Oh geez! I seem to have this horrible habit of leaving ya'll hangin' for months. I should be hung. I have no excuse this time!

Disclaimer: You know the drill. So depressing.

Warning: slash, yaoi, boy/boy, Mpreg and such. Don't like don't read. Real simple. Also, Draco/Harry and all other canons.

Chapter 9: Wand, Cloak, ACTION

What to do? What to do?

The question ran through Dudley's head repeatedly as he tried to think of what he should do.

He watched absently as Amaryllis crawled across the carpeted room, babbling unintelligently and drooling all over the place. He could here Gwen humming in the kitchen as she went about the motions of preparing dinner.

His parents were due to arrive in a few minutes and he still wasn't able to figure out what he was going to do.

He knew he had to tell them about Mary. It would probably be best to do it soon instead of waiting until she received her Hogwarts letter in nine more years. And when he'd tell them he'd have to mention Harry.

His Dad was likely to give himself a heart attack – but Dudley wasn't all that sure of how his Mum would react. Neither of them had given Harry so much as a passing thought since that summer day seven years ago when they had been driven from their home.

Not Dudley though, nope.

In fact, Dudley had given his cousin a lot of thought. He had been extremely curious about him since the man had saved him from those Dementors.

The memory of those awful creatures had Dudley shivering in his chair, and he shifted uncomfortably in his seat before letting his mind drift once more.

He thought about the months following his return to home.

The first thing he had done was gone through Harry's room and taken out all of his cousin's books – hiding them in his room where he knew his parents would not even think to look for them. That entire summer before he went off to college, Dudley spent familiarizing himself with the Harry's world – the Wizarding World.

But that wasn't enough.

Even after learning all the terms and customs and reading about the spells and creatures, he still wanted to know more. He had so many questions – questions that had been building up since Dedalus Diggle and Hestia Jones had shown up at Number 4, Privet Drive.

Things like: What was Harry doing? What had he been doing up until then? What was his role in all of it? Why was everyone depending on him? Why did everyone seem to know about him?

The questions had haunted him and taunted him for an entire year before he decided to do something about them.

He'd gone to Diagon Alley.

It took him some thinking and a whole lot of lying, but once in, Dudley bought an owl, subscribed to the newspaper, and stocked up on a lot of Wizarding books – most of them recent.

And it proved to pay off, mostly.

He now knew just as much about what Harry had went through as the rest of the world.

It didn't make him any happier to know how his only cousin had suffered, but he had been relived to finally be keyed in.

And he still had the books, locked up in his study so that Gwen would not accidently stumble upon them.

Now, he supposed he'd have to tell her everything.

Better to do it now at the same time when he told his parents about running into Harry. He might even mention the rumor of Harry's kids – if he could skate over the whole explosion part.

The sound of the doorbell ringing broke Dudley from his thoughts and he got up with a pensive look on his face. He opened the door to see his parents standing there, beaming at him.

They hadn't changed at all in the past seven years. Vernon Dursley still resembled a large whale and Petunia was still pencil thin with too much neck.

"Mum, Dad," Dudley greeted them cheerfully, swallowing the nerves that were threatening to come up – no need to tip them off before dinner. "Glad you could make it."

"Of course, sweetums," Mum simpered, leaning in on her tippy-toes to kiss Dudley's cheek.

Dad gave a grunt, clapping Dudley hard on the shoulder as he edged his way by him.

"Oh, hello Vernon, Petunia," Gwen greeted, poking her head out from the kitchen. "Dinner will be ready in a mo'."

"No need to hurry, dear," Mum told her with a tightlipped smile.

Gwen smiled back, winked at Dudley, and then slipped back into the kitchen. Dudley chuckled internally before guiding his parents into the living room where Mum immediately began cooing over Mary.

When Amaryllis had first been born, Mum hadn't liked the name. She claimed that it was too abnormal – but after a while she grew used to it. Dudley guessed that she had just been worried that Amaryllis would turn out like Harry.

And she did.

Dudley pushed the thought to the back of his head with a reprimand of 'Later'.

Dinner passed easily, although Dudley felt that it could have gone a little slower. He still wasn't completely sure of what he was going to tell his parents.

Maybe he just shouldn't mention it at all, but no, he couldn't do that – that would be inconsiderate of Mary's grandparents.

