It\'s So Difficult to be Mature

Chapter 4: On the Run

"Lisa, what are you talking about?" Harry asked, bewildered.

Lisa looked panicked. "I can’t explain right now, you have to trust me. If we don’t leave now, we are all going to be killed. Listen, we all have to Apparate out of here. Keep conversation to a minimum–the less that’s said the better."

No one moved. They were all stunned from Lisa’s outburst. Finally, Ginny broke the silence.

"I’m pregnant."

Lisa looked at her incredulously. "Yes, you are. I take it to mean that you think you can’t Apparate, but I’m a nurse, and I say you can. We’re not going all that far, and if need be, Draco will do all of the magic involved." Lisa looked around at the black faces that stared back at her. "What are you waiting for? Let’s go, Harry get the children. We don’t have any time to take anything with us."

Ginny and Hermione stood up and prepared to Disapparate, but Harry and Draco remained seated, their jaws hanging open.

"Lisa, where are we Disapparating to?" Hermione asked.

"I’m going to write it on this piece of paper, and everyone go to this location. But don’t say the name out loud, it’s vitally important. Harry, are you going to get Lily and James or not?"

Harry stood up and faced his wife. "I don’t understand why we have to leave."

"I will explain everything when we reach our destination. Trust me Harry." Lisa turned to Hermione. "Herm, will you go get the children? Harry seems incapable at the moment."

Hermione nodded and ran up the stairs. Lisa summoned a quill from the kitchen and scribbled a few words on some parchment.

"I really shouldn’t be doing magic, but things will go quicker. Here," Lisa passed the parchment around. Harry’s eyebrows lifted when he read the paper, but he refrained from comment. Ginny nodded resolutely and passed the information to her husband, who grimaced.

"Is this really necessary?" Draco asked petulantly.

Lisa looked at him sternly. "It is if you would like to survive long enough to see your child be born." Draco was quiet after that.

Hermione came back down the stairs with a child in each arm. Hermione was the children’s godmother, so they felt perfectly calm in her arms. She handed James to Lisa.

"Okay, don’t stop anywhere else, I expect to see you all at that location in a minute. Let’s Disapparate!"

Within moments the five adults, and two children, vanished. There was no sound and there was no puff of smoke, but the room that had been filled with witches and wizards was now empty. That was how the Death Eaters found the room when they broke in five minutes later.

* * *

Ron Weasley was watching Muggle television because he couldn’t sleep and been up half the night worrying about his wife. An old cartoon show had just come on when the strangest thing happened. Five people just appeared in his living room.

"Harry? What the–" Ron looked around at the people who had just Apparated; his eyes fell on Draco Malfoy. "Oh, it’s you. What are you doing in my house?"

Harry was about to speak when Lisa cut him off. "Ron, no offense intended, but we don’t have time for this. Where can I put James and Lily?"

Ron was speechless–for a moment. "Um, upstairs. They can sleep in the guestroom. What’s going on here?"

Lisa dismissed the question. "I’ll explain as soon as I put my children to bed. Nobody move and don’t even think of going anywhere, Draco Malfoy. I’ll be down in a moment."

Draco appeared offended, but he was prevented from speaking by an elbow in his stomach courtesy of his wife. Ron ignored him, and appealed to Harry and Hermione.

"Harry, Herm? Would you like to explain? Have you decided to let me in on your plans?"

Harry was tired of his best friend’s childish attitude. "Ron, we’re here because after I rescued Draco, Lisa told us that we have to Disapparate out of the house or be killed."

Ron’s jaw dropped. "What?"

Hermione took over. "Ron, we didn’t tell you that Ginny was back in England precisely because of your reaction earlier. If you can get used to the idea that Draco is now a part of your family, then we need your help. Harry went into Voldemort’s fortress and rescued Draco. When they arrived back at Harry’s house, Lisa sensed something was wrong and ordered us to Disapparate–to here. Are the children alright?"

"Yes, they’re fine. Are you alright? I was worried about you."

Hermione looked surprised. "Me? Why?"

Ron flushed like he always did when under pressure. "No real reason. I’m sorry for acting childishly, and if it’s that important to you I will try to get along with Malfoy."

"I’m sure I appreciate it, Weasley," Draco called from the other end of the room.

Hermione wasn’t listening to him; she had thrown her arms around her husband. "Thank you, Ron. I didn’t like arguing with you."

Lisa came back the stairs, sans children. "Okay, I’m sure everyone would like an explanation of why I had you leave our house so quickly."

"That would be nice," Draco said obnoxiously. He got another elbow in his stomach for his troubles.

"We needed to leave immediately because Voldemort placed a tracking spell on Harry and Draco."

That astonishing statement was met with complete silence. It was Hermione who spoke first.

"How did you know? Tracking spells are very secretive and usually hidden quite well."

"It was the ease of the rescue that first tipped me off that something wasn’t right. I knew it was a tracking spell because I can sense magic," Lisa answered nonchalantly.

"You can sense magic? Wouldn’t that drive you batty in a place like Hogwarts or Diagon Alley?" Ron asked.

