Warnings: Language. . .I think that's it.
Disclaimer: I own nothing, the brilliant JK Rowling owns everything.
Chapter Three: Discoveries and Reminders
"Draco! Look, another ones gone missing!" Pansy exclaimed, reading the Daily Prophet. It's been three days since Harry's picture was in the paper along with the article that pronounced that he was missing.
"What! Who?" Draco asked, hoping it wasn't who he thought it was.
"Ron Weasley, Potter's best friend and Hermione Granger's husband of three years." Pansy said, looking up at Draco. She noted the look of sorrow that crossed Draco's features and she knew that he was thinking the same thing: Ron was kidnapped just like Harry was, probably by the same person for either revenge against both of them, or to torture Harry in some way.
"That's just bloody lovely. What's the article say?"
"It says here that, just like with Potter, there were signs of a struggle. It also says here that it appears to have been planned out." Pansy replied. Draco nodded, thinking of what this new information could mean.
"Well, of course it's premeditated. And I wouldn't be surprised if the person who kidnapped Harry was the same person who kidnapped Weasley." Draco said after a few moments silence. Pansy nodded her agreement. Draco looked at the information he had in his hands about Harry's abduction, thinking of who could have possibly taken Harry from his own home.
"Draco, I think you should go talk to Weasley's wife. If you tell her that you're looking for Harry she might be willing to help. After all, you did rescue her from that Death Eater camp during the war." Pansy said, hoping that Draco wouldn't react too horribly at the mention of the war.
"Yes, that actually sounds like a good idea. I think I will." Draco replied, much to Pansy's relief. Draco turned back the pages in his hand and began going over them again. He couldn't figure out how it happened, he knew from everything he'd found out so far that Harry was taken from his home forcibly. And now it looks as though Ron Weasley has been too. This is just great. I think I should head over to Hermione's house now. Hopefully she'll be willing to help me find Harry, which, I'm sure, will lead me to Weasley.
"I'm going over there now, do you think you could talk to Weasley's little sister. I know you two still owl each other. Who knows, she might be of some help." Draco said, walking over to the fire place, looking over to Pansy were she was nodding her head in agreement. He picked up the container of Floo Powder and took out a handful. Throwing it into the fire, Draco watched as the flames turned the emerald green color that he'd come to associate with Harry's eyes.
After a few moments, Draco gracefully fell from the fire place of Ron and Hermione's home. Shocked, Hermione jumped up from the chair she had been sitting on.
"Draco!" Hermione exclaimed, seeing who it was that had come from her fire place.
"Hello Hermione, I'm sorry I didn't owl you before I came. Actually, I wasn't even planning on coming over here until Pansy told me that Weasley went missing too." Draco said, looking apologetic for Ron's disappearance.
"Oh, then you know about Harry's as well." Hermione replied sadly. Draco could tell that she had been crying.
"Yes, that's actually the other reason why I'm here. I wanted to ask you some questions about that and what makes you think, other than the obvious state his house was in, that he was abducted." Draco said, hoping that Hermione would be willing to answer the questions.
"Of course! I'll answer them, are you helping the Ministry look for him?" Hermione asked, looking a little surprised at the thought of Draco working for the Ministry.
"No, I'm looking for Harry on my own." Draco replied.
"Oh, well, I should have figured that. It just doesn't seem like you to work for the Ministry." Hermione replied, silently wondering why Draco was looking for Harry on his own though she thought she knew the answer to that. "Um, would you like to go to Harry's house? It's still as it was when I discovered that he went missing." Draco nodded.
A few minutes later, Draco and Hermione were in Harry's living room. Draco looked around the room, noting that there was most definitely a struggle that had taken place. Hermione looked on in apprehension, it broke her heart that Harry and Ron had been abducted, it also scared her. She was three months pregnant with Ron's child and she worried about what would happen.
