DISCLAIMER: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
The week crawled slowly toward the weekend, and Harry might have even forgotten about the Quidditch matches if Katie hadn't been reminding them every few hours. Unlike other matches, Gryffindor wouldn't get any time to prepare on Friday, since Ravenclaw would be playing Slytherin in an afternoon match.
Still, it was easier than having another double match on Saturday, and it had the added benefit of getting Harry out of Transfiguration early. All of the professors were releasing their classes early in the hope that the match would be finished before the sun went down.
Harry tried to enjoy himself, but Ginny was still behaving with the same melancholy cheer she'd had all week. She sat quietly and almost stiffly and didn't give much attention to the match. It made Harry feel uncomfortable. Everyone around them sensed the difference, and purposefully avoided looking at or talking to either of them. Even Ron and Hermione, who were sitting just behind them,
The match should have been more interesting. Again, the Slytherin Chasers were outmatched and they were forced to rely upon Crabbe and Goyle to give them any opportunities to score. Unlike their match against Gryffindor, this time they actually had opposing Beaters to deal with. After only a short time it looked as if Draco would soon be trapped in yet another impossible-to-win game.
With a ninety point lead, Ravenclaw was firmly in control of the match, and it became a race to find the Snitch. With the Slytherin Beaters focusing on the opposing Chasers, Cho Chang's job was much easier than Harry's had been. Without Draco even noticing, she had spotted the Snitch and was already closing the distance to it.
Malfoy gave it a good try, but there was never much hope for him. With the large lead they had, the Ravenclaw Beaters took control of the Bludgers and batted them repeatedly toward Malfoy. When Cho caught the Snitch he hadn't even been on the right half of the pitch. He landed and stormed off the pitch without even waiting for any of his teammates.
After the match, Katie called a team meeting and she shared quite a bit of information that Cho had apparently told her about the Hufflepuff team, though they scarcely needed it. Hufflepuff was good, but their Seeker simply wasn't good enough. Still, Katie treated it as if there was some question over which team might win.
The Ravenclaw team spent the night celebrating in their common room and the Slytherin team didn't show up at the evening meal either. Katie had demanded that everyone on the Gryffindor team get to sleep early, and it seemed that the Hufflepuff team had the same idea. It made for a rather quiet and completely uneventful dinner. Harry passed most of the time after dinner with the essay McGonagall had assigned, before heading up to the boys' dormitory.
The next morning seemed to be nearly perfect Quidditch weather. It was dry and calm, with a high cover of hazy clouds: enough light to keep the Snitch from hiding in shadows, but not enough to make him have to squint to simply look about.
After turning in early the previous night, the Quidditch team was some of the first people awake in Gryffindor Tower. Harry found that he was less nervous for this match than any other he could remember. There simply didn't seem to be any pressure. Ron still seemed a little jittery, and both of the Beaters were looking rather tense, but the rest of the team was fairly relaxed.
After lunch, everyone headed out to the Quidditch pitch and Harry got ready in the locker rooms with the rest of the team. Katie didn't say much, having said enough over the last three days to fill a dozen pre-match meetings. When McGonagall showed up at the door, they were all prepared, and they followed her out onto the pitch.
The match wasn't going quite as well as Harry had hoped. Kirke and Sloper seemed to be doing a little better than they did against the Slytherins, but still not quite up to the level of the Hufflepuff Beaters. Between that and the mediocre performance of their Chasers, the Gryffindor team was actually trailing by ten points. Of course, none of that would matter as soon as Harry found the Snitch.
As if it knew just how good the conditions were, the Snitch had been infuriatingly difficult to catch so far. Harry had spotted it three times already (Summerby had only seen it once), but each time it vanished before he could even turn his broom around. Summerby wasn't even shadowing him like Draco liked to. He was using an old Nimbus two-thousand, and must have known he'd have no shot of beating Harry's Firebolt to the Snitch.
