A/N: Please read Unmasked Mystery II first.

CHAPTER ONE: WEDDINGS AND ESCAPES

It was summer once more and Harri was currently at Acacia Palace sorting through all her belongings, for her biggest and most dangerous adventure yet: her quest to find and destroy all of her uncle's Horcruxes. During the summer she spent most of her time in her room packing up all of her clothes, except her party dresses - which she never worn - since they wouldn't be appropriate. She had also been sorting through all her books, to see which ones might be helpful in tracking down and finding all the Horcruxes. She had already packed all the books she could find on Horcruxes - she stole them from her Grandfather's old office before she left Hogwarts - and she was sure that she would find other useful things in her other books.

To be honest, Harri was grateful that she could remain hidden in her room without raising suspicious; most people thought that she had locked herself in her room because she was still grieving the loss of her grandfather, Albus Dumbledore...but she wasn't. While her grandfather's death still caused her great pain, she pushed it aside so she could confront her upcoming task.

Life at Acacia was not as Harri had remembered it. Normally its bright and beautiful halls were full of life and love, but now, they were filled with nothing but misery. Minerva was still coming to terms with her husband's death and youngest son's betrayal, which meant that she always sad and miserable. It also made her extremely overprotective of Harri. Rhiannon had taken it upon herself to manage everything that her daughter was unable to do, while Severus' was-to-be-fiancée, Aurora, remained to help them out, regardless of the fact that they were no longer going to be related by marriage.

In fact, no exciting event happened until Bill and Fleur's wedding. It was after the wedding that Harri was secretly going to sneak off with Ron and Hermione to find the rest of the Horcruxes. She had given up trying to change their minds about joining her. However, Harri had been ready since the first week of summer break, but she had to wait for her Trace to break, plus Fleur and Mrs Weasley would kill her for not coming to the wedding.

The day of the wedding found, Minerva, Rhiannon and Aurora all stating in the entrance hall of Acacia waiting upon Harri. When Harri did arrive, she was wearing a knee-length floaty, low cut, light green dress with thick singlet sleeves covered with diamantes - though knowing Rhiannon some of them might have been diamonds - with a matching strip around her waist. She was wearing matching high heeled shoes, silver vine necklace and earrings - nobody had seen her in the old Valkyrie pendant Draco had given her since Albus' death - and a small silver handbag. Her midnight black hair was all curled and pulled back out of her face.

'Well, we might as well go now, the wedding starts at three. Doesn't matter if we are a littl ebit early,' said Rhiannon, before Apparating, followed by Minerva and then Aurora and Harri. Harri still didn't have her liscence yet.

When they arrived, they saw Ron, Fred and George standing outside a great, white marquee, in the orchard, awaiting the arrival of the wedding guests.

'Well don't you ladies look lovely today,' greeted George.

'And you three look quite handsome,' smiled Harri, giving them all hugs.

'Don't we always?' Laughed Fred. 'But seriously, when I get married, I'm not bothering with any of this nonsense. You can all wear whatever you like.'

'What about Molly?' Asked Aurora.

'I'll put a full Body-Bind Curse on her until it's all over,' shrugged Fred, making them all laugh, as Ron showed them to their seats.

'I can't wait to see what Fleur's wearing,' Harri said excitedly to her family. She now classed Aurora as family.

'I bet see will look very beautiful,' said Aurora. 'Especially if what she wore to the Yule Ball is anything to go by.

Harri sat and spoke with her family as guest after guest appeared. Fred was extremely smug when he got to escort a couple of Fleur's cousins, whereas Ron did not look very happy when he had to escort an elderly witch with a beaky nose, red-trimmed eyes, and a feathery pink hat with made her look like a bad-tempered flamingo.

'...and your hair's much to long, Ronald, for a moment I thought you were Ginervra. Merlin's beard, what is Xenophilius Lovegood wearing? He looks like an omelette. Well if it isn't Harrietta Dumbledore!' She suddenly barked at Harri.

'Oh, Harri, this is my Auntie Muriel,' introduced Ron.

'It's a pleasure to meet you, madam,' Harri said politely.

'Hmm, I guess you weren't boasting when you said you were friends with her, but why on earth would a pretty girl like you have a boy's nickname?' She demanded.

'For a long time I grew up thinking that my name was "Harry" and it just stuck,' explained Harri.

