Sorry for the devastatingly long update..

As I am using a lot of Rowling's text, I have it online at times, so its takes awhile to update. Thankfully I have found what I think will be a reliable site for me to use for source material. Still, updates won't be all that quick. Summer vacation is going on so I really don't have a lot of time on my hands. But I will try.

Anyways, here's the next chapter!

Chapter 195: A Safe Place

Everything seemed as if it was going in slow motion. I could hear my heart as it pounded in my chest. I drew my wand from my pocket not sure on what was going to happen. The atmosphere simply did not feel right.

I looked to the right of me and seen Bill holding Fleur's hand tightly. He looked back at me and gave me a nod.

I braced myself. And someone screamed.

Instantly, panic hit the tent and people were running around frantic, some already disapparating away. That made me panic even more. No one but a Weasley was able to do that inside our wards.

Which meant that the wards had been broken.

Harry...Hermione. I had to find Hermione.

I raced through the crowd as it pushed me this way and that. Black ripples of smoke came barreling through the tent.

Death Eaters. Fucking shit!

I thought I heard someone yell my name, but my mind was too focused on finding Harry and Hermione. I looked over and seen Fred as he through a hex at a masked man shrouded in black.

It was chaos. Hexes and curses were being thrown all around me. I felt the adrenaline rush through my body as I was now running faster through the panic stricken guests.

"Ron! Ron!" I hears my name being called. Hermione! She sounded as if she were crying.

I headed towards my name. I ducked just in time to avoid being hit by a streak of white light, not knowing if it was friendly or not.

And then Hermione was there. I reached out and seized her arm and felt my body being almost violently pulled. The sounds of the chaos has disappeared, and in its place came sounds I rarely heard.

Cars. Traffic. Horns.

"Where are we?" I said, looking around at the new crowd of people that we seemed to had been surrounded by.

"Tottenham Court Road," panted Hermione. "Walk, just walk, we need to find somewhere for you to change."

Harry and I did as she asked. We half walked, half ran up the wide dark street lined with closed shops and people looking as if they were in a hurry to get somewhere. A double-decker bus that I had only seen in muggle posters and books rumbled by and a group of ladies seemed to admire us as we passed by them. It was then that I realized I was still in dress robes

.

"Hermione, we haven't got anything to change into," I told Hermione, as a young woman burst into obnoxious giggles at the sight of me. Normally I would have shown disdain for it, but I was too worried about what was going on back home to care.

"Why didn't I make sure I had the Invisibility Cloak with me?" growled Harry. "All last year I kept it on me and –"

"It's okay, I've got the Cloak, I've got clothes for both of you," said Hermione,"Just try and act naturally until – this will do."

She led us down a side street, then into the shelter of a shadowy alleyway.

"When you say you've got the Cloak, and clothes . . ." said Harry, frowning at Hermione, who was carrying nothing except her small beaded handbag, in which she was now rummaging.

"Yes, they're here," said Hermione, and to my utter astonishment, she pulled out a pair of jeans, a sweatshirt, some maroon socks, and finally the silvery Invisibility Cloak.

"How the ruddy hell – ?"

"Undetectable Extension Charm," said Hermione. "Tricky, but I think I've done it okay; anyway, I managed to fit everything we need in here."

She gave the fragile-looking bag a little shake and it echoed like a cargo hold as a number of heavy objects rolled around inside it. "Oh, damn, that'll be the books," she said, peering into it, "and I had them all stacked by subject. . . . Oh well. . . . Harry, you'd better take the Invisibility Cloak. Ron, hurry up and change. . . ."

"When did you do all this?" Harry asked as I stripped off my robes and put on the shirt she handed me.

"I told you at the Burrow, I've had the essentials packed for days, you know, in case we needed to make a quick getaway. I packed your rucksack this morning, Harry, after you changed, and put it in here. . . . I just had a feeling. . . ."

"You're amazing, you are," I said, handing her my bundled-up robes. That girl never ceased to amaze me.

"Thank you," said Hermione, managing a small smile as she pushed the robes into the bag. "Please, Harry, get that Cloak on!"

