A/N: Hey Loves! So I hope you're okay with the turn this story took, don't worry all will work out well in the end I promise! I wouldn't do that to you! So just hang in there with me? If you don't that's okay too. Thank you for the feed back I'm sorry you guys were taken off guard I've been trying to drop hints that something is going to go down, but I guess I'm not super great at it haha.
If any of you keep track on chapter numbers, no I didn't just drop a chapter I went in and added 25.5 to 25 and then renumbered the rest of the chapters, so nothing is lost, and you're not crazy. Lol. Now to the next chapter!
Chapter 29
Harry flinched as James launched himself into the bathtub again, sending a giant splash of water in every direction. Harry couldn't help but laugh, he tried to maintain boundaries and rules with James, but he also felt that after growing up with the Dursley's that it was important to let kids have fun, play and, in general, be kids. So, while he taught James to be respectful and listen, he also let him be loud and adventurous, letting him test the limits with a reckless abandon. Which led to Harry getting drenched almost every bath night, but in his mind it was just water, and he was creating memories. "Okay, James, the water is starting to get cold, time to get out and go to sleep." James frowned, but clumsily climbed out of the bath regardless, waiting for his father to wrap him up in a towel so they would go put on jammies before books and bed.
"Hey Harry," Ginny popped her head in to the bathroom, "that coin is whistling."
Harry was mid wrapping James when he looked over his shoulder at Ginny. "The Galleon on the counter?" His brows knitting together, Ginny nodded, a worried look on her face. Harry picked James up, kissed him on the forehead and squeezed him tightly. "James, Mum is going to have to read you a book tonight. Daddy's work needs him." Harry hated how much he had to say that phrase, daddy's work needs him usually meant that he wouldn't be back home for at least a day.
"But, Daddy!" James whined as Harry handed him to Ginny. "I want Daddy!"
Ginny tickled James, who broke out in gleeful giggles. "Oh really, now? And what am I, chopped liver?" She laughed.
Harry smiled, seeing Ginny be a mother always warmed his heart, but a sense of urgency was nagging at him. "Sorry, honey."
Ginny looked up at him. "It's okay. Go. Say night, James." She smiled down at the toddler.
"Bye!" James yelled.
Harry kissed them both and shuffled out of the room and downstairs to the coin which at this point was making an awful noise. He grabbed his wand on the counter beside the coin, took a deep breath and grabbed on the the coin. The next moment he found himself standing in dark woods. "Lumos," he muttered and white light flicked on at the top of his wand. Harry couldn't see or hear anything. He slowly stepped forward looking for signs of other people.
"Harry?" a hushed voice asked behind him
Harry turned to find Ron illuminated by his own wand. "Where are the others?" Harry asked. "do you see anyone?"
"I dunno, I grabbed on to the port key and it brought me here on a few moments before you got here. I haven't seen or heard anyone but you."
Harry face became grim. The Portkey was supposed to take them straight to the source. "You think there's warding keeping us out?"
Ron shrugged. "Could be, that would explain why we didn't all land in the same spot too, 'cause the keys could only take us to the perimeter of the warding." There was a twig snap to the left of Harry and both men pointed their wands in that direction, only to find a Jamison, another Auror, approaching.
"Hey boys, glad to be seein ya here, getin' abit worried when I keyed inta da woods at nigh by meself." His thick accent cutting through the stillness as he smiled at them.
Harry lowered his wand. "Hey, Jamison." He was very glad to see Jamison, he was one of the best Aurors, with an intimate understanding of the dark arts. He had attended Durmstrang, and his father was thrown in Azkaban after the war. But Jamison fell in love with a muggle girl, so he left the dark side. "We need to push forwards,"Harry looked at the two men.
"Yeah, great mate, but in what direction?" Ron scoffed, gesturing to the dense forest around them.
"Well, I keyed in facing north west," Harry waited, hoping they had also landed facing the same direction.
"I landed facing more westerly," Jamieson added.
"I came in just behind Harry," Ron confirmed.
"Right, then, west it is." Harry pressed forward, towards the west, the others falling in flank positions. Harry didn't know why but a sense of dread fell over him. They moved carefully, listening to the woods around them. There was something off however, it was too quiet. There were no bugs or bats or anything making sounds. Harry slowed his pace. Just in front of him he felt something like a change in pressure. "Reducto," Harry cast, and, sure enough, the spell seemed to bounce off an invisible wall just in front of the. "Warding," Harry said under his breath. "Okay, on three, Reducto," Harry slowly counted down, the only way to break through warding like this was by brute force, and the more force, the better. On three, massive bursts of blue lights exploded from all three of their wands and hit the shield with a booming force. The shield rippled from the hit, but still stood strong, "Again, on three," Harry instructed. "One...Two.." Just as three came to the tip of Harry's tongue, the pressure around them released and sound returned to the forest. Harry paused, bent down picked a rock up off the forest floor, and tossed it in to the wall that had been in front of them, however the rock flew straight past and skipped along the ground on the other side. Shit, that's not good. "Search the area, call the others to help."
