Chapter 21
'Mum, you have to tell us where she went!' Ron exclaimed to his mother
'Yeah! What if she's in danger?!' Ginny added
'I can tell you that she is perfectly fine,-'
'But what if she isn't?!' Ron asked, 'What if he's got her?!'
'Because I know she is alright, Ronald!' Mrs Weasley argued
'But-' Ginny started
'No buts! You do not need to know!'
'She's my best friend, mum!' Ginny moaned 'Other than Hermione, of course, I just want to make sure that she's okay!' After this Mrs Weasley stopped for a second, then sighed slightly
'Please?' Ron asked
'Fine, if you are all in dire need to know then I suppose I do have to tell you' Mrs Weasley sighed 'She's staying at the Leaky Cauldron for a few days before she knows where she wants to go'
'Really?' Charlie said, frowning
'Yes, why?' Mrs Weasley said
'I just didn't think she'd be staying somewhere so close to use, I figured she'd stay far away' Charlie shrugged
'Well, that's where she's staying, and I'm sure she won't mind you visiting if needs be' Mrs Weasley said
'Well … could we go now?' Ginny asked, slightly wary
'I'm sure you could if you wanted to, dear' Mrs Weasley said, 'Just don't be long, and do not tell George where she is, alright? Oh, and Charlie, could you stay behind for a few more minutes? I want to speak to you about something'
'Alright, mum' Charlie sighed, whilst Ron and Ginny went into the other room 'What's wrong?'
'I just wanted to say that when I spoke to Ashley she was on about leaving the country to study, and-'
'and because you know I travel quite a bit you want me to check in on her if I'm in the same country?'
'Well,' Mrs Weasley began, smiling slightly
'Mum, I already knew you were going to ask me that the second she left, no worries'
'Thank you, dear'
'No problem' Charlie grinned, then followed after his youngest brother and sister, where he was greeted by Harry and Hermione, who were currently playing Wizards Chess
'So, did you find out?' Harry asked, not taking his eyes from the game
'Yeah, we did' Ron said
'So we were thinking of going now' Ginny then said
'Sounds gre- Blimey, Hermione!' he said loudly, as Hermione destroyed another one of his chess pieces
'… So stop playing' Ginny said, raising her eyebrow at Harry
'We're almost done' Hermione said, before destroying another of Harry's pieces
'I think we can tell at this point who's going to win' Ron said, smiling slightly
'Obviously' Harry said, 'I give up, Hermione'
'I was wondering how long it would take' she said, smiling at Harry
'Anyway, where is she?'
'Leaky Cauldron' Ron said, 'Think we should apparate there?'
'May as well' Ginny said, 'It's quicker'
'Come on then' Harry said, before holding one of his arms out, to which Ginny took and the two disapparated. Hermione and Ron then apparated, followed by Charlie.

-oOo-

'What on earth…' Ginny said upon entering Ashley's room
'What in the name of Merlin did she do…?' Ron asked, frowning at the broken dresser
'I'm somehow very doubtful that she did this' said Hermione, before looking worriedly at Harry, who understood immediately
'Rookwood' he stated, before glancing around at the others, who looked equally worried.
'So what do we do now?' Charlie asked 'We can't exactly find her, there's only 5 of us…'
'We'll have to tell Mum' Ron said, 'I mean, she could help somehow'
'What about George?' Ginny said, 'He can't exactly not know, can he?'
'Well…' Hermione began, turning to Harry and Ron as if waiting to hear an answer
'I don't know!' Ron stated, shrugging his shoulders 'If he thinks she's missing there's two possible things he could do; a) he'd try as hard as he possibly could to find her and get her back or b) he'd go back to his room and stay in there for a couple more months without speaking to anyone!'
'We should tell mum first, see what she says' Charlie said 'As for now, I reckon we get out of here as soon as possible, don't want Rookwood coming back to find out that we know he's taken her. Anything could happen'
'When did you get so smart?' Ron asked, frowning
'I've always been smart, you just didn't understand, little brother' Charlie said.

