Ron continued down the street, leaving Harry and Ginny behind as he stepped over the newly fallen leaves on the ground. He looked back after awhile and saw Harry’s back to him, holding Ginny as she cried. He didn’t have any time to waste; he couldn’t stop to dawdle over something this silly. Ginny needed to get her act together if they were going to find Hermione and Lily. Ron continued on, turning away from Harry and Ginny as he thought of his wife and daughter again. Tears filled his eyes for what seemed like the millionth time that day. What if I never find them? Ron thought to himself, picturing him and Hermione in the same position that Ginny and Harry were in. What happens if I can never hold her again? Ron thought, and just as quick as he thought this he pushed it out of his mind, wiping the tears from his face, a determined look about his face. I WILL find them, if it’s the last thing I do. Ron thought as he started running in the opposite direction of Harry and Ginny, just remembering something that had happened earlier at an inn they had searched. Just as he started running, they turned around and realized he wasn’t there anymore.
“Where’d he go?” Ginny asked hurriedly as she noticed for the first time that Ron was nowhere to be found. Harry turned around then and looked for any sign of Ron.
“Damn it Ron, you had to go do something stupid like that,” Harry said, mostly to himself as he took Ginny’s hand and continued through the crowded street, calling Ron’s name as he walked. Ginny stopped abruptly and Harry turned around.
“What’s wrong?” Harry asked as Ginny gave him a perplexed look.
“I don’t think he wants us to find him.” Ginny said, pointing in the direction of a tall figure with red hair across the street and down a ways. “Look,” she said as she pointed and Harry directed his gaze towards Ron, who stood in front of an inn that they had looked in a number of times and Malfoy hadn’t been there.
“Ginny, he’s looking in that inn again, we already looked there,” Harry said and Ginny nodded.
“He just picked up on something that I hadn’t before,” Ginny said as she stared at Ron. “Malfoy has to be in there.” Ginny finished, looking up at her husband. “He’s got to be,”
Flashback
Harry, Ron, and Ginny entered the small inn for the second time that day to search the rooms. Harry held up his auror badge at the doorman and he nodded his head in approval as they continued inside and up the stairs to search the rooms. Every room they searched was completely empty except for one, which held a small child and his mother. Admitting defeat, the trio headed back downstairs towards the lobby and noticed a door that hadn’t been there before. It was left ajar and Harry stepped forward, pulling the door open all the way and noticing a set of very uneven and moldy stairs made of solid rock. Harry was about to go down when he heard a man shouting,
“No! You cannot go down there, sir!” it was the doorman from earlier. Harry took his auror’s badge out again and held it up as he started to descend the stairs. “You must have permission from the ministry to go down these steps sir!” the man continued and Harry stopped. He turned around to face the man and gave him a puzzled expression,
“I am one of the ministry’s top aurors, I do not think they will have a problem with me descending these steps and taking a look for anything dangerous down here.” Harry continued, staring the doorman right in the face and at the same time taking one further step down the stairway. The doorman simply would not have it though and stepped right past Harry, standing in front of him and extending his hands.
“Sir, I forbid you to go down one more step, this is a top secret room we hold and you must have official ministry permission before I allow you to search it,” the man said, completely blocking Harry’s path. Although Harry was still curious, he doubted Malfoy would have dwelled in a basement. It was much too uncomfortable for him. Harry gave up finally and turned back around towards Ginny and Ron, who looked frightened at the doorman, who still had a very stern look about him. Harry was just about to leave when he noticed a soft cry come from the steps,
“What was that?” he asked as Ginny and Ron quickly fled to the doors of the inn. “What was that noise?” he asked again as the doorman looked fearful.
“Nothing, that was nothing, must have been your imagination,” the doorman said, closing the door quickly and hurrying towards the front doors again. Harry put his ear up to the door, but did not hear anything as he turned around once again and headed out the inns doors. But, just as he pushed the door open, he looked back; the door was nowhere to be seen. Harry turned again, and walked out the doors, only returning after awhile, to see the doorman point his wand at the place where the door stood, and descend the stairs quickly, looking around as though he were afraid of someone watching him.
End Flashback
Harry looked at Ginny with a confused look about him and realized what Ginny was talking about.
“You’re right, he must be in there,” he said and continued walking in the direction of the inn. Ginny stopped him though, placing her hand on his arm.
“Like I said, I don’t think he wants to be found,” she said as she saw Ron look around him hurriedly and take his wand out, stepping into the inn, the small door closing behind him.
“You can’t expect me to let him fight Malfoy alone,” Harry said, turning to his wife again with a worried expression on his face.
“He’ll be fine,” Ginny stated clearly as she took Harry’s arm and led him towards the ally across from the inn. “When Ron’s that angry, nothing will stop him from attaining his goal.” She said as she stopped abruptly, in the ally directly facing the inn. “We’ll wait till he comes out,” she said plainly.
