Hi guys! Back with another update! Thank you all for the support and reviews last chapter. I am so glad you all are enjoying this story so much!
In the end, it came down to sheer luck that Harry managed to evade the jet of green light that shot from the tip of Knox's wand. A solid jerk of his wrists had his hands freed and a split second later, he hit the ground with no intentions at all outside of simply avoiding the curse. Knox yelled in shock as his spell missed his captive by millimeters and gouged a deep crevice into the wall behind him. The impact was hard and seemed to rattle through Harry's already splintering bones, but he did not stop. He was up in the next moment, vaulting the chair up with him even as his head spun with the pain. He used it to dodge the next curse flung his way and then flung it with every ounce of strength toward the dark wizard.
By some miracle, the distraction worked. Knox turned his attention to the projectile for a split second, arresting its flight in midair and allowing Harry an opening. Between the dark and his poor eyesight, he was very nearly blind, but he launched himself at the wizard and collided hard, he believed, with the lower portion of his torso. He took a blow to the spine but Harry fought through it, letting his instincts and the combat skills he'd learned during Auror training kick in. He knew if he stopped now he was dead for sure—maybe he was dead anyway, but he was determined to go down fighting if he was.
In such close quarters, wand work was difficult and Knox, too, was forced to resort to brute force. He drove a knee violently into Harry's chest and the latter stumbled back, struggling for breath. Knox advanced, wand drawn once more. "Oh, I'm going to enjoy killing you slowly." The next jet of light did hit its mark and Harry couldn't help but yell as his chest was torn open from the cutting curse. The Cruciatus came next and he couldn't move, couldn't think, wasn't even sure he could breathe through the intense onslaught of it. Knox advanced toward him, laughing vindictively. Harry waited, focusing hard on keeping his jaw locked to keep from crying out again or from biting his own tongue off. He'd discovered sometime over the course of the past days—or however long it had been at this point—that the only way to really handle pain of such a magnitude was to compartmentalize it in his mind, to shove it in a box the way he'd once done with everything when he'd been with the Dursleys, and to push that box as far from the forefront of his mind as he could.
His body convulsed under the onslaught of the curse and Knox prowled closer, a vulture circling his prey. Harry forced himself to focus, to bear it and to wait. He hated this, feeling helpless and trapped, losing once more to Death Eaters and their dark magic, being without his wand, half-blind and in pain, away from his wife. And he hated perhaps more than anything right then the idea of Ron's face when he realized he'd missed his chance at finding him.
The dark wizard crouched down before him, surely grinning like a hyena basking in his imminent victory. Harry had no idea where he found the strength to do so but he managed to summon every once of will and swing his leg around behind the unsuspecting Knox. He swept the Death Eater's legs out from under him and he fell hard on the dirty floor. With his concentration broken, the Unforgivable curse vanished and, though the effects of it lingered excruciatingly, Harry took advantage of the sudden relief. He sprang up and pinned Knox's wand arm to the floor beside his head. The Death Eater fought violently against him but for the moment, Harry had managed to gain the upper hand and he did not intend to let it go. Knox reached for his face with his free hand in a blow Harry did not see until it was nearly too late. He managed to dodge enough to keep the damage to his nose minimal and followed up with a solid punch to the other wizard's face in return. The crunch of cartilage and bone beneath his fist was one of the most satisfying things Harry thought he'd ever felt. Knox went limp beneath him.
Harry's arm felt leaden but he pulled it back and struck one more time because he could. He would have liked nothing more in that moment than to curl up right there and sleep for a month but Harry knew his trials were far from over. He pried the wand from Knox's unconscious fingers and though he knew the lightheadedness he currently felt was likely at least in part due to the torrents of blood leaking from the gash in his chest, his wounds were not his first priority. The Death Eater's wand was far from his own phoenix feather one—which he knew he'd likely never see again—but it obeyed his command easily enough and did the job securing ropes tightly around the unconscious dark wizard, gagging him for good measure.
Harry knew he himself was in bad shape with injuries that went far deeper than just the cuts and bruises—he'd need to get to St. Mungo's soon, before the adrenaline keeping him upright abandoned him completely. In the interim, however, he had no choice but to settle for some rudimentary healing charms. The gash in his chest was deep and dirty, and it stung immensely as it knit itself closed. Even with the lessened vertigo, Harry felt like death, but his only option was to keep moving. He was getting out of here one way or another but he preferred to do it on his own two feet.
Steeling himself and rallying his strength, he squinted down at Knox's unconscious, bloody form, ensured he was adequately bound, and braced himself for whatever awaited him on the other side of the door.
