A/N: A third chapter uploaded today!! Please read Ch. 18 & 19. I'm in the posting mood on this sunny but windy day! Enjoy….please review!
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Day 4
Spare Room
Easter Monday
6:01am EST
Marissa mumbled something in her sleep that sounded very much like, "Knock it off Dixon," startling Brian from the doze he had been in for the last twenty minutes. He had woken up to find himself curled in behind her as close as he could get without smothering her into the mattress. They had both put their shirts back on and he had found his jeans and thrown them on as well lest Nott walk in and find them half naked in bed.
`Half naked.'
`Holy shit,' Brian thought, astonishment crossing his face when he replayed last night in his head, for what must have been the tenth time since they had fooled around. They ended up talking for a good one and half hours after that, mostly about friends, school, comparing summer vacations; Brian telling her about visiting his Grandparents every Christmas and then taking a trip with them over the New Year's holiday. Marissa had found out that for one year, he just wanted to stay home, relax, open gifts and just do what he wanted when he wanted. Brian understood how much his father seemed to enjoy visiting Hermione's parents and doing all the festive things and constantly keeping busy…it was what he had always wanted since he was a child.
"And who am I to tell him any different? I've got a good life; I shouldn't even be complaining," Brian had told her, immediately feeling guilty.
Now here it was Monday, their fourth day of being held by Nott. When they had first hit the wood floor and he saw Marissa lying so still on the floor not moving his heart had stopped and for a moment he really thought he was going to faint. Then, thank Merlin, she had moaned and tried to open her eyes and he felt the blood rush back to his head. Now, here he was curled up with her in bed, her arms wrapped around his like it was a teddy bear or something and a feeling he never experienced crept over him and settled deep inside his chest.
It hurt and made him happy at the same time.
He wanted to hold her forever, yet let her go so he could watch her live, move, interact and grow.
And he had no idea what to call it. Nothing he had experienced in his 16 year old life (well, almost) had prepared him for the feeling that was blossoming in his chest and taking over. He wasn't even sure if it was "love" because he had only know the love you have for family, for Quidditch, for learning something knew and being able to use that knowledge.
This was a person. A girl he had known all her life, and the majority of his. He had swam in her grandparents pool, had played in each other's backyards with and without broomsticks, he had even spent the night at her house when his younger sisters were born. He remembered her, Devon and himself camping out in Devon's room staying up playing Exploding Snap and Hide N Seek all over the house. For fifteen years he had viewed her as a friend, a girl that lived a few miles away from him whose mothers were best friends and whose fathers seemed to get along most of the time. He knew her family, it was hard not to, and she knew his. Hermione called Marissa "Brian's childhood friend" whenever she was introduced to someone neither of them knew, usually from St. Mungo's or if a new professor came into Hogwarts. Briefly, he wondered if his mother could even say "Brian's girlfriend" without getting all emotional about it. He was able to comfortably say that she was his girlfriend now…'you just don't do what you did last night with a casual acquaintance,' a voice faraway seemed to be saying to him.
`Well, I'm sure some do, but I don't,' Brian answered and was jerked from his reverie by Marissa softly saying his name.
"You're holding me so tight I can't move," her sleepy voice reached his ears.
Brian pulled his arm away and watched her turn over onto her back, but she didn't stop there, continuing to roll over so she curled right onto her side and rested her head on his shoulder. Her arm rested on his stomach, with her fingers curled into a loose fist on his chest. She didn't say anything and he soon felt her drift back off to sleep which was unusual for her. Usually they were up and moving around by now, though he had to admit he was lacking energy at the moment.
Not from lack of sleep, because they both got a good six hours of sleep.
But from lack of food. The bowl of tomato soup and saltines hadn't done much to take the edge off his hunger and he knew she was feeling the same. He wondered what today's meal would bring. They were now out of the packs of crackers they had brought. There was still some of the crystallized candy, but only about a quarter of the box was left. They refilled their water bottles every night and hid them back in their bags under the cloak just incase Nott decided he didn't feel like giving them anything to drink, or worse, eat.
Running his fingers through Marissa's hair he tried to come up with a plan to get out. Nott was tall and big and Brian had to admit he wasn't sure if he could tackle him and take him down long enough to get his wand away from him. There were no weapons in their room, the hall or the bathroom for them to use. He had checked and he couldn't even get that ugly electric torch off the wall.
