Disclaimer: I do not own anything other than the story line . All rights belong to J.K. Rowling
Chapter Twenty Eight: Disaster
Harry woke up during the middle of the night before the last Quidditch match of they year with a sense of foreboding. Scrambling for his glasses and watch, he found that it was one in the morning. He got out of bed and padded over to Ron's four poster.
"Ron," he hissed, looking for movement in the darkened room.
"Wha… what's the matter, Harry?" Ron mumbled.
"Something's wrong. Get dressed, I'm going to wake Neville." Harry made his way over to Neville's bed. They both soon returned to Ron's bedside, Neville wiping the sleep from his eyes.
"Something's up in the forest by Hogsmeade," Harry said.
"Hogsmeade? How…" Ron asked, giving Harry a strange look, as if he thought Harry had just lost his mind.
"I just know. I don't know how, but I know. Neville, I need you to get Luna, and bring her back here." Neville nodded and left quickly.
"What about the Hermione and Ginny?" asked Ron.
"Ginny's already up. She's getting Hermione," Harry answered with his lop-sided grin.
"How? Wait, I don't want to know." Ron said as he started pulling on his socks. "So, should we go down to the common room?"
"Yeah, no point in taking the chance of waking Seamus and Dean, is there?"
They quickly got dressed and hurried quietly down the stairs. Ginny and Hermione were already there. "What's going on, Harry?" Hermione asked, stifling a yawn.
It was then that Neville walked in with Luna. She looked like she had just been woken from a sound sleep, she was still in her night clothes, and she was blinking furiously, obviously trying to wake up.
"Look, there's something big going on in the forest on the other side of Hogsmeade. I've learned to trust my hunches, and this one is practically screaming at me. We need to investigate."
"Harry, shouldn't we let a teacher know?" Hermione asked. "I mean, this might be more than we can handle."
"Come on, Hermione," said Ron. "You don't think that a teacher would take this seriously, do you?"
"Well, OK. What do the rest of you think?"
"I'm with Harry," Neville said.
"Me too," said Luna.
Ginny just stood there with a look of grim determination on her face. Slowly she nodded her head.
"Alright, it's settled," said Harry. "We'll sneak out and assume animal form and make our way through Hogsmeade and investigate. If we find anything we can't handle, we'll high tail it back here and get help. Agreed?"
Everyone nodded agreement, and with out a further word, the six of them made their way out the portrait hole.
The journey through Hogsmeade and into the woods beyond went without incident. They had passed into the forest, and had made their way about half a mile when there was a loud sizzling crackle of energy and their world erupted in pain.
Harry looked around, startled to see the six of them back in human form. "What happened? Hermione, any ideas?" he whispered.
"It m… must be an anti-stealth spell. It stops anyone trying to get past a certain perimeter from using any type of magical stealth. Harry, if that's what it is, we won't be able to transfigure for at least an hour."
Harry quickly tried to resume his animal form, only to writhe on the ground in pain. "That must be it," he said, picking himself up off the ground.
"We have to be careful, Harry. It's possible the spell alerted whoever cast…" she stopped, a soft crack from the surrounding forest had alerted her.
"Wands out," Ron whispered. All six reached into their robes and withdrew their wands. They started a rapid retreat towards Hogsmeade. They had just reached the edge of the forest when it became apparent that they wouldn't be getting much farther without a huge fight. Emerging from the forest were what seemed to be hundreds of goblins, all armed. Two tall, lean vampires appeared behind them, flanking a masked Death Eater.
"What do you think, Ron?" Harry whispered.
"Attack, it's our only chance. There's too many for us to run."
Harry nodded, and looked around catching each of his friend's eyes. They all were ready. "Now!" he yelled.
Pandemonium broke loose. There were goblins flying everywhere. Red beams were dropping them like flies, but there were so many of them. Harry was hitting them with every hex he could think of, but for everyone he got, two more took its place. He couldn't see a good end to it. He pointed his wand skyward and screamed "Thundrous!" Power erupted from his wand straight up and with a tremendous thunderclap, the sky lit up for miles around.