Andromeda came by shortly after four on Sunday to bring Teddy home for the week and Ginny had to admit she was sad to see him go. They'd spent the morning playing catch in the garden and tending the tiny strawberry bush she'd planted at his behest a month earlier and had scarcely touched since. Having the five-year old around had been the best distraction she'd found yet from her worry for Harry and, as always, she'd immensely enjoyed the time with her godson.
Ginny, along with the rest of her siblings, was expected at the Burrow at five o'clock for the weekly dinner her mother had insisted upon since the Weasley children had all moved away from home. She normally rather enjoyed the get-togethers and the chance to see Victoire and little Dominique. She and Harry occasionally brought Teddy along as well to be doted on by her mother and Hermione. She'd let him go home to his grandmother early this week though, as she knew word had surely spread like wildfire throughout the family by now regarding the situation with Harry and she wasn't sure what to expect. Much as she would have enjoyed having the little boy around for a while longer, she didn't want to risk the loose lips her brothers tended to have. Teddy was incredibly smart and Ginny was in no way ready to explain the situation to him—she'd keep it quiet until she knew more herself. The idea of ever doing so tied her stomach in knots as it was.
Pushing that thought aside, she moved toward the stairs and the master bedroom beyond to clean herself up and change out of her soil-covered clothes before heading out. She Flooed to her childhood home a few minutes shy of five and nearly collided with Audrey, Percy's recently named Muggle fiancée. "Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry!" the latter cried in surprise as Ginny stumbled nearly right back into the fireplace. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," Ginny assured her, straightening, "Don't worry."
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have been standing there."
"It's okay. No harm done." Audrey still looked worried, but nodded. She'd learned about magic about a month earlier and was still skittish at times around the family, but Ginny wondered if she wasn't acting more cautious than normal.
More of her family had noticed her arrival by now; Percy and Bill, in the living room with them, greeted her now, the latter following up with a question about Quidditch practice. "It's going well," she answered him, "We play Kenmare on Tuesday so Gwenog's been getting us ready for that."
"Are you playing?" Percy piped up from beside his brother.
Ginny gave him a puzzled look. "I'm starting Chaser; why wouldn't I be?"
"Er, no reason," he replied, shrugging halfheartedly. Victoire came running in to greet her then, effectively ending that conversation and saving Percy from the need to explain himself further.
And so it continued, the verbal tiptoeing around her. When Hermione asked Audrey how the initial stages of wedding planning were going, the latter cast a brief, hesitant glance in Ginny's direction before providing a vague answer. When the subject of Quidditch came up, as it always did in their family, and Victoire piped up about wanting to learn to fly and hoping Uncle Harry would teach her to play Seeker, Fleur immediately and rather conspicuously shushed her and changed the subject. Angelina, whom George had been seriously dating for several months now, looked about to say something at one point before she seemed to remember Ginny seated diagonally from her and very obviously remained silent. Even her mother, when little Dominique found her way into Ginny's lap, failed to give her the look, the one that informed Ginny in no uncertain terms that she was expecting her and Harry to add to the brood of grandchildren and to do it soon.
The only members of the family who did not treat her differently were Hermione and George, who she knew understood better than most her need for normalcy. And she was grateful, though her annoyance with the rest of her family was enough to overshadow it. She stuck mostly to speaking to the two of them during the meal to avoid snapping at anyone. And to think she'd been worried about Teddy overhearing something!
Toward the end of dinner, George was regaling the table with news of a new product for the store. "Essentially it's a toy critter—probably spiders to start out—that has a toggling Disillusionment charm on it and can hide in plain sight until the spell is turned off."
"So it's a prank that involves scaring people with disappearing spiders?" Hermione demanded, "That's horrible!"
"It is funny though," Bill allowed with a smirk, "Simple but effective." Beside him, Fleur just shook her head.
"Exactly!" agreed George, "I figure it will make a great Halloween product. Only thing is I'll have to wait for Ron and Harry to get back to help me with the Disillusionment spells. All that Auror training made them pros with 'em."
He was met with silence from the adults present. Hermione assessed the reactions with disapproval in her eyes. Everyone else just looked wary. "George…" Molly said quietly, her eyes finding Ginny again.
"What?" he demanded shamelessly.
"It's just—" she began only to be interrupted.
"Would you all stop acting like I'm made of glass?" Ginny demanded, speaking up at last, "Like I'm going to break at any moment?"
Molly blinked. "Dear, we're not—"
"You are. You all are, you have been all night."
