The Soldier's Time

Hermione turned up at headquarters the following week. The first thing Harry and Ron did when they saw her was to ask about the deaths she had found out about while she was abroad.

"A whole family of Muggles disappeared, and four wizards were found dead under the Dark Mark. They used Avada Kedavra," she told them quietly.

"Why would he go there, though?" Ron asked, "I mean, everyone just found out about him here. It's bound to be all over the Wizarding world by now."

"He's trying to take over quickly, I guess," Harry said, "He doesn't want a lot of interference. There aren't any Order members in Portugal, are there?" Hermione shook her head.

"There's no way that we can know that. The Order doesn't..."

"We know they don't let us in on the meetings," Harry said angrily.

"Harry, calm down," Hermione said reprovingly, "I was just making a statement, there was no need to bite my head off."

"Didn't you say that Cuts went to Portugal?" Ron asked Harry.

"Yeah, mainly to escape the Ministry, I'd bet."

"Is that what you call that witch that was in the Daily Prophet last week? The one who beat up your Uncle Vernon?" without waiting for an answer, Hermione continued, "No, it probably wasn't, because Cuts wasn't the name they used."

"But she did beat up Uncle Vernon," Harry told her, "Cuts isn't her real name, Kingsley said she had it for a reason."

"That's probably why," Hermione said, "She sounds dangerous."

"Might be," Ron said, "I mean, Kingsley even says not to mess with her, and he's an Auror. Nobody seems to like her much, except for Ginny." He grinned slightly.

"I do not," said Ginny, standing at the door with her arms folded. "Mum says to stay up here, and she'll bring us up something for lunch. Everyone's frantic downstairs; no one's seen hide nor hair of Cuts since last week, and they think she went back to the Congo." She held up a piece of flesh colored string that Harry recognized at once as one of Fred and George's Extendible Ears.

"But Dumbledore wanted her here!" Ron exclaimed, "Stupid cow, leaving just because Dumbledore won't let her off on her own."

"Maybe she just doesn't want to be found," Harry said, "She said herself she was good at not being seen."

"But if she's a spy," Hermione said, "Dumbledore needs her here. The Order needs all the information they can get about Voldemort's doings." Both Ron and Ginny flinched when Hermione said 'Voldemort'.

"Lunch," Mrs. Weasley said shortly, walking in with a tray of sandwiches. "And your book lists have arrived, so tomorrow we'll go to Diagon Alley." The four nodded and took sandwiches. Ron shoveled half of his into his mouth in one bite.

"Wha' izzer nae a'way?" Ron asked Hermione muffledly, reaching for another sandwich. Hermione made a disgusted face before taking the cut-out article out of her pocket.

"Muggle Vernon Dursley of Little Whinging," she read, "was attacked by one Michelle Tiberdeaux. Dursley was reportedly beaten Muggle-style into unconsciousness, which he has yet to regain. Tiberdeaux, expatriate resident of Morocco and daughter of Azkaban inmate Richard Tiberdeaux, is perhaps best known for her work during the Dark Lord's first reign of terror, during which she killed several Death Eaters, including Iphigenia Williams and Gannon Goyle." Ron took the article from Hermione and scanned the rest of it.

"Promising witch... old pure-blooded family... failed character section of Auror examinations... extensive knowledge of the Dark Arts and Muggle weaponry... prosecuted fifteen years ago on illegal Animagi practice... renowned throughout Africa for her hunting skills, Tiberdeaux is considered violent and extremely dangerous. Bloody hell, I'm glad she's on our side."

"That can't all be right, though," Harry said, taking the article for himself. "Look, it says 'Morocco', but we all know Cuts was in the Congo."

"Harry, just because they mistook the country doesn't mean the rest of the information isn't reliable," Ginny said.

"Kind of like all the things they said about me being a nut case last year were reliable," Harry replied sarcastically. Ginny blushed.

"I think Ginny has a point, Harry," Hermione said, "I don't think it's possible that they got it that wrong. The Ministry isn't out to discredit her."

"It fits with what we know about her," Ron added, "Father in Azkaban, violent, hunting skills. The other stuff can't be too far off. Sorry, mate, looks like you're outnumbered."

"Maybe it's because you're having trouble seeing her as 'Michelle'," Ginny offered. Harry said nothing and looked at his forgotten book list. Unsurprisingly, he needed The Standard Book of Spells, Grade Six by Miranda Goshawk, Advanced Transfiguration and Curses and Creatures, An Intensive Guide to the Dark Arts. At the bottom of the list, however, was Complex Potions, Poisons, and Antidotes. Harry, shocked, looked up at his friends.

"Why do I have a Potions book on my list?" he asked confusedly. "I barely got an 'E', and Snape only takes students into NEWT classes if they get an 'O'."

