Chapter Nine.
Ron and Harry had spent their entire morning running over ideas for possible Horcruxes. Since Ron was his best friend, Harry had persuaded Dumbledore to allow him on the secret to defeating Voldemort. Dumbledore was more than happy to have Ron aboard, as it meant he could leave the majority of the work to the young wizards, while he dealt with other stuff.
"I guess I better be getting back," Ron said with a sigh as he checked his watch and found it was early afternoon.
"You don't sound too thrilled about it," Harry noted. For the last week or so, Ron had been decidedly more subdued than normal.
"I'm just finding all this pretence with Hermione is hard," Ron admitted.
"I thought you were managing fine," Harry said with a frown. He'd expected Ron to struggle being with Hermione, knowing that she'd been involved with Malfoy, but Ron had seemed to embrace their relationship and for a while they seemed genuinely happy together.
"I was," Ron replied. "Until Hermione discovered she was pregnant. All of a sudden, pretending is just too hard."
"Maybe it'll get better once you know who the father of the baby is," Harry suggested hopefully.
"If it's mine, things will be great. But if it's Malfoy's, I don't think I can keep up the pretence," Ron confessed in a quiet voice. "I'm pretty good at shutting out the past and trying not think that Hermione has slept with that bastard, but I can't do that if she's carrying his child."
"But it's not as if you'll have to raise the baby," Harry pointed out. He was well aware of Dumbledore's plan to have the baby adopted if it turned out to be Malfoy's.
"No, but I'll have to pretend to be excited for the next six months," Ron argued. "Then I'll have to pretend to grieve for the baby, and deal with a broken hearted Hermione. I can't do that, Harry. I'm struggling to get through each day at the minute, and if the baby is Malfoy's, it's the final straw."
"When do you find out about the baby?" Harry asked, wondering if they could alter their plans if the baby was Malfoy's.
"Madam Pomfrey is visiting next week. She should be able to do all the extra tests then."
"Try not to worry until next week," Harry said. "And if the worst should happen, we'll talk to Dumbledore. I'm sure we can come up with an alternative plan to deal with the situation."
"Let's hope so," Ron sighed as he reluctantly got to his feet. "I don't suppose you want to come back to the flat with me, do you? Chances are Hermione will be talking babies, and I could do with some moral support."
"Providing you're going to feed me, I'll head back to yours," Harry said as he grabbed his jacket.
"Mum was visiting this morning, if we're lucky she'll have whipped something up," Ron replied.
Hoping for something nice to eat, the two wizards apparated to the flat Ron shared with Hermione. With all the security charms surrounding both the building, and the flat itself, it was impossible to apparate directly into the building, so they arrived in the alley next to the building. Slipping out of the alley, they headed into the building and took the lift up to the floor where Ron and Hermione lived. Entering the flat, they were greeted by the most delicious smells coming from the kitchen.
"I smell chocolate cake," Ron grinned as the pair hung up their jackets.
Making their way into the kitchen, they found Molly decorating a lemon drizzle cake. On the kitchen table was a large chocolate fudge cake, and a plate of chocolate chip cookies. Molly had also made a start on lunch, and she had a large pot of stew bubbling on the hob.
"Hey Mum," Ron greeted as they entered the kitchen. "You've been busy this morning."
"I was trying to give Hermione some space," Molly replied, smiling widely at both Harry and Ron. "Plus, I know how much you like chocolate cake."
"It's my favourite," Ron said, eyeing up the cake. He would be more than happy to just have a large piece of cake, but he knew his mother wouldn't let him cut into the cake until he'd eaten something savoury.
"The stew's nearly done," Molly said, noticing where Ron's attention was. "After you've had some stew, you can eat the cake and biscuits."
"The stew looks lovely, Molly," Harry said, his mouth watering at the smell of the beef stew. He'd smelt the stew as soon as he'd entered the flat, and wondered how on earth Ron had bypassed the smell of the stew and smelt the chocolate cake.
