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Something Wicked This Way Comes (ii)

As soon as he woke, Ron knew something was wrong. It wasn't something he could put his finger on, but it was unmistakeable nonetheless.

He expressed as much to Harry on their way down to breakfast. The dark-haired Gryffindor had surveyed him seriously. "I think you might be right," was all he would say though.

Now, looking at the front pages of the Daily Prophet, he knew he had been right. The clenching of his stomach did not go away though; the haunting dread did not leave. Ron hadn't felt anxiety like this since he'd known that he would have to be taken unconscious in order for Harry and Hermione to progress to the philosopher's stone.

The whole school was silent with shock, even the Slytherin table had little to say. The giant skull with a snake for its tongue on the front page stole the words from everyone's tongues. Azkaban had been overpowered: decimated; all the convicted deatheaters had vanished and the criminals who had apparently refused to join the Dark Lord had been left Avada Kedavra'd. The Dementors too, it seemed, had vanished, presumably with the Dark Lord. In fact, the Prophet bore very little good news.

There had been attacks on muggles overnight too. Two families in Kent and one in Middlesex, all killed using Avada Kedavra; there was some evidence of the Torture Curse as well. Any witch or wizard who had doubted Voldemort's return was now beyond any such uncertainty as the evidence was plain to see. Voldemort had declared war on muggleborns and any wizards who dared to stand in his way.

Ron breathed a faint sigh of relief that no one at the school had been directly affected, but he knew that really it was only a matter of time. The Dark Lord would not just ignore Hogwarts; it was far too powerful. And there were far too many blood traitors learning hallowed magic.

As though sensing his train of thought Hermione turned to him, anxiety etched on her features. "My family are out there, Ron," she whispered. Her eyes became shiny with tears. "They're unprotected and in danger because of… me."

The redhead slid an arm around her bringing her close. He kissed the top of her head tenderly. "It's ok 'Mione, I'll owl my family. I'm sure we can work something out." Ron rested his forehead against hers and knew in that instant that, whatever else happened in his life, he would always love this girl.

Harry cleared his throat, feeling undeniably awkward. Ron and Hermione broke apart; Ron's ears red and Hermione blushing. The dark-haired boy grinned despite himself.

Then he remembered what he was going to say and his smile abruptly faded.

"Ginny hasn't come down for breakfast"

Ron started, looking around him quickly. "But she wasn't at dinner yesterday?"

"Or lunch," Hermione added, looking sombre.

"In fact, has anyone seen her in the past 24 hours?" Harry asked.

Both his friends shook their heads.

"Maybe we're jumping the gun a little," Hermione ventured. "I mean what can really happen to her at Hogwarts?"

"A lot; we know that from experience!"

Hermione frowned. "Let's go and check the Marauder's Map?"

The two boys nodded in agreement getting up from the table and heading out of the Great Hall. Their going did not go unnoticed.

Draco had a troubled look on his face which Blaise ignored as long as he possibly could before snapping.

"Why do you look so bloody puzzled?" he finally exclaimed.

"I can't feel her," came the reply.

"Weasley?"

"Who else?"

Blaise fought the desire to roll his eyes. Who else indeed.

"What, you mean like she's asleep?"

"No," Draco shook his head, narrowing his eyes in concentration. "I genuinely don't know where she is, I can't feel her at all."

"Maybe she shut herself off from you after the whole Lucius debacle last night?" Blaise suggested (quite sensibly, he thought).

"She can't, you idiot," the blonde snapped in reply. "Don't you think she would have done when she hated me then?"

Blaise shrugged. Since Persephone's untimely disappearance he'd had little time for anyone else's problems, or indeed anything else: he'd spent the majority of his time in the library finding out as much as he could about Seers, time travelling, body swapping and anything else vaguely relevant to their plight.

"She came to me last night to say something… something about Amelia," Draco said, thinking out loud. "She hadn't seen her all yesterday, she was worried…"

Blaise came to attention. "Amelia was missing?"

The blonde Slytherin didn't answer his question. "Ginny went to see Professor Trelawney about it, I'm sure. Unless she got waylaid and found something else out… She wouldn't have gone to find Amelia on her own, would she? I mean she's a Gryffindor… but she's not stupid…"

His dark-haired friend turned to look at him. "They are loyal above all else..."

Draco swore under his breath, running his hand haphazardly through his hair: a habit, Blaise noted, he had picked up from him.

"My Father told me to get all the deatheater wannabes ready for tomorrow." Draco eyes flew quickly across the headlines of the Prophet, confirming his thoughts as he went. "I suppose I should get on with that."

Blaise looked at him questioningly. "You're picking a side?"

The blonde stared him straight in the eye. "To survive in this war? We're going to have to."

Ginny finally came to a rest next the protruding roots of an old oak tree. She couldn't remember a time when she hadn't been moving in the woods, when she hadn't been amongst the trees; it seemed like she'd been there forever.

Her journey so far had passed with very little difficult which she didn't know whether to be relieved about or stressed over: either luck was on her side or something more malicious was ensuring her safe passage.

She had been moving all night and her legs were like lead, her shoulders ached from the constant shifting of her bag and she felt like collapsing in a heap right there and then. However, that was not a good idea; if she wanted to survive to get to Amelia, she was going to have to keep her wits about her.

Even without the threat of dark wizards and magic, there was still the possibility of her being attacked by various magical and non-magical beasts that lived in the forests and woods around Britain. If she wanted to sleep, she would have to find somewhere relatively safe.

Hiking the bag across her shoulders and making sure it was secure, Ginny found a foothold in the oak tree and began to climb. She by-passed the lower branches, knowing they were too close to the ground for safety but settled on a thick bough in the very centre of the tree. With the dense branches and twigs on both sides of her, the redhead knew that someone would only see her if they looked specifically up into the tree. Wedging herself in-between the trunk and the bow, she settled down from intense weariness and fell asleep almost immediately.

"I can't Ron! I can't just leave, I'm head girl!"

"But she's my sister," Ron argued heatedly. "She's in trouble!"

"We can't just leave the castle; we don't know where she's gone or why or anything in fact, we'd just be putting ourselves in danger!"

"Harry," Ron appealed. "What do you think?"

The Boy Who Lived looked evenly at his two best friends. "I agree with Hermione," he said at length. Ron deflated and Hermione looked only slightly relieved. "We need to know more before we go after her," he continued, causing them both to look back up at him.

Hermione sighed. "We should go to Dumbledore; he'll know what to do"

Next Chapter:

"We're going after them, you can follow or fall in line as you like," the blonde Slytherin told them haughtily.

"We're in," Ron replied fiercely.

Harry looked at the head girl questioningly. "Hermione?"