Unofficial Portkey Archive

Hmm, you all are frustrated with my cliffhanger, methinks. Well sorry to break it to you, but you're getting another one at the end of this chapter. I personally don't think it's as suspenseful at last week's, but it's up there.

And to my great surprise, there is nothing else to say this time. So read on!

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Chapter 20: The Search Begins

Harry woke and tried to remember where he was. He was surrounded by white.

'I don't think I'm dead,' he thought as he squinted at the bright light. Instinctively he reached around for his glasses and felt them being placed in his right hand. Putting them on he realised he was in the hospital wing at Hogwarts.

Then it all came rushing back to him.

Scrivenshaft's...Lucius petrifying him and Krum...the look of terror on Hermione's face when she was stunned...the emptiness that filled his mind once she was unconscious. He still remembered her last thought before the stunner hit her.

'Harry...save me...'

With a rage that consumed every fiber in his body, he bolted from the bed and made to go after Voldemort right then and there, but found himself hurtled back into the bed by an unknown force.

"You know I can't let you leave like that, Harry," Dumbledore said from beside him.

"Let me go," he said in a tone that was so soft and dangerous, it might've crumbled the resolve of any man except the one in front of him.

"I can't do that," the headmaster said. "You'll get killed."

"Then I'll die!" Harry shouted. "I will NOT sit here while Hermione is suffering!"

"Do you think she would appreciate you getting killed while trying to save her?"

Harry opened his mouth to retort, but found no logical answer coming from his mind. So instead he simply covered his face with his hands and broke down tears.

"I failed..." he said into his hands. "I promised her that I would always protect her and I broke my promise."

"It was not a promise that could have been kept, given the state of things," Dumbledore said gravely. Harry looked up at him. "It's not your -"

"If you tell me it's not my fault one more time, there's going to be a disagreement," Harry interrupted in a voice that clearly stated he would attempt to hex the headmaster.

"You know it's true though."

Harry felt the same anger that he felt at the end of his fifth year welling up inside him at Dumbledore again. The air in the room suddenly became heavy and a few of the windows shattered before Harry's emotions grew calm.

"Sorry," he said, glancing around him. Dumbledore simply shrugged and repaired the damage with a wave of his wand. "How can you say that?"

"Because it's the truth," he answered. "The fault is with Voldemort ordering her kidnapped, and Lucius for carrying out that order."

"I know that," Harry spat impatiently. "But I didn't keep her from being taken. She's suffering right now because I wasn't fast enough." Dumbledore sighed.

"I suppose you could look at it like that," he said thoughtfully. Harry's head snapped up; he hadn't expect the headmaster to agree with him on something like this. "Yes, because you are friends, because you are lovers, your commitment to her is greater than it would be to anyone else."

"Thanks for agreeing with me," Harry said dejectedly.

"I am not agreeing with you, Harry," the aged wizard corrected. "I'm merely stating a fact. If Hermione were to injure herself in, say for example, an automobile accident while you were a hundred miles away, would you blame yourself?"

"No," he answered quickly. "But what does that have to do with this?"

"Everything," Dumbledore replied. "Something happened that was beyond your control. You were simply close to her when it happened."

"I could've reacted quicker to Lucius -"

"Harry, although it appears you had a vision of the future, I highly doubt you are a Seer, and therefore had no way to know the man in the cloak was Lucius," the headmaster said. "He was ready, and you simply weren't."

"I wonder what Moody would say," Harry scoffed.

"Probably nothing, considering what happened," Dumbledore said.

"What do you mean?"

"Well it is highly suspicious that Lucius had you petrified, yet didn't attempt to take you with him," he said. "A perfect opportunity to present you to the Dark Lord in a petrified state, where he could kill you without much difficulty."

As Harry thought about it, it did make sense. Why would Lucius just leave him there? Krum for that matter too? As Harry thought about it, he could only arrive at one conclusion, and from the look on Dumbledore's face, he knew he was right without even asking.

