Chapter 9- Regrets, Longing, and Bad News

Back and forth, back and forth. Harry Potter was pacing again. He had been doing so for the past week, ever since he'd left Ginny alone in the former battlefield. What if she hadn't made it home? What if something had happened to her? What if…

The regrets were filling him, causing him to ache with worry. He was constantly going over the things that he now regretted, her words ringing through his mind. Maybe… maybe Ginny had been right. Was he really right to run away from her? She was the one thing that had always brought him comfort, both before the battle and after it, before he had left her.

Maybe… maybe being with her was worth the possibility of endangering her. After all, things were safer now. There had been no activities linked to Dark Magic in years. He sighed, trying to sort out his thoughts.

Of course, even if he did change his mind, she'd never take him back. What sort of girl would be foolish enough to take him back after everything he'd done to her? Then again, this was not just any girl.

A distraction was provided in the form of a tapping sound at his window. He moved to it and recognized the owl that always brought The Daily Prophet. After paying the owl he headed across the room again, this time to a chair. Maybe reading the Prophet could stop him thinking about Ginny.

"Someone's missing…"

The second page of the paper had an article about a missing St. Mungos employee. He scanned the article quickly. She hadn't come to work for three days, and when someone went in to her house to see if she was alright, they had found her gone and signs of a struggle present. Then he saw it.

"Ginny Weasley's family prays for her safe return…"

His heart stopped and his blood ran cold. All thought seemed to have vanished from his brain, replaced by fear. She was missing… he scanned the rest of the article.

"No leads were found, nor have any been reported… if you have any information…"

Harry threw the paper aside, standing up. There had to be something. There had to be something that the Auror's had missed, and if there was, he would find it.

He left the house quickly, apparating to her flat and heading up to it. He pushed on the door, surprised to find that it was unlocked. Upon entering it, the first thing he noticed was that the Prophet had reported it properly. There were clear signs of a struggle, things were overturned and knocked over… he vaguely wondered why no one had cleared it up, before heading back into her bedroom.

As he entered the room, it struck him odd that there was nothing out of place. Surely Ginny had struggled before they reached the main room? He glanced around; there was nothing out of the ordinary, he was sure of it. He glanced at her bed and spotted a picture lying on her pillow. He glanced at it, and then looked closer. It was a picture of the Riddle House.

After studying it for a second, he realized that nothing in the picture was moving, as was normal with wizards.

"What is going on?"

Then he saw it. The picture was moving, but the house and areas surrounding it were still. Up in a corner of the picture there was a window, and in the window was…

"Ginny!"

He turned the picture over, to see three words scribbled onto the back.

"Help me Harry."

He read them aloud, his heart clenching. How long ago had this been taken? What if… what she was…

He shoved the picture into the pocket, deciding not to think about it. He moved out of her bedroom and into the living room, where he cleared up some of the mess. Then he headed back into the street and apparated.

A few minutes later he landed in a clearing not too far from the house. He knew the clearing well, he had been there before. It was the safest way to the Riddle House. The last he knew, you could not apparate to it, so he would have to walk. The Riddle House had held a Horcrux at one point in time and with a sigh and his wand held out, invisibility cloaked in a bag that he had taken from Grimmauld Place when he had gone back for the cloak. He pulled out the picture again and looked at it, his eyes drawn to the mane of flaming red hair in the corner.

"I'm coming Ginny."

Then, with those last words, he headed towards the house.