Disclaimer: The same disclaimer goes as the first 5 chapters in Runaway. I will be re-editing the chapters at the end of the story. I'll probably add in a good amount of text into the chapters, and taking some of the "Muggle World" scenes out. Don't complain until then. Think of this as the beta version. E-mail me at Runxaway@yahoo.com :) I've got a terrible writer's block.
Special thanks: My beta readers, Dawn and Grace. Plus Hannah who kept encouraging me to write!
**
Hermione sat up in bed; her heart was pounding. Slowly, her pulse rate steaded itself as her eyes contrasted to the dark interior of Harry's apartment. His face was illuminated by the moonlight, and she stared curiously at Harry. Indeed he was the handsome, well-admired wizard who had defeated Lord Voldemort several times, but to Hermione, Harry was just the average wizard that she had met during her years at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
A soft cry in the room indicated that Monique was hungry for her mid-night snack, either that or -- Hermione wrinkled her nose as she stretched and headed for Monique's cradle. It was about one o'clock in the morning, and the haze of sleepiness still hung in the air. "Shh.. Don't wake Daddy." Hermione cradled Monique in her arms. She nuzzled the baby and wrinkled her nose in disgust. "Come on. You need a bath." Heading quietly towards the bathroom, as not to disturb Harry, she wrapped the diaper and threw it in the disposal. Taking out a baby wipe - and a deep breath of air, she took care of her daughter, hushing her gently.
A shadow flashed in the room as lightning rumbled . In that one instant, Hermione and Monique were gone, and an eerie light flashed in the distance as the encroaching storm approached the confines of Harry Potter's apartment.
**
"Mornin' mum," Fred Weasley commented as he sat down at the breakfast table. Mrs. Weasley turned around. Her hair was tucked back into a bun, and she gave them a questioning stare. "Pancakes are-" Fred finished chewing and swallowing. "Delicious!"
"Guess what, mum?" George lept down the stairs. "We've got a job." His right hand grabbed the wooden pole at the bottom of the staircase, and he swung himself around with the agility and grace of a first-class beater.
"What," Mrs. Weasley spluttered. "Oh. What is it that you do now? Play pranks on the poor store customer?" Mrs. Weasley fidgeted with her apron. She could imagine all the law-suits and suing that would come from Fred and George's pranks. It had already happened ten times, and the Weasleys had only managed to sneak out of the previous one with an excuse the Fred and George were mentally impaired. She barely could contain her laughter.
The two twins were sitting side-by-side and eating their pancakes before they set to work - 'Where in god's sake could they have gotten a job,' Mrs Weasley thought to herself.
"Zonko's.. That joke shop in Hogsmdeade." Fred elbowed George. "Jolly good fun there, eh? I can remember that time when-" Mrs. Weasley stopped paying attention to her sons' mindless chit-chat. Of her seven children, one had become Minister of Magic. Percy was still working for the Ministry. Ginny was a respected writer, and Charlie was still over in Romania. Bill was.. wherever Bill is at the moment. Of all the professions! Professional comedians?!
"Good morning, mum." Ginny walked down the staircase holding a yellow piece of rolled parchment in her hands. It looked crisp, and the wax seal was still in-tact . It was obvious that Ginny had decided whether or not to open it. She finally over-came her desparation to leave the letter closed. She tore the letter open - breaking the wax seal that read the letters 'HG'.
**
Harry Potter burst into The Agency's doors. "Get me B," he commanded as he marched past a dazed Teresa Potter. She glanced after him for a milisecond, and then rushed after him. "Malfoy. Douglas! Staff meeting!"
"Harry, is there something wrong?" Teresa brushed past several officers who were checking attendence in the different Agency sectors. "Of course! It's Hermione! What have you done, Harry?" Teresa stopped dead in her path. "Harry," she whispered, as she let a sole tear drip down her cheek. She stamped her right foot, angered at her display of affection for a worker, and walked stoutly towards the women's restroom. After all, The Agency had cameras all over, and they could zoom in to see if there were any beauty marks on your face.
Harry Potter blazed into the staff meeting room 25-B and slammed the door shut. Douglas, Malfoy, and B were already seated. B was drinking her coffee and gazing at her watch - her eye brows furrowed in question, as she cursed Harry for calling an immediate staff meeting and being late himself. Douglas and Draco were playing a game of poker with the deck of cards that Douglas had kept in his pocket in times like these. "Alright. Here's the news. Hermione, my fiancee and convict, is missing! What the hell should I do?"
Harry felt his body temperature raise several degrees. The room seemed like all hell had released. 'Dizziness. No air.' Harry crumpled to his knees in tears. "God. Where could she have gone?"
Draco snickered but had the decency to cover his mouth with his left hand - a Death Eater's mark burned into his upper-muscle, which was showing since he had removed his robes as soon as he entered The Agency. His robes were hung in the "Employee Cloak and Robe Room" or ECRR. The searing memory of his past hung in his mind.
