Disclaimer: Harry Potter, associated characters and setting belong to JK Rowling and whoever she shares the rights with, which does not include me. This is for entertainment purposes only, with no copyright infringement intended, or profit made.

Warning: Language, once

Chapter 12: Continuation

Harry stood in front of a mirror, looking at himself, and wondering how he got there. He was up on a step stool, wearing a pair of shorts and his under-shirt, that wasn't bad. However, he was also wearing a red cloak, stuffed bra, and heeled boots. Hermione wouldn't let him put the hood up, either, to his eternal shame. He was attempting to hold still and watch Hermione pin the hem of the cloak in the conjured mirror, when, to his horror, Professor Snape walked into their work room.

Professor Snape paused to take in the scene and laughed, hard.

"On the positive side, Sir, you should laugh more often" Hermione complemented her professor. "On the negative side, since I'm the one who blackmailed Harry into this situation, I'm the one who would be responsible for killing you should the memories leak to the media, understood?"

"Quite clear, thank you, Miss Granger."

"Thanks Hermione. I am glad you took the responsibility for this. I'm... I'm going to have to figure out a good explanation for this, other then Hermione told me so, aren't I?"

"Well, if you didn't have the slight build you do, this wouldn't work. Remember when Fred tried one of these on?" Hermione put the last couple of pins in. "Plus, I will never be upset with you unquestioningly following my orders, but yes, you should likely have asked questions. Now give me the cloak."

"Harry took off the cloak, showing off the stuffed bra he was wearing over his undershirt. "So, Hermione, why was I up there, and can I take this off before Professor Snape hurts himself smirking too hard?"

"Feel free to take that off. And you were up there because I can't pin things on myself. I added better sleeves to the cloaks, although I think it being a cloak with sleeves makes it a robe, and they changed the shape of the hem."

Harry sighed as he tried to get the bra off of himself. "And you didn't think to have me pin it while you wore it?" He sighed again, hands both trying to reach the middle of his back. "These things are so much easier when you can see what you are doing."

"Do tell, Harry" "No, don't tell, Mr. Potter, or at least wait until I and my delicate sensibilities are out of the room."

"Why did you come up, anyway, Professor?"

"I just managed to confiscate a primitive map, possibly inspired by one made by the Former Mr. Potter of Gryffindor. I was using it to patrol the halls when I noticed you two were up here. I will warn you that I suspect the map was mass produced, at least in a bulk of twenty or more. Hufflepuffs have been turning and fleeing before I get into sight."

"So either the Hufflepuffs have developed a Snape Proximity ward, or there's many maps running around the castle."

"Indeed. And you two just spent half an hour with your dots overlapping in your private workroom. Please, for the sake of my not having to listen to gossip, make sure you are fully dressed, and have a new invention when you come out."

"Thank you, for the warning, Sir." Hermione smiled.

"We'll make sure we are the souls of the appearance of propriety." Harry smirked.

"While we figure out how to remove ourselves from those maps." Hermione was already looking over their library.

"Which, we'd gladly share our results with you, Sir, if you happen to come across another sample for our experimentation purposes."

"I'll go confiscate one now. If you can get them to stop working reliably by the end of the first day of use, it will make them all the more suspect. And Gryffindor will acquire 15 points from some other teacher."

.0.0.0.

Tonks

This letter is a portkey. Don't be inside wards to prevent it, Sunday.

Last chance to talk. Come alone. Don't be followed. I'll assume followers are spies, and act accordingly.

-Little Red

PS. If you aren't going to be able to keep your mouth shut, burn this. You know you trust me. Why is this so hard?

.0.0.0.

"I asked the Professor to bring in a pensive for this meeting because I had the awkward position of overhearing a fight at headquarters, and I think it's relevant."

"Thanks, Fred." They watched as Fred extracted the silvery strand, directing it into the pensive with his wand.

"Everyone in."

They arrived to see Remus in the sitting room at Grimmuld place, looking frustrated. "Dora, you can't be serious. You just got hurt, being out on your own."

