Oh this was bad, this was very bad. Abby couldn't help but wring her little skirt as she looked at the empty room her Mistress had been in with the Malfoy boy.
"Oh Abby! Why is you letting your Mistress do this?" Abby asked herself woeful outloud. Abby had done just as Hermione had told her to. She'd hung back, making sure to stay out of the way. Abby had heard her Mistress and the Malfoy boy arguing she had seen the flashing light growing steadily. Abby had her orders though. Big fat tears welled down her face as she looked around the room. The cauldron had blasted into pieces and the entire room looked charred.
"Abby cannot even feel her mistress!" Part of elf magic, when they become tethered to someone, or a family, they are able to feel them, their presence. Part of the reason they are able to apparate to their side at all times if need be. Abby could no longer feel the strings that tethered her, to her Mistress. She feared that meant the worst. "Oh my Mistress. What am I going to do," Abby looked around the room in despair. "Oh, Miss Hermione." Abby didn't see that she had any other choice and left the Malfoy summer home.
Knocking on the door politely to the Potter home, Abby knew she didn't have much other choice. Her Mistress was in trouble. Abby still felt the binds that signified her 'enslavement' so to speak, so she knew Hermione was not dead. A worried Abby stared of up Miss Hermione's friend Ginny. Ginny who looked equally surprised to see Abby.
"Abby, what are you doing here? Has Hermione sent you again?" Ginny asked, gesturing for the little elf to come in. Abby did so in a rush, speaking hurriedly.
"No, Miss Abby's Mistress has not sent her again. Oh, Miss, oh miss. I feel as if Abby has made a terrible mistake. You see Miss my Mistress went to go see that nasty Malfoy boy." Abby quickly launched into the story, recounting everything for Ginny, at least everything that she knew. Ears running down her little face, Abby threw herself down onto Ginny's rug bawling loudly, so loudly it made Ginny wince.
"Oh dear," Ginny's brown eyes were very concerned. Abby didn't see as she flicked her wand up, a gallant silver horse appearing on the rug. Abby stopped crying as the twinkling light surrounding the horse hit her and she stared up at it in awe as Ginny whispered to the horse before it dashed off, dissolving as it did. "Come on Abby. Let's get you a little bit of butterbeer, calm your nerves. I've sent word to Harry. When he returns we can figure out what to do."
Abby hiccuped, wiping her eyes as she followed Ginny into the kitchen where the two of them shared a glass of butterbeer.
"Thank you Miss. You were quite right this has calmed Abby's nerves quite a bit." The elf agreed after two sips of butterbeer. It had warmed her considerably but Abby knew the dangers of butterbeer. She didn't want to drink too much she had to be alert when they came up with a plan on how to save her Mistress. Abby was not going to sit idly by this time.
"This is just like Hermione." Ginny said softly, her fingers moving gently on the cup of butterbeer. She hadn't drank much of it, "Hermione likes to think that Harry is the one who likes to save people." A gentle smile spread on Ginny's face. Abby stared at her in awe for a moment. "Hermione always likes to save people though. She saved Harry more times than he'd like to count. Ron too. That girl is the only reason they've lived this long. If not for her Harry would have drank poison and Ron would have been strangled by Devil's Snare nine years ago." Ginny snorted though there was a tear in her eye.
"Miss." Abby wasn't sure how to comfort the woman. She could feel the emotional distress that Ginny was attempting to hide. "Don't you be worrying Miss. We are going to get Miss Hermione back. You wait and see. Abby is sure of it." Ginny laughed nodding, wiping away a tear.
"You're right. We don't need to worry about Hermione. She can take care of herself. She's the most clever witch I know. She'll be able to handle whatever if thrown at her until we can find a way to bring her back." Abby nodded a new determination in her eyes as she agreed with Ginny.
"All I'm saying Ron is that it wouldn't kill you to apologize to her. Hermione is a woman. You know they aren't always going to apologize first. Actually." Harry stopped as he, Ron, and Dean stopped outside the Nott Manor. They had to approach with caution, they didn't want to tip Theo off that they were coming. "Most of the time they aren't going to apologize first. They aren't the ones who've done anything wrong." Harry added.
"At least in their minds." Dean added, all three of the men laughing silently. "I swear I can do my damnedest and Lilah will still find something to complain about." He shook his head. Lilah had been a fifth year Ravenclaw during the battle of Hogwarts, one of the few who had snuck back in and helped fight. It was then that Dean had met and fallen for the younger woman.
