Saturday, July 19th, 2014. 2:45 PM.

  2014 Quidditch World Cup Stadium, Patagonian Desert, Argentina.

  As they approached the final left turn to the corridor that ran by the Bulgarian dressing room, Ginny used the Auror sign for 'Slow,' and cast a Muffliato over the four of them. Harry had his arm out to hold Viktor back, but he apparently knew what to do.

  "He's Hip to the Jive," Ron whispered. Harry gave him a puzzled look.

  Ginny whispered as well, even though they were covered by the spell. "Ron. Creepy Mousie Mirror."

  "Brilliant! Give me just a second, it's been a while."

  Harry looked to Ginny. Quietly, she said, "A Weasley family tradition, passed from sibling to sibling. Just pre-wand magic, very simple. It lets you check around corners without being observed."

  Harry's eyes widened. "I can see where a... rambunctious family like yours could use something like that." Ginny stuck out her tongue.

  "There," Ron whispered. Harry looked back to see him regarding a seemingly empty spot in the air.

  Ron's eyes moved as if tracking something. When the point he was regarding passed Harry, he suddenly saw a large, reflective-looking surface angled at forty-five degrees to his right. It appeared to be visible only from the right side, but it did not show a reflection of the corridor wall to their right. It showed, instead, what was ninety degrees to their left. As it crept out into the junction of the corridors, it afforded them a view down the length of the hallway.

  "Looks normal," Ron whispered doubtfully. There were the standard two guards on duty outside the dressing room door. The guards were from the International Committee Auror Detachment, who had not been let on to Krum's situation. Basically, the guards were there to keep fans and autograph hounds from pestering the players.

  "No," said Ginny, wrinkling her brow slightly. It was so damn cute, Harry wanted to kiss her again. She went on, "Something is wrong. They're too still. And what is wrong with that one guard's hand?"

  Harry peered a little closer. Ginny put her hand on his chest when he almost leaned into the other corridor.

  Snatching himself back, Harry looked again.

  "Can you zoom in on that hand, Ron?"

  Ron bit his upper lip, concentrating. The view wavered a little, then expanded.

  "That's good enough. Those guards are Petrified. One of them had just enough time to make an Auror sign with his offside hand. It was at a bad angle, but I got it."

  "And it says?" Ginny asked.

  "Ambush," Harry said flatly.

  "Auror Sign Language is international?" At Harry's nod, Ron looked thoughtful. "Hmm," he went.

  Ginny cut in. "Ron, this is no time to consider how to order food in other countries by using Sign." At Ron's abashed look, Ginny grinned, and went on, "Got your Apparition point picked out?"

  Ron nodded. "Just around the corner of that next cross-corridor past the guards, fire a spell, and move on. I have enough points memorised that I won't ever have to jump to the same one twice. Plus some surprises." His Evil Grin wasn't a patch on George's, but it wasn't bad.

  "'Sound and Fury'," agreed Ginny.

  Harry turned to where Viktor, (probably), was. "Stick to the far wall. Gather the front of the cloak up so you can crouch slightly, and not trip. Give us just five seconds start, then move fast and smooth. The Cloak will protect you from most Spells, Jinxes, and Curses. A very strong Magic User would have to hit you dead on with a very strong spell, and even then, it probably wouldn't work well. By the time you get to the door, Ginny will have cast an Illusion over it, and I will have opened it with a Silent Alohomora. Ginny will wait until she sees the ripple of you passing through the Illusion, then seal the real door with Colloportus. I think there's space for you to squeeze behind that closest guard without toppling him."

  Viktor's voice came from the air, almost where Harry thought he had been.

  "Consider me to haf giffen you an intelligent nod, and a thumbs up."

  The three visible people grinned.

  Ron said, "Ginny, give me a sign. I'm off to 'Bullwhip Griffin.' "

  "Which is the Hel what?" asked Harry.

  "It's a historical documentary I saw on the Magic-Proof tel-uh-vision. We've decided to call it WizardVision!" Ron said. "Three-Point-Oh," he added.

  "Wizard Vision?" Harry said doubtfully.

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  "One word," said Ron. "But still with a Capital 'V' in the middle."

  "Ah. WizardVision." Harry looked at Ron. "Why Three-Point-Oh?"

  "It implies that we've worked all the bugs out in the first two versions." Under his breath, Ron added, "Duh."

  "IF you don't mind?" Ginny said at normal, (actually slightly loud), volume. There were two startled twitches and a rustle, before the three men remembered they were under a Muffliato.

  She went on. "Since we have decided to risk our lives in this lunacy, I would like to get it over with. I have to get to the Top Box, or Rita Skeeter will be doing all the commentary." This elicited two shudders and another rustle.

  Ron mumbled, "Come to think of it, I don't believe there was an actual whip in that movie."

  Ginny raised a long-suffering eyebrow. "Just George being a git about your Appartion?" Ron nodded ruefully. She snorted. "He's got a lot of room to talk."

  At Harry's raised eyebrow, she said. Ever hear one of those Muggle medical emergency vehicles?"

  "He makes a siren sound?"

  "Hmmph! If only. There's a noise they make when the sirens aren't getting enough attention. Everything goes quiet for a moment, then..."

  She and Ron screwed up their faces, and went, "BWHAAMP!"

  It was like two dissonant foghorns with unsynchronised head colds.

