The Arcs of Destiny

Chapter VIII:

Gone

"The absence of the beloved, short though it may last, always lasts too long."

- Jean B. Molière

*

"Percy?" Ron called out as he looked inside the closet. From behind Ron, Harry could see that the closet was neat and tidy with all of Percy's shirts, pants, and robes hanging neatly on the hangers. Three pairs of shoes were standing on a small shelf on the floor of the closet and right beside the shelf was a large suitcase.

Harry looked towards the bed where Draco was standing awkwardly. The bed was neatly made as well, as if it had never been slept in. There was nothing out of place, at least as far as Harry could tell. Percy was the perfectionist type and all of his belongings had a certain area for them.

Harry's eyes moved to the sliding doors, which were partially open. A small breeze was flowing in from the open door and played with the long, white curtains. He went to the doors and opened them. The sliding doors led onto a small balcony with flower pots in the wide railing. Harry went over to the flowers and examined them, finding the small flowers squished.

"He's not here," Harry heard Ginny exclaim as she came into Percy's room. "I've looked everywhere in the house, including the twins' bedrooms. I can't find him."

"Neither can I," Ron was saying. "Did you check with Dad?"

"Yes, but I didn't want to bother him with the reality until we've made sure," Ginny replied. Harry frowned and looked over the railing and down at the ground far below. Some of the bushes surrounding the house below looked dented.

"Odd," Harry whispered. He looked back into the house and yelled, "I think you guys had better come and look at this."

As soon as the other three had gone out onto the balcony, Harry pointed to the flowers and said, "They've been smushed as if someone was trying to get over the railing."

"But why would Percy use the railing?" Ron asked. "He's got the bloody door, for god's sakes."

"I don't think he himself went over the railing," Draco said, more to himself than to the others. He gestured at the length of the railing when he saw the others looking at him questioningly. "Look at how many flowers are damaged. Most of them are damaged and that takes up most of the railing. If Percy were to climb over the railing, he would only use the one place on it instead of taking up so much room. My guess is that someone dragged him over it."

"Good deduction, Sherlock," Ginny said, smiling at Draco. He smiled back and Harry looked at the pair, suspicious. They seemed awfully chummy these days, or hours actually.

"'Sherlock', Ginny?" Harry asked, though it wasn't the question he wanted to ask.

Ginny blushed. "Hey, I may not have seen those Muggle shows, but do give me credit for having read some Muggle literature. Sherlock Holmes is one of my favourite detectives. Next to Trixie Belden, or course."

Harry raised his eyebrows. He looked at Ron and in the soft light that was coming from inside the house, he could see that Ron had paled dramatically and his freckles stood out.

"Where's Mom?" Ron asked Ginny. She shrugged her shoulders. "Oh my god!" Ron dashed into the house with the others following. He flew downstairs and nearly ran into the kitchen table.

Harry watched Ron look through the cupboards. Ron opened the fridge and looked in, then closed the door. "What is it?" Harry asked when he had regained control of his rapid breathing after running after Ron.

"The groceries that Mom was going to buy," Ron started to explain, "aren't in the cupboard. She should have been home hours ago, but she's not here."

"Are you sure?" Harry asked. "I mean, your mother could've put away the groceries in the fridge downstairs and then went to see your father...or the twins."

"Or Percy," Ginny said quietly.

"Harry, I remember specifically that this morning I had found that the milk she had bought recently was bad," Ron said. "I put it down on the list on the fridge, specifically for that product. And the milk never goes downstairs unless it is 1% milk, which is what the twins like. The 2% comes up here, and that's what I wanted. There is no milk in the fridge."

"Maybe the store that Molly had went to didn't have any milk," Harry protested.

"Harry!" Ron said exasperatedly. He then brightened and walked into the entrance hall. Harry and the others followed and saw that Ron was putting on his shoes.

"Where are you going?" Harry asked, confused.

"Dad might know something," Ron answered, not looking up from his shoes. "I'm going there now."

