A/N: Ekk, ekkk, squeal, squeal... ok, ok, so that may not be necessary right now, but pretty close huh? The story?... well... err-- I had lost this story. Fred tried to help me piece together the pieces from the small amounts that I would send her, and that she'd keep; which, needless to say, didn't work so hot. So me, and my genious self, figured out that if I took the file which I had saved onto a disk (it refused to open... either corrupt or Fred put a jynx on it...), then transfered it onto a CD, then opened it up, and painstakingly re-formated it by hand and-- well, I got the chapters! Ok, it's safe, you guys can wake up now, I'm done rambling. In short, I now have quite a few chapters lined up for this story, and my interest has been re-sparked so there will be more to come. Enjoy!
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"What are you looking at?" Hermione finally found her words as she as saw Harry's wide eyes.
Silence followed her question until an enormous voice boomed out, "HARRY!"
Immediately many things happened all at once. Hermione swung her head around to see who was there just as none other than Ron Weasley walked in, Tabitha came running into the hall, followed by a small golden retriever puppy-- who Harry assumed was Chex-- and finally all of their worlds went black. Harry's first thought was that it was some sort of dark magic, but the loud, house shaking crack of thunder that followed proved otherwise. For a moment everything was quiet. Quiet and dark.
"T-Tabitha?" the quivering voice came from Hermione.
"Yeah," the small response came.
"Ron, it that you here?" Hermione questioned in the still blackness.
"Ummm," there was a pause, "Yeah, I think so."
"Errr--" there was a sense of hesitation in Hermione's voice when she spoke again, "Lumos!"
Suddenly a bright light came from the wand extending from Hermione's arm. Everything came into view, and everyone froze. Ron stood wide-eyed, his gaze shifting from Tabitha, Chex, Hermione and finally Harry. Hermione looked as if she were about to faint as Tabitha stared in awe at the wand. Harry, on the other hand, was grinning from ear to ear at the site of his other best friend.
"Hermione," Ron's voice squeaked, "What's going on?"
Hermione gave a small, strangled laugh as she managed a quiet, "I don't know."
Harry looked around. Everyone seemed to be in a stunned stare, and he knew something had to be done.
"Hey Tabitha," Harry spoke, "Do you have a flashlight around here?"
"Yeah," Tabitha nodded slowly, still looking at Hermione's wand, "There in the desk by the stairs."
Harry stood up, and opened the small drawer on the desk in front of him. Sure enough there was a small flashlight inside it. Harry turned it on, and walked over and handed it to Tabitha, "Here. Why don't you go see if you can find Chex-- I think he went down the hall."
"Alright," Tabitha nodded eagerly, running down the hall-- clearly more excited about playing with the flashlight than actually finding the small puppy.
Once Tabitha was giggling off in the other room, Ron, red faced, and wet, took one large steps, and grabbed Harry in an enormous bear hug. Giving up on his feeble attempt to hold back his emotions, Harry hugged his friend back, letting the tears flow freely down his own face. When they finally moved apart, Hermione was crying uncontrollably beside them.
"You're a bloody lunatic mate!" Ron cried out laughing.
Harry grinned-- the whole front of him now wet from Ron, "You're not high on the smarter side of the scale either Ron. What did you do, walk here all the way from the Burrow?"
Ron shook his head, "No, but it feels like it. I came here to see Hermione."
Hermione, positively howling at this time, threw her arms around Ron. She looked him in the eyes, opened her mouth to say something, then shut it again, overwhelmed by tears.
"Hermione," Harry stepped forward, "Calm down."
It took a few moments, but finally Ron and Harry managed to calm their friend down, and the three began to talk.
When done, Harry sighed, "Ok lets get all this straight. Ron, you're here because you need help--"
"And I honestly think you have to tell us what the problem is if you want us to help," Hermione interrupted.
Ron remained silent, which is the way he had been, Harry noticed, since they'd sat down. Harry paused a moment, looking at Ron, before he continued, "And I am here because Mum told me this place was protected. So as long as I stay here, I'll be safe."
"So long as you don't leave," Hermione put in, then looked at Ron, "Would you like to talk about it now? I mean, I'm sure you didn't come all this way just for nothing."
Ron looked up, and Harry and Hermione were surprised to see tears coming down his face as he spoke in a soft whisper, "It's-it's you-know-who. He--" Ron took a deep breath, "He took Mum, Dad, Fred, George, Charlie, Bill and Ginny. He told me to come here and I'd be able to save them. To get them back."
"Oh my gosh," Hermione cried, pulling Ron into a hug, "I'm so sorry Ron! But what would Voldemort want with your family? And how would I be able to help?"
"I don't know," Ron sobbed.
Harry's eyes suddenly widened as he looked at them, "I know."
"What?" Hermione asked curiously.
Harry swallowed hard before answering, "He knows. Voldemort knows I'm alive and that I'm here. He wants me," he turned to face Ron, "He'll let your family go in exchange for me."
...to be continued...
A/N: Wow, I must just be making everyone happy now. Well... at least the people that enjoy my writing... namely Fred. I've updated all my stories, am making new ones, and finishing up old ones. I'm in a writing mood lately, and so am pumping out lots of stuff. I hope you're enjoying this story. Only one way to find out-- review! Thanks!