The next morning Harry and Ron woke up to find Renette standing over them, waving a newspaper.

"Get up you little demons!" she hissed. "Get up!"

In an instant Harry was on his feet and halfway across the room, moving away from their host with a frightened look on his face. Ron, who had been slowly waking up, bolted to his feet the second he saw his friend dart by him and stood protectively between the angry woman and Harry.

"What?" Ron snapped.

The woman held out the paper.

HARRY POTTER GONE MISSING! The headline read and there was a picture of Harry's face on the front.

Harry went pale and Ron smiled out of pure nervousness.

"Alright, James, Hemlock," she snarled. "You two have five minutes to explain yourselves before I dump your scrawny little behinds out onto the street!"

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Mr. Weasley wrenched himself through the fireplace, not even stopping to shake the ash of him as he stormed into the burrow. Charlie was the first to intercept him.

"What is it, Dad?" asked Charlie.

Arthur just shoved a newspaper at his second oldest and Charlie seized it. He looked at the cover and his eyes widened, then narrowed as he turned a page in the paper. Then another, then another. He had flipped all the way to the back before he threw it aside.

"No!" he yelled angrily. "Merlin's bloody boot, how could they do this to him?!"

Bill and Mrs. Weasley had heard the shouts and the pair came running.

"What?!" asked Mrs. Weasley, running into the kitchen.

She saw the newspaper along with the distraught looks of her son and husband's faces and dove for it. She only gave the front page a brief glance before throwing it aside and leafing through the rest of the paper. Bill picked up the discarded page and his brow furrowed for a second before he looked at Charlie to share a look of frustration and disbelief.

Mrs. Weasley looked at her husband in confusion.

"There's nothing about Ron in here," she said.

"Exactly, Molly, Harry Potter's gone missing," said Arthur.

"Is that what all the fuss was about when you came in?" asked Molly. "You gave me a heart attack! Why did you even come here if all you have is news on Harry bloody Potter?" asked Molly, still not making the connection.

"Molly," said Arthur impatiently, "Harry Potter is missing."

"Well I'm sorry for Harry Potter," said Mrs. Weasley sarcastically, "what does that have to do with my son?"

"Mum, think," growled Bill. "Harry Potter has gone missing. With his disappearance causing a commotion the ministry will pull: Every. Available. Auror. to find him. And the public will be searching too."

Molly went pale.

"You mean…?"

Arthur nodded. "Ron's case has just been put on hold."

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

"So let me get this straight," said Renette raising an eyebrow. "You mean to tell me that you're an orphan who just happened to run into Harry bleedin' Potter, savior of the wizarding world, who, by the way, has been living with abusive muggles for the last for eight years?"

"What do you mean "savior of the wizarding world?" asked Harry in bewilderment.

Ron gave Renette a look as if to say see?

Renette still looked doubtful.

"They really have been horrible to him! His cousin always hits him, look, I saw the marks last night when we were getting ready for bed," said Ron, grabbing the hem of Harry's shirt and yanking it up before the boy could realize what he was doing.

"Hey!" yelled Harry at the same time Renette shrieked "Merlin!"

The young boy had a large, nasty bruise on his ribs as well as another large one on his stomach. They were both fading, magic expediting the healing process, but they were still ugly.

Renette whipped out her wand and muttered healing charms so quickly that her spells could barely be distinguished from each other.

Harry had tried to cover up the marks, but Renette knocked his arms out of the way and continued mumbling until the bruises faded. She sat back when her work was done and looked at Ron in shock.

"But—but—he's the boy who lived," she said dazedly.

"The boy who lived through what?" asked Harry, starting to get impatient.

Renette sighed. "I'll tell you if you remind me again how you got here."

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The cell was cold, though from temperature or sadness Sirius no longer could tell. He was sitting there quietly when he was approached by an angry looking Auror.

Sirius had enough fight left in him to glare back at the man as his cell was opened.

"Come with me, you useless vermin," hissed the man.

Sirius was led past demeanors, savoring the fact that (for the benefit of the guard) there was a patronus protecting him from them for once. He was led into a room made for interrogation.

There was no preamble, instead a second Auror entered the room and threw The Daily Prophet down in front of him.

"Tell me, Black," he growled. "Which one of your scumbag associates has Potter?"

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Mrs. Weasley was storming around the kitchen, shouting as she paced over the newspaper that she'd torn in two.

"Unacceptable! He's a child! He's my child! They can't just ignore him!"

"Mum?" asked Ginny as she and Luna peeked into the kitchen. The two girls were sleepy eyed and in their pajamas.

"Go play girls!" snapped Mrs. Weasley.

Ginny started, her eyes filling with tears. She wasn't used to her mother taking that tone with her. Sure, she talked like that to the boys, but never her.

She looked to her father, expecting some form of consolation, but he was speaking to both of her brothers and none of them were paying any attention to her. Ginny's lip trembled.

"Never mind, Ginny," said Luna. "We can play in the living room." The girl seemed unaffected by the shouting, oblivious even. She had been acting exceptionally calm since the incident with her mother, more so than usual. Ginny wondered how her friend could be so tranquil when her mother might be dying.

The pair left and went to play far enough away not to be noticed, but close enough to eavesdrop, should anything happen.

Their choice turned out to be a good one as the fire lit up a half an hour later. They heard someone step through though every second step was a clunk.

"Mad-eye Moody," said Luna vaguely.

Ginny listened.

"Mad-eye! Have you heard—" started Molly.

"About the Potter boy? Of course I have, woman, the whole bloody ministry knows!" the man growled. "The Auror's even called me from retirement for it. Don't know why they bothered though, they won't listen to a blasted thing I say," he growled. "They say my theories aren't plausible, that "old Mad-eye is paranoid," ha! I'd like to see them come up with something better."

