Harry Potter and the War of the Descendants

Chapter 2 ~ The Missing

August 9, 1997

What was that incisive noise?

Hermione opened her eyes in wonder. The high-pitched ringing was resonating throughout her entire house. Just as she flung her blanket away from her body, her father threw her bedroom door open and flipped on the lights.

"Someone is trying to break in," he looked a bit nervous as he said this. "Get your wand."

Her father had never instructed her to use magic before but she obeyed immediately, pulling her wand from her nightstand. Hermione joined him and her mother in the upstairs hallway, leading the way towards the stairs with her wand drawn. "What is that noise, Dad?" she asked quietly.

"I had a burglar alarm system installed before you came home," he answered, equally as quiet as she had been. "Your Headmaster told me you may be in danger."

If this was a Death Eater attack and they were looking for Harry, what a grand laugh she would have over Voldemort being thwarted by a Muggle security system. Just as they reached the bottom stair, Hermione heard a large explosion and immediately reacted with, "Protego!" The protection shield encompassed her and her parents as the explosion rocked through the home and a fire began to blaze.

"Grab onto me quickly," she instructed. They complied at once. Her mother wrapped her arms around Hermione's waist and her father grabbed her left arm.

"Hold tightly. We're going to Apparate."

Hermione had never attempted a ride along Apparation before; in fact, she'd only just begun even trying to Apparate, but it was their only hope and she was determined to do it. She envisioned herself and her parents safely arriving in the lobby of the Ministry of Magic. With a loud bang she arrived, along with her parents, safely. Hermione looked back at them and smiled weakly at them. Apparating three bodies was harder than she anticipated. She couldn't help but collapse into her father's arms.

"What's this?" a wizard with long purple robes approached the Grangers. "Muggles in the Ministry?"

"I'm a Muggle-born witch," Hermione said very quietly to him as her father helped her stand back up. "My name is Hermione Granger and our home has just been attacked."

He quickly scurried off and left them to fend for themselves. Mr. Granger helped Hermione to a nearby seat. "Relax... take some deep breaths and try to regain your composure. I don't know what you just did to all of us but it's obviously taken a lot out of you."

Hermione nodded. "It's called Apparation."

"Thank you," her mother said tears streaming from her eyes, as she had a seat next to her and put her arms around her. "I'm very proud of you, Hermione."

After sitting in silence for a few minutes, Hermione saw Mr. Weasley hurrying towards them. He squatted down in front of Hermione with grave concern on his face. "Was it the Death Eaters?"

"I don't know," she answered him quietly. "It was very fast though, Mr. Weasley. I'd be surprised if it was your everyday fire."

"Harry?" he asked somewhat hopefully.

"I don't know where he is," she told him just as she had before. "I haven't heard from him."

"Well, if it was the Death Eaters, then they were hoping he was there."

"Or would come at the very least," she finished his sentence.

"You're a very clever witch, Hermione," he told her with a caring smile. "Harry knows you can take care of yourself." Mr. Weasley patted her on the knees and stood again. "I've already sent a team of Aurors to your home to investigate. You all need to get to safety. You're welcome to stay at the Burrow until we can find other accommodations for you."

"Thank you, Mr. Weasley," Hermione's father said graciously. "We have a flat in London near our offices. I'm sure it will be fine for us to go there while our house is being repaired."

He nodded at them. "I feel I must advise you to leave Hermione in my care though. I know she has been home for only a short time but the two of you are not targets. Hermione needs to be where magic can protect her. You see, her friend, Harry Potter, is missing," he explained to them. "And both sides of this conflict are looking for him. I'm afraid Hermione will be a target of the Dark Lord until we can locate Harry. We've been trying to get everyone close to Harry to a safe hiding place. If this was the Dark Lord's doing, your home was not the first destroyed in the pursuit."

Mr. Granger nodded at him. "Hermione has told us a bit about what is going on in the magical world. I confess, I do not want her involved but we have been unable to persuade her not to return to school. She is an adult now, and obviously very talented," he smiled affectionately at her. "She saved us all tonight."

Mr. Weasley face was soft as he nodded. "Indeed, you have a very talented daughter."

That much was obvious from the first time he met Hermione. "Incidentally, how did you know that anyone was trying to attack your house?"

"Professor Dumbledore wrote us last year and told us that Hermione may need some additional protection. He offered charms and such but we installed a security alarm system."

"Fascinating." Mr. Weasley looked truly engrossed in learning about this security system. "How does it work? What does it do?"

"Well, if anyone tries to break in, an alarm goes off," he explained. "That's what alerted us that someone was trying to get into the house."