Just then a club swept down on his wand arm shattering it. He yelped in pain, dropping his wand and sinking to his knees. He looked up to see the Death Eater striding towards him, his wand pointed at him.
A blur of red slammed into the wizard, knocking him to the ground, his mask flying from his face. As he got up it became apparent who it was: Lucius Malfoy! He pointed his wand at Ron, who was trying to rise after his best save ever.
"Your family has been a thorn in my side for too long, Weasley. Incendio! A red spark shot out of his wand at Ron, but it didn't hit him. At the last moment Hermione had shoved Ron out of the way. The spark struck her in the stomach, her abdomen erupting in fire. She clutched her stomach and screamed, dropping to the ground.
"No!!!" screamed Ron and Harry together. While they were all distracted, Malfoy pointed his wand at Ginny and said "Suspendo!" Ginny froze where she stood.
Harry screamed and dropped to the ground, clutching his head between his hands. Everything had exploded inside his head. He couldn't think, all he could do was feel. It was like someone had taken an elastic tether, stretched it to the breaking point, and let it snap back through his skull.
*0*0*
He awoke to find himself in the hospital ward back at Hogwarts. He had only one thought on his mind though, Ginny. She was gone. He had felt her go, felt her presence disappear from him. Life was no longer worth living. If she wasn't there, he didn't see any point to going on. Once again, someone he loved had been taken from him.
He looked around him. Hermione was asleep in the bed next to him, her abdomen heavily bandaged. Ron was keeping silent vigil in a chair between them.
"Ron," Harry croaked, his voice sounding like he hadn't drunk anything for days.
Ron slowly turned to look at him, his face a mask of pain and fear. "Harry, I…" his voice broke.
"Ginny, where is her body? I have to see her."
"Harry, there is no body. She was taken by Malfoy. We think she was placed in suspended animation."
Harry's heart leapt. "You mean????"
"Dumbledore thinks she's alive. He feels they're keeping her as protection against you. He's trying to figure out where they might be keeping her."
"Ron, how's Hermione?"
Ron shook his head, the tears starting to form. "She's been like this since the teachers showed up. They saw your signal, by the way. Madame Pomfrey says she'll come around eventually."
Harry sat up, realizing that Madame Pomfrey must have healed his arm. He looked around, and found his glasses and his wand, there on the stand next to him. He put his glasses on, and looked around. Neville and Luna were over in a corner section, obviously recovering from their own wounds.
Hermione picked that time to stir, opening her eyes with a low moan. She tried to sit up, only to collapse back onto the bed, clutching her stomach. Ron was at her side in an instant.
Harry smiled to himself. At least Hermione was awake. Then he heard the sounds of an argument taking place in Madame Pomfrey's office. Eventually Madame Pomfrey came out, and seeing Hermione was awake, motioned into her office and came over to see her. Professor McGonagall came out and stood at the foot of Hermione's bed.
"Miss Granger," Madam Pomfrey started, "Professor McGonagall felt that you should know about this now. So against my better judgment, I shall discuss your treatment with you before you are fully recovered."
"What is it?" asked Hermione, her voice sounding weak.
Professor McGonagall looked at Harry and Ron "Weasley, Potter, you may stay, she needs her friends now, and besides, this concerns one of you too."
Madame Pomfrey cleared her throat and continued, "As I was saying, we got to you in time to prevent any permanent internal damage. You should make a full recovery, physically."
Ron looked at her. "Just what do you mean when you say physically?"
"I am sorry Miss Granger, we could not save the baby."
Author's Note: I was going to end here tonight, but out of respect for my readers who may or may not have pitchforks and other sharp implements, I shall be posting a second chapter...
The story reccomendation for the chapter is "H P and the Inspiration of Ginerva and Hermione" by Udderpd. He only writes happy Harry stories, so be prepared for lots and lots of fluff...
