Wizards, Witches and ... Muggles??

Chapter 4

Rose woke up to Laura hitting her head with a pillow. Opening her eyes, Rose saw Laura, Ginny, and Hermione all sitting at their respective beds, or at least Hermione and Laura, all grinning like Cheshire cats.

"What, did I miss something?" asked Rose groggily.

"No, we just wanted to wake you up," answered Laura mischievously.

Grumbling, Rose sat up and began getting dressed in some Muggle clothing. Ever since they had admitted they were the Muggles they had taken to wearing all types of Muggle clothing, including on Christmas Day. Laura was sent a Christmas gift of a baseball cap and she had spent the day wearing it in and around the hallways, much to the annoyance of Professor Snape.

Christmas Day had been an enjoyable day: the trio, Ginny, Laura and Rose had spent the morning in the common room opening presents and talking, then in the afternoon they had gone into the grounds where they were joined by Sirius, in his animagus form, and Remus, and they all started a mass snowball fight.

It was now the day after Boxing Day and both Laura and Rose were looking forward to New Years Eve, which was five days away.

Rose finished getting dressed, topping of her outfit with Laura's baseball cap and hair pulled up into ponytail.

"There," stated Rose. "Now why did you have to wake me up again?"

Sniggering, Laura answered, "Because I got bored and I'm hungry," then she ran from the room.

"Did Laura just run out on me?" questioned Rose rhetorically.

She then also got up and also ran out of the room, leaving Ginny and Hermione sitting on Hermione's bed looking bewildered.

Entering the common room, Rose grabbed her jacket and then ran out. Looking around the hallway, she began running towards the Great Hall. Turning a corner she ran right into Remus and Sirius, which sent her falling to the floor.

"Oh, sorry Jamie-Rose," apologized Remus, helping her up.

"No problem," replied Rose, dusting herself of. "Say, have either of you two seen Laura?"

"No, why?" answered Sirius.

"I'll kill her," muttered Rose, ignoring Sirius and taking off again.

Running to the Entrance Hall, Rose spotted Laura entering the Great Hall, totally oblivious to Rose who was behind her.

Rose waited till Laura had entered, then followed stealthily. As she entered the Hall Rose shouted, "LAURA BLORE, YOU'RE DEAD!"

All the teachers turned to face Rose, who was now going beet-red.

Looking up, Laura replied, "You will probably find Jamie-Rose that I'm very much alive."

"You woke me up for no apparent reason, just you wait: I'll get my revenge," replied Rose then added, "And it's Rose not Jamie."

Rolling her eyes, Laura responded, "Okay, okay, Rose, I'm sorry I woke you up. Now stop making a spectacle - it's embarrassing for me."

Sighing in defeat, Rose, still grumbling under her breath, sat down next to Laura and began to eat some breakfast; most of the teachers had also gone back to their own breakfasts.

Rose finished her breakfast and began to talk to Laura animatedly. It seemed as thought Rose had complete forgotten about her outburst as she sat laughing.

About half-an-hour later Ron, Harry, Hermione, and Ginny turned up looking a bit more alert than when Rose had woken up. The four of them came over, sat down facing the two girls and began their breakfasts.

"So, did you manage to catch Laura?" asked Ginny.

"Yes, I also managed to embarrass my self as well," answered Rose, sighing dramatically,

Laura then put in, "Embarrass herself is an understatement."

"Why, what happened?" asked Ron curiously.

"Well, I came into the hall about an hour ago, when Miss-I-hate-my-first-name here followed me in. Then she shouts, 'Laura Blore you're dead' and the teachers see and she goes bright red!" explained Laura, smiling.

"How did you evade Black and Lupin then?" asked Rose, remembering she had bumped into them.

"I never met them," answered Laura.

"Oh, right," replied Rose. "So what are we doing today?"

"I dunno," shrugged Laura.

Shaking her head, Rose went back to her drink. Her mind started to shift to music songs and that made her feel down.