-oOo-

After the five had apparated back to the Burrow, Ron immediately ran into the kitchen and found his mother
'Mum! Rookwoods taken her!' he said, to which Mrs Weasley stopped what she was doing almost instantaneously
'What?!' she shouted, as Charlie, Harry, Hermione and Ginny walked into the room.
'Well, we apparated there' Ron began, shrugging
'And then when we got there' Hermione continued
'The dresser had been destroyed' Harry added
'And Ashley was gone' Ginny ended
'So, yeah, we came back here to tell you because we don't really know what to do' Charlie said
'And we don't know whether or not to tell George' Ginny added,
'This is exactly why I did not want her to move out of here! Now she's gone missing!' Mrs Weasley shouted
'Who's missing…?' George said, entering the kitchen slowly
'Oh, George dear, are you alright?' Mrs Weasley asked, sounding slightly sympathetic,
'Yeah, I'm fine' he said quickly 'Who's missing?', his mother didn't reply, causing him to frown at her 'Mum?' at this Mrs Weasley left the room, causing
George to frown and look confusedly at where his mother had gone 'Okay … you lot can answer my question, who's gone missing?'
'Just someone' Ginny said, trying to sound nonchalant
'I figured that much' George said, sounding somewhat annoyed
'Mate, it's probably best we don't tell you' Charlie said
'See, I think it would be best if you did tell me' he said, clenching his jaw
'George, I'm pretty sure you already know who we're on about, you just don't want to believe it' Charlie said,
'That's why I asked' George began, swallowing a lump in his throat 'Because if it's the person I think it is, we need to get her back. Now.'

-oOo-

Ashley's P.O.V

I don't know why, but I always thought being kidnapped by a murderer would be more … I don't know, entertaining?
So far all I've done is sit down on the floor and reminisce about shit.
It's not as fun as it might sound.

I wish I had my iPod.

Or, I wish I hadn't even left the Burrow in the first place, that'd probably make everything a whole lot easier, because I'd probably just be asleep right now, or eating … or playing Quidditch with Harry, Ron and Ginny.
Any of them sound good to be right now, even Quidditch with Ron.
Well, good compared to sitting in an empty, cold house completely alone with a Death Eather who randomly shows up for about 5 seconds every so often to check I haven't gone, but I don't see how I could go anywhere. The bastard took my wand, so I can't unlock the doors, I can't apparate and there's wood panel stuff over the windows, so unless I crawled up the chimney I'm fucked.
I could crawl up the chimney … no, Ashley, you can't crawl up the chimney.

I really wish I wasn't alone right now.
I wouldn't even care who it was who was with me, I wouldn't even mind Lee, I mean, I love the guy but after a few constant days with him he kinda makes me wanna cut his hair off … I can barely remember the first time I even met him, I'm pretty sure I was with Fred and George on the train in first year …

