Chapter 8
Dear Mr Potter,
If you ever want to see your daughter alive again you will follow my instruction to the letter; we have taken her for safe keeping until we have what we want and when we are satisfied she will be returned.
We have companions in Azkaban and we demand their release immediately; they should have safe passage out of Britain and we will create a new identity for them. The men we require are Scorpius Malfoy and Theodore Nott, I am sure you remember them.
When you have organised safe transfer for them out of the country you can let me know; this owl will find me. You have twenty four hours.
Until then…
Yaxley.
"James," Beereny said solemnly as he dropped the parchment onto his desk and looked at the distraught couple standing in front of him. "I…I'm sorry," he added.
"So when can we get them out of there?" Holly shrieked looking at her old boss with wide eyes.
"I'm sorry?" Beerney asked looking at her curiously.
"Nott and Malfoy, how quickly can they be released from Azkaban?" she asked frustratedly.
"Mrs Potter, I am very sorry for your situation but we do not give in to any demands made upon the ministry like this."
"But they were made to James not the ministry," she barked unable to believe that he would think twice about this.
"Because he is an auror. He has been targeted as a member of the ministry and we cannot bow down to the demands of dark wizards just because he is an auror," he explained calmly. "It would be preposterous to contemplate the release of two known dark wizards and allow them to escape the country, especially considering the atrocities they carried out before they were arrested."
"But…but this is my daughter," she gasped, "my nine year old daughter; surely her life is more important?"
"To you, yes," he replied softly, "but to the rest of our world it is more important that we keep evil wizards locked away. We will follow ministry protocol for a kidnap situation Mrs Potter and assess the situation. This letter at least tells us who has your daughter and we can send out a reply to ask for more time. If we let them think we are going to follow their demands but need a little more time they may be patient and-"
"May be patient?" Holly shrieked.
"Yes Mrs Potter," Beerney replied trying to control his annoyance; he realised that having a child taken from you was horrifying and that Holly was understandably upset but he needed to get on with his job to ensure her daughter's safety as soon as possible without giving in to threats. "That will buy us a little more time to locate all buildings and land associated with the Yaxleys and indeed with the Notts and each place will be checked. Even the Malfoys could be in on the plot and a team will be sent out to Malfoy manor immediately." Holly shuddered as she remembered her own encounter with Scorpius Malfoy who had kidnapped her when she was pregnant with Isabella and a sob escaped her as she worried about her daughter being in the same situation.
"But…that will take ages, they will have…have…by then," she couldn't bear to utter the words that reminded her they had threatened Isabella's life. "This is my daughter; you have to let them go; you have to get her back," she screamed leaning over his desk and slamming her hands against it.
"James," Beerney said in a commanding tone, "talk to her; tell her to be reasonable; this is how we deal with kidnap cases. You know we cannot give into them; you know this is the way it has to be done," he stood up to reiterate his point and stared at his most talented senior auror. Holly turned to look at him aswell as she realised he hadn't added anything to her rant at his superior and she glared angrily in his direction.
"Holly…he's right, we…" she gasped loudly at his words and almost crumpled as she saw he had already given up the fight, "…we have to do it the proper way. Beerney's right this is ministry protocol and we have to follow it." He swallowed over a lump in his throat and almost cowered under the deathly gaze his wife was aiming at him as she stood speechless in front of the desk.
"But…but," she stuttered just staring wildly, "this…this is our daughter," she went on feeling her anger rise and in a venomous voice she turned back to Beerney and yelled, "you have to get Isabella back."
"Mrs Potter, I know this is a distressing situation for you but I suggest you go back to James' office and allow us to do our job."
"Distressing? Distressing?" she yelled loudly turning from James to Beerney and back again.
"Holly," James said grabbing hold of her arms and holding her tight, "we should let the department get started and go to my office like Beerney said," he continued steering her towards the door and looking gratefully at his boss.
As soon as they were back inside James office Holly turned on her husband in a rage he had never seen from her before; her worry and pain mingled with the anger she was feeling was a force to be reckoned with and she hit out at him as she screamed," How could you? How could you?"
"Holly," he said loudly grasping her wrists in his fist to stop her from raining blows on him.
"How could you abandon our daughter like that? How could you agree with Beerney? We'll never see her again," she was screaming with hysteria and trying to wrench her arms away from him as tears streamed down her face. "My baby," she sobbed, "Isabella."