Rose was a music fanatic and whatever she did she could make sure that either the radio or a CD would be playing in the background. During the last four months she had been to preoccupied to worry about music, but the previous few days had seemed to get really dull without any.

Finishing off her drink, Rose made her excuses and left the Great Hall feeling quite down. She was making her way back to Gryffindor Tower when she heard someone laugh, a barklike laugh.

Without a second thought Rose turned right and saw a classroom door slightly ajar. Creeping towards it, Rose peered inside and saw Remus and Sirius sitting with their backs to the door talking quietly. Rose crouched down and began eavesdropping.

"Sirius, take this seriously," admonished Remus.

Laughing again, Sirius replied, "I am, but I cannot just walk into the Ministry and try to prove my innocence."

"I'm not saying that," sighed Remus. "I mean get Peter to come to you then take him to the Ministry," he explained.

"One problem with that, Moony," responded Sirius.

"What?"

"Pettigrew won't leave Voldemort's side unless he's told to," answered Sirius.

"I don't know then Sirius," retorted Remus. "I'm just thinking out loud but obviously it won't work."

Rose had heard enough. As she got up, her shoelace became undone and she tripped her self up, sending her flying backwards into the room. Both Remus and Sirius looked up, startled by the new presence.

"Sorry," apologized Rose, getting up.

"How long have you been outside that door?" asked Sirius.

"I wasn't... I mean..." stumbled Rose.

"How long?" repeated Sirius dangerously.

Stepping back Rose answered, "Um... five minutes. Sorry."

"What did you hear?" put in Remus calmly.

"Not much," answered Rose, then at stern look from Sirius she continued. "I mean just about you trying to prove your innocence."

"Get out of here then," instructed Sirius.

Not glancing backwards Rose took off out of the classroom and back to the Great Hall to find Laura. Oh please still be there, thought Rose.

Re-entering the Great Hall, she saw Laura still sitting at the table talking to the others. Running to her side Rose gasped, "Need... talk... prove... innocent."

"What?" asked Laura.

"Come on, all of you," answered Rose, taking off to Gryffindor Tower.

Bewildered, the others got up and followed Rose back up to Gryffindor Tower. When they entered the common room they found Rose sitting in a chair muttering to herself.

Sitting down, Laura asked, "Now what is so important that you dragged us out of breakfast?"

"I was eavesdropping," explained Rose simply.

"So?" questioned Harry.

"Harry, I have an idea but I need to know something. Would you like Sirius to be free and not a wanted man?" enquired Rose.

"Of course," answered Harry.

"I think I have an idea of how to capture Pettigrew," explained Rose.

"How Roz? You can't exactly walk up to Voldie and ask politely can you?" asked Laura sarcastically.

Rolling her eyes, Rose answered, "No, but I need you four," pointing at the trio and Ginny, "an owl, parchment and ink. Then the shrieking shack. Oh and the Marauder's Map," explained Rose.

"Re-wind a moment," cut in Hermione, catching onto Rose's idea, "It won't work and, I might add, it is highly dangerous."

"Huh? Could someone explain?" asked Ron, looking confused.

"Our friend here is going to send an owl asking to become a Death Eater, then all Voldemort needs to do is send a Death Eater to bring her to him," explained Hermione.

Comprehension dawned on Ron, Harry and Ginny's faces; Harry's face became dark as he processed the information.

"That's too dangerous even for us," he commented.

"No it's not," retorted Rose impatiently. "The rat will only be expecting one person to be there, not six. You five will hide until I give the signal."

Shaking his head, Harry asked, "It's too dangerous and how do we capture him and drag him back to the castle?"

"That's the best bit, we leave the map with the passageways showing on a desk at the end of DADA," described Rose, "Lupin comes along, spots the map, sees us going to the shack and goes to tell Dumbledore."

