When Love Goes Missing…
Chapter Three
Larissa didn't stay long in Dumbledore's
office, she had things to do; and Harry, insisting that she couldn't handle
herself, had followed her home. When the two arrived at the small cottage, the
sun was just beginning to rise, making them both feel as if the day had flown
by, leaving Harry exceptionally tried. But Larissa was far from ready to hit
the hay; she had a plan, and it needed to be put into action before anything
else. So, leaving Harry collapses on the couch, she ran upstairs; and when she
came back down she had changed from her lavender blue dress robes and matching
high-healed shoes into black leather pants and a black turtleneck sweater. A
navy blue duffle bag was swung over her shoulder.
"Hey, Harry," she called into the
living room, "Wake up and get in here."
Harry moaned in reply, and hauled
himself up off the couch and into the kitchen where Larissa was calling him,
"What do you want; I thought we were going to sleep, and start tomorrow." He
whined.
"I am not asking you to tag along
Harry, I can do this alone. If you want to sleep fine, but I'm not waiting
until morning, this has to be done now. There's no time for me to rest," to
Harry it was like Larissa had changed from the moping widow into G.I. Jane; he
looked her up and down and his jaw dropped. Her figure was really noticeable
when she wasn't wearing dress robes. Harry mentally slapped himself and shook
his head.
"Lara, WHAT are you wearing?" he
asked his mouth moving up and down trying to find something to say, "Please
tell me that is not leather."
Larissa smiled, "Okay, I won't," she said
summoning her hiking boots from her room and she put them on. She walked over
in front of Harry and slammed her duffle bag down in front of Harry, "Are you
in or out, Harry, because I'm not waiting all night."
Harry sighed, "Fine," he said before
she could disappear yet again, "Just don't leave without me."
Larissa smiled, "Alright then." She bent down to pick up her bag. Harry
stiffened; her butt was practically only two feet away from him. She picked up
the bag and started to walk towards the door. Harry slapped himself mentally
again and followed.
*
Cold was the only word that came to Harry's mind that could properly
describe his surroundings. A thick blanket of snow was falling across a dark
sky; if the sun was up it was hidden behind thick storm clouds. What were they
doing here, and more importantly, where were they?
He turned to Larissa who didn't seem
to be affected by the harsh weather, "Where did you take us?" Harry asked
rubbing his hands together to prevent them from freezing.
"Northern Russia…Why?" she said this as if it was no big
thing.
"Umm…Is there a reason that we're in
Northern
Russia;
because it's really cold."
"Yes there is a reason, but first,
come here," Harry obeyed and Larissa took out her wand and proceeded to tap him
violently hard on the head.
"OUCH!!! What was that for? It
hurt," He exclaimed, rubbing his head gently.
"But you're not cold anymore are
you?" She replied in a know-it-all tone of voice similar to the voice Hermione
adopted when she thought that Harry was doing something wrong.
But she was right, he wasn't cold
anymore, of course he wasn't exactly warm, but his fingers were no longer numb
and he had complete feeling back in his face. He glared at her and then said,
"Okay, so now that I won't have to have my feet amputated from frost bite, is
there a reason why we're in Russia when it's snowing?"
"Yes." she smiled
cheekily, "It's a very simple explanation."
"Go on..." he said motioning
for her to continue.
"And I'm not telling you!"
she laughed and stuck her tongue out at him. Harry rolled his eyes.
"Then what are we going to do? Make
snow angels?" Harry asked sarcastically.
"You know I seriously think you
need a break before we can start." she smiled and looked around examining
the ground. Then, without warning she fell onto the ground and laughed, moving
her arms and legs up and down, side to side.
"What are you doing?" Harry asked looking at her as if she was
crazy.
"I'm making snow angels dummy! Come on its fun!" she pulled
Harry down into the snow. After a couple minutes of laughing and making snow
angels Larissa and Harry finally got up to admire their work.
"It's wonderful!" Larissa exclaimed jokingly; laughing and
pointing at the mess.
"Yea... Really beautiful...." Harry said. "Well let's get
to work shall we?"
