Marked

Harry and Hermione stared at the Headmistress for several long moments, both at a loss for words. Hermione broke the silence first. "It's Friday, isn't it?" she whispered. Harry turned to her.

"What?" Lavender asked. She grabbed the other girl's arm. "What do you know?"

"Ow!" Hermione snatched her arm from Lavender. "Nothing, I--" She turned to Harry and Professor McGonagall, both of whom had turned questioning looks in her direction. "Harry, do you remember when I told you certain days of the week and dates had bad potential for you and Neville?" Harry nodded. "Today is the tenth and Friday and I knew it could be--I mean, I wasn't sure something would actually happen, just that the potential is there and--"

"What are you babbling about?" Lavender interrupted.

"Arithmancy predictions for Harry and Neville. It's too difficult to explain," Hermione said, waving a hand in the air. She turned to the Headmistress. "Are you sure he hasn't just wandered off somewhere?"

Professor McGonagall's eyes narrowed. "Miss Granger, surely you know that we examined all of the possibilities before declaring a student missing from this castle. Every professor, portrait and ghost has been looking for Mr. Longbottom since an hour after dinner. And yourselves," she added in a sharp tone. "I had begun to believe you might be in a great deal of danger."

"We were in the Room of Requirement," Hermione admitted. "I don't think ghosts can get into that room."

"I'm starting to wonder if I shouldn't have the entrance sealed off if it'll help me keep track of the two of you," the Headmistress stated. "Did Mr. Longbottom say anything to either of you about going somewhere outside of the castle or leaving school grounds?"

"No, why would he do that?" Harry asked. "He knows as well as anyone that it's safer to stay here. The last time I saw him, he was in our dorm looking at his mail."

"That was the story I heard from Mr. Weasley," McGonagall responded.

Harry felt a headache coming on and began rubbing at his temple. "Have you tried using the Marauder's Map?" Harry asked. "I think I left it in my trunk."

"Professor Lupin made use of that the moment we determined the two of you were missing as well."

"A lot of good it did," Lupin said, joining them in the corner. He held up the folded parchment. "That room you told us about doesn't show up on it at all. I'm waiting to hear from Professor Slughorn, but I'm pretty sure Mr. Malfoy is missing from his dormitory as well."

"That sneaky little--"

"Lavender, we don't know he's done anything," Harry said.

She rounded on Harry and punched him in the arm. "Are you defending him? He's been on their side this entire time and now he's done something to Neville. This is all your fault!" Harry backed away as Lavender began shouting at him. "Dumbledore never wanted to involve Neville in this mess, not now! But you, you insisted and the Minister went along with what you--"

A sharp slap to her face stopped the rush of words.

"Lavender, if you keep blaming Harry for this, Neville won't be the only person missing," Hermione said. "Neither of them is to blame for the prophecy."

"But he is to blame for what happened to Neville and his parents," Lavender stated. "You can't deny that."

Hermione raised her arm again. "You are the most aggravating--"

"Ladies, not now," Professor Lupin said, stepping between them. "If neither of you has more information to contribute," he said, motioning to Hermione and Harry, "I need you both up to your dorms."

"Why?" Harry asked.

"Now, Mr. Potter," Professor McGonagall said. She stood to the side and motioned both students in front of her, before following Hermione up the stairs and to the left. Professor Lupin followed Harry up the stairs and to the right, walking until they reached the fifth year boys' dormitory.

"What is going on?" Harry asked the moment they were in the room.

"You're leaving the school," Lupin said. Raising his wand, he pointed it at Harry's trunk and the cabinet next to his bed. Seconds later, his clothes began folding themselves in midair and landing in the trunk in neat stacks. "If there's anything under the bed or anywhere else in the room you need, I suggest you get it now."

"Where am I going?" Harry reached under his bed and grabbed his backpack. The Time-Turner shifted inside.

"You're going to stay with Sirius until we can figure out what happened to Neville." Lupin finished packing Harry's clothes and books and began levitating his trunk towards the door.

"I still don't understand," Harry said. "If something happened to Neville in here, shouldn't you be looking for someone who broke into the school? If someone strange was in our dorm, at least one person would have noticed, right?"

Lupin lowered the trunk at the doorway and turned. "Harry, it would be impossible for someone to break into the school. I've never seen protective spells around Hogwarts the way they are now. Nothing short of a Ministry order could get past the gates and I doubt that would pass Professor McGonagall's notice."

