Chapter Nineteen

Hogwarts

It seemed like the whole world crumbled between her fingers, and all that was there is now missing. If there was ever a time that her heart seemed like it was breaking it would be now. She couldn't breathe. She couldn't think. She couldn't move as tears practically devoured her face. She was empty and all her happiness was washed away like she was kissed by a Dementor. She didn't want to believe it, hoping she could just close her eyes, reopen them, and there her daughter would be. Was she dreaming?

She practically pushed Harry away. She wanted nothing but her daughter once again back in her arms. Harry acted as if he was taking this extremely well, but he knew he had to be strong for the both of them. He just had to hang in there a little longer and find their child. Harry was known for being the best wizard and Auror anyone had ever seen. Harry's life was starting to fall apart and more and more he seemed less interested in work. All Harry needed was his partner: Ron.

Life to Harry seemed less and less important. It was instantly grinding to halt and no one knew where to move or even what to say. It was becoming longer, harder, and fiercer than ever experienced. It seemed like, ever since their wedding, it grew into nothing but horror. It no longer seemed colorful, nor was it anywhere near enjoyable. It seemed harsh, it seemed unfair, but most of all it seemed like a complete joke. Was their daughter really in danger? Or was this some sad, pathetic, and sadistic prank?

Why was it them and what had they done to deserve such a horrible loss? Harry's only thought was this was revenge on Voldemort. The only problem was that all the Death Eaters were dead. Who was starting this, and how would it end? Was the final battle really the final? Or is Voldemort still in power and his heir still sitting on the disgraceful thrown which was named 'Powerful?' They could hear people cry even when they weren't actually doing so. Harry could have sworn he heard Hermione's heart shatter from within her shaking body.

Who was doing this? Who planned this? Who was now laughing as they cried so much that they made themselves sick? Why was it them, or why was it now? It seemed like only a scattered few had hearts and the rest had humor that came from another's misery. What was wrong with the world and the people within it? What had happened? What was the real reason behind the problems within the other problems? Did that make sense? Was there really a reason, or was it basically and flatly made, a prank?

"Hermione, I know," Harry said as he cradled her in his arms. "But I might have a lead, stay here with Molly."

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With that said he had vanished and appeared onto a doorstep. A large oak door stood in front of him and with no second thoughts or delay he began pounding. It lasted non-stop for nearly four minutes before he could see the figure of someone's shadow under the door. They seemed to take a while, would they not let him in? It was an emergency; he had to reach Ron, because now he needed his help. He would be useless in finding his daughter if on was not with him.

"Ron?" Harry yelled as he pounded on the door. "It's an emergency! Please open up!"

"What are you on about?" A sleepy Ron asked as he whipped open the door. "It's the middle of the night!"

"I know, I'm sorry." Harry panted. "I need your help, now more than ever. I wouldn't be here unless it was an emergency, so give me ten minutes so I can explain... you owe me that much." He said, huffing harder.

"I owe you nothing." Ron growled in return.

Right before the door was shut in his face; Harry put his hand to it and held it open. With tear filled eyes he pushed the door open enough to see Ron's face. Ron looked at him, and Harry could tell Ron was sensing his anger, passion, and fear of what was going on. Harry couldn't believe what he was even hearing. He mentioned it was an emergency, and even with those words said Ron refused to let him in. Harry couldn't give up, though, for Ron could be his only chance in saving his daughter. Harry was almost crying.

"Melody is missing."

Ron just stared, wide eyed, and amazed. It didn't add up, what had happened? Ron looked at Harry with pure sympathy and almost instantly Ron had opened the door a bit wider so Harry could return to his feet. Ron gave him a hand up and they just stared at each other before Harry dropped his head in sorrow of the events taken in the night. The clock would strike almost eleven and they had said nothing for a good twenty minutes or so before Harry looked up into the eyes of his once-upon-a-time friend.

"I'm sorry for whatever happened to us before, or whatever I said to you, and most of all: what ever I did to get you fired." Harry said, sighing greatly. "It's all in the pass, and right now I need your help more than ever. You're one of the best damn Aurors I know and you were and will be my only partner."

"Harry, I don't care about that. The fact that your daughter is in danger is what scares me. If Sky was in trouble I know you and Hermione would help us out, so please, explain to me what exactly is going on?" Ron said, taking him inside and shutting the door.

"Okay it all started when Hermione and I had a fight. Your mum came in to check up and make sure everything was okay because she didn't have a lot of time with Hermione after Melody was born. We offered her dinner and when she said she'd stay I started to make extra. I was cutting vegetables and accidentally cut my finger, and I don't know why but I got really annoyed and snapped at Hermione. She got upset, there was another fight, and while we had a talk your mum went upstairs to check on Melody. Hermione and I made up, and then we heard noises upstairs and we ran up to find the room completely destroyed. Your mum was thrown in a closet, Melody was gone, and in her bed there was a message in blood that said: revenge." Harry spoke quite fast, and as he replayed it again in his head, more and more it didn't make sense.

