DISCLAIMER: The only thing living being that is in my possession at the moment is my evil kitty, Raven, not Harry Potter. Such a pity.
A/N: Still don't have internet. Checked my email (briefly) at Braxton Motor and I couldn't believe the number of Inboxes I had. I have a lot to read when I get my internet back. Oh, um…since I didn't get to read any of your guy's reviews, I didn't really know where to take this chapter. I'm hoping none of you are disappointed or mad at me in any way, shape, or form.
Chapter 28:
"Thank you so much for doing this Lauren," Sirius said for what must have been the fiftieth time that night. Him and Remus were getting ready to head for the Order meeting.
Lauren smiled. "It's no problem, Sirina is a doll. Besides, I'm glad to finally meet you after all I heard about you from Hermione."
Sirius paused. "She talked about me?"
Remus groaned and ran a hand over his face. "Does it really matter?"
Sirius glared at his friend. "Of course it matters."
Lauren chuckled. "Of course she talked about you, you are the love of her life after all. All nice things, though, well…mostly nice things."
Sirius smiled. "That's good."
Lauren looked around, a slight frown appearing on her face as she obviously didn't see what she was searching for. "Where is Hermione anyways?"
"Er….."
"Um….."
"Well….."
"You…er…see…."
"She had a….."
"….a….."
"..a…family emergency!" Sirius answered quickly.
"Oh my," Lauren exclaimed, "what happened?"
Remus narrowed his eyes at Sirius. Now they had to think up something else.
"Well….," Sirius started slowly, glancing at Moony for help which the werewolf was not offering to give freely, "her aunt, widowed aunt that is, came down with a chest cold and needed Hermione's help around the house for a bit. Yes, that's it."
Lauren's frown deepened. "A chest cold?"
"She's quite old," Remus added, helping his dense friend out of the mess he had gotten himself into.
"Oh. I do hope she's alright," Lauren said earnestly.
Sirius smiled at the young girl. She is so trusting, he thought to himself. Then he frowned. What if she let strangers into the house?
"Um…listen Lauren, while we're gone, will you keep the doors locked?"
Lauren looked at him strangely. "Why?"
"I would feel a lot better if you just kept the doors locked and not let anyone in."
Lauren smiled. "Oh, I get it. You're one of those overly protective parents, aren't you?"
"Um….," Sirius started, unsure of whether he should agree or not, "yeah, sure."
"Don't worry, I'll keep the doors locked and not let anyone in the house besides yourself and Mr. Lupin here. You can trust me, Mr. Black."
"I do trust you," Sirius said truthfully. "I just don't trust the other 20 billion or so people out there." He paused. "I don't know how long we'll be gone for."
Lauren waved a hand in the air to stop him and smiled. "Oh don't worry about that. If you need me to keep her for the night, I'm sure my mum will run over and pick us up."
Sirius nodded. "Better do that, just don't walk home."
"I'll call mum," Lauren said. "You two can go on, I'll lock the doors behind me. I better go pack a bag for Sirina too while I'm at it. Don't worry about her."
Sirius smiled. "I can't help that. It comes with being a parent."
Lauren laughed. "Okay. Just give me a call sometime tomorrow and I'll either bring her over or I'll give you directions so you can come pick her up."
"I'll come get her, I owe you that at least and so much more. Thank you, you are a life savor. We better get going or we'll be late."
Sirius kissed the top of his daughter's head. "Bye baby girl, I'll see you sometime tomorrow and mummy may be home too. Be good for Lauren."
He handed his daughter over to the teenager. "Thank you," he said as he walked out the door behind the werewolf who moved to the corner of the room.
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The single torch flickered as the door was swept open, the hinges creaking in the eerie silence echoing off the cell's stone walls. A figure entered in a swirl of billowing cloak, icy-blue eyes shining in the incalculable darkness.
"Hello son."
Draco looked up and glared at the man who he had once called father. "Lucius," he growled through clenched teeth. His jaw gave a lurch of protest at the stiffening since it was still sore from the multiple punches he had received.
Lucius smirked the famous Malfoy-smirk and began to walk closer to his 'son.' "I just thought I would come and check up on you."
"Yeah, I bet," Draco returned sarcastically. He narrowed his eyes on his father. "What do you want?"
"I just thought I would come and tell you that I have finally won," Lucius boasted.
"What?" Draco feared what his father meant by that little statement.
Lucius' eyes lit up in delight. "I won. She is now mine."
Draco closed his eyes and took a deep, shuddering breath. "Who?"
The Dark Lord chuckled. "Why, Hermione of course. But there was never any question that I would win, it was just when I would accomplish my mission."
"No," Draco said at once, his voice rising with defiance, "I do not believe you. Hermione would never give herself over to you. She loves…."
"Yes, yes, yes. She loves that filthy blood traitor Black, I know," Lucius said sardonically. Then he smiled, "But I have found that with the right…persuasion…you can convince anyone to do anything, even our dear Hermione."
"What did you do?" Draco demanded, anger flashing in his eyes in the darkness.
The Dark Lord smiled at his son and ran a hand casually through his long blonde hair. "Actually, I didn't even know what that muggle would cause Hermione to do when I brought her in there. But in the end, the only thing that matters is that Hermione surrendered herself to me. She is mine."
"She will never be yours!" Draco yelled. "You might get her body but you will never have her heart or mind. Those belong to Sirius and always will!"
Lucius sneered and drew his wand, pointing it at his wounded son on the floor at his feet. "How dare you talk to me that way! I am the Dark Lord!"
"I will talk to you however I wish. I do not fear you. You are no Dark Lord!"
"Crucio!"
Lucius smiled in satisfaction as his son's screams filled the small cell, echoing off the walls and into the silence of the dungeon. He lifted the curse.