"He knows the prophecy, doesn't he?"

"Given the situation, almost certainly," Dumbledore said. "It's the only possible excuse. Which also means," the headmaster said with a slight smile, "that there is a bit of good news out of all of this."

"What's that?"

"He doesn't know how to kill you." Harry stayed silent for a moment after this.

"How could he not?" he asked, finally managing to voice his questions again. "How come he couldn't just fire an Avada Kedavra at me while I was petrified and be done with it?"

"Because now that you and Hermione discovered that you have your link, your soul is intertwined with hers," Dumbledore said. "With the added protection of your mother, the spell wouldn't be able to kill you."

"But he has the same protection," Harry said. "He has my blood."

"But the protection is foreign to him," the headmaster replied. "He may be able to touch you, but that's the extent of the benefit your blood provides him with. Yes, an Avada Kedavra cast by him would certainly cause you, along with Hermione, excruciating pain, more so than the Cruciatus Curse. But no matter how many times he could cast it, it would never kill you." Harry gulped at the thought of something more painful than the torture curse. "Which is why he wants Hermione."

"I thought he wanted her to get at me," Harry said in confusion.

"That's part of it," Dumbledore said. "But there is another, more important reason." The realisation hit Harry instantly like a ton of bricks.

'Blood can be cleaned, or used for better things...'

"My god," Harry breathed in a voice just above a whisper. "He wants her blood." Dumbledore nodded.

"Because of your connection, he believes that if he has Hermione's blood, he will be able to get past the barrier that protects you."

"Will that work?" Harry asked. The wrinkles on the headmaster's brow creased in thought at this.

"No," he finally said. "But it won't stop the potion he gives Hermione and Ginny from killing them." Harry nodded grimly at this.

"So why didn't he take Krum?" he asked.

"Although Voldemort's intelligence is not the greatest in the world, he does know that the more people you keep captured, the greater the risk of one of them escaping."

"And if one escapes, they can help the others," Harry finished.

"Exactly," Dumbledore said nodding. "Not to mention the fact that Viktor is a very skilled wizard. More so than a lot of Tom's death eaters, I'd imagine."

Harry nodded glumly, when a thought occurred to him.

"I thought you were with Ron for the ghost meeting," he said.

"I was," Dumbledore replied. "But when Fawkes came and told me what had happened, I hastened to your side. Ronald is still talking with them; having one person argue our views is better than none." Harry nodded. "Get some rest, Harry. You're going to need all of your strength in the following days."

With that, the headmaster exited the hospital wing, leaving Harry there with his thoughts.

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Two days later Harry was still in the hospital wing. Apparently he had fallen into shock after Hermione had been kidnapped. Madam Pomfrey had told him that, as usual, he would be fine, but he needed to stay for a bit. She was in the middle of giving Harry a checkup after he had eaten dinner one evening, when the doors to the ward opened and none other than Krum walked in.

"Professor," Harry said with a slight nod.

"Harry," he replied sitting down next to the bed. "How are you feeling?"

"As well as I can, I suppose," Harry said. "I'm worried."

"And vith good reason," Krum replied. "I vanted to apologize."

"For what?" asked Harry, brow furrowed.

"I'm your Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, and yet I vas unable to defend you from the dark arts."

"Don't worry about it," Harry said with a dismissive wave. "It wasn't your fault."

"I am at as much fault as you are," Krum retorted. "So vatever blame you place on your shoulders, I deserve an eqval amount."

"Listen, don't worry about it," Harry reiterated. "I don't think there was much we could've done anyway." Krum sighed at this as Madam Pomfrey ordered Harry to lean forward so she could check his breathing.

"So how are ve going to rescue Herm-own-ninny and Ginny?" he asked. At this, both Harry and Madam Pomfrey froze and looked at him as if he had sprouted horns. "Vat?"

"Er..." Harry tried to stall for time. It was true: he had been planning on trying to rescue Hermione and Ginny in some way, but he didn't feel it was appropriate to talk about it with a teacher who might get interrogated by Dumbledore, much less in front of the school nurse. "What do you mean, we?" he asked, coming up with the only response that seemed logical at the moment.