"There has to be some kind of weakness," Harry said. "You don't think any of the guards at the gate could have snuck Neville out somehow?"

Lupin shook his head. "Tonks has been there with another Auror since four. The day guards have already been contacted and they didn't see anything suspicious."

"Then it must have been--"

"Harry, you need to go. Professor McGonagall is waiting," Lupin said.

"Fine." Harry raised a hand to his temple as another sharp pain bloomed behind his eyes. Just as quickly as it had started, it stopped. He had begun following the professor to the door when something caught the corner of his eye. An opened cardboard box lay on the floor near Neville's bed. "Who's been checking the mail?" Harry asked as he walked towards the bed. He picked up Neville's wand from the coverlet and slipped it into his pocket.

"The guards at the gate. Why?"

Harry motioned towards the box on the floor. "What have they been checking for exactly?"

Professor Lupin shrugged as his eyes followed to where Harry indicated. "Cursed objects, anything that would carry a trace of Dark Magic. I get where you're going with this, but the sensors are quite strong and it would take a series of powerful spells to fool them. There's only a small possibility of that."

"What if it wasn't a cursed object?" Harry asked. "What if it was something simple, like a Portkey?"

"I doubt that could happen." Lupin glanced at the box on the floor again. "You said he was looking at his mail the last time you saw him?"

Harry nodded. "He told me he'd gotten that from his grandmother this morning and wasn't going to open it until later. He was just getting to the box when I left to meet Hermione. Ron left about the same time I did."

"It's possible," Lupin said. "If it was keyed to activate when he touched it rather than at a specific time." Lupin raised his wand and summoned the box towards himself. "Gods, if that is all it took to break through security, Minerva's going to have kittens."

"Her? I'm more concerned about what Neville's grandmother is going to do to Dumbledore," Harry said.

"You don't need to worry about that," Lupin said. "The Minister can take care of himself. First we need to find out if there was a Portkey active in this room. That, at least, can be traced at the Ministry. I don't know why it never occurred to anyone to guard against that."

"Especially after what I told the Minister about the end of my fourth year," Harry said. "I still wonder why it was so easy for people to get to me every year."

"If I remember your story accurately, you weren't exactly making yourself difficult to get to all the time," Lupin said. "Even tonight, you ran off without telling anyone where you were."

"Hermione and I were just--"

"I'm sure I know exactly what you were doing," Lupin said. He lifted his wand to levitate Harry's trunk again. "I'm not even going to get into what your mother is going to say about that, and don't think Professor McGonagall won't tell her. She was informed you were missing and is probably with Sirius now, worried out of her mind."

"Fantastic," Harry said as he followed the professor down the hall. "If I had a choice about explaining things to my mother, I think I'd rather be where Neville is now."

"Fuck you!" Leaning back, Neville spat through the bars into Bellatrix's face before bracing himself. As he had expected, she sent him to the floor screaming in pain again, her features composed as the boy in the cage writhed in agony. After a few minutes of this, she released him from the spell and crossed her arms, drumming the fingers of one hand against her sleeve.

"What is so special about you, Mr. Longbottom?" Bellatrix walked back and forth in front of the cage, the click of her heels on the wood floor barely audible over the panting of her victim. "From what I can see, you're nothing more than a pathetic excuse for a wizard, a mere shadow of your very talented parents." Bella smiled. "And even they fell to the inevitable, didn't they?"

Neville did not respond to the taunting. He merely lay in the bottom of the cage, still twitching in place from the strength of the spell.

The witch stopped walking and tapped her foot slowly, just before Neville's face. "No, you're not very special at all. Just a little boy who got lucky because your sainted parents sacrificed themselves. But they're not here to do that now, are they?" She lifted her wand and the boy screamed again, turning over onto his back as the pain wracked his body. Bellatrix released him from the curse.

"The Dark Lord could not kill you before." A corner of her mouth lifted. "I think it's fair to say, whatever power you may have held that could vanquish him in the past is a distant memory." Neville screamed again. "When the time comes, it will be his pleasure to send you off to be with your parents. But it will be my pleasure," she said, "to find out just how weak you are before that time." Smiling fully now, Bellatrix trained her wand on Neville and sent waves of pain throughout his body until he passed out.

