Disclaimer: what a change, Harry Potter and all the stuff is JK Rowling's!

LOOKING FOR HER

Bye bye love, bye bye happiness

Hello loneliness, I think I'm gonna cry

Bye bye love, bye bye sweet caress

Hello emptiness, I feel like I could die

                                                                                 Bye bye love, Everly Brothers

***************

Ron put down his cup and swallowed his coffee. It was about seven in the morning, and he was going to work, trying to seem as natural as possible, but actually he had a plan, or was trying to have one. He glanced at his watch, and in a matter of seconds he heard a 'pop' and Harry apparated in his kitchen.

"About time." Ron snorted.

"Hey, you said seven o clock, what's the time right now?" Harry spotted with an arched eyebrow.

"Ok, ok, sod off." He said, more serious. "Now, here's my idea. We can't directly access to Jeremy Raven, cause if his informers caught me, it would be a bloody mess."

"So what's your plan?"

"Yesterday, after you and Ginny went back home, I called my second Lex, pretending to know if he had success in his research since I came back home early in the morning, he was looking for names in any possible ways related to Jeremy Raven, and he found about a certain Kevin Lucas."

"Do you know this guy?"

Ron shook his head. "Nah, but now I know he's a sort of phantom help for the Ravens, his castle is in Ireland, not too far from Dublin, and he seems clean as a waterfall, although we all know he's a lucky and clever bastard."

Harry nodded. "I suppose we can't go there, knock on the door and ask him questions about his friends."

"Right. But we can do better than this. Our friend, here, likes very much getting drunk with the worst beer of the country."

"Which is Helga's". Harry said with a smirk. "We went there after a match, and spitted out all that horrible stuff."

"And now it's all up to you. You have to go there and get that Lucas boy. Make him talk, get him the most drunk you can, and listen to every single word he says."

"Not so difficoult for me." Harry shrugged. "But how can I recognize him?"

Ron frowned. "This is the hard part. He's tall, black, short hair, dark eyes."

"Is that all?"

"That's all, sorry."

Harry sighed. "Ok, I'll try and find him."

"Good. Now I've to go, I don't wanna waken suspects."

"Let's meet here at 18.00. and try your best to be punctual, please!"

Ron smirked. "Hey, it's you the poor bloke who has to go to Dublin and get drunk at lunchtime, not me."

Harry grinned. "My drunk version is more punctual than your sober one."

"Let's see this."

Hermione opened her eyes and blinked twice; she didn't understand where she was: there were four stone walls around her, it seemed a quite large cell, perhaps she was in the dungeons of a castle, or at last she thought so. Then she remembered the man in her house, and then the Stupefy course…she stood up and looked around and tried to find a little window or something, but she didn't find any. The door was locked from the outside, so she figured she was there as a prisoner. This made her shiver: why that man could want her there, she didn't know him. She tried her best to remember his face, but she couldn't remember a friend (or maybe not exactly a friend) with his face and body. She sat down again, with her knees against her chest, thinking about Ron…how much she would have loved to be with him at that very moment…and now he was her only hope to be rescued. But how could he find her? She didn't even imagine where she was held, nor her kidnapper's identity!

Suddenly the door opened and a dark, tall figure in black emerged. She bit her lip and immediately recognized her kidnapper.

"Good evening." The man said with a totally calm and peaceful voice. "How are you, my dear?"

She stood up with an angy face. "You! You took me here! Where are we?"

"In my castle, you're my guest now." He said michievously. Hermione's arms crossed over her chest, while she looked away angrily. "My, is something wrong with your room?" he said with a smirk.

She looked directly into his dark eyes. "You're sure you're the best one here, aren't you?"

He looked a bit surprised by her statement and her tone of voice. "What?"

She arched an eyebrow at him. "Whoever you are, wherever we are, whatever reason you took me, I just want you to know this." She hissed slowly and clearly, eyes burning. "Ron will find me."

Jeremy arched both his eyebrows. "Your little fiance is going to do as I say, he will not disobey, cause he already knows what I could do to you." And with that he took a step towards her. "So, my advice is….be nice, my lady, while you're here…where I can do anything to you."

Hermione looked angrily at him. "I'm not afraid of you."

