Chapter 21. Hooray!

Well, I finally got around to figuring out what's going to happen. Actually, I just finished writing it all down not even a minute ago!

It looks pretty epic and blockbuster to me.

Hopefully you like it.

We're moving on in the plot, here. No more mindless chapters.

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'Ron! Let me go! Damnit, Draco, don't you help him! Harry! For the love of Merlin, help me!'

Hermione's yell echoed across the yard. Harry glanced up from his book to see Ron with a huge grin on his face, and Draco, with a similar grin, dragging Hermione by her arms towards the Apparation Point. The girl was struggling with all her might, but she was no match for the two boys. Harry frowned and stood, his book sliding onto the ground with a muffled thud. He jogged to catch up, and when he did, they were only a short distance from the Apparation Point.

'Ron, Draco, what are you doing?'

'Why,' Draco panted, not even pausing. 'We're kidnapping young Hermione here. We're taking her out for a spin.' The grin on his face matched Ron's, and Harry knew that no good would come of this. He glanced towards the house, but no one else was outside. They were at the Apparation Point now, and Draco and Ron were getting ready to Apparate. Harry hesitated, before latching onto Draco's arm. 'If anything happens, I can always use the Magic Mirror…'

The four of them turned, and were welcomed into darkness.

XoXoXoX

Severus stepped out onto soft grass, looking around. It was completely silent, no birds sang and the tree branches were still. There were dark grey clouds gathering overhead, and it was clear the four teens Severus was searching for were not there. However, that did not stop him from thinking they were playing tricks on him and hiding, so he set out to find them.

'Harry!'

No answer. Raindrops were starting to fall now, and Severus was soon soaked. He turned in a full circle slowly, watching for any movement. There was no one in the garden or the backyard.

'Harry! Draco! Granger! Weasley!'

But there was no reply. There was thunder now, and the occasional flash of lightning. Deep in his heart, Severus knew something was deadly wrong.

He turned and started running towards the house.

XoXoXoX

'Where are we?' Ron whispered. He and Draco had let Hermione go, and all four of them were standing in Leafturn. It seemed Draco was the one who had led them there, so he quickly informed Ron of the wizarding place.

'Awesome! Does anyone have any money on them? We could go browsing!' A bright cheery grin on his face, Ron stepped forward, just as huge raindrops started to fall from the darkening sky.

'I've got about 5 galleons on me,' Draco answered, falling into step beside him. Hermione glanced uneasily at Harry, fidgeting with the sleeve of her top.

'Harry, I think we should go back. I don't feel right about this.'

'Nah,' Harry smiled, taking her hand and pulling her along. 'No harm in just browsing the stores, right? What could possibly go wrong?'

'Oh, Harry!' Hermione sighed. 'You just had to say that!'

'Say what?'

'Say: "What could possibly go wrong?"!' She growled. 'Haven't you read any books? Whenever someone says that, everything goes wrong!'

'Oh. Well, lucky we're not book characters, eh?' Harry joked. Hermione only groaned and allowed him to drag her from store to store. Eventually, they got bored and found a cute little ice cream shop. They all ordered a bowl each and sat down inside, waiting for the waitress to come back with their ice cream.

There was a comfortable conversation. The boys talked about Quidditch, and Hermione rolled her eyes and tried to change the topic. But as soon as she started saying something boring, the boys would clear their throats pointedly and start conversing loudly about the Chudley Cannons' latest loss.

After they ate their ice cream, they all walked outside. It was still raining, but none of them wanted to leave. They knew that the adults would go ballistic at them for leaving without telling anyone. Draco suggested having a look at the bookstore, and they all jumped at the chance to stay longer.

'Where is it?' Hermione asked as Draco led them down the street.

'Just down here, I think,' Draco replied, turning down a dark alleyway. They marched on in silence until Hermione screamed. Figures were materialising from all around Harry. At least ten men were closing in on them, forming a tight circle around them. Harry could not recognise any of them, and plunged his hand into his robes. He pulled out the Magic Mirror, whispered Severus' name quickly and watched as the mirror grew fuzzy, then clear.

'Harry! Where in Merlin are you?!' The man shouted. But his shouts were dimmed by the demented screaming of the Death Eaters, and one of them lunged towards Harry.

