Chapter 13

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and characters belong to JK Rowling. I own nothing.

AN: Haha, oh my goodness, your reviews! I think I managed to make you guys hate me for that cliff hanger. I'm sorry, but to make it up to you I think you'll really like this chapter. More violence and disturbingness ahead.

Draco Pov:

I'm reading over this contract for the third time, and still I don't see any error or clause about the ownership of the joke shop. Everything was signed over to Fred and George, and even with Fred no longer here, it's all in George's name. He showed me the document he received and although it seems to have come from the ministry, what it's stating is completely false. Who sent this, and what do they care about a random joke shop in Diagon Alley? Odd.

Even more odd is that Potter and Blaise have been here for a few hours, and can't seem to find anything wrong with the shop. The front window was busted and there's glass all over the floor, but there are no footprints or DNA anywhere, and more importantly nothing is missing. It doesn't even look like they tried to find the safe or money. Either this is someone's terrible idea of a practical joke, or they are genuinely trying to scare George.

"Found anything wrong yet?" he asks coming over to the table I'm sitting at.

I shake my head. "No, everything is in order and there's no question about the shop ownership. Have they figured anything out yet?"

George shakes his head. "Nope, just a busted window, but other than that the shop is just the way I left it yesterday." Potter and Blaise come over then and stand next to us. There are dark circles under Potter's eyes and I can tell he's exhausted. He's got a newborn at home plus a hyper three year old, the pressures of being Head Auror, the public demanding he solve these cases, and now having to deal with this on top of also still being on the lookout for Weasley. If we get through this, I'm seriously considering giving him and Ginny one of the villas. The guy definitely needs a break.

"Well, like I said everything checks out with the shop according to this contract" I tell him standing up. "Just to be on the safe side, I'm going to head back to the ministry and look at the contract on their records as well as try to figure out who sent this inaccurate document to you. There shouldn't be anything to worry about and I'll owl you when I've got everything straightened out."

He thanks me and the others and we use his fireplace to floo back to the ministry. This has been a very odd afternoon. Once we arrive, Potter asks if we'd fancy going down to the cafeteria for a coffee. We both agree and the three of us head down that way discussing the absurdity of the situation with George.

As we enter the cafeteria, I notice that the auror who usually stands outside Hermione's door is down here with a few other aurors. Is Hermione here as well? I look around but don't see her. Funny, I don't remember her saying anything about a meeting or going somewhere. Maybe he's just on break and she's with another auror.

"Hey, I think I'm gonna take this coffee to go and check up on Hermione" I tell Potter and Blaise.

"Actually, I'll do that too. She wanted to know what happened at George's anyway, although there's nothing to report" Potter says.

We grab our cups and head up to her floor. When we reach it we see that there is no guard outside her door, and she's not in her office. Blaise says she may be in the loo, but what I can't seem to understand is why there aren't any guards around.

"Malfoy! What are you doing here? How's Scorpious?" I turn around to see Dean approaching me. What is he talking about?

"Umm…he's fine I guess" I say giving him a confused look while he returns it. "Have you seen Hermione?"

Dean's eyebrows furrow even more. "Isn't she supposed to be with you? George came up to get her just like you asked."

"Dean, what are you talking about?" Potter asks. "We've been over at George's shop for the past few hours. He hasn't been here at all." This conversation is seriously confusing me.

"Harry, he came up here an hour ago shouting that Hermione needed to get home" Dean says giving the both of us an exasperated look. Turning to me he said, "He told her that you sent for her to get there because Scorpious had been hurt. She told the guard there were more at home and took off for the floo with him behind her. What's going on? Why isn't she here with you?"

He's not making any sense. Hermione thought Scorp was hurt, and that we sent George after her? Did she get some kind of false memo…memo… I think back to the day Potter and I got those threatening memos from the weasel and- OH NO!

My eyes widen as I realize something is very wrong, and Potter seems to catch on quick. Someone gave Hermione false information and an imposter must have been in the ministry disguised as George. I turn on my heel and race down to the floo network with Potter and Blaise right behind me. I jump into the fireplace and shout out my address and appear in my living room seconds later.