"I guess I'll leave you two to eat," Molly said as she pulled off her apron.
"Two?" Ron frowned. "Where's Hermione?"
"She went out with Neville, he needed her help buying a present for Luna," Molly answered. "She should be back shortly." As she spoke, Molly glanced up at the clock and frowned when she realised just how long Hermione had been gone.
"What's wrong?" Harry asked warily.
"I didn't realise it was so late. Hermione said she'd be back by lunchtime," Molly said quietly. "But maybe they just lost track of time," she added brightly. "You know how useless boys are at buying presents."
Harry and Ron turned to look at each other, neither of them quite buying Molly's very reasonable excuses as to why Hermione could be running late. There was something that just felt wrong about the entire thing. Their instincts told them that something had happened, and they needed to find Hermione quickly.
"Where were Neville and Hermione going?" Harry asked.
"Just to Diagon Alley," Molly answered.
"We should go and see if we can find them," Ron said to Harry.
"I'm sure Hermione is perfectly fine," Molly said, not sounding too convincing.
"We just want to be sure," Harry said. "Did they travel by floo?"
"They walked," Molly said. "Hermione wanted the fresh air."
"What do you think?" Harry turned to Ron. "Do we walk, or floo and start our search from Diagon Alley."
"It's a ten minute walk, let's walk it."
Leaving a nervous and worried Molly to wait for them at the flat, Harry and Ron set off in search of Hermione. Leaving the building, they took extra care to take a good look at their surroundings as they headed towards The Leaky Cauldron. All too soon, their fears that something was wrong were realised as Ron glanced into an alley and spotted Neville's prone body, lying sprawled on the floor.
"Shit," Harry swore as the two friends rushed to Neville's side.
"Hermione," Ron called, looking for any sign of the brunette witch in the alleyway.
While Ron searched for signs of Hermione, Harry checked Neville over. Luckily he quickly found a pulse and a re-enervating spell got Neville stirring again. Slowly Neville blinked open his eyes and with a groan, Harry helped him sit up.
"What happened?" Neville asked groggily.
"That's what we were going to ask you," Ron snapped. "Where's Hermione?"
Despite the pain in his head, Neville frantically whipped his head around trying to find his friend. Finding no sign of Hermione, Neville dropped his head into his hands.
"Let's get back to the flat," Harry said. "We need to check Neville out and try to work out what happened."
Harry and Ron helped Neville to his feet, and together the threesome made their way back to Ron's flat. The second they entered, Molly jumped into action, settling Neville on the sofa as she checked he was okay.
"What happened Neville?" Ron asked, pacing the floor. "Where's Hermione?"
"I'm not sure what happened," Neville said softly as he tried to deal with the pounding in his head. "Hermione and I were heading to Diagon Alley and we were pounced upon. We were taken by surprise, and I have no idea what happened after I'd been hit on the head. It all happened so quick, I didn't even have time to get my wand out."
"It's not your fault Neville," Harry said reassuringly. He didn't want his friend blaming himself for what had happened to Hermione, when the blame lay with whoever had snatched her.
"We need to get in touch with Dumbledore," Ron declared. "We need to get Hermione back."
Harry quickly headed off to get Dumbledore, while Ron decided to have another look outside for clues to who could have kidnapped Hermione. Meanwhile, Molly patched Neville up and gave him a pain relief potion. By the time Ron returned to the flat and Harry arrived with Dumbledore, Neville had a bandage around his head and was sipping on a cup of tea Molly had made for him.
"Can you remember anything more about who attacked you and Hermione?" Dumbledore asked Neville.
"No," Neville replied. "They came from behind and dragged us into the alley. I was knocked out before I could react. I'm so sorry."
"You have nothing to be sorry for," Dumbledore said. "But do you mind if I take a look at the memories of this morning. Maybe there's something there that you've forgotten."
