Chapter twenty

Again the months past quickly. It seemed forever since Christmas. There was only a week left until final exams and Hermione had started her frantic study sessions two weeks before. The last game of the Quidditch season was that day, Ravenclaw vs. Griffindor.

Ron sat in the captain's office after the game. They had lost the game. They had only won one game since he had become Captain, and that had been against Hufflepuff. Real acomplishment there. The only reason Griffindor had even made it to the championship game was because the Slytherin team had been caught cheating and disqualified. He angrily ran his hand through his hair. He sat down at his desk and laid his head down on top of all the enchanted diagrams he had drawn and fell slowly asleep.

Crys sat on the floor in the entrance hall waiting for Ron to come out of the locker rooms. She had been waiting for over an hour already.

She stood up and walked toward to Griffindor locker room. She slowly pushed the door open. It was empty. She found her way to the captain's office and stepped inside. Ron was asleep in his chair, his head on his arms on the desk. He kept mumbling in his sleep.

"Where is she?" Crys heard him say.

Crys walked over quietly and squatted down next to him. She put a hand on each shoulder and gently prodded him awake.

"Tell me now." he said sleepily as he was shaken awake.

"It's alright, Ron," she whispered, "We're fine. It's okay." she stroked his hair lazily with her index finger.

He bent his head and leaned his forehead aginst hers.

"As touching as this moment is," a voice came from the doorway to the office, "I beleive that I will have to break it up."

Ron shot up out of his chair knocking Crys down as he did. She sat, sprawled on the ground, not moving, her eyes wide at the hooded figure standing in the doorframe.

"Who are you?" Ron snarled.

With a flick of his wand Crys was bound with ropes that flew out of the tip of the hooded figure's wand and flung back into the corner. Ron heard her head hit the wall with a resounding thud and her head drooped.

Ron turned an extreamly hateful gaze on him and whipped out his wand.

"You want a duel, do you?" the masked figure said, "Then we shall duel."

Crys awoke hours later, shivering, the back of her head sticky with blood. She tried to stand but there were ropes binding her arms and legs. She looked around for Ron, he was no where nearby. There was no one nearby. It was quiet.

She didn't dare yell for fear of a Death Eater nearby. What if nobody found her?

She rolled over with the ropes still restricting her and stood up. She hopped out of the office and into the corridor out side the locker room. She walked up to a nearby suit of armor.

"Er..." she whispered to it, "Could you be so kind as to cut the ropes off of my wrists?" she finished unsurely. The suit of armor moved and pulled its sword out of the sheath. It cut the ropes from her wrists leaving her free to untie her ankles.

"Thank you." she said and ran off down the hallway.

Turning the corner she ran into a worried looking Harry.

"Crys!" he exclaimed and took her by the shoulders, "Are you alright?"

"Yes! Where's Ron?" she loked around and tried to look past him, as if Ron was just hiding behind his friend.

"He's..." he started but didn't seem able to form words.

"He's what? He's what!" Crys' eyes were so wide with fear that Harry thought she may explode, "He's not..."

"No! No, he's alive. But barely. Nobody could find you we all thought you were..." he trailed off again and hugged her close.

She pulled back quickly, "Where is he, Harry?"

He turned and began to pull her by the wrist in the direction of the Hospital wing.

When they arrived she saw Ron in the same bed he had been in after he fell off of his broom. She ran to his side and saw that, once again, he was not concious. She put her head to his chest and listened to his heartbeat. Siddenly, he jerked awake.

He said one word before dropping into sleep again, "Zabini."