Harry slammed onto a hard stone floor face first. He pushed himself up slowly, trying to clear his head. A cold laugh from behind him made him spin around and almost lose his balance once more.
"And so, you join me again. Welcome to my…aha…home.' said the soft, familiar voice.
"Mas…Voldemort.' Harry suppressed the word, but it was clear the Voldemort knew what he was on the verge of saying.
"Very good, very good."
Harry tore his eyes away from the snake-like face in front of him and snatched a look around. This was not where he had been brought to before. In fact, it reminded him of one of his few visits to Muggle London. The Dursleys had left Harry in Soho, no doubt hoping that someone would make off with him, while they took Dudley shopping. He had wandered the streets aimlessly before coming across the part of Soho known as China Town. The room which he now was in carried the same theme of decoration. He refused to listen to the part of his brain that was screaming his current location. The thought made him feel sick, and so he pushed it aside.
Voldemort smiled a cruel smile, as if he knew exactly what Harry was thinking. And of course he did, thanks to the parasite within Harry's mind.
"Welcome to China, Harry Potter."
Without quite knowing what was happening, Harry felt a strong surge of energy through his body. He grunted as the power left his body and travelled with lightning speed towards Voldemort. But the Dark Lord just waved his hand to the side and harmlessly deflected the wandless magic.
"I think," he said with a wicked gleam in his eye, "that you will need to be taught some respect."
Another cell. Harry felt this was getting old.
He had been dragged into this windowless room on the command of Voldemort, despite being ready for a blast of the Crucio spell, or something equally vile, but none had come. Only a curt command, followed by rough hands and winding corridors. And this cell. He had felt his way around in the blackness and guessed it was roughly one metre by two, barely enough for him to turn around in. He could lie down, but that was it.
Somewhere water was dripping erratically, one drop at a time. The noise echoed round the tiny chamber as Harry forced himself to calm down and think rationally.
"I must save my -drip- strength for whatever comes my -drip- way. I can't -drip- give up. I've got out of these -drip drip- situations before." he tried to marshal himself, but the tiny voice in the back of his mind countermanded his thoughts.
You let your friends take the brunt of the action for you. They were the ones who you let get hurt for your petty victories.
Harry tried to focus on other thoughts, but the sporadic dripping repeatedly distracted him, and he found himself waiting for the next small echoing noise. He could almost fool himself that they were evenly spaced, but in the back of his mind he knew that each drip took a slightly longer or shorter time to fall, giving a limping quality to the beat.
"If this continues I'm going to go mad." he said quietly to himself, trying to drown out the noise with his voice. It didn't work, he was still aware of the drips. He ripped the collar off the shirt he was wearing, and then managed to tear the strip of fabric in half with his teeth. The small task took his mind off the water. Ramming the wads of cloth into his ears, he lay down on the earthy floor of the cell. For a while he imagined he could still hear the drips, could almost feel the vibrations they made as they hit the floor. Then sleep crept up upon him, and he passed away into oblivion.
"Dumbledore and the Ministry have been alerted, Molly, there's nothing more we can do for the moment! Please try and calm down." Arthur Weasley looked in consternation at his nearly hysterical wife. She had been utterly incoherent when she initially Flooed him after Harry's disappearance, and she had not stopped crying with heaving sobs for the last hour.
"Don't tell me what to do! Oh! My poor boy, whatever will we do? How can we find him! I should have known that that letter wasn't from anyone we know!" She sank her head into her hands and almost howled. Arthur glanced in desperation towards Ginny, pale and drawn, and silently prayed that the young girl could help her mother.
"Um…mum?" she asked tentatively after correctly interpreting her father's look, "Mum, it's not your fault. Mum please, come upstairs and have some of that sleeping potion Dumbledore sent. I'm sure we'll know something by the time you wake up…"
Mrs. Weasley glared at her daughter, but allowed Ginny to take her hand and lead her upstairs. Arthur sank wearily down onto a chair.
