The Emerging Fuzz

The sun was shining bright all over Ottery St Catchpole and its nearby hills, covering every inch of the countryside with a lively warmth only the summer could bring. The landscape was stunning, orchards and green fields spread as far as the eye could see, with only a few farm roads dividing them. It was so peaceful that the low babble of a distant stream could be heard from a mile away.

A young couple came treading down one of these roads. There was no sign of a car and the distance from town made it unlikely they had come walking from there.

The man was tall and had short red hair, his long nose was surrounded by freckles, something which made the blue of his eyes stand out. He was a wizard named Ronald Weasley and the bushy haired woman by his side was his wife.

"They shouldn't be questioning either one of you. It doesn't feel right," the woman said, holding a bowl covered with a white cloth.

"They had to do it with all of us, Redfern insisted," Ron replied, he was carrying three boxes wrapped in colourful patterned paper.

"I know they had to do it, all I'm saying is that it feels wrong. And Azkaban, I can't put my finger on it yet but something just doesn't add up. Do we even know who these people are?"

Ron tried to shrug it off under the pile of gifts. "You're reading too much into it, Hermione. They're just rogue Death Eaters. It's only a matter of time before we get them."

He made his best attempt to sound reassuring, still, a frown came to him.

The Death Eaters were dark wizards who had fought in the war. They believed the only people who should be allowed to study Magic were those who came from long lines of magical families. They didn't consider children born from muggles to be worthy of the magical community. Ron and the entire Weasley family couldn't disagree more. Hermione was a muggle-born, and one of the most talented and renowned young witches in the whole of Britain.

"It doesn't make sense. If they only wanted to free those two, why was the first explosion so far away from their cells?"

The whole thing was rather dodgy, Ron had to admit. However, maybe there was no mystery to solve this time. "I dunno. Maybe their intel was sketchy. People looking into it."

Hermione peered around her husband, trying to see if they were alone, which of course they were as they were right in the middle of the countryside. When it seemed like no one would be earwigging, she leaned closer to Ron and spoke as in a murmur.

"What if they know of that thing? The one I told you about?" She paused and lowered her voice, even more, her brow furrowed with concern. "The one at the Ministry."

"Blimey Hermione, you worry too much! You said no one knew."

"I know I did, but, what if they do?" Hermione looked quite frazzled as if her mind was spanning over all what could go wrong. "It's a huge coincidence that just now that—"

"We can handle it, alright? There were not that many, and we caught some of them. They won't last much longer, everyone at the office wants a piece of them."

Ron was not entirely convinced of his own words though. Harry and Redfern thought the break-out was only the beginning of a larger plan. Harry said that whoever did it risked too much, he had a bad feeling too. Ron would have loved to disagree with them but he couldn't, he knew Harry and the Head Auror were into something.

That didn't mean he was going to tell that to Hermione of course.

They reached the bottom of the hill where a large plain field extended. Ron swept their surroundings for anything out of place, an Auror habit. There was green and sunny wherever he looked, nothing dodgy at all. Only a small grey creature scurrying through the grass, a wild raccoon. An american creature, he knew, yet one that had turned more common to see as of lately. Ron made a mental note to warn his father, those pesky animals might seem harmless alone but could get out of hand soon enough. Not much unlike Death Eaters.

The redhead forced a smile and turned to his wife. "You know what? Let's just forget all of it and enjoy the party. We're sort of late, Harry may be here already."

"We wouldn't be running this late in the first place if you had only bought the Floo powder, as you were supposed to." the woman complained.

"Oi! I said I was sorry, will get it tomorrow. Besides, I'm sure I can find a way to make it up to you." Ron answered with a teasing smile.

Hermione's cheeks got slightly redder, "Oh shut up, we're here already."

"Yes ma'am," Ron said with a huge grin as Hermione rolled her eyes.

The air around them rippled with their next step, as a huge transparent piece of fabric. Before they could blink twice, a rickety-looking house seemed to blossom out of the solid ground. It was several stories tall, with each one of them balanced precariously on top of the other, looking as if they could all fall at any moment. Everyone called that house the Burrow, it had been the home of Ron when he was younger, now only his parents lived there.