"All right!" she said, Harry could tell Larissa was in a good
mood, for what reason he didn't know.
And so they went Harry in one
direction and Larissa skipping off in the other, still holding her blue duffle
bag.
*
Harry went down the road a little ways and came into a town; the sign
said Kouvachek. The people were looking at him strangely. Some of them even
recognized him and pointed; he hated it.
He was looking around for death
eaters; when he spotted a dingy looking pub called The Mark hidden in a dark
alleyway.
This seems as good a place as any to pick up Death Eaters, so he strode
off towards the shabby building.
What he
found inside was totally not what he had expected. Inside was a dance club; There
was about 500 people all between their teens, 20's, and 30's in it, a bar
section, dining rooms, a DJ, and dancing lights. Over all he thought that this
place was very, very cool.
He walked through the crowd towards
the bar section. He went up to a pretty petite lady with red hair that
strangely reminded him of Ron's younger sister Ginny.
"Hi." He said to her
"Hey." She said, then she did a
double take, "YOU'RE Harry Potter!!" she said amazed
"Yeah," he replied not wanting to
draw any attention to himself.
"That's very cool. You'll get hooked
up so fast here; it'll make your head spin!" she said happily
"Excuse me?" he said not
understanding
"This is The Mark. It's a dance
club; it's mainly for having a good time and hooking up with someone."
"Oh okay, that's cool." He said, not
very interested; still looking around for Death Eaters
"So what are you doing in Russia, Harry?" she said interested.
"I'm... err..." he said, lost for
words.
"Looking for evil guys, I expect?"
she said all-knowingly, a strange almost smug smile on her face.
"Well, yeah. Why? Can you help me?"
he said, now interested in their conversation.
"Maybe..." she said her smile
growing larger; she paused, "I hear there are some pretty evil guys in town;
there ALWAYS is. I hear that they are staying at the Davenport Hotel."
"Thanks." He said, turning to leave
then having a thought strike his mind, making him turn back to the woman, "by
the way I didn't catch your name."
"That's because I didn't tell you."
She said smiling.
Harry smiled, "Okay, I'll be leaving
now. See you around!" he walked out of the club into the freezing weather.
"That was interesting." He muttered to himself, before heading down the street
in search of Larissa.
*
Meanwhile at Hogwarts…
"I don't believe Harry has been away
for so long!" Hermione said frantically to Ron, as she slammed her arithmancy
book shut; unable to concentrate on her homework.
"Ahh, I'm sure he's all right." He
said comforting, while attempting to get a look at her assignment over her
shoulder.
"I think I'm going to go to
Dumbledore, he should know about this," She said determined, standing in her
spot for a minute, then grabbing her homework and taking off out of the common
room.
"What?! You can't do that! He'll get
into trouble!" Ron yelled, running after her.
"I don't care! Harry got on the
train and hasn't owled or anything since! And Sirius is still missing as far as
we know and we haven't heard anything about that! I want answers, and I want
them now! I'm sick of waiting!" she yelled, stopping in the middle of the
corridor to let Ron catch up with her
"Fine. I'm coming with you, though."
He said panting slightly from the sprint he'd just run.
"Of course, don't you always?" and
together, Ron and Hermione made their way to Dumbledore's office.
*
Harry had no trouble finding the
posh hotel which was situated in the center of the small Russian village. But
what he found there surprised him, and made him watch in silence, not wanting
to disturb anything. So he hid behind a tree.
From his view point it looked to
Harry that Larissa was battling to large figures dressed in grey robes, but
once he got a closer look, the figure's turned out to be death eaters, very
large and most likely strong death eaters. Yet Larissa didn't seem to be using
her wand, and from the looks of it, she had snapped the death eater's wands,
for they now lay at Harry's feet, broken into pieces. Harry was about to go in
and help her, but he saw one of the death eaters fall roughly to the ground and
decided that it would be better to not get in her way. She looked like she had
everything under control.