Harry threw his Invisibility Cloak around his shoulders and pulled it up over his head, vanishing from sight.

"The others – everybody at the wedding –"

"We can't worry about that now," whispered Hermione. "It's you they're after,Harry, and we'll just put everyone in even more danger by going back."

"She's right," I said, knowing Harry was about to say something stupid. "Most of the Order was there, they'll look after everyone."I felt like I was reassuring myself with that along with Harry.

"Yeah." said Harry. It felt odd to speak to him without seeing him. It wasn't like it was third year, when he had snuck into Hogsmeade.

"Come on, I think we ought to keep moving," said Hermione.

We moved back up the side street and onto the main road again, where a group of men on the opposite side was singing and weaving across the pavement. One of them glanced over at Hermione. I stepped into their line of sight and shot him a nasty look, which made him turn away.

"Just as a matter of interest, why Tottenham Court Road?" I asked Hermione.

"I've no idea, it just popped into my head, but I'm sure we're safer out in the Muggle world, it's not where they'll expect us to be."

"True, but don't you feel a bit – exposed?"

"Where else is there?" asked Hermione, cringing as the men on the other side of the road started wolf-whistling at her. "We can hardly book rooms at the Leaky Cauldron, can we? And Grimmauld Place is out if Snape can get in there. . . . I suppose we could try my parents' home, though I think there's a chance they might check there. . . . Oh, I wish they'd shut up!"

"All right, darling?" the drunkest of the men on the other pavement was yelling."Fancy a drink? Ditch ginger and come and have a pint!"

"Let's sit down somewhere," Hermione said hastily as I opened my mouth to curse them out. Pervy bastards. "Look, this will do, in here!"

It was a small looking shop that Hermione said was an all night cafe. Kind of like how the Leaky Cauldron was some nights. A light layer of grease lay on all the tables, but it was at least empty. Harry slipped into a booth first and I sat next to him opposite Hermione, who had her back to the entrance and did not like it. She kept glancing over her shoulder so frequently she appeared to have a twitch.

From the looks of things, it would have appeared that Hermione and I were just catching a late bite, just the two of us.

"You know," I began, "we're not far from the Leaky Cauldron here, it's only in Charing Cross –"

"Ron, we can't!" said Hermione at once.

"Not to stay there, but to find out what's going on!"

"We know what's going on! Voldemort's taken over the Ministry, what else do we need to know?"

"Okay, okay, it was just an idea!" I huffed.

I was on edge. I didn't know what was happening back at the Burrow. Had everyone gotten out okay? Were my family still alive?

I felt myself beginning to panic, but I held it in. I had to keep my wits about me just in case something happened.

We dat in complete silence The waitress when was annoyingly chewing gum came over and Hermione ordered two drinks that she called cappuccinos: As Harry was invisible, it would have looked odd to order him one as well.

In any other scenario, this would have been a lovely first date for Hermione and I, had we had a relationship going and wasn't running from evil wizards hellbent on killing us.

And if Harry wasn't there.

A pair of bulky blokes entered the café and squeezed into the next booth. Hermione dropped her voice to a whisper.

"I say we find a quiet place to Disapparate and head for the countryside. Once we're there, we could send a message to the Order."

"Can you do that talking Patronus thing, then?" I asked.

"I've been practicing and I think so," said Hermione.

"Well, as long as it doesn't get them into trouble, though they might've been arrested already. God, that's revolting," I added after one sip of the foamy, grayish coffee. It tasted like it came from the lake back at Hogwarts. The waitress had heard; she shot me a nasty look as she shuffled off to take the new customers' orders. Oh well. I couldn't help it that she couldn't make a decent drink. I should have passed it onto Harry.

"Let's get going, then, I don't want to drink this muck," I said, moving the glass away from me. "Hermione, have you got Muggle money to pay for this?"

"Yes, I took out all my Building Society savings before I came to the Burrow. I'll bet all the change is at the bottom," sighed Hermione, reaching for her beaded bag.

Suddenly I felt Harry pop up. I looked over and seen the two men pointing wands in our direction. Fucking Death Eaters had found us. I lunged across the table, pushing Hermione sideways onto her bench. The force of the Death Eaters' spells shattered the tiled wall where my head had just been, as Harry, still invisible, yelled, "Stupefy!"