Odd noises coming from the garage, which could only mean Ron's father was trying to figure out how to make a muggle bike fly. They had their hands full though, so they didn't stop before the front door. A woman with short brown hair answered the bell there, she was drying her hands on a dishcloth, barely minding the flying potato being grated behind her back.

"Oh Ron, Hermione! It's been a while, come on in."

"Thanks, Audrey, is Harry here yet?" asked Hermione.

"No, we're only waiting for him now. As a warning, Ginny's not happy."

"Shocking," Ron said in his best ironic voice, earning a look from his wife.

Ginny was usually an easygoing person, however, when her temper got the better out of her, one had to steer clear. Ron knew it first-hand from growing up with her so he was always cautious around his little sister, especially now that she was pregnant.

It was a bit over a year since Harry and Ron's sister got married, so she was Ginny Potter now. Sometimes though, even Harry could get on the wrong side of her temper, making Ron feel torn between being amused or worried about his best mate.

As they went inside, Ron frowned. He had expected Harry to be there. It had taken too bloody long already, what the hell were they even asking him?

The familiar coziness of the Burrow was soon all around them. Even though its furniture was quite old, it was amazingly comfortable as well. It was almost the same as when Ron lived there, only that most of the portraits of Ron and his siblings were behind grandkids' photos now.

At the kitchen, Andromeda Tonks, an old friend of the family, was chopping carrots. Fleur Weasley was helping her, she was the wife of Ron's eldest brother, Bill. The younger woman had given birth to a couple of the Weasley grandkids already and had a third one in the way. Ron couldn't remember when the new Weasley was due, to him, it looked as if it could come out any moment now.

The Weasleys were a large family, with its fair share of kids and pregnant women. Ron knew his mother couldn't be happier about it.

Hermione and Ron had been thinking of growing the family as well, yet they were going to wait a year or so. Hermione was just moving to her new job at the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, now working more closely with the Minister of Magic. Ron had asked if she would be able to handle the new job and a pregnancy at the same time but Hermione had seemed quite confident of it, even excited.

"Hey, Mum."

"Ron? Weren't you two supposed to come by Floo?" asked Ron's mother, barely looking away from the stove.

"Err, yeah. We're kind of short on powder, need to get some," answered Ron while Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Hi dear, you brought the trifle," said Ron's mother as soon as she noticed Hermione.

"Of course, I hope it's enough," Hermione said, laying the dessert on the table, "Need an extra wand?"

Ron's mother accepted the help gratefully. Fleur offered her help also but Ron's mother was having none of it, she didn't want Fleur doing any kind of large effort so far into her pregnancy.

As Ron made his way to the garden, he found Hermione's eyes. Ron knew she was still worried, still thinking about that bloody thing at the Ministry. He wished he could take all her nervousness away with a magic spell or the like. Things were rarely as simple as he would like them to be though.

Outside, a large tent was being raised by Ron's brothers. There, Angelina and Ginny were levitating the last pieces of cutlery into place, both women were pregnant but nowhere near Fleur's condition.

His brother Charlie was not there, but Ron hadn't expected him to be. The second to eldest Weasley brother was working in Romania and he couldn't be around for every birthday, still, he came by every season with his hands full of presents.

Ron dropped the wrapped boxes by the gift table, noticing how packed it was this time. It only made sense, as they were celebrating not only Percy but Ginny and one of Bill's daughters as well.

"Thought you were with Harry," said Bill once Ron had finished greeting everybody.

"No, my hearing was yesterday. Guess they wanted to leave Harry for the very end. They're not mad enough to think he had something to do with it."

"They didn't have to do it. It's stupid," complained Ginny, her arms crossed over her chest.

"They had to, it's the procedure." tried Percy, but all he earned from that was a nasty glare from their sister.

"How's the questioning? Found anything useful yet?" Angelina, George's wife, asked. The dark-skinned woman was sporting a hair-style way shorter than Ron ever remembered her having during her Hogwarts years.

"Not really. Everything is strung up at the office, even Redfern is being questioned."

"The Head Auror?"

Bill nodded, "An escape from Azkaban is no small matter, especially when former Death Eaters were released. People might start arguing about defences, they might even mention dementors."

"Rubbish! People escaped with dementors too." George argued.

"No one wants them back, I reckon. It's just a political play on Kingsley," said Percy.

"But, dementors? Are they off their trolleys?"

