Chapter Twenty Three

Hi, sorry I didn't update last week, my updates may be slightly erratic over the next two months as I have big big exams, though I will try to write another chapter whenever possible. Thank you for the phenomenal amount of reviews I got last time, they were all great. Thank you so much and thank you to those reviewers of my last chapter:

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Chapter Twenty Three

Anton jerked his consciousness from the scying bowl with a loud gasp, the fire and heat he was generating was quenched instantly. He pushed himself backwards away from the bowl and stood up still breathing heavily. Sirius stormed into the room looking furious.

'What were you thinking?' he demanded 'have you any idea how much risk you were putting yourself in?'

Anton ignored him, his mind was working in overtime as it tried to process what had happened. She had Teddy, he wasn't dead, he was alive, but she had him.

'Anyone in there?' Sirius asked this time his voice sounding slightly worried as if he expected Anton to have someone in his head again.

'She's got Teddy,' Anton said simply 'she took him and we didn't even bother looking for him.'

'Who's Teddy?' Lupin inquired his face lined with uneasiness.

Anton snorted at the irony of Lupin asking who Teddy was but he answered all the same,

'Teddy's parents made me his Godfather when I was seventeen' he told them 'his father was a good friend of my Fathers and as he'd already been killed I was asked instead, I promised to keep him safe and when his parents were killed after four months he went to live with his Grandparents, but…'

'But?' Tonks pressed.

'They were killed less than six months later so I took over,' Anton replied 'Rhoan and I raised him with Ofelia and Gia for three years, then Gia was killed and Ofelia…' he trailed off again though everyone understood.

'On his fourth birthday we were attacked so I gave him to a good friend of mine to take home while Rhoan and I stayed to fight, when we got back though…' he paused for a moment as his eyes grew haunted 'everyone was dead and…and Teddy's bed was completely burnt, Rhoan and I thought he was dead so…so we didn't look for him.'

'How do you know he's alive or even that she's got him?' Mad-Eye pushed.

'I saw him,' Anton answered thinking back to the image of Teddy he had seen, 'he's being kept with Hermione.'

--

Hermione stared in terror at the door all the time trying to rationalise in her head why she had been kidnapped, sure she was friends with Harry Potter and an extremely clever light witch but she was only in her fifth year.

The door was pushed open and Hermione braced herself for whatever was coming next.

--

Anton paced backwards and forwards across the kitchen floor, he could feel his heart hammering with barely contained energy and he was sure he was probably letting a lot of heat off, except he didn't care, Teddy was alive.

There were quite a few wizards and witches crammed into the kitchen all were working hard trying to come up with ideas, others ran up and down the stairs to the basement their arms filled with Parchment. Those with training at searching for locations were out trying to discover where Ofelia was keeping her prisoners.

Snape had returned from a meeting with Voldemort to inform them that he was not in the slightest pleased with the behaviour of his new lieutenant, she was constantly leaving the forests and he was rightly convinced that she was hiding important facts from him. According to the potions master he was close to the edge when it came to the Water Elemental and had she not been so useful there were hints he would have already tortured if not killed her.

'Will you sit down Anton!' Sirius barked eventually pulling at the collar of his robes in response to the heat (the fires in the house had long been put out thanks to Anton apart from one used for flooing).

'Are the Auror's back yet?' he asked coming to a temporary halt.

'No,' Sirius replied answering for the third time 'when they do we'll all know about it.'

Anton began pacing again every so often gazing out at the night sky, it was half ten on Christmas Eve but the atmosphere was far from celebratory.

--

'Do you think she's ok?' Ron asked Harry again.

'I hope so Ron I really do,' Harry said, both boys faces were white with worry, they'd been sent to their rooms soon after Anton had come down. They were sitting on the floor leaning on their respective beds, Ginny was lying on Ron's bed and though she was extremely still they could tell she was awake from her fingers drumming on the wall.

'What do you thinks happening now?' Ron said staring at Harry.

