A.N.: Beta by multilingualism. Thank you, my friend!

Part 2: Isolating the link

Chapter 32: Lost

"No." Fred gasped frozen in place, staring horrified at the spot, where Hermione had stood mere seconds ago. But she was gone, had simply disappeared in front of their eyes as Lord Voldemort took her with him against her will. And he hadn't even lifted a finger to help her, but neither had anybody else, not even Dumbledore.

"She's gone," George whispered and ran to the place that the bastard had just disapparated from. There he sunk to his knees and stared at the floor with wide, teary eyes. "She's really gone." Even though he said the words they sounded like he still couldn't believe what had just happened and neither could Fred. It wasn't just that their friend was captured in front of their eyes, but her being the Open Link had consequences none of them could overlook right now.

"What did just happen? Why did he…" Sirius' voice sounded across the room as he ran to the middle of the room with pounding steps. "Don't tell me she…"

Fred nodded with a sorrowful expression on his face. "Hermione. She's…" But he couldn't say it. He had taken an oath to not reveal Hermione's secret and even now that it was out in the open he was still unable to say the words. There was a warning tingle in the back of his head as soon as he attempted, which let him snap his mouth shut immediately. And going by the choked sound his twin made, he felt it too. God, he felt pathetic. Not even now, when the milk was already spilt, was he able to help her and if it was just by letting Dumbledore know what had happened.

The implications of their subterfuge just started to hit him. Dumbledore had tried to protect him and George, not her, because he had believed that it was them You-Know-Who wanted. He had thought the others were safe, which basically made this whole situation their fault. Fred felt sick.

"Hermione is the Open Link," Harry finished tonelessly for them and looked at the twins with a calculating expression. "You knew, didn't you? That's why you left school after delivering such a show." It wasn't a question but a simple, dry statement. This reaction wasn't at all like Harry, because usually that boy wore his heart on his sleeve. But it was as if his face had lost everything but cold detachment.

They stared at the floor guiltily. Not even now they were able to deny or confirm Harry's words and Fred gritted his teeth at the realization.

"Well, Messrs. Weasley, if that is true and Miss Granger is indeed the Open Link, then we all have just made a grave error and I fear we'll pay dearly for it," the Headmaster finally said and Fred could tell that he had focussed his piercing eyes on the two of them.

"Not if we get her back," Ron said determinedly from the other end of the room. "Hermione saved my life today and so many times before. I'm not just leaving her with that maniac. She's a muggle-born for Merlin's sake! Who knows what that monster will do to her?"

Dumbledore looked at the boy with a sigh. "I think for now we don't need to be worried about her safety. Lord Voldemort will want to make use of her powers as an Open Link and for that, he needs her to trust him."

"She'll never trust him," George replied with a humourless snort. "She's lived through years of pureblood-racism and I'm pretty sure she's not just going to forget that." And apart from that, she even had to obliviate her parents because of that bastard, he added in his thoughts so that only his twin was able to hear his words through the twin-bond.

"Be that as it may," Dumbledore added with a heavy sigh. "I fear that will only give us a bit more time to find her. Alastor? Nymphadora? Take the other's along to secure the Ministry. There still might be some more of Tom's friends around here. I will return the students to the castle and then I'll see if Severus has any idea where Riddle could have taken her."

sssssssss

This apparation was completely different from everything Hermione had experienced before. Usually apparating felt to her like riding a rollercoaster while being trapped in a matchbox or something equally dizzying, but what she experienced now wasn't any less unpleasant. Her body was tightly pressed against You-Know-Who's bony and cold form while he pulled her along with an iron grip. One of his hands had firmly settled over her mouth and she was pretty sure the violent lurching of her stomach was not due to the travel method, but due to the disgust of being touched by this man.

It was most likely only a second later when she felt the hard ground under her feet again. The landing was surprisingly soft but considering that the man had probably mastered the most difficult and forbidden forms of magic, that shouldn't have come to a surprise to her. She didn't stumble but when his hands finally let go of her, she pulled away and retreated backwards. Surprisingly he let her go, studying at her retreating form with red, fascinated eyes. Hermione stared back at him with a hateful expression and in a split-second decision she found that she'd rather die duelling the bastard then submit herself to whatever he had planned with the Open Link.