"Duddy-dear."

Mum's voice pulled Dudley from his thoughts and he looked up to find them all looking at him. Dudley conjured up a smile, looking questioningly at them.

"Is something wrong Dudley," Gwen asked him, leaning over to place her hand over his.

Dudley turned his hand over and laced their fingers together, giving his wife's hand a small squeeze. He then took a deep calming breath, figuring that now was as good a time as any.

"Actually, there's . . . something I want to tell you all."

Now they were all completely focused on him. Even Mary seemed to sense the seriousness of the situation – she was such a bright baby.

Dudley took another calming breath and then looked over at his parents.

"I saw Harry the other day."

Mum drew in a sharp breath, her hands fluttering up to her mouth, and Dad's face turned a nasty shade of red. Gwen looked between them in confusion, not understanding the reaction to this piece of news.

"He told me something," Dudley continued, speaking slowly. "It's about —"

"No, no, no," Dad suddenly boomed, making Gwen jump and Mary look up in surprise. Dad got up from his seat, drawing himself up to his full height so that he could look more intimidating. "I don't want to hear another word about that boy. I don't care what he said to you, I don't want to hear it."

"Dad," Dudley pleaded but Dad just shook his head sharply.

Dudley turned to look hopefully at his mother.

"Mum, please hear me out. It's about Amaryllis."

That brought the two up and Gwen's head snapped down to look at her daughter.

"What about Amaryllis," Gwen asked softly, but for the most part she was ignored.

Dudley would explain it to her in full later, right now; his parents were the ones he needed to concentrate on.

"Harry told me that Mary's like him, like Aunt Lily."

Mum let out a strangled sound and Dad's face turned from red to purple.

"No, no, no," he boomed again. "We won't have it! She will not!"

Gwen was looking thoroughly confused now, and slightly fearful. Her head was switching between Dudley and Dad like she was watching some kind of tennis match.

"Dad you can't exactly change what she is," Dudley tried to tell him – tried to reason with him. Dad wasn't in a reasoning mood however.

"Yes I can. She won't be one of them. No granddaughter of mine. You'll just have to straighten her out. Nip it in the bud before it gets worse."

"She's only one; there is no nipping it in the bud."

"I won't have it," Dad yelled louder than before and Dudley though he sounded irritatingly like a child throwing a tantrum. "I won't. I won't! I WON'T!"

Dudley had never felt more embarrassed.

Gwen was now staring at his dad as if he had grown an extra head.

This was not turning out like he had hoped at all.

"Dad listen —" Dudley's attempt at placating his father was cut off by a loud crack.

Despite the fact that he knew what that sound meant – it was someone Apparating – Dudley still jumped about a foot in the air.

Everyone turned to look out in the foyer where three people were standing, pointing – Dudley's heart lurched – wands at them.

Dudley immediately recognized Harry, but the blondes flanking him on either side were a complete mystery – although they both looked vaguely familiar, like someone you might have passed on the street.

Harry strolled into the living room first, looking about anxiously before his eyes landed on Dudley. A tense smile tugged at his lips.

"Hey Dud," he greeted. "Sorry for just dropping in like this."

Dudley shrugged, struck silent by the unexpected appearance.

Beside him, Gwen sounded like she was hyperventilating – he wouldn't blame her if she was. Three people did just pop up inside the house out of nowhere.

"Potter, enough chitchat," the blonde male said in a drawling voice. "Is this them?" Harry nodded and the man's lips quirked into a smirk. "Well it's nice to meet the people who were responsible for raising our Savior."

"Excuse me," Dad suddenly blustered, coming out of his shock. "Who the ruddy hell do you think you are, waltzing in here like this," he demanded, his eyes narrowed into slits. He then pointed a beefy finger at Harry. "And you! I thought we were done with you years ago! And now you show up here, filling Dudley's head with nonsense and accusing my granddaughter of being . . . of being . . . one of you! I ought to —"

"Listen, Vernon, I'd love to stand here and let you yell at me for old times' sake, but we need to get moving, and now."

"Why, what's going on," Dudley asked, catching the urgency in Harry's voice.

Harry slid his gaze over to him and he looked slightly apologetic.