'Wouldn't you like to know' came a voice from the door.

Harry, Ron looked to the door and Ginny sat up interested in what the twins had to say.

'You know something?' Harry asked excitedly.

'A bit more than something wouldn't you say George?'

'Oh definitely Fred.'

--

'Does Ofelia have any strong attachment to anywhere?' Moody questioned 'anywhere she'd go when she needed to hide or stay low?'

'I'm not sure,' Anton said racking his brains 'we were apart for ages after she was discovered it could be any number of places.'

'Well think of some names,' Moody ordered 'anything could be vital.'

Anton furrowed his brow and thought deeply, where would she go, where would she feel safe? She would go somewhere she knew well she wouldn't trust a place or area she didn't know.

'I've got it!' he exclaimed 'or at least it's a good possibility.'

'Where!' Tonks burst.

'Actually no,' Anton backtracked 'maybe not.'

'Will you just tell us?' Sirius shouted his patience getting the best of him.

'But I could be wrong,' Anton said uncertainly.

'Anything would be good at this point dear.' Mrs Weasley pushed anxiously.

'There's an old abandoned wizarding house in Ireland that she may be at.'

'Why would she go there?' Mad-Eye asked gruffly.

'It's where she killed Gia.'

--

A small boy stood framed in the doorway, his face was grimy and he had an underfed, pinched look about him, two huge amber eyes stared at her unblinking. His clothes were worn and dull and his hair changed from deep inky black to glittering red as he stepped into the room.

She immediately noticed a thin silver chain attached to his left ankle and though it didn't lead anywhere she recognised it as a form of containment chains similar to the one on her own ankle, they were designed to allow a prisoner a small range away from a focus point, if they went too far they were ported back.

'Hi,' he said tentatively gazing at Hermione 'are you ok?'

'Not really,' she admitted brushing a tear from her eye 'what are you doing here?'

'Felly told me to keep out of the way so I came to see you, you were sleeping when got here.' He answered quietly.

'No I meant why are you here?' Hermione said watching the little boy closely.

'I kinda live here,' he said giving her a funny look 'Felly brought me, so here I am.'

'What about your parents?'

'They died,' he replied looking sad 'but I don't remember them. I'd like to go back home though'

Hermione thought of her own parents and a sob caught in her throat, immediately the child hurried over and dug an old tissue from his pocket which he handed to her. She smiled at him in appreciation of the gesture and he nervously smiled back.

'I'm Hermione,' she told him 'what's your name?'

'I'm Teddy.' He said shyly.

'So is Felly your guardian?' Hermione asked curiously in spite of herself.

'My what?' he said confused.

'Is she meant to look after you?' she reiterated.

'Nu uh' he shook his head vigorously 'A'ton's sup'ose to but Felly took me away from him on my Birthday, she wasn't sup'ose to take me, Rho Rho and A'ton said she wasn't very nice and I should keep away from her.'

His gaze flickered anxiously to the door for fear of being heard, it was enough time for Hermione to recognise the fragments of names.

'Anton, as in Anton Lukyen?' she asked not quite believing what she was saying but Teddy nodded his head.

'Felly said she was taking me somewhere he'd never find me,' a small tear ran down his own face 'I really want to go home.'

--

'What Lukyen has a Godson who's been kidnapped by the same person who's got Hermione!' Ron said in disbelief 'are you serious?'

'Deadly little brother,' Fred nodded 'from what we've been able to work out he's been missing over a year.'

'What chance is there of finding Hermione if he couldn't find his Godson!' Ginny cried out hopelessly.

'Calm down will you,' Fred cut her off 'Lukyen didn't look for his Godson because he thought he was dead.'

'Do they know who took them?' Harry asked interested.

'This is the fascinating bit,' George continued 'we've managed to pick up quite a bit in the last few months, Anton was friends with this Ofelia woman from when they were kids, she killed his brother and betrayed him to You-Know-Who.'