"We're only trying to help, Ginny," Angelina said softly.
"Well, don't. Do you really think that you all avoiding any subject that could possibly relate back to Harry at all is doing anything to prevent my thinking about it? Do you really think I've thought about anything else? Your lives don't all stop just because mine does. Even if he—" Her eyes fell on Victoire, staring around the table with wide eyes, and censored her argument for her niece's sake. "Even if things don't turn out well, Percy and Audrey will still get married, and so will Ron and Hermione. And Victoire will still learn how to play Seeker, and Ron will still have to come back to help George with his spider prank." She paused and took a steadying breath. Her next words were significantly quieter. "And I will still play Quidditch because it will be the only thing I'll have left." She looked down at the table now, feeling the weight of her family's eyes and pity on her, "So please stop," she finished lamely.
The resounding silence that followed this proclamation was even thicker than that which had followed George's earlier inflammatory statement. Ginny glanced up now to find tears in her mother's and Hermione's eyes. George didn't look much better and Ginny suddenly felt as bad for her brother as she did for herself. Because he'd already barely survived the loss of one brother and in the time since, he'd bonded with Harry perhaps more than any of them. She hoped desperately that history would not repeat itself; she didn't think George could take it.
Wisely, no one said anything in reply.
Eventually her family recovered some from her outburst and uncomfortable conversation picked up again, though everyone still looked sad and unsure. Ginny was ready to leave the second pudding was over and she was grateful when Bill and Fleur announced their intention to do so to get the girls in bed. At least she wouldn't be the only one leaving. While everyone was distracted with bidding goodnight to the children, Bill gestured for Ginny to follow him and led her out the back door into the grassy paddock. When they were alone, he simply turned to her. They studied each other in the dark for a moment. Then Bill said gently, "I'm going to hug you now."
Ginny released a breath somewhere between a laugh and a sigh. "Okay," she said, surprised at how her voice broke on the word. And then he embraced her and she was reminded just how comforting her eldest bother's hugs were.
"It won't be the only thing you have left," he said quietly as he held her. Ginny wasn't sure what he meant but stayed quiet, sure that he would elaborate. He did. "Even if he doesn't make it home again, Quidditch will not be the only thing you have, Gin. You know you've always got me. And Mum and Dad and everyone. You've got us now, whether you want us or not, and you'll have us no matter what. We just want to help, that's all we're trying to do. And I know it can be a lot." He held her for another few seconds until she nodded against him. "I love you, Ginny," he said now, letting her go.
"I love you too," she told him, ducking away as he tried to ruffle her hair—something he'd done since she was young. But she had to admit, for the moment anyway, she felt slightly better.
"Don't shut us out too much, okay?" he requested, "We're all worried. Also, we're trying not to scare Audrey away while she still has the option to run. For Percy's sake." Now Ginny really did laugh.
When the two went back inside a minute later, the rest of the family was doing a poor job disguising the fact that they'd been waiting for them. Bill said goodbye to the rest of them and then left with his wife and daughters. Ginny caught her mother watching her and offered the slightest nod of her head to reassure her that she was indeed all right.
Hermione stood up from her seat beside Audrey then and approached her. "Are you leaving?" she asked her.
She shrugged. "I was thinking about it."
She nodded. "Want to come to my house tonight?" Ginny narrowed her eyes in question and Hermione shrugged. "I'm tired of being home alone so I figure you definitely are. We could use each other's company."
"I have practice in the morning."
"And I have work. You could bring your things over and leave straight from mine. It wouldn't be the first time. It'll be fun."
"Who are you and what have you done with Hermione Granger?"
She rolled her eyes but smiled. "Humor me."
Ginny considered it shortly and then smirked. "Fine, but only if you have ice cream."
Hermione's smile widened. "We can grab some on the way."
Ron sat on the steps of the safe house's back porch, staring out at the night and trying to fight the moistness building in his eyes. He wasn't supposed to be out here; it was technically a risk to their cover but he found he didn't much care at the moment. They'd searched for most of the following day after discovering the empty hideout, hours in all directions for any sign of where the Death Eaters might have taken Harry, and had come up completely empty. They'd been so close. If they'd just gone a few hours earlier…
He hadn't quit kicking himself since they'd returned for letting Goodwin talk him out of going in on his own. He would have been without backup, yes, but at least Harry would have still been there. Maybe he could have found a way to get in and out with him before Knox's men even noticed. Or if Goodwin had just agreed to go a day earlier, if he'd just listened…
His fists clenched tightly at his sides, Ron got up and stalked out into the house's unkempt garden. Save for the two wizards they'd left as guards at the abandoned hideout in case any of the Death Eaters came back, the Aurors had returned to the safe house a few hours ago, exhausted. The plan was to rest and regroup in the morning, and that's what they were doing. Except Ron. He couldn't even sit still, much less go to sleep. He was furious, and disappointed, and frustrated, and he'd given up glaring at the ceiling above his bed fairly quickly. There was no chance for sleep tonight and the confines of the house were suffocating in his current mood.
