Harry slowly drifted into consciousness, vaguely wondering why he could hear snoring when he was at home. It only took a few minutes before Harry remembered the horrors of the previous afternoon and why Ron and Neville were asleep in his bedroom.
After everyone had returned to headquarters and Dumbledore had spoken, the search was once again renewed. Molly had wanted to take Ron, Harry and Ginny back to The Burrow but they had all insisted on staying in case a breakthrough was reached. Neville and his gran and Luna and her father had also stayed to help.
The group of teenagers had all sat together until well past midnight as they watched various members of the Order coming and going, though none brought good news. Eventually Molly had bundled them off to bed, Ron and Neville bunking in with Harry while Luna and Ginny shared one of the many spare rooms in the large house.
Part of Harry wanted to curl back up and go to sleep so he didn't have to deal with the fact his friend was missing but he knew he had to get up and see if any progress had been made. Slowly Harry got out of bed and paid a visit to the bathroom before returning and waking both Neville and Ron.
Not bothering to get dressed the three boys woke the girls and the five teenagers went down to breakfast in their pyjamas. When the group entered the kitchen Sirius sadly shook his head, indicating there had been no new developments while they slept. Disheartened the teenagers sat round the table as Molly fussed over them, insisting that they had to eat to keep up their strength.
"I wonder if she's okay." Ron sighed. He looked down at his plate of scrambled eggs and for once he found he wasn't hungry.
"She's strong, Ron. She'll be fine." Sirius reassured the disheartened redhead.
"What if they're treating her badly?" Harry asked. "What if they're torturing her for information?"
"You can't think like that." Molly scolded. The last thing she wanted was for Harry and the others to torture themselves with images of Hermione suffering. "Chances are they're holding her as a hostage, trying to draw you and Dumbledore out."
"Exactly." Sirius hurriedly agreed with Molly to try and ease his godson's worries. "They won't hurt her as they'll fear any retaliation."
"I hope you're right." Harry sighed. "I couldn't live with myself if anything bad happened to Hermione just because she's my friend."
"You have to think positive." Molly said. "We'll find her and we'll bring her home safe and sound."
"Oh, what about Hermione's parents?" Ginny asked, the mention of bringing Hermione home made the redhead remember that Hermione's home wasn't actually with them. "Aren't they returning today?"
"Yes they are." Molly nodded. "Professor McGonagall's gone to meet them and inform them what's happened."
"Will they be coming here, do you think?" Ginny asked. As selfish as it sounded Ginny didn't want to see the Granger's, she was worried in case they blamed them for what had happened to their daughter.
"I doubt it." Molly sighed, turning back to the sink that was slowly piling up with dishes. Despite many attempts to get to know the Granger's better they were a reserved couple and were distinctly uncomfortable around magic so Molly couldn't imagine they would want to wait for news with them.
"Come on you lot, eat up and go and get dressed." Sirius said, noticing the group had barely touched their breakfast.
Reluctantly the teenagers started to eat, each of them too distracted by thoughts of Hermione to enjoy the food. After they finished eating Molly gathered the plates and Sirius had just told them to go and get dressed when an owl appeared at the back door. The furious pecking drew the entire room's attention and Harry paused halfway out of the kitchen door to see what the fuss was about.
"That's Malfoy's owl." Ron exclaimed as Sirius opened the door and the owl landed elegantly on the kitchen table.
"It's carrying a package." Ginny said as everyone crowded round the table.
When Sirius reached to untie the package the bird squawked angrily and flapped its wings at him. "Bloody bird, he won't let me get the package." He muttered, moving back so he wasn't attacked by the owl.
"I'll try." Harry said, moving forward and slowly approaching the owl.
As Harry approached the bird it stood completely still and let Harry untie the package from around its leg. The second the package was loose the owl let out a loud squawk before rising into the air and flying out of the open back door.
"It's addressed to me." Harry said, looking at his name neatly written on the front of the small brown package.
"Open it, it could be important." Sirius instructed his godson as he moved to stand directly behind him.
Harry placed the package on the table and ripped open the paper, revealing a book. The book was a wizarding mystery novel and looked to be in extremely good condition.
"That's Hermione's." Ginny pointed at the book. "She was reading it yesterday."
