Disclaimer: The world of Harry Potter and it's characters belong to J.K Rowling.

Warnings: This is currently rated T for dashes of colourful language here and there. As the story progresses these warnings may be subject to change.

The trio appeared in the middle of Tottenham Court Road, breathless, dizzy, and scared. It had been the first place Hermione had thought of, but it would afford them no safety until they got out of sight and out of their wedding garb.

Still hand-in-hand with her two companions, Hermione pulled them into a dimly lit side street and began to rummage through the small beaded bag she had slung over her shoulder.

Harry caught his breath and took in their location. He looked up at the freckled red head they had pulled along for the ride and swore quietly.

'Can't say I'm too pleased either mate,' said Fred.

'Yes, well, not my crowning moment, but can we please just leave it for a minute? We have to get changed and get out of here, we're not safe on the streets like this,' said Hermione quickly, pulling out clothes for each of the boys and handing them over before pulling out her own gear.

Fred raised his eyebrows at the bag in Hermione's hands, 'Got enough in that bag, Hermione?'

'Undetectable extension charm,' she responded robotically, throwing a cardigan over her dress and swapping her heels for flat shoes. Fred eyed her with a bemused look on his face and began pulling off his jacket in favour of one of Mrs Weasley's famous knitted jumpers.

'Good thing Mum's knitting is practically one size fits all.'

'Hardly the most important topic of conversation right now,' said Harry sarcastically, 'How the heck did you mistake Fred for Ron, Hermione? They don't even look alike!' he said, pulling on a pair of Muggle jeans underneath his robe before tugging the robe over his head and throwing on a dark knitted jersey. 'You've only known Ron for, oh, I don't know, six years after all!'

'Keep it down would you!' Hermione hissed, 'It's not like I did it on purpose! Do you think I wanted to leave Ron behind? Merlin, you'd think I didn't have enough to worry about!'

'What's that supposed to mean?' he said heatedly, 'Are you saying I've done nothing to prepare for this?'

'No, Harry-'

'All right, you two, no need to fight over me,' joked Fred, 'It's no big deal, I'll just Apparate back to The Burrow when things settle down a bit.'

Hermione and Harry directed their gaze toward their unwelcome guest, and Fred felt distinctly uncomfortable, not for the first time that evening.

'You can't,' said Harry, his voice flat, 'They'll have set up surveillance by now. The Death Eaters will know you left with me and if they get their hands on you, they'll do everything they can to find out where I am.'

'How could they know I'm with you? You were disguised throughout the entire wedding, the Order made sure no one knew you were there,' Fred argued.

'I'm not willing to take a chance with that, are you?' said Harry darkly, 'If you want to risk being tortured by the sadistic henchmen of a batshit crazy madman, be my guest.'

'It can't be as bad as all that mate.'

'It is,' sighed Hermione, throwing a weary look at her best friend, 'We were planning to leave in a few days as it was, I just packed in advance. We knew it was only a matter of time before the Ministry was overthrown and we would have to run.'

'There's something we have to do, and we can't go back until it's done,' said Harry firmly, 'Unfortunately for you, you're stuck with us.'

Harry pulled on a pair of battered Muggle trainers and his inconspicuous look was made complete. Hermione looked over him with approval and passed him the invisibility cloak, which he begrudgingly threw over his shoulders.

'You really have thought of everything,' said Fred, as Harry disappeared from view.

'Not exactly,' Hermione replied, 'I have no idea where to go next, and I have no idea what to do for you, and I have no idea what's happening to Ron or the rest of your family or-' her voice sounded strangled, and Harry moved forward to put his hand on her shoulder.

'It's all right, Hermione, we'll work it out. Let's just figure out the next step first,' he said, his voice quiet in her ear.

'We could go to the shop?' Fred suggested.

'No,' said Harry, 'If they know you're with us they'll be expecting that. We can't go anywhere that's connected with us in any way.'

'We need to get off the streets either way,' said Fred.

'You're right,' said Hermione, grabbing Harry's hand from it's resting place on her shoulder and gripping it tightly when she caught hold of it. She turned and walked briskly down the dingy alleyway, leaving Fred to catch up behind them.

'Why don't we just Apparate?' he asked, jogging up beside her.

'We're out in the open,' she said, 'If anyone observes us disappearing into thin air they'll be certain to report it to the police. The Ministry has it's toes in every jurisdiction of muggle authority, and right now the Ministry is Voldemort. They would be on us-'

'Even if they did find out we'd Apparated, they wouldn't be able to follow us,' Fred reasoned.

