A/N: I've been up and down campus with exams most of the past couple weeks, so please excuse my lateness! Then again, I'm sure you're all used to it by now. This chapter has some action but not as much as I intended. Sometimes you have to wait on the action to add to the storyline. I'm pretty sure the next chapter will be like BOOM! Action! Still, I hope you enjoy this one.

Zarroc- I'm glad that you agree with Hermione getting married. As for Parvati, that person certainly was involved! You'll see what else happens here!

Whimsy007- Thank you for your amazingly kind compliments about the plot and Hermione's character. You are right to say that Harry is slightly out of character. He's not at all my main focus and I tend to drift. Still, there hasn't been much opportunity for Harry to really step in. The case against the Ministry is Hermione's own personal vendetta and Harry really doesn't do research. Harry (as a pureblood) starting a revolution for the rights of muggleborns would be like a man trying to start the revolution for women's rights: It would be appreciated by the party under scrutiny, but it wouldn't be taken seriously by lawmakers because Harry is not part of the group. As for the Colin/Melinda mistake, you caught me red-handed! I meant to have Hermione ask be Colin. Thank you for pointing that out to me! I'm about to fix it now! I hope you enjoy the chapter!

Mywayornoway- Short and sweet. Thank you! I hope you like the rest!

Coolgirlc- Padma was there, but she was with her family awaiting Parvati's exit from the tent. Honestly, I just forgot to write her in, but that's my excuse! Haha! Please excuse my poor plot holes! I'd like to think that Lavender has some brains under all that make-up!

Quidditch7- Thanks for the comments about visuals. I never really feel comfort in my descriptions, to be honest. Parvati's captor and Dean's devotions to Parvati will be very evident in this chapter. Honestly, I think you might be further on to my plot than anyone else who has commented so far. Though I must admit, it's really obvious. Or at least, it will be!

A True Dreamer- I'm sorry! I'm a huge fan of evil cliffies! This chapter isn't really a cliff hanger though, so hopefully you'll appreciate that!

Cappygal116- There was a trick to Hermione's situation. She has to be married before the law goes to trial because she is considered a "special interest case." It was discussed in the first chapters, but not much after. You think Parvati planned it? I wish I had thought of that! Sadly, no, that's not the case. You'll get more hints in this chapter!

The End of a New Life by MyKonstantine.

Chapter 12: Fenticula Poratalus

Many of the guests sat in confused, bewildered by the meaning of Parvati's black and white dress shoe. Hermione knew she had not told her parents about this monstrosity that had been transporting itself into their private property through portals, and from the looks of things, Dean and Parvati hadn't told their families either.

Before Hermione even knew what she was doing, she stood up and approached Dean, Seamus and Lavender at the altar. It was a rash move on her part, she could tell by the looks on their faces.

"Keep it down!" Hermione warned Lavender in a hiss. "You're going to cause a panic among the guests, and then things will be even worse."

"We need to search the grounds." A voice sputtered out from behind Hermione. She whirled around to see that Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Neville were all moving into the group. Now everybody who knew about the man from the portals was present.

"Harry," Dean choked out, "she's not on the grounds. You know it."

Harry looked around anxiously, seeming a little more frustrated than usual. "She could be on the grounds! She could be a few feet away, for all we know!"

"It's all we've got to go on." Ginny's voice was much more gentle than usual, but Hermione understood why. Right after she spoke, Dean's breath heaved. It as hard to grasp that there only option was an improbable one.

"What about the guests?" Lavender spoke up after a lengthy silence.

Ron put a hand on Seamus' shoulder. "It's your job to greet people. Perhaps, you and Lavender can also get them to scatter before joining the search."

"Great." Seamus mumbled. "That way we get to be the bad people."

"Better you than me, I suppose." Ron's cheeky grin earned a glare for Seamus before he moved off toward the crowd.

"We need to search both tents and any surrounding areas that could be dodgy." Harry announced to the group.

"Should we alert Tonks?" Lavender asked in a most concerned of voices.

