Author's Note: As usual, I disclaim. Anything that sounds like it might not belong to me probably doesn't. That's over with, let me just warn you. Serious confusionary, depressing-fic thing happening here. Please, do read it and review.. *gets teary eyed* it would really make me a hapy little childe....
1. The Malfoy Estate

Harry Potter was, for once in his life, having a pretty good birthday. Midnight, as his birthday dawned found Harry sleepless, and going over his already packed trunk for the millionth time. "wand, firebolt, cauldron, robes, Hedwig." He said, rattling off a few things in his huge trunk. He looked up at the owl, who was quietly preening inside her cage.
Harry was elated because, for the second summer in a row, he was going to stay with the Weasleys. Apparently, the Dursley's had found that, without Harry in the house, they were a very happy family. So, as soon as he got off the train, and home, they fairly demanded he go stay with someone for the last few weeks of summer. Harry was only too happy to oblige, especially since it meant that he was allowed to send Hedwig to Ron to arrange things, and chat all summer. He slowly closed and locked his trunk, then, yawning, fell back onto his bed. He was sound asleep before his head hit the pillow.
The next morning dawned sunny, with a refreshing breeze. Early in the morning, before the Dursleys got up, Harry had all his stuff down the stairs and at the door. Grumpily, Mr. Dursley opened the door, when a loud, repeated ringing sound signified that someone had apparently knocked on the doorbell. Outside, stood Mr. Weasley, and behind him, the four younger Weasley children.
"Hullo, I'm just here to collect Harry!" said Mr. Weasley, brightly. Harry breathed a sigh of relief that, so far Mr. Weasley wasn't trying to learn anything about Muggles from this visit.
"Take him, AND GET THE HELL OFF OF MY PROPERTY!" Yelled Vernon Dursley, shoving Harry and his stuff out the door, and slamming it behind him.
"Usual Dursley behavior" was all Harry could say, as he helped Fred, George and Ron carry his things down the driveway.
Sitting on the street was a very snappy red car, a Japanese Brand SUV. Harry stopped and looked at it in amazement. He pulled Ron aside, and whispered "is this.. yours?"
"Yeah." Ron said, as he helped load the things into the trunk. "Dad got it off an old wizard who liked to tinker with Muggle cars. He 'confiscated' it." Ron and Harry smiled, knowing Mr. Weasley's fondness for Muggle machines.
They hopped in the car, which, like the Anglica, somehow fit them all with no squishing. "Nice, huh?" Fred asked Harry, as the engine began to purr. "Don't know what Dad's tricked it up to do, but I'm betting it's gonna be spectacular!" he and George looked at each other, and harry could tell they were up to no good.
They turned off of Privet Drive, and onto the deserted Mulberry Lane. It was a long, tree lined avenue, which the Dursleys found to be a "haven of crime". Harry rather liked it, actually.
Mr. Weasley turned to look at the kids in his back seat. "Don't tell anyone, now.." he said, and suddenly, with a jerk, they were on a back alleyway, in a large city. Everyone in the car gasped.
"Like the knight bus?" Harry asked Mr. Weasley. "Sure is. Got the spells right off of it's maker, too." He said, pulling into another driveway. "This.. if we're in the right place.. is Hermione's house." Ron announced.
And, as if on cue, the door opened to produce the selfsame girl. Her hair was braided with long ribbons that trailed onto her back, but other than that, she was the same as a few, ever too long months ago.
"Harry! Ron!" she yelled, and out from the house popped Crookshanks, a spider in his mouth. He dropped it at Ron's feet. This produced what could be described as an amazingly hilarious response from Ron. That is, unless you were anywhere near Ron at the time you told him you saw it as such.
After the poor boy had been calmed some, Hermoine's things were loaded next to Harry's, and they pulled out of her driveway as her parents waved and shouted to her to practice proper oral hygiene.
When the car made another shift to an empty country road, Hermione almost had a heart attack. "You know this is entirely illegal, right Mr. Weasley?" she asked after calming down. The driver only nodded slightly-he was too busy admiring the new ride.
Suddenly, an owl swooped in the open window. It was gray, and large, and had around it's neck the ministry of magic's official seal. It dropped a piece of parchment onto the stunned Mr. Weasley's lap, and settled itself down in Fred's Lap to wait for a response. And a tip.