`Another note, that's all we can do for now,' Brian thought hearing Marissa sigh, stretch then relax against him, her hand holding a fistful of his shirt. Covering her hand with his he let his thoughts drift as his eyes roamed the ceiling. He probably could have fallen back to sleep but he had a feeling that Nott would be down soon. So, for the next ten minutes Brian Potter just laid there not really thinking about anything important until he felt Marissa stretch, heard her yawn and clear her throat.
"We should probably get up huh?" she asked slowly untangling herself from him. Sitting up next to each other, she looked at him for the first time in the light, since their experience last night.
"Hey," she said her lips curving into a smile that she couldn't have hidden for all the galleons in England.
"Hey yourself." His eyes searched her face, then he leaned down and kissed her softly on the lips. "Sleep well?"
"I did," she smiled at him again then looked down at her hands. "You?"
"Slept well, nice and warm," he teased and she shook her head, leaned down and grabbed her jeans. And, for the first time, she swung her long legs out from under the sheets, shoved her legs into her jeans and in one fluid movement, stood up, zipped, buttoned and tugged her shirt down. Brian had only gotten a peek of light blue knickers as she pulled up her jeans and purposefully he turned away, buttoning the top three buttons of his shirt, then joined her standing near the bed. He managed to slip and arm around her waist, getting ready to hug her when they heard the door down the hall.
Sighing heavily Marissa led Brian towards the door and they met Nott as he opened it.
Again, they walked down the hall and Brian let Marissa enter first. She used the toilet, brushed her teeth, splashed water on her face and ran her hands through her hair trying to tame some of the curls that seemed to have decided they wanted to spring away from her head. She usually washed her hair and made and effort to straighten it out best she could, but now without her wand, brush or even shampoo, her hair was curling up. Shaking her head at the futile attempts to straighten her hair she stepped out and held the door for Brian.
Nott looked at her and she managed to hold his gaze until he broke it first. Her eyes were drawn to a yellow piece of paper in his side pocket of the brown corduroy jacket he was wearing. It looked like a map and she saw the letters "EAS" then the rest disappeared into his pocket. It was a map, she was sure because she saw the words "Map of" above the name of the town, or state, or whatever it happened to be. Brian came out and silently took her hand.
"Maybe you'll be lucky tomorrow," Nott said as if he couldn't stand their silence any longer. They turned and looked at him, Marissa cocking and eyebrow.
"Hopefully your fathers will be smart enough to meet me and my little prizes here to exchange…so we might be going on a trip tomorrow. Don't get too excited," he warned and he slammed the door leaving Brian and Marissa staring at him.
"I don't want to go anywhere. If he moves us, that's not good, especially since our parents are so close," Marissa said her voice actually sounding worried. Brian took a step towards her and hugged her.
"How do you know they're close?"
He felt her shrug. "I just feel it."
"What's it feel like?" he asked, still holding her.
"Like…wait! I saw something in Nott's pocket…did you see it?"
"No, I wasn't looking at him," Brian pulled away and looked down at her, her eyes were wide and there was a small smile on her face.
"We need to write a letter, quickly before Millie comes and see if she can deliver it," she rushed over to their bags, with him at her heels. "I saw a map sticking out of his pocket. It had the letters E-A-S that I could see and it said "Map of" at the top. It's got to be a town or something." She took the quill from him and wrote a quick note.
"That's a good piece of information. Write in there about him saying we were going somewhere. I'm sure they know, but it wouldn't hurt for them to know that we know."
He watched her write, saying that they were still ok then explained what they saw in his pocket. She handed it to Brian
who scribbled a quick note then folded it and put it in his pocket.
"Now, we just have to wait for Millie," Marissa said trying to keep the note of excitement down a notch.
"Want to take a look outside again? See if anything has changed?" Brian asked. Marissa nodded and he held on tight as she sat on his shoulders and looked out the window, seeing the same thing she did last time.
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Outside of Elkton, Maryland
7:25am EST; 1:25pm GMT
"Everyone have a map?" Draco asked as they walked towards the Bay, staying on the grass so they could take quick looks at the back of people's houses. A few people were out and about with their dogs playing in the sand and a few children ran too and fro, enjoying their last day out of school.
"We do, with a list of towns to skip for now," Hermione placated him. He seemed very nervous, agitated and she wasn't about to piss him off. The lack of sleep was taking a toll on all of them.
"President Boyle gave me a list of houses he knew of with those lamps and a list of addresses where there were houses that are older than 1975. Not that I know what those would look like here," Harry said gazing up at a multi-million dollar home with a white fence surrounding it.
