DISCLAIMER: I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters used hereafter.
CHAPTER 2: RESCUED
Harry and Ron just stared, eyes wide with shock, at the spot that Hermione had been floating in moments before. What had happened to her? How could she just disappear like that? What had Malfoy done?
The two were snapped back to reality by a cold, manic laughter. It was Malfoy. He was laughing, it seemed, uncontrollably as though he had finally managed to do something he'd spent his whole life trying to do. Slowly the other Deatheaters started to join in. It was sickening. How could they just laugh? Harry was filled with so much rage that he leaped up, his arms bound tightly by his side, and ran straight for the nearest Deatheater knocking him over. The laughter stopped and all the Deatheaters pulled out their wands and trained them on Harry. "Now, now Harry" came Bellatrix's voice from underneath one of the masks, "that mudblood got exactly what she deserved." Harry tried to speak but the piece of cloth stuffed in his mouth and down his throat made him choke.
By now Ron was on his feet too, his face bright red and his anger radiating. Ron managed to spit out his gag. "WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO HER? YOU'LL PAY FOR THIS YOU BASTARDS!" he yelled at them spit flying from his mouth and a look of pure disgust on his face. "You stupid weasel, I can see why they called her the brains of the group. You two are hopeless, you cant even tell a simple spell when you see one?" an evil smirk played on Malfoys face, "She knew what it was. She knew what was going to happen to her. "STOP TALKING ABOUT HER IN THE PAST TENSE YOU BASTARD! SHE CAN'T BE DEAD!" "Oh no, Weasley, she's not dead. Just a bit LOST if you get what I mean." "I DO NOT KNOW WHAT YOU..." but Rons words were drowned out by screams of pain from the surrounding Deatheaters as each fell to the ground writhing in pain. Ron sent Harry a questioning look, but Harry just dropped to the ground. Ron copied him.
After the chaos had ended and all the Deatheaters were lying on the ground incapacitated, there was an eerie silence. The two boys lay face down on the ground neither daring to move.
Shortly they heard footsteps approaching an each felt himself being pulled up by the scruff of the neck and planted firmly on his feet. Looking up they came face to face with a grim looking Kingsley Shacklebot. It was The Order. 'They're here to help. Everything will be all right.' thought Harry. Kingsley quickly undid the bindings on the two boys and strode off to check if any of the Deatheaters were still conscious.
The sound of someone clearing their throat behind them made the two swing around and come face to face with Remus Lupin. "Where's Hermione?" he asked a look in his eyes that said he suspected the worst. "We... We don't know. It was Malfoy. He did something to her... She just... disappeared." said Harry. Lupin tensed up "She's dead? Was it some sort of spell?" "She's not dead..." whispered Ron. Harry opened his mouth but then closed it again. He was completely lost for words. He couldn't remember the incantation Malfoy had cast which meant there was little hope of reversing it. He looked to Ron for help. "He said she was 'lost' somewhere," continued Ron in a disturbingly quiet voice compared to his recent outburst, looking at Harry as he said it. Lupin looked from one to the other, his face now expressionless. "Don't worry, we'll find out what he did to her and get her back. Dumbledore will know what to do." he put a hand on each of the boys' shoulders and steered them away from the site of destruction that surrounded them.
Picking up a discarded shoe on the way he muttered the spell that would turn it into a portkey to Dumbledore's office. "Here," he said, "take this to Dumbledore's office and wait for him there. Then you can tell him everything that happened." With that he turned and walked back to start the clean up. Harry and Ron looked at each other and then each extended a finger and touched the old shoe. Both felt the familiar tug somewhere around their naval the naval and watched as the world dissolved around them. With a thud their feet collided with the floor of Dumbledore's office.
Both staggered for a moment but regained their balance. Traveling by portkey was never a fun experience. Both boys collapsed gratefully into the chairs in front of Dumbledore's desk, neither really believing that he was really there. It was all so like a dream. How could she just be gone? This was worse than if she'd actually died. She was out there somewhere all alone. Usually the many instruments lying around Dumbledore's office would have fascinated both, but today neither even noticed them.
As the two sat in a daze, neither noticed Dumbledore step out of the fireplace and sit down in front of them. When neither moved Dumbledore cleared his throat. "Harry, Ron, I heard what happened to Hermione. Or at least what you told Remus, but right now I really need you to tell me exactly what happened so we can help her." the usual twinkle in his eyes was gone and they were filled with sorrow. Harry, looking up and noticing that Ron had now gone past his initial rage and was too lost in his thoughts to notice anything going on around him, sat up straighter to address Dumbledore.
