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Chapter 10: Prison Break
"That's completely mental," Harry responded once Ron finished describing his plan. "You do realize that there is so much that relies on chance. Not to mention there is a good chance one of us could really get hurt."
"Well, one alternative is that we sit here and hope that one of us gets some ingenious idea." Ron retorted. "Or just go with your 'wait until they go to sleep' plan; neither of us will get hurt then. It's up to you. I trust your choice, mate."
Harry sighed. It couldn't be past noon. Waiting until they went to sleep could be hours and that could be too late for both himself and Ron. Harry knew from the moment Ron finished his idea that it was their best option so they would be able to catch their kidnappers by surprise. It was just so risky, and would require a lot from both of them. The whole plan made Harry feel a bit nauseous.
"When do you reckon we go for it?" Harry asked. He wouldn't admit it to Ron, but his heart was pounding so loudly he was surprised Ron couldn't hear it. If things went wrong, they could both be dead not five minutes from now.
"No point in delaying it. It will just give me a chance to dwell on all the things that could go wrong." Ron replied. He sighed and looked over at Harry. "You're my best friend."
Harry nodded, although being exceptionally close, neither Ron nor Harry had ever been verbose with their feelings.
Ron suddenly started speaking very fast. "If something goes wrong, don't blame yourself because we both agreed to this. Just tell Hermione that…"
Harry interrupted. "Don't be a prat. You're going to be fine. I'm going to be fine. And you don't need to tell me whatever else you were about to spit out. It would be taken care of." They had been in many dangerous situations before, but he had never heard Ron try to say good-bye before.
Ron nodded.
"Same goes to you though," Harry replied. The words didn't need to be spoken. Harry knew Ron would take care of his family if something were to happen to him and vice versa.
"You're on, mate," Ron whispered.
Hermione had been going through the charm spell books for the better part of an hour. Her eyes were scanning through the pages so fast that Bill was amazed she was absorbing the information in front of her.
Bill had always known his little brother had married a brilliant witch, but he had never actually sat down to do any work with her, so he didn't realize quite how brilliant. Bill was considered quite brilliant himself and had been head boy for a reason. Still, he was amazed at how Hermione had gone through three books before he made it through his first one.
Just when Bill felt his eyes glazing over, Hermione let out a yelp.
"I think I've found it, Bill!" she said in as loud a voice as she dared to use in a library. Bill perked up instantly and glanced over the page she had come to a halt on.
"Listen to this," Hermione explained. "The Finders spell: to be used when the seeker is missing something close to their heart. During the turn of the century, this spell was deemed a failure and was removed from spell books because those searching for a lost item, such as misplaced books or items of clothing were not led to their missing item. However, the spell was revitalized and reconsidered after Irish witch, Bernadette O'Mara, used it in 1458. Madame O'Mara cast the spell with the wand of her missing 16-year old daughter. The wand acted as a compass and ultimately led Madame O'Mara to the missing youth's location."
Bill smiled. "Will it let you apparate to him? Is it like how Ron was able to get back to you during the Horcrux hunt?" Hermione smiled slightly at the memory.
Bill seemed to realize what he had just said. "The deluminator. Can you use it to find Ron?"
Hermione shook her head sadly. "Ron and I spent hours researching the deluminator after the war. We tried everything to see if it could be used again. Ron reckoned it would be useful to figure it out so if he, Harry or myself were ever separated, we could use it to find each other. But we've never been able to use it in the same way again. Whatever magic Dumbledore enchanted the deluminator with was lost with Dumbledore himself."
Bill sighed, momentarily disheartened before he went back to their original plan. "Well, will this spell let you apparate to him?"
"No, I don't think so. This states it acts as a compass. I think it literally points in the direction of the person." Hermione replied.
If possible, Bill felt even more disheartened by this news. Ron might not even be in Britain right now. Just having the wand point them in the right direction could be very little help, since they could be miles way.
Just as he was about to point out this fact, he glanced up at Hermione's face. She obviously knew this fact, but she clearly didn't care.
"It's time for me to take out my old beaded bag."
"You are a right foul git, you know that?" Harry said, voice louder than he had been speaking for the last hour or so.
"Oh yeah? Tell me how you really feel, Harry?" Ron said, a bit louder still, with unrecognizable venom in his voice.
"It's your stupid pride. I told you the early detection charms weren't working well last week. But no, you didn't want to listen to me. You were just too damn proud to take a look at them,"
Harry said, getting to his feet and glaring down at the redheaded man seated on the floor.