Not long after Harry arrived, the Death Eaters were unconscious, piled
on top of one another. Larissa shoved
them up against a tree and tied them to it using a thick blue cord that had
come from her mysterious duffle bag. Harry, deciding that the coast was clear,
came out from behind the tree; he didn't say anything to her about her advanced
fighting skills, even though he was dieing to know how in the world she
acquired them; he didn't think it was such a good time, because she looked
extremely busy.
Larissa glanced at Harry as he
approached, but ignored him and continued on with what she was doing. She grabbed her wand and said, "Ennervate."
The death eaters slowly awakened, "Now, tell me what you know before I kill
you, and I might just turn you in alive." She spoke slowly taking their masks
off.
There, tied to a tree, were Goyle
and McNair.
"We have nothing to say to you,
Hahn." Said Goyle, though in his beady eyes you could tell he was about to wet
his pants.
"Fine then," Larissa shrugged and
raised her wand. Harry turned his head, not wanting to watch, "Any lasts words?
Questions? Comments? Confessions?" She smiled evilly, but it didn't reach her
eyes.
"Sure why not?" said McNair cockily,
"never be certain that someone is dead…"
"Unless you check seven times,"
Larissa finished for him; it was an old Aurors saying. Somehow, Harry thought
that it meant something to her.
Larissa looked at Goyle "and you;
any last words?" Goyle stayed silent. "All right then." Harry turned his head
again, "Stupefy!" Harry turned his head back and looked at her in wonder, not
understanding why she had stunned them, "Merservious!" and the Death Eaters
disappeared.
"Where did they go?" he asked
curiously.
She turned her head and carelessly
muttered, "The ministry," while putting the bindings she had used on the Death
Eaters in her mysterious duffle bag. Harry leaned forward to try and see what
was in there, but Larissa had already zipped it shut.
*
Again at Hogwarts…
Hermione and Ron knocked on
Dumbledore's door and it opened immediately.
"Hello Miss Granger, Mr. Weasely."
He said smiling, "How may I help you?"
"Well, even though I don't want to get
Harry into trouble, I think that you need to know," Hermione started, "Harry
left on the Hogsmeade train awhile ago and umm... we haven't heard anything.
We've been telling all the teachers that he is in his dorm sick."
"Oh..." Dumbledore said the twinkling
in his eyes disappearing; for once Dumbledore was lost for words. Finally he
spoke up again, "Harry has left due to a family emergency, am I correct?"
Hermione and Ron both
nodded, "Yeah Sirius went missing, so he left to help Larissa."
Dumbledore nodded in agreement,
looking from Hermione to Ron and back again, "Well, we've had some news on what
has happened to Sirius," he paused and motioned for the two to sit down, "They
have found him. In the forest just north of the cottage that he shares's with
Larissa." There was a long pause as Dumbledore looked down at his fingers, then
to Hermione, then Ron, and then back down at his fingers, "They found him
dead."
He said this so abruptly that Ron
and Hermione had to think about it before they fully understood; and even then
Ron asked, "What do you mean dead?"
Hermione turned to look at Ron, her
face full of disbelief, before she looked Dumbledore in the eye and nodded for
him to answer the question.
"He was murdered, by Voldemort,"
Dumbledore explained, this time slowly, for it to sink in, "He was stabbed."
They nodded, not so much in agreement, but in
realization that it had happened and they couldn't change it. So they stood,
without another word to Dumbledore; and left the round room.
"I had completely
forgotten about Hermione and Ron during this whole thing. Who else have I
forgotten?" Dumbledore thought out loud; then he remembered, "The Weasely's."
*
At the Weasely
residence…
Molly Weasely was going about her business,
doing the housework and getting ready for lunch when she heard a tapping on her
window. She spun around and saw a Hogwarts owl just outside the window. She
opened the window carelessly, curious about what the owl had for her. The tawny
owl dropped the letter on the kitchen counter and flew straight back out the
window. Molly opened the letter; she dropped it, startled, and yelled for her
husband.
*
"What are we going to do now?" asked Harry.
"Well I've all ready checked into this hotel;
let's go get some drinks! I know a great club that we could go to," Larissa
announced swinging the duffle bag over her shoulder.
