Chapter Nineteen

There would likely never come a day at any point in the future when Hermione would feel comfortable being in the same room with the other witch. She wanted to run out of the room as quickly as she could once she recognized Marietta Edgecombe. That was always her first instinct. The spell she cast on her years earlier would eventually go away on its own but it was designed to last a very long time. Hermione expected everyone who signed the Dumbledore's Army parchment to take it seriously. It wasn't her fault Marietta decided to sell them all out to Umbridge to try to save her own arse.

"Not sure why you were allowed in here. You're not family."

"Kingsley and I…"

Marietta held up a hand to interrupt. The horrible woman could be terribly rude.

"I don't really care nor do I want to hear about you letting the Minister bend you over the top of his desk or any of the other disgusting ways you let him inside your knickers."

Horrified and shocked by her crude remarks, Hermione didn't know what to say. What disgusting rubbish had she been listening to? She was on the verge of retorting when quiet chuckles from Kingsley only further confused her. How could he possibly find anything about what had just been said funny? She met his eye across the room. Nothing about his behavior since she arrived made the least bit of sense, especially not when he had the audacity to wink.

Something was very wrong. Kingsley never went out of his way to make her uncomfortable. A Healer she could trust needed to know how strangely he was acting. He must have had a serious head injury. Nothing else made any sense. No longer caring the least bit about being rude herself, Hermione moved to stand up.

But she couldn't. No matter how hard she tried, she could not move out of the chair. It was almost as if she was glued to the seat. Clearly a spell held her in place. She attempted to reach for her wand inside her pocket. It was impossible. Nothing worked. Her arms remained rooted on the arms of the chair.

Too late she realized Kingsley had his wand pointed in her direction. She'd been so focused on Marietta, she didn't even see him cast a spell on her. Of course she also had never had a reason to worry about Kingsley attacking her or being any sort of threat. It was almost as if her old friend wasn't even himself.

Still able to move her eyes and head at least, she looked at the small tray next to the patient's bed where he'd placed the empty potion vial. She remembered his dramatic grimace of disgust when he swallowed the potion. Most potions were disgusting but polyjuice potion especially so. How was that even possible? Polyjuice potion was very illegal and nearly impossible to get. She just grew more confused by the second.

"Where's Kingsley?"

Marietta's smile was chilling. If Hermione wasn't already afraid that would've been enough to push her over the edge. The suitcase at her feet began to rattle, further scaring her. What sort of nightmare had she inadvertently walked in on? A swift kick to the suitcase stopped the shaking for only a few seconds. As soon as it started up again, a frustrated Marietta picked it up and threw it down on the foot of the bed. With one hand she opened the suitcase and with the other she sent a stunner inside. The movement stopped. What was going on?

"Marietta, where's Kingsley?"

Because whoever was laying in that hospital bed was not him.

"Don't worry about the Minister. He's fine… for now. You'll get to see him very soon. I promise."

A compulsion to stand took over Hermione. Entirely against her will she began walking towards the bed, more afraid by the second. Her wand flew out of her pocket straight into that wretched bitch's hand. Marietta opened the suitcase again. Whatever caused the shaking earlier hadn't recovered from the stunning spell.

Each step towards the bed was slower than the one before as she desperately tried to stop moving. Not even her determined sense of will could break the spell. At the edge of the bed Marietta used all of her strength to push Hermione in the back. Instead of landing harmlessly on top of the mattress, she fell inside the open suitcase.

The seconds that she actually fell seemed much longer. She wasn't sure where she would eventually end up. Too stunned even to scream, Hermione fell for a long time. The ground she landed on was hard. She cried out at the sharp pain reverberating through her entire body. Moments after her arrival, she blacked out.

Fuck remaining calm. Jack was ready to run out of the Rowle family home, find Hermione, and kidnap her at once. She said she wanted to finally see Aruba. Well, she would and immediately, if possible.

It was hard enough when he was just hearing rumors, but having actual names and confirmation made it all worse. He would go mad if he had to stay much longer. Maybe if he was fast enough he could catch Hermione before she went to St. Mungo's. Didn't she say she was going to take a shower? If he really hurried, maybe he could join her. That was something he had been dreaming about for years.

