It had been over a month since they arrived at the safe house.

By the end of July, news spread around about an ambush by the Death Eaters as Harry Potter was being moved to a safe house, resulting in the death of a member of the Order. Mary felt terrible for letting that slip her mind, but the others assured her that it wasn't her fault.

They celebrated Oliver's seventeenth birthday on the first of August, followed by more bad news: The Ministry of Magic had fallen with the death of the Minister for Magic, Rufus Scrimgeour. Violet's parents were more worried than ever, along with the two children they had with them. The other four did their best to keep calm, but they knew only things would get worse, especially for their two friends if they were still on the run.

Andrew's birthday was celebrated on the seventh, despite him not being there. Still, the four did their best to find comfort in knowing that Andrew and Violet were somewhere doing the same for Oliver on his birthday.

For the rest of August, it was nothing but sitting around and keeping up with whatever information Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton had for the teenagers. With no ideas as to where to head to next, the four were basically stuck at the safe house until they had something in mind for a place to start with a new plan.

Then, just a couple of days before September would roll around, Jacob gathered the other three after dinner.

"I think I have an idea," he told them in him and Oliver's bedroom with the door closed. "Well, it's not really an idea, but it's a start to an idea, and it's also a risky one."

"What is it?" Oliver asked.

"The Ministry of Magic," he stated. "I wonder if my father is still working there."

"Even after Death Eaters raided your home?" Eliza pointed out.

"I mean, he might not have a choice but to go back to work," Jacob said. "Anyway, if he is still working at the Ministry of Magic, then maybe he can somehow help us."

The three eyed Jacob, still unsure about the idea.

"You do realize Liza and I can't go to the Ministry of Magic, right?" Oliver asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I know, which is why Mary will come with me," he replied, turning towards her.

Mary widened her eyes. "I will? I mean, you want me to?"

Jacob nodded. "Yeah. Is that okay?"

The girl had her mouth open, still confused by his suggestion. "Well, with...You-Know-Who taking over the Ministry, there's bound to be Death Eaters that...you know, used to be my allies."

"That's what worries me as well," Oliver added. "What if someone recognizes her?"

"We already know that'll happen," Mary pointed out. "But maybe I can talk to one of them."

"Like they'll willingly do just that," Eliza snorted.

"Which is why I won't give them a choice," Mary retorted.

Jacob nodded his head, impressed. "So it's settled, then. We'll go talk to my father and after that find one of your former Death Eater friends and see what information we can get out of them."

The others nodded their heads in agreement at this.

Eliza huffed a sigh. "So I guess Ollie and I will just have to keep a lookout, then. We might run into someone we know and maybe they can help us as well."

"Sounds like we're getting somewhere in terms of an actual plan," Jacob stated, letting out a shaky breath. "Let's just hope nothing goes wrong."

*******

By the second day of September, their plan was ready to be set in motion.

The four left the safe house that morning, where they left a note for Violet's parents and sisters, thanking them for all they had done. None of them knew if it was safe to come back to the safe house if something bad happened, so it was agreed that not returning was best for them as well as the Hamilton family.

Like before, London was busy. The sidewalks were filled with people walking, along with cars coming and going on the streets. The four leaned against a building with their rucksacks, trying to not attract much attention from any wizard or witch that could stroll past them.

"Okay, so my dad's office is on the second floor," Jacob explained. "We find him first, then we'll squeeze some information out of one of those dirty Death Eaters."

"That's all easier said than done, you know," Oliver pointed out.

"Yes," Jacob replied, nodding his head. "But I'm sure we can do it. Isn't that right, Mary?"

Mary nodded as well. "I think so." I hope so, she thought.

Eliza was the nex to speak up. "Well, you two better get going. Ollie and I will be waiting out here."

"Be careful, yeah?" Oliver added, sounding more concerned.

"We will," Jacob assured him, then looked at Mary. "Ready?"

When she nodded her head, the two strolled down the sidewalk, heading towards the Ministry of Magic. They took one last glance at Oliver and Eliza before joining the other employees on their journey to the bathrooms. Jacob and Mary parted ways and planned to meet up again once they were inside.