"Tonks just had a baby, Lavender!" Neville formed a loose fist and tapped it over his head to indicate Lavender's lack of common sense. "She's not exactly out on duty!"

"Well, you go deal with all the other Aurors then!"

Neville shrugged his shoulders and looked as if he were fighting an internal battle for a moment. Finally, he did a little hop and reached for his wand. "I think I will, if you lot don't mind."

Everyone's eyes wandered around the group before they all slowly began nodding in agreement. "Somebody has to tell the Aurors."

Neville apparated away. Seamus looked over to Lavender, motioning toward the crowd waiting for an explanation. They moved into the task wordlessly.

"That leaves five of us." Harry said to the remaining group. "We should search the tents first. I say Ginny and I take Lavender's tent while everyone else searches Dean's tent."

"That's impossible!" Ginny looked at Harry like he was completely out of his mind.

Dean informed Harry of a situation he had just recently learned about himself. "You know how a bride and groom are not supposed to see each other before the wedding ceremony? Wizards actually put enchantments on the doorways of the bride and groom's areas that only allow women to enter the bride's space and men to enter the groom's space."

"Excuse me!" Harry jutted sarcastically. "Being the unmarried muggle-raised man that I am, I should have known better."

Ron clapped his hands together once. "Right! Ladies in tent one and gentlemen in tent two! Let's go!"

He began to walk of toward where Dean had just come from. The other four exchanged odd looks for a second before Dean and Harry ran off after Ron. Hermione began walking toward the other tent, Ginny quick on her heels.

"Does that mean it was a woman who took Parvati, then?" Ginny theorized as they moved quickly to the flowing white tent that looked so beautiful and innocent. "They had to be to get into the bridal tent, wouldn't they?"

"When Lavender was attacked at her wedding, a man spoke to her."

"Perhaps there was a female accomplice?"

"I don't know." Hermione answered in complete honesty. "The enchantment is put on the doorway, but that doesn't necessarily mean it affects the walls, especially in such a flimsy tent."

"The enchantments blocks apparition, though." Ginny pointed out.

Hermione shook her head, wishing that she could whole-heartedly agree with Ginny's theory. There were just too many possibilities. "Portals are different. They aren't a magical source trying to enter the room. They build themselves in a wall of the room and thus become part of the room. To the enchantment, it would be considered the same as somebody in the room performing a charm."

She began to slow down as they edged nearer to the tent. "Plus, portals went out of style so long ago that most protection spells aren't made to detect them."

They stood outside the tent now. The entrance gently flapped in the wind, luring them in. The tent was clean, pure and looked absolutely harmless from the outside.

After a moment of gazing, Hermione ripped back one of the curtains. Everything on the inside looked still. The furnishings of the tent were nicer than that of Hermione's own bedroom. There was a dresser, a vanity, two plush sofas, several arrangements of flowers, and small treats scattered all over.

Parvati must have felt awfully comfortable in there, Hermione thought. She must have never seen it coming.

Hermione and Ginny stepped in at the same time, searching every possible area with their wands. Even though the environment looked safe, they both knew better than to trust it.

"There's nothing here." Ginny said after a few minutes. "I don't think this person was planning on staying."

Hermione heard a crunching noise from beneath her and looked down to see shattered glass. Among a few pieces, she realized there was a thin layer of blood. The empty frame of a full-length mirror lay helplessly next to her.

She looked up at Ginny, then back down to the ground. "There has got to be something here that can help us!" She tried to give Ginny some hope, but it didn't seem to be working. "I mean, why Parvati? Why on her wedding day?"

"Dramatic impact, I suppose." Ginny shrugged, walking over and carefully pushing glass aside so they could reach the corner of the room.

"What exactly happened?" Hermione asked herself aloud. "Why did the mirror break?"

Ginny gulped a little. She reached up and gently traced her hand over the silk fabric at the corner of the tent. "Do you suppose she saw him coming from the side and put up a struggle?"

"What doesn't make sense is that Parvati didn't run at all." Hermione observed. "If she had seen the portal forming right next to her, she would have scurried out in a panic."