"Probably something smaller and older than that," Ginny pointed at the very house Harry was looking at.
"It looks as if this whole stretch are these kinds of homes. Let's apparate down a bit," Hermione suggested. They looked around seeing no one and ducking behind a tree, the four of them disapparated a few miles down the road.
They appeared behind a shed, where the houses looked much more affordable.
"Feeling anything?" Ginny asked in a low voice to Draco. They were a few yards in front of Harry and Hermione who were glancing at the map.
"Just that she still is healthy. And that we seem to be headed in the right direction."
Ginny didn't question him. She learned after seeing him anticipate Marissa's needs when she was an infant to believe him. As her mother, she knew what Marissa needed, but when all else failed to quiet her and calm her down, Draco seemed to know just the way to hold her, just what to say to her to calm her down. He never tried to explain it, he couldn't. When Ginny questioned him about it when Marissa was about a year, he just shrugged and said the thought just came to him as to what he needed to do to help Marissa.
And that's how they spent the majority of their morning, disapparating past large Muggle developments, occasionally wandering onto the sidewalk when they couldn't walk along the Bay. Eventually they stopped for lunch a good 90 miles from where they started. No one wanting to admit that they felt that this was going to take a long time, covering both sides of the Bay.
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Malfoy Estate
5:25pm GMT; 12:25pm EST
Ron was sitting on the floor, leaning up against the sofa in his sister's living room, just getting ready to start on his next article on the ranking of the professional Quidditch teams for the following year. Samantha, Jeremy and James had left to go update the rest of the Weasley cousins on what was happening in Maryland.
After writing and then rewriting the first sentence, Ron threw down his quill, burying his face in his hands, cursing loudly. He was pissed that Nott did this, worried about his niece and Ginny and felt helpless because he couldn't do anything. Wallowing in anger and sadness it took a few loud taps at the window for him to turn around. Seeing an owl similar to the one Ginny and Harry had described to him he shot up off the floor and wrenched open the window. With trembling fingers he took the parchment and opened it. Immediately he touched the coin in his pocket, which would warm the one Ginny had. The only way they could figure to keep in touch, especially if the four of them were in a Muggle area. Then he waited, knowing that it might take a bit for her to find a fireplace so they could talk. While he waited he threw a few treats at the owl and found some parchment in Draco's office, not caring he was invading his brother in laws privacy. He scribbled three notes saying the same thing, "Kids still ok, received note from them. Will give more info later." He sent one to his wife, one to his mother and one to Narcissa. He asked Samantha to let Hermione's parents know and that is when he heard Ginny's voice from the living room.
"Hey," he skidded on his knees to a stop and began reading the note before she could say anything.
"E-A-S?" Ginny said and he saw her turn her head and say it back over her shoulder. Then she turned back to him and he could see the pain in her eyes, even through the flames.
"They're ok Gin, you're getting closer," Ron reassured her, wanting to reach out and take her hand or something to comfort her. "Everyone ok down there?"
"Tired but fine. Read that note to me one more time, Hermione is going to copy it."
So Ron read down through Marissa's few sentences, then read Brian's few words reinforcing that they were healthy and that he missed them. He even said to give Kirstin, Taryn and Laura a hug for him.
"Thanks Ron. For being there and everything…did you…?"
"Yes, I let everyone know. Did Harry find the name of that town yet?"
"He said that there is one called Easton, further south and a bit east of where we are. We'll go check it out, see if we can find a map that looks like the one Marissa described. I'll let you know more later ok?"
"Take Care, sis," Ron said and with a "pop" she was gone.
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Spare Room
12:30pm EST; 4:30 GMT
"That was so awesome Millie took the note again," Brian said polishing off the last bit of his turkey sandwich and biting into the pear, the only other thing Nott gave them.
"She likes you," Marissa said simply taking a drink of water from the paper cup on the tray.
"I guess that's good for what we need her to do," Brian ventured.
"You'll probably break her heart when we get out of here," Marissa kidded throwing the pear back on the plate at the same time Brian did. They were quiet, knowing Millie would apparate back in and take their tray, lest they tried to wack Nott with it.
Sure enough she came, grabbed it and without a word, disapparated.
"I'm tired," Marissa stood up and rolled herself onto the bed. They had been leaning against it eating so Brian remained on the floor, but turned to look at her, his face level with hers since it was just the two mattresses on the floor.
"You alright?" Brian asked and she nodded, curling up under the blankets unbuttoning and zipping her pants but leaving them on. She could tell she was losing weight because her pants felt loose on her and also for the fact she felt a bit chilled.