"Yeah but the difference here is I haven't done anything wrong!" Ron exclaimed, quickly quietening himself. "It's not like I said or did anything that should have set her off. All I did was suggest that after we get married she stop being an Auror and move on to a less in the direct line of fire work. Think about it, what if she were pregnant and a stunning spell got her." Harry laughed, clapping Ron on the back.
"There was your first mistake mate." Dean told him, slowly working on a spell to take down the security measures that Nott had placed around it. The whole place had become a barrier, though there had been no Fidelius charm placed on it. An amaetur move in Harry's opinion.
"What do you mean?" Ron asked looking disgruntled, his own wand sending a steady flow of blue energy at the gate which the three of them would enter through, so they'd know the moment that the protective charms were down.
"Well you see mate, suggesting to a girl like Hermione," Harry was placing shield charms on all three of them, on various articles of clothing they wore. ", they she slow down, so something safe. Which in a way is suggesting that she isn't able to take care of herself, just makes her feel as if you think she can't take care of herself. Know what I mean?" Harry asked. Ron didn't get a chance to answer as Dean had finally lowered Nott's protective charms, all three men steadying themselves moving quickly into the Estate.
"Right, I'll go first. Ron you follow me, Dean you bring up the rear. Keep your wands ready. This guy is unstable and playing with magic that's unpredictable. Be careful. We don't want any blood on our hands here. Our goal is to disarm, capture, and return. No deaths today." Harry made almost the same speech each time the three of them had to go and apprehend someone. He believed, like Ron and Dean did too, he had seen enough death for one lifetime.
"Confringo." The door to the Nott Estate blasted to pieces at Harry's curse and the three of them moved in quickly in formation. The house eerily quiet, it only worried Harry that they weren't finding anything.
"Harry, do you see anything?" Ron finally asked after scouting out a few rooms. The three of them had met back up in the front parlor. "You Dean?"
"No, nothing." Both Harry and Dean said simultaneously.
"Let's move upstairs. There aren't even any counter jinxes and spells down here. We must have missed something." Harry lead them upstairs checking the rooms carefully. Finding no sign of Nott, Harry swore. Had they been lead on a goose chase?
"Harry!" The urgency in Dean's voice made Harry snap to him. "I've found him. At least." Dean kicked open the door, a disgruntled look on his face. "I think I've found him." Moving to the room Dean stood before Harry was surprised to see a greying man sitting in a squashy armchair. His face lined deeply, his dark eyes still alive with recognition.
"So, you've made it here at last." The old man laughed, the cackling sound weak vibrating through his thin chest. "Took you long enough, I got old waiting for you." His evil giggle only made the hair on the back of Harry's neck stand up.
"Where's Theodore Nott old man? Tell us and maybe you won't see the inside of Azkaban for the rest of your short life." Harry demanded, all three of them pointing their wands at him. The threat only seemed to make the man laugh more though, sending him into a coughing fit. Harry wasn't positive but he could have swore that he looked older now than when they had first walked into the room.
"Don't you get it Potter?" The man asked after finishing his coughing fit. His voice sounding weaker than before. "I am Theodore Nott." The surprise of that statement made Harry's grip on his wand lessen for a moment. "You see gentlemen. This is what happens when you play with time." He held up an old, liver spotted hand as if seeing it for the first time. "You do one thing wrong, one uncalculated thing and time, it plays with you. I've been aging rapidly for the last day. I imagine that I don't have much longer to live so take me away to Azkaban, I daresay I won't have to endure it long."
Even though it seemed impossible, Harry found that he believed the young, well used to be young, man. He did appear to be aging slightly right before their eyes. Harry shook his head in disgust. Time truly was one of those things that people weren't supposed to tinker with.
"Theodore Nott, you are hereby under arrest for the unauthorized manipulation of time and its fragments. You are to be taken into custody and if you shall live long enough, you will be held before the Wizengamot Council where they will decide your punishment. Do you understand?" Harry asked Nott while Dean placed the magical bindings on him that stopped all magical flow.
Over Nott's answer the brilliant flash of silver spread through the room and Ginny's patronus trotted up to Harry, lighting up his green eyes in worry.
"Harry, I need you to come home immediately. There has been a problem." Ginny's voice called out, a slight waver of worry before the Patronus disappeared.
"Harry, what's she on about?" Ron asked immediately recognizing his sister's voice.
"I don't know." Harry lied not looking at Ron. "You two take care of him, I'll send word out to some of the others, they'll meet you at the Ministry. I've got to get home. I'll let you know as soon as I know anything." Harry added, another lie, but he couldn't have Ron going off half cocked right now. Nott still might be dangerous and Dean couldn't take him in alone. "Come by the house when you're finished and we'll talk." He added thinking about it before disapparating. What have you gotten yourself into Hermione?