Disclaimer I don't own Harry Potter. All rights to the characters and universe the story belongs in belong to JK Rowling

Chapter 21 - Picking up the Trail

Harry, Ron and Lonnovon spent the next few days asking questions of the villagers and eavesdropping on conversations in various pubs and inns that were around. They had split up to cover more ground, reconvening every evening in the "Grenouille et escargot" (The pub in the high street).

'Well I got nothing today. How about you two?' Asked Ron.

'Non, zip, nozzing. Zese people don't want 'elp' Exclaimed Lonnovon angrily. 'It's as if zey would rather face the werewolves than talk to us. Ridiculous.'

Ron raised his eyebrows at the outburst whilst Harry shook his head. 'Well it's lucky I got something then isn't it.'

This didn't settle Lonnovon's irritation 'You 'ave, why didn't you say something!' He exclaimed.

Harry chuckled 'I've only just sat down, give me chance.' The French Auror glared at him. Harry took another sip of his drink before continuing. 'I was speaking to a man in an Inn just west of the village, he told me that he once spotted the werewolves retreating up the Mountain after one attack.'

'Did he mention a direction mate?' Asked Ron.

'Yeah, he told me they didn't go right to the top, they sort of circled it to the right. I think we should check it out tomorrow.'

'Oui' agreed Lonnovon. 'We'll go first zing. It will be tricky to fly up zere so we will 'ave to take our time.' With that they finished their drinks and returned to the hotel in order to get a good nights sleep.

Harry and Ron arrived at the hotel and were surprised when the receptionist greeted them. 'Bonjour Monsieur's, zere is a note for you.' Ron stepped forward to take it from her, thanking her before opening it.

'It says we have to go to the French Ministry.' He said with a frown.

'What? Now?' Asked Harry. 'Does it say anything else?'

'No, we best get going though.' The two didn't waste any time, instantly leaving for the apparation point outside the hotel. The French Ministry was different to the English. Instead of being underground it is disguised as a regular office building with strong muggle repelling charms.

They exited the lifts on the Auror office floor, walked past the door which led to the holding cells and entered the office they had all met in a few days before. The mood was sombre. Neville had his face in his hands, Trott was pacing around nervously and the others were all talking in the corner in hushed whispers.

'What's happened?' asked Harry.

All heads shot round to him and Ron. Neville's face was angst with worry, his voice shook when he spoke. 'There's been a kidnapping. It happened right under my nose, I should have stopped it.' He balled his hand into a fist then slammed it into his leg.

'I'm sure it wasn't your fault Neville.' Said Harry, going over to place a hand on Neville's shoulder. 'Can you tell or show us what happened?'

'That's what we're setting up now Potter.' Said Owens from the corner of the room, gesturing to the Pensieve they were all crowded around.

'Have you watched it yet?'

'No, we were waiting for you.'

'OK, let's go.' Without waiting Harry walked to the Pensieve and immediately looked into the memory, the others weren't far behind him.

He was stood in a crowded street, there was heavy rain falling and there were tall buildings all around him. A quick look in the shop windows showed Harry that the area was predominantly Muggle. There was a sports shop which seemed to focus on Football and Rugby, next to it was a small charity shop with a variety of items on display and there was also a small bakery which made Harry's stomach rumble.

Neville had decided not to view the memory with them, so it was easy to identify that the Neville standing in front of them was the one from the memory. He was wearing a large padded coat and a pair of dark grey suit trousers. He walked down the street with his eyes zeroed in on a particular target.

Following his gaze Harry eventually spotted a woman with short black hair wearing a shaggy overcoat and a pair of ripped jeans. I wonder why he's following her for. Deciding that he would find out later Harry took a look around to see if he could recognise anyone else in the memory.

The busy street was causing him a problem, there were too many people and Harry couldn't get a look at anyone long enough before the disappeared in the crowd again. He was about to give up when he spotted a man evidently tracking Neville.

Harry thought he recognised him from somewhere but couldn't put a name to the face. 'Sam, do you recognise that guy?' He asked pointing out the man.

'Yeah, his name is Zach Hellman. He's one of Younis Priory's top followers. At least he was back in England.'

Turning his attention back to Neville he noticed that he had stopped to stand in a shop front, keeping from view of the woman he was following. She in turn was looking in an Estate Agent's window and seemed genuinely interested in what was on offer. What's she up to?

