Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to neither Patton nor Margaret. If it did, we would be a hell of a lot richer and therefore not work together at a café.

Other: This is the creation of Patton and Margaret, writing together under the name of "A bag of Rock Salt". We throw ideas back and forth, write chapters together and separately, and so on and so forth.

Pairings as of now: HP/GW, RW/HG…. More to follow with a possibility for slash or femslash

Malleus

Harry Potter woke the morning after his twenty-first birthday feeling distinctly hung-over. The wretched concoction of Ogden's old fire-whiskey and yet another fight with Ginny left Harry completely obliterated and cursing the bright, hot August sunlight streaming happily through the window.

Harry's hand fumbled a long time for his wand laying somewhere in the vicinity of his bedside table. Finally his hand closed around something that was wand-like enough and gave a lazy flick towards the curtains. When nothing happened, he chanced certain blindness to discover he'd just attempted a fairly simple bit of magic with a toothbrush. A few whispered curse words later, the curtains were closed and Harry could safely review his current predicament. The first thing will be to get rid of the hangover. Simple enough, there might even be some of that potion he and Ron cooked up a few months ago for Ron's birthday. Next, and slightly more serious was the Ginny situation.

The fight was about something dumb, almost always was. The thing about fighting with Ginny Weasley was that you were never exactly sure what you were fighting about; let alone what started the fight in the first place. It always started as one thing and then, just when Harry was getting good and interested, it switched to something else entirely. This particular fight had something to do with why, four years after finishing his magical education, he'd not yet began his Auror training. Then, as Ginny often did, she brought the true meaning of the argument to light. Apparently, it was a source of great indignation that Harry had not asked Ginny to marry him yet. Not just to Ginny, but to Hermione and Mrs. Weasley as well. Harry dreaded the next time he'd have to see Hermione, knowing full well she was completely incapable of keeping her mouth shut. He wished he could avoid her entirely, but seeing as how she was dating Ron and that Ron was his best friend and roommate, he didn't see how this was possible.

Harry could hear Ron's grunting snores coming from the bedroom down the hall. He tried feebly to get out of bed, if for no other reason just to shut his door but lost heart halfway through and just decided to lie there and let his thoughts wander. Of course, as they always did, his thoughts wandered back to Ginny. He assumed she apparated back to the burrow to cry on Molly's shoulders and he allowed himself a small, evil grin as he thought of Ginny being so infuriated with him that she'd gone and splinched herself. He felt guilty immediately afterwards but also thought that nothing taught you a little humility better than leaving an ear or something behind and having to go back and retrieve it.

Harry's bladder finally won out over the headache and he was able to pull himself up, felt around for a t-shirt (his favorite black one with the new Weird Sisters logo), sniffed it to make sure it was ok for one more day and headed down the hall.

About this time Ron was on the verge of consciousness by an owl tapping maddeningly on his window. When he realized the dream he was having was about being a house-elf mining for diamonds for his master was blending with that incessant ticking noise coming from the real world outside the window, then all hope for drowsy comfort was lost. He grudgingly swam up from the thinning blackness of sleep to see Pig fluttering around hooting merrily.

Ron knew that the message was from Hermione. No doubt it was yet another rejection to one of Ron's myriad requests for a private, romantic dinner and quiet evening by the fire. They had been growing apart ever since she started interning at St. Mungo's. But no, now that Ron thought about it, that wasn't true. It started even before that. Ron had been in some denial about it until now but he'd come to realize that they'd been spending less and less time together since she decided inexplicably and to everyone's surprise, to move into the house at Spinner's End, Snape's old house. Ron couldn't imagine what she was playing at and whenever he brought up the subject she would just say that it was something she felt like she "had to do".

With a growing morbidity, he grabbed hold of the tiny owl to untie the note. He immediately recognized Hermione's handwriting and this confirmed Ron's suspicions. He tossed the note to the side and decided it was time to get dressed and grab some breakfast but then curiosity got the better of him. He picked up the letter again to read:

Ron, I think you and Harry should come to London right away! Lavender Brown was admitted in the emergency ward last night crying and hysterical. The night staff couldn't make a lot of sense out of what she was saying but she apparently mentioned Neville several times… Please come to London when you get this. I know it'll take Pig awhile to get to you. I'll use the interim to see if I can't get more information from her now that she's calmed down. Love, H.

Ron read the letter through a couple of times. Each time, the word Neville stood out strikingly. Neville Longbottom had been missing for over a year. The first month or so, no one really noticed. It wasn't as if they saw each other every second of every day, although they did keep in fairly close contact with just about everyone from their year. Seamus and Dean thought it was simply coincidence. Neville walking out of the pub five minutes before they'd walked in, that sort of thing. After a month or so, word started spreading that no one had seen him. After six months it developed into a sort of general panic. Luna Lovegood, who had been the last person to see him, said that he'd been behaving very strangely but as Luna herself was at the best of times, odd, this was little help. Neville was probably closer to Luna than he was anyone else in the world and if she didn't know where he was…

Ron threw on some clothes without really bothering to see what he was wearing or if they were clean (chances were very good that they weren't). He hurried downstairs to the kitchen to find Harry with a bit of toast in one hand and clutching his head in the other.

" Why does toast have to be so loud?" Harry asked quietly.

" It usually isn't when it's just bread." Ron supplied, grinning. " We have to go to London today, now actually. I've just got a note from Hermione."

Harry heard the name and a fresh wave of nausea hit him. It was way too early for this. " Why do we have to go to London? She's your girlfriend."

"We have to go to St. Mungo's to visit Lavender Brown. I think she might know where Neville's been."

"And why would Laven…"

"Harry, enough with the damn questions!" Ron shouted. " This is about Neville. He's our friend. He's been missing. Now pull yourself together."

Harry cringed, partly from the sudden increase in volume and partly from the chastisement itself. One characteristic Ron had inherited from his mother was the casual ability to make you feel like a dumb little schoolboy when his temper got flared. "Uncalled for." he whispered.

Ron started banging noisily around the kitchen. He took three or four little bottles over to the cauldron on the stove and within minutes, he was thrusting a cup of some foul-smelling, gray liquid in to Harry's hands. " Drink this and let's go."

It was a mark of their long friendship that Harry didn't protest even though he usually had enough good sense not to accept anything from Ron that he'd cooked up in a temper.

With the headache slightly dampened by the hangover potion and with Ron leading the way, Harry stepped outside ready to apparate.

"Let's go from the garden." Ron suggested.

The little garden had a nice view of Godric's Hollow but was still private enough to hide any magic from a passing muggle.

" Same spot then?" Ron asked.

"I think so"

"Sorry for yelling earlier," said Ron a little sheepishly, " feeling better?"

" No but we're out here now so let's get a move on."

And with a faint crack, they stepped into the crushing darkness and left Godric's Hollow behind.

TBC…

Chapter one was written by Patton.