The man smirked evilly. "Brave little witch, aren't you?" he said with an amused grin. "Rather beautiful too, I might add. This is very unusual: a pretty woman with dirty blood in her veins." He whispered, moving closer to her, until he was very close to her face. She tensed up and tried to take a step behind, but there was the wall. "Too bad you're a mudblood." He finally said, peering into her fuming chocolate eyes. She didn't reply, just looked at him with a murderous look. He laughed and made his way to the door. "Remember you're my guest, now. If you want something, anything, you must ask it gently." And then he went out of the room, locking again the door.

Hermione sighed deeply and let herself slide down along the wall, until she was with her back pressed on it and her knees up against her chest; she embraced her legs and put her head down on her knees.

Ron…please, come here…for once in your life, come to me first…

Ron tapped his foot on the ground furiously: it was 18.30, and Harry wasn't there yet. And he did say they had to meet at 18.00! This was growing absolutely frustrating. He took another sip of beer from the bottle he had in his hand, and kept on waiting, fuming all over with his best friend and thinking about how many times Hermione had to wait for him…He shifted on the chair. When all this nightmare would be over, he promised to himself to be always punctual with her, cause she was worth every single sacrifice, just to be so wonderfully her. He missed her terribly, he simply couldn't think about anything but her. His Hermione. His fiancee. God, how much he wanted to go with her and choose everything she needed to make their wedding unforgettable now…He had been so foolish and superficial with her because of this Raven thing. Once they promised themselves they wouldn't let their jobs interfere with their love story; she had indeed kept her promise, but what about him? He knew perfectly well he hadn't.

A slight 'pop' echoed from the sitting room, and Harry came in his bedroom within a few seconds.

"Where the fuck have you been?!" Ron spatted angrily.

"Hey, calm down a bit, you dickhead!" Harry said not quite nicely, letting himself fall down on an armchair. "It wasn't you the one who had to get drunk early in the morning, and with the worst bloody beer in all this damn country!" he put two fingers on his temple. "Shit, my head still hurts…"

Ron would have laughed about all this situation if it wasn't Hermione's life to be in danger. "Did you find Lucas?"

"Yeah, or his twin brother." He said. "He is just as you described him, but you missed something: he's the worst sex maniac I've ever met in 26 years of life."

Ron arched his eyebrow.  "And what about his phantom help to the Ravens?"

Harry shook his head. "That guy is a real safe. He holds up his informations very well, and I'm sure he was dead drunk."

"So you're saying it was all a failure." Ron seemed tensing up.

"Not all of it." Harry looked at him with a little smile. "Now we know he's got a woman."

Ron rolled his eyes. "How on earth could this be useful at all?!"

"Listen." Harry said, quite impatient. "He described her even in the details. I think we can find her and use her to get to him. She seems quite involved in whatever he's working at, too."

Ron glanced at him. "Good point. Go on, tell me about her."

"She's somebody our Hermione would describe as a real tart." Harry said with a little grin. "She's dead sexy, large breast, long legs, full lips and hips, blue eyes and short black hair. He said she's doing something very useful to him, apart from giving him sex pleasure, of course."

Ron thought about his description a bit. "Renee."

"What?"

"You've just described Renee Martin, my secretary."

Harry frowned. "She's doing something very useful…of course, she's spying on you! Her job is to inform Lucas of your moves, so he can know anything before you do it, and Lucas can tell everything to Raven. Shit, this makes sense."

Ron nodded, passing a nervous hand through his fiery hair. "And Hermione indeed called her a tart."

"So, what now?" Harry asked, eager to do something, anything.

"Ok, we have to be very careful, it's Hermione's life we're playing with." He said thoughtfully. "First of all, tomorrow you'll come back to Helga's and you'll follow Lucas with your Invisibility cloak. I'll take care of Renee."

"But she knows you."

He shook his head. "I'll make a glamour to my face and body, I'll keep my identity hidden."

Harry nodded and smiled. "Ok, I'm ready."

Ron smiled to him. "Thanks, Harry."

Harry raised from his seat with a smile. "Stop it right now, mate. I'm too tired to argue about this, but another 'thank you' and I'll throw you down the window. Understood?"

"Understood." Ron grinned. "Sleep well, wine-lover."

Harry laughed. "I'll make you pay for this one, Weasley." And with a last wink he apparated back home.