"Yes, yes I got hurt, but she's the one who saved me, and she got me back, and she even got me female healers. She's not a threat."

"Look at those letters, Did you read them? She's threatening you left, right, and center. You're not safe with her."

"I know I'm safe with her, and she's writing like that because she's worried that she left herself exposed when she rescued me. It would have been simpler if she had just obliviated me."

"How... Dora, how can you say that?"

"I'm sworn to report pertinent facts to the Aurors. They know I know more then I'm saying, since she's taking the trouble to tell me to keep my mouth shut. I'm also sworn to report to the order. I told you both about the planned meeting-"

"-but not how you planned it."

"Remus, don't interrupt. I told you both I had a private meeting, and what do I get, I get stood up because the people I work for can't respect what I tell them."

"I don't see why you want to meet her, anyway?"

"I want to know what the hell is going on that led to her wearing that cloak..."

"So you do know who it is..."

"Remus, go home.."

"The rest of us are in this fight too. We deserve to know."

"But you don't deserve to sit in on the meeting where I cry my heart out and thank her for being there for me when I most needed it. And both my damn boss and the fucking Order can't seem to figure that bit out. Now, Remus, go home – or, better yet – I'll go home, or at least somewhere else."

"Dora... we just want you to be safe.."

"And your actions are chasing me out of the nice warded headquarters. Think, Remus. Think about that."

Fred looked up, just as the teens floated up and out of the memory.

"Thoughts?" Hermione asked.

"We could wait until she comes, and obliviate her." Snape stated the obvious. "I practiced before the last meeting, in case it all went... badly."

"That doesn't seem very sporting, but it's a possibility." Harry nodded.

"We could wait until she comes. Ask if she'd write a note to herself saying she's happier not knowing, then oblivaite her." Ron added.

Ginny looked at her brother, then thought. "Somehow, I think that wouldn't work. No one likes gaps in their memories."

Harry spoke next. "Could we... have her make an oath not to reveal it? But, then, could the Auror department claim they had a prior oath or something?"

Snape leaned in, and waited until he had all of their attention. "What that fight didn't show was the debate that Tonks has been having with her Department. She has claimed that since she was not on duty, and she saw no evidence that you are participation in anything illegal, she's not obliged to tell all to the department."

Fred and George laughed. "Oh, they must love that."

"It's not the most popular idea. However, some of them seem sympathetic to the idea that she may not wish to betray her rescuer."

Hermione spoke up. "Given that kidnapping people and turning them into mice is very likely actually illegal, how long will that argument last?"

"Until they get frustrated and give her veritaserum ?"

Ginny spoke up. "It might not last, but it might, even if they get frustrated. She didn't really see much. She wasn't in a position to see much. She may have seen a few stunners, but it could be argued they they were being used in defense... admittedly, defense of her. We didn't charge in firing AKs."

"We did charge in and fire green spells, though." Harry pointed out.

"If we tell her that we were using a different green spell, and it comes out in court, then the cat is out of the bag."

"Damn."

"Indeed." Snape's word felt final. "While we all ponder that, might I ask another question? Earlier I reached into my pocket for a piece of chock, and pulled out two beetles."

Snape put a jar with two dead beetles on the table.

Harry winced.

"It is very lucky my second years are not aware that these are are, in fact, transfigured Death Eaters. The casualties from the raid for Tonks."

The whole group looked at the two dead insects.

Hermione sighed. "Perhaps a jar, each, labeled. They are already in insect form. While it's not very respectful, we can't just turn them over to their families."

Harry nodded. "And I hate to say this, but I still worry about our mice plotting escape. Having visible lessons of others who didn't make it might be good."

"I have ingredient jars with stasis spells, like that one. It would prevent mess should they ever be transformed back." Snape offered. "Well, more mess then there will be from them sitting about in my pocket for a week. I suspect the house elves took them out, laundered the coat, and put them back."

.o.o.o.o.