Draco was walking around the living room when he heard the distinct crunch of glass. Looking down, he saw that he had stepped on a picture frame that had fallen off one of the shelves. He stooped down to pick it up. His jaw dropped as he stood there staring at the picture in his hands. It was a picture of him and Harry. More specifically, it was a picture of Draco carrying Harry off the battle field of the Final Battle.
"It reminds him. It reminds him to be grateful and thankful of you." Hermione said, noticing the picture Draco was gaping at.
"Why would he want to be reminded of the war?" Draco asked in a slightly shocked voice, looking up from the picture.
"He didn't, but he wanted to be reminded of who saved his life. You have no clue how grateful he was. He didn't expect to survive, and you saved him." Hermione said, looking at the picture in Draco's hands sadly.
Well Hermione, let us hope that I can save him once more. Draco thought to himself, he looked at the picture a few moments longer and then set it down on the table, continuing to look around the room.
"Do you think that the people who took Harry are the same ones who took Ron?" Hermione asked, her voice full of sorrow. Draco merely nodded, hoping that he was right but at the same time, hoping that he wasn't because Draco knew that if he was right, it meant that Ron could very well be close to, or actually, dead.
After a few more minutes looking over Harry's house, Draco and Hermione made their way back to her house. Sitting in the kitchen, Draco began asking Hermione the questions he needed to whilst she made them a cup of tea.
"Hermione, I know it's obvious that someone abducted him, but I need to touch this base. You know, just in case he staged it himself, though I highly doubt that." Draco said, apprehension laced his words.
"I know, Draco. I understand, and I agree with you. Harry would never stage his own disappearance. One, because it would create a field day with the press, which it already has, and he hates publicity. And two, because he just doesn't want to leave the Wizarding world." Hermione replied, sitting Draco's tea down in front of him and sitting in the chair opposite of Draco.
"I thought as much. Is there anything else that would have stopped him from going to the muggles?" Draco asked. Hermione nodded, making Draco wonder just what that was.
"Do you remember Harry's last theme song?" Hermione asked, her face becoming a mask of sorrow and regret. Draco nodded, letting her know that she should continue.
"Well, that one was based off his experience with his muggle relatives. I shouldn't be telling you this, but if it helps you understand why he would never go back to the muggle world, then I will. His relatives used to starve him and beat him. They called him a freak because he's a wizard, before Hogwarts, he used to live in a cupboard underneath the stairs.
"They would lock him in his room when he was home during the holidays, and his cousin was a right arse to him. They never showed Harry any gratitude when he saved his cousin from two dementors that had attacked them back before his fifth year. In fact, they blamed him for it. They very nearly kicked him out. And to be perfectly honest, I think that's only the beginning of it. That's all he's ever told me and Ron." Hermione said. She looked at Draco, knowing that the other had never heard this.
Draco was completely horrified, he had known that Harry had been abused and neglected, but he hadn't thought that it went to that extent. And she thinks that was just the beginning! Why the hell wasn't he removed? Why didn't he tell anyone? Draco thought to himself, staring at his hands while trying to compose himself.
"Draco, I think there was one more thing keeping Harry from leaving our world," Hermione said. "I think he was waiting for you. To thank you properly for saving his life. I know he wanted to when he woke up in the Hospital Wing, but by then you were already gone."
Draco stared at her. He couldn't believe it. He didn't think Hermione was right, but a part of him thought of this as plausible. Part of him liked the idea that Harry had been waiting for him, to thank him. But, having grown up as a Lucius Malfoy's son, he doubted it.
Several hours later, Draco was sitting on the couch in his and Pansy's apartment. As he waited for Pansy to come back from her investigations, Draco read over his notes. He was impatient for Pansy to return. He had learned from Hermione that the ministry hadn't tried the one charm that was sure to tell them who had taken Harry. Draco knew that Pansy knew how to do it, which was why he was waiting so impatiently for her.
"About damn time!" Draco exclaimed when Pansy finally walked into the apartment nearly two hours after Draco had gotten home.