Harry stopped and turned towards Fred, 'Don't underestimate what they can do-'

The air around the trio vibrated as a loud 'crack' rang out mere meters from where they were standing. Harry pushed Hermione aside and whipped out his wand, silently casting a quick Stupify towards the closest death eater who had appeared in the tight alleyway. The death eater dropped wordlessly to the pavement and was carelessly trodden on by his two colleagues in their eagerness to capture their would-be victims.

Across from Harry, Fred and Hermione had processed the sudden chaos and had begun firing spells towards the remaining death eaters rapidly and with reckless abandon. The alleyway lit up with the volley of spells, illuminating the bone masks of Voldemort's loyal henchmen.

Harry, hidden from sight, cast a muttered 'Protego' to shield his two companions from a particularly nasty hex before replying with one of his own. He felt sweat dripping down his forehead and stinging his eyes, and his heart was in his mouth making his breath come short and fast. The invisibility cloak afforded him some safety. They didn't know where his spells were coming from, however the death eaters became more vicious in their attack on Fred and Hermione in response.

Fred, hitting one of the remaining death eaters with a well-aimed Confundus charm, whipped around at the shrill scream that rang out beside him. Fumbling slightly, he withdrew a slim packet from his pocket, and ripping it open, he scattered the contents around himself and the injured girl at his side. Thick, impenetrable darkness engulfed his vision and he grabbed Hermione's hand and whispered, 'Run.'

With the alleyway shrouded in the cloying blackness, Harry stumbled backwards following the sounds of his retreating friends, still sending offensive spells in the direction of their attackers. Light hit his retinas again as he made his way out of the sphere of blackness. He saw Fred and Hermione dart behind a large metal dumpster and dived in behind them.

'H-How did they find us?' Hermione gasped.

'That doesn't matter right now, the question is how do we stop them following us,' muttered Harry.

Fred was visibly shaking, his breath coming short and fast as he struggled to collect himself, and his freckles stark on his pale face. Hermione didn't look to be in a much better state, but she took a deep breath and looked up at the sound of Harry's voice.

'Wait for them to come out and Obliviate them?' she suggested.

'Right.' As Harry watched from his position, the blackness dissipated slowly and the alleyway cleared to the sight of three death eaters lying haphazardly on the filthy cobbled ground.

'Well, that solves one problem,' said Fred, pulling himself up from behind the dumpster and frowning at the still bodies.

'And creates a whole lot more,' said Harry, 'We have to Obliviate them and get rid of the evidence.'

'I-I can take care of the memory charms, but what should we do with them? We can't just dump them somewhere. It would cause more problems than it would solve,' Hermione stuttered.

'Leave that to me,' said Fred. Harry could almost see the plan ticking over behind Fred's eyes as a smile began to tug at the other boy's mouth.

'What do you have in mind?' Hermione asked, eyebrow raised in suspicion.

'If I'm not mistaken, my dear Hermione, behind us is the back entrance to a most wonderful establishment that I like to call a pub, and I believe the locks on this door will respond quite nicely to a little wand waving. Perhaps these three drank too much this evening? Any questions asked will be their problem after that.'

'All right, sounds like a plan,' said Harry, 'Best Obliviate them now Hermione, while they're still out cold.'

The three crept up to the stunned death eaters and taking hold of their bone masks, unveiled their would-be captors.

'Dolohov,' said Harry, looking down at the blond haired man at his feet.

'I've got Rowle,' said Fred, frowning in disgust at the large man he had unmasked, 'Who have you got Hermione?'

'What does it matter?' spluttered Hermione. Fred stared up at her in response. 'Oh, all right then,' she sighed, peering down at the darkly dressed man, 'I think it's Avery.'

'You think?' asked Harry.

'Well, he's not in the best condition,' she said, 'He's got a nasty case of Anteoculatia.'

'Huh,' said Harry.

'Horn-growing hex, Harry. Nice shot, Fred,' she said appraisingly, 'But I do think we'll have to fix that before we leave.'

Fred's ears gained the slightly tinge of pink, but his grin didn't diminish in the least. 'Sounds reasonable,' he teased.

'Let's get on with these memory adjustments, Hermione, I want to get out of here as soon as possible,' said Harry.

Hermione nodded in response and drew her wand over Avery's head muttering 'Obliviate,' before moving on to the next death eater.

