Harry stepped out of the emerald flames into a small, dusty room with no windows. Remus gestured towards the door.
“After you.”
Harry walked through the door and followed a narrow corridor until he reached another door, which led out into an alleyway.
“Where are we?” he asked.
“It’s a little pub that caters for the witches and wizards here “ or it used to. Times were there were more of us here than the Muggles, but these days…” Remus trailed off as they reached the end of the alleyway and stepped out into the light of the setting sun.
They were walking along a row of pleasant, detached houses, all with a slightly different style, none exactly the same. There was an old church spire rising behind the rooftops. Harry could feel the weight of his school bag cutting into his shoulder, and wished he had thought to leave it the Headmistress’s office. He had been in the library working on an essay and hadn’t had the chance to leave it in the common room. He could feel the books inside it bouncing painfully off of his leg every time he took a step and shifted the bag around so that they were cushioned by his Invisibility Cloak.
They turned a corner into another street, and there was an immediate difference. Most of the houses along here were for sale, or bore the ‘sold’ sign but were still empty. A few looked as though they had remained untouched for years. Harry looked at Remus questioningly.
“People don’t like to stay here long. They say it makes for a bad atmosphere, living near that.” He gestured up the street to where the houses were set back further from the road. Harry couldn’t see quite what he was pointing at, but he could guess. As they got nearer, he knew he must be right. There, between the houses with the oldest ‘for sale’ signs, was what must have once been a pretty little house and garden. Now one whole side of it was wrecked and blackened, blown apart, Harry supposed, by the back-firing killing curse.
They passed through the rickety wooden gate into the front garden. Harry let his legs fold beneath him until he was sitting cross-legged on the icy ground, and stared up at the house which could have been his home. He barely noticed Remus joining him on the ground. In his mind’s eye he saw Lily and James Potter as they were in his photograph album, standing in the doorway of their new house, waving at the camera, Lily already bearing the noticeable bump that would become their son several months later.
The time passed, second by second, minute by minute. After a while, Harry tore his eyes away from the broken home, and stood up. Remus rose too and led the way out of the garden, back down the road and along another alleyway. The church spire Harry had seen in the distance drew closer. Soon, they reached the church itself, and the graveyard behind it.
In the far left corner of the graveyard were two white marble tombstones which read:
Lily Potter, born 30th January 1960, died 31st October 1981
“To sleep, perchance to dream.”
Harry felt a hand on his shoulder.
“Your mother used to love Shakespeare,” Remus said quietly. “She spent months trying to convince James before he gave in and read Hamlet. This was her favourite quote.”
Harry smiled, and reread the words, trying to fix them in his mind so that he would not have to leave them behind when he returned to Hogwarts. As with the house, he did not take his eyes away for a long time, and as the darkness grew deeper Harry felt rather than saw the tears hit the cold ground. Eventually, he nodded, not wanting to speak, and Remus walked with him back the way they had came.
*
They arrived back at Hogwarts just before curfew. Harry said a hurried goodbye and thank you to Remus before returning to the common room. It was busy, full of talking, laughing students, but Harry bypassed them all, scanning every face, looking for Ginny. He couldn’t see her anywhere. Maybe she had already gone to bed?
He turned around, planning to ask one of her dorm mates, and saw Ron and Hermione move towards him, looking serious.
“Harry, have you seen Ginny?” Ron asked. Harry looked from one to the other.
“No,” he said, frowning. “I’ve been with Remus. Why?”
Ron’s forehead creased slightly as he registered the use of their old professor’s first name, but Hermione just ignored it and bit her lip.
“So she didn’t go off with you, then?” she said. Harry shook his head.
“Why?” he repeated. “Wasn’t she at the feast with you two?” As he spoke, his stomach growled, and he realised that he hadn’t eaten.
“She said she had to go and get something from the tower, and then she didn’t come back,” Hermione said.
Ron looked at his watch.
“It’s a quarter past nine,” he said. “The feast started at seven.”
“So she’s been missing for a couple of hours, maximum,” Hermione continued. “We’ve asked all her dorm mates, and all of her friends “ no one’s seen her since before the feast. I think we should look on the map for her.” She paused, her expression awkward. “Do you think I’m over-reacting?”
“Maybe,” said Harry, already reaching into his bag for the Marauder’s Map and moving towards a less public corner of the common room. “But it’s worth being careful “ just in case.” Privately, Harry had been itching for an excuse to check the map since he had first been unable to find her.
Harry activated the map, and the three of them peered at it, searching for Ginny’s name in the seemingly endless corridors and classrooms.
After a minute Harry spotted her little dot on the fourth floor, in what Hermione confirmed was the girl’s bathroom.
