Disclaimer:- I neither own nor own anything from this story. My plot is my own but the world of Harry Potter is the intellectual property of JK Rowling and associates.

oOo

A/N:- Thank you to everyone who left reviews and alerts on the last chapter, please know that I appreciate every one of them. I'm still flying along without a beta, so please forgive any mistakes.

Chapter Four – Working Out What Happened.

Three days later Harry and Ginny returned from their getaway, and stopped at the gateway to their home in Godric's Hollow. "What the hell?" Harry said. "Where's the gate latch?" He drew his wand and used several spells before they entered. "Someone's created a Portkey here recently," he commented.

"That's weird. We'll ask 'Mione about it," Ginny said.

"Yeah, we'll Floo-call her after we've picked the boys up." Harry smiled. "Man, I've missed them," he chuckled.

Ginny grinned. "Yeah, me too," and she wound her arms around Harry's neck. "Not that I haven't enjoy having you all to myself."

Harry chuckled again and kissed her. "Yes, it was great to have some time alone. I guess it will be years before we can do it again."

"Well, the last break we had was before Albus arrived, wasn't it?" Ginny said, watching her husband opening the front door of their home.

"Mmm," he replied, and they went upstairs and put theirs bags in their bedroom before they Floo'd to The Burrow.

"Oh, you're back," Molly said emotionally, as they arrived, and she pulled them both into tight hugs.

Ginny recognised this as her mother being very upset. "What's wrong, Mum?" she asked.

To their surprise, Molly broke down. "It's all this business with Hermione, and Ron's moved back in. He and Lavender have had a terrible fight, and I don't know whether the wedding will be happening now or not."

"Hang on. Slow down," Harry said, guiding Molly to a chair. "Where are James and Albus?"

"Oh, they're out the back with Ron, playing," Molly said sniffing. "B-But it's Hermione we're all really worried about. She's disappeared!"

"Disappeared?" Harry and Ginny said together.

"Yes, about a week ago. She had afternoon tea with Minerva at the castle like normal… and according to Minerva, she went out to do some errands afterwards, and just didn't come back."

Harry clicked straight into Auror mode. "Well, we have to find her. What's being done? Do we know where she was going?"

Molly sniffed again, and she glanced up as Ginny handed her a cup of tea. "The Aurors have come up with nothing, especially since no one knew where she was going."

"Then I need to go and talk to Minerva," Harry said, already heading towards the door. "Has Ron done anything?"

"Yes, he's been racking his brain trying to think about where she might be, but so far everything he's thought of has come up as a dead-end."

Ginny walked towards Harry and gave him a kiss, and she murmured, "I don't suppose it has anything to do with our broken gate?"

"Nah, probably kids playing," Harry replied. "Will you be right here?" he asked, glancing at the still teary Molly. Molly was very attached to Hermione; the motherly redhead treated her like an additional member of the family.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. You just find 'Mione," Ginny stated, and then she snorted. "We're home again," she added with a huff. "There's always an emergency of some kind."

Harry smiled, but there was a worried crease in his brow. "We sure are," he replied, giving her a hug. "Mind you, I wish they'd have told us about this one, we could have come home early."

Ginny didn't get a chance to answer as Ron came through the backdoor with James on his shoulders and Albus walking on his feet. "Hey guys, welcome home, he said.

"Mummy! Daddy!" both boys squealed, and James slithered down Ron's back and headed for Harry, while Albus immediately held his arms out to his mother.

"Come here, my little man," Ginny said, taking Albus and cuddling him. There was a four-year gap between James and Albus. James had just turned eight, but Albus was only four and it was late in the afternoon, so he was tired and he cried.

"I missed you, Mummy," he told her in a teary voice.

"We all missed you," Molly added, so happy to have them back.

"Will you be right if I take this pair home, Mum?"

"Why, where's Harry going?" Ron asked.

"I'm going to talk to Minerva McGonagall 'bout, 'Mione," Harry said.

