Chapter 20
Captured
"How can I be? This is crazy"! Hermione have been talking about herself being psychic all day, including in class, which annoyed the teachers. Ron and Harry, who were very annoyed with Hermione repeating what she said all day, ignored her and ate their dinner. "Me, psychic, I told you the stuff Professor Trewlawney said was all rubbish! I mean honestly, me psychic"? "Hermione, can you just shut up for 5 minutes"? Ron yelled. "Psychic, I can never be psychic. I hate all that divination stuff, how can I be psychic? This is so stupid"! Hermione continued, ignoring. Harry sighed and soon, he didn't hear anything Hermione said, all he could here was a distant squeak as his mind went into a deep thought. What was Harry going to about the Crystal? If he finds it, he'll be able to see his parents. Maybe he should tell the scientists about the Crystal, and they'll find it, and maybe they'll let Harry use it. Everybody knows that Harry's parents are dead, so maybe they'll feel sorry for him and let him use the Crystal, so Harry can see his parents again. Harry snapped out of his thought when he heard Ron yell even louder. Ron's voice seemed to echo in the Great Hall, he was louder then everybody else's voice. "Fine, I thought it might be nice that you have some special power! But you're being so stubborn about it, and won't admit that you do have it. Harry can talk to snakes, and you're psychic! It kind of leaves me as nothing"! Ron yelled and stormed out of the Great Hall without another word or a glance back at the table, leaving Hermione speechless. Harry looked at Hermione, then at Ron, who already left the Great Hall. Not knowing whether he should follow Ron, or stay with Hermione. He decided to stay with Hermione for Ron might be a bit too dangerous to talk to right now. Hermione had her mouth hanging open; she was staring at where Ron was sitting, still speechless. She slowly closed her mouth and looked at Harry. "Did it bother you that much"? Hermione said, almost whispering. Harry noticed Hermione's eyes water a bit, so he shook his head. "No, not at all. It was hard for me to find out that I can talk to snakes". Hermione just plainly nodded and stared back at her untouched food. Harry was about to open his mouth to reassure Hermione, but was broken off by a scream. "AHHH"! Harry and Hermione know that scream, it was Ron's. Ron was in trouble. Harry noticed not only did Hermione and himself stand up; the rest of the school seemed to have stood up too, including the teachers. "Everybody stay seated", Dumbledore said before hurrying off with Professor Flitwick, McGonagall, and Snape. He said something to Fleur before leaving. Fleur nodded and stayed seated in her seat, keeping an eye on all the students, making sure no one left. Moments passed, and a loud chattering filled up the Great Hall. "What do you think that was"? "Do you think someone was attacked again"? "Maybe it was You-Know-Who"! "It was Ron, I know it was"! Hermione whispered to Harry. Harry nodded and got up from the Gryffindor table, despite what Dumbledore said. "Fleur, what happened"? Harry asked. "I don't know.teacher's don't usually tell me anything, cept for Dumbledore. Says I am too young, says that I don't understand aneething", Fleur shrugged. "Harry, Hermione, you better come with me", Professor McGonagall suddenly appeared behind Fleur. Harry gave Fleur a wave goodbye, and left with Hermione following him, close behind. They followed Professor McGonagall down the hallway, and towards a crowd of teachers, they were all discussing something in a hushed whisper. "What happened"? Hermione asked, as soon as she caught up with them. "We believe your friend.Mr. Weasley.he", Professor McGonagall started but didn't finish. "Ah, Harry, Hermione", Professor Dumbledore said, walking towards them. Professor McGonagall excused herself and left, Harry could hear her blow her nose. "What happened Professor"? Hermione asked. "Ron", was all Professor Dumbledore could say. Harry could even see bit sadness in Professor Dumbledore's eyes. "He's gone". Hermione let out a small gasp, and covered her mouth with her hand. Harry just stood there staring blankly at Professor Dumbledore, with his mouth slightly opened. Not knowing what to say or do. Harry wants to run, run to find Ron. But something inside himself is telling him not to. "W-what do you mean, he's g-gone"? Hermione asked. "We're not sure exactly, but we know for sure, that Ron was the one who screamed". "Aren't you going to do something"? Hermione asked, still shocked. "Teachers are searching the castle", Professor Dumbledore explained. "What makes you so sure that it's Ron who disappeared"? Hermione asked again. "Professor Flitwick saw Ron leave, and as a matter of fact, Ron was the first one to leave the Great Hall. Professor Flitwick even used a spell that can tell us whose here and whose not", Professor Dumbledore said while he took out a long parchment from the inside of his cloak. He showed it to Hermione and