Disclaimer: Get your hands off of me! I told you I don't own it! I don't want to be locked in the closet!
A/N: I just finished this chapter at 3:40 pm on May 31, 2009, and I'm just now putting in the author's notes and the disclaimer. I would like to thank my one review Melora for the review, and I would like to let you know that the URL didn't completely come threw. I'm glad you've enjoyed the story so far. So, this author's note is just to tell you that I have two weeks of school left before summer break. Hopefully I can get a lot written, and not have to have you guys wait all through September, October, and November. At this rate, by the end of November, I should have chapters 13-38 finished... 13 will be up next Monday if I get enough reviews. See the authors note at the end for more details. O, and if this chapter makes my screen reader stop working for the third time when I do a spelling and grammar check, I'm going to murder Microsoft word! JK really, I just feel like doing it… Blah, it just did again, so lets try again, shall we?… Blah, blah blah, blah blah, ok, I'm finished trying to get it to work. This time when Jaws stopped reading, I actually got it back before I rebooted the computer, but it decides to tell me, "you cannot terminate Microsoft word, because you have a dialog box open. Go to Microsoft word and exit the dialog box before exiting Microsoft word." Ok, you stupid computer, I would do what you told me, but the problem is, you! Won't! let! Me! Anyway, I'm not going to finish editing this chapter, so if any of you have a problem with it, maybe you could become my beta? I'm looking for one, ya know. Enjoy the chapter!
Chapter 12: The Search for Hermione
Another sad morning came early on the 12th of July. The Burrow was quiet and action was minimal this early. The adults were sitting in the kitchen eating breakfast, and reading the newspaper. The only news that drew attention to the readers was the article on St. Mungos financial status losing 200 gallions, and the ingredients stock has been raided. In the muggle newspapers there was the deaths of ten people from the ages of babies to the elderly. It was shocking to actually see it for themselves that what Harry saw last night came true.
These days it seemed that the Order was having trouble keeping up with the tragedies going on around them. They first had Hermione come up missing, and now the Daily Prophet says that there financial and ingredient stock has started dwindling. They only had so many members, and now they needed all of them to help with the search. It was frustrating that many people were willing to believe that Voldemort wasn't alive again. The Order knew that it would take time before Voldemort gained control of the ministry.
Breakfast was a quiet ordeal that morning. The entire Order took the day off work to look for Hermione, and the heavy atmosphere intensified the quietness. After breakfast the rest of the order arrived. Since Julie and Seth were the only people who weren't magic, they offered to stay at the Burrow to watch the kids. When everyone was lined up outside, Mad-Eye Moody took charge like he used to do.
"We have 33 people to cover europe," He started to say in a vigil tone, "Dumbledore and I figure it should take us three days with this many people, but we have to spread them out so the ministry doesn't suspect anything." He finished as he made his magical eye roam over each member. They all stood with blank expressions, and stared ahead with the blood in their veins rapidly running in anticipation. Moody held up a map of europe, and pointed to each dot in turn telling who was going where. Inside the house the older kids who were of age stood in the kitchen at the window.
"Are you sure that three people will be enough to cover all of these places?" James questioned.
"I wish we had more people, but sense we don't, it'll have to do." He replied. At that moment the back door opened, and out stepped the older children.
"If you need extra help, we are willing to do so," Fred said. Molly looked murderous,
"No, none of you are going to risk your life today."
"But why not Mum, we are of age," George said.
"You know, they can't be stopped from helping, they are of age after all." Holly said, but her words were drown out by the other parents protests. A few minutes past, and then Holly had enough. She let out a ear-piercing whistle, and the garden fell silent at once.
"I said," She started with force, "We cannot stop them, they are of legal age." Holly ended in a conversational tone. Lily's eyes flashed, and her temper was raising,
"Are you trying to tell me that 17-year-old students should join us today?"
"Why not, because they are of age, like I said earlier, and lets not forget that I'm the youngest here, and you guys don't seem to be kicking me out."
"Your her best friend, and you know her better than we do." Lily answered.
"That doesn't matter, I am 19, Percy is 19, Clayton is 18, Gracie and Dale are almost 18, Neil is 17, and so are Fred, George, Jane, and Kelly, so what does it matter, we are all of the age of 17."
"So you think we should let them come?" Lily asked.