"I'm going with you," Harry told him, putting on his own shoes. "After all, two is better than one, especially now that everyone seems to be disappearing."

"Fine," Ron said, opening the door and going out into the darkness. When Harry had both shoes on, he dashed outside to join Ron.

****

Ginny watched her brother and Harry as they went out the door, not taking her with them. She sighed and walked dejectedly over to the couch where she sat down and lay her head against the pillow behind her. She closed her eyes and felt Draco sit down beside her. There was something she needed to know from him, something that couldn't wait.

"Why are you here?" Ginny asked, her eyes still closed. Draco shifted uncomfortably next to her and she heard him sigh in what could've been exasperation.

"You don't want to know," Draco said firmly. Ginny opened her eyes to look at him. He was staring off into space with no emotion except hatred on it. He turned to look at her and she could see the pain in his eyes, even a kind of helplessness. "It's a sore subject, Ginny. Besides, you already have enough on your plate without me unloading my troubles onto you."

"I'm a good listener," Ginny told him, determined to find out why he was going soft...why he was here with a family he hates...why he was sticking with her so much...etc, etc. The answer to her questions could lie in what drove him to Harry in the first place.

"Ginny," Draco cautioned. "Leave it. I don't want to relive it just yet."

Ginny looked down at her hands. She decided to drop the subject since she wasn't getting anywhere and thought about something else. A thought popped up in her head and she sat up quickly.

"Demons," she said out loud.

"What?" Draco asked, leaning forward.

"Remember when we were underneath the ground?" she asked. Draco nodded and she continued. "Those demons were talking about capturing a woman...a Ministry wife. What if they were talking about my mother?"

"She was going to be made into a demon," Draco commented. "Are you sure that this is your mother?"

"Mom-" Ginny began, but interrupted herself. Another thought had occurred to her. "What if they turned Percy into a demon, called him Rune and got him to kidnap my mom?"

Draco shook his head. "Rune was created, not turned, and they didn't mention Percy at all. It was only the Ministry wife, which, I admit, could be your mother."

Ginny jumped up. "We gotta save her," she said, running to the door. "Harry and Ron don't know anything about the chambers we saw, so they won't know where to look for Mom. But we do. Come on, Draco."

"I don't want you to get hurt," Draco told her, a muscle in his jaw tensing. "If it's that easy to kidnap your mother, think of how easy it will be for them to kidnap you."

"I'm not looking for any support, Draco," Ginny said impatiently, coming to lean on the wall beside the entrance hall. "I'm going whether you want me to or not. Frankly, I have a good feeling that we might be able to save her." She stopped and took a deep breath, not really knowing why she was asking the boy in front of her for something he probably had never done in his life: to give for another. "The question is, are you coming? 'Cause I can go there myself if you don't want to come. I'm perfectly fine with going alone."

Draco got up quietly without saying a word. He didn't say anything more until they came to the door where they got their jackets and went outside, walking quickly to the forest. "I hope you know what you're getting us into," he said. Ginny ignored this.

Ginny took out her wand as they came into the forest and muttered, "Lumos." A beam of light shot out of the wand and illuminated the path in front of them. It was just as marshy as the last time they had trekked through the forest. Their shoes got wet, but Ginny didn't notice. She had her mind on more important things. The path curved around the lake and before they knew it, they had fallen into the same cave as before. Ginny landed on top of Draco, her legs intertwining with his. They tried to disentangle themselves from each to her but ended up laughing in the end. Ginny pushed herself off of Draco on the last try and got up, brushing off her jeans. Draco got up and the pair walked out of the cave and into the next chamber, not speaking.

The rest of the chambers were just a fading memory to Ginny. Each chamber looked almost like the last and led into another chamber, creating a labyrinth that made sure that strangers couldn't get out. She almost expected to see the minotaur pop up right in front of them. Draco led Ginny through the chambers, hoping to get the layout of the labyrinth so that he would be able to get them out. To Ginny, this seemed impossible. It felt like they were going in circles.

She looked at him, and in the half-light she could see that his jaw was set and his brow furrowed in intense concentration. He stