Chapter 2: Where are we?

A/N: Sorry that this has taken so long but I recently got struck down by a bad case of flu, as my beta will testify, and so this has taken a little longer to upload! Also thanks for all the fabulous reviews! I will not reveal the plot line for then it would be a bit daft of me to even write the story then, won't it? Also in answer to some people's queries about if Harry returns much later, just read the summary on the fanfiction page. And yes, you will see who has been taken and no, there are no other characters because I wouldn't really know how to respond to them. Right. All settled down? Good. Now on with the next chapter!

Previously

Harry Potter wasn't the only one though. There were another 11 bright white flashes throughout muggle and wizard homes alike with another 11 five year old children suddenly vanishing. And there were dozens of cries and screams as parents suddenly found themselves missing a child. This day would be known as the Black Day. The Daily Prophet were falling over themselves with headlines such as 'WHERE HAVE ALL OUR CHILDREN GONE?' and other newspapers crying out 'CHILDREN GONE. MINISTRY HAVE NO IDEA,' 'CASE OF THE VANISHING CHILDREN. Parents tell of white light' and 'AUROR POTTER'S SON VANISHED!' It would be a long time before the wizarding public had any idea of where their children had gone. 12 years will have passed before they return again and in a way no one could ever have imagined.

Chapter 2

It was an anxious group of children who suddenly found themselves in a very strange place without their parents. Most were standing in their pyjamas in various colours holding their stuffed animals. Harry was the only one who was still carrying some of his belongings. As if on cue, most of the children started crying or screaming in not particularly dulcet tones. Harry winced. He wasn't all that put out that he had some how arrived here since he had been trying to run away in the first place.

Slowly the children stopped crying and glanced around at their surroundings though a few sniffles still came through. It was a large hall. Definitely much bigger than the one at Hogwarts thought Harry, and it was covered in weapons and tapestries. At the end of the hall was a large table upon which there were 10 grown ups sitting. Harry studied these carefully and noted that another girl, who hadn't been crying, was doing the same. Said girl noticed Harry watching her and moved towards him.

"Hello," she whispered. "My name's Hermione Granger. What's yours?"

"Oh, my name is Harry. Harry Potter," Harry said cautiously. When he gave his name to a stranger generally, he would be ignored for strangers were really only interested in talking to Jamie.

"Hi Harry," Hermione whispered. "Do you know . . ." At that point Harry couldn't tell her what he knew for a thin gangly boy approached them.

"Hello. Where are we? Oh my name is Ron Weasley," Ron said in one giant rush.

"I don't know where we are," Hermione said, "But I think that grown up is going to tell us now." At that news, the trio turned towards where Hermione had been pointing and sure enough a grown up was standing up saying, "Alright, settle down children."

"I'm not a child. I'm 5!" said a young boy petulantly.

"Of course you are 5!" replied the man, "But seeing as how I am older I expect you to listen to me. Now, what is your name, young man?" The grown ups at the end of the table tittered slightly.

"Theo Nott," the boy replied with slight hesitation. He looked a little scared at the fact that he had spoken out against an adult and now everyone was looking at him. He glanced around the room, darting his eyes everywhere, looking for an escape route.

The adult must have sensed this for he said, "Right then. My name is Calrian and I will be one of your teachers here at Phoenix." To say that the children were a little confused would be an understatement. Harry could hear some urgent whispers in the background followed by one child screaming out, "I don't wanna be here! I want my mommy!" before falling to the floor and letting out a god awful scream, the quintessential temper tantrum really. The adults all sighed.

Calrian just looked at the child calmly and said, "Well, you will not be seeing your mother for another 12 years, so I would learn to combat such infantile behaviour." The other adults just glared at Calrian just willing him to set the other children off. Harry, Hermione and Ron just looked at each other before Ron glanced up at Calrian and said, "I'm hungry. Can I have some food?" That broke all tension within the room and Calrian started to laugh.

"Of course, of course you can!" he said whilst clapping his hands together. Instantly there was a large table in the centre of the room brimming with all sorts of foods a child could want. Harry and Hermione looked at each other before Ron took off towards the table with another 3 boys in tow, including one Theo Nott. The adults just smiled at the children before Calrian cleared his throat again.

"Right. You may eat BUT before you do, I want you to go around the table and say who you are to each other. Then after you eat I will explain why you are all here. Let's start with Theo and move to the person sat to your right." The girl in question glanced up at Calrian, eyes wide open with fright. "Don't worry," an adult stated, "We are not going to hurt you."

This seemed to have laid her fears to rest for a moment later a little voice said, "Susan Bones."