"Stupefy!" she shouted, whipping her wand, which she still held in her hand in his direction. But her opponent blocked the spell without even using his wand, by casting a simple shield. Hermione cursed, before throwing a cutting curse and a small fireball into his direction. None of her curses could even touch him though, as he just blocked them with a bored motion of his hand without returning her attacks. How did he even do that wandlessly with such ease? She stared at him in frustration. "Bombarda! Expulso!" More spells left her wand but it was always the same. None of them reached him or at least made him pull out his wand. The snake-like man just stood there and countered them one by one with his eyes glinting in amusement. And somehow his total impassiveness was what angered and frustrated her the most. She could as well have attacked thin air and would probably have been equally successful, if not more.

"Are you quite finished now?" he asked her after she had tried all the duelling spells that came to her mind. She was heavily sweating by now and her limbs were shaking from the pure attempt to keep her upright. But giving up wasn't an option. She wouldn't stay here, she couldn't! "Diffindo!" she said with every ounce of strength that was left in her. The cutting spell had barely left her wand when she felt her knees buckle below her. Sinking down to them she saw how Voldemort raised another shield, but still a moment later a thin, red line of blood appeared on his cheek. For a moment Hermione stared at it with wide, frightened eyes, then she tried to pull herself up to her feet again. Merlin, she had hurt him and now he'd probably hurt her in return. But it was of no use, her legs simply would no longer follow her will and so she just saw the madman step closer, before her body simply refused to hold her upright any longer and she sagged to the side. She felt her consciousness cloud with darkness and for a last time, she tried summoning all the power that was left in her and fighting back. But it was of no use. The last thing she saw was Lord Voldemort leaning over her body while his lips formed a pleased little smile before her eyes would no longer stay open and she blacked out.

sssssssss

Looks like he caught himself a lioness, the Dark Lord mused, as he lifted the girl's unconscious body from the floor. He was surprised how light she was as he carried her upstairs to the room that would be hers for the unforeseeable future. Considering her small body and young age, his little lioness really did have some claws. There was such fire behind her eyes! To him, it was like meeting a young version of Bellatrix, a sane one, not that Bella had been sane, to begin with. But he was sure Hermione Granger could be equally ruthless and passionate when she had set her heart on something or someone - and wasn't that thought entrancing?

There was no question that she was indeed the Open Link. Not only had he seen her blocking Bellatrix' killing curse through Potter's eyes, but he also saw her blocking his own spell which should not have been possible. The girl was a miracle, not only because she didn't seem to experience any fear in his presence. She had managed not only to fool him and his servants for such a long time but also Dumbledore and even her own friends. No wonder Severus hadn't been able to track her down. The only ones who seemed to have known her secret were those annoying red-heads she seemed to have forged a temporary bond with. But that wasn't anything to be overly concerned with, as those ties would break with time and a bit of the right influence. After all, he did have a pretty reliable connection to one of her best friends and therefore it should be pretty easy to find out everything about the girl he'd need to know in order to win her over.

With a last, curious look at her now relaxed face, he lowered her onto the large four-poster-bed. Going by her level of exhaustion she would probably be out for the next several hours. That would leave him with enough time to start planning. Considering his first experience with the girl, she wouldn't make it easy for him, but Lord Voldemort would enjoy finally making her all his. The more she resisted the sweeter would his victory be in the end, he realized as he looked at her sleeping form on the silky purple sheets. And he couldn't help the hungry expression that crept into his red eyes as he took in her petite form spread out on the large bed. These next weeks and months would probably be some of the most enjoyable in his life, so far.

sssssssss

"Well, Severus, I think you do owe me an explanation," the Headmaster said, disappointment resonating in his voice. He groaned. He couldn't even remember where he was and he had even less of an idea, why the old goat was suddenly disappointed with him. God, this headache was killing him. Cradling his pounding head, Severus tried to pull himself up, finding himself on his sofa after blinking his eyes open.

"What happened?" he croaked and stared at the old man in front of him with clouded eyes. "Sorry, Albus, I feel like shit at the moment and right now I can't even remember why I've obviously passed out in the middle of the day."