"I mean exactly vat I say," Krum said. "Like I said, I take eqval responsibility, and therefore, if you are going to rescue Herm-own-ninny and Ginny, I vill be coming vith you." Harry could've sworn he heard Madam Pomfrey give a scoff at this before she resumed her examination.

"Well, I...er...didn't have anything planned yet," Harry said, which was half true. He was planning on rescuing the girls. How he was going to accomplish that was a different story.

"Very vell," his professor said standing up. "Vhen you figure something out, please let me know." Harry nodded and Krum made to leave the room.

"Viktor?" he asked as he reached the doors. The professor turned around to show he was listening. "Thanks." Krum gave him a smile and left the ward. Turning around, Harry saw that he was currently the recipient of a very displeased stare from the nurse.

"I'm hoping you're not actually going to go after them, Potter," she said standing up. Harry shrugged. "Because I will more than likely be the one who has to fix you up after you get injured."

"I don't know what I'm going to do yet," Harry replied. "So how do I look?" The nurse gave a great sigh.

"You're fine," she said. "You can go."

"Really?" asked Harry, surprised at this news.

"Really," the nurse replied. "But for heaven's sake, please don't go do anything rash."

"I won't," Harry said as he bolted from the bed and out of the room. Madam Pomfrey could do nothing but shake her head as the old doors swayed slightly from being thrown open so violently.

Out in the hall Harry was sprinting up the corridor to the Gryffindor common room. He knew exactly what his first move was going to be, and he wasn't going to waste a second. He turned a corner and ran straight into a student who was walking down the hall, sending them both sprawling.

"Sorry," Harry said as he got up and dusted himself off before realising who he had run into.

"You..." whispered Draco, his voice laden with venom. Harry wasn't exactly sure what was going on, so he said the only thing that came to mind.

"Me," he said with a slight confusion. "What do you -"

"IT'S YOUR BLOODY FAULT!!" roared Draco. Harry didn't have time to react as Draco let out a cry like a strangled boar and tackled him to the ground, drawing his wand in the process.

"Draco what the hell are you doing?" asked Harry, looking down the shaft of his attacker's wand which was pointed right between his eyes. "What did I do?"

"You know what you did," he spat, his wand arm shaking slightly. "And it's your fault."

"What's my fault?!" asked Harry getting frustrated.

"That Ginny is gone!" Draco yelled at him. Suddenly it dawned on Harry why he was laying on the ground while Malfoy had his wand pointed at the bridge of his nose, and he sighed.

"I suppose it partially is," he said. Draco's brow furrowed at this.

"What?" he snapped, obviously taken aback.

"I said it is partially my fault," Harry said. "But your father holds more blame than I do." At this, Draco pushed his wand up into his throat. "What, you weren't told that part?"

"No," Draco said, lessening the pressure slightly.

"How convenient," he replied sarcastically. "Lucius is the one who stunned me and Krum. He was the one who led the attack against Hermione and Ginny."

"My father knows nothing of my relationship with her," Draco said, though he lowered his wand slightly.

"And that matters?" Harry asked, pushing Draco off of him and sitting up. "She was with Hermione and me when we were attacked. He was after her, not Ginny."

"It IS your fault then!" he roared, lunging at Harry again, but this time he was ready for it. He sidestepped Draco and drew his wand, pointing it at his old enemy's chest as he went sprawling to the ground.

"Believe what you want," Harry said. "But understand something. I'm going after them, though I don't have any idea where to start. If you don't want to help, that's fine. But if you get in my way, I will deal with you the same way I will deal with anyone else who gets in my way while I try to rescue Hermione." He bent down and picked Draco up off the ground. "Understand?" Draco nodded and Harry released him. "Good." He turned to leave but stopped when he heard him speak again.

"Potter," Draco said, trying to get his attention.