"Do you want me to lay with you?" For his answer she slid back towards what was usually "his" side of the bed and he climbed in, turning to his side facing her.
"What's the first thing you're going to do when we get out of here?" Brian asked, burrowing under the covers with her.
"Shower and hot meal," Marissa smiled at the thought. "LONG shower and hot meal!"
"I hear you." He was quiet for a moment and they gazed at each other, just looking and taking each other in. "You never answered my question from earlier."
"What was it?" her brow drew down over her eyes, trying to remember.
"You said you knew our parents were coming. How do you know?"
"It's a feeling more than anything," Marissa felt him slide an arm under her neck and she turned to him, grateful for his warmth. She pressed her chilly arms against his side and even he could feel the cool skin through his shirt.
"What's it feel like?"
Marissa felt his hand rubbing up and down her arm, slowly warming it with his hand. Stretching it out over his stomach
she snuggled in deeper, trying to put words to the feeling.
`Like this…it feels like this,' she surprised herself by thinking that, that she felt the same feeling being held by Brian as she did by knowing her parents were coming.
"Well…it…," she could feel her nerves starting to jiggle in her stomach for what she was about to say, but she felt she had to, in case there wasn't another chance. "It feels like this, when you hold me," she said in a whisper and for a second his hand stopped moving up her arm, pausing on her elbow.
"And, how does that feel?" his voice was hesitant, wondering.
"I feel secure, safe…loved," she barely added any sound to the last word but he heard it as he moved his hand up to her shoulder, then back down massaging lightly.
"Those are good things to feel." Brian wasn't sure what else to say. The "loved" word through him for a loop and he could tell it did the same to her, so he filed it away and decided to come back to that later.
"Yeah," she sighed and pressed her hand against his ribs in an awkward hug. "Yeah, they are."
And within a few minutes, they both drifted of to asleep
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Between Easton and St. Michael's, Maryland
6:03pm EST; 11:03pm GMT
"We need to get moving if we are going to beat sunset," Ginny said and Draco cut her a look. They were both short on tempers having searched miles and miles of shore line, getting excited when they came to a clump of trees like the ones described in the letter, only to be let down when there wasn't a house near by or the house definitely didn't fit the way Marissa and Brian had described it.
"I'm sorry," Ginny sighed, tucking her arm through Draco's as they walked towards yet another stretch of shoreline.
"It's fine…I feel the same way," he admitted taking her hand and kissing the back of it, then holding it as they walked towards the water and stopped.
It was a really beautiful spot and to their left they could see how the edge of the shore started curving around the bend and seemed to form a small hill. Watching Draco, Ginny didn't notice Harry and Hermione head down the shore and take a spot on a rock, resting for just a few minutes and giving each other a bit of private time.
Draco settled himself back against the rock creating a barrier between him and the beach behind, he tugged Ginny's hand and she collapsed next to him and stared out at the water.
"Five minutes, then we get up and move," he pointed to his left, heading down towards where the Atlantic Ocean met the Bay.
"Can you tell if we're close?" Ginny shifted, feeling the hard rock beneath her and tried to find a comfortable spot.
"Not really. Maybe it'll hit me when we see the house, I don't know," he threw a rock out towards the water and it landed with a soft "plop" scattering soft ripples in it's wake. He looked so lost that for a second, Ginny was reminded of the look on his face when they first started being an item, way back in her 6th year. Calling his name softly made him turn and look at her. She reached up, wrapped her hands around his neck and pulled him down, kissing him deeply, passionately until she felt him give in, his hands cupping her face, running through her hair and releasing a soft moan against her lips. Using that as her cue to pull away she pressed her forehead to his.
"I love you, Draco, deeply, forcefully, and with my whole being. We will find her, I promise you. I trust and believe in you and that you know how to follow that pull you have with her. Let's get up and start searching again, though I know we both want to just go sit and rest our weary legs." She scrambled to her feet watching his eyes follow her as she moved.
"And, after that just take you and shag you senseless," he said lightly a bit of the Draco she knew and loved shining through. "Let's go get the other two and keep moving."
And together the four of them headed down the beach, getting closer to Nott's with each step they took.
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Spare Bedroom
Still Easter Monday
7:30 pm EST
The pitcher of water came and Millie left.
Their bathroom break came and went in the course of five minutes.
