DISCLAIMER: 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.

Chapter 8: Many Meetings

Ron had been flying for ages now, but Hedwig still wasn't done. She seemed very certain where the recipient of the letter was, and more frantic as she neared a big, castle-like manor. She flew to one of the windows and tried to get in, but the window was shut.

"Shh, Hedwig," Ron whispered. He took out his wand and pointed at the glass. "Alohomora!" The window opened and Ron flew in carefully. It was a large room, much bigger than his or Harry's, and the furniture was made of beautiful satin. Ron landed looked around uneasily. Where was he? Malfoy Manor? He suspected so. Hedwig landed gently on his shoulder. "All right," he whispered. "What now?" He saw a bed in the corner of the room. Someone was sleeping in it! It was a girl, and she didn't have the covers pulled up. She was on top of the sheets. As quietly as he could, he walked toward the bed, and saw, much to his surprise, Hermione. Had Hedwig taken him to Hermione's house? This didn't seem like the type of house she would be in.

"Hermione," he hissed, his voice thundering in the darkness. "Hermione, wake up." She didn't move. Ron moved closer to the bed. Hermione's face was illuminated with moonlight, and Ron felt uneasily attracted to her. She was beautiful. "Hermione," he hissed, a little louder and more frantically. "Hermione, wake up!"

Hermione's eyes flew open and she sat up suddenly, her bushy hair sticking out at all angles. "Ron!" she gasped, seeing him. "Ron, what are you doing here?!" She seemed very alarmed.

"Hermione, where are we?" Ron asked.

Hermione put a finger to her lips. "Shhh," she hissed. "Not so loud." She lowered her voice down to a whisper. "We're in Malfoy Manor, Ron. I was captured and used as bait for Harry. Harry's down in the dungeons. I can't get out of this room. I don't see any doors or windows. Do you?"

Ron looked around, and much to his surprise, found that the window that had let in the moonlight had disappeared. "Well…there was a window to my right, but it's not there anymore. Or I can't see it, at any rate."

"Try the Alohomora spell," Hermione told him. "The window might open."

Ron did the spell, and heard something opening outside of the wall, but no window appeared. He told Hermione this and she sank down on the bed.

"I don't know, Ron," she replied, as tears started to ride down her cheeks. "I can't think right now. What's Hedwig doing here? Did you send a letter to me or something?"

"No, I sent a letter to Harry," Ron answered. "And she brought me here. That was my plan. Harry hadn't replied to my letters for a while, and Hedwig arrived at my house, very distressed, so I pretended to send a letter to Harry, jumped on a broomstick, and followed Hedwig. I ended up here."

Hermione smiled wanly. "That's great, Ron. You're a great person."

Ron stared at her, but was distracted by Hedwig. She flew toward the direction of the window—and straight through the wall. "It's an illusion, isn't it, Hermione?" Ron asked, turning back to her. "I just discovered. Hedwig flew through the wall. There must be a window there. It's just an illusion."

Hermione nodded. She had seen it too. "Quick," she told Ron. "Do all the de-hexing spells that you know. Then we can get out of here and go to Harry."

Ron fumbled with his wand and did all the de-hexing and de-warding spells he knew—which were very few—and then mounted the broomstick and let Hermione hold on to his waist. They flew through the wall and out into the open sky. Ron and Hermione rode through the night in pursuit of Harry.

James waited for Remus and Sirius to answer. "Isn't he?" James repeated. "Isn't Harry my son?" He saw Remus and Sirius exchange glances. "Well?" he asked impatiently.

"I suppose it won't hurt to tell you the truth," Remus said, letting out a deep breath. "He is. And Lily's his mother."

James nodded. "I thought so. How are we going to get to them?"

"Did you identify the place they were in?" Sirius asked.

"No…well, I first suspected Malfoy Manor. I think that's where they are," James answered. "We could pretend to send a letter to Malfoy and then follow the owl and get to them."

Sirius looked uneasy. "It's not that simple, James," he told him. "Malfoy Manor is guarded. By hexes, and spells, and all sorts of things…"

"I have a wand," James argued. "I could go myself. I'm dead anyway, aren't I? So it wouldn't hurt to go."

"I guess…" Remus said hesitantly. "I don't know," he said briefly. "It's dangerous, and it'd change the past if you died or got seriously injured. I say we send a letter to Dumbledore. I don't think you should go. Harry is smart, and Lily is smart. They could get out themselves."

James had felt a little angry at Remus, but something told him Remus was right. "Yeah," he sighed. "You're right."

"No, he's not," Sirius interrupted. "Remus, I didn't tell you the story yet, but Harry isn't safe outside of his home. Lily's in danger and Harry especially is. We can't leave him in Malfoy Manor!"

"Okay," Remus responded, looking alarmed. "We'll go find Harry and Lily. We'll use James's plan."

James smiled. "All right. The Marauders return. Oh, and where's Peter, by the way? The Marauders wouldn't be complete without him."

