Summary: A plan to save Hermione.

A/N: Yeah, Ron is the worst of the worst here. I think this is the most evil I've ever made him.

Chapter 20

Severus rushed into the Headmistress' office.

"Minerva!"

Jonathan and Minerva were sharing a spot of tea. They both startled at Severus' sharp call.

"Oy, Severus, what's wrong?"

"It's Hermione. Weasley sent her a gift that turned out to be a Portkey. She's gone!"

"Ronald Weasley?"

"Who else?"

Minerva stood up and moved to her fireplace. "We need to alert the authorities."

"He is the authorities!"

"Yes, of course he is, but the rest of the department isn't insane!"

Sticking her head into the Fireplace, Minerva called out to the Auror department and Gawain Robard's office.

"Merlin, Severus," Jonathan said as they waited for Minerva to call the Aurors. "You don't think he'd really hurt her, do you?"

Severus gave Jonathan an anxious look. "I've no idea, Jonathan. He is jealous of our relationship. He could do anything."

"Oh, Gawain, we need your help!" Minerva called into the fireplace.

The man startled before rushing over to his fireplace. "What is it, Min?"

"It's Ronald Weasley. He's absconded with Hermione Granger. We need to find her before he harms her in some way."

"Step back, I'm coming through."

Minerva extricated herself from the fireplace and Robards entered the room. He nodded at Severus and Jonathan.

"So, what's going on?"

Severus explained how unhinged Weasley had been in the few interactions with Hermione.

"Potter had spoken to me about him, but he's been almost a model employee since then. It sounds like this was something he planned out carefully, though," Gawain muttered. "Do you have any idea where he may have taken her?"

"None," Severus said. "He sent this note with the Portkey."

Robards noted the parchment floating behind Severus. He went up to it and cast some diagnostic spells.

"Definitely from Weasley. It's untraceable, unfortunately. Ronald has learned his Auror techniques well."

At that moment, Hermione's otter Patronus ran through the wall and stopped at Severus.

"Severus, I'm in a cabin out in the woods somewhere! I'm not sure where."

The Patronus dissolved. Severus reached out to it before it disappeared fully. His hand came back empty.

"Where would he take her that is isolated in the woods?" he asked.

Robards thought for a moment. "I'll need to make a list of possible locations. Come by in an hour."

"An hour! Anything could happen to her in an hour. We need to find her now!" Severus ground out.

"Severus, I know you're worried about her. We'll find her, but we need a little time. Come by in an hour."

Severus' jaw ticked but he nodded. Robards disappeared into the Floo. Severus stared after him, worrying about Hermione. Where could she be? What was Weasley doing to her? Fear filled him as he realized just how helpless he was right then.

Minerva grasped Severus' arm, pulling him out of his thoughts.

"She'll be okay, Severus. We'll find her."

"I hope so."

"He won't hurt her. He's obsessed with her," Jonathan added.

"But what happens when she isn't obsessed with him?"

Minerva frowned for a second before squeezing his arm.

"She'll be all right," Jonathan murmured.

He closed his eyes tightly and sighed. "Merlin, I hope so."

ooo

Ron unstoppered the vial and wisps of smoke erupted from the opening.

"Please, Ron. Don't do this!" Hermione begged. She was becoming desperate.

"Aww, you'll be begging me in a different way soon enough."

"I won't take it!"

He laughed. "Yeah, I thought you might not want to. Figured a Petrificus Totalus will take care of that."

Fear enveloped Hermione. She couldn't be petrified. He'd get his way if she were. She needed to take control of the situation. Concentrating hard and using wandless magic, she threw Ron against the wall. The potion went flying, spilling on the floor and seeping into the woodwork. Ron scrambled up and charged at her.

"You bitch! Do you know how much that cost me?"

She smirked at him in satisfaction, having won even a small victory. His hand came up, and he slapped her across the face. Tears formed in her eyes at the pain of it. She turned her head back to look at him, glaring daggers.

"You'll learn manners if it's the last thing you do, you hear?" Ron snarled. "And you try wandless magic on me again and I'll Imperius you!" He stood up straight and glowered at her. "Now stay there!" He smirked at his joke about her inability to move "I need to find some more Amortentia." With that, he turned and Disapparated from the cabin.

Hermione closed her eyes and tried to calm herself. Blinking a few times, she made her tears disappear. She had no time for crying. Having no idea how long he'd be gone, she needed to plan so when he returned she'd be able to escape this hell. Taking a few deep breaths and steadying herself, she looked around, carefully examining her surroundings. Whatever she did, she'd need to do it wandlessly, and that severely limited her. She needed to escape the ropes that kept her in place on the sofa. She closed her eyes and thought. She'd come across a spell that would loosen the ropes created in an Incarcerous spell, letting the victim slide through them. She wracked her brain trying to remember what the spell was.