Harry. They stared down at the page seeing everybody's name, there were green checkmarks if they person was here, and a red X if the person is not. And right beside Ron's name was a red X. Hermione gasped and dropped the parchment. "Professor Dumbledore, is there anything we can do"? Harry asked. First Ginny, now Ron. What are Mr and Mrs. Weasley going to say about this? They obviously will be more shocked then Hermione is right now, and Hermione is beyond shocked. She was just standing there, her mouth opened, and her eyes looked as if they were going to pop out. Harry was surprised, out of all the people, it was Ron. Who would want to kidnap Ron? What if it was Voldemort? "Professor, do you think it was.Voldemort"? Harry asked, keeping his voice low so no one else could hear. Hermione let out a squeak, and ran. Harry was going to go after her, but Professor Dumbledore held him back by his shoulder. "Let her go", Professor Dumbledore said. Harry nodded and looked at the floor, not knowing what to say next. "It might have been Voldemort Harry", Professor Dumbledore spoke up. "What if it was him Professor? Won't he kill Ron"? Harry asked, feeling suddenly alarmed. "Maybe, maybe not. Harry, this might be a trap, so this time I want you to let us teachers handle this ourselves. Even though Ron is your friend-" "BEST friend", Harry corrected. "Even though Ron is your, best friend, I don't want you to go looking for him. It's far to dangerous", Professor Dumbledore told him with before walking off. Harry even noticed a bit of twinkle in Dumbledore's eyes when he told Harry to not go looking for Ron. As soon as they were done talking, Harry headed straight to the Gryffindor common room. Quickly saying the password (Blubbergibbit), the portrait swung open, and Harry quickly went in finding Hermione pacing around the room muttering to herself. She stopped when she saw Harry, and ran to him. "What did Dumbledore say Harry? What are they going to do? Are they just going to leave Ron there"? Hermione asked millions of answers, Harry told her to sit down and he calmly told her what happened. "So.so are you saying that, it might have been.Voldemort"? Hermione asked. All Harry could do was nod. Harry didn't know what to do. Voldemort killed his parents, and there is no way Harry's going to let Voldemort kill his best friend. "I'm going after him", Harry said. "But, you don't know whether it's Voldemort or not. And besides, you don't know where Voldemort is either", Hermione pointed out. Harry thought about it for a minute. If it was actually Voldemort who took Ron away, then he must still be here with Ron. He knows that Ron wouldn't just let someone take him away like that; he knows Ron would put up a good fight. So Harry still had time to rescue Ron. He got up from the couch Hermione and him were sitting on. "I'm going after him no matter what. I know for sure, if it were Voldemort, he'd be here too. The Crystal's at Hogwarts right"? Harry asked. Hermione looked at Harry, confused. But 5 seconds later she smiled. "Oh! I get it! If Voldemort were here, he'd be where the Crystal is, and the Crystal is in the Potions room"! Hermione said happily. "So if we want to find Voldemort, then he'll be in the Potions room. But we're not allowed to go in the Potion's room. If we do, we're going to get in trouble"! "Hermione, think about it! This is Ron we're talking about! If Voldemort took you away, Ron would go crazy, and do anything to get you back. He wouldn't even think what he's going to do, he might just throw himself in the Potions room and start looking for Voldemort", Harry said. Hermione nodded and knew Harry was right. They talked for some more and decided to use Harry's invisibility cloak, and also decided to leave when everybody went to bed. But it was impossible. Students came into the common room, and talked. Hermione and Harry decided to start off at the library. "I can look up some spells we can use, just in case if we need it", Hermione explained. They left the common room, and headed straight to the library. The library was deserted, and no body was in it, not even Madam Pince. Harry and Hermione went straight to the shelves and started looking for books. Harry pulled out a dark grey one, "Significant Spells". Hermione dumped about 10 she found on top of a table Harry was sitting at. "Remember that spell we learned? The one with the fire darts? We can use that", Hermione pointed out before opening up a huge book. They searched until Harry's watch buzzed at 12. They found about 5 spells they could use, plus the ones they already knew. They quickly put on the invisibility cloak and left the library. The hallways were deserted, so Harry and Hermione headed straight to the Potion's classroom. 