Harry, Hermione and Luna appeared at their chosen location.
"The Hogs Head?" Hermione asked. Harry nodded and moved to the counter.
"Abe?" he called. Only silence answered him.
"What is happening?" Luna asked. Her face was red and there were tears in her eyes. Hermione put her arm around her and they both looked at Harry.
"We need a base to work from. This is close enough to Hogwarts to be safe and out of the way enough so we will not be interrupted" Harry explained while he fished behind the bar. With a grunt he yanked at something under the bar and he stood back upright. He put the bottle on the counter and grabbed three glasses from the countertop. He poured a measure into each glass and passed two of them to the two witches. They took them and the three of them sat at one of the tables.
"So where do we go from here?" Hermione asked. Harry thought for a minute.
"Where would he take Neville?" Luna asked while Harry was silent. At last he spoke
"it will be somewhere special, either special to him, to Neville or to me" Harry said slowly and Hermione nodded, his reasoning clear. Luna was a bit slower and her face grew confused.
"Why?" she asked. Harry sipped his drink before answering.
"It will either be special to Ron because he knows that they are the first place we would look. It might be somewhere special to Neville because he wants to torment him. Or it might be special to me because he really enjoys pissing me off" Harry said and Luna nodded with comprehension.
The three of them sat there for an insurable amount of time. They sat and thought, each about different things. Luna's thoughts were with Neville and his Gran. She thought of their wedding day. Neville had looked so handsome in his grey suit and Kingsley had been beaming next to him. Her father was in his bright yellow robes and was grinning insanely. She floated down the aisle and took her place beside Neville who grinned at her. She didn't remember anything the minister had said until he got to the vows. When he asked her she looked at Neville briefly and saw for a second the small pudgy boy she had first seen him as and for a moment she had imagined life without him. She shivered at the thought and responded to the minister's question with a resounding yes.
Hermione's thoughts were more on Ron. She hadn't really thought of him for a while but now she looked back on everything that had happened to the three of them, right back to the troll in the bathroom in first year. She thought of a dozen and a half places that were special to the three of them or just to Ron but each of them seemed more unlikely than the last. So she thought about what he was like outside Hogwarts but it still did not unearth any new ideas.
Harry's mind was blank. He simply stared into space and tried to forget everything.
"What if it is somewhere that is all of those things" Hermione said after a while. And Luna jumped slightly at the sudden noise.
"That means Hogwarts" Harry said. "He wouldn't go there it is too well protected" Hermione nodded and sat back. Then she jumped up.
"But there are ways into the castle other than the front doors" she said and Harry sat up and leant in.
"That's true but all of them are now watched. We gave the Marauders map up remember" Hermione nodded and looked at pointedly at the wall. Harry followed her gaze and he grinned and jumped up as well.
"Hermione you are a bloody genius" he said and planted a kiss on her lips and then ran over to the wall Hermione was looking at, or rather the picture that was hanging on it.
"You know what to do" he said and the girl in the picture nodded and turned around and walked away into the picture. As she left, a light began to show through until she disappeared and the portrait swung aside and a tunnel was visible. Luna now joined the other tow in jumping up
"The Room of Requirement" she said and was about to run through it until Harry stopped her.
"Is there anyone in there?" he asked the girl, who had now returned and was sitting down on a small stool, and she nodded. He nodded his thanks and pulled his wand out in his right hand and the sword of Gryffindor in his left. He then set off down the tunnel. The two girl followed him and the portrait swung closed behind them.
After about ten minutes they arrived at the back of another portrait. Harry took a deep breath and pushed the picture. It swung open to reveal the room within. It was a large multipurpose room that was, at the moment, dominated by a large stone slab on which Neville lay. He was deathly pale and seemed to be asleep. There were half a dozen people in a circle around him who were all chanting and murmuring. Positioned behind his head was another person. He was tall and lanky and his red hair was matted and dirty but it was still very obvious that it was Ron Weasley.
"Ah Harry. You have come. Good" he drawled. Suddenly a knife appeared in his hand and it flashed down towards the supine figure sprawled out on the stone. The light glinted of the blade and threw wicked shadows and multi-hued beams of light around the room. Luna gasped and Hermione raised her wand.
Harry lunged forwards and threw himself at the gap between Neville and the knife.
There was a seconds silence and then a meaty Thunk of steel hitting flesh.
Someone screamed.