The Search for Harry (2/?)

by Gweniviere

Email: queen_potter_freak@hotmail.com

Category: adventure, romance, humor

Keywords: Harry, Ron, Hermione, Sirius, Lupin

Rating: PG

Spoilers: All the Books

Summary: When Harry is kidnaped by Wormtail, Ron and Hermione set out to find him, meeting

some old friends, as well as some new ones on the way.



This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various

publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast

Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark

infringement is intended.



Author's Note: I would like to dedicate this to Kelsey, who brought FictionAlley to my attention.





Chapter 2: Ransom





Ron and Hermione looked at each other. They now knew where they must be: Dumbledore's

Office. They knew Harry had been here multiple times before, but neither of them had ever

needed to come; most bad things seemed to happen to Harry.



Professor McGonagall opened the door. Professor Dumbledore was sitting behind his desk, his

eyes closed, massaging his temples. He looked old and tired. McGonagall led them to a set of

chairs placed in front of Dumbledore's desk. He looked up as they sat down.



"Ah, Miss Granger. Mr. Weasley," he said. "I am sure Hermione has filled you in about what has

happened Ron?"



Ron nodded gravely.

"Professor McGonagall and I have searched the grounds thoroughly, and what we found was,

actually, quite astounding. You see, I figured that Voldemort would just kidnap Harry and then

dispose of him, but no, what they really want is this." Dumbledore took out a folded piece of

parchment. He handed it across the desk to them, which Hermione took and unfolded. On it was

written

We have him. There's only one way to get him back.

Deliver to us your spy. He'll be able to tell you where we

are.



Ron glanced up at Hermione, who shrugged at him. Handing the ransom note back to

Dumbledore, she asked timidly, "Professor, who is the spy?"



"That is confidential information, Miss Granger, I-"



"I don't see why they can't know, Minerva," Dumbledore interrupted. McGonagall looked at

Dumbledore, somewhat perplexed, then looked away. "It is Professor Snape who is our spy."



"Oh," Hermione said, unsure of exactly what to say.



"I am not quite sure what to do. Of coarse, we will be sending people out to search for him, with

the location provided by Professor Snape, but I'm worried that the only way to Harry is through

Severus." Dumbledore stated, more to himself that to Ron and Hermione. He stood up and

started pacing, his hand on his chin. He looked up as he passed McGonagall, and said, "Kindly

fetch Severus." McGonagall left at once.



Dumbledore continued pacing. He then stopped and turned to look at Ron and Hermione, who

were wondering exactly what they were supposed to be doing. "I know this is extremely hard for

you. You must not be frightened. In times such as these, we must muster up every bit of strength

we have to make it through the lows." He stared at them with that piercing stare that Harry was

all too familiar with. "I want you to leave this to us." He said sternly.



"Er, Professor, what exactly do you mean?" Ron asked.



"I mean that I don't want you two going off to look for Harry yourselves. This is much too

dangerous, and having you two wandering around the world would just be the icing on the cake."



"Er . . . "



"I mean," Dumbledore paused, looking at them thoughtfully. Finally, he said, "As you know, the

Minister of Magic is in, well, denial of Voldemort's return to power. Therefore, he is er, wary of

my actions, no longer thinking I am wonderful.



"So, if he were to find out that, not only did I lose Harry Potter, no matter how much he thinks

Harry is insane, but I aloud his friends to wander into certain death, well, let's just say I wouldn't

be Headmaster for long. Do you understand?"



"Yes, we understand. We won't go looking for Harry," Hermione said, immediately. Ron

looked at her curiously. He had no intention of sitting around, waiting to see if Harry would be

all right. He wanted to go find Harry, who knows what they might do to him.

* * * * * *

"He's coming to." Came a voice from far off.

"Good. We can tell him all about our little adventure, and I'm sure he'll be dying to know."

There was something oddly familiar about those voices, and it wasn't very pleasant, for Harry

had the strangest feeling that they weren't friends. He opened his eyes. Everything was blurry,

do to the fact that his glasses had been removed. He blinked and squinted, trying to put things

into a bit of focus. He had a gag in his mouth and his wrists and ankles were tied together. He

was huddled in a lump on the floor.

"Ah, hello Harry Potter." It was Lucius Malfoy. He was grinning down at Harry. "Wormtail,

give him his glasses. I want him to see every bit of this little, adventure."