"Maybe McGonagall pulled a few strings," Ron suggested, taking the last of the sandwiches, "She said she'd help you to become an Auror. Though I don't envy you spending two more years with Snape."

"I'd hardly think she'd go that far, Ron," Hermione said. "It's one thing to coach Harry, but getting him into a class that he didn't meet the requirements for isn't fair at all."

"Maybe he did meet the requirements," Ginny said, sitting on the bed. "After all, they are Snape's requirements. Maybe he doesn't teach Potions anymore."

"He does do an awful lot for the Order," Hermione said pensively. "Maybe Dumbledore wants him to focus more on that for the time being. I must say, the timing is perfect."

"You're telling me. I don't reckon I'd've made it through with him teaching me." Their conversation was interrupted by the shrieking of Mrs. Black's portrait downstairs. They all ran to the landing, hoping to see who had come and if they could overhear anything. Ginny passed Extendible Ears to the others, but they would wait until the portrait was silent before inserting them.

"Blood traitors, half-breeds..." the portrait shrieked, while Tonks untangled herself from an umbrella stand that looked as though it were a severed troll's leg. Mrs. Weasley came out into the hall to try to close the moth-eaten curtains over the portrait, and Tonks fell over again as she tried to get up. Mad-Eye Moody and Lupin appeared, and quiet was soon restored to the hall below them. Soon, four Extendible Ears were snaking their way over the edge of the landing.

"They know too much," Mrs. Weasley was whispering, but Harry and the others could hear her loud and clear, "I heard them talking about it when I brought them lunch."

"I don't think it's anything to worry about, Molly," Lupin replied, "You know how they are, that the moment Hermione got here they would start asking questions about what she learned in Portugal. As a matter of fact, I'm glad she did find out. We wouldn't have found out otherwise, there's nobody stationed over there."

"Maybe Cuts went back there," Tonks said. "I've contacted her brother, but she's not with him or at her compound."

"There's just so many places that girl could have gone off too," Moody rumbled, "She'd have made a damn good Auror if she had made it into training."

"Still, I'll feel a lot better once they're safely back at school. Did Dumbledore find someone to replace that dreadful Umbridge woman? And what about Severus?" Ginny gave Harry a look that said 'I told you so' and turned back to the landing.

"He's just hired someone Tuesday," Moody growled, his electric blue magical eye swiveling in all directions. "This one seems eager for the job."

"Well, that could be a good sign, considering all that's happened in the past," Lupin said.

"Hey, you lot!" Moody yelled his magical eye had been pointing right at them, "Mind your business!" Harry and the others pulled up the Extendible Ears and ran down the hallway and into the bedroom, slamming the door behind them.

~

The next morning, Mrs. Weasley woke them all early to go to Diagon Alley. Lupin walked along with them, keeping his hand inside his pocket, obviously holding his wand. It had been two years since Harry had been there, and he was quite looking forward to going back. The cobblestones paved the road of the most interesting Wizarding shops in the world, full of spell books, and all sorts of instruments that Harry could only begin to guess what they were used for. Their first stop, however, was Gringotts bank. Harry remembered the first time he had ridden the carts, back on his eleventh birthday. The carts were no less wild, and the goblins just as nasty looking. Harry was quite glad to leave the bank and go back out into the bright sunshine.

His moneybag refilled, Harry began to think of what he needed for the coming year at Hogwarts. His spell books, of course, were essential, and a supply of potions ingredients. He thought vaguely of getting new robes, but Hermione dragged them to buy parchment, ink and quills, for all the homework and essays they were no doubt expected to write.

"This is the most crucial part of our education. They're bound to give us loads of work," she explained. "And Ginny, you're taking your OWLs this year, so you need to be prepared." Ginny rolled her eyes behind Hermione's back as they exited the shop, carrying bags stuffed with parchment. They saw a few of their Hogwarts friends mulling around, examining racing brooms, eating ice creams or lazily walking the street. They stopped and chatted for several minutes with Ernie Macmillan, a Hufflepuff prefect, about the DA, a secret Defense Against the Dark Arts group headed by Harry.

"If the new teacher's anything like Umbridge, we'll definitely have to start it up again," Ernie had said pompously. Mrs. Wesley then shunted them along to Flourish and Blotts, the book shop. Lupin took Harry's new Defense Against the Dark Arts book and leafed through it longingly. Lupin had been Harry's favorite teacher of the subject, and he knew Lupin must miss teaching. Because Lupin was a werewolf, most wizards were prejudiced against him, and there were laws in place that made it nearly impossible for him to work. Harry knew that Lupin wasn't dangerous in the slightest, at least in human form, and seeing someone he had come to regard as a friend in such shabby clothing and prematurely aging made him angry.

