Chapter 7: Shadows to Light
What was it about that night? Connection in an isolating age. For once the shadows gave way to light. For once I didn't disengage.
The first room they entered was windowless, but somehow full of harsh florescent light. Harry closed his eyes a moment and Hermione waited for him to make an assessment of the building. He took a deep breath and opened his eyes.
"Two guards are reading the Prophet in the room on the other side of that door," he told her. "Beyond that, there is a hallway with plenty containment cells. I don't know which one of them Ron is in. It is perpendicular to our next room, so we can either go left of right. Pacing up and down the corridor are about five other people. On either end of the hallway, there are two other rooms. The one on the left leads to another hallway, but I can't sense beyond that, I'll need to get closer. The room on the left contains a stairwell and leads to an office. But again, I can't sense beyond that. The office has three people in it, it seems one person is scolding the other two."
"What do you reckon this place is?" Hermione asked.
"I don't know," said Harry. "But I remember Percy saying something about a long list of missing wizards. My guess is that most of them ended up here."
"Harry–" Hermione started, bright-eyed, "we can't just leave them here. They're people too, what do you suppose–"
"Listen, Hermione," Harry said, taking Hermione's arm and leading her back into the alley. "I have a confession to make. I asked Percy for that list, and he sent it to me as a favor."
Hermione's eyes went wide. "You what? And he agreed?"
"Yes. But just listen," Harry said, seriously. "A lot of the people had some tie to the Ministry, or even the Order of the Phoenix. Even a few Aurors were missing. Ron was the first student of Hogwarts to appear on that list, but I discovered that Ministry officials didn't believe he would be the last. The papers Percy sent me were confidential, but he sent them to me anyway. They spoke of a very quiet theory that Lord Voldemort was kidnaping these individuals in order to gather information on the enemy before he made any rash moves. My theory? They're all being kept here. My plan? Leave them here."
Hermione gasped. "But Harry, I just told you, we can't! It's not fair! What do you think will become of them?"
But Harry's eyes were as cold as stone. "We came here for Ron and we will leave here with Ron only. We will tell Dumbledore about the others."
Hermione scowled. "Harry, don't you think they'll realize that Ron is gone and move or kill all these people here? By the time we tell Dumbledore, it'll be too late! We have to move now!"
"Hermione, it's too much of a risk!" Harry hissed. Hermione took a step back from him.
"What happened to you, Harry?" she asked, breathlessly, shaking her head. "You've learned caution at exactly the wrong time. If this were a year ago–"
"If this was a year ago, I'd probably get us all killed with my recklessness," Harry snapped. Hermione's eyes were deep and confused. Harry sighed and looked down. "Listen, if you want, I can send you to get Dumbledore now while I go on, but–"
"No," said Hermione, stubbornly. "I'm not about to leave you here. It's nonsensical."
Harry smiled. "If you'd have let me finish my sentence," he said, "you would have heard me admit that I need you here with me."
Hermione returned the smile. "We'll send him a letter."
"How?" Harry frowned. "We don't have an owl."
Hermione pulled a parchment out of her pocket and picked up a needle from the ground.
"Have you ever read Cinderella, Harry?" she asked.
"Yes..." Harry said slowly, as he watched her transfigure the needle into a Muggle's pen. Hermione looked up at Harry and smiled. She scribbled a quick note on the back of a Charms assignment that she'd kept in her pocket and noticed a broken birdcage leaning against the wall of the building they'd just exited.
"This is exactly like that," she said, as she waved her wand and whispered a few words. The cage turned into a magnificent, steel gray owl. Harry's mouth was open in a wide, impressed grin. Hermione turned to him, grinning herself.
"You're wonderful, Hermione!" Harry exclaimed. Hermione giggled.
"It wears off at midnight. We've got plenty of time." Hermione tied the parchment to the leg of the owl and watched it take off. She then turned to Harry. "Well, are we getting Ron back or what?"
"What do you mean you can't find the serum yet?" the Businessman glowered at the watchman and the man Ron knew as the Judge.
"Knockturn Alley is sold out," the Judge explained, angrily.
"We need that serum as soon as possible! Without it, our Mr. Weasley's mind will deteriorate and soon will be deemed unsalvageable!"
"What does it matter?" Avery asked. "You already know his secret."
The Businessman sneered over the desk at Avery. "Potter's weakness has always been his friends. I knew that from the very start."
The Judge looked confused. "But then why did you keep demanding that from the boy?"
"Why do you torture him?" the Businessman retorted. "As a means of getting other information out of the boy, which I have now obtained."
"Oh?" hissed the Judge, bitterly. "And just what is this information, Nott?"
The Businessman looked smug. "Ron's bitterness towards Harry Potter leads me to think that something has come about to change their friendship... and with them separated from each other, poor little Harry must be feeling awful. And especially without his best friend by his side again, he must be feeling dreadfully guilty. Weasley's murmurings and other behavior also leads me to believe that the change is recent, probably something Potter is doing to strengthen himself, prepare himself, whatever it is, which has pushed Weasley away from him. One is always weakest when they are training. So, I say what better time to strike then now, when the poor angst-filled teen has so much emotional trauma."
"Have you informed our Lord?" Avery asked with a horrid grin.
"I sent a letter immediately after I made my final analysis," said the Businessman. The Businessman closed his books on his desk, then hesitated.
"Avery!" he whispered urgently, sniffing the air with his large nose. "Something is amiss." He began to grin.
"What is it?" Avery asked, excitedly. "A rat?"
"I don't know," the Businessman said. "But our alarms have been tripped. Call the Dark Lord. Now."
The two guards in the next room were incredibly easy to subdue.
"Something isn't right," Harry said, suspiciously, looking from the unconscious guards, to his anxious companion.
"What do you mean?" Hermione asked.
"That was almost too easy," Harry explained. He closed his eyes a moment and concentrated. "The hall is now empty." he said, curiously.
Slowly, Hermione opened the door that led to a long hallway.
"Which way?" Hermione said. "Left or right?" Harry bit his lip a moment.
"Right leads to the office and stairway. Something tells me Ron is on this floor. Head left."
Hermione looked at the white tiled halls and steal doors. It reminded her strongly of a mental institution.
"Is Ron in one of these?" she said, then added nastily, "Or is it all the other people we're not going to save?"
"I told you," Harry said sharply. "We'll get to them later."
Harry broke into a sprint down the hall when he was in front of the next door, he paused.
"No one in the next room either..." he whispered. "I wonder what they're up to..."
"They know we're here," said Hermione with paranoid eyes. Harry looked at her long and hard.
"The hallway after it is empty too. This one has no containment cells on either side. At the end of it, there's one last containment cell. It's dark and black and cold. It's bleakness prohibits me from sensing any life forms within it. I have a feeling that's where we will find Ron."
They ran through the next room and the next corridor. When they reached the end of it, Harry turned to Hermione, sweat forming on his brow.
"This is it," he said, excitedly.
"This is it," she repeated, looking terrified.
Slowly, Harry twisted the doorknob. His scar began to burn like wildfire and he pulled away with a gasp of pain.
"Harry?" Hermione cried, concerned.
There was a burst of light and the door flew open. The room was flooded with darkness from the room beyond. In the doorway stood a lean man in a business suit with a crooked nose.
"Harry Potter," sneered the man. Harry held his wand firmly.
"Hermione, stay back," he ordered, throwing his arm out in front of her. "We've come for my friend."
"As we had no doubt you would," said the Businessman. "But he is lost to you now, Potter. He's gone catatonic, and there's no bringing him back to this reality."
"You wanna bet?" Harry challenged. The Businessman smiled a crooked grin as his cronies came up from behind him. Harry realized just how much trouble he had gotten Hermione into.
"Don't worry," said the Businessman. "We will just keep you both here until the Dark Lord shows up and tells us what to do with the two of you. He'll be here soon, you won't need to wait long. He's always punctual. Stupi–"
"Expelliarmus!" Hermione's voice roared like a lioness in the dark and the Businessman was disarmed. However, the man behind him caught the wand easily.
"It's not that easy, I'm afraid," laughed the Businessman. The large man behind him stepped forward and grinned.
"I know you," Hermione gasped. "Macnair!"
Harry recognized the man Ron knew as the Judge as the executioner who had been expected to kill Buckbeak nearly three years earlier.
The man merely gave Hermione a twisted grin.
"Now," said the Businessman, rolling up his sleeves. "This shouldn't hurt a bit."
"Leave those children alone!" Harry and Hermione turned at the voice.
There, in all his glory, and flanked by Aurors and members of the Order of the Phoenix that Harry and Hermione recognized instantly, stood Albus Dumbledore. Perched on his arm was the steel owl Hermione had used to send her letter to him.
"Pulles Mortifer!" shrieked Tonks, stepping forward and aiming her wand directly at the Businessman. The Businessman shrieked in pain as his hands flew up to his face and ugly boils began to appear. The other Death Eaters backed away from the man as he clawed at the puss-filled blisters covering his skin.
At that, the curses began to fly between the Aurors and the Death Eaters.
Harry pushed Hermione out of the line of fire and pulled her to the floor. He turned to her hurriedly.
"Listen," he told her, quickly. "That guy was telling the truth. Ron's not quite right... But don't worry!" Harry saw the horrified look on Hermione's face as it drained of color. He had never seen her look so devastated. "I can fix this. I know I can. I have to fix this."
"It sounds like..." Hermione said, breathlessly. "You're trying to convince yourself, not me."
"That's not the point," Harry snapped, furious because he knew she was right. "I'm sorry... But I just need some time. Just buy me some time."
"I'll watch your back, Harry," Hermione vowed, clutching her wand in her shaking hand. Harry smiled.
"And I wouldn't want anyone but you there, Hermione," he said, honestly. Hermione nodded, a new boost of confidence rising within her.
"Except," she reminded him with a hopeful smile, "perhaps... Ron." Harry couldn't help but agree.