If it wasn't a memory Harry was sure he would have missed it. He watched as a piece of parchment floated into her pocket. She took it out and read the note before moving on her way.

She walked up the street to the entrance of a large public park. The park was a forested area with various paths leading towards different entrances on each side. Due to the weather there were only a few people there so Neville had to disillusion himself in order to follow.

Harry noticed the man following them must have done the same. They exited the park on the opposite side and walked along a residential street. The houses were evidently expensive, they were all set back with large drives, most of which were gated. The witch walked along until she came to a stop at a bus stop.

She waited for five minutes when two men joined her, they wordlessly walked up to the front door of the nearest house and knocked. The attack was swift.

As soon as the door had opened the door, the woman stunned the person who opened it, then moved inside. there was another shout and a flash of red light could be seen through the window. Neville sprung into action as soon as the door had opened, by stunning the first man in the back, as he pointed his wand to the second, they were all thrown from the Pensieve.

Returning to the present, Harry sighed 'It wasn't your fault Neville. There was nothing you could have done.'

Neville didn't take his face from his hands 'I should have just stunned them in the street.' He said shaking his head. 'I don't even know how the other bloke stunned me.'

'You couldn't have just randomly started stunning people in a muggle area without good proof. Besides you weren't stunned by the other man. There was someone following you.' Replied Harry.

'Merlin, I was so thick. I should have checked for a tail.' Said Neville bitterly.

'You wouldn't have spotted him. I only did because I didn't have to track you and that girl too. How did you know to follow her?' Said Harry.

For the first time since they got back Neville looked up to face Harry 'I got lucky.' He said simply 'I was sat in a bar and overheard the girl talk to someone about the full moon and something to do with a job that needed doing. I just followed her out of the pub.'

'Did her friend leave before she did?' Asked Trott.

'No, she left first that must have been who was tailing me.'

Trott nodded. 'What else do we know?'

Garde spoke up. 'Ze kidnappers left behind a note. Zey want ze ransom before ze next full moon. Zey want it left in ze park. No Aurors, if zey find anyone there they will turn ze girl into a werewolf. She is not to be released until after zey have the money.'

'How do we know they will release her?' Asked Ron.

'Zere reputation.' Replied Garde 'As you know we 'ave had dealings in ze past with zese people and when ze ransom has been paid, ze captive 'as been returned without 'arm.'

'Are there any witnesses?' Asked O'Manda.

'Not zat we know of.' Said Garde sadly. 'What do you suggest we do?'

'We'll watch the park from a distance the night before the full moon, when they want to collect. We might be able to at least tail them and get a lead that way.' Said Trott. 'Until then, we will meet at the house tomorrow and see if we can pick up the trail.'

'Have there been any other kidnappings in that area?' Asked Owens 'We might be able to find a pattern and triangulate the next place they'll hit.'

'We can check monsieur,' Said Bonnervielle 'it's a good place to start.'

'Do you need everyone on that or can you spare two of us?' Asked Harry.

'Why?' Asked Trott 'I thought you would jump at trying to get the kid back.'

'I want to but I've got a lead that needs looking into. One of the villagers in Alpina saw where the werewolves ran off towards after an attack. I think it's worth a shot looking into.'

Trott thought for a moment and shared a glance with Garde who nodded 'Yeah Ok, that should be fine. You might even find the girl. Who do you want to take with you?'

Harry looked at Ron who nodded. 'Let me and Ron handle it. We'll be as quick as we can.'

'Regardless of whether you have found anything I want you back to searching for the girl with us on Monday.' Warned Trott.

'That'll be fine.'

'Then go, we can run the brief in the morning without you. Are you going to start in the morning?'

Ron caught Harry's eye and the silent communication was clear 'No, we'll go now.' Stated Harry 'I'll book us into an inn that we can work from without having to come back to Paris.'

'Very well then good luck.' Said Trott with a small smile. Harry and Ron nodded their thanks and left to disapparate to the small wizarding village after a quickly packing their things. They checked into an inn and left for the mountainside.

It was freezing cold and snowing again, in truth it wasn't ideal conditions to go flying up a mountain but desperate times and all that. As they flew, the two of them pulled their cloaks round themselves tighter to try and keep warm.

As far as Harry could tell there was no discernible path that they could follow from the air. The snow and tree coverage didn't help either, causing them to struggle spotting anywhere worth investigating.