Thorfinn kicked him subtly in the leg when his uncle's attention was focused on his awful snakes. The silent look of warning he gave him was easy to interpret. Jack knew he needed to calm down. Putting Hermione in even more danger was the last thing he wanted to do. He was scared to death for her. How was he going to keep playing the game when he wanted nothing more than to run? He was hopeless.

"So how can we help, Uncle?"

His laughter was still chilling even after hearing it multiple times. Haldor closed the bookcase to hide the disgusting venomous snakes from view then turned back around.

"You boys are late to the party. We've been making plans for weeks now. Not sure there is anything left for you to do."

Jack worried Thorfinn was about to be too obvious. Sometimes his acting skills weren't as polished as he thought they were.

"Oh, that's disappointing."

"I'm sure there will be something we can find for you to do. Stay close and I'll send an owl to the flat in Knockturn Alley."

Both of the young wizards were glad to be dismissed form Haldor Rowle's presence. As soon as they left the mansion, Jack Apparated to the broom cupboard in Hermione's building. Thorfinn arrived seconds later before he had a chance to get out. Far too small for both of them, he was annoyed. There was only one person he wanted to be in a broom cupboard with and it certainly wasn't him.

Unfortunately, that person wasn't at home. Luna was inside but they weren't able to get back before Hermione left for St. Mungo's. Ever a gracious hostess, Luna happily invited them both in to stay and wait for her eventual return.

Jack immediately felt out of place. How long would it take for Hermione to visit the Minister? He was sure he wouldn't be able to relax until he could see her with his own eyes again and touch her to prove she was really safe.

"Are you sure we're not keeping you from something more important, Luna?"

The witch only smiled at Thorfinn's question. Their flirting had been incessant from the moment they stepped inside the flat.

"No, I work most days from home."

"And what does a fascinating witch like you do for work?"

Jack didn't care if either of the saw him roll his eyes at the question. Not that they had eyes for anything other than each other. How many nights had they already spent together naked and Thorfinn hadn't even bothered to ask her what sort of job she had?

"I work for my father's magazine, The Quibbler."

Thorfinn laughed.

"I love The Quibbler. Always have. Full of insane… ahem, fascinating articles. Do you write them?"

"Some. Edit others. I'm working on one right now about…"

It was easy to understand why Hermione was in such a rush to have him take her anywhere the night before. When he could no longer take their flirting, something that only took a matter of minutes, he escaped into Hermione's bedroom for a little peace and quiet. Perhaps he wouldn't have felt so irritable if she had been there with him. He imagined they could've been just as annoying given the chance.

Exhausted from the amazing night and early morning, Jack kicked off his shoes and climbed on top of her bed to wait for her return in comfort. He looked forward to many more nights like it, assuming it was even possible. As much as he wanted to believe Craig that he could come back if he really wanted, it seemed too good to be true.

It wasn't his intention to fall asleep at all, let alone deeply, but after such a long time since he had a proper rest, he couldn't keep his eyes open long. Hours had passed when he woke up again. Not hearing any noise in the flat, he got nervous. Hermione should've been back by then. She should've crawled onto her bed next to him to kiss him awake. Where was she?

Hoping she was waiting in the next room quietly for him to wake up, he went searching. There was no sign of her presence, no indication that she'd come back. She had to have known he would be anxious every second she was gone. Why wouldn't she come back at once? Was the Minister's condition far worse than he realized?

There were voices behind the door to Luna's bedroom. Though he didn't want to, he knocked on the door. Luna opened it only moments later, blessedly fully dressed. From the doorway he could see Thorfinn laying on her bed also fully clothed. He was glad to see they could keep their hands to themselves for a few minutes at least.

"Hermione still hasn't come home."

Luna was worried to hear that. She stepped outside her bedroom, leaving the door open for Thorfinn to follow.

"She said she was going straight to St. Mungo's. I assumed she would come back after that."

"I have a very bad feeling, Luna."

Thorfinn climbed to his feet off the bed.

"Let's go to St. Mungo's."

