The Second War

Chapter 3

How to Disappear Completely

"Snape," mumbled Ron.

"Well, Snape had us figured out, didn't he?" asked Lupin. "But Sirius would never have trusted me with Kreacher."

"You're gay?" asked Ginny, her eyes filling with tears. She threw herself on her bed and closed the hangings around her, concealing herself from the world.

"That was weird," said Ron and he sniffed the air. "Do you smell that? Harry, can you smell that?"

"Kreacher's making dinner," said Harry.

"It's like fishy or something," said Ron, "battered fried fish and chips, dipped in--!"

"Shut up, Ron," said Harry. "It's only fish and chips..."

"FOOD'S READY!" yelled Molly.

Harry, Ron, Hermione, Remus and, surprisingly enough, Ginny, who was still in a rather regretful mood, walked down the stairs; from the railings they could see Severus and Minerva conversing in low tones; Professor Trelawney, whom Harry wasn't sure was still the Divination teacher, looked up at him with a meaningful grimace on her pale face. Harry knew better than to trust Trelawney, however; she had predicted his death every year since his third and these predictions had yet to come true.

"I wouldn't be surprised if she said I was going to die," said Ron. "Next thing you know, Kreacher's going to kill me, you know? 'Tis what the crystal ball said."

"I don't know about Kreacher," said Hermione. "He might actually turn out to be a good house-elf."

"A good house-elf," said Ron, as they walked down the stairs to the first landing, "is one that doesn't mutter bad things about you in public. A good house-elf is one that actually cleans. We cleaned this house last summer! What did the bleeding house-elf do? He snogged pictures of Sirius's mom!"

"Oh shut up!" said Hermione angrily, and Harry could do nothing more than agree. All he did was complain. "Can't you think positively?" She lowered her voice to a hiss. "Harry gave your family half of Sirius's fortune, yet you didn't even thank him! He might not care, but it might show that you are something more than a senseless git!"

"Forget about it, Hermione," said Harry. "I don't care. I'll just give it to his mom and dad and they will figure out what do with it."

"That's why I love you," said Hermione. "You, at least, have learned to appreciate discretion by now..." Harry smiled as Hermione gave him a kiss on the cheek. When she had first kissed him on the cheek, he had not even responded, come to think of it, but now, he was enjoying the kisses. Of course, the emotion--or lack of it--could have been attributed to his feelings after witnessing the death of Cedric Diggory and the resurrection of Lord Voldemort.

"You love me?" asked Harry.

"Of course," said Hermione. "I mean, not like sex love, but we've been friends forever. But maybe we could add some snogging to the reasons that you love me back."

Harry smirked stupidly as he followed Hermione. All through the dinner that night, Harry and Hermione gazed longingly at each other, and were unable to consume very much food. Molly Weasley was in a considerably cool mood with Hermione, something Harry deduced as her dislike of Hermione after she had left Ron for Harry. Arthur, Lupin and Moody made conversation with the deep-voiced Auror, Kingsley Shacklebolt. Lupin and Arthur were distracted by the always revolving, magical eye of Mad-Eye Moody, a shockingly blue eye that could see through any object. Kingsley, however, found it very easy to forget that the eye was even there; the deeply scarred Auror, Alastor Moody, didn't find himself concerned with the Aurors' wonder, or lack of it, with his eye.

Harry looked at Hermione. She glanced towards him and she motioned to leave the table. However, there was a sudden movement and a chair was thrown back at the wall.

"I won't take this," said Ron as he stood up over the table. "You get on my bleeding case every time, Fred!"

"Calm yourself," hissed Molly angrily. Ron glared angrily at his mother.

"What about them?" said Ron, spitting in his fury. "They keep carping on about - about her!" He pointed an angry finger at Hermione.

"Oh please," said Hermione. "He thought because our relationship didn't work that I was in love with Sirius,--!" Harry's mouth opened in surprise. "--Snape, and now George? No offence, but he is a completely jealous -- jealous idiot! He goes and complains to you, Mrs. Weasley, when he was the one who caused the relationship to pitfall!"

"Ronald!" said Molly, completely taken aback. "Is this true? And you expected me to hate Hermione?"

"Oh well," said Ron sarcastically, but breaking as he spoke, "if you're going to gang up on me, then, well--I'm out of here!" His goblet exploded and shards of glass flew around the room.

"You are not going anywhere!" said Molly angrily, rising over the table; a wine glass shattered brilliantly as Molly's temper reached its peak.

"Oh yes I am!" he said and he ran out of the dining room. A few moments later, they heard the front door slam violently. Suddenly, the voice of Sirius's mother rang throughout the house, deafening the inhabitants for the instant.

