Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters, locations or prior storylines associated with it. That is all the intellectual property of the wonderful JK Rowling. No copyright infringement is intended, nor am I making any money from this story. I am just playing in her world.

The Four Horsemen © The Sexy Muggle Librarian

Chapter 25: Two Steps Forward

Astoria and Pansy were sitting at the dining table when Blaise walked in. "We must leave this place," he said without preamble.

Pansy raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"I have received some troubling news that Pottyhead and the Weasel are trying to enter South Africa. So far, my friend in the government has managed to block them, but I fear that he can not do that for much longer without drawing undo attention upon himself."

The women shared a glance, knowing that Blaise had grown more arrogant and paranoid since Astoria had returned and the power of the Horsemen had fully manifested, bolstering each other their magical cores as well. "So where will we go?" Pansy asked calmly. "I would guess that if Potter has found this place, he will have found the majority of your properties worldwide, Blaise."

Blaise just smirked. "Leave that to me, Pans. Just pack all of your belongings. Leave nothing behind for them to track." His eyes glittered dangerously as gave the order, but both of them just nodded meekly, not wanting to bring attention to themselves.

Quietly they left the room, both making their way to Pansy's suite of rooms. Once ensconced, Pansy quickly cast a spell she had learned from her brother, to make it seem as if they were talking about inconsequential things. "This is good," she said with a smile. "If Potter has found us, then that means that maybe we can end this charade." She sighed. "I never wanted to be at the whims of a madman again."

Astoria smiled. "I just want this to be over. I can't make things right with Draco, but I at least want him to know that I did not participate in this willingly. What do you think Blaise is planning?"

Pansy shrugged as she began waving her wand to pack up all her belongings. "He probably has a plan. My guess is that we will not stay in one place for very long. I fear this may also cause Blaise to push up whatever timetable he has about taking over the world."

"That means unless Potter manages to find us quickly, we are going to have to use our powers," Astoria muttered, resignation colouring her voice.

"I think so," Pansy confirmed before shrugging. "Look, so and pack up. We will just have to figure out how to keep the plan minimised to get them time to catch us. If anyone can match Blaise for power it's Harry Potter."

"But what if Blaise decided to use our powers against him. You can refuse Pansy, I can't. The slave bond will make me use my power to kill him."

Pansy shook her head. "Let's just hope that it doesn't come to that, Astoria."

Astoria just chewed on her bottom lip as she walked out of Pansy's suite and made her way to her own, trying to think of a way to prevent the destruction of the world that she felt was coming.

~H~P~

Draco stared out of the window as the landscape flashed by quickly. He had never ridden in an automobile before and he found it a bit disconcerting. He didn't like the lack of control that he felt. He looked down to his left, where Hermione lay snuggled against him, snoring softly and Harry sat next to her, his eyes closed as his head lay against the glass. How can they sleep? he wondered. He certainly did not feel secure enough to let sleep overcome him for a long period, although when the sun had set he had been lulled to sleep for a few hours.

Ahead of him, he couldn't see what Ron was doing, but he knew by the frequent movements the man was making, he was not succumbing to sleep either. They had stopped frequently to begin the trip, which took them through the capital city of Johannesburg. That segment of the trip had left Draco clutching the leather of the seat until his knuckles were white as other vehicles and people seemed intent on hitting them. When he had turned to Hermione to see how she was dealing with the attempts on their lives, he found her smiling and chatting with Potter as if she had no cares in the world.

"We are within an hour of arriving," Noel said from the front seat.

Draco breathed as sigh of relief and turned to awaken Hermione. "Time to wake up," he said softly as he stroked her cheek with his right hand.

Hermione stirred as she felt Draco's fingers on her cheek. She smiled when she heard his soft voice and slowly opened her eyes. "Hey," she said as she stared at his face. "Did you sleep?"

Draco shook his head as he raised an eyebrow. "Are you joking? I'm wondering how you could sleep in this moving death trap."

Hermione giggled. "It's not a death trap, at least not to me. I grew up with long trips in my parent's car. I actually sleep better than I do normally in a car."

Draco shook his head, wondering how that was possible. "Noel says we have about an hour before we arrive."

Hermione nodded and poked Harry until he awoke. "We're an hour away," she said simply as he looked at her in annoyance.

Harry nodded his head as he wiped the sleep out of his eyes. "Thanks. I had a dream whilst I was sleeping. If we can't use magic lest we be discovered, how are we going to break into Zabini's mansion? I don't believe that he is the type to live without a multitude of wards protecting him."

"It won't matter by that time," Draco responded darkly. "I am certain that I can break the wards, so you three will stay hidden whilst I bring them down."

Hermione shook her head. "No. We will not split up."

Ron cleared his throat. "I hate to admit this, but Malfoy has a point Hermione. If we stayed hidden, strategically it is a good decision."

Hermione shook her head emphatically, not liking the idea of leaving Draco vulnerable. "No. I refuse."

Harry placed his hand on her knee, his long friendship with her letting him know that she did not want to leave Draco alone. He sighed and decided on a compromise. "Why don't you and Draco stay together and then Ron and I can stay under a Disillusionment charm."

