Bringing Harry Home
Chapter 2
Thank you to everybody who reviewed!!! I must say, I NEED A BETA-READER WHO IS FAIR AND VERY TOUGH!!! Please e-mail me at DwellingsKeeper@hotmail.com and thank you!!! Enjoy the story.
NOTE!! I changed this chapter because
I got quite a few reviews saying EWWW and DISGUSTING!! So I hope you guys like this much better. And to all the people who said that
I was being a meanie by making Harry and Draco evil, remember...they just might not be. Tee hee hee.
*****
Ginny's eyes became big. "Wh-whaat? Where? What happened? How do you know? And why me?" rushed out of her mouth in one big breath. Even though it seems as though Ginny is quite distressed by this news, inside she pictured herself pulling her hair out and crying hysterically.
It was frightening to know that Harry Potter was after her. She was terrified. Any moment, in a matter of a blink, he would appear with Lord Voldemort and Master Malfoy at the shelter's doorstep. Gruesome images of them chopping her to pieces and throwing them into the ocean popped up in her angelic head.
"Ginny, calm down," said Hermione in the most soothing voice she could muster at the moment, which wasn't very soothing at all. "I'll explain." She motioned to the bed, and Ginny walked stiffly to it and sat on the old mattress. "Alright. I was taking a rather lovely stroll in the East London Tulip Garden with Percy , hoping to find something nice about him so I could publish a column about the new Minister of Magic."
Ginny sighed. "Let me take a guess. He bored you to death about cauldron bottoms?"
"Cauldron bottoms? Heaven's no, Ginny," mused Hermione. "He bored me to death about the accuracy of the latest telescopes. Cauldron bottoms was years ago. I almost fell asleep when all of a sudden, screams could be heard, and Voldemort, Malfoy, and Harry showed up. They were racing through the garden blasting people this way and that." Hermione paused. "I quickly grabbed my Port Key and held onto Percy, who had fainted." She frowned slightly. "Somehow, my body got transmitted, but I could still see what happened. I suppose they had set something against all Port Keys in the area."
Ginny suddenly raised her eyes, which had been inspecting the old mattress, finding yellow and brown spots. "Wait, they didn't see you?"
Hermione shrugged. "I guess it hasn't happened often. Anyway, I saw Harry for the first time since he ran away." She started to shiver, and Ginny gave her a blanket out of automatic reflexes. After thanking her, Hermione started again. "Ginny, I swear, you wouldn't even recognize him. His eyes...they were so cold. And when Harry started to talk, his voice was lost of any hope. I know it sounds stupid, but...he even sounded evil. I heard him say to Malfoy, 'Cho Chang's taken care of. Who next?' Malfoy smiled that sneer that we've seen so many times, and said back, 'Padma Patil. She liked me in the 7th year. Then, it's off to the Burrow for a little Weasel chow time.'"
Shivers ran through Ginny's body. "Chow time? Are they going to eat me?" shrilled Ginny with a little laugh. "Why me, Hermione? Why, in all bloody hell, am I picked?"
Hermione looked away. "Don't you get it, Ginny?" she whispered harshly. "They're going after every girl who's ever fell for them. God knows why, but they are. And everybody knew that you adored Harry in Hogwarts..."
Placing her head in her hands, Ginny began to whimper. She tried to suppress her tears, but they came anyway.
Hermione glanced at Ginny and said, "That's not the worst part. Did they take Cho here?"
Ginny nodded through her sobs.
Grabbing Ginny's arm, Hermione dragged her from the bed. "Ginny, take me to her. I want to show you something."
Through the hallways, Ginny led Hermione through isles of hurt people. When they passed Isabel, Ginny barely heard her mutter, "Boy, that was a quick Singing Charm," before they swept to Room 131.
"Prepare yourself," warned Ginny before turning the knob and entering the room. Cho seemed to be okay, but Hermione could see the bruises that ran all over the body.
"Ginny?" called Cho hesitantly.
Ginny gulped. "Yes, Cho? I'm here with Hermione."
A small, weak smile seemed to crawl up Cho's face. "Thank you, Ginny. Thank you...for everything," said Cho softly. Ginny noticed that her eyes started to fill with tears.
"Ginny," said Hermione quietly, her voice laced with sorrow. "Look at Cho's forehead, and tell me that Harry isn't evil."
Part of her didn't want to look at Cho's forehead, but her eyes crept up to the still wounded face. There, Ginny saw something that she didn't notice before, which was amazing because of the contrast of colors.
Amid the creamy, pale skin and faint pink lines of bruises, there was a single wound that had not healed.
It was a wound in the shape of a lightning bolt.
"I can't," whispered Ginny. "Talk to Cho for a second, Hermione. I'll be right back." Ginny looked at Cho and managed a smile. "Cho, Hermione's going to be with you for a while, okay? Don't worry, I'll be back before you know it."