As Harry waited for the Snitch to make another appearance, he took a few moments to watch the game below him. They had let Hufflepuff get a full forty point lead on them, and Harry was curious about why. Ron seemed to be doing better than ever, blocking and saving shot after shot. After only a short time the problem became obvious. The Gryffindor Chasers were unable to stop the opposing Chasers from sending Quaffle after Quaffle toward Ron. Katie seemed to be doing fairly well, but Vicky Frobisher was struggling to keep up with everyone else, and Ginny was flying erratically and diving at some very obvious feints. She was sluggish and distracted.
Harry leaned forward and sped up. He'd best find the Snitch soon. He hoped that the higher speeds would make it more likely that he'd stumble across the Snitch as it flitted between shadows. With Gryffindor trailing by fifty points, he finally spotted it zipping across the pitch just above the grass.
Summerby was oblivious but closer than he was, so Harry sped up only slightly and turned a little tighter to cross the pitch a little quicker. The Snitch turned to head away from him, but Harry kept a close eye on it. He slowly accelerated, turning in a wide circle around it.
The Snitch stopped, paused for a moment, and then veered off wildly, heading for the stands. Not wanting to lose it against the sky, Harry leaned forward and shot off toward it. By time the Hufflepuff Seeker realized what was happening, it was too late. The Firebolt was too fast, and Harry had reached the stands before the Snitch and grabbed it out of the air as it turned back toward the Gryffindor goal hoops.
They'd won by a hundred points, but Katie was less than pleased. Only Harry and Ron were spared in the post-match scolding on the way back to the castle. Ginny was the one most upset by Katie's criticism, and she made no excuses or arguments about anything that was said. In fact, Harry couldn't remember her saying anything at all.
There had been a celebration when they got back to the Gryffindor common room. It wasn't as loud or boisterous as others, since the victory had been seen as everything but guaranteed before the Quaffle was even tossed. Also, since Ravenclaw had won their match, Gryffindor could have lost and still won the cup so long as they defeated Ravenclaw the next month. Katie even managed to drop some of her anger over the performance, and congratulate all of them on another win.
Harry tried to cheer Ginny up, reminding her that everything had turned out well, and that everyone had the occasional bad match. It didn't seem to help, but she did enjoy the company.
"I swear I had that essay in my bag. I put it there last night," Harry complained as he tossed parchment and books out of his bag and across the floor. He let out a frustrated groan as he dumped all of the contents onto the floor. He found a spare quill he'd lost, and a few sickles, but no essay.
Ron looked at him with pity. "You can copy bits of mine if you like," he offered. Hermione cast a sidelong glance at Ron. She had her nose in her Arithmancy book and was periodically scratching numbers onto a piece of parchment.
"That'll work brilliantly, Ron," Harry said as he ran his hand through his hair. "My essay is supposed to be about Lumination Charms, but I'm sure Flitwick won't even notice the bits about Levitation Charms."
Ron shrugged. "Sorry. Forgot about that."
Harry was forced to start his essay from blank parchment. With a resigned sigh, he sat down across from Hermione and started writing. Disappointed that he didn't have anyone who could even make winning enjoyable, Ron decided to play Exploding Snap with a pair of third years.
Despite barely knowing his opponents, it looked as though Ron enjoyed the game. The boy and his friend seemed to be almost proud that Ron was playing with them. He was, after all, a sixth year, a prefect, and the Gryffindor Keeper.
Harry smiled at the scene. That was the way Ron was supposed to be. He should have been as popular as Harry was, but everyone seemed to notice Harry first. All because of some silly mistake.
"Why aren't you over with Ron?" Ginny asked as she walked up behind him.
Harry finished a line and put down his quill. "I lost my Charms essay. I have to completely rewrite it." Ginny frowned. "Sorry," she said sympathetically. Harry just shook his head. "It could've been worse. At least I found out before Flitwick asked for it."
Ginny sat next to Harry, resting her head on her hands. She didn't say anything, she just watched Harry write, occasionally pointing out errors in his essay. He had to admit, writing an essay was easier with help from Ginny and Hermione. It was going faster than the last one had, and would probably get a better mark.