"Hermione? HERMIONE!?" I call frantically running through the entire downstairs area and up to our rooms. She's not here. She's not at the ministry, and she's not here! Oh sweet Merlin please no! She was so heavily guarded, how could she possibly have-

"Malfoy! Get down here quick!" I hear Potter shout up to me in a worried voice. I follow it down to my front door which is open and come outside. The two aurors that usually guard my home are both dead. There's only a surprised look on each of their features, so it must have been the killing curse. This had to have been the weasel. How did he get into my home? More importantly where is he and what has he done with Hermione?

Potter turns to the both of us. "I know this is Ron. I don't know how he got past the wards or where he is, but we will find him and her" he says mimicking my exact thoughts. "Blaise, go back to the ministry. File a missing person's report on Hermione and alert Kingsley immediately. I want a message out as quickly as possible for people to be on the lookout for her and Ron. I also want to know places he frequents and where he lives and works. Malfoy, we need to get your son and family to safety before we begin searching for her. You never know if Ron may come after them next. Is there any place you can think of that we can send them?

I nod. "I'll send them to the villa in Italy. It's only accessible to a Malfoy or someone holding on to one."

He nods and sends Blaise off, then accompanies me to Andromeda's. At first Scorp is excited to see me, but I tell him I have to send him somewhere and that we don't have much time. Mother is already over here, and we quickly pack a small bag for the boys then send all of them to the villa. Once we get them there we floo back to the ministry to see what Blaise has found. Every minute is precious and we can't afford to waste any. The sun is already beginning to set. I have to get her back as soon as possible.

Blaise has wasted no time in filing the report and sending the message out to everyone at the ministry as well as getting it to the papers. Soon, the entire wizarding world will know to be looking for Hermione. We go to Potter's office where Blaise gives him a file on Weasley. Looking over it we see that he's been at various different jobs since he was fired from the Chudley Cannons. His most recent one has been as a metal charmer in a sports shop that sells quaffles, bludgers, and snitches. This is also the shop where most quidditch teams in Britain buy their equipment. According to this paper, he just randomly quit a month ago. There's also a newspaper article where a young woman allegedly accused him of violating her and saying she was going to press charges. Strangely, she dropped the case a few weeks later, saying she made the whole thing up. On one of the pieces, we're able to find an address. Potter and I decide to head to it, and Blaise takes a team to go question his former bosses and anyone who may have been in close contact with him.

We apparate to the address and come upon a rundown looking apartment. There is a horrible smell coming from somewhere inside it, but it reaches us even from outside. It's powerful enough to make me gag. Putting my nose in my shirt I come to the door, realize it's locked, but charm it open with a simple alohamora. I flick on the lights and shriek, jumping back a step.

We're inside what I think is a living room and I've figured out what that horrible smell is. There's a decaying corpse lying across one of the couches. From the looks of it, it's a woman. Potter comes in, swears, and pulls out his wand to examine her. Turning to me he says, "She was tortured and killed. I think this is the secretary that's been missing."

Weasley killed the secretary? I knew he was an abusive git, but he's a murderer as well? And to torture before killing her, that seems like the way all of these women have been turning up…

"Malfoy…look" Potter says in a choked gasp, eyes widening behind his glasses as he stares at something behind me. I turn around and see an archway leading into what looks like the dining room. This apartment is absolutely filthy, and there are empty alcohol bottles, rats, maggots, and roaches everywhere. But through the archway, there's a wall that looks to have several newspaper clippings and articles on it. There are words burned in near the pictures, reminding me of the way we found Hermione's apartment after the quidditch game.
I step over the filth and grime, and into the room, where I can see things more clearly. The first few newspapers and clippings are of the Chudley Cannons team. There are pictures of the coaches and each member of the team. The articles talk about different things such as "Chudley Cannons Beater Mysteriously Attacked at Meet and Greet" or "Chudley Cannons Coach Rushed to St. Mungos After Inhaling Poisonous Fumes."

