Watford, Hertfordshire, August 21st, 1999, 12.11 hours

Wand-Leader Hermione was breaking the law again. It couldn't be helped though - without muggle money, sneaking on a muggle train to Euston Station at Watford Junction wearing an invisibility cloak was the only way to board it. The only way to board it without drawing attention from either muggles or wizards, that was.

It was also educational, to see how muggles traveled. They traveled so slowly, they must be wasting years of their lives traveling! After a quarter hour on the train, to travel such a small distance, Hermione couldn't understand why purebloods and half-bloods voluntarily used a train to travel to Hogwarts. Though they certainly had the time to waste on such frivolity - many of them seemed to waste their years in Hogwarts as well, she thought, with a smirk.

Her mirth vanished quickly though when her thoughts returned to what she had seen two hours earlier. How those Obliviators had acted… she knew they were part of a conspiracy, but she didn't know how far this conspiracy reached. They had mentioned that there was no need to fake abuse, since Brendan - who had to be Brendan Babcoke, one of the caretakers in the orphanage for muggleborns - wasn't on duty. That meant they had co-conspirators who were on duty. It implied that the others handling young muggleborns were in the know, but Hermione couldn't believe that everyone involved in raising muggleborns would be party to the crimes she had observed. They had raised her as well, after all. No, it was more likely that the others were less diligent. More prone to trust the Obliviators. Probably.

She closed her eyes and sighed. She was making the same mistakes her instructors had warned her about: She was assuming things, trying to fit facts to her theory. A theory born from her own desires. She was a Wand-Leader though, not some silly girl with delusions about her future husband, like the younger Greengrass!

She would uncover this conspiracy, and each and every last one of those involved. Her duty would not allow anything less. The Minister would expect nothing less. And if she had to break into sealed records, or interrogate an Obliviator with veritaserum, so be it!

The train arrived in Euston Station, and she sneaked out. She had planned to take another train to central London, but those trains were more packed than she had thought - the risk of a muggle stumbling into her was too big. Her lessons in shadowing people in Diagon Alley during the Hogwarts rush were still quite fresh in her mind. She would have to walk until she was close enough to the Leaky Cauldron to apparate to the Corps Headquarters without getting tracked.

Granted, the odds of getting tracked were slim - it wasn't as if they could find her once she was in Wizarding Britain again, nor was there much of a chance of her being suspected - but the Obliviators might grow suspicious, and stop their crimes, delaying the investigation. And, if she was honest with herself, she was curious about the muggle world, after what she had seen so far.

She stepped into a toilet stall, and removed her invisibility cloak, and her robe. The muggle dress she wore underneath was the most modest she had found in her source material, but it still felt rather indecent to her. On the other hand, this 'cocktail dress' would not hinder her should she need to run or fight.

Half an hour later she was still not used to muggle London. Every street seemed as packed as Diagon Alley on a busy day. There were so many people, and they dressed so differently! If they had wands they'd look like the Quidditch World Cup camp. Nothing in the books she had read at Hogwarts had prepared her for this!

At a crossing, she checked her map again, to ensure she was not lost.

"Do you need help, Miss?"

She looked up and saw a man smile at her. "I'm just checking where I am." She couldn't let a muggle lead her to the Leaky Cauldron, even hidden as it was.

"London can be a bit overwhelming for a first time visitor. Where are you from?"

"Québec. I'm supposed to meet my boyfriend near here," she said, and hid a smirk when his face fell, and his beaming smile was replaced by a polite one, hiding - unless she was very mistaken - his disappointment. He had been helpful though, so she thanked him before walking on. Antoine would be amused, she thought, if she told him the story. Not that she could ever tell him this story; it would be admitting to having broken the law.

But she could imagine his smile at hearing it, at least.

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London, August 21st, 1999, 13.26 hours

Ron Weasley wasn't certain if he'd be in at least slightly less danger if he were to conduct a frontal assault on the Ministry of Magic by himself rather than staying a second longer in this so-called 'safe house', where the twins were showing Percy their latest inventions.

