Chapter Twenty Nine
A loud crack from the Weasley-Granger fireplace startled Hermione and Ron, causing them both to jump to their feet, wands raised and frantic. They lowered their guard when they saw Harry emerged from the flames, covered in black soot and looking wild. He hastily approached them with a pained expression and a piece of parchment clutched tightly in his left hand.
"Look, at this," he said, shoving it towards the pair.
Hermione quickly snatched the parchment from Harry and held it open, her brown eyes darting from side to side, staring at scratchy writing she'd become so familiar with. Ron peered behind her left shoulder, his brow creasing as he read the foreign note.
20 million galleons, Gringotts vault number 1824 - deposited by midnight and she goes free.
"Where did you find this?" Hermione asked with a panicky voice, looking up from the parchment with worry.
"A tawny owl dropped it in front of me while I was searching Diagon Alley," Harry said, taking the scrap of paper back. "About twenty minutes ago."
Hermione sat down at the dinning table to steady her quivering body. She couldn't believe it. The blackmailer had Rose.
"Can we trace the vault number," Ron asked with a shaky voice, doing his best to remain level-headed. "Find out who it belongs to?"
Harry sighed and cast Hermione and Ron a sympathetic look. He couldn't imagine what they must be feeling.
"I initially had the same thought," he replied with a frown. "I'm told that the Goblins on duty tonight are being... well let's say less than cooperative."
"Maybe I need to go down to Gringotts and make them cooperate," Ron threatened with gritted teeth and his hands balled into tight fists.
"Angering them isn't going to do any good, Ron," Hermione said with exasperation, massaging her left temple with her hand.
"I have an Auror speaking with Giffenber, he's the head banker at Gringotts. Maybe she can sort things out and get him to see reason but my hopes aren't high," Harry said with a frown. "You both know how goblins can be. They say they refuse to break client privacy."
"Those dirty bastards," Ron muttered, kicking the kitchen table. "After all we've done to give them equal rights!"
"What do we do next?" Hermione asked, ignoring Ron's outburst and looking to Harry.
"I've got the very best out searching. It's only a matter of time until we find her," Harry answered, though Hermione noted he didn't sound overly confident. "I'm going to head out again, check with some contacts I know in Knockturn Alley. They might have heard some rumblings."
"We should just pay the ransom," Ron declared, causing Harry and Hermione to exchange a meaningful glance. "We have the money."
"I don't negotiate with dark wizards," Harry responded firmly.
"Well maybe you'd feel different if it was your daughter who'd be taken," Ron shot heatedly, his voice rising. "What if it was Lily?"
"Of course we'll pay if it comes down to it," Hermione intervened quickly, rising from her seat to put herself between them. She faced Ron, hoping she could cool him. "But if we immediately cave to this demand, it's likely others will try similar tactics in the future."
Ron was about to retort that if something happened to Rose there would be no future, but the sound of young voice coming from the stairs made him pause.
"Mum?" Hugo said tentatively, looking at his worried mother with wide innocent eyes. "Is Rose in trouble?"
Hermione felt her heart ache. In all the panic, she'd forgotten about her son, who hours ago she had told to go upstairs while she and Ron tried to track down Rose.
"Hugo," she sighed, looking briefly between Harry and Ron who had gone quiet. No one seemed keen to answer the boy. "Sweetheart, you should get some sleep."
Hugo stepped off the stairs into the kitchen, slowly moving towards the three adults.
"Rose still isn't home?" He asked.
"No, I'm afraid not," Hermione answered unflinchingly, hoping she could mask her worry from her son.
"Is she going to be okay?"
The question made Hermione's breath hitch. Was Rose okay, and if she was, how much longer until she wasn't?
Seeing that Hermione looked on the verge of breaking, Ron quickly answered.
"She's going to be fine," he said, resting his hands on the boys shoulders. He pushed him gently back towards the stairs. "Come on little man, back to bed. Everything will be fine in the morning."
Despite his dad's instruction, Hugo stopped, his eyes fixed on the piece of parchment in Harry's hand.
"What's that?" Hugo asked, acknowledging his uncle's existence for the first time in over a month.
"It's a note," Harry replied hesitantly, unsure of how much Ron and Hermione were comfortable with him sharing. "It might help us find Rose."
Hugo inches closer, curiously staring at the scrap of paper. "I know this writing," he said, slowly taking it from Harry's grip to study.
"What?" Hermione asked with genuine surprise.
Ron and Harry looked bewildered too.
"This is Scorpius's penmanship," Hugo replied confidently.
"You're sure?" Harry asked.
Hugo nodded.
Harry looked to Ron and Hermione who appeared equally as shell shocked. Scorpius had been the one blackmailing them?
Hermione got down to her son's eye level, placing her hands in either side of his shoulder, staring at him seriously.
"Hugo, are you certain?" She asked, searching him for any sign of hesitancy. "You're one hundred percent certain this is Scorpius's writing?"
"I'm positive. I use all of his and Al's old school notes. For every subject."