There was no sound as Rose's words sank in. Even Laura seemed to be thinking it over. They all knew it made sense and they were all also considering it.

Finally Harry spoke, "Okay but at the first sign of more Death Eaters you two are to leave to get help."

"Great, I knew you would all agree to it, now pass me paper... uh, I mean parchment," replied Rose delightedly.

Hermione handed over a spare bit of parchment and a bottle of black ink, so that the letter would look impressive.

Rose leaned on a table and began writing away. Every now and then she'd look up to think of something then go back to writing.

The wait for Rose to finish the letter was tense that no one spoke and the silence was slightly unnerving.

Looking up, Rose proclaimed," I've finished!"

Laura snatched up the parchment and read it out loud:

Dark Lord,

I have followed your resurrection and return to power since my fourth year.

I am a pureblooded witch and although my family are opposing you, I feel that they are on the wrong side. You are the winning side, my lord.

Mudbloods and half-breeds have desecrated this world of ours; it is time, my lord, for me to make my true self known to it.

I have become friends with Potter and his friends and I may have some interesting information for you.

I wish to join your ranks as a faithful follower and supporter; I ask that you consider me to be a Death Eater.

If you wish to see me send Wormtail to the Shrieking Shack on Thursday 8^th January He shall then Apparate back to you with me.

I await a return owl, my lord.

Your faithful follower and supporter,

J.R

Silence followed as Laura finished. Placing the parchment down she looked slightly shocked. She knew Rose could do some fantastic acting but this went way beyond anything Laura thought she knew.

"Well, does it sound okay?" asked Rose self-consciously.

"Rose, that was deep and extremely good," answered Laura, awed.

"What about you guys, do you think it's okay?" repeated Rose.

Swallowing the lump in his throat, Harry answered, "If Voldemort does go along and sends Pettigrew you'd better be prepared."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," muttered Rose.

"Rose," put in Hermione. "You have got to realise no one and I mean no one has ever sent a letter to Voldemort. They would either be too scared or stupid," explained Hermione.

"I'm not either of those, Hermione and when it works I'll feel better," responded Rose uneasily.

"Are you sure about this?" asked Laura seriously.

"Yes, let's send it before I change my mind," answered Rose, folding up the paper and writing 'Dark Lord' on it.

The six friends moved out of the common room and headed silently towards the Owlery. No one knew what to say. Hermione wanted to try to convince them to not go through with it; Ginny was torn between going along with it and trying to back out of it; Ron and Harry were ready to give it a go but knew that if it went wrong it could be disastrous; Laura had just realised that they were no longer playing around, this was real and very dangerous and that scared her. Jamie-Rose had something extremely wiggly in her stomach - she was that nervous. If everything went smoothly Sirius would be clear, if it went wrong she'd end up in quite a bit of trouble.

They tied the letter to a school owl's leg then threw it out the window. They watched it go past the horizon and they made their way back to Gryffindor Tower.

* * *

That afternoon Rose and Laura had wrapped up in scarves and gloves and were walking around the half-frozen lake. The others were visiting Sirius and the two girls had felt a bit uncomfortable with what happened earlier. So now they were walking in snow around the lake in silence.

Finally Rose broke that silence by saying, "Pick a song."

"What? Why?" Laura asked, bewildered.

"Because I need a song, please," begged Rose.

"Okay," replied Laura. "Gangsters Paradise?" Rose shook her head. "One of J-Lo's?" Again Rose shook her head. "Um... I know We Will Rock You by Queen," suggested Laura sarcastically.

Suddenly Rose burst into the song, shocking Laura, "Buddy, you're a boy, make a big noise,

Playin' in the street, gonna be a big man some day,

You got mud on yo' face,

You big disgrace,

Kickin' your can all over the place singin' -'"

Then Laura joined in the chorus, both girls began singing at the top of their lungs:

"We will, we will rock you,

We will, we will rock!"

Then they both burst out laughing so hard that tears were rolling down their faces. Finally the laughing subsided and they began talking again.

"Happy now you've had a little sing song?" asked Laura, beaming.

"Yes, I feel totally refreshed," smiled Rose pleasantly.

"You know," started Laura carefully, "we really should be giving them info on old Voldie," she commented absently

"Well I could just re-owl him and ask how to destroy him," responded Rose sarcastically.

Rolling her eyes, Laura retorted, "Rose, get serious, we weren't given this chance just to do nothing with it."

Holding up her hands defensively, Rose replied, "Okay, calm down. What about bringing him to us on his own?" she suggested.

"How?" asked Laura bluntly.

"I don't know, I only suggested it," answered Rose.

"Okay, I think we may need to know some more about him," acknowledged Laura.

Shivering from the cold, Rose suggested, "Well, we'll have to ask Dumbledore to see if he can give us any info."

"Well, I still have one question," replied Laura mischievously.

"What?" asked Rose, sighing.

"Why are we still outside?" asked Laura.

"Good point. Come on," answered Rose.

Turning around, Rose and Laura began speed walking back to the castle, trudging through the deep snow that was beginning to soak through their clothes.

Finally reaching the Entrance Hall, the girls banged their shoes on the steps to dislodge the stuck snow and entered the castle.

They started their search for the headmaster. They looked in the Great Hall: he wasn't there. They looked in nearly every classroom: still no sign of him. Just as they were searching in the dungeons, Rose exclaimed, "Laura, he won't be down here, he'll be in his office!"

"Of course," replied Laura. "But then why didn't we think of that straight away?"

"I don't know. Come on," answered Rose.

Both girls moved out of the dungeons and started up seven flights of stairs, which luckily didn't fancy moving today.

Finding the stone gargoyle was fairly easy, but trying to guess the password was a whole lot harder.

"Um... Mars bar," Laura tried. It didn't move.

"Snickers." Still it didn't move.

"Skittles."

"Kit Kat."

"Urgh! This is a whole lot harder than it seems," complained Laura. "All we know is he likes sweets, but we don't really know many wizarding sweets."

"We are at the right statue, aren't we?" asked Rose.

Taking a closer look, Laura burst out laughing, saying, "No, this is just a statue."

Walking away from the statue they were both laughing hysterically, feeling very stupid. Finally reaching the right statue, they started to process with possible passwords again.

Throwing up her hands Rose tried, "Urgh! I know - let's try Hobnobs!"

Surprisingly the gargoyle sprang to life and moved upwards. Mumbling about ridiculous passwords, Rose stepped onto the moving staircase behind a sniggering Laura.

Coming to a stop, both girls stepped off the stairs and moved to a wooden door, with an embroidered golden phoenix as the door handle. Knocking, they waited to hear him give them permission to enter. When no sound came from inside, Laura opened the door and went in.

This is a bad idea, thought Rose as she cautiously stepped inside. There were portraits of all supposedly sleeping witches and wizards; there were also lots of different trinkets on the table.

"Laura, we aren't supposed to be in here," whispered Rose urgently.

"Relax Roz, where's your sense of adventure?" questioned Laura, reading the descriptions underneath each portrait.

"It got left down in the hall with breakfast," answered Rose mockingly.

All of a sudden there was a loud cawing sound, making both girls jump. Turning around they saw Fawkes on his perch with beautiful plumage of red and gold.

"Oh my god!" exclaimed Rose quietly.

"He's beautiful," replied Laura as she went over to stroke him.

"Absolutely stunning," agreed Rose, also going over.

The girls had been stood stroking Fawkes for a couple of minutes when someone coughed to catch their attention. Looking over to the doorway, the girls stepped away from the bird looking embarrassed.

"I see you managed to find my office," greeted Albus.

"Sorry we haven't been to see you sooner but we wanted to enjoy Christmas holidays," apologized Rose quickly.

"Don't apologize, I completely understand," replied Albus, sitting himself down behind his desk. "Now why did you need to see me today?"

"Tom Riddle, professor, does he have a weakness?" asked Laura bluntly.

"You both must realise," sighed Albus, "that when Tom came back to his body the blood he took from Harry took the last of Tom Riddle's body away, leaving him just as Voldemort," explained Dumbledore.

"Okay, how many spies are there in Voldie's ranks?" asked Rose.

"One," answered Albus carefully.

"Is there anyway of turning his Death Eaters against him?" enquired Laura, catching on to what Rose was thinking.

Sighing again, Albus explained, "The problem is, girls that most of Voldemort's supporters do believe in him and his powers, so I don't think there will be any way of trying to turn them against him."

"Maybe we don't have to," responded Rose mysteriously.

"Huh?" asked Laura, baffled.

Rolling her eyes, Rose answered, "We don't even try to turn the Death Eaters against him. Snape can tell you exactly which room Voldemort resides in - all you have to do is take an army and get rid of him."

"Ah, my dear, that would not work," put in Albus.

Aggravated, Rose snapped, "I'm really trying to give you an answer to a major problem here. Why not then just force him to come for you, then when he gets here he gets an ambush?"

"Now, that may just work," answered Albus thoughtfully. "But if the Order agrees to that then the first- to second-years will have to go somewhere safe,"

"Damn Rose, you're good at this," commented Laura, "and if you get all the younger ones into Gryffindor Tower you can lock it with a password then tell the Fat Lady to leave her portrait."

"Well then, thank you both," thanked Albus, "Now all I need to do is foolproof the plan, get the Order and some other people to help me."

"We're glad to have helped," replied Rose and Laura in unison.

"Now, I know both of you are worried about having your memories wiped, so for now I have told the Ministry that the two young ladies have been dealt with and are now both back at home," explained Albus, "So I must ask: would you both like to finish off the year here?"

Rose sat staring at the headmaster as thought he had grown three heads - she was opening and closing her mouth to make herself look like a fish out of water, which made Laura chuckle.

"Would we like to? Of course we would," beamed Laura, finding her voice.

"Very well then," smiled Albus. "You can now both go to all the classes and not miss any."

Both girls thanked Professor Dumbledore profusely before taking their leave.

They spent the rest of the holidays planning, having fun, and even sitting down and reading the assigned homework books that Hermione had lent them.

Laura had explained to Harry, Ron, Ginny and Hermione what was going to happen with destroying Voldemort and also explained that if it had to be Harry that was to kill him and he couldn't cast the killing curse then he could use a Severing Charm on his throat. Then Rose went on to explain to them that they could go to every class and that they were staying till the end of the year.

* * *

Thursday 8^th January seemed to creep up on the friends quicker than they would have liked - so far everything was going as they had planned.

The only thing that had nearly uncovered the whole of their plan was the arrival of the owl carrying a black letter, with a skull, a snake protruding from its mouth, stamped on it. Jamie-Rose had taken the letter, hastily shoved it in her pocket and ran out of the hall; she had opened it with trembling hands and read:

J.R.,

Another follower to my ranks will give me the upper hand in this war.

Wormtail, the useless vermin that he is, will be where you suggested with a portkey at four.

Don't disappoint me.

Lord Voldemort.

The letter had caused a lot of suspicion amongst the students, most of whom knew that if they got a black letter it meant that a family member had died, but Rose reassured everyone that it was just junk mail.

The last lesson of the day was, as planned, DADA and it finished at quarter to four which would give them time to drop off their bags and then to get into the Shrieking Shack.

Halfway through the lesson Laura turned to Harry and gave the signal to take the map out.

Taking the map out Harry pointed his wand at it and whispered, "I solemnly swear I am up to no good," then placed the map underneath his work on the desk.

"Rose, are you sure about his?" questioned Laura cryptically.

"Honestly," answered Rose. "But I feel like I've eaten a bunch of worms."