"So, she didn't see him at all?"

Hermione moved herself directly in front of the fallen mirror frame where Parvati had been standing not long ago. Trying to stay in position, she looked over her left shoulder. The corner of the room was clearly visible. She then looked over her right shoulder. The tall vanity blocked her view of the tent's upper right corner. Hermione could only see a bit of fabrics near the tent's roof.

Hermione whipped around and pointed at the corner in question. "They must have come from there! Parvati wouldn't have seen it. Then this person came up from behind her."

"Oh Merlin." Ginny seemed to come to a realization. "Parvati mustn't have struggled if she didn't see him. She must have been petrified while she was looking in the mirror." A steady fear grew in her eyes. "Parvati didn't break the mirror. She fell on top of the mirror and it shattered to pieces."

Just when they thought they couldn't panic anymore, the entrance of the tent ripped open with a fierce strangling noise.

"Bloody hell, Lavender!" Ginny swore out. "Are you trying to scare us to death?"

Lavender wasn't in the mood. "Bugger off, Weasley." She mumbled, her eyes rapidly searching every crevice of the room. "Did you find anything yet?"

Even though Hermione found Lavender to be elitist and annoying, she couldn't let Parvati's best friend closely inspect the shattered glass and realize that it was sprinkled with specks of blood. The sight pierced Hermione's heart. She couldn't imagine what it would do to Lavender.

"Only the mirror you told us about." Hermione rambled off quickly before finally getting to her diversion. "We think we know how the person got in, but we have to tell Dean and the others right away or they could be in danger!"

Hermione knew it was a lie. The men were perfectly fine in Dean's tent. There was no immediate danger at all. She also knew hat Lavender didn't know that.

"Oh, hell!" Lavender squealed, clutching her dress robes and racing toward the other tent.

Hermione began running as well, and after a few moments Ginny caught up with her. "Liar." She mouthed. With a shake of her head, she surpassed Hermione's speed and ran ahead.

By the time Hermione came to a stop, Lavender already stood outside the men's tent, screeching for her husband and the other men to come outside immediately.

They didn't come out at all.

"Something's already happened to them." Lavender clenched her hands through her neatly styled hair. "Fuck! What do we do?"

Hermione and Ginny exchanged dire looks. The men weren't really supposed to be in danger. Hermione had made it all up. Even Ginny knew that.

Now it looked as if Hermione and Ginny knew what was going on. They didn't.

Basically, Hermione thought, they were fucked.

"What do we do now?" Lavender began pacing in front of the tent, trying to get a glimpse inside. "What do we do?"

"Stay calm, Lavender." Ginny pleaded with her.

"To hell with calm!" Lavender clutched Ginny's shoulders. "My husband could be dead in there!"

Ginny pushed Lavender away with a mighty shove. "My boyfriend could be dead in there too! My brother as well! It's not all about your precious Seamus, so shove it up your arse!"

Lavender let out an ear-splitting scream. Hermione understood Lavender's frustration, but she just couldn't handle such emotion right now. They needed a plan. Hermione needed to come up with a plan.

Lavender cried blood and murder once again.

Hermione finally snapped and turned to scold her, but something caught her eye. She knew right away why Lavender had been screaming.

A blackened arm protruded out from under the tent only inches away from Lavender's foot.

Hermione put a finger to her lips, urging Lavender to be silent. She alerted Ginny and they formulated a silent plan.

Lavender and Ginny stood on either side of Hermione with their wands pointed at the rogue arm. Hermione posed her hands over the arm, nodding to the other women.

It one quick swoop she grasped the arm and tugged with all her might.

Thankfully, the body came out of the tent easily. The body's owner was not struggling for some reason.

The body was only half-blackened and hairless. Their bottom half was unaffected. Though hard to identify, Hermione could tell by the dress robes that this was one of the men who had ventured off to search the tent.

All three women bent down. Hermione carefully studied the features on the face. He had large ears, a button nose and a strong jaw. Even discolored and hairless, Hermione recognized the face in front of her.

"Ron."