'Are you serious?' Ron exclaimed loudly.

'Are you going to keep asking us that or can I get on with what I was saying.' George enquired pulling a face at Ron.

'Sorry,' Ron hastened.

'As we were saying,' Fred took over 'all of the Aurors are really hoping to find Hermione quickly, supposedly there's a greater chance of her being found alive if its close to when she was first taken.'

'Don't say that!' Ginny yelled furiously sitting up and swinging her legs off the edge of the bed 'Hermione is NOT going to die! Even if we find her after a while we are still going to find her! Alive!'

'I didn't mean it like that,' Fred said quickly as Ginny's eyes blazed furiously 'I was just repeating what we heard.'

'You could have phrased it better,' Harry pointed out as Ginny swung her legs and kicked Ron's side irritably.

'So what do you thinks going to happen?' Ron asked uneasily

'I think its looking like a lot of people are going to get hurt during this,' George said his expression for once was concerned.

--

Anton pulled his compass that he had used to find the dead body of Peter out of his pocket, while it was useful it had some major flaws.

One was that it only pointed to dark wizards.

The second was that they had to be dead for the compass to register them.

Anton had tried to convert it to finding living dark wizards, but the charm work would have needed to be done by a master of charms and Anton at the time had had limited resources at best.

'What's that you've got?' a voice said making Anton jump from his thoughts.

Moody was standing close to him looking at the compass with interest, his magical eye possibly picking up the magical energy from it.

'A compass to find the bodies of dead dark wizards' Anton replied 'though when they're dead they usually aren't causing too much trouble.'

'Can I have a look?' the ex-Auror asked holding out a gnarled hand.

Anton nodded and dropped the object into his waiting grasp. Moody surveyed it intently for a few moments before asking,

'How does it work?'

'You think of who you want to find and tap the compass with your wand whilst saying the name.' Anton muttered not really listening to the man.

Moody pulled his wand out and muttering a name he rapped the compass, the dial swung one way and emitted a location, then it swung quickly in another direction and gave a different place, after doing this for three more times Anton's interest had switched to Mad-Eye and the compass. When the needle finally stopped spinning Mad-Eye nodded as of he had seen what he had expected.

'Who did you say?' Anton asked curiously.

'A Death Eater named Delliya Hemps,' Moody answered sneering 'she tried to escape by disaparating through a magical barrier, she splinched into ten parts at least and we never found all of her.'

--

Anton pulled his wallet out of his jeans pocket, it was one of the only things he had brought from the future in addition to his compass, the sword, the old wand and the clothes he had been wearing.

Anton hesitantly pulled the wallet open and looked at the seal joining it together, waving his wand he split the seams, pulling the two pieces of fabric apart he stared at what was inside.

A picture of Teddy was hidden inside, he hadn't looked at it since his fourth birthday, the small boy in the picture was swinging upside down held by a younger version of himself. Rhoan had been the one to take the shot, and he had used the magical method which meant Teddy swung backwards and forwards a laughing smile on his face.

'Is that Teddy?' Sirius asked coming up next to Anton and glancing at the picture.

'Yeh,' Anton said sadly 'he was two years old when this was taken, he was gone two years later.'

'I understand what it's like losing a Godson,' Sirius replied his eyes looking off into another place, possibly another time. 'I got Harry back, in more ways than one, and I have every faith so will you.'

Anton smiled wishfully and opened his mouth to say something else but was interrupted by the sudden stream of people as they made their way to a meeting Dumbledore had quickly called

--

'Now we believe that this is the place that Miss Granger, and Teddy…' Dumbledore paused at looked to Anton for his surname.

'Lukyen,' Anton said without hesitation 'it was safer that he was known under mine and my brother's name.'

'Can you describe your godson please,' Dumbledore said gentleness in his voice 'tell us what he looks like?'

'That would be difficult,' Anton admitted 'Teddy's a metamorph, so I suppose the easiest thing to look out for would be a small child, though he did quite like green hair when he was little though that may have changed.'