Brian and Marissa took a three hour nap and were still feeling tired. They laid there in bed, talking in spurts but generally just holding each other, occasionally ending up in a nice, deep kiss until one of them pulled away breathless staring at each other as if they had no idea that they could have such a dramatic effect on another human being.
"How're we going to handle this when we get back?" Marissa asked finally voicing the nagging thought that had been running through her head all day. "I mean, if we just walk in school, holding hands, kissing in the hall and such people are going to think that it's just a repercussion of being trapped here."
"It's not though," Brian said running his knuckles along the back of her cheek.
"I know. I shouldn't care what other people think, but I want people to know it's real, not just a fling or something…and then there's our parents. I don't know if they could handle me saying "Thanks for rescuing us…can my boyfriend," the word felt foreign to her and she lost her train of thought for a moment as his thumb caressed her cheek, "umm…come to dinner? Does that make any sense at all?"
"It does. Maybe we should give it a few days, til things get back to normal then ease the whole relationship thing into it…although I would much rather just walk in to Hogwarts holding your hand and never letting go."
Marissa felt a warm glow come over her as he said that and not being able to help herself she snuggled up against him.
"You know what? I don't care. I don't care what they think, but I do care about keeping my parents sanity and you know that they are going crazy right now…but maybe we could take the wait and see approach," Marissa ran her fingers along his shoulder. He was quiet, mulling over what she said.
"Remember when I said something about Owls and needing to study for those and not letting anything interrupt me?"
"Yeah," Marissa laughed thinking of how backwards it was now.
"I was so very wrong," he finished, laughing with her then kissed the top of her head.
"You know, if we are truly boy and girlfriend, and I know that you don't like labels," Marissa patted his chest and heard him make a noise that filled her ear, "I don't even know a few of the basics about you."
"Like what?"
"Your favorite color? Favorite dessert?"
"Green and chocolate chip ice cream with hot fudge sauce, oh and peanuts," Brian answered quickly. "You?"
"Purple and apple pie."
"Favorite book?" Marissa asked.
"Hmmmm…my mother got me reading that Lord of the Rings trilogy when I was about 13 and I really liked them. Haven't read much else besides text books since then. You?"
"We had a series of books at the house in Spain mum made me read…Chronicles of Narnia. I really liked them, but like you haven't read much else since second year."
And back and forth they went until it was dark outside, forcing them to think about bedtime. A few warm and affectionate kisses later they both pulled away, feeling that they were getting to a point that once passed, would be very hard to turn back. Marissa started apologizing; saying she wasn't ready to be as intense as last night and Brian shushed her again, telling her to stop apologizing. Instead, they burrowed under the covers and fell asleep totally curled around each other making it very hard to tell where one began and the other one ended, especially since Marissa forgot to shed her jeans.
Neither were aware of a particular stealth operation taking place right outside, no more than five miles away from
Nott's house.
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A mile up the road from Nott's
8:39pm EST; 12:39am GMT
Draco stopped suddenly, causing Harry to walk into the back of him. They had been walking on the sidewalk occasionally peeking around the back of someone's house. They had a list of 15 houses in this area that President Boyle had managed to floo to them at the restaurant they had dinner at two hours previously. 15 houses that had those electric torches, one of them down the road had some that were just purchased a week ago. He had also said that Nott's House Elf had come back, but had moved so quickly that by the time Torbin, the House Elf "on duty" recognized who she was, she had disapparated again.
"What is it Draco?" Harry asked pulling his wand. Draco made a slight motion with his hand and everyone stopped, tense and quiet. No one was outside. Children were being readied for school the next day. Most animals were already inside, the air had a definite wet chill and they all had pulled out sweatshirts and donned them after dinner.
"Here," Draco pointed over a hill and began walking quickly down the sidewalk then ducked around someone's garage making his way down to the edge of the water which was lapping against the shore. No one said anything as he walked quickly towards whatever force was pulling him. Ginny trotted behind him, with Harry and Hermione next to her. The three of then kept their eyes out but no one was about. The night was clear and lights shown from most of the older Muggle house windows, but no one seemed interested in four adults walking on the shore.
She felt Draco reach for her hand and his body seemed to quiver with some type of current and she knew they were close.
She felt it in her heart; her instincts kicking in and it was all she could do to not run. She knew Hermione felt it
too from the way her other hand was being squeezed for a moment. What would the find when they got there?
"Not too far now," Draco murmured and slowed down, stepping around some rocks. Five minutes later he stopped, the water almost lapping at his feet. He turned his back to the water and stood still for a minute, face turning back and forth then he pointed a bit to his right.
"There."
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