Muriel looked at Harri for a moment before saying,' You need to get a girl like this one, Ronald. She looks capalbe of being a good wife.' Harri blushed, while her family tried not to laugh. 'I've just been instructing the bride on how best to wear my tiara. Goblin-made, you know, and been in my family for centuries. She's a good-looking girl, but still - French. Well, well, find me a good seat, Ronald, I am a hundred and seven and I ought not to be on my feet too long.'

As Ron led his aunt away, and Harri joined in laughing with her family. Harri was still red.

Next minute Ron was standing next to her again.

'Sorry about that. She's an absolute nightmare.' Said Ron, glancing over at his aunt who was now shouting at someone else. 'She use to come for Christmas every year, the, thank God, she took offence because Fred and George set off a Dungbomb under her chair at dinner. Dad always says she'll have written them out of her will - like they care, they're going to end up richer than anyone in the family, rate they're going...wow,' he added, blinking rapidly as Hermione came hurrying towards them. 'You look great!'

'Always the tone of surprise,' said Hermione, though she smiled. She was wearing a floaty, lilac-coloured dress with matching high heels; her hair was sleek and shiny. "Your Great-Aunt Muriel doesn't agree, I just met her upstairs while she was giving Fleur the tiara. She says, "Oh dear, is this the Muggle-born?" and then, "Bad posture and skinny ankles."'

'Don't take it personally, she's rude to everyone,' said Ron.

'Talking about Muriel?' inquired George, re-emerging from the marquee with Fred. 'Yeah, she' just told me my ears are lopsided. Old bat. I wish old Uncle Bilius was still with us, though; he was a right laugh at weddings.'

'Wasn't he the one who saw a Grim and died twenty-four hours later?' asked Hermione.

'Well, yeah, he went a bit odd toward the end,' conceded George.

'But before he went loopy he was the life and soul of the party.' said Fred. 'He used to down an entire bottle of firewhisky, then run onto the dance floor, hoist up his robes, and start pulling bunches of flowers out of his—'

'Yes, he sounds a real charmer,' said Hermione, while Harri roared with laughter. The others looked at her and smiled. It was good to see her smiling and laughing after her grandfather's death.

'Never married, for some reason,' said Ron.

'You amaze me,' said Hermione.

They were all laughing so much that none of them noticed the latecomer, a dark-haired young man with a large, curved nose and thick black eyebrows, until he held out his invitation to Ron and said, with his eyes on Hermione, 'You look vunderful.'

'Viktor!' she shrieked, and dropped her small beaded bag, which made a loud thump quite disproportionate with its size. Harri thought that it might not be as it seemed. As she scrambled, blushing, to pick it up, she said, 'I didn't know you were—goodness—it's lovely to see—how are you again?'

Ron's ears had turned bright red again. After glancing at Krum's invitation as if he did not believe a word of it, he said, much too loudly, 'How come you're here?'

'Fleur invited me,' said Krum, eyebrows raised.

Ron muttered something and left with a sniggering Fred and George, while Hermione excused herself.

'It's good to see you again, Victor,' said Harri, smiling up at him.

'And you too, Harri,' Krum said, realising who Harri was. 'I could not believe it ven I saw that the little boy I versed in the Trivizard Tournament was actually a Valkyrie! Anyvay, I better get to my seat, ven I find out vhere it is.'

'It's that one over there,' pointed Harri. 'I saw it on Fred's list when you were talking with Ron,' she added when Krum gave her a look of surprise.

'I vill see you later,' smiled Krum, before walking over to his seat.

A moment later, Ron, Hermione and the Weasley twins quickly took their seats. A sense of jittery anticipation had filled the warm tent, the general murmuring broken by occasional spurts of excited laughter.

Mr and Mrs Weasley strolled up the aisle, smiling and waving at relatives: Mrs. Weasley was wearing a brand-new set of amethyst coloured robes with a matching hat. A moment later Bill and Charlie stood up at the front of the marquee, both wearing dress robes, with large white roses in their buttonholes; Fred wolf-whistled and there was an outbreak of giggling from the veela cousins. Then the crowd fell silent as music swelled from what seemed to be the golden balloons.