  Ron wriggled his nose. "That tingles," he complained. "But you have to have two people to do it justi..."

  "EEF you don't MIND!?!" Krum's voice was close to a bellow. Three people jumped. There were no rustles. More calmly, he said, "Time is vaystink."

  "Life is fleeting," agreed Ginny. "Hit it, Bullwhip Cannonball."

  Ron winced, then rallied. "Them varmints ain't a-gonna know whut hit 'em!"

  There was a loud CRACK!

  ***

  Harry and Ginny burst into the corridor. She dodged left, as he took a step or two to build speed, before diving along the polished marble floor. They both had cast Disillusionment Charms on themselves. Unfortunately, those worked best if you held perfectly still, which wasn't currently an option.

  But, sauce for the goose and all that. The people laying in wait were not nearly as good at holding their concentration, and therefore their spells, as were trained Aurors. It also didn't help that extremely loud CRACK sounds kept coming, sometimes twice or thrice a second. In the enclosed space, the sound was actually painful.

  Disillusionment also wasn't one of Ron's best laid Charms, but that helped him in a way. His patchy appearance of being there and not there simultaneously was almost camouflage. It only got more effective as the ambushers lost control of their own concealment methods. There were at least three Demiguise Cloaks laying about, having tripped up their owners.

  Ron had them all in an absolute frenzy of blasting off spells, with no consideration of friendly fire at all. Very few seemed capable of Silent Casting, either. Their shouts just warned the Aurors, and gave away their location. If, that is, they had managed to remain hidden to begin with.

  Harry and Ginny had hunkered down, having already cast their planned spells. Ginny was watching the Illusioned door fixedly, waiting for her sign.

  A woman's voice rang out. "You useless cretins! Is the door blocked? Who was assigned to block the door?" Her crisp upper class accent cut through the din.

  "M'lady, no!" husked a voice. "Don't draw attenti..."

  Two Silent and one muffled Stupefy spells detonated about the guard who had one hand still showing Auror sign. Harry saw the man manage to roll his eyes in exasperation. Like he could get more petrified.

  A small robed form appeared, wavering into visibility as it rolled forward, unconscious. It had come from the left side of the guard, where it had been blocking Krum's route to the door. There was a sound of flapping cloth. The two Petrified guards flew off their feet and back, as if they had been snatched up by a very strong man. The surface of the Illusionary door rippled as they passed through. The real door was instantly sealed by Ginny's silent Colloportus.

  Down the hall, a tall, raven-haired, beautiful woman appeared suddenly, as if her Disillusion spell had been suddenly blasted off of her.

  "In nome di Serpeverde, cosa credete di fare, stupidi!" She almost screamed the Italian, but her voice sounded like an opera diva's, in beautifully modulated, if very loud words. "Blaise! Sabino! To me!"

  A man appeared, hunched over like a dog expecting a kick. His gaze flitted from spot to spot, expecting attack. "Mia Signora, neither are here. You sent them else... where..."

  He stuttered to a halt, as her mad amber eyes fixed on him. A long moment passed. Her face smoothed as she seemed to be working toward mastering herself.

  "You are right, as always, my loyal Giuseppe. I remember my orders to them now. This is another failure, and, worse, my failure." Her eyes were actually changing color, becoming a metallic gold. "Krum is safe, and we can not touch him when he is with his team. But I tire of restrictions, and half-measures, and..."

  She paused, and looked about. "Where are the herdsmen?"

  Giuseppe winced. "If you please, My Lady, they are tribesmen." He refused to meet the gaze she directed at him.

  "Of course," she said in a smooth voice. "My apologies, tribesmen. No insult was intended. Put it down to the ravages of time that a mature woman is prone to."

  Three forms wavered into view, the central one being supported almost totally by his fellows.

  'Yes, Lady Mother of our Oath Holder," said one of them. "Allowances must be made, for the Elderly, or the Infirm..."

  "And, of course," added the other flanker, "...the Mad. Thank the Spirits of Our Forest that we do not have to deal with the Mad."

  The woman's eyes flashed amber, then returned to gold, so quickly it could have been a trick of the light.

  "Lady," the first spoke again. "Grant us leave to withdraw, that we may heal our leader. Spells have different effects on our kind than on humans."

  "Of course." She waved a dismissive hand. "Take him to the manse. La Strega will heal him."

  The two hale tribesmen bowed slightly under their burden. "We thank you for the offer, Lady, but as spells work differently, so does healing. We will treat him according to our ways." They started of down the hall, Guising themselves slowly as they went.

  The woman spoke to Giuseppe as they wavered out of sight. "It is a shame the attackers made it through the door. It would be a consolation to... deal with them."

  The tribesmen became visible almost abruptly. They were already turned toward the entry of the cross-corridor. Facing slightly back to the bedraggled group, the one in the center managed to raise his head a tiny bit.

  "My Lord's Mother, I fear you are mistaken." Blood mixed with saliva oozed slowly down the front of his robes. "Only three people made it through the door."

  One of his supporters added, "And two of those were the guards."

  The woman froze, then turned deliberately to the trio, who were already wavering back into Guise.

  "Are you sure?" she demanded.

  The flanker glanced back at her as his group rounded the corner, cowled heads already fading out of sight.

  "Of course," he said, in a puzzled tone. "We're not scrubs."