"My mum is okay isn't she?" Ron asked instantly.

"Yes, she's fine, we're all fine... well, except Melody." Harry said, dropping his head low again.

"Hold on, we can figure this out. The message said revenge?" Ron asked and Harry nodded slightly. "If it said revenge than it ties into Voldemort, but all the Death Eaters are..." Ron stopped and looked at Harry.

"Dead, I know." Harry said and instantly Ron signaled him to be quiet.

"No, no, no... Harry, remember, the final battle! When you were fighting off Voldemort the rest of us were fighting off the Death Eaters. Don't you remember what we were talking about? I mentioned that I thought I saw someone running from the fight and into the forest, but they were wearing all black so we couldn't tell who it was, so we assumed it was Neville running like a coward. I think it was a Death Eater!"

"That's impossible," Harry noted. "All the Death Eaters were accounted for, even both Malfoys."

"No, I can think of one that we didn't mention." Ron said. "One we over looked."

They both looked at each other, and then a name came. Immediately Ron had fetched Lavender and both Ron and Harry explained what was going on. Harry and Ron would go on the search and they asked Lavender to return to Harry's house and care for Hermione at this time. They would go one alone and they would tail the troublemaker, but Harry needed someone strong to be aside Hermione, and Molly was a bit shaken up already. Harry couldn't ask Molly for anymore than what she had already attempted. She was willing to risk her life to save his daughter, and in his eyes, it made her a hero.

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It wasn't long before Lavender had showed up at Hermione's house with Skyler at her hip. In only a moment was Skyler sitting on the ground and Lavender across the room sitting with Hermione. Lavender felt a shiver as she lifted her head and felt the dark evilness of the message sprawled across Melody's bed, but Lavender looked for only a mere second before he had to tear her eyes away for good. Too much power, too much evil, and too much fear... it all was packed into the room as the four sat in, helplessly crying.

"Hermione, everything will be okay now." Lavender said soothingly as she hugged her close.

"Oh Lavender," Hermione cried. "I am such a horrible mother. If Harry and I weren't fighting than none of this would have happened. I feel so guilty and I have ruined the only family that I have ever had." She sobbed.

"Hermione, I heard the story, and according to Harry that statement is wrong. If you weren't fighting than Molly never would have gone upstairs and even though it all ended badly in the end, would you rather have had her taken willingly, or have someone take her but first to fight?"

"I want no one to take her at all." Hermione said in a surprising tone. "I just want her back."

"I know, I know..." Lavender insisted as she looked over and analyzed Ron's mom. "Let's go down stairs and get a drink. Ron and Harry feel they are really onto something, so let's just have hope in them. I trust them, why shouldn't you?"

Hermione wiped away the tears from her eyes and she nodded with a smirk of hope in her lips. Lavender gave her a hand, then gave Molly a hand up, and then once again placed Skyler at her hip. She helped Molly down the stairs the best she could, for she was the only one having trouble standing, and Lavender set Sky in Melody's playroom and put in a movie for him as Lavender returned to the kitchen to have drinks with the others. Lavender had hope in Harry, but she had the highest doubts in Ron, but she couldn't tell Hermione... not now.

Hermione sat at the table with a cloth in hand as she dabbed away her tears. Molly sat at her right and Lavender soon joined them at her left. She looked around, happy to have people that cared so much for her and her family, but it seemed like she was making them do everything as she sat back and cried her way through the night. She couldn't leave all her problems up to them, she had to be out there fighting with Harry and Ron, but even if she wanted to, for her own safety, Harry would not allow it. Under all the tension, and under all the anger, she really did love him more than anything. She really did.

"Let's get some wine," Lavender said quietly. "Maybe it will calm us down in the time we have to wait."

Hermione nodded and Molly just sat, hand on her heart, and just listening to the sound of her breathing. Lavender walked across the kitchen, gathered glasses from the rack, and gracefully poured the wine. Lavender took one step backwards as a crushing noise escaped from the underside of her shoes. She jumped a little, looked down, and saw the many pieces of broken glass sprawled across the floor. Lavender set the glasses down on the counter, and on some pieces of glass she could see drips of blood.

"Hermione, what happened in here?" Lavender asked in amazement.

"Harry and I had a fight," She nearly choked on her words. "I never meant for it to go as far as it did, but it did. It really wasn't as bad as it looks though. No one got hurt. Harry cut his finger and when he went over to the sink it dripped a trail, so none of us got hurt on the glass." Hermione paused for a minute. "That was the biggest fight we've ever had, and I have no idea what to do anymore. All we ever do is fight."

