Chapter 22

Ssssswirl… sswirl… swirl, where am I? Who am I? I am… I am a girl… I am alone… I am not alone- I am not alone! Her eyes blazed open, glaring at the midnight world around her. There- around her leg. Bright gold link of thread, dragging her. She prised the thread off her, stood tall, her eyes blazing golden light into the darkness. Around her, figures of different hues, all blundering with closed eyes. With no plan, and indignant anger, she began to walk.

~*~

"Ok, ragwort now." Adrienne scraped the thinly sliced plant into the cauldron of bubbling liquid, then stirred it twice clockwise, twice anticlockwise. Then she let it alone, watching until time was up.

"Very good. This should work." Snape turned off the flame, before allowing Adrienne to bottle the viscous liquid. She grasped the vellum on the table, and the dove's feather quill, dipping the quill into the dark potion. She began to mutter under her breath, Latin words that had been long rehearsed. Her hand began to sketch a map.

Before her very eyes, she could see a map of the world. She watched in fascination as the lines ran together, making definable land- "He's in France?"

"Not just any France, Miss Granger." Snape growled. "He knew what he was doing, this boy. He's in the only part of France that remains Celtic. There are so many witches and wizards there, nobody would even look twice at him." He laughed darkly.

"Shouldn't we go?"

"You go, you mean. I take no part in this fool's venture. You'd better think up a good story, however. I believe Mr. Malfoy would really like to know exactly why you went to all this trouble to find him." Then Snape turned on his heel and stalked out, exactly how she remembered him. Adrienne laughed softly at his predictability, then sprayed the fixing agent on the map. She waved her wand at the room, freezing it so she could do her washing up later. She left to go find her mother.

~*~

"Oh, look, dear. Let me do this." Hermione muttered incantation after incantation; Adrienne watched as there appeared dots on the page- then they began to move, and names appeared beside their spots. Hermione peered at the map intently. Finally, she announced, "aha! Got you now, Malfoy! Here he is." She pointed to a dot on the map, moving slowly in the countryside.

"What do you reckon we give him a visit?" Hermione almost began to walk from the room before she noticed that Adrienne was still sitting down. "What are you waiting for? We're going to get Lianna back now!"

"No, we're going to get her father." Adrienne said slowly. "And we need a story. How do you think he'll react if he sees you pop up from nowhere, looking for him when nobody's cared whether he's alive or dead for the last twenty years? And you of all people. What are we going to tell him?"

Hermione stopped and her face fell. "Good question."

Adrienne saw her mother's crestfallenness, "I've been thinking about it. We could be reporters, wanting to make a book out of his life. Hopefully his ego's still up to it for it to work. Although, I think that eighteen years seclusion is enough to give anyone's ego a good shaking." Adrienne stopped, recollected her thoughts. "I think we should disguise ourselves, then give him a visit. If we walk carefully, we should be able to get close to him without him noticing, and we can observe his situation. Then we can reassess how to approach him."

"You have been thinking about this, haven't you?" Hermione smiled at her daughter. "Sounds good, darling. Let's do it. Now- what do you want to look like?"

~*~

Jeremy sat in the library, wishing that Madam Pince were there to help him with his research. "Drat the teachers taking holidays," he said softly, still observing the obscure rule of being silent in the library. It seemed a little silly since he was the only person there. He put the book back on the shelf, reached for the next one along. Brushing dust off its cover, he opened it gently. No telling what could be in these magical books, after all. A fine mist of dust flew up from the pages, got up his nose, made him sneeze. His eyes began to water, and, with a violent snap, he closed the book. Gently, he stood up, placed the book back where it came from, then walked to the Hospital Wing, his eyes still watering profusely. "Damned magical books," he cursed as he walked into a small table in the corridor. He walked past two odd looking women, but couldn't spare the time to ask who they were. Finally, he made it up the stair to the crisp, clean Hospital Wing. Madam Pomfrey clucked, twittered, and finally sat him down on a bed and sprayed strange substances in his face, muttered small incantations.

"What were you doing, boy?" She confronted him, once his eyes and sinuses had somewhat been brought under control. He blew his nose.

"I was researching."

"In the restricted section, I suppose?"

"Well…"

"I don't even have to tell you that- even though you're all grown up now- you need Madam Pince around when you go into that section? It's not to spoil your fun, Jeremy; it's to keep you safe. I just hope you've learned from your mistake. Next time, it could be a lot worse than this," she waved her hand at his face, before shaking her head sadly and handing over a small square of chocolate. "I'm glad it wasn't something a lot worse than this, too, dear. Madam Pince will be back in two day's time. How about you research outside the restricted section until she returns?" Madam Pomfrey smiled softly at him, patting him on the arm as his mother used to. His eyes filled with tears again, but not because of the powder.

~*~

"How do I look?" Hermione twirled for her daughter, her lightweight reporter's robes twirling around her. Adrienne giggled at the sight of her mother with jet-black hair and smart glasses.

"You look a little like Rita Skeeter," she joked, and Hermione mock-glared at her.

"Take that back! I do not." She pouted, and Adrienne laughed.

"How do I look?"

"Like your sister."

"Ah, well. Some people get all the looks," Adrienne sighed, smoothing her robes down over her clothes. She checked her wand was in its place under her sleeve, and knew that Hermione was doing the same.

"Alright mama. Let's do this."

Jeremy then bundled past, hardly even looking at them, but his eyes were weeping tears and his nose was running.

"Charming! Sure you don't want to marry Harry Potter's son?"

"Mama! You promised you wouldn't start matchmaking me until I said ok."

"You've said ok several times in the past,"

"But not in context!"

"True, true." Hermione laughed with Adrienne, and they giggled all the way out of the grounds. Then, keeping their destination clear in mind, they Apparated.

~*~

A/N: Three Chapters, one day. Not a bad effort! Kisses to all reviewers! ^_~

*kitten