The Headmaster looked at him with an unreadable expression without giving an answer right away. Finally, the old man sighed and said: "I think you might have passed out due to the fact that Miss Granger, who happens to be the Open Link, drained your magical energy. But that would presume that the two of you formed some kind of attachment. So tell me, Severus, are you linked to Miss Granger?" the Headmaster asked in disappointment.

For a moment Severus just wanted to close his eyes again and sink back into unconsciousness. But it wasn't to be. Dumbledore would not leave his side until he had gotten his answer and considering that the girl had obviously exposed her secret, this one no longer mattered. "Why don't you ask her yourself, Albus?"

The Headmaster sighed. "Because she's gone, my friend. Tom took her with him."

The news was like a blow into his chest and Severus found himself gasping in shock. It couldn't be, it mustn't. But one close look at Albus Dumbledore's grave expression confirmed his words. The man wasn't joking and suddenly Severus remembered the note he had been delivered by that annoying house-elf.

"The Dark Lord came to the Ministry…" Severus said tonelessly and stared at the carpet with unseeing eyes. "But he couldn't have known, nobody knew except…"

"You and the Messrs. Weasley. They didn't betray her, Severus. Your… friend decided to save young Mister Weasley by blocking a killing curse sent by Bellatrix if the student's words are to be believed," the Headmaster said, the emphasis on the word 'friend' did not go unnoticed.

Severus shook his head. "Blocking the killing curse is impossible," he said but when he raised his eyes to the Headmaster that was currently occupying one of his wing-back chairs, the man looked at him with raised brows.

"Apparently you only need enough energy to cast a strong enough shield, or enough willpower - probably both. Miss Granger seems to be very passionate about her friends."

He nodded silently choosing to keep ignoring the blatant question the man was not asking. Dumbledore was right. Hermione was passionate about her friends and he, who should have been there for her, had treated her like a jealous bastard because that's what he'd been. He had been afraid of losing another one of his friends to a bunch of Gryffindor idiots. It had happened with Lily, after all, but just now Severus understood that Hermione Granger was everything that Lily had never been. Hermione would never have abandoned him, it was he who had pushed her away, over and over again, while she had sought him out and tried to talk to him. He felt shamefully reminded of being in the same situation after he had called Lily a mudblood. How he had wished to be given a chance to explain himself to her, even if she would not have forgiven him in the end. He could only imagine that it had been the same for Hermione and that realisation broke his heart. Merlin, he had been a shitty friend to her.

"Yeah, that girl would do almost anything for her friends, an attribute that is making her the Open Link in the first place, I believe. We need to get her back Albus, she's the one who can end this, can end him. And if what you said is true and she can even block the killing curse…"

The Headmaster nodded. "We will do what we can to make Miss Granger return to us, but it won't be easy and might come at a price. Are you willing to pay it, Severus?"

And here he experienced another Déjà vu. He had been in the exact same position years ago and had made himself the Headmaster's willing puppet. But not again, never again he would submit himself to that man's manipulations.

"I'll do anything to get her back," he said, looking at the Headmaster with a serious expression. "But it won't be through another vow," Severus said, glaring at the old fool. He would not be leashed once more. Hermione needed him more than Potter now.

sssssssss

Harry felt numb inside. This whole day was like a big, never-ending nightmare to him. First, this vision of seeing Sirius being tortured, Sirius, who was all he had left of his family. He had been so sure that what he saw had been real, it had felt real, for Merlin's sake but in the end, it had all been an illusion to lure him into the Ministry. Or had he even been the target? What if that was all just a plan to lure out the Open Link? Back then Voldemort had still thought it was the twins and they were nowhere to be found for the last weeks. But Hermione had known, of course, she had, as she had even shared her secret with them. Why hadn't she told him? Or Ron? They were her friends for god's sake, or at least he had thought they were. He felt the anger within him rear its ugly head, but he hastily smothered it down. He could ask Hermione as soon as they got her back - if they got her back. But the alternative was just too horrifying to think about it now.

Finally, they were all allowed to go back into the common room. Ron was right at his side, but his friend just mutely stared at the floor in front of him. Harry couldn't fault him for it, he didn't feel much like talking either. Luckily the Gryffindor Common Room was already empty as it was well past midnight when they finally made it back and as it was the middle of the school week all their fellow Gryffindors had already retreated into their beds. Harry couldn't wait to do the same - he wanted this awful day to end.