"Yes, I think they should come." Holly said in a firm tone. Moody cut in, and said,
"We can take them, it's more people, and we need it. Holly is right, we can't stop them if they want to help." As moody took command again he started shouting,
"Myself, Elphias, James, and Mondungus, will cover the scene of the crime in Latvia. Dumbledore, Emmeline, Jane, and Neil will cover Estonia. Alice, Fabian, Joanna, and Tonks will cover Belarus. Arthur, Flitwick, Kelly, and Percy will cover Ukraine. Bill, Frank, Kendra, and Remus will cover Moldova. Caradoc, Fred, Kingsley, and Rochelle will cover Romania. Charlie, George, Lily Potter, and Hagrid will cover Turkey. Clayton, Gideon, Lilly Davidson, and Sirius will cover Bulgaria. Dale, Gracie, Marlene, and Sturgis will cover Macedonia. Dedalus, Hestia, and McGonagall will cover Finland. Last but not least, Dorcas, Holly, and molly will cover Lithuania.
Each group exited the gate one at a time, and aparated to the assigned destinations. James, Elphias, Mondungus, and Moody aparated into the parking lot of the hotel where the Grangers stayed. They entered the building, keeping their wands in their sleeves as they cast spells over everything. The only sign of magic came from the entryway to the hotel. They went upstairs to the room where the Grangers stayed, but they found no magic used. Back down stairs the men huddled in a group.
"The only magical traces we can find here is the disillusioning charm, a stunner, and disaparation." James said.
"Where is the trace?" Moody asked.
"Outside the door of this hotel." He replied.
"Are there any more magical traces in this hotel?" Moody asked.
"Not that I see." Elphias said, and James nodded in agreement.
"We should probably look around outside for more magical traces." Mondungus suggested.
"Good thinking." Moody complimented. As they circled the entire land of Latvia, they realized it was getting dark. The only other magical traces they found were beside bookstores, clothing shops, and restaurants.
They were one of the first to be back besides Bill, frank, Kendra, and Remus. An hour past, before everyone was safely back at the Burrow. Everyone sat at the kitchen table in silence before Dumbledore stood up and asked,
"Group one, what did you find in Latvia." Moody nudged James in the side to have him speak.
"At the hotel we found a disillusionment charm, a stunner, and disaparition. Around the city we found aparition traces around restaurants, clothing stores and bookstores."
"Does anyone else have information to share with us?" Dumbledore asked.
"Well, we looked for any strong magic, or dark magic, and found a few traces besides the obvious aparition." Kendra said, "But there were traces of unexplained blood, and we took it to a lab of a friend of mine to see if it could be identified."
Dumbledore sat in silence for a moment before saying, "It's a start, but if Hermione was tortured by things such as any type of breaking the skin we all know a simple scourgify would get it all up."
"Yes, but you never know if they'll remember to do the spell every time." Holly interrupted.
"What makes you think that Holly?" Moody asked. Holly huffed in exasperation,
"Am I the only one who knows that Death Eaters want to torture, and make the rest of us suffer?"
"They don't want to make themselves that obvious though Holls," James said. Holly just banged her head on the table before saying,
"My older brother is apart of there ranks, of course they are careless. They want to torture, they want to make everyone suffer in plain sight. Remember the event Harry saw when he passed out?"
"Yes but..." Rochelle started.
"No but's!" Holly exclaimed, "Don't you guys see? They are trying to make me suffer--not Julie and Seth--not Harry and Ron--not even the rest of the order! They want me! And me only. I have the knowledge they do not, I have the knowledge to know what destroys Voldemort, and they want it. I however am not giving up easily--I will not let them get the knowledge--I will, with anyone who wants to help, give him possible solutions to keep his immortality, but they will be deceiving. By the end of this summer, he will be dead, I will make sure he knows that you don't mess with the Potters under my watch."
"Holly!" Dumbledore said firmly, "Calm down please. You may know all this information, but we do not."
"Any more news?" Moody asked. Kingsleys deep voice echoed in the silence.
"Like the Moldova group we searched for dark magic, and regular magic alike. The only odd thing we found was a large abandon building that had a lot of magic, from crucio, to hover charms. Inside the building, there was a specific wall that looked like magic put it back together."
"Could you see the outline of the magic?" Dumbledore asked.
"We did, and it looked like it was banged into more than it should hold." Kingsley answered.
"Why do you think this has anything to do with Hermione?" Moody asked.
"It looks to be the size of her body that was thrown into the wall." Kingsley said.
"Anyone else find evidence?" Dumbledore asked for the third time. Sirius was the one who spoke next.
"We found the same as everyone else. The dark magic and the non dark magic. The thing we found were tufts of hair in this building. It was stuck between steel doors, twisted in food processors, and underneath all heavy objects, and twisted in anything that could pull hair out.."
"This pertains to Hermione how?" Dumbledore asked for the last time that night.