Mr. Weasley read the letter with growing delight. By the time he had finished it, he was actually almost laughing. And the car was wiggling all over the road. Apparently even magic couldn't make up for bad driving skills.
"We've got it!" he yelled, breathlessly, and the car jumped from the little road outside of a country town to the middle of a forest. "We just got a search warrant for Lucius Malfoy's estate. ALL of it! We're going to get him this time for sure!" the car jumped again, this time to a parked state just in front of a huge set of iron wrought gates. Behind them, the people in the car could see a huge house looming up out of the fog and darkness that shouldn't have fallen before noon.
"I want you all to stay IN THIS CAR." Mr. Weasley said, as he hopped out, and took the keys with him. Fred and George sighed in disappointment. "Don't even THINK of leaving until I get back!" he said, and disappeared into the mist.
The owl, who was still with them, and looking slightly ruffled and confused, made a querying sound at the young wizards and witches in the car. George got the message, and, digging into his pocket, produced a sickle, which he gave the bird. It hooted in thanks, and took off out the window, plainly glad to leave such a gloomy place.
"So…" Harry began. But he was stopped as a great commotion made it's way down the drive, and into view.
A group of what could only be the equivalent of a SWAT team were bringing, or in one case, carrying the Malfoys away. First came two wizards, each in blue uniforms, with long blue and black striped wands, restraining between them Lucius Malfoy. Or maybe restraining wasn't quite the word. Lucius was doing his best to look like he WANTED to be where he was, and this was all something he had planned on. But it wasn't working. He looked, shocking though it was, rather cowed by the large, imposing police force.
Directly behind him, Malfoy's wife was being dragged out. She was kicking and screaming, and struggling viciously to get back to her home. And after her came three brawny wizards, carrying between them an angry, almost purple faced Malfoy. He was totally rigid from the neck down, and one could guess someone had been using a little restrainment spell on him.
By the time Lucius and his escort reached the gates, the entire group of passengers was pressed against the window nearest. Harry and Ron, who were farthest away, made the great discovery of the sun roof, and climbed out of it as high as they could.
Malfoy saw them, and his face turned, if it was possible, and even more outrageous shade of purple, fading into indigo and even a bit of blue. This entertained every single member of the car to no end.
As the strange parade collected itself outside the gates, they were suddenly not there anymore. "They diss-apparated." Hermione stated simply enough.
Ron turned to Harry and Hermione. "Both Fred and George have failed THREE straight apparition tests." He said, trying hard to keep a straight face. Fred and George stared daggers at him.
"Now... where shall we go in the Malfoy estate?" Fred asked. George copied his mischievous look. And Hermione put her foot down. Literally. The tower of people against the window collapsed, and Hermione's foot ended up firmly planted on Fred's face.
After they had all gotten them selves sorted out, Hermione objected. "We're supposed to stay in the car! We could get in major trouble with the ministry of magic!"
"Hermoine, you're paranoid. We won't get in trouble…" Fred said.
"As long as we don't get caught!" finished George.
And with that, they hopped out of the car. "I'm staying here!" Hermoine yelled, as Harry and Ron followed them. Ginny hesitated, looking from her brothers to Harry, to Hermione, up to the mansion, and back to them all again. Finally, she leaned out and pulled the door shut. "Get yourselves arrested if you want to!" she yelled as the four boys turned and slipped through the gate.
Silently, the boys crept up the hill, startling again and again at sounds coming from the house. Finally, after what seemed an eternity, they found themselves at the back door, the servant's entrance. "Shall we?" Fred asked, with a devilish grin on his face.
"Um… It's locked…" Ron said, pulling on the handle, to no avail.
"Why should a little thing like THAT stop us?" George asked, and pulled out his wand. With one flick of his hand, the door swung open. "After you…" George beckoned them into the darkened house.
It was gothic. WAY gothic. "I can see how Malfoy would enjoy a place like this…" Harry muttered as they passed the third medieval torture instrument in a row, each of them kept well polished and in good order.
And almost every door they passed had a little note tagged to it, reading "checked". The rooms contents had been sorted through, and anything dangerous or illegal had been removed.
"Hey! C'mere!" George, who was a few feet ahead of Harry and Ron, suddenly stopped, looking down to the floor. A large, and rather obvious wooden door was sitting there. "A trap door! And the room hasn't been checked!"
"I wonder how they missed that…" Harry said, out loud, as Fred and George opened the room below them.
