even Dumbledore would risk that. My men know that you're behind this - and they'll manufacture proof if needed."
He was definitely rattled if he was repeating himself, in Ron's opinion. But they were wasting time. He looked at Hermione.
She pressed her lips together, then nodded - reluctantly. "I'm telling you what is going to happen," she said, pulling a vial out of her bag. "You will tell us who else knows about my research. And then you'll forget about this kidnapping. When you wake up, you'll know that I wasn't attacked for my research, but because Kirikov wanted to silence me before I remembered that he had kidnapped me as a child. And that Mr Dumbledore used the opportunity to launch a decoy operation that would expose many of your assets in Britain by planting false rumours about my research."
"My people know the truth," Putin retorted - though he was staring at the vial. "We interrogated Igor thoroughly. We know what you can do."
Hermione smiled, showing her teeth, as she drew her wand. "No, Mr Putin. You really don't know what I can do."
She flicked her wand, and half a dozen snakes appeared, slithering towards Putin. They climbed his legs and slid under his jacket and shirt. The Russian stiffened but kept his composure.
Until Hermione swished her wand, and all the snakes disappeared. For the first time, he looked shaken.
"I'm a witch, Mr Putin." She smiled. "And you're not prepared for magic."
But the man was prepared for body doubles, Ron realised. Still, no body double would be as good as a double using Polyjuice Potion. And yet… He gasped. Putin suspected that Hermione could travel to other dimensions. That she was a double from another dimension. And if he was as paranoid as he seemed… He was trying to gain time. "Dose him with the Veritaserum!" Ron snapped. "He's got protocols for dimensional doubles!"
Hermione gasped. "Oh no - I should've thought of that!" she blurted out as she rushed towards their suddenly struggling and cursing captive. But as much as Putin tried to resist, it was to no avail. Not even ten seconds later, three drops of the potion fell on to his tongue.
The few seconds that passed until the potion took effect felt like hours to Ron. Finally, he blurted out: "What method did you implement to detect dimensional doubles?"
"Special passphrases," Putin droned.
"Who in the Kremlin knows them?" Ron pressed on.
"Ilija Petrovic and Grigory Drugov."
"Who are they?"
"My bodyguards."
Of course, he would only trust those who already guarded his life - and not potential rivals. "What are their passphrases?"
Putin answered, and Ron had to suppress a groan - of course, the phrases would be in Russian! "Repeat them!"
Putin did.
Ron tried to remember them, mumbling under breath. "Repeat."
Putin did again.
"I think I got them," Ron snapped. "I'll inform Dumbledore! Hand me a broom and disillusion me!" They couldn't use radio - not here, where every frequency would be monitored.
Hermione nodded - her lips were pressed together, he noted. She was blaming herself for this. But it wasn't her fault; no one had expected this. They should have, of course - the Russians were paranoid enough to expect an invasion by dimensional doppelgängers.
Ron felt the spell take effect and rushed towards the small opening in the ceiling. He forced himself through it, falling for a moment before he could straddle the broom, then took off towards Dumbledore.
The old spymaster was in the middle of the office, supervising the agents going over the bullet holes in the wall and the damaged furniture. Two men looking like paramedics were talking to him, though he kept waving them off.
Obviously, neither of the two bodyguards had reached him yet. Perhaps one of them had been on duty in Putin's quarters, and had been taken out by wizarding Harry and wizarding Ron?
It didn't matter. Ron clenched his teeth and guided the broom towards Dumbledore's head. He had to slow down now, and he avoided one of the paramedics, then almost crashed into Dumbledore's forehead when the man moved and turned to snap at the Russians.
Ron turned away and returned on another approach. Behind Dumbledore, he saw two guards snap to attention - someone important was arriving. Either a member of the government or… one of the commanders of the bodyguards. And Ron didn't think that Putin would be receiving staff members right now. Cursing under his breath, he urged the broom onward and dived towards Dumbledore's head again.