"You could have taken a look at them yourself, you know!" Ron replied, glaring up at Harry. "I don't need to do everything for you. You're supposed to be pretty capable."
"You know security was your job. You just didn't take me seriously! You didn't want to be shown up by Harry Potter?" Harry yelled. He recognized that this argument made absolutely no sense, but it didn't really matter.
"Well, if you and your bloody wife had been more prepared, maybe you could have taken care of things instead of just surrendering…instead of relying on me to actually put up a fight." Ron retorted loudly, getting to his feet and squaring off against Harry.
"Don't you go blaming this on my wife, Weasley," Harry shouted back. "I know you've been quick to blame her for everything lately, but it just shows how pathetic you are. Felt replaced, didn't you? Upset there was another, more important man in your sister's life?" Both Ron and Harry's voices were getting louder.
"Me? Pathetic?" Ron said, positively shouting now. "I put up a hell of a fight. If you weren't such an easy target, none of this would have happened. You can't survive without your friends looking after your sorry arse."
Their raised voices caught the attention of the two men outside the box. They both got to their feet, looking a bit confused.
"What's going on?" the silver-haired man yelled as the other simultaneously shouted at them to shut up.
Harry and Ron ignored them and continued glaring at each other and shouting. Each insult they yelled was more personal and angrier than the one before.
"Too bad your coward of a wife left you to fight by yourself. Maybe she was just hoping you would get yourself killed so she could get herself a real man." As soon as the words left Harry's mouth, Ron charged at him, throwing a punch.
Harry ducked it easy. Ron, now off-balance, was caught by surprise when Harry grabbed him and threw him into the backside of the box.
As he did so, Harry glanced up at the crack in the box. The impact of Ron's body expanded the crack even more. Ron, now turned around, looking positively ready to murder Harry. Harry, whose back was now to the two kidnappers, winked at Ron.
Things were going according to plan.
Ron ran towards Harry, and Harry feigned surprise as Ron grabbed him by the neck of his shirt, spun him around and threw him back against the wall. Harry's back slammed pretty hard into the cracked wall. Ignoring the sharp pain in his back, he focused on Ron's face for affirmation. He saw Ron's eyes trail up to the crack and a brief smile play across his lips.
Still going according to plan.
"Get off me," Harry yelled breaking free and reversing positions, once again bringing Ron's body against the back of the wall.
Ron genuinely gasped in surprise as the back of his head ricocheted off the wall. Harry immediately lightened his hold, but Ron faintly shook his head, just enough for Harry to notice it. Harry let his eyes glance up one last time and saw that they had almost gotten there. The wall looked positively ready to shatter.
"STOP IT RIGHT NOW!" the silver-haired man yelled as both men ran around so they were behind the box, closer to Ron and Harry and the back wall. Distracted by the yelling, both men didn't seem to notice the cracking box.
Once the two kidnappers were close, Harry grabbed Ron one last time, and threw him full force into the wall.
It shattered as Ron's body went straight through it. The entire back wall of the box showered down on both Ron and the two kidnappers.
Harry forced himself not to run immediately to his friend's side. All they had was a few seconds
before either of the kidnappers could figure out what was going on. Harry forced himself to ignore Ron, and instead ran over to the dark-haired man and immediately punched him square in the jaw with all the strength he could muster.
Their hand-to-hand muggle combat lessons in Auror training had paid off. The man fell to the ground, out cold. His wand fell from his hand, landing about a foot away from his body. Harry had gathered too much momentum running towards the man, and after he threw the punch his body continued forward. He was too far away from the wand to grab it.
Ron, who saw where Harry was heading, was closer and made a dive for the fallen wand. Before Ron was able to wrap his hands around it, the silver-haired man cast a blasting curse aimed directly at the wand.
When the curse hit the fallen wand, Harry's world exploded.
Harry felt himself flying through the air for a moment before his back hit square against one of the walls in the warehouse. He was completely dazed.
'Focus, Harry, focus.' He told himself as consciousness threatened to leave him. His whole body ached. He couldn't bring himself to move, but his eyes scanned the room, which was covered in debris and smoke from the explosion.
There was a loud crack as the silver-haired man opted to apparate away rather than stay and size up the damage. Perhaps he had decided the two friends were dead, or else he didn't like the two to one odds. As the smoke began to settle, Harry could see the man he had punched lying motionless on the ground.
His eyes continued scanning until he found Ron.
When he finally found the tall redhead, he let out a gasp. With renewed vigor and ignoring the pain shooting through his leg and back, Harry managed to stand up and get himself to Ron's side.
Ron wasn't moving.