He found it a little disappointing when Ginny yawned and sat up. She stood up, and kissed Harry lightly on the cheek. "I think I'm off to bed. Goodnight Harry." Hermione gave her a strange look, but returned to her reading.
Harry's eyes followed Ginny as she walked over to where Colin and Dennis Creevey were attempting to learn wizard chess. Harry could hear her asking Colin if he would return a book to the Library for her. With a shrug, he agreed, taking his brother with him. Ginny disappeared up the stairs a moment later.
"Is she going to sleep already?" Ron asked as he walked over to the table. Harry kept working on his essay, but Hermione nodded, adding that Ginny had seemed tired that night.
"She's been acting a bit odd all day," he said, finally drawing Harry's attention. When Harry asked what he was talking about, Ron glanced over his shoulder to the stairs up the girls dormitories. "First off, she shouldn't be tired. She skived off her first class. Sleeping. Then, she asked to borrow your cloak to sneak into the Greenhouses and take some notes for some Herbology essay. Now she's off to bed earlier than normal, after she overslept this morning?"
Hermione looked up from her book, seemingly a little annoyed at the intrusion. "Maybe she's not feeling well, Ron," she said before returning to her book. Harry, however, thought Ron had a point. "Can you check on her, Hermione?" he asked. "Just to make sure she's alright?"
"Yes, I suppose," sighed Hermione. "I'll just finish this chapter, alright?"
Harry tried to get back to his essay, but his mind kept wondering if something had changed since yesterday. Had she seen or felt something that had her worried? Harry was no stranger to restless sleep, and knew how tiring it made even the shortest days.
The portrait opened with a creak and Colin and Denis entered, letting the door close behind them. Harry turned back to his essay. He didn't want to be up all night writing this essay. If only Ginny were still helping him. He kept forgetting the points he'd put in his other essay, but Ginny had been helping him remember any he'd missed.
Half an hour later, Harry finished up his essay. It truly was better than the first. He put his quill down and looked at his watch. It was earlier than he thought. Why had Ginny gone to bed so early? His eyes wandered back to where Colin and Dennis were playing chess. Maybe Ginny had told them something. He gave in to his curiosity and went over to talk to them.
Colin told him that Ginny had seemed fine earlier that day, but she'd told them that she was feeling tired and wanted to go off to bed. "It didn't seem all that odd to me. Was it?" He asked Harry. Harry just shrugged. "At least, it wasn't as odd as sending us to return a book she checked out this morning. It's not like Pince would have cared if she turned it in tomorrow."
Harry stared at them. Something wasn't right. He could feel it, though he didn't know exactly what felt off. He took the Map out of his pocket and scanned the school. Nothing looked out of the ordinary. He walked over to the table where Hermione had pushed aside her book to talk with Ron.
"Something isn't right," he said in a low voice. "I think Ginny knew something is up. That's why she was acting oddly."
Ron and Hermione looked at each other, then at Harry. They dutifully stood up. "What should we do about it?" Ron asked. Harry thought for a second, before deciding that it was pointless to do anything without hearing what Ginny had to say. "I need to talk to Ginny."
Hermione walked off and climbed the stairs to the fifth-year dormitories. Ron watched as Harry paced in the corner of the common room. Several of the other students were eying the two of them suspiciously. They'd learned that when Harry was behaving oddly, something bad was usually about to happen. Many of them attempted to appear casual as they slunk off to their dormitories.
What do I do, Harry asked himself. It's not like he could tell the Aurors that he felt funny, and they should lock down Hogwarts. He didn't even know if Hogwarts was in any danger at all. He wanted to have a bit of a look for himself.
"I'll need my cloak," he said to Ron as he paced.
Ron stared back at him and shook his head. "You'll have to get it from Ginny," he replied. "She never gave it back to me. And knowing what her room looked like, you'll be lucky if she can find it tonight, much less—"
Ron stopped and spun on his heels. Hermione was bounding down the stairs toward them.