"Hermione, relationships and marriage aren't supposed to be all fun and games. There are a lot of hardships to overcome and a lot of commitment to get used to. You aren't supposed to sit back and ride. You're supposed to grind through it, almost on the very edge of wanting to stop for good, before you realize all you've been through is because you love each other. If you are angry, then he is angry. If you are sad, then he is sad. It doesn't matter if he doesn't remember a birth date or an anniversary or anything. All that matters is you have what you've always wanted: a family. If you aren't happy, then work to be happy, if you feel he treats you wrong, than teach him to treat you right." Lavender started with an inspirational voice. "All you have to do is be brave. Bite your lip and hope for the best."

"Lavender," Hermione said softly. "I'm really lucky to have someone like you here with me. I don't know what I'd do with out you."

"Anytime," Lavender said as she looked at Molly. "Molly, will you go check on Sky for me?" She asked, and Molly nodded lightly with a bit of fear in her from the last time she went to check. Lavender looked back at Hermione. "Just answer me one thing." She said, walking around the island in the kitchen and sitting back at the table with her. "Do you want this marriage to work? And answer me from your heart."

Hermione took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She looked deep within herself from everything all the way back to her school days. She replayed her days at school, Harry's memory, the day at Molly's when they reunited, when they kissed while watching the sunset, the first time they made love, and everything in between that made her so happy she could scream. Then she replayed Harry's accident, the fight on the balcony, her pregnancy, the fight that took place a few hours ago, her daughter missing, and her broken heart and she felt helpless. He opened her eyes and breathed freely again.

"I want it to work, more than anything." She stated as if she was robotic. She smiled. "I love him, I always will love him, and I have faith in him. He'll find Melody and then after we'll live happily ever after... just like in the books." Hermione watched Lavender smiled and then drop her head low. "May I ask you something?" She said, changing her tone from confident to worry.

"Anything," Lavender stated, attempting to smile.

"Do you love Ron?" She asked and Lavender's eyes grew wide. "All that you said tonight made me realize just how much you want a working relationship and if you love someone enough than you fight for it. Are you giving up, or are you ready to fight for the final chance at an ending?" Hermione eyes her lightly.

"I'm ready to fight." Lavender said after a moment of thinking.

Lavender looked at her a minute before she ran over and gave her one last hug. They stayed like that for a good minute or so before Lavender pulled away and Hermione took her hand. They smiled at one another, promising each other that before they die they will have the chance to say 'I live happily,' and never once regret it. If it got too hard, they would always have one another to turn to. They would always be there for each other, as long as they still were around. They had each other for laughs, tears, fights, and even advice. They were friends for life, and they would stay that way. Right before Lavender's hand left Hermione's they both had jumped almost two feet.

"LAVENDER... WHERE'S SKYLER?" Ron said right away after appearing. Lavender noticed his worried face.

"In the playroom... what's wrong?" Lavender asked.

"We know who took Melody." Harry said instantly. "And in order to completely sabotage us we think they are planning on taking Skyler too. Everyone to the playroom… now."

In a heartbeat everyone had stood from their chairs and was running as quickly as possible into the living room. Hermione was running; there was a spark in her, would they reach him in time? Would they save at least one? She knew this was her only hope of catching the kidnapper. Hermione had to get there, she had to look the person in the face and find out whom exactly to be angry at. Hermione stopped as the rest of the group headed forward down the hall, but instead Hermione cut through the hallway as they cut through the Den. They were inches away from the playroom as they saw Skyler, sitting by the television. A person in black sneaking up behind them, and instantly Harry drew his wand.

"Don't move." And with a devilish sneer he lifted his wand. The black cloaked creature turned on their heel and laughed an evil laugh.

"Why isn't it Harry Potter, oh no, looks like I have been caught." They said in a mocking saddened voice. "Tisk tisk, the poor excuse for an Auror has actually caught me, what ever will I do? Oh, I know, offer to baby-sit his best friend's son... good deal?" They analyzed Harry's beating red face. "Guess not..."

"Poor excuse? Don't get revenge on me for saving the world because your son of a bitch half blood murderer needed to be stopped. I killed your master, and now you seem to be the only known death eater who is still free, shall we change that?" Harry sneered. "And don't lay a finger on that child." Harry took a step forward. "I know you have my daughter, where is she?" He spat every word like acid on his tongue.

"You know same old, same old..." They giggled and Harry looked a bit confused. "She happens to be quite safe in a house full of terror in which I can unleash and you'll never see your poor little child again. I do feel sorry for the dear, having a mud-blood for a mother."