It was at that moment that his Dark Mark began to sear with pain ; a message that someone had taken over the Death Eaters. It would be moments before he was forced to apparate - even out of the confines of a high-security place such as the Agency. Voldemort had seen to that. "Excuse me one moment," Draco dashed out of the room and across the hallway into the men's restroom. B looked up from Harry, who was clutching his scar, to see Draco exit the room abruptly. Following quickly, she had found that he had disappeared into thin air.
Sighing with disappointment in her agents, she returned to Douglas who confirmed that it was a simple over-heating on Harry's part. "Relax," Douglas said. "Hey. This sure reminds me of the time in India where you collasped over because we'd walked two days - practically non-stop except for in the night-time. We both collasped and rolled our way down the dune-" B cleared her throat and raised her eyebrows. "You'll be bloody fine, Harry. You just wait."
**
Outside the Death Eater confines, Draco Malfoy glanced around. There was a small congregation of Death Eaters in the middle of the room. A figure, clothed in scarlet robes, stood in the middle of the other-wise bleak room. "Draco!" A stern call of disapproval came from his father, Lucius Malfoy, who was still in the service of the Death Eaters. "Where in God's sake is your robe," Lucius hissed as he ushered his son, who was now several inches taller than his father, into the Death Eater chambers. "Are you looking to insult our new master? Remember, first impressions last. I have heard that it is a woman who is our new Lady."
"Father, I came directly from work. I had no moments to grab my wand before the disapparating charm came upon affect." Lucius shook his head disapprovingly, feinting a move towards the extra robes and whipping around, he delived a slap on his son's cheek. With his free hand, Lucius grabbed the extra robe and threw it ontop of his son's head before he stormed out.
"Bastard," Draco gritted as he felt blood rush to his cheeks. He threw on the robe and went to join the Death Eaters.
The cries deafened as the Death Eaters supported their new leader. "My fellow Death Eaters, while the time to reveal myself is not yet at hand," Draco felt a sting of disappointment. This was the first Death Eater gathering that he had witnessed in a long time. Perhaps before Potter had defeated the Dark Lord ; vaguely, Draco pondered whether or not Harry was alright after his collaspe.
"We shall bring forth a new nation! It shall be ruled by us, the Death Eaters of Lord Voldemort!" The feminine voice proclaimed her principles. It was like a re-initiation for the Death Eaters since they had not gathered in a long time. "The White Side shall see no more than the black cloak of the Death Eaters fall upon them!" Draco noticed, out of the corner of his eye, that his father was glancing at him. Applying an approving smirk, Draco applauded - much despite the thought that hung in the back of his mind.
**
Hermione Granger shuddered, and a strain was put on her shoulders. Her hands were tied above her head and chained to the wall. The cell was dimmly lit, and her eyes squinted . As she struggled against whatever held her hands above her head, she could feel the material cutting into her wrists. The small stream of blood trickled down her arms- mixing with her hair.
"Damn," Hermione cursed. Monique was no where to be seen. For all she knew, it could be days until The Agency or the Ministry of Magic would find out about where the Death Eaters were. By then, Hermione was assured, the Death Eaters would have already moved on to a new location, having no way for Hermione to leave Harry a clue - a sign. Any sign at all.
A click of the lock, and a young girl stepped into the cell carrying a plate of food. The girl's face was very pale, and her arms were like twigs. Her fair blond hair was pulled back into a neat ponytail, and her blue eyes were sad. "I'm Elizabeth. I'll be the one bringing you your meals."
She was wearing a shabby apron with a white dress shirt that was brown with stains. Her skirt was of a black cotton material, and she looked like a Cinderella-type slave for the Death Eater society. A tattoo of the Dark Mark could be seen through a hole in her left sleeve. Taking a spoon out of her pocket, she began to feed Hermione.
Elizabeth was careful not to get any onto Hermione. "How'd you get mixed up with the likes of them?" Hermione asked as soon as she finished swallowing a piece of what tasted like corn. The spoon, having come from her pocket, didn't seem properly washed, but Hermione didn't care. She was too hungry to care about sanitation. The girl looked around and sighed.
"I don't quite know," she lowered the spoon towards Hermione again.
"Come now. What harm can I do? I'm a lowly prisoner in a cell," Elizabeth chuckled at this notion. Her chuckling caused her arm to move, which spilled some of the corn onto Hermione's robes. With a gasp, Elizabeth hurridly wiped the corn from Hermione's robes and glanced around.
"I'm so sorry," Elizabeth gasped.
"It's alright. No harm done," Hermione explained. There was silence. Hermione realized that Elizabeth might be the only person that Hermione would see for several days. 'Don't forget your faith in Harry,' she reminded herself. Her conscience, however, thought otherwise. 'It can be weeks or months before the Agency finds out where you are.' Hermione frowned - bewildered as to why her conscience betrayed her real thoughts. Sighing, she watched Elizabeth walk away from her cell.