"I don’t mean that I can sense magic people or creatures, I can sense it when a spell has been cast. At first in the Hogwarts classrooms, it was quite daunting, but it also comes in very handy. You see, Harry, you were able to get Draco out of there so easily because Voldemort was planning on following you back to the house. You flew there and that made it relatively simple for you to be followed. Someone who Apparates can’t be tracked."

"I can’t believe it," Harry said, shaking his head. "I knew something was wrong. It was too easy.

Lisa nodded. "Yes it was. I can only assume that Voldemort was planning to follow you back to the house and, shall we say, to take care of multiple enemies. The question is now, what do we do next?"

Harry spoke again. "I say that Ron, Draco, and I go back to Voldemort’s castle and try to free the other prisoners. Then we find out what Voldemort’s up to now."

That statement was met with complete outrage from the women in the room.

"Why is it only the men who go?"

"How exactly do you plan to accomplish this?"

Lisa spoke quietly, but firmly. "Harry, you will need our help to accomplish this. You can’t do it on your own and it’s unfair to exclude us just because we’re women."

Harry sighed, this was a topic that he had been over many times with Lisa. "Lis, it isn’t because you’re women–"

"It isn’t?" Draco interrupted.

Harry continued, ignoring Draco’s remark. "This is Voldemort we’re talking about. He is extremely dangerous and I don’t want to expose you to him. All three of you are mothers or soon to be mothers. We can’t put you in such danger."

Hermione was livid. "This is absurd! Before I became Ron’s wife, I was exposed to just as much danger as you were! I may be a mother and I love my children, but you, Harry Potter, are not going to order me to stay home and be a housewife!"

"Herm," Ron attempted to pacify his wife.

"No, Ron. I’m sick of this. You, Draco, and Harry, are going to listen to what we have to say. We are your wives, but we are also people. We are not ‘the wives’. We are Hermione, Ginny, and Lisa. If we want to help ‘the husbands’ then we will. Is that clear?"

Harry grasped at straws. "Who’s going to stay with the children? We can’t leave them alone! And what about Ginny? She’s in no condition to be on a rescue mission!"

"We’ll hire a sitter," Lisa said sensibly. "I’m sure Elizabeth Weasley will sit for the children. We shouldn’t be gone that long. And Ginny won’t do any of the actual rescuing, but we may need her assistance."

Ron stood up and addressed the women. "Fine. We’ll all go. Why don’t you go call the sitter and get ready."

Hermione looked gratified and went upstairs to kiss her children goodnight, Lisa nodded and went to the kitchen, and Ginny went to get her coat. Draco and Harry, however, stared at Ron with open mouths.

"I don’t know about you, Weasley, but I am not letting my wife anywhere near Voldemort. He’s already threatened to murder her," Draco said.

Ron held a finger to his lips. "Shh! Don’t let them hear you! Listen Malfoy, I have no intention of letting them come with us. Now let’s Disapparate before they come back."

Draco grinned. "Very sneaky, Weasley. I didn’t know you had it in you. Lying to your wife, tsk tsk."

Harry faced his friend. "Ron, you do realize that we will be in a lot of trouble when they find that we’ve left with out them, don’t you?"

Ron shook the question off. "Never mind about that now. They’ll thank us for it later. Let’s go."

Without another argument the three men disappeared from the living room. Lisa came back through the swinging kitchen door a moment after they left.

"Harry, Elizabeth’s on her way so we should–" Lisa stopped mid-sentence. The room where the men had been was now empty. And she knew, she could sense it. They had Disapparated.

"Those men are in so much trouble," Lisa muttered viciously under her breath.

* * *

Harry, Ron, and Draco arrived in a densely wooded area, the same wooded area that Harry first arrived in when he rescued Draco.

"Okay, this is it. We just have to follow this path and it should lead us right to Voldemort. Now, I know we all have our personal issues concerning Voldemort, but this is strictly a rescue mission." Harry looked straight at Ron when he spoke. Less than a year ago, Voldemort killed one of his nephews, Percy’s oldest boy, Jonathan. It was a warning to Britain’s newest Minister of Magic that even his children were not safe. The loss was still fresh in the minds of every Weasley, and Harry knew that Percy had not fully recovered. Jonathan had been a favorite nephew of Ron’s and Ron was extremely temperamental on any subject concerning his family’s well-being (as we’ve already seen).

"Neither of you are to attack him. If you see Voldemort you are to get out of there as quickly as possible. If we do this right, however, you won’t see him. Let’s go."

As they walked up the path, the three men were silent. As they neared Voldemort’s lair, Draco couldn’t help but shudder when he thought of how close he had come to getting the Dark Mark on his arm. Ron’s thoughts turned to his nephew and his brother Percy. They hadn’t always gotten along, but now that Ron had children of his own, he knew that Percy must be suffering greatly. Harry thought of Voldemort and wondered, with a shiver of fear, what he was up to this time around.

They neared the ominous fortress. "Here it is," Harry whispered. "It’s right over–"

Harry stopped in mid-sentence and stopped in mid-step causing Ron and Draco to bump into him. A surprise awaited them, a surprise that changed everything.

"Where is it?" Harry asked in a panicked whisper. "Where did it go?"