'Severus! Help!' Harry managed to get out, before the Death Eater slammed into him and the mirror went flying. Dazed, Harry blindly struggled under the Death Eater's weight, a feeling of dread seeping through him when he heard the mirror smash. The Death Eater rained blow after blow on him, until a female ordered him to stop. He was hauled up, and found himself pushed roughly into Draco, whose mouth was bleeding and had a large bloody cut above his eyebrow.

Only when he saw Hermione and Ron being pushed together, back to back, and tied together, did he realise the same thing was happening to himself and Draco. His wand had been taken from him, and he saw one of the Death Eater's holding it, along with Draco's, Hermione's and Ron's. A Death Eater had grabbed onto his hair, and he could see that Hermione and Ron had vanished. Harry reached blindly for Draco's hand and gripped it tightly.

Harry could feel Draco shivering in fear as the Death Eaters forced them to come with them with Side-Along Apparation.

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It was dark when Harry awoke, and he found himself with his head on something soft, yet his body on cold, hard ground. Someone was holding both of his hands, and he could feel something soft, yet freezing cold dabbing gently on his forehead. His eyes slowly opened and he let out a groan. Hermione's face came into view, worried and with a few cuts, but otherwise okay. He realised his head was on Hermione's lap, while Ron and Draco sat on either side of him, each gripping his hand.

Hermione was holding a white cloth that was stained red in places and there was a bowl of ice cold water beside his head. They were in a dark concrete cell, with only one door that was shut tightly. There was nothing but a few thin blankets on the ground.

'Oh, shh! He's coming around!' Hermione gasped, and Harry winced. Every little sound made his head pound.

'Oh, thank Merlin,' Draco breathed, rubbing his dirty forehead with his free hand.

'Ugh,' Harry groaned, struggling to sit up. 'What happened?'

'Gang of Death Eaters found us wandering in Leafturn,' Ron told him as he pushed Harry back down. 'Keep lying down, you're pretty beat up. Hermione wants to clean you're wounds.'

'Where are we?' Harry muttered, lying still as Hermione started to dab the cloth gently on his face again.

'We don't know,' Draco answered. 'But I don't think these Death Eaters are high up in ranks, because if they were, the Dark Lord would be here by now.'

'They Apparated straight into here. They just threw us down, untied us and left. But one of them came back with the bowl and cloth. Said to clean up a bit to be presentable to You-Know-Who.' Hermione added.

'How long have I been out?'

'About ten minutes,' Ron sighed.

Harry took the time to glance round at all of them. Draco was sporting a swollen lip and nose, but the cut above his forehead was clean. Ron had a deep gash down his cheek and there was dried blood in his hair. Hermione had a few minor cuts, but nothing else.

'What do you think we should do? Have we got anything to help us?'

'All I've got is a few Galleons,' Ron muttered, pulling the gold coins from his pocket. Harry frowned and sat up, ignoring Hermione's protests.

'Can I see those?'

Surprised, Ron handed them over without complaint and Harry took them. There were three, and all of them looked relatively the same. However, one of them had a very small indent on the back.

'Ron,' Harry said quietly. 'I think this is the fake Galleon we used for the DA.'

'Really?'

'Well, it's no use, anyhow.' Hermione frowned.

'Maybe… But maybe Luna and Neville still have theirs. We could get them to help somehow.' Harry was clutching at straws here, and Hermione took pity on him.

'Okay, Harry. I'll try to send a message to them.'

'But you don't have a wand,' Draco frowned. 'And what is the DA?'

'Ron can explain about the DA,' Hermione told him. 'And I've been practising wandless magic. I think I might be good enough…'

She took the Galleon, closed her eyes and concentrated. When she opened them, a small smile crept onto her face. 'I didn't know I could put words on them.'

She passed the Galleon to Harry, who could read the words, 'Kidnapped. Help.' On them.

'It's a start,' Harry muttered.

'Yes, well, lie back down. You've got a really nasty cut beside you're ear…'

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Oooh, the suspense! Okay, I think this chapter had too much Harry/Draco contact for my liking. Just to let you know, Harry/Draco is not happening in this fic.

I'm thinking about a sequel after I finish this fic. How about it?

Please review!