Short today, I know, but I liked where it stopped ^_^.

Part 71/?

Lucius awoke slowly, stretching mightily as he did so. It was only as his mind realized he was alone in the bed when he should not have been, that he awoke completely. His eyes opened and flicked quickly through the room. No Harry.

He sat up and got out of the bed in one fluid movement. He wasn't really worried; at least not once his mind was working fully. He knew how worried his young husband was about what was planned to be happening that day. Still, he would feel better once he had seen him and made sure he was alright.

He walked into the bathroom, unhappy to find it empty, and quickly finished his ablutions. Magic made it very easy to continue looking as good as he did without spending all morning working on his hair.

Getting dressed, he looked over at the side table and frowned. Flick was still sleeping there. He didn't like the fact that Harry was out without her. He had promised not to do that again. Yes, they might be overprotective, but Harry simply *attracted* trouble, and they needed all the help they could get to keep him safe.

Lucius Malfoy quickly checked through the rest of the rooms hidden within the Chamber, without finding any sign of the green-eyed teen. He headed out to meet with Severus before breakfast.

"I was under the impression that Harry was going to be joining us," Severus asked as much as stated.

"I don't believe we ever came out and said as such," Lucius admitted. "He was already gone by the time I woke up. Hopefully, he woke up hungry and went to breakfast early."

"He didn't eat much last night," Severus agreed. With that out of the way, they strategized, discussing what was going to happen that day, what Lucius was and wasn't going to ask, and what he needed to stay away from to not give Moody any openings.

Before they knew it, an hour had passed. If they wanted to eat before leaving, they needed to head to the Great Hall immediately.

When they entered the room, their eyes immediately went searching. Harry wasn't there, but then, neither were half of the students. Ehlana smiled at them, as she walked out talking to a fellow Hufflepuff, her breakfast already done. Ron dragged himself in ten minutes after they did.

However, with thirty minutes before it was time for them to leave, and *still* no sign of the young man, they finally started to get a little worried.

One by one, those planning on going to the trial wandered into the room where they were to gather. Lucius and Severus began to frown, as gradually, all of Harry's closest friends gathered into a group, but Harry was not with any of them.

Lucius moved through the group until he was by his son's side. "Have you seen Harry this morning?" he asked quietly.

Draco frowned worriedly. "No, father, I haven't."

Severus was not in the mood to beat around the bush. He spoke commandingly, calling the attention of everyone in the room, "Who saw Harry this morning?"

There was silence from the entire group as they all looked at each other. One by one they looked up at their Potions Professor and shook their heads. No one had seen him.

The Head of Slytherin looked at the Headmistress. "Don't you have some way of checking where your students are?" he hissed.

Minerva shook her head slightly. "If Albus had something like that, I don't know where it is," she admitted.

"I thought you had tracers on him?" Ron spoke up.

Lucius did not show how stupid he was suddenly feeling. Instead, he reached for the emblem portkey he knew Harry always carried with him. His gray eyes flashed as he realized it was still in their room. He used his own Slytherin portkey to go back to the rooms, just to be sure. The only thing he found was an upset minidrag and Harry's outside robe... including the portkeys.

"Do you know where he is?" Lucius asked, as he headed towards the door once more. Flick, unsurprisingly, didn't answer.

"Master Lucius?" a voice said quietly.

Lucius turned, wand drawn, and held it upon the suddenly cowering house elf.

"Cattie," Lucius lowered his wand. "Have you seen Harry this morning?"

Cattie shook her head, but before she could speak up a pop from behind caused him to spin around while the house elf squeaked and disappeared. "Is he here?" Draco asked as he ignored the wand pointing his way.

"He is not," Lucius admitted. "What are you doing here?"

"I just wondered if those death threats had anything to do with it," Draco told him. "He just received a new one, but he said he knew who was sending them and wasn't worried about them any more."

"Did he say who sent them?" Lucius asked intently.

Draco shook his head. "But he said Cattie was the one who told him who it was," he explained.

Lucius frowned. "Cattie!" he yelled.

The shy elf appeared with a pop.

Draco warned his father off with a glance, as he turned to the elf. "Harry has been getting notes, he said that you knew who was sending them," he said gently.

Cattie looked confused. "Cattie saw no notes. Cattie told Mistress Jade about seeing Dobby with parchment."

"Dobby," Draco groaned. "Of course! That explains what Harry meant about the person sending them not meaning any harm." He took off out of the room as quickly as he could, Lucius on his heels. He turned to his father. "You need to go. If you're not there to explain, we could be held for contempt of court," he reminded him. "Get Weasley and Granger on the stand, heck, put the Dursleys up there if you have to, Black and Lupin as well. Do whatever you need to stall, that doesn't lose us the bloody case! Tell Blaise to stay. We'll find him. You have *got* to go!"