"Well, I'm comin' too," Ron said. "We'll see you both later," and he started to tell Harry what he'd done to try and find their friend while he and Ginny had been away as they walked out.

"I could come with you," Molly suggested to Ginny. "You and my soon to be here grandchild can put your feet up, and I can bath the boys and make dinner while we wait for Harry and Ron to come back."

Ginny smiled. "Okay, I am pretty tired," she conceded.

xox

In Azkaban, Severus listened to Hermione coughing again. She'd caught a chill after their first yard visit and the cold water shower following it, and she already had a rattly cough that he knew meant nothing good. He'd also noticed last night that she hadn't transformed to her little otter form, and he feared it was because she was too unwell to focus enough.

"Hermione?" he called.

"Yes, Severus," she replied, but didn't appear at her grill.

"Are you all right?" he asked. This last week had been the best time he ever remembered having. Even Lily had never engaged his attention as much as this witch did, but the dampness here bred all kinds of bacterial infections, and it appeared that his new friend had fallen victim to one of the most agonising forms of possible ways of dying that Azkaban offered.

He'd thought that last winter it was going to be his fate too, but he had been strong enough to overcome his malaise, and he'd since realised that his sickness must have been viral, although, for the life of him he could not fathom how he caught a viral infection out here in the midst of the North Sea.

Since the changes had been implemented here in Azkaban he had not seen a guard, so there was no assistance to be had. When he'd first arrived they'd had a healer who visited once a month, but that had gone the same way that everything else had.

Until Hermione had arrived, he'd been the only one left in his row. It had been a row full of Death Eaters to start with, and there had been many squabbles, but then with the new changes after each quarrel those who had been involved never came back.

Suddenly an urge gripped him. "Hermione?" he called again.

"Yes," she said, appearing at the grill. "I was… umm, occupied," she said, with a little cough.

"Oh," he replied. "I'm sorry." Their toilet facilities were a rudimentary hole in the floor in the corner of the cell, and not very easy to use, especially for a woman.

"No need to be sorry, Sev," she said, leaning her head on the side of the barred window, as a fanciful thought took her mind. "I wish we could sit and talk somewhere more comfortable."

He chuckled. He didn't mind her new nickname for him, Lily used to call him the same. "Maybe one day," he replied. He could hear the sadness in her voice.

"Sev?"

"Yes?"

"Who did this to me? What did I ever do to them?"

"I can't answer that, love, but I'm certain that whoever it was will slip up sooner or later, and I can't believe that your friends would not be looking for you." He hadn't even noticed that he'd added the endearment to his sentence. He'd noticed this last few days that her plucky attitude had started to wane, and she was becoming very depressed, and he was at a loss to know how to cheer her up.

xox

"I'm sorry, Harry," I can't tell you anything I haven't already told the other Aurors," Minerva McGonagall stated.

"Well, if you don't mind. What did you tell the other Aurors? Ginny and I have been away, we've only just got back, and I want to do something to help."

"Oh, I see," Minerva replied, "I wondered why I hadn't seen you. Very well," she nodded. "As I told Aurors Finnigan and Thomas, we had afternoon tea together, and I watched her walking down the driveway afterwards. She was wearing a pretty blue sundress, she had nothing else with her except some quills in her hair, along with her wand, and she apparated away, and just didn't return," she said, shrugging.

"Nothing else?" Ron asked.

"She did greet Madam Rosmerta, but they only waved to one another and Hermione apparated away, and I watched Rosmerta continue into the forest. She collects a particular bark there for her spiced mead," Minerva added.

"Okay, thank you, Ma'am," Harry said. "Come on Ron," he said reluctantly.

The two friends started back down the Hogwarts drive, and they were puzzled.

"Who just disappears?" Ron questioned, as they walked.

"More the question is, how can someone just disappear?" Harry said thoughtfully.

"Huh?" Ron said.

"What are the ways that someone can disappear?" Harry clarified. "Maybe we should talk to Rosmerta," he muttered, starting to become lost in his own thoughts.