"I'll explain in detail later, but in a nutshell, Tohru's been kidnapped and I need to get all of my relatives to safety."

Dudley's eyes widened slightly, but he was quick to move. He stood up, pulling Gwen up with him, scooped Mary into his arms, and then went to Harry's side.

"Do we need to bring anything?"

"If you want, but we have to get out of here fast," Harry told him with a shrug.

"Alright, then we just need Amaryllis's baby bag."

"I got it," the blonde woman, who had so far been silent, said in a singsong. She lifted her wand and gave it a little twirl. Mary's baby bag came floating down the stairs and settled into her arms. "Oh, how cute."

"Alright, we all ready," the blonde male asked, ignoring the woman's comment.

Dudley nodded.

"Good."

The man then strolled up to Mum and Dad and took a hold of their wrist. Dad opened his mouth in protest, but with a sharp crack, they were gone.

"Oh my,' Gwen gasped, her eyes practically popping out of her head.

"Wicked," Dudley breathed.

"Alright, Luna, you take Gwen for me."

Luna, as Dudley now knew her to be called, nodded and pranced over to Gwen.

Gwen looked down at the small woman in wonder when she held out her hand.

"Don't worry. It may be a little uncomfortable, but it won't hurt."

Gwen shot Dudley a hesitant look, and at his encouraging nod she grabbed Luna's hand. Luna smiled then turned on her heel and disappeared with a sharp crack.

"Ready Dud," Harry questioned softly, grabbing Dudley's arm.

Dudley nodded and squeezed his eyes tight as Harry turned on the spot and the sensation of being squeezed through a narrow tub washed over him.

They appeared in the living room to loud yelling that Harry immediately recognized as Vernon's voice. He wasn't sure exactly what his uncle – should he still call him that, the man technically wasn't related to him in any way or form now – was yelling, but he could get the gist.

"Vernon, would you calm down," Harry tried and failed to call over the yelling.

Vernon didn't hear him. He continued to shake his meaty fist in Draco's face, spewing spit and swears at the aristocrats.

They were drawing a crowd now, the Weasleys and Sohmas crowding into the room to see what was going on.

Harry let out an irritated growl and waved his hand in an arc.

Immediately Vernon's words were cut off, although his mouth kept moving in the motion of words. It took the man a second to realize that no words were escaping from him, and then he whirled around and shot Harry a look of the deepest contempt.

"Now that you're all nice a quiet I think we can move on."

Aunt Petunia let out a little whimpering sound and edged her way to Vernon's side. She casted her eyes around fearfully, but thankfully remained completely silent.

Harry nodded his approval then motioned for the Dursleys to take a seat, which Dudley and Gwen did without complaint.

It took Harry a whole hour to explain the situation, and that was only because he had to first introduce the Dursleys to everyone, and then explain the Wizarding World to Gwen – who seem very surprised but took it all in stride anyways.

By the time he was done Vernon was a nasty shade of puce, Petunia was tightlipped and pale, Gwen was thoroughly shaken, and Dudley was noticeable concerned.

"So, you're going to save Tohru then," Dudley asked after a long moment in which Harry had given them to gather their thoughts.

"That's exactly what I plan to do; I just have to figure out where their stronghold is."

"Why don't you just use that spell they're using to track you?"

Harry stared at his cousin blankly for a long while, not believing that it could possibly be that simple and he hadn't thought of it. Finally he turned to look over at Draco.

"That's a good question. Why don't we?"

"Well," the blonde drawled with a carefully arched brow. "We'd need a bit of family blood of the person we're finding, and I doubt we can use yours seeing as they're probably smart enough to put some heavy wards around your cousin."

"Yes, that would make sense," Hermione readily agreed, immediately throwing herself into the complex situation.

Harry almost smiled; it was just like Hermione to start puzzling out a situation, even one he told her to stay out of. Next thing she'd be doing was declaring to go and look in the library.

"But we still don't know all of who're involved, and then there's the matter of how we'll go about retrieving the blood. And I'm not too sure I know how long this process will take. I suppose I might have a book on it in —"

"The library," Ron finished for her in amusement and for that she sent him a reproachful glare – to which Ron simply shrugged.

"Alright, so we can't use mine," Harry consented, having already guessed at that part. "But Greyback's a werewolf. Can't we just use a little of Teddy's blood?"