A great collective sigh issued from the assembled witches and wizards as Monsieur Delacour and Fleur came walking up the aisle, Fleur gliding, Monsieur Delacour bouncing and beaming. Fleur was wearing a very simple white dresses and seemed to be emitting a strong, silvery glow. While her radiance usually dimmed everyone else by comparison, today it beautified everyone it fell upon. Ginny and Gabrielle, both wearing golden dresses, looked even prettier than usual, and once Fleur had reached him, Bill did not look as though he had ever met Fenrir Greyback.

'Ladies and gentlemen,' said a slightly singsong voice, and with a slight shock, Harri saw the same small, tufty-haired wizard who had presided at Albus' funeral, now standing in front of Bill and Fleur. Harri, quickly glanced at her grandmother, and saw that her eyes were fixed rather intently on the couple rather than the priest. 'We are gathered here today to celebrate the union of two faithful souls ...'

'Yes, my tiara sets off the whole thing nicely, said Muriel in a rather carrying whisper. 'But I must say, Ginevra's dress is far too low cut.'

'"Do you, William Arthur, take Fleur Isabelle...?'

In the front row, Mrs. Weasley and Madame Delacour were both sobbing quietly into scraps of lace. Trumpet like sounds from the back of the marquee told everyone that Hagrid had taken out one of his own tablecloth-sized handkerchiefs.

'... then I declare you bonded for life.'

The tufty-haired wizard waved his wand high over the heads of Bill and Fleur and a shower of silver stars fell upon them, spiralling around their now entwined figures. As Fred and George led a round of applause, the golden balloons overhead burst: Birds of paradise and tiny golden bells flew and floated out of them, adding their songs and chimes to the din.

'Ladies and gentlemen!' called the tuft-haired wizard. 'If you would please stand up!'

They all did so, Auntie Muriel grumbling audibly; he waved his wand again. The seats on which they had been sitting rose gracefully into the air as the canvas walls of the marquee vanished, so that they stood beneath a canopy supported by golden poles, with a glorious view of the sunlit orchard and surrounding countryside.

Next, a pool of molten gold spread from the centre of the tent to form a gleaming dance floor; the hovering chairs groped themselves around small white-clothed tables, which all floated gracefully back to earth around it, and the golden-jacketed hand trooped toward a podium.

Harri quickly went over to Ron and Hermione.

'Doesn't she look beautiful,' Hermione said to Harri.

'Yeah, see does. I hope I look as lovely as her on my wedding day,' sighed Harri.

'What are you talking about, you look lovely all the time,' muttered Ron, glancing around: Harri felt sure that he was keeping an eye out for Krum.

Moments later, Luna joined them and they just stood around talking since most of the tables were already occupied.

The band had begun to play. Bill and Fleur took to the dance floor first, to great applause; after a while, Mr Weasley led Madame Delacour onto the floor, followed by Mrs Weasley and Fleur's father.

'"I like this song,' said Luna, swaying in time to the waltz-like tune, and a few seconds later she stood up and glided onto the dance floor, where she revolved on the spot, quite alone, eyes closed and waving her arms.

'She's great, isn't she?' said Ron admiringly. 'Always good value.'

But the smile vanished from his face at once: Viktor Krum had joined them. Hermione looked pleasurably flustered, but this time Krum had not come to compliment her.

With a scowl on his face he said, 'Who is that man in the yellow?'

'That's Xenophilius Lovegood, he's the father of a friend of ours,' said Ron. His pugnacious tone indicated that they were not about to laugh at Xenophilius, despite the clear provocation. 'Come and dance,' he added abruptly to Hermione.

She looked taken aback, but pleased too, and got up. They vanished together into the growing throng on the dance floor.

'Ah, they are together now?' asked Krum, momentarily distracted.

'One might say that,' answered Harri. She was sure that they would get together soon.

'Harri —you know this man Lovegood vell?'

'No, I only met him today. Why?'

Krum glowered over the top of his drink, watching Xenophilius, who was chatting to several warlocks on the other side of the dance floor.

'Because,' said Krum, 'if he was not a guest of Fleur's, I would duel him here and now, for vearing that filthy sign upon his chest.'

'Sign?' Frowned Harri, looking at Xenophilius too. A strange triangular eye was gleaming on his chest. 'Why? What's wrong with it?'

'Grindelvald. That is Grindelvald's sign.'

