When Ginny didn't hear from Harry and her brothers over the weekend, she wasn't overly concerned. Before they'd left the decision had been taken not to act too rashly, and even though they were hoping to get to Hermione over the course of the weekend, Bill had admitted they were open to maintaining a presence up in Hogsmeade for as long as it took to snatch Hermione. This time they were playing the long game, and weren't going to rush in like idiots and have everything blow up in their faces.
When Ginny hadn't heard anything by Monday morning, she assumed that they hadn't been able to get close to Hermione. As such she'd expected someone to visit and let her know what was happening, so she'd spent the day cooking and packing meals for those who would be staying up in Hogsmeade. However, Monday came and went without any communication from her brothers, or the others with them.
Tuesday was another day of silence, and by the middle of Wednesday afternoon, Ginny was so worried that she contacted Fred and George and asked them to come and see her. Given the way things had gone the last time the twins had been at Grimmauld Place she was slightly wary of contacting her brothers. But at the end of the day, whether they approved of what was going on or not, Bill, Charlie, Ron and even Harry were family, and their safety had to be more important than differing views over how to handle Hermione and her father.
"What's the panic?" Fred asked when he and George arrived late on the afternoon, after closing up their shop for the evening.
"And where is everyone?" George asked with a frown. "I've never seen the place so quiet."
"Mum and I are the only ones here," Ginny answered.
"And where is everyone else?" Fred asked warily, exchanging a worried look with his twin brother as they both expected an answer they would not be happy with.
"They went up to Hogsmeade on Friday evening," Ginny admitted in a small voice.
"We do not want to hear about this," George snapped as he and Fred turned to leave.
"Wait," Ginny cried. "I know you don't approve of the action we decided to take, but that isn't important now. I sent for you because I'm worried about our brothers. I haven't heard anything from them since they left."
"And?" Fred questioned with a shrug. "Maybe they just haven't managed to do whatever it is you decided to do to Hermione."
"If that was the case, someone should have been in touch to let me know they were staying on," Ginny protested. "Bill promised to keep me informed."
"What do you want us to do?" George asked with a sigh. Despite the way things currently stood with three of their brothers, they were still family, and if they needed help, he and Fred would be there for them.
"Go up and see if they're okay," Ginny said. "I would have gone myself, but I don't want to leave Mum. She doesn't even know they're gone."
"Okay," Fred agreed. "Where will we find them?"
"They're hiding out in the Shrieking Shack," Ginny replied. "But make sure you don't draw attention to yourselves. If they have just forgotten they promised to let me know what was happening, I don't want their cover blown."
"Oh no, we wouldn't want that," George muttered sarcastically.
"If it's too much trouble, I can go and you can stay here with Mum," Ginny snapped, glaring at George, not at all impressed with his attitude.
"No, we'll go," Fred promised his little sister. "We'll just pop up and see Mum first. How's she doing?"
"Aside from when we go to visit Percy, she barely gets out of bed," Ginny answered with a sigh. "If anything has happened to the others, it will completely tip he over the edge."
"I'm sure they're fine," George said reassuringly, giving his sister a small smile. "I bet they're just so caught up in their plotting that they've forgotten they haven't let you know what was happening."
"I really hope you're right," Ginny muttered, even though deep down she couldn't believe that everyone who had went up to Hogsmeade would have forgotten about her.
While the twins headed up to see Molly, Ginny fussed about tidying the kitchen to try and take her mind off things. She was still pottering around the kitchen when the twins let her know they were off to Hogsmeade, and even though she tried to keep herself distracted, she soon found herself pacing the floor in the front room, nervously awaiting their return. Almost an hour after they'd departed there was a knock on the door and when Ginny rushed to answer the door, the twins entered, their concerned faces confirming that her fears were right and something was terribly wrong.
"What is it? What did you find?" she demanded.
"Nothing," Fred answered.
"What do you mean nothing?" Ginny questioned in bewilderment.
"Exactly that, nothing," Fred repeated. "The shack was deserted."
"We couldn't find any trace that they'd even been there," George added. "In fact, it looked as though no-one had been there in months."
"That's not possible," Ginny insisted with a shake of her head. "They definitely went there. Bill and Charlie went first, and they sent a signal to say they'd arrived. Sirius and Harry then went, and once they'd arrived, Remus and Ron joined them. On Friday night, they were all at the Shrieking Shack."
"Well they're not there now," Fred said quietly.
"And as we said, it didn't look as though anyone had been there," George said, speaking just as quietly as his brother.
"What do you think happened to them?" Ginny asked in horror. "Do you think Hermione has done something to them?"