Mary felt more and more anxious with each step she took, putting her hood over her head. Getting closer to the stalls, she thought of the many ways this plan could go wrong. While she wanted to assume everything would work out the way they wanted it to, she kept going over the list of the pros and cons in her head, with the cons taking over, no matter how hard she tried reverting back to the positive side of this plan.

When she finally reached a stall, she closed the door behind her, staring down at the toilet. She stepped inside one foot at a time, then quickly flushed herself down, a spiral so quick that she ended up almost tripping out of the fireplace and onto the main floor with the crowd of people walking.

Mary made her way towards the large fountain in the center of the lobby when she couldn't find Jacob. The statues in the distance caught her eye, focusing on them and finally getting a closer look and realizing the statues were people. She stood next to an older woman, followed by two older men, who looked just as shocked and curious at her.

"Are those...?" one of the men was about to ask.

"Muggles," the woman replied before he could even finish asking his question. "In their...rightful place."

Mary almost gasped, but managed to hold it in. Muggles. The people who stood still, with desperate and frightened looks on their faces were innocent people, ones that no one knew. It was obvious that the side Mary used to stick with was responsible for this. She felt sick to her stomach at the thought.

The other man shook his head. "I've gotta tell you, I'm starting to freak out a bit," he admitted.

Mary didn't make eye contact, keeping her head down as she realized the voices sounded familiar to her.

"How long did you say this batch of Polyjuice would last, Hermione?" the first man asked her.

Hermione? As in, Hermione Granger?

"I didn't," she replied, shooting him a worried look.

"Well, we better get going, then," he replied, leading them towards the lifts.

Mary took a moment, knowing now who they were. It didn't take long for her to figure out that it was Harry Potter, along with Hermione Granger, whom she recognized from Slughorn's Christmas party, and Ron Weasley, the boy that was also poisoned like Jacob, all thanks to her and Draco.

"Oh, Merlin," Jacob muttered beside her, shaking his head as a sad expression fell upon his face. "And to think they did nothing to deserve this."

"You're right," Mary replied, biting her lip, then huffing a sigh. "Also, Harry Potter is here."

Jacob gave her wide eyes. "He's here?"

She nodded. "Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley are as well. All three of them are using Polyjuice Potion. I don't think they recognized me, though."

He rubbed his chin, his expression getting eccentric. "Did you happen to overhear why they were here?"

"No, they didn't say."

The boy huffed a sigh, almost sounding shaky. "Okay, well, we better get moving. We can't waste any time." He became quick on his feet as he dashed to the lifts, with Mary following behind him, trying to keep up.

The two entered a lift before it got too crowded, but had to squeeze next to each other when more people began to pile in. Finally, the lift closed, shooting up to the next floor. The ride was short, but with how uncomfortable the two were standing, it felt a lot longer. There was relief coming over them once the lift came to a halt.

"Department of Magical Law Enforcement."

The two managed to get past other employees who remained on the lift, feeling relief that they were no longer stuck in such a tight space. Jacob scanned around both sides of the hallway before rushing off to the right.

"Jacob!" Mary hissed, speeding off to catch up with him. "Not so fast!" Even with every attempt to go faster, he was just about out of her sight. "Jacob, wait for me!"

"Mary?"

The girl turned around and was sure her heart was going to stop when she saw who called her name. "Blaise?"

"What are you doing here?" he asked, slowly walking towards her.

She couldn't move her feet to step closer to him. Her mouth was open, almost having difficulty responding, taking the hood off of her head. "What are you doing here?" she retorted, stalling so that she could come up with a lie that was believable.

"I'm kind of like an intern here now," he said. "Anyway, you didn't answer my question."

She sighed. "It's complicated," was all she could come up with.

Blaise nodded, letting out a scoff. "Right, just like breaking up with me over a letter was complicated as well?"

She felt her heart drop at the mention of the letter. "Blaise, I'm sorry, but I had to."

"No, you didn't, Mary," he replied in a harsh tone. "You thought it was the right thing to do."

"Because it was the right thing to do," she snapped, quickly looking around to make sure she wasn't drawing any attention to them. "Look, I know you're angry with me, and you have every right to feel that way, but with the war coming and things getting worse--"

"We could've made it work," he protested, taking her hands. "Mary, I still care about you. You still care about me, right?"

"Of course I do." She gave him a sad look and reluctantly let go of his hands. "But things are different now and we can't be together. I'm sorry, Blaise, I really am."

