AN: Alright, this has literally taken forever. I know it. And I apologize to you guys who have been waiting for months. If I have any readers left, thanks for sticking around. RL hasn't been friendly to me for awhile. But hey, I graduate tomorrow which means more frequent updates!

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

Chapter 15: Fleeing

Ron was frustrated. He had been wandering around in this damn mansion for fifteen minutes and still had seen no sign of Harry. Worse, he hadn't come in contact with Hermione either. He hoped she was safe.

Voices.

Ron stopped. He crept as quietly as he could towards the noise.

"The Dark Lord should be here tomorrow," someone said and Ron recognized the voice as Peter Pettigrew.

"I'm well aware of when our Master will be arriving in my own home," Lucius Malfoy said icily.

"But Dumbledore?" Pettigrew muttered. "How do you know he's coming?"

"Trust me," Malfoy said and Ron stepped back from the door as he heard the voice coming closer. "Potter missing, what else could possibly be occupying Dumbledore's attention? The Dark Lord will have his wishes – the elimination of both of his enemies in one night."

Ron ducked into another room of the house just before Lucius Malfoy entered the hallway.

So that was the plan. Get rid of Harry and Dumbledore. Ron thought of going back and warning the Order, but one thought of his friends pushed that thought away from his mind.

Ron listened to Malfoy's footsteps die away.

"Always makes me do the dirty work," Ron heard Wormtail muttered.

Ron peeked out of the room and saw Wormtail with trays of food and glasses of water.

"Harry," Ron whispered.

Pettigrew started down a long staircase and Ron did his best to follow him while keeping hidden. Wormtail seemed oblivious to his surroundings and kept up his constant stream of muttering.

"…feed the prisoners while he sweeps off thinking he's so important…"

Ron followed him down two more staircases to a long hallway full of what Ron assumed were holding cells. Pettigrew took down the wards on the cells as they went but didn't bother to put them back up behind him. For his stupidity, Ron was grateful.

Pettigrew stopped. Ron made sure to stay back at least twenty feet as he watched Wormtail.

"Trapio," Pettigrew muttered.

Ron watched him slide the food and water into a cell through a small panel. Wormtail turned around to head back the way he had came. Ron hid behind a pillar and hoped Wormtail wasn't very observant.

Lucky for Ron, he wasn't.

Pettigrew put the enchantments haphazardly back up as he went. But Ron was close enough to the cell that he no longer had any obstacles to overcome. After Wormtail's mutterings of spells had died away, Ron went up to the cell.

Ron had to marvel at the brilliance of the way the whole place was set up. The "cells" merely looked like continuations of the stone wall. If Ron hadn't just watched Wormtail go up to the place and push food through he wouldn't even have known the cell was there.

Ron put his wand up to the brick he thought he had seen Wormtail tap and said, "Trapio."

Nothing happened.

He tried the one on the left. Nothing. The one on the right?

The brick he had touched as well as the ones above it and below it disappeared to reveal a space into the cell.

"Who's in there?" Ron shouted into the hole.

"Ron?"

"Who else would it be?"

"Oh thank Merlin!" It was Hermione's voice. "Harry's here too!"

"Hey mate," Ron heard Harry say. "What took you so long?"

Ron smiled despite the situation. "Stuff it Potter."

"I don't know if I should try spells on this wall," Ron told them. "I'm sure it's protected or it might have an alarm on it."

"Pass your wand through Weasley."

"Who the hell is that?" Ron asked though he already knew the answer.

"It's – It's Malfoy," Harry said.

"As fun as this is, maybe you should pass your wand through to us Weasley. The walls aren't protected from spells cast on the inside. I'm sure it's only a matter of minutes before you get discovered down here," the cold voice said. Ron hated that voice.

"Harry take my wand and freeze up the old ferret so he doesn't follow us," Ron said.

There was silence on the other side.

"Harry?"

"Yeah – um actually Malfoy was put in here by his father too so he's kind of on our side now."

Ron snorted. "Do you honestly believe that? Come on Harry, I'm going to give you my wand. You don't have to kill him. Just incapacitate him."

"Ron, listen to Harry," Hermione said. "Malfoy was kept prisoner here too. He's just as keen to get out of he-"

"What the hell is wrong with you two? Did they put some spell on you? It's Malfoy we're talking about –"

"You know I can hear you, right Weasley?"

Ron kicked the wall hard which accomplished nothing except making his toe throb. He thrust his wand through the opening. "Here Harry," he said. "I don't know what you're talking about, but I trust you."

"Alright Ron stand back," Harry said. "REDUCTO!"

The wall smashed into pieces. Harry, Hermione, and finally Malfoy emerged. Harry handed Ron his wand back.

"Good to see you again mate," Ron said. Harry grinned. Hermione threw herself at Ron.

"I thought I would never see you again!" She kissed him quickly.

"Hey, it's alright," Ron said. "Let's find a way to get the hell out of here."

Suddenly they heard footsteps behind them. They turned to see Wormtail, Crabbe, and Goyle running towards them.

"They must have heard us!" Hermione shouted. "Come on!"

They ran down the hall as fast as they could. The only problem was the three people chasing them were armed and Ron was the only one who had a wand.

"Impedimenta!" Ron shouted and aimed his wand behind him. Crabbe slowed. There were only two of them left. Ron looked behind him again. Wormtail was talking into his wand. No doubt he was warning Malfoy that the prisoners had escaped.

"Stupefy!" Ron yelled at the same time Goyle did. The shots of red light met in the air and ricocheted down the hall. "Damn!"

Ron continued running. The rest of the group was up ahead of him. They were making their way up a set of steps. Ron sped up and ran up the stairs a few minutes after he had watched Harry go up them.

The stairs led to a room.

The room was filled with over a dozen Death Eaters. "Stupefy!" Ron yelled. One of them dropped. His friends were already on the ground knocked out. Ron was pretty sure the only reason he wasn't on the floor with them was because he had surprised them.

Suddenly Ron felt something hit his back. His limbs went numb and as he dropped to his knees everything went black.

AN: Please review!