Finally, it came to her. Decarcero. She chastised herself for not remembering it sooner. Of course, she was incredibly stressed, but this was the time to keep a clear head. Closing her eyes, she thought hard on what she wanted to happen and said the spell.

Nothing.

"Dammit!"

She tried again, this time concentrating longer. "Decarcero."

Still nothing.

"Okay, third time's the charm."

Saying the spell, she felt the ropes loosen, but only slightly.

"Ugh!" She didn't have time for this. He could be back at any time.

ooo

There was a knock on Severus' door. He went to answer it and found Jonathan standing there. He let him pass through. Jonathan turned to him.

"Are you all right?"

"No."

"She'll be okay, Severus."

"She has to be," Severus replied, his eyebrows knit together in concern.

"I'm coming with you to the Ministry," Jonathan offered.

"That would be welcome. We may need an extra wand or two when we find her."

Jonathan embraced Severus. "We'll find her, and we'll destroy Weasley."

Severus hugged Jonathan back then pulled away and looked into his eyes. "Thank you. I've been going mad here by myself. Just your presence has calmed me some."

"Brilliant. Shall we head over to the Ministry? It's almost time to meet Robards."

Severus nodded, and they made their way to his fireplace, each of them throwing Floo powder in and disappearing from his quarters.

Severus exited the Floo and raced with Jonathan to the Auror department. Bursting into the large room, he quickly made his way to the Head's office, closely followed by Jonathan. Tempted to slam the door behind him after Jonathan came through, he reigned himself in and refrained. He closed the door quietly and looked at Robards.

"Well?" he asked.

"We are heading to the Weasleys. Auror Potter will meet us there. He's on assignment, but I thought he may shed some light on what's going on."

Severus nodded. "Where, other than that, do you think he may be hidden away?"

Robards waved his wand and a visionary picture floated out of it and hovered in front of Severus.

"I quickly nixed the Forbidden Forest. He wouldn't hide so close to Hogwarts. I know that they spent some time in the Forest of Dean while on the run during the war. That might be an in your face type of hideout for him. The forest is large too."

He waved his wand and another picture of a wooded area moved forward. "This is Delamere Forest. It's easy to get to and is the largest forest in the UK."

A third picture floated into Severus' vision. "Ashdown Forest is an ancient wooded area, highly magical. It's close to London. It would be a great place to hide away, and the magical properties within the wood would increase the potency of any wards or spells cast upon the cabin."

The pictures disappeared. "I think these are the three most likely places."

"From your description, I would think that Ashdown Forest would be the best place to hide away with a kidnapee."

"It would seem the perfect place to hide someone with its magical qualities," Jonathan agreed.

Robards nodded. "Hopefully the Weasleys can shed some light on which of these would be the most likely place for Ronald to hide away."

"When are the Weasleys expecting us?" Severus asked.

"Right away. We can Floo to the Burrow now." He motioned to the fireplace bidding Severus to lead the way.

Throwing some Floo powder into the fireplace, Severus stepped through and appeared at the Burrow's sitting room. Arthur was there to greet him.

"Severus," he called out, moving over to him and extending his hand. Severus shook it briefly. "Good to see you despite the circumstances."

Severus was tempted to say something caustic, but it wasn't Arthur's fault his son was insane. He simply nodded. Jonathan was the next one through.

"Jonathan Cornelius," he introduced himself to Arthur. "I'm the Defense teacher."

"Pleasure," Arthur said as he shook his hand.

Robards appeared at that moment.

"Gawain! It's been too long."

"Yes, Arthur, our paths don't cross like they used to, eh?" Robards greeted.

"Sadly, no. Now, Harry said he'd be a little late, but to wait for him." Arthur motioned for them to sit.

Molly burst in at that moment.

"Oh, Severus, you look so adorable!"

Severus' eyes widened at her.

"I mean… Well, your younger self is quite charming, isn't it?"

"Thank you, Molly, I think."

"Oh, just have a seat," she said as she put her arm around him and guided him to the sofa, where she deposited him and turned to Robards.

"Gawain, pleasure as always," she said as she grasped his hand. She motioned for him to sit next to Severus, which he did.

Jonathan introduced himself again and was guided to the sofa as well. At that moment, the Floo flared up again and Potter stepped through.

"Harry!" Molly cried, going over to him and embracing him tightly. "We don't see enough of you. You need to stop by more often."

"Yes, ma'am," Harry said shyly as he embraced her. Moving back, he was assaulted by Arthur and received another hug.

"Good to have you here," Arthur said as he led him to a chair next to Gawain. Arthur sat across from them on the twin to their sofa, and Molly joined him.

"What's going on?" Harry asked. "Auror Robards just said to meet here."

Molly began to sob and put her head into her hands. Harry looked on, concerned.

"What is it, Molly?" he asked worriedly.

"Weasley has kidnapped Hermione," Severus ground out.

"Wait, what?"