George put an arm around Angelina, "Of course they are, my dearest, it's politics."

"Oi!" protested Percy, who aimed to pursue a political career.

It didn't take long for Ron's father to arrive. Little Teddy Lupin was there with bright blue hair, as a metamorphmagus he could change his appearance at will. Bill's daughters, Victoire and Dominique, came to the garden running after him. At her young age, Dominique already moved with the grace of her mother and older sister. Percy's only daughter, Molly, was the youngest of the lot so she was enjoying the ride on her grandfather's arms.

Teddy was asking about the garden gnomes, which made Ron remember the raccoon. His father was just wondering who could know good repelling charms when George chipped in, apparently, he was using animal hair for one of his current projects and took the kids on a raccoon hunting mission, which they saw as the greatest of adventures.

George owned a very successful joke shop, Ron used to help him up on weekends but the job at the office had kept him rather busy lately. A few weeks ago, George even offered him a full-time job, which Ron had thought about taking more than once. It would certainly lessen Hermione's worries and had the perk of being the least boring gig in the world. Maybe he could use the career change.

It was not until an hour later, once everyone was at the table, that Harry arrived. Teddy, who was sitting by his grandmother Andromeda, rushed to him at once. As the boy's godfather, Harry kept a very close relationship with Teddy. The boy always looked up to him and asked him about his adventures as an Auror.

"I promise, I'll make the Patronus later. Now, I'm starving!" Harry was telling Teddy as they approached the table.

Ginny reached them and, after mussing Teddy's hair up, she gave Harry a quick kiss. She seemed more relaxed now. "Then you should've brought your arse here sooner, Mister."

"Would have done that if I could." Harry smiled widely and went to greet everybody. He couldn't hide his serious look from Ron though. The redhead would surely hear more about it later.

Nevertheless, it was easy for Ron to take a break from all of that once he saw the food. Her mother had made a wide variety of dishes, which Ron was eager to get his hands on. Audrey's cookery knowledge was limited to very few recipes, still, she made an outstanding stew as well. The decoration on the table looked proper posh, courtesy of Fleur, who kept complaining that it was the only thing they let her help with.

All in all, it was a typical Weasley meeting, with upbeat stories from Ginny and Ron's father, for the kids' sake. Ron was enjoying the party, he took a break from his heated Quidditch discussion with Angelina to put a tender kiss on Hermione's hand, who rewarded him with a warm smile.

"Let's open presents!" Teddy hurried.

Victoire was staring at the gift table in awe. Having inherited the golden hair from her mother, the little girl was the first non-red haired Weasley in generations, but the several freckles on her face were undeniably from this side of the family.

"How many are there, Teddy?" she asked.

"I don't know, hundreds! Like thirty-seven or thirty-nine!"

There were not that many, but still quite a lot. And that considering the Azkaban affair made of the reunion a family-only event.

Dominique was beaming as she opened her presents, little Molly as well since her father was carrying her as he opened his. Molly didn't know what a magical razor or a schedule book was but she enjoyed moving the wrapping around in any case. Dominique was just discovering her love for animals, so she was excited to receive a book from Hermione about a monkey visiting a muggle zoo. On the other hand, Bill gave Percy an amulet made of Brazilian snake fangs and it was a great opportunity for one of his stories. After all, who didn't want to hear about the travels of a curse-breaker in the jungle?

"Hey, is that a colour changing tie? Nice touch Ron."

"It was Hermione's idea. I was this close of getting Percy a talking suit, can you believe it?" next to Ron, Hermione was slightly amused.

"A talking suit? That doesn't sound very useful." Ginny raised an eyebrow.

"What did it say?" asked Mrs. Tonks, intrigued.

"All kinds of greetings, it even recognized the time of the day and weather! It was brilliant!"

Hermione was holding back a laugh, "It also called you Mrs. Redhead."

As laughter erupted, Ron argued back, "Oi! It was a cracking suit, not a mind reader!"

Ron's father couldn't hide his fascination though, "Hmm I think I might get one of those. You'll need to tell me where they sell them, son."

Ginny had her fair share of gifts as well, more baby things than Quidditch equipment this time but she looked happy all the same. Besides, she didn't need as much Quidditch stuff now that she had decided to leave it for good.

Dessert was announced soon enough and, of all people, George was the one who volunteered to fetch Hermione's trifle. He even served each slice himself.

