Author's Note: So I was originally going to reply to the reviews for the last chapter as they came in, but a lot more of you answered my question than I expected (THANK YOU, by the way! I love reading reviews!), and I unfortunately don't have time to go through and write out a reply to every single review. If you don't really care about the perspectives thing, you can skip straight to the chapter. I'm just putting this here because I want you guys to know why I'm doing what I'm doing.

A little over half of the reviews tell me to keep writing in the same way, and the rest say otherwise.

I've had a few different suggestions, but the two main ones are combining perspectives into the same chapter, and alternating perspectives between scenes. In my opinion, the first suggestion won't work so well for this story, because it's way too late to change the story from first person to third person at this point, and I'm pretty sure it'll be confusing having the personal pronoun "I" switch to refer to a different person halfway through a chapter. So that one's out.

The second suggestion is more doable, but I'll probably have to have the character whose perspective we didn't see think back and sum up how he/she felt. The issue that I have with summarizing conversations afterwards is that what I feel completes my story is the main characters' immediate reactions to actions and conversations, and in retrospect, those specific responses will most likely be gone (I mean, you usually don't replay every comment in a conversation in your head and remember the way you felt about it).

That said, I know that it can be tiring to reread every conversation between the two of them, so I'll find time to go back through the chapters that I haven't posted yet and make some changes. I'll keep both perspectives for the conversations that I feel are more important, but I'll cut the ones that don't really contribute to plot or character development.

Whew! This author's note turned out to be way, way longer than I intended it to be. If you just spent forever reading this, I'm really sorry! I just wanted to let you guys in a little on why I'm choosing to write this story the way I am.

And for those of you who don't like the chapters that don't introduce new material to the plot, this chapter doesn't have anything "new" in it, so I'll post another one later tonight (maybe in a few hours) to make up for it.

Chapter 27

I sit down in a chair across the table from Rowle.

"I'll be right outside, Hermione," Lupin says, backing out of the room.

I still don't quite understand why they've decided on a private interrogation, but I suppose that having no audience will indeed help me focus on penetrating Rowle's mind.

First, I decide to give him a chance.

"Rowle, do you know why you are here?" I ask him.

"Yeah, yeah," he says, bored.

He's bound to a chair, unable to do anything to threaten me. Instead of fear at being alone in a room with a Death Eater, I feel only revulsion. I overheard from Tonks and Lupin's conversation that this man didn't hesitate to kill women and children, as long as their blood status was challenged. While that probably holds true for most of the Death Eaters, being so close to one, unmasked, makes me feel disgusted.

"So, what are you going to do to me, Mudblood?"

"You can call me whatever you like," I say nonchalantly. "I'm going to give you a chance. Do you know which member has betrayed the Order?"

"Oh, you'd like to know that, wouldn't you?" he says, grinning maliciously.

Why isn't he afraid? He's completely in my power. I can do anything to him without restraint. There's no reason for him not to be afraid.

"If you're not straight with me, I'll have to use Legilimency on you," I say.

I don't like invading others' minds. In my book, it isn't much better than torturing someone for information because it's a serious violation of privacy. I know that in desperate times, we must resort to desperate measures, but still…

"Oh, go ahead. I don't see any harm in letting you know the truth, after tonight."

I narrow my eyes. After tonight? What can he possibly mean?

As soon as I get eye contact with him, I delve into his mind. Malfoy was right—Rowle's barriers seem to crumble with just the slightest bit of effort on my part, and soon I'm rushing into his memories. At the thought of Malfoy, the charm begins to burn my chest, but I don't have time to check it.

I focus on Voldemort, trying to go for the most recent memory.

I find myself in a dark room, looking at the back of a tall armchair. On either side of Rowle stand Dolohov, Mulciber, Crabbe Sr., and Malfoy Sr. Voldemort is giving orders in a quiet hiss.

I flip back a bit further and find a memory of Rowle, watching that same room from a slit in the door. He sees the back of a short man, with bandy legs and little hair on his head.

No…

Mundungus Fletcher.

