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

Chapter 56: The Subordinates

Outside Moscow, Russia, February 3rd, 2006

Shortly after the parchment message, wizarding Ron arrived in the barn and quickly set down in the middle of the camp - apparently uncaring about the resident animals that might think a shrunken wizard would make a tasty meal. At least he had sense enough to announce himself before appearing invisible in their midst.

"Harry's with Dumbledore, but the muggles don't have a clue. They didn't notice us flying around, either," he reported. "It's another bunker; the entrance is hidden in a garage - how many secret bunkers have the muggles hidden around here, anyway?" Wizarding Ron shook his head. "They're worse than the goblins! Or were there some mines around, and once they ran dry, they turned them into secret hideouts?"

"That's just the Russians for you," Sirius replied. "Though if you want to see crazy tunnels and bunkers, you need to visit Switzerland - they have a bunker for everyone! They say that you can walk from one end of the country to the other without seeing the sun."

"I actually doubt that," Hermione said. "It wouldn't have made any sense to actively maintain so many bunkers after the Cold War ended - if there ever were that many bunkers in the first place."

"They probably turned them into vaults for all their stolen gold." Sirius grinned.

"Wow - just like Gringotts!" Ron's counterpart exclaimed. "Are they the muggle counterparts of the goblins?"

Ron laughed. "They usually call them 'gnomes'."

"Oh! So it is true!"

Hermione glared at him. "No, Ron's pulling your leg."

"Oh."

Ron grinned at his counterpart. "Gnomes of Zürich is a slang term for Swiss bankers," he said.

"Though there could be a connection. Magic exists in this world, but there are no native magical species of any kind. So those who would have evolved into magical creatures must have taken a different route here. It could very well be true that the Swiss bankers are Gringotts' counterparts," wizarding Luna pointed out. "It's certainly something worth investigating."

Luna mumbled a few uncomplimentary words about the Swiss banks which Ron was very familiar with. He cleared his throat before she could really get started. "We should focus on our current problem," he reminded the others.

"Yes," Hermione agreed at once. "We need to deal with the five other people who are aware of my research."

"And we can't take too long," Harry added. "Dumbledore has to keep taking the potion every hour, and he has to sleep sometime. We're on a timer here."

"Well, it doesn't look like they'll leave him alone. They even sent a guard with him when he went to the toilet," wizarding Ron said.

"Then we'll have to take down the guards and deal with their memories - once we're ready to make the swap," Ron replied. "First, though, we'll have to deal with the surveillance in the new bunker. They didn't notice you, but once we start taking down Putin's visitors..."

"Yes," Luna agreed. "I doubt that it's as extensive as the one under the Kremlin - they would have further improved that one if they had resources to spare - but it won't be easy, either. The Russians have been a key part of the Shadow Government for decades and know all about surveillance from controlling their population with it."

"But can you handle it?" Hermione asked. "Quickly enough that we can deal with the others before Dumbledore collapses - or is sedated by Putin's guards thinking it's for his own good?"

"Of course." Luna nodded with a confident expression. "After the Kremlin's security, I know their tricks."

"Good. Then let's start." Hermione looked at her friend. "Ron, please take Luna and me there so we can get the others."

"What if they do notice you arriving?" Sirius asked.

He had a point. It was not very likely, but it didn't pay to underestimate the Russians - they hadn't expected an alarm under Putin's carpet that wasn't connected to the security system, either. On the other hand, some things you couldn't really deal with. Or had to deal with. "Then we withdraw and see where they'll take Dumbledore next."

"Let's go," Hermione repeated herself. "We'll be right back," she added with a smile at Ron.

A moment later, she, wizarding Ron and wizarding Luna had disappeared.

"I wish I had learned Russian," Luna commented. "I could do so much more if I understood the language."

"Me too," Ron replied. No magic and no Russian. He really needed to pull his weight.

Hidden Bunker, Outside Moscow, Russia, February 3rd, 2006

Compared to the bunker beneath the Kremlin, this one was a step down, in Ron's opinion. Not only with regards to the security system - the sensors and cameras in this bunker hadn't been nearly as numerous, nor as difficult to deal with, as the ones in Putin's office and there were no ultrasound detectors that would catch invisible shrunken wizards on flying brooms - but also with regards to amenities.

Bare concrete, cots instead of beds and the bathrooms had a distinct 'forties' look - although they looked well-maintained, nothing like what Ron had seen working for CI5 in some of the poorer sections of London.