Shortly after he stepped out of the Floo at Sirius's house, Harry was enveloped in a hug by his mother; the force of it knocked him back a step. "Mum, I'm fine," he mumbled into her shoulder. Harry frowned, but didn't push back. After being separated from her for several weeks, and with all that lay ahead, having his mother hold on to him was more comforting than anything else he could've had at the moment.

"I can see that you're fine," Lily said, still holding him tight. "I was so worried about you." She pulled back to look into his eyes. "What possessed you to run off like that?" she asked, her voice shaking. She frowned as she ran a hand over his hair.

Harry said nothing. He turned when Hermione followed him into the room, both of their trunks levitating in front of her.

"I'm just glad you're both safe," Lily said. She squeezed her son once more before stepping back. She squeezed his shoulders. "You're so thin. Have you been eating? Never mind, I'll fix you something." She turned to where Hermione still stood before the fireplace, watching them warily. "Is there a reason you had to leave the school as well? I didn't think you'd be coming."

"I--" She glanced at Harry before her gaze returned to his mother. "The Minister said it would be best. He--he thinks I can help Harry prepare." At Lily's narrowed gaze, Hermione's eyes shot to the floor.

"I don't know why he didn't want all of us to leave school," Harry said. "We've all been training a lot, Mum. We work really well together."

"And you think you're ready?" Lily asked.

Harry didn't know how to answer that. He wanted to be truthful, but he wasn't ready to see his mother dissolve into tears the same way Hermione had when they'd talked earlier. The look of strain already present on her face was enough. "I'm as ready as I'm going to be," he responded. "So is Neville, wherever he is. I just hope he hasn't been hurt."

"I'm trying not to think about it," Lily said. "We've all been in a panic about the three of you. You've just missed Neville's grandmother. She had quite a few words for our Minister."

"Is Dumbledore here?" Harry asked. He looked around the sparsely furnished sitting room. It looked exactly as Harry had imagined from Tonks's description--a sofa and two chairs, a table and a wireless--just enough furnishings for a single man, and neater than he normally kept it, probably since Lily was there. There were a few photos in frames on the table, but none of the portraits Harry remembered from Grimmauld Place.

"Yes," Lily responded. "He and Sirius are putting protections around the house. That brings me to a few rules. While you're here, you won't be allowed to go outside. You cannot do any spells. You cannot send messages to anyone. I can't imagine why you'd have to, but if you must send a message, it has to go through Sirius. Your sister doesn't know what's happening, so if you write to her, please let her think you're still at school."

"Is that wise?" Harry asked. "If something happens, won't she--"

"Harry, nothing is going to happen to you." Hermione stepped out away from the fireplace and crossed the room, ignoring Lily's frown when she put an arm around him. "We all believe you can do this."

Harry frowned and glanced at his mother briefly. "Weren't we talking earlier about realistic expectations?" he asked.

"I know what we talked about," Hermione said after a pause. "I refuse to act like we're sending you on a death mission," she added. "You need every bit of confidence and good will you can have. I'm sure your mother feels the same way." She turned to Lily for confirmation. The other witch crossed her arms and nodded. "As soon as they find out what happened to Neville, Dumbledore will come up with a plan."

"That's just it, isn't it?" Harry asked. "Lavender didn't know how close she might have been. Draco's been getting threats left and right. It's possible he helped his aunt if he thought it would save his mother's life. He told us he wasn't going to help her, but he could have changed his mind." He crossed his arms. "I'd consider handing him over to a Death Eater if I thought it would save someone in my family."

"Harry, don't talk that way."

"Mum, what am I supposed to say?" Harry asked. He began rubbing at the side of his head as his headache returned. "I'm sorry, but it's how I feel. Neville is gone and there are only so many ways he could have left the school. If the Portkey idea isn't right, then Draco could have done something."

"Portkey?" Hermione asked.

"I think that's what was in the box Neville got in the mail this morning," Harry said. "He was opening it when Ron and I left after dinner. The box was left on the floor. He couldn't have just walked out, Lavender was waiting for him in the common room." Harry reached into his pocket and pulled out Neville's wand. "And his wand was just there on the bed." He slipped it back into his pocket.

"Yes, but if Malfoy was going to do something to him, why do it through the mail?" Lily asked. "Couldn't he have just handed it to him?"

"Neville would never have accepted some mysterious package from him," Hermione responded. "They've barely been on speaking terms the past few weeks. Plus, Malfoy wouldn't have wanted to get caught. It does make sense, Harry. If he did it, he would have left the school afterwards to avoid being captured."