Tonks, sat, staring at the letter. She was on a couch at her mother's house. She'd shown up furious from her fight with Remus, refused to go into work, an asked them to make sure that she, but not others could portkey in and out of the house. Her mother was more the a little confused, but perfectly willing to support her daughter. After all, adjusting wards to make her feel comfortable and safe wasn't a huge task.

Tomorrow. Tomorrow was Sunday.

.o.o.o.

The 'Monday' meeting was being held on a Saturday night.

Snape started by objecting to the timing. "I suspected that I am being held captive until the other students are done with their mischief."

"You can leave after toast if you like. We want you to hear the reports. Think of it as letting them have a false sense of security before you attack. Also, it will let them get far enough from their common rooms it will be a challenge to get back."

"Fine, reports."

Luna smiled. "The great debate rages in the Quibbler. Is she a bogeyman? Is she a Fury? There is a distinct voting block for Nemisis, after all she had a chariot pulled by Griffons, and you wear red. At this point, only those spirits and creatures that avenge or punish misdeeds are being considered. The readership of the Quibbler had gotten the theme of the blood soaked cape and the missing Death Eaters quiet well."

Fred waited to see if Luna was done, the reported. "Death Eaters are not going out at night. They are traveling in packs. I saw at least two with borrowed small children as shields."

Hermione winced. "We should discourage that."

George nodded. "I was thinking about sticking small bits of red cloth to the children, and seeing how long their mothers put up with the threat."

Hermione looked about. "Harry, Neville?"

Harry smiled. "We're all no longer on any maps. We're unplottable. Others are flickering in and out, both to disguise who we made unplottable, and to make the maps less popular. I feel bad for the Puffs, it was a good effort, but they had access to too much information. On the other hand, with both their map, and our map, Neville had an idea." Harry paused here. "With the Professor's permission, we'd like to try to make a map that would trace dark marks, or failing that, just track everyone magical, and record our findings."

Neville continued "Even if we can't make a dark mark tracking map, making a map that would track everyone, and, here's the big thing, record it all, would help us find the location of sneaky hideouts, or help us figure out the habits of the remaining know Death Eaters."

Harry took up the thread. "I'm pretty sure the Auror's would love to do this sort of thing, but everyone who votes has guilty secrets, even if it's just a weekly chocolate run. We'd delete people who are just going about their business, but those who we have our eye on, well, we'd have a better eye on them."

Snape shook his head. "If the 'sneaky hideouts' you are looking for are warded, it won't help. Most people will be floo-ing or apparating to them."

Harry sighed in frustration. "We'll still know who's disappearing off the map. That's useful, at least. And the time they do so. It should help us figure out who's popping off to the meetings behind the masks, Sir."

"Fine. It's a good project, just not the end all be all of the war." Snape nodded, having tamped down some of the rampant optimism.

There was a moment of silence.

Luna spoke up. "Speaking of maps, Malfoy, the Room of Requirement, ideas?"

Harry looked surprised. "I've been busy. Fill me in?"

Luna nodded. "Malfoy is doing something up in the Room. He had Goyle and Crabbe guarding the door. Once word got out about the maps and what they could do, he stopped going up there. He's been unhappy looking."

"Any idea what he's up to?"

Snape stated flatly. "He's trying to kill Dumbledore." The teens around the table gasped. "Why he's up there, I don't know, but that's his assignment. He was assigned that duty by the Dark Lord, in response to his father's failure in the Department of Mysteries. His father, as you know, bribed everyone on this island, apparently, and got out, but the family is still not in favor."

Everyone asked questions at once. Hermione shushed them, and waited until she ha paper, quill and ink, then started asking.

"Sir, does Dumbledore know everything you've told us?"

"Yes."

"Does Malfoy have the Mark?"

"Both do, yes." Hermione nodded, acknowledging her question had been vague.

"What's Dumbledore's plan?"

"To let him keep trying, to save him from the Dark Lord's wraith. To let him get close enough that he realizes he's not a killer. To have me... well, there's a complication."

"What is it? As much as you can say, if you're under an oath of secrecy, Sir."