On the other hand, the lack of a fake ceiling in which to set up camp was a hindrance to their efforts to penetrate this bunker's security. Instead of standing on a solid floor, they were stuck to the wall with conjured and disillusioned balconies, as if they were mountaineers bivouacking in the Eiger-Nordwand.

Ron spent as much time on a broom as he could - the thought of standing, much less resting on an invisible platform that was conjured out of thin air and might disappear with a single spell was unnerving.

At least Luna wasn't affected - she was stuck in the biggest tent, hacking into the Soviet-era computers, last he had checked.

But it was getting late in the afternoon, and time was starting to run short. Dumbledore was visibly tiring, or at least that's what it looked like to Ron.

He flew another loop, staying well away from the half a dozen guards in the room - subduing them would be a pain as well, but should be possible with Dumbledore's help - and checked the entrance. The door was open and more guards were waiting outside. Four, no secretary. He wanted to fly out and look for their relief, but he wasn't a wizard - if the door closed behind him, he wouldn't be able to return using Apparition. He would have to wait until someone found him, and that would be embarrassing.

Although… he narrowed his eyes when Dumbledore spoke up, and suddenly, two guards were leaving, and two more entered before the process repeated itself. Obviously, they had received their orders - possibly marching orders. But that would mean…

He flew back to the camp, feeling around for a moment until he found the invisible tent, then snuck in and announced himself. "There you are!" Hermione greeted him. "We're almost done."

"So I thought when I saw Dumbledore handing out orders that made the guards jump," he replied.

"Yes. Luna's positive that she'll have cracked their security soon, so we told Dumbledore, and he ordered the others to be brought to him."

"Ah." He had expected - and hoped - for that. Things were coming to a head, then. Finally. "So how do we do this?"

Hermione sighed. "With six guards to take out, we'll have to split them up."

Ron nodded, not that she could see him since he was still disillusioned. "Unless you want to use the twins' gadgets."

"Most of them aren't subtle enough," she retorted. "And the rest are too dangerous for us. They were made to take out Death Eaters, not capture muggles without harming them."

"They would be very convenient, though, if we need to incapacitate the entire bunker."

"And start a war," she replied in a flat voice.

"Not if we blame internal rivals for it," he said. And with Polyjuice Potion, they probably could. Of course, that'd also mean the mission was a failure.

"Let's avoid making things worse," she said.

"I've got it!" Luna announced. "Everything is ours!"

Half an hour later, Ron was observing from above again as Dumbledore got up, said something in Russian, and headed towards the bathroom with two guards in tow. He stopped, pointed at a third and ordered the man to come as well. Good.

The remaining three guards didn't seem to suspect anything - they started chatting in Russian, in whispers, as soon as Dumbledore left. Ron thought they were talking about Putin, but he wasn't entirely sure.

It didn't matter - ten minutes later, Dumbledore returned with the guards and this time, he closed the door to the room behind them.

That made the other guards react, but too late - the three guards with Dumbledore hit them with a Stunning Spell each, and down they went. A moment later, Wizarding Luna, full-sized, faded into view at the door. "No one will disturb us until I end the charm. Hurry, though."

Ron didn't need to be told twice. He flew in front of her face, touching her nose, and she ended the Disillusionment Charm on him, and then undid the Shrinking Charm.

Then it was his turn to drink Polyjuice Potion and impersonate one of the remaining guards.

Ron just had to stand still and keep quiet. Easy. Guards weren't meant to talk, after all. Unless it was to check passphrases. Or sound an alert. Which they wouldn't need to do here. It was so easy, anyone could do it. But waiting for their first target to arrive, hoping the other guards wouldn't be suspicious? When he couldn't really do anything to influence matters? That was hard.

If only he spoke Russian… well, no. Even in that case, he'd have to stay quiet since his speech pattern would give him away - he wasn't a spy trained to impersonate others. Or a wizard with experience passing as someone else. He did have experience working undercover, but it wasn't really the same.

Well, he wasn't the only one. Harry and Sirius were in the same boat. But at least the three of them knew how to carry and handle a gun - wizarding Harry and wizarding Ron were holding theirs a little sloppily. The two wizards not only had to stand still, but they also couldn't touch anything either - he almost snorted remembering the quick instruction the wizards had been given by Sirius.

