Disclaimer: Harry Potter and belongs to J.K. Rowling, not me.
A/N: I'm sorry for the delayed update, but I was really busy, and then I had to get my other fic updated cause it took me even longer to get that one updated. But now I seem to be in more of a writing mood, so hopefully that means that the update won't take as long for the next chapter (I hope I hope I hope). Anyway, thank you so much to everyone who reviewed last chapter!
FallenThrough – alright, here are the answers to your questions: you'll find out where they are later, they're not in the dark forest, they did not go back in time, and they're not in the same country. I hope the update didn't take too long, and thanks for the review!
Chantal J and Sam, m, Londonmalfoy, Sunflower18, midnightwanderer01 – thanks for the reviews! I'm glad you alllike it!
marajade64 – thank you! I'm glad you think so. I hope you like this chapter too!
elektra30 – yay! I'm so glad you liked the chapter so much, I hope you enjoy this one as well. Thanks for the review (and update your fic again I want to read more! lol )
totally-spaz – you'll find out where they are eventually, as soon as they find out where they are. Thanks for the review!
Chapter 5: Searching for Hermione and Draco
"And did you see the way I stopped that last quaffle? It just about flew through my fingertips!" cried Ron jubilantly as he and Harry entered the castle after practicing quidditch all afternoon.
"Yeah mate, you were awesome" agreed Harry, who was relieved that Ron had done so well. He really didn't want to have to cut Ron from the team at tryouts, and their practice that afternoon gave him confidence that he wouldn't have to.
"I wonder why Hermione didn't come watch," Ron said with a hint of disappointment in his tone.
"She's probably just studying in the common room or talking with Ginny. I'm sure she'd love to hear all about how well you did though."
"Yeah," Ron perked up again, "I'll tell her about how I . . ."
Harry tuned Ron out as he began another slightly over-exaggerated replay of his most impressive saves. But Ron didn't seem to care that Harry wasn't listening, and he continued talking all through the castle until they reached the common room. Once inside, the boys spotted Ginny, and went to sit by the fire with her.
"Hey, where's Hermione?" asked Ron as soon as he plopped down onto the couch.
Ginny shrugged and kept her eyes on her essay, "I don't know, she never came back from the library. I assumed she went down to the pitch to watch you, but maybe she's still studying."
"But she didn't bring any of her books with her," Ron said with a frown.
"And there's no way in hell she and Malfoy would spend that long together without killing each other," added Harry.
Ron's eyes went wide and he grabbed Harry's shoulder so tight that it hurt.
"Oww!" Harry jerked away, "Geeze, relax mate, I didn't mean it literally!"
"Right, I knew that," agreed Ron, sounded much more relieved. "But why don't we go to the library any way, just to see how she's doing?"
Ron, Harry, and Ginny piled out of the common room, "you know" said Ginny as they started down the hall, "I bet she just started reading some book and lost track of time."
"You're probably right," agreed Harry.
Ron nodded, but plowed ahead nonetheless.
The three Gryffindors received a suspicious look from Madam Pince when they arrived. It seemed as though the librarian was always wary when too many students entered the library at once. To expedite their search, Harry went to the left, Ginny to the right, and Ron searched the middle. After ten minutes of searching, they reconvened at the front, each looking quite a bit more worried than before. "Any luck?" asked Ron, although he knew the answer was clearly 'no'.
"Umm, maybe she got hungry and went down to the Great Hall, I mean it is already dinner time," suggested Ginny.
"Could be," agreed Harry, although something inside him doubted it.
Ron didn't say anything; instead he turned on his heel and flew out of the library. Harry and Ginny followed at his heels, and while they weren't running, they were walking fast enough to draw curious expressions from the students they passed along the way. Ron threw the Great Hall doors open much harder than normal, causing heads to turn but he and the others paid no attention. They immediately rushed to the Gryffindor table, but their sense of worry only increased when they saw no sign of Hermione's bushy hair.
"Hey guys," Ron interrupted a conversation between Dean, Seamus, Lavender and Parvati, "Have any of you seen Hermione? We've been looking all over for her."
"Nope," the four Gryffindors shook their heads, "you sure she's not in the library?"
"That's the first place we looked," said Harry.
"Well, if we see her, we'll tell her you're looking for her," said Lavender.
"Thanks," Harry said before he Ginny and Ron stepped aside to talk.