“But,” Harry started but Ginny silenced him with a quick kiss.
“But nothing,” she started. “We’ll wait till he comes out, or if we hear some great commotion, maybe I’ll let you play the hero and go get him,” she said with a small smirk at her husband. “He’ll be fine, he’s been trained to kill dark wizards to you know,” she said with another small smile. Harry returned the smile and looked at Ginny again,
“Well…alright,” he said, as he put an arm around Ginny. The leaned up against the brick wall of the ally and watched the inn’s doors.
Ron entered the inn for the third time that day and walked right past the doorman, who held up a hand to stop him,
“Sir, can I help you?” he asked and Ron pointed his wand at him. The man backed up in fear at Ron’s angry expression.
“Yes you can, you can tell me exactly how to get into the basement from there,” he said as he pointed to where the door had stood earlier that day.
“Sir that holds top secret information and I cannot permit you to…” the man started, but stopped when Ron thrust the wand at his throat and glared at him.
“Tell me how to get to the basement from here,” he growled at him as the man whimpered, trying to get his wand out of his pocket. Ron glared at him more and flicked his wand, causing ropes to tie the man’s hands to his sides and to the wall he had put him up against.
“I cannot tell you,” the man said and Ron glared at him once again as a group of employees gathered around them. Some seemed to be happy that Ron was holding this man capture, other than getting their own wands out and pointing them at him. Ron decided not to worry about this and turned back towards the doorman.
“Why not?” Ron asked simply, not taking his gaze from the man as he loosened his grip on his wand. “What can be so important that you cannot tell me what is down there?” Ron asked him.
“I cannot tell you, because he asked me not to,” the man responded, still eyeing Ron’s wand as though it were poison.
“Who asked you not to?” Ron asked him.
“Mr. Malfoy sir, he asked not to be disturbed, told me he was in high esteem with the ministry,” the man said again. Ron stared at the man with disbelief.
“And you believed him?” Ron asked as he thrust the wand at him again. “Draco Malfoy, sir, is a man that is being searched for by the ministry because he kidnapped my wife and daughter,” Ron finished. “Now, tell me how to get through that door,” Ron said, disregarding the fact that he had not told the whole truth. The man stared at Ron in disbelief and skepticism before saying,
“You need a key,” he said and gestured towards the inn’s lobby area, where a young teenaged witch held up what looked like a wand, only it was a bright green color. “And your wand,” he continued. Ron released the man from the bindings. The man gasped for breath as he held his neck, where the rope had been just moments before. “Point both your wand and the key at the door at the same time, and it will open,” he finished before heading back towards the doors of the inn. He closed them, locking them from the inside. Ron nodded his head at the man and took the key from the young witch, who reminded him of Hermione when they were in school. She had the same bushy hair that always made him think of her. Ron gave the girl a small smile before pointing his wand and the key at the door. The door glowed around the edges and Ron heard a click as it opened. He pulled the door open the rest of the way and started to descend the dark stone steps…
Draco Malfoy entered his bedroom again, looking towards the three bassinets at the front. One pink, the other two blue. He stopped at the first and picked up the baby girl.
“To bad you look so much like your father,” Malfoy said to the child. “If you didn’t I would have kept you as my own.” Malfoy finished before setting the child down, rather roughly back in the bassinet. He continued over towards his bed and lay down, ready to get some sleep after a long day.
Ron stepped down on the last stair and faced a long dark corridor. There were four doors he could see, so he started down the hallway, opening the first door and was greeted with a large, dark, empty room. He looked around hesitantly as though waiting for something to come out of the darkness. When nothing did, Ron closed the door and continued down the corridor again, coming to the second door and opening it. What he saw when he opened it made his heart beat faster when he saw his wife, huddled in the corner, sleeping it looked like. Ron ran over to her, noticing then that her face was all bruised, and her arms bore cuts and bruises along them. He didn’t even want to see the state of the rest of her.
“Hermione,” Ron said softly, trying to wake her as he shook her gently. “Hermione, wake up,” Ron said, a little more urgently this time, as Hermione didn’t seem to be moving at all. “Hermione!” Ron shouted as tears came to his eyes. Ron took the women in his arms and held her, tears streaming down his face as he gazed at his wife’s face, lifeless in the dark room. “Please wake up Hermione,” Ron said as tear fell from his face to hers.
“Weasley,” Ron heard someone say as a shadow came over him and Hermione. “She won’t wake up,” the voice continued, drawing closer to him as Ron’s eyes narrowed, and he reached for his wand. Ron stood up from the floor.
“What have you done to her?” Ron demanded, pointing his wand at the dark figure.
