The whoosh of the floo was constant, interrupting the horrendous silence as people rushed in and out of the Burrow. But there was still nothing. Not a single drop of news.

Ron stood abruptly, causing his mother to jump.

"I'm going to bed," Ron said and turned and left before anyone could say a word.

Hermione, who had been curled up in front of the fire, hurried after Ron. Mrs Weasley made to follow but Remus cut across her.

"Don't, they need this," Remus said.

"They can't be alone," Molly said as she looked tentatively towards the doorway.

"Molly, trust me, I know what they're going through," Remus said quietly.

Molly's gaze softened, tears still present in her eyes as she nodded.

"Nothing," Ron said, startling Hermione as she walked into his room. "We've heard nothing."

Ron began pacing furiously as he waved his hands in frustration.

Hermione paused in the doorway and shook her head blankly.

"We would have heard something by now if Harry was dead," Ron said.

"What do you mean?"

"If Harry was dead, we'd know," Ron said fiercely. "The death eaters would be singing from the sky."

"I don't understand?" Hermione said as she hovered on the threshold.

"I'm saying that Harry is alive," Ron said it so firmly that Hermione couldn't help but shake her head as her own thoughts spiraled.

"But we'd know," Hermione said. "The ministry would know if Harry had used his wand, they would have detected it."

Ron should his head.

"Come on Hermione," Ron said, frustrated that she wasn't keeping up for once. "Harry could easily have lost his wand."

"Which as good as confirms his death," Hermione bit back as she tried to prevent the fresh flow of tears.

"But we don't know for sure," Ron stressed and he paused in his pacing to run his hands over his face.

Hermione shook her head sadly before she walked into the room and shut the door gently behind her.

"Harry was being hunted by You Know Who. The ministry can't find him, where else would he be?"

Ron looked stumped for a second.

"Then You Know Who captured him?"

It was a stupid stab in the dark but Hermione found herself desperately going along with it.

"Why would he do that?"

Ron started pacing again, before he suddenly decided against it and flung himself down on his bed.

"I don't know," Ron snapped. "Can't you see I'm making this up as I go along."

However, his anger calmed as he saw Hermione flinch.

"I'm sorry," Ron said as he hung his head into his hands. "I just can't get my head around it. Harry can't be gone. He just can't."

Hermione slumped, as if the last remaining glimmer of hope had disappeared. A fresh round of tears began to creep down her face.

Ron however seemed to have steeled himself. His face was set as he clenched his fists in defiance, he looked so determined as he looked at Hermione.

"Whatever happened to Harry we can't give up now. We know what we have to do," Ron said.

Hermione nodded firmly despite her grief.

"Destroy Horcruxes."

"We at least owe Harry that," Ron said. "Whatever the hell happened to Harry we will do everything we can to finish this."

Hermione chocked on her own voice, she couldn't speak as Ron enclosed her in a hug.

Ginny's eyes burnt. She had hardly slept and yet she couldn't find any strength to get out of bed. Instead she lay on her back as she stared at her half pealed ceiling as her own thoughts swirled in past memories.

Ginny could only see Harry, flying on his broom. His hair swayed in the wind as he circled around her laughing. A small smile spread on Ginny's lips before her world came crashing down with a single knock.

Her mother entered holding a large mug of what smelled like cocoa. Ginny rolled onto her side so that she was facing the wall.

"Ginny dear," her mother began. "Why not come down for some food? You've missed breakfast but I can make whatever you want."

Ginny didn't respond and shortly after she heard her mother place the cocoa down beside her bed.

"I'll make you something when you come down."

She left and Ginny found herself swimming in memories once more.

Molly made her way upstairs to where her youngest sons bedroom had been locked all morning. She knocked twice and rocked back and forth slightly on her heels. A few seconds passed before the door swung open suddenly and Ron appeared. He looked as if he hadn't slept all night, behind him Hermione was hurriedly stuffing a load papers into a small beaded bag.

"I bought some cocoa," Molly said as she held up the two mugs.

"Oh," Hermione said jumping up. "Thanks, Mrs Weasley."

Hermione's hand were shaking as she took the mug and her hair was tied up in a messy ponytail.

"Did you not get any sleep Hermione?" Molly asked.

"Oh, sort of, yeah," Hermione said and she pressed the mug to her lips. Ron also took a mug of cocoa.

"We'll be right down to help with the wedding," Ron said.

"The wedding," Molly blinked. "Oh no, that silly thing."

"We'll be right down anyway," Hermione said and she stuffed her beaded bag out of sight.

Molly nodded.

"Are you alright?"

"Of course," Hermione said as if she wasn't fully aware of what she'd been asked. Ron didn't answer as he just stared at his cocoa blankly.

Harry's limbs ached something terrible.

He'd been in complete darkness since he'd been locked in his small dingy prison and it didn't look like his situation was going to improve.

Time passed painfully slowly and Harry had little to take his mind off the previous nights battle. He'd circled the room at least a dozen times, but Harry had found nothing in the darkness. Harry had also spent what must have been a couple of hours trying to break the lock on the door.

Harry was wary of rummaging in his leather pouch that sat around his neck as he didn't want to lose anything in the dark. Also he had a horrible feeling that he was being watched.

It must have been late evening when Harry's prison finally opened. Wand light flooded through the door and Harry was left squinting as his eyes burnt at the brightness. Harry stood up as someone entered the room. Harry couldn't tell who the outline was.

"Come here, Potter," the death eater instructed.