"Meooow." Small yellow eyes stared at them from the darkness and Harry didn't even have to think which animal they belonged to. There was only one cat in the whole castle that was like him, Harry knew.

"Hello, Crooks," Ron greeted the bushy cat with a tired voice and tried to move past him, but the animal simply moved in front of them and stared at them with a questioning gaze. "Meooow." It was like they were asked a question and even though that cat couldn't really form words, the question was clear. Crookshanks was looking for his mistress, for Hermione. But Hermione would not return in the foreseeable future, probably never.

"She's not here," Harry said tonelessly as he stared at the cat. His eyes slowly got used to the darkness so that he could now see the cat staring back at him with unblinking eyes like it was waiting for some sort of explanation. And looking at those eyes almost broke him. They were intelligent, just like hers. "She's been taken," Harry continued and suddenly he felt the tears well up behind his eyes. It was his fault, he realized. Hermione had tried to hold him back, to make him stop to think but he had been so busy running headlong to save Sirius, that he hadn't really considered her words properly. Because he had been so convinced he was right when he was actually far from it.

"Meooow." The cat kept sitting there, staring at him and for a moment it was almost like it was Hermione sitting in front of him with an analysing gaze. It was like those eyes saw right into his heart and judged him for what they saw.

"Stop looking at me like that!" he shouted and he could feel the emotions he had bottled up within himself for the past few hours finally break free.

"I know it's my fault! I was the one dragging her into that mess. She warned me that it was probably a trap but I didn't want to fucking listen! She wanted to get help, she did get help, because I would have just stormed off on my own. Because that's what I do. I keep dragging her into these situations with me and she's usually the one making sure we survive. Even now…" His voice was choked by a sob. "All of us made it out, without much more than a few scratches and she was the one making sure we did. She was the one saving Ron, saving the twins, not me." Another sob escaped his mouth and by now hot, wet tears ran down his cheeks. "She was the one taken by Voldemort, the one who will have to suffer for my stupidity! God, if something happens to her…"

He could feel Ron's hand on his shoulder. " Is' alright, mate."

"NO, IT'S NOT ALRIGHT!" he screamed and tore away. "HOW COULD THIS BE ALRIGHT? HOW CAN ANYTHING BE ALRIGHT AGAIN?" He was shouting by now, while he started pacing the room, but he didn't care if anybody heard him. Because tomorrow everybody would know anyway. They would know that Hermione had been taken and why. "SHE'S PROBABLY SURROUNDED BY DEATH EATERS NOW. FOR ALL WE KNOW THEY COULD TRY TO RAPE HER IN THE HOPE OF ESTABLISHING A LINK, NO MATTER THAT IT WOULDN'T WORK. SO DON'T TELL ME IT'S ALRIGHT!"

Ron stared at him with wide eyes, but Harry couldn't stand his presence a moment longer. He wanted to be alone, wanted to crawl into his bed and just fall asleep, to wake up in the morning and realize that it all had just been a bad dream, no matter how unlikely such an outcome was.

ssssssssss

The bang and the clangour of glass sounded through the room, as the richly decorated decanter smashed into the wall in a shower of tiny pieces. Another crunch and another when several containers with ingredients followed as Severus threw one by one with a raging scream torn from deep within his soul. The anger and the pain inside him threatened to burn him alive, that's at least how it felt when that old goat had finally left his quarters. A minute longer and he had probably lost it in front of him, but Severus had used all his strength to bottle all his feelings inside him until the Headmaster was finally gone with a last disappointed look into his direction. When his purple robes had finally disappeared through the floo, Severus couldn't hold his anger any longer. Hermione had been the best thing that happened to him for a very long time, probably ever and he had done nothing but drive her away because of one stupid mistake. The girl had accepted his dark past without flinching away from him once, even though she would have had every right to do so. She had healed him, like no other would have been able to, held him while he cried into her shoulder like he hadn't allowed himself in years. And Merlin, he had made enough mistakes to let the girl's stupid choice pale in comparison. Idiot!

One by one he threw his belongings around the room. Glassware, pillows, books, it didn't matter. But no matter how much he destroyed, the anger and sorrow within him didn't lessen. Somehow it only made it worse.

"Meooow." There was a strange noise in front of his office door, followed by the sound of scratching on the wood. He stilled.