Harry felt his glasses being roughly shoved on his nose. Harry took a look around. He was in a

cell, in a dungeon. This wasn't a Hogwarts dungeon. Where was he? What had happened? His

head spun with questions. Malfoy, and, Wormtail? He hadn't been, kidnaped, had he?

"Our poor little hero looks confused. Perhaps we should fill him in. Wormtail, if you'd do the

honors." Malfoy said, gesturing to Wormtail, who was standing nervously just to Harry's left.

"I don't think I should-"

"Since when did you start thinking, Wormtail?" Lucius said angrily. Wormtail clenched his

gleaming, sliver hand and straightened up.

"Well, we, a... let's see... we snuck onto the grounds, and hid in the Forbidden Forest."

Wormtail began, barely audible. Harry watched him with hatred coursing through his veins.

This traitor, who had betrayed his parents, had the nerve-

"We waited till you all started to leave, and then put a Summoning Charm on your broomstick."

As he spoke, Wormtail looked down at his feet. "When you entered the stadium, Lucius cast a

Stunning Spell, while I planted the ransom letter. Then Lucius took you on the Firebolt and I

fled to the gates and Apparated. Lucius left a scorch mark to frighten the others." He fell silent.

"Compelling story, eh Potter?" Malfoy said, smirking at him. "I'm sure you'll find it so.

Dumbledore knows by now, and is devising a way to get you back without handing over his

valuable spy. Of course, he won't be able to do anything without his spy with him."

Harry tried to think. Spy? Who could that be? No one jumped out at him, but then again, Harry

didn't know many certified witches or wizards.

"Don't worry Harry. We'll take good care of you." Lucius said evilly. His sneer widened, and

he pointed his wand at Harry. "Hmm... what to do, what to do. Ah, I know! Cagerism!" He

shouted. A cage suddenly enclosed around Harry, but instead of the bars being made of metal,

they were made of glowing green light. "That will do. Come Wormtail. We have work to do."

Wormtail obediently followed Lucius out of the room, leaving Harry alone, with no light accept

for the glow of his prison.

* * * * * *

"What do you mean we won't go looking for him? How can we not? Have you lost your mind?

What's the matter with you?" Ron started raving the moment Professor McGonagall left them in

the common room.

"I was lying Ron! Honestly! I just said that to sooth him! Did you really think I was going to

say, Oh no Professor Dumbledore, we're going out tonight. And this is how we're going to do it:

we're going to take Harry's Invisibility-"

"Oh shut up, Hermione," Ron said, turning slightly red at his imbecility. "So, how are we going

to pull this off? I mean, Dumbledore's not stupid, he's going to expect us to do something."

"Hmm... well, we do have Harry's cloak, but Dumbledore knows about that, and he will probably

think we'll use it too." Hermione said, putting her head in her hands, thinking intensely.

"Ok, they would think that we would leave at night, right?"

"Ron, it is night. And that's not the only thing we have to worry about. Ron, we're tracking

down the greatest dark wizard of our time! Even if we do manage to get out of the school, how

do you expect to find them? And if we do find him, what are we going to do about it? It's not

like we show up and You-Know-Who is going to say, 'Well, you found me, I give up!' We have

no way of getting past all the Death-Eaters that are bound to be there, plus there's You-Know-

Who himself...." Hermione trailed off, thinking again.

"You know who we need?" Ron sighed.

"Harry," Hermione whispered.

"Yeah, Harry would know what to do."

"Well, I don't know about that, but it would be helpful at least." She replied softly.

They sat long into the night, each trying to think of a plan that had some amount of hope. Ron

stared at the ceiling, while Hermione held her head in her hands. It was well after two A.M.

when Hermione broke the silence.

"Ok, I think what we need to concentrate, for now, on now is just getting out of the castle, if we

manage that much, well, then we'll make that plan to find him. If we do that, then we'll make a

plan to get Harry out."

"Oh, I get it, one step at a time, right?" Ron asked.

"Exactly. Taking it bit by bit and breaking it down. It's the only way for us to handle it."

Hermione said, she smiled slightly. Ron looked at her curiously, and then smiled as well, that

old gleam of mischief flinting back into his eyes.