2 scientists were sitting at the back table of the classroom, reading a book. Hermione and Harry hid behind the teacher's desk and listened closely to what they were saying. Just before they hid behind the desk, Harry could make out that one of them was Tim, and the other one was a tall man with pale chestnut coloured hair. He had no glasses, but very small eyes. "Yes, yes. I know about that, but what about this"? Tim pointed to a picture in the book they were looking at. "Do you actually think it's going to work"? The other man asked. "It will after", Tim said with an evil grin, he took out his wand and pointed at the man. The man just sat there, looking up at Tim with a confused look upon his face. "W-what are you doing"? The man said alarmed. "Your mad"! "Or am I"? Tim muttered a spell, and before Harry and Hermione knew it, the other man was lying on the floor, lifeless. Tim smirked and stuffed his wand back into his robe, and left the room leaving the man's body behind. Harry couldn't believe it; did Tim Becker just kill a man? Hermione was obviously surprised. Harry looked at Hermione, signalling her it's time to go. Harry took off the invisibility cloak. Both of them got up from behind the desk and searched the room. Harry looked around, seeing nothing but dirt, and a hole dug in the middle of the classroom. "Oh! Harry"! Hermione suddenly said. "What"? "There's this some kind of button behind a poster or painting! If we find it, and we press the button, we're going to be able to go into this tunnel"! Hermione said quickly, and started taking off all the paintings and posters off the wall. "How do you know"? Harry asked confused. "Remember? I'm psychic", Hermione smiled, and continued to search. Harry smiled and searched too; soon, he stood in front of a small poster showing the different kinds of potion ingredients. He tore it off revealing a small red button. "Hermione, here"! Harry said, and Hermione came rushing over "Okay press it"! Hermione said excited. Harry pressed the button but nothing happened. Harry looked at Hermione, confused, and Hermione closed her eyes and started muttering to herself. Not knowing what Hermione was doing, Harry looked around the room making sure no one was in here. Hermione suddenly opened her eyes. "Harry, you have to use your wand to push the button"! Hermione explained. Harry gave Hermione a puzzled look but took out his wand anyways. He pushed the button lightly with his wand, and the room echoed with a rumbling sound. Hermione and Harry looked wildly around, thinking it was an earthquake. They both turned around, seeing the wall behind the teacher's desk disappeared, and there stood a round hole, leading into a tunnel. With a nod to each other, the two went in, having the wall appear behind them again.
"How can I be? This is crazy"! Hermione have been talking about herself being psychic all day, including in class, which annoyed the teachers. Ron and Harry, who were very annoyed with Hermione repeating what she said all day, ignored her and ate their dinner. "Me, psychic, I told you the stuff Professor Trewlawney said was all rubbish! I mean honestly, me psychic"? "Hermione, can you just shut up for 5 minutes"? Ron yelled. "Psychic, I can never be psychic. I hate all that divination stuff, how can I be psychic? This is so stupid"! Hermione continued, ignoring. Harry sighed and soon, he didn't hear anything Hermione said, all he could here was a distant squeak as his mind went into a deep thought. What was Harry going to about the Crystal? If he finds it, he'll be able to see his parents. Maybe he should tell the scientists about the Crystal, and they'll find it, and maybe they'll let Harry use it. Everybody knows that Harry's parents are dead, so maybe they'll feel sorry for him and let him use the Crystal, so Harry can see his parents again. Harry snapped out of his thought when he heard Ron yell even louder. Ron's voice seemed to echo in the Great Hall, he was louder then everybody else's voice. "Fine, I thought it might be nice that you have some special power! But you're being so stubborn about it, and won't admit that you do have it. Harry can talk to snakes, and you're psychic! It kind of leaves me as nothing"! Ron yelled and stormed out of the Great Hall without another word or a glance back at the table, leaving Hermione speechless. Harry looked at Hermione, then at Ron, who already left the Great Hall. Not knowing whether he should follow Ron, or stay with Hermione. He decided to stay with Hermione for Ron might be a bit too dangerous to talk to right now. Hermione had her mouth hanging open; she was staring at where Ron was sitting, still speechless. She slowly closed her mouth and looked at Harry. "Did it bother you that much"? Hermione said, almost whispering. Harry noticed Hermione's eyes water a bit, so he shook his head. "No, not at all. It was hard for me to find out that I can talk to snakes". Hermione just plainly nodded and stared back at her untouched food. Harry was about to open his mouth to reassure Hermione, but was broken off by a scream. "AHHH"! Harry and Hermione know that scream, it was Ron's. Ron was in trouble. Harry noticed not only did Hermione and himself stand up; the rest of the school seemed to have stood up too, including the