Trigger warning: Vomit, kidnapping

Ginny Wealsey pulled her jacket close over her Gryffindor t-shirt. It was cold in the village. It usually wasn't this cold by October. She found herself walking beside two of her closest friends. Hermione Granger was nose deep in her map. Luna was practically skipping down the street. Ginny followed Luna's eyes. They were looking at all of the new shops. Hogsmeade looked like a different place. So many shops had closed during the war, and new ones took their place. Dervish and Banges had been replaced by a store called witchmart. She had not been inside yet. They followed the leaf ridden street to one of the businesses that had reopened. The Three Broomsticks. They walked into the pub

"Three butter beers please" Hermione said

"Coming right up, please take a seat" Madam Rosemerta said

"Thanks," Hermione said. They took one of the booths at the back of the pub. Ginny noticed a group of third years walking by, gawking at the pub. Ginny remembered those days.

"Oh, look at the third years. They look so excited." Luna said

"It's cute" Ginny said

"Remember when we were like that?" Luna asked

"How could I forget?" Ginny said.

"I remember your first trip to Hogsmeade. You two were exactly the same." Hermione said

"How do you mean?" Ginny asked

"You two were acting like it looked so incredible. I noticed it when I was here with Ron and Harry"

"How is that, by the way. Not having Ron and Harry here, I mean" Ginny said

"It's, odd. We did everything together for 7 years and then all of a sudden, I'm the only one here. But given last year, I don't blame them for not wanting to come back." Hermione said. One of the waiters brought them their butter beers. Ginny took a sip of her own.

"I don't blame them either. I wasn't sure if I was going to come back" Luna said

"I didn't know that," Hermione said. She looked a little blurry. Ginny blinked rapidly

"Ilvermory has a very good magizoology program" Luna said

"Why didn't you take it?" Hermione asked. Hermione was no longer blurry, but she was swaying slightly. Or was she? Ginny tried to focus on her and Luna. Ginny's head began to pound.

"You and Ginny would still be here and I wanted to apply to Draoidh University for next fall. Did you finish your application yet?" Luna asked

"I finished it last week." Hermione said

"Do you remember when the entrance exam is?" Luna asked

"December 10th is the one for Hogwarts students. They have a different date for muggle students." Hermione said. Ginny began to feel sweat drip down her face. Her stomach churned. She stood up suddenly

"Ginny, are you ok?" Hermione asked

"I just need fresh air," Ginny said.

"You look at little green" Luna said

"I need a walk" she said

"Do you want us to come with you?" Hermione asked. Ginny shook her head. She rushed out of the pub. She found herself in one of the alleys. She felt something come up in throat. She pressed her lips together. She retched. She looked at the small puddle in front of her. She felt her eyes water and her entire body shake.

"Hey, are you ok?" Someone asked her

"Yeah, I'm fine," she whispered. She felt something come up her throat.

"Jeez, did you get food poisoning or something?"

"Maybe" she said.

"Hey, maybe you want to come inside and sit down?" He put his arm around her. She immediately tensed up. She pushed him away. Ginny looked up at him. He was older than her. Definitely older than he sounded. He had to be at least 30. Maybe it wasn't food poisoning, maybe it was just regular old poisoning

"Who are you?" Ginny asked. She reached for her wand

"Name's Mark, I work in the pub, I can get you something to settle your stomach" He tried to grab her arm again. She pulled away. She was shaking so badly that she could hardly stand.

"C'mon I'll just get you some water" he said. Ginny felt herself step backwards. She found herself backed up to the wall.

"I'm not going to hurt you kid, I'm just going to make sure you weren't poisoned, like you said" he said

"I never said I was poisoned," She said. She raised her wand at him. He put up his hands.

"Woah, you can put that away" he said "I really don't want to hurt you kid" he reached for Ginny's wand. She managed to keep it out of his grasp. His sleeve slipped up his arm. Ginny saw a red mark on his arm. She knew what it was.