"Wow," said Ginny, grinning at Harry, "this looks familiar."

"I wasn't that bad," said Harry and he proceeded to follow Ron, wherever he might have gone.

Bill and Fleur joined them later ("The show ended earlier than planned after a mob cut off the bassist's right hand and he had to be rushed to St. Mungo's," explained Bill, as he and Fleur walked in hand in hand.) They got on the topic of Harry's fifth year.

"'Arry? 'E was bad?" asked Fleur. She mocked a concerned voice. "Oooh! Il est un troublemaker, Bill!"

"Troublemaker?" asked Bill. "I don't know...You-Know-Who just causes trouble for Harry." Fleur kissed Bill on the cheek and sat down next to Charlie.

"Ees dat a new burn?" she asked him, while he flexed his muscles for Fleur. Bill glared at his younger brother but did not do anything all the same.

"Where is Harry, anyway?" asked Bill.

"He's been gone for about five minutes," said Hermione. "Gone after Ron..."

"I'm going," said Bill suddenly. "He shouldn't be out there alone."

"I've already got Dung on the job," said Moody.

"I'm going, okay?" said Bill. He rushed out of the room.

"Yeah, I'll be going with him," said Charlie.

"Well, if you two are going," said Fleur to Charlie, "I'll be following the deux of you!"

"Wow," said Hermione. "Quite a search party... um, Ginny, we have somewhere we have to be, right?"

"Yes!" she said excitedly. "Bye guys!"

Ginny and Hermione ran out of the room, the rants of Sirius's mother music to their ears. Molly looked back at the door.

"I can't muster the courage to stop my children," said Molly sadly.

* * *

Harry glanced at his watch, as if he would be able to find Ron by using it, but instead he just found out he had only been out ten minutes. His knees felt weak as he scanned the streets, unable to find his best friend. He found that he was somewhere near Diagon Alley, by the looks of the street. It had been two years since he had been at Diagon Alley, but it had hardly changed in the past two years. Harry looked back and sideways, but he was unable to find the red-haired teen. Instead, he found two red-haired people and one curly-brown-haired person running at him. He then realized who they were.

"Guys, over here," said Harry. They saw him and pointed their arms at him. Harry realized that they were taller than they should be and he realized his mistake; they were all dressed in identical black cloaks.

Two red streams of light blasted towards him; he ducked to avoid them and he pulled out his own wand. It didn't matter if it was for life or death; he did not want to be chucked out of Hogwarts. He suspected that this time, however, they would understand.

"Impedimenta!" he yelled and the three froze as the charm hit them. The brown-haired one pulled off the wig. Instead, she - or he - had long blond hair and a very pale face.

"Avada Kedavra!" yelled Lucius Malfoy. Green light streamed from his wand, and Harry ducked to avoid it, rolling on the black pavement.

"Expelliarmus!" said Harry and Lucius's wand flew from his outstretched hand. The other Death Eaters pulled off their own wigs, now free of the Impediment Curse. Harry was now staring at Severus Snape, a Death Eater called Nott and Igor Karkaroff. Karkaroff pointed his wand at Harry, and began to yell the Killing Curse.

"Avada--!" Snape elbowed Karkaroff and used the Stunning Spell on Lucius and Karkaroff. Suddenly, he smelled a very putrid smell and he saw Mundungus Fletcher appear next to him with a loud cracking noise. Snape pointed his wand at their seemingly lifeless bodies and his eyes fell on Mundungus.

"So you made it," he said, "you could have been sooner. I have just stunned these two for the Order. Would make a nice gift, I suppose?"

"Sup, Snivellus?" asked Mundungus in return.

"Don't you dare," said Snape in a murderous tone.

"We have to find Ron," said Harry.

"What happened to Weasley?" he asked. Mundungus emptied out a black carton to find only scraps of paper. He grimaced.

"He ran out of the headquarters," said Harry. "He could be in danger."

"Let's find him, then," said Snape.

"You're not complaining?" said Harry.

"Why would I?" said Snape. "Your idiot friend is in danger - we have no time to bicker!"

"Right," said Harry, "he might be at the Leaky Cauldron."

They ran towards the Leaky Cauldron, a wizard pub invisible to Muggles from the outside. Harry thought through the fight that he and Ron had had when he had gotten to the late Sirius Black's house.

"Now he's on the run," he reminded himself. "Pathetic, he is."

"Won't bother asking, eh Sev?" said Mundungus.

"Right, Dung," retorted Snape nastily. They walked into the bar, aware of the stares from the clientele, which greatly annoyed Harry.