"Be sensible, Finn. We'll get caught. The hospital must have dozens of aurors inside if it was the Minister attacked."

"Not if only Luna goes inside. She can ask around and then come tell us."

It was as good of a plan as any, Jack supposed. At the very least it allowed them to feel like they were doing something. While Luna went inside the wizard hospital, the two men waited impatiently for her to return with news two streets over.

"I'm sure everything is fine. She's probably just harassing the Minister's Healers to make sure he receives the best care and lost track of time."

Jack wished he could be as upbeat and positive as his friend. Every second he didn't have Hermione in his arms, he grew more frightened. Only gone a few minutes, when Luna returned she didn't put his fears to rest. Even at a distance he could tell she was worried. Something was terribly, terribly wrong.

"The auror guard outside the Minister's room said he had had no visitors the entire time he was standing outside."

There was no sign of Hermione anywhere in the hospital. Sick with worry, Jack didn't tell Luna or Thorfinn where he was going. As soon as he found a private corner, he Apparated directly to the bench he sat on with his cousin the night before. Had it only been the day before? It felt like a lifetime had passed.

He left a note for Craig under the park bench just as he was instructed. Something had happened to Hermione. He'd never needed his cousin more.

Waking up in a soft bed wasn't exactly what Hermione was thinking would happen after her painful fall into a magically enlarged suitcase. Had it all just been one awful nightmare she was only waking up from? She hoped that when she finally dared to open her eyes she would be back in her own bed, preferably with Jack lying right next to her. Only the dull pain in her shoulder gave her any indication it wasn't a dream. She would try to ignore that for as long as she could.

When she finally opened her eyes she had to face reality. She was inside a room she didn't recognize. A simple bedroom, it looked like a guest room she would've seen in her gran's house. Was being pushed inside the open suitcase real? As soon as she tried to sit up, she felt very gentle hands push her back down.

"Oh, no, you don't, my dear. If you dislocate your shoulder again, I'm not sure I can fix it a second time."

She was relieved to see Kingsley smile at her for only a second or two before she remembered the other Kingsley. What if he was just another imposter? It was imperative that she verify it was really him. She tried to think of a question only he would know the answer to. It was harder than she realized it would be.

"When we fought together to protect Harry, what did we ride?"

His bright smile seemed much more genuine than the imposter in the hospital bed.

"A thestral."

She started to relax.

"But that's now common knowledge, my dear. Any idiot could read that out of a book."

Of course he was correct. She'd been interviewed about that night countless times. A panic started to overtake her until Kingsley placed a hand on top of hers to tenderly squeeze it as he had done every other time she was stressed in his presence.

"But what is not common knowledge is the fact that I gave you very valuable advice to 'mind your borrowed bits' before you climbed onto the thestral's back which you did not take. Only you and I know you spent the first couple of minutes of that battle trying not to throw up."

His amused chuckles put her at ease. It was definitely the real Kingsley. No one else knew about that embarrassing moment.

"Where are we, Kingsley?"

His soft laughter turned into a frustrated heavy sigh.

"Inside a damn suitcase, but where that suitcase is now, I don't know."

She took another more thorough look around the small room. It was very simple with only two twin beds pushed up against opposite walls and a nightstand with a lamp in between. A door was cracked open enough that she could see an attached bathroom. As far as prisons went, it could've been much worse she supposed.

Her arm was supported by an improvised sling. The harsh pain she remembered must've been her landing on her shoulder. How far did she fall?

"You fixed it?"

"As well as I could. You'll need to see a proper Healer once we get out of here."

He didn't say the word 'if' but it still hung in the air. There was a chance they would be stuck there forever or for however long their lives turned out to to be. Knowing Marietta was involved made her less able to believe it was all some misunderstanding.

"It's not the first dislocated shoulder I've temporarily fixed, but I haven't done it since I was an Auror in the field. I'm not the best."

"I don't remember you doing it."

"Good. It's a painful business sometimes. You likely passed out in the middle of me doing it. I caused enough of a nuisance that that bitch threw a healing potion down here. You've been sleeping ever since."

"How long have I been here?"

