"Keep the cloak on it," I muttered angrily.

It had seemed like an easy plan, in and out; move through the darkness, muffle the sneakoscope, in and out. It should have taken all of five minutes once we reached the Headmaster's office.

It had already been three times that, and the alarm was blaring all over the castle.

Running through the hallways, I felt short of breath, and I resolved to start running more in the Room. Combat drills four times a week were good for reflexes but not for endurance. The hardest thing had been finding the time to do it, between all my other responsibilities and plans.

Clearly I needed to make the time.

Apparently Rowle had spelled the sneakoscope and the pensieve against magic. It had been a nasty surprise when we'd tried to silence the sneakoscope. We hadn't even been able to levitate the pensieve, and so we'd spent the first part of this chase with three teenage boys lugging it around. They'd been invisible, but the pensieve hadn't, and it had been spilling water, or whatever liquid was inside all over the halls.

Portraits had been shrieking out the alarm and leading the aurors right to us. Luckily we'd managed to send a message to Harry through a patronus, and we'd gotten his cloak and a hastily dumped out trunk. We could levitate the trunk just fine.

Still, the aurors and Rowle had gotten entirely too close, and the whole thing felt eerily like a Pac Man game. We couldn't stop and hide because human revealing spells would have made hiding redundant. We couldn't get ahead of them because there were more of them and we couldn't scatter; without me the others would have gotten caught quickly. Rowle was on the move, and only the fact that I knew where he and all the professors were at every moment kept us free and mobile.

"In here," I muttered.

A passage opened up, and we all slipped inside, barely in time to avoid aurors running past us. This was one of the older passages, and there weren't any portraits nearby, so we were reasonably sure that we hadn't been found. If the Wizards were smart enough to use hunting hounds we'd be sunk; none of us had thought to disguise our smell before we'd set out.

We were all disillusioned, so the portraits wouldn't be able to tell who had perpetrated the theft, but the fact the Headmaster knew if was gone was going to cause all kinds of problems.

"The mission is scrubbed for tonight," I said. "The first thing that the headmaster will think to do if he is smart is to send all the prefects to do a head count. We've got two of them in our pocket, but they'll be looking for me and Edmund, so we need to get moving. I'll hide this and we'll take it up tomorrow night."

They nodded.

"Follow the passageways up," I said to Edmund and a senior girl. Neither of them had a girlfriend or boyfriend, and I had my suspicions as to why. "If they catch you, you'll have to pretend that you are...uh...stepping out with each other."

Sarah glanced at Edmund. "He's a year younger than I am."

"We all make sacrifices," I said. "I'd do it myself, but I'm not going the direction you are and I'd like to not get Edmund arrested."

She frowned then nodded.

"Right... you're my boyfriend if we get caught." She clapped one arm around Edmund's shoulders, and he looked shell shocked. He was a heavyset boy, and I suspected he'd never thought he might have a girlfriend, for whatever reasons.

Sarah was on the Gryffindor Quidditch team as a beater, and she was as sturdy as that made her sound. She tended to be outgoing and boisterous, for all that she'd never been known to date anyone.

Edmund was a Hufflepuff, with everything that implied. He was loyal but quiet, hard working and introverted. I'd always assumed he was just shy before his turn to make the Room, and even now I wasn't sure he wasn't.

It wasn't any of my business who anyone dated anyway, unless it was a security concern. None of my people were dating any Slytherins for example, not because they thought those who wee still left in the school were dangerous, but because those families might be threatened and them blackmailed.

It had been an awkward discussion with the group. Fortunately, most of them weren't inclined to date purebloods anyway.

As they left, I slipped out of the secret passageway and made my way down the hall. Instead of heading toward the dungeons, I made my way toward the Ravenclaw common rooms. I'd made sure all of our people there had alibis; at the moment they were engaged in a very late night study session with their prefect, cramming for finals.

Hopefully they'd assume that it was a couple of Ravenclaws wanting to cheat with each other's memories. Unfortunately, I was in the building, and the aurors didn't share the general public's opinion of me just because I'd won the Order of Merlin.

I deliberately knocked over a suit of armor, and a moment later the portraits started shrieking. Aurors who had been nearly about to reach Edmund and Susan veered off, heading in my direction.

Knocking a couple more suits of armor over, I veered, racing down a hallway. It got me to a secret passage, and I slipped inside, moving far enough that I thought I wouldn't be detected. I followed the dark tunnel around the curve of a wall, and I soon found myself out into the courtyard.

Old buildings like this were full of secret passages, presumably for fear that muggle armies might invade and those who couldn't escape by appartition would need a way out.

