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Authors' Note:
Well, you guys, I hope you enjoy the latest chapter. I still haven't finished book five---I'm up to chapter 27----still taking my time. Please read and review!
Chapter 23
Revelations
The days continued to pass, but for Harry, time had seemed to come to a standstill. He still wasn't eating or sleeping as much as he should, but he didn't really care. He didn't seem to care about much of anything anymore, other than finding Hermione. He'd been working nearly nonstop around the clock to find her, but had nothing more to show from it other than a short temper and dark circles under his eyes.
Inside he was falling apart bit by bit each day. On the outside, he tried to put on a brave front. That was what everyone expected of him. He had to be strong for everyone else. It was one of the hardest things he'd ever had to do. Each day, he contacted Hermione's parents to let them know about any developments. Each day his heart broke to see the sadness that would fall over their faces when he told them they had nothing new to report. They never said it, but he felt that they somehow blamed him for this turn of events. He didn't fault them for this. He knew he was responsible for the mess that Hermione was now in. He was also going to be responsible for getting her out of it.
As he'd finished his nightly investigation, he contemplated going back to headquarters, but didn't want to see Lupin and Sirius. He knew they'd nag him about getting sleep or grabbing a bite to eat. He wasn't in the mood for them tonight.
Being as no one besides aurors were allowed at headquarters, Hermione's office at The Ministry had become the hub of the search effort. The place was usually teeming with activity as various friends and family had met there to await news, organize searches or gather information. As it was now two o'clock in the morning, the office was deserted.
Harry peered inside the office before going inside, the room was dark and empty. He gave a sigh of relief as he sat down on the couch. He leaned way back on the couch and closed his eyes. He sat there resting for a few minutes when a familiar voice interrupted his nap.
"Oh, sorry, I didn't know anyone would be here."
Harry looked up to see a haggard-looking Ron standing in the doorway.
"Yeah," Harry said.
"Well, I won't disturb you," Ron said, coolly. He turned to walk away.
"Wait, Ron!" Harry said. "You don't have to leave on my account."
Ron looked uncertainly at Harry, but to Harry's surprise, he walked inside the office and sat down on one of Hermione's desk chairs.
The room was filled with a somewhat deafening silence and Harry and Ron stared at each other awkwardly.
"So what are you doing here, then?" Ron finally asked.
"Hiding from Sirius and Lupin," Harry said, with a slight laugh. "They're ruthless. They've become the sleep and eat police, hovering around asking me if I've eaten or if I've slept. They're driving me mad."
Ron laughed. "They've got nothing on my mum. She slipped some sort of sleeping potion in my dinner the other night. I slept for two days. Anyway, I thought I'd come here to get some peace and quiet away from her. And to be somewhere where I felt close to Hermione, you know?"
"Yeah," Harry said, smiling wistfully. "I know exactly what you mean."
This was followed by another somewhat awkward silence. Again, Ron broke the silence, this time with a laugh.
"What are you laughing about?" Harry asked him.
"I was just thinking of that time," Ron began, "after the first task in the Triwizard Tournament when you and I made up. Do you remember what she did?"
Harry smiled. "Yeah, I remember. She cried like a baby said we were both so stupid and then gave us both a hug and then walked away crying like a banshee."
Ron laughed heartily. "And you remember her bursting in the train compartment that first day?"
Ron cleared his throat and with a fair imitation of Hermione said, "Has anyone seen a toad? Neville's lost one."
"She came in talking a mile a minute," Harry said. "It seems like such a lifetime ago, doesn't
it?"
Ron's expression became much more serious. "Yeah, it does. If we knew then, what we know now."
It was quiet again as each of them sat there, a swirl of memories in their heads.
"I don't know if I'll ever be able to forgive you, Harry, for what you did," Ron said finally.
"I'm not asking you to, Ron," Harry said. "We didn't handle this very well."
"No, you didn't," Ron said coolly. "I should have seen it, though. She was pretty broken up after you left. She never said anything about the two of you being more than friends, then. I always suspected though, deep down. You could see it in the way her eyes would light up when she talked about you or when someone mentioned your name. It's always been that way, you know? Krum saw it. Cho Chang saw it. Even Rita Skeeter saw it."
"Ron," Harry interrupted.
Ron held up his hand. "Let me finish. I wasn't fair to her, either, you know? I did sort of treat her like a prize. It was like I finally had something that you didn't have. It hasn't been easy you know being your faithful sidekick. No guts, no glory, right?"
"You know I never asked for any of this," Harry said.
"I know," Ron said. "It's part of who you are."
Harry didn't know what to say. He looked down at the floor. Ron continued. "All I'm saying is that I may never be able to forgive you for what you did, but I think we both want the same thing. We want Hermione to be happy. If being with you makes her happy, then that's the way it's going to be. The important thing is that we bring her home."
Harry looked up from the floor to see Ron holding out his hand. Harry offered his hand and they shook on it.
"Okay," Harry said, with a smile.
"Okay," Ron said. He walked over to the desk to help himself to some of the coffee, but spit it out. "That is the worst stuff I've ever tasted in my life. I'd rather drink a pint of Polyjuice Potion than drink that. Yechhh!"
Harry laughed. "I'm sure that could be arranged."
"So, how's Ginny?" Harry asked him a few minutes later.
"Oh, she's doing well," Ron said, smiling. "I just saw her this morning at St. Mungo's. Draco said that she and the baby should be able to come home in the next couple of days."
"Did they finally decide on a name?" Harry asked.
"Yeah," Ron said, laughing. "Get the name they laid on the poor little bugger. Lawrence. Albert. Malfoy."
"That sounds rather royal, doesn't it?" Harry asked.
