Ron stood in confusion in the Gryffindor Common Room, as Proffessor Lupin, Sirius, and his own father and mother discussed the best way of finding the 'runaways'. He sighed to himself. He'd heard what Lupin had said when he'd talked to his dad in the fire, and he'd begged to be brought along, but he still couldn't believe it. It didn't sound like Hermione, or Harry for that matter. He tried to explain this, but no one would listen to him.

He made his way up the stairs to the dormitory. Harry was his best friend, maybe he could look around and find something the others hadn't. The first thing he noticed was the absence of the Firebolt. He guessed Harry would have taken it, but as he bent down to check underneath the bed, he found a note hidden, almost obscured under the bedskirt.

Go to the Shrieking Shack immediately. Don't tell anyone. I have Hermione, and will not hesitate to kill her if you don't follow my instructions. If anyone is told, if you bring anyone with you, or if you do not come, she will die. Don't try to call my bluff. You know what will happen if you do.

Tom

Ron felt his stomach drop. He grabbed the note, and ran as fast as he could down the stairs. "Remus! Sirius! Look!" He was breathless when he reached them and handed over the letter to Remus. He could see the man's eyes growing, ever larger until it seemed a teacup might just cover them. Sirius stood still, his fists clenching and his face growing pale.

"Why would he do that? How in the world could he do that?" Sirius was yelling, he pushed over a chair, and Mr. Weasley went over to him. He gripped his arms tightly. "Tearing the room apart won't help. We'll find them. We'll go tell Dumbledore, he'll help." With a renewed sense of determination the adult foursome walked swiftly out of the room, leaving Ron standing in the middle of it by himself, trying to make his head stop spinning, to halt the flow of adrenaline that had started when he found the letter.

He flopped onto one of the big easy chairs, and jumped back up immediately when he realized he was sitting on a notebook. He picked it up and examined it. Yes, it was the one Harry had told him about. This particular page was covered in Hermione's small, neat handwriting. He looked over the page, and one thing in particular caught his attention. In large letters, next to the heading Grymphylla, was the phrase, 'ASK DUMBLEDORE.' He scanned the page. A line drawn up to the capitalized message stated: 'Grymfylla page 197- Bracelets of hair and mane soaked in milk block Arvana Kerdrene... = Avada Kedavra?'

The adrenaline again began to flow. He ran as fast as he could through the portrait hole, down the hall, trying desperately to catch up with the adults before they holed up in Professor Dumbledore's office. He made it just as they were starting through the door. "Avada- block-Grym-" he started speaking as he gasped for breath from his sprint. He handed over the notebook to his father, and pointed out what he wanted to show them. It was Mr. Weasley's turn to get saucer-sized eyes.

"I think- I think they may have found a block for Avada Kedavra." The words came out calmly, but his expression revealed a much different state. Everyone took the stairs to the office two at a time now, and they barged into Dumbledore's office. He just stared at them as they quickly explained what the fuss was about.

* * *

Hermione and Harry sat in their cage, not knowing where they were, guessing that they'd only been there a day or so. Harry had made several futile attempts to break or stretch the bars, but they refused to budge, and eventually he decided it better to retain his strength. Voldemort or a minion had yet to feed either of them, although there were two water bottles kept full in their make-shift cell. As far as Hermione could see, the only major good point in the situation was that the two hadn't been separated yet. She didn't know if she'd be able to handle that, and she knew Harry wouldn't. With his personality, he'd worry himself sick about her.

Voldemort came in every few hours it seemed, mostly just to scare them. It was clear to both Harry and Hermione that he had lost it. He seemed to Hermione to be even more dangerous now. He wasn't systematically ridding the world of mudbloods like herself, he seemed to be just finding ways to create destruction, just to prove to Harry that he could. It was maddening.

It was two days into their captivity, they'd still had no food, when Voldemort entered once more. "Hello all. Enjoying the lodgings? Very nice if I do say so myself, much better than an Albanian forest," he sneered. He had a wild look in his eyes, and Hermione cowered in the corner farthest from him. Harry though, stood just next to the bars, staring down the older man, not acting cocky or daring him to do something, just facing up to danger, the way he always did.

Voldemort did not see it this way however, he pulled out his wand. "Crucio," and Hermione was reduced to a crumpled, trembling, screaming heap on the floor. It was the worst pain she'd felt in her life, like someone had taken her shoulders and shaken her, only thousands of times worse. Her head banged against the cold cement, and blood began to drip from her temple. Harry had stared in disbelief for only a second before he ran over to her, and, throwing his body over hers, tried futily to stop her shaking, knowing that it wouldn't work.

He just stood over her, completely helpless as he had rarely been. He bit his lower lip, and tried not to cry in front of his enemy. All of a sudden, Voldemort stopped. He turned his wand on Harry, but instead of cursing him, he used a steady stream of light just to hold him there, to keep his attention from Hermione for a few moments. "I'm holding both of you. I can do what I want. You can't stop me. If I want to kill her, I can, if I want to torture her, I can. Oh don't look like that though. I won't kill her. Yet. This is too much fun." He gave a malicious smile, then let Harry go, and walked silently from the room.

Harry ran over to the corner where Hermione was now lying unconscious. He pulled off his shirt and pressed it against the cut on her head, praying that she was okay. It was several hours later when she finally awoke. "Wha- what happened?" she questioned him, her hand rising to her head, but several seconds later, he could tell from the look on her face, she remembered.

