New Beginnings

DISCLAIMER::: Everything you recognize belongs to JK Rowling and Warner Bros. I just love them so much I wanted to play with them a little.

Summary::: The interrogation continues.

New Beginnings

Chapter Thirteen

"What do you mean, 'which one of us kidnapped Hermione'?" Bill shouted, shooting to his feet.

Draco slowly stood and looked Bill squarely in the eyes, answering calmly, "Mr. Weasley, I suggest you sit back down. I would hate to have to hex you when I have more questions to ask."

Looking stunned and more than a little scared, Bill dropped back into his chair. The other three Weasley brothers held their tongues, but kept looking from Draco to Bill apprehensively.

"How long has she been missing?" asked one of the twins.

"She was last seen just outside the gates of Hogwarts at five o'clock this evening. From what we have been able to determine after a search of the area, it appears she was surprised from the behind and stunned. Then she was moved, but not Apparated. We could trace that, but she seems to have been moved by other means," Draco explained.

"What about the magic signature?" Charlie asked. "Can't you figure out who took her that way?"

"Normally, yes, but who ever stunned Hermione did so at very close range. We are unable to get a strong enough reading to use a magic tracer. If she had been hit from even just a few feet away, there would be enough lingering magic to track her attacker." Draco paused. "Also, we could follow the traces if she had been Apparated, but seeing as she was moved manually, we are at a dead end. Tell me, when was the last time any of you, besides Bill, saw Hermione?"

All three of the remaining Weasleys replied, at the same time, "The trial."

"I see. Did any of you know as to where she had moved and taken employment?" To this question Draco received two different answers.

Charlie dipped his head and muttered, "I knew she was working at Hogwarts. One of her students is the daughter of my flat mate at the reserve. She wrote a letter to old Docky about her wonderful new Head of House. Docky can't read anymore, and I have to read all his letters to him. Dragon accident," Charlie added, sadly.

Fred and George looked at each other, then at Draco, before one of them said, "We knew she was back at Hogwarts as well. Mum told us. She refused to say how she knew, but insisted that we violate the Ministry order not to contact her." The twin took a deep breath before continuing. "She begged us to go and talk her into going to the Ministry. We refused, and she... she threatened to disown us."

At this Bill shot a stunned look at his younger brothers and gasped, "Mum threatened to disown you? How could she do such a thing? Does she really feel Ron had a right to do the things he did to Hermione?"

"We don't know, Bill, but she has always insisted that Ron could never be so cruel as to hurt Hermione," the twin on the left replied.

"Well, she didn't see Hermione laying on that floor in a pool of her own blood. She didn't have to look Ron in the eyes that night and see the hatred burning there. She wasn't the one to hear the cries of pain and fear from Hermione when I picked her up and Flooed her to St. Mungo's." Bill paused to take a deep breath, sadness darkening his normally bright blue eyes, before continuing, "She wasn't there when I brought the Aurors to the cottage to arrest Ron. She wasn't the one he threatened revenge on. It was me! I did those things, and only I and Hermione know what a true monster Ron has become."

"Okay, Bill, we can see how you feel. We can't understand it, because we weren't there, but we can sympathize," the twin on the right said. Then looking at Draco, he continued, "Fred and I will do what ever we can to help you find Hermione. We know where Ron is living, and we will take you there to see if he had anything to do with this."

"That is good, George. I will have Auror Garvy accompany you to Ron's. I still have to find your parents. It seems they have left the country, and we are unable to locate them," Draco said, causing the four brothers to look at him, stunned.

"Our parents haven't left the country. I just saw them at the Burrow this afternoon. It was about noon when I left, and they were sitting down to lunch," Bill said.

Before Draco could respond, the door to room six opened, and Auror Garvy walked in. "Mr. Malfoy-Potter, we have located the father. He was bound and gagged and left in the uppermost room of the family home. He doesn't remember how he got there. The last thing he remembers is a strange sound coming from his wife's apron pocket, then nothing."

"Thank you, please bring him in. We can let his boys see him, and then we'll test him for memory charms to figure out what happened to him." When the Auror opened his mouth to object, Draco raised his hand and nodded his head in the direction of the wall Severus and Harry were watching through. "We will wait until he has seen his sons,' Draco said, standing and exiting the room with the Auror.

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Hermione had spent the last few hours thinking about the girl who'd brought her food. She had not figured out, yet, who the girl was, or who this master of hers was. The night was wearing on, and Hermione knew she probably wouldn't be missed for several more hours, by anyone other than Severus. 'He would just think I had gotten cold feet about our dinner though,' she thought. 'No one will even know I am gone until, well maybe breakfast, but most likely my first class.'

Out in the hallway, beyond the cell door, a light came on. Hermione could hear movement and figured it was the girl returning for her untouched food tray. Lying down on the mattress, she turned her back to the door. She was in no mood to have the girl looking at her as she cried.

"He finally got you, did he?" came a female voice that made Hermione whip around and scramble to the rear wall of her cell.

"I should... I should have known you had something to with this," Hermione stated, her voice shaking a little.

"My dear, he just wants to be happy. The way he was before the war stole his future," declared the woman in the doorway.

"The war didn't steal his future, the booze did. If you weren't so pig-headed you would have seen that," Hermione all but screamed.

Pulling her wand out, the woman pointed it at Hermione. Just before she could utter a curse, there was an odd sound. The woman kept her wand trained on Hermione as she reached into her pocket and pulled out a cellular phone.

"Yes, dear... of course... no, I haven't... yes, dear... I will see you soon." Pushing a button on the phone, it was slipped back into the pocket. "You, my dear, are a very lucky girl. He will be home soon and says he has a surprise for me. Be a good girl and don't tell him I was down here." With that the woman exited the small cell and locked and warded the door.

Hermione released the breath she had been holding since the wand had first appeared. 'She has lost her mind if she thinks I will ever that Ron hurt me again. No, Mrs. Weasley, he will never hurt me again,' she thought, preparing herself for a battle, sans wand.

TBC

AN::: As always I would like to thank my fabulous betas Allison and Piper. I would also like to thank all those who have reviewed. In the next chapter Severus and the rest pay a visit to Ron.

AN2::: Sorry it took so long for the update. I recently moved, and everything was in boxes. Also, My desktop computer decided to freak out and stop working, so I had to switch to my laptop; the problem is, where I moved to I can't use my wireless modem. So, now I have to check my email, and post my updates from the office. Which, of course, I don't get into very often.