"Holly," he shouted forcefully dragging her arms apart until she was face to face with him, "I am not going to abandon her, I'm going to find her," he finished and she stopped flailing her arms about.
"What?" Holly gasped.
"I can't sit back here and wait while Beerney drags out the process; Merlin knows what will happen to her in that time."
"But you…you told him," she muttered dropping her arms to her side as he let go of them.
"I told him to do what he needs to do so we could get out of there and I could do what I need to do. He can follow the ministry protocol and assess the situation if he wants to but I'm going in to fight; I am not leaving our daughter with a mad man for a moment longer than I have to." She stepped towards him and looked into his deep soulful eyes and he pulled her into his arms, "Holly I promise you I will bring her home."
"But how are you…?" she asked leaning into his shoulder and embracing the comfort he offered even though it did nothing to alleviate her worry or her pain.
"A few years ago I was working with an auror who had once been assigned to the muggle Prime Minister but had been posted back into our department. He was talking to me about some of the muggle security measures and the gadgets which they have to use; of course many of them we can do by magic but we can't track anything. He showed me a devise that they use for tracking a person, or a vehicle, something which intrigued me and he brought one for me to look at. It's in here," he continued letting her go and heading to a deep filing cabinet at the back of the room. "I put it away because I didn't have time to look at it and I suppose I forgot it was there. When Beerney said we could send the owl back I remembered this device," he continued as he opened the filing cabinet drawer and withdrew a small box. Holly stepped forwards to look more closely as he opened it and withdrew a tiny piece of silver metal, "This is attached to whatever it is you want to track," he began to explain, "and you can follow it using this," he went on holding up a large black gadget. It had a grey screen on it and reminded Holly a little bit of a picture frame with a blank insert. "I don't know how it works but it can calculate the longitude and latitude of the user's position. We can attach this to the owl," he went on pointing at the serene animal who was still sat quietly on James' desk waiting for its next assignment.
"And we…we…can find her?" Holly asked slowly looking at the two bizarre items in her husbands hands; she wasn't sure that what he said could really be done; but what else could they do?
"We can find where Yaxley is and then find Isabella," he said softly as she leaned against him. "The only thing is, this needs electricity to work," he went on holding up the device which would track the small metal chip.
"Your grandfather," Holly gasped, "he collected allsorts of muggle things, won't he have some electricity?"
"I think it runs through mains," James went on thinking hard, "I doubt granddad will have electricity; but Vernon might know how we can get some," he finished remembering that his adopted brother was a muggle born who had only come to live with them at the age of nine. Though he had fully embraced the wizarding world even before he knew he was a wizard he had later gone into the field of muggle relations working closely with those who had to be trained to work specifically with muggles and he would be able to advise them on how to find electricity. "I'll attach this to the owl now," he went on and using his wand he implanted the chip behind one of its feathers securing it with a permanent sticking charm just as his office door opened.
"James," said Terence Beerney in a quiet voice as he walked into the room and looked at Holly; he was expecting another outburst from her but when she said nothing he assumed that James had managed to make her see this was the best course of action. Upon his entry James had shoved the tracker devise into her hands and she had slid it beneath her robes quickly then she went to sit down at the desk but did not say anything at all to the man she felt had already let her down. "I need the owl," he coughed staring at the animal who was still looking unperturbed as it sat resolutely on James' desk.
"Of course," James replied feeling relieved that he had managed to fix the device to the animal before Beerney's arrival.
"James," he said quietly, "you know this is the sensible way; it is the only course of action we can take. I will make sure that we do everything in our power to get her back safe and sound."
"Thank you," James replied with a nod before walking him to the door and closing it behind him.
"Now what?" Holly asked with wide eyes.
"Now we speak to Vernon," he returned holding out his hand to her. She took it and together they apparated out of the office to find James' brother; both of them hoping that he would be able to help them in their search for Isabella who they were both desperately terrified for.
Appearing in the living room of Vernon's home a few seconds later had made Suzannah almost jump out of her skin but one look at the faces of the two visitors told her that something grave had happened. Vernon was at work but she flooed him immediately when James explained that Isabella had been kidnapped and they needed his help. The burly, soft hearted man appeared in the fireplace within minutes.
"James," he said in a strangled voice, "what happened?"
"Someone came and took her from the garden," James began, intending to keep his explanation brief. "They sent a ransom note to me at the ministry demanding the release of Nott and Malfoy from Azkaban."