"Harry's going to be mad that he's missing an adventure like this." He said.

"We'll be sure to rub it into his face afterwards." Hermione replied.

* * * * * *

"Be careful, you two. I know how carried away you can get, especially when it comes to Harry.

Don't do anything, dare I say, stupid." Hermione and Ron heard Dumbledore say as they crept

down the marble stairs. They made for a closet, hearing a familiar voice say-

"Don't worry Professor, we'll be fine."

"Alright, well, you'd best be getting started. I'm amazed Ron and Hermione haven't turned up

yet. I was sure they'd be here by now." Dumbledore said.

"Maybe they decided to wait until morning, thinking that you'd expect then to leave tonight?"

Came a second and equally familiar voice.

"Perhaps... Now go, and remember, keep low profiles."

"Yes sir." The two men with familiar voices said, and then they left. Dumbledore stood, looking

around, and then he too left, turning down the corridor that lead to the entrance to his office.

When Ron and Hermione were sure that he had gone, they left their closet and made for the door.

Once out side, the two of them, as quickly as they could under the Invisibility Cloak, ran toward

the Forbidden Forest. It would be a little less dangerous if one of them accidently slipped out of

the cloak, for no one would be able to see them in the shelter of the trees. They slowed their pace

on reaching the treacherous forest, and continues cautiously. They walked for what seemed an

eternity, when they finally reached the gates. They stopped, and Hermione looked up.

"Does this seem too easy to you?" She asked nervously.

"Yeah, I would think something would have happened to prevent us from leaving." Ron replied.

Hermione studied the winged boars that flanked the gates. "You don't suppose..."

Ron, following her gaze, replied, "I don't think Dumbledore would put anything that could be,

that bad, would he?" He was now thinking the same thing she was.

"Well, there has to be some way to keep students from running away, and so far, we haven't met

anything." Hermione said pointedly.

"But maybe that's Hagrid's job, and he just couldn't see us, for obvious reasons-"

"Yes but Ron, even Hagrid has to sleep."

"Hermione, why don't we just walk through the gates and if the winged boars swoop down on us,

I don't think they'll do much harm, probably just bring us back to the castle. There's no other

way out."

"Yes there is! Oh, how could we be so stupid! The secret passage ways to Hogsmeade!"

Hermione proclaimed, hitting herself in the head.

Ron considered turning back and using one of those. But they didn't seem that much better. One

lead to the Honeyduke's cellar, but the owners would be able to hear them sneak out of the store.

Then there was the Shrieking Shack, but once they got in there, how were they supposed to get

out? Hermione seemed to be thinking along the same lines, for she said,

"Actually, let's just go for it, ok?"

"Yeah, ok." Ron said. They walked through the gates, and.......

Nothing happened. Winged boars did not come down upon them to tear out their eyes. Nothing

happened at all. Ron and Hermione looked at each other.

"I told you so." Ron said smugly.



"Shut up Ron." Hermione snapped impatiently.

They walked until the gates of Hogwarts were no longer in sight before taking off the Invisibility

Cloak. Hermione put it into her bag, as now they would not be needing it.

They reached Hogsmeade Station.

"What now?" Ron asked.

They sat down on a bench. 'Well, I've been trying to think of that, and the only thing I can think

of is asking around." Hermione said.

"'Asking around?' What do you mean by that? Asking anyone if they've seen Harry?" Ron

asked, rather skeptical.

"No. Asking where You-Know-Who is rumored to be. That's the only thing I can think of.

Unless you have a better plan?" Hermione asked, reflecting his skepticism.

Ron glared at Hermione.

"I didn't think so. Now, we need to get on a train that will take us to London. That way we can

get to Diagon Alley and The Leaky Cauldron. That's the best place to eves- drop for info on

You-Know-Who. Plus, we'll be able to get a room at the Leaky Cauldron."

"A room? As in one? I don't think-"

"Oh Ron, grow up. We don't have enough money to get two rooms. Don't worry, I don't bite."

Hermione said sarcastically.

Ron went rather red, and didn't pursue the subject any further.

"Ok then, I'm going to go see if I can figure out when we can get to Kings Cross Station."

Hermione said, and left Ron sitting on the bench. Ron sat, dreading the fact that he was going to

have to share a room with one of his best friends, who just so happened to be a girl he somewhat

liked.