I know it took a really, really long time to get this up, but I just moved back home, and got a job where I work 12 hours a day 6 days a week… so again I'm sorry if it takes a while for me to post.
Otherwise here you wonderful people go.
This chapter is beta'd
Hope you enjoy
Chrys
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Ginny stood on the doorstep of Connor's house. Behind her was a disillusioned, unconscious Hermione floating a good five feet above the ground. She brushed a strand of her red hair out of her eyes and straightened the black robes that hung over her jeans and sweatshirt. Lifting her hand she knocked on the door.
She didn't wait long. It only took a half a minute before Connor was at the door.
"Ginny…" a smile grew on his face as he saw the pretty girl that had stolen his heart.
"Hello, Love." She made sure to cock her hips and blink her eyes coyly.
"Come on in, Parents are in Germany, we have the whole place to ourselves." He motioned for her to come in, and cocked his head to the side when she didn't.
"I was actually wondering if your parents still had that cottage up in Scotland that you were telling me about, I was thinking that would be a great place for us to…" she ran a hand down his chest at the pause in her voice, "be alone."
"Um… Yeah. We still have that place… no one ever goes there, but we have a house elf that goes through once a month and keeps it clean. I'd be… more than happy to take you there."
Ginny smirked, one she learned from watching Draco Malfoy. She thought she had it down pat. "That would be, lovely. Can we apparate?"
Conner grinned even more, clearly thinking she wanted to apparate so that they could get there faster. Of course he had no problem with getting there as fast as he could, he hadn't slept with anyone since Ginny, and was glad that the fiery redhead had came back. He offered his arm out, "Of course, shall we?"
She grabbed his arm and pressed herself close to him. What he didn't notice is her other hand holding on to the floating figure.
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George apparated directly into Mandi's living room, and collapsed on the couch. At the crack of his apparation Mandi, who happened to be in the kitchen at the time, came running, knowing it could only be the one person who was able to get through her wards. She had spent the morning with her father, but had decided to come back home early, to give her father and his new wife some alone time.
When she came into the living room, she found George, sitting on her couch, head in-between his legs attempting to breathe. She found her way in front of him as fast as she could and took his hands into hers, holding them and brushing small circles with her thumbs over his skin.
"George… George what's wrong?"
George just shook his head, back and forth as he tried to suck air into his lungs. Tears ran down his face, and his hands shook. He couldn't get a word to move past his lips.
"George… Are you ok? Are you hurt? I can't help if I don't know what's wrong." She said, gripping his hands tighter.
George looked up and stared directly into her eyes. She watched his eyes fill with despair before he stood up, nearly knocking her over as he started pacing. "Everyone leaves… You'll be next… then… who knows… it doesn't matter, everyone leaves."
Mandi stood up and moved closer to him, "What do you mean, Love. I'm not going anywhere."
He took a step back from her, "You say that now… you have no control over it… Everyone leaves."
Mandi was confused and scared. What the hell was he talking about? Who left? What happened?
Before George could move away Mandi jumped, wrapping her arms around him and holding on even when he attempted to move away. He was a good foot taller than her, but she knew how to hold on. When he finally gave up, they collapsed on the floor.
It was silent for a moment, and Mandi moved so that her back was braced against the couch and George was in her lap, his head resting against her chest. "George, what happened?"
There was another pause, and then George spoke, "Ginny kidnapped Hermione… and with the look that I saw in her eye… I doubt she intends to keep her alive."
She pulled him closer, "Oh George…"
"GOD DAMN IT!" he yelled, "Stupid fucking war… first Fred… why did he have to die? Or better yet why didn't he come back with Sirius… and then Ginny loses her fucking mind… and now Hermione."
Mandi knew that George and Hermione were friends, but didn't know how good of friends they really were. "How close are you and Hermione?"
George closed his eyes for a few moments, catching his breath. "After Fred," he took another breath, trying to move past the weight on his chest, "… I wasn't me. I was… lost. I still am a bit, but nothing nearly as bas as in the beginning. Everyone else was grieving for someone. Harry had just lost the last connection he had with his parents, the family had lost Fred, and the Order was practically destroyed. I knew my family was missing Fred… but there is a difference between missing your brother, and missing your twin, your other half. I honestly didn't know what I was going to do without him… I'd never been without him before… ever. When Hermione came back from Australia with her parents, she came over to the Burrow and found me in our old room. I was twirling my wand in front of me; I even had it pointed at me a few times, trying to convince myself that if I died then the pain would go away. I had almost just about done it too, when she walked in."
Mandi was stroking his hair quietly, attempting to comfort him as he relived his painful history.