I'd left the pensieve in the first secret passageway, covered with the cloak and hidden.

It looked like my misdirection worked. The aurors were all converging on the Ravenclaw common room. With any luck we'd get through this and tomorrow night we'd interrogate Black. Then we'd return the pensieve; the sneakoscope wouldn't work if we weren't in the room, and now that we knew about it's protections, all we'd have to do is levitate the pensieve back into place and then vanish the box.

That's assuming we could banish the box without banishing its contents. I'd have to check with an upperclassman.

"Black mamba," I muttered.

Last year, the passwords had often been slurs toward the muggleborn. I found it pleasant that this year they'd mostly just gone with types of snakes.

The fact that someone had suggested "Hebert" was something I wasn't sure how I felt about. Was it a compliment, or a curse?

"Miss Hebert," I heard Snape's voice from behind me even as the passage slid open.

I froze.

Of course Snape had taken the obvious step of simply waiting by the entranceway to the Slytherin dorms. He'd probably assumed that I was involved, no matter that my transfigured corpse was lying in my bed, doubtlessly freaking Millicent out.

At a glance there was no one behind me; he was disillusioned but now that I was paying closer attention I could hear the swish of his robes.

Sloppy.

I could deny it, but he'd heard my voice and there wasn't really a place to escape to. Undoubtedly he had the human revealing spell going as well.

"I knew you were there," I said.

"Taking an early morning constitutional, Miss Hebert?"

"An evening stroll," I said. "Then I heard all the commotion and decided I'd best get back. Wouldn't want to lose Slytherin any house points, right?"

He knew I didn't care about Slytherin house points any more than he cared about Gilderoy Lockhart's patented hair gel. As it turned out, it really did work, and I personally thought he should have focused completely on that. The Potters had made their fortunes from something similar.

"I'm sure," he said dryly. "I've been asked to escort you to my office."

"Fine," I said. "I'm not admitting to anything."

"Other than being out after curfew at three A.M.?" he said. "I'm sure that there is a reasonable explanation for this from someone who is not yet old enough to be interested in the opposite sex."

"Maybe I wanted to go out and see the unicorns," I said.

Truthfully I had been wanting to see them for a while, but involving them in a heated battle with Death eaters was just asking for them to get killed.

"I'm sure even they are asleep at this hour," Snape said.

We were already making our way to his office. I heard a click and the door opened. A moment later I slipped inside.

I stopped as I saw that Dumbledore was sitting on a chair in front of a roaring fire. He looked years younger, as though he no longer had the weight of the world on his shoulders. He'd cut his beard into a stylish, short cut, and he'd cut his hair short. Looking at him, I no longer saw Gandalf; instead I saw someone who looked younger and much more deadly.

"Please make yourself visible," Snape said, becoming visible himself.

I did so.

"I see that you have the Sorting Hat on your head," Dumbeldore said mildly.

I'd forgotten, actually. I should have dropped it in the passageway when I'd dropped the pensieve, but I'd been worried about the other two being caught.

"A youthful prank," I said. "Also, I've been wanting to talk to the hat."

The bad thing was that the thing hadn't even woken up once I'd grabbed it. It had just snored loudly and had almost gotten us caught a few times.

"I fear the hat is no longer who it once was," Dumbledore said. "It likes to sleep for most of the summer, doubtlessly dreaming of past sortings. This lets it be fresh for the Sorting Ceremony."

I grimaced. I'd noticed it sleeping a lot, but I'd assumed that was just because it had nothing better to do. When it had refused to talk to me, I'd assumed it was pretending so it wouldn't get eaten by moths.

Dumbledore gestured, and I handed the hat over to him.

"I had an interesting discussion with the hat before I left, though," he said. "He wouldn't name names, of course, but he told me that it was not unknown for certain Wizards to be reborn into bodies not their own, getting a second chance at life."

I froze and my hand slipped toward my wand.

"I'd prefer to keep this conversation congenial, unless you think that you can outdraw me," Dumbledore said. There was no hint of amusement in his eyes, and his body language told me that he was willing to fight.

He had his wand resting in his lap, and it was already in his hand. There was no way I'd be able to outdraw him.

I forced my hand away from my wand.

"Just who are you Miss Hebert?" Dumbledore asked.

My mind raced. Should I lie, or should I finally come clean?

He'd know if I lied. I was in a room with two mind readers who were determined to see if I was telling the truth. Furthermore, he had the clout to have me arrested by the Ministry and held until I talked. While I was being held, my people would be vulnerable.

"The hat let me attend," I said. "Which I'm sure it told you wasn't always the case."

