Chapter 7: Meanwhile

"Hermione. Ron. I need to talk to you." Harry said. They both leaned in.

"Is it about James and Albus? Is there news?" Hermione asked eagerly. "Are they OK?"

"Yes, it is about James and Albus. And it may involve you."

"Tell us what we can do to help, and we'll do it." Ron said. It was unusual for Ron to make promises for more than one person, (That was usually Harry) so Harry wondered what his exact motives were. Was he trying to cover up his involvement in the plot? Or was he genuinely innocent?

"You can start by answering a few questions." He said cooly.

"Harry, you're acting really strange. What's going on?" Hermione asked. His brows were knitted together.

"Here comes Teddy. Drink some tea, won't you?"

Ron narrowed his eyes. "Harry…"

"Just drink it."

"I know that it's spiked."

"Drink it anyway. Hermione, you too."

"What happened? Just tell us, Harry."

"Drink your tea."

"OK. Sure thing, Harry." Ron raised his hands in a gesture of surrender and took a ceremonious sip of his tea. "Ah. Tastes like betrayal." He said.

"Don't be dramatic, Ron. I'm sure Harry has a valid reason for this, right Harry?" Hermione's voice reminded him exactly of Professor Umbridge during her Hogwarts's years- Sweet, and calculating. She took a sip of her tea, but her gaze stayed on Harry the whole time.

"Now." She said. "What do you need to know?"

Harry slipped back into his professional Auror mask.

"Hermione, you can go first. Walk me through your day from start to finish." He instructed.

"I woke up at around six thirty in the morning; I didn't have any meetings until around noon, with Percy, so I figured I'd have a bit of a late start. I was ready for the day by around seven, so I did some paperwork until around ten, and then prepared my notes for a meeting with the Muggle Prime minister that's coming up in a few weeks. By then, I was starting to feel a bit hungry so I went to get myself some tea, but discovered we were out. I ran into Luna at the supermarket, and then I suppose I just lost track of time. I saw that it was just a few minutes before I was supposed to meet with Percy, so I apparated back home just in time to meet him."

"What did you talk about during the meeting?"

"We want to get more house-elf representation into the Ministry of Magic."

"Did you talk about anything else?"

"We talked about Rose and Hugo very, very briefly."

"I'll cut to the chase, then. Hermione Jean Granger, at around 1:30 today, I got a visitor to my office. That visitor had a very interesting story. Would you like to hear it?"

"I'll judge that once I've heard it and not before."

"The storytellers name was Scorpius Malfoy. He was found wandering your property shortly before arriving at the Ministry. He says that he has no recollection of any of the days since Hagrid's wedding."

"You think that Hermione and I took him? You must be off your rocker." Ron asked incredulously.

"Ron, Hermione. Do either of you confess to kidnapping Scorpius Malfoy?" Harry asked. He held his breath while he waited for them to answer.

Only a few seconds passed, but he clung to those.

What would you do if you only had a few seconds left to trust the people you loved the most in the world?

"No, no of course not." Hermione replied.

"Me neither." Ron said.

Harry exhaled.

"You could still have planted false memories in each other, or maybe used legimancy to make sure you weren't incriminated. You understand that I can't just automatically trust you, right?"

"That won't be a problem." Hermione said crisply. "Ronald and I shall be going now. I may see you around, or I may not. I wish you luck finding your sons." She stormed out of the room, leaving only Ron and Harry. Teddy had exited quietly sometime after Hermione.

Harry opened his mouth to apologize.

"Stop. Just- Don't."

"Ron-"

"I thought you were better than that, Harry. I thought that after all we went through together, you would trust us."

Harry laughed hollowly.

"You don't understand a thing, do you? This isn't your sons missing, is it? How do you even- How can you even compare yourself, your circumstances, to me?"

"This is it then. You really don't trust us. You know, I could see you not trusting me. I admit it, I walked out on you when you needed me the most. You're thinking that I just went and hurt you on purpose. But I was never- Never! Malicious. And Hermione? How could you ever doubt that girl? She did nothing but stand by you, even when you were acting like a bloody self-absorbed, self-pitying, lazy, cowardly prat. I can't- Where did the Harry I know go? I can't believe you." Ron ranted. He closed the door behind him, but a second later his head popped back in.

"Try and make this right. You owe everyone that much."

The door closed with a final snap. Harry put his head in his hands.

Was this what a stalemate felt like?

AN: This is a short chapter, but I needed to get back into this story again.