AN: So sorry this one took forever to get out, I've been so busy with school and other stuff I haven't had much time at all. Hopefully I can make up for it with this exciting chapter ;)
Harry jolted awake a fear enveloping his exhausted mind.
Voldemort
He was doing something, something terrible…
If Harry was scared before, it was nothing compared to how he felt after the realization struck him.
Voldemort was capturing and killing the kids on the Ministry trip.
He had to have been, it was the only way, the only thing that could be happening. Desperately, Harry glanced at the clock, he was still out in the common room having never gone to bed.
It was 8:30.
Frantic, Harry walked over to the fireplace where Dean and Hermione's belongings lay the previous night. His heart was pounding, the stress was overwhelming. Harry looked down…
Nothing was there save an old Daily Prophet that lay crumpled on the old brick.
"That's ok," Harry murmured to himself, "it could have been moved, or, or… it could be on the other side of the… fireplace."
But Harry's searches were fruitless, and he forced himself to come to the terrible conclusion.
Everyone had left, and they were on a straight path to Voldemort.
Harry raced up the boy's dormitory and found Ron, fast asleep. After several minutes of poking, shaking, and yelling Ron was awake; and several minutes more, informed of Voldemort's plot.
Ron's mouth was gaped with shock. It was several seconds before he said anything.
"But… how…?"
Suddenly Ron fell silent, a look of pure horror on his face.
"Ron…?"
Ron seemed to fall out of a trance as he glanced up to Harry.
"We have to let someone know." Ron's voice was firmer than Harry was accustomed to, but in the moment, such subtle differences were irrelevant.
"Yeah… maybe, Dumbledore?"
"Yeah, Dumbledore."
And with that the two Gryffindor's raced out of their dorms, through the portrait hole and down to the entrance to the Headmaster's study.
"Er…Chocolate Frogs?" Harry had forgotten about the password, but it didn't matter, Ron has spoken up.
"Harry, this sign, it says that Dumbledore isn't… isn't here."
And it was so. Harry would not have noticed the sign due to his height and his determination, but Ron, who was at least a good head taller than Harry, would have seen the sign easily.
"Then we'll, we'll… augh!" Pain ran through Harry's skull.
"Very good Wormtail. You may prove yourself, useful."
"Thank you… oh my Lord… oh thank…"
"Silence. There is one thing I must ask of you."
"Anything my great Lord…"
"Trap them and keep them in the old Hogwarts Forest. Then keep watch over them. Dumbledore is gone, and by the time he is back we can take enough of their hairs and then dispose of them."
And with that Wormtail disappeared.
"Harry! What…"
But Harry interrupted Ron.
"Wormtail's taking the kids from the Ministry, he's gonna kill them."
And then it hit him.
"Ron… wasn't Hermione on that…that trip?"
Ron bit his bottom lip and refused to look at Harry.
"Well, it doesn't matter. We'll save them."
Though his voice was full of confidence, doubt still clogged his head. What is Hermione… and what if the others...
"So, where… where are they." Ron's voice was shaky, and a little reckless.
"In the forest. Let's go."
And with that Harry and Ron raced down past Hagrid's cabin into the forest. Harry's mind was racing, and he was blindly following Ron, whom he assumed was following the loud noises. They ran for several minutes, adrenaline constantly pushing them forward, until Harry tripped over a tree root.
Harry swore, and getting up, he felt a stabbing pain in his left knee. Not only had he tripped, but some forest creature had bit him. Looking up, he noticed Ron had already ran far ahead, and presumably disappeared into the trees and bushes that were the Forbidden Forest.
He tried to get up, but was unable to do much more than fall right back down. Pain was threatening to wipe him out, but fear kept his conscience alive. Harry felt weak and tired, and felt himself losing the ability to move at all. He then began to curse the root that had put him in this scenario, and the stupid bug or whatever it was that bit his knee.
But then a scream echoed through the forest, one that was all too familiar.
It was Ron.
Another scream penetrated his ears, and soon the silence in the forest was blocked out by the ceaseless screams that sickened Harry's stomach.
Suddenly, a crack rung through the surrounding areas. A crack that, like the screams, were familiar to Harry.
Someone had apparated. And the screams were no more.
Wormtail had taken Ron away.
But as soon as this horrifying thought struck Harry, blackness filled his eyes and overpowered him.