"Narcissa Malfoy came to me to ask for my oath of assistance for Draco. It was this summer, while Lucius's fate was still in debate. As I had two wand pointed at me, I went along with it."

"The wording... you swore to assist him?"

"Yes."

"Would you consider removing him from the situation and getting him under a fake identity and better set of wards to be assisting him?"

"Yes."

Would you consider turning him into a mouse to be assisting him?"

"I..." It looked like Snape wanted to say yes, but either his conscience, or the oath, or both got a hold of him. "No, sorry."

"It was a thought. Lets make plans for an involuntary jailbreak for Draco. He'll be killed by the red cloaked one, and a brunette with a love of flying and potions will appear in America, somewhere."

Harry spoke up. "Hold on, Hermione. If Draco fights us, fights the identity change... He's a marked Death Eater. He could get the information to all the wrong people. Binding oaths of silence have to be voluntary. Forcing them only makes them weaker."

Hermione sighed.

Harry turned to Snape. "Professor, perhaps you should go patrol. We'll work on ways to assist Draco without you having your oath poking at you."

Snape glared at them all. "I do care for my god-son. He's been put in a bad position. Take care."

"We'll be as nice as we can. Private tutoring in a safe house isn't the worst thing that could happen, after all."

Snape nodded, apparently content that they weren't going to take advantage of his absence to plan the torture of his godson. He took his broom back towards the tunnel for the girl's bathroom.

Once he was out of earshot, The table broke out in discussion. "How can Dumbledore find this acceptable?" "Letting Death Eaters run about." "I bet he was behind that thing with Katie." "I wish we could check all of Hogwarts for Dark Marks. Clean it all up at the same time."

Hermione sighed. "If only. It's a good long term goal. Lets work towards it, next Monday. But tomorrow is Sunday. That means we're having hot chocolate while kidnapping a Auror. Plans."

Ron nodded. This one was his job. "Were having all hands on deck, no one visible when it goes off, which will be at ten oh five am. We're using Sirius's cave, since it's small, controlled, and anyone who tries an apparition trace will end up trying to apparate into rock ninety percent of the time." At Hermione's look he elaborated. "The Aurors can get close to where you went by doing something, but everything I've read or found about it says they'll be off by a bit, more for each second after you left that they started the trace. Three seconds of response time will have them trying to apparate into rock, which heir own magic won't allow, so they can't follow."

"So they'll just spin on the spot?"

"Yup, as if they'd hit wards."

"Okay. I assume trying to catch any followers off guard is why we're doing it at ten oh five, instead of at ten?"

"Indeed."

"And we'll be lined up at the cave entrance?"

"The better to set off the wars and run like bloody hell if It goes bad."

"Okay. What wards?"

"One that makes people glow. Invisible, whatever, they'll glow. We've got the edge of that marked out on the ground. We'll stay on our side of it, and not glow, while any passengers that come along with Tonks will."

Hermione sighed. "Is it bad that I just want to have her come, then leave her a note, or something? I don't want to explain. I don't think I can, now."

"You'll have all of us, don't worry." Ginny leaned over to pat Hermione's free hand.

"The other wards?"

"We can put a panic lock on the cave. We threw everything at it, It's all already cast. It will go up if anyone says the trigger word, 'Adios'. The wards aren't pretty, and they won't last long, but it will give us time to apperate. Make sure you stay on our side of the line."

"Anything else?"

"Winky's making a high tea. I asked for hot chocolate for a guest.. She's got an armchair and a Three level tea table on both sides of the line."

AN This is long enough. We'll talk to Tonks next time. Thanks for reading. Thanks to those who reviewed. My last authors note was a little too close to begging for reviews for me to be comfortable with it.

PS I just realized, while writing about Draco, that the elder Malfoy was arrested in the Ministry at the end of the previous year. Lets all pretend that he slimed his way out of jail time, for the sake of my plot. Thanks.

PPS MacNair, too. I've now got a list of Death Eaters, and their cannon prison time. Let's hope I can stop making silly mistakes.