"Hermione?" called a woman's voice.
"Dear, calm down I'm sure she's just having a nightmare,” said a man's voice behind hers.
"I'm just checking!"
The door to Hermione's room opened and a small drape of light crept on the floor. "Hermione, dear, are you all right?" the woman said approaching a bed, "we heard you scream..." There was no noise.
"Oh my!" The man turned on the light and the woman screamed. The bed was empty.
***
It was about mid-afternoon when Ron, who had been sitting around doing nothing all day, decided to go for a walk around the property. He had not had the chance to do so since the move in, plus there was a small studio on the hill farthest from the house. He had thought about making this a clubhouse. One for him and Harry to… him and Harry to share.
Ron pulled on some shoes, staring fully at a crumpled piece of parchment that sat inches from a silver dustbin. He wasn't really interested in it, nor was he deep in thought; he was trying desperately not to think about anything, as he found that every subject usually led to the thought of Harry. He grumbled something about the "stupid parchment" as he left his room.
"No, Ginny, I want to go alone!" Ron said pulling on a jacket and noticing Ginny following him.
"Oh Ron, don't be so foul," she protested. “We've both been cooped up here and I'm not going to sit around this place for another moment! Besides, no mail has come for days!"
"Well this is the day, so stay here and wait for it!" Ron said going out the door into a windy, gray day. He started to walk around the side of the house when Ginny appeared behind him putting on her coat. He walked on, annoyed.
The grass was very tall and there were mounds of land everywhere. Just in front of him was the path to the hill. Hmm- perhaps he wouldn't go there yet. After all, he wanted this clubhouse to be Ginny-free. After about five minutes of aimless walking, Ginny let out a scream.
Ron flung himself around, pulling out his wand, "Ginny what are you tryin' to do, kill me?" He looked at what she was screaming about. Errol was lying on the floor along with half a dozen other owls. They were petrified. He noticed that none of the owls were carrying letters, and all of them had expressions of fear. (As far as he could tell, anyway.)
"I think I know why we haven't been getting mail," Ron said grimly. "Who would do this?"
Ginny hadn't spoken or moved and she finally whispered, "I'm going to get Mum." She sped off towards the house and Ron heard a noise behind him: a sort of crashing sound. It was coming from the studio on the hill.
He knew his mother would be out soon so he decided to rush over and see what made the noise. He stepped up the grassy hill and approached the door, which was slightly ajar. He slowly pushed it open and looked inside. It was fairly dusty with a few boxes and an old table in the middle, but other than that the room was in very good order. It seemed larger than it looked from the outside though, and on the other side of the room was a small door. Surely it led outside, he thought, for there was no possible way this building could go on. Ron stepped inside the room and approached the small door. He opened it and saw that it led into a small storage room that held nothing but a tall, red door standing strangely in the middle of the room. Impossible, he thought.
"Ron?" he heard his mom yell.
He quickly left the studio, slamming the front door shut and running down the hill. "Yeah, Mum?"
"Oh there you are! Ron, get inside quickly! Your father is coming with a ministry member to see what's going on with the owls." Her voice was strong and he wondered if she had expected this all to happen.
He ran up the steps to his room and when he got there he looked out the window. The great field around his house swayed with the wind and he wondered if perhaps he would see Dumbledore approach the house. Did Dumbledore ride a broom? he thought to himself. He was interrupted by ash exploding in the fireplace. A cloud of black soot rose and subsided as a small cough came from within, and then the figure emerged. It was Luna.
"Luna, what are you doing here?" Ron asked urgently and concerned. Luna stepped out of the fireplace leisurely, almost as casually as if she were here for an invited afternoon of tea and light conversation. "Hello! Did you hear me?"
"Oh, hello Ronald," Luna said surprised, "I was hoping to find you here."
Ron almost questioned why she would be so surprised to find him in his own house, but decided against troubling her with any more questions.
"I had to come at once!" Her manner had changed quickly to urgency, which surprised Ron. "I couldn't get a hold of Hermione and letters to Ginny didn't seem to reach her." She seemed to understand the need of a more satisfying explanation that was on Ron's face and so she continued plainly, "I found Harry!"
Ron had made a sort of holler as he grabbed Luna's jacket and said loudly, "You've what!? Where?"
Ginny had entered upon hearing Ron's commotion and after seeing Luna, she stopped and made an inquiring face, wondering whether she was hallucinating. Luna turned to Ginny and exclaimed once more, 'I found Harry!" There was a moment of hullabaloo and Ron and Ginny finally sat down for details.
"I was on holiday with my father," Luna began as she fiddled with a rather large and otherwise strange vial hanging from her necklace, "and we were looking for pink-spotted canker blossoms when I noticed something in the meadow where we were staying. It was a pretty meadow to be absolutely honest. Pretty dandelions-"
Ron had shouted at her ("Get on with it!") and Luna looked offended. She stroked the vial and closed here eyes, speaking again as if the words had been written on the inside of her eyelids.
"And I noticed a wisp of grey that I was sure was a hazy hipped hop…"
Luna had been staring out the window and she stopped talking for a moment though her face had not changed. Ron looked at Ginny nervously before Luna suddenly began talking again as if she had never stopped. "Then, I could hear it speak. I knew it was Harry… I knew ‘cause…"
Luna had stopped talking completely this time and was looking at Ron and Ginny as if she had been listening rather than speaking.
"And where is he now?" Ginny asked, "Can we see him? You know where he is, right?"
"He's here!" Luna exclaimed, smiling and Ron and Ginny jumped up and looked around, waiting for Harry to pop out of a hiding place and smile for them once again. "No," Luna said holding up the vial, "here."
Ron and Ginny looked at the vial up close and could see the cloudiness within. Ron was hoping he could hear Harry. He wanted it so much. Ginny looked up at Luna who took a strange fly out of a small container and opened the vial. She dropped the fly inside and closed the vial carefully.
"What's that for?" Ron asked, wondering why she would drop a bug on Harry like that.
"Oh that's a mayvie fly. They live for 12 years. Harry takes a living creature's life up at a quick rate so I have to give him a new life to live in every few days."
Ron and Ginny exchanged glances, as this was the most intelligent sounding thing Luna had probably ever said in their presence.
"But I'm running low on flies and I knew he'd be safer if adults knew so I had to come here and see you guys." Luna had said this with a bit of urgency herself which would have surprised Ron but just then the door opened and Dumbledore entered.
He didn't seem surprised to see Luna at all but Ron could see his face was not cheerful. He seemed to be about to say something, but he just went over to the fireplace. Everyone's eyes followed him and Arthur, Molly and Moody appeared in the doorway. Dumbledore raised his wand to the fireplace and whispered a spell.
"Professor…?" Ron asked.
"Just sealing this fireplace for a while. Do not worry Luna, you shall return home in another."
Ron looked at his father warily and he asked, "But professor, why seal my fireplace?" Ron had the feeling of freedom taken away.
"Because I must try and keep you safe… and keep you from the possibilities of a horrible death."
"A horrible death, professor?" Ginny asked.
"What are you talking about?" Ron asked in the manner of a teenager being punished for a deed he did not commit. "Why would I be trying to seek something like that through my fireplace?"
"Because Hermione Granger has disappeared."