Dumbledore nodded in understanding and signalled for Mad-Eye to take over,

'Alastor, if you'd please.'

Moody clumped to the front of the group a determined expression on his face.

'Listen up,' he snarled 'strong wards have been set up around the place we think the prisoners are being kept, we aren't sure how many other people she has with her but all things point to a limited number- we must remember she is going against Voldemort and wants to keep a low profile.'

'So what's the plan?' someone from the second row asked unperturbed.

'We need to work out a way to draw her out of the main house,' Moody replied 'which is going to be easier said than done, as the house was an original wizarding residence the Ministry had detailed floor plans from a hundred years ago that Tonks managed to obtain, I doubt to much has changed in that time. We can't be sure where they're being held so it will have to be a search and rescue mission.'

'I'll be able to draw Ofelia out,' Anton spoke up 'I challenged her, and its challengers right to decide when and where it takes place, if she doesn't fight after having accepted the terms she'll forfeit her magic, something I know she won't do.'

'No way,' Sirius said firmly 'its minus two out there you'll end up killing yourself.'

'Sirius,' Anton said calmly 'shut up, I appreciate the concern but I'm going.'

--

Dumbledore had added his own disapproval to Sirius's almost instantly even though it was obviously the only real option.

'I was hoping that my Defence teacher would be well enough to continue teaching following the holidays,' he had remarked lightly 'it would be unfortunate if you are unable to.'

'Headmaster, I will be fine by the start of next term,' Anton smiled but he looked worried. 'I still have a lot of teaching to get through.'

--

It was a specialised team that got ready to leave Headquarters at ten to twelve that night. There were five Aurors including Mad-Eye, Kingsley and Tonks, other members of the Order were going such Lupin, Sirius had also insisted he that he went if Anton was stupid enough to be going.

Anton was once again dressed in combat gear, the tough black trousers with his dragonhide boots, the thick top and dark cloak. His sword was attached to his back in a dark sheath and his wand was in a holster at his side.

The others had their own apparel that suited them and their needs, Anton didn't fail to miss that quite a few of them hummed with anticipation.

'You know what to do,' Moody said moments before they departed 'I want everyone back by one am, stick with your partners and hopefully you won't all be killed.'

'Oh lighten up Mad-Eye,' Tonks huffed 'we are not going to be killed by a couple of dark wizards on Christmas Eve.'

'We are invading an enemy's unfamiliar territory,' he barked 'and its that complacency that will get you killed. Now let's go!'

They disaparated in groups of three with Moody leading the first group, just as Anton was about to follow Sirius laid a hand on his forearm and held him back.

'I know what you're going through,' he muttered 'trust me on that, and trust me when I say don't do anything stupid, I made that mistake and I paid for it by not seeing my Godson for twelve years.'

'I'll be careful,' Anton promised before saying carefully 'there is something I want to ask you though, it's about Teddy. If anything happens to me tonight and Teddy really is alive, I was hoping…'

Sirius looked at him expectantly.

'I was hoping you'd look after him,' Anton finished in a rush 'I just thought I'd best be on the safe side, if anything does happen.'

'I'd be honoured to,' Sirius said real honesty and emotion showing on his face 'but it won't come to that.'

'I hope it won't.' Anton said anxiously.

--

Anton disaparated to arrive in the place of his nightmares, he could remember vividly when he and Rhoan had gone there looking for Gia only to find her dead and all doubt of Ofelia's betrayal gone. His breath caught as he stared at the darkened perimeter of the huge house somewhere in there was his Godson.

At a signal from Moody he walked slowly to the gateway leading into the grounds of the house pulling his sword as he walked.

'Ofelia!' he called 'I'm making good on my challenge!'

--

Next chapter to be full of action, lots of it, hopefully with lots of detail. Luv SpikyStar x x

Also 80000 words, if I calculated it properly,