After searching for a couple of hours and thinking about turning back, Harry suddenly spotted something. He signalled to Ron to follow him and they dismounted before the mouth of an opening in the mountainside. It was a large thin crack in the rock, rather than a hollowed-out cave.

Harry noticed a fresh deer carcass that had been stripped clean, evidently there was a wolf pack nearby.

'Are we really going in there?' Asked Ron hesitantly.

'We're going to have to.' Said Harry grimly. 'Just watch out for wolves, they can't be far behind if they're not already in there.' Harry raised his wand and ignited the tip before squeezing through the crack. Ron did the same keeping an eye behind them as Harry began to lead them deeper beneath the earth.

'I can't see the end.' Whispered Harry, his voice echoed around making Harry cringe 'This is very deep.' They continued along the tunnel until it opened out into a large open space.

Harry decided to throw caution to the wind. If there were dangers in this cave he would rather see them coming 'Lumos Maxima' A ball of light floated from Harry's wand illuminating the whole area. It was a large opening and the ceiling went a lot higher than the tunnel to the cave suggested.

There was a steady trickle of water running down the back of the chamber. Harry ran his hands over the wall but couldn't pick up a magical signature anywhere. Disappointed, he was about to tell Ron that he'd found nothing when he heard a loud growl echoing from the tunnel.

'Er, Harry.' Whimpered Ron. Harry spun around, to be greeted by the sight of a large timber wolf, stood on its haunches. The wolf crept into the chamber slowly, the pack following close behind. Their amber eyes didn't leave the two wizards as they surrounded them.

'What do we do?' Asked Ron as his back hit the wall. The wolves looked at them greedily, waiting for the leader to make the first move. Harry didn't wait, he grabbed Ron's arm and apparated them out of the cave into the clearing.

'You could have warned me mate.' Complained Ron shakily.

'Grab your broom and let's go.' Said Harry, not even bothering to roll his eyes at his best mate.

The wolves were just exiting the cave when, brooms in hand, Harry apparated them both back to the inn. 'We'll start again in the morning.'

'Don't you think that's where they could have sheltered then?' Asked Ron.

Harry shrugged, 'Maybe. I would rather not take the chance. There were no wards or any lingering magical signatures in there. I wouldn't imagine the place they went to would be left so unguarded. They would be vulnerable after changing back.'

'What do you mean there was no magic there? Maybe they just took the wards down and put them back up when they get there.'

'Magic leaves traces Ron. Even if they had removed the wards, the amount of magic needed to protect a place like that would leave a mark. A bit like a footprint in the snow.'

'So that's why you were running your hand over the wall?'

'Yeah, I didn't find anything though.'

After a quick breakfast the following morning, Harry and Ron apparated back to the clearing and were happy to find it empty. They once again took off and flew off around the mountain.

It was tedious work and the conditions weren't helping. The wind had really picked up so they were struggling to talk to each other and the cold was unbearable. Ron had to keep warming himself up with magic whilst Harry had never been more thankful for the charmed chain Ginny had given him.

It was already so gloomy, and frozen around them that neither Harry nor Ron felt the immediate drop in temperature as they climbed higher. Nor did they notice the unnatural frost that was spreading along their brooms.

It wasn't until Harry heard the scream that he was alerted to something being wrong. He looked around for the source of the noise but couldn't see anything, due to the thick fog surrounding them. He flew over to Ron who was also looking around frantically.

'Ron what's going on?' He asked, there was no response. In fact, Ron looked as though Harry wasn't there at all. Ron then slowed to a stop about fifty feet in the air.

'RON!' Bellowed Harry, whilst trying to reach out to grab him 'CAN YOU HEAR ME?'

Ron didn't respond, before Harry could do anything Ron's eyes rolled back into his head and he fell from his broom. 'Shit!' Harry dove as he cursed. So focused on Ron's falling form, he missing the cloaked figures flying around them.

Harry reached Ron just before he hit the ground and somehow righted his broom whilst pulling Ron over the handle. The screaming he could hear became ear splitting, wincing, he looked up from his broom straight into the face of a dementor with its hood lowered.

Harry felt the world darken, his vision flickered dangerously as he fingered his wand. Pushing through the screaming he eventually pulled the wand from his pocket. 'EXPECTO PATRONUM' His Stallion exploded from his wand to charge the Dementor.