Normal P.O.V

'Ashley! You're going to be late for the train if you don't hurry up!' Mr Redford yelled up the stairs to his 11 year old daughter 'We need to meet the Weasleys in 5 minutes!'
'I'm almost ready, Dad!' Ashley yelled, whilst closing the lid on her trunk, then sliding it of her bed and dragging it out of her room, she slowly lugged it to the top of the stairs, then glanced down towards the bottom, then back at the trunk 'Daaaaaaad, will you help me?'
'What now?' her father asked, appearing at the bottom of the stairs 'Oh, right', he performed some sort of spell and the trunk rose from the ground then slowly floated to the bottom
'What's that spell called?'
'Ah, that one's called 'Wingardium Leviosa', Ashley'
'Wingardium Leviosa' she repeated 'Levi-oh-sa … When do I get to learn stuff like that?' Ashley asked, stomping down the stairs
'This year, most probably' her father said 'Ready to go?'
'Yes' Ashley said, placing a hand on his arm. There was a jerk somewhere near her navel and she felt like she was being forced through a very small tube, she could barely breath at all before she landed on her feet, glanced around and saw she was at the platform.
'I think I'm going to be sick' she said, staggering slightly
'You'll get that the first time' her father said, wrapping his arm over her shoulder 'Now, where are they … Ah! There!' he said, dragging her off towards the red-haired family.
'Ashley!' Mrs Weasley exclaimed, pulling her into a tight hug 'You remember Ron, he's coming up in a few years, and Percy of course he's in his second year now, Charlie, he's leaving soon … where on earth are Fred and George?… '
'Right here, mum' Fred said, appearing from behind Mrs Weasley
'Oh, right, Fred
'He's not Fred, I am!' George said, appearing from the other side of her
'Oh, sorry, Fred. Anyway, Ashley's here now'
'Great!' the real Fred said, looking towards Ashley 'We haven't seen you ages!'
'You saw me the other day' Ashley said, smiling 'In Diagon Alley?'
'Oh yeah … ' Fred said
'Well that didn't really count-' George continued
'Cause we didn't get to speak to you that much-' Fred added
'And now we do' they both ended, grinning
'Oh, and we have a load of pranks set out for this year' George said
'No you have not!' Mrs Weasley said 'NO MORE PRANKS OR I WILL BRING YOU STRAIGHT BACK HOME'
'You wouldn't-' Fred began
'You're glad to be rid of us' George grinned
'Well, I suppose you're right' Mrs Weasley muttered, she was about to continue before being interrupted by Ginny, who had begun whining about not being
able to go to Hogwarts yet, as she was only 8.
'Don't worry, we'll send you a Hogwarts toilet seat' Fred grinned
'You will not!' Mrs Weasley scolded
'We won't, mum' George said, trying to act as innocent as possible whilst Fred smirked. Mrs Weasley looked as if she was about to respond before there was a
loud whistling noise from the train
'Oh! You're going to miss it! Get on, get on!' she said loudly, shoving the three children onto the train just as it had begun moving. Fred, George and Ashley
fought their way through the crowded corridors filled with older children to find an empty compartment, however the closest they actually came to this was a carriage with boy with long black dreadlocks, the three glanced towards each other and nodded, sliding the carriage door open
'Erm … mind if we sit in here?' Fred asked,
'Sure, no problem' the boy replied, looking up at them. At this point it was obvious that this boy was the same age as them – or a second year at the most, although considering he didn't have any house colour on his robes he was obviously a first year.
'Thanks, I'm George Weasley' Fred said, smiling at the boy and walking into the compartment
'Fred you are such a liar!' Ashley said, smirking slightly as she followed the real George into the compartment, sitting between the twins
'How dare you accuse me of such a thing!' he grinned '…Even though it is true' he said towards the boy with the dreadlocks 'I'm Fred Weasley, this is George, my twin – obviously'
'I'm Lee Jordan, who's the girl?'
'I'm Ash-'
'She's no one important, to be honest she just follows us around all the time … from what we've heard she's quite evil' Fred interrupted, smirking slightly as George stretched his arm around Ashley and hit him over the back of his head, then left his arm around her
'As I was saying,' she said, glaring at Fred 'I'm Ashley Redford'
'Cool, nice to meet you' Lee said
'Yeah, you'll come to realise in a few hours that I am – in fact – not the evil one, it's Fred here who's evil' Ashley said, smiling 'I'm actually a lovely person – deep down, of course.'
'Noted' Lee grinned, 'So-' he frowned, then looked at the three of them 'You're George' he said, pointing his finger at George, 'And your twin is Fred, obviously' he pointed at Fred, 'And then there's Ashley, who is your … cousin? Or something?'
'No relation' George said quickly
'Thank Merlin' Ashley smirked 'If I was related to you two I don't know what I would do … well, technically that's a lie, I'd probably tell everyone that I wasn't related to you at all'
'Well that's rude' George smirked
'Well, I'd probably come up with some weird thing where I wasn't related to Fred, I'm not so fussed about the rest of you, you're all lovely – it's Fred who's a prat' she said, smirking at Fred
'Told you I was right, Fred, she'd rather have me than you' George grinned
'Yeah, as a cousin' Fred smirked 'Sorry, mate. She's now officially off-limits...unless you like incest and everything, in which case go ahead'
'Hilarious' Ashley muttered, glaring at Fred, who rolled his eyes
'Please, you two should be glad you're not related, the amount of flirting you do it'd be worrying if you were … actually, the amount of flirting you do in the first place is worrying considering you're both 11'
'Shut up, Fred' George said, smacking his brother over the back of his head
'So, Lee' Ashley began, trying to change the subject 'What do you do?'
'Whaddya mean?' he frowned
'Well, like, in your spare time … what do you do?' Fred asked 'Quidditch? Studying?'
'I prank people' Lee replied, smiling slightly, causing Fred, George and Ashley to look at each other and grin, whilst Lee continued 'I got thrown out of my primary school because I accidentally turned my headteacher into a slug … though my parents were pleased in all honesty, they were wondering why I hadn't shown any sign of magical ability, so I got given a load of stuff for doing something wrong' he smirked
'Boys, I think this is going to be a very fun year' Ashley said, grinning at Fred and George, who nodded in unison.

Another chapteeer.
I feel weird if I don't write anything at the end, even though I've got nothing to actually say...
So, yeah, please review and yeah... :L