"Harry! Harry... she's not there."
"She's— What?" Harry didn't know what question to ask. "Well, she didn't leave the Common Room. We were here the whole time."
"Harry..." Ron said quietly. "She still has your cloak." Harry looked around wildly, as if he might somehow see her. His eyes finally rested on Hermione, and silently pleaded for assistance.
"Well, what do you want me to say, Harry?" Hermione replied testily. "You're the one with the Map."
Harry pulled the Map out a second time. This time he scanned it for any sign of Ginny. Even if she was wearing the cloak she'd appear on the map.
She wasn't on the map. Anywhere.
Harry dropped it, and stared at Hermione and Ron. An icy dread crept through his body. He slowly closed his eyes, afraid to discover what he might see if he tried.
He saw only the swirling blackness of his own eyelids. Was it because there was nothing to see, or because he wasn't able to see it? Voldemort was always doing something. Harry walked to a darker part of the room, covered his eyes with his hand and tried again.
Again, he saw only blackness and the random shapes of his imagination. He tried to see something that might tell him what might be going on. The shadows swirled and danced. And then, Harry thought that he could see something. A dull glow. It seemed to flicker and fade, then blaze forth again. Long shapes like a crowd of dark robed figures kept obscuring the light. Harry tried to make out the scene he was seeing.
Tap-tap-tap
A loud tapping startled Harry. He opened his eyes and on the other side of the large window was Hedwig, standing on the ledge asking to be let in. Harry opened the widow quickly and Hedwig flew into the room with a loud screech. She circled once before landing on a table near Harry, dropping a large bundle.
Harry ran to the table to open the bundle. Hermione and Ron joined him. Thinking it might be some gift, a few of the remaining Gryffindors walked over to see what Hedwig had brought.
Harry recognized the bulk of the bundle immediately. It was his Invisibility Cloak, folded neatly and wrapped around a couple rolls of parchment. Harry grabbed one, and Hermione grabbed the other. He quickly stuffed the Cloak into his nearby bag, and tossed a warning glance at anyone who might get curious about it.
"Harry—" Hermione said.
"Hold on, Hermione," Harry stopped her. "Let me see what this is first." The roll of parchment in his hand wasn't of they type usually used for writing letters. As he unrolled it, he recognized it almost immediately.
"Harry—" Hermione interrupted again.
"Hold on!" he said as he scanned over the roll. "This is... This is my Charms essay. The one I thought I'd lost. It's got marks on it. Someone's corrected bits of it—"
"HARRY!" Hermione finally shouted.
Harry turned to look at her. Ron was standing nearby, completely silent and holding a wand in one hand, and a necklace with a pendant that glowed light a tiny orange flame. Hermione handed him a piece of parchment with a hastily scrawled note on it:
Harry,
I borrowed your Cloak and knife this morning. I needed them to get past the Aurors. I won't need the cloak anymore, but I wanted it to be safe, so I had to borrow Hedwig as well. I'm sorry about your essay. I felt horrible, so I checked over it for you. Of course, the one you wrote tonight was better, but it's only fair that you know the truth.
What was this for? Where had she gone?
I don't know what is going to happen, but I thought it would be better if you kept my wand safe. I sent the necklace, too. It means a lot to me, and I don't want anything to happen to it. I'll keep the knife for now. No matter what you see, please promise me you'll stay in the common room until it's over. I'm sorry. I'll be alright, I promise. Just come quick when it's over.
Love,
Ginny
Harry stumbled and held onto the table. He felt like... laughing. His stomach tightened as he tried to fight the emotion. It wasn't his. It was Voldemort's happiness he was feeling, and it was overpowering his own anger and panic. In his mind, he saw more images flashing before him.
Ron and Hermione watched silently, frozen with shock as Harry struggled to get back to his feet. The other students retreated, some of them pulling their wands out as if it might protect them.
"What are you seeing, Harry?" Hermione asked.