Ron shrugged, and started reciting the ways a person could disappear. "Well, there's disillusionment, apparition… Portkey, vanishing…"

However, he didn't get to finish that thought as Harry suddenly came back from his own thoughts and said, "I'm an idiot. Portkey," and he looked at his startled friend. "We need to go to ours," and he was running for the apparition boundary.

"What?" Ron yelled after him, his long legs catching his shorter friend in three strides. "What Portkey?"

However, his question fell on deaf ears as Harry was already gone. Ron shrugged and followed him. "What are you doing?" he asked as he landed and saw Harry chanting spells over his front gate.

Ron watched as Runes started appearing over the gate near where the latch should have been, and Ron wondered where the latch was. The gate had been functioning perfectly the last time he'd visited. Then Harry was gone again before saying another word, and Ron just stood there for a moment with his mouth open, but then smiled, his best mate had finally found something, he just knew it. That was the only reason that he would have rushed off again, and Ron wandered to the front door.

"Well?" Ginny demanded, as soon as she saw him.

"Harry seems to have found a lead. He was muttering over the gate and then he left," Ron said, shaking his head.

"I knew it!" Ginny crowed. "I knew that missing gate latch had something to do with it. I bet 'Mione came over to check on things… but whoever's done this to her must have known our schedule. We only discussed that amongst us. Family wouldn't do this," she stated, glancing at Molly. "Nobody in our family would harm someone?" but her voice had turned uncertain, and she carefully lowered herself down into the nearest chair.

They all shook their heads and agreed that no one in their family would hurt another member. However, as the adults were thinking about this, James cleared his throat.

James Potter was a sensitive little boy, very empathic, and there was one member—well, almost member—of the family that he got bad vibes from every time he was around her. "I don't trust Auntie Lavender," he told them softly.

The three adults turned to him, and he ducked his head. "I'm just saying. I'm sorry, Mum, but she gives me the creeps. I remember Auntie Lucy, she was nice to me and I loved her." He glanced at Ron. "I'm sorry, Uncle Ron."

Ron was shocked by his nephew's words, as memories of his ex-wife thundered into his brain, he realised suddenly that all the good memories of her had been missing from his thoughts. However, he managed to maintain his composure, and he gave his nephew a reassuring smile as he patted his head. "It's okay, mate." However, the boy's words really made Ron think. Since he'd been away from Lavender, he suddenly realised that he wasn't stressed anymore, he'd not noticed until this moment how stressed she made him. It was like an annoying buzzing sound that sets your teeth on edge, but a sound that you couldn't quite work out where it was come from. He was also starting to wonder what he actually saw in Lavender, he didn't actually remember why he'd asked her to marry him.

However, before he could think any further, Harry came through the front door. They all looked at him, and he said, "I've found the identity of the person who made the Portkey, but it makes no sense," and he muttered the last part of the sentence.

"Why, who was it?" Molly asked.

"Someone called Bertha Wilkes," he told them. "She must have needed an emergency Portkey when she was passing," he said, shrugging. "But I just don't get it," he added, plopping down into the chair next to Ginny.

However, something tickled at Ron's memory about that name, but he couldn't quite think what, and it bothered him. He thought hard about it, and only half listened to the conversation going on around him.

"No one knows this woman, right?" Harry asked.

"No," Molly gasped.

Ginny's brow creased. "So it must have been a total coincidence?"

"It had to be, Gin," Harry stated.

Then she thought of their previous conversation, before Harry had come back. "But what if someone, and I don't know who. Knew that 'Mione was coming over on certain days to water the plants and such…" and she left the sentence open-ended.

"Yes, I came over two days after Hermione disappeared and the plants were very wilted," Molly added. "Maybe it had been Hermione's day to water them."

"I think we need to work this out," Ginny stated, and she accioed some parchment and a quill. "We left on the Monday, and I watered everything before we left. Then you, 'Mione and Ron were to come over every second day," and she started working out when Hermione would have come. Finally she said, "And it would have been Ron's turned two days before 'Mione disappeared." She glanced up at her brother. "You came two days before 'Mione disappeared, right?" However, there was no answer. "Ron! Earth to Ronnikin!" Ginny said.