**
Night had fallen and the darkness of the Hospital Wing at The Agency was unbearable. Without the soft exhales of his fiancee, his mind played tricks on him. In his unconfortable bed, Harry rolled over and sighed. "Where could she be," he moaned, gripping the pillow as his scar seared again. He closed his eyes and dreamt back to a time in their seventh year at Hogwarts.
" Are you sure you want to do this Hermione?" He'd asked her - that fateful night.
" Of course," Hermione had replied. "I love you, Harry."
The pain was unbearable. The " Boy Who Lived " was weakened by the fact that he was missing one of his inner selves. Part of him, who had only joined in the first year of Hogwarts, and who had left him part-way through his seventh. A tear streamed down his cheek, as he clutched his stomach when a wave of sickness overcame him.
"Love's for sissies," Percy had complained one day when Harry was staying over at the Burrow during Summer vacation. He had just broken up with Penelope Clearwater, his ex-girlfriend. "Harry, mark my words. You don't want to get involved with the likes of them."
"Hrmph. If you don't mind me commenting Harry, it's the men who are the ones not to get involved with." Ginny Weasley snagged the bowl of sugar. It was Harry, Percy, and Ginny at the Weasley family kitchen table. "Who else do you know who would dump a girl because he's got more important things in life?" Percy blushed angrily.
"Well, Ginny! I don't see you coming with any love in your life," Percy replied with a hint of sarcasm. "Perhaps you warded them all away with one of those absurd charms of yours."
"That's absurd, Percy. You know as well as I do that I've--" She stopped in midsentence and blushed deeply as she adverted her eyes to the ground. She was in her fifth year at Hogwarts.
Harry Potter glanced between the two - eager for the fighting to stop. He sensed an aura of awkwardness and put his right elbow on the kitchen table. He felt Ginny's gaze out of the corner of his eye. Just thinking of her made his heart swell.
Confusion swept over Harry's mind like a waterfall, and he couldn't deciepher between the two. On one hand sat Ginny Weasley, the well-respected journalist ; however, there was Hermione Granger, the girl he'd purposed to and convict at large. Harry rolled over again, and scrunched his eyes closed. 'Too much to decide tonight,' he murmered, finally agreeing with himself on something.
**
Ronald Weasley was reading the latest issue of the Daily Prophet when Glenda came bursting in with the news of Hermione Granger's escape or possibly kidnapping. After dropping a sealed envelope that was marked 'confidential - for the eyes of Ronald Weasley alone.' The bottom right-hand corner was signed by B, whose signature was so utterly disturbing that the reader could only make out the 'B' in the signature.
Silence. He broke the seal and read the contents of the letter.
Minister Weasley,
This is for your eyes only. Following is several reports that we've been monitoring. One concerns your close friend, Harold James Potter. The other concerns the convict, Hermione Granger. Take your time to read this, Minister, and then report back to me at once. In the morning, I will send my owl for the response. She knows the Agency's policies on inter-government owling well.
- B ... something
Transcript : Meeting Room 25B
The Agency - Agent Harold James Potter reportedly collasped during a staff meeting. Draco Malfoy, Agent Jeffrey Douglas, and B. Draco Malfoy reportedly slipped away. Staff records show that Teresa Potter also disappeared prior to Agent Potter's incident. Agent Potter complained of his scar hurting, but it also may have been a nervous breakdown concerning Hermione Granger (convict - 044292).
Transcript : Investigation
The Agency - Hermione Granger ( convict - 044292 ) is found missing with her daughter, Monique Granger. No evidence to suggest a kidnapping, and it seems that Granger is either being held captive, committed suicide - no body found , or is in hiding ( see : Project Runaway - Case file 02442102 ). The Agency is now looking through where Convict Granger could be hiding, or perhaps, the body is lain. Agent Jeffrey concludes that there was a murder, but no evidence to base substancary claim on . It is based on Agent Jeffrey's own personal opinion.
Ronald Weasley re-read these disturbing letters over and over again. He wasn't sure what to make of them. Seconds, minutes, and hours flew by and still there wasn't a trace of light through the transcripts sent directly from the Agency. The hallway lights went out with a zap, and Ron was reading through the darkening sky. "Damn," Ron finally uttered before he read the transcripts a final time.
As soon as he completed reading the transcripts, he took out an official Ministry of Magic stationary - complete with envelope and seal, and he began to write his reponse to B's questioning as what to do further along the lines of both scenarios.
**
Next: Harry's confused at this point. Not sure whether or not to decide between Ginny Weasley or Hermione Granger. More insight on who might be leading the Death Eaters. Hermione learns about Elizabeth's tragic past. A Weasley spills his feelings for Hermione Granger in a diary entry ... that falls into the wrong hands.
Note: Please review. I'm not so sure I'll be ending at ten, and maybe there are several others who are happier that there is a longer series at hand. However, I'll be going back over the previous chapters as soon as I get the story done.