"You didn't put anything in this, did you?" Hermione asked, cautiously.

Harry and Bill, who already had their forks in mid-air, stopped in their tracks. Audrey and Mrs. Tonks put theirs down.

"You hurt me, Hermione, I would never do something like that to you," replied George. Angelina's eyes switching between her husband and the trifle, suspicion written all over her face.

On previous parties, George had always found a way to play a trick on someone, usually Ron. One time he even made him blow confetti out of his mouth for a whole night. Ron was troubled. One part of him wanted to eat his wife's trifle, which he knew was delicious, but another side doubted.

Suddenly, Hermione grabbed her plate and swapped it with Ron's. "So, is it okay if I take Ron's? It's a smaller portion and I ate a lot already," she said, her brown eyes on George. Everyone knew George didn't have a problem pulling one on Ron but he would have to be mental to try something on Hermione.

"As you please, my dear sister-in-law."

Hermione took a bite, everyone staring, even Percy looked nervy. A whole minute passed and when nothing seemed to happen, the Weasleys relaxed and started eating. The trifle was harmless, or at least that was what Ron thought.

As soon as Ron grabbed a bite from what was supposed to be Hermione's slice, he got a weird feeling in his mouth, then an itch. When the redhead tried scratching his cheek he noticed something, hair, shedloads of it.

People were laughing, Angelina almost spilled her juice out of her nostrils.

"Woah! Wicked!" said Teddy.

The boy's grandmother had her eyes open wide, unable to look away from Ron, "Oh my..."

"What? What is it?" Ron was getting worried.

"George!" yelled their mother.

Fleur took pity on him, the french woman transfigured a tray into a proper mirror. That's when Ron saw the fur.

The redhead panicked, every spot on his face was covered with either grey or black fur, raccoon patterned. He knew what George's current project was now.

"You git! It's not funny." Ron protested. Ginny didn't seem to agree as she was having a hard time holding back the laughs. Not even Ron's frown could make her stop.

Hermione on the other hand was gobsmacked. "But, how did you—? When?"

George had the biggest grin ever. Not far away, Bill was pointing between them, "You— but what if she hadn't— She would've— Oh Merlin, that was bold!"

Hermione took out her wand and pointed it at George. The redhead man raised his arms in defeat, "It was Percy's idea!" he said at once.

"What? No! No! I barely helped him with the last part, it was him, I swear. I—"

Hermione flicked her wand at both of them as they closed their eyes. At first, it appeared as if she hadn't done anything, George and Percy looked confused.

"What? I don't feel any different," said George, but he did so with a high-pitched voice, almost as if he was some muggle cartoon talking. "Oi!" he said once he listened to himself.

Laughs returned to the table, including from Dominique who was now on Audrey's lap. Percy did too but in a high pitched tone. Even Harry, who surely had tons of things to deal with, was cheering loudly, barely able to contain himself.

"I think it sounds better," Angelina said as Audrey chuckled.

"I don't find ze difference," Fleur added with a grin.

Ron finally joined them after Teddy grew some grey fur himself, trying to match Ron's. Victoire was amused at Teddy's display and everyone else looked happy, as if nothing bad had ever happened to them. Among all the joyful faces, Ron was glad to see Hermione smiling as well, he didn't care he had as much fur as Crookshanks at the moment.

Looking at George and Percy laughing at their voices made Ron remember his deceased brother as well. Fred had been George's twin, and they always did those kinds of things together, at least his spirit remained with them in some way. Fred would be proud of those two. Despite it, Ron had to admit he would do almost anything to have the real Fred back at the table with them. A part of him even felt guilty for enjoying this without him.

George yielded soon enough, giving Ron an antidote. All the raccoon fur reduced into nothingness as Ron released a pleased sigh. Even then, Hermione didn't lift the voice spell on Ron's brothers.

"Hey! I can't go to work like this."

Percy squeaked scandalized, his glasses almost fell, "What are you talking about?! You work in a joke shop! I'm the one with the problem!"

As the party continued, people got used to Percy and George's voices. Teddy went to Harry and asked him for the Patronus, to which his godfather agreed joyfully. When the night came, George took the kids to prepare the fireworks. It was time for a serious talk.

It was a bloody shame to see the happy mood leave the table.