"Where's Ron?" Fred and George burst into the kitchen, speaking at the same time.
"Dumbledore wants a word with him, about the letter" George added.
Mr. Weasley wordlessly gestured to the open garden door, through which Ron had slammed twenty minutes ago in sheer desperation. The twins looked at each other, and George set about making a pot of tea as Fred went into the garden to find his brother.
Ron was sitting by the hedge at the far end of the garden, holding the envelope that the letter had come in. He looked up as Fred approached, and began to speak as soon as his elder brother drew near enough to hear his quieted voice.
"I knew I'd seen this writing before. Harry had received a letter from You-Know-Who a few weeks before we broke up for Christmas. It was written in this exact same script. I knew I'd seen it before." Ron's voice trembled although his expression didn't waver. "If I had thought for a second, if I had just thought instead of stupidly handing it over to him, I would have realised. I could have stopped him going, Fred!"
Fred awkwardly patted his brother's hand.
"We knew Harry would not be as well protected here as elsewhere. I don't think there was anything any of us could have done against You-Know-Who." he paused for a second to let this sink in. "Dumbledore's just Apparated here, he wants to speak with you."
Ron nodded miserably and followed Fred back into the house.
Dumbledore looked up from his tea as Ron slouched into the kitchen. Mr. Weasley caught the look from the Headmaster, and shepherded Fred and George out of the kitchen, absentmindedly patting Ron's head as he passed. The boy pulled out a chair and sat down as the old man stirred his tea with his wand. Ron stared at the table morosely for a few minutes, waiting for the Headmaster to speak. Finally Dumbledore cleared his throat and broke the silence.
"Who do you think the letter was from, Mr. Weasley?" Ron looked up, an expression of incredulity on his face. Could Dumbledore really not know? Noting the look on his face, Dumbledore continued. "Then what I thought might happen has come to pass. Very well."
"Do you know where he is, sir?" Ron expected nothing more than a negative answer to the question, and registered no surprise when he received one.
"But we have reason to assume that Voldemort is somewhere in the Far East. There has been much Dark activity on the border of China and Russia recently, or rather, one of Russia's many outlying states. Upon my advice, a squad of Aurors have been sent to China to see what they can find out. I can only hope they reach Harry in time."
Ron nodded despondently, acutely aware that there was little he could do to help his friend now. He scratched the table top for a minute before asking the question that was bothering him.
"Is Harry alive?"
"I cannot say Mr. Weasley, for I do not know." Dumbledore said gravely. "But we must not give up hope."
Ron sighed then nodded his head. It would be Christmas in a handful of days, but there would be no celebration this year if…if the worst happened.
"Well, goodbye Mr. Weasley. I shall be in touch with any further developments. If you can think of any way of contacting Harry however, please do so as soon as you can." Dumbledore slowly got up from the table and moved over to the fireplace. Blue flames shot from his wand and he stepped into their fluorescent depths. Ron turned and headed for the stairs before Dumbledore's figure had faded from the hearth, but he knew he had to speak to Hermione. There had to be some way of contacting Harry. Some little thing they had overlooked. Whatever it may be, Hermione would know.
A/N: Exams are over! Woo! Now I can get on with what I love best…this story!
Thank you's
Kirbinite: I just had to put him in China. So many things I can do to him out there, and not just magic things either….
Tondo-the-half-elf: Good to see you back! Hope you continue to enjoy it! I love writing this, will be sad when it's over. (Not too sure when that will be, I have two alternative endings and havent decided which way I want it to go yet.)
Circe la Fay: written. Now you must do the same. I expect to see my story self up very soon.
Fippets: Same goes for you.
silly seal: thank you! Am updating as quickly as possible…
Queen Weasel: Well, I don't think any will get hurt in this story, but who can tell what Voldemort will do?
Dr Rubadinghy: hehe they shall all come to get you and carry you off to a mysterious film set in Royston valley where the inhabitants have both light sabres and wands….