Lucius wanted to argue, but Draco wasn't about to let him. "You are *not* going to ruin the trial over this! Work on the Judge; give him whatever he needs to be able to get Dumbledore on the stand. If we can't find Harry, that's the only chance we've got!"

Lucius wanted to argue. He dearly wanted to argue. But how could he? Unfortunately, his son was right. It was not something he was happy about, by any stretch of the imagination. With one last glare and searching look, he turned away to head upstairs. One thing he could, and would do, was get permission for Severus to come back. Miach was capable of administering the Veritaserum; he'd already shown that. Madam Faire would be staying as well... just in case.

Draco headed down to the kitchens as fast as he could go. He knew that was the best place to find house elves at any given time; he figured it would actually take less time to go there, then to try to summon him. Dobby might come when Harry called, but he didn't particularly care for the Malfoys. This was just easier.

He strode into the kitchens, a man on a mission. The house elves working there seemed to realize it as they scurried to get out of his way. There!

"Dobby!" he commanded.

"Draco Malfoy," Dobby answered politely.

"When was the last time you saw Harry?" Draco asked.

"Dobby saw Harry Potter just this morning," Dobby said proudly. "Dobby fed Harry Potter. Harry Potter was very hungry."

"What time was this?" Draco jumped on the first true lead they had received.

"Harry Potter came to see Dobby at three o'clock," Dobby answered.

"Did you see where he went after that?" Draco reached down to grab the creature's shoulder and only just refrained from shaking him.

"Dobby left before Harry Potter," Dobby admitted. "Did something happen to Dobby's friend?" he asked worriedly.

"He's disappeared," Draco didn't see any harm in saying it; the news would be all over the school soon. "Those threats you've been sending; why did you send them?"

"Dobby would not send threats to his friend Harry Potter!" Dobby said vehemently. "Dobby sent *warnings*."

"I read a couple of those warnings," Draco frowned at the elf. "They sounded like threats to me."

"Dobby would *never* threaten Harry Potter!" Dobby almost growled. "Harry Potter is Dobby's friend! Harry Potter freed Dobby! Dobby did not like it when his friend was being followed everywhere. Dobby does not like *her*. Dobby was just trying to warn Harry Potter that *she* was following Harry Potter, and not in a nice way."

Draco couldn't decide whether to be frustrated or angry. This was the only lead they had, and the stupid house elf, who never used pronouns, was now using them instead of the stupid girl's name! Frustrated and angry worked, he finally decided. "Who is 'she'?" he demanded.

Part 72/?

Harry carefully looked his visitor over. He was almost surprised not to feel much worry. Yes, she had managed to kidnap him, but this was her! How could he really be scared of her? Even if she had... his eyes flew wide and his hands suddenly wrapped themselves around his stomach as he quickly checked.

"It's okay," she smiled as she came farther into the room. "I made sure the spell I used was safe for pregnant people. I would never hurt a child," now she looked hurt, as if she didn't believe he could think that of her.

"I didn't think you could kidnap people either," Harry muttered. "Obviously I was wrong about that."

"It's okay, Harry," she said softly. "I understand. Dumbledore explained how those awful men had twisted you, the same way they tried to do me."

Harry glared at her. "They didn't do anything to you that you didn't deserve. Nor have they done anything to me! This is my life and I'm happy with it! Why can't you just believe that?"

She shook her head. "You're not! They just made you *think* that you are! But don't worry. The Headmaster explained how to cure you. And once we do, you'll see how wrong you are. Don't worry; your baby won't be harmed. He said he could find a family to adopt it. After all, there's no way you will want it once you're healed. It'll be okay, I promise."

"I am not getting rid of my baby, and Dumbledore is not getting anywhere near him!" Harry growled. "Dumbledore's going to be going away for a very long time, very soon."

"Don't be silly, Harry," she laughed slightly. "I'm not going to be raising my husband's bastard, you know."

"Number one, my child is *not* a bastard," Harry's voice practically crackled with anger, "and number two, I wouldn't marry you if you were the last person on Earth, Ginny Weasley!"

The youngest Weasley just smiled. "I'll go get you something to eat," she said, walking out. "Don't worry, Harry, I won't hold this against you. I know it's not your fault."

As soon as she was gone, Harry started looking around. He cursed himself roundly for choosing to leave Flick behind, and even more so for not wearing his portkeys. He carried the portkeys with him everywhere, and yet, this morning he'd not even thought about them.

He didn't even bother trying to get off of the cot he was currently laying on. Even a magic-blind person would be able to feel the shields that kept him captive there. It was as he was testing those shields that he realized what was going on. There was a low-level compulsion built within them. A quick check showed that it was all around him. The entire room was flooded with it. There was no way Ginny could have done something like this. Dumbledore must have set it up for her.

