A Mission Like No Other

"Checkmate!" Ron said triumphantly. "I win again!" Ginny glared at him. Maybe she couldn’t beat him at chess, but she could take the sweetness out of his victory.

"Oh, don’t be a sore loser, Ginny," he told her.

"I wasn’t being a sore loser," she said angrily. "I was just…" Her voice trailed off.

"Hello, Ron and Ginny, if that’s who you really are," a voice said. It was Fred — he and his twin and had just entered the room.

"Who else would we be?" Ron asked dully.

"Nice try, Death-Eater-in-disguise," George said proudly. "You can’t fool us!"

"You’ve been reading that Ministry leaflet too much," said Ron, annoyed.

"When I was five, I wanted to my hair to be black and Ron still has dreams about Fleur Delacour," Ginny said nonchalantly. "Now, are you convinced we’re us?"

"How do we know you didn’t torture the real Ron and Ginny for that information?" Fred asked suspiciously. "Anyway, Professor Lupin’s here to see you."

"Which one of us?" Ron asked.

"Both of you," George replied. Ron and Ginny looked at each other.

Lupin took Ron and Ginny for a walk out in the garden. Both Weasley siblings sensed that this meeting was meant to be secret.

"I want to start off by congratulating you on what you did in the Department of Mysteries," Lupin told them. "Since, um, certain issues overshadowed our success, I don’t think you kids ever got properly thanked."

"Well, you should thank Harry, Hermione, Luna and Neville, too," Ginny pointed out.

"I know, but that would prove difficult as they aren’t here right now," Lupin replied. "The reason I’m here is because I have a small assignment for you two to do for the Order."

"I thought you said we were too young," Ginny said matter-of-factly.

"I know, but this is a simple mission and it’s not at all dangerous," he told them. "I’ll take you both to London, where you’ll have to go to a Muggle restaurant called Athena’s Folly. There, at approximately 3:30 PM, a man with short brown hair and a slight build will order a hamburger."

Ginny nodded, but Ron just starred. These seemed to be very bizarre instructions, but since they emanated from the mouth of Remus Lupin, Ginny was sure they were going to make some sense pretty soon.

"You must ask that man his name and see if he’s Ernest Midgarth," Lupin continued.

"Who’s Ernest Midgarth?" Ron asked.

"I was just about to explain that," Lupin said amiably. "Midgarth is the last member of a renowned pureblood family, but he was disowned because he turned out to be a Squib. Your job is to convince him to talk to Dumbledore about his parents, who were both in Lord Voldemort’s inner circle. We don’t know exactly where he lives, but we believe he’s living somewhere in London as a Muggle. All we know is that every day, at about 3:30 PM, he orders a hamburger at Athena’s Folly."

"How do you know that and nothing else?" Ginny asked curiously.

"Well," Lupin said casually, "The only wizard who’s had contact with him recently is Albus Dumbledore and, well, I think you can see where this is going."

"Where is it going?" asked Ron. Ginny sighed in exasperation — Ron could be so stupid sometimes.

"What kind of things does Dumbledore like to talk about?" Ginny asked him.

"I dunno," Ron said, shrugging. "Important things."

"Not at all," Ginny responded instantly. "He usually talks about very unimportant things, like what restaurants you go to."

"He’s definitely off his rocker," Ron muttered to her.

"Well, I won’t argue with that assessment," Lupin said flatly, "But he let me into Hogwarts as a little boy and no other headmaster would have done that. Besides, he’s the greatest wizard in the world — without him on our side…"

Honestly, Ginny thought to herself, It’s not like he’s about to die or something.