Now Draco looked thoughtful, a little crease appearing between his brows. Harry found the slight imperfection to be utterly endearing, but he forced his mind to focus.

"Yes, I suppose that would work. And the spell isn't all that hard to perform, kind of elementary if you think about it," he added for Hermione's benefit.

"Well then what are we waiting for," Harry barked out. "Let's go find my cousin!"

Narcissa sat regally on the stool in the kitchen in which she was the only adult present.

The three other occupants, children barely older than five, sat over at the breakfast nook, curled up next to each other.

Narcissa sat at the breakfast bar on the opposite end of the kitchen from them, watching them interact with one another with a curious air even as she kept an ear on the hushed conversation going on in the other room. She supposed she shouldn't really be eavesdropping, but she couldn't really help herself, especially in the house of her enemies – or was that her ex-enemies?

It was hard, and oh so very tempting, but then, so was the distraction in this room.

Little Lily and Lucian – last name unknown although Narcissa had a strong suspicion that it was Malfoy – were conversing in low voices, seeming for all the world like children beyond their age. The two reminded Narcissa so much of Draco when he had been young and carefree that it was almost painful to watch them.

Lily was easily the image of young Draco and how he would act when he had been forced to entertain guest. Every single blonde strand of her hair was placed neatly into place and she talked in a low, soothing tone that was pleasing to the ears – even now as she let out a jingling peal of laughter, her eyes shone brightly.

Lucian on the other hand was more level-headed than his sister – his mere presence giving off a more subtle feel. He was the embodiment of the confident Draco – the one who had just begun his education and believed himself to be more intelligent than his peers. Even the wildness of his hair was something Draco had had at some point – right after he was done playing outside or riding his toy broom.

Narcissa's heart just about melted as she watched them, and then one of them would glance up at her and she would catch their eye and see their curiosity and her heart would stutter because those were not Draco's eyes.

Emerald eyes – not silvery grey.

As far as Narcissa was concerned there was only one person alive that she knew to have those eyes.

But even though the evidence was staring her straight in the face, Narcissa couldn't make heads nor tails of it. And that served as a reminder that she really hadn't the slightest clue on any of the happenings in her own son's life any more.

Where was that little boy that would hide behind her skirts when he had been too shy to meet their guests?

Where was the child who had smiled so brightly when he had opened his present on Christmas morning and found the charmed dragon?

Where was the young man who had run speeding toward her when he had received his Hogwarts' letter?

Gone, a voice would whisper to Narcissa. Gone from the day the Dark Lord pulled him into the Death Eater ranks – gone since the day his aunt announced, with no amount of remorse, that he would participate in one of the Dark Lord's meetings – gone ever since the Dark Lord gave him his first assignment.

And now to think that she had come to see him on this day assuming that he was being once more being harassed by the press and wanting to come to his rescue – even though she knew her little boy was no longer a boy and very capable of handling himself. But no, he hadn't needed any sort of help – and it was she who had come to understand something. It was she who had stumbled over the startling fact that she was a grand'mère – and from the looks of it had been one for more than three years now.

To find that out by accident and from the mouth of her, until then, unknown grandnephew.

As much as it frustrated her not to know, Narcissa knew to be patient. Draco was sure to explain everything to her when things had calmed down.

"Excuse me," a small voice suddenly called out for her attention, drawing Narcissa from her spiraling thoughts.

She turned her head over toward where the children were to see Lily and Lucian looking over at her with twin green eyes. Teddy was also sneaking looks at her from where he had been crammed into the seat between the twins.

"We were wondering," Lily continued to speak in her light voice. "Who exactly are you?"

Narcissa was taken aback from a moment, startled by the carefully spoken and kind of rude question that came from the three-year-old's mouth.

"Lily," Teddy piped up before Narcissa could gather back her composure and answer the question asked of her. Both his voice and his gaze, which he settled on the young girl, were reproachful. "Daddy taught us better manners than that. You can't go about demanding things of people."

"Well that may be true for you," Lily told him imperiously in a matter-of-fact tone. "But I am a Malfoy, and Father told me that Malfoys need not to bother themselves with asking questions that they know will be answered anyways."

Lucian snickered at the look on Teddy's face and the older boy threw him a glare.