His eyes strayed to Hermione. Who currently looked like a burly Russian soldier. A male soldier. Now that was a weird sight. Standing still, one couldn't tell that it was her, but if she moved, it showed. And watching a Russian guard walk like a woman was remarkable. Slightly unnerving, but remarkable.

Perhaps she didn't have much experience with Polyjuice Potion, either. In fact, now that Ron thought about it, could this be a possible niche? One didn't need a wand to drink a potion, after all.

On the other hand, without the language skills, even using Polyjuice Potion, he would be limited to British and, perhaps, American cover identities. And not Australian ones - Ron had never managed to get that particular accent right.

He glanced at the corner, where the hidden base was, now also serving as a holding area for six shrunken and sedated guards and one sedated, shrunken president. No hint of their presence. Good.

He heard a knock at the door and took a deep breath, standing straighter, as Dumbledore asked something in Russian. The door opened, and one of the real guards appeared, saluting. And announcing something - Ron recognised the tone.

Ah. Behind the guard stood their first target. Pavel Turgenev. Officially, the man was merely part of Putin's party cadre. Unofficially, he was Putin's liaison to the private sector - both criminal and otherwise. The man who would pass on Putin's 'suggestions' if the Russian president wanted to keep his hands clean of any possible backlash.

Turgenev looked nervous, Ron noticed as the Russian entered. He was good at hiding it, but Ron had watched dozens of hardened criminals be interrogated; he knew the signs. Of course, if a Russian president survived an assassination attempt and now wanted answers, anyone would be nervous if they were called in, wondering if they might have been framed. Or wondering if an investigation into the attack had uncovered their own machinations.

Dumbledore, for a change, wasn't smiling at the man, but merely nodded at the chair in front of his desk, which only seemed to further unnerve the man.

Then Hermione waved her wand at the door, and wizarding Ron pointed his at Turgenev.

"Incarcerous."

Ropes appeared out of nowhere and wrapped themselves around the Russian, tying him to the chair.

"I'm afraid, Mr Turgenev, the real President Putin is currently indisposed," Dumbledore announced with a beaming smile.

The man gasped, then yelled - for help, presumably.

They let him yell for a few seconds until he realised that no one was reacting. No one was hearing him.

"Magic," Dumbledore said, tilting his head. "A very powerful tool, wouldn't you agree?"

"Magic?" Turgenev replied. He barely had an accent, Ron noted.

"Magic." Dumbledore nodded.

Whatever the Russian was about to say died on his tongue when the paper on the desk suddenly turned into a miniature elephant. Moments like these made Ron wonder if Hermione's claim that memory modifications were easier on shocked people was actually true.

And Hermione was already sitting in front of the captive, vial in hand. Once again, resistance proved to be futile and Turgenev started to spill his guts - though not literally. However, after what they heard en passant, Ron wouldn't have minded much if that had been the case. At least the Russian hadn't spilled the secret to anyone else - but he had records at home. Assurance or an ace up his sleeve? Ron didn't care. "We need to get the records and alter them," he said.

"Miss Lovegood?" Dumbledore spoke up. "Could you do that with Mr Wealsey?"

Outskirts of Moscow, Russia, February 3rd, 2006

They couldn't apparate to Turgenev's house, but it hadn't been hard to find - not even when flying on a broom while shrunken. For all that the Russian was supposed to hold a rather unimportant position in the party, and none in government, Ron thought his villa would not be out of place amongst some of the more modest oligarchs'.

"Let's circle it," he whispered to wizarding Luna, who was flying their broom. In theory, they could just fly to the window of Turgenev's office and apparate inside, but he wanted to have a better idea of the lay of the land before entering. According to Turgenev, there shouldn't be any traps, and the sensors shouldn't detect them at their current size, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

The front of the house was normal - what you would expect from the home of a rich Russian. The back, though, and the garden… Ron knew he had made a mistake as soon as he saw the cages holding a bear and a tiger.

"Those poor dears!" wizarding Luna exclaimed. "We'll have to save them!"

Yes. They should have apparated directly into the office. "We need to get the documents Turgenev left in his office," Ron told her. "We can't just steal two animals. Huge carnivorous animals, to be precise."

"Of course not!" Wizarding Luna's hair hit him in the face as she apparently nodded. "We can't steal them - that would be wrong. They deserve to be free!"

Oh no. "But we're on a mission… we don't have the time to…"

"Then we'll need to hurry!"

And the witch steered their broom into a steep dive, directly towards the tiger's cage.

"Stop!" Ron yelled. "There are cameras! We need a plan!"