"It's true, Harry," Gawain said. "He sent her a Portkey at Hogwarts and we don't know where he's taken her."

"There must be some mistake. Ron's not like that. He's one of the good guys! There's got to be a different explanation."

Severus pulled the note out of his pocket and threw it at Potter. "Explain that!" he demanded.

"You're mine," Harry read out. "It's his handwriting, all right. Why on earth would he give up everything to do this?"

"He obviously thinks he can get away with it," Severus huffed.

Gawain reached out for the note. "I'll take that for evidence," he muttered. "Should have done so before."

Harry met Severus' gaze as he handed the slip of paper to Gawain. "I don't understand. He stopped talking about Hermione and obsessing over her. I thought he'd finally gotten over all of this. He even seemed happier lately."

"Because he was planning to take her for himself!" Severus huffed.

Robards held his hand up at Severus. "We need to figure out where he's hiding with her before he harms her," he said. "Arthur, do you have any idea where he might go? Hermione was able to send out a Patronus right when she disappeared. All she could say was that she was in a cabin in the woods somewhere. Does that ring a bell?"

Arthur shook his head. "He's never mentioned anything like that."

"I'm pretty sure I know where he is."

All eyes moved to Harry. He looked at everyone before continuing.

"A month or so ago, Ron asked me to be a secret keeper for him. He said he wanted an out-of-the-way place that he could go when life was getting too much for him. He's had a rough time of it since the war ended. The loss of his brother… Hermione… and just everything we went through… well, it's taken its toll. Now I never thought he'd do something like this, mind, but I did recognize he could use a place to escape from stress and such.

"I agreed, and he brought me to a small cabin where we set the Fidelius Charm. It's got to be where he's taken Hermione. I'm the only one who could find him, and I'm sure he thought our friendship would keep my lips sealed."

"Where is this cabin?" Severus ground out.

"Ashdown Forest. It's south of London."

Gawain and Severus exchanged looks.

"Well, now we know where," Arthur muttered. "But how do we get to them?"

"I'll reveal the location to you all, but I should go with you. There are some unique wards that we set up when we set the Fidelius."

"And that didn't make you curious, Potter?" Severus asked with a scowl.

"Well, I thought they were a bit strong for what he'd described, but we just fought a war. We had to be overly cautious with every step we took back then." He shrugged. "I guess I just didn't really think much about it."

"And now Hermione is suffering because of your lack of clarity."

"Hey!" Harry said with some force.

Gawain looked over at Severus and placed a hand on his leg. "Severus… Lay off the boy. No one could have guessed this would have happened."

"Hermione and I could have. And you, Potter. You were there when he tried to give her a love potion. Didn't that make you nervous?"

"Ron is my friend! I gave him the benefit of the doubt that he would choose the right thing to do when it came to Hermione."

"Yes, because a love potion is definitely the correct choice!"

Gawain stood and gave Severus a caustic look. "Enough. You berating Harry is not going to get Miss Granger back. Save it for after her rescue."

Severus relaxed some and nodded at Gawain. He looked over at Harry.

"Sorry, Potter. This has been a trying day."

Harry nodded in agreement. "I understand, Snape. No harm done."

They spent the next little while making a plan of attack before they set out for the cabin. Everyone looked at everyone else.

"Watch yourselves. There's no telling what may happen," Robards offered.

Severus gave Molly a commiserating look. "We'll try not to hurt Ronald, but I don't think he'll give Hermione up without a fight."

Molly nodded and hugged Arthur. "We know, Severus. We're hoping for the best, but these last few weeks especially, Ron has been very dark and brooding."

"I thought you said he seemed happier, Potter," Severus mused as he looked over at the boy.

Harry shrugged. "He did. He smiled more. Like I said, he stopped talking about Hermione." He turned to Molly and Arthur. "How was he when he was home?"

"Quite sullen, to be honest," Arthur offered.

"He'd snap if he didn't like something I said," Molly told him. "I thought there were just issues at the Ministry that were setting him off."

Jonathan looked at Potter. "So, he was acting normal at work so neither you nor Gawain would suspect he was up to something, but at home, he didn't need to hide his anger."

Gawain turned to Severus. "I'm sorry we missed the clues, Severus. I know he was hiding them, but there must have been something."

"It sounds like he hid his plan well," Severus acquiesced.

"I was watching him," Harry offered.."I wanted to make sure he was forgetting about Hermione, and he seemed like he finally had. I'm sorry I was wrong."

Severus regarded Potter for a moment before speaking. "It's okay, Potter. It sounds like he was crafty in hiding his true motives."

They all were silent for a moment before Gawain spoke up to gather them for the attack.

"Is everyone ready?" Robards asked.

They all nodded and stood up.

"All right. On three we'll all Apparate to the site." He looked at all of them. "One, Two, Three."

They all spun in unison, Apparating away to save Hermione.