Wand-Leader & The Spy

34- Deceptions Revealed

London, September 26th, 1999, 18.14 hours

Ron Weasley watched as Harry, Ginny and Sirius entered the new safehouse. The older wizard was grinning widely while Ron's sister and his best friend looked angry - though whether it was with each other, with Sirius, or both, he couldn't yet say.

"How did the meeting go?" he asked. "Did they agree to a combined attack?"

"They did, in as much as us tagging along with them is a combined attack," Harry said. "We're supposed to stay back and wait for Voldemort to emerge before engaging him."

Ron pondered this a moment. "That sounds like a decent plan, given that we haven't fought side by side yet." So why were they angry?

"And as soon as we agreed on that, Sirius tried to seduce the Wand-Commander!" Harry said, glaring at his godfather.

"There was no 'try', Harry," Sirius grinned. "We've got a date."

"She agreed to another meeting to plan the assault in detail. With Dumbledore," Harry said in a flat voice.

"Tsk, tsk, Harry!" Sirius shook his head. "You need to learn to pay more attention to witches. It's no wonder Ginny's so often annoyed at you."

"I'm not!" Ron's sister cut in.

Harry's godfather ignored her. "Sarah is… receptive to my advances. The blushing, the glances… trust me, I know witches."

"Blushing? Glances?" Ron looked at Ginny.

She shrugged. "I wasn't paying attention to the witch."

Harry sighed. "If she curses you, or has you arrested, then I want it to be on record that I don't know you."

Ron thought that it couldn't have been that bad, or Dumbledore would have stepped in. But he would have to ask Hermione for details later.

"What did you do today?" Harry asked, conjuring a seat and sitting down. Ginny sat down on his lap right away.

"Mostly helped people move to safe houses," Ron said. He was one of the few who knew where all of them were, and how they could be reached with muggle means.

"Sounds boring," Ginny said.

"It was," he agreed. "But I can't do much more without endangering my cover." And he couldn't do anything about that until the Wands knew the truth about Malfoy. "Neville is in Britain as well, checking his ancestral house with his gran."

"No surprise there," Sirius commented. "If not for Neville, Augusta would have stayed in that house until her death." He snorted. "Which would not have taken long, given how bad things were back then." He shook his head. "I wouldn't want to be the family that moved into the Longbottom Manor."

Harry shrugged. "They probably can afford to move. And Malfoy wouldn't have given the manor to a stranger."

Ron nodded, but he couldn't help feeling that there was a good side to the Burrow having been razed: They wouldn't have to kick out a family that had lived there for 20 years. Any children would have considered it their home, and the whole scene would have been awkward at best. That would have spoiled the Weasleys return to their home.

He checked his watch. It was time to head to the Leaky Cauldron. Hermione would be back from work soon. They would be eating dinner with Luna.

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London, Diagon Alley, September 26th, 1999, 19.16 hours

Wand-Leader Hermione sighed with relief when she entered Ron's room and found her boyfriend on the bed, reading the Daily Prophet. She sat down next to him, kicked her shoes off and then kissed him.