Jax had failed to catch up with Liam. Considering, he looked around the room. No one was paying attention to him. Jax reached into his pocket and pulled out a decoy detonator and dropped it. Right on cue, the detonators exploded, and people began screaming, running in every direction, most of them moving for the exit. Some of them made it, too, Jax noted, as he headed that way himself.

"Everybody freeze!"

Jax turned to see that Liam had amplified his voice. He took in the room to see that everyone had followed Liam's amplified suggestion.

"What is going on?" Liam bellowed at them, standing in the centre of the room.

"This, apparently," said one of the Unspeakables, picking up a detonator.

Liam rounded on Jax. "You. You were trying to distract me. Turn out your pockets."

"It wasn't me." Jax held up his hands. "I just wanted to talk to you about investing."

"Turn out your pockets," Liam demanded again, his face turning red with fury.

Jax shrugged and did as the man insisted, revealing parchment and the pen.

"What's this?" Liam scoffed, grabbing the pen out of Jax's hand.

"It's called a pen," said Jax with some amusement. "A muggle writing device. My work takes me into a lot of muggle towns, and I find them less cumbersome than a quill and ink."

Liam just scoffed at that and searched a few others, before apparently deciding it was a waste of time. "Go-get out of here!" he told them before motioning Nott and the Unspeakable who had found the detonator over.

Jax didn't wait. He knew what Liam was going to do and could only hope that George had gotten Thea somewhere safe during the distraction.

Security let him out with several other patrons, and they all waited in silence for the first lift. Jax resisted the urge to tap his foot in impatience. The lift finally came, taking them up to the main floor, just so they could wait for another lift to go outside.

Once they made it outside, Jax headed into a nearby alleyway-and he wasn't the only one. They all disapparated.

Jax reappeared in Diagon Alley and headed for Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, though he wasn't sure whether or not to expect to find anyone there.

Just after he arrived though, George apparated in next to him. "Inside, I think?" he said before Jax could say anything.

Jax nodded as George cast the spell to unlock the door. The two went in, closing the door behind them.

"We should be quick as Thea suspects the Aurors will come here next after they're finished at her place." George glanced over his shoulder before turning to face Jax.

Smart thinking if the Aurors were on their way. "Is she safe?"

George nodded. "I have a few questions."

Jax sighed. "We can't stay here long," he warned.

"Just one question then," said George. "Why did Thea drop the whole thing about her parents? Why did she let Liam get away with it?"

Jax met George's gaze. "I don't know."

George rolled his eyes at that. "You know everything about her."

Jax shook his head. "That was the one thing I could never get her to tell me. I always suspected that she had been threatened, but she had been threatened before that, and it didn't make any difference." He looked over at George. "What did she do when you asked her?" Because he was guessing that the whole point of this conversation was because George had asked her, and she had refused to answer.

George swallowed and turned away. "She cried."

Jax nodded. "Then either she's really sensitive because it's all being brought up, or you pushed." Before he could begin to deduce which one it was, there was a knock at the door.

Their gazes locked, and Jax cast a silent disillusionment charm.

George went to answer the door.

There were two wizards standing there-a man with light brown hair and a goatee, and a woman with long dark hair. The wizard spoke, "Mr. Weasley?"

"Yes," said George.

"We're looking for Thea Walker," said the witch, holding up a badge that identified them both as Aurors. "It's our understanding that you know her?"

"Yes, but not well," said George crossing his arms and taking them both in, before relaxing. "Listen, what's this about? She just introduced me to her boss about a business deal-he wanted to purchase some items from my shop."

"It was my understanding that your shop has been closed down since the war?" the woman questioned him, glancing at him sideways.

"It is," said George, shifting to reach for an order form, which he handed to her. "But I still have a mail order, and a contract with the ministry would have helped-maybe even to the point that I could hire staff again to open the onsite shop."

"Have you seen her?" the wizard asked, with a yawn.

George shook his head. "Not since she introduced me to her boss this evening."

The man nodded, but the witch didn't seem satisfied.

"We heard voices as we walked up," she told him, leaning forward to try to get a glimpse inside his shop. "Who were you talking to?"

"I wasn't," said George, turning and pointing his wand at an old radio. It came on. "I was listening to the radio."

The wizard turned to look at the witch. "Happy?"

"Not really," said the witch, but the wizard ignored her and reached into the pockets of his robes to pull out a card which he offered to George.

"Very well," said the wizard. "Just be sure to give us a call if you hear from her."

George took the card. "Of course. Can I ask...why you're looking for her?"

The woman gave a one-shoulder shrug. "It's just a ministry matter that we need to resolve. We'll be in touch."

George nodded and closed the door when they turned to walk away.

Jax removed his disillusionment spell. "We need to get out of here-they can't find us together."

George signed. "I'll take you to my brother's...we need to talk to Harry before this goes any further." He offered his hand so he could lead Jax.

Jax took it, and the two of them disapparated, appearing in front of a small brownstone flat. George went right up to the door and knocked.

"See? I bet you that's them now," came Ron's voice an instant before he opened the door.

"Where's Thea?" Harry asked, coming up behind Ron with Ginny.

"Let us come in first," said George, looking over his shoulder and back at them. "If I'm seen here it could blow my cover."

They were led inside to a spacious living room, furnished with a red couch which faced the fireplace. A black leather chair faced a black leather ottoman and two red chairs that were behind the ottoman.

"What happened?" Harry demanded before any of them could even sit down.

"You know, I'm not really all that clear on that." George turned to Jax. "You were with Thea when everything happened."

"Thea's disguise worked...a little too well," said Jax quietly. "Liam decided to try it on with her, and he didn't like her answer."

George blinked and looked over at Jax. "He sent Aurors after her for that?"

"Wait, there are Aurors after Thea?" Harry asked, narrowing his eyes.

"Well, surely the Aurors wouldn't take that seriously, would they?" said Ron, sitting down in one of the red chairs.

Jax shook his head. If only. "He told them that she broke her vow, which technically she did, so it's not as if she can defend herself on the charges."

"Where's Thea now?" Hermione asked, coming into the room. "They didn't arrest her, did they?"

George shook his head. "Jax sent me to her place, and I took her to the old headquarters...from the Order of the Phoenix."

Harry's eyes widened. "She's at headquarters alone?"

"I didn't exactly have a lot of options." George sank down onto the black leather chair with a sigh.

Harry shook his head. "No, it's not your fault-it's mine." He sighed, turning away from them. "I should have set that up as a safe house to begin with." He shook his head again. "Well, let's head out there so we can figure out what to do next."