"She's Narcissa Malfoy, Cousin Draco's mother – which makes her your grandmother," Teddy said smartly, no doubt ignoring the slight against his parentage.

And there it was, the straight truth, once again from the mouth of a five-year-old.

"Grand'mère," Lucian corrected.

Teddy blinked once. "What?"

"Malfoy is French and grand'mère is French from Grandma," Lily informed him.

"That is most certainly correct," Narcissa finally manage to get it, a fond smile lighting her face. "But I am also a Black, so it is perfectly fine for you to call me Grandma."

Lily turned to look at her thoughtfully, her nose scrunching up in thought.

"I like grand'mère better," she finally decided, and Narcissa couldn't help the grin from widening on her face.

"Mother."

All present turned to see Draco standing in the kitchen doorway, a fond smile Narcissa had never seen before lighting his face. Narcissa was very much shocked to find that her baby boy looked so much like a fond father – it was a little disorienting.

"I imagine that Mr. Potter has sorted everything out now," Narcissa questioned her only child, to which Draco simply snorted.

"If you mean he's barking orders and gathering his arms, then yes, everything is sorted out."

Draco moved further into the room and scooted the children out of the kitchen with an order to go and find their Dad – which they did all too willingly.

"Now, I believe you have some questions for me?"

Narcissa smiled at that and got up to join her son at the breakfast nook.

"Yes, I do. Now are you going to just answer them or do I actually have to ask them out loud," she shot back.

Draco heaved a sigh and rubbed at his temples in a show of weariness.

"I don't know what more you want me to say, Mother. It's quite plain what is happening here," was his off-handed comment.

"You mean to tell me that you now have two children who are three years old that I've never even heard a whisper about with the Wizarding World's savior?"

To this Draco scowled and dropped his hand.

"To be fair Mother, I didn't even know about this until three weeks ago when that bloody article came out in the Prophet."

"I wasn't even aware that you and Potter were intimate with one another," Narcissa commented dryly, having to refrain herself from reprimanding her son on his language. He's not a child anymore, she reminded herself.

"We're not," Draco told her with another sigh. "We weren't."

"Your children tell a different story."

Draco groaned and allowed his head to drop back against the cushioned seat. Only around his own mother would he allow himself to behave like this.

"I'm telling you Mother, Potter and I weren't romantically involved in any way, bar a kiss we shared once when we were seventeen."

Narcissa's eyebrows rose at this piece of information – because she could only recall one time when Draco had been seventeen that he had been anywhere near Potter – but she said nothing of it.

"So what? Was this some kind of . . . of one-night stand?"

Narcissa's nose wrinkled at the thought but Draco's lack of an answer had her looked over at him in shock.

"Was it," she demanded.

"Sort of," Draco muttered lowly, looking everywhere but at his mother.

"What do you mean 'sort of'," Narcissa practically roared.

"Things got a little out of control and we were both drunk. I didn't think anything would amount from it."

"Well obviously something did," Narcissa seethed. "Mr. Potter had to have been planning this. How else would he have gotten pregnant? The only way for a male wizard to do it would be to drink the potion. You know this."

Draco blinked over at her, because in all honesty, that thought hadn't crossed his mind at all.

But his mother was right.

A wizard could only get pregnant by drinking a potion, a potion that you couldn't just buy anywhere and took months to make.

But the question remained, if Potter wanted to have his children why did he run and why was he so scared when it had happened?

Unless he was lying?

But no, his fear had seemed very much real.

Draco rubbed at his temples again. None of this was making any sense – and Draco was sure not to get any answers until Potter had found his kidnapped cousin and was thinking straighter.

"I'll figure this out Mother," Draco promised after thinking it over for a while.

Tohru shivered and curled herself up into a ball near the wall, but she found no warmth there. She was so very cold, but the entire room was like an ice box – a dank wet ice box.

She wondered when she was going to get out of there.

She wondered what time it was.

She wondered how long she had been stuck there.

She wondered when Greyback-san would come back, as he had promised he would.

The thought of the feral-looking man brought about another round of shivers inside of Tohru. Her fear spiked like he was already in the room, and her mind drew gruesome pictures inside her head.

Harrison, where are you? Tohru prayed. It wasn't the first time she had wondered where he was. She had been wondering ever since Greyback-san had said his name.

