Chapter 10

Disclaimer: Hi, my name is Evyfleur, and I have a problem. I don't own the rights to Harry Potter, they belong to J.K. Rowling, but I'm a little bit homicidal, and, um, WARNER BROTHERS MUST DIE!!!! …Ahem. That's why I'm at group now. They said this would help, but you guys understand, right? I'm not insane, am I? *Silence* "Fine. Don't believe me."

Author's Note: Hi everyone, I'm finally back! I'm sorry for the terrible delay, but I was away in the Smoky Mountains, camping for a week. I felt really disconnected, but I'm back now! Yay! I'm happy for the reviews I got from you, they were very nice, and very…well, how do you say it? Expectant! So here's the long-awaited chapter for you. Say, do you think I'll have to change the name of my story after this??? *grins evilly*

Hermione Weasley: Nooo!!! Don't get ill! You're one of my best reviewers, you can't! Here's the next chapter, I'm sorry I kept you waiting so long! How do you think I write for Harry? Is he good, bad, shall I make adjustments? As always, thanks for reviewing!!! By the way, I hope you like the last few paragraphs.

Devonny Stratton: Hehe! Yay, I have a fellow supporter. Here's to end your suspense finally, I don't how much you'll like this chapter, but here you go, I think you'll like the last bit, I had fun writing it. Thanks for the review!

Hox: Hahaha! I'm so glad you like my story, here's another chapter for you to read, have lots of fun! Constructive criticism is allowed! Thanks for the awesome reviews.

Marron: Yay! I'm happy you liked it! Hopefully this chapter will be just as good. Thanks for the review!

In His Room

A solemn, burgundy curtain is lifted, to show the three friends, and an agitated Professor, having a conversation about the recent events which took place in Malfoy Manor…

"So what did Voldemort do after he left the room?" Ron asked.

"I don't know," said Draco shortly, taking a sip of his tea.

"But that could mean he…"Hermione trailed off, her eyes now showing worry.

"Which means that we have to get Harry right away and get him out of there. He's not going to-"Ron said, but was interrupted by Draco.

"You're right. He wouldn't dare leave Harry there after the charm was lifted. It would be his downfall."

"But, Ron, your -"

"I don't care about my bloody head! I'd rather me unconscious for a while with Harry alive, by my side, than a clear mind and Harry dead! We have to get him! Now." He set his tea down, and got up determinedly. Clutching his head, he swayed once again, but quickly regained his balance. He made his way slowly over to the fireplace, his necklace a bright orange, which seemed to match his hair.

"Professor, do you have any Floo Powder?"

Snape looked taken aback at the way Ron had asked him the question. "I do, Mr. Weasley," he responded, as though he was really saying, 'Yes, but if you talk to me like that again you won't be using any of it!'. Ron got a more innocent expression on his face and said, "Professor, sir, would you mind if e borrowed just enough to get to Harry's house?"

Snape left the room, grumbling, and returned, carrying a small black bag. Ron took it eagerly, and threw a fistful into the fire. Giving the bag to Hermione, he stepped into the emerald flames, and yelled, "Potter's House!" He disappeared.

Once all three of them had arrived, they rushed upstairs and into Harry's room. Harry looked up at them sadly. They smiled at him. He looked confused.

"D'you really think we'd just let you go missing, old chap?" Ron said, grinning ear to ear. "Hey Harry," Hermione added.

He looked at them as if it were a dream come true. "YOU FOUND ME!" he yelled, running to them. He hugged Hermione first, and gave her a big kiss on the cheek as though she was his sister. Then he and Ron hugged, like brothers, who hadn't seen each other in a long while. Hermione gave Ron a smile and a wink, and for a moment, that darkness, ever present in his eyes, vanished, and he winked back at her. They broke apart, and Harry looked at Draco curiously.

"Why are you here? I thought you, did you…" Harry, stuttered, talking to Draco. He nodded, and held out his hand for Harry to shake in friendship. Harry laughed and hugged him, too. Draco hugged him back, looking as though he hadn't expected to hug his former worst enemy in a thousand years. "It's good of you to come back," Harry said, pulling away, patting Draco on the back.

