After breakfast the next morning, Thad hugged and kissed Rosebud goodbye. "I'll see you later," he told her with a smile. "I might meet some friends in Diagon Alley, though, so if I miss lunch don't worry about me."

She smiled at him and nodded, following him to the door. She kissed him once more, then watched him disapparate.

Thad did run into friends at Diagon Alley: Scorpius and Rose were there with their family. "Why, hello," Rose teased him. "I haven't seen you in such a long time!"

Grinning, Thad nodded. "Just doing a few errands," he said.

"Us too," Aurora said with a grin. "Where's Ethan?"

"At home," Thad told her.

Aurora looked disappointed. "I wanted to see him again," sighed the little girl.

Thad looked over at Scorpius and Rose. "If your parents wish," he told Aurora, "you can come to our house after you're finished with your errands and see him."

Scorpius smiled when his daughter looked up at him with pleading eyes. "Yes," he said. "I still say she got that habit from you, Rose." Rose giggled, but didn't deny it. "Say 'Thank you,' Rora," said her father.

The blonde child tilted her head and thanked Thad. He grinned, and disapparated, the Malfoys following him. Upon arriving at Thad's home, Aurora said to her father, "Father, it's very bad."

Rose looked a little embarrassed, and said, "Hush, child."

"Mum," Aurora insisted in a quieter voice, "something is wrong!"

"Aurora Ember Malfoy," Scorpius said in a perfectly even voice, "listen to your mother."

Aurora said not another word, but looked very worried.

Thad opened the door to his home and stepped in. He gasped in astonishment and stopped in the middle of the living room. Scorpius and Rose followed him in, and Scorpius said, "She's right. Something is wrong." Scorpius drew his wand and joined Thad, who had also drawn his wand.

"Burn marks," Rose said, pointing to the wall and a spot on the couch. "And it also looks like something exploded."

Scorpius and Thad looked at each other very carefully, and Thad called, "Rosebud? Bethany?"

Rose checked the couch to make sure there were no curses on it, then made her children sit down. She stationed herself in front of them, wand drawn in case of an emergency.

Thad hurried to his room to check if Rosebud was there while Scorpius kept watch in the halls. "No one there," Thad said, his face grim as he came out of his room. He and Scorpius were heading toward Bethany's old room when Ethan's room door opened and a man came out.

"Father!" shouted Thad, his wand pointed at the dark-haired wizard in front of him. "What are you doing in my home? Where is my family, and what have you done to them this time?"

Scorpius stood with Thad, and Tom said, "Ethan is in his room. I couldn't get him out."

Thad frowned. "What do you mean, 'you couldn't get him out'?" he asked. Tom turned and went back into the bedroom. Thad and Scorpius followed, and Rose carefully brought her children after them.

Staring at his son lying on the bed, Thad said, "Ethan? Are you all right?" Ethan, who looked as if he were crying, did not reply. Thad reached forward to touch his son, and Tom was too late to stop him. Thad was thrown back, landing on the floor.

"He's warded in!" gasped Scorpius in amazement. "It's even warded against Thad! Who could have done that?"

Ethan made a reply, but it was so full of tears that it couldn't be understood, especially with the ward interfering. "Bethany said Rosebud made it," Tom told them.

Thad looked at his father warily. "Bethany is at Horror House?"

Tom nodded, and Rose stepped forward, looking at Ethan. "Ethan, child," she said, "you need to open this ward. We can't, but I'm certain that you can." The frightened child shook his head, and Rose nodded. "We want to help you, Ethan," she told him. "All you have to do is reach through the ward. Take my hand." She reached out to him without touching the ward.

Finally, Ethan slowly reached up and took her hand, making the ward suddenly crackle loudly with magic and then disintegrate. Realizing he was free, Ethan clung to Rose Malfoy in fear. "They took Mummy," he sobbed in terror. "They were hurting her. Oh, Daddy, they were horrible."

Rose looked at Tom, fury in her eyes. "It was the Lestranges, wasn't it? Bethany's parents? They've taken Rosebud."

Thad couldn't move. He couldn't think; he couldn't feel. He was numb all over, and just wanted to wake from his bad dream. "Ethan," Scorpius said quietly, "did your mother put you here?"

"Yes," sobbed the child. "She said to stay here, and not to move. Then she went to fight those horrible people. They tried to make Mummy get me out of that thing, but she wouldn't. And they were hurting her. All the time!"

Ethan sobbed and turned to his father, clinging to him. "They have Mummy," he cried against his father's shoulder. "They're going to kill her, Daddy. I know they wanted to."

Thad was shaken deeply, and couldn't think straight. Tom stepped forward. "We must go to the Riddle Mansion. Ginny's already notified the Auror Office, and they're on their way out to the Mansion," he told them. "Bethany will be explaining what she knows, and we will form a plan of action."

Scorpius knelt beside Thad, who was holding Ethan. He looked up at Rose, and she nodded. Touching both Thad and Ethan, Scorpius disapparated to Horror House. Tom and Rose followed with Aurora and Antares.