"You guys don't think that Malfoy did anything to her, do you," asked Ginny.
"I wouldn't put it passed him," said Harry.
"Bloody git-faced ferret," muttered Ron "If he's hurt her, I swear I'll kill him."
"Right behind you mate," agreed Harry.
The two boys led the way out of the Great Hall towards the dungeons. Ron looked absolutely livid, and he charged down the stairs so fast you'd think he fell. But despite his anger, he was unable to hide his surprise when he literally crashed into Pansy Parkinson, who was fuming just as furiously as Ron.
- - - - - - - - - -
"Crabbe, Goyle! Where's Draco?" Pansy demanded once the two gorilla-sized Slytherin's entered the common room carrying armfuls of sweets from dinner. They both shrugged and looked around stupidly in response. "Well, was he in the Great Hall with you two?" she pressed, thinking that perhaps they were too stupid to have remembered eating with Draco at first.
"No, he wasn't with us," answered Crabbe.
"Ugh, where the hell is he?" Pansy fumed. She threw down her book down causing a bottle of ink on the table to topple over.
"What's your problem?" demanded Theodore Nott, who yanked his essay off the table just in time to avoid having it covered in ink.
"Draco!" yelled Pansy, "where the hell is he, he should have been back from studying with the mudblood hours ago!"
"Evanesco!" Nott cleaned the ink from the table and put his essay back down. "Why don't you just go to the library and get him if you care so much?"
"I will," and with that, Pansy left her books in the common room while she went searching for Draco in the library.
Once at the library, Pansy threw the door open, causing several students to drop their books in surprise, and Madam Pince to angrily 'shhh' at her. Pansy scowled at the librarian, and then charged to the back of the library. "Draco!" she whispered angrily. But there was no answer. She walked up and down every isle of shelves hissing Draco's name, but not finding him anywhere. She finally reached the restricted section, and for a few moments she debated slipping inside and looking for Draco in there, but she glanced back and saw Madam Pince's hawk eyes on her, as if waiting for her to cross the line. Pansy sneered, but didn't push her luck, instead she just called in a whisper "Draco? Draco!"
Pansy heard quick shark steps coming up behind her, and she knew that she was about to be kicked out from the library. "Are you looking for something?" The stern voice of the librarian said.
Has anyone been into the restricted section today?" Pansy asked, ignoring Madam Pince's question.
"No, no one has been in there today. Now, if you're not here to study I must insist that you leave now."
Pansy rolled her eyes, but stomped out of the library anyhow.
Madam Pince followed Pansy's progress with narrowed, suspicious eyes. She then went inside the restricted section to make sure that no one had slipped her notice and gotten in without her knowing it. But the restricted section was empty as usual. As she closed the door leading to the restricted section, she noticed a book lying open on the floor in the next isle. She muttered something about lazy, sloppy children not respecting books properly. She moved forward, lifted the book, noticing that the title was half faded as she did so, but she knew what the book was called anyway. She replaced "The complete Guide to Wizarding Transportation: A journey through time, space, and dimension" back to its place on the shelf and then returned to her post at her desk.
Pansy was furious that she had not found Draco, and as she stood outside the library with her arms crossed, the answer came to her. "Mudblood!" she hissed under her breath. She then went storming back to the dungeons to get reinforcements. She was willing to bet anything that the mudblood and her two guard dogs were responsible for Draco's disappearance. Why hadn't she thought of it before? She was positive that while he had been studying with Granger, Potter and Weasley must have snuck up behind him and hexed him. Then they must have hidden him, assuming no one would try to find him. But they were wrong, and she was going to force them to tell her what they did, and then after she found him and made sure he was alright, they'd make those three Gryffindor idiots pay, dearly.
Pansy hardly paid attention to where she was going as she plowed through the labyrinth of dungeon corridors to the common room. She barked the password and crashed into the common room causing all heads to turn. Most just looked to see who it was, then went back to their work, but those who knew where she had gone wore curious expressions.
"Couldn't find him?" Nott asked.
"No, and I think I know why," answered Pansy, "I think that mudblood and her two friends must have cursed Draco while he was studying. I'm going to find them and make them pay, whose coming with me?"
"Those three idiots, take on Draco? Not a chance! They couldn't do anything to him, he'd hex them all at once before they even had time to draw their wands!" argued Nott.
"Not if he and Granger were studying, and Potter and Weasley hexed him from behind," reasoned Pansy.