Mr. Weasley couldn't help but laugh. "Do you mean to tell me a Muggle device..." he didn't finish his question he just laughed harder at the irony of it. "I'm sorry. The Aurors will try to save as many of your personal belongings as they can. It will mostly depend on how fast they got there versus how fast the Muggle authorities responded.

Mr. Weasley did as he said he would. He had two Aurors escort Mr. and Mrs. Granger to their flat in London and they did recover a god deal of items from the Granger home. Unfortunately, all of Hermione's school belongings were destroyed. Though she was annoyed at having to replace all of the materials, it seemed like a small price to pay for their safety. After staying one night in London so she could give her account of the evening to the Aurors (it had been a Death Eater attack, the dark mark was found hovering above her home when the Aurors got there), she was whisked away to the Burrow where she dove headfirst into trying to figure out the mystery of Harry's whereabouts. She spent her first two days there researching and trying several different methods to reach him, all failing miserably.

Hermione tossed herself onto Ron's cot. She sighed heavily as she rolled to her side and stared at Ron, who was staring out of his small bedroom window. "This is driving me crazy. Why is he ignoring us like this? Where is he?"

Ron glanced back at Hermione but didn't smile. "No one knows where he is. All they know his that he left his house a week ago, saved Parvati and Padma and then disappeared. The only rumors about him are that he's dead."

Hermione simply wouldn't accept that as an explanation. Besides, his hand on the Weasley clock was turning in slow circles again. The clock didn't know where Harry was, but it did know he was alive. His hand hadn't shrieked, shriveled up and fallen off, so he had to be alive. Hermione could only imagine what he was up to, though. What was he doing that he needed to break the underage magic decree every day for a week until his birthday? Was he in trouble? Had Voldemort captured him again? Hermione was sure that wasn't the case. The Death Eaters had been on a rampage since Harry disappeared. The Death Eaters were blowing things up left, right and center. In seemed to Hermione that Voldemort was as frustrated as they were. But the question still remained: what was Harry up to? And what was truly bothering Hermione was why hadn't he come to her rescue when the Death Eaters set her house on fire? How was it that he knew the Patils were under attack but not she and her parents?

Ron made his way over to the cot and squatted down next to her. Her face was all screwed up in thought.

"What are you thinking?"

She hesitated for a moment and then asked the question aloud. "Why didn't he come to my house two nights ago, Ron?" she finally let it out. "I know I'm not his girlfriend, but surely I'm as important to him as Parvati."

He softly caressed her cheek. "Hermione, he didn't know you were under attack. If he had known, nothing would have stopped him from trying to help you."

"How did he know about Parvati then?" She just couldn't help but be jealous about it.

"I'm sure Parvati has a way of getting a message to him."

This frustrated him, because he was sure Harry had provided it for her, but he had not given he or Hermione any way of contacting him in an emergency.

"But she won't tell Dumbledore how or why Harry came after her. All she'll say is he sent her to Dumbledore and my dad said she was under Harry's cloak when she got to Hogwarts." He turned away from Hermione and glanced around his small room. It had been ages since Harry had shared it with him, but Ron couldn't help but feel his absence. Maybe it was because they shared a dorm room at school, too. At any rate, Ron knew Harry was missing from his life and not because he simply wasn't present. Ron felt it deeply.

"Everything is strange now. I guess I knew this was coming... it's just that I didn't want it to happen."

Hermione nodded her head, knowing exactly what Ron was talking about. "We knew he was going to go off soon, I wanted to go with him. We're in this together, aren't we?"

"Yeah, it just seems that Harry doesn't want us to get hurt and is playing the part of hero or..." Ron couldn't bear the next thought but he said it anyways. "Or he just doesn't trust us enough."

"That can't be. " Hermione was certain of that. "We just need to get a message to him. We need him to know it's safe to come to us." She thought for a moment. "We know Hedwig won't even try to deliver a letter to him." The owl looked offended if anyone asked her to go to him. "The Hogwarts owls simply fly out a few feet and turn around in confusion..." Hermione rubbed her chin as she tried to think of another way. "He's got to be under the Fidelius Charm." Hermione had concluded this long ago. "But who would he trust besides Professor Snape to do it?"

"I don't know. Maybe Snape did do it. Maybe he's just lying when he says he has no idea where Harry is."

Hermione shook her head. "No, I don't think he's lying, because he's the most obvious choice. Voldemort would assume it was Snape and Harry knows that. I think the chances of Harry going to Snape are about as good as him coming to us. He thinks he's protecting all of us by staying away."

