Deatheaters' revenge, chapter four.
Disclaimer:-
Harry Potter belongs to J.K.Rowling, her various publishers and Warner Brothers. The only things in this story which belong to me are the plot and any characters not found in JKR's books.
Author's note...
Although she has been found, badly beaten but alive, the investigation into Dawn's kidnapping has got nowhere. Now Diagon Alley has been attacked and Ginny is missing.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
When Ron and Hermione arrived in Diagon Alley the aurors were already checking for any clues .
The auror in charge looked worried as he approached Ron, "Sorry, sir, but I can't let..."
Ron looked ready to snap but Hermione answered, "We understand, don't we, Ron?"
Unable to answer for a moment, he nodded briefly, then took a breath. "Where's Harry?"
"Over there. We almost had to stun him."
"I'll go with him."
They walked across to where Harry was sitting, obviously being watched by a somewhat wary auror. Ron tapped the auror on the shoulder. "It's okay. You can go now."
"They won't let me help..." Harry began.
"Nor me," said Ron. "And you know why. I know it's hard, Harry. I want to hunt through this lot as well. But hunting for clues when you're angry and frightened isn't exactly a good idea."
"But..."
"They won't miss anything, Harry. If there's anything to find, they'll find it. And if we do it, when we do get the bastards that did this, that evidence won't be worth a thing in court."
"I don't care."
"No. Not now. But you will. Harry, as hard as it is, we have to let the others do their job."
Harry look defeated.
"Let's get back to the Burrow, mate. I'll have the team leader brief us on anything they find."
Hermione took Harry's hand. "Ron, wait here. I'm not having you apparate on your own." Ron watched Harry and Hermione disappear, then a few minutes later Hermione reappeared, alone. She reached for his hand.
"Thanks."
"What for?"
"For stopping me blowing up. They'd have had to stun me otherwise."
Hermione just smiled slightly, took his hand and they were gone.
The moment they were in the Burrow, of course they'd had to walk the last little bit due to the shields, Ron looked around. "I'd expected George to be here," he commented.
"He flooed," replied his father. "He's giving a statement to the aurors. From what I can gather, Ginny was in the shop and they came in and portkeyed her away before George could react."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Ginny never knew she could suffer such pain and still live. Even after they'd stopped the curse the pain stayed for ages. When she could move, she looked around at the room she was in. It had obviously been nice once, it could easily have been in a luxury hotel.
She tried to stand, but fell to the floor. So she crawled to the bathroom, which opened off of the room and dragged herself up to the sink.
She couldn't help a gasp as she caught sight of her face. It was beaten and bloody. Although she couldn't remember it, obviously they hadn't stuck to the cruciatus curse.
She heard a noise behind her, but she was too slow to react and someone grabbed her hair and pulled her backwards out of the bathroom, throwing her on the floor.
"Ready for another round of what you did to Umbridge, you blood traitor?"
She opened her mouth to answer only to be kicked in the face. The pain that shot through her was quickly eclipsed as she heard the word "Crucio."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
The next few days were an agony for the Weasleys as they waited, unable to do anything. Ron had questioned Dawn over and over again for any details she might have spotted, until Hermione had stopped him.
George was wandering around looking guilty until Harry reminded him, "As Ginny would say, that's my job. Feeling guilty for something that's not your fault, that is," he'd added at the blank look on George's face.
Hermione had badgered Ron into letting her see every bit of evidence they had, which wasn't much.
Still, as with Dawn's capture before, they were getting nowhere.
The first possibility of a breakthrough came from an unexpected source. Luna had come walking into the Burrow one afternoon, "I've been thinking about Ginny," she said.
Mrs. Weasley looked up patiently. Strange or not, Luna had proved to be a true friend. Hermione, who was spending a lot of time at the Burrow since Ginny's disappearance hadn't even looked up at all. She was going through reports of every raid, hoping for a clue.
"I think I may have an idea," continued Luna.
Both women suddenly looked at her directly, if somewhat doubtfully.
"Why not ask Evanna?"
"Evanna?" asked Mrs. Weasley.
"Ginny knew when Evanna needed her for Bonnie. And she knew who Ginny was the first time they met. Maybe they have a soul-bond."
Hermione looked puzzled.
"No, dear," said Mrs. Weasley, sadly, "Soul bonds are between married couples, and even then they are rare."
