Unofficial Portkey Archive

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document.write(''); chapter thirteen: Lost

By the time that Ron, Draco, and Ginny had made it to the hotel, investigators from the Ministry of Magic had already come and gone. Harry was sitting in the midst of the room, still in his bathing suit and t-shirt, looking horribly and miserably lost.

For a moment, they merely regarded him in silence, not knowing what they could possibly say to ease that kind of hurt. Ginny finally ventured, " Harry? It's us. We're here to help."

Harry's eyes widened suddenly, and he shot to his feet. " The card!" he gasped, moving over to closet and rummaging through its contents.

Ginny glanced back at Ron, careful not to look at Draco, then turned back to Harry. " Um, Harry, what are you doing?"

" The card," Harry said frantically, "it has to be the card."

Draco and Ron exchanged an uncomfortable glance. " Ur," Draco said finally, "is this one of the stages of grief, or something? Incoherent babbling?"

Ignoring them, Harry moved away from the closet. " It's not here...it has to be!" His gaze fell upon a nearby chair, where his suit coat had been discarded. Letting out a yell of triumph, he pulled out a sealed envelope from his tux pocket. Frantically, he ripped it open. The first thing to drop to the floor was a tiny, round metallic disk. The other was a purple colored fly that buzzed around impatiently.

Ron paled at the sight of the insect. " That's a Fly on the Wall. It acts sort of like a Muggle-what's the name-a macaroni phone. You know, it lets people listen in on what's going on."

Harry picked up the disk. " And this is a muggle device. Used as a sort of homing beacon."

Draco frowned at this. " You mean, someone's been tracking you? But...why?"

Harry crumpled the card in his hand. " The Dursleys. I should have known that they wouldn't come to support me at my wedding. They planted these in the card so that they could keep an eye on us. And I bet they used the Fly on the Wall so they'd know when Hermione was alone."

Ginny looked vaguely sickened. " So they were listening...to everything?"

The implications of that statement drove into Harry's core. Every intimate moment he'd shared with Hermione...every perfect, sweet moment...Someone had been listening in, intruding, forcing themselves in. He wanted to yell and vomit and bash his fist into the wall, all at once.

Ron was frowning, looking puzzled. " You know I'm keen to place all the blame on the Dursleys, Harry-I've always hated those slimy gits-but do you really think they could have thought of this? And why would they go to all that trouble?"

" You're right." Harry said glumly. " They must have been working with someone else, someone who had an agenda and was just using the Dursleys to get to me."

" Kimmy." all four said grimly.

Harry sighed. " I was afraid this would happen. Hermione even--" But he stopped, because it was too painful to say her name.

" We'll find her, mate," Ron said softly.

Ginny met his gaze earnestly. " I'll do whatever I can."

" We all will," Draco added, uncharacteristically serious.

Harry took a moment, taking in a deep breath. Then he nodded grimly. "We'll find her," he said, more to himself than anyone else. " We'll find her."

***

The first thing that Hermione became aware of when she regained consciousness was that she was bound at her wrists and ankles, the rope rubbing most painfully into her skin. The second was that she was in a chair, and that the table in front of her was set almost meticulously with an elaborate tea set.

Confused, her eyes drifted up to the face across the table. Kimmy. She smiled at Hermione coldly, her hands clasped daintily on top of the white lace tablecloth. " Glad to see that you're coming to, Hermione. We were worried about you."

" We?" Hermione inquired feebly. She followed Kimmy's gaze to the back corner, where Dudley stood, watching her intently.

Kimmy leaned toward her, still smiling. " It's been so long, Hermione. There's so much to catch up on. For starters, I hear that you're a married woman now."

Hermione remained silent.

" It was a lovely wedding, by all accounts," Kimmy continued, " Dudley had only praising words for the bride. I thought about crashing the wedding, but then I thought I'd give you that one last memory to hold onto. It is the last time you'll ever see Harry, after all."

Somehow, through power of will that she didn't know she possessed, Hermione managed to keep calm. " What are you going to do with me?" she inquired.

" Whatever it takes to keep you away from Harry." Kimmy returned easily, shrugging as though it was of little consequence. " We can't have that prophecy coming true, now can we? But don't worry, Hermione. It will all be quite civil here. So long as you're a good girl, there will be tea to drink every morning and a warm bed to sleep in. We're not monsters, you know."

Hermione met her gaze coldly. " You do an alarmingly good impersonation of it."

Kimmy merely laughed at this, and then motioned to Dudley. " Take Mrs. Potter to her room, please. She's had a long day and she'll like to rest, no doubt."

Eagerly, Dudley came forward and wrapped his bulky arms around Hermione, half-dragging her down a long, barely lit hall to a corner room, complete with bars and padlocks. Dudley hesitated outside of the door, glancing over his shoulder, then slowly began to crawl his hands along the exposed skin on Hermione's back.

She felt an explosion of fear hammer at her heart. " Don't you dare touch me," she seethed in what she hoped was her most ominous voice, then reiterated, " Don't you DARE touch me!"

Dudley was silent for a moment, and then he half-threw her into the room, bolting the door behind her. Hermione waited until she was certain he was gone, then curled herself into a ball and wept.

***

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A/N: Yeah, I know it's getting kinda grim, but stick with me. I love happy endings. :)