Once more, Dumbledore moved, tilting his head, but Ron managed to compensate and came to a stop next to the man's right ear. He reached out and touched it, then stuck his head into it and said: "Putin has passphrases to uncover doubles! Two guards know them - Ilija Petrovic and Grigory Drugov." He repeated the passphrases, hoping fervently that he had remembered them correctly, then repeated everything twice since Dumbledore couldn't answer. Couldn't even confirm that he'd heard.
The officer reached Dumbledore and saluted.
Dumbledore nodded in return, barking something in Russian.
The officer replied, then took a step back and said one of the passphrases. All the guards in the room suddenly tensed. Ron held his breath. If Dumbledore hadn't gotten the message.
But the old man had - he gave the countersign, and the officer nodded, obviously satisfied.
Ron let out a sigh of relief, told Dumbledore he was returning upstairs and flew away.
That had been close.
"...and Pavel Ivanovich. Military attaché at the Russian embassy in London," Putin droned on.
"Got it!" Luna announced from where she was taking notes.
Ron refrained from cursing. They couldn't call Ivanovich back to Moscow before they had to return the real Putin - which meant another operation.
"Does anyone else know about my supposed research into dimensional travel?" Hermione asked.
"No."
"What about Kirikov?"
"Dead."
Ron nodded. That wasn't really a surprise. So, a dozen people to deal with. More knew about the danger of teleporting intruders, but that was limited to the security forces here. "How's Dumbledore doing?"
"Still ordering everyone around," Ginny replied from where she was keeping watch on Putin's office.
That was good. According to their plan, 'Putin' would personally lead the investigation. That way, he could call the others who knew about Hermione and interrogate them - which would let the group deal with them as well.
Now they just had to stick to the plan, change the Russians' memories - and then break into the Russian embassy in London to deal with the last one.
And hope that nothing else went wrong.
Ron checked his watch. Dumbledore was on his third dose of Polyjuice Potion now. And there was no sign that he would have a chance to swap with the real Putin any time soon - even if Hermione managed to finish rearranging and replacing Putin's memories.
Which she hadn't, a glance over his shoulder told him. At least Ron had been able to tell Dumbledore the list of names, and what they knew about them.
"This takes time," wizarding Luna told him as she sat down at his side.
"Hm?"
"It's a very delicate spell. Well, the spell is easy, but using it is a delicate affair. Or should be," she explained.
"I know." He did, but that didn't help with the waiting. They had narrowly escaped disaster once already. Twice, if they counted the first change of plans, though they'd had a contingency plan for that.
Below them, Dumbledore was sitting at Putin's desk, giving more orders in Russian. Ron couldn't follow what the old spymaster was saying, but he recognised a few names from the list.
"I hope that means that Dumbledore arranged a spare room for the interrogation," he said.
"We can use magic to keep everyone out. They'll invent reasons to leave Putin alone." The witch was smiling.
"But they won't invent reasons to excuse him being alone with others that will stand up to scrutiny later," he told her. "Especially if they let him be alone in a room that had already been compromised by an attack." In such a situation, Ron would know something weird had happened and investigate. He didn't doubt that the Russians would do the same.
"I trust Albus. He's got experience with this."
He glanced at her. She did look confident. Trusting.
What the hell had Dumbledore done to earn that?
She chuckled. "I don't totally trust him, of course. He's a member of the Shadow Government, an arms dealer and a spymaster. But I trust him to be good at it."
Ah. Ron felt relieved - a little, at least. "We're still in a sticky situation," he said. "We can't really talk with him."
"You can talk to him, though."
"Yes. But he can't talk back. And I don't know if he understood everything or not. And he can't signal us what he needs." Not without tipping off the Russians. At least they could use enchanted parchment to send messages to and from wizarding Harry and Ron's counterpart.
"And you don't like that."
"I don't," he confirmed. Of course not. But he hated most that he couldn't do much. Couldn't do enough.
She put her hand on his shoulder. "It'll work out. If we fail, we can always move everyone to my world. Or to another world. That would be fun, wouldn't it?"
He managed to control himself. This was Luna's counterpart. If she was like his Luna - and she was very similar - then she didn't have many friends and only her father as family. The Lovegoods - either ones - would easily move, and Ron could understand that.