The great blond Death Eater was hit in the face by a jet of red light: He slumped sideways, unconscious. His companion, unable to see who had cast the spell, fired another at me: Shining black ropes flew from his wand-tip and bound me head to foot. I was no help to no one. All I could do as watch as Harry sent another Stunning Spell at the Death Eater with the twisted face who had tied me up, but the spell missed, rebounded on the window, and hit the waitress, who collapsed in front of the door.

"Expulso!" bellowed the Death Eater, and the table behind which Harry was standing blew up: The force of the explosion slammed him into the wall and the cloak slipped off of him.

"Petrificus Totalus!" screamed Hermione from out of sight, and the Death Eater fell forward like a statue to land with a crunching thud on the mess of broken china, table, and coffee. Hermione crawled out from underneath the bench, shaking bits of glass ashtray out of her hair and trembling all over.

"D-diffindo," she said, pointing her wand at me. I screamed in agony as I felt what I thought was my knee splitting wide open.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, Ron, my hand's shaking! Diffindo!" said Hermione again.

The severed ropes fell away. I got up and began to try to lost feelings back into my arms. Harry picked up his wand and climbed over all the debris to where the large blond Death Eater was sprawled across the bench.

"I should've recognized him, he was there the night Dumbledore died," he said. He turned over the darker Death Eater with his foot; the man's eyes moved rapidly between the three of us. I glared at him, recognizing him immediately.

"That's Dolohov," I said. "I recognize him from the old wanted posters. I think the big one's Thorfinn Rowle."

"Never mind what they're called!" said Hermione a little hysterically. "How did they find us? What are we going to do?"

"Lock the door," said Harry, "and Ron, turn out the lights."

I took the deluminator out of my pocket and clicked it. The lights disappeared into the device, and shrouded us into darkness.

"What are we going to do with them?" I whispered to Harry, "Kill them? They'd kill us. They had a good go just now."

Hermione shuddered against me and took a step backward. Harry shook his head.

"We just need to wipe their memories," said Harry. "It's better like that, it'll throw them off the scent. If we killed them it'd be obvious we were here."

"You're the boss," I said, relieved as I was not prepared to cast an Unforgivable. "But I've never done a Memory Charm."

"Nor have I," said Hermione, "but I know the theory."

She took a deep, calming breath, then pointed her wand at Dolohov's forehead and said, "Obliviate."

At once, Dolohov's eyes became unfocused and dreamy.

"Brilliant!" said Harry, clapping her on the back. "Take care of the other one and the waitress while Ron and I clear up."

"Clear up? Why?"

"Don't you think they might wonder what's happened if they wake up and find themselves in a place that looks like it's just been bombed?"

"Oh right, yeah . . ." I said, feeling a bit foolish as I struggled to get my wand out of my extremely tight jeans.

"It's no wonder I can't get it out, Hermione, you packed my old jeans, they're tight."

"Oh, I'm so sorry," hissed Hermione. I could have sworn I heard her finish her apology with telling me I could stick my wand up my ass for all she cared at the moment

Once the café was restored to its previous condition, we heaved the Death Eaters back into their booth and propped them up facing each other.

"But how did they find us?" Hermione asked, looking from one man to the other. "How did they know where we were?"

She turned to Harry.

"You — you don't think you've still got your Trace on you, do you, Harry?"

"He can't have," I said. "The Trace breaks at seventeen, that's Wizarding law, you can't put it on an adult."

"As far as you know," said Hermione. "What if the Death Eaters have found a way to put it on a seventeen-year-old?"

"But Harry hasn't been near a Death Eater in the last twenty-four hours. Who's supposed to have put a Trace back on him?"

"If I can't use magic, and you can't use magic near me, without us giving away our position —" he began.

"We're not splitting up!" said Hermione firmly.

"We need a safe place to hide," I suggested. "Give us time to think things through."

"Grimmauld Place," said Harry.

Hermione ands I gasped. Was he bloody mental?

"Don't be silly, Harry, Snape can get in there!" exclaimed Hermione.