"Sorry, but Ginny was really distraught! And it doesn't help that her good for nothing boyfriend left her when he found out about Weasley's and Potter's abductions, figured that Ginny could be next and that was an unnecessary risk for him." Pansy shot back. Draco backed off, he could tell Pansy was beyond furious.
"Oh well, his loss then, isn't it? But don't worry about that right now, I need you to come with me. I have something I'd like for you to do." Draco replied, hoping to distract Pansy from her raging.
"Okay, what do you need of me?" Pansy asked, much to Draco's relief. He didn't feel like trying to deal with a pissed woman at the moment. He motioned for her to come over to the fire place. Throwing Floo Powder into the flames, he grabbed a hold of Pansy, dragged her into the emerald fire with him, and landed in Harry's living room a few minutes later.
"Bloody hell, why didn't you just tell me where we were going instead of dragging me here?" Pansy asked icily, dusting off her robes.
"Never mind that, I want you to do that one charm on the house. You know, the one that tells you the magical signature of any wizards or witches that have been here. Hopefully Harry's abductors wouldn't have thought to hide theirs." Draco replied. He didn't care if he made Pansy mad with his attitude, he was more worried about finding Harry.
"Fine, give me a few minutes." Pansy said, drawing her wand. Draco left the room, deciding that it wouldn't hurt to check out the rest of the house. Draco was sitting on Harry's bed, looking at the pictures from before and after the war that adorned Harry's walls and dresser when Pansy called for him.
"Where the hell were you? I've been shouting for you for three minutes!" Pansy said when Draco appeared in the door way that separated the living room from the kitchen. Blushing slightly, Draco said:
"I was investigating the rest of the house."
"Oh, you mean you were in his room?" Pansy asked, smirking at Draco who had only glared at her while blushing even more furiously.
"Don't worry about it. So, what did you find? Anything useful?" Draco asked, steering the conversation away from where he'd been and on to what they were there for.
"Yes, as a matter of fact, I did." Pansy said, looking a bit nervous and worried. "Draco, it-it-. . .Draco, you're not going to like who was here."
"Well of course not! I'm sure it's quite obvious Weasley's been here a few times over, as well as that goddamned Dragon Tamer." Draco said sarcastically. He still didn't get on that well with most of the Weasley family.
"Well of course they've been here, but that's not who I'm talking about!" Pansy said indignantly. Draco's attitude was starting to grate her nerves.
"Damnit Pansy! I know you're not fucking talking about his friends! For the love of Merlin, just sodding tell me!" Draco hissed, starting to get irritated with Pansy.
"Draco, the only magical signature that shouldn't be here, is your fathers. Draco, Lucius fucking Malfoy's magical signature is the only on out of place. Obviously, there's all his friends and then us. Your father's is the only one that can't be accounted for." Pansy said, worry and nervousness clear in her voice.
Draco was frozen. His father? Lucius Malfoy is supposed to be dead! How the hell is his magical signature in Harry's house if he's dead?
"W-w-what? Are you serious? B-but he's supposed to be dead!" Draco cried, not sure if he wanted to believe that it was his father that abducted Harry. Eventually, Draco's desire to find and rescue Harry overrode his jumbled thoughts. Giving one last look at Harry's living room, he walked over to the fire place and waited for Pansy to disappear back to their apartment.
Funny, the color of the flames reminds me of Harry's eyes. Especially when he's mad. His eyes always looked like fire when he was mad. Emerald fire, that's what his eyes looked like when he was mad. Emerald fire.
Draco landed in his living room where he instantly got to work. He knew who had taken Harry, now all he had to do was find him.
Author's note: Here is chapter three. . .I do appologize to any of you who are Hermione/Ron fans, I didn't originally mean to do that, but it just sort of happened. I want to thank all of you who've reviewed. I do believe it was your encouragement and positive remarks that helped me get chapter three up so soon. I'll try to post chapter four by this weekend. Please review and thanks for reading!!!