"Maybe not a soul bond, but they do have some kind of connection," said Hermione.
"Anything's worth a try," agreed Mrs. Weasley.
The next day Evanna had joined them at the Burrow and was desperately trying to concentrate on making any sort of connection to Ginny. She was getting tired. It had been nearly all day and she'd only stopped when Mrs. Weasley stopped her to make her have a short rest or something to eat.
When Evanna burst into tears with frustration, Hermione said, "It's no good. Either the connection isn't strong enough, or we don't know how to do it. And I don't know anyone who does."
"Trelawney," said Ron, unexpectedly.
"Huh?"
"She talked about bonds in our sixth year."
"That old fraud?" retorted Hermione.
"Okay, but knew about divination even if she couldn't do it, except for those prophecies. Suppose she knows about bonds?"
"It's worth a try," said Hermione doubtfully. "I don't want to be the one to ask her though. She didn't like me much."
"I will," said Harry.
"No," said Ron. "I'm not sure she's ever forgiven you for not dying the hundreds of ways she kept saying you would. I'll go. She quite liked me. Never figured out that I only took her NEWT class as an easy option."
After a discussion with Professor McGonagall it was decided that Ron would take Evanna to Hogwarts to study with Professor Trelawney.
Meanwhile, Hermione went to Diagon Alley to look for books on the subject. It took her nearly all day, hunting for books that might help. As she left, the door banged into her and sent her books flying. She picked them up and walked away, but heard someone say, "You missed one, my dear." Instinctively she reached for the book held out to her and felt a sudden tug at her navel.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"Just empty your mind, empty your mind..." Ron felt more and more hopeless every time he heard Trelawney's chant. He asked himself, How could he be pinning his sister's life on this rubbish? Because you've got nothing else to go on, he answered himself.
The day with Trelawney hadn't been any more successful than the previous day, but both the professor and Evanna had insisted on keeping trying until it was late into the evening.
Finally they flooed back to the Burrow, where Mrs. Weasley had insisted that Evanna stay for a while.
"Hermione not back yet?" Ron asked.
"No, we thought she'd gone to see you," said Mrs. Weasley. "The shops shut hours ago."
A frantic half hour had Ron checking everywhere he could think of, including Hermione's parent's house. Finally he returned to the Burrow. "She's disappeared," he said to his mother.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Although initially bewildered, the moment Hermione realised what had happened she determined to try to keep her calm and keep her eyes open.
When she saw the house moments before she landed she knew she'd seen it before. If only she could think of where.
But the thud of hitting the ground hard followed by being grabbed unceremoniously by the arm and dragged into the house put that out of her mind for a while.
She was pulled up the stairs and saw a door opened in front of her. She was pushed roughly through it and it slammed behind her as she fell to the floor.
Hermione immediately got up to look around and saw, on the bed, "Ginny! Oh Merlin! Are you okay?" then felt like kicking herself as it was only too obvious that she wasn't anywhere near okay.
"Hermy?" Ginny mumbled weakly, struggling to turn her head.
Hermione moved to where Ginny could see her easily.
"Am I dead?" she asked in a slightly stronger voice.
"No."
"Is George...?"
"He's okay," Hermione reassured her. "Worried about you. We all were."
"Are you here to rescue me?"
"No." At the look of almost despair on the other girl's face, she added, "I'm sorry. They caught me too."
"Oh." Ginny seemed to loose heart at that and appeared to go back to sleep. Hermione didn't disturb her.
As it got darker outside, Hermione knew she should try to sleep as well, but sleep wouldn't come. She thought of how frantic Ron would be now, with both of them gone. The thought that she might never see him again began to overwhelm her and she broke down and cried. She couldn't seem to stop and finally cried herself to sleep.
She was rudely awoken as the door slammed open. Two men came in, one with a camara. The other yelled, "Get up, you blood traitor vermin. It's time to have your photo taken."
Ginny, who'd been woken by the door slamming, began to sit up. She struggled to open her eyes to see as they were swollen and bruised.
"Crucio!"
Ginny's body rocked with the sudden pain.
Hermione screamed, "Leave her alone!"
"Ah the pathetic mudblood wants to be a hero. Crucio."