"How though? I thought you were so deeply in," he asked, and all three of them shared smiles. Draco started to speak, but a voice from outside said "Alohomora!" and they heard the front door click open.

"Quick," said Ron, "to the fireplace!" The fireplace upstairs was much smaller, but they decided to take the risk. Hermione started a fire; Draco threw in the Floo Powder, stepped in, and yelled "Snape's house!" Second went Harry. Third was Ron, and Hermione saw a glimpse of a cloak before she practically jumped into the fireplace and yelled the destination at the top of her lungs.

She landed roughly, on her hands and knees, coughing and sputtering. "Are you alright?" Ron asked helping her up, concern written all over his black charcoaled face. She noticed a trickle of blood had run down from the bandage, and a nasty purple bruise was forming around it. "Yeah," she choked out.

Draco now had black hair, Harry was trying to fix his glasses, and Ron was looking expectantly at her with blue eyes, under a layer of soot. "I'm fine," she repeated, a little more focused now.

They sat down to take tea, and started asking Harry questions.

"Wait a second," Harry said, "first I want to know where Ginny is, and if she's alright."

The three of them looked at their feet.

"Where's Ginny?" He asked, more angrily.

"Harry, she's missing too." Hermione tried to make it sound soft, but it still caused her stomach to drop as she said it. Harry looked at her in disbelief.

"What? No, she couldn't, they…how?" He fell weakly into a chair.

"We don't really know," Draco said.

"The damn Ministry took us off the case. We were working on both." Ron exclaimed, clearly just as angry as Harry was.

"Who is on it, then?"

"They didn't tell us," Hermione said quietly, "please, Harry, if you know anything, please…"

"I guess I should explain," Harry said, taking a deep breath. "I'll start from the beginning. I should have told you this much earlier, Ron, but Gin and I have become close. Very close. We used to talk through the fireplace every day," he said, with a small smile. Ron seemed to be trying to clamp his mouth shut, he probably wanted to lecture Harry on being good to his little sister, and taking care of her, but it was obvious that neither of them had stopped the inevitable. Ginny still got kidnapped.

I had just completed my Auror training at my Master's house, and I came home to get my belongings. The Ministry had told me to find any Death Eaters I could, and bring them back alive, so they could be questioned and put in Azkaban. I was talking to Gin that day, about everything they had told me to do, and I heard my door open. I turned around, and Voldemort was there with two of his followers. I tried to fight, but they stunned me. Ginny saw everything. But I guess that one of them saw her, too."

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Harry awoke to see darkness swimming above him. It took him about six seconds to realize they were cloak hoods. Immediately, he jumped up and tried to run away, but they caught him by the arm, and pushed him back down.

"Where's the girl?" One of the men asked.

"What girl?" Harry replied.

"Don't play stupid with us, boy, we know you were talking to a girl in the fireplace. Who is she?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Well, under the Dark Lord's plan, you'll know exactly what we're talking about."

"What?"

They explained the idea of the charm to him, jeering at him, and threatening him.

"So, tell us who she is, and where she is, or you'll get it."

"I'll die before I tell you anything."

"Aww, what a hero. Suit yourself."

"Well, maybe I could tell you something. Can, can I make you some tea?"

They looked at him as though he were insane. He just denied that he would ever say anything, and now he was offering them tea.

"What's the catch? You don't have a back door."

"I know that. There isn't any catch. I just need some tea, and I'll tell you about her."

"Fine, but if you try anything, anything at all, we'll turn you into Hippogriff dung. Understood?"

"Wonderfully. Clear as glass. Perfectly," he said, slipping into the kitchen, and picking up a scrap of paper. Now where was a quill? Ah, there. He put on the tea water, and got out mugs. Then, quickly, he wrote the word FIDELIUS on the scrap, and tore it into each letter. That way, they wouldn't get too suspicious. Purposely, he dropped one of the mugs on the floor, creating a loud shattering noise, along with one of the letters. Immediately, the two, rather stupid Death Eaters appeared in the doorway.

"My mistake," he said, and ran through the other doorway, where he dropped another letter.  They chased him all over the house, and finally, they cornered him in the last room of the house, and he had already dropped his last letter there.  One of the men came over to him, a deep scowl on his face, and suddenly, everything went black for Harry Potter.