Ginny lifted the bottom of the dress robes to reveal red hair on the body's legs. She nodded rigidly then stood in front of the body, her wand pointed at his forehead. "Ennervate!"

Ron jumped up into a sitting position, gasping and sputtering in his apparent state of panic and confusion.

"Sodding hell! Fuck! Dammit!"

After a moment, he gained his senses back and began observing his surroundings. He looked at Hermione, Ginny, and then down at his own body.

"Shit!" He leapt up on to his feet. "I didn't make it!"

"What?" Lavender questioned.

"I didn't make to through the fucking portal!" Ron cried. "Did they come back? Did you find them?"

Hermione's heart was pumping faster than she ha ever thought it could. Ron had obviously seen something quite terrible and she did not have any solace to offer him.

His skin was graying now. Hermione could almost see the color coming back to his eyes. How long ago had this happened?

"Ron, we don't know where Dean, Seamus and Harry went." Hermione tried to break the news gently, but it still managed to upset Ron very much.

Before Ron had another outburst, teary-eyed Lavender spoke up. "Ron, please. I need to know what happened." She moved until she was looking into Ron's eyes, trying not to flinch at his unusual image. "I need to know what happened."

"I was the last to walk in. He was waiting for us. He was waiting for Dean." Ron told them slowly. "He just started attacking. He hit me with a Confundus charm, I think. Harry fell over and Seamus had ducked behind something, but Dean just stood their and let the damn man take him!"

Ron's eyes raced wildly, making sure that nobody was listening in on their conversation. "Out of nowhere, Harry gets up and starts running to the portal. He was completely off his rocker! The man who took Dean had to chase Harry through the portal with Dean."

Despite tipping his head back, a tear slipped down Ron's cheek. Under the tear, his skin immediately turned back to his original skin color.

"Once the portal started to close, Seamus went in too. I tried to follow him, but I couldn't concentrate. I could barely walk straight. I got halfway through the portal before it started closing in on my body. All I could feel was this tremendous pressure." He blinked away another tear. "I don't remember anything after that, really."

Hermione couldn't believe it. She hadn't been far at all, but she hadn't heard the commotion. Now, she had no way to reach them. They were in a void that Hermione could not reach.

"Was that all?" Ginny asked.

"I heard something." The thought seemed to come into Ron's head just as he spoke. "It was so faint. I think it was "Fenti poratalus" or something like that."

"Fenti poratalus?" Lavender scrunched her nose in confusion. "I wonder if that would be anything like Fenticula apparatus."

Hermione snapped her head in Lavender's direction. She'd never heard of such a spell. There were very few spells that Hermione hadn't heard of before. "What are you talking about?"

"Seamus told me about it during his Auror training." Lavender explained. "It's an Auror's charm used to follow suspects when they apparate. You stand exactly where the suspect stood and say 'Fenticula apparatus' and you're immediately transported to where they apparated. Of course, you repeat the incantation after you've reached the destination. Otherwise anybody who stood on the original point of apparation would automatically apparate to the destination."

Hermione thought to herself. She had held that incantation during the war, but she didn't know what it meant. Perhaps it originally came from portals. "So you're saying this could happen with portals?"

"I don't have a bloody clue!" Lavender snorted.

"Maybe he was closing the portal so nobody could get through." Ginny suggested. "We need to try it out."

"We can't try anything here." Ron reminded Ginny. "We wouldn't be able to stick together because I can't get into one tent and you girls couldn't get into the other."

"Ron, you could always stay and-"

"There is no way in hell you are going without me!"

Ginny was taken aback by Ron's fierce anger. It was obvious that he felt obligated to help his friends just as much, if not more than Ginny did. He had seen everything unfold before his very eyes. He knew Harry's temperament and Seamus' defensive nature, but what seemed to scare him most was Dean's desperation.

Lavender cleared her throat awkwardly, moving closer to them. "We'll go to my house, then. We know exactly where the portal was in my house."

Before the idea was discussed any further, Ron had already apparated away. Hermione looked to the other women, shrugged, and apparated to the home Lavender shared with Seamus.