They were looking down into something that really could have been a dungeon. A small iron ladder hung down into the room. And a strange, blue glow was seeping out into the ill lit corridor.
Harry gulped, but as it seemed to fall to him to be the hero, he slowly climbed down into the room. Ron followed almost immediately after him. And the twins weren't long in coming, now that whatever trap might be in the room had been enacted upon others.
The entire group gasped at what they saw. A girl was lying on a bed, in the center of the room. Her hair, long and blonde, was spread above her head, and around her body like some angelic aura. Her skin was extremely pale, unblemished in every way. Her eyes were closed, and her face wore an expression of peace. She wore a long white dress, ruffled, and of a Victorian style. One would have almost assumed, as perfect as she was, that she was dead. If not for the steady rising and falling of her chest.
Surrounding her bed were twelve oil lamps, each burning with a brilliant blue flame. They gave her already porcelain skin an undead, sinister cast.
The boys took one look at this and realized they were in over their heads. They escaped back up the stairs, and held a mini-conference in a nearby closet.
"There's a girl… in that basement…" was all that was said for the next five minutes or so.
"We ought to tell someone." Ron said, quite plainly.
"No Way!! Are you crazy?!" the twins responded, in tandem.
"THERE IS A GIRL… LYING IN THE BASEMENT… ASLEEP… SOMEONE NEEDS TO HELP HER…" Ron practically yelled.
"Whoa! Was that Granger talking?" Fred asked.
"Come on Ron. Let's go find your Dad." Harry said, stood up, and left the closet.
Finding a person in a huge, unfriendly mansion can be kind of tough. Especially when you need to bring them back to a certain spot. So Harry, Ron, and sooner or later George and Fred just sort of stood outside of the trapdoor and yelled.
It didn't work. So Fred and George decided to take matters into their own, more experienced attention-getting hands. Err... wands is more like it. They set off a series of incredibly loud booms that no one not deaf could fail to trace to the exact spot they were standing in.
Mr. Weasley and a troupe of the police wizards appeared suddenly, running down the corridor. They all stopped on a dime when they saw the bunch of young boys, one of which being Harry Potter.
"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?!?!?!" Mr. Weasley yelled, marching forward. "WHEN WE GET HOME, YOUR MOTHER IS GOING TO SKIN YOU ALIVE!! COMING INTO A DANGEROUS PLACE LIKE THIS….LEAVING GINNY AND HERMOINE, ALL ALONE IN THE CAR I'D EXPECT! YOU'LL BE LUCKY IF YOU-" At that point, he was stopped by the even louder yelling of Ron.
"DAD!! WE FOUND A ROOM UNDER THE FLOOR!! THERE'S A GIRL IN THERE!!" Mr. Weasley made the instant switch from parent to law enforcement.
"Room under the floor??" he asked, before being dragged to the now-closed door. "What room? There's no trap door here… Are you playing some kind of stupid joke? Your mother will have my head for letting you in this place!"
"What? You can't see it? It's right here!" Ron said, tapping it with his foot.
"Wait a minute. I've heard of things like this!" George said, stepping forward. He tapped the door a few times with his wand, in different places, until suddenly, there was a resounding 'PING' sound.
"Why, by golly! There IS a trapdoor there!" Mr. Weasley said. "it must have been enchanted…" The other wizards gathered round to look at the now plainly visible door.
"Less talking, more getting crazy dead girl!" Fred said, opening the door and hopping down into the cellar. Mr. Weasley and two of the burly police wizards followed suit. Harry, Ron and George barely fit into the now crowded chamber. But there was a semicircle of empty space around the girl. No one wanted to get any closer.
Mr. Weasley slowly approached the girl. He gasped when he got a good look at her face, and gestured to a few of the others to come look at her. Feverish whispering erupted, and, for a few minutes, all the boys understood were the occasional words like 'can't believe it' and 'malfoys'll be in Ascaban forever…'
Finally, four of the police-type wizards came out of the huddle, bearing the girl gently in their arms, and hoisted her up the stairs. As she passed by the boys, they could see her complexion was better already, and she looked less dead, and more asleep. Mr. Weasley carefully extinguished all the blue flames, and turned to them. "We have to get home, quickly to get your mother and the others. Then we're going to pay a visit to the Ministry's hospital."
*****peeeeezie review me?