Nott considered this, "I wouldn't have thought they'd have the guts to attack someone from behind, but then again, considering who we're talking about you're probably right."
"So are you coming with me to make them suffer and find Draco?" asked Pansy.
"Absolutely," Nott tossed his stuff down, "Crabbe, Goyle, come on we're going to beat up Gryffindors!"
Crabbe and Goyle got up and flexed their muscles; they looked almost as excited as they did around mealtimes. Meanwhile, Nott went over to the entrance to the boys dormitories and shouted, "Oi, Blaise! We're going to go beat up the Gryffindor Golden Trio and make them pay for hexing Malfoy, you in?"
After a moment, they heard Blaise stomp up the stairs, "the Gryffindors hexed Draco?" he asked.
"They must have, cause Pansy can't find him anywhere, and last we checked, he was studying for the stupid transfiguration project with the mudblood," Nott answered.
"Alright," Blaise agreed, "I'm in."
"Great let's go!" Pansy took control and led the gang of Slytherins into the dungeons.
They were charging along, Pansy so blinded by thoughts of mutilating the three responsible for Draco's disappearance that she did not hear the footsteps racing down the stairs. She did not have time to stop, or even slow down before she crashed directly into someone's chest. Pansy stumbled back, as did the person she'd crashed into, and when she looked up and saw who it was, her anger more than doubled. She had crashed right into Weasley, who was being followed by Potter and the younger Weasley.
"What the fuck are you doing down here Weasley!" roared Pansy. She and the other Slytherins were glaring at the three Gryffindors.
"Back off Parkinson, and tell us where Malfoy is!" Ron demanded.
"Funny you should ask that since you're the ones who saw him last. Right before you hexed him!"
"What the fuck are you talking about, we haven't seen Malfoy at all today!" shouted Ron.
"But I guarantee you he'll be lucky to be alive by the time we're finished him for whatever he's done to Hermione!" Harry added.
"Draco didn't do anything to your precious mudblood, if he had, he would have told us, and besides, how could he have done anything to her, when it was you two who hexed him while they were studying!"
"You're insane Parkinson, but I'm sure that's exactly what you all did to her! Now either you tell us where Malfoy is, or get out of our way!" demanded Harry, stepping forward and glaring down at Pansy.
"Not a chance Potter!" Pansy roared, drawing her wand.
"Then we'll just have to make you move," threatened Harry removing his wand from his pocket as well.
Blaise, and Nott picked up on Pansy and Potter's actions and drew their wands as well. Ginny noticed the Slytherin wands, and followed suit, she nudged Ron to let him know as well.
"Look Parkinson," Ron ordered, "I don't know what you lot are playing at, but either you tell us what that bastard's done to Hermione, or you'll pay along with him!"
"Not if you pay first," Pansy threatened before brandishing her wand at Ron and throwing the first hex that came to her mind. After that, all hell broke loose and curses were flying indiscriminately all over the place. The scuffle didn't end until five Slytherins and three Gryffindors lay knocked out in the middle of the dungeon corridor covered in hex marks. Ginny has green tentacles sprouting out of her head, Crabbe and Goyle were covered in mucus after nearly being suffocated by Ginny's bat-bogey hex, and Pansy was purple and covered in boils. Ron had sprouted fur all over his face so that he looked like Bigfoot, Harry's skin was bright red and smoke was coming out from his head as if he'd been on fire, and Blaise and Nott had thorns digging into their skin. In addition to the more magical signs of a fight, everyone was sporting some pretty serious cuts and bruises, but everyone was knocked out, so they all remained laying there in a lifeless heap until Snape happened upon the mass of students on his way to his office.
Snape sneered at the pile of students before levitating them all to the hospital wing. While Madam Pomfrey tended to her patients, Professor Snape went to dutifully inform both Professor McGonagall and Professor Dumbledore of what he'd found.
Half an hour, the students each began to wake up, and all were unhappy to find that they were in the hospital wing, with three professors, and Madam Pomfrey glaring down at them. No one ventured to speak, until all of the students were clearly up and alert and Professor Dumbledore began, "would one of you mind telling us what exactly happened here?
There was a stampede of voices responding to the Headmaster's question, every one of the students, including the eternally stupid Crabbe and Goyle, were pleading their cases and explaining their version of what happened.
"Enough!" Professor Dumbledore called over the din. "Mr. Potter, you first," Dumbledore gestured to Harry.