"Malfoy?" he growled remembering the trouble he had caused for his brother over the years.
"It's Yaxley who wants them freed; but Terence refuses to bow to their demands and is following the ministry protocol which could take days. One of the old muggle Prime Minister's guards gave me this," he continued holding out the tracking system which Holly handed over from her robes. "I've attached the small chip to an owl which is being sent back to Yaxley; I believe this can track the animal as it flies?"
"Yes, it looks like a GPS system," Vernon replied taking the device from his sister in law and trying to switch it on. "A global positioning…" he continued but as he looked at the deathly pale faces of his brother and Holly he knew it did not matter what it was or how it worked; they just needed to know that it would. "Yes," he finished instead, "it will track the bird while ever the microchip is attached."
"It needs electricity I think," James went on lifting up the lead which he knew was the part that fed it power, "that's why we brought it to you; we don't know how…"
"I have a power supply in the office; sometimes I have to bring things like this home to work with before I show wizards what to do. Come on," he finished heading towards a small room at the back of the house where a multitude of muggle equipment was precariously placed. They dodged a few items which looked ready to fall over and marvelled as he plugged the device in for them and stared curiously at the screen which lit up and immediately revealed a flashing red dot on an animated map. "It's like a computer," Vernon went on to explain as they stared at it. "This tell you the coordinates," he said pointing to a row of numbers along the bottom of the screen, "and this flashing dot is where the owl must be."
"It's still at the ministry," James concluded after reading through the digits on the monitor, "I know the coordinates for there; we had to learn them in basic training."
"So if you just watch the flashing dot, when it starts to move you can track where it's going and…where it ends up," he finished looking morosely at the anguished pair, "I'll…I'll leave you to it; if you have any problems I'm just next door."
"Thank you Vernon," they said in unison as they sat down to watch the tiny blinking dot on the screen.
"So now we just…wait?" Holly said in a crumbling voice.
"That is all we can do," James replied instinctively reaching out to take her hand; she let him hold it feeling that she needed his touch. "This is the quickest way I know; even if it does seem slow at the moment. She could be anywhere; at least this way we can get to her as soon as the owl does," he started to stroke her hand with his thumb as stray tears started to fall down her cheeks again and he tentatively reached up to wipe them away. At his touch she gasped but allowed him to continue leaning into his hand and closing her eyes.
"She will be so scared," Holly whispered barely audibly, "I can't bear to think of it."
"I know," he replied, "but she is strong; she has always been a fighter Holly, our little fighter remember?"
"I remember," she answered opening her eyes to look at him and thinking about their wedding day when she clung on for dear life despite all the odds.
"I cannot begin to imagine what she is going through but I know she can survive; she has your feistiness," he smiled.
"And your courage," Holly returned lifting her other hand on top of his.
"We made a good girl," James added trying to find some way of filling the empty void they had while all they could do was sit and wait. "I'm sorry that this has happened to her," he continued after a few minutes, "she would never have been in danger if it wasn't for me."
"This isn't your fault James," Holly crooned.
"It is!" he barked back making her jump; feeling angry with himself he jumped to his feet and started to pace the room. "I should have given it up sooner; I should have realised what was most important to me, before it was too late," he whispered looking away from her. "If I'd have left earlier then maybe there would still be a me and you; she wouldn't have been angry at us either and she wouldn't have been a target, none of you would be. I was stupid to think I could have a family and be an auror; she would be okay if it wasn't for me."
"She wouldn't be here at all if it wasn't for you," Holly whispered from right behind him and he turned to see her standing close to him. Reaching out for his hand with one of hers she leaned up to his face and cupped his cheek with the other, "And neither would Daniel and the triplets; you can't blame yourself James for what other people do. I am terrified for her and about her but you have always done your upmost to keep your family safe; this just…just happened," she went on gazing up at him with doleful eyes, "and placing blame is not going to bring her back sooner." Her voice cracked as she once more thought about her daughter's predicament and she stepped closer to her husband wrapping her arms around his back for comfort; they both needed it and they sought it in one another.
He kissed the top of her head softly and eventually she looked up into his woeful, guilt ridden face; without thinking about anything else other than the comfort she still needed Holly reached up with her lips and searched for his but as they were about to touch James suddenly turned and looked away. "Holly," he gasped and she turned her head to look at the flashing red dot on the monitor which had caught his attention, "it's moving."