He'd hardly let himself react the night before. He'd wanted to yell and scream and maybe even break things when he first realized they were too late, but he hadn't. There hadn't been time and in the frenzy of action and searching that had consumed the hours since, he had not had the option to worry about anything else, his own feelings especially. But now, in the quiet pre-dawn hours he could hardly do anything else. It was like every emotion he'd felt since coming to Belarus had been slowly building in his gut, little by little, and that empty cabin had been the tipping point. He couldn't take it anymore.
Silently, though with trembling hands, he continued moving away from the safe house and into the copse of trees surrounding it. Once he'd deemed himself adequately hidden, he drew his wand from his side and cast several Silencing charms around himself, along with a Muffliato for good measure. And then he was yelling, screaming into the night as the tears he'd been fighting broke free and the wave of emotion he'd been fighting against for days crested and broke free from him at last. He yelled himself hoarse, and then yelled some more because it was unfair, Merlin, it was so unfair. He just wanted his brother back and that shouldn't have been so much to ask. He was trying so hard, as hard as he could, but Harry deserved so much better. And it wasn't fair.
A few minutes later, he sat down on the packed earth beneath him, panting and suddenly numb. His wand lay discarded on the ground several feet from him and he reached now not for that one, but the other wand still fastened in place on his belt. The holly wand felt slightly off in his hand, familiar but not loyal to him. Ron wondered if it's allegiance still lay with Harry, if he would still have control over his beloved wand after he'd been Stunned and captured while using it. He wondered if its allegiance had changed even though Knox clearly had not claimed it for himself. He hoped not.
He wasn't supposed to have the wand. Technically it was evidence, left behind by the dark wizards when they'd taken Harry and found in the corner of the cabin's dingy bedroom; one of his best friend's most prized possessions, tossed aside like rubbish. But they'd already attempted multiple tracking spells with it to find him, all unsuccessfully, and Ron felt better having it with him than leaving it in a box full of useless evidence. If nothing else, he'd have something to bring back to Ginny if things continued going the way they were.
He wasn't sure how long he sat there in the dirt—long enough that he figured dawn wasn't too far off. Nor was he sure when the last time he'd actually slept had been. He knew he was tired in a physical sense, but he'd never manage to sleep under the current circumstances—and he didn't want to. Harry was out there somewhere and Ron would not rest until he found him, one way or another.
He was debating the worth of heading back to the safe house to see if maybe any other possibilities for Death Eater hideouts had cropped up overnight when a shimmer of silver in his peripheral caught his attention. In a second, he'd retrieved his wand and spun, wand arm outstretched—and froze.
It was faint and only slightly corporeal, but Ron would have recognized it anywhere. A Patronus. Loosely associated, flickering, and seemingly growing fainter with each passing second, as if the strength of its caster were failing, but there was no mistaking it. A stag. It was Harry's stag Patronus. Ron couldn't believe his eyes.
He stood frozen as it grew nearer and stopped before him, fading fast. But the voice that came from it, though weak, was clear and nearly as familiar to Ron as his own. "Tracking spell," it said feebly, "Come alone… Please, Ron."
Ron was stunned. He stared at the spot where the Patronus vanished, his heart thundering in his chest. Harry. Harry had contacted him. He'd sent a Patronus. And he knew Ron was in the country? He didn't know how, he didn't know anything, but right then it did not matter.
His hands shaking slightly once more, he reached for Harry's holly and phoenix feather wand and stared down at it. All previous efforts to track him using it had failed. Ron had assumed it was because he'd been disarmed and its loyalty no longer belonged to him. But maybe Knox and his followers had simply kept Untraceable charms on him that had prevented them. Harry would have known this, and yet he'd still sent that Patronus with that message. Was it simply because he'd had no other choice? Or could it possibly mean he'd managed to escape? Was he on the run? Was he injured? His Patronus had certainly not been an indication of great health.
But it didn't matter. None of that mattered if Ron could find Harry. He just had to be alive—Please let him be alive!
Anticipation knotting in his stomach, Ron lifted his own wand and cast the tracking spell. And then he waited.
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