Chapter 10: The Burrow
It had been three days since Harry had been taken from them and the Weasleys were growing more and more concerned. Panic welled up in Ginny's stomach every time Ron or Hermione came to visit. They would come once or twice a day to update the family on any leads they might be following and to reassure everyone that they were making progress.
The children, while still worried sick, were able to sleep each night believing that Harry could, at any moment, be found and brought safely home to them. The adults, however, were much harder to convince. They all knew what horrors there were in this world and felt that the longer they waited, the longer the odds of finding Harry alive.
"If he were dead, we would know by now." Ron stated one evening after the kids had gone to bed. Rose and Hugo had been staying at the Burrow since Ron and Hermione had been so busy at the ministry.
"The third victim was gone five days before they found him, Ron. The second one, only a day and a half. We have no idea how long we have or if time has already run out." Ginny responded sadly. "What did you learn at that orphanage in Tinworth?"
Ron took a moment to gather his thoughts and began to explain. "Byron Oaks is his name. He was found wandering alone in Diagon Alley with his Hogwarts letter on August 19th, 1981. He wouldn't tell them what had happened, only that his parents were gone. Given that You Know Who was at the height of his power at the time, people assumed that they had been murdered and put him the orphanage."
"I searched wizarding birth records for his name, but couldn't find any." Hermione added. "So I checked muggle ones, as well. His parents were muggles by the names of Alexandra and Hector Oaks. I found this article in and old newspaper from Sheffield, where the Oaks lived at the time." She handed them an old newspaper clipping. "It says that Byron Oaks was killed in a boating accident two days before he was found, but I tracked down his parents and managed to get the truth out of them."
"With a little persuasion." Ron added, miming the flick of a wand. Hermione smirked a little at that. "It seems," Ron continued. "that poor old Byron was disowned for being a wizard. Scared their parents to have magic in the house, so they abandoned him in London and told him he wasn't to come home."
"Oh how terrible." Molly gasped.
"From what the Aurors have gathered, he was pretty much invisible all through school." Said Ron. "Always keeping to himself. Never in trouble, never standing out. He didn't belong to any teams or clubs. He was in Slytherin, no surprise there." Hermione gave him a half-hearted jab in the ribs for that. "After school he just disappeared for twenty years or so. We think he went back to his parents' old house, but that's a just an empty lot now. Seems the whole place collapsed 2009. That's all we know so far."
"The Aurors were through the whole property and the woods behind them. They haven't found anything. Neither have the team out in Leeds, but they're both widening their searches." Hermione added.
None of this information seemed to cheer those gathered around the table, but, Ginny thought, at least it felt like they were doing something to help Harry. With a shuddering sigh, she excused herself from the table and went up to her old bed and let hot tears flow down her cheeks onto her pillow as she tried to block images of what her husband must be going through at this very moment.