Chapter 14
Author's Note: This chapter is dedicated to Chewy and Han Solo, the two greatest partners and gamblers in the universe. By the way, let the wookie win. Oh, and of course, it has to also be dedicated to Hermione Weasley, Bumpersticker86, and my buddies Brian and Jeremy. Sorry this took me so long, that fierce wild beast called school has been attacking me, and all I'm left with for a weapon is a pen and scrap of paper. But as Shakespeare said, "The pen is mightier than the sword." Actually, either would be fine for my preferences.
Hermione Weasley- Thank you for the reviews, bestest buddy! Yes, I am, in fact, updating my story like you asked. I love Draco, isn't he the cuddliest little guy? Well, perhaps not so…cuddly, but, you know what I mean. Yes, the Ron and Arthur face is awesome, Arthur is one of my favorite characters; he has to be. Well, actually, all of the Weasleys are my favorite in one way or another. Now, about Ginny: I do, in fact have a location as you will see here, and I hope you like it. Another thing, I FOUND A SONG!!! YAY!!! But you will just have to wait to see what it is, thank you very much. Have fun reading!
CurlsofGold- Yes, I must admit, I like to keep my readers in suspense. That way they continue to read! Well, thank you for the review, and please keep reviewing, I love to hear from you!
Anyana- It's great to hear from you again! I was hoping you'd like this chapter. I think Ginny is very cute, don't you? I just can't stand the thought of she and Harry not ending up together, it would be a tragedy. Please, keep reading and reviewing, here's MORE!
Allie- Thanks for the review! I'm glad you like my story! Here's to save you from that cliffhanger. Please, continue to review!
bumpersticker86- I'm so happy that you enjoy my story! It's great to have such an awesome reviewer! Here's the next chapter, and I hope you like it! Please, add any constructive criticism you'd like to, I enjoy hearing ways I can improve my writing. Thanks!
Disclaimer: *Tech member enters from stage right and hands Evyfleur (who is only holding a pen) a long, sharp sword, winks at the audience, and exits stage left.* Alright Warner Bros., I've had enough of you. Leave the Theater right now, or I will be forced to become violent. Whoever agrees with me gets a sword, too! *half of the audience cheers* Quiet! *they stop cheering* I offer this bit of text to the Great J.K.Rowling, who wrote Harry Potter 1-4, and hopefully, is working hard on number five.
The Trials of Attraction
The curtain is pulled away quickly, to stop any unnecessary suspense, and the audience is faced with a tense room, where Harry, Draco, Hermione, and Ron wait for a response from Ginny.
The silence of awaiting Ginny's reply was thick with anxiety. Harry sat at her desk, looking at the blank parchment, nervously running his fingers through his untidy hair. Draco stepped over to the window, pulled back the curtains, and leaned on the sill with one hand. He stared out at the lawn intently, but that obviously wasn't the subject on his mind, unless he was still regretting how he used to mock the near poverty of the Weasleys. Ron sat at the end of Ginny's bed with his hands on his knees. He looked like he was gnawing on his lip. His brow was wrinkled in worry and concentration. Hermione sighed, looking at them. She glanced at the bookcase, and pulled out a volume on beauty charms. She skimmed through it, but only read the sections that could interest her enough…that was, hardly any.
Suddenly, the door flew open, and Percy looked around at the company excitedly.
"Hello! It's-"
"Shhhh!"
They all chided him to be quiet, and he promptly shut his mouth, turned a light shade of violet, and raised his eyebrows in question. Ron got up, an expression of annoyance with his older brother on his face, hmm, the Percy Weasley face, Hermione thought. Ron dragged Percy out of the room, and the door slammed behind them. All three in the room winced. Harry looked at Hermione and smiled slightly. Ah, yes, he remembers it, too. Hermione smiled back.
"What?" Draco said, looking from one to the other.
"Nothing," they said, Harry turning back to the parchment, Hermione to her book. Draco shook his head and looked out the window again. Five minutes later, after a few angry outbursts, Ron reentered the room, fixing his shirt collar and sitting down on the bed. Apparently, he had gotten Percy to leave.
"I wonder what's taking Ginny so long to respond," Hermione said.
"She might have a lot to say, or, well, who knows what could happen there," Ron replied, looking at Hermione with darkened blue eyes. Her eyes started to water and she turned back to her book once again.
"She's replied."
They all jumped at Harry's statement, and hurried over to see what she had written.
Well, it all began when I had finished talking to you and saw the Death Eaters take you away. I set up this paper; after my experience with Tom, and making them at work occasionally, it was easy to do such a thing. It was only in case of an emergency, though.
Ron leaned over and whispered in her ear, "Ginny used to also work for the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad when she had spare time." Hermione looked up at him. He was very close indeed, she realized, since they had all squeezed around to see what Ginny had said. She turned back to the paper, a blush tinting her cheeks. Draco looked up to see Ron.