Pansy snorted and rolled her eyes, muttering under her breath, "of course, the golden boy gets to talk first."
"Miss Parkinson, you will have your turn to speak next," Dumbledore interjected, "now Mr. Potter, if you'd be so kind."
"Professor, Malfoy's done something to Hermione! We went looking for her everywhere and were just going down to the dungeons to find him so we could find Hermione. We ran into that lot and they started hexing us."
"That's not true!" shouted Pansy.
"Alright Miss Parkinson, please tell us what happened," Dumbledore said calmly, though his eyes were sharp as daggers.
"They're the ones who did something to Malfoy Professor! I went looking for him everywhere and we were all just going to find the Gryffindors to see what they did to him when they came barging down to the dungeons throwing hexes at us!"
Professor Dumbledore stood up sharply, it did not matter to him so much who started the fight or who threw which curse as it did that apparently two of their top students had gone missing, apparently without a trace. "When was the last time any of you saw Miss Granger or Mr. Malfoy?"
"We were with Hermione right before three o'clock, we dropped her off at the library cause she and Malfoy were going to study for the transfiguration project. Then we went out to play quidditch, and have been looking for her ever since."
Dumbledore nodded, "and Mr. Malfoy?" he asked turning to the Slytherins.
"He went to the library right after lunch, he wanted to study for his other subjects before he had to meet with Granger. But I haven't seen him since," Pansy answered immediately.
"That proves it!" shouted Ron suddenly, "Professor, Malfoy must have gone their early and surprise attacked Hermione as soon as she got there!"
"Then where's Draco you idiot?" Pansy glared at Ron.
"Quiet!" interrupted Dumbledore before another fight broke out.
Pansy and Ron sat in their respective beds glaring daggers at one another, each biting their tongues to keep quiet. Dumbledore turned to Professor McGonagall, "It seems as if everyone agrees that both students were in the library. Minerva, if you would be so kind, could you fetch Madam Pince?"
Professor McGonagall nodded and stepped out of the room, returning several moments later with Madam Pince hurrying behind to keep up. "You wanted to see me Albus?"
"Yes, it seems as if two of our students have gone missing, and the last place they were known to be was the library. Did you see either Miss Granger or Mr. Malfoy today?"
"Yes," Madame Pince confirmed after taking a moment to think, "They both arrived in the afternoon."
"Do you happen to remember when either of them left?" asked Dumbledore.
Madam Pince opened her mouth to respond when a curious expression overcame her. "Actually professor, I don't recall seeing either of them leaving. Although I do remember her," the librarian pointed to Pansy, "coming by not too long ago looking for someone. And those three came by a short time before her, but they left after only a few minutes."
The professors and students were beginning to look rather alarmed; the librarian's hawk-like surveillance never missed anything that went on in the library. If she didn't see Draco or Hermione leave, then that meant that they never did.
"But they had to have left sometime," Ginny said, "we've all been in there looking for them, and we all agree that they weren't there."
Dumbledore paused, "Madam Pince, can you think of anything out of the ordinary that happened, or that you saw in the library today?"
"Not that I can recall Professor," Madam Pince answered with a shrug.
"Nothing? Not even the most seemingly irrelevant thing?" Professor Dumbledore prodded.
"The only thing that was out of place today was a book I found lying open in the ground after I chased her away from the restricted section." Madam Pince pointed at Pansy and shrugged.
"Do you remember what that book was?" Professor Dumbledore continued.
"Well, the title is only half visible, but I know it was 'The Complete Guide to Wizarding Transportation.'"
"Would you mind retrieving that book for me? I would like to have a look at it."
"Of course professor," Madam Pince strode out of the room.
"What are you thinking Albus?" Professor McGonagall asked once the librarian was gone.
"I honestly don't know Minerva, but I am hoping my suspicions are incorrect."
"What suspicions are those Professor?" Ginny asked meekly.
"We have had incidents before where students have uncovered a hexed library book. And I think that may be what we have here."
"Have you had other students suddenly disappear because of hexed books professor?" asked Ron, with a hopeful look in his eyes.
"No Mr. Weasley," Dumbledore responded as Madam Pince reentered the Hospital wing carrying a large dusty book. She handed it to Dumbledore, "thank you, I believe that is all. I will be sure to return the book to you when I am finished."