"It was the same color of her hair." He said.
"With all the evidence we found today, we can assume she was cut, and left to bleed, beaten to put more bruises on her body, and yanked around by her hair for even more pain." Dumbledore summarized.
"That's all we know, if the findings are from Hermione." Kingsley said.
The dinner preparations were underway after the short meeting. The Davidson and Granger families went home after Dumbledore made sure that he would be seeing Holly the next day in his office. Molly kept insisting they stay to eat, but Kendra said that they would if the time were earlier, and she has to get a few kids to bed. Dinner was quiet at the Burrow that night. They told the children that they found leads, but nothing absolute. They do not know where she really is, because the Death Eaters keep moving her.
"How is Holly taking this?" Harry asked.
"She got a tad pissed when we didn't know how the Death Eaters worked."
"Why?" Harry wondered.
"We suspect that Hermione has been severely cut, and it left some unexplained blood in a building, and it wasn't all cleaned up. She says that sometimes they aren't as careful as they should be."
"Hmmm," was all Harry could say. A good five minutes past in silence before Harry asked, "Do we know what Voldemort wants with Hermione?"
"We think he is trying to get under Holly's skin. You know she has the knowledge he wants, but she's not willing to give it up very easily.
"Well, at least we know it's safe--for now." He said.
It was late, and the adults knew it, but they didn't have the heart to put the Hogwarts students to bed just yet. They were sitting in the living room playing chess or exploding snap, but conversation was alive.
"So, who's excited to go back to school?" Clayton asked. Everyone looked at him like he had three heads, as he popped a bertie bott every flavor bean into his mouth.
Gracie reached over and grabbed some drooble's best blowing gum before exclaiming, "You are looking forward to going back to school in this mess?" She ended with a pop of the gum.
"Assuming we make it out alive we will have to continue our education." Dale finished for his twin, "And, can someone pass me a chocolate frog?"
"At least we would be in the safest place any of us know." Clayton responded. They all abandon the game of exploding snap to talk easier.
"And what about our parents? If we would be in the safest place, where would they be?" Neil wondered as he tossed the chocolate frog over to Dale.
"They can defend themselves." Clayton argued.
"Wait a minute!" Fred exclaimed.
"You mean to tell us," George continued grabbing a pumpkin pasty, for himself and a cauldron cake for his twin.
"That because they are adults," Fred cut in with food in his mouth.
"They don't need protection?" George finished the question spraying a few people with bits of pasty in the process.
"And if they don't need protection," Fred started up the next question.
"Why did we go with them," George said.
"And more importantly," Fred continued.
"Why did you go with them to help search for Hermione?" George finished.
"Iewww! Fred, George, that was gross! Can you two please talk after you swallow your food?" Anastasia complained.
"Hey, I got Bridget Wenlock in my chocolate frog card," Dale said. The room went silent before Clayton answered,
"They need protection, but they have each other and we are just under qualified witches and wizards. As for your second question I went with them because they needed help, and I didn't want to sit around all day wondering what was going on. I know none of us would have been very happy if they didn't let us join." He finished.
"Good, because for a minute there we thought you were trying to back down. Like today was just too much for our under qualified brains." Jane retorted grabbing a liquorice wand.
"I never said it was under qualified." He huffed.
"Well then, don't sound so scared to face the danger we all will have to face eventually." Ron interrupted before the argument could fly into full swing, and he grabbed a pepper imp off the candy table.
"Besides Clayton, you won't be at the front of the fight. You know the adults will make absolutely sure of it." Neville put in, "Carianna, can you pass me a chocolate ball?.
She passed him a chocolate ball before saying, "He's right," Carianna said.
"I'm not sure if the adults will let any of us fight in the battle, but I'm almost certain that I've got to be the one who destroys him. So, no one but myself will be at the front of the battle in the end." Harry said as he sucked on a sugar quill thoughtfully, and handed a jelly slug to Anastasia.
"Are you sure that's how it has to be Harry?" Anastasia asked.
"Pretty positive." He responded.
"So, who wants to finish our game of exploding snap?" Clayton interrupted. The students played the game well into the night, and the only thing that kept them company was the candy and butterbeer. Around 3 in the morning the adults shewed everyone upstairs before heading to bed themselves. The last things Harry remembered thinking before he drifted off to sleep were the hopes that they would find Hermione soon before she came up dead, or severely injured.
A/N: Thank you for all of you who read, and not reviewed. Now that I got my one review, I now ask of you only two more reviews. And again, the friends of mine who are reading this don't count... lol. Anyway, read, review, and tell me what you think!