"We don't know," Fred answered with a frown. "Clearly they went up to Hogsmeade to target Hermione, so if they tried something, it might have backfired on them. But we have no idea what that could have been."
"So what do we do?" Ginny asked as the tears began to well in her eyes. "Report them missing?"
"And say what, that they were up in Hogsmeade stalking the Minister's daughter?" George scoffed.
"Their reasons for being up in Hogsmeade don't matter," Ginny argued. "What matters is that they're missing."
"Yes, but if we do report them missing and we have to say where they're missing from, questions will be asked about what they were doing up in Hogsmeade," Fred pointed out to his sister.
"Who cares?" Ginny shouted, her anger pushing back the tears that had been threatening to fall only moments earlier. "We can't just sit back and do nothing."
"We never said that's what we were going to do," Fred said soothingly. "Before we make anything official, we thought we could look into it ourselves. I was thinking we could send an owl to Professor McGonagall, asking if she's heard anything or witnessed anything untoward since the weekend."
"We also thought we could contact Tonks," George said. "She's still clinging onto her job at the Ministry, and she'll certainly be able to tell how reporting missing people will work."
"Okay, but we do it now," Ginny insisted.
While Ginny wrote a quick note to Professor McGonagall, explaining the situation and asking for her help, Fred and George contacted Tonks and asked for her assistance. Within half an hour an owl had been sent to Hogwarts and Tonks had arrived to be briefed on the situation.
"And all six of them are gone?" Tonks checked once Ginny had explained what had happened and the twins had added the story of their trip to Hogsmeade.
"Vanished without a trace," Fred confirmed.
"If only a couple of them were missing, I would suspect foul play," Tonks said. "I think it would be very believable that a plan to target Hermione had backfired on them. But surely all six of them wouldn't have rushed in. Remus is not the reckless type."
"No, but his best friend is," George reminded Tonks. "As are Harry and Ron. And since they've been home, Bill and Charlie have been pretty reckless as well."
"Yeah, normally we would agree that all six of them wouldn't have rushed in blindly, but these last few months have proved that they don't always think straight," Fred said.
"Why do I get the impression that there's more going on here than I've been told?" Tonks asked with a frown. "I know I haven't been around much just lately as I've been focused on trying to keep my job, but I do talk to Remus a lot and he gave the impression that patience was the key to going up against the dark."
"Patience has not been evident around here," George said as he and Fred filled Tonks in on everything they had learned during their previous visit to Grimmauld Place.
"None of this matters now," Ginny snapped, fearing the conversation was swaying dangerously away from the reason Tonks was there. "What matters is that six people are missing. More of our family are in danger."
"What we need is your advice, Tonks," Fred said. "Do we report them missing?"
"I think we should look into it first, but if we don't find them, I think we need to report them as missing," Tonks replied. "However, I would caution against mentioning Hogsmeade."
"Why? That was where they went," Ginny insisted.
"We know that, but you would have to explain what they were doing up in Hogsmeade," Tonks said. "And believe me, the second you mention Hermione, the Ministry will not put any effort into finding them. To be honest, their effort might be minimal anyway. But at least if they're officially missing, you can brief the press. But if we do some work first, we might be able to direct the investigation up to Hogsmeade. All we need to do is find some evidence they were up there over the weekend. Maybe you should ask their friends if they'd seen them?"
"They won't have," Ginny replied with a shake of her head. "The last time they spoke with Dean and Seamus it didn't exactly go well. Harry and Ron returned here, vowing their friendship was over. Besides, their whole idea was to keep out of sight so that no-one knew they'd been there when Hermione went missing. No-one will have seen them up in Hogsmeade."
"And that is going to leave us with an almighty problem," Tonks remarked with a sigh. "Without admitting what they were planning, we can't place them in Hogsmeade. And if the search doesn't start at Hogsmeade, we will never find them. I suggest we go up to the village tomorrow and take a good look around. Let's get talking to the locals. All we need is one person to have seen one of them, or to find one scrap of evidence that they were there."
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The next day Ginny persuaded Molly to visit Percy in hospital, and claiming she needed to do some shopping, she left her mother in St Mungo's and travelled up to Hogsmeade to meet her brothers and Tonks. Splitting into two pairs, Tonks and George headed to the Shrieking Shack, in case he and Fred had missed anything the previous day, while Ginny and Fred started to visit the shops and ask about their brothers.
