Chapter 5:

Ginny shook her head. It had been aching all through the night. Perhaps it was from her hunger, or perhaps it was from her inability to practice good hygiene. All she knew was that she was in pain.

Ginny got to her feet. Her surroundings didn't surprise her. She had gotten used to them two weeks after her capture. Besides, she knew she wouldn't be their much longer. Her husband would find some way to save her.

"Hermione, wake up." Ginny said, prodding Hermione with her finger.

Hermione croaked and groaned awake. Unlike Ginny, she could not adapt to imprisonment. She just wanted to sleep the awful reality away.

"Hermione, if you don't get up now, we won't get any breakfast," Ginny pleaded. Hermione groaned again, but pulled herself to her feet.

"Right," Hermione yawned. "What's crawled into our cell today?"

Ginny and Hermione looked around the floor. They saw a centipede that she'd squashed with her head the previous night, five spiders waiting patiently on the wall for their own breakfast, and a rat.

"We'd better save the centipede for days not so plentiful as today," said Hermione. Ginny agreed.

"I'm feeling particular to rat today," Ginny said with a smile. The two caught the rat and cut it, using a fragment of a brick that had fallen from the wall. Ginny feasted on its skin, while Hermione got the innards.

The two were discussing who would receive the eyeballs, when they heard a slight stirring in the corner of their cell. They abandoned the rat, and went to investigate this sleeping intruder.

The intruder was wrapped in what appeared to be robes. They were black, and clung tightly to the body. Its hand rested on the knife it had wrapped to its side.

Ginny left the eyeballs next to the figure and left.

"What are we going to do?" cried Ashley. She was really in a state of panic, having never been locked in a room before without someone on the other side to come to the rescue.

"She's right, Harry. We could get out just fine by disapparation, but neither of these children is even old enough to attempt such a thing," Ron agreed.

"Please," said James in disgust. "Standard book of spells, grade 1 people!" James walked over to the door, raised his wand, and chanted, "Alohamora!"

The door swung open, but someone had piled debris in front of the exit as well. They were still trapped.

"You know Harry," said Ron. "I don't think we need to worry about people finding us anymore; someone already found us."

Harry turned quickly to his children. "Listen," he said. "We don't have a lot of options at this point. I think you'll need to disapparate. I can teach you, but you absolutely must NOT mess up. Do you hear me?"

"Yes," Ashley and James groaned.

"We can't afford for you to mess up. The results could be disastrous."

"We got it!" James barked.

"All right." Said Harry. He went on to explain the proper method of disapparation. "We don't have time for short practices," he said. "You'll just have to go straight into those bushes." He pointed out of the window to some hydrangeas out of the window.

Ron went first to ensure everything went smoothly. Ashley and James both followed. Finally, it was Harry's turn.

Harry was distracted by a muffled voice in the hall. "Antreiben Sie nicht, Harry Potter! Wir wissen, dass du dahin bist!"

As the German police force started moving away the debris, Harry raised his wand over his head and disapparated from the room.

Harry reappeared in the bushes. He saw Ron and Ashley ahead.

"Hey," yelled Harry. "We'd better get going!"

"But Harry…" Ron screamed, but Harry had already fled into the night.

Ron too had to make a break for it. He had just noticed, that the police had started a search on the bushes. He grabbed Ashley's hand and made a brake for it.

One of the policemen had seen him. "Halt!" he cried, but Ron just kept running, Ashley in hand. He saw Harry hide in another bushes. If he could just get to a hiding place, he could get to Harry through dissaparation.

He ran into a bar nearby. Once there, he instructed Ashley carefully.

"We both need to dissaparate and get to your father. Can you do it again?"

"Yes, I think so, but…"

"Do it NOW!" Ron commanded. With the blink of an eye, she was gone. Ron, with the speed of a cheetah, did the same.

Harry welcomed them to his hiding spot. They laughed as the police ran into the bar after Ron and Ashley.

"Wait," Harry said. "Where's James?"

"That's what I wanted to tell you," said Ron. "He's gone!"

"Gone?"

"Shortly after his appearance in the bushes, someone cloaked in black came out of the shadows and grabbed James. I tried to chase after him, but he had already disappeared by the time I realized what was going on."

Harry rubbed his head. The bubble of frustration inside him swelled even greater.

"Ron," Harry said. "Whoever this is will probably come after Ashley too. I want you to watch her closely. I want no one near her, and keep her away from shadows."

"Do you think James is dead?" inquired Ron.

Harry frowned.