~*Chapter Five*~ - The Search Begins
Hermione sighed as she sat down at her kitchen table and opened up the Daily Prophet. She saw with relief that the headlines were not about Harry being off on his honeymoon with her or that he was dead, but rather, about a wizard who had recently gotten his Apparition license and had inadvertently apparated in the middle of a busy Muggle street. Upon closer examination, her eyes went wide at the picture and didn't know whether to laugh or be exasperated. It showed one very befuddled Ron Weasley making his way down a street as quickly as possible, with a little girl tagging along at his heels and tugging at his robes.
"Oh dear…Ron, what did you get yourself into this time?" she asked herself, reading the article with amusement.
"Oh, good, I made it to where I was supposed to," came a familiar male voice from her living room. "I was afraid I would end up in a completely different town. HERMIONE!!" it screamed, which was accompanied by pounding footsteps. Hermione jumped a mile and whirled around just in time to see Ron come barreling into her kitchen, breathless. "HERMIONE!! THEY'VE GOT HIM! THEY TOOK HIM AWAY!!!" Ron looked completely frantic; he looked like he had gotten dressed in .5 seconds and had barely managed to comb his hair before arriving here.
"Ron!! RON, slow down! What on Earth are you going on about? Why are you here? Who has taken whom? RON! CALM DOWN!!" Hermione cried, hurrying up to him and putting her hands on his shoulders. She could see the dread and trepidation in his blue eyes, which struck a strange chord in Hermione's mind. She had hardly ever seen Ron this worked up. "Ron," she asked once she had calmed him to silence, although he was still breathing heavily, "What happened?"
Ron took a few breaths to calm him self a bit, but it didn't do much good. He still appeared beside himself, but managed to speak. "It's Harry, Hermione. He was taken by the Death Eaters…from my house."
"From your house? What do you mean, Ron, "From your house"?"
"Remember my dog, Harry?"
A look of dawning came across Hermione's face as he began to speak of Harry and his trek to his house from the Death Eaters, and how he had become an unregistered Animangus at Sirius' suggestion. "And," he continued, "He knew that if he had come to your home, he would be traced easily, as would you, because of your connection with Hogwarts. That's why he came to my home…and now it's up to us to make sure that those bastards get what's coming to them." His fear had turned into a slowly growing anger, obvious in his pained eyes.
"Alright, Ron. Send an owl to Sirius explaining what's happened, then we'll go back to your house and begin the search. But where might we begin?"
"They left footprints in the mud behind my house; they lead into the forest."
"But Ron, it might be a trap-"
"I don't care," Ron interjected, his gaze ferocious. "I don't care what it might be, I'm following those footprints as far as they lead."
Hermione fixed him with a scrutinizing gaze, as through trying to read his mind to find what was driving his objectives other than to save Harry. She knew he wasn't telling her something, but she respected his privacy and would let him tell her on his own time.
"Very well, it's the best chance we've got, so I see no reason not to follow it." She got up and beckoned Ron to do the same, which he did, and he followed her as she steeped into her room and picked up her wand. "When we get to your house, send an owl immediately. The quicker we can get on the road. Now let's get going."
Ron nodded, and in the blink of an eye, they both vanished.
"Hold still, Pig, I haven't got a lot of time to mess with tying this letter onto you!" Ron said exasperatedly as he fiddled with his tiny owl, which was hooting excitedly at the prospect of sending a letter. He was also successfully evading Ron's grasp, which was irritating Ron even further. "Hold still, you silly owl!" he said, finally tying on his letter triumphantly.
"RONALD WEASLEY?! ARE YOU FINISHED YET?" Hermione cried piercingly as he was standing up and hurrying into the living room. She was looking more worried that angry though as he opened a window and let his owl out.
"I know, I know! He wouldn't stay put while I tried to tie the letter onto him! I'm sorry!" He cried as he closed the window and grabbed his wand, looking frustrated. "Alright, let's go. We can't waste much more time."
They were about to walk out into the midday sun when Ron suddenly remembered something, and doubled backed, turning back into the house. Hermione watched him go back inside with a rare look of confusion, then followed him, a look of irritancy on her pretty features.
"Ron, what are you doing now? You were the one who were anxious to get going, and now you're dawdling!" She watched as he reached inside a box and pulled out a wand, and then an elegant, silvery cloak. She understood immediately. "That's his wand and Invisibility Cloak."
"This might come in handy," Ron said seriously, remembering what Harry had told him many months ago. "And he might need his wand…if we find him."
~*Chapter Six Coming Soon!*~