Dumbledore read the title of the book as Madam Pince walked away. He sighed as the doors closed behind her, "I could have surmised as much." He said cryptically after reading the title.
"Surmised what Professor?" Snape spoke for the first time since they'd arrived.
"According to both stories, Mr. Malfoy and Miss Granger were working on a transfiguration project, and if one were to read this title, it would be easy to assume that the final word is transfiguration, not transportation. I'm guessing that one of them picked up the book under that assumption, and they were both subject to whatever hex was on it."
"How do we know what happened to them professor?"
"It's a simple enough spell Mr. Potter," Dumbledore removed his wand from his cloak and aimed it at the book. "Aperio Incantatum!"
A purple puff of smoke exploded from the book and revealed a smoky form of a globe. The smoke globe spun, slowly at first, then gaining speed until it abruptly came to a halt, and a big black 'X' hovered over the globe. Professor McGonagall gasped and covered her mouth in shock; Professor Snape was looking paler than ever, and Professor Dumbledore's bright blue eyes seemed to have dimmed.
"What does that mean Professor?" Harry asked, there was an urgent sense of worry in his tone.
Dumbledore sighed and viewed each of the students, all of whom were staring at him eagerly, before continuing. "The spinning globe means that they were transported somewhere, and the 'x' means that wherever they are it's unplottable."
"What!" cried Pansy. "But how can that be? How are we going to find Draco again?"
"Who cares about that ferret face!" shouted Ron, "What about Hermione!"
"Calm down everyone!" Professor Dumbledore spoke harshly. "There is nothing any of you can do about this now, there are hundreds, perhaps thousands of unplottable locations in the world, and there is no way for any of you to find them from here. I can assure you that I and the other professors will work as hard as we can to find out where Miss Granger and Mr. Malfoy are and how to get them back as soon as possible."
"But professor there has to be something we can do!" Harry argued.
"Mr. Potter, for once I must insist that you remain here, the odds of you finding an unplottable location, let alone the exact location where Miss Granger and Mr. Malfoy are is just about impossible. I'm sorry." Professor Dumbledore sighed a weary sigh, "Minerva, Severus, to my office I think, we have much to discuss. As for all of you," he addressed the students once more, "you are allowed to leave as soon as Madam Pomfrey dismisses you, however I shall warn you now, if I hear one word of any of you getting into another fight with one another, then in addition to losing house points you will be getting very severe detentions." The students all nodded silently, though inside they were all planning gruesome hexes on the students from the other house.
- - - - - - - - - -
"Headmaster," began Snape once the three professors were in Dumbledore's office "what are we going to do?"
"I don't know Severus," Dumbledore sounded older than usual. "For now we each need to do all the research we can to find where they could have gone, and more importantly, how we can get them back."
"Do you think they will be alright Albus?" asked Professor McGonagall, the fear was plain in her eyes.
"I can only hope so Minerva," answered Dumbledore.
"Well," interjected Snape, "while we're hoping what exactly should we do?"
"Severus, I would like you to compile a list of all known unplottable locations, as soon as possible. Then I will get in touch with persons from those locations and alert them of the problem. Minerva, I would like you to try to figure out what curse was put on the book, then we might have more of an idea of exactly where they are."
"I never should have allowed them to be paired together, I knew it would be trouble from the start," McGonagall lamented.
"Minerva, no one could have foreseen this, so do not go blaming yourself, we need everyone to keep a level head right now. Let's not worry about things which might have been," comforted Dumbledore calmly.
"But Albus," McGonagall said in a small voice, "aren't you the least bit worried about what they'll do to each other? It is no secret that they hate each other, and I shudder to think of what sort of magic Draco Malfoy knows that is not approved of here."
Dumbledore looked gravely from McGonagall to Snape.
Snape sneered, but looked rather pale all the same, "let's just hope they both have enough common sense not to kill each other."
Professor McGonagall gasped and held her hand over her heart. She just couldn't help but worry over the safety of her student, and the brightest young witch she'd ever seen. Hermione Granger, lost alone in some unplottable place with a the a brand new Death Eater by the name of Draco Malfoy. Suddenly, more than hoping to find them, she was simply hoping to find them both alive.
- - - - - - - - - -
It wasn't long after the professors left that Madam Pomfrey dismissed everyone. Pansy led the other Slytherins back to the dungeons, while Harry Ron and Ginny went straight back to Gryffindor tower.