"Remember Rose," cut in Hermione, catching onto the conversation, "Nothing foolish."

"I know, I know," replied Rose.

"Where is Ginny meeting us?" asked Ron.

"At the Entrance Hall," answered Hermione.

"I wish you hadn't included her," commented Ron, in a brotherly fashion.

Rolling her eyes, Rose answered, "We need her for the outnumbering."

"Okay, just calm down," instructed Laura, interrupting before a fight could break out. "It will do us no good to get worked up. So I think we should just get back to work."

Nodding, they all went back to work for the last five minutes of the lesson, until bell sounded signalling the end of lessons for that day.

Scooping up their things the five of them ran out of the room. They ran up to Gryffindor Tower, dropped off their bags, and then ran back out, knocking a couple of first years out of the way as they passed.

Reaching the Entrance Hall they saw Ginny waiting there, looking rather apprehensive.

Rose tried to smile to ease the tension bit it only made it worse, I can not believe I'm doing this, she thought, dropping her smile, it'd better work, I don't fancy being taken to Voldemort. Oh please God, let it work.

The six of them all walked out of the castle in silence. Reaching the Willow, Harry took a long stick and pressed the knot freezing the tree.

Climbing in, Rose began to run up to the house, the others following shortly behind her.

Opening the door, Rose stepped into the disordered and bashed-up living room; she held open the door for the others to come through.

Finally Harry came through the door and closed it behind him, the group of witches, wizards and Muggles all stood in a circle facing each other.

"It's five minutes to four," stated Laura. "We should go into the other room."

"O - okay," stuttered Rose.

"Good luck, remember nothing stupid and play it cool," encouraged Harry.

There was a chorus of 'good luck' as the five of them moved into the other room.

Four o'clock came. There was a small noise and there stood Peter Pettigrew, traitor and supposedly dead rat.

"So you're J.R?" asked Peter.

"And you are Wormtail," retorted Rose coldly.

"Yes, and right-hand man to the Dark Lord," lied Peter.

"No, I'd say you were a rat," replied Rose smugly, "who only does as he's told by Voldemort. He must be brave if he thinks you will accomplish this easily."

Peter whipped out his wand and pointed it at Rose. Trying not to let fear shown on her face Rose looked on intensely and noticed that Peter was trembling, which made her laugh.

"Stop laughing at me," commanded Peter.

"Okay," answered Rose, then she gave the signal: "I guess it's time for me to become another faithful follower?"

Peter never knew what hit him, as the side door swung open and four Stunning Spells struck him simultaneously. Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Laura came out of the room.

Rose's legs gave way as her nerves went haywire and she began shaking from head to toe as the adrenalin rush started to subside from her body.

"Rose? Roz, are you okay?" asked Laura.

"We did it, Laura," answered Rose shakily, "we pulled it off, and it worked."

"It worked quite well I'd say," came the voice of Sirius Black.

Looking over to the entranceway Rose saw Professors Dumbledore, McGonagall and Lupin, as well as Sirius, all standing there.

"So, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Laura and Jamie-Rose, care to explain?" asked Sirius.

So leaning back against the wall Rose explained everything: how she thought of this after eavesdropping on Remus and Sirius at Christmas; how they managed to fool Voldemort and that the black letter she got was sent by Voldemort; how she persuaded Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Laura to agree.

"Well, need I say that you put yourself and others at risk," commented Albus. "As a result Gryffindor will lose ninety points and you will all be doing a detention."

"Sorry we didn't tell anyone, but I knew that for this to have worked we needed to do it on our own," explained Rose. "Sirius, all we wanted was for you to be free."

"That was a kind thought. Now might I suggest binding up the rat and going back to the castle," suggested Sirius.

So tying up Wormtail they all moved back to the castle discussing the night's events. All they need to do now was wait to see if Sirius was completely cleared of all charges and allowed to gain custody of his godson.