* * *

"Well, what do we do now?"

Hermione posed the question to both Ginny and Lisa. She had not been pleased to find that Harry, Ron, and Draco had disappeared without them and needless to say Ginny was pretty angry as well.

"Elizabeth’s on her way here anyway, so I say we go join them," Lisa said. "Harry left the map here so it shouldn’t be very hard to find them."

Ginny paused before speaking. "I hesitate to say this, but maybe they had a reason to leave us behind. After all, it was only a few hours ago that the two of you told me I shouldn’t go to rescue Draco because I’m pregnant. And what about your children."

"Ginny does have a point," Hermione said to Lisa. "I’m not sure that I’m comfortable leaving the children alone with Voldemort out there."

Lisa nodded thoughtfully. "I understand, I’m hesitant to leave Lily and James as well. But what do we do about our husbands?"

"Since Elizabeth’s on her way here already, let’s go get ‘the husbands’ and come back here. We’ll only be gone for a few minutes," Ginny suggested.

Lisa and Hermione agreed with this new plan. As soon as Elizabeth arrived and Hermione and Lisa said goodbye to their children, the three women Disapparated to the place on the map. When they arrived, everything was silent. It was an ominous place, not a bird twittered nor an insect buzzed. The forest was still. They walked a ways up a path that was formed in the middle of the dense underbrush.

When they reached the edge of the wood, they saw their husbands who were walking in circles and talking rapidly. Hermione, Ginny, and Lisa approached slowly.

"Hello, boys."

The reaction was amusing. All three men jumped at the sound of Ginny’s voice. Harry, who was standing, stumbled and fell over; Draco turned around so quickly that it made him dizzy; Ron, the only one sitting down, turned his head so far around that he resembled an owl.

"What are you three doing here?" Harry exclaimed.

"We came looking for you," Lisa said, smiling. "Um, isn’t there supposed to be a castle here?"

"It disappeared," Draco said with a trace of his old drawl.

"What?" Ginny asked.

"It wasn’t here when we came. We’ve searched the entire area and still nothing. It’s like Voldemort just picked up the place and moved it." Harry ran his fingers through his messy hair.

"Well, if it isn’t here, then we might as well go home. We can decide what to do from there," Lisa said as she looked around.

Ron seemed reluctant to get up. "What if we miss an important clue?"

Hermione looked across the large, empty clearing. "I doubt that we’re missing anything. Let’s go back to our house. I want to see how the children are."

Ron smiled. "I do too. Let’s go."

The six adults Disapparated in pairs and arrived in the livingroom. It looked as though it had been hit with a tornado. All of the little knick-knacks that had been on the mantle were broken and crushed into little pieces, many of Harry’s papers were strewn around the room, and someone had ripped apart the sofa cushions. Ginny let out a little scream when she saw Elizabeth Weasley unconscious on the floor.

Lisa rushed to her side and felt for a pulse. "She’s alive. Ennervate!"

Elizabeth sat up rubbing her head. She looked around and saw all of the adults looking down at her with concern. Then she burst into tears.

"Lizzie," Ron said kindly, "what happened? Did you throw some sort of wild party?"

Elizabeth appealed to Harry. She couldn’t look her aunts or uncles in the eyes. "Oh, Mr. Potter, I’m so sorry! I don’t know how it happened!" Elizabeth sobbed harder.

Harry looked at her with concern. "Elizabeth, what happened?"

Elizabeth stared at her feet as tears ran down her cheeks. "I was just sitting down here reading a book, the children were all in bed, and then they broke in!" She appealed to her uncle. "Oh, Uncle Ron, I’m so sorry! They Stunned me before I could even take out my wand! I woke up just long enough to see what they took before passing out again!"

Harry felt the apprehension rising up his throat. "Elizabeth, what did they take?"

Elizabeth looked at him, her eyes filled with tears. "Oh, Uncle Harry," she relapsed a moment and called Harry by the name she had used as a small child, before going through her ‘mature’ phase. "They took the children, Lily, James, Geoffrey, and David! They’re all gone!"

Hermione and Lisa paled. "No!" they said in unison before running upstairs.

Ginny sat down heavily on the sofa and Draco sat down next to her, holding her hand. Harry and Ron were in a state of shock, but Ron managed to ask what had actually occurred.

Elizabeth spoke, her voice wavering. "I was reading when I heard this crash at the front door. Five wizards, or witches, burst through and four of them ran up the stairs. Before I could register what had happened, the remaining wizard Stunned me. When I came to, I wandered up the stairs with a very large headache and saw that the beds were empty! I stumbled back down here and passed out. Oh, I am so sorry, I don’t know what to say!"

Harry put a comforting arm around the girl. "It’s not your fault, Elizabeth. There was nothing that an unarmed fourteen year old witch could have done against so many. I just want to know how they got in."

Lisa and Hermione came down the stairs, supporting one another. Tears were pouring down their faces and Lisa was holding something in her hand.

"Elizabeth’s right, they’re gone," Lisa said with a melancholy tone. "There was no note or anything. All that was on the bed was this."

In her outstretched hand, Lisa held a single blood-red rose.