Sirius's and Remus's eyes widened. "He's…not here," Remus stammered. "He's not here."

"Where is he then?" James looked suspicious.

"We don't know," Sirius said. "We haven't contacted him for a while."

James shrugged. He didn't have time to worry about Peter right now. He had to get to Lily and Harry.

"James, you and I will go. Remus will stay in the house in case any messages come or anything," said Sirius.

"Right," he agreed.

A few minutes later, James and Sirius were on broomsticks, riding, like Ron and Hermione, in the dark night sky.

Lily slapped at Malfoy's hand as he dragged her away. "Let go of me, you brat," she snapped. Malfoy smirked and gripped her arm tighter, taking her farther and farther away from Harry. "Let GO!" she yelled, and, with a great effort, pulled her arm out of his grasp. She snatched her wand out of his hand and ran toward Harry's direction as fast as she could. She could hear the Malfoy boy coming after her. "Stupefy!" she cried wildly, pointing her wand behind her. She heard someone fall, but didn't dare to look back. Finally reaching Harry (and the Muggles, who seemed to have turned into stone,) she pointed her wand at him, and said, "Ennervate." His eyes fluttered open and he sat up upon seeing her.

"Lily! You're here. Thank God." He raised himself shakily. "I thought Malfoy had gotten you."

"No, I Stunned him," Lily told him. "Come on, we have to get out of here. Come on," she said to the Dursleys. "There's a door at the end of the hallway."

They walked down the long passageway, leaving Malfoy's body on the floor, until they finally reached the door. It wasn't locked and they went through it to find a set of winding stairs. After that there were two wings: left and right. They took the right and opened the door to the first room. It was filled with satin furniture. The bed sheets were mussed, as if someone had been sleeping there. Harry looked around strangely. "Maybe Hermione was here," he thought out loud. There was a window across the room. Moonlight was coming through it.

Lily looked out the window. "Wait—what's that?" She pointed to a black figure coming closer and closer. It looked like a broomstick with someone on it. She stepped away from the window as someone flew into the room. "James!" she exclaimed.

Harry stepped forward out of the shadows, astonished. "James?" he echoed.

James Potter bowed. "At your service." Lily smiled. Another figure was coming in behind James. It was Sirius.

"Well, Sirius, how nice to see you," said Lily. "On another Marauder adventure? I know what you do when you and the rest of the boy's dormitory disappear each night." She winked. Harry's eyes widened.

"Sirius!" He ran forward to hug his godfather. Sirius hugged him back and laughed.

"I should have known I would find you here," Sirius remarked. "Just the sort of thing you would do—or, rather, James would do. Get out of prison and go for the luxury."

Harry laughed abruptly. "Have you seen Hermione when you were flying around out there?" He watched as a small owl flew down on Sirius's shoulder.

Sirius shook his head. "She's here?" he asked. Harry nodded.

"She was used as bait for me," he told him in a low voice. "That's why I'm here."

Sirius looked worried. "We have to find her then," he said.

"Yeah. Can I ride with you?" Harry already seemed to have a plan in mind. "We'll all fly on the broomsticks around the Manor and look through the windows."

They did not, however, need to do that. At that very moment, Ron and Hermione rode in through the window.

"Ron," Hermione whispered in his ear. She felt unsafe riding around in the sky, open and exposed. "Ron, I think we should go back."

"Go back?" he whispered back. "Are you crazy?"

"I'd feel safer there, crazy as it sounds," she told him. "We just don't have any clue where we're going. We can't get in through the bottom of the Manor. The only way we can get through is through that window."

Ron knew Hermione was usually right. "Are you sure about this?" he asked.

"Yeah," she whispered.

Ron flew back to the window and into the room. Some people were in there. He was just about to turn around and fly away as fast as he could, but someone called him.

"Ron!" Harry called.

Ron landed and went over to Harry. He recognized Sirius and the Dursleys in the background, but two other people were there too. Hermione stood next to the window. The moonlight illuminated her face.

"Well, isn't this one big happy family," Ron commented. "Sirius? How did you get here?"

"Same way you apparently did," Sirius answered. "Broomstick."

"There are three broomsticks here," Hermione told him. "Someone else rode with you."

"I did," James answered. He faced Hermione. Her eyes widened, and grew bigger as she looked at Lily.

"My parents," Harry introduced..

Hermione stared at him, then turned back to James and Lily. "Nice to meet you guys."

"I'm James," said James, introducing himself.

"I'm Lily," the red-haired girl said, following suit.

Hermione smiled. "Let's go."

Harry walked to the wall where the door had been and, using Lily's wand, whispered "Alohomora." It swung open, leaving the open passageway for the travelers to use. The Potters, the Dursleys, Ron, Hermione, and Sirius all walked down the hallway, silent and thoughtful. What was to come, none knew; but it was an encounter none of them would ever forget.