This was followed shortly by, "Hannah Abbott."

"Ernie Macmillian."

"Luna Lovegood."

"Terry Boot."

"Seamus Finnigan, but me mam calls me Sea." (Pronounced Shay)

"Dean Thomas."

"Ron Weasley!" stated Ron proudly before letting out an enormous belch. The children all giggled to each other.

"Blaise Zabini."

"Hermione Granger."

And then finally, Harry Potter." Some of the other children stared at him. Then their voices came in a cacophony, "Wow! So Jamie Potter is your brother?" Harry looked a little upset at the attention before a voice came out and cried, "Can we please eat now?" The other children immediately stopped and started loading up their plates. Harry turned to Ron who grinned at him and Harry grinned back. Feeling a lot better about himself Harry started to load up his plate filled with as many doughnuts as he could get his hands on. The last time he had a doughnut that he could remember was when his Uncle Moony bought him one from Diagon Alley. That had been a special doughnut, Uncle Moony had said, for only Harry got one. Not Jamie. Just Harry. His Uncle Moony had then soared into Harry's good books after that. Harry turned his attention back to his plate and just stared at it for a while.

Suddenly a small hand went over his. Hermione Granger looked at him and said, "I'm scared too," before Harry realised that despite being ignored by his family he was indeed homesick but really only for his Uncle Moony. He glanced back at Hermione before saying, "Thank you." Hermione just smiled at him.

A higher voice than Calrian's suddenly entered the children's awareness. "Not that you have all been fed, may we introduce ourselves before you go off to bed. I think that all our explanations can wait for tomorrow," she said glancing at Ron who was starting to nod off.

"My name is Athena," said the female, gesturing at herself, "And this is Calrian, Dominic, Brian, Geoffrey, Elizabeth, Katharina, Arthur, William, Guinevere, Draconis and Ferdinand. Now we don't expect you to know our names now, but try to learn them soon as it will help in the future. Right, now I think you all need to get some sleep and then we will tell you everything in the morning, including why you are here. Just follow William and Dominic as they will lead you to your rooms and good night!"

Twelve voices answered back, "Good night!" before going off to follow the two men that were currently standing at the edge of their table. How they managed to get there that quickly was a mystery, but currently Harry was a little TOO tired to worry about it.

As Harry settled down into his bed, he looked around his new room. He had his own desk, a wardrobe, a weird shelf thing and a bookcase. He sighed to himself as he snuggled into his very soft red duvet. He really enjoyed being here because at least he knew that he was wanted wherever he was which was more than what he could say for his family. A lone tear trickled down his pale cheek. The only person that he knew would miss him at all was his Uncle Moony and he was the only person Harry would miss too. Sighing once again to himself, Harry felt his eyelids slowly shut and he soon fell away into dreamland.

Meanwhile back at the Potter Manor, Godric's Hollow

Lily was distraught. Her son, her baby was missing and she didn't know where he was! James too was pacing in front of the fire wondering where his youngest son had gone. He couldn't think and needed to have some more company, more people to help before he suddenly snapped his fingers together. Lily looked up startled, her pretty face streaked with tears, thinking that he knew where her Harry was. James slowly shook his head in answer to her silent question before dashing to the fireplace.

James quickly grabbed some floo powder and threw it into the fire before shouting, "Sirius Black's House!" His head started to spin but he kept his mind focused on his task. Maybe Sirius knew where Harry was, he thought to himself hopefully. As the spinning stopped, James started shouting through Sirius' house.

"PADFOOT! Get your behind down here this instant! Padfoot!" James was crying at this point. He could hear the grumbling that Sirius made as he came down the steps, slowly putting his shirt on top of his boxers, feet slowly plodding. 'Oh James had better have a good excuse or else . . . ' at that he trailed off for his best friend's head currently sat in his fireplace with tears pooling in his hazel eyes.

"James! What the hell is the matter?" Sirius' mind turned blank. Had there been an accident? A death? Oh god. Had something happened to Jamie or Lily?

"Padfoot, Harry is gone," James said crying again. 'Shit!' thought Sirius.

"Look, get out of my fireplace mate because I am coming over now, let me just get my robes on!" James quickly pulled his head out of the fireplace as Sirius grabbed some floo powder, threw it into the fire and darted into James' house. He rubbed his head in frustration at the sight before him. Lily was sitting on the couch, holding tight onto Jamie who was currently turning blue due to his mother's grip. Sirius sighed to himself and slowly went over to Lily in order to disentangle Jamie.