Did he know she was here? Would he come and rescue her?

Not for the first time Tohru bereted her wandering mind.

Harrison was barely and adult – what would he be about to do to help her out of this kind of situation. That and he was all the way back in Japan, which Tohru knew she was no longer in.

There was a clanging sound outside of her door and Tohru tired to make herself look as small as possible. The marks on her cheeks tingled as the door slowly opened. She sent a quick prayer to her ancestors and then wondered if somehow she was going to see her mother again.

"We need a plan," Hermione insisted for the hundredth time as Harry continued to pace up and down in front of the fireplace. "We can't go in there without a plan."

"There is no 'we'," Harry grounded out, not looking over at her as he continued his restless pacing.

It was now moving on to day three of Tohru's kidnapping. No one had slept last night, bar the children, and they were all restless – Harry especially.

Narcissa Malfoy had stayed over, although Harry had yet to see and single wisp of blond hair from her and Draco was running around somewhere, no doubt trying to stay away so that he didn't end up biting Harry's head off.

"You're not doing this alone, mate," Ron protested from his place next to Hermione by the fireplace.

There were several murmurs of agreement around the room.

Harry whirled around on all of them – his green eyes glowing ominously. Several of the Weasleys and Sohmas flinched at the intensity of his gaze

"No," he told them in a steely voice that bordered no argument. "I refuse to lose any of you and you." He then waved his hands at the Sohmas. "None of you have any experience in magic. So even if I was bringing any of you, which I'm not, I wouldn't bring any of you."

Kyo and Yuki both scowled at him but didn't say anything – none of them had a death wish.

"Harry, mate, don't be stupid," Ron argued, the only one confident enough to know that Harry wouldn't try and hurt him. "You can't do this alone. It's suicide."

"Of course he's not doing this along," a voice drawled from the doorway, and then in strolled Malfoy. "I'm going with him."

"No you're not," both Ron and Harry said at the same time.

Malfoy simply waved them off.

"Look, I'm the only one going, alright. And no Hermione, I don't need a plan."

Hermione looked distinctly rebuffed.

"That's fine with me," Draco drawled and Harry shot him a glare that was sure to freeze hell over twice. "So when are we leaving."

"I'm leaving in an hour," Harry told them, stressing the 'I'm' part.

He glare at all those present in the room, daring one of them to argue, before turning tail and strolling out of the room in an angry daze.

An hour later saw Malfoy, Ron, and Kyo all standing in the front yard to the house, Malfoy and Ron glaring hatefully at each other.

"What the bloody hell do you think you're doing," Harry demanded as he strolled up to them, his hands clenched tightly at his side.

"Coming with you," Kyo commented nonchalantly.

"Like I'm going to let you go and get yourself killed," Malfoy drawled off-handily.

"And I always go with you on your crazy stints," Ron pointed out.

Harry heaved a heavy sigh and rubbed at his scar, which seemed to be where his headache was starting. He honestly did not have the time or the patience to deal with them.

"Fine," he gave in before looking up and fixing Kyo with a stern glare. "But you, Kyo, will do everything I say. If I say run, you run. If I say hide, you hide. If I say leave without me, you leave without me. Understood?"

As Harry said the words he couldn't help but remember a moment when those same words had been given to him.

Forcing the image of Dumbledore's broken body from his mind Harry glared at Kyo until he got some kind of answer. For a moment Kyo looked like he was going to argue, but something in Harry's expression seemed to change his mind.

"Yes, sir," he finally agreed with just a hint of sarcasm in his tone. Harry ignored it and motioned for the three to follow him out to where the wards ended. Then he took hold of Kyo's arm and the three Apparated out.

They arrived on the edge of a grassy plain.

The only house in sight loomed over them at a great distance away. It looked depilated, kind of like one of those horror houses you'd see in those scary movies – like Jeepers Creeper.

There was a forest a few miles out that surround the house on three sides. The grass was tall, coming up to their knees, and there were tons of weeds permeating the area.

Everything was quiet.

No birds chirping.

No wind blowing.

Not even the slight sound of a cricket.

It was a little unnerving how quiet everything was. It only served to make Harry tenser.

