A/N: Another chapter… who knows where this will take us?

Annabelle Elizabeth: thanks for the review! And yes- more bonding. Wonderful, is it not?

Jamesismysweetheart: thanks!

Chapter 37

Adrienne ran into a small problem, early the next morning. She rubbed the sleep out of the corners of her eyes, and squinted at Draco across the breakfast table.

"What do you mean, you have no idea where it is?" Draco just shook his head and shrugged- an interesting combination that made him look very awkward for a moment. Lianna just looked unquestioningly up at her father. Adrienne heard her own father's words ringing in her ears. Seeker shook his head, also.

"I could find out, but it would take a day."

Adrienne looked at him in profound relief. "Would you do that? We could use the day to continue on to readiness, and we can't really go anywhere if we don't know where we're going." Seeker just twinkled his dark eyes (how does he do that? Adrienne wondered silently) and nodded at her.

"It would be my honour, my lady." He made a mocking little bow over the table. Adrienne was too tired to be annoyed, or even amused.

"Thankyou, Seeker. Everyone else- we're doing the same thing today as we did yesterday- we prepare. Jeremy?" Adrienne turned to look into his startlingly blue eyes- rimmed with red from tiredness.

"Mmmm?" he mumbled through his toast, looking up at her blearily.

"Will you be joining us?"

"Uh uh," he grunted. He swallowed with what seemed to be a pained expression on his face. "I'm still researching." Adrienne narrowed her eyes, but shrugged her suspicions off. Jeremy was intelligent and level-headed. He could handle himself, and they didn't really need him. He'd just be another person underfoot.

"Alright then." She said clearly, and turned her attention back to her breakfast also. The marmalade that the House Elves used really did taste divine.

~*~

Seeker stepped out into the crowded street, glancing overhead at the sun. He wouldn't see it for a while, in the darkness of Knockturn Alley. He noted the time, and set out, his stride confident and assured. The darkness of the alley turned and accepted him into its warm, dry embrace. He moved along unhindered until he reached the shop. Stepping through the doorway and ignoring the tinkle of the bell, he lounged against the harsh wooden counter until a short, withered man with startlingly bright eyes arrived in the room. On seeing him, the man's eyes widened in their wrinkled brown sockets and he backed away slowly. Abandoning social niceties such as privacy, Seeker jumped effortlessly over the tall bench and pinned the small man against the bare wall.

"What's this, then?" he sniffed the man's collar and neck. "Smells like you've been dealing souls again." Seeker's cold black eyes glared into the man's overly bright ones. He closed them, wincing back against the wall. "Lucky for you," Seeker continued, "that I'm not here to bust you today. Your supplier is sadly out of stock at the moment, so I'm not overly worried about that. What I do want, however, is something that I'm sure you're willing to give me." The man had opened his eyes hesitatingly, still cringed against the wall.

"What's that?" he whimpered, unwilling to move his body into a more comfortable position with Seeker still pressed against him. His eyes were beginning to fill with tears and he was shaking. Seeker smiled a smile that didn't reach his eyes.

"Information." He stood against the man for a moment longer, smiling malevolently into his face, before he stepped back and allowed the man to stand on his own two feet. The wrinkled little man shivered violently for a moment, before the quivering slid out to his extremities.

"What can I help you with?" he asked sarcastically, knowing that he had no choice in the matter. He bowed to the tall dark-haired man.

"I need to know where the Blackhawks' Nest is." Seeker kept his ebony eyes fixed on the man, gauging his every reaction. The little man's phosphorate eyes snapped to Seeker's own, before sliding off to gaze out the window. His arms clenched around his body, his knees were locked to keep them from shaking. Seeker was a patient man and let the little wrinkled man have his distance.

"Fifteen Signet Avenue, Wellford. It's a mansion, ivy covered granite walls. Every single Blackhawk lives in that compound. You've no hope of getting out of there alive if you're going to take what doesn't belong to you." The man's eyes looked up at Seeker, but he just smiled his intimidating smile again, placed two gold coins on the bench top as he walked out, slamming the door behind him and jarring the bell into the silence.

"Signet Avenue," he shook his head in consternation. "Of course, where else would it be?" He strode into a corner and continued to mutter under his breath as he Apparated.

~*~

"Let me tell you a story, Hermione," Sarah said as she sat on the side of the bed, perched on the frame holding the water balloon inside. She shook out her rampant red curls and traced her finger down one of the marks on her face. Hermione stayed where she was. Tied up as she was, she had very little choice. Comfort was a thing of the past, it seemed. Her arms, though aching, would not be eased by any movement she was currently capable of.

"Sure," she mumbled, glaring at the back of the redhead before her. Damn her for looking so much like her father, she snarled in her head. This thought made her flush deeply when Sarah began her story.

"When I was eleven, I thought that my family was the world, and that nothing could ever happen to my dad, my mum, my uncles and aunts, my cousins and brother and sister. And, for seven years, nothing did.

"Then, after our exams and our graduation, after I went home and lived my life for a few days, I had no life anymore.

"I got home one night, about three, after going out with my friends for dinner. We ran a bit later than we had expected, and thus, I guess I escaped. Most days I wish I had been home, even if it was to die with them.

"I arrived home to a scene of destruction. There was nothing left of the house, and barely anything left of the people inside- my family. Everyone was home that night, for a change, except me. I doubt that they even noticed that I wasn't there. It looked like they'd just dropped a huge bomb on the house and left everyone for dead. I curled up on the site that night and cried. I haven't slept through the night since.

"I came here- the haven of death and destruction, as my mother used to whisper whenever there was an article on them in the Daily Prophet- because I figured that death and destruction was all that I had left. Now I'll never be able to leave. These lines will fade down to invisibility for anyone who's not looking for them. My family will never even see them- the ones that are left that is. But every Blackhawk will."

Hermione had nothing to say. After a few moments of silence that stretched into the distance, Sarah stood and walked from the room. Hermione was still speechless.