Notes: Nobody died! People were kidnapped, but no one has died - yet...
I need you're help: the next time you review, tell me which chapter out of the one's I've written so far are your favorite. I need to use one of them for a journal entry in my English class, but I don't know which one to pick. So tell me which one to use! Thanks in advance.
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Harry stayed in his room for the next few days with the door locked. No one bothered him - he guessed that they had figured out that he had overheard the conversation. But he hadn't locked himself in there because he was depressed - he was making a plan, and didn't want anyone to bother him. Bill told Ron the day after. Harry supposed that Ron had had the same reaction as he did, because he hadn't heard from him or Hermione in all the time he had been in his room.
On the fifth morning Harry finally came out of the room. He found Bill in the kitchen, meditating at the table. Harry sat across from him. Neither of them said anything for a long time.
"Bill?" Harry said.
"Yeah?"
"How did it happen?"
Bill sighed and straightened his back. "McGonagall was gone for some reason. We still don't know how the Death Eaters got in. One of the aurors there said that the Dark Lord himself was there, but she'd had her memory modified so we don't know how reliable she is. Either way, they kidnapped three students and stole some things."
"Who else was kidnapped?"
"Parvati Patil and Neville Longbottom."
"All Gryffindors..." Harry noted.
"Yes. Some members of the Order think they were looking for you, but since you weren't there they took whoever was."
"No," Harry said. "They took people who are close to me. Neville's my friend and I took Parvati to a ball once... and Ginny..." he paused for a second. "What did they steal?"
"Well, the major thing was the Sorting Hat." Harry tried hard to look surprised. I knew it, he thought. The Gryffindor horcrux... "Which is a major problem for Hogwarts. Without the hat the school really doesn't exist beyond it's current students."
"So they're at the mercy of Voldemort." Bill nodded. "I knew it."
"You did?"
"I tried to tell them, but they wouldn't listen to me. And now look what's happened... how's you're mum?"
"She's really broken up about it, but she knows we won't rest until we find Ginny. I thought you'd have a harder time with it than she did, but I can see that you aren't."
"That's not it." Harry said. "I knew it would happen. I tried to warn her. Months ago... but again all my warnings go unnoticed."
"Well, don't worry. We'll get her back."
"No," Harry corrected. "I will."
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Harry left Bill and went back upstairs. The door to Ron's room was open, and he could hear a banging noise from inside. Harry stepped into the doorway. Ron was clumsily packing his things into a trunk. When he noticed that Harry was there, he stopped.
"Mum wants me to come home." Ron explained. "Can't say that I blame her."
"It's alright." Harry said, coming into the room. "I understand."
"I don't really want to go, but since..."
"Yeah, I know."
"Are you okay?"
"I'm fine." Harry said quickly.
"Really?"
"Really."
Ron closed the trunk. "I should get going. Bill's waiting for me." He straightened up and looked at Harry. "If you want to come to the Burrow - don't be afraid to. Mum doesn't hate you."
"No, really, I'm fine here."
"Take care of yourself."
"I always do." Then something unexpected happened. For the first time in all the years he'd known Ron, the two of them hugged.
"Not a word of that to Hermione." Ron said as he floated his trunk out of the room.
"Of course not." Harry watched him go downstairs. "Ron."
Ron stopped. "Yeah?"
I'll get her back."
"I know you will."
Harry let Ron leave, continued onto his room and found Hermione sitting on his bed. "Hi."
"Oh, sorry, I was just -"
"Don't worry about it. There's no crime for sitting on my bed." He watched her for a second. She looked troubled. "Go with him, Hermione."
"No, I couldn't. I can't just leave you here -"
"Go with him. I'll be alright."
"Really? Are you sure?"
"I'm positive. Get going before they leave."
"Well, okay... but I'll come back to check on you."
"I'll be fine on my own. Trust me."
She started to leave, but then stopped. "Don't do anything stupid."
"No more stupid than usual." She smiled.
"If you need anything, don't hesitate to come get us."
