Chapter Three – Abduction

The Order had remained seated after Dumbledore's departure apart from Hermione and Ron who had left the room with Mrs Weasley; Harry was eagerly listening to stories about spying and battling with the Death Eaters. He had noticed that Ron was particularly quiet, but decided that it would probably be best to let him be for the moment. He was most likely still in shock about his mother. Harry knew that he couldn't do much to help him until the reality had at least sunk in. Tonks was in the middle of describing a particularly nasty trial she had to face during her auror training, to which Elpha was listening intently, when Mr Weasley came and knelt beside Harry. He wore a smile on his lips but his eyes were a solemn nakedness.

"Harry, I wondered if you, Ron and Hermione wouldn't mind trying to build a friendship with Sarah Melena. She's in the same year as you at Hogwarts. I know she's a Slytherin but she's not all bad when you get talking to her. I'm almost certain Dumbledore will see to it that the four of you spend a lot more time together." Mr Weasley grasped Harry's shoulder and smiled a little more broadly, a little less genuine. Harry felt so sorry for him and Mrs Weasley. He did after all know what it was like to be wanted by the Death Eaters. Mr Weasley looked back at him, still grinning then patted his shoulder. Harry smiled back sheepishly and nodded his head. Mr Weasley left the room presumably to see his wife.

Harry stole a glance at Sarah. She was watching Tonks tell her story but clearly not listening. Snape pushed a glass in her direction and caught Harry's gaze. He scowled and Harry quickly turned his attention away, but could find nothing to fix it on. Hermione and Ron returned to the room saving Harry. He waved stupidly at them, immediately wishing he hadn't.

"Hey. I can't believe I'm on the list." Hermione said with a weak smile. Her eyes were slightly red, she had been crying.

"I'm sure it's nothing to worry about. What could possibly harm you with me and Ron looking after you?" Harry joked. Hermione smiled and gave him a quick hug.

"Dad says we need to make friends with that Sarah girl. I don't see why, she's a Slytherin. Anybody fancy calling her over?" Ron asked soberly. Harry honestly didn't feel like trying to get her attention while Snape was in close proximity and such a foul mood. He hadn't even spoken yet, surely he was about to explode.

"I'll go for it. Can't be any worse than being a target for the Death Eaters." Hermione sounded incredibly jovial but there was still something in her manner that betrayed her. Harry smiled all the same, appreciative of even the smallest of the smallest of humour.

"Watch it." Ron warned quietly. Harry looked across the table to see Snape muttering angry almost silent words to Sarah. "Even if she is a Slytherin she deserves to be saved from his Potion breath." Ron nudged Hermione forward. She gave him a dirty look and walked gracefully around the table. She stopped between Snape and Sarah and smiled benignly at the girl. She was completely ignoring Snape's existence. Sarah smiled back and after a short while the two girls headed back over.

Mr Weasley was right. Once Harry had started to make conversation with Sarah, he discovered that she wasn't bad at all. He might have even gone as far to say that she was friendly! He and Ron shared a small room on the first floor of Sirius' house. The walls were a pastel blue and looked quite freshly painted which was a great contrast to the ancient dried up paint peeling away from the ceiling and door. Harry had had to take top bunk because Ron was terrified that a great load of the peeling paint would fall onto his head during the night. Fred and George shared an identical one on the floor above. The twins had come down into Harry and Ron's room with Hermione, Ginny and Sarah. To say Harry was cramped would be a huge understatement. He sat hunched on the top bunk with his knees clasped to his chest accompanied by Hermione and Ginny who were in much the same position. The three Weasley boys sat on the bottom bunk and Sarah was lying on the floor looking up at the ceiling. In the corner Hedwig cooed every now again as if joining the conversation. Fred and George were in the middle of a highly amusing story about a new idea for Weasley's Wizard Wheezes when Harry heard creaking footsteps on the stairs.

"Sh!" He hushed everybody, not wanting to be caught awake by any of the adults, especially not Snape. He dove under the quilt and pretended to be asleep as the slow footsteps approached the bedroom door. Ginny was giggling somewhere to his left. Harry stifled his own laughter as the door squeaked open. A deep muffled voice indicated to Harry that they'd been caught. There was lots of shuffling around while everybody was sent back to their beds. When the shuffling and mumbling had stopped Harry poked his head out from under the stifling covers and inhaled a cold, refreshing breath of air before settling to sleep.

"HARRY! RON!"

Harry sat up and yawned. Somebody was bashing on the door. "RONALD! HARRY! ARE YOU IN THERE!" Mrs Weasley was shrieking from the other side of the door. Harry called out and she burst into the room her face full of panic and stained with tears. She gave a small yelp and gave both he and Ron bone crunching hugs.

"What's going on?" Ron asked rubbing sleep from his eyes.

"Hermione and Sarah aren't in their room! And nobody's seen Remus!"