Chapter 26 – Found and Taken

Harry woke up to a quiet house. He lingered over Ginny, looking upon her freckles and slightly parted lips. He longed to kiss her, wake her up, turn the dreary morning into a brilliant one, but there were far too many things weighing on his mind. He needed to get up and go.

He kissed her on the cheek lightly. She stirred and mumbled something in her sleep, but didn't wake.

Hermione had left the previous night and Ginny was to take Ron up to Scotland today, and Harry had things to investigate. He got up from bed, dressed quickly and was soon on his way to the Ministry.

After the morning briefing from Piliwickle, he and a couple of others started following trails of Draco Malfoy – his job, his parents living abroad, his usual hangouts, but most of it was a dead end. Until a bartender at Goblin's Lair, a small dingy pub huddled on the border of Diagon and Knockturn Alley offered up a clue that led Harry to an address of one Astoria Greengrass, reporter of the Daily Prophet.

Harry stood in front of her house, mulling everything in his mind.

It didn't make sense - Draco Malfoy's ring at the crime scene. It was too obvious, too easy. Draco Malfoy was many things, but he wasn't completely stupid.

The building had a tattered and cheap look. It wasn't a home he'd imagine Draco Malfoy visiting, but a lot of things had changed after the war. The door was on the first landing, and Harry tried the doorknob. It was unlocked, so he slipped in, preparing himself for a distressing scene.

The flat had no entrance hall; Harry was standing in a very small living room, scarcely furnished, but with a cozy feel to it. There were plants and books on shelves and a desk under the window with a typewriter set upon it. He heard the noise of approaching footsteps from what must've been the kitchen and took his wand out.

A young woman appeared before him, raising her eyebrows to see him standing there. She had dark hair and was quite pretty, even though her face remained expressionless and cold.

"I was told to expect you," she said. "I thought given your rank and reputation, you'd have the courtesy to at least knock. I guess I was mistaken."

Despite himself, a slight red coloured Harry's cheek. He would not apologize, however.

She rummaged in a drawer of a cupboard for a while, waving her wand in the process. "He left you a letter." Handing him the envelope, she then took a step back and crossed her arms.

"What is all of this supposed to mean?" Harry asked.

"How should I know?"

"How should you know, or why should you tell me, you mean?"

Her eyes narrowed but she didn't elaborate.

"Very well." Harry opened the letter but he found only a blank piece of parchment on both sides. "What is this?" he demanded, shoving the letter Astoria's way, his voice dangerously low.

"Oh. No need to fret, give it to me. I have just the right potion for this. Draco probably took extra precautions so the letter wouldn't get into the wrong hands." She took the letter from his hands and disappeared into the kitchen. Emerging a few seconds later, she dropped a few drops of silvery blue liquid onto the parchment. "Here."

Harry watched as lines and letters started appearing on the parchment, in the same fashion as the Marauder's Map.

Potter,

Did you find my ring? Good. There's not much I can tell you here, but I have information you're probably seeking. Your precious friends are in danger now more than ever, and so are you. If you're reading this letter, it's likely the plan is already set in motion. Meet me at Malfoy Manor. Come alone.

D.M.

PS: If it comes to it, don't forget who lent you a helping hand.

"Does your boyfriend think I'm that thick?" Harry crunched the letter in his hand, not sure what to make of it. Astoria's face, however, didn't betray a single sign.

"I haven't read the letter, so I don't know why exactly my boyfriend would think you're thick."

"Tell me honestly, was Draco involved in the disappearance of Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger?"

"I don't know."

"Where is Draco?"

"I don't know that either." A crease of worry appeared in the middle of her forehead. "He hasn't been around for a couple of days."

"You're not having a very nice relationship if you don't even know where your boyfriend is."

"You're crossing the line here," she said icily, but kept her tone even. "I did what Draco asked of me, and I don't have to answer to you. You may leave now."

"I am the Head of the Auror Office, so you will answer to me. What has Draco been doing lately? What did he say when he left the letter for me?"

Sighing, Astoria looked uncertain for a moment, and then she spoke. "Days ago, he returned in the middle of the night with his face swollen up from some curse. He didn't tell me anything, and I didn't badger him about it. But he was worried."

Harry was startled by the sudden sadness he saw pass over her face, as if she felt she was betraying the man. It was still hard to wrap his head around the fact someone might actually care for Malfoy besides his mother.