"Ferret," Harry replied, not turning around. He distinctly heard Malfoy snort at this.

"I want to help." This made Harry turn around, and he looked at Draco, appraising him carefully. "I...I can't lose Ginny. I have no one else."

"What about your mother?" Harry asked, curious to know the answer. Malfoy scoffed at this.

"She does what my father wants, when he wants, simply because she's too scared of him to do any different," he said. "If it came to me or him, she'd choose him simply out of fear for her own life." Harry was stunned at the sincerity of Draco's words. Giving it one last thought, he nodded.

"Fine," he said. "I don't know what I'm going to do yet, but I'll try as hard as I can to work something out." Draco nodded. "In the meantime, do your best to find out something about where Hermione and Ginny are being held, as it was your father who took them there in the first place."

"Got it," Draco said. He turned to walk away, but Harry had one last thing he wanted to get out of the way.

"Malfoy?" he asked. Draco turned and was stunned to see Harry's hand extended. "Detente?" The Slytherin looked at him carefully before walking back and taking his hand in a quick shake.

"Something like that," he sneered. "Now go work on finding a way to help our women." With that he turned and walked off in the direction of the Slytherin common room.

'Well,' Harry thought. 'At least it's a step in the right direction.'

He trudged back up to the common room, not having nearly enough energy after his encounter to sprint all the way. Arriving there, he saw that some of the students were still up and studying. What noise there was in the room quickly died when they saw he had entered.

"Carry on," he said with a sigh as he made his way up the stairs to the Head Boy's room. With a heavy heart, he pushed the door closed and slumped down against it.

He was alone in this. Well, except for Draco and Krum, but they hardly made up for Ron and Hermione. One was always there for him when the other wasn't. Now he had neither and was at a loss for what to do. With a groan he got up and did the only thing he could think of that would start him on the path to finding Hermione. He opened his trunk, and pulled the pensieve that Dumbledore had given him for Christmas out.

He had decided that it would be easier to spot clues if he watched the memory of Hermione and Ginny getting captured over and over again, and it was with a heavy heart that he summoned the thought and placed it in the basin. A calming presence washed over him as the memory in his own mind faded, and placed itself in the silver bowl for his viewing pleasure. He was about to touch the surface to watch the scene, when he swore he heard a sniffle.

Whipping out his wand and spinning around quickly, he determined that there was no one in the room and that he must've been hearing things. Shrugging, he almost had his wand back in its holster when the sniffle sounded again, this time accompanied with a sob.

"Who's there?" he asked looking around. "I warn you, I'm armed..." When no response came, his brow furrowed in confusion and he could only shake his head. 'What in the blazes is going on here?' he wondered.

'Harry?'

'Hermione?' he asked, his eyes widening.

'HARRY!' he heard her shout, though it wasn't very loud and slightly crackled, like muggle radio interference.

'Where are you, are you okay?' he asked frantically.

'We're okay,' she said. 'Though I...no idea where...are.' It was hard to hear her perfectly, it probably had something to do with the distance separating them. 'Harry...the potion, it...pain...'

'What?' he asked, having not heard her clearly.

'...potion...was the...draught...'

'Hermione?' he asked, barely able to hear her anymore.

'Harry, save us...' were the last words he heard before the connection went dead.

He instantly forgot about his plan to use the pensieve. Bolting from the room he ran as fast as he could towards Dumbledore's office, storming through the unlocked door without knocking once he reached it, and found the headmaster sitting over the same object that Harry had been using.

"Professor," he said out of breath. "Hermione...I talked to her." Immediately the aged wizard's eyes widened and he pushed the pensieve to the side.

"Your connection?" he asked. Harry nodded, still hyperventilating. "How is it you managed to communicate with her over such a long distance?"

"I..." said Harry taking a large breath and collapsing into one of the chairs in front of Dumbledore's desk. "I was using the pensieve, and I had just cleared my mind of thoughts. That's when I heard her."

"Did you find out where she was?" Harry shook his head.