"Just because she was reading that title, doesn't make it her book." Molly said, not wanting anyone to get their hopes up.
"No it doesn't." Harry said, opening the book at the beginning. "But this does." Harry pointed to the top left hand corner of the inner cover, neatly written there were the words: Property of Hermione Granger.
"That doesn't mean it's her book, anyone could have done that." Molly cautioned.
"It's Hermione's writing." Harry argued. "Plus she does it with all her books in case she misplaces them. We have her school trunk so we can compare the writing and prove all her books have her name written in them."
"Calm down, Harry." Sirius placed a calming hand on his godson's shoulder as he was getting worked up. "I'm sure this is Hermione's book but we have to be certain before we do anything."
"You mean you want to be sure before you go to the Malfoy's and demand Hermione's return." Ron said.
"It's not as simple as that Ron." Molly told her son. "Even if the Malfoy's are involved they'll deny all knowledge."
"How can they? It was clearly Malfoy's owl that brought this book." Harry shouted, picking up Hermione's book and shaking it in the air.
As Harry was waving the book in the air a photo fell out and floated to the floor. Luna bent down and picked the picture up, studying it carefully before she placed it on the table for everyone to see. The picture was a snapshot of a cosy looking cottage with the coastline in the background.
"Is this Hermione's?" Molly asked. "Does she use it as a bookmark?"
"No." Neville shook his head. "Hermione's bookmark is silver with her name printed down it. She hates it when people use things like pictures or scraps of paper to mark their places in books."
"So if it isn't Hermione's, then it's been placed in there deliberately." Molly said. "Does anyone recognise the house in the picture?"
"I think I do." Sirius said, staring intently at the picture. "It looks somewhat familiar but I can't place where I've seen it before."
"Do you think this is where they're holding Hermione?" Ginny asked.
"Possibly." Sirius nodded. "But why leave us a clue?"
"It's not a clue, it's a trap." Harry protested, turning away from the picture. "The Malfoy's have Hermione, chances are she's being held in the Manor not some poky cottage on the beach."
"I agree it's probably a trap." Sirius told Harry. "But do you really want to risk not investigating it properly and it turns out Hermione was there after all?"
"I suppose not." Harry sighed. "I just think we need to be careful." He added.
"We will be, we won't just rush in like fools." Sirius said. "But we need to find out where this cottage is and check it out."
"How are we going to find out about the cottage?" Ron asked.
"First off you lot are going to go and get dressed, people will be arriving soon and I think clothes are appropriate attire." Molly said.
"While you're getting dressed I'm going to contact Andromeda, see if she can help." Sirius said. Andromeda Tonks was Sirius's cousin and Narcissa Malfoy's sister. "I vaguely recognise the house and I think it could have once been in our family so I'm hoping Andromeda might recognise it as well. Maybe together we can remember where it's situated."
As Sirius left to contact his cousin, Molly ushered the teenagers upstairs to get dressed. Harry dressed in record speed and was quickly flying back downstairs to see if Sirius had had any luck with Andromeda. The others arrived in the front room just in time to hear Sirius inform Harry that Andromeda would drop by as soon as possible, so she could help in any way she could.
Harry sat watching Ron and Neville playing wizard chess, his mind not focusing on the game at all. His eyes kept flicking between the front door and the fireplace, hoping to see the intimidating figure of his Potions Professor. Normally Harry liked to avoid the Head of Slytherin, who had made no attempt to hide the fact he didn't like Harry, but for once he was anxiously awaiting his return.
Dumbledore had arrived at Headquarters a little over an hour ago and was informed of the newest development. By that time Andromeda had arrived and had identified the house as one in Cornwall that had once belonging to her mother and had been left to Narcissa when she had died. When Dumbledore had arrived and heard about the discoveries Harry though some progress would finally be made but the headmaster had insisted on waiting for Snape before any final plans were made.
The previous night Dumbledore had sent Snape off to fulfil his role as a spy amongst the Death Eaters. Dumbledore was hoping to get some useful information from Snape regarding Hermione's whereabouts. Along with several other people, Harry was still unconvinced that Snape was loyal to the Order but Dumbledore trusted him implicitly so everyone else reluctantly accepted the Potions Professor was on their side.