Harry stepped forward once more, drawing his wand to the creature, and sniping threats towards them. The creature just kept on laughing and giggling as it too armed itself and pointed its wand. Their wands were nearly two feet apart and it seemed like a while before either of them even decided to chant a spell. The house grew dark, the room grew cold, the child grew scared as he ran to Lavender, and Harry grew angry. Over and over he would ask where his child is was, but each time she would throw out another insult. Finally neither of them could take another word.

"Fine, you asked for it." The creature said, flicking its wand. "Cruci---"

"PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!" A voice shouted from behind the bathroom door. Hermione stepped out, full of anger. "Harry, take their wand." Harry did so.

Hermione, though, was not satisfied. She walked forward, wand in hand, and stomped with anger to the statue of a body. She growled with every step, for she had had enough heartache and she could not take another word. She wanted nothing but her daughter, and thankfully Lavender's child was unharmed. Harry just watched as Hermione walked to the body, and he smiled, realizing that she would finally reveal who it was. He grew anxious and hoped that his calculations were correct and that he successfully had found his daughter's attacker. Hermione, though, showed no interest in what the others thought. She wanted to know. In a split second she ripped the hood of the cloak from the body and then removed the spell.

"Well, well, well." Hermione smiled. "Why isn't it little Pansy Parkingson... oh, sorry, it's Pansy Malfoy now isn't it? Then again you've been insulting us when you are now... hmmm, what's the world... ummm... a widow? I'm not afraid of you, you're no Death Eater. You've been in hiding all these years and you wear the cloak to fool others into thinking you are scary. Where did you take my daughter?" Hermione growled, pulling her wand to Pansy's neck. "I will not play kind, and I will not give you any second chances. You've fooled with me enough for one day, so spill you stupid spider." She sneered.

"I will tell you only a clue," Pansy tried not to gulp. She cleared her throat.

"Follow my riddle into the forest of trees

There you will find a cottage surrounded by golden leaves.

You better hurry though, the frost is near

And if the leaves die then so will what you hold dear.

Speed up your pace, but not a moment too slow

Or it too will speed up: the river's flow.

It's hard to find the cottage as you search through your past

And inside it you'll find the answer at last.

One last clue is bringing along fears

And if you aren't fast you'll break down in tears.
Follow the path of the unforgivable water

And there will lay your dying daughter."

"You son of a bitch..." Hermione stepped forward, but with that she had vanished and Hermione picked up a toy and through it at the window, smashing it.

"Calm down," Lavender pleaded. "You're scaring Skyler!" She said over Sky's constant whining behind his mom's leg. Hermione turned and looked down at the child and took a deep breath. Lavender looked around. "What are we going to do, Harry?" She wondered, hugging Skyler tight.

"Get ready to return once again to our past. We don't have much time. Where are we going?" Harry asked himself, and with a smile he answered his own question: "Hogwarts"

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Author's Notes:

Okay, sorry that it took me two weeks to get out another crappy chapter, but I hoped that if I waited a little longer I'd might get more reveiws but it didn't work at all. My apologies and we'll see what happens, but I have news. I have only one more chapter cooking and then this story is finished! The ending is sure to shock you big time! So look forward to my finale, because I think it'll be a good one! Until next time -

Airalynn

To My Reveiwers:

Ms. Sakura Moon - So, were you right? Did you really know who it was? Haha, that would be really funny if you did. Who did yout hink it was anyway? Please don't scream again, I don't want people in China mad at me. Haha, just kidding. Actually I dunno about the "awesome chappie" bit because that last one was really bad, but this one was probably a lot worse. I dunno, it's just... not one of my best, ya know? I think my personal favorite chapter is Seventeen, I just love how that one came out. Lol, so, were you right on quessing who did it? You sounded pretty positive! Haha, and keep up the humor, I need it! -

missxsh0rtie - Well here it is, sorry about the delay. I know everyone hates cliffies, but do you ahve any idea how much fun they are to write? As in knowing that you are the only one that really know what'll happen next? Haha, I absolutely love power :D

twcklver1 - Thanks, review some more, please?

Lagua the random and insane queen - Lol, yeah, bit disturbing ey? Haha, I hope you read the rest of my story, considering you kinda have to read it to realize I am commenting back to you, haha. Thanks for reviewing, it means a lot!

That's all tear I really hoped to get more, but I think I've made you guys wait long enough. I bet you don't know him but thank my friend for giving me the perfect inspiration to this story. If it wasn't for him, you wouldn't have this chapter!

UPDATED: (MONDAY) AUGUST 15, 2006 - Another weekend gone sigh

"For all sad words of tongue and pen, the saddest are these: 'It might have been.'"