Just as his sister called him, Ron remembered where he'd seen that name before. "Shit!" he cursed.

"Ronald. The children," his mother scolded.

"What? Oops, sorry, but I thought I recognised that name, and I just couldn't place it until this moment. Lavender paid a large amount of money to a Bertha Wilkes, she said it was a surprise for our happiness."

"She what?" Ginny said.

"What's going on?" Harry asked.

"Oh, of course, you guys don't know," Ron said, but then he glanced at the kids.

It was now seven o'clock and Albus' bedtime, and Ginny went to get up and take him up to bed, but Molly stopped her.

"You stay, I know what happened. I'll read Albie his story. Could one of you Floo your father and tell him where I am, please? Come on, James, maybe you can help me read Albie's story."

"Cool," said James, he loved helping his nanny read, and if the truth was known, he loved listening to the stories too, but didn't want to admit that.

"Good night, my little men. I love you both," Ginny said, looking up from kissing James' cheek. "Sure, Mum, I'll Floo-call him now," she answered easily, hugging Albus.

But it was Harry who got up. "No, I'll do it," and he stopped next to Ginny and hugged his boys. "Night, fellas, sweet dreams," he told them, before he sent the Floo message and came back to the table.

"Yeah, good night, guys," Ron added.

They watched Molly leading the boys away, and Harry said as he returned, "Right, so what's happened?"

Ron sighed, and started in on the story of how he'd been going to buy his new broom and he'd discovered embarrassingly that he didn't have enough money. "…but I knew I had the money, so I went to Gringotts, and they told me that Lavender had authorised a large payment three days before. So, I asked the goblins who she'd made the payment to, and that was the name they gave me."

"And what did Madam Brown have to say for herself?" Ginny asked, her lips a thin line of displeasure.

"She told me that it was a surprise for our happiness. I presumed that it was something for the wedding…" but his words trailed off, and he shook his head. "But I just don't get it. I could understand if it was a shop, but not a single person."

"Well, I think it's time we found out, Ron," Harry stated, getting up from the table. "You're going to talk to Lavender," he told him.

Ron sighed. "I'm pretty sure that I never want to talk to her again. It's like I'm somehow coming out of a fog, I can't even remember now why I wanted to marry her."

Harry was too intent on the clues that he might gain that he didn't exactly listen to what Ron was saying to him, and he turned him towards the Floo, but just as he did, Arthur walked through it.

Ginny got up and hugged her father. "Hi, Dad, sit down. Dinner will be soon."

"Welcome home," Arthur said accepting his daughter's offer. Then he looked to Harry and Ron. "Where are you guys going?" he asked.

"They've got a lead on 'Mione," Ginny said, walking over to kiss Harry goodbye. "Good luck, guys. We'll keep your food hot for you."

They both looked grim as they left, and Ginny had a disquiet brewing in her stomach that her brother was not going to come out of this well, but she didn't say anything to her father, and she sat down next to him and said sadly, "This is an awful business. Why didn't you contact us? We would have come home for this."

Arthur sighed. "To tell the truth we all thought that Hermione would simply just come back, it seemed to strange that someone would have wanted to make her disappear."

"We've all gotten too used to peaceful times. We've let our guards down," Ginny said decidedly.

"Gin, we couldn't keep living on the amount of adrenaline that we did in the years of the war. Peace means peace for wizarding Britain, there are no mad megalomaniacs out there anymore." He sighed. "No, this will turn out to be something mundane, you mark my words. Cruel, but mundane."

"But, Dad, that's terrible too."

"Yes, it is, love," Arthur consoled.

"But, Dad," she whispered, turning brimming eyes to him. "What if she's…" but she couldn't finish that thought, as tears spilled from her eyes.

Arthur pulled his very pregnant daughter into his lap and held her. "Hush, Gin. I'm sure she's not dead. The boys will find her."