"Really? I always thought she looked quite like a Weasley."
Anyway, I told Mum that I was going to see Ron, and then I left. You see, I wanted to tell Ron because he's your best friend, and he knows everything about you. If he didn't know what happened, I knew he would help anyway. Ron's always been like that. I miss him, Harry. I miss both of you.
Hermione reached back and gave Ron's hand a slight squeeze. He backed away a little. What's wrong with him? Hermione wondered frustratedly.
But on my way to see him, I had to walk through the forest; it's special Unspeakable requirements for security. We all know, though, that there's always a death eater infiltrated somewhere about the ministry. The Death Eaters were waiting for me when I got to the crossroads. I knew what was going to happen, so I put one of my papers into my cloak pocket and threw my cloak to the ground.
I tried to use my wand against them, but I was just no match. It was terrible, Harry. They were so powerful, so evil. Almost as bad as Dementors. After they captured me, all I can remember is darkness. And this little room, I have no idea where it is. I'm so sorry Harry.
Harry looked long and hard at the piece of paper sitting in front of him. That wasn't very helpful. They knew what had happened, and they knew that she was alright…presumably. But where she was, well, that was the mystery. Harry's right hand was poised over the paper. He narrowed his eyes. A drip of ebony ink dripped from the tip of his quill to the paper, and disappeared. Then he made up his mind, and wrote something out.
Do you remember what any of the death eaters looked like?
The page remained blank for a moment, and then:
Yes. One of them had a silver hand.
Was he the leader, Gin?
I think so, yes.
They all looked up in triumph. Wormtail was leading the death eaters to do the kidnapping of Ginny. That gave them a trail. If only they could get a bit more information…but there was more writing now.
Someone's coming, I can't talk anymore. Wait for me!
We will, Harry wrote back, hurriedly.
~~~~~*~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~*
An hour ticked by slowly, as they awaited the reply of dear Ginny. Ron looked up from his resumed position on the foot of the bed, fifteen minutes later, to ask if anyone was thirsty. Harry and Draco shook their heads sullenly. Hermione looked up hopefully.
"I'm a bit thirsty. Why don't I join you to get a drink in the kitchen?"
"That would be good," Ron replied, nodding at Hermione. As they got up and left, Harry and Draco couldn't help shooting each other a glance of covert knowledge about their two friends.
Ron and Hermione both let out a long breath when they had left Ginny's room. Then they both looked at each other, and Hermione smiled slightly. "There's a lot of pressure in there."
"I suppose so," Ron said, looking at the floor, suddenly quite interested in what appeared to be a piece of debris from a practical joke of Fred and George. But how did it get down here? Those twins, they're always up to something. Ron started to go downstairs, and Hermione followed, biting her lip at the discomfort of the situation.
They were about halfway down the stairs, when Ron suddenly stopped, and turned around to face her.
"'Mione, it can't, I mean, I don't want…Hermione, I need y-…"
Hermione looked at him expectantly. He looked at her with a lost face. He's never going to say it, is he? He can't. She threw her arms around Ron and started to sob. Ron hugged her back, and ran his hands through her hair a little bit, saying, "it's alright 'Mione, it's gonna be okay. We'll find her." But he had started to sound a little bit unsteady himself. They sat down, right there on the stairs, and continued to hug each other tightly, for fear that if they let one another go, they would be separated forever.
"Shh, it's alright 'Mione, it's alright. We're all here. The trio's back together again. Remember, remember in our third year, when Buckbeak was going to be executed, but even though we had all been in an argument, we got back together again to help each other out?" Hermione quieted at this statement.
"You mean," she said, "when you and I were arguing about Crookshanks and Scabbers, and you apologized and said you would help me with the case? I remember that." She hugged him tighter still.
"Yeah," Ron sighed, "I guess I shouldn't have stopped Crookshanks from trying to eat him after all. We might never be in this situation if that hadn't happened."
"Oh, Ron, you know that might not be true. He could have gotten any other person to be his helper in coming back to human form, Wormtail just happened to be the one who got to him first." Hermione finally pulled away from him, and Ron looked disturbed that she was no longer in his arms.
"What is it?" Hermione asked.
"Nothing," Ron lied, looking away, brow furrowed.
Hermione leaned toward him a little bit, hoping he knew what she meant. Ron looked up at her again, and their eyes caught. "Ron," Hermione said, "about that snowball fight…"
"Yes?" Ron said, whispering now, their faces inches apart.
"Did you mean to-"
"Mean to what?" Fred suddenly said.
"Did you kiss her, ickle Ronniekins?" George taunted.
You're getting pretty cozy on those stairs, I must say."
"They are, aren't they, Fred?"
"Yes, yes, oh, most definitely."