Harry gave her a dazed, empty look. "A fire in the dark... Trees... It's always trees..." Harry wandered over to the window. "Someone is sitting by a fire... under a large tree—" Harry shook his head as he choked out the final words.
"She has red hair."
Ron ran towards Harry. "Where is she, Harry? We have to help her!" He looked angry and desperate.
Harry closed his eyes again, but opened them almost immediately this time. "The tree!" he shouted, turning back to the window. He pressed his face up to the glass, straining to look for the tell-tale red sparks of an Auror who'd seen something suspicious. There was nothing. They didn't know. No one did.
"NO!" Harry yelled, as anger coursed through him, a blinding, mindless rage.
C-CRACK!
The several panes in the large glass window had cracked violently and splinters from the wood framing fell down on him. Harry backed away from the window as Ron and Hermione backed away from him.
Without any other words, Harry's wand was out and pointed toward the stairs to the boy's dormitories. Students scrambled out of the way, fearing the consequences of standing in front of Harry's wand.
"Accio Firebolt!" he shouted. Seconds later his Firebolt zipped down the stairs and slammed into his hand.
"Where are you going, Harry?" Hermione asked, "We have to tell someone!"
Harry ignored her. If he could see Ginny, it meant that Death Eaters were watching her. He turned and looked out the window toward the front gate. It would take him too long to get to one of the towers. With his Firebolt in his hand, the strode toward the fractured window. At the last moment, he held out his hand, and concentrated all his anger, all his fear, and all his desire to protect Ginny on the window.
The window exploded outward, showering the courtyard below with shards of glass and splinters of wood. Harry leapt out of the window a second later, and flew with all the speed he could toward the main gates.
As he flew, he saw the red and green glows of sparks in the air alerting Aurors to the emergency. They were probably gathering to try and stop him, but that would bring them to Ginny as well.
He felt himself getting dizzy and tired. In his mind, he heard voices talking. He wanted to close his eyes and see what was going on, but he needed them open to fly. He tried as hard as he could, but he flew slower and slower every moment. He was so tired. As he lost his grip on consciousness, the voices started echoing in his head.
"I'm not afraid!" a voice shouted.
"Of course you're not," a second one laughed. It was harsh and full of malice. Harry recognized the voice of Bellatrix Lestrange immediately. "You're a proud Gryffindor after all, and the girlfriend of the valiant Harry Potter."
"Go on, then," Ginny goaded her. "Do whatever it is you came here for. Can't you see the sparks? He's coming. There isn't much time."
Bellatrix laughed. "Oh, I'm afraid there is more than enough time, Weasley."
There was a pause, and Harry's fear woke him up enough to help him urge his broom forward just a little faster. He wasn't as far from the ground as he would have liked.
"I'm sorry, Harry," Ginny said quietly. "It's the best thing. Hermione will understand. I'll be okay..."
"What's that?" Bellatrix sneered. "Talking to Harry? You know of his little talent, do you? It's no matter."
Harry was nearly there. He could see Ginny's tiny body standing behind the fire, her back to the giant oak tree. Then suddenly, she simply disappeared. Harry dove to the ground, and tried to pull up at the last moment, but failed. He hit the ground hard.
He couldn't feel any broken bones, but he also seemed to lack the strength to pull himself to his feet. He struggled on the ground for a moment, trying to crawl or pull himself to the fire. Maybe she just fell, Harry told himself, maybe she jumped behind the tree...
He crawled to where Ginny had been. She was nowhere to be seen. She just vanished.
"Where?" he said aloud. "Where did—"
"Oh. You're too late, Potter," said a cold voice above him. Harry rolled over to look up at Bellatrix. "She's quite the witch, I must admit, but I fear she's miscalculated our intentions."
"What did... you... do to her?" Harry forced himself to say. He was barely awake now, and Bellatrix's face was all he could see.
She held a small object in a cloth bag by its base, letting the top drop down to reveal a miniature trophy cup. "A little trick I've heard you're fond of," she laughed. "Portkeys, Potter. She's long gone. And so am I." With a smile, she pinched the small handle of the cup, and disappeared silently.
