The invasion force was not in a significantly better position than the rescue team had been. If they killed an enemy unit, or put him under the Imperius, then they would not cause all the red-robed wizards in the castle to break rank and fight amongst themselves. Most likely, it would distract them for a moment, but they would soon realize that the same culprit who rescued one of their hostages was back, and almost certainly for more. As they crouch-walked down the corridor, checking their corners, they had every confidence that some of the other recruits were working with the girl they rescued to see if she could talk to the Quibbler. They would not force a full debriefing out of her, but if she and her parents were willing, they could supply that she had been basically treated like a prisoner at Hogwarts, and official records, by which the Minister would have to swear, would show that she had been in their care. Fundamentally, that was how they were going to get past the issue of False Memory Charms; the simple fact that she had suffered when the system was responsible for her safety would indict the school and its administration when they had been the ones to raise safety issues rather than adhering to an at own risk policy.

"Do you think the people will care?" Sergeant Westenberg asked. Strangely at home with the whole idea of combat, it was oddly easy to see how he was more preoccupied with the information war. "Do you think they even know the truth when they see it?"

"There's nothing that makes us special," Hermione said. "The fact that some of us used to believe the rubbish they print, or believe that they were a reliable source, well, that's the kind of good sign that we'll have to accept if we want to be optimistic."

"I must have missed something," Sergeant Snodley said when they reached the stairs. "I thought it was all basically just accepted at this point that you were all hero-worshiping Potter. I don't blame you, of course."

"We are certainly not worshiping him," Terry said, annoyed. "Focus on the task at hand."

"Oh, is someone sensitive about-"

"Shut up; that's an order."

That, at least, seemed to solve the problem for the moment. With the recruits, even though some of them had accomplished a good bit, they did not know Harry personally, and so their decision to join his group was more like to allow him to be the symbol of their resistance. Most likely, they went in entirely expecting the power to gradually shift to someone else, especially with the introduction of a ranking system. No one would want him to not be in the center of things, and they had no intention to actually push him out, most likely, but it was rare for a self-respecting adult to want to follow a minor anywhere, even if for some reason that minor had a surprising track record. Most likely, the general public viewed his saving the castle a few times as a failure of the school and its leadership rather than some great heroic deed of his. There were times when he would almost agree, looking back, but he knew that all the teachers had been sincerely trying to deal with the Basilisk, just as an example, and it was only because of his unique skill set that the day was saved.

It hardly mattered how people saw things, in those days.

"Corridor's clear," Sergeant Kirke called out as they went down. He was a little more businesslike than the others, less inclined to take the chance to joke or anything. In fairness, he could see where proper adults would probably get annoyed with a bunch of former students running the whole operation, and as little as he wanted to self-incriminate, he was actually surprised at the difference between them as it got demonstrated to him more and more. He had never really looked up to the Dursleys, and they were pretty much his whole idea of adults up until recently.

"It's too quiet," Blaise said. "Perhaps I don't have a sense for these things, but I don't like it."

"Don't complain just yet. We're on the first floor. Most likely, they don't have a reason to come up here."

"Could we do something to draw a few of them up here?" Neville asked. "Even if we only take out a few of them, and they figure out we're here, won't that be better than if we just get caught here?"

Something about the idea gave him pause.

"If we can't rescue anyone here, then that would be better. We would want them to start saying that supporters of Eleazar Higgen killed some Aurors in Hogwarts, because the timing of that report will coincide with the kid... unless she doesn't say anything."

"She will," Blaise said. "Trust me; she wants to get back at them."

"I'll take your word for it, then," he muttered. "That's still a backup plan, though. We've got reason to think that there won't be as many of them here, let's act on it. They're likely to be suspicious of any kind of distraction. I'll go down there with the cloak and I'll see how many of them there are."

"Take me with you," Sergeant Kirke suggested. "I'll get it out of them."

The two of them went downstairs under the cloak. His partner was not so huge that the cloak was off the ground, but it was close. Though Aurors were trained to notice and observe, it was unlikely that they had any experience scanning the floors. It was also possible that they were just being overcautious, but then, that was how they had survived so far, even if they had made mistakes more than once. Two Aurors were heading up the stairs and they allowed both to pass. If they ran into the others, the others knew how to hide themselves. It was probably an even better cover for their operation than having them just disappear.

"There's our target," his partner muttered as they came across a lone enemy. "It's too easy. Look out for me."

He surprised Harry with an unidentifiable spell that launched him through the air with surprising force, crashing through the askew door of a classroom right as his younger superior had the presence of mind to cast a muffling charm, catching up to him quickly. As expected, there was someone else in the room, someone he petrified rather than killing. It was not entirely because he was concerned about how easy it was getting; it was because the man was jumping and his path was predetermined. Harry also had the advantage of being invisible, so it made sense to use a spell that took the form of a momentary flash rather than spellfire moving through the air. The killing curse could be seen as a green flash, but only by the victim, which, technically, was how he remembered it.