"And this is our best attempt on a binary poison yet. Binary poison is a bit of a misnomer - we used three components," George (probably) said.

"Actually two, and a catalyst, if you want to be precise," possibly Fred added.

"And we know you want to, Percy."

Percy, his hair dyed blond, chuckled. "As long as none of the components by themselves trigger wards we'll be good. Though I'd like to know the components anyway. While I'm not supposed to see any of the experiments in the DoM, accidents do happen."

Ron coughed. "Improved Polyjuice."

Percy grinned, and the twins frowned at their brothers. "That was a fluke!"

The oldest Weasley brother present shook his head. "What about counter-measures? Will a bezoar work? Or a Bubble-Head Charm?"

"A bezoar will slow it down, nothing more," Fred said.

"You still die, just more painfully. A Bubble-Head Charm will do nothing at all - it has a contact vector," George went on. "Stays around for a while too."

"How long will it stay around?" Percy asked.

"A few days until it degrades. It's resistant to the common cleaning spells too."

"Hm. So it cannot be used to deny the Ministry the use of the DoM," Percy pursed his lips.

"No. We tried to make it stay active for longer, but that made it harder to spread."

"Hm. It's not ideal. They are likely to have sealed rooms too, and those wouldn't be affected. It might be better to use that against the Minister." Percy looked at Ron. "What do you think?"

Ron nodded. "The Minister, from what I have been able to gather so far..."

"From his cute Wand-Leader!" Fred piped up.

"In bed!" George added.

Ron ignored them. "... is concerned about assassinations, but his security shouldn't be as hard to penetrate as the DoM. His office is unlikely to be fitted for potion and other volatile experiments." He sighed. "It'll be likely to affect a number of Ministry employees as well though." Wands among them. Maybe even friends of Hermione. Or… No. She was in the Investigative Branch, she didn't guard anyone anymore.

"You'll have to make sure your girl won't be around then."

"Tie her to the bed!"

Percy coughed. "Unhelpful suggestions aside, we will cause collateral damage. That's a given. If poison won't work well in the DoM, what else can you give us?" In that department at least, Ron thought, there wouldn't be any innocents or civilians.

"We were thinking of a magical variant of a fuel-air explosive." Fred pulled out a sketch. "Disperses an explosive fuel-air mix, then detonates it."

George stepped up next to him. "It wouldn't do that much to a place with proper fire wards, as long as they can protect their air or cast Bubble-Head Charms in time."

"Such as any place you live at that's still standing after two weeks," Ron said. Mum had been livid at the loss of that cellar.

"Shush! Anyway, And it'd be affected by air-cleaning charms, which would be in use there. We've solved that, and we've been working on a magical variant that bypasses those wards, but that didn't pan out. The actual blast was still affected."

Ron exchanged a glance with Percy. The twins were still far too fond of exposition. "So, what did you find that works?"

His two brothers frowned at him, then George sighed. "Well, the Magical FAE works, as long as it can spread enough and is large enough. Every ward can be overloaded, after all. But we're not certain that the DoM allows for a build-up with sufficient strength. So we took a look at another project."

"Get to the point please. We're the ones using the things," Percy said.

"You know how wards react when you botch up an attempt to take them down?" Fred grinned.

Ron winced. During his time in the Gendarmerie Magique, he had seen that happen once. An entire team of Curse-Breakers, wiped out.

Fred must have noticed his expression, since he nodded. "Exactly! We found a way to sort of duplicate such an attempt with runes. Just enough to trigger such a reaction."

"Merlin…" Ron could imagine the effect.

"Yes. And the wards will need a short while to regain their power, opening a window of opportunity for a FAE to do its work." George grinned. Sometimes, Ron worried for his brothers.

"With the personnel in the area already hurt by the wards overloading," Percy said with a grim expression.