The sable-haired man motioned for his tagalongs to follow him and slowly they approached the house, ears strained for any sort of sound.

Ron moved a little behind Harry, Kyo at his right, and Draco was behind Kyo, covering their backs. Harry made sure to keep the cat in the middle of them at all times, there was no need to worry about him getting hit by some stray spell or get captured.

Harry couldn't sense any kind of wards as they inched their ways onto the porch of the house. It looked very old, but not even a single floor board creaks. Harry got an ominous feeling like they were being watched but couldn't see anyone.

Wand held at the ready, he motioned the three back and slowly pushed open the front door.

It drifted open without a sound.

The inside was clocked in darkness, despite the fact that the sun was shining brightly outside.

Harry was a little surprised that they hadn't been shot at yet; it wasn't like they were being all that secretive.

That horrible feeling in Harry's stomach doubled, and he wondered if they got the right place. They had to have, though; the potion went off without a single mistake.

Expecting to be attacked at any second, Harry inched his slight body into the door, Kyo and Ron following after him with Draco bringing up the rear.

There was no one of the first landing that Harry could see in the dim lighting. In fact, the entire first landing looked completely deserted, not even a piece of furniture or anything. Harry motioned for them to spilt up and everyone went in different directions only to meet up in the kitchen empty-handed.

Harry sighed and it was then that he heard it.

It was like a high pitched keening sound, like a hurt animal. It took him a second to realize that it was the sound of metal being pushed.

Harry looked around frantically, wondering where the sound was coming from.

Draco was the one that found the door leading to the basement.

"Bloody hell," Ron whispered when the door was pulled open to reveal a set of carpeted staircases. The ceiling leading down was brightly lit with a lighting charm on the stone. After sharing a skeptical look, the four slowly made their way down.

Antonin Dolohov was practically purring with pleasure.

After four years he had finally got one up on Potter. It had been worth the running and hiding from the bloody Aurors that were sent to capture him. Now he had Potter's stupid cousin.

Oh, he would have fun tormenting her, and Potter would have no idea how to find him.

He could just imagine the look of the brat's face when he would present him with his dead cousin's body.

It would be priceless.

The bloody half-blood deserved it, and Dolohov would enjoy it just as much as he enjoyed killing the beast and his wife oh-so-many years ago.

Just the thought of it got his blood pumping.

"Are you sure they can't find us here?"

Dolohov's good mood plummeted as he glared over at his companion.

Avery looked very much like a skeleton now, and Dolohov couldn't blame him. Two year added on to the fourteen years from before in Azkaban would do that to a man.

"Yes, I am sure," Dolohov hissed at him.

Two more years in Azkaban seemed to also make the other Death Eater stupider than normal – it was either that or the many punishments the Dark Lord had put him through, the man was forever screwing up.

"Well why can't they just use the reverse spell on Potter's cousin," Avery asked for what had to have been the hundredth time since they managed to kidnap the girl.

"Because," Dolohov drawled with a roll of his eyes. "I placed wards over her cell. It's impossible."

Avery nodded stupidly and Dolohov couldn't help but think of how low he had sunk – to be saddled with someone with the same brain capacity as the late Goyle and a werewolf.

Speaking of the werewolf, Dolohov wondered where he had run off too – probably to go and torture the girl again. Dolohov didn't really care, so long as Greyback didn't kill the girl before he had a change to.

A shrill scream broke through the still silence, drifting up from the cellar that Dolohov had dubbed 'the holding cell'.

"My, my, that Muggle sure does have a pair of lungs on her," Dolohov muttered to Avery's amusement.

The skeletal man snickered.

There was the sound of feet pounding on the stair case, and Dolohov turned to see Greyback emerge from the cellar with a smug smile on his grizzly lips and blood dripping from the claws of his left hand – the other holding tight to his wand.

"You didn't hurt her too bad, did you," Dolohov asked with a raised brow.

Greyback shook his shagged head.

"Naw just scared her a bit. Might of overdid it with the Crucio some."

Avery snickered again and Dolohov felt like kicking him in the head.

"Whatever, just don't kill her yet."

Greyback nodded and then lumbered over to a corner of the room to where the fridge was.

Review if you want. I'll understand if you don't. I don't deserve reviews for my neglect – especially since this chapter isn't as long as the others. Sigh.