"Meooow."

There it was again, it was a cat! There was no doubt about it. Merlin, he hated those arrogant beasts. And this one definitely came across his way at the wrong moment. With pounding steps he marched to the door and ripped it open and just when he wanted to raise his voice to scare the animal away, a hairy, orange beast looked at him with a strange expression on its ugly face. It was almost like it looked at him with a raised eyebrow, which was ridiculous, as cats didn't have eyebrows, to begin with. And somehow that made him pause. This was her cat. He had seen her holding the long-haired beast countless times and he had found its hairs that must have been sticking on Hermione's robes on his sofa often enough.

"What do you want?" he asked the animal with a grim expression, but at least he managed not to shout, as he didn't fancy to be heard talking to a cat.

The beast looked at him for a long moment, before it simply got up and trotted past him into his office. Severus followed it with wide eyes.

"What are you doing?" he asked it again, as he slammed the door shut behind him. The cat didn't even flinch and just strolled towards the door connecting his office and his private quarters with his tail proudly raised into the air. The thing looked like a gigantic bottle brush. Severus followed the animal with agitated steps. It moved like it somehow knew this place, but that was of course impossible. The paranoid bastard that he was, he always kept these chambers well warded.

But when Severus finally stumbled into his wracked living room, he found the beast already laying on the only unharmed spot on his sofa sniffing it with its flat nose. From there it looked at him with proud, yellow eyes. "Oh no, you little bugger," Severus said and worked his way through the chaos. "You're not staying here. Go back to…" But then it hit him. She wasn't here. Hermione was no longer here to take care of the cat, not that this beast probably needed much taking care of.

The cat didn't seem very impressed with him, as it just lay there, licking its paw while staring at the chaos. There it was again, that judging expression that could as well have been hers. Merlin, what would she say seeing him and his chambers in such disarray.

"Meooow."

He sighed heavily and looked at the orange cat with a tired expression. He'd need to find out its name as he needed to call it something, right? Which was, when the realisation hit him, that he had already accepted the cheeky little bugger into his life, temporarily.

"You're only staying as long as it takes me to get her back," he explained and looked at the beast with his most intimidating expression. But the cat just stared at him for a moment, before looking around the room with another disapproving look. Severus sighed. The cat was right. It was time to get this place cleaned up. With that brash cat around there was enough danger tripping at night, as it was.

He straightened his spine as he pulled his shields back up. The flush of red disappeared from his cheeks. The deep fathomless abyss returned to his eyes as his shields chased away all traces of emotion from him. The feared Potions Master was back to his normal self. With almost clinical precision Severus went about his quarters fixing everything in sight.

ssssssss

"We've lost her, Georgie," Fred whispered, cradling his brother in his arms. It was never a question that they would spend the night together in his bed after everything that happened. Right now their twin bond and deep friendship were all that kept them from screaming their pain out for everybody to hear.

"I know," George replied, pulling his twin into his arms. "We were supposed to protect her but in the end it was her protecting us. We couldn't do anything, just standing there like idiots, watching Voldemort taking her away. Merlin, I still see her horrified expression when I close my eyes."

Fred nodded against his brother's shoulder. "Yeah, we couldn't even warn Dumbledore that we were not the ones he should be protecting. Merlin, Georgie, I feel like a worthless idiot."

"Yeah," his brother replied with a sigh. "Me, too. None of our spells worked against him. I felt like a stupid Firsty or something. How are we ever supposed to get her back now?"

Fred shrugged. "Dunno. We don't even know where she is, do we? She could be in fucking Antarctica for all we know."

George sighed, nodding into the darkness. "We'll find a way, brother. We promised to protect her and even if we did a shitty job so far, I'm far from giving up. Hermione is a fighter, Fred. She'll hang in there and hold out as long as she can. And I'm sure she'll do anything to get away from that bastard."

"Of course she will. Hermione's a fighter and she's clever. She'll find a way to at least let somebody know where she is," Fred agreed and squeezed his brother tightly. "And when she does, we'll need a plan to get her out. A real plan, not just another suicide squad."

His brother hummed in agreeance. "Yeah, I'm not going to stand there like an idiot again," he said, before finally letting go of his twin. And then they started to plan.