Checking the fire and door one final time Harry got up from the sofa and made his way towards the kitchen. In the kitchen sat several members of the Order, making plans to raid the house they had received a picture of that morning.
"Harry, are you all right dear?" Molly asked, looking up and spotting the raven haired boy hovering in the doorway.
"I just came to see what was going on." Harry shrugged, slumping into the chair next to Sirius. "When are you going to the house?"
"Later this evening." Dumbledore replied. "We're working out the plans now."
"You know it's a trap don't you?" Harry asked the elderly Professor. "She'll not be there."
"We know there's a strong possibility of this being a trap." Dumbledore nodded. "But we can't risk not checking it out."
"I know." Harry sighed. He would hate himself forever if they failed to check the house and Hermione had been there all along but he also didn't like the idea of his friends walking into a trap.
"Don't worry, Harry, we'll be careful." Sirius said, smiling reassuringly at his godson.
Harry nodded and settled down to listen to the plans that were being made. As he listened to the conversation Harry was reassured somewhat, the Order were preparing as though they were walking into a trap and as such they were very thorough in their plans. Harry listened quietly for nearly half an hour before he heard the front door opening and seconds later Snape swept into the kitchen, his usual dark cloak billowing behind him.
"Severus, sit down and we can all catch up." Dumbledore said in greeting. "We've had some news, although I don't know how useful it really is."
Severus sat down opposite Harry and listened in silence as Dumbledore informed him of the book and picture they had received that morning. While Dumbledore was talking Ron, Neville, Luna and Ginny had entered the kitchen and they all sat down around the table. Molly looked at the teenagers wishing she could bar them for attending meetings but she knew with Hermione missing all they wanted was to help find their friend and keep up to date with what was going on.
"Do you have anything for us?" Dumbledore asked, once he had finished bringing Severus up to date.
"Not a lot." Severus said. "There was a meeting last night and The Dark Lord confirmed Hermione's kidnapping. He then announced that any further information would be on a need to know basis and he would be in touch with people individually if and when they were needed."
"Was the meeting held at Malfoy Manor?" Sirius asked.
"Yes, it always is." Severus nodded. "And before you ask, no. I didn't see any sign of Hermione."
"Did he ask about what we know?" Dumbledore asked.
"Of course." Severus replied. "I told him that we had no solid leads."
"Could you possibly speak privately to Lucius Malfoy?" Dumbledore asked. "We think he's heavily involved. It was Draco who first indicated that Hermione had been taken by the dark side and it was his owl that delivered the book this morning."
"Of course." Severus nodded. "Narcissa asked me to dinner one night this week, I can arrange to go either tonight or tomorrow."
"Excellent." Dumbledore beamed, confident that Severus could get them some useful information. "I also want to check the wards around the Manor as soon as possible, there's a possibility Hermione is in there. Ideally I was hoping to do it on a day when Lucius was out, that way he wouldn't notice any disruption to the wards as I poke at them."
"I can find you a time when Lucius is out but what about Narcissa?" Severus asked, wondering if Dumbledore had even given the witch a consideration.
"The Manor is an old Malfoy property so Lucius will be more in tune with the wards, besides he would have been the one to set most of them."
Severus stared at Dumbledore, amazed that he had dismissed Narcissa so quickly. Severus wondered how Dumbledore would react if he told him that Narcissa had set several of the wards herself and in fact was probably more in tune with them than Lucius. Even after knowing Dumbledore for so long Severus was always amazed by how easily he dismissed people, he clearly thought of Narcissa as a trophy pureblood wife and forgotten that she was an accomplished witch in her own right.
"If that's everything, I should be going." Severus announced, standing up again. On a whole Severus preferred to spend as little time with the Order as possible, despite them supposedly believing he was on their side they never made him feel welcome.
"We'll be having a meeting tomorrow afternoon to discuss tonight's outing." Dumbledore said. "Unless you're too busy, I would like you to be here."
"I'll try my best." Severus said, quickly saying his goodbyes and making a hasty retreat.
Once Severus had left the rest of the Order slowly started drifting away as Molly began organising lunch for those that were sticking around. While Molly managed to rope Ginny and Luna into helping her with lunch, Sirius took the three boys outside to get a bit fresh air as they discussed that nights plans.