This time it was Hermione's body that contorted under the effects of the curse. Her initial determination not to scream and give them the satisfaction lasted about ten seconds as it got worse.
Finally it stopped. A hand struck her and she fell back against the dressing table.
"I saw your books. So the blood traitor and his mudblood slut want a soul bond do you?"
Hermione was about to say no, when she thought better of it. Best not to let them know what they were trying to do. She couldn't believe that she'd forgotten it since her capture.
"Answer me, you piece of filth. That's for real wizards and witches, not trash like you."
Whatever answer Hermione may have given was lost in her scream as he shouted "Crucio" once more.
"I've got enough," said the other. "You might want to bloody her up a bit, though."
Hermione looked up slightly and saw a fist come towards her, she was sure her nose broke as blood flew everywhere and she knew no more.
She came round to Ginny's concerned face above her. "Thank Merlin! Are you okay? Silly question."
"Why were taking photos?"
"To send to Harry and Ron."
Hermione gasped. "They'll go crazy."
"I think that's the idea," said Ginny sadly.
"We have to get out of here."
Ginny snorted.
"I mean it. Muffliato. Now they can't hear us."
"You have an idea?"
"Actually, it was Luna's idea," Hermione admitted. "You knew when Evanna needed you when Bonnie was bad, didn't you?"
"Yeah."
"Luna thinks there might be some kind of bond between you, that's why Evanna knew who you were when she first met you. Evanna's doing exercises to try to hear you. You have to try to reach her."
"How?"
"When you heard Evanna, she was just thinking she desperately needed you. Try the same. Really concentrate."
"Will this tell her where we are?"
"I don't think so, unless you can think it really hard."
"We don't know where we are."
"Yeah," sighed Hermione. "I got a good look at the house as I landed and I know I've seen it before, but I can't think where."
Hermione spent the rest of the day trying to remember everywhere she'd ever been. Where had she seen the house before? She even tried thinking of houses in wizarding books she'd read and got nowhere.
She jumped as a slight cracking sound told them someone had apparated into the room.
"It's only the house elf," said Ginny. "With food."
"Not for her," said the elf. "Master said mudbloods don't deserve food."
"It's okay Ginny."
"No it's not. We'll share it. Not that there's much to share." She tried to hand Hermione some of the stale loaf.
"Ginny, you need it more than I do. I've only just got here."
Ginny put it down. "Fine. If you won't eat, I won't."
"Stop being childish," said Hermione, but took some anyway. As she brought it to her mouth, it disappeared.
"Not for the mudblood," said the elf with a grin. Another flick of his fingers and the rest of the loaf disappeared and then he was gone.
They didn't see anyone else for the rest of that day. The night was a cold night and they quickly decided to huddle together on the bed for warmth. They slept fitfully until Hermione woke up with a shout. "I've got it."
"Huh? What?"
"I know where we are. It's the Riddle house. I saw it in the pensieve. That's why I didn't think of it before."
Before Ginny could answer the two men had apparated into the room and demanded to know, "What's the disturbance?"
"J..J..ust a nightmare," stammered Hermione.
"Nightmare?" one laughed. "Try this." Before they knew it there were under the cruciatus curse yet again.
When it was over and they were alone again, Hermione told Ginny, "Now, think hard, Riddle house."
Ginny tried to concentrate. "I can't even think," she gasped. "My head hurts so much. I think I'm going mad."
Seeing tears of frustration in Ginny's eyes, Hermione replied, "It's okay. We'll think of something. We will. I promise."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
That evening, a Ministry owl dropped a package at the burrow, then turned and left without waiting for a treat or a reply.
As Molly picked it up, the wrapping burned away, leaving all the photos to fall to the floor.
Molly gasped at the sight of her daughter silently screaming in agony. Unable to help herself she looked through the rest and saw Hermione being tortured as well and the punch that split her nose and laid her out.
In a choked voice, she called, "Arthur. Arthur. We need to get Ron and Harry."
Author's note...
Sorry this chapter took so long, being overtired doesn't help the creative juices flow. At the moment I work for an American outsourcing company and I've had to work 6 nights a week, which with travelling is 12 hours a night. My one night off has been spent recovering.
Fortunately they are finally going to change our shifts to 5 nights a week (slightly longer hours). Hopefully I'll have a little more energy to write, though I'll probably be working extra hours over Christmas and New Year.