“Maybe she’s not feeling very well,” said Hermione, “and she “” Ron interrupted her. He pointed silently to three dots on the map labelled Vincent Crabbe, Gregory Goyle and Draco Malfoy. They were moving quickly down the stairs from the fourth floor. Harry felt his stomach clench. Not Ginny…
“They’re heading for the tunnel to Honeydukes,” said Harry. He took a deep breath. “Right. We can’t do this on our own…” Harry turned to look at the rest of the common room.
“Dumbledore’s Army,” he called quietly.
Neville, Dean, Seamus, Lavender, Parvati and the Creevey brothers came over as the rest of the house stared curiously. Harry explained the situation under his breath.
“Ron, Dean, Seamus and Lavender, you go down to the third floor, see if you can’t catch them up. But if they go into the tunnel, don’t follow “ there could be more of them.”
Ron nodded, and turned to go, but Harry caught his arm.
“Take the map with you.” Ron took it, and the four of them left.
“Colin, Neville “ you two go and wake up Professor McGonagall.” They left.
“Hermione, Parvati and Dennis, come with me and we’ll find Ginny.” Harry led the way out of the portrait hole and down the stairs. He could hear the footsteps of the others echoing down the corridors, and immediately wished he’d kept the map himself.
They walked for a few minutes, using several of the lesser-known short-cuts, before they came to the fourth-floor corridor. Harry stopped just outside the bathroom door.
“After you,” he said. Hermione and Parvati entered, and after a pause “ Hermione gasped “ Harry and Dennis followed. When he saw her, Harry’s stomach turned over. Ginny was lying unconscious on the floor in the corner, badly bruised, her arm at an unnatural angle beside her. Harry was by her side so quickly he didn’t even register getting there. He put his hand gently on her neck, checking her pulse. Her eyelids fluttered, but she didn’t wake. He barely registered Hermione kneeling next to him and touching his shoulder.
“Ginny? Ginny, can you hear me?” he whispered to her. She didn’t respond.
“Harry, we need to get Madam Pomfrey,” Hermione spoke quietly. She sounded scared and when Harry looked around at her, he saw that her face was white. “I’ll go with Parvati,” she continued, “will you and Dennis be alright here on your own?” Harry nodded, and heard her leave quickly, muttering instructions to Dennis on her way out, but he didn’t take his eyes away from Ginny. She was normally so vibrant, so full of life … Harry’s anger began to boil when he thought of what must have happened. I’ll find you, Malfoy, he thought.
Harry didn’t know how long he sat there with her before the sound of footsteps returned.
“Through here,” someone called. Harry looked around in time to see the door swing open again and then Professor McGonagall came in, followed by Ron, Hermione and Madam Pomfrey. Ron’s face turned as white when he saw Ginny, and he joined Harry at her side, but was soon ushered out of the way of Madam Pomfrey. Hermione, Harry noticed, slipped her hand into Ron’s, who seemed temporarily distracted from everything else as his eyes widened in surprise. Harry looked down at Ginny, almost expecting her to open her eyes and wink mischievously to show that she had noticed, too. But she lay, almost unmoving, completely unaware. Harry slipped his hand into hers.
It wasn’t until Ginny had been in the Hospital Wing for some time and Professor McGonagall demanded that Harry get some sleep before dawn that he left her side.
*
Ginny felt the bright light piercing her eyes before she had even properly awoken. She screwed up her face against the intrusion, but as she reached to pull the blanket over her head her arm flared with a sudden pain and she gasped. She felt someone gently manoeuvring her back under the covers, and opened her eyes. She smiled. A certain boy whose green eyes were worn with tiredness and whose tousled black hair was even scruffier than normal was trying to gently move her aching arm back under the covers without hurting her. He was so sleepy that he hadn’t even noticed that she was awake. Ginny cleared her throat.
“Good morning, Mr Potter,” was what she had meant to say teasingly, but it came out as a coughing fit. Harry handed her the glass of water on the side table. He waited silently as she drank, but the concern in his eyes told her exactly what he was going to say next. She got there first.
“Harry, you look shattered. You should get some sleep “”
But her sentence died at his expression.
“Are you alright, Gin?” She nodded, smiling at him softly and fighting a wince at the pain as he relaxed back into the chair.
“What happened?”
*
“Could you tell us what happened please?”
Ginny took a deep breath in. Why did she have to repeat this a hundred or so times? She’d already told Harry, and then Ron and Hermione when they had visited, and then her dorm-mates when Madam Pomfrey had finally let them in the Hospital Wing… and now Professor McGonagall and some members of the Order. Harry, sitting beside her, squeezed her hand lightly. Ginny breathed out.