The door of the dark cell opened again, and Hermione felt a huge wave of fear and rage in her heart. The dark and tall figure looked at her with an amused expression, and arched his eyebrows.

"Good morning, Miss Granger." She didn't look up. "How's your mood today?"

"Are you here to tease me?" she spatted out angrily.

He smirked. "Nice to meet you again too, my beautiful lady. Did you sleep well?"

She stood up bravely. "Can't you just go away and keep me there as your prisoner?! Do you have to come down here every minute and make my stomach hurt with disgust?! Leave me alone, you filthy bastard."

He licked his lips. "My, my…what a swearing…I can see you've spent too much time with that redhead auror." She looked ready to spit right on his face. "This…determination of yours…is really tempting…and sexy…" he whispered, nearing her and caressing her arm with a finger.

She pushed his hand away. "Don't touch me!"

He smirked and took three steps forward, until she was pressed with her back against the wall. "You should be tamed, you know…breaking you would be my new hobby, since your little boyfriend isn't going to show up for a bit."

She looked pretty scared, although her face was brave and angy; still, her breath was ragged. "Stay away from me." She hissed in a very strong tone.

His hand started caressing the skin of her neck. "You're made of fire…and I like it."

She tried to push him away, but he pinned her wrists to the wall with his hands, pressing his body hard over hers. She screamed and began to squirm and fight him off. "Stop!! Stop it now!!"

He laughed with a cruel laugh. "Stop? I've barely begun." And with that, he lowered his head and started licking her neck and the crook of her shoulder. She tried her best to kick him, but he tightened his grip on her wrists and his strong body pushed her smaller one more against the stone wall.  When his mouth made its way down her upper chest, she felt very scared and useless, but didn't give up fighting. A moment before his teeth, tugging on her jumper, could tear her clothes off, a loud knock on the iron door was heard, and suddenly a voice boomed from the outside.

"Hey Jeremy, I need you right here!"

Raven snorted and let go of her reclutantly: he looked at her, flushed, furious and bravely angry. God, if she was damn sexy….

"Don't worry, love." He whispered huskily. "There will be plenty of time for us." And with a final grin he went out of the room.

Hermione felt hot tears coming down her cheeks; she was scared of that damn man, she was absolutely, totally scared and too bad, completely in his power. She couldn't help but feel afraid and lonely….he could do anything to her, and this was bloody true….

Where are you, Ron?…please…I really need you…

Tightening his grip on the sides of his Invisibility cloak, Harry kept on following the dark figure of Kevin Lucas, who had just went through a very little dark street in a city near Dublin. Lucas walked very prudently, looking around many times: in fact more than once, Harry had to step behind to be absolutely sure he couldn't sense his presence. Damn, if that bastard knows how to be covered up!, Harry thought.

Soon they reached a sort of dark pub, full of all those people Ron would have described as 'nice guys': that was to say, there was plenty of probably ex-Azkaban's prisoners, ex-Death Eaters and dark wizards and witches. Harry had to be extremely careful not to be touched by anyone there; when Lucas came in, many women went to greet him (quite pleased of the random grabs he took on their bodies), and a bunch of men waved at him confidentially; then Lucas went over the barman's table, giving him a friendly slap on his shoulders, and passed through a little door in a dark corner, which Harry had to hurry to pass through, too.

Eventually they ended up in a small room with a quite large fireplace; Lucas took another glance around, then brought a bunch of Floo powder and launched it in the fireplace; Harry took a step forward, eager to see the name of his destination, but he didn't say anything, he just hurried into the fireplace and disappeared in a huge green cloud.

Harry suppressed a yell of frustration; he thought they were at it now, but nothing! Then his mind calmed down a bit, and he remembered a thing; once Ron had told him the aurors used a different kind of Floo powder, which was able to send you right in the same place you ordered the first time you used it; that was to say, if that Lucas had once said the name of his destination, now he didn't have to say it everytime. So the last solution was to take some of the ash left in the fireplace and send it to a sofisticated laboratory of analisies of the Floo powder net.

He took the ash and quietely disapparated.

Sorry it took a bit, but hey….there was Christmas and all!

Thanks very, very much to all the reviewers, I love you all, expecially if you keep on reviewing! ^^

Bye and best wishes,

Sunshine