"Stupify"she cast. He dodged her spell. He took out his own wand

"Difindo" he sent back. Ginny sent up her shield charm. She was stuck in the alley. He was blocking her exit. She cast her bat bogey hex back at him. He stumbled as bats made of bogeys flew out of his nose. She ran. She still could feel the cramps in her stomach and the pounding in her head. She tripped over her own feet but caught herself. She was almost there. She just needed to get to the end of the alley. Then she could call for help. She was going to make it. She knew it. She was so close. Something hit her from behind. Her entire body exploded in pain. She tried to scream, but no sound came out. She knew she was on the ground. She couldn't feel herself hitting the ground. It was nothing compared to the other pain. He lifted the Cruciatus curse off of her. She was now shaking violently. She tried to push herself up. She saw him walk into her view. He was now standing between her and her way out again. She saw him raise his wand. She saw a flash of red light before everything went dark.

Hermione Granger watched her friend leave. She looked at Luna, concerned. Luna stared back. Hermione got up to follow. Luna grabbed Ginny's butterbeer.

"What are you doing?" Hermione asked

"Making sure there isn't something wrong with it" Luna said

"Do you think there is?" Hermione asked

"Maybe," Luna said. She sniffed the cup. She put in down suddenly

"What's wrong?" Hermione asked.

"I just felt a little dizzy" she said

"Was it the butter beer?" Hermione asked sharply. Luna nodded.

"I think so"

"Ginny drank that," Hermione said. She looked frantically around the bar. She spotted Professor Slughorn and Sprout sitting at the bar with Madam Rosmerta "Professor Slughorn" Hermione yelled. He turned around to face her.

"Oh, hello Ms Granger, is something the matter?" He saw the terrified look on her face

"Ms. Granger, has something happened?" Professor Sprout asked. Luna picked up Ginny's cup and ran over to the professors.

"We think there is something wrong with Ginny's drink." Hermione said. Professor Slughorn took the cup. He smelled in and put it down

"It's baneberry." He said. Hermione and Luna paled considerably "how much did Ginny drink?" He asked

"No much, just a sip" Hermione said

"It's highly poisonous. Where is she? She needs to get the poison out of her system immediately." Professor Slughorn said

"She ran out. She looked a little bit green"

"Good, it's probably good for her to get sick and get the poison out of her system."

"What if it didn't?" Hermione said

"Then I would suggest a bezoar immediately" he took out one from his pocket. "I carry more than one, take this one" Hermione did

"We need to find her, come on Luna" Hermione said

"I will alert Minerva," Professor Sprout said. Hermione and Luna raced outside. They saw the Hogwarts students being led back to the castle. Although confused, Hermione continued to look for some direction to where Ginny had gone.

"Hermione, Luna, back to the castle at once," Hagrid said

"Hagrid, we need to find Ginny now"

"She might have gone back to the castle" Hagrid said "you two need to go there now"

"Why? Has something happened?" Luna asked

"I ain't supposed to tell you this, but I think I can make an exception for you two. There was a report of a death eater in the village."

"Then it is even more important to find Ginny" Hermione said

"You are correct Ms. Granger." Professor McGonegall said "Professor Flitwick informed me of the situation. We will be searching the village for Ms. Weasley. You will both return to the castle immediately."

"But, we can help." Hermione said

"You are both students. Ms. Granger, as head girl, I need you to assist the prefects in leading the students back to their dorms so we can make sure no one else is missing. You will return to the castle. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes Professor," Hermione said. They followed the students back to the school

"What are you thinking? Hermione?" Luna asked.

"Luna, I need you to cover for me for a couple of minutes." She said. She nodded. She raced up the stairs. She made it up to the Owlery. There were a couple of first and second years filling up the space.

"Back to your dormitories" Hermione said. The first and second years scrambled out of the owlery. Hermione grabbed a nearby piece of parchment and began to write. She quickly scribbled on an address

Number 12, Grimmauld Place

Nearly 200 miles away, Reagan Proditor, had gotten a letter, by owl nonetheless. She did not want to be there. She was not a school spirit type of girl. She would be much happier if she was far from there. Last thing she wanted to do was be there and possibly bump into Kathryn or her current boyfriend, aka the Auror informate. He wouldn't last, they never did. She could have just burned the letter and pretend she never got it. Then she would not have to be there. But her mother had seen the note. That was the end of it. She walked down the curving stairs to the school's basement. That was where he had said to meet him. She opened the door. She saw him.

