Cry of the Phoenix by pheonixfeatherof97
Chapter 3 : Chapter Three

Rating: 12+

Chapter Reviews: 2

Chapter 3: The Couple and the Kidnapping

"If I don't do something right now, I'm going to go crazy, Mnemosynie!" yelled Ginny, they were at the edge of the Forbidden Forest, where Mnemosynie had taken her, when she noticed Ginny's temper mounting. There was no one around, so it was a good place for Ginny to get all the rage out of her system.

"I've got nothing to do, I'm half out of my mind with worry for Harry, and those stupid Order Members treat us all like kids! They only tell us stuff once in a while, and only after its happened, and I think they hide things from us, as well! And, and. . .OHHH! WHY DID HARRY HAVE TO GO!!!!!!??" she yelled, and then sat down heavily on the grass opposite Mnemosynie, her rage some-what spent.

"You know, I have something in mind for us to do," said Mnemosynie, thinking that it would take some of the restlessness out of her, and help her temporarily stop thinking about Harry.

"What?" asked Ginny, "I'll do anything right now!"

"Remember, when I went to get that wand check-up yesterday? Well, I had to wait for a few minutes, and when I was waiting, I couldn't help noticing a door, slightly ajar, and yelling coming from it-"

"Don't tell me, you eavesdropped, didn't you?" interupted Ginny, breaking out into a smile, something that rarely happened these days.

"Well, what would you have done, Miss Goody-Two-Shoes? I crept closer, and saw that it was Scrimgeour, having a shouting mmatch with, I think, the Head of the Auror Office. He was yelling at Scrimgeour and kept asking why the scenes of the kidnappings haven't been investigated for clues."

"Wait, the kidnappings of the two barman and the wandmaker? I thought the first thing Scrimgeour would do is investigate, after all, he was Head of Auror Office before he became Minister," said Ginny, "Wait, we could investigate ourselves! The Hog's Head is in Hogsmeade, so we could leave at night, go there, come back, and no one would know!"

"Exactly!" whispered Mnemosynie, "But there is one more thing that's troubling me. During the whole conversation, Scimgeour was weirdly calm, he nodded and smiled, and his eyes were unfocused, and there were dark shadows beneath them."

"Do you think someone is poisoning him?" asked Ginny, aghast.

"No," muttered Mnemosynie, "I think its something much worse. I think Rufus Scrimgeour is under the Imperius Curse."

A week later, Harry was settling into his routine quite easily. Wake up, go to work, come back, watch muggle T.V., go to sleep. But something happened that destroyed the routine, and the sense of security that he had arrived at, after beginning to follow his routine.He was coming back from the bokstore, and crossing the lobby to the elevator, when he stopped. Talking to Gary, the elevator operator, were a man and a woman, most probably a couple, and Harry caught what they were saying.

"Look closely, man, have you seen this person, no? Think harder, and answer me again, HAVE YOU SEEN THIS PERSON? His name is Harry Potter, have you ever heard of that name?" the woman declared, holding what looked like a photo of him up to Gary, who looked slightly harrassed.

Harry's first instinct was to turn the other way and run, but he stopped himself. The couple, who ever they were, did not know he was Harry Potter. He was Clemence Taylor, brown haired, brown eyed, scarless, Clemence Taylor. Harry boarded the elevator with the couple, just out of curiosity. It seemed that the couple, who were named Barry and Diana Smith, knew that he was here in New York City. Barry was tall, with black hair, and brown eyes, and mostly stayed quiet during Diana's interrogation of Gary. Diana was the talkative one, with light brown hair and black eyes.

In fact, it was those eyes Harry's attention was drawn to. He had seen those eyes, but where? Harry went to bed that night, still pondering the identies of the Smiths, and wondering where he had seen Diana's eyes. He mused how they were unlike Hagrids, whose coal-colored eyes pulsed with love and gentleness, or even Snape's, who's eyes were like tunnels that never ended, one that you could get trapped in.No, her eyes were differant, they held no expression of care, like Hagrid, nor were they hidden, like Snape. They were like two black daggers of ice, piercing with hate everything she saw. Yes, he thought, that was it, he was drifting off to sleep, and he wondered how they had even found out he was in New York.

And then all the sleep left his eyes and he sat up. The letter! His letter to Gringotts, the one that said to transfer all his gold into a bank in New York City! Oh god, he had even listed the name and address of the bank! So that was it. His letter had been intercepted, and since this was the closest hotel to the bank, they were looking for him here!

No one saw Ginny and Mnemosynie leave the Gryffindor Common Room, and no one saw them leave the Honeydukes celler. But they trugged on, through the cold, windy night, greatful for the black cloaks for protection from both the elements and from any eyes looking out of their windows.

They neared the Hog's Head, it was more dirty looking than when last they had seen it. The windows and doors where boarded up, and the Hog's Head sign lay in the grass, a crack down its middle.

Ginny and Mnemosynie crept around to the side of the little building, so as not to be seen breaking into a bar in the middle of the night. Ginny used a nifty spell to cut a hole in the wood, and both piled in. Mnemosynie went first, landing in a thick layer of dust. She coughed as the dust blew around her, but when it settled, her cough turned into a choke. Ginny landed neatly next to her, and was about to say something, when she saw Mnemosynie's stunned face.

"What?" she whispered.

Mnemosynie's face was pale, "There are people in this room."

Harry calmed himself with a few small breaths, and then lay back down. But who were they? Barry and Diana Smith were probably a witch and a wizard, and had disguised themselves, yes, that was it, but who were they? More importantly, who was Diana, and where had he seen her before?

And then it hit him, he sat back up again and he began to sweat. He remembered where he had seen those eyes, for they belonged to none other then Bellatrix Lestrange!

Ginny woke up with a groan, her body aching, "Where am I?"

"Glad to see you awake, I was beginning to worry about you," said Mnemosynie.

As Ginny's eyes began to adjust, she saw that she was in a rectangular cell. On one side was a door which she later found out to be the bathroom, and on the other, were bars, like in a muggle jail. Looking through the bar, she saw a hallway.

"What happened?" asked Ginny, "I feel like my head is about to explode!"

"They overpowered us, stunned us, and threw us in here," muttered Mnemosynie, angrily, "I still think we could have taken them, but we weren't expecting a host of wizards to be camped out here! They took our wands as well."

"I feel sorry for you two," came a croaky voice that made Ginny jump, "But I'm mighty glad you came, I was getting bored by myself."

Ginny looked across the cell and found an old man seated on the floor, looking at them with some interest. It was Phorth Aberlyn, the barman of the Hog's Head. Those wizards had kidnapped him and were holding him hostage in his own bar!

"Oh, I forgot to make introduction, didn't I, where are my manners?" simpered Mnemosynie. In spite of everything, her eyes glimmered with myschief, "Ginny, may I introduce to you Phorth Aberlyn, otherwise known as Aberforth Dumbledore."

Ginny felt her jaw drop.

A/N: Third chapter, plot beginning to form, please review!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!