"There's not much that I can tell you, honestly," she added after a moment of silence. "It's hard to talk to him; he's so annoyingly intense all the time. But I don't think he would hurt anybody, not anymore." Her face softened from the previous ice queen look she let on. "He's not as bad as everyone thinks."

"Lucky for you to be so sure," he muttered, more to himself than for her to hear. "Can I take a look around?"

"Are you asking my permission just to make up for your breaking into my house or will you take a look regardless of what I say?"

"Yes."

"Fine, go ahead."

Harry performed some revealing spells and after they brought him no result, he searched through Draco's things while Astoria watched with distaste. Half an hour later, he found nothing useful and cursed under his breath.

"If you remember something more, or find out something more, contact me, please. Goodbye."

After Astoria nodded, Harry was out the door when he heard her say, "I think he's trying to help you."

He chose not to reply and left.

Ron stood in the apartment building hallway, staring at Chelsea's door as if it were the most fascinating piece of wood he had ever seen. While he stood there and hesitated, Ginny had decided to wait downstairs, not wanting to intrude.

Ron had been willing himself to knock at the door for the past fifteen minutes, but his body refused to obey him. He was afraid to face Chelsea, a person that had always cared for him when no one else had really taken much notice.

One day before he'd disappeared, she had kissed him, had given him a clear sign she cared for him. Ron had taken all that, and just taken off despite everything. There was a good reason why that had happened, he thought. Not only had he been dying to find out more about his strange life, he met Hermione and things spiralled out of control from there. Looking back, he now felt that that moment they had accidentally met at the library, everything changed forever.

As much as he cared for Chelsea, standing there with a troubled mind, he realized that it was Hermione he was in love with. It was Hermione he would always be in love with even if she didn't feel the same way.

Angry with himself for being unable to push Hermione out of his mind again, he sighed and leaned against the door with his forehead.

Taking in a deep breath, Ron knocked on the door and waited. He knew she was there, because he could hear her shuffling about inside. Sure enough he heard footsteps, and the door opened.

"Hi," said Ron, going red in the face and waving his hand in her face awkwardly. Chelsea was looking at him expressionlessly from the small gap of the door. Few seconds after this deliberate silence, the door shut in his face with a thud.

It was not unexpected, but Ron would talk to her tonight. Hearing the lock click, an idea occurred to him. It wasn't very appropriate, but he was a wizard after all. Taking out his wand from a pocket, he pointed it to the lock and whispered, "Alohomora."

The door slowly opened, and Ron smiled to himself, marvelling again just how handy magic could be when trying to prove a point.

"Chelsea, please," he said as he stepped inside, Chelsea having her back turned to him. At the sound of his voice, she spun around and grabbed a book from a shelf near by, chucking it his way. He managed to catch it just before it hit him squarely in his face.

"How the hell did you get in? Whatever, I don't care, get out, I don't want to talk to you!"

"I know, I know, but I have so much to tell you and to explain why I was gone for so long."

"I said I didn't care. I've had enough of worrying about you. Seriously, who does that? I slept at your doorstep because I was worried sick about you when you first disappeared weeks ago. Then you leave, and promise you wouldn't disappear again. But it's like you vanished off the face of earth again. Who does that?"

Ron blinked stupidly at Chelsea, not knowing how to reply. Naturally she was right and there was not much of an excuse he could give her. "But I told you I was leaving! I got so wrapped up in some things I just…I forgot."

"You forgot?" That was obviously a wrong thing to say because Ron had to shield himself from another barrage of literature. "That's so nice! You know what, Ron? Yes, you told me you were leaving, but I thought…oh I don't know, I thought that after what happened you would at least call me, let me know how you were doing, and if you were coming back. I guess I was stupid."

"No, no, I really wanted to, but I didn't know how to tell you about all that happened."

"Don't bother," she barked, turning away from him. "I thought there was something between us, something that would make you care at least a little bit. I kept telling myself to forget you; that you didn't deserve me worrying about you, but then they came looking for you, and it scared me."

Her words hung in the air for a moment until they slowly started dawning on him.

Touching her by the shoulder, Ron could feel Chelsea tense under his touch as he turned her to face him. "Who came looking for me?"

There was an odd shiver in Chelsea's voice as she lifted her eyes to meet Ron's. "I don't know. They looked strange and talked strange. They asked all kinds of questions about you that I couldn't answer. I don't remember it all that well, but it was so…uncomfortable. I didn't trust them, so I refused to tell them anything, not that I knew that much about you anyway, but then…it felt like they were reading my mind. I wasn't myself for a little while, and then they left. My head hurt for days. I…it was terrible."