Harry awoke to the acrid smell of a potion being waved under his nose. He coughed violently and shoved the heavily gloved hand away from him face. He was exhausted, his body ached, and on the edge of his mind was a vast consuming dread. Something horrible was coming. He could feel it, but couldn't quite say just what it was.
He couldn't hear what anyone was saying, and he could barely see. A nearby fire cast shadows from a number of robed figures around him. His nightmares were always filled with robed figures now, but these were different. They were not hooded and masked, and they seemed to be watching him. The one closest to him, still holding the vile smelling potion, was recognizable. It was Kingsley Shacklebolt.
"Where is she, Harry? Which way did they go?"
The realization hit him with a wave of nausea. Ginny was gone. Voldemort had taken her. He tried to say something —anything— but his throat closed up in panic. How long had it been? He stared into his professor's eyes and shook his head weakly.
She was gone. He'd failed.
The despair in Kingsley's eyes only made Harry feel worse. He collapsed onto the rough ground and struggled to push himself back up. More Aurors were crowding around him and a pair of them came forward to pull him to his feet.
"How many of them were there?" Kingsley asked quickly.
"Just one... just—"
"They couldn't have gotten far!" shouted one of the Aurors. "Tell the guards at Hogsmeade! We can—" He was cut off by a gesture from Shacklebolt.
"How did they take her, Harry?"
Harry felt his stomach clench again. It was hopeless. He looked into his professor's eyes and choked out a single word: "Portkey."
Kingsley Shacklebolt's eyes fell, and the rest of the Aurors grew silent. They knew it as well as Harry. She could be anywhere now. It was pointless to search for her anywhere nearby.
"I need four of you to come with me. We need to return Mr. Potter to the castle. Wharton, go to Hogsmeade. Ask them if they've seen anything of interest. Roorke, take Parks and see to that window."
Harry took a few stumbling steps toward Shacklebolt, but stopped when another Auror called out from behind him.
"What about the Ministry?" he asked firmly. "We can't hide another—"
Shacklebolt turned on him immediately. "We're not hiding anything!"
"We're supposed to report any more attacks, immediately. Those were our orders, Shacklebolt!"
"I know our orders!" Kingsley boomed in response. "I'll tell the Ministry, just not now."
"We were told—"
Shacklebolt turned and strode past Harry. "She was—" he started before dropping his voice to a low rumble. "She is Arthur Weasley's daughter, and I'll not have him learn of this from the Ministry. He deserves at least that."
As Harry walked back to the castle, he kept quiet and barely looked at the Aurors around him. He could feel their gazes and didn't want to know if they were looking at him in pity, sadness, suspicion or fear. He knew that the one to his left was carrying his Firebolt, and that Kingsley was walking on his right, but saying nothing.
"Harry?" he said in a low voice. "It looks like you have some friends waiting for you." Harry forced himself to look up to the main door of the castle. Silhouetted against the light of the Entrance Hall were Ron and Hermione. Ron's impatience was obvious from his posture.
"You don't need to talk to them," Kingsley whispered as they entered the courtyard. "We can take you to the Headmaster's office."
"No," Harry answered. "I... I just want to sleep."
"Patterson," Kingsley called out softly. "Find Dumbledore —quickly. He'll know what needs to be done. Tell him that I'll be be there shortly."
One of the Aurors behind Harry dashed forward and ran past Harry's friends without giving them a second look. Harry could see their faces now. Ron looked almost optimistic, but Hermione's expression was more concerned. For a moment, Harry's eyes connected with Hermione's and he watched as her body slackened slightly and a single tear ran down her cheek.
"He's okay!" Ron shouted. "I can see him. He's okay, Hermione." She didn't react at first, and Ron turned to look from Harry to Hermione and back to Harry.
Harry loathed the feel of the stone under his feet. For the first time in his life he didn't want to return to Hogwarts castle. He didn't want to face what he knew would be coming. He wanted to turn and run. He wanted to leave and never return.