"Ignore them," said Snape. "Give them a chance to remember that you've convinced them of the situation in the wizarding world regarding the Dark Lord."

"'Ello, Tom," said Mundungus. "Seen any redheads lately?"

"No," said Tom. "I don't disclose that sort of information with nobodies and crooks like you, Fletcher."

"'Ey," said Mundungus, "I did pay for 'at Firewhiskey. You just think 'cos my reputation ain't so good--!"

"Right now's not the time," said Snape. "We've got all the information we need." He lowered his voice to a whisper. "Potter, get a room, and then go to room number 4, understood?" Harry nodded and he proceeded to get a room. Once he had gotten the key from the toothless innkeeper, he walked to room number four.

"Ron," he said. "Come out, you selfish git!" Unexpectedly, he heard the window break in the room; a moment later, a cloaked Death Eater walked out. He looked down at Harry and swung his hand at him. Harry pulled out his wand and yelled the Disarming Curse at the Death Eater.

The Death Eater was thrown off his feet and he flew backwards into the wall; the wand was no longer at his side, but broken underneath his arse. He did not move.

Harry ran down the stairs as fast as possible and he flung open the door. Snape and Mundungus, joined by Hermione, Bill, Charlie, Fleur and Ginny, waited patiently for him.

"Is Ron being stubborn?" said Charlie wryly.

"Is he gone?" said Hermione, knowing already that she was right.

"He's been kidnapped by some Death Eaters," said Harry in a rush. "Just now, so we might be able to save him." Snape looked at Harry.

"Weren't Lucius and Igor the last of them? The Dark Lord only informed Lucius of the mission," said Snape.

"Guess Lucius went back on making this as easy for us as possible," said Bill anxiously. "Let's go find my little brother, please! We can discuss trivial aspects later!"

Severus and Mundungus Apparated at the spot; Bill and Charlie did the same after giving some quick instructions to circle Diagon Alley so that they could stop the Death Eaters; after all, they couldn't Apparate with Ron on them. For that, they'd need a Portkey.

Fleur led them to the brick wall that was the entrance to Diagon Alley. From there, they walked down until they found no sign of a single member of the Order. Fleur was now nowhere to be found, as well. But with or without her, they figured they would be in the same rut, anyway.

"We might have to go down Knockturn Alley," said Harry. "Borgin and Burkes, maybe?" Hermione seemed mentally exhausted in addition to being as physically exhausted as the rest of them.

"Fine," said Ginny. "Dad told me about that place and I bet that's the sort of place they'd hide some sort of an object to be used for a Portkey to You-Know-Who's hiding place."

To not arouse suspicion in a place as despicable as Knockturn Alley was a job worthy of an Auror, who had failed the Concealment and Disguise portion of their Auror exam - that is to say, it was not very easy.

"Borgin and Burkes," said Hermione, glancing through the window. "Must be in there." Harry did not like the idea of walking through Knockturn Alley at night, and the sooner they were at the hideout, the sooner he was safe. Stupid idiot, Harry thought savagely of Ron, running off because Hermione and he didn't make a good couple.

"Invisibility Cloak," said Ginny as they hid in a narrow crevice in the grimy alley. She whipped out a silvery cloak and they hid underneath it. Harry, Hermione and Ginny all had their wands ready.

"Mr. Borgin," said an unpleasant voice. They had made it into the store and not broken a single Dark item since they had gotten in there. Harry had only to think of Tonks and the sort of trouble she would have caused. "You have the Portkey ready. I believe the Dark Lord would be very interested in using it for more than its transport purpose, so send us with something useful."

"Of course, Thaddeus," said Borgin. "And the boy, what do you plan for him?"

"Bait," said Thaddeus. "Harry is friends with him, at least that's what Theodore told me, and Potter will come looking, as usual. We had some problems, of course, earlier. It seems that Severus was playing secret agent after all."

"Nott," whispered Hermione, "he has Ron here."

"Let's find Ron before they have a chance to take him," said Ginny. Harry nodded. They moved to the back of the store, looking through the aisles. Harry recognized a skeletal hand, which was even dustier than last time he had been in here.

The fireplace had been boarded up; Harry reminded himself to never breathe in when he said Diagon Alley again, lest he get stuck in there until someone cleaned the fireplace - if they did. It seemed unnaturally neglected.

A black door hidden behind a series of black cauldrons creaked open; a thickset man peered through the opening.

"Nott," he hissed. "Come on, I have a bad feeling."

"And your feelings are ill-based, Dominic Goyle," said Nott. "Where's Gareth? He didn't accompany us on the way over here."