"I won't." She smiled again and then came back quickly and kissed him on the cheek.
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Harry was lying in his bed. He wasn't tired at all, but he had nothing better to do. The last to horcruxes were with Voldemort - he couldn't go on with them until he went to get Voldemort himself. The only thing left to do was plan how he would do it. He had already thought of many plans, but each was just as ridiculous as the next.
Harry realized that he didn't need to worry about finding Ginny. He won't kill her - he's using her as bait, just like he did with Sirius. Now all I have to do is wait for the bait to come. Harry decided to leave his mind as open as possible every night before he slept. He'll send it to me in a dream, like last time. Why change a plan that's guaranteed to work?
But the dream would not come. He waited for a week, and nothing happened. Maybe I need to be more aggressive - make him think that I'm coming to get him right now, so that he'll think he needs to throw the 'bait' out faster... Harry shook his head. Voldemort's not stupid. He doesn't jump to conclusions, unlike myself. So now what do I do?
He pulled out his picture of Ginny. Now he missed her more than ever, and felt horrible for dragging her into this situation. He told himself that if they both made it out of this alive that he would never leave her ever again, no matter what.
Harry got up and headed for the door. He had just thought of something. He should do more research on where exactly Voldemort might be, so that when the time came he'd be familiar with it already. But to do that he needed news, and the best way to get that without disturbing anyone was through the Prophet. And to get the Prophet he needed to go to Diagon Alley...
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An hour later Harry was in Ron's room at the Burrow, with pages of the Prophet spread everywhere. He had been able to find copies from weeks past because people weren't buying it as much. He'd thought that three searchers would be better than one, and Ron and Hermione had of course agreed to help.
"Nothing here." Hermione said, setting a paper into the pile with the other useless sections. She looked over to Ron. "I don't think you're going to find anything in the sports section."
"You don't know what I'm looking for." Harry glanced at the paper in Ron's hands. It had a large article on it about the new international quidditch season and how it would continue with all the dark events happening. "The quidditch season is still on."
"That's good." Harry said. Hermione sighed and rolled her eyes. Harry glared at her. " 'What is it with boys and quidditch?' " he mocked.
"I do not sound like that."
"Yes you do." Ron said, setting down the sports section. "But I'll keep looking, since that's what I'm supposed to be doing."
"Oh, shut up."
"Here's something." Harry said, spreading the paper out so that they could all see it. "Dark Lord sighted in Surrey." He looked up at the date. "Four days ago."
"Why was he in Surrey?" Hermione asked.
"That's where his aunt and uncle live." Ron said. "Remember?"
"Oh, yeah. So you think he was seeing if you were there?"
"Why else?" Harry said. "Unless there's a Death Eater near there." Then Harry had an idea - Mrs. Figg. If anything had happened on Privet Drive, she would know. He looked up at the clock. Still early in the evening... "I'll be right back."
"Wait - you're not going without us." Hermione said, following him.
"Yey, field trip." Ron said. But he couldn't get past Mrs. Weasley.
"Ronald Weasley, where do you think you're going?" She asked, coming out of the kitchen just as they opened the front door.
"There's a friend of mine," Harry explained. "She might have seen something - Voldemort was sighted near where she lives."
"Who is this friend?"
"Mrs. Figg."
"Arabella Figg?"
"Yeah."
"Oh... well then, that's okay. But you had better be back before it gets dark."
"We will mum, don't worry." Ron said, pushing Harry and Hermione out the door. "I swear, sometimes..."
"She's only worried about you, Ron." Hermione said.
"She can't control me anymore! I've technically been an adult for almost a year now. I can take care of myself."
"Yes, but you will always need your mother, no matter how old you are!" she retorted.
"Don't make me turn you both into plates." Harry warned. "Privet Drive, okay?" They nodded and popped away.
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End notes: I think that's long enough for now. Plates are very humorous objects... I need to go sleepy anyway - I have a calculus test tomorrow. Don't forget about picking you're favorite chapter!