Pansy screamed with rage once she entered the common room, the other Slytherins who were present glared at her, but their glares turned to curious expressions when they saw the other four Slytherins looking equally pissed. "What happened to you guys?" a seventh year asked.
"We went out looking for Draco, and after running into the stupid Gryffindors and getting hexed all the way to the hospital wing we found out that him and the mudblood somehow got transported to some unplottable place because of a cursed book," Blaise answered, since no one else looked like they were in the mood to talk.
"No way!" the seventh year said. Suddenly everyone was interested, and a large crowd gathered by the fireplace. "So are they bringing him back?"
"They can't they don't know where he is," Blaise answered with a shrug.
"Damn!" said one of the fifth years.
"We have to make the Gryffindors pay," Pansy muttered.
"For what?" the seventh year asked.
"I know that this is somehow the mudbloods fault, and since she's not here for me to hex, we'll just have to make all the rest of them pay for her."
"Hey, speaking of the mudblood, who here think Draco will kill her before anyone finds them?" the seventh year asked the whole room of Slytherins, about half of whom raised their hands.
"Nah, I don't think he will," another seventh year said, "even though we all hate to admit it, the mudblood it a freaking genius."
"She's not that much smarter than Draco," Pansy said sounding highly offended. "Besides, I be he knows loads more curses than she does!"
"I agree," responded the seventh year, "but the mudblood probably know stuff that Draco does know too, so she might be useful to have around. You never know." Several of the Slytherins nodded in agreement.
"Well I don't care whether or not he kills that filthy mudblood! I just want him back here now!" Pansy cried. Most of the girls nodded and were wearing miserable expressions; the first years were all looking terrified, with Draco throwing his weight around as he always did they had almost begun to think that he was invincible.
A heavy silence then filled the Slytherin common room. Gradually, the seventh years filtered away from the group and returned to what they had been doing before. The younger years followed their lead until Pansy, Blaise, and Nott were the only ones left by the fire.
"I can't believe he's gone," Nott finally said. Blaise nodded, while Pansy remained stone-faced and silent, completely devoid of emotion save for the one tear making it's way slowly down her cheek.
- - - - - - - - - -
None of the three Gryffindors spoke on their way back to Gryffindor tower. When they arrived, Ginny quietly said the password to the Fat Lady, and the three climbed into the empty common room. Ginny sat in one of the armchairs by the fire looking from Harry to Ron with a frightened expression. Harry was sitting on the couch glaring into the fireplace and looking the way he normally did when he was about do something rash, Ron however was faring the worst of them all. He was pacing back and forth across the room, looking very much like a lion in a cage ready to attack the first thing that was unfortunate enough to cross its path. "What are we going to do?" he finally burst.
"Dumbledore already said, there's nothing we can do," moaned Ginny.
"We can't just do nothing! Hermione's god knows where with Malfoy!" argued Ron, "He'll probably end up killing her or something!"
It was a moment before Ginny responded, but when she did there was a definite whimper in her voice, though she did her best to hide it, "Ron, try to calm down. I'm sure that Hermione can handle herself around Malfoy. Besides, she's probably already found someone who's helping her back home even as we speak."
"But what if you're wrong?" Ron roared. "What if she's stuck somewhere, alone, with Malfoy? I know she's a better witch than he'll ever be, but physically, he's definitely stronger. What if he decides to ignore his wand and attacks her or something? I swear, when we find her, if I hear he's laid one hand on her I will murder him on the spot."
Ron was seething, and his outburst seemed to alight a fire in Harry as well, both were looking like madmen and if was really frightening Ginny. "Guys calm down!" she pleaded, "Hermione's not stupid, there's no way she'll let Malfoy get the upper hand, and there's no way she'll be caught off guard without her wand. So even if he is stronger, she'll just hex him before he has the chance to come near her."
Ginny viewed her brother with glassy eyes, hoping that he would calm down.
At first Ron just glowered back at her, but when he saw the fear in his little sister's eyes, he mellowed a little, "I'm sorry Ginny, and you're probably right," Ron forced himself to sit down, but remained very tense, "I'm just worried about her you know?"
"We all are Ron," Ginny fought back a sob as her tears began to drip down her face.
No worries, we will rejoin Hermione and Draco in the next chapter (and we'll probably stay with them for a while after that) but I thought it was important to see what was going on back at Hogwarts too, so I hope you don't mind that. As always, I love to know what you all think, so please submit a review! Thanks!