Two patronus' burst to life beside Harry, Ron's Jack Russell terrier and Jamison's workhorse. Harry watched as the two spectral animals flew off into the distance, heading in seperate directions.
"Do we keep going?" Ron asked, waiting for directions.
Harry thought for a long moment. "No, we'll stay together until others arrive. We'll move once the others are here." It only took a few minutes before more aurors arrived using their galleons. To Harry's surprise and worry, Hermione had yet to be seen. After the party was organized and people were starting to head out in groups, Harry pulled Ron aside. "I want you to head up the search."
Ron gave Harry a confused look. "Why? Where are you going?"
"I want to check on Hermione," Harry replied calmly.
Ron looked around watching as the groups dispersed. "She's not here?" The confusion spreading to his voice.
Harry shook his head. "No, so I just want to check on her, you know, just to be sure."
Ron turned back to Harry, a stressed look on his face. "Do you think something is wrong?"
Harry locked his jaw. "I hope not." He apparated away from the forest to the alleyway just down the street from Hermione's. He was concerned when she didn't key to the forest when the alarm went off. Hermione had made a point to be at every alert thus far and, with Draco's undercover plan, Harry was sure she would be there. As the thought ran through his head, a queasy, nervous feeling sank into Harry. He hoped Ron and the search team would find clues as to where they may have gone after the the initial jumping point. Harry trotted up the staircase to Hermione's flat, the nervousness growing with each step he took. Hermione just wouldn't miss a alarm, that was totally out of her nature. Harry knocked firmly on her door, but no answer came. Harry gritted his teeth and knocked again. "Hermione?" he called firmly, hoping she would recognize his voice and come sprinting to the door, but again, no answer, no shuffling. Harry felt his palms grow sweaty as gripped his wand and cast Alohomora, which would open up the simple locks, and then cast another charm that released her warding. Hermione was smart, she didn't rely on just one type of security, and, naturally, she gave the counter charms to both Harry and Ron for "just in cases", which Harry was desperately hoping he was abusing right now.
The door unlatched and Harry delicately pushed it open, the apartment was dark. "Hermione?" he beckoned again, as his eyes adjusted to the darkness. The moon light poured in through the windows, casting a blue tin over the room. Everything looked in place. "Lumos," Harry muttered, and white glow lite the room around him. "Hermione?" Harry whispered to himself. The shower wasn't running, that had been Harry first hope, that she simply couldn't hear him but the overwhelming silence snubbed that. Harry slowly walked down the hallway to her bedroom, maybe she was just passed out. Harry pushed open Hermione's bedroom door to find an empty bed, and fear for his best friend filled his stomach.
A crack broke Harry from his trance. He tiptoed towards the living room wand ready to blast the intruder away. "Harry!" Harry dropped his wand as Ron's voice rang through the empty flat, and his mate rounded the corner.
"Harry, mate,we found Malfoy's Galleon," Ron's face looked drained as the same realization dawned on him, that Hermione wasn't home and Malfoy had disappeared. "Do you think they've got Hermione too?"
Harry locked his jaw. That was exactly what Harry had been suspecting since Hermione didn't show up up in the woods. "Send a Patronus, we need everyone on this now."
Wet stone and the smell of mildew teased at the edge of her senses as Hermione slowly began to wake. She opened her eyes, but darkness seemed to surround her still. She blinked again hoping to clear her vision. There seemed to be a small glow coming from behind her as her eyes adjusted. She could feel the cold rocky floor beneath her frame. Hermione shifted, her body was aching and she could taste blood on her lips. She groaned softly. This time, however, her captors didn't feel the need to bind her. She slowly sat up, but took a sharp breath as a stabbing pain ruptured through her rib cage. She gritted her teeth and shifted her knees and palms under herself. She looked around her hoping to find Draco, instead she found herself alone in a small dungeon cell, far more crude than the ones on at the Malfoy Manor. This cell looked as if it had been carved out during the middle ages, the stone walls and floors were rough and dank. She crawled to the iron bars scraping her skin against the rough ground and looked down the hallway, there was a torch on the wall to her left barely illuminating the hallway. She couldn't hear anything or anyone. "Draco?" she called delicately but silence was her only answer. Hermione bit her lip, looking around trying to figure out her next move. A loud bang rang from down the hallway and then loud foot falls moved towards her.