They came to a stop well short of the cage, though the tiger was now looking directly at them. Good hearing, Ron assumed. Or it had smelt them.

But he had to be quick. "We need to get the documents first. As soon as the animals disappear, they'll sound the alarm." A Siberian tiger and what looked like a grizzly out and about in the outskirts of Moscow would draw half the militia.

"That would be a good distraction!"

"They'd shoot them."

"We're not going to actually set them free here," wizarding Luna retorted. "They need to be released in their native habitat. But if the police think that they are loose around here, they'll be very distracted."

She wasn't wrong, but… "We won't need a distraction if no one notices us."

"But we have all of Fred and George's inventions to use!"

"They're for emergencies," he told her. "Let's go get the documents before we lose any more time!"

He heard her huff, but she gripped his hand and apparated them into Turgenev's office before setting the broom down on the man's desk. As soon as Ron dismounted, he felt himself growing rapidly until he stood on the desk in his natural - or what was natural for the Russian he was impersonating - size. Fortunately, he was still disillusioned.

With Turgenev's information, taking the documents was easy enough without triggering the alarm guarding the secret compartment inside the fake fireplace. "I've got them!"

"Good. Now let's replace them with fake ones! And then we save Brian and Theo!"

She had named the animals. Great. But Ron took the fake documents hinting at some scandal relating to Putin and hid them where the originals had been.

"Now we need a plan to get the animals without being seen," he said. "We can cover the cameras, but that will alert the guards."

"We'll be gone before they arrive!"

"And we need a place to take the animals to," Ron went on.

"A Lovegood is always prepared to give a poor animal a new home!" wizarding Luna told him, holding up what looked like a cardboard box.

He blinked. It was a cardboard box…

"We'll shrink them and put them in here. So: cover the cameras with a Colour-Splash Spell, shrink the animals, put them in the box and go back!"

Try as he might, Ron couldn't find fault with that plan.

Half a minute later, the fault found him as he tried to capture a real miniature tiger that was far faster than anticipated - and tigers were already fast - and which could very easily slip through the bars of its cage.

And when he finally managed to catch it with a well-timed jump - having a different body made hunting anything harder than expected - it bit and scratched his hand.

Wizarding Luna, meanwhile, was apparently - he couldn't see her, but he heard her - tickling the shrunken bear she held in her hands without any trouble.

A few more scratches and a lot of cooing later, both animals were in the cardboard box - in separate compartments - and they were ready to leave. Finally. Wizarding Luna took his hand, and then they disapparated.

And reappeared in Putin's new office. Ron stumbled and almost fell - but that was probably the fault of being in the wrong body.

"Miss Lovegood. Mr Weasly. Welcome back," Dumbledore said. "I trust the mission was a success?"

He was seated behind the desk, looking a little tired - not that Ron was able to tell for sure, not knowing how a tired Putin looked. The others were seated as well - mostly on the ground - and Turgenev was slumped on a chair, drooling a little. Apparently, Hermione was done with him.

"Oh, yes!" Wizarding Luna beamed at the old man before Ron could say anything. "We liberated Brian and Theo!"

"Brian and Theo?" Hermione asked.

"Brian and Theo!" Wizarding Luna pulled the cardboard box out of an enchanted pocket and held it up. "Bian's the brown one, Theo's the striped one!"

"A tiger? And a bear? And you brought them with you?" Hermione, even still disguised as - shape-shifted into - a Russian man, sounded shocked.

"We couldn't leave them behind!" Wizarding Luna shook her head. "They were in small cages. And we couldn't set them free so far from their natural habitat."

Ron shrugged as Hermione looked at him. She hadn't expected him to stop wizarding Luna, had she?

"I'm certain that we can find a good place for them - once we're done here," Dumbledore said as he took another sip from his vial of Polyjuice Potion. "But we need to focus on our next visitor, now that you're back."

Ron nodded.

Hermione sighed. "At least tell me that you secured the animals."

"Oh, yes!" wizarding Luna told her. "The box is enchanted."

It was still a cardboard box, though. Ron sighed.

"I'll show them to the others!" wizarding Luna announced. She waved her wand, then started to shrink. Next to the cardboard box, which wasn't shrinking.

The miniature Luna must have realised the slight flaw in her plan as well since Ron saw her staring at the box with a cocked head. After a few seconds, she disapparated without the box.

Then she returned, holding Ginny's and Luna's hands, and turned the cardboard box transparent.