"What theories do you have Moody?" asked Arthur quickly. "Anything about Ron?"

"Yes, I do, though it isn't pretty."

"Bill, Charlie, head upstairs," said Molly anxiously.

"Don't send them off Molly! How do you expect them to be vigilant if they don't know what they're up against? They're plenty old enough to hear this. That one's of age, if I recall correctly," he growled and Ginny assumed that he was referring to Bill.

"And just what are we up against, Sir?" asked Charlie before his mother could chase him from the room.

"Death Eaters," said Mad-eye solemnly.

Molly gasped.

"How do you know?" asked Arthur solemnly.

"The disappearances of the boys. They're linked, I'm sure of it. Ron wanders off, after acting strangely for a week, then he runs away and somehow manages to disapparate right in front of Arthur's eyes? For a child to disapparate like is rare I suspect that your boy was placed under the imperious curse," said Moody.

"No," whispered Mrs. Weasley.

"What's the imperious curse?" whispered Ginny to Luna from where they were eavesdropping.

The blonde shrugged.

"That can't be right," said Arthur, his voice shaking. "He's disapparated before. He fell of the roof when he was younger and apparated right next to me. He didn't even know where I was when he did it. Ron just thought of me, and then there he was, in my shed."

Mad-eye took this in. Ginny heard him pacing back and forth before he froze.

"Have you told anyone else this story?" asked Moody.

"Well, I—I don't know, I suppose," said Arthur, surprised at the question.

"Think carefully Arthur," said the man.

"Well…I did tell some of the people at the ministry, as well as some friends. I mean, it's like you said, it's rare for a child to apparate, not to mention apparating to a point as unsteady as a person. Most wizards need a fixed point, like a place, to fixate on."

"Which people did you tell?" Moody demanded.

"I don't know, Mad-eye, it was two years ago, where are you going with this?"

"Think, Arthur!" said the older wizard his wooden leg clunking as he paced restlessly. "You kid just so happens to have the rare ability to apparate to a person's side, he starts acting funny for a week, then he disappears. A kid with an ability like his, some Death Eater could have found out, imperioused him, and used him as a niffler to sniff out Harry Potter," the man growled.

"They would be able to rely on the two disappearences going unlinked because one is a runaway while the other is a suspected kidnapping, and to top it all off, Harry Potter's fame makes him top priority. No article about your son will make it into the profit until that child is found and the fact that he was kidnapped before news of Ron could hit the papers is more evidence that someone is pulling strings to try and keep things quiet," Mad-eye continued before lowering his voice. "I'm not supposed to tell you this, but the ministry suspects things as well. They're pulling former Death Eater's from their cells in Azkaban for interrogation. They're trying to find out if any of them had old contacts that might have taken the boy."

Ginny reached for Luna's hand and squeezed it tight. She had no idea where her brother was now, but she knew he was in trouble, and not the funny kind where he had to sit in the corner while she played, but the bad kind. The really bad kind.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

"You look weird as a blonde," said Harry to Ron. "So do you," he shot back.

"He really does," Renette agreed, eyeing Harry. "Alright, we'll go with brown for you."

Harry flinched as she tapped her wand against his head and turned his hair a chocolate brown color.

Harry pushed his now invisible glasses up his nose with a frown. Despite Renette assuring him that they would become visible when they fell off he still didn't like the idea of not being able to see something that was on his face. In any case, he'd been wearing his glasses his whole life and his vision was too poor to so much as see his own reflection without them. They felt as much a part of his face as his mouth and nose and to have them made invisible made him look (in Harry's opinion) weird.

"Well, these disguises should hold up for a while, just don't forget to call each other by your fake names and stop playing the brother bit, say you're cousins, it's much more believable," she said, passing each of the boys a small bag with a supply of food that would last them the next couple days, as well as a little money.

"Thanks," said Ron, grinning at the woman.

She snorted and rolled her eyes.

"Thanks nothing, the only reason I haven't dropped you off at the ministry is that I don't want those morons thinking I played a part in kidnapping you. I'm saving my own neck as much as yours.

This business is my livelihood, and in Knockturn Alley getting tangled with the authorities is a surefire way to scare away customers. People around here will cut all association with you because they don't want to be near any Aurors or Ministry thugs, and I'm not about to let that happen because I helped out a couple of brats," she said.

Ron suppressed another smile. He saw the way her eyes flicked to Harry and knew that she was really helping them escape because she was terrified that the ministry would send him back to his family.

"Still, we appreciate it," said Harry honestly.

"You really appreciate it, then get yourselves out of this shop and don't come back, you two have caused enough trouble around here," she said. "You guys have that parchment that says where you need to go?"

"Yes ma'am," chorused the boys.

"Good. You tell him I sent you and be sure not to let him mistreat you. If he makes you do anything too dangerous or underpays you, come see me."

"I thought you told us never to come back?" Ron questioned with a smirk.

"Oh, get on with you, rascals," said Renette grabbing the children and steering them from her shop.

"Bye Ms. Trelawney! Thanks for everything!" said Harry before the two were turned out into Knockturn Alley. It was still early morning and the sun had barely risen. It would still be several hours before the shop that Renette had referred them to opened. Ron dragged Harry to Diagon Alley to visit quality Quidditch supplies. He was determined to make the most of their time.

Thanks to everyone who encouraged me to update, including Fallen-Petals 15 who suggested I update for Christmas. I know this is kind of a filler, but it has all the connecting info you need to know before I jump into Harry and Ron's adventures. You see, I needed the catalyst that caused Sirius to escape, a lead that Harry and Ron can follow to get a job in Knockturn Alley, and another few things that will become relevant later. Thanks to all of you for reading and I'll try and update soon.