"Exactly! And thanks to Gemino Curses, the whole array will fit into a normal pocket even without expansion charms. Takes a bit longer to deploy, but that shouldn't be a problem - it's just about a minute. After you trigger it."

"That's a rather short time to get away," Percy remarked dryly. "You're not still holding a grudge about last year's Yuletide?"

Fred rolled his eyes. "It got a time-delayed trigger, duh. We don't want you to die."

"I was just joking," Percy clarified.

"You need to say that in advance. You joking is such a rare occurrence, we're not used to it."

"I'm joking often, it's just that my jokes usually go over your heads." Percy smiled at the twins while Ron chuckled again.

"Sure, sure." George made a dismissive gesture. "Anyway, we've got a few more things ready. Including a knock-out stunning rune in a fake wand. Someone not keyed to it by blood touches it - poof! Great for taking out someone who disarms you."

"Not so great if your Wand-Leader is cleaning up after you, so don't let it lay around in your bedroom, Ron!"

Ron rolled his eyes. He loved his brothers, but they could get really tiring. While he listened to another demonstration of a cursed quill, he wondered what Hermione would think of the twins, should they ever meet. Would she be impressed by their creativity, or appalled by their antics? She seemed to adhere at least in part to a 'the end justifies the means' philosophy - no surprise, having been raised in Malfoy's Britain - but she also was quite determined to uphold the law. Maybe he should ask Luna.

He shook his head. He was thinking as if the witch was his girlfriend, and not working for the enemy. That sort of mistake could get him killed.

And yet he couldn't stop it.

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London, August 21st, 1999, 17.00 hours

Albus Dumbledore stepped out of the vanishing cabinet with a smile on his face and his wand ready. Though there were no enemies waiting for him, just one of the Weasley twins, staunch allies - even if some of his colleagues in Beauxbatons might have a different opinion. Albus couldn't deny that they often acted rather recklessly in school, but ultimately, nothing had happened that a few - or a lot, sometimes - Mending Charms couldn't fix.

"Greetings, Mister Weasley," he said, as much out of politeness as to judge if the young man - Fred, he thought - was influenced or controlled somewhat.

"Hello Professor," Fred grinned. "Right on time. George is in the lab. Can't stop our work, you understand."

"Of course." The twins' talent for potions and enchantments would have seen them with a successful business in Paris by now, if he hadn't recruited them for the Order. Hopefully, they'd pursue less lethal projects, once the war was won. But their ingenuity was needed now, to deal with a foe that had had almost 20 years to prepare. He sighed theatrically. "If the Headmistress knew about this…"

Fred grinned. "She'd curse about 'perfidious Albion' again."

Albus nodded, and used a communication mirror to tell Harry and Sirius, who were waiting in France still, that the house was safe. Or as safe as a building inhabited by the Weasley twins could be. "I trust you are careful with your work."

"Always, Professor!" The cheerful claim proved the young wizard's confidence, even if it didn't sound quite as reassuring to Albus, who had known the twins for years.

Sirius arrived in the vanishing cabinet, wand ready. Albus approved. He wouldn't go as far as his old friend Alastor, but they were in enemy country, and could not afford to be too trusting.

"Sirius!" Fred beamed at the older wizard.

"Hello! How are your brothers doing?" Sirius asked, looking around.

"Ron's flirting with a Wand-Leader." Fred smirked. "He's taking our Gryffindor tradition to extremes, but that's the youngest brother trying to prove himself for you."

"Good for him!" Sirius grinned.

Albus didn't think young Ron would be quite as ruthless or cunning as to seduce a witch to gain her trust in order to exploit it. The youngest Weasley son was following in big footsteps, but the professor doubted he'd pick such a way to prove himself. Then Harry arrived.

"Well, he's been meeting her often. He claims it's just to keep his cover, of course." Fred grinned.

"Hello … Fred? Who are you talking about?" Harry asked.

"Ronnikins. He's seducing one of Malfoy's enforcers."