"What do you want?" She asked

"I need to go take care of something"

"So then why did you call me here?"

"I need you to watch her while I am gone," he said.

"Her?" Reagan asked. Her heart raced. He stepped aside. Behind him was a girl, around her age. She had long red hair and a freckled face. She was unconscious. He had tied her up. Reagan wanted to check to make sure she was still breathing.

"Right, you stay with her for a minute" he left the room.

"What am I supposed to do with her?" She asked the empty space. "Shit" she said. This was insane. Ok, everything he had asked her to do before this wasn't good, but it wasn't holding someone tied up in a basement. This wasn't just bad, this was illegal. The police were still around. She could go down with him. Shit. She could not let that happen. Plus she wasn't even sure the girl was alive. She walked over and checked her pulse. It was strong. She took a deep breath

"What is he planning with you?" She asked the girl. She could guess that it wasn't good. Why would he even have her in the first place. Maybe if she got the red haired girl out of there and went to the police, she could get herself out of this mess. She could get him arrested. She just needed to get the red haired girl out of here. She went to pick her up. She was small, but a dead weight. Reagan knew she wasn't going to be able to get her out of here alone. She raced to the door and back to the hall. She saw them immediately. Thank god

Lisa Turpin walked through the hallways with Noah McMicheals. They were hand and hand. She rather liked being this close to him. She looked up at him. He blushed slightly. He tried to fix his beanie hat he was wearing over his coily hair. It was odd to see him outside of his school uniform. She did like that they did not have to wear it right now. She got to wear clothing that actually matched her style for a change. She actually got to wear jeans and a blue flannel to school. It was refreshing. She saw Kathryn up ahead. She fought an eye roll. Noah squeezed her hand.

"Hey Kathryn" she called. She glared at them

"Neither of you would have happened to see Harry, would you?" She asked

"I haven't seen him since detention yesterday" Noah said

"He was supposed to meet me here twenty minutes ago" she said

"I'm sure he's just running late," Noah said. Kathryn rolled her eyes. Lisa heard a crash nearby. Noah and Kathryn turned to face it. Reagan tripped up the stairs to face them.

"Hey, Reagan, I didn't know you were planning to be here," Noah said

"I wasn't" she said

"What are you doing here, exactly?" Kathryn asked

"I need some help" she said, ignoring Kathryn

"With what?" Noah said worriedly

"Look, it's super hard to explain. I can show you guys" She said. Noah nodded. Kathryn looked at her suspiciously, but they both followed her. Lisa stood there for a moment, unsure, before following. Reagan led them down to the basement. She opened the door. Noah walked in first. Lisa felt herself walk into him. He had frozen

"What the actual fuck Reagan?" Noah asked

"Look, I don't know. I just need some help getting her out of here" Reagan said, panicked

"How did she even get here?" Kathryn asked. Lisa pushed to the front.

"Ginny!" She yelped. It was definitely Ginny Weasley. Lisa had gone to school with her for years, so it was easy for her to tell who it was. Ginny was tied up and unconscious.

"You know her?" Noah asked

"We went to school together," Lisa stuttered. Ginny groaned. She opened her red rimmed eyes.

"Why is she down here?" Kathryn asked

"Ginny, can you hear me?" Lisa said

"Lisa? Lisa Turpin?" She said groggily

"Yeah it's me"

"Where am I?" She asked

"The basement of Crestview. How did you get here?" Lisa asked

"I think he put something in my drink."

"Who, Ginny?"

"The guy at the pub. He had the mark. Where's my wand?" Lisa tensed. The mark? Like the mark, the mak? The dark mark? She looked at Ginny and knew what she meant. Shit, this was bad.

"Mark, wand? What is she talking about?" Reagan asked

"Shit, this is really bad" Lisa said

"Lisa, do you know what's going on?" Noah asked

"She knows exactly what is going on," a voice said from behind them. The door locked.