Harry talked about his hearing, he informed the investigations were now heading outside of the Auror Office so it was likely the questioning could reach Hermione, Percy, or even Ron's father.

"Are you sure they're Death Eaters?" asked Ron's father at some point.

Harry shrugged, "The surviving Aurors are too injured to answer questions. It seems so, no one knows for sure."

"But this is not like before, is it?"

"We don't think so, Molly. It's believed they are only a handful of them left, they were not that many."

"Any more news?" Percy asked in his high pitched voice, a few smirks lightened the mood. "Oh, come on Hermione!"

A few seconds before, Hermione had been properly sober, but that made her struggle to contain a laugh. She lifted the spell and Percy's voice returned to normal.

"Thanks."

Harry sighed, "As you all know, these men freed Dolohov and Rowle. It doesn't seem like they wanted anyone else, they went straight to their cells once inside."

Hermione still looked troubled, Ron knew she had her doubts. The massive explosion had taken place at the warden's office, precisely at the time people from the Department of Magical Transportation were carrying on an inspection. It was too strange to be a coincidence, even so, no reason had been found for Dolohov's buddies to attack the transportation workers.

Mrs. Tonk and Ron's mother turned to look at Teddy in the distance. Dolohov had killed Teddy's father and the kid was left without knowing his parents. Harry looked unsettled.

"Poor child." Ron's mother muttered.

No one said anything more about the topic since not even Harry had much more information to share.

Ron held his wife's hand, trying to reassure her, and she rested her head on his shoulder for a while. Ron saw Harry putting an arm over his sister's shoulder as well, they were whispering to one another.

George eventually returned and the fireworks started. Soon everyone was in a better mood, or at least it appeared so. The fireworks were fantastic and not only the kids were in awe. George always found a way to best himself and a colourful figure of a flying Quidditch player in the sky was a way to do it.

"What about me?" George asked when he noticed Percy talking with his normal voice.

"You could use the voice a little longer," Angelina said, smirking.

"Awww! Angelina!"

Later on, as they were cleaning and picking up the remains of the party, George gave away some free samples of his products. Ron took a few classic Ton-Tongue Toffes and also some Party Blasters, which were those little purple sweets that made you barf confetti. He didn't want to say it yet but if he was going to consider that job offer he might as well start giving a closer look at the goods.

Ron had to give that offer a more serious thought. It was a good opportunity but he didn't want to let Harry down at the job either, his friend was counting on him.

Once the night fell, everyone headed back to the house, Ginny and Angelina arguing loudly about the upcoming Quidditch league games on their way back. So, when Hermione found herself alone with Ron and Harry, she dragged them all the way to the other side of the tent, near the broom shed. It appeared as if it was only Bill who noticed, even so, he continued talking with his father and George.

"Do you know?" Hermione asked Harry in a low voice, not giving him a chance to even ask what all of that was about.

"Know what?" he asked startled.

Hermione turned to her husband, "Have you told him?"

Ron was equally surprised, it took him a moment to understand what she meant. He shook his head.

His wife released a breath, heavily, "Look, Harry, what I'm about to tell you is very sensitive information. It shouldn't be passed around and I didn't want to worry Ginny or the others."

"Hermione, you're scaring me. What is it?" Harry said cautiously, looking at Ron.

With her usual fast pace, Hermione let the whole thing out at once.

"There's something at the Ministry right now, not even Kingsley knows about it, but I'm afraid that whoever attacked Azkaban might. You see, I've been working with some Unspeakables, they looked for me after my speech on the Time-Turners and—"

"Wait, Time-Turners?"

Hermione nodded, she was uneasy, "Saul Croaker was who looked for me. It's an old project of his, he made it to understand time itself, or so it seems. There was a breakthrough though, unexpected. After using my theories on it, Croaker noticed different capabilities on the device."

Harry adjusted his glasses, "I don't think I'm following you, Hermione. What's this device? Why is it so important?"

"Don't look at me, I asked the same questions," Ron answered the stares his best mate was throwing at him, he knew where this was going. Ron found his feet suddenly interesting. He was not sure how his friend was going to react to Hermione's words.

"A window," Hermione said at last. "I haven't seen it but that's how Unspeakable Croaker refers to it. I have made a few calculations, wild guesses. Hypothetically speaking, this window could allow a person to time travel years into the future, or into the past, I'm not entirely sure."