As if wearing leaden shoes, Harry stepped through the door and looked at Ron. Ron gave him a quizzical look as the the door closed and locked behind him. He turned to stare at Harry as Hermione wrapped an arm around his waist.
"But— Where..." Ron's voice wavered and he stepped toward Harry. "Where's Ginny? Did they take her to the Hospital Wing?"
Harry's stomach tightened again, and he felt certain he'd be sick. He couldn't look at Ron anymore. Ron was the best friend he'd ever had and he couldn't bear to see what was about to happen.
"Where is she?" he asked again, more insistently.
Harry kept walking, escorted by only a pair of Aurors now. He noticed Kingsley turning to stand in front of Ron, and he could hear the low tones of his voice as he spoke to Ron. Harry was already walking up the steps when he heard Ron's response to the news.
"Harry!" his hoarse shout echoed up the stairway. "You said you'd protect her!"
Ron had only said it once before Hermione and Kingsley had probably convinced him to remain quiet, but it echoed in Harry's mind as he walked to his empty dormitory.
It was dark and deserted. Would Ron ever be back? He tried not to think of such things. There wasn't anything he could have done about it. Ginny had planned it out. She'd been trying to get away from him. If he would have stopped her, she would have found another way. He tried to console himself with those thoughts, but it didn't work. She wasn't here. If she hadn't been close to him, she would have been safe. Now, no one knew where she was, or what was happening to her.
Harry drifted off to a troubled sleep. His dreams were black and empty. Again and again, Ron's words echoed in his mind.
The next day brought little news to make him feel any better. The Aurors had searched the area, more for signs of Death Eaters than Ginny. As always, they had found nothing. There wasn't even any evidence to prove Harry's claim of seeing Bellatrix Lestrange there, though no one had any reason to doubt him.
There had been no reports of any strange girls seen or found around wizarding Britain. The few spies the Aurors had near suspected Death Eaters had not heard any news of Ginny, and had no clues as to where she might have been taken.
She'd simply disappeared. One minute she'd been helping Harry re-write his essay, and the next she was gone. Ron was gone as well. He hadn't come back to the dormitory, and Hermione told Harry over a somber breakfast that he'd gone to Grimmauld Place. Bill and Charlie were going to be there, and the Order was already secretly searching for Ginny alongside the Aurors.
Harry almost wished he could have joined the rest of them. Hogwarts didn't hold the happiness for him it once had. The fact that everyone stared at him was nothing new, but they were much more distracting now. It was as if everyone was waiting for him to do something, whether that was to run away screaming or to attack them he couldn't tell.
Somehow he trudged his way through a day of classes, managing to completely ignore the looks of his classmates and everything the professors had said. Even Potions was bearable. Snape mercifully kept any comments to himself, and Hermione quietly made sure that he didn't obliterate their cauldron.
As they left the Potions dungeon, Hermione quietly told Harry that there would be a meeting of the D.A. Council that night. Hermione didn't say much, but she mentioned that the Aurors would be there, and they had been the ones to call for the meeting.
After that, Harry couldn't bring himself to eat. If they Aurors had called a meeting, it had to be about Ginny, and the news couldn't possibly be good. Instead of heading to the Great Hall when it came time to eat, Harry sat by the window in his dormitory staring out across the grounds to the main gate and the large oak tree beyond it.
How could he have protected her? Would it truly have mattered if they'd kept their secret? It just would have been someone else.
The idea wasn't new to Harry. The same thought had run through his head many times that day, several times as he stood next to Hermione while she stirred the potion they shared. How was he supposed to protect them? How could he fight Voldemort when he wasn't there? How could he stop the Death Eaters if they ran from every confrontation with him? There was only one thing that would ever bring an end to all of this...
"Harry?" Hermione called out from the doorway. "Are you alright? You've missed dinner."
"I wasn't hungry," Harry lied. His stomach was aching for food, but Harry found a strange comfort in it, as if his suffering might somehow lessen whatever might be happening to Ginny.
"It's time for the meeting."