"I told you this was a terrible idea," a mans voice echoed down the halway, "but no, you wanted to impress Yaxley, and now we're in a pile of shit."
"I'm just trying to ensure that we land in his favor," a female's voice responded, clearly irritated with her companion. "And while he is not happy that we went with Lucius, he does know that we brought them here." The pair stopped just in front of Hermione's cell and Hermione recognized them, the Carrow twins. Alecto smiled sadistically. "Notice that Lucius is the one getting curcioed, not us?"
"Give me a wand and I'll take crucio you," Hermione spat back, though she was thoroughly aware that in her state she was at a clear disadvantage.
"Oh, look, Amycus, the wittle Mudblood thinks she's dangerous," Alecto cooed at her mockingly. "Our blood, and therefore our magic, is far superior to yours, you stupid twat. I would destroy you before you could even get the words out of your mouth."
Amycus chuckled as he watched his sister toy with their captive. "You'll get your chance, Alecto. Remember, we have to keep her alive until he says so."
Alecto rolled her eyes. "You should call him Master."
A very annoyed Amycus chuffed back at his sister. "Why? He's not Voldemort."
"Once the plan falls into place he will be more powerful than Voldemort. The difference was that Voldemort was insane and that led to his demise. Our master has a clear and precise plan and has the sanity and experience to make it happen."
"Shut up, Alecto." Amycus grabbed a key from his pocket and unlocked the steel doors. "Now, cover me."
Amycus shuffled into the cell, grabbed Hermione roughly by the arm and threw her over his shoulder, ignoring the screams of pain as he manhandled her already broken rib cage. He carried Hermione out of the cell and down the long hallway, Alecto's wand trained on Hermione the entire way. They went through the dungeon door into an even bigger hallway. The walls and floors here, however, were smooth and well maintained. They continued down that hallway a bit, then turned down another for a little ways more until Amycus stopped in front of a set of wooden doors and waited for Alecto to open them before continuing in to a much larger warmer room. Hermione barely got a chance to look around before she was slammed down. A roaring pain spread through her abdomen as the broken ribs shifted with her collision and thrumming pain reverberated around her skull when it smashed into to the table. Her breath escaped her again as she roared out in pain. She could hear a commotion and yelling behind her but the pain overwhelmed her senses beyond recognition. Hermione coughed and rolled to her side, her eyes blurry with pain but she could still make out a flash of blonde. "Draco?" She half whispered, half choked.
Draco awoke with a start, his vision blurred. He blinked a few times before the room before him became painfully clear. He was sitting in a rich velvet chair with a long, handsome table in front of him and on the opposite side of him sat Yaxley. Draco never really considered the man a threat, he was merely the Ministry puppet while Voldemort was in control. "Ah, Yaxley, how nice it is to see you again," Draco drawled. "Tell me, how many charms did it take to repair your arsehole when Voldemort died?"
Yaxely smirked in to his palm. "Glad to see you're still proud enough to make quips, Draco." He let his hand drop to the smooth surface of the table. "Though still not wise enough to know when to keep them to yourself, I see."
Draco chuffed, he was keenly aware that he was surrounded by armed wizards. Dolohov and Rookwood stood to either side of him, so that accounted for two of the three escapees from Azkaban. He saw Nott (who was the third to escapee) sitting at the far end of the table next to Lucius, who both looked as if they had just been crucioed to near insanity. Draco smiled to himself, was it possible that this was an unsanctioned mission and that was why Lucius had been punished? Regardless if they were punished or not, Draco knew he was in no position to be mouthing off, but to relent to fear would only put himself and Hermione in trouble. His heart stopped for half a beat, Hermione was nowhere in the room. He kept his cool, however, trying to pretend that he had not noticed her absence. They did not need any more weapons. "Ah, well, my father tried to beat tact in to me, but failed miserably."
Yaxely cocked an eyebrow at him. "It wasn't the only thing that he failed miserably at. It seems that he forgot to teach you about family duty as well."
Draco cursed to himself internally, he knew being with Hermione put a target on her back. "Ah well, every good boy likes a dirty girl, I suppose." Draco shrugged, maybe he could throw them off the trail.
"Draco, please, we're not fools." Yaxely rolled his eyes, clearly annoyed with him. "Your father made it very clear how you threatened and begged for him to spare the girl." A slow grin spread across his face. "We know she's the weakness."
Draco felt his body clench, he didn't a ton of options here. He could comply and keep Hermione out of immediate danger or put her on the line and stop her from suffering in the future. Draco knew which one Hermione would choose, in a heartbeat without thinking, but Draco was selfish. "What you would want from me."
Yaxely smiled deviously. "I'm so pleased that it didn't take long to flip you, Draco. I'm a rather busy man these days, and torturing a mudblood cuts in to precious time that I just don't have." He stood up, slowly pressing his hands in to the table. "You see, Draco, we have been working long term to destabilize the Ministry, first with the random murders, then the Azkaban escape. We're slowly whittling down the public's faith in them, one uncaught dangerous murder at a time. I believe that we are to a point where we could start placing people within the system so that when it does fall, they can swiftly take over." Yaxely began to slowly pace the length of the table. "The problem being all of our names have been ruined by the war, so we tried to recruit young, charismatic purebloods who are in good standing with the ministry."
Draco's jaw clenched, Theo.
"It seems though that our candidate turned on us." Yaxely glared at Nott, but continued, "so this left me in a conundrum. I need someone who has built himself back into public eye, who seems to have turned and seems to desire change. Someone with a name that carries, but someone I can easily control." Yaxely stopped at the far end of the table, and watched the fireplace for moment, "and for a moment I must admit, I was lost to whom that maybe." He turned back to Draco, "you were not an option because I thought that your, disease would taint your public standing, but then you started dating the Mudblood. You see, now with is the public swooning over your contamination with the Mudblood, that puts you in good standing, and with me holding her, I control you." An evil smile curled on to the Yaxley's face.
Draco narrowed his eyes. "You want me to be your puppet?"
The doors to the room swung open suddenly, catching Draco by surprise. He whipped his head around to find Amycus with Hermione slung over his shoulder, but before Draco could say or do anything, the man slammed her down on the table with a force the echoed through the room. Draco leapt to his feet, where promptly Dolohov and Rookwood grabbed his arms to hold him back. "Let me go!" He roared as he fought against their strength. Draco continued to curse and yell at the top of his lungs, trying desperately to get to Hermione, who was now craning her body to see him.
"Draco?"
The word hit Draco like a freight train, never had his own name caused him so much grief. Hermione's body went limp against the table. "Let him go," and like that Draco rushed to Hermione's side. He leaned over the table where she lay unconscious. He brushed some stray hair out of her face, scratches covered the left side of her face as if she had scraped it against the stone, yet somehow, among the dried blood and bruises, she had a frail beauty about her. Draco rubbed his thumb over her cheek as he fought back the fear and anger that wanted to overcome him. Footsteps approached the two of them and Yaxley bent over the table to catch Draco's eyes.
"Yes," Yaxely said "with her, I control you." An evil smile curled on to the Yaxley's face.
Kingsly had just spent the last half hour screaming at Harry, as if he had not already known how bad it was that Hermione and Draco were missing with the likelihood being that Death Eaters had them. His temper was in short supply as he flung open the double doors to the Auror department. "What do we know?!" He roared. The buzzing office hesitated for a minute as worried faces looked up at him.
Ron jogged up to Harry. "Well, they figured out that the key took us to Scotland, not far from Hogsmead, in fact. The search party did find a small cabin with a basement that had clearly had an expansion charm on it. That's where they found the Galleon and this," Ron held up a dainty gold bracelet. "It's Hermione's, I gave it to her for her birthday last year."
Harry had a small hope that Hermione was simply visiting her parents that night or was out on the town with Luna, but as Ron held up the bracelet, all his hope came crashing down. There was no dispute now, Hermione had been taken, but he pushed down those feelings, that was not what Hermione needed right now. "Did you find anything else?"
"Well, Jamison says he found only two other footprints in the cabin itself, apparently they didn't bother to wash their feet before the came in. By the size we think they're men, and by the style we're thinking upper class. We did get some prints, but it'll take a few days before we get the results from that back from the muggles." Ron paused. "The other good thing is that there was not significant pools of blood, a few spatters here and there, but no pooling. So they're most likely still alive. They seemed to have left in a hurry, which means we barely missed them."
Harry was becoming annoyed. "Yes, all of this is important information but none of it has suggested where they are now."
Ron shook his head. "We've got nothing on that, mate. How ever they got out of there was untraceable to us."
Harry took a deep breath, this was what made wizarding cases so much harder than muggles. Wizards could just disappear to wherever they wanted, muggles had to physically remove themselves which meant they left trails. Harry nodded. "Okay then, start with Nott. Maybe his father is held up in some old abandoned residence somewhere. I'm going to go to the Malfoy Manor to talk to Narcissa, see if anyone has contacted her on Malfoy's behalf." Harry pushed past Ron to the appriration point in the Auror's office. Ron followed close behind. "Ron, what are you doing?" He asked over his shoulder.
"I'm coming, isn't it obvious?"
Harry stopped and turned to Ron. "I need you here." Ron locked his jaw and Harry could tell he wasn't happy with the idea. "I need you here to run things while I'm gone, you're the only person I trust to find her," he said almost under his breath.
Ron face relaxed, "Oh...yea, well, you still need to take someone with you. It's dangerous to go alone."
Harry looked over Ron's shoulder, Jamison was approaching them. "Jamison, you're with me," Harry demanded gruffly.
Jamison looked a bit surprised before he nodded. "'Ere are those files you wanted."
He handed Ron some papers and Ron nodded, then Jamison looked back to Harry. "Where we goin', boss?"
Harry grimaced. "The Malfoy Manor," Harry grumbled under his breath as he apparated away, it was only a moment after that Harry appeared outside the Malfoy gates, then Jamison appeared beside him. "Okay, we're trying not to alarm Ms. Malfoy, we only want to divulge necessary information, just in case..." Harry trailed off, he truly wanted to believe that Narcissa Malfoy had turned a new leaf and this wasn't some elaborate ruse to get Hermione vulnerable, but at this point in the investigation anything was a possibility.
A pop surprised Harry. "Good day, sirs, how may Tobby help you?" The small elf bowed, greeting them kindly.
"We're here on the behalf of the ministry and we wish to speak Ms. Malfoy," Harry replied confidently.
There was a hint of trepidation in the elves eyes, surely this was something that he had heard before. "May Tobby know the nature of this visit?"
"Jus' would like to speak to the lady 'ouse," Jamison chimed in.
Tobby nodded slowly, his eyes weary, but with a flick of his wrists the wrought iron gates swung open slowly and he lead Harry and Jamison down the long bricked path to the manor. A sick feeling came over Harry, every time he entered the Malfoy Manor from this direction nasty flashbacks of Hermione's torture filled his memories. He could hear her screams in the back of his mind, and a dark voice wondered if she were screaming in pain now, or if she had finally fallen silent.
Tobby lead them up the stairs to the large double doors, through them, in to a massive foyer lined with fireplaces, through a gallery that then led in to the main part of the house and immediately off to the right, pushing through another set of double door, into a warmly lit sitting room where Narcissa Malfoy sat carefully perched on the end of a red velvet high back chair.
Narcissa Malfoy smiled slowly stood and greeted the men. "Harry, darling, I'm glad to have come to visit, I must say a bit unexpected, but who hasn't time for the boy who lived. Twice." She smirked, a smirk that reminded Harry uncannily of Draco.
Harry sighed, he hoped that there was no way she was involved in this, he hated the idea of arresting the woman who had once saved his life and, in turn, saved the wizarding world. "I'm afraid we're here on more official business, Narcissa."
Narcissa's smirk fell, "Is everything alright?"
"'Fraid not, ma'am," Jamison spoke up, "we're 'bout 'ur son, 'e seems to be missin'."
Narcissa's brow furrowed. "I just saw him last night, he and Hermione we're going out on a date. How do you know he's missing?" Her voice becoming more and more concerned.
Harry grimaced. "You're sure he was going out with Hermione?"
Narcissa nodded. "I just assumed when he didn't return before I went to bed that he was spending the night at her flat again."
Harry nodded. "Are you sure he didn't come home at all?"
Narcissa began to knead her hands, "I must admit, I usually retire to my quarters around nine in the evening, so if he came home any later then that I would not have known." She thought for a moment. "Tobby, Bobby, Nibsy, Dolly, Minny, and Diggly." Six pops echoed through the room and six elves stood in front of Narcissa. "Did any of you see Draco come in last night?" Five of the six elves shook their heads furiously, denying seeing anything of Draco. "Nibsy?" Narcissa asked.
Nibsy trembled. "Nibsy can not say, ma'am. Nibsy has been ordered not to tell."
Narcissa's eyes narrowed. "Nibsy, I am the matriarch of this family, Draco is my son, thus my orders supersede his."
Nibsy violently shook his head. "Nibsy's orders outrank madam's."
A look of confusion spread over Narcissa face, "Nibsy, that's not possible."
"what do you mean?" Harry asked, confused by the conversation.
Narcissa looked at Harry, her face draining of color. "Only the living patriarch superseded's me."