"I remember that case" Potter says coming up beside me. "The coach had received a gift, and when he opened it poisonous gas leaked out and nearly suffocated him. He was lucky to be alive. We never could figure out where the gift came from or who sent it." Underneath the pictures the words 'betrayed' and 'must pay' were burned into the wall.

Moving down the line, there are mostly pictures of women. My eyes widen as I begin to recognize them. They're all pictures of the women that have been reported missing. It starts with the ones that have been gone the longest, and then proceeds to those that have just been gone recently and their bodies turned up. One of them is the newspaper article we found in Weasley's file of the woman who was going to press charges. Underneath the clipping and her picture were the words 'whore' and 'lying bitch.' More vulgar language and pictures spread out across this wall as Potter and I slowly reach the same conclusion.

Weasley…he's the kidnapper…the one who's been torturing and killing all these people…Weasley is a psychotic serial killer…

We continue to look through the apartment and come up to a door near the end of a hallway. Potter pushes it open and we both step inside to what we discover is a bedroom. But what we find in there is even more disturbing than the wall in the dining room. On the wall opposite of his bed, there are hundreds of pictures and a few very recent newspaper clippings hanging up and they all pertain to or depict one woman.

Hermione.

The pictures date all the way back to her school years. Several of them are of her, weasel, and Potter. However, Potter's face has been burned out or completely cut from the pictures. 'Mudblood', 'Whore', and 'Slut' are a few of the words burned into the wall around her, but there's also phrases such as 'I own you' and 'Won't leave me again.' The newspaper articles are all stories about her since she's been back in England. Everything from her arrival, to her stories about the school project, and even pictures that were taken of us and Scorpious when we were out. Most of these pictures have us burned through. However, one picture towards the end catches my attention. It's a simple picture from an article showing me, Hermione, and Scorpious out and about in Diagon Alley, but I'm almost completely burned out from the picture and Scorpious has been circled. Underneath this picture it says, 'Kill Him.'

Rage courses through me. I need to find this sick twisted bastard now. No one messes with a Malfoy and those they love. I look over at Harry to see he's standing at a desk holding up a newspaper. I come up beside him and look over his shoulder to read it.

'Famous War Hero Ron Weasley Fired from Chudley Cannons for Public Intoxication, Reckless Behavior, and Failure to Show Up to Practices!' It goes on to show Weasley feeling up two obvious hookers in an alley, and smashing a bottle on the sidewalk, obviously drunk. Checking the date, I see that this came out almost five years ago.

"This is the newspaper she saw the day she left Ron" Potter says without looking at me. "She found it while she went out to look for apartments. Both of the women in these photos have been missing for years." He puts the paper down and shakes his head. "I…I can't believe it…I knew he wasn't the same kid from Hogwarts…but I never knew he could become so…evil."

"No one saw this coming. Not from Weaslebee" I say. "But now we know. We have to find him pronto. The longer he's out there, the more lives are in danger, including Hermione. We have to find her."

I feel something heat up in my pocket and judging by the look on Potter's face, he does too. I reach into it and pull out the galleon the three of us have. It's from Hermione! The letters "FOD" appear on it. 'FOD?' What the hell does that mean? Damnit, why didn't we decide to carry around a charmed piece of parchment instead of a stupid tiny gold coin?!

"Do you know what this means" I ask looking up at Potter.

He furrows his brows then shakes his head. "No, I have no idea."

"Think! It has to be where he's keeping her!" I say frantically. "Come on Potter, you were best friends with him for eight years! If anyone can figure this out, it's you!"

He stands silently thinking for a few seconds before his eyes narrow in anger and he throws the coin across the room. "DAMNIT!" He roars, fisting his hands through his hair and pulling at it. It looks like all the pressures have finally gotten to him and he's cracking. "HOW THE HELL DID I LET THIS HAPPEN?! WHY DIDN'T I PRESS CHARGES AGAINST HIM THE DAY SHE CAME TO ME BRUISED AND BEATEN?! WHAT KIND OF FRIEND AM I? I'VE DONE A SHITTY JOB OF PROTECTING HER! I'M THE BLOODY HEAD AUROR, THIS IS MY FUCKING JOB! I SWEAR TO MERLIN IF I FIND THAT SORRY PIECE OF SHIT, I'LL KILL HIM WITH MY BARE HANDS!"