Lily cried out, "No! He's the only baby I have left!" she sobbed, "please don't take him away from me too!" In the background he could see James calling for Remus and slowly sighing, he turned back t the distraught mother.

"Lily, if you let go of Jamie, I PROMISE you that he will still be here in the morning even if I have to chain myself to him" Sirius said.

"Do you promise?" Lily sobbed out.

"I would promise you anything, Lily flower," Sirius whispered again. He could see Lily slowly relinquish her grip on Jamie before letting him go completely and falling back onto the couch crying again. Sirius just held Jamie tightly in his grip and he could see Remus make his way through the fireplace. Sirius slowly picked up Jamie and handed him to his father.

Remus could sense that something was wrong. All of his senses were screaming at him and he took a quick headcount in the room. His face turned even paler. Where was Harry? All he knew was that James had been screaming at him in his fireplace demanding that he get over to his house as soon as humanly possible and that as he was a werewolf he should get there "in double the time."

Remus very slowly pivoted and moved towards James. "Where is Harry/" he whispered clearly enunciating every word. The whole room went quiet for a minute before Lily started sobbing out again, this time with a pillow in substitute for Jamie.

James looked at his friend and shook his head. "Harry isn't here Remus," he whispered, "He hasn't even shown up on the locatus charm." Remus, upon hearing this, swore to himself.

He fully intended to tell James that he could tell exactly why Harry had gone and that it was all their faults, his included for if only he had spoken to James and Lily before, then maybe this would never have happened. However as he raised his head and looked at the distraught James in the eye, he found that he couldn't. 'No,' he thought to himself, 'this will wait for tomorrow. Let them get over this hurdle first.' And come daybreak, after a restless night sleep, Remus laid into James, Lily and Sirius exactly why he felt that Harry had gone.

Remus sighed to himself after he had delivered his lecture. That had taken a lot out of him. Sure the Potters were repenting now but that wouldn't get Harry back. He was about to go back into the room when a screech owl delivered the Daily Profit. His eyes scanned the front page and his face drained of colour. He slowly paid the owl and moved into the living room where the Potters and Sirius would be.

James looked up at Remus when he entered the room. Something was off, even Sirius could sense it. They all looked at Remus quietly as he slowly sat himself down in the nearest chair in shock. It went quiet for a few minutes before Sirius said, "What happened, Moony?"

Remus slowly looked at him and shook his head before glancing at James. "It seems," he said, voice cracking, "It seems that Harry wasn't the only child that went missing last night." Lily's head shot up at this. "Apparently," Remus went on, "More than 11 other families have lodged a missing child appeal."

"Who are they?" James whispered.

"Well the strange thing is that it isn't only magical children listed in here. There are also some children from muggles but they all say the same thing. All of their children disappeared in a bright white light."

Sirius gasped and Lily fainted back onto the couch.

"Who are they?" James said more forcefully.

Remus looked at James sadly, "Listen. At approximately 7pm last night, 12 children went missing, not only from our own magical society but also from muggle homes as well. Whilst this might not appear strange, all families were reported to have said that their children disappeared in a bright white light. The 12 missing children are:

Susan Bones

Hannah Abbott

Ernie Macmillian

Terry Boot

Theodore Nott

Blaise Zabini

Luna Lovegood

Ronald Weasley

Seamus Finnigan

Dean Thomas

Hermione Granger

Harry Potter

The Ministry of Magic has recently announced that it will assign and Auror division to work on the case in order to find the children safely. We hope that our readers will wish that these children are returned to their parents soon. Rita Skeeter." Remus slowly laid the paper down and looked over at the couch.

James looked distraught whilst Sirius was emotionless and Lily continued to sob. Remus sighed to himself. He seemed to be doing a lot of that these days.

"Well I guess that the only thing we can do is hope that the Auror division assigned to this case will find them soon enough," Remus said, though he didn't sound all that hopeful. He hoped desperately that even if Harry had been taken, then he wasn't in any agony or pain. Remus just wanted the best for the little boy who had stolen his heart. If only he knew what Harry was doing at the moment, then his heart would be set at rest. Harry and the other 11 'Taken,' as the Daily Profit called them were currently setting out on the biggest adventure of their lives the minute they had woken up. They were in for one ride that none of them were particularly inclined to stop.

A/N: Hope that was a good length for you dear readers. I would have given you more but as I am currently ill, that is all you will be getting for now. The next update should be coming within the next few days/week. Sorry if that isn't soon enough for some of you. Please keep on reviewing as it gives me loads of ideas! Thanks for all of the last ones by the way! Miraen