When she had Obliviated the three, Fred unlocked the door to the pub with a quick Alohomora, and cast the counter curse on Avery's horns, which slowly shrank back into the side of his head before disappearing entirely.

'Looked better with the horns if you ask me,' Fred smirked, to which Harry laughed dryly, 'Think you could take that cloak off now, mate? Bit disconcerting to be talking to thin air.'

'But-' Hermione began to argue.

'Sure,' said Harry, taking off the cloak and stuffing it into the pocket of his jeans, 'No point in it now, Hermione, they found us anyway.'

She nodded glumly and helped the boys to manoeuvre the three bodies in through the doorway of the pub, and onto three well-worn seats around a dark little table. They had just finished arranging the bodies with half empty glasses of beer and spirits surrounding them, when the lights to the bar blazed on around them.

Grabbing Harry and Hermione, Fred turned on the spot and whisked them away.

OoXoO

They arrived on the steps of 12 Grimmauld place under the shroud of the Fidelius charm and the dim light of a nearby lamppost. Fred stepped up and gripped the doorknob tightly, casting unlocking charms as he did so. The door creaked open and he widened it with his foot, before staring into the darkened hallway cautiously.

'What are we doing here?' Harry hissed, 'It isn't safe here anymore.'

'It was the first place I thought of, Harry. Under the circumstances, I wanted to be somewhere warm and dry. Besides, if anyone from the order got away then we can contact them from here.' Fred answered simply.

'Snape knows the secret of headquarters, Fred. With Dumbledore dead, he can tell anyone he likes. The death eaters could be here any second,' Harry spat.

'Hardly,' said Fred, 'That greasy git wouldn't be stupid enough to send You-Know-Who to an empty dump like this. He'd want to be absolutely certain that there would be something to gain from it. Attacking the order directly would gain them more losses than advantages.'

'Like that would matter to him, he would throw every single follower he has under the Hogwarts express if he thought he would get me out of the bargain!' Harry shouted.

'Well then, we just won't advertise that we're here,' Hermione said, wincing and clutching her arm to her chest tightly, 'Not that we've done a great job of that so far,' she admonished, as the sound of screaming started up from the portrait of Mrs Black, the heavy drapes whipping back to reveal the unpleasant woman.

'Oh, for Merlin's sake, shut up!' Harry shouted, entering the hallway and causing the old gas lamps to flicker into life, illuminating the decrepit ancient house in all its eerie glory. Before he could make it to the shrieking portrait, he felt a presence surround him and a voice whispered close to his ear.

'Severus Snape...' came the disembodied voice of Alastor Moody.

'I'm not Snape,' Harry grumbled, feeling a cold air whip over him and an unpleasant curling and unfurling of his tongue follow after.

'Careful, Harry, the Order placed jinxes on this place to keep Snape out,' warned Fred, flexing his jaw and poking his tongue out at the still gibbering portrait of Mrs Black.

'Vile scum, tainting the Most Ancient House of Black, not fit to step foot in the pure-'

'Be quiet, you insane old biddy,' Harry groaned, stepping up and silencing the portrait with a wave of his wand and a stream of red sparks. As he did so, a dusty figure rose from the carpet and rustled towards the three as they stood immobilised at the scene before them.

The wasted and empty socketed form of Albus Dumbledore raised an accusatory arm towards them, and Hermione screamed in terror, 'We didn't kill you, Professor!'

At her voice, the form crumpled back into the unformed dust from where it came, drifting in the staid and stagnant air of the hallway. Hermione gasped and doubled over, grasping at her chest and breathing shallowly.

'You're hurt,' Harry said, softening his tone, 'Why didn't you say anything before?'

'I-it's nothing, Harry. We couldn't stop back there,' she panted.

Harry frowned, 'It's not nothing, Hermione. Look at you.'

'It's fine, really, Harry, I'll just get some Dittany out of my bag. It'll be a quick fix.'

'Just show me, Hermione, please,' he sighed, shoulders slumping as the fight seeped out of him.

Hermione sent a glance toward Fred and the elder boy stepped backwards, acutely aware of his intrusion to the tight knit pair.

'Maybe you two should go and take a look in the sitting room. I'll go and hunt down that good-for-nothing house elf,' Fred said quietly.

Hermione frowned at his description of Kreacher, but nodded and slowly made her way into the front room with Harry at her side, leaving Fred alone to his thoughts.