I feel his rage, I honestly do. Nothing sounds better than pounding the deranged weasel's ugly face in. But we can't focus on that right now. We have to have clear heads and figure out where she is.

"Potter, calm down this isn't your fault. She asked you not to, and you listened. She would have been upset if you went against her wishes" I say trying to reason with him.

"Yeah, but she'd still be here and not in danger if I did" he hisses back, though he's stopped yelling.

I sigh. "That's the problem with her. She tries to see the good in everybody, even when it's not there. Even though in this particular case it's put her in danger, it's one of the reasons we both love her. We will find her. And we'll give that bloody fucker what's coming to him" I say determinedly.

Potter takes a few deep breaths, then loosens the tension from his shoulders. "You're right. We will find her. I just wish things hadn't gotten this far. I should have never let him come back after he left us in the forest…"

Forest…forest…she and Potter were staying in the Forest of Dean…Forest of Dean…FOD!

"Potter that's it! That's where they are!" I cry out and he looks up at me with confusion in his face. I huff annoyed at his slowness. How is it he managed to defeat Voldemort again? Oh yeah that's right, he had Hermione. Without her we'd all have surely been dead if we had to rely solely on him. "FOD stands for Forest of Dean. Don't you remember what he told her when he attacked her in the loo at the game? 'I'm taking you back to the place your treachery started.' Didn't he think you and her had some love affair after he left?"

He finally catches on. "Merlin's testicles, you're right! Why would he want to go back there though? Doesn't matter, we have to leave now." We form a plan and he decides to go back to the ministry and put a team together, then come after them. He tried to get me to come along, but I tell him I'm going on ahead to try and get to her first. We have no idea what he could be doing to her and every minute is precious. He argued at first saying that was too dangerous for me to go alone, but finally agreed when I told him he couldn't stop me and he was wasting time.

I apparate to the edge of the forest, then pull my wand out. "Point me" I say, and it immediately points straight. I continue to follow it as it twists left and right on many different paths. It leads me to about the middle of the forest and stops abruptly once I reach a clearing. Looking around, there's nothing here but my wand has stopped moving indicating this is where I'm supposed to be. What the hell?

Just as I'm beginning to get frustrated, I catch a whiff of something. Vanilla…that's Hermione's perfume! She's close! I take a few steps forward and come in contact with a barrier. They are here, the weasel just put up wards to further hide them. There's no time to discreetly take these down, so I begin hurriedly tearing at them. I knew how to break wards rather effectively; I'd done it so many times in my teenage years when sneaking in and out of the manor. Finally, I take them all down and see a tent a few feet in front of me.

With my wand out in front of me, I descend towards it knowing Potter and the aurors won't be far behind. All is silent which greatly worries me. I hope I'm not too late. It's dark inside the tent as I whisper out "Hermione?" I can't even see my hand in front of my face.

"Lumos" I whisper once I'm fully inside. Light appears at the end of my wand and I turn slowly in a circle, before I see them behind me.

"Expelliarmus!" Weasel cries. My wand flies out of my hand and he catches it after shoving Hermione roughly to the ground, away from him. Lanterns around the tent fill with light with a simple wave of his wand and I realize that he was waiting for me. He heard and felt me taking down the wards. I look down at Hermione and feel my heart clench at the sight of her. She has a black eye and several bruises on her face and arms, and her lip is busted and bleeding. Tears are streaming down her face as she looks up at me, but at least she's alive. I make a move to go to her, but weasel has his wand trained at my chest and tells me "Don't move."

He breaks my wand in front of me, the whole time keeping his pointed in my direction. We're completely defenseless against him. Potter, hurry up! Where are you?

"How touching ferret. Come to save your little mudblood slut? Too bad she won't be making it out of here, and neither will you" he says.