"Luna!" Hermione whispered, "This is not a zoo!"

Ron sighed and turned to Dumbledore. "We managed to exchange the documents."

"Splendid!" Dumbledore smiled widely. "Then let's send our exhausted friend here on his way, and receive the next man on the list. We cannot drag this out forever, after all."

No, they couldn't, Ron silently agreed. "Once the cardboard box is gone."

"Of course."

Ron's counterpart picked up the box and stuffed it into one of his pockets.

And then Turgenev was woken up and sent out before Dumbledore called the next visitor in.

"...and done!" Hermione announced as she straightened, stashing her wand.

Ron felt relief fill him. Relief and exhaustion. This meant that the only Russian left who knew about Hermione's origins was Pavel Ivanovich, the military attache at the Russian embassy in London. And it also meant that they had been at this for a long time now - it was close to midnight. The other guards were probably wondering what was wrong and why there hadn't been a shift change. Dumbledore playing a paranoid Putin could only explain things so far - it was time to get out. Before Dumbledore collapsed, and they had to spring him from a clinic - even if he was feeling twenty years younger, that still put him near retirement age, after all.

So, the moment had come to return the guards and Putin, of course. The guards could probably explain away the changes in procedure. Fortunately, with their memories, and their records, erased and replaced, it wouldn't matter much whether or not they could clear themselves.

Confusion to the enemy, as the toast went - a little infighting in the Kremlin and the FSS and FIS would only help to obfuscate matters even more. Between trying to pass the blame for falling for Dumbledore's ruse and for the attack on Putin in his supposedly secure underground office, the Russians should be kept quite busy for years hunting for imaginary traitors. And Ron didn't doubt that they would find some.

After all, without Kirikov's story, treason was the most likely explanation for a group of assassins suddenly appearing and disappearing in the bunker. Heads would roll, and after what Ron had heard from Dumbledore about the results of their interrogations, he hoped a lot of those would be from Putin's inner circle.

No 12 Grimmauld Place, London, Britain, February 4th, 2006

"'Tiger and Grizzly Loose in Moscow'. 'Feral Beasts Roam Streets of Russian Capital'. 'Exotic Animals Threaten Population'. 'Oligarch's Hobby Endangers People'. 'Abused Animals Escape'. 'Military To Hunt Predators'."

Ron shook his head at the various printed out news reports and even newspapers spread out on the kitchen table in Sirius and Harry's home. Even the BBC was reporting about the 'Tiger Hunt' in Moscow. "Luna's not going to like that," he said.

"Why? The animals aren't in Moscow," Hermione replied as she made more tea. "They're in your basement."

"Sirius's basement," Ron corrected her. He might have a permanent guest room here, but he had a flat of his own. "But I meant that her counterpart inadvertently provided Putin with a good excuse for sending soldiers into Moscow." That way, Putin could have his troops move in without alerting anyone that there had been an attack on him.

"Ah." She nodded. "That makes sense. But it can't be helped. And, overall, it won't change much."

He shrugged. She was correct, but Luna would still be angry about it. "She's still pouting about you not 'adjusting' Putin's mind."

"I did alter his memories," Hermione retorted. "Just not as much as Luna wanted." She checked the water and lifted the kettle off the counter.

"To be fair, making him passionate about nature preservation probably wouldn't have resulted in a catastrophe," Ron remarked as Hermione filled the teapot.

"It wouldn't have been worth the risk," she said with a frown.

Luna obviously disagreed, but Ron didn't care either way. "As long as she doesn't try to release the two animals into the garden…"

"It's not their natural habitat."

"But she might want to let them exercise." Ron chuckled at the idea. A tiny tiger and bear running around in the backyard…

Hermione's eyes widened, and she stood up. "Dear Lord, she would! I'll talk to her!"

He grabbed her hand. "Please, wait - we can talk to her if she wants to go out back." Luna would have to pass through the kitchen. Unless her counterpart apparated both of them, but they should know better than to do that in public. Or semi-public, in this case. He smiled at her. "Let's just enjoy the moment. We've been very busy for weeks."

Hermione set her jaw but then took a deep breath and her expression softened. "Alright," she said as she returned to her seat.

He reached out and grabbed her hand, gently squeezing for a moment before pulling back.

They spent the next few minutes in comfortable silence.

And, as Ron had expected, the Lunas showed up before he had finished his tea.