"I tried, I couldn't, I couldn't do anything."

Hermione paused. "I know. It's not your fault Harry, don't think that. It's him. He's the evil one." She took hold of Harry's arm, and then fell back again. All he could do was watch her, Voldemort was right, there was nothing he could do.

* * *

Meanwhile at Hogwarts, there was little they could do either. They'd tested the Grymphylla bracelet. Using spiders with small strands of Grymphylla mane tied around them, they found that yes, the Avada Kedavra curse could be stopped. It didn't help Harry or Hermione though.

No one knew where Voldemort was. Severus Snape was currently deep in the heart of the dark community, he couldn't be reached to find out about a location, and Dumbledore had no other resources to find out. Snape would return in four days, by then the two would have been gone six days, and all they could do was hope that they would still be okay when, if, they were found.

These questions though, were only harbored by the older Weasley's and Professor Dumbledore. Ron refused to believe that Harry and Hermione were not alive, and Sirius and Remus would not think on that possibility, each knew he would go crazy if he pondered it too much. No one else in the Wizarding world knew, they didn't want to incite hysteria or riot.

Remus, Sirius, Ron, and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were all currently staying in Gryffindor. It was too much trouble to walk to Hogsmeade to apparate back and forth, and Ron couldn't apparate. To make matters worse, in the middle of the six days, the third day since they'd went missing, was a full moon. Remus headed to the Shrieking Shack, and later that night Sirius went out to keep him company. It was not in anyway as enjoyable as the days they'd spent at Hogwarts in the company of James and Peter. It was in the back of both of their animal minds, that the next generation of James and Lily was possibly never going to get a chance to live out their lives, just as James and Lily hadn't.

* * *

Things weren't going well for Hermione and Harry at Voldemort's hide-out. They still had no food, and their water had been taken away as well. Even worse, Voldemort hadn't been joking when he said he was enjoying the torture. He'd made it a daily event. Every day coming in, inflicting the Cruciatus Curse on Hermione (never long enough to cause permanent damage) and repeating to Harry that he could do nothing.

This troubled Harry to no end. He had plenty of time to himself to think, as each bout weakened Hermione more and more, and she was only conscious for about an hour each day. The thought to root in his mind and grew wildly. He could do nothing. It was by no means pleasant.

* * *

On the sixth day, Snape returned. He was almost knocked over by six anxious people, and he'd told them of Voldemort's hide-out before he realized what he was doing or why he was doing it. It was only a few short minutes after he figured out what was going on, that he had to tell them that he knew nothing about the place other than his location, only a special few were allowed there.

There was a very brief discussion over what type of problems were caused by not knowing just what it was like where they were going, before Sirius, Remus, Molly, Arthur, and Albus had started to head to Hogsmeade, bracelets in hand, to face whatever was there. For the most part, they didn't really care what they might face. Although all but Sirius were normally careful people, after doing nothing but waiting for six days, and brainstorming any possible obstacles, they felt that they were ready, and even if they weren't, they had to go.

It surprised them, when upon arrival, they found no guards stationed outside the entrance to the secluded cottage. They walked right in. The house looked small from the outside, and the inside proved no different. The front door opened into a hall, three doors along the side. Remus went to one, Molly to the next, and Dumbledore to the other. There was no reason, they were just the closest at the time. Dumbledore motioned Remus to open his first, and for Sirius to back him up, wand at ready. If the room was full of Death Eaters there would be four of them free to back him up. He pushed up the door quickly, and scanned the room. It seemed to be a study, several bookshelves and a desk, just one difference. The room was covered in enchanted pictures of Harry, green light imploding his head. Molly gasped, but they moved on. If there was no one there, there must be people in another room.

Molly opened the next door. It was the one. There were Hermione and Harry, in their cell, Hermione's head in Harry's lap. They were alone. Remus turned to Molly. "Will you please go in and get them out. You're better at healing than any of us, and it looks like they might need it. We need to check out the next room." Molly nodded, and moved quickly toward the two.

* * *

It was only about two days later that Harry and Hermione found out about any of this. They were taken by Molly to the Hogwarts infirmary, and hey both healed nicely, at least physically. Ron came in as soon as anyone would let him, and told them what had happened.

"They surprised them. It was just Voldemort and Pettigrew. Dumbledore and my Dad went after Voldemort, and Sirius and Remus doubled up on Pettigrew, because both of them wanted to kill him. They didn't, he's in Azkaban now, but my dad and Dumbledore got Voldemort weak enough, he's gone. He's totally gone. They said it wasn't very hard. He just kept repeating your name Harry, saying that he'd get you. He was totally obsessed, he didn't care that they were ending him." Hermione and Harry just lay on their respective beds, glad that their experience with him was over. Harry reached over and grabbed Hermione's hand, and that was the last sight Ron got of them as he Madame Pomfrey shooed him out of the room.

A/N- This is it guys. I decided to put this particular fic out of it's misery. Thanks for the honesty those of you who told me this had some problems and/or was worse than most of my others. It's not very good, and it's definitely one of my worst, not that any of them are wonderful, but this one's pretty bad. So thanks everyone who's read it. Look out for my next fic in the coming weeks. I don't have a title yet, but I'm going to finish the whole thing and then post it in pieces, I think it's about half done at this point. It's H/R, but probably not quite the R you're thinking of. That one is pretty good so far, so I hope some of you read it when it comes.