He grinned without humor. Under normal circumstances, him being unconscious would mean that he was pulling in magic without control, thus pulling in the compulsion along with the magic. However, the old mage must not have known that pregnant mages didn't do that, not if they were in a place they didn't trust. And regardless of the fact that all of the compulsions had been off the students, the main portion of Hogwarts was not a place he felt safe enough to draw from. If he had been drawing when the stun spell hit, he might have kept on as he was moved. However, since he hadn't been, it wasn't a problem.

He quickly checked to see if he could send magic out through those shields. He was not surprised to find he couldn't.

He carefully built up his own shields, setting them up on the inside of the shields on the bed. That allowed him to keep out any extra magic as well as protect against physical intrusion. There was no reason someone else should be able to get in if he couldn't get out, was there?

Once that was done to his satisfaction, he settled back and started to think. Unfortunately, the shielding was very strong, and surrounded him in an egg shape. That meant he couldn't fight his way up through it, nor down under to get out. If he'd had anything he could pull magic from, he would have been able to burst through, since the shield had been set up in advance and was not being fed by the caster. However, his pregnant body took up too much of his own power for him to have the 'extra' needed to do that without grabbing from the world around him. If he'd even had something magical, anything magical, he might have been able to drain it, though that wasn't something he had practiced.

He'd automatically checked for his wand as he awoke, and hadn't found it. Either Ginny had taken it away from him, or it had fallen out of his pocket as he had been knocked out. He hoped it was the second. For some reason he didn't like to think that she had it.

He waited impatiently, checking and double-checking everything around him, the shields, his own power, his baby, even the air surrounding him.

It was about half an hour later when the door opened again. His eyebrows flew up in surprise. "Colin," he said politely. "I didn't know you were part of this farce."

"It's not a farce, Harry," Colin said strongly. "We'll make it right."

"So you can get pictures of our wedding?" Harry said sarcastically.

Colin looked away.

"You've got a crush on her!" Harry blurted out in surprise.

Colin just blushed.

"So why, in Merlin's name, are you helping her do this?" Harry asked in shock.

"Because I want her to be happy. And you, too. I know she's right. Something's been done to you. Malfoys don't change; deep in your heart you know that! And Snape! He's awful. He's always hated you; what makes you think he's changed?" Colin remonstrated.

"You weren't at the courtroom yesterday, were you?" Harry asked seriously. "When Severus, under Veritaserum, explained that the reason he hadn't liked me for the first four years. That was because, thanks to Dumbledore, whenever Severus looked at me, he saw James. Honestly, I bet that's why he hardly ever called me by my first name. Most of the time he didn't remember what it was. But last year... he saw me. Not my father, just *me*. And we found out that we actually like each other."

"Oh, please! If he hated your father so much, he's probably still seeing him whenever he looks at you," Colin disagreed vehemently.

"He might have hated my father, but he wanted to marry my mother. If they hadn't broken up, I might be his son by birth instead of adoption. Once he stopped seeing me as my father, or my father's son, he started seeing me as my *mother's* son. Now he's my dad, and we're *both* happy about that." Harry tried to explain. He had a much better chance of getting out of here if he could convince Colin that what they were doing was wrong.

Colin shook his head. "Lucius Malfoy and Severus Snape messed with Ginny's *mind*. That's not the doings of good people."

"You do know that Molly Weasley was there that day, right?" Harry asked. "That she *agreed* to what they did? Ginny is obsessed with me. She's got this fantasy in her head that she wouldn't let go of. She threatened to give me a love potion to make me love her so that I could fulfill this dream she had in her head. She had it all planned out, up to and including what I was going to do after Hogwarts. None of which had anything to do with me, the *real* me, or anything *I* would want. I'm not the one with the unhealthy attitude, Colin." He could see that the young Gryffindor wasn't actually thinking about what he was saying, so he tried to think of another way to put it. "How come you haven't used a love potion on Ginny to get her to love you?" he asked.

"That would be wrong! If she doesn't love me for real, than it's not worth it," Colin complained.

"But you think she has the right to do it to me?" Harry asked him.

"This isn't about that," Colin disagreed. "It's about the way Snape and Malfoy are using you."

Harry shook his head. "If you think this has anything to do with something other than Ginny's obsession with me, you need to think again. If she didn't think I belonged to her, she wouldn't even have bothered." He looked at the fifth year student with disgust.

Colin looked away unhappily.

"It doesn't matter," Harry said seriously. "There is nothing you can do to change me. My family and *real* friends will find me soon enough. I have the feeling Dobby knows who you are. He'll tell someone."

"No he won't," the red-haired girl said as she walked into the room with a tray.

"What makes you think that?" Harry asked. He looked at the food on the tray. "And if you seriously think that I'll eat anything you give me, you *really* need to get your head checked. But then, we knew that already, didn't we?"