"I think Voldemort thought you had performed the charm," Ron told her in all honesty. "I think that's why he blew up your house, Hermione. He knows how smart you are and you're Harry's best friend, surely Harry would come to you and me." They both knew perfectly well that it would be very difficult for Voldemort to penetrate the Burrow.

Hermione had already come to that conclusion as well. "I certainly would have done it if he'd come to me, which is why he didn't. He's going to be expelled from school," she said, changing subjects quickly. "His disciplinary hearing is tomorrow and he doesn't even know about it."

"Somehow I don't think he cares."

"Well, he will care if the Ministry tries to break his wand once he comes out of hiding."

"Oh." Ron nearly looked amused. "I'd like to see a wizard try to pry Harry's wand from him. That wouldn't be a pretty sight."

Hermione could only hope that she would indeed see Harry in the morning. She believed he would come if he knew about it. The Wizengamot was putting him on trial for the use of underage magic, again. She'd figured he'd want to defend himself, especially since it was obvious there were reasons for his continued use of magic. His house didn't light itself on fire and the Dark Mark didn't just appear above his home. He'd been attacked by Death Eaters and seemed to be in hiding from them now. Dumbledore had even resigned from the Wizengamot over the issue. He felt that dragging Harry out into a public trial wasn't the wisest idea. The ministry and the courtroom was sure to be packed in the morning, as the trial had been announced in the Daily Prophet in hopes of reaching Harry since no other method could. Even Ron's father had been unable to put a stop to it.

Hermione was right. The lobby of the Ministry was packed with witches and wizards. She and Ron wouldn't have even been able to get into the courtroom if they had not been with Mr. Weasley. The circular room was filled to the brim with people. They were lucky that the Minister for Magic was Ron's father, as he was able to take them right to the front row where they sat and waited. Nine o'clock came and there was no sign of Harry. Mr. Weasley stood and walked to the center of the room.

"If it so pleases the Wizengamot, I would like to excuse myself as the Minister for Magic in these proceedings and simply be viewed as Arthur Weasley, Harry Potter's guardian." He placed his hand on the back of the chair that was meant to be Harry's.

"Thank you, Minister. That will certainly meet with our approval," said Amelia Bones. "Are you going to be speaking in proxy for your ward?"

"Yes, ma'am," he answered as he circled the chair and had a seat.

"Mr. Weasley, on the evening of July 24, your ward, Harry James Potter, used magic after an attack on his aunt's home. The use of magic on this date has been excused due the circumstances of the evening. However, his use of magic was not limited to that evening. We have complaints that record his continued use of magic for the following six days until he came of age. What explanation can you offer for this?"

Mr. Weasley didn't answer for a moment. His first thought was to inquire, again, where these reports had come from. But he remained focused on the business at hand. "I can offer you no explanation other than the fact that I believe he is in continuous danger." His voice was calm but his face showed his great concern for Harry's well being. "The last time I spoke with Harry was on the morning of July 23^rd, and I have not heard from him since. It is unlike Harry not to check in with me, especially under the circumstances. I have an instrument that allows me to track the general whereabouts of all of my children, and Harry has been in constant mortal peril since the evening of July 24^th. My device has not been able to give me anything more specific, such as a location."

"What is this device you speak of?" a male wizard on the panel asked.

"It is a family clock that Alastor Moody modified in order to keep track of all of the family members. Harry was added it to it some time ago."

"How do you know the clock is correct or that he is still alive?"

"Unfortunately, I've learned what the clock does when a family member passes," he said as he looked his inquisitor in the eyes. "Harry's tracker has not done that, so I can assure the Wizengamot and everyone else that he is still very much alive. And to answer your first question, the clock never lies. It can't be tricked."

"Is this all of the explanation that you are going to offer us, Mr. Weasley?" Amelia Bones asked looking quite as if she was prepared to accept his statement.

"It is the only explanation I can offer to you, Mrs. Bones, and the promise that I will continue diligently looking for Harry to bring him home to safety."

"Very well," she announced as she stood. "We will deliberate and return with our decision."

Hermione didn't know what to expect the Wizengamot to do, but she thought that Mr. Weasley handled the situation as well as could be expected. What more could he say or do? There were no explanations to be offered, but Harry's was obviously in danger. It was absurd that charges were even brought against him, in Hermione's opinion.

Fifteen minutes passed before the panel filed back into the room and took their seats. None of them gave anything away with facial expressions and it was Amelia Bones who spoke again.

"Mr. Weasley, under the circumstances it is very difficult for us to come to a conclusion. Your ward has been warned, charged and excused of underage magic in the past. This makes his fourth offense and it is getting hard to ignore his continued disregard for wizarding law. Therefore--"

"These difficult circumstances you speak of are my life," a voice rose up from the back of the courtroom.