Without meaning to, Ron embraced Chelsea and she trembled against him. "It's okay now. I'm here." He said the words, but he didn't believe them.

"I was even more worried about you after they showed up. What's going on?"

Ron wanted to answer, but then there was the sound of a small explosion from behind them, and the door flew off its hinges. Instinctively, Ron pushed Chelsea to the ground right after she screamed, reaching for his wand.

The glass on the window shattered and there was the CRACK of Apparating that followed. Suddenly, three strangers, two men and a woman, were standing in Chelsea's flat. He didn't recognize any of them, except one of the faces sneering at him was familiar and in the briefest of seconds he remembered he had seen it on one of the wanted posters in the Aurors' office.

Ron's heart was beating wildly, and fear gripped his every muscle. He held his wand in front of him, but it suddenly seemed a useless stick. He wasn't ready to fight people that made doors explode. He gulped, trying to think of at least one useful spell he would probably have to use any second.

"Just give up. You'll make it easy for all of us," the man with the dark skin said, his voice almost sounding bored.

Chelsea stared at the scene from the floor wide-eyed, hardly breathing.

"Don't be ridiculous," the woman said, glaring at Ron with a smile. "Surely you don't want to fight, not remembering how? You might have had some training during your brief escapade back into the real world, but house-cleaning spells from your mother won't help you here. Stupefy!"

"Protego!"

A shining blue light erupted from Ron's wand, forming itself into a half-circle around him and Chelsea. It was one of the first spells Harry had taught him, and he knew it wouldn't last long, especially as new spells started hitting the shield. The impact the spells made with the thin magic fabric of the shield reacted like electricity, creating cracks and shreds on it.

"What the hell is this?" shrieked Chelsea.

"Confringo!" The sofa a few feet away from him exploded.

Ron grabbed her by the arm quickly as his shield popped and was reduced to no more than shimmering sparkles that mixed together with hovering feathers and sofa stuffing. They ran through the mess into the next room and Ron knocked over the shelves and a large bookcase from the walls with a Flipendo curse.

"Colo…dammit, what's the word…" The fallen shelves wouldn't stop them for longer than five seconds, Ron had to think fast. Sure enough, he heard someone shout "Reducto!" The door to the room was opening and that's when it hit him. "Colloportus!"

The door shut back with a squelching sound as a number of curses sounded from behind.

"You have to hide, or leave. Go out through the window." Ron started pushing Chelsea to the window, but she dug her heels into the floor and wouldn't budge.

"We're on the third landing! Ron, what are you doing? What's with that…stick?"

"I'm a wizard, no time to explain."

The door looked as though it was swelling and burning from the other side when a crashing sound followed. With relief, Ron heard Ginny's shouting voice on the other side and a man's scream.

"You're a what?"

"Hide Chelsea, go!" He struggled to move Chelsea out of the centre of the room, she had gone completely rigid. The door could take no more of the pressure and burst open. One of them stepped inside.

"Expelliarmus!" Ron shouted.

The wand almost flew out of his opponent's hand, but he managed to grab hold of it with the tips of his fingers. As he was about to utter a curse Ron's way, Ron lunged at him like a man and not a wizard, mainly because he was afraid he wouldn't remember any other spell. Knocking the wand out of the other's hand, Ron tackled him to the ground and punched him a few times in all the places he could reach.

The fight outside the room between his sister and one of the attackers was still on, but the woman swept inside and pulled Ron off the other. She yelled something Ron didn't make out through the noise, but he soon realized his limbs betrayed him and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't move at all.

"Grab hold of this, hurry!" came the woman's voice, pulling the heap of dark robes off the floor where Ron was fighting him. Ron watched them approach him, but he could only grit his teeth their way. The unknown woman pushed a glowing shoe into Ron's hand and grabbed it as well, along with the other person.

Ron didn't understand, but suddenly he felt as though he was lifted up into the air. He then watched, horror struck, as Chelsea leaped their way to help him, and all of them were pulled into the void.

Author's Note: Thank you everyone as always for reading and a special thanks to all you guys who leave comments. Your support and thoughts mean so much to me. I know it's sad not to have Ron and Hermione together, but we know that they're stubborn and take longer to deal with their emotions and issues. Things are picking up, though, and there's not that many chapters left. Writing this again after years of being gone has been so exciting and I'm very glad I can share this with you. Please review...