Harry didn't resist. Staying down here would achieve very little and he wanted answers. He walked as calmly as possible towards the door.

The masked death eater didn't say anything else as he gestured for Harry to move in front of him.

Bellatrix's smile widened when she saw Harry. She rocked her chair forwards and swung herself to her feet with her arms open wide. Behind her, sat her brother in law who only nodded once to dismiss the death eater who had brought Harry in.

"Lucius, you have failed in your duty as a host," Bellatrix said as her boots clicked across the floor. "I'm sure Potter is hungry."

"Eat, Potter," Malfoy said and he gestured towards the food.

Harry was hungry, but he ignored the plate full of food at the end of the table. Instead he crossed his arms and didn't move.

Bellatrix's tutted, her eyes agleam as she twirled her own wand between her fingers.

"Now don't be like that," she said. "You should be grateful to us, or would you rather we let you starve back downstairs."

"I'd rather starve," Harry said lightly. "Now, if you don't mind, I have somewhere to be."

Harry turned, only to find the door slam shut behind him.

"You're not going anywhere until you've eaten," Malfoy said and he too stood.

Harry stared at the plate of food briefly.

"Fine," Harry said and walked forwards to pick up the bread roll on the plate.

Harry took one small bite and then dropped the bread back on the plate.

"Satisfied?" Harry said.

"You will finish," Bellatrix's high pitch voice shrieked. Harry only shrugged and without saying a word he picked up the water and promptly dropped the glass. It shattered, and glass and water scattered across the floor.

This was apparently a step too far as Bellatrix's wand came twisting down.

"Crucio."

Harry screamed as his body crumpled under excruciating pain.

"Easy now, Bellatrix," Malfoy said. "Potter will have to eat eventually."

Bellatrix rolled her eyes but relented as her curse desisted.

Harry's muscles were shaking as he struggled to pull himself up.

"Fine, take Potter upstairs then," Bellatrix said.

"Upstairs?" Harry asked.

Malfoy stepped towards him and gestured for him to move. Harry hesitated only briefly before deciding whatever was upstairs was probably better than Bellatrix.

Malfoy led Harry across the entrance hall and up one side of the grand staircase. Harry had barely glanced at the large oak door before he felt the sharp point of a wand at the bottom of his neck.

"Don't even think about it, Potter," Malfoy said. "The Dark Lord has considered every possibility."

Malfoy gripped Harry's shoulder and shoved him forwards.

Harry briefly wondered if Dobby could still apparate into the Manor, not that Harry had any means to contact the elf.

"In," Malfoy demanded as they reached their destination. His jabbed his wand back into the back of Harry's neck. Harry stepped warily inside.

Harry entered and turned surprised as the door behind him melted away. No escape from there then.

The room was large and mostly empty. The walls were bare and the floor was cold stone. There was a large four poster bed tucked away in the corner, a small table with a wooden chair and a large sofa. The were no windows and the light seemed to just radiate magically into the room. There was another door in the left corner.

Harry crossed the room.

The bed looked comfy, but he was distracted as he noticed the clean clothes. Plain black trousers and a plain black long sleeved shirt. This was just getting more surprising.

Harry guessed the other room was a bathroom. Collecting the clean clothes he crossed back across the room.

It was a bathroom, and quite a nice one at that. A clean towel was hanging on the railing. This was definitely an improvement from the dungeon, however Harry didn't like the impression that all this was giving him. It felt like this was going to be an extended stay. Harry dumped the clothes down and approached the mirror, he didn't look too bad considering he'd spent the night in a dungeon.

Apprehensive Harry decided to shower quickly. He felt haunted from the previous nights events and wanted to try and feel remotely better about his current situation.

His shower was quick and after dressing Harry felt a strange sense of calm, and focus, he knew what he had to do. Slowly he moved across the room and sat on the bed for a short while before glancing around.

Harry moved his hand to just below his neck and felt the hidden bag that Hagrid had given him.

Harry smiled and pulled it off from around his head as he examined the contents.

Of course R.E.B's locket was still there as was his invisibility cloak. Harry grinned, as long as he got past the door he was in with a chance.

Now what he needed was a weapon. Sirius's broken mirror was also there and Harry observed the sharp edges carefully, suddenly his situation wasn't looking so bad. The mirror was enough to cut someone, that he already knew. But murder a snake, Harry didn't think he would be able to strike Nagini fast enough. She was huge and moved faster then Harry could probably blink. At least if Harry was forced to stay here, he would destroy the horcrux within her. It felt slightly comforting to have something to work towards, even when Voldemort was imprisoning him.

Harry really wished he'd invested in a second wand. He could hear Moody's grumbling voice in his head. Constant vigilance. Harry felt suddenly queasy as he realised that Moody was dead.

The Burrow wasn't the same. A cold emptiness lingered over the next few days.

Ginny spent most of her days in the garden watching the gnomes run about. She should have been helping to prepare for the wedding but Bill and Fleur had decided to delay it. Ron and Hermione had once again locked themselves in Ron's room and her mum had complained nonstop that the two of them shouldn't be alone. Fortunately Remus had been on hand to calm her down at every opportunity she had to drag them out.

Ginny wanted to distract herself but she too felt like she needed the space and the time to come to terms with Harry's death. The sun beamed down but Ginny didn't feel its warmth. She picked a daisy and started to pull off its petals. Her thoughts drifted to Harry's birthday and she couldn't help but let a smile creep over her face as she remembered the present she had been going to give him.

Chapter updated May 2018