Oh, just to tell you, because I didn't tell you last time, that Ron had been in Azkaban for three years and is now 20 :)

Hermione heard a sharp knock on her door; her heart skipped a beat...before she remembered that Ron was the type of person to just let themselves in, no matter the circumstance or time. She turned off the radio and walked over to the door.

'Who is it?' She called out in a bored tone.

'Don't worry Ma'am, just Captain Auror Hanson and Auror Jones.' Called back a reassuring, gruff voice.

Hermione opened her door and gave the best, pretend smile she could; Hanson had been one of the main aurors in Ron's trial and sentence. He wasn't one of her most favourite people.

Hanson was over 6ft tall, broad shouldered, scarred and scary. He was young but his face betrayed him; it was tanned but he had large bags and worn skin. Jones, on the other hand, was skinny, around 5ft and had a constant look of happiness and joy; he hadn't been an Auror as long as Hanson and was usually only there to calm anyone who was scared, shocked or worried. His voice was silky smooth, warm and made almost anyone want to pour their heart out because of it.

They showed identity badges.

'Hello, please, come on in.' They wiped their large boots and sat down in her lounge.

'Tea? Coffee?' Asked Hermione in her nicest and most welcoming tone, thankfully they declined both offers.

'I'll get straight to the point Miss,' said Hanson seriously; Jones just smiled. 'We know you were once friends with Weasley. We suspect that he might try and come to you for help, supplies or shelter, now we know you are a loyal witch and would not give any of these voluntary. But we know – and I'm sure you do – that Weasley and any others would use force to get any such things. We would either like to have some aurors placed here, for your safety, or for you to come to one of our safe houses, out of the way from Weasley.' Hanson tried a smile, but it looked more like a grimace.

Hermione knew that they wanted aurors at her house so that they could capture Ron, if he tried to get help from her, and make sure that she wasn't helping him. And if she left for a safe house, they would use her house as a base, in case Ron tried to make contact with her.

'Oh, there's no need to worry about me,' she smiled. 'I'm a very capable witch. My security charms are the best and can quite easily deal with any unwanted people. And if Weasley was to try and contact me, I would make sure that you, aurors, were the first to know.' Her tone was not rude but made it known that she wasn't going to do what they wanted, not now, not ever. Her loyalty was with Ron, no matter what side he had chosen. Hanson knew this tone and knew not to try anymore; he wasn't pushy. 'But thank you for thinking of my safety.'

'That's alright Ma'am, we'll be going now, but if you do get worried, we can be here in the blink of an eye.' The goodbyes were short and sweet, just like their visit.

'Right Jones, I want aurors keeping a very close eye on both her and this place. I know she'd help him if he asked.' Jones nodded his understanding and agreement and both aurors apparated away.

It was six months since the breakout; no leads had been made on finding any death eaters and the ones that had been caught were found dead. Small attacks on muggle towns and villages were constant and the aurors never seemed to know where they would be or when; there was no visible pattern.

'Hanson, I know you think that this Granger woman may help Weasley but at the moment we need all aurors out looking for him or protecting muggle places. We can't afford to be keeping watch on her house. I'm sorry Hanson, but those aurors are being placed on patrols.' Said a gruff voice, which was unusually apologetic; Hanson was his favourite auror and his best. This man was the Head of the Auror department, his name was Morse and no one, except the Minster himself, knew his first name.

'I understand, sir. Thank you sir, I'll leave now if you do not mind.' Morse nodded and Hanson left, bitterly disappointed but he knew that this day had been coming for a month now.

The intercom between rooms buzzed.

'Yes, Hannah, what is it?' Asked Morse monotonously.

'It's a Mr. Winkler for you, sir. He wishes to see you, says it's urgent.' Morse grunted but said he would see the man.

'What?'

'Erm, well, sir,'

'Get on with it man.' Morse muttered as he flicked through some reports he had been given on the escaped death eaters. His last meeting with Winkler had not be an pleasant one, therefore his feelings to the man were also negative; the last time they had met was when Azkaban had been broken out of.

'Wehavedeatheater,' rushed out Winkler and Morse only just caught it but his reaction was fast.

'RIGHT, COME ON THEN.' Morse threw open his door – Hannah didn't even flinch; she was used to it now. 'HANNAH, I WANT HANSON, ABEL AND MCDONALD TO MEET ME AT THE DETAINING CENTRE.' Morse was in the habit of shouting when he was very pleased or very angry. Hannah nodded and started to make the correct calls.