'Grindelwald...the Dark wizard my grandfather defeated?'

'Exactly.'

Krum's jaw muscles worked as if he were chewing, then he says, 'Grindelvald killed many people, my grandfather, for instance. Of course, he vos never poverful in this country, they said he feared Dumbledore—and rightly, seeing how he vos finished. But this —' he pointed a finger a Xenophilius '- this is his symbol, recognized it at vunce: Grindelvald carved it into a vall at Durmstrang ver he vos a pupil there. Some idiots copied it into their books and clothes, thinking to shock, make themselves impressive—until those of us who had lost family members to Grindelvald taught them better.'

Krum cracked his knuckles menacingly and glowered at Xenophilius.

Harri felt perplexed. It seemed incredibly unlikely that Luna's father was a supporter of the Dark Arts, and nobody else in the tent seemed to have recognized the triangular, rune-like shape.

'Are you—er—quite sure it's Grindelwald's—?'

'I am not mistaken,' said Krum coldly. 'I valked past that sign for several years, I know it vell.'

'Well, there's a chance,' said Harri, 'that Xenophilius doesn't actually know what the symbol means. The Lovegoods are quite...unusual. He could easily have picked it up somewhere and think it's a cross section of the head of a Crumple-Horned Snorkack or something.'

'The cross section of a vot?'

'Well, I don't know what they are, but apparently he and his daughter go on holiday looking for them...That's his daughter,' she said, pointing at Luna, who was still dancing alone, waving her arms around her head like someone attempting to beat off midges.

'Vy is she doing that?' asked Krum.

'Probably trying to get rid of a Wrackspurt,' said Harry, who recognized the symptoms.

Krum did not seem to know whether or not Harri was making fun of him. He drew his wand from inside his robes and tapped it menacingly on his thigh; sparks flew out of the end.

'Gregorovitch!' said Harri loudly - during the first week of the holidays, Harri accidently saw Voldemort's thoughts and saw that he was after someone named Gregorovitch - , Krum started, but Harri was too excited to care; the memory came back to him at the sight of Krum's wand: Ollivander taking it and examining it carefully before the Triwizard Tournament.

'Vot about him?' asked Krum suspiciously.

'He's a wandmaker!'

'I know that,' said Krum.

'He made your wand! That's why I thought—Quidditch—'

'Vat are you on about, Harri?' Asked a bewildered Krum.

'Where is Gregorovitch these days?' Harri asked urgently.

Krum looked puzzled.

'He retired several years ago. I vos one of the last to purchase a Gregorovitch vand. They are the best—although I know, of course, that you Britons set much store by Ollivander.'

Harri did not answer. She pretended to watch the dancers, like Krum, but she was thinking hard.

'This girl is very nice-looking,' Krum said, recalling Harri to her surroundings. Krum was pointing at Ginny, who had just joined Luna.

'That's Ron's sister,' Harri said warningly.

"Yeah," said Harry, suddenly irritated, "and she's seeing someone.

Krum grunted.

'Vot,' he said, draining his goblet, 'is the point of being an international Quidditch player if all the good-looking girls are taken?'

'I guess you're just not looking in the right places,' smiled Harri, watching as Ron and Hermione danced around the room. Her smile slowly disappeared as she remembered the times she danced with Draco. She started thinking of where he currently was and if he was all right.

'So, vould you like to dance, Harri?' Asked Krum, noticing her face begin to drop.

'Sure, why not?' Harri smiled, accepting his hand and walking over to the dance floor.

As the evening drew in, and moths began to swoop under the canopy, now lit with floating golden lanterns, the revelry became more and more uncontained. Freda and George had long since disappeared into the darkness with a pair of Fleur's cousins; Charlie, Hagrid, and a squat wizard in a purple porkpie hat were singing 'Odo the Hero" in a corner.

However, soon all the joy of the wedding stopped as something large and silver came falling through the canopy over the dance floor. Graceful and gleaming, the lynx landed lightly in the middle of the astonished dancers. Heads turned, as those nearest it froze absurdly in mid-dance. Then the Patronus' mouth opened wide and it spoke in the loud, deep, slow voice of Kingsley Shacklebolt.

'The Ministry has fallen. Scrimgeour is dead. They are coming.'