When they emerged from the shop a half hour later, they were all clutching large bags, Hermione's the heaviest of all. She had not dropped a single subject for the remaining two years at Hogwarts; she even managed an 'O' in Potions, though why she wanted to continue studying with Snape when she didn't have to was a mystery to Harry. As much as Harry loathed Snape, he was prepared to go on, as Potions was essential study for an Auror, the only career Harry had ever considered after Hogwarts.

After lunch in the Leaky Cauldron, Harry, Ron, and Hermione decided to go off by themselves. They noticed a large crowd in front of one of the shops and decided to investigate. As they drew nearer, the laughing crowd dispersed, revealing Fred and George Weasley standing with excited looks on their faces. This was the first time any of them had seen Fred and George's premises.

"Come on in," George said, "We'll give you a special discount. We heard that Dumbledore got rid of Umbridge."

"Wish we could've been there to see it," Fred added, "Would've given her a big send off, we would."

"I just hope the next one's loads better," Hermione sniffed, "Or we'll fail our NEWTs."

"No you won't," George assured them, winking at Harry. "You've got the best teacher standing right next to you."

"Just rev up the DA again, all will be well," Fred said.

"That's what Ernie said," Ron told them, looking around at the walls. "Got anything new?" In response, George pulled out a pair of what appeared to be Omnioculars.

"Invisulars," he said, handing them to Ron. "Make you able to see through walls, Invisibility Cloaks, clothing," he added with a smirk. Ron put them to his eyes and pointed them at Hermione. She threw one arm across her chest and used her other hand to snatch them away from Ron.

"They could come in handy," Harry said quietly, "For the you-know-what."

"Tell you what," George said with a wink, "Take a pair along, no charge. We've got business to deal with." The trio said goodbye to the twins and left the store.

"Some of the things they come up with are brilliant," Harry said, "And dead useful."

"Like the Extendibles," Ron said, "The Order could use them, and these beauties as well." He took the Invisulars from Hermione and looked at them up close.

"I expect they work similarly to Mad-Eye's magical eye," Hermione said. "That's likely where they got the idea from."

"The Order could use these without the lot of them poking their eyes out, that's for sure," Ron said.

"Harry," said a voice behind them, "Ron, Hermione." They turned around and saw Seamus Finnigan, a fellow Gryffindor sixth year, coming towards them.

"I saw that article in the Daily Prophet," Seamus said. "Me mam said that Tiberdeaux used to baby-sit me, and she couldn't believe it. Never wanted anything to do with the Dark Arts, wasn't violent at all from what she told me."

"Have you heard anything on your Uncle?" Seamus asked. Harry shook his head.

"I doubt my aunt would care to tell me."

"Why was she at your house anyway?" Seamus asked. Harry fumbled to come up with an excuse.

"Because, er... she- she was trying to er... kidnap me for Voldemort," he said, ignoring the flinches followed up by Hermione tutting.

"I don't know why she bothered. If you can take You-know-who, you can take her easily," Seamus said. Harry couldn't say this in front of Seamus, but he felt he'd rather face Voldemort than find out if what he had heard about her was true.

"There you are," said Mrs. Weasley as she came up behind them with Lupin and Ginny. "We're ready to head back now, it's nearly time to start dinner." They said good-bye to Seamus and walked down the street.

"Mum, look what Fred and George gave us," Ron said, handing her the Invisulars. "That'd be useful, wouldn't it?" Mrs. Weasley peered through them. "

"I think they'd do rather well on the field. Do you want to see them, Remus?" She handed them to her left, where Lupin had been walking. No one answered. Lupin was no longer walking with them. He was no where in sight. "Now where did he get off to, he was here just a minute ago." Harry and the others craned their necks, trying to see if they could spot him through the crowd. But no one could see him anywhere.

"Maybe he went into a shop," Hermione said. Mrs. Weasley started calling for him, walking back and forth across the cobblestones. Ron, the tallest of everyone, stood where he was, looking over the heads of the crowd. Hermione went to look in various stores. Harry made his way over to the passageway to Knockturn Alley. He knew that place was full of shops devoted to the Dark Arts, and if anything bad were to have happened to Lupin, Harry guessed it would have to be there.

In the shadows next to a building, Harry saw the shapes of two people, one wearing a cloak, who was holding the other person against the wall. Harry recognized the second person as Lupin, pulled out his wand, and ran towards them. As he neared, the first shape released Lupin and lowered its hood. The shadowy profile was angular, and strong-jawed. He realized immediately that it was Cuts, but it was what Lupin said next that made Harry's heart fall into the pit of his stomach.

"Iphigenia Williams, you will be the death of me!"