teachers. "Everybody stay seated", Dumbledore said before hurrying off with Professor Flitwick, McGonagall, and Snape. He said something to Fleur before leaving. Fleur nodded and stayed seated in her seat, keeping an eye on all the students, making sure no one left. Moments passed, and a loud chattering filled up the Great Hall. "What do you think that was"? "Do you think someone was attacked again"? "Maybe it was You-Know-Who"! "It was Ron, I know it was"! Hermione whispered to Harry. Harry nodded and got up from the Gryffindor table, despite what Dumbledore said. "Fleur, what happened"? Harry asked. "I don't know.teacher's don't usually tell me anything, cept for Dumbledore. Says I am too young, says that I don't understand aneething", Fleur shrugged. "Harry, Hermione, you better come with me", Professor McGonagall suddenly appeared behind Fleur. Harry gave Fleur a wave goodbye, and left with Hermione following him, close behind. They followed Professor McGonagall down the hallway, and towards a crowd of teachers, they were all discussing something in a hushed whisper. "What happened"? Hermione asked, as soon as she caught up with them. "We believe your friend.Mr. Weasley.he", Professor McGonagall started but didn't finish. "Ah, Harry, Hermione", Professor Dumbledore said, walking towards them. Professor McGonagall excused herself and left, Harry could hear her blow her nose. "What happened Professor"? Hermione asked. "Ron", was all Professor Dumbledore could say. Harry could even see bit sadness in Professor Dumbledore's eyes. "He's gone". Hermione let out a small gasp, and covered her mouth with her hand. Harry just stood there staring blankly at Professor Dumbledore, with his mouth slightly opened. Not knowing what to say or do. Harry wants to run, run to find Ron. But something inside himself is telling him not to. "W-what do you mean, he's g-gone"? Hermione asked. "We're not sure exactly, but we know for sure, that Ron was the one who screamed". "Aren't you going to do something"? Hermione asked, still shocked. "Teachers are searching the castle", Professor Dumbledore explained. "What makes you so sure that it's Ron who disappeared"? Hermione asked again. "Professor Flitwick saw Ron leave, and as a matter of fact, Ron was the first one to leave the Great Hall. Professor Flitwick even used a spell that can tell us whose here and whose not", Professor Dumbledore said while he took out a long parchment from the inside of his cloak. He showed it to Hermione and Harry. They stared down at the page seeing everybody's name, there were green checkmarks if they person was here, and a red X if the person is not. And right beside Ron's name was a red X. Hermione gasped and dropped the parchment. "Professor Dumbledore, is there anything we can do"? Harry asked. First Ginny, now Ron. What are Mr and Mrs. Weasley going to say about this? They obviously will be more shocked then Hermione is right now, and Hermione is beyond shocked. She was just standing there, her mouth opened, and her eyes looked as if they were going to pop out. Harry was surprised, out of all the people, it was Ron. Who would want to kidnap Ron? What if it was Voldemort? "Professor, do you think it was.Voldemort"? Harry asked, keeping his voice low so no one else could hear. Hermione let out a squeak, and ran. Harry was going to go after her, but Professor Dumbledore held him back by his shoulder. "Let her go", Professor Dumbledore said. Harry nodded and looked at the floor, not knowing what to say next. "It might have been Voldemort Harry", Professor Dumbledore spoke up. "What if it was him Professor? Won't he kill Ron"? Harry asked, feeling suddenly alarmed. "Maybe, maybe not. Harry, this might be a trap, so this time I want you to let us teachers handle this ourselves. Even though Ron is your friend-" "BEST friend", Harry corrected. "Even though Ron is your, best friend, I don't want you to go looking for him. It's far to dangerous", Professor Dumbledore told him with before walking off. Harry even noticed a bit of twinkle in Dumbledore's eyes when he told Harry to not go looking for Ron. As soon as they were done talking, Harry headed straight to the Gryffindor common room. Quickly saying the password (Blubbergibbit), the portrait swung open, and Harry quickly went in finding Hermione pacing around the room muttering to herself. She stopped when she saw Harry, and ran to him. "What did Dumbledore say Harry? What are they going to do? Are they just going to leave Ron there"? Hermione asked millions of answers, Harry told her to sit down and he calmly told her what happened. "So.so are you saying that, it might have been.Voldemort"? Hermione asked. All Harry could do was nod. Harry didn't know what to do. Voldemort killed his parents, and there is no way Harry's going to let Voldemort kill his best friend. "I'm going after him", Harry said. "But, you don't know whether it's Voldemort or not. And besides, you don't know where Voldemort is either", Hermione pointed out. Harry thought