So that's what that was, Hermione thought, pulling out her wand and pointing it at the twins menacingly. "That was not funny. Go! Now, you two or I'll curse you until you're out of the joke business."
"Yeah," Ron said, taking his wand out, "I'd listen to her."
"Well, of course he would," George said, sauntering off with his brother.
"Those two are worse than Peeves," Ron said, putting his wand away again, and continuing down the stairs as though nothing had happened. Hermione nodded reluctantly, and they reached the kitchen without any further conversation.
"What would you like to drink?" Ron asked, once Hermione had taken a seat at the small kitchen table, where Mr. Weasley was still reading his paper.
"Erm, I think I'll have a cup of tea."
"One teaspoon of sugar with milk instead of cream?" Ron asked as he got two heavy, white mugs out of the kitchen cabinets.
"Yes, please. How did you know that?" Hermione replied. Mr. Weasley's newspaper rustled. They both looked at him. It stopped rustling.
"Oh, well, I guess is just kind of stuck in my brain after being in school together."
"Oh, alright. Would you like a snack?" Hermione said, getting up. She hated to be idle while others were doing something.
"Sure, I'll have a snack. But you aren't hungry."
"No. You are, though." Mr. Weasley's newspaper rustled a little more loudly this time.
They succeeded to prepare tea and snacks for each other while Mr. Weasley's paper shaked intermittently at the comments they made to themselves. Then they sat down and talked for a while about Ginny, and how they hoped they would find her soon. Ron stuffed his turkey sandwich into his mouth. A dab of mustard was still evident on his cheek.
Hermione rolled her eyes and picked up her napkin to wipe it off for him.
"Ron, learn to be neat when you eat your food," she said, leaning over and dabbing at his face.
"What?" He said through a mouthful of turkey. "I'm neat."
Hermione sighed in exasperation.
Mr. Weasley's head finally appeared from behind the paper, and innocent smile on his face. "Hermione, dear, would you mind making me a turkey sandwich?"
After both Weasleys had finished eating their meals, and Hermione had helped them clean themselves up, Mr. Weasley looked at Hermione very seriously.
"Hermione," he said, "I'd like to have a talk with you before you leave this house."
"Okay, Mr. Weasley."
"Fa-, erm, nevermind." He said, going back to reading.
Ron scowled at his father. "Come on, we'd better get back upstairs," he said. But before they could even get up, Draco slid into the room, his hair messed up and an excited expression on his face. "She's written again." He said, shortly. They all ran back upstairs to see what it was that Ginny had said.
~~~~~*~~~~~*~~~~~*~~~~~*~~~~~*~~~~~*~~~~~*~~~~~*~~~~~*~~~~*
Harry and Ginny had been writing back and forth for a few minutes now, so they only got to see the last few statements made.
That mean old man, jus came here and gave me my supper. He says were going to leave in a few days.
What do you mean, leaving? Where are you going?
I have no idea, Harry. He only said that we're leaving in two days, and that the old man's boss is nervous and angry. Harry, I'm so scared. I want to go home. I want to see Mom and Dad, and Ron.
You want to talk to Ron, Gin? He's right here.
Oh, yes, please! He's there?
Harry handed the quill to Ron who greeted the opportunity with great enthusiasm.
Hi Ginn! I'm so glad that you're safe. Don't worry too much. We're gonna come and get you, we promise. Hermione says hi, too.
Oh, Ron. I've missed you so much. When will you find me? I want to go home Ron, I don't want to be alone any longer.
We'll find you before you have to leave that place. Ginn, be the brave girl that I've always known, do you promise? We're going to come and get you soon, but you have to be strong and brave. Promise you can do that for me Ginn, okay?
I promise, Ron. I can't wait to see all of you. I'm tired now, I'm going to go to bed. I love you, Ron. Tell Mum, Dad, Hermione, and Harry that I love them too, okay?
Okay, I will. Be careful, Ginn.
I will. Good night.
Good night.
Ron looked up at them with a sad smile on his face.
"Let's go," said both Harry and Ron at the same time.
"Where?" Hermione said, wondering if they both knew where she was.
"To Wormtail's house. Who else would be nervous and angry, but a Death Eater? I think it has to do with the deaths of the three members."
"Yeah," Ron added to what Harry had just said, "Wormtail would be nervous about telling Voldemort that they were dead. He's angry because he had to spend all that time after he came back, gaining the trust of those three, and now they're dead. And he has to pay the consequences."
Draco looked convinced with this reason, even though it didn't really help him to have Lucius, Crabbe, and Goyle mentioned again, and Hermione thought that was logical enough for her. It would have been more believable if it perhaps was written in a book, but that would have to do for now.
After discussing the issue further, they hurried downstairs to talk to Arthur and Molly, and then to leave for Wormtail's house. As they left Ginny's room to venture downstairs, Ron gave Hermione a face of hope that she wished she could ensure.
~Evyfleur