"She didn't know," he said, his breathing finally calming down. "She tried to tell me what potion they forced her and Ginny to drink, but the connection was very weak and I couldn't make out what she said." Dumbledore nodded.

"I'm surprised you managed to contact her at all, let alone distinguish words," he said. "So have we learned anything from this?" Harry thought for a moment.

"Only that the potion is the 'something draught'," he said after some consideration. "That was all I could make out."

"Very well," Dumbledore said with a sigh. "Some news is better than no news."

"Yes sir," Harry said standing. "Well I'll just be -" but what Harry was about to 'just do' was never voiced, for an incredible pain racked through his body, causing him to collapse to the floor.

"Harry!" shouted the headmaster coming out from around his desk. "What is it?"

Harry was writhing on the ground, the pain was so intense. Then, just as quick as it had come, it stopped, leaving a sense of dread with him.

"I...was in agony," he said, shaking the cobwebs from his head.

"Was it your scar?" Dumbledore asked.

"No," he replied. "It started in my chest and spread outward." Dumbledore helped him to his feet and he brushed himself off. "It was strange."

"In what way?" the headmaster asked.

"It felt like a dementor," Harry said. "But instead of depression and despair, I felt pain and anguish instead." Dumbledore's brow creased in thought a little at this, and Harry was vainly trying to figure out what all of it meant when suddenly it clicked. "Wait a second..."

'Potion...was the...draught...'

The name of the potion had draught in it...he remembered a draught that caused pain...

'The Vulnero Draught was outlawed in 1983. Why are they teaching us how to brew it?'

'It takes away good feelings, such as relaxation, pleasure, and love, and instead replaces them with pain," Hermione said. "If it goes untreated, eventually the drinker feels nothing but pain, and eventually suffocates because they cannot breathe without passing out, the hurt is so great. It's probably one of the worst ways to go in the world......'

"Professor," asked Harry calmly. "May I be excused?" Dumbledore regarded him for a moment.

"Have you had a revelation?" he asked.

"Yes, but there's a person I need to confirm it with first." Dumbledore looked at him for another minute than nodded. Harry wasted no time in bolting from the office and taking the shortest way he knew to the office of the last person he would ever expect to ask for help.

Stopping at the door to the office, he regained his composure and knocked.

"Enter," said the familiar drawl of his potions teacher. With a deep breath, Harry opened the door and walked into the office, closing it behind him. "What are you doing here, Potter?" he asked, not looking up from the piece of parchment he was writing on.

"Sir," Harry said, trying not to get on Snape's bad side immediately. "What can you tell me about the Vulnero Draught?" The quill in his teacher's hand immediately stilled, and he raised his head to look at Harry.

"Why?" he asked suspiciously.

"I believe it is the potion that was used in my vision," Harry said. "The potion that was used on Hermione and Ginny."

"The Vulnero Draught does not cause bleeding," Snape said, resuming his writing. Harry's face immediately fell. His best and only lead had hit a dead end, and now he would have to start all over again.

"Sorry to bother you then," he mumbled, and turned to leave the office. He had his hand on the doorknob when Snape's voice stopped him.

"Potter," he said. Harry turned back around to see an expression that he had never seen Snape wear before. It was almost...sympathetic, but it disappeared before he could take a closer look. "On its own, the Vulnero Draught does not cause bleeding."

"Okay..." said Harry, not entirely sure where this was going.

"But the Dark Lord frequently altered it slightly so that bleeding would occur," the potions master said. Harry thought back to the first dream he had of this entire situation.

'What was that?' she asked in a whimper.

'A personal favorite of mine,' he replied.

"Voldemort said it was a personal favorite of his..." Harry said, recalling the words spoken in his vision.

"Then," said Snape, crossing his arms, "for once, you are correct in your assumption." Harry's face lit up at this.

"Do you know the antidote?" he asked hopefully. Snape stayed silent for a while before speaking.