"Well, considering the kid's father is a royal pain the arse, what do you expect?" Ron said. "You know, I still can't believe that Malfoy, of all people, is my brother-in-law. If you would have told me that would happen 10 years ago, I'd have laughed in your face. Who would have thought he'd turned out to not be so bad."
"Well, without his dad's influence," Harry said.
"Wonder whatever became of old Lucius," Ron wondered aloud.
Harry shook his head. "Don't know. Last I heard he was hiding out in some South American country. For all we know, he could be dead by now. He hasn't been seen or heard from in ages. That's not that surprising how bad he was hurt in Voldemort's downfall."
The wheels began to turn in Harry's head.
"Ron," Harry said. "You're a genius!"
"I am?" Ron asked. "What did I do?"
"Lucius Malfoy," Harry said. "I can't believe we didn't think of it before. He could be behind this."
"Do you really think so?" Ron asked.
"It's quite possible," Harry said, getting to his feet. "I think we need to jump on this as soon as possible. Check out what old Lucius has been up to these past few years."
Hermione came out of the bathroom still feeling nauseous. She didn't know if she'd ever felt this sick before in her life. She'd spent the better part of the morning hugging the u-bend, throwing up everything she felt she'd eaten in her entire life.
This had been quite strange in that she had barely touched her food the past couple of days. She'd felt sick to her stomach and had spent the past two days curled up on the bed, resting.
She noticed that her breakfast had arrived while she'd been in the bathroom. This morning, the silver tray was laden with bacon, eggs, toast and a pitcher of orange juice. This morning, it was laden with eggs, bacon, toast and a flask of orange juice. She turned her nose up at the food and lay back down on the bed. Just the thought of food made her sick to her stomach.
"What is wrong with me?" she whispered. She thought for a moment that maybe her captor was poisoning her food, but thought better of that. He needed her alive, as he told her all the time. She was more valuable to him alive than dead. She didn't know how long that would last, but it was something.
She was beginning to hate this room. She knew now what people meant when they said they had "cabin fever". She wanted so badly to be able to walk outside and take in the fresh air. She wanted to walk in Hyde Park and have a picnic lunch. She longed to walking on one of those Hawaiian beaches and to stare out at that crystal blue water.
She couldn't believe that she'd been gone for nearly a month now. She'd marked off the days in the journal her captor had allowed her to keep. She still felt it was quite odd that he'd allowed her to do that. She didn't understand the reasoning behind it, but she'd relished the privilege to write her thoughts out. It was almost like having someone to talk to.
When she felt better, she arose from the bed and walked over to the table. She pushed the tray of now cold food away from her and poured herself a glass of orange juice. She prayed that it would stay down.
Seeing her journal, she picked it up and opened it. She dipped her quill in the ink bottle and began to write.
"Day 42," she scribbled neatly.
She looked down at the page as a realization came to her suddenly.
She'd missed her period. Ever since she'd started having them at the age of 12, they'd always come like clockwork. She'd never missed one. Never.
"I can't be," she whispered softly. "It's probably just stress."
But she'd faced even more stressful situations before in her life and they still came like clockwork. A wave of emotions came over her as she sat in that chair, staring absently at the open journal below her.
"I could be," she said aloud.
In Hawaii, she and Harry hadn't used protection. They hadn't even thought about it. They'd been too wrapped up in each other and their surroundings to give anything but themselves a second thought.
She shakily stood up and walked into the bathroom. There was a long vanity mirror just behind the door. She lifted up her nightgown and looked into the mirror at her stomach. There could be a baby in there, she mused.
"A baby," she whispered, a smile playing at her lips.
Although she had no way of knowing for sure, she felt in her heart that it was true. She and Harry were going to have a baby.
"Correction," she told herself. "We'll have a baby if we can get out of this mess. You just hang on, little one." She patted her stomach. "Hold on, little one. Your daddy's going to find us and bring us home. I know he will."
************************
Later that morning, Harry and Ron had arranged to meet Sirius at The Leaky Cauldron. They found an empty table near the back of the pub and settled in to discuss their thoughts.
"Malfoy," Sirius said, after he listened to Harry and Ron's story. "That's quite possible. He did put blame on you, Harry, after he lost his wife, his son, his fortune. I can't believe we didn't think of it before."
"But where is he?" Ron asked. "Harry said no one's heard or seen from him in ages."
"That's true," Sirius said. "Last I heard he was in South America somewhere."
"Well, that narrows it down somewhat," Ron said, sarcastically.
"I'll get some men on it," Sirius said. "We'll find out where he is."
"You won't need to do that," a gruff voice said.
The three men looked up to see Lupin looking down at them. He was carrying an envelope.
"This arrived by owl post this morning," Lupin said. "It said it was only to be opened by you. We've traced it to a house somewhere in Surrey."
He handed the brown envelope to Harry. Harry took it eagerly and opened it immediately.
Potter:
I have the two most important people in your life in my possession. Funny how fate has played this hand out, isn't it? I imagine you've finally figured out that it was me along, but as you aren't smart enough to find me on your own, I figure I should help you out. You are to come alone to 324 West Trenton Street tonight at 11 p.m. If you attempt to bring anyone else with you, I will not hesitate to kill both of them. Act wisely, Potter, or you could lose it all. They're waiting for you!
Lucius Malfoy
"Both of them?" Harry asked. "What is he playing at? Who else does he have besides Hermione?"
"I don't know," Sirius said, after he too, had read the letter. "We'd better head back to headquarters and come up with a strategy. You can't go in there without some sort of plan. I'll go and pay the tab and then we'll get out of here."
As they waited, Harry looked back at the parchment. "I have the two most important people in your life in my possession," he read aloud.
What kind of sick game was Malfoy playing at?