Chapter 21: The Land of the Lost

Although he had never cared for apparition, Flamel agreed to this form of travel because of time constraints and was starting to regret such a decision. His thoughts were preoccupied with the realization of what was to come, it was his life's work put to a test that he had fought hard to avoid. As the ground hardened beneath his feet, he turned to see a very tense group of people interrogating Dumbledore and completely ignoring his arrival.

"Why not say something before now? I mean, that could have kept Draco here instead of Merlin knows where and with Hermione no less." Sapphire admonished. "What is it with everyone and their secrets? Are we all supposed to be on the same side?"

"He's gone?" Nicolas shouted wide eyed.

"You're here." Professor Dumbledore exhaled relieved on some level to have a break from the accusations. "Just in time but yes, Mr. Malfoy has left and with Miss Granger's help."

"Do we know where they would have gone?"

"You're the expert here, why don't you tell us?" Sapphire snapped.

"That's enough Miss Thomas. No we don't as of yet but I was hoping that you might help us with that." Dumbledore chastised.

"I would need something of his to do a search, do we anything?" Flamel surmised.

They all looked at each other in despair and the answer was clear from the distressed faces that they did not have anything at all. But with that Harry jumped up with a solution of his own.

"The Marauder's Map!" he cried out but the only one to understand was the Headmaster.

"Where should we begin?" Dumbledore questioned.

"Snape?" Harry directed his attention to his former Potions professor.

"How should I know?" he scoffed.

"Where would he most likely go?" Harry persisted.

With a slight shrug of his shoulders, he replied, "Try London."

For about five minutes, Harry worked feverishly chanting incantations to change the format of the map as the others looked on in great interest. As if answering the unspeakable question, Harry explained what he was doing. "This is how I locate the supposable untraceable."

Finally, the map began to alter itself and notable landmarks slowly appeared until at last the entire group gathered around and saw the impossible...

00000000000000000000000

When the car pulled up outside her estate, Parisa was feeling extremely ill and dreaded the meeting she about to have.

Something in her gut told her that this was not going to go well. He knew something and that's why he wanted to talk to her privately but what could it be. Never did it occur to her that it was about Draco or the ritual, which would turn out to be a gross oversight on her part.

Arriving at the restaurant, she was completely sure that she was going to be sick but nothing could have prepared her for what was about to transpire.

"Good evening Jacq." She greeted him coolly.

"Yes but what are you doing here Tara?" He asked innocently as he looked up at her. Sure he knew it was her but he shouldn't know that and he didn't want to play his hand too soon.

"I'm sorry, I forgot to explain. It's me Parisa; I've just been trying out the Priory's experiment as a favor to my dad."

"Really? How is it?" He asked enthusiastically.

"Not too bad. It was easier than I thought it would be but some drawbacks have become apparent though."

"Like what?" Slowly he was pulling her into his revelation.

"Oh nothing important...to you." She added it as almost an after thought but immediately regretted the impact it had.

"And what's that supposed to mean? You really are poison, you know that?" His words were like venom spewing from a King Cobra and it wasn't anywhere near stopping. "You're a boil on the butt of humanity and unworthy of opportunity afforded to you."

"Are you done?" Saying this, she meant to antagonize him and totally missed the fact that he knew of her birthright.

"Actually yes, I am...I'm ready to give you a surprise." He announced as he got up and took her by the arm to lead her away from the table.

"Excuse me?" she questioned but followed wanting to avoid a scene remembering her father's warning.

"Just come with me, Miss Priss..." he instructed.

"But..." He cut her off at just that moment by turning to face her with a look of pure evil pouring from his eyes.

"You'll never live to see the blessed event my dear. But don't worry; I'll take good care of the child." Laughter drowned out all the sounds of the alley as the world darkened around her...

000000000000000000000

"Ginerva Weasley, is that you?" Molly Weasley shrieked as she pushed her way through the door.

"Mom?" This was a surprise, to say the least, but was it a good one or a bad one.

"Ginny...you look...good?" Ron added in a way that made her wonder whether he was happy or disappointed.

"We have to get you out of here and to some place safe. Then you can explain yourself and see if we can't figure out a way to keep and the rest of the family out of Azkaban." Arthur scolded.

"No, I'm staying right here." She replied firmly.

"What?" Ron gasped.

"Have you lost your mind? Are you under some sort of spell that binds you here as well as changes your appearance?" Her mother questioned her as shook her almost as if trying to shake the sense back into her. But alas, it was no use, she had made up her mind and nothing was going to change that.

"They will kill you." Arthur pleaded.

"If I leave then I will surely parish but Marcus knows the way to set it all straight." They all just stared at her not knowing what to say. It was if they truly had lost their daughter but could they really give up and just leave her here? Could they turn her into the Ministry? Was there any hope of getting out of this mess?

Just then another person joined the party and not anyone that they wanted to see.

"What the bloody hell is going on here?" The unwelcome guest questioned upon seeing the impromptu family reunion.

"Malfoy." Arthur exhaled from either disgust or fear, no one could tell which.

000000000000000

The images began to form showing Draco and Hermione in Knockturn Alley but that wasn't what was shocking the group, the names of Parisa, Ron, Molly and Arthur was the culprit for that.

"What are they doing there?" Harry questioned.

"Seems that they have a plan but no patience." Dumbledore surmised quickly but was processing their options silently.

"No, what are the Weasley's doing there?" He corrected.

"Yes, I understand and the answer remains the same. They are trying to save their children but it a very ill-advised way."

"What do you mean?" Tara asked in turn.

"Muggle custom….I believe the term is Sweeping it under the rug."

"Concealing it." Flamel translated.

"So how did Malfoy find them?" Sapphire jumped into the mix now.

"Obviously Hermione suggested that they find Ginny." Harry answered but once again he was slightly askew.

"But the map shows her as Parisa." BJ pointed out.

"Oh right….see….he's going to her. I should have killed him while I had the chance but no. He has to have put some sort of spell on Hermione or else she would never have agreed to this." Harry resumed his earlier tirade.

"No Harry, I would assume that he was searching for Parisa's body or Ginny's soul and not for the intention of consummating this abomination of sorts." Flamel interjected.

"Well Mr. Expert, what do you suggest we do with new information?" He mocked the old man.

"Follow them and reverse the body changing spell." Came the simple but oddly brilliant assessment.

"And how we will do that?" Sapphire added before Harry could worsen the situation.

"With an accidental magic reversal spell, of course. You're familiar with that, aren't you Mr. Potter." Flamel teased with a devilish grin.

The sight of this old decrepit man getting the best of the infamous Harry Potter caused a din of laughter to erupt within the group. Harry was not so amused but the simplicity of it did leave an impression upon him. Some auror he was, he never even considered it as an option. His ego was getting the better of him but somehow, there was always an older and wiser person there to put him back in his place. Thank Merlin for that, he laughed secretly from the irony of it.

"That's all well and good Mr. Flamel but what does that mean for us?" Tara finally broached the burning question.

"We are the new and self appointed Ministry minions."

Author's Notes:

Sorry for the confusion on the last chapter…the original posting was a teaser as I waited for my new beta to catch up, but then due to other obligations (namely her completely addictive site for d/hr fic awards) she was unable to do the betaing…so I posted the chapter in full without the use of a beta. Sorry to anyone that was confused but if you read the teaser and didn't read the full posting…go back and read it again otherwise you will be lost.

Welcome to the new readers: Jameth, kat6528 and Arsione…sorry for typos…this one should be better. And thanks (as always) to the returning readers: Mr. Big Bad, ReademAnd Weep, slyswn28, dragonStarr and Blood-Red-Pen-Tip.

Slyswn28...here you go...I do aim to please.

Kat6258…thank you and hope that you enjoy this.

DragonStarr… thank you…I've researched this one a lot and I'm glad to see that it's paying off.

Jameth…I'm glad that I could make your break better and although fanfic isn't appreciated by some…we still love it, right?

ReademAndweep…I was trying to approach it from what I believe Draco's mentality would be…that being that anyone but a pureblood is dirty blood.

Mr. Big Bad…thanks for the congrats and hope you enjoy this chapter as well.

Reetinkerbell…I'm truly sorry for the confusion and hope that you can forgive me.

Blood-Red-Pen-Tip…the second posting was the complete chapter…sorry for the confusion.

Arsione…welcome to the story and the spelling errors should be ok now.

Special thanks as always to Dracolov for sponsoring the contest and anyone interested in d/hr fics should check out reetinkerbell's site, Dangerous Liaisons, as they are all awesome and a new round of nominations and voting is about to begin.