"Why are you doing this?" I ask. "Why have you tortured and murdered all of those people? Look at what you've become!"

His face turns up into an ugly sneer. "They betrayed me! The Cannons thought they could just replace me, but it was an honor to have me on their team! My spot could not be filled by just anyone! And the coach thought he could just get away with getting rid of me? He'd have been dead and out of the way had he inhaled just a little bit more of the present I sent him! As long as he was still there, I couldn't take my spot back. Then he had the nerve to actually hire someone else! Well naturally, he had to be eliminated too. Then all those sluts and whores couldn't shut their filthy mouths. They actually think they could be an equal to men. Ha! A woman's job is to cook, clean, and take care of a man! They will never be on the same level as us. It's a lesson they all have to be taught. One this one here couldn't ever seem to grasp" he said nodding his head in Hermione's direction. She's managed to crawl a little away from him, closer to me.

"That's bullshit Weasley!" I yell. "How could you do this to someone who's been there for you through everything? After all the times she saved you and got you through tough situations, you still think she's beneath you? You're a bloody fool! You're no better than all the death eaters sitting in Azkaban!"

"Takes one to know one doesn't it scum" he bites back. "She belongs to me! I own her, and she still tried to shirk her duties! I gave her her chance, but she didn't take it. Now she'll pay like all the others. And I warned you to stay away from her! I told you you'd regret it if you didn't, but you didn't heed my warning either. So now, you can join her" A nasty smile forms on his hideous face. "Til death do you part, huh? Too bad you'll have to skip straight to that part. Oh, and by the way, your son is next. I can't wait to torture him into insanity. His screams will be music to my ears."

Rage courses through me at his words, and the fact that right now there is absolutely nothing I can do to this deranged lunatic "You're not gonna touch him!" I growl.

He laughs. "Oh, but I am. And after him it'll be your mother, aunt, Harry, and everyone else that has ever gone against me. I came out victorious ferret, me! I beat you! And now, I'm finally going to kill you, and wipe your lousy family from existence." He raises his wand slightly with his evil smile still in place, and begins to chant the killing curse. "AVAD-"

Out of the corner of my eye, I see something green come out of the front of Hermione's shirt pocket. It looks like a ball of fluff, and zooms straight at Weasley's face. He lets out an "Argh!" trying to swat it away, but this is just the opening I need. Charging forward, I tackle him to the ground, and we begin a struggle for his wand.

Between the two of us, we've both got our hands around it but the added pressure of our pushing and pulling snaps it in two. It's completely useless to me now. Hermione shakily rises to her feet coming towards us but I shout, "NO! Get out of here! Run! Get help!" She shakes her head, and I feel Weasley sock me right across the jaw.

"Draco!" she shouts. I struggle against him but manage to pin him down for a second, but he's strong and I know it won't last long.

"Harry and the aurors are coming! Find them, lead them here just go!" I yell desperately at her. She finally gets the message, and runs out of the tent. Good, now she's got a chance.

Weasley manages to twist his wrists out of my grasp and punches me again. We were on our sides, but he uses this opportunity to try and pin me under him. I'm able to deflect his sailing fist just in time and somehow turn the tables and pin him under me. I draw back my fist and punch him in the face again. Then again, and again.

I think of all the things he did to Hermione. The hell he put her through and what he planned to do to her tonight. How sick and crazy he is, and the fact that he enjoyed killing those people and somehow justified it in his mind. He was insane, just like my Aunt Bellatrix.

Aunt Bellatrix. She flashes in my mind and looking down at Weasley, I see her instead of him. It's like my anger and fury has blinded me, and morphed his features into someone I truly and utterly despised, and I punch him again. Horrible black and blue bruises have formed from where my fist repeatedly lands, but it drives me on.

I think of all the people she killed or tortured. Punch. I remember the absolute twisted glee she got every time she heard them scream or saw the life leave their eyes. Punch. I remember her crucioing Hermione over and over again on the floor of our drawing room, then carving that filthy insult into her arm. Punch. I remember the day I received my dark mark, and she tortured me mercilessly in front of all the other death eaters; her own nephew. Punch. She was so happy she got to carry out that initiation process for Voldemort. Punch.