"Right, but to where?" Harry asked. "He claimed he had no idea where his aunt is hiding, but I'm sure that's where he is. Even if he had no intention of doing anything to us--" He paused and closed his eyes as a sharp pain passed behind his eyes. "If she pushed him far enough he--he'd have to." Harry's voice faded on the last words. His eyes rolled back into his head just before he stumbled.

"Harry, what--?" Hermione's words died in her throat as he swayed more and then passed out at her feet.

"It hurts, doesn't it?" Bellatrix asked. "To know you had a choice and you chose wrong," she said slowly. She began pacing back and forth in front of the bed, smiling slightly when she noticed Voldemort had woken and was observing her. She lifted her wand and pointed it at her nephew. Draco screamed out and pulled against the hooks binding him to the far wall. The hooks pulled at his skin and warm rivulets of blood began coursing down his back.

"I would feel sorry for you, if you weren't so sad." She released him from the curse and stopped pacing, crossing her arms. "You actually told Potter and Longbottom you weren't going to help me out of some misguided, self-righteous way of getting back at me." Bella's eyes narrowed as she read her nephew's current thoughts. "Don't think I haven't considered killing you, but you don't deserve that relief just yet. For now, I think you and I have some things to get straight. I know you have information for me. I intend to get it out of you. By any means necessary."

She began pacing again. Draco's head lifted and he watched her move back and forth in front of him, tapping her wand against her palm. When he felt her probing at his mind, he pushed back with all his strength. Bellatrix flinched at the force of it, then began smiling. It was always more fun when they put up a fight.

Hermione fell to her knees next to Harry screaming his name frantically. She looked up at Lily, seeing her own panic mirrored in the other witch's eyes.

"What happened?" Sirius came through the doorway from the hall, followed quickly by Dumbledore.

"I don't know," Hermione said. She moved to the side as Dumbledore and Sirius kneeled on either side of Harry, both pulling their wands out. "One minute he was fine and then he started rubbing at the side of his head. The next thing we knew, he just collapsed." At her pronouncement, Harry moaned softly and shook once before falling still.

Frowning, Sirius tucked his wand into the pocket of his trousers and stood.

"What is it?" Lily asked. She put a hand on his shoulder. "Why are you stopping?"

"He's fine," Dumbledore said. He ran a hand over Harry's face and held it over his fluttering eyelids. "He's just passed out."

"But why?" Lily asked. "You said that thing in his head wouldn't hurt him."

"It is not that," Dumbledore assured her. He released Harry and stood from the floor, putting his wand in his pocket. "Do you remember when I told you he and Neville are connected through their respective scars? Harry is seeing a little of what Neville has been going through." He paused as the others looked at him, waiting for answers. "It is as we have feared. Bellatrix has Neville and has spent the last while torturing him. I don't believe Harry feels any of Neville's pain, but he is currently having a vision of what Neville has been through as if he is experiencing it himself."

"Can you see it using Legilimency?" Hermione asked.

"Yes," Dumbledore said. "She is not going to cause him any great physical damage--for now. Voldemort isn't strong enough to attack him yet. I believe that's the best we can hope for. Miss Granger, did you bring everything you'll need?"

"I--" Hermione flushed and looked at the floor before nodding.

"Good," Dumbledore said. "I have no doubt your foresight will prove invaluable very soon." Lily stared at Hermione with one eyebrow raised. The teenager continued to avoid eye contact with everyone in the room, instead keeping her gaze on Harry's unconscious form.

"I must leave," Dumbledore said to the group. "If anything changes with Harry's condition, please send me a message immediately. When he wakes, have him extract the memory and send it to me directly. The Aurors will need every clue we can give them to find out where Neville is being kept."

Bellatrix smiled as her nephew sagged against the wall, finally tired of fighting her. He'd given it one last attempt, using Occlumency as best he could as she'd tortured him, but had finally given up. As she searched through his memories, one brief instance caught her attention and she paused to examine it. She closed her eyes and listened through her nephew's ears as Potter and Granger had a discussion about Horcruxes and the deaths that could result from the Dark Lord's knowledge. She smiled. The pieces did not all fit, but it seemed this was exactly what she needed. The final clue that, once deciphered, would spell the end of Longbottom at her master's hands.