Dumbledore nodded slightly.

"You've known this for an entire school year, and you've left me alone," I said. "Why ask questions that you do not need the answer to."

"Because I do not know I can trust you," Dumbledore said. "I believe that I can trust you with the children here; you seem to have some measure of affection for them, and you have never been as... enthusiastic in your punishments with them. However, I need to know that I can trust you with more than that... with the fate of the Wizarding World."

If he thought that would impress me, he was wrong. After saving the multiverse, a single world didn't seem like that much. He wasn't even talking about the world; rather he was talking about this one small portion of it.

"You want to hire me," I said. "Or at least have me join your organization. The Muggle Liberation?"

Dumbledore stared at me for a moment, then nodded.

"I thought your seer abilities were limited to dangers surrounding yourself."

"I've had my suspicions," I said. "I wasn't sure they even existed at first, but there have been rumors of attacks on the Death Eaters that hadn't been perpetrated by the aurors."

"I'm sure that knowledge was highly classified."

I shrugged. I'd been in the Ministry often enough to get a good look at a lot of things that were classified. Even though I approved of the Bones administration didn't mean I wasn't looking over their shoulders.

"I know what I need to know," I said.

"And my involvement?"

"An organization like that doesn't form naturally; it requires a leader. The fact that it's been able to stay secret for all of this time means that its being led by people with experience. The most likely candidates are those who fought in the last war, or possibly the war before that."

"But me?"

"Their activities only really picked up once you stopped being Headmaster. Also, I had a discussion with Remus where I heard explosions in the background. I knew he was working for you..."

"But not a muggleborn."

"I've had my people look into the main fighters in the last war. There weren't any who were likely candidates."

"You seem to know a great deal about this sort of thing."

"I'm willing to work for you," I said. "As long as our aims align. However, I'd prefer not to talk about my past."

"I can offer money and resources that will keep your followers alive," Dumbledore said. "Assuming our interests align. I can't know that unless I know you."

I hesitated. I'd kept this secret for more than a year and a half. Was I really willing to give it all away?

Well, I could always obliviate them.

Snape winced.

"My name really is Taylor Hebert," I said after a long pause. "But this is not my original body. This is the body of a girl named Millie Scrivener."

"The missing girl," Dumbledore murmured. "And how did you come here?"

"I don't know. The last thing I remember, I died. The only thing I can think of is that when Millie was tortured to death, her accidental magic called out for something, anyone able to stop the people who were hurting her."

"And you were that someone," Snape said.

I shrugged.

"Just who are you, Miss Hebert?"

"I was a muggle," I said. "But not one from this world. I was eighteen when I died. As far as I know there were no wizards on my world, but there could have been. On my world, certain special people were granted... abilities. They dressed up in costumes and fought each other. They also fought monsters that destroyed entire cities. Some of them called themselves heroes, and others villains."

"And which were you?" Dumbledore asked.

"Both at one time or another," I said. "But I saved everyone eventually... all the worlds that ever were, and all the worlds that will ever be from a threat that would have destroyed us all. That was what killed me in the end...not the monster, but what I had to do to myself to beat it."

"What are your plans, then?"

"Kill Voldemort and the Death Eaters, excepting Professor Snape and possibly Lucius Malfoy," I said. "And then retire."

"Why Lucius?"

"I think he can be bent," I said. "I doubt his loyalty to the Dark Lord."

Both men were silent.

"So you were a seer on that world."

"I was more than that," I said. "I still am, but I'm not telling anyone what I can do, because that's likely to kill me in the end."

"You don't intend to take over the Ministry?"

"Not as long as I see a Ministry that is just and fair," I said. "I'm happy with Madam Bones. That might change in the future, but I'd prefer to simply back political candidates and work within the system."

Unspoken was the fact that I would make different decisions assuming that the government didn't fit my criteria of what was right.

Both men were silent for a long moment.

"I believe that we can work together," Dumbledore said. "But you will need occlumency training. Severus can provide that over the summer. Once you have that skill, we can speak about other things."

"So that's it?" I asked.

"I will return the Sorting Hat to its proper place," Dumbledore said. "And I would prefer that my pensieve be returned."

"It should be back in its proper place tomorrow or the next day," I said. "I'll do better the next time."

"Every plan meets difficulties," Dumbledore said mildly. "The question is how one meets them."

"Teach me occlumency," I said. "And legilimency...I'll need that to teach it to my people."

Snape stared at me.

"I'm not sure the country could survive your learning legilimency."

"I already know half of everything," I said. "I'm just covering the rest of my bases."

For some reason, neither man discussed me while they were still in the castle.