Molly came back while Ginny was crying, and it made her misty as well, and Arthur sighed as he held out an arm to her as well. Ginny's hormones were all over the place because she was pregnant, but this business had had a nasty effect on Molly as well, as it had dredged up all the hurt over Fred's death again.

Now he wished that they'd been quicker in sending the family clock in to the jewellers to have the additional hands for new family members—and those they thought of as family even if they weren't—added. At least that way, they might have some idea of where poor Hermione was.

They had been about to have the modifications done just before the trouble with Ron and Lucy had started, and in the midst of all that it had been forgotten.

xox

Harry and Ron Floo'd to Ron's house. However, all was in darkness. Ron raised the lights and to his shock he found his personal papers strewn all over the dining table.

"What the hell?" He walked over to the papers, but as he reached out to pick the first one up a spell shot up from the table, and Harry crash tackled him out of the way, and they watched from the floor as the bolt of magic hit the lamp that had been directly behind where Ron had been standing.

"So, I think that there might be something weird going on here that you do not know about," Harry said, helping Ron up off the floor.

"Bloody hell!" Ron muttered, staring at the smoking and charred lamp where the spell had connected. "What the fuck?"

"Do you know where Lavender's likely to be?" Harry asked, trying to maintain his professionalism.

"Frankly, at this moment I don't give a fuck," Ron growled. "That could have been me," and he turned to Harry. "Thank you."

"Yes, but apart from anything else I think we really need to speak to her now," and he raised his wand. He recited a revealing spell and several things glowed red. "Bloody hell, mate. What kind of fight did you have with her?"

"It was about the money, I was livid that she'd spent my savings, but I don't think it warranted throwing these kind of curses around. I'm done with her, as of this moment there is no way I'll be bringing someone like this into our family. Besides, I seem to have just remembered Lucy again. I don't know why I… She had often kind of tickled at the edges of my mind, especially when I saw 'Mione from the back like the other day, but I never seemed to remember her properly until James talked about her before we left yours. Why do you reckon that is?" Ron asked.

"Mmm," Harry hummed, he didn't want to tell Ron what he was suspecting, so he hedged. "Listen, I promise that we'll look into what you're saying as soon as we find 'Mione, but I want to go and catch up with Dean and Seamus, and report this development and the others to them. Will you be right?"

"Sure, finding 'Mione is more important at the moment. I'll neutralise the traps and change the wards. Then if the bitch wants her stuff she can owl me," he growled, beyond angry with his ex-fiancée. "I think that maybe you had best include her in your investigations. This is really weird... You don't think she's gone off the deep end and done something really stupid do you. I didn't even consider something like that, but seeing all this and remembering the fight we had about a week ago about how I'm always watching 'Mione..." His words trailed off, and a look of horror arrived on his face. "Oh, no. This could all be my fault. I can't help it that 'Mione reminds me of Lucy."

Harry exhaled a long breath, this was a very personal and complicated situation. "Ron, regardless of all this, you really still love Lucy, don't you?"

Ron sighed. "Yes, she was the one," he admitted sadly. "I'm kidding myself if I think that there's anyone else."

"Are you sure you'll be okay?" Harry asked.

Ron snorted. "Yeah, I'll be great," he said, scoffing.

"Do you want me to call 'Mi… Shit," Harry swore. It was so natural to get Hermione to come and sort things out, and a cold hand squeezed his heart that he didn't know where his friend was. "Sorry, mate," he said, his voice tinged with sadness. "Go back to ours after you've finished here if you want."

Ron nodded. "Thanks, Harry. Now, you go and find out who's hurt our 'Mione, and when you catch them throw the fucking book at them."

Harry grinned. "Shall do," and he walked to the Floo.

It was near ten when Ron had finished sorting out the mess at his place, and finally came back to Harry and Ginny's. Molly and Arthur had gone, and Ginny was asleep on the lounge. She stirred as she heard him.

"It's going to be a long night, sis," he said, and he started telling her what had happened at his place when they'd arrived.