The boy huffed a sigh and looked down at his feet. Then, he shook his head in disbelief. "Mary--"

"Hey, we need to go," the sound of Jacob's voice cut him off as he approached the two. "Zabini?"

"Scamander?" Blaise replied, staring at the boy, then back at Mary. "Are you here with him?"

Mary went back and forth between the two. "Like I said, it's complicated."

"Mary, we've got to leave right now," Jacob said in a serious tone, eyeing her.

"We're not done with our conversation," Blaise snapped.

"Well, you are now," Jacob retorted, motioning Mary to follow him. "Come on, let's go."

"No, stay," Blaise told her.

Jacob clenched his fists. "Back off, Zabini."

"Or what, Scamander?"

"Guys, let's not do this," Mary intervened, facing Jacob. "Let's head out." The two began to walk towards the lifts.

Blaise, however, wasn't having it. "Mary, stop and let's talk some more about this..." He went to grab her hand.

Jacob slapped his hand away. "Don't lay a finger on her."

"Don't you dare tell me what to do," Blaise warned him, taking his wand out.

Jacob did the same. "Mary is leaving with me, Zabini, and there's nothing else you can say or do to change her mind."

Blaise stood on firm ground, glaring at Jacob. Mary was beginning to get worried that a duel would break out in the middle of the hallway. She decided to grab her wand out as well so that she could stop both of them if it was necessary.

But as Jacob moved slightly to get her back to walking with him, Blaise shot the first spell. "Stupefy!"

Mary shoved Jacob out of the way and blocked the spell as the sound of gasps and screams followed. "Blaise, enough!"

"No! I'm done playing nice." He raised his wand to shoot another spell.

Before he could shout anything, Jacob intervened, swinging his wand, shouting "Incendio!"

*******

"Do you think something has happened to them?" Oliver asked Eliza, pacing back and forth on the sidewalk, getting a bit anxious.

It had been a while since Jacob and Mary headed inside the Ministry of Magic and neither of them showed back up. He tried to convince himself that no news was good news, but given the circumstances, he wasn't sure if that phrase was the right one.

"I'm sure they're fine," she assured him. "Will you stop it with the pacing?"

"I can't help it," he told her.

She went up to him and grabbed his face, forcing him to stop. "Hey, look at me." Once his eyes met hers, she went on. "It's all going to be fine, okay? Maybe Jacob's dad knows some things that can help us. Just relax."

Oliver did his best to focus on Eliza, but he let his thoughts fill up with every possibility of how all of this could end badly. He still looked at her, even when she dropped her hands back to her side. "If something does happen to them, what are we going to do?" he asked.

She sighed, biting her lip. "I have no idea. Let's hope we don't have to leave them behind."

Before Oliver could respond, yells and horns from cars came from the distance. He shot Eliza a confused look, for which she did the same. "What the hell was that about?"

Eliza didn't get the chance to say anything when Jacob and Mary came running towards them.

"Run!" Jacob shouted. "We've gotta get out of here right now!"

"Why, what happened?" Oliver questioned.

"We will explain once we're safe!" Mary answered this time. "Let's go!"

So Oliver and Eliza, still confused, followed behind Jacob and Mary. They headed across the street, approaching a few cars that resulted in more horns being blared at them. Oliver wanted to look back, wanting to see who was chasing after them, but he went against it, thinking that it was probably workers at the Ministry, also known as Death Eaters or Snatchers.

Jacob took them to an isolated alley, stretching his hand out. "Take my hand."

"What?" Eliza spoke up.

"Come on, just take my hand!" he shouted. The other three obliged, piling their hands on his. "Everyone ready?"

"Wait, you want to tell us what happened first?" Oliver inquired, raising his eyebrows.

Jacob and Mary looked at each other, which made it obvious that something did happen at the Ministry.

"Guys, just tell us," Eliza said. "It can't be that bad, can it?"

"Yes, it is," Mary confirmed. "It's really bad."

"Well, what is it?" Oliver asked.

Jacob exhaled loudly, looking at his best friends. "We kind of blew up the Ministry."

~~~~~~~

A/N: Er...yup.

Song above is The Chase by Trevor Rabin.

Comment, vote, more soon!

-A