Harri immediately drew her wand and hurried over to Ron and Hermione. During which time many people were only just realizing that something strange had happened; heads were still turning toward the silver cat as it vanished. Silence spread outward in cold ripples from the place where the Patronus had landed. Then somebody screamed and guests started sprinting in all directions; many were Disapparating; the protective enchantments around the Burrow had broken.

Harri, Ron and Hermione didn't stay to see what happened next for they all knew that it was time to leave and find the Horcruxes. Hermione took both their hands and Apparated them away.

'Where are we?' Asked Ron.

They were on some street surrounded by people. Many kept throwing Ron weird looks due to his dress robes.

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

They half walked, half ran up the wide dark street thronged with late-night revellers and lined with closed shops, stars twinkling above them. A double-decker bus rumbled by and a group of merry pub-goers ogled them as they passed.

'Hermione, I haven't got anything to change into,' Ron told her, as a young woman burst into raucous giggles at the sight of him.

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

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

'When you say you've got clothes...' said Ron, 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 Ron's utter astonishment, she pulled out a pair of jeans, a sweatshirt, and some maroon socks.

'How the ruddy hell—?'

'Undetectable Extension Charm, I take it?' Asked Harri. Hermione nodded.

'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...Ron, hurry up and change...'

'I thought so. I've done the same with my bag,' said Harri as Ron stripped off his robes. 'Speaking of which, Grandfather's will was read out and he each left you something.'

'What?' Said Hermione. Why would he leave us something? What about Neville and the others?'

'No, just you two,' said Harri, rummaging around in her bag. 'Here,' she handed a book to Hermione and something that looked like a silver cigarette lighter to Ron. 'In his will, Grandfather said, that he leaves his Deluminator, in the hope that Ron will remember him when he uses it.' Harri said as Ron examined it, accidently turning off all the lights before hurriedly putting them on again. 'Grandfather designed it himself. It has no equal.' She then turned to her Hermione, 'That's his old copy of The Tales of Beedle the Bard. He hoped that you would find it entertaining and instructive. I think he was only person to own that book written in runes.'

Hermione smiled, tears glimmering in her eyes as she hugged the book.

'Come on, I think we ought to keep moving,' said Hermione, pulling herself back together, now that Ron was dressed.

They 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.

'Just as a matter of interest, why Tottenham Court Road?' Ron 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,' said Ron, looking around, '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 and Harri. 'We can hardly book rooms at the Leaky Cauldron, can we? And Grimmauld Place is out if Severus -' Hermione looked nervously at Harri, '- can get in there, though Sirius has been living in there as a secret keeper so it may be safe...though, 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, darlings?' the drunkest of the men on the other pavement was yelling. 'Fancy a drink? Ditch ginger and come and have a pint!'

'I can make them shut up in a jiffy,' Harri smiled innocently, cracking her knuckles.

'No, you won't Harri,' Hermione said firmly. 'Let's sit down somewhere,' she added hastily as Ron opened his mouth to shout back across the road. 'Look, this will do, in here!'

It was a small and shabby all-night cafe. A light layer of grease lay on all the Formica-topped tables, but it was at least empty.

Harri slipped into a booth first and Ron sat next to her opposite Hermione, who had her back to the entrance and did not like it: She glanced over her shoulder so frequently she appeared to have a twitch. Harri did not like being stationary; walking had given the illusion that they had a goal.

After a minute or two, Ron said, 'You know, 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!'

They relapsed into a prickly silence. The gum-chewing waitress shuffled over and Hermione ordered three cappuccinos as a pair of burly workmen entered the cafe 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 either of you do that talking Patronus thing, then?' asked Ron, looking between the two girls.

Harri shrugged, 'Never tried it.'

'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,' Ron added after one sip of the foamy, greyish coffee. Harri was surprised that he had been game enough to try it.

The waitress had heard; she shot Ron a nasty look as she shuffled off to take the new customers' orders. The larger of the two workmen, who was blond and quite huge, now that Harri came to look at him, waved her away. She stared, affronted.

'Let's get going, then, I don't want to drink this muck,' said Ron. '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.

The two workmen made identical movements, and Harri mirrored them without conscious thought: All three of them drew their wands. Ron, a few seconds late in realizing what was going on, lunged across the table, pushing Hermione sideways onto her bench. The force of the Death Eaters' spells shattered the tiled wall where Ron's head had just been.