"Feel free," Neville replied. "Anything to help find Hermione. She's my friend, and I feel bad that she's been taken while she was with me."
While Harry and Ron reassured Neville had nothing to feel guilty about, Dumbledore prepared to enter Neville's mind. When he did so, he found the memories were just as Neville had explained. Neville and Hermione were dragged into the alley from behind, and they had no chance to react before Neville was hit over the head. When Dumbledore had finished with Neville's memories, he ran a few more subtle tests on the young wizard, just to be sure everything was as it seemed.
"Thank you Neville," Dumbledore said, smiling at the former Gryffindor. "Why don't you go home and rest? We'll keep you informed about Hermione."
With a bit of persuading, Neville headed off home. The second Neville was out of the flat, Harry and Ron turned to Dumbledore and demanded to know what was going to happen next. Molly had also picked up on the extra spells Dumbledore had run on Neville and wanted to know what was happening.
"I was checking Neville wasn't under the Imperius curse," Dumbledore said. "I can confidently say he's not at the minute, but as you all know it's impossible to say he hasn't been at some earlier moment in time. He could very well have been under the curse this morning, and then whoever took Hermione removed it and altered his memories."
"How do we prove that?" Harry questioned.
"We can't," Dumbledore replied. "It's idle speculation. For all we know, Neville wasn't under any spell and it was just an ambush timed to perfection."
"So what do we do, now?" Ron asked. "How do we get Hermione back?"
"Before she left school, I placed a tracking charm on Miss Granger," Dumbledore explained. "We can locate her, but if she's where I think she'll be, it's going to be hard to get her back."
"Where do you think she is?" Harry asked.
"Malfoy Manor."
"Shit," Ron cursed. After Hogwarts, Malfoy Manor was the most heavily warded building in Britain, and it would be almost impossible to rescue her from there.
"How sure are we that Hermione was genuinely snatched?" Molly questioned cautiously. "Could it be possible that the potion has worn off and Hermione knows who she truly is?"
"The potion doesn't wear off," Dumbledore answered. "The effects are permanent."
"We all knew the dark were going to try something," Harry said wearily. "They've been quiet for too long, and we all knew they weren't going to just sit back while we had Hermione."
"They've clearly been watching her," Ron deduced. "They've been watching for the perfect time to snatch her."
"So it would seem," Dumbledore said, nodding in agreement.
"Do you think they can persuade Hermione that's she's on their side?" Molly asked quietly. "Even if she doesn't have her memories, they all have theirs. If she's in their clutches, they could still turn her against us."
"I guess that all depends on how strong Hermione is," Dumbledore replied. "Hopefully she'll have enough faith in us that she refuses to believe them."
"Hermione's stubborn," Harry said, trying to sound confident. "She'll think they're just trying to turn her against us. She won't believe them."
"Let's hope not," Dumbledore said. "Of course, we're going to try and get her back. But we will have to be patient. This could take time."
"What about the baby?" Ron asked, dropping onto the sofa. Despite his doubts about the child, it might still be his, and he was terrified about what would happen if Hermione gave birth to his child while at Malfoy Manor.
"We don't know who the baby's father is yet," Molly added. "There's a good chance it's Ron's baby. What will happen if she gives birth to Ron's baby when she's with them?"
"Hopefully it won't come to that," Dumbledore said. "First, let's find out where Hermione is. Then we can talk about how to get her back. We have to have faith. Hermione doesn't have her memories, so hopefully they won't be able to turn her against us."
Taking a brief break from their conversation, Dumbledore activated the tracking spell on Hermione. As suspected, Hermione was located at Malfoy Manor in Wiltshire. Sharing a resigned look, they decided it was time to bring in the rest of the Order. Obviously, no-one that didn't already know wouldn't discover the truth about Hermione, but they would have to tell them that Hermione had been kidnapped. Maybe with all the Order on board, they could get Hermione back before the dark corrupted her and convinced her that they were the ones telling the truth.