"I should sincerely hope so," he finally said. "As I was the one who used to make the Draught for him in the fist place." Harry thanked his lucky stars for this bit of information, but noticing the silence that followed, he realised he was going to have to beg for it every step of the way.

"Will you make it for me?" he asked, bordering on pleading. Snape turned his back on Harry and he could tell that it was difficult for his professor to even considering helping him after all these years.

"The antidote takes one person 30 hours to brew," he said finally. "If you are willing to stay and do exactly as I say, it can be ready in 22."

"Where do I start?" Harry asked whipping off his cloak and tossing it into the corner. Snape immediately conjured two platinum cauldrons and lit fires under each of them before hurriedly gathering ingredients off of his shelves.

"Because the substance that the Dark Lord adds to the Draught to make the victim hemorrhage is a mixture of several other ingredients, naturally the antidote is the same," he said bringing an armful of bottles back to his desk. "Therefore I will be making the foreign mixture."

"What do I do?" Harry asked.

"You'll make the original potion," Snape said. "Unless you forgot that class twenty years ago."

"Not at all," he replied as he moved the required ingredients over to his side of the table.

Eight hours later Harry was sitting over his cauldron, stirring it methodically while Snape continued to make precise calculations while adding ingredients to his part of the potion.

"Well," he said looking at Harry's work. "It's good see that you've brewed that correctly."

"Thanks," Harry said, slightly surprised at the praise.

"Take an hour off," Snape said, going back to his work. "The potion needs to sit, so go and take a break."

"I don't want to let anything happen that would require me to re-brew this," he replied.

"And you think I would?" the potions master sneered.

"I suppose not," Harry said.

"Go take a break, Potter," Snape said. "That's an order."

"Yes sir," he said as he walked from the office, closing the door behind him. Once outside he took a deep breath to savor the clean air and noted that it was already dark. Looking at his watch, he saw it was ten at night. Deciding it was a good idea to go and take a shower to freshen up, he walked off towards Gryffindor Tower, but stopped outside Krum's office when he saw that the light was on. Remembering that he had promised to let his professor know of anything that happened, he knocked.

"Come in," came Krum's voice through the door. Harry walked in and closed the door before walking over to his desk. "Have you found something out?"

"We know it was the Vulnero Draught that was used on her, but as of right now, nothing else," he said taking a seat. A frown appeared on Krum's slightly sunken face.

"A very evil potion," he said. "Has Professor Snape begun brewing an antidote?"

"I'm helping him do it," Harry said. "He gave me a break for a little while, so I thought I'd tell you about what's happening, then go and take a shower maybe."

"Very vell," Krum said. "Thank you for letting me know."

"It's nothing," Harry replied standing. "Thanks for caring." Krum nodded his head as Harry walked out the door and started for the tower again, but was stopped by a shout from behind him.

"Potter!" Harry turned and saw Draco Malfoy jogging up behind him.

"What is it?" he asked. "Any news?" Draco finally got to Harry and stopped in front of him, bending over slightly to catch his breath.

"I've been looking for you for an hour," he said. "Where were you?"

"Brewing an antidote with Snape," Harry replied. "We found that they used a version of the Vulnero Draught on the girls." Draco's eyes widened at this. "I take it you're familiar with it?"

"I saw my father use it on someone once," he said. "Someone who disagreed with him on some money issue. Gave him the antidote though, once he had screamed bloody murder and promised my dad his money."

"Lovely," Harry said. "So what did you want to talk to me about?"

"I know where they are," Draco said. Harry nodded dumbly for a second until the information sunk in.

"What?" he whispered. "How?" Draco looked down at his left side.

"Show yourself," he said, speaking to the air next to his left knee.

"Malfoy, what are you -" but Harry didn't finish his question, for Kreacher had just appeared next to Draco.

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All right, I know it was another short one, but the last chapter will more than compensate for it. I hope to make it another 10k wonder. Just to remind you, there are two chapters left in this story. I'll just give you this little tidbit to chew on, next chapter is going to be a real doozy.