"Here you are!" Luna beamed at them. "Can you watch over Theo and Brian for a bit?"

"Us?" Ron didn't quite stare at them.

"Harry and Ginny aren't available, Albus is checking with the Shadow Government to make sure our mission against the Russian embassy won't run into their own covert surveillance, the other Harry and the other Ron are checking out the embassy, and Sirius, uh…"

"...is Sirius." Ron sighed. "Right. But why can't you watch them?"

"We need to make a few purchases. And check a few things," Luna told him.

"For our projects," wizarding Luna added with a wide smile. "And we wouldn't want the poor dears to grow bored, all alone in their box."

A box which, Ron noticed with a glance, had been turned into a miniature habitat. Two habitats, actually.

"I don't think they notice us," Hermione told the other two women. "And if they did, they'd probably be stressed by giant humans looking at them."

The Lunas winced. "Yes, Theo was quite confused, the poor thing," wizarding Luna said, "when we petted him. But Brian likes it. In any case, I enchanted the lid to only show the sky on their side. But you can shrink yourselves and play with them!"

Playing with a full-sized Siberian tiger and a grizzly? Yeah, right. Ron wasn't about to commit suicide by pet.

"I think we'll let them rest a little. They might become stressed, otherwise," Hermione said with a forced smile.

"You could conjure some miniature deer for them to hunt," Luna suggested. "That would prepare them for the wilderness and teach them how to feed themselves."

"But conjured animals wouldn't actually feed them, so they might learn the wrong lessons." Hermione was looking a little queasy now.

"So where are you going?"

"The Zoo!" Luna said. "Luna's never been there, can you imagine?"

"Have fun;" Ron told them with a smile. "Don't steal the animals, though."

"Of course not! We need a plan for that, first! Bye!" The Lunas disapparated.

Great.

"So… we're animal-sitters," he said, as nonchalantly as he could.

"While the Lunas scout out the location of their next heist." Hermione shook her head.

"Well, they said they won't steal any animal before they have a plan," Ron pointed out. "We can still stop this. Once they're back."

"You're partially responsible for this, you know." She didn't sound as if she shared his optimism.

He shook his head. "I did the best I could to rein her in." No one could've stopped wizarding Luna.

She sighed. "I guess no one could've stopped her. The Lunas seem to reinforce each other's more… problematic behaviour."

"As long as they're focused on saving nature rather than society," he replied. "It's still a problem, but not as bad as it could be."

She scoffed. "That doesn't mean it's a good thing. Merlin's beard, I almost wish they'd stick to saving the rainforests. At least none of the countries in the area has nuclear weapons." Shaking her head, she added: "Mind-controlling the Russian president… what were they thinking?"

Everyone from the group probably had been wondering about that. Ron shrugged. "Isn't that the norm in the other world?" He doubted that the wizards would've wanted to have the threat of nuclear annihilation hanging over their heads for decades.

"By people specially trained for it, and supported by portraits serving as spies," she said. "None of us has the training for this - or the time."

"We're lucky that the Cold War is over, then."

A tiny roar distracted him - Theo the tiger was facing Brian the bear through the transparent barrier separating their habitats. "Do you think we need to feed them?"

"I'm not entirely sure," Hermione replied. "The Lunas didn't say anything about it, but they might have simply forgotten to tell us - or they might've thought we already knew."

That sounded like the two women, indeed. "I think we should feed them," he said. "Well-fed animals are less likely to attack people."

"That's not necessarily true," she replied. "And those animals were either raised in captivity or spent significant time in cages. Who knows how that has influenced their behaviour?"

Ron wasn't a veterinarian, biologist or another expert. "It won't do any harm, though, will it?"

"I don't think so. Let's see what kind of meat Sirius has in the freezer."

"Why does he have half a cow stuffed into his freezer?" Ron stared at the box, wondering if it would burst at the seams if a wafer-thin mint were added.

"Did he order that to feed the animals?" Hermione asked.

He shook his head. "No. We would've noticed the delivery. And this wasn't stored here recently." He poked the plastic wrapping.

"I'm not sure if I want to know what he planned to do with it. Perhaps it was a spontaneous purchase?"

That would fit Sirius. Harry's godfather had a history of spending money on spur-of-the-moment projects - some of Harry's birthday parties had been very memorable. And had almost made it into several newspapers. "Well, whatever the reason, we've got enough meat to feed two hungry predators."

"True." She waved her wand, and the meat duplicated once, then once more. "One each should suffice."

"Once the meat's thawed."

Another wave with her wand saw the two pieces shrink. "That should help with that."

"Ah." And it should neatly avoid any potential problem with shrunken animals eating normal food, or vice versa - Ron could imagine a number of catastrophic results either way.

"Yes." She picked up the frozen pieces of meat and carried them into the kitchen.

"Isn't there a spell for instantly thawing frozen food without losing any of the flavour?" he asked on the way.

"No. Most wizards use spells to keep food fresh."

"Ah." That made sense. Sort of.

"And there's the Warming Charm if you need to thaw something."

She peered at the box, then at the pieces of meat in her hands. "It should be OK now," she said before tapping the box's lid, then dangling the two scraps of meat above the two animals.

Ron hadn't known that bears could jump that high. Neither had Hermione, since she shrieked and dropped the meat. Then she shrieked again when the tiger jumped up and clawed her other hand.

Both animals shredded the meat quite messily. "I don't think that they were fed," Ron commented.

"Or they are used to eating more," Hermione added, using her wand to heal the scratches on her hands. "They look a little fat."

Ron took a closer look, wincing at the feeding frenzy, then shrugged. He didn't know how slim or fat a grizzly or tiger should be. "Well, they look happy, I think."

"Crookshanks is slimmer than Theo, and he's a little overweight. My parents didn't enforce his diet."

"Isn't he also getting old?" She got him twelve years ago, didn't she? Ron thought so, at least.

"He's in his best years for a half-Kneazle."

"Ah."

"And normal cats can easily live to be twenty years old."

Ron nodded again, then closed the lid. "I think they're fine. And I'm not going to be shrunk and step in there."

"I won't either," Hermione replied before finishing her tea.

"So…" Ron started, then trailed off. They had to talk about their future, but he didn't feel like doing so right now.

"So?"

"Now everyone else is busy..." he said.

"Sirius isn't busy."

"He knows better than to walk in on a couple," Ron said, smiling slightly at her.

She grinned back at him. "Ah. That's what you're thinking of."

He shrugged without breaking eye contact. "We've been on this mission for weeks." They'd found time to be intimate, but not as much as Ron would have liked.

"Yes." She kept looking into his eyes as well. "Carpe diem?"

He nodded.

She stood and walked around the table, then slid into his lap and wrapped her arms around his neck. "So…"

He licked his lips, then leaned forward and they kissed. And forgot all about the mission.

Until the sound of Apparition startled them. Hermione gasped, drawing her wand, and Ron had his pistol halfway out of its holster before he realised it was wizarding Harry with Dumbledore.

Neither of them smiled at the situation they had walked in - or apparated in - on. They were dead serious. Ron felt his stomach drop.

"Dr Granger, Mr Weasley, we have a situation," Dumbledore said. "President Putin had his people in the embassy arrest Mr Ivanovich. They're about to move him to the airport to transport him back to Russia."

"Oh, no," Hermione gasped.

Ron closed his eyes and sighed through clenched teeth.

It seemed that their plan to make Putin chase shadows had worked a little too well.

She shook her head as she studied the small cove below her. A ferry! Why would they use a boat - and a small one - to transfer prisoners to Azkaban? Just because that's how things had always been done since they started using the prison? The bigots' mindless reliance on tradition would be their undoing!

Not that she was complaining, not really. But such stupidity angered her on principle. Even if it benefited them. Like today, when Dirk Cresswell was to be transported to Azkaban. The former head of the Goblin Liaison Office, whose only fault had been being a muggleborn. And a competent muggleborn, of course - he wouldn't have been promoted to department head otherwise.

"No movement yet," she whispered - they were flying far above the sea, disillusioned, but she still shied away from talking loudly. "And it's past the departure time."

"Yes," Ron confirmed.

"Technical difficulties?" Harry joked.

"No," Ron replied, "they're just lazy and late."

"Good for us," she said. "If they aren't as alert as… there!"

A small boat was leaving the boathouse in the centre of the cove. Three men were sitting there, and a fourth was lying on the floor. Cresswell. The one human wizard who knew things about Gringotts even Bill didn't.

"I'll take the one in the bow," Ron said.

"I'll take the middle one," Harry added.

Which left the one at the stern for her. "I'll take the one at the back."

"Let's do it!" Harry said.

She saw the markers indicating her friends' positions diving towards the sea and followed them, wand already aimed at the Hit-Wizard at the back of the boat.