"She didn't accuse me of anything, even though we both knew what I was planning on doing. She just walked up to me, and plucked my wand from my hand, setting it on the table, and she lay down next to me on the bed. At first I didn't know what she was doing, but she just wrapped her arms around me, laid her head on my shoulder, and waited. I told her everything that night, every little detail about the last few weeks, about all the times I thought about ending my life. I told her stories about Fred, and about the last time I saw him. I talked till the sun came up the next morning, and she never moved. She just sat there and listened and held on to me. Even after that day, whether she was dating Ron, or attempting to bring Sirius back from behind the veil, she was there, when ever I needed her. She saw past my jokes and actually asked how I was. I love her… I'm not in love with her, and Merlin knows she's head over heals for Sirius and Harry, but she's been my best friend since Fred died, and now I've lost her too."
Mandi took this all in, wishing she could have been there for George. To admit the truth, she was falling for him, and falling hard. "You know Harry and Sirius, they are both aurors, they'll flip over every stone on the planet until they find her."
George looked up at his girlfriend, hoping and praying to every known deity that they wouldn't take her away as well, "Ginny looked… I don't even know, almost evil. She fought with Hermione and threatened to kill her when Harry and Sirius tried to talk her out of it… she looked dead serious."
Mandi stroked her fingers over George's face, bringing his lips closer to hers and kissed him lightly, "Harry and Sirius will find her…"
"I hope your right Mandi, I don't know how many more people I can lose before I lose it."
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Sirius awoke slowly; attempting to pull himself out of the stress induced unconsciousness. He felt Harry's arm wrapped around his waist from behind, but felt heart wrenching guilt when he noticed that Hermione, who usually couldn't keep her hands off of him, even in sleep, was no where to be found.
"I'm glad your finally awake, Kingsley and McGaven should be here soon."
Sirius turned over and stared at his green-eyed lover. "What are we going to do Harry?"
Harry gave a half smile and linked his fingers with Sirius; "We'll find her… that's all we can do. I'm not quite sure the world could go on working in a meaningful order without her."
Sirius didn't even attempt to smile but got up none the less, pulling on jeans and a T-shirt, and slipping on some shoes, "We better get moving then, start checking every possible place Ginny would take Hermione."
Harry grabbed his hand, as he was about to leave the room, "They won't let us on the case… conflict of interest." When Sirius was about to protest Harry silenced him, "Just because we can't officially be looking for her, doesn't mean that we can't take a "vacation" and look for her on our own. But we have to prove to Kingsley that we don't intend to do just that, or else he'll put us under house arrest."
"I am assuming you have a plan."
"Clean up a little, make some breakfast, put up a little bit of a fight when Kingsley and McGaven tell us that we can't be on the case, but not too much. Let them think we accept it, and plan on waiting around until they catch Ginny. Then once they have gone, we get the fuck out there and find our woman."
Sirius leaned over and kissed Harry briefly, "Lets get started then."
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Sirius took Hermione's presents into the library, thinking that it was the best place for them. He shook his head, wishing she had taken the mirror he had gotten her. He placed the planner board down on the center table and put the mirror on top of it, running his hand over it slowly. He was about to leave when he noticed a book on the table that looked oddly familiar.
He picked it up and opened it. The Dark and the Light, Death, Beyond, and the Portals in Between. It took him a minute to realize this was the book Hermione and thrown through the veil. He flipped through it until he came to the dog-eared page. He read the title: "Passages to the Middle Ground."
The first few pages were about the different types of "passages." He flipped through until he came to arches. He skimmed over the first few paragraphs, until it came to the way in which someone would use the veil to bring someone back from the middle ground. He read the passage.
In order to bring back someone who has left the living but has not passed on to death there must be a portal connected to all three planes of existence. This portal needs to be set in a place of great magical power, and had to have been built by seven powerful wizards. If a portal such as this has been found, returning someone from the middle ground takes an extremely powerful witch or wizard, with a connection to the person or persons he or she is trying to return, preferably one of pure love. The only reason that someone would not move on to the land of the dead, or not be able to move past the middle ground, is if there is someone still alive that holds pure love for the person. In order to return them the caster must stand level with the portal raise their wand, and swish it in the symbol of infinity while saying the following spell:
Refero unus ex ultra , refero unus ex medius humus , reverto lemma ut vita , pro putus diligo specto in hacHe came to the bottom of the page, and was about to flip to the next one to see if there were more instructions when the wards went off signaling the arrival of his boss and the minister. He tossed the book back on to the table and left the room.
As the door slammed the book finished it's slide across the wood table and fell onto the floor, a folded up piece of paper falling from the spine and on to the ground.
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Connor and Ginny appeared on the front porch of his parents' cottage. He dismantled the wards and stepped in, waving his wand to turn on the lights. When he turned around to Ginny he finally noticed the dark shadow floating behind Ginny.
"What's that?"
Ginny just smirked and raised the wand putting him in a body bind. She levitated him to the couch, and then let Hermione down onto the other couch, noticing that she was awake Ginny's smirk grew bigger… "I know you can both hear me, so you damn well better pay attention. You've both ruined my life and I swear on Fred's grave that you will both pay dearly for it."
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Draco Potter hasn't been petted in a while, and he's had to deal with me not writing so if you could drop by toss him a carrot and scratch him behind the ears a bit, it would be much appreciated.
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