Draco bit back his automatic response that he didn't want her with him, that it was too dangerous, but he fought it down. Firstly, he was certain that she could kick his arse in a fight, and secondly it was an unexpected bonus to have someone close to him that wanted to have his back.

Hermione smirked. "Done."

They passed the rest of the trip in silence, each mentally preparing themselves for what lay ahead. Draco was going over the wards that he knew Blaise had cast prior, Hermione determining the best way to keep everyone safe, Harry and Ron were both making plans on what to do if their plan blew up in their faces.

Draco stared out the window as the car slowed down. "Stop here, Noel," he instructed, knowing that Blaise would have put up Muggle repelling wards. "We will walk from here."

"I will wait here for you, yes?" the man asked.

Draco shook his head. "No, you can leave."

"But…" Noel began before seeing the look in the Draco's eyes. "All right."

Quietly, they climbed out of the Land Rover, Draco taking a moment to pass a handful of bills to Noel before he drove off. He shared glances at with the others before slowly walking up the gravelled pathway. They walked for a kilometre before Draco stopped. "I can feel his wards."

"How?" Ron asked.

"He used Dark Magic. With my—upbringing—I am sensitive to it." He shook his head. "You should make yourself invisible now. I'll bring down the wards."

Harry and Ron nodded, before waving their wands over themselves and becoming part of the foliage. Hermione squared her shoulders and withdrew her wand from her bag. With a nod to Draco, she faced forward and prepared herself for whatever happened when the wards finally dropped.

Draco took a deep breath and thought about the wards. He raised his wand and began to chant quietly under his breath. With every swish of the wand, he could feel the wards weakening. Finally after five minutes, he felt them drop. "There down," he said, discomfort creeping up him. That was too easy.

"Let's wait and see if anyone shows up," came the disembodied voice of Harry.

"Good idea," said Ron.

Hermione kept her wand at the ready, but after half an hour had passed and no one showed up and no hexes came flying their way, she began to walk forwards. "Come on," she said. "Obviously, they are not going to come to us, so we will just have to go to them."

Harry and Ron quickly dropped the charm and joined them on the walk towards up the pathway. It only took them a couple of moments before reaching the impressive black wrought-iron gates that stood guard at the drive.

"Do you think there are additional wards?" Harry asked Draco.

The blond shook his head, still feeling niggles of doubt at the ease in which they gotten this close. He closed his eyes briefly, to feel the magic around him before opening them up again. "Not of a Dark Magic variety, at least. Regular wards maybe."

Ron nodded his head and without warning pushed the gates open. They were well oiled and swung open silently. He turned and looked at them. "Well, we're not going to find anything out by standing here, are we?" With that proclamation, he strode up the walk towards the mansion standing on a small hill.

The mansion was large, sprawling over out to each side into the trees. There was a wide porch shrouded in shadows and they could just make out the dark mahogany doors that signalled the entrance.

Hermione studied the house before quickly muttering, "Homenum Revelio." After a moment, she shook her head. "No one is here."

Draco pursed his lips in thought. "We should still proceed cautiously. Blaise could have placed traps on the house."

Keeping that in mind, the group carefully entered the house, Harry and Ron taking point since they had experience in disabling booby-traps that former Death Eaters had left on their property.

Multi-coloured light was emitted from their wands as they silently cast charm after charm to reveal any traps, but none were discovered. Once Harry was certain that there was nothing harmful in the house he looked at the other three.

"We should split up and examine the house. See if we can find anything that will indicate where they have gone. Meet back here in the foyer," Harry instructed, going into full Auror-mode.

Each nodded in agreement and walked off in different directions. An hour passed during their search, but each came back empty handed. Draco sighed as he looked at them. "He knew we were close and he left. I used every spell I know, both Dark and Light and there is nothing left of them. No hair, nothing that we can use a tracer spell on."

"So what do we do now?" Hermione asked.

"We go back to England and start the search over," Ron stated, smothering a yawn. "We have a Portkey to take us back to Grimmauld and I don't know about you, but I'm knackered. I need sleep."

Draco sighed in frustration. "Fine, but when I get my hands on that bloody arsehole, I'm going to kill him with my bare hands."

"We'll find them, Draco. I know we will," Hermione said softly as she placed her hand on his arm in comfort.

"Where's the Portkey?" Draco asked.

Ron withdrew an old shoe from his bag, which he tapped once. "Everyone grab on, it will be active in thirty seconds."

Hermione held onto Draco's arm as she felt the familiar tug behind her navel. Quickly she closed her eyes, knowing from prior experience that it would not unsettle her stomach as much. When she landed, she knew something was wrong and quickly reopened her eyes, seeing a sea of snow. Panic filling her eyes, she looked around and found Harry and Draco wearing similar expressions of astonishment. Ron was no where in sight.

"Where in the bloody hell are we?"

~H~P~

AN: So, any ideas on where they ended up? And why is Ron missing? It's a little cliffie, but not too bad, I hope! As always, thanks to everyone who read, reviewed, faved or followed! Y'all make my day!