Silently, Harry stood and followed Hermione to the Room of Requirement where Cho stood watch by the door. She tried to hide the sympathetic look in her eyes, but Harry had seen too much in the last day to miss it. She nodded to Hermione.
"They're already here. We're just waiting for Zabini."
She opened the door and Harry followed Hermione in and sat in a large, stiff backed chair in one of the corners filled with books. Everyone seemed to be trying to avoid him as much as possible, but the wait for Blaise Zabini still seemed to last an eternity.
"Sorry about that," he announced when he finally arrived. "Nott didn't want to take a hint." He and Cho sat down as the rest of the room turned to look at the four Aurors who were standing against the far wall.
After the first minute or so of them talking Harry's mind had already started to wander. They weren't saying anything he didn't know or hadn't guessed. Ginny was gone. Voldemort had taken her. No one had any idea of where she was.
Some of the members asked questions about what had happened, and what the Aurors had done. Harry found the whole situation discouraging. They were already acting as if there was little hope of ever finding her. It was only a matter of time before someone else would ask the question Harry had stumbled upon last night.
"I—I know how this sounds..." Ernie said in a halting voice, "but how do we know she's still... er..."
"Alive?" one of the Aurors finished for him. "We don't. Dumbledore seems confident that the Death Eaters were not planning to kill her, but he won't say why." Harry could almost feel the Aurors looking at him as they continued. "I don't know how much we can trust his intuition."
"She's alive," Harry finally answered.
"Is there some reason you know that, Potter?" one of the older Aurors asked politely.
A bitter smile spread across Harry's face. "He wouldn't let her die without showing me."
The room was filled with an uncomfortable silence as they turned their eyes from Harry. He'd come to that conclusion not long after he'd first wondered if Ginny still lived. Certainly the knowledge that he was completely powerless to protect Ginny was one of the main purposes of taking her.
The Aurors moved on to other topics which were no more interesting than anything else they had said. They'd reminded everyone that they should pay attention to any small detail which might give them any idea where Ginny might be. They'd been particular in repeating this to Blaise and Daphne who seemed to regard the Aurors with some degree of distrust.
The meeting ended some time later, leaving Harry with no more knowledge than he'd brought, and less hope than he realized he had before. He returned to his empty dormitory, completely ignoring Hermione and the rest of the students in the common room.
He forced himself to sleep. He didn't care about dreams or visions. He didn't want to be cheered up or distracted. He simply wanted the empty oblivion of sleep and the passage of another night. His wishes and fears were both granted, as he quickly fell into a deep, troubled sleep.
He had no dreams and no visions. Instead he conjured the same image into his mind again and again. He pictured Ginny sitting alone and scared, huddled in the corner of some cold, dark room as she and Harry both waited to discover what her fate would be.
The image would not leave his mind, and when he woke up, he found that it was still there. Perhaps it had been a vision. If it were, it wasn't a terribly encouraging one, and if it was a dream then Harry knew that it would only get worse the next night.
The next day Ron returned to Hogwarts. He said little to Harry, and spent most of his time at Hermione's side. Harry made a habit of ignoring supper and taking only the lightest of lunches. He spent less time studying than Hermione would have wanted, but she said little more to Harry than Ron did.
The only good news, if good news were even possible, was that the Easter holidays were slowly approaching, and Harry would get at least a week without classes, professors, the D.A. or other students talking about him. Ron and Hermione would also be staying, along with only a very small number of other students. Most, it seemed, were more than happy to leave Hogwarts.
Harry avoided any thoughts about why this would be, and focused on trying to look forward to the holidays. What he wanted more than anything else was to simply be alone, and the holidays would provide him with that.
His dreams had gotten worse, as he'd feared. Harry was certain that he'd woken up Ron a number of times that night, but Ron never said anything about it. He rarely said anything at all to Harry.
Author's Notes:
I'd like to say I'm sorry, but I'm not. Again, this is just the way the plot works. You should at least see it through the next chapter or so before everyone runs off. There's still some interesting parts left.