Coming Home

Coming Home

Chapter 4

By: FayeValentine00

I took Ron's arm and led him to the bedroom. I was still nervous about introducing him to Alicia but I was excited at the same time. My daughter was the one thing in my life that I was most proud of. Despite all the mistakes I'd made in the last few years, she was my shining achievement.

Harry opened the door and we all stepped inside. I nearly laughed when Ron froze the moment he saw the crib. He looked back and forth between me and the crib several times before sputtering out, "You have a baby?!"

"Her name is Alicia and she is two months old," I nodded, leaving the boys at the door and walking over to check on her but when I got to the crib I instantly knew something was wrong. The blankets had been moved and I couldn't see her.

My mind was racing. I quickly reached forward and pulled the blanket out of the crib. I kept trying to convince myself that maybe she'd managed to move around and that was why I didn't immediately see her when I looked in the crib but once the blanket was gone, my worst fears were realized.

"Harry," I managed to whisper. My voice was so soft and raspy that I hardly recognized it. I couldn't take my eyes off the place where Alicia should have been. I blinked over and over, willing her to appear but she didn't.

After that, everything was a blur. Harry and Ron were at my side in a flash, looking at the empty crib. Ron swore under his breath. "She was just here!," I managed to shout, pulling all the rest of the bedding out of the crib and searching in and around the area for any sign of my daughter.

Ron and Harry began searching as well and within seconds, they found the bedroom window cracked open. Normally, that would not seem out of place but Harry had specifically made sure that the window was closed when we put Alicia to bed. The men rushed outside to search while I turned the room upside down. I was just about to give up when I looked in the car seat and saw a letter written in green ink.

My heart sank and a wave of nausea spilled over me. My hands trembled as I opened the letter. It was address to Miss Hermione Granger and somehow I already knew it held the key to my missing daughter. I opened the envelope and read it slowly.

Miss Granger,

We've been watching you for some time, you know. We still have many plans to bring an end to Harry Potter and the remaining members of the Order of the Phoenix but we were missing an important piece to the puzzle. Your daughter should work quite nicely.

There was no signature. No name. No symbol at all that might lead me to the people who'd taken my daughter. Of course, I had my suspicions but nothing was concrete.

I kept reading the letter over and over, hoping new words would appear but they didn't and when Harry and Ron came back into the room empty handed, I passed the letter to Harry without a word. I felt numb. My daughter was gone and someone had taken her. Not just anyone either. She was taken by somebody who hated me, hated my friends and hated everything that we stood for.

I watched Harry's face as he read the letter. I watched as his face changed from shock to guilt to anger in a matter of seconds before passing the letter off to Ron who reacted with disgust. That was when I felt a tiny spark in the pit of my stomach start to grow. It was a feeling that I hadn't experienced in quite some time. It reminded me off the days when we'd fought Voldemort. It reminded me of the days when the future of the Wizarding world rested in Harry's hands, (and to a lesser degree, in Ron's and mine as well.)

I took a deep breath, forced back the tears that could have come so easily and looked at Ron and Harry. "I have to go. I have to find Alicia."

I started to get up but Harry grabbed my arm. "Hermione, wait. We have to think this through."

He was looking at me with empathy but I snapped. "Think this through?! Harry, we don't have time for that! Alicia doesn't have time for that! We ha-"

"Hermione!" My words broke off as Harry shouted over me. When I stopped talking, he softened his voice and took my hand. "You of all people know we have to learn more about what is going on before we can just run off into a fight."

"But..." I started. I knew Harry was right but my heart wouldn't listen. All I could think of was Alicia. She was just a baby. She had nothing to do with... anything. Yet, now she was in the hands of the enemy. To make it worse, I wasn't even sure which enemy had her.

"Hermione, Harry's right," I heard Ron say as he took my other hand and squeezed it.

I looked back and forth between the men and finally allowed a few tears to fall. "I have to find her."

"We'll find her, Hermione. I promise," Harry answered and Ron nodded his agreement.

Within an hour, members of the previously disbanded Order of the Phoenix were streaming into Harry's apartment. I'd forgotten how much I'd missed these people over the years until I saw them again but that feeling was overshadowed by concern for Alicia. Ginny arrived within minutes of the owl she'd received and had been by my side ever since. I noticed what looked like an engagement ring on her finger but didn't ask. Instead, Ginny insisted that I tell her all about Alicia, Chris and living in America. I didn't realize it for a very long time but talking to Ginny about those missing years, kept my thoughts off the current crisis until the entire Order was assembled.

"Harry, why don't you tell everyone what is going on?," Lupin said, glancing at me with concern when the last member arrived.

"We need everyone's help," Harry started. With a flick of the wand, he levitated the letter I'd found and enlarged it so everyone in the room could read it easily. After everyone had time to process the words, he continued. "Hermione's daughter, Alicia, is only two months old. We need to find her quickly before anything else happens."

I watched Tonks closely as she read the letter I'd received and then she looked over at me in shock. I could tell she was floored that I'd come home with a daughter but the minute Harry finished speaking, she was on her feet. "Where do we start?"

Quickly, the other members of the order agreed to help and before long, everyone dispersed. Even Ron had left to bring Luna up to date and start an investigation of his own, which left Harry and I alone in the flat.

"I need to go Hogwarts," I said, climbing to my feet and grabbing my jacket.

"What's at Hogwarts?," he asked, grabbing his jacket as well. Obviously, he was coming with me.

"The library."

I don't know how I expected him to react but the slight smile that reached his lips was a surprise. "Of course. You always seemed to find answers there in the past. Maybe we can find something to help us again."

"Thank you, Harry," I said quickly, kissing his cheek with a smile and then I disapperated a moment before him.