"Be careful," Hermione called as Ginny opened the door. Ginny nodded. The words "be careful" meant a lot more now.
She bolted down the hallway, and met up with Isabel. "Isabel, have you ever liked Master Potter or Master Malfoy?" she rushed out.
Isabel frowned. "No. I don't even know them, and from all this, I'm really starting to hate them."
Ginny nodded and ran to Room 72. She braced herself for Lauren's fury.
But none came.
Lauren looked at Ginny and shuddered. "You look like the one he described."
"Excuse me?" asked Ginny, trying to edge closer without Lauren noticing. She wanted to see if she had the mark, too.
Lauren smiled. "He described a girl with fire red hair and chameleon eyes...Right before Draco challenged him to a game of tic-tac-toe."
Ginny shivered. "I'm sorry, Lauren."
"Call me Frost," said Frost blankly. "They're pretty good at tic-tac-toe. It went on for about forty games before Harry finally won."
"Frost?" asked Ginny as she crept close enough to see the same scar that zig-zagged down Frost's forehead. "Did you like Harry or Draco before this?"
A distant and lazy smile appeared on Frost's face. "I fell in love with Harry. He was so dark and mysterious. We dated for two months before he ran away. I forgave him though. Nothing he did was bad then, and Harry was perfect." The smile disappeared as quickly as it came, and Frost glared at Hermione. "But he hurt me and my family. I shall punish him for that."
It was quite plain that Frost had lost some of her sanity when Harry attacked her. Ginny's sympathy went to her. "I'm going to be back, okay? You hang in there, Frost," said Ginny and she ran out of the door right when Frost started to sing again. The music followed her, and Frost wasn't a bad singer after all.
"Frostie the Snowman..."
*****
When Ginny burst through the door of Room 131, she saw that Hermione and Cho were talking in whispers. "Hermione?" called Ginny, wrenching them from their conversation. Hermione walked over to Ginny. "Hermione, there is this girl named Frost who came in with Cho. She's one of Harry's ex-girlfriends, and she has the same cut." Ginny was close to tears. "Good God, Hermione, you should see her. They played tic-tac-toe on her skin, and she's partly insane!"
Hermione wrapped Ginny into a hug, and walked her over to Cho. To Ginny, Cho looked better. Hermione quickly levitated another chair and placed Ginny on it.
"Ginny, I told you I knew where they were. Since you know London better than I do, I was hoping you could help me with this," said Hermione with a dead voice.
Ginny nodded. "Where?"
"Somewhere named Cotton Pud Hill? Draco said we would never find them there because the name was too sappy."
Instantly, Ginny started to search through the bookshelves in her mind. Cotton Pud Hill. Sounded oddly familiar, she thought, which couldn't be a good sign in itself. Suddenly, she jumped up, and her body was overcome with spasms.
"Oh God. Oh God," breathed Ginny. "Hermione, I know where that is!"
Hermione frowned. "Well? Where?"
"It's less than a kilometer from where we stand right now!" shrilled Ginny. She was definitely scared now. "Oh, they could be one their way right now!"
"Calm down," commanded Hermione, but her voice was shaking as well. "They're going to attack Padma first, remember? And he's most likely not exactly done with her yet." Her voice dropped to a whisper. "They took at least half an hour on Cho."
"What do you mean by 'took an hour on Cho?'" asked Ginny, wringing her hands while staring at the blank walls in horror.
Hermione sighed. "They...hurt her...and I'm guessing they enjoyed it so much, they went for a long time..."
Ginny's eyes popped as wide as they could. "They tortured her?"
"Yeah..." said Hermione as softly as she could. Ginny looked at the smiling Cho on the bed, and felt revulsion towards Harry and Draco.
Ginny swallowed a lump in her throat. After all these years, she still didn't want to believe that Harry would do that. "Did they both...do it?"
Hermione shrugged. "I don't know about them...but Lord Voldemort..."
Ginny's revulsion quickly got turned up a notch. No, not just a notch, she thought to herself. A big notch. A gigantic one. The Notch of all notches.
"I think I'm gonna be sick," groaned Ginny, but she had other thoughts. "Okay, so he's going to go see Padma first? Great, that would give us some time. You were right in the beginning. We gotta get out of London."
Ginny was about to leave the room when Cho grabbed her hand. "Ginny? Please, don't leave me alone. Please. I'm so afraid they'll come back...please..." whispered Cho.
She shot a glance at Hermione, who said gently, "Cho, it's more dangerous if you come with us. Really. I think it'll be safer for you if you stay here at the shelter."
Cho shook her head wildly. "No. No way, Hermione. I'm not going to be alone. I was alone when they attacked me, I am not going to be alone ever again."
"Erm...I guess it's okay," said Ginny after some thought.
Hermione sighed in great exageration and turned the door knob.
Right when it blasted open.
And there stood Draco.
*****