"Ron's dad said they've put up jinxes against him — and even if they haven't worked," he pressed on as Hermione began to argue, "so what? I swear, I'd like nothing better than to meet Snape!"

"But —"

"Hermione, where else is there? It's the best chance we've got. Snape's only one Death Eater. If I've still got the Trace on me, we'll have whole crowds of them on us wherever else we go."

She could not argue, though she looked as if she would have liked to. While she unlocked the café door, I clicked the Deluminator to release the café's light. Then, on Harry's count of three, we reversed the spells upon the men, and before the waitress or either of the Death Eaters could do more than stir sleepily, we had disapparated.

Seconds later, we opened our eyes to Grimmauld Place. We raced up the stone steps, and Harry tapped the front door once with his wand. We heard a series of metallic clicks and the clatter of a chain, then the door swung open with a creak and we hurried into the dark entryway.

As Harry closed the door behind us, the old-fashioned gas lamps sprang into life, casting flickering light along the length of the hallway. It looked just as I remembered it: scary, cobwebbed, morbid from the creepy house-elves heads mounted on the wall. I knew that it made Hermione squirm, as she never got used to them. And neither did I.

Long dark curtains concealed the portrait of Sirius's barmy mother. The only thing that was out of place was the troll's leg umbrella stand, which was lying on its side as if Tonks had just knocked it over again.

"I think somebody's been in here," Hermione whispered, pointing toward it.

"That could've happened as the Order left," I whispered.

"So where are these jinxes they put up against Snape?" Harry asked.

"Maybe they're only activated if he shows up?"

We remained close together on the doormat, backs against the door, scared to move farther into the house.

"Well, we can't stay here forever," said Harry, and he took a step forward.

"Severus Snape?"

Mad-Eye Moody's voice whispered out of the darkness, making all three of them jump back in fright. "We're not Snape!" croaked Harry.

Suddenly, a gust of cool air whooshed into me, and I felt my tongue curled backward on itself, making it impossible to speak. I if i was about to choke on my own tongue. Thankfully it a couple of seconds. Harry and Hermione seemed to have had the same thing happen to them.

Hermione stammered, "That m-must have b-been the T-Tongue-Tying Curse Mad-Eye set up for Snape!"

"Fuck that!" I managed to croak out. It still felt barmy having my tongue tied.

Harry took another hesitant step forward. Something shifted in the shadows at the end of the hall, and before any of us could say another word, a figure had risen up out of the carpet, tall, dust-colored, and terrible: Hermione screamed and so did Mrs. Black, her curtains flying open; the gray figure was gliding toward us, faster and faster, its waist-length hair and beard streaming behind it, its face sunken, fleshless, with empty eye sockets. It raised a decayed looking arm, pointing at Harry.

"No!" Harry shouted, "No! It wasn't us! We didn't kill you —"

On the word kill, the figure exploded in a great cloud of dust. Hermione crouched down on the floor by the door with her arms over her head. I did my best while trembling to pat her on the shoulder in an attempt her. "It's all r-right. . . . It's g-gone. . . ."

Fucking Mrs. Black continued to scream.

"Mudbloods, filth, stains of dishonor, taint of shame on the house of my fathers —"

"SHUT UP!" Harry bellowed, directing his wand at her, and with a bang and a burst of red sparks, the curtains swung shut again, silencing her.

"That . . . that was . . . ." Hermione whimpered, as I helped her to her feet.

"Yeah," said Harry, "but it wasn't really him, was it? Just something to scare Snape."

I could only imagine how Snape would have reacted. I almost peed my knickers from it.

"Before we go any farther, I think we'd better check," whispered Hermione, and she raised her wand and said, "Homenum revelio."

Nothing happened. I was confused

"Well, you've just had a big shock," I smirked. "What was that supposed to do?"

"It did what I meant it to do!" said Hermione crossly. "That was a spell to reveal human presence, and there's nobody here except us!"

"And old Dusty," I said glancing at the patch of carpet from which the corpse-figure had risen.

"Let's go up," said Hermione with a frightened look at the same spot, and she led the way up the creaking stairs to the drawing room on the first floor.