Hermione rose to her feet, looking back and forth between Ron and Harry, unsure of what to make of the news. A silence hung in the air for a brief moment while the three adults tried to make sense of it all. Ron was the first to speak.
"I knew I shouldn't have trusted that Ferret."
"You think Malfoy is behind this?" Harry asked him.
"It's the only thing that makes sense," Ron said angrily. "He's using his son to get to us."
"No," Hermione disagreed quickly, her voice higher than normal. "Draco wouldn't. He's changed so much since the war. I trust him."
Ron scoffed, and Harry too looked skeptical.
"He was a Death Eater, Hermione," Ron snarked harshly. "Hell, he still has the dark mark on his forearm!"
"And I have Mudblood etched into mine," Hermione countered fiercely. "He and I are both scarred, but that doesn't define us. Not anymore."
Ron huffed and crossed his arms. He clearly didn't agree with his wife.
"Scorpius has been staying at Malfoy Manor," Harry said, trying to steer them back to a productive discussion and diffuse the tension. "I heard him telling Al he was lonely."
"If he told Al then he definitely told Rose too," Hermione said, a horrible realization taking hold of her.
All three of them seemed to be thinking the same thing.
"She wouldn't," Ron said after a beat, shaking his head with disbelief. "Rose knows we'd go mental if she stepped a single toe inside Malfoy Manor."
"Which is exactly why she wouldn't tell us," Hermione sighed as Ron paled. She looked to Harry. "How soon can the Aurors get there?"
"I'll send a patronus right away," he answered quickly, a worried expression on his face. "But Hermione, if she really is at Malfoy Manor, there isn't time to wait for reinforcement."
Hermione understood immediately. He was going to go alone, and he was going to go now.
"I'm coming with you," she declared, an intense determination in her voice.
"No you're not," Harry said sharply.
"Excuse me, which one of us is Minister of Magic?"
"Hermione - "
"I may not be as quick on my feet as your Aurors, but I think history has proven I can hold my own."
Harry glared at her, knowing arguing was no use.
"I'm coming too," Ron piped in, reaching for his wand from his back pocket. "After I take Hugo to the Burrow."
Hermione turned her attention to her son. She had forgotten he was still in the room, and for a moment she felt remorse that she hadn't sent him back upstairs where he'd have been shielded from their conversation.
"I should stay here incase you're wrong," Hugo protested, looking back and forth between his parents. "Rose could come home."
"Are you mad?" Ron said to him, grabbing him gently by the arm and leading him towards the fireplace. "We already have one kid who's been taken by Death Eaters, we don't need two."
...
It was passed nine when the Death Eaters finish their meals at Malfoy Manor. Aetes had all but licked his plate clean after dining in a particularly repulsive fashion. Hestia had much better manners, though she still ate a healthy portion off her plate, and Lucius had eaten in a tauntingly slow fashion, eyeing Rose with each mouthful.
No one had spoken during the feast, and Rose had not taken a single bite of the meal in front of her. She knew better than to ingest something prepared by her captures. Even if she could be certain the food wasn't poisoned, she wasn't at all hungry. She'd been searching her mind for a way out of this mess, but nothing had come. For the first time ever, she could honestly say she was scared for her life. Her heart was racing so fast she was sure the others could hear it pounding against her chest.
"Well, Miss Weasley," Lucius said, dabbing his face with his napkin. "Aren't you at all curious as to why you're here?"
"What are you going to do to me?" Rose asked quietly, a slight quivering in her voice.
"Oh dear," Lucius clicked his tongue. "There's no reason to be scared. You see, we aren't in the business of spilling wizard blood, not if we don't have to. You may even leave here without a single scratch."
"I don't know," Aetes muttered, glowering at Rose. "I'd like avenge my family. Give this little brat a scar to match her filthy mummy."
"Now, now, Aetes," Hestia chimed in. "We agreed to Lucius's plan. As long as Granger and Potter cooperate, the girl goes free. Unharmed."
"I said she goes free, but I never said unharmed," Aetes sneered, wrapping his large hands around his goblet. "She'll be obliviated anyway. Whats the harm in some fun?"
Hestia seemed to consider this.
"He's got a point there, Lucius."
"I still don't understand," Rose interjected meekly, finally finding her voice. She hoped a change in topic would spare her some time. "What do you want with me?"
Aetes and Hestia turned to look at Lucius, their unspoken leader.
"What do I want with you?" he repeated with a small laugh, and then more seriously, added, "I want nothing with you. What I want is to walk down the street and not be looked down on, to have more than two sickles to rub together, and most of all, for my grandson to learn magic with the very best, instead of surrounded by idiots, half breeds and mudbloods."
"No offense to you of course," Hestia said with a cruel sneer. "Or your traitorous father and grimy mother."
Slowly it was all starting to make sense to Rose. She was a bargaining chip. The fear inside her subsided momentarily and was replaced by overwhelming rage.
"You'd really do this to your own grandson?" Rose snarled bravely to the old wizard, jostling lightly against her restraints, which had since tightened again. "Use his best friend as bait?"