When they all apparated into the bedroom, Ron was eager to try opening the portal. His wand was outstretched toward the corner of the wall and his eyes were clenched tight.

"Fenti poratalus!"

Nothing happened. Ron, Hermione, and Ginny waited with baited breath, but Lavender grew exhausted after only a moment.

"I told you, Ron!" Lavender grunted out. "It would be 'Fenticula poratalus' not 'Fenti poratalus!' How daft are you?"

"I heard 'Fenti!'" Ron argued, trying to keep his composure.

Lavender shook her head. "Well, that didn't do you any good, did it?"

She pointed her wand quite leisurely toward the wall and yelled "Fenticula poratalus!"

Ever so slowly, a hole in the wall started to open up and orb out into the shape of a portal. Hermione couldn't believe it. She had just witnessed Lavender Brown doing something that required intelligence.

Lavender bunched up her robes, took an over-exaggerated breath and stormed into the portal. They all followed quickly behind her, Ron grumbling "I hate it when she's right."

As soon as she entered the portal, Hermione felt her head spin. It was the nauseating light, sound and pressure of apparition, but prolonged. Needless to say, Hermione began rushing through the portal with the others. With the awkward pain she was feeling, she could have cared less what dangers lay on the other end of the portal.

Her head was about to explode. She couldn't breathe. The world around her was falling apart in a short time. She could see the other end of the portal inching nearer, but it just wasn't enough.

Then everything went black.

It took Hermione a moment to realize that she was not fainting or falling into an abyss. Instead, she was slowly regaining her strength. Her breathing steadied and her eyes began adjusting to her surroundings.

"Fenticula… poratalus." A breathless voice spoke from right next to her.

Hermione moved to her right. There was a person standing next to her. She tilted backward and clanked heads with another person. "Ow!" Ron responded. "Watch it!" In front of her, something hard, cold, and a bit slimy stood. It was a wall.

"Where are we?" Lavender's childish voice cried out.

"In a closet, you twit!" Ginny spat back in a harsh whisper. "Now keep it quiet before something bad happens to you!"

Lavender sighed. "Like this isn't bad enough."

Hermione finally regained her strength. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her wand, doing what was she expected everyone else to do ages ago.

"Lumos!"

Everyone gasped. Hermione had almost forgotten the effects of the portal. She examined the others followed by her own body. Their skin and eyes were as dark as the night. Their hair was non-existent.

"Oh, this is vile!" Lavender let out a painful whisper.

Hermione tried to ignore her image and focus on the dangers that many be surrounding her. The closet was tiny and there was nothing inside but the three witches and a wizard that barely fit.

Her eyes adjusted to the light more and she finally found their escape. A tiny wooden door stood to her left.

"Shut up!" she whispered in urgency.

Everyone who had been exchanged whispers seemed shocked by this command and immediately grew silent.

"There's a door down here. I'm going to open it and see if I can see anything happening outside."

Hermione bent down slowly, forcing Ron and Lavender to push their bodies up against the wall to give her more space. She clutched the doorknob with care then gave it a quarter turn.

The doorknob let out a squeak and everyone in the closet held their breath.

When a few moments had passed and nobody seemed to come investigating the squeak, Hermione begin to carefully turn the knob again.

The latch clicked and Hermione pulled the door toward her, leaving just enough space for her eyes to peer outside.

Hermione immediately recognized the building. The lavish walls, the symbols painted on them, the whizzing papers and the busy feet scurrying about.

She calmly shut the door, picked herself up off the ground, and took a deep breath.

"What is it?" Ron begged her for answers. "Where are we?"

"We're in the Ministry."


Holy plot point, Batman!

The next chapter will be better. Parvati's condition will be revealed. We'll finally see what happened to Harry, Dean, and Seamus. If the plot moves along well, we'll probably find out who this myserious kidnapper is!

I know you all have your predictions, but things aren't always what they may seem. Tell me! Who is our mystery man?

Other than that, feel free to give me any feedback about the chapter, the characters, or ask me questions!