The patronus then cantered around shielding them from further attacks. It was by its bright light that Harry saw the other Dementors floating menacingly around them.

He urged his Patronus to scatter them and the screaming finally subsided. Breathing heavily he landed on some rocks nearby. Instead of letting the Stallion fade he basked in its warmth as he tried to wake up his best friend.

'Come on Ron.' He muttered to himself, however, no amount of warming or wakening charms had any effect. Not feeling up to apparating or flying far, Harry cast his eyes around desperately looking for somewhere to take shelter.

He thanked his lucky stars when he spotted a small dark cave in the mountain side. Harry lay his friend down on the damp floor and cast a series of wards to protect them from unfriendly eyes.

Once the camp was protected, Harry conjured a small fire to keep them warm, whilst he rested his back against the rough stone wall.

After a while Ron eventually awoke, sitting up rapidly. He groaned with dizziness and lay back down. 'Easy Ron' Said Harry 'It's Ok.' He got up and crouched over his friend.

'What happened?' Asked Ron Croakily.

'Dementors.' Stated Harry 'You fell off your broom before we realised they were there. I should have known as soon as I heard the screaming.' He reached into his pocket for a chocolate bar. 'Here eat this.'

Ron took the proffered chocolate, immediately taking a bite. 'Fanks' he said thickly through a mouthful. He swallowed and asked 'Where are we?'

'In a cave, by where you fell off. I've protected it with wards so we should be safe until we get back.'

'Why have we stayed here? Why not just apparate us back?'

'I thought I would splinch myself. It took a lot of effort to get rid of those dementors and I'm not ready to move yet.'

Ron nodded 'OK, where's my broom?'

Harry winced, 'Sorry I forgot about that. You should try summoning it.'

Ron waved his wand and waited. A couple of minutes later the broom came through the opening with no further damage than some disgruntled bristles. 'Thank Merlin' Sighed Ron. 'I can't believe you of all people forgot about a broom.'

'Well sorry for saving your arse and forgetting.' Said Harry irritably.

'Apology accepted.' Said Ron Grinning.

'Well seeing as you're in such a good mood you can keep watch I need to sleep.' Without waiting for a response Harry lay down on his side and rolled over to face the wall. Sleep claimed him almost immediately.

Harry woke up slowly, not really wanting to move. He wasn't as cold as he expected considering he had no blanket to cover himself. He was feeling rather content to just lie there with his eyes closed dozing when he felt it.

There was magic flowing around the cave and it had a different signature to the wards he had raised. He rolled back over and sat up. 'Hey.' He said to Ron.

'Feeling better?' Asked Ron still grinning 'It's been a while since I've seen you that annoyed.'

'Yeah, sorry. I just hate dementors.'

Ron chuckled, 'No problem. So, shall we get out of here?'

Harry shook his head. 'No, I want to check this cave out, I can feel something here.' He stood up to start testing the walls as he had before. Ron, just watched him in silence, it looked like Harry knew what he was doing so he was content to wait.

After ten minutes of silence apart from Harry muttering to himself every now and again as his hands sought another part of the back wall, Ron spoke up 'What are you looking for?'

'A trigger of some sort' said Harry distractedly 'I think this is some kind of door.'

'How can you tell?'

'Come here.' Ron stood up and went over. 'Place your palm over this spot and try to push with magic through your palm.' Ron screwed up his face in concentration as he followed Harry's instructions. Harry grabbed his arm and pulled it so his hand swept over the rock. For a moment Ron felt a quick tingle which vanished as his hand moved passed a certain point.

'Did you feel that?' Asked Harry

'Yeah it was weird.'

'Right, find that spot again and follow it as if it is a door frame.' Ron did so and to his surprise he could feel the same tingling as he drew a rectangle in the rock in the shape of a door frame.

'That's amazing. How did you pick that up?' Asked Ron.

'Saw Dumbledore do something similar.' Said Harry simply. He moved off to the side of the cave running his hands over a particular piece of rock. 'Now we just need to find out how to open it.' He thought for a moment whilst running his hand through his hair. Then he broke into a wide smile, taking out his wand.

'Ron, come here and when I say tap your wand on that point.' Harry gestured to the place he had just discovered. Ron poised himself, waiting for Harry's signal. Harry walked over to the opposite side and said 'Now.' They both tapped the stone and the door at the rear of the cave melted away.