"My dear," Lucius smiled dubiously, leaning forward in his seat. "It's because of my grandson that is possible. Scorpius was my key to you."
Rose stiffened, eyeing the three of them carefully. "You're lying."
Cackling laughter over took the drawing room. Aetes snorted on his drink.
"Did you really think Scorpius would be interested in you if I hadn't put the idea in his head?" Lucius asked tauntingly. "He kissed you by the lake because I told him to."
"No," Rose shook her head. She wouldn't believe it.
Lucius's grin grew even wider, relishing in her emotional pain.
"You'd be amazed at what you can make someone do under the Imperius Curse, Miss Weasley," he replied, leaning back and sipping on his beverage. His pale eyes bore into hers. "Scorpius was who sent the letter to your uncle, making demands in exchange for silence on his youthful dalliances. Scorpius revealed your mother's medical records, and then leaked them to the Prophet when it became apparent a pay off wasn't coming. Scorpius made the Sunday Edition appear at your Uncle's birthday party, and, finally... Scorpius lured you here."
"No..." Rose breathed, a dagger-like pain shooting into her heart. "I don't believe you."
Lucius smirked, taking a slow sip from his goblet.
"Three years ago when Draco told me Scorpius had befriended a Potter and a Weasley, I was furious. My grandson, friends with the enemy? It was a great betrayal you know, but then I realized what that betrayal could do for me and for my family... if I bided my time."
"I waited a few years to ensure that Scorpius had gained your family's trust. At first I thought Albus Potter was the obvious way in, but over this last year, I saw Scorpius grow closer to you, and with him having access to the homes of both the Minister and the Head Auror, I knew it was time to make my move."
"You see Miss Weasley, everyone has skeletons in their closets, even your perfect family. I knew if Scorpius got close enough, he could find something on Potter, something that would make him weak. The fact that what he uncovered also involved the Minister... well that was a happy coincidence."
Rose's world was crumbling with every word. She couldn't believe how stupid she'd been. All along her friendship with Scorpius had been carefully watched and manipulated by Lucius Malfoy. Scorpius hadn't had feelings for her... it had all been a drawn out ploy to take down her family.
"Truthfully, I didn't want it to come to this," Lucius said, breaking Rose from her trance. "Kidnapping you was a last resort. I'd hoped your mother would have convinced Potter to pay up to keep their dirty laundry out of the public's eye... but of course they both had too much pride."
"You're disgusting," Rose managed to say, anger bubbling inside her.
Aetes and Hestia seemed to delight in her rage.
"And you're a foolish girl to have come here," Lucius said calmly. "Now that we have you I imagine your parents will be willing to pay a hefty sum to get you back."
"I'll tell them everything," Rose threatened weakly, knowing it wasn't likely change anything but still worth a shot. "They'll toss you in Azkaban with your pal, Euphemia."
Hestia let out a dramatic laugh, and the two men also looked amused.
"You think we haven't thought of that?" She asked sharply. "Once we have the money, you'll be Obliviated and dumped in London. It will be as though this never happened. Scorpius has already had his memory modified, and it worked... oh, how do the muggles say it..." She paused. "Like a charm?"
Lucius snickered and Hestia seemed pleased with herself.
"Enough chatter," Aetes growled, banging his fist on the wooden table. He leered at Rose. "I'm ready for desert."
"Aetes... " Lucius began.
"Come on, Malfoy," Aetes said irritatedly. "You've had your fun taunting the girl, now let me have mine. I won't do any permanent damage."
"I really don't see the harm, Lucius," Hestia added, staring loathingly at Rose. "If we return her a little banged up, it might make Potter and Granger more inclined to future demands."
Lucius seemed to consider this.
"I suppose that's true."
That seemed to be all the permission Aetes needed. He rose from his seat and approached the young witch, a sickening smile peeled on his face.
"Please," Rose said quickly, panic swelling inside her. She felt her palms grow sweaty as she wrestled against her restraints. "Please, don't."
"They told me that your mother begged too," Aetes jeered, raising his wand as he towered over her. "It didn't do her any good and it also won't for you, so don't waste your breath. You're going to need it."
Tears began to stream down Rose's cheeks, and she closed her eyes, not wanting to watch the terrifying man about to inflict on her excruciating pain. She braced herself, doing what she could to mentally prepare for what she knew was about to come.
"Crucio!"
It was worse than anything Rose could have possibly imagined. She had never experienced pain like this before. It felt as though hundreds of jagged burning blades were continuously cutting through her contorting body. She was writhing, and she wasn't sure if she was still upright in her chair, or if she'd knocked it over in her struggle.
The pain didn't let up or subside, and she didn't know how much more she could take. She truly wanted to die; it would be far kinder than this cruelty. She was screaming, but she couldn't hear herself, and she knew she'd only be able to remain conscious for a bit longer.
Just as she began to slip away, Rose heard a faint commotion, followed by a familiar commanding male voice.
"Expelliarmus!"