'FOLLOW THEN, MAN.' Winkler whimpered and followed like a very obedient puppy.

Morse was the type of man to just march, no matter what seemed to be coming his way or where he was going; he could be on a nice, relaxing, summer Sunday morning stroll and he would march around; he could be walking into a huge riot and people would just instinctively move, on fear of being crushed.

Winkler stayed very close to the back of Morse; people quickly moved out of his way and if you were behind him, they also seemed to move for you.

'It's not very nice to ignore people; did your bitch of a mother ever teach you manners?' Sneered Abel, he gave the man a well aimed, hard kick.

The man still did not reply.

'Fuck you.' Abel flicked his wrist and a Crucio curse flew out. The man's body arched high and burned with pain. But still he did not say a word.

'Sir, I've been at it for three hours now and still fucking nothing.' Growled Abel; he was the last and most nasty of the chosen aurors to go and yet the man had not said a word, shed a tear or made any voluntary movement; he's just sat there. The death eater had been under horrendous torture for the last 15 hours. Most would have given out hours ago but yet he still held out.

He still had hope.

'Oh Merlin!' Hermione flew into the arms of tall, dark haired man. 'I never thought I see you alive again! I really thought you were going to be kissed.' The man chuckled.

'Not me, 'Mione. Not my style.' He smiled but this time it didn't reach his eyes; they stayed gloomy and depressed.

'What is it?' They had sat down at a small muggle cafe, it was quiet enough to talk about things they needed to but busy enough to not be heard. Hermione had spent the last six months waiting for some kind of contact and she had got her wish only yesterday.

'Hello Merlin, I hope you slept well.' She gave Merlin, her new black cat, his favourite rub behind his left ear, he purred in delight.

Hermione made her way from her bedroom to her kitchen, yawning as she went. She was about to push the kitchen door open when she heard a noise from inside. She froze and pulled out her wand from her dressing gown, gripping it tightly.

But Merlin just wandered in before Hermione could stop him; weren't animals meant to sense danger?

Slowly she pushed open the door and flicked on the light.

A cat.

That was it.

No aurors or men in all-black or death eaters.

Just a cat.

A ginger cat.

A ginger cat with bright blue eyes

Hermione sighed and picked up the letter beside it. She stroked the cat and looked for a collar, but none. She got it a saucer of water but it didn't drink.

'It's there if you want it.'

She opened the letter and her eyes widen in shock at its contents.

Dear 'Mione,

It's me. But I guess you already know that from the writing!
Sorry I couldn't contact you earlier but you and your place were being watched and I didn't want to risk you or me being found.

I hope you've been well since we last spoke, happier I hope.
Sorry I didn't tell you of the break out, couldn't risk it.
It went well; it was nice to see that small piece of Hell gone. I see that they haven't started to rebuild it or start work on another, but you can be sure, that if they even starting make plans for one, my boys and I will be there to burn them! No one deserves even a minute in a place like that.

I'm sure you've seen what I've done; trust me. I didn't want to hurt those muggles and others but I have to. I've been dragged quite deep into this whole death eater thingy and you can't just hand in your notice and leave. But they're actually quite nice and friendly, but I wouldn't want to introduce them to you in a hurry.

Tea? You know where. Tell the cat.

Love,

Ron x

The handwriting was more messy than usual but Hermione knew that Ron didn't exactly have time to take care over his handwriting.

She smiled and spoke to the ginger cat.

'Tell Ron, I'd love too. Ten o'clock.' The cat meowed its understanding and ran off.

Hermione went to open the front door for it but when she got to the door, there was no ginger cat in sight and the door hadn't been touched or pawed. Strange.

'It's nothing.' Ron shook his head. 'How have you been then? Is Merlin well?' Merlin had turned up on her doorstep the day of the break-out, with nothing but a collar and name tag of Merlin. Hermione had just taken the cat in without thought; she had loved having Crookshanks around. She mentally smiled; the cat must have come from Ron; he knew she adored cats.

'It obviously is something!' Hermione's voice was commanding, not one to be messed with.

'Ok, ok, ok, it's Draco.' Hermione knew this must be serious; Draco had become one of Ron's closest allies, even a friend. Draco had been put into Azkaban shortly after Ron and there had been rumours that they had shared a cell for a month and were opposite each other for a year. 'He's been captured by the Ministry – he got caught saving me,' smiled Ron, mentally thanking his friend. 'And some death eaters and I,' he said, remembering to talk properly when he was with Hermione; it saved being corrected. 'Are going to break him out tomorrow.'