about it for a minute. If it was actually Voldemort who took Ron away, then he must still be here with Ron. He knows that Ron wouldn't just let someone take him away like that; he knows Ron would put up a good fight. So Harry still had time to rescue Ron. He got up from the couch Hermione and him were sitting on. "I'm going after him no matter what. I know for sure, if it were Voldemort, he'd be here too. The Crystal's at Hogwarts right"? Harry asked. Hermione looked at Harry, confused. But 5 seconds later she smiled. "Oh! I get it! If Voldemort were here, he'd be where the Crystal is, and the Crystal is in the Potions room"! Hermione said happily. "So if we want to find Voldemort, then he'll be in the Potions room. But we're not allowed to go in the Potion's room. If we do, we're going to get in trouble"! "Hermione, think about it! This is Ron we're talking about! If Voldemort took you away, Ron would go crazy, and do anything to get you back. He wouldn't even think what he's going to do, he might just throw himself in the Potions room and start looking for Voldemort", Harry said. Hermione nodded and knew Harry was right. They talked for some more and decided to use Harry's invisibility cloak, and also decided to leave when everybody went to bed. But it was impossible. Students came into the common room, and talked. Hermione and Harry decided to start off at the library. "I can look up some spells we can use, just in case if we need it", Hermione explained. They left the common room, and headed straight to the library. The library was deserted, and no body was in it, not even Madam Pince. Harry and Hermione went straight to the shelves and started looking for books. Harry pulled out a dark grey one, "Significant Spells". Hermione dumped about 10 she found on top of a table Harry was sitting at. "Remember that spell we learned? The one with the fire darts? We can use that", Hermione pointed out before opening up a huge book. They searched until Harry's watch buzzed at 12. They found about 5 spells they could use, plus the ones they already knew. They quickly put on the invisibility cloak and left the library. The hallways were deserted, so Harry and Hermione headed straight to the Potion's classroom. 2 scientists were sitting at the back table of the classroom, reading a book. Hermione and Harry hid behind the teacher's desk and listened closely to what they were saying. Just before they hid behind the desk, Harry could make out that one of them was Tim, and the other one was a tall man with pale chestnut coloured hair. He had no glasses, but very small eyes. "Yes, yes. I know about that, but what about this"? Tim pointed to a picture in the book they were looking at. "Do you actually think it's going to work"? The other man asked. "It will after", Tim said with an evil grin, he took out his wand and pointed at the man. The man just sat there, looking up at Tim with a confused look upon his face. "W-what are you doing"? The man said alarmed. "Your mad"! "Or am I"? Tim muttered a spell, and before Harry and Hermione knew it, the other man was lying on the floor, lifeless. Tim smirked and stuffed his wand back into his robe, and left the room leaving the man's body behind. Harry couldn't believe it; did Tim Becker just kill a man? Hermione was obviously surprised. Harry looked at Hermione, signalling her it's time to go. Harry took off the invisibility cloak. Both of them got up from behind the desk and searched the room. Harry looked around, seeing nothing but dirt, and a hole dug in the middle of the classroom. "Oh! Harry"! Hermione suddenly said. "What"? "There's this some kind of button behind a poster or painting! If we find it, and we press the button, we're going to be able to go into this tunnel"! Hermione said quickly, and started taking off all the paintings and posters off the wall. "How do you know"? Harry asked confused. "Remember? I'm psychic", Hermione smiled, and continued to search. Harry smiled and searched too; soon, he stood in front of a small poster showing the different kinds of potion ingredients. He tore it off revealing a small red button. "Hermione, here"! Harry said, and Hermione came rushing over "Okay press it"! Hermione said excited. Harry pressed the button but nothing happened. Harry looked at Hermione, confused, and Hermione closed her eyes and started muttering to herself. Not knowing what Hermione was doing, Harry looked around the room making sure no one was in here. Hermione suddenly opened her eyes. "Harry, you have to use your wand to push the button"! Hermione explained. Harry gave Hermione a puzzled look but took out his wand anyways. He pushed the button lightly with his wand, and the room echoed with a rumbling sound. Hermione and Harry looked wildly around, thinking it was an earthquake. They both turned around, seeing the wall behind the teacher's desk disappeared, and there stood a round hole, leading into a tunnel. With a nod to each other, the two went in, having the wall appear behind them again.