“I think the better question is, what didn’t I do to her?” the voice said, coming from a dark hood. “She won’t wake up this time Weasley,” Draco Malfoy continued, “This time, she won’t come back like you want her to.” He continued. “Love won’t help you now, Weasley,”
“CRUCIO!” Ron yelled and Malfoy reflected it. The curse flew from Ron’s wand towards Malfoy, bouncing back and making part of the ceiling collapse a few feet away from where Hermione lay. Ron glared at Malfoy, a look of pure hatred in his eyes as Malfoy laughed at him.
“That was weak Weasley, you didn’t think that YOU of all people could use an unforgivable curse. You have no practice, you have to mean it, and you have to WANT to cause pain.” Malfoy laughed a maliciously… “You’ll never be able to do it Weasley,”
“CRUCIO!” Ron shouted again and this time, Malfoy was not prepared, and the curse was stronger. Malfoy fell to the floor, twitching in pain as Ron held his wand, ensuring as much pain as possible towards him. Ron lifted it only after he had seen Malfoy drop his wand during, and Ron quickly yelled. “Accio wand,” and Malfoy’s wand flew towards him. Ron caught it as he pointed his wand once again at Malfoy, thick cords twisted around him and secured his arms and feet together. “Where’s my daughter?” he asked and Malfoy looked up at him, looking pathetic and actually scared as he gestured towards the door with his head. Ron quickly picked Hermione up and continued out the door towards the other two doors at the end of the hallway. He pushed one open, only to find another dark room, he continued down the hallway, looking back to see Malfoy trying to crawl up the stairs. He opened the last door and found three bassinets standing right by the door. His heart raced as he tried to imagine what Malfoy could have done to Lily, tears still streamed down his face as he faced the bassinets. He placed Hermione’s lifeless body down on the bed on the opposite side of the room. He then went over to the bassinets again. One was pink, the other two blue. He quickly looked inside the pink one and was relieved to see Lily, her eyes wide open and her fists flailing everywhere. Ron heard her make a cooing noise and smiled. He picked her up, holding her close to his heart and kissing her.
“You are not lost,” he said kissing her at least 10 times on her tiny head. Ron’s eyes soon filled with tears as they traveled back towards the bed in the corner. Hermione’s body still lay lifeless on the bed. Ron’s eyes narrowed once again as he remembered Malfoy, trying to crawl up the steps. Ron placed Lily next to Hermione and rushed out the door, determined to cause Malfoy as much pain as possible. He found him at the bottom of the steps and he shouted, “CRUCIO”. Malfoy once again started writhing in pain, twitching on the bottom step of the moldy staircase. This carried on for a few minutes when he heard something going on upstairs. In fear of being caught using an unforgivable curse, Ron lifted it quickly and went back to get Hermione and Lily. He picked Lily up and put her on his shoulder before casting a spell on Hermione to make her very light and carried her towards the staircase again. He walked up the stairs, passing Malfoy’s useless body slumped over the bottom stair and out into the lobby of the inn. He passed the doorman, glaring at him as the doorman tried to help him carry Hermione. Ron refused, yanking her out of his reach and exited the inn. He saw Harry and Ginny across the street and hurried away from them as the started getting nearer to him. He continued down the street, walking back towards his and Hermione’s house. Hermione would get better, she just had to, and she wasn’t dead. Harry and Ginny caught up with him eventually and Ginny gasped as she noticed Hermione’s state. Ginny covered her mouth as her eyes filled with tears and she took Lily from him,
“Oh Ron,” she said. Ron continued, determined to make it to their house all in one piece, Hermione would wake up, she had to. “Ron, come on, you have to take her to St. Mungo’s,” Ginny said helplessly, not wanting to say the words she knew were true. Harry continued with them, walking a little behind him, facing Hermione’s pale face. He couldn’t look at her. “Ron, you have to go to St. Mungo’s!” Ginny persisted as Ron directed his gaze away from her and continued walking. “Ron!” Ginny said again, her tears spilling over and down her cheeks. “Ron, she’s didn’t make it,” Ginny said quietly and Ron stopped, unable to penetrate what Ginny had just said. Hermione would be all right; she was just sleeping, that was all. She wasn’t dead. Ginny became hysterical as Harry took her in his arms again, tears in his own eyes.
“Ron, you have to take her to St. Mungo’s, they’ll be able to prepare for the funeral,” Harry said. Ron didn’t say anything, but continued walking. She was still alive, he could feel it, she wasn’t dead…Don't Leave Me...Ron whispered, right in Hermione's ear as he continued walking, ignoring Ginny's sobs and Harry's tears...
please leave comments??? i'd love it if all of you did....it would make my day! sorry for the delay in updating, i've just been so very busy with school and such.
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