Harry moved a few steps away, thinking Hermione's words through. His reaction was of concern and certainly quieter than what Ron's had been. The redhead remembered almost toppling over once he made sure Hermione was not taking the mickey out of him.

On the other side of the garden, Ron's father had noticed them. In a way, it felt familiar to be having hidden conversations just the three of them, in another it felt completely different. They had done this before to save their lives, now Ron was in this because it was his job, and he was going to keep doing it for as long as he was an Auror. Did he really want to do this for the rest of his life?

"You're talking about actual time travel. For years." Harry finally said, "That's— are you sure?"

Hermione nodded. "Positive. Croaker has it under control now, or so he says. However, it poses a great danger. You know what this means, right? This could alter the very outcome of the war!"

"I understand as much, yes. Yet I'm still not sure how this could reach the wrong ears." Silence fell on the three of them. Harry looked troubled as he moved his eyes between his oldest friends. "If I get this correctly, you are implying an Unspeakable could be giving away information?" Harry raised an eyebrow at her.

"You think there's a rat at the Auror Office, they could get an Unspeakable as well. It doesn't even have to be Saul Croaker, he doesn't work alone."

"It's not the same, Hermione. Since the war, the Department of Mysteries has been more secretive, you know that. Most people don't even know the identities of the Unspeakables anymore. This would need at least as much inside knowledge as Voldemort had and that's— If it were true, then, I can't even measure the impact on the Ministry."

"It's possible."

"Do you have any proof?"

Ron threw Hermione a sad look, he knew everything was merely guesses. Above them a cloud was passing by, for a while they were covered in the sober silence of the dark.

"No, but, we didn't have this— this window at the Department of Mysteries during the previous attacks. Previous attacks weren't even as successful for them as this was. Then there's the whole explosion, the first one, a rather blurry situation if you ask me. I have a bad feeling. It's not about if this is probable or not, it's about the damage it could cause!"

It was obvious she had lost Harry at 'No'.

Harry exchanged some weird looks with Ron. "I understand, I do, but..." he let out a tired sigh, he looked knackered, "I don't know Hermione."

Ron's blue eyes were set on his concerned wife, all he wanted to do was to be able to put all of her worries and problems away. Instead, the situation was growing as the fur had grown on his face after the trifle.

"Harry, mate, why don't we keep an eye open? Just in case. Maybe check if this Croaker has been talking to anyone lately?" he offered.

Harry didn't look sure, still, he nodded. "I guess it wouldn't hurt, especially with the new arrangements."

"What new arrangements?"

"Redfern is setting up regular night guards for at least a month or so. He wants the two of us to start at the Ministry, a week from now, once the emergency teams go back to their regular schedules. Someone convinced him that St Mungo's and Diagon Alley already have too many wands. He says he needed his best men on the place with the fewer Aurors."

Whatever Hermione planned to get from that conversation, it was surely not this, "Fewer Aurors?"

Harry nodded. "Don't worry, they would be mad if they thought of attacking the Ministry. We might have fewer wands but the defences on that place are impenetrable. I would have personally preferred to be at St Mungo's, it would be very bad if they hit there." He didn't look happy with the decision.

"But— the rat?"

"If he exists, he doesn't know about those defences, don't think so. Everything was reinforced after the attack, very few people know. Besides, it would require a lot of strength to go fast through those defences. They don't have those numbers from what I've heard."

Hermione looked gutted and, for some reason, Ron was getting a very bad feeling as well. He was not very excited about having the night shift either.

Nothing more was said about it. Harry was Redfern's right hand and had a lot on his head, maybe he was right and things were under control. However, when Ron saw Hermione more concerned than ever, he couldn't keep from worrying himself.

He hugged her as he placed a small kiss on her forehead. "It's alright. I know how to take care of myself and, if he's with me, Harry has nothing to fear."

Hermione gave him a weak smile, which didn't reach her eyes.

Everything was okay, Ron had to believe that. Life was perfect. They had beaten Voldemort and there was no way that they could face something worse at the Ministry. Soon they would be laughing about it and thinking of having a new Weasley kid themselves. Harry and Ron were trained Aurors, experienced, two of the best in the entire country. Everything was going well.