Armed with pictures of their brothers, Harry and Remus, Ginny and Fred began asking around the village. A lot of the villagers knew Harry and Ron especially, but couldn't recall seeing them lately. A few of the older villagers even remembered Bill and Charlie from their school days, but again they hadn't seen them recently. Even Remus was remembered from his time as a Professor, but as with everyone else, he hadn't been seen in Hogsmeade for a long time. The only person they didn't dare ask about was Sirius as technically he was still a wanted criminal, and they didn't want the Ministry on their back for harbouring a fugitive.
An hour into their trip, Ginny was starting to get despondent and it didn't help when George and Tonks joined them and confirmed the Shrieking Shack seemed totally abandoned. Still, they carried on questioning the villagers and after nearly three hours in Hogsmeade they were confident that they'd spoken to everyone, and not one person had seen anything suspicious over the weekend.
"Do you think they're lying?" Ginny asked Tonks as they prepared to call it a day and head back to headquarters to discuss their next move.
"No-one I've spoken to has struck me as lying," Tonks replied. "I think you were right Ginny. Your brothers and the others kept out of sight. If their plan had worked and something had happened to Hermione, there would be no proof they'd been anywhere near Hogwarts."
"Speaking of Hogwarts, since we're so close, should we try and get a message to McGonagall?" Fred asked. "It's lunchtime, so she might be able to pop down and speak to us in person."
Deciding that a meeting with McGonagall could be productive, they sent an owl up to the castle. Sadly McGonagall couldn't get away to meet them, but she promised to visit Grimmauld Place later that evening. Deciding to hold off until the meeting with McGonagall, the foursome went their separate ways. The twins headed back to their shop, which had been closed in their absence, Tonks had to pop to the Ministry for a few hours, while Ginny headed back to St Mungo's, where she escorted her mother back to Grimmauld Place and watched as she shut herself back in her room the second they'd arrived back.
Ginny spent the entire afternoon with her thoughts, wondering what had happened to her brothers, Harry, Remus and Sirius. Even though she was now sure they were going to officially report the group missing, she didn't have any real faith in the Ministry and she suspected that unless they worked out what had happened, they would be getting no answers as to the disappearance of the six wizards. The question was, would they be able to find out what had happened when they couldn't even find any evidence that they'd been up in Hogsmeade in the first place. Of course Ginny knew Hermione and the dark were behind what had happened in some way, but would they ever be able to prove it?
By the time everyone arrived, Ginny was feeling pretty low, and it didn't help that almost immediately McGonagall admitted that she hadn't seen Harry and Ron in Hogsmeade over the weekend. She'd even had a quiet word with a few of the Professors and students, whom she'd known had been down in the village over the weekend, but they'd seen nothing either.
"Did anything unusual happen over the weekend, specifically with Hermione and her group of friends?" Tonks asked, once McGonagall had been brought fully up to date with what was happening.
"Not that I'm aware of," McGonagall said. "Blaise Zabini was walking with a limp on Monday and I heard it said he'd twisted his ankle down in Hogsmeade."
"How?" Ginny asked. "Could it have been in some sort of fight?"
"From the stories I heard, he was distracted by a witch, missed his footing and fell over," McGonagall replied. "I can't believe I am saying this, but whatever has happened, I don't think Hermione was involved. She's certainly showing no signs that anything as major as Harry and Ron disappearing has happened. I know she's a damn good actress and is capable of pulling the wool over people's eyes, but I'm not sure she'd be able to hide this."
"What about Snape?" Tonks asked. "Or Bellatrix? Have they been acting any differently?"
"Not that I've noticed," McGonagall answered. "I admit that I have as little as possible to do with Bellatrix, and since learning where Severus's loyalties lie, I don't have a lot of time for him either. But they both seem the same as usual."
"So yet again, we have nothing linking Harry and the others to Hogsmeade and Hogwarts," Tonks remarked with a sigh. "I do think we have to report them missing tomorrow, but as I said earlier, I don't think we should mention Hogsmeade. It will just stir up trouble."
"But it also means they won't be found," Ginny said quietly.
"The Ministry were never going to find them Ginny," Fred said softly. "Not when they've vanished without a trace."
"So we're giving up?" Ginny asked with a tearful sniff.
"No, we're not giving up," George replied. "We can still look for answers. But I think we have to be realistic. We might never know what happened to them. Not unless someone is going to tell us something or give us a clue as to what happened over the weekend."
Ginny nodded in understanding as the tears began to fall down her face. She knew George was right and for all they could try and find answers, they just might never get them. Their brothers, Harry, Remus and Sirius might very well be lost for good and they might never know what happened up in Hogsmeade, and what had gone so badly wrong that they had vanished without a trace.