"Like James Bond," Sirius added.

"And I'm George," Fred - Albus was quite certain now - said.

"Wow! Living dangerously, is he?" Harry shook his head.

"Says the boyfriend of our sister!" Fred grinned. "What's a Wand-Leader compared to the looming threat of six Weasley brothers, and Ginny's own temper?"

Harry snorted. "As if she'd let anyone, much less her brothers, hex me. Not that you lot could, of course." The boy smirked cockily, but Albus hadn't missed his earlier smile when Miss Weasley had been mentioned. Ah, young love!

"You're lucky you're on a mission, or we'd test that claim," Fred said.

"Keep telling yourself that, and you might sleep more easily," Harry answered, with a grin that could have been taken straight from Sirius - or James. Sometimes Albus wondered how Lily's presence would have changed the boy. Though as his steady relationship with Miss Weasley showed, Harry was not simply following Sirius's example in all things.

Albus coughed. "Loathe as I am to interrupt such a high-spirited discussion, we do not have unlimited time for our task." If they wanted to pin-point the locations of the remaining horcruxes, without apparating through Britain and attracting the attention of Lucius's henchmen, then they would have to work hard in the time they could be absent from France without arousing the suspicion of Olympe, or the French Ministry.

The four younger wizards grumbled, but acquiesced. Soon, Sirius, Harry and Albus were wearing invisibility cloaks - or the Cloak of Invisibility, in Harry's case - and astride the fastest brooms Sirius's gold could buy, three models of the 'Blitzschlag' from Daedalus, Prussian's foremost broom tuners.

"To think we're back in Britain, after all those years…" Sirius sounded nostalgic. "Lily always told me I'd end up banished from the island, but I didn't think she was serious." When neither Albus nor Harry reacted to his line, he sighed. "You're far too serious."

Albus ignored that opening as well, and addressed Harry. "Let us proceed." If his suspicion was correct, then London was a good starting point for their search.

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London, August 22nd, 1999, 04.00 hours

A weary Albus approached the safe house. Unlike Sirius and Harry, he wasn't used to staying on his broom for hours and hours, cushioning charms or not. Not anymore, at least. And he wasn't getting any younger either. Though, he thought with grim determination, he was still fit enough to see this war through.

He used the communication mirror again, to signal their arrival to the Weasleys inside, so they could disarm the defenses. After half a minute, the 'all-clear' was given, and the three of them entered the house.

"Took you long enough! Did you fall asleep on your broom, you slacker?" Ron Weasley was there to greet them.

Harry snorted. "After a measly few hours? No chance in hell. The old man though…" he pointed at Sirius. Harry had held up under the strain this mission had put on him, though Albus knew the boy was at least mentally exhausted. Not that the stubborn wizard would admit that, of course - he'd claim he was fine with two limbs missing, the Professor thought.

The older wizard snorted. "As if. Now, what is this I heard about you seducing one of Lucius's hit-witches?"

"She's a Wand-Leader, not a hit-witch, and I'm not seducing her!" Mister Weasley said with an indignant tone.

"So, she's seducing you?" Harry raised his eyebrows.

"Children…" Albus said, before the situation could escalate. Harry and Mister Weasley were good friends, but both were tired, and both had a bit of a temper. He'd rather avoid having a row while they were in Britain on a mission. "We are on the clock, as the saying goes. If we are to keep our trip secret, we cannot linger for too long."

"Of course." Harry's friend grew serious at once. "Were you successful?"

"Indeed. We now know the locations of our targets."

"Great!" Mister Weasley beamed, then frowned when no one else shared his good mood. "I take it that's not a good thing?"

"From a certain point of view," Albus said.

"We'll have to break into Hogwarts, the Ministry of Magic, and Voldemort's Headquarters," Harry announced. "Piece of cake, right?" The boy was grinning, though Albus knew he was all too aware of how dangerous their mission was, and was simply putting up a good front.

Mister Weasley winced.