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"I don't remember anything after that, until I woke up again, alone in my bedroom. It had been a couple of months by myself, with owls from Voldemort, delivering food and drink and hardly enough at that. I felt like I was going to die. It was terrible. Then, all of the sudden, one day, you three showed up, walked right into my room, and started searching it. I was so happy that day; I just sat there, on my bed, and listened to your conversation. And when you found the clue, I finally felt some hope in me. I wondered why you were there, though, Malfoy. I mean, Draco, of course."

He smiled at them. It didn't last for long, though, and soon, all four were frowning deeply again. Each face was more sad, and desperate than the next.

"Well, we know what we have to do now," Draco said, breaking the silence. They nodded in agreement. "We have to go to Dumbledore. We'll tell him everything. Everybody can give his, or her," he added hastily, with a glance at Hermione, "point of view on what happened."

"Great idea," Ron said, moving his head very little, "And Harry, Sirius might be there, too. He could help, he's had experience, with this kind of thing, right?" His eyes shined with anticipation.

Harry grinned a little, making them all feel better about the situation. Well, I have to admit, Hermione thought, finding Harry didn't solve all our problems. But that was more than half of it, and as soon as we find Ginny, everything will be back to the way it was before any of this started.

One thing kept pulling at her mind, though. Do I want everything to be the way it was before this started?

"What'd you say?" Ron asked, looking at her. They looked at him as though he was a bit mad.

"I-I didn't say anything," Hermione said, looking at him. Did I say that out loud?

"Oh, I'm sorry. I just thought I heard you say something. I must be tired." He smiled wearily at her. Hermione blinked, thinking.

After deciding to take the Hogwarts Express (which was much more relaxing than Apparating or Floo Powder), Hermione insisted upon all of them, that they get to bed. Reluctantly, they all trudged up the stairs, she behind them. She didn't go to bed, though. Thinking about earlier, Hermione grabbed a washcloth and bowl from her room, filled the bowl with warm water in the bathroom, and walked down the hall to Ron's bedroom.

"Knock, knock," she said softy.

"Who's there?" Ron said, tensely.

Hermione laughed at his response.

"Oh, come on in, 'Mione," he said, opening the door. He had no shirt on. Hermione looked down into her bowl of water, blushing furiously.

"What were you laughing about?"

"Oh," she said, working up enough confidence to look completely nonplussed about his appearance as she looked up, "it's just these muggle jokes, and they all start with Knock, knock, and the person responds, saying who's there? They're very silly jokes, but funny."

Ron gave her a blank stare, and sat down on his bed. "Hmm," Hermione sighed, " Never mind. Turn your head, I want to look at that cut of yours," she continued, pulling up a chair, and turning his chin gently away from her. She carefully unwrapped the bandage, which was soaked with blood, but had dried now.

To say it was a cut was very understated. It was more like a gash, a dent, horrifyingly serious-looking, but thanks to Professor Snape, not so dangerous anymore. Still a little bloody, and that bruise would be there for days, but right now it just needed to be cleaned up.

"Well, this looks like it's doing very well! You'll be back to normal in no time!"

Ron looked at her cynically, as she wet the washcloth. "You don't have to pretend, 'Mione. I looked in the mirror just a few minutes ago."

"Oh, well. It's…" she shut her mouth and bit her lip, turning his head away from her again. Lightly, she pressed the cloth to his head, and he winced and gave a loud, 'Ow!' He looked betrayedly at her, and she smiled. "Ron, don't wake up everyone in the house. It's going to hurt, but you'll just have to deal with it." He screwed up his face bravely, as Hermione cleaned it out, and they talked back and forth a bit.

It was a bit past dawn, when she finally finished, and wrapped a clean bandage round his head. Kissing the place where the wound was, she said, "feel better. It's been a long and heavy day for all of us, try to get some rest." Ron smiled at her, and his ears turned red. He snuggled down in the covers, and Hermione closed the curtains, so that the light wouldn't get in. As she left, she closed the doors. Behind the door came a muffled, "Thanks, 'Mione. Good night."

"Good night, Ron." She called back, and smiled as she walked back to her room, that pink necklace of hers growing a little more red.

~Evyfleur