"The Mark?" Harry asked, even though he was
wondering why Larissa thought that celebrating now was a good idea, since they
hadn't really done anything.
"Yea, I used to go there all the time; wait,
how did you know?" she asked confused.
"I just came from there." He replied.
"Oh." She said feeling a little stupid.
They walked through the harsh weather and
snow and made their way back towards the mark. Larissa paused before she
entered, but when Harry asked her about it she said it was nothing and went
inside.
They walked up to the bar section; to the
red-haired lady again. She smiled and greeted Harry. She then turned to
Larissa, grinned, and proceeded to say,
"Larissa! I haven't seen you in here in what?
2, 3 years?" she said greeting her warmly.
"Must be… but I do seem to remember a time
when I came up here last year, but I don't remember what for.." Larissa
replied, thinking.
"How come you stopped coming? I was starting to
think you hated me!" she teased.
"Oh, how could I ever hate you, Sellena!" she
laughed, "Well, didn't you know? I quit, so I had no reason to come here
anymore; that and I had met my fiancée around that time."
"Oh I guess I probably should have known. Who's
the lucky guy?" she asked. Larissa suddenly went quiet; Harry didn't say
anything and Sellena looked at both of them confused.
After an uncomfortable pause Harry finally
spoke up, "Hey, um, can I have a butterbeer?"
"Sure thing Harry," Sellena went over and got
the mug and proceeded to fill the cup up.
"Oh and I'll have my usual; you still
remember don't you?" called Larissa
"Of course, it's the strongest stuff we
got!!" she laughed; Larissa smiled. Sellena walked back over and placed their
drinks down.
"One butterbeer, and one Triple Strawberry
Sui, straight up!" she laughed again; Harry laughed too and started to gulp
down his mug while Larissa smiled and sipped her Sui out of her martini glass.
All of the sudden there was a blast.
*
Hermione and Ron sat in the common room in a
shocked silence. Hermione was wondering how Harry and Larissa took the news,
while in extreme sadness that Sirius died. Meanwhile Ron took a different view,
revenge. He wanted to kill the scum-sucking bastard who did this. Not only did
this creep kill Harry's godfather and Larissa's fiancée, but one of the best
and funniest people he knew! Ron was in a murderous rage; imagining a death
eater being tortured. Hermione, finally deciding what to do next, grabbed a
piece of parchment and a quill and left for the Owlery.
*
Harry and Larissa spun around to see what had
happened, Sellena screamed, and Harry gasped. It was like the world had
erupted; a sudden explosion had sent them to the ground. Hiding under their
bars stools, Larissa and Harry watched the dance club crumble to the ground in
front of their eyes. Harry, hearing the ceiling creak above them, tugged on
Larissa's arm, and motioned that they leave the building.
Once they were outside and had dusted
themselves off, Larissa looked around her, confused. Her blue duffle bag, where
was it? Then it donned on her, it must have been left inside. She couldn't very
well leave it in there; it held some extremely valuable things in it. So off
she went, back into the unstable structure; Harry yelling after her to stop and
that she was being silly endangering herself for a bag. But she couldn't hear
him, for she was out of sight and into the club again.
Inside Larissa couldn't see anything; there
was dust and smoke everywhere. So she wandered blindly, feeling her way through
the debris, nearly stepping into a hole that a fallen support beam had created
in the floor. But after what felt like hours of wandering blindly her hand
grasped the straps of her bag. She tugged at it, but it wouldn't move; it was
trapped under something. So she began trying to push off the rubble that was
holding the bag, but the building gave a loud rumble and more wood, and dust
fell; she felt glass cutting her skin, glass from the drinks that they had been
having only minutes ago. This was a warning, that she was pushing it, that she
wasn't invincible like she had been acting the past few days. She gave the bag
another heave and it was set free; but another rumble had set the building
shaking. So without a look back Larissa began to make a mad dash for the
direction she assumed the door was; but she wasn't fast enough; just as she
began to see light, a heavy piece of wood fell from the ceiling and knocked her
on the head, rendering her unconscious, the another fell on her legs trapping
her in the building. The world was black.