"Well you see sir," he began, his trembling slightly, "As you know we've been trying to figure out a way to get Sirius back from behind that veil." Dumbledore nodded for him to go on. "We snuck out last night to go to the Department of Mysteries and investigate the veil ourselves. We were there for a while, Hermione had her books out flicking through them searching for anything that could help us while Ron and I tried to find something that could help us figure it out. While we were all distracted by this somebody must have sneaked in because when we were just about to leave we all noticed that the door was wide open when we knew we'd closed it behind us. We decided to find out who it was so we followed all the open doors until we came to one that we heard voices behind. Through a crack in the door we could see Deatheaters all huddled around something. It was then that one of them, who had apparently been out looking for something, was suddenly standing behind us. He shouted for the others to come quick so we ran for the exit but found it blocked. It was then that Hermione pulled us towards one of fireplaces in the entrance hall that was still lit and used flu powder to get us out of there. I don't know what the name of the place she took us was, but it was out of the Ministry so I didn't care. We were in a small house in the middle of a forest so we ran out knowing that the Deatheaters would soon follow and that our best chance was to run and hide." at this point he chose to leave out the part about being animagi, "We ran for ages through the forest, we could hear them behind us. Eventually we managed to break free of it and ran out through a field but then we came upon a cliff, the one that the Order members found us on. We couldn't go any further and the Deatheaters were right behind us so we turned and readied ourselves for them. When they came, we attacked them but they outnumbered us and quickly overpowered us. When we came to Ron and I were bound up and it appeared that they had only just managed to subdue Hermione. Malfoy started to talk; he said that he wanted to have some fun with us before he brought us to Voldemort. He decided that he was going to torture Hermione first. So he cast the cruciatus curse on her. When she didn't scream he grabbed her and threw her down. Her left arm made a horrible crunching sound which he seemed to enjoy so he threw her against a tree and she hit her back pretty hard. Then she just lay there on the ground not moving. I though she was dead, but then he picked her up again and threw her down in front of him. He kept casting laceration spells on her cutting her over and over until she had lost a lot of blood. Then he levitated her over the side of the cliff and started to mutter some sort of incantation on her. I can't remember what it was exactly but he said that he was sending her somewhere that she'd never come back from. He said she was 'lost'. Then The Order turned up and Lupin sent us here to you."
It felt good to get it all out and Harry was glad that Dumbledore let him without interruption. Dumbledore stood and walked over to a cabinet where he took out his pensieve. "You have been through a lot, although you have been through more before. I will ask one more thing of you before you go to the hospital wing. I would like you to open your mind to me and allow me to extract your memories of tonight so I may examine them. It will also clear your mind. You may have the memory back when I am finished it you wish, but that is up to you. I will take Mr. Weasley's as well in case there is something in his that is not in yours." Harry nodded. Ron didn't even respond but Harry knew he wouldn't object. Dumbledore raised his wand to Harry's temple, which cleared his mind of all but that night's memory, and extracted the long silver thread from it and placed it in the pensieve. He did the same to Ron and then nodded to Harry who helped Ron up from his seat and lead him to the door. Where was Hermione right now? Would they ever see her again?
A/N: This is sort of a filler chapter with some background stuff. I don't want to rush this story too much. Believe me it's hard not to just go right ahead and spill all the beans right now. There are still some parts that I'm unsure of anyway but it will all come together in the end (I hope). I'll be updating quite regularly, probably twice a week, but definitely at least once. Thanks for reading and please review!
And now some acknowledgements:
PaulC: I don't think writing is my strong point, or at least Mr. Bredin and all my past English teachers don't. Yes you DO like spacing things but I do know what you mean that it's easier to read. Thanks for being my first reviewer
amrawo: Thanks. I never thought people would actually like it. I hope you like this chapter as much as you say you liked the first one.
whogirl: Sorry, you'll have to wait until the next chapter to find out what the spell did ;) . I don't want to rush things too much. Thanks for reviewing.
Remmy's Gurl: Hehe, I know. I'm really bad when it comes to leaving things as cliffhangers. I love doing it though; it makes the story more exciting I think. I'm not so good at grammar myself. I'm flattered that you think it's so good blushes Thanks for reviewing and UPDATE 'SUDDENLY DIFFERENT"! I WANNA KNOW WHAT HAPPENS! Evil cliffhangers… lol