'Stupefy!' Yelled Harri.

The great blond Death Eater was hit in the face by a jet of red light: He slumped sideways, unconscious. His companion fired a spell at Harri making shining black ropes fly from his wand-tip to bound Harri head to toe, but Harri was too fast for him, and was able to get out of the way as the waitress screamed and ran for the door.

Harri sent another Stunning Spell at the Death Eater 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 Harri was standing blew up: The force of the explosion slammed her into the wall and she felt her wand leave her hand.

'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. Harri picked up her 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 Grandfather died,' she said bitterly. She turned over the darker Death Eater with his foot; the man's eyes moved rapidly between the furious Harri, and the shaken Ron and Hermione.

'That's Dolohov,' said Ron. '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,' ordered Harri, 'and Ron, turn out the lights.'

Harri looked down at the paralysed Dolohov, thinking fast as the lock clicked and Ron used the Deluminator to plunge the cafe into darkness. Harri could hear the men who had jeered at Hermione and her earlier, yelling at another girl in the distance. She wished Hermione had let her thump them one to stop them from harassing every passing female.

'What are we going to do with them?' Ron whispered to Harri through the dark; then, even more quietly, 'Kill them? They'd kill us. They had a good go just now.'

Hermione shuddered and took a step backward. Harri shook her head.

'We just need to wipe their memories,' Harri said firmly. '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,' said Ron, sounding profoundly relieved.

'But I've never down a Memory Charm.' Admitted Harri, looking over at Hermione.

'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 Harri, clapping her on the back. 'Take care of the other one and the waitress while Ron and I clear up.'

'Clear up?' said Ron, looking around at the partly destroyed cafe. '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...'

Ron struggled for a moment before managing to extract his wand from his pocket.

'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, and as she dragged the waitress out of sight of the windows, Harri heard her mutter a suggestion as to where Ron could stick his wand instead.

Once the cafe was restored to its previous condition, they 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 inert man to the other. 'How did they know where we were?'

She turned to Harri.

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

'She can't have,' said Ron. '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 Harri hasn't been near a Death Eater in the last twenty-four hours. Who's supposed to have put a Trace back on her?'

Hermione did not reply.

'I don't think I have the Trace on me, but this might have some sort of tracking device or something in it,' sighed Harri, pulling the ruby bracelet Voldemort had given her out of her bag. 'I can't believe I never thought about that.'

'It's not your fault Harri, you trusted him,' Hermione said gently.

Harri muttered something incomprehensible as she put the bracelet on the table next to her.

'Let's go to Grimmauld Place,' sighed Harri. 'Speak to Sirius and we can stay there where it is safe. Sirius is the secret keeper, so it's safe.

'But wouldn't he have told, er, Severus?' Hermione said hesitantly again.

'He wouldn't be stupid enough to try and break into there,' growled Harri. 'Besides, Ron's dad said they've put up jinxes against him—and even if they haven't worked, so what? I swear, I'd like nothing better than to meet my dear uncle!'

'But—'

'Hermione, where else is there? It's the best chance we've got. Severus is only one Death Eater. And if, by some unknown reason, I've still got the Trace on me, we'll have whole crowds of them on us wherever else we go.' Harri said pointedly. 'If we go there, we can see what happened at the wedding...seeing as it's still the Orders headquarters.'

Hermione could not argue with that, though she looked as if she would have liked to.

While she unlocked the cafe door, Ron clicked the Deluminator to release the cafe's light. Then, on Harri's count of three, they reversed the spells upon their three victims, and before the waitress or either of the Death Eaters could do more than stir sleepily, Harri, Ron and Hermione had turned on the spot and vanished into the compressing darkness once more.

Seconds they were now standing in the middle of a familiar small and shabby square. Tall, dilapidated houses looked down on them from every side. Number twelve was visible to them, for they had been told of its existence by Sirius, its Secret-Keeper, and they rushed toward it, checking every few yards that they were not being followed or observed. They raced up the stone steps, and Harri tapped the front door once with her wand. They heard a series of metallic clicks and the clatter of a chain, then the door swung open with a creak and they hurried over the threshold.