Ginny willfully ignored that. "Dobby has been ordered not to tell anyone who I am. He's not even to say my name. He might be a free house elf, but he did agree to accept his position. He is bound by house elf strictures while working here. If he wants to stay at Hogwarts, he has to do as the Headmaster says."

"Except Dumbledore isn't the Headmaster anymore, is he?" Harry asked intently. "McGonagall is the Headmistress now. Which means her orders matter. Besides, as much as Dobby likes working at Hogwarts, he likes me better. I have no doubts that given a choice between the two, he'll choose helping me. After all, he's been warning me about you for months. What did you do to make him do that, hmm?"

"I was just trying to protect you, since no one else would bother," Ginny argued.

"That's not your job," Harry reminded her.

"Of course it is! You're *mine*!" Ginny answered harshly. "Now, here." She tried handing the tray through the shield, only to run up against his. "I don't understand," she muttered. "He said that I would be able to send things through."

"Through yours, yes," Harry agreed. "But do you honestly think I'd allow that? You're not getting anywhere near me. I've made sure of that." Harry turned away from her. He'd determined he was going to ignore her from now on. It would probably piss her off, but he couldn't bring himself to care.

"What did Dumbledore tell you?" he asked Colin. He knew the boy couldn't be under a compulsion; he'd received the antidote, as had Ginny.

"He told us what they did to you," Colin explained. "The spells they had to use to get you under their control like that. He took off the spell they put on Ginny and gave her her memories back."

Harry looked interested. "I didn't know you could undo a potion with a spell like that."

"You don't think what they did was wrong?" Colin asked.

Harry shook his head. "You didn't see her that day. She had utterly and completely lost it. She'd told her mother that we were engaged. Now, number one, I don't like girls, and don't say Lucius did that to me, because I've known it for ages. Number two, even if I did like girls, it wouldn't be Ginny. She was like a sister to me."

"Was?"

"Was," Harry admitted. "Now she's just my friend's little sister, and is about as important to me as his older brothers are." He could see the stricken look on her face in his peripheral vision, but didn't let it stop him. If this made her think, all the better.

As he watched, the hurt expression left to be replaced by anger. That wasn't a surprise. Then it turned to sorrow once more, but it seemed kind of... contrived.

"Why are you still fighting this?" Ginny asked softly. "Just relax, and everything will make sense."

Harry didn't even bother to look at her tragic expression. He continued talking to Colin, "Not only had she told her mother we were engaged, but she had our future completely planned out. When I disagreed, she threatened to tell everyone where I was, and have me sent to St. Mungo's. She actually told her mother that it didn't matter if I didn't love her, because that's what love potions are for! Does that really sound like someone that is completely *with* it? It was either use the potion and take her memories, or send *her* to St. Mungo's. We decided on the potion with her mother's permission. Mrs. Weasley was right there when the decision was made; she was part of it. Ginny is a minor, and it was her mother's right to make the decision. There was no illegal coercion."

Colin just looked down, but Harry could tell he was thinking about what he said.

"Oh, and if you're waiting for the compulsion Dumbledore laid to take effect, you can keep on waiting. I'm more than powerful enough to keep it away from me. I hope you know what it is though, because if you keep sitting in it, soaking in it, like you are now, you're going to be under it before too much longer."

"Dumbledore wouldn't hurt us!" Colin disagreed.

"I thought that way once. Then I actually started paying attention. The man is on trial for what he's been doing, including harming students under his protection. Including me. How could you trust him?"

"If the choice is him or Malfoy, I'm certainly not going to choose Malfoy!" Ginny yelled. Although Harry was ostensibly addressing Colin, Ginny was of course paying close attention. She didn't seem to like being ignored. All the more reason to keep doing so, as far as Harry was concerned.

He sighed internally. What he should have done was played along, made them think he was under control until he was able to get off the bed. Especially since he really needed to use the loo It would have been a lot easier to get the better of the two younger students if he was out of these shields.

That brought forth an interesting thought. Dumbledore wasn't anywhere around here. He knew that. So how were the shields still standing? Not only the shields, but the compulsion as well. They had to be set in something. If he could find it and destroy it, then he could walk out of here without any problem. He glanced at the two Fifth Years in the room with him. No problem at all.

His head suddenly flew up. He felt... He suddenly grinned and looked at Colin once more. "I would get out of here, if I were you."

"You can't trick us," Ginny disagreed.

Harry finally deigned to look at her. "Not you. I want *you* to stay." As she started to grin happily, he took great delight in bursting her bubble. "I want to deal with you myself. If my friends don't get you first." He looked at the doorway and smiled. "Hello, Flick."

Both Gryffindors turned around and stared at the hovering minidrag. Behind her, there was the sound of a door being blasted open.