Voldemort. Again Weasley's face morphs in my mind's eye, and I see the pale chalky snake like features of someone else that caused nothing but pain and misery. Punch. I remember the day he took residence in our home and humiliated us in front of all who once supposedly respected us. Punch. I remember him forcing me to watch him as he violently murdered innocent people for nothing more than simply being born to non magical parents. Punch. I remember the impossible task he set me with in sixth year, and how he threatened me and my mother's life if I didn't kill one of the greatest wizards who ever lived. Punch. I remember how that night when I returned to him with Snape, he tortured me for not following through and called me weak like my father, Lucius. Punch.

Lucius. Punch. Lucius. Punch. My fucking father! Punch. As all my childhood memories come rushing forward, I unleash all of my pent up rage and aggression and let my fists pound even more mercilessly than before. All I can see as I look down on him is the face of my father. I remember how nothing I ever did was good enough in his eyes. Punch. I remember him beating me or calling me worthless and nothing more than a disgrace. Punch. I remember the shame in his eyes anytime he looked at me, and how he forced me onto the path of a death eater and why I'll forever carry this fucking scar on my arm. Punch. I remember huddling in a corner as a child, being terrified out of my mind when he beat my mother in front of me, after she tried to save me from the cruciatus curse from his wand. Punch. I remember how even after his death, he hurt me again by forcing me into that marriage contract inadvertently hurting Scorpious too. Punch. And mostly I think of how every time I look in the mirror, all I can see are his features staring back at me and the absolute fear that I'll that no matter how hard I try, no matter what I do, I'll always pay for his mistakes. Punch, punch, punch.

All of their faces seem to run together. Weasley, Bellatrix, Voldemort, Lucius, Weasley, Bellatrix, Voldemort, Lucius. Lucius, Lucius, LUCIUS!

"Draco!" I hear a sweet voice call out to me through my daze. My fists are still flying, but they've become numb from the stings and I don't even see what I'm doing anymore. That sounds like Hermione. Why is she still here? I thought she'd left.

"Draco please, stop! You're going to kill him!" My focus is starting to come back, and my fists have slowed down. Weasley's face has stopped changing, but he looks terrible. As I completely stop hitting him, I realize that I've done this. I've beaten him beyond recognition in my fury. He's unconscious and bleeding profusely, but I can see that he's still breathing. Just barely.

Hermione slowly comes into my peripheral vision. She looks deep into my eyes with compassion and love, and only then do I realize that I'm crying.

"Draco" she whispers, coming closer. "You're better than him. Don't stoop to his level. It's over, he can't hurt any of us anymore." She tentatively reaches her hand out to me.

She's right. I'm not a murderer. I am better than my father and aunt, and Weasley. I won't let myself become them. I let out a deep, shaky breath then take her hand and rise. Tears stream down her face, and I pull her into my arms, holding her close and inhaling the scent of her hair. I was so scared I'd never get to have her like this again.

She's gotten Potter and the aurors, and they cuff Weasley, then take him away to a holding cell I presume. Potter looks at us, opens his mouth to say something, then closes it and gives us a moment of privacy. Hermione clutches my shirt in her dainty hands and through her sobs whispers, "It's over. We're free, he won't hurt us ever again."

I know she's talking about Weasley, but in my mind her words also reflect my feelings against all those who tried to hurt us, especially my father. Somehow through beating the tar out of Weasley, I got the closure I wanted with that slimy bastard who made my life hell for so many years. I press a kiss into her temple and begin rubbing my hands up and down her back.

"You're right love. It's over. It's finally over."

AN: So…whaddya think? This was probably the most intense thing I've ever written. Am I forgiven for the cliff hanger? I thought you guys would appreciate the long chapter and Ron getting the crap beat out of him by Draco! I think everything is pretty explanatory now, but next chapter I'll have like a recap moment in case anything is unclear. As always, I enjoy your reviews!