As Harry closed the door behind them, the old-fashioned gas lamps sprang into life, casting flickering light along the length of the hallway. It looked just as Harri remembered it: eerie, cobwebbed, the outlines of the house-elf heads on the wall throwing odd shadows up the staircase. Long dark curtains concealed the portrait of Sirius's mother.

'So where are these jinxes they put up against Snape?' Harry asked, not wanting to accidently set one off.

'Maybe they're only activated if he shows up?' suggested Ron.

'Maybe,' muttered Harri, taking a step forward.

'Severus Dumbledore?'

Mad-Eye Moody's voice whispered out of the darkness, making all three of them jump back in fright.

'We're not Severus!' croaked Harry, before something whooshed over her like cold air and her tongue curled backward on itself, making it impossible to speak. Before she had time to feel inside her mouth, however, her tongue had unravelled again.

The other two seemed to have experienced the same unpleasant sensation. Ron was making retching noises; Hermione stammered,

'That m–must have b–been the T–Tongue-Tying Curse Mad-Eye set up for Severus!'

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

Next minute the figure exploded in a great cloud of dust, and Sirius, Remus and a number of the Order members came hurrying towards them.

'Harri,' said a relieved Sirius, holding her tightly in his arms. 'Thank goodness you are all right.'

Harri didn't say anything, instead she looked around to see Hermione crouched on the floor by the door with her arms over her head, with Remus, kneeling next to her, telling her that everything was all right. Ron was shaking madly.

Dust swirled around Harri and the others like mist, catching the blue gaslight, as Mrs. Black continued to scream.

'Mudbloods, filth, stains of dishonour, taint of shame on the house of my fathers'—'

'SHUT UP!' Sirius bellowed, directing his wand at her, and with a bang and a burst of red sparks, the curtains swung shut again, silencing her, before wrapping his arms around Harri once more.

'That...that was...' Hermione whimpered, as Ron helped her to her feet.

'Yeah,' breathed Harri, 'but it wasn't really him, was it? Just something to scare Severus.' She added, looking up into Sirius' face.

'Yeah, Mad-Eye's work,' said Sirius, leading them into the kitchen.

The moment Harri stepped foot into the kitchen, she found herself being smothering in her grandmother's arms.

'Thank God,' she cried, holding Harri tightly. 'I thought I had lost you too.'

'I am sorry, Grandmother,' whispered Harri, as Mrs Weasley embraced Ron and Hermione.

Next minute Harri had gave a cry of pain as her scar burned painfully as something flashed across her mind like a bright light on water. She saw a large shadow and felt a fury that was not her own pound through her body, violent and brief as an electric shock.

'Harri, what's wrong?' Asked a startled Minerva.

'It's just - I just felt anger—he's really angry—'

Harri felt confused, and Hermione did not help as she said in a frightened voice, 'Your scar, again? But what's going on? I thought that connection had closed!'

'It did, for a while,' muttered Harri; her scar was still painful, which made it hard to concentrate. 'I–I think it's started opening again whenever he loses control, that's how it used to—'

'Then you've got to close your mind!' Growled Moody.

'Don't you think I know that?' Snapped Harri as the pain in her scar was reaching a peak, burning as it had back in the garden of Acacia when she learnt about Gregorovitch. Then, before she knew it she fell to the floor, and in an explosion of agony, she felt the rage that did not belong to her possess her soul, and saw a long room lit only by firelight, and the giant blond Death Eater on the floor, screaming and writhing, and a slighter figure standing over him, wand outstretched, while Harri spoke in a high, cold, merciless voice.

'More, Rowle, or shall we end it and feed you to Nagini? Lord Voldemort is not sure that he will forgive this time...You called me back for this, to tell me that my niece has escaped again? Draco, give Rowle another taste of our displeasure...Do it, or feel my wrath yourself!'

A log fell in the fire: Flames reared, their light darting across a terrified, pointed white face, before Harri looked down at her long spidery white hand and looked as an Indian ruby bracelet. The bracelet she had left in the Muggle Cafe.

With a sense of emerging from deep water, Harri drew heaving breaths and opened her eyes. She was laying in Sirius' arms, with most of the Order looking at her worriedly. She closed her eyes, and a tear slid out. Draco's gaunt, petrified face seemed burned on the inside of her eyes. She felt sickened by what she had seen, by the use to which Draco was now being put by Voldemort.

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Written: 22 November 2011