"Good show," Sergeant Kirke muttered. Apparently he caught his target off guard as well, explaining the snapped neck. "Bastard was using some kind of talisman."

"A talisman that caused you to throw caution to the wind?" he asked. "I'm watching the door; don't screw this up."

He wanted to chalk up his surprise to his lack of familiarity with the recruits and how they were trained, but it could not have been that different. At the same time, he had no idea what many of them had been doing before they started working with him; it was a complete mystery. Had some of them had questionable backgrounds?"

"I got it. We're still on."

"That decision is mine," he spat back, not looking, scanning the moving staircases before ducking behind cover again. "How many are they?"

"There are fifteen."

"That's less than I would have thought, but it's still beyond what our team can handle."

"What are you on about? We can kill half of them in a single charge-"

"If you suggest something like a charge against Aurors I'm stripping you of your rank; I don't give a damn what you've done so far." They stared at each other for a moment. "Our units," Harry explained. "-are combat ready, but they're well rounded. They know about all sorts of things that help in different areas. Even our specialists don't really have direct applications. Ginny complained for a while that we were pointing her at a target whenever we wanted it dead, and when it was possible, we started switching people out on the dark magic. Even now, though, probably most of us can't produce a proper killing curse, and that means the enemy would be able to effectively shield." Unlike Ron, he could not state with perfect confidence how the fight would go, but he knew the skills his people had; if nothing else he was a damn good organizer.

"Very well. Fifteen, however, must be drastically lower than your estimation of the last time you were here."

"That's correct. We predicted that they would at least move a few out in response to what we've done recently." He frowned. "I've estimated for the past few months that there are about as many proper Aurors as there are proper Death Eaters, about thirty. They're not unlimited and they have to be careful about who goes where, especially when a lot of them are being deliberately held here. Most likely, these are the ones with a shred of integrity. There's some kind of loyalty test going on, and I can't tell who's conducting it. It could be Scrimgeour; it could be someone else."

"Loyalty test? They're just following orders. That's all they ever do. Trust me."

"It sounds like you have some experience with them, but I think you're still underestimating the Corps, in strategic terms. What fireplace is the Minister meant to call if they rebel against him?" There was no response. "Theoretically, at one point, it was supposed to be the common wizard. We were meant to overthrow the government if it simply became tyrannical, but it became that way long before we noticed and no one has cared to see the steps taken to disarm the populace for what they are. At this point, it is certainly not possible, not with everyone who might try something funny on a list, and everyone else's kids under guard."

"So, it's more likely the Minister's behind this?"

"Scrimgeour is more likely to be trying to undermine him somehow. Fudge was apparently decent at peacetime, but I think without Umbridge around to insulate him from the rest of the officials, we think he's getting paranoid. Susan recently told me that he is effectively out of a job unless he can keep Voldemort under wraps and he's probably already been confronted with the reality that he's back."

"That's what Boomslang General Zabini thinks, then?"

"He's not the only one. If any of us were working for the Death Eaters, the first thing we would do is tell our attorney we were guilty." The two of them went back up the stairs. It was too dangerous to go down any further without the assistance of Legilimency and the Auror that they petrified had not been able to tell them anything that would give them a strategic advantage. It was a nice idea, to strike while the iron was hot, but it was not nearly hot enough for how hard they could manage to strike. "Fudge was never that interested in the truth, but he'll know not to be persuaded by anyone promising to open up an investigation. He'll declare anything like that counter-productive. He doesn't have unlimited power, but it's what the majority wants to hear."

"It's a standard balance of power. What are we doing here, then, if we can't rescue the kids?"

"Well, we've caused a distraction. Now we get with the others and figure out how to use the distraction." More and more, Harry was convinced that it was a bad idea to wipe out the Aurors. Even if they had been complicit in the regime, they could be mobilized to effective purposes as soon as there was a change in the regime, and what they really needed to accomplish that was to capture one of the weaker Death Eaters. Someone like Lestrange would never have helped them no matter how much they tortured him, and apparently his will never broke to the Imperius. "I'm thinking one of Voldemort's-"

"We can't go back to them," Sergeant Kirke said as they reached the floor with the others. As expected, they easily handled two Aurors, even without a warning. "All our successful campaigns have been against them; we need a good blow against the Ministry to keep them in check, especially right after they kidnapped some of our top officers."

"This is about the most we can do not to let that stand," Blaise said, shaking his head. "We all know that in a war, you can't show weakness, but there isn't any record that they attacked us. If things go the way we want, they'll be grateful for that."

"What we really need, more than anything else, is a captured Death Eater telling the truth about what's going on. We need to send one into the office of the Daily Prophet, fully convinced that he's got some kind of mission there, and start talking with the editor. The only way that people are going to think it isn't likely that his memory was manipulated is if it looks like no one even had a hand in it, and it was an honest mistake."