“Just before the feast, I realised that I’d left something in the tower. I told Ron and Hermione, and went to get it. I was on my way back when I heard a noise from down the corridor. It sounded like someone was crying. I thought they might need some help, so I went around to see who it was. And then “ Malfoy was there, with Crabbe and Goyle…” Harry was staring at the floor as she spoke, his eyes almost unblinking. Ginny was startled by the amount of anger she could see in them. She had seen him angry before, several times in her fourth and fifth years. But not absolutely livid, not like this, not so furious he could barely move. A polite cough jerked back to reality, and she reminded herself that there were other people in the room, people waiting to hear what she had to say. She cleared her throat again, nervously.
“Sorry,” she said, trying to bring her mind back to the three Slytherins and away from those furious green eyes.
“Not to worry, Miss Weasley. In your own time.”
*
Ginny’s words echoed in Harry’s head as he walked through the almost completely deserted corridors. It was nearly nine o’clock. Ginny had, and Madam Pomfrey’s insistence, rested in the hospital wing for most of the day before seeing Professor McGonagall in the evening. It being a Sunday, Harry had spent the entire day with her, only leaving her side briefly at lunch time.
As he reached the seventh floor corridor, he felt the anger reach its peak, boiling in his clenched fists and pooling bitterly in the pit of his stomach. In his mind’s eye, he saw Crabbe and Goyle pushing Ginny against the wall while Malfoy taunted her. He saw Malfoy grab her arm as she tried to run, and twist it hard. He saw them hitting out, again and again, flesh against flesh until she collapsed to the floor. He pushed the images from his thoughts, but the anger still stormed within him, fighting for an excuse to hunt Malfoy down and tear him limb from limb. He reached the portrait of the Fat Lady and was about to give the password when the door opened from the inside and Hermione stepped through.
“Harry!” she said. “I just came out to look for you. The password’s changed to firebird, I wasn’t sure if you knew.” Harry nodded.
“McGonagall said.” He made his way into and across the common room and sat down next to Ron. Hermione followed him.
“How’s Ginny?” Ron asked. Harry nodded, then shrugged.
“About the same. Madam Pomfrey’s keeping her overnight again, but she’ll be back in lessons tomorrow.”
Ron nodded. After a moment, Hermione sat forwards in her chair, her expression eager and her voice so low that Ron and Harry had to lean forwards to hear what she was saying.
“I think we should go to Durmstrang.”
Harry and Ron exchanged sceptical looks.
“Why?” asked Ron, and Harry knew he was thinking of Krum.
“Because of this,” Hermione said, taking a book out of her bag and opening it on her lap.
“It talks about the castle, and apparently the Headmaster lives in an entirely separate wing, only connected to the others by a single narrow passageway.”
“You think Voldemort hid a Horcrux in Durmstrang Castle?” Ron asked.
“No,” realised Harry, “You think Karkaroff did, don’t you?” Hermione nodded.
“Durmstrang, though? How are we supposed to get there? We don’t even know exactly where it is!” Ron said. Hermione blushed.
“Well, I just got a letter from Viktor, and “” Ron scowled and slouched back in his chair. Hermione ignored him.
“- and he said that I’m welcome to visit him any time. I thought we could get him to help us.” She looked uneasily at Harry. “I know we can’t tell him much, but we could think of some excuse…”
Harry wasn’t sure. He had got on well enough with the Durmstrang champion during the tournament, but he wasn’t entirely sure how many questions would be asked, or how easily they could lie to him. Unless they took him into the entire thing? Harry dismissed the possibility as soon as it arrived. Dumbledore had asked him to tell no one but Ron and Hermione.
But I told Ginny…
That was different.
Was it?
Yes.
Why?
Because I lo-
“Harry?”
Harry shook the thoughts away, hoping he hadn’t gone red. Hermione and Ron were both looking at him.
“We’d have to have a good excuse,” he said. Judging by Ron and Hermione’s expressions, he had missed a portion of their conversation.
“Yeah. But if we have a good enough one, then we get a free tour of the castle and grounds, right?” said Ron. “Or d’you think he’ll want to follow us around the whole time?” Harry looked at his best friend. A shadow of a scowl still remained on his face, but he had pushed it away to better focus on the situation. Harry wondered how Ron would cope if they did have to spend a large amount of time with Krum “ and, looking at Hermione, resolved to try to keep them apart as much as possible. He didn’t need another war breaking out just as they were on the way to ending this one.
*
Thanks for reading “ reviews make the world go around! Or my one, anyway.
Hazel