"Now, where were we? Oh yes, Hermione will submit herself over to me in due time. I will have her love along with her mind," Lucius said determinedly.
Draco managed a light laugh though he was in pain. "Do you really believe that? Hermione is stronger than any torture you could ever put her through. You'll never break her."
Lucius drew himself up to full height. "I will," he said convincingly, anger tinting his voice. "But enough of that, I have also come to tell you that I no longer have any use for you."
Draco stared up at his father, trying to hid his fear. "What?"
Lucius smirked. "Ah, you are finally afraid, good. You were brought here to convince Hermione to come to me willingly. She has done that so now you are no longer needed."
"What are you going to do with me then?"
"Why, have you killed of course along with Severus Snape, I dare say Hermione will thank me for that death. I, sadly, won't be the one to do it," Lucius smiled cockily, "I have more….pleasurable…things to attend to. I'll tell Hermione that you say hello."
Draco could only stare at his father as the Dark Lord swept out of the room and towards Hermione. He sent up a silent prayer for help, they would all need it.
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"Is there any news?" Sirius asked Molly Weasley as soon as him and Moony apparated in number 12, Grimmauld Place. They had found a secluded piece of woods near the cottage where they could disapperate from without any muggle spotting them.
Molly greeted them at the door with a small frown on her face. "I don't know. I just received a letter myself from Dumbledore about the meeting. I do hope it's good news."
"It is," Sirius said at once, more to convince himself than anyone else. "It has to be."
Molly pursed her lips but did not say anything. She knew how much Sirius was depending on any news of Hermione's whereabouts, they all knew.
"Is anyone else here Molly?" Remus asked from behind the animagus as he took off his shabby jacket and hung it on a coat rack.
"Tonks is in the kitchen along with Alastor and Bill. Harry and Ginny are all upstairs waiting for you two to arrive. I think Harry wished to speak with you Sirius." (I almost brought Ron back here until I remembered that he was supposed to be dead…oops)
Sirius nodded and headed up the stairs while Remus went into the kitchen to seek out Tonks.
Sirius listened for voices as he walked along the hallways, looking for Harry. As he heard the distinctive baritone, he knocked lightly on the door.
"Come in," Ginny called from inside.
Sirius opened the door up a crack and smiled at the occupants. Ginny and Harry were stretched out on the bed, Harry's arm encircling Ginny's waist protectively.
"Hello Harry, Ginny."
"Sirius," Harry grinned largely at his godfather as he rose from the bed, removing his arm from around Ginny in the process. "You're finally here."
"Yes, just got here and Molly told me that you wanted to talk to me."
Ginny frowned and looked at Harry. "You never mentioned anything about talking to Sirius."
Harry flushed. "Er….I wanted to….ah…talk to him about….some things."
"About what?" Ginny asked curiously.
Harry kissed the tip of her nose and quickly hopped off the bed. "I'll tell you later. Right now, I have some things I need to discuss with Sirius."
He grabbed Sirius by the arm and rushed out of the room before Ginny could ask any more questions. They didn't stop walking until they were inside the library.
"Right," Harry said once he locked the door and put up the necessary charms so no one could listen in to their conversation, "I needed to talk to you."
Sirius smiled, "I kind of guessed that much."
"Well…," Harry started slowly, a light pink blush staining his cheeks, "you see, with everything that has been happening lately…"
"You mean Hermione getting kidnapped and Ron getting killed…"
"Yeah," Harry said quickly. "Well, it's made me think about some things, mainly my life."
"What about it?"
"I just don't want to miss out on anything. You and Hermione have been through so much so far and you're still together. I…I just want to know that Ginny will always be there with me."
Sirius placed a comforting hand on Harry's shoulder. "She will be, she loves you Harry. That's the most important thing. Love can overcome any obstacle."
"I know it can and I love her too. It's just…"
"You don't want to take any chances," Sirius finished for him.
Harry nodded and looked his godfather in the eyes. "I want to marry her."
"Then ask her," Sirius told Harry with a large grin on his face.
"I'm going to, but I thought I'd ask you first."
Sirius frowned. "Why did you want to ask me first."
"Cause I reckon I would have talked this over with my dad…and well, I've always thought of you as a father to me," Harry admitted softly. "I mean, I know you have your own daughter and everything…"
Sirius closed the distance between them and hugged his godson. "You have no idea how much that means to me. You have always been like a son and a best friend to me. You are so much like your father, he would be so proud of you and I'm sure he would love Ginny too. Marry her, Harry. Don't wait, you'll only regret it later."
Harry hugged Sirius closer and blinked back the unshed tears shining in his emerald green eyes. "I will. And when we find Hermione, marry her."
Sirius laughed. "I plan on it. I'm not letting her get away again."
A small knock on the door brought them apart.
"Who is it?" Sirius called.
"It's me," the familiar voice of Remus Lupin called through the oak door. "Dumbledore is here." Pause. "He knows where Hermione is."
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A/N: Ha, ha, ha. Evil place for me to leave it and with no internet to update for a bit. I should be getting my internet back soon though. This weekend we're going to Gatlinburg so it probably won't be till next week. I hope none of you were disappointed with the chapter. I couldn't read your guy's reviews for the last chapter so I really had no clue where to take this chapter. I'm hoping to wrap this up in 3-4 more chapters. One will be a epilogue. This has become a lot longer than I originally thought it would be. But anywho….
Thank you Daniel who I have once again (somehow) talked into updating for me. I love ya hun! (Though not as much as you-know-who) : )
Please review. I'll try to check my email at school since it has once again started. I have one class 6th period where it is only me. I love it. I have the WHOLE classroom to myself! Oh, the quiet year I will have.
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW!