Harry barely had time to see the...thing that was firing the green beams of light from a wand protruding from one side when Hermione grabbed his arm. He could feel her turn in place, then he saw and heard nothing as darkness crushed him from every direction and he was squeezed tightly through space.

"Where are we?" Ron asked.

Harry blinked at the sudden light and looked around. Hermione still had a grip on his arm, and Ron had grabbed her from the other side. They were obviously not at the Burrow anymore. Throngs of Muggles pushed by, with more than the occasional glance at the young wizards in their fancy dress robes.

"Tottenham Court Road," Hermione replied as she looked around. "Start walking. We need to find someplace to change."

They walked for a few minutes. Ron turned red in the face when an attractive young woman laughed uproariously when she saw him.

"Why didn't I bring the Cloak with me?" Harry muttered angrily. "The one time all year I don't..."

"It's okay, Harry, I have it," Hermione said. "And clean clothes for all of us. Let's go in here." She ducked into a side alley, looking back to make sure that Harry and Ron were following as she led them out of sight.

"What do you mean, you've got my cloak and clothes?" Harry frowned, as Hermione stuck her arm into the beaded handbag past the elbow.

"Here we go." She started to pull jeans, sweatshirts, and the silvery Invisibility Cloak out of the handbag. "You two change, I'll keep watch."

"How the hell did you fit all that in that?" Ron gaped in surprise.

"Undetectable Extension Charm," Hermione said over her shoulder She stood by a rubbish bin next to a doorway. "I've got everything we could possibly need in here. I've been ready to go for weeks, just in case. I packed your rucksacks this morning and put them in here. Now, hurry up and change before someone comes wandering down here."

The boys changed quickly, as Hermione watched the mouth of the alleyway. She slipped her robe off and folded it neatly; she had no need to change, as she was already wearing muggle clothes underneath.

"You are absolutely amazing, you know that?" Ron said as he handed her his balled-up robe.

She just smiled in reply. "Harry, hurry up and get your Cloak on!"

Harry wrapped the Cloak around him and pulled the hood up over his head, slouching a little bit so that even his trainers were invisible.

"What happened? What was that?"

"We can't think about that now," Hermione said. "You're the one they're after, and we can't risk you going back."

"She's right," Ron added. "Pretty much the whole Order was there, they can handle the Death Eaters."

"Yeah, but can they handle that other thing?"

"What other thing?" Ron and Hermione said together.

"I don't know what it was. It was big, looked like a pepper pot with three rods sticking out of the top, and it was shooting green beams out of one of them. And..." Harry paused and looked at Ron. "One of them got Muriel. I think she's dead."

"Auntie Muriel? Dead?" Ron felt his legs turn to rubber and he leaned against the wall to keep himself on his feet.

"Ron! Harry! We can get this sorted out later! Let's go!" Hermione grabbed Ron by the hand and pulled him toward the street, hoping that Harry was following.

"Still with us, Harry?" she whispered as she looked up and down the street.

"Yeah," he whispered back. "Lead on, MacDuff."

"'Lay on'," Hermione whispered back, at the same time Ron asked "Who's MacDuff?"

"Let's get moving," she said as she walked out onto the pavement and let go of Ron's hand.

"Why Tottenham Court Road?" Ron asked. He watched a group of obviously drunk men weaving their way along the pavement on the other side of the road.

"First place popped into my head. I just think we'll be safer around Muggles than with wizards right now."

"How do you figure that?" Ron glared at the men across the street as they started cat-calling Hermione. "Grimmauld Place is still safe, isn't it?"

"Not if Snape can get in. If he can, he may just invite his Death Eater friends in with him, and we'd be walking into a trap. We could try my parents' house, but they might check there. And I don't know if someone else has moved in yet."

They had walked out of earshot of the drunks who had been trying to get Hermione's attention, but Ron's balled-up fists at his sides showed the effort it was taking not to march across the street and teach those hooligans to leave his girlfriend alone.

Hermione suddenly turned to go into an open diner. A quick glance through the plate glass windows showed that the diner was practically empty. She held the door for Ron. "Come on, then!" she said with a quick glance up and down the street.

She found an empty booth in the corner of the diner and slid in where she could watch the door. Ron started to sit next to her, but she shook her head and gestured for him to sit across from her as she moved a little further to make room for Harry.

Hermione made a show of studying the menu when the waitress asked if they were ready to order. "Just coffee for now," she said, "we're waiting for someone else." The waitress did a poor job of hiding her impatience. "Just let me know when you're ready to order," she said before walking away.

"Have you changed back yet, Harry?" Hermione whispered.

"Not yet," he replied. "Should be any time now, I would think."

"I still don't see why we don't go to the Leaky Cauldron, get an idea of what's going on," Ron said.

"We know what's going on!" Harry replied. "The Ministry's fallen, and Voldemort's taken over!"

"But what about everyone at the Burrow? How else are we going to find out who made it out!"

"They'll let us know what's going on when it's safe to send a Patronus." Harry noticed that his voice sounded different. He looked down at his hands and watched as they returned to their normal size and shape.

"I'm back to normal, I think," he whispered.

"Go to the bathroom, then, and take your Cloak off," Hermione whispered as she read the menu. "I put a cap in your rucksack; put it on, too."

"Why?"

"You'll see. Besides, I feel ridiculous talking to empty air, and I'm sure I look like a complete nutter."

"I'll be right back."

Ron and Hermione heard Harry slide out of the booth, and saw the men's room door open and close by itself. Harry left the bathroom a couple of minutes later, just as a couple of men walked into the diner and sat in the booth behind Ron.

Ron snickered as he saw what Harry was wearing: a blue-and-white wooll cap with "SPURS" in all capital letters across the front. "What's that supposed to be?"

"It's a hat," Hermione snapped. "Tottenham Hotspur Football Club. Not like he can wear a Puddlemere United hat without telling people he's a wizard! Besides, how do people recognize Harry? His hair, his scar, and his glasses. The hat covers the hair and the scar. I'm still working on what to do about the glasses."

The three ordered when the waitress came back, although Hermione wound up ordering for Ron since he didn't know what a lot of the items on the menu were.

"What was it you were saying about something at the reception, Harry?" Hermione asked.

"It...I don't know what it was. I've never seen anything like it before. It was about five feet tall, round, narrower at the top, rows of round things along the sides. It had a dome on top, and there were three rods sticking out of it. It was shooting green beams out of one of them."

"Can you draw it?"

"I think so." Harry pulled a pen out of his rucksack and drew a rough sketch on the napkin, then slid it over to Hermione when he was done.

"I think I've seen that before," she said thoughtfully.

"Once we've eaten, we should head out to the country and try to get a message to the Order."

"You can do the talking Patronus, then?" Ron asked.

"I think so."

They grew quiet when the waitress returned with their food, and ate quickly.

"Do you have Muggle money to pay for this?" Ron asked when they were almost done.

"Yes, I closed out my Building Society account before I went to the Burrow."

Harry froze, a chip halfway to his mouth, as he saw a Dalek outside the window. He elbowed Hermione and pointed at it.

He reacted almost without thinking, drawing his wand as the two men in the next booth stood up and did the same. Ron ducked when he saw Harry draw his wand.

Harry yelled, "Stupefy!" just as the first Death Eater's spell hit the wall behind him, shattering the tiles. Harry's spell caught the Death Eater square in the face, and he fell unconscious to the floor.

The other Death Eater cast a Full Body Bind curse at Harry, and he found himself bound head to foot by black ropes. Hermione caught the Death Eater with a Stunning Spell.

The Dalek turned toward them and shot a green beam from its rod, shattering the glass and striking the waitress. She screamed in agony before falling dead to the floor.

It moved through the diner door, firing indiscriminately at the diner's other customers. The air was filled with soul-rending screams as they each fell where they were.

"You will surrender Harry Potter to me!" it screamed as it turned to the three wizards. Ron and Hermione moved in front of Harry.

"Over our dead bodies!" Ron shouted back, his wand trembling slightly in his shaking hands.

The Dalek paused as it looked from Ron to Hermione and back. "Harry Potter shall not be harmed!" it finally said. "His companions are of no use! Exterminate!" it screamed as it shot a green beam.