But his own family? They wouldn't. They were rooted in this world. In their lives. Ginny was a famous athlete. Percy had a promising career in Her Majesty's Civil Service. As did Dad. Bill, Charlie and the twins had careers of their own. Friends and lovers. They couldn't give all that up and move to another world.
Especially not one where they already existed.
Ron wasn't even sure he could do it. He wanted to be with Hermione no matter where she was, but… to live as a muggle among wizards? Depend on them each time he had to enter a magical area? Or wanted to 'hang out' with wizards?
Would he be able to stomach that, or would he end up eaten by envy and jealousy? Would being able to fly a broom and use other enchanted items be enough? This wasn't D&D, and even D&D hadn't managed to balance wizards and fighters in thirty years.
He snorted, and wizarding Luna beamed at him. "That's the spirit! Always be open to new things and you'll never stagnate!"
He nodded, hoping his guilt at lying to her wasn't visible. She really was like Luna.
"Oh! Albus is moving."
"What?" He checked. Dumbledore was walking out of the office - and not into Putin's quarters. Well, that made sense. The Russians knew that security was compromised here. On the other hand…
"Dumbledore's left the office," he told the others as he walked over to them. "Luna?" he asked. "How's the Russian bug hunt going?"
She chuckled, sounding exactly like her counterpart. "They haven't found me. Although they'll soon have checked all the cables, I believe."
And that would lead them to their base here. Well, they were ready to move. All but Hermione.
"Where's Dumbledore moving to?" Ginny asked.
"We don't know. But the other Harry and Ron are with him and can apparate back to us once they've settled in," Harry replied.
"Or inform us in writing," wizarding Luna added.
"We might want to move anyway," Sirius suggested. "Without having to rush everything."
"Yes. Let's move to the barn."
It was getting too dangerous to stay.
But they would have to return as soon as Dumbledore was set up.
Outside Moscow, Russia, February 3rd, 2006
There was something moving nearby. Something big. Ron took a deep breath and kept his rifle aimed at the closest batch of straw and decaying plants. "Please no spiders," he mumbled under his breath. He'd rather see a mouse or shrew than a spider. Not even a small one. Not even with potions to counter any venom available.
"Ron?"
He glanced over his shoulder. Hermione was walking towards him. He didn't turn around, though, and returned his attention to their surroundings - his part of the perimeter - even as he replied: "Did you finish?"
"Putin's now convinced he almost fell for a decoy operation. One in which Kirikov took part. And that there are more traitors who allowed us to penetrate his security."
"Good." One down, six to go.
She stood next to him, sighing. "No news from Dumbledore. Harry sent a message through the charmed parchment - they're moving to a different building."
Great. He stifled a curse. "Are they in the escape tunnel?"
"Yes. Or one of them."
"We'll just have to wait until they arrive at their destination," Ron said.
"I know."
But she wanted to be with her friends. He understood the sentiment. Very well.
"I just wish we could be our regular size," he said. But with Russian security on full alert, they couldn't trust that someone wasn't checking every nook and cranny - including this barn - in and around Moscow.
"Me too. Luna loves it, though. Both Lunas."
He snorted. "I bet they do. This must be like an expedition for them." It was for him - he just didn't like it. He didn't feel safe, and not because of spiders. He didn't say so, though - he didn't want to sound paranoid.
"Yes." She sighed again. "This actually reminds me…" She trailed off, looking at the parchment in her hand. "They've stopped moving and are settling down."
She looked around the clearing. It shouldn't feel like home. It didn't, actually. But she was getting familiar with it. Moody would say that meant it was time to change - that they were becoming predictable. But it didn't really matter. The Death Eaters couldn't track Apparition, and even if they could, any other camp would be at risk as well. What was important was that no one, not even their closest friends, knew about this place - or that they even knew about this forest.
They were safe here.
She told herself that. But she didn't feel safe. The war wasn't going well. It wasn't going badly, either, but… how much longer could they hunt down Horcruxes without Voldemort noticing?
How much longer before they had to move out again?
She sighed. They were close. Very close. But the longer it took, the more dangerous it became.