Shacklebolt had assured us that he would be the best man for amassing information about the Death Eaters because he was a criminal. We'd believed him because that despite his cowardice, he did have a way about skulking through the underground, making trades and gaining useful tidbits of information along the way.

But now, it makes sense.

He was the one who had gotten the numbers wrong on the night of the ambush at the Leaky Cauldron. He'd given us the location of the Death Eater camp near Bristol. And he didn't have any idea about our planned defense of Nottingham because it had been so short-notice. The only thing that remains to be checked is whether or not he knew about Seamus's mission.

I withdraw from Rowle's mind and see a smug expression on his face.

"Mundungus Fletcher," I say aloud.

"Mundungus Fletcher, indeed," he says, nodding.

The charm burns my chest again, and I get to my feet.

"Well, we have what we want. Now, all that's to be decided is your fate," I say. Then I raise my voice and call for Lupin.

He enters the room a moment later.

"The spy is Mundungus," I tell him.

"Are you certain?" he asks.

I nod. "I have to go outside for a moment."

He takes my seat, and I leave the room, pulling the door closed behind me. As soon as I'm alone outside, I pull the charm out to look at it. Only one word shows, in all capital letters: DANGER. What the…?

Then the door is thrown open, and two Death Eaters enter the room. I immediately note that one of them is Dolohov and back up to the opposite end of the room, throwing Stunning Spells at both of them, but they both disappear into the inner room where Lupin and Rowle are.

A third Death Eater points his wand at me, and ropes issue from the tip. I sidestep the swirling tendrils and send another Stunning Spell at him. I miss him, instead striking a fourth Death Eater just inside the doorway. I race toward the door, but the third Death Eater throws up a wall of fire, blocking my path to the exit. A Disarming Charm comes at me from a fifth Death Eater, but before I can react, the jet of light rebounds and shoots back in his direction.

Yet again, I'm repelling spells. What's going on?

I block most of the hexes coming at me but let one through, and it rebounds again. Growing more confident in this strange blessing, I shift to a more offensive position, stepping forward toward them and alternating my attacks between the two of them. I advance on them, and eventually I can see past the wall of fire toward the exit.

Then the door opens, and Rowle comes into the room. I gasp—Dolohov and the other Death Eater must have freed him. He joins his comrades, and I realize that this must have been the reason why he wasn't worried about letting me find out the truth. This was a set-up. He'd known that his friends were coming to rescue him!

Infuriated, I work faster, trying to fight my way out so that I'll be able to Disapparate. We'd placed Disapparition Jinxes on this building as a precaution—I'd never imagined that I would have to fight my way out before.

A Stunning Spell whizzes past my head, uncomfortably close to my ear, and I realize that I might be pushing my luck, and whatever force is keeping me safe may very well be draining away due to the onslaught of attacks. I give up trying to get past the fire and change to a more defensive position, only attacking occasionally.

Then I point my wand at the wall of fire and shout, "Aguamenti!"

The water washes away part of the wall, but a hex hits my Shield Charm, and I have to block several more hexes. When I get another look, the fire is back in place.

I hear a loud bang as the door opens yet again, but I can't spare a look at the moment—the three Death Eaters attacking me are keeping me very preoccupied. That is, until I hear Dolohov's voice.

"Stop resisting, Mudblood, or I'll kill your friend!"

I continue to block the hexes that are coming my way, but they have slowed down. Only one of the three Death Eaters with whom I was dueling is still attacking me. With a signal from Dolohov, he stops as well. I see that Lupin is unconscious, tightly tied up with ropes, and floating several feet above the ground.

"No," I say, glaring at Dolohov.

"As you wish," he replies, his wand pointed at Lupin.

It's not an empty threat, and I know it. Damn it, I can't let him die like this. My wand clatters to the floor uselessly, and immediately one of the Death Eaters Summons it to him.

Dolohov points his wand at me, and I flinch instinctively.

I realize that the charm is still around my neck, outside of my clothing now. I grip it tightly in my fist and close my eyes, thinking furiously of only one word. Mundungus.

Then I'm thrown backwards by a spell and collide painfully with the wall behind me.

Are they going to kill me?

Author's Note: Chapter 28 coming soon!