"What are you saying?" Hermione asked. "Why would anyone think that one of them would get a mission from the editor of a newspaper?" She frowned. "There isn't anything even slightly unusual on the record of Barnabus Cuffe. I looked into it myself when I had Skeeter in a jar."

"He doesn't have to be a marked Death Eater to be a contact or associate," Blaise said, agreeing with Harry in principle. "It could be a situation where someone gave him a mission, and the first thing he needs to do is talk to someone for the details. The problem is why they would meet in an office, in broad daylight, and not in a dark alley somewhere. Can I assume he shows up mask and all?"

"It won't do anything unless there are witnesses, and it won't do anything if they think he's under the Imperius," Sergeant Westenberg said. "The mask would be stupid, but not everyone knows what a dark mark is. He might also not be afraid to show his face, thinking that no one would recognize him."

"That's entirely possible," she admitted, sighing. "The problem is that Voldemort would fundamentally never allow something so risky, not when he gains so much by staying under the radar. That's- sorry, that's a slang term for-"

"We get it," Sergeant Kirke said. "Tell us what we would need to do to expose him. This has gone on far enough."

"Don't you think I've thought of that?"

"Not a helpful question," Harry said. "Hermione's been right to assume that he would have countermeasures in place, but there's a point where it's beyond his control. I think a large part of the reason he's keeping it up is to keep Dumbledore away."

"Until when?" Sergeant Westenberg asked.

"Well, probably until he kills me himself. He's looking for me, but he hasn't found me. Most of the old money Death Eaters would be inclined to use a trick, or their connections, and they probably have. Voldemort wants to use magic. I don't have a clue how he'll approach the problem."

No one said anything. They knew they had to be getting back, because there was no point in hanging out in the Room of Requirement, even with two captive Aurors. That was another thing that was going to cause a problem- they had been seen, and as long as they were not killing their targets, they would be remembered. Luna was helping the others. Unfortunately, though, that was a call he was going to have to make. Based on everything that Blaise got out of their two, they were neither strictly speaking crooked, nor were they so committed to the Ministry itself that they would not go along with Scrimgeour if he decided to abandon ship. According to their understanding of chain of command, that was technically what they were supposed to do, rather than monitoring the man above them to see if his loyalties were in order; that was the job of the man above him... the Minister. They could not in good conscious kill them, not when they posed no threat.

"We've decided to wake you up with a warning," Harry said as soon as they had taken everyone to another room. "There's someone downstairs who's already seen two of us. Sorry about the cadaver; Kirke here got a little carried away, and I suppose you can be difficult to deal with otherwise. We're not here for you; we're here because Voldemort's back. You've not been ordered to pursue him just yet, so we don't expect you to, but get ready for it when you are." He dropped a small book next to them. "Copying Charm's dead useful, so you know. This is all you need to know about the Death Eaters and their master. We all know this is Fudge's decision, not yours, and not your superior's, so we're not blaming you. We've only attacked when absolutely necessary; we've got no intention of reducing your numbers just for the sake of it."

The Aurors said nothing in response; they only stared at their captors as Blaise set their wands by the door and they all walked out. Almost certainly, a general rescue of the kids was impossible due to the difference in numbers, but if they could get even a few of the minions of the regime to see the truth of the matter, they had a chance of the whole thing being leaked. If people learned that the current government had kidnapped a bunch of children, then they would have reason to think that more was being hidden from them, and publications that had been covering it the whole time would at least to some, start to seem more legitimate.

"Nothing else to do but leave," Terry said, looking around as soon as they were in the Room again. "I've certified that they have no idea of this place, and they could not have placed tracking charms on us." His skills at detecting magical effects had waxed particularly strong in the last few months, and it was not just with the dark arts that he had briefly studied with Ginny. Agreeing with him, they went through the Vanishing Cabinet once more, securing the store carefully and keeping its singular patron unconscious, that no one knew they were there. It was a judgement call, but they ended up deciding to take it with them. The enemy would wonder where it was, of course, and probably suspect that they had taken it, and that the forged note about a Ministry inspection of the place was fraudulent, but they were going to scrub it of anything that could be used to track its position, and if the Death Eaters really wanted to go back through the other way, they would have to go through Hogwarts to get there.

"We're not just hoping that the Aurors start disobeying orders," he announced as soon as he was done catching everyone up on everything that had happened. "That's not going to happen, most likely. We're also not expecting too much of the kid that we already rescued. Most likely, all she's willing to say to us is that she was held at Hogwarts, and that Ministry officials were there. There's probably no way she can name names, not without making it look like she was prompted, and that's not going to help anyone. Already, there's a strong contingent of the country- we estimate it's around ten percent, and that's based on Quibbler sales, that don't believe the official story. That might sound like a small number, but you'd be surprised what's been accomplished historically with even smaller numbers."

Everyone seemed enthused, at least for the moment. Harry was only thankful he could even find someone who could help him come up with historical examples when he gave motivational speeches. There really was someone for everything.