"I heard the Potter boy got in a fight with him after you left," said Goyle. "He's probably out cold."

"The Aurors may have already rounded him up," said Nott. "Good thing Lucius and Igor got away." There was a definite note of sarcasm, something Harry doubted even Goyle would fail not to notice. "Gareth Crabbe has been too much of a burden to the Dark Lord. We should have let him die when the Aurors caught up with us the year before the Dark Lord was overcome by the need to join the spirit world."

Goyle chuckled stupidly.

"Remove the gag from Weasley," said Nott. "We need Potter to hear."

"Accio tape!" said Goyle.

"You can't get Harry," said Ron, as soon as the initial pain of having the tape removed had subsided. "You're stupid enough to believe that Harry will come after me?"

"The Dark Lord is counting on it," said Nott.

"Stunning Spells on the count of three," Harry whispered. Hermione and Ginny nodded. Harry heard the door to the store open. "Wait," he hissed.

"Where is Ron?" said an angry voice. Borgin's voice rang through the shop.

"Ron who?" said Borgin. "I'm sorry, but we have not what you are looking for."

"Mr. Borgin," said another voice. "I know that you have the boy." The man whispered to the angry-voiced person and Harry saw Bill run up to the door. Harry held him back and told him, "We're going to go in invisible, understood? You play Indiana Jones after we're ready. Give us two minutes."

"You read the Muggle Series Comics?" asked Bill in a quiet voice.

"No," said Harry and he led Hermione and Ginny into the store room where Ron was tied to a chair.

"Shearing Charm ought to work," said Hermione, as they hid in a niche facing the backs of Goyle and Nott. "Get those two with Stunning Spells and I'll free Ron."

"Got it," said Harry and he pulled off the cloak, pulled out his wand and yelled, "Stupefy!" Ginny had her own wand out and had, instead of performing the Stunning Spell, used a clever Bat-Bogey Hex, which made Goyle's boogers become the size of bats which attacked him. Ron's bindings were sheared meanwhile by Hermione in a better job than Ron had done in getting rid of the lace off his dress robes in his fourth year.

Harry attempted to disarm Goyle, but his wand flew out of his own hand suddenly by a Disarming Charm. Borgin entered the storeroom holding Bill and Harry's wand; Hermione looked up from Ron's body and with her wand still at hand yelled "Stupefy!" Borgin used the Shield Charm and Hermione's deflected spell hit Ginny in the chest. Ginny fell flat on her back, her body in a state of paralysis. Without a wand, and wishing for a miracle he looked down at Ginny. "Ennervate!" said Harry to Ginny's body and he pressed his hands to her chest. Her head stirred and she got up.

"Avada Kedavra!" said Borgin's voice. He was pointing his wand at Ron. Harry pushed Ron and Ginny away from the curse's path; Hermione moved the other way.

We can only hope for a miracle now. How are we supposed to get a whole bunch of Death Eaters? Damn hero complex! Where are Bill, Snape and Dung? And how about Fleur?

The door opened. The Death Eaters looked at Snape with a mixture of hatred and fear.

"It seems as if you have failed," said Snape as he moved towards Borgin. His wand was outstretched in his right hand, gleaming with an ethereal glow. "Stupefy!"

"That is enough," said Goyle, the flying bogeys swatted off his face. "Crucio!" The spell hit Ginny, who screamed so loudly that the whole of the world seemed to shake. Harry, taking his last possible chance, ran at Goyle - by then, he had Harry under the Cruciatus Curse as well. Harry was screaming at the top of his lungs in agony; tears flooded his eyes and his bones were on fire. "GET SNAPE!"

"Furnunculus!" yelled a familiar, French voice. The spell hit Goyle and his face as far as Harry could see erupted in boils. Charlie arrived a second later.

"Admirable," said Bill, as he straightened up. "Charlie, you know the procedure! Come on!"

"Yeah," said Charlie. "Locomotor Mortis!" The bodies of the unconscious Death Eaters flung up.

"Aah!" shouted Goyle as the boils got worse.

"Stupefy!" yelled Hermione. The boil-producing Goyle fell to the ground, and crumpled in a massive heap of oozing liquid that was spilling out of a barrel, which was beginning to eat away at his face. Snape and Fletcher looked at the mess which had been caused by the young ones in their absence.

"We ought to pick him up," said Bill. "Um, Fleur, take the kids back to the place, got it? We've got some work to do here, me and Charlie."

"Oui," said Fleur. "We shall go now - see you later, William!"

"It's Bill," said Bill, sounding annoyed. "See you, Fleur." Fleur winked mischievously. From there, Fleur took them safely to the headquarters, the mission to save Ron a success.