Upon entering the house, Ethan ran to Brenda, who he knew was a friend of his mother. She cuddled him close, noting the gaunt, pale look on Thad's face. Thad's absolutely scared-to-death terrified, she told Dirk ©.

He completely agreed with her. Not that I blame him. They tortured us for saying that they were just as mad as Bellatrix. I'm certain that they mean death for Rosebud.

Bethany was crying, but was trying to be strong. Ginny was sitting by her, her arm around the poor girl. "Bethany," Ginny said softly, "try to regain your composure. The Aurors will be here soon and you'll want to be calm in order to answer their questions."

She nodded and was quiet, but she was more pale than Thad. "Thad, sit down before you fall down," Ginny told him firmly, pointing to the seat on the other side of Dirk. Thad sank into the seat without a word.

A knock sounded at the door, and Arianna opened it carefully, finding Harry Potter standing there with several other Aurors. "She's in here," Arianna said shortly, and Bethany almost grinned at Arianna's reaction to them.

Rose saw James, Alden Philips, Teddy Lupin, and four or five other Aurors that she knew, including Ron Weasley, her father. She gulped. The last thing she wanted to do was to be questioned by her father.

Harry turned to Bethany and said, "Tell us everything that you saw happen this morning at Thad's home."

Bethany lifted her face from her hands and began numbly. "Rosebud was helping me pack my things to move to Riddle Mansion. The children were in the playroom, and we were working fairly well. Suddenly, we heard two apparitions, and when we looked out the window, my parents were out there."

The girl's eyes filled with tears and she angrily tossed her head, allowing her tears to fly off of her face. "Rosebud told me to take my children and go get help from Ginny," continued Bethany. "At that moment, Titus ran in and said that he'd just felt something change in the air. I'd felt it too: they'd taken down the wards to the house. Rosebud ran to Ethan and yelled at me to hurry up. She was setting up the wards around Ethan when I grabbed Titus and Melanie and came here."

Ginny squeezed Bethany's shoulder carefully. Bethany shook her head. "She shouldn't have had to face them on her own," she whispered. "They're cruel."

Tom looked at the Aurors, his face blank. "By the time I arrived at the house, Rosebud was not home, and there were signs of a bloody struggle."

"Could you tell what had happened?" Teddy asked.

"Somewhat," Tom replied. "There was evidence of the Fiery Cruciatus Curse in the living room: there were burnt places on the walls where they must have missed. Also, at least one Killing Curse missed someone in the living room, for it shattered something on the table; and one missed someone in Ethan's room, for it shattered the bedside lamp."

Ethan shivered. "He was hurting Mummy, and she was screaming," the child choked. "But that horrible girl—she said something, and it flashed, and Mummy jumped out of the way. He stopped that horrible girl, but they took Mummy away." Ethan burst into sobs and clung to Brenda.

"Do you know where they've taken her?" Ron asked. At that moment, Jonathan Riddle apparated in the room, a blonde girl, obviously a Malfoy, at his side.

"Rosebud is at being held at Lestrange Manor," he announced to his audience. "I tested the wards and nearly lost an eye and an ear. Their defenses are strengthened, and I believe that they mean to remain where they are."

Bethany nodded. "They know that most of the Riddles can apparate through and under wards, so they've most likely taken precautions against that." She checked that idea off of her mental list. "Mind communication, perhaps; their Floo has probably been disabled; and sending animagi in would be lethal."

"Any chance of breaking the wards by sending an owl through?" one of the other Aurors asked.

"No," Bethany shot that idea down. "Any owls coming into the Lestrange Manor are magically scanned. Any owl with any semblance of mischief on it will be met with anything from a Dark Arts curse to Avada."

The Aurors looked surprised at her calling the Killing Curse 'Avada,' but they became silent once more. "Has Bellatrix got anything to do with this?" Harry asked hesitantly.

Bethany and Ginny both glared at him. "No," they snapped coldly, refusing to say anything else.

"We're going to have to take a large team to Lestrange Manor and break the wards so that we can get in," Alden Philips said, glancing over at Rose.

"All the Riddles and their outreaches are trained in ward-making and breaking," Ginny replied to him, turning to Harry. "How many do we need?"

Harry frowned, thinking, and Rose supplied, "Around thirty, so that we can have around five to eight teams working at the same time."

Harry and Ron looked at each other and agreed. "Bright and early tomorrow morning," Ginny said. "We will all gather here, and will apparate up to the Manor in groups. They have not hurt her up there yet, and so we have some time. Arrive before dark."

Ginny drew her wand, conjuring a piece of paper and a quill. Filling the quill with ink, she charmed it to write what she told it, and began listing those she knew that were good with wards and could help with the rescue project.

The Aurors left while Ginny was listing names, but she didn't notice. She wrote the first letter, then copied it, changing names and other necessary information and wording. Most of the ones she had listed were her children and their families. Ginny dearly hoped that Rosebud would be all right.