"A few hours, maybe more. I don't really know. There's no clock in here and I'm afraid I was kidnapped before I could get dressed properly and put on my watch."

She realized for the first time that he was only wearing pajamas.

"What happened to you? Were you hurt?"

"No, I'm fine. I heard a noise in the middle of the night outside my kitchen. I thought it was the cat scratching to be let in. I opened the door and was immediately attacked by three people in dark robes and masks. Two of them grabbed me while the third held the suitcase open. They pushed me inside, but thankfully I landed on a bed."

"How did they get so close to you? I thought your house was well-protected."

"So did I. They must have someone skilled at breaking through wards."

Evidently frustrated by the whole experience, Kingsley sat down on the edge of her bed with another heavy sigh. Knowing that a powerful wizard like him who was afforded all of the best security because he was the Minister for Magic could be taken was upsetting. Their enemies were well-organized. No one should've been able to get that close to him at his home. Likely there were people he thought he could trust in the Ministry involved. The betrayal made her sick.

"What happened to you? How did you get cursed to join me in this horrible suitcase?"

"I was told you were attacked. As soon as I could, I went to St. Mungo's to see if you were all right. There were a lot of reporters and aurors outside your room."

"I was never in St. Mungo's."

"No, but someone pretending to be you with polyjuice potion was."

Hearing that, Kingsley grew angry. It had been very important to him when he first became Minister for Magic to get the potion outlawed. Too much could go wrong if someone had the ability to impersonate another. Hadn't there already been enough examples of that throughout history? One thing confused her about the imposter though. Hermione looked at Kingsley's bald head.

"But where…"

As soon as she realized she spoke out loud, she stopped herself to clear her throat. The damage was already done however. Realizing what question she wanted to ask, Kingsley laughed.

"Makes sense now why one of the arseholes cursed my chest."

He pulled the collar of his shirt down to show where some of the hair on his chest had been removed.

"Oh. Of course."

His continued laughter embarrassed her further. At least he could find some humor in their awful situation because she certainly couldn't. Maybe he was acting that way for her benefit. If so, it wasn't helping. After a minute or so, he grew serious again.

"That explains why they're keeping me alive. Likely they have someone who is going to pretend to be me long enough to redo the laws they want and maybe create some others. When my double is no longer needed, I'll suffer some horrible accident or catch some deadly disease. Then they can kill the real me without anyone ever realizing what happened."

"Then they need to get a different person to pretend to be you. The one they had was awful. He was very inappropriate and didn't act like you at all."

Kingsley clenched his jaw, annoyed by that revelation.

"If he's unprofessional with my assistant and undoes over six years of me pushing her away, I'm going to be livid."

Hermione was surprised to hear that.

"You and your assistant never?"

"Of course not!"

The very idea seemed to horrify him.

"There have been rumors for years about the two of you not being professional."

"I knew I should've hired an old hag to be my assistant instead of a pretty young witch."

To try to distract him from his annoyed mood, she changed the subject. Maybe he would be able to offer her some tiny sliver of hope that their lives wouldn't be spent stuck in a suitcase.

"Have you found any possible way we could escape?"

His sigh and the way he couldn't meet her eyes was answer enough. Kingsley squeezed her hand again before standing up to go to his own bed.

"Not without magic or help, I'm afraid. Perhaps after we've both had some sleep we can approach the issue with fresh eyes and find a solution."

So they were at their captors' complete mercy. Hermione hated how weak and helpless she felt. How could her life change so drastically in less than a day? When she woke up that morning she had been in Jack's arms. Was that the only time that would happen? Overcome with a heavy sadness, she rolled over onto her side as much as her injured shoulder would allow. She didn't want Kingsley to see her cry.

When she had the chance she should've run away with Jack as far away as possible. Where was he? Did he even know she was gone?

A part of him was missing. That's all Jack could describe his feelings knowing Hermione was lost. He feared he was on the verge of having a complete nervous breakdown. Never in his entire life had he been so afraid. No one could give him any hope or clue where Hermione was. After he was able to get a message to Craig of the tiny bit he knew, his cousin started an official missing person investigation.

Over a week passed with no new information at all. No one had seen Hermione or so they claimed. Even when Thorfinn asked his horrible uncle for snippets of news, none was forthcoming. It didn't take a genius to figure out he wasn't all that trusting of his nephew and his friend. They were told nothing.

Jack spent his days crawling up the walls of the disgusting flat in Knockturn Alley. Though he felt marginally calmer amongst Hermione's belongings and wanted to be there, Thorfinn didn't think it was a good idea for either of them to feature to the other flat. What if they were seen? All the work they'd done to try to get closer to Thorfinn's uncle and the others involved would've been wasted.

It was maddening sitting around helpless, just waiting for something to happen. Luna's near-constant presence wasn't helping either. He knew part of his frustration with her was simple jealousy, but he didn't care. Why did they get to have the slightest bit of joy when he was miserable and alone? He knew he was frustrating them both too. His frequent demands that they do something, anything were received less and less well.

Often he left the flat to wander around the city with hopes he would hear some mention of Hermione and what happened. Her disappearance was widely known thanks to his cousin. Sadly the newspaper and the Auror Office didn't know any more than he did. No one was talking.

It wasn't wise to try to meet Craig in the park. Jack knew it was dangerous to do more than leave him a message but after ten days he had to see him in person. Determined to throw caution to the wind, he sat down on the park bench to wait. Because his cousin was a creature of habit, he didn't have to wait long.

"I've already told you everything I know, Jackie. If there was anything that didn't make it in the news, I would've left you a message here."

Craig sat down on the bench next to his cousin with a frustrated huff and a heavy sigh he could relate to. Usually his Hufflepuff cousin tried to remain upbeat and positive, something that had obviously become a struggle for him.

"I couldn't wait any longer. You've heard nothing new?"

"I'm sorry. Every lead we've had was false. And the Ministry has been in complete chaos. I'd hoped it would get better when Minister Shacklebolt got out of the hospital, but it hasn't."

"And he still claims he never saw Hermione the day she went to visit him?"

"Yes. Whatever happened to her, happened before she got to St. Mungo's."

That made the search all the more difficult. She could be anywhere. Some people didn't even think she was actually in any danger. Many speculated she'd just run away.

"The Minister has been weird ever since his attack. His assistant hasn't been letting very many people close. It's frustrating. Today I managed to force my way into his office, but Kingsley acted confused. Seemed to forget we've even been friends at one time."

As soon as Craig said that, Jack was the one to utter a frustrated sigh. He'd been so focused on Hermione since she went missing that he hadn't even given the Minister much thought. None of the notes he left for his cousin mentioned anything about anyone who wasn't Hermione. She had been his only concern.

"Polyjuice potion."

"What?"

"I'd stake my life on the fact that the Minister isn't actually the Minister. He's using polyjuice potion."

"But that's illegal."

"And criminals always follow the laws? I've seen boomslangs with my own eyes at Thorfinn's uncle's house."

"Fuck. That makes some sense."

"Maybe wherever the Minister is, Hermione is too."

His cousin offered him a sad smile.

"I've never seen you like this before. You really love her."

"Yes, I do. Every day I don't know where she is, the more I know I don't want to walk away from her again."

"Good. Then don't. Stay here and marry her and have a dozen babies."

"You make it sound so easy."

Craig clapped his shoulder as he stood up.

"It is. We'll find her and you'll stay."

Once more renewed with a little optimism, Craig walked off into the darkness leaving Jack alone with his depressing thoughts. He had to do something. Sitting around and waiting wasn't an option.

Sneaking in Haldor Rowle's house late at night probably wasn't the greatest idea he could've come up with. Nor was deciding to destroy the boomslangs, but he was a desperate man. In his mind he thought that if no more skin was available, no more polyjuice could be brewed.

Jack knew the house almost as well as he knew his parents' house. A good portion of his childhood was spent under that roof. He found the office easily in the dark. Unfortunately, he couldn't see the old, battered suitcase until he tripped over it and fell to the floor. He was intrigued when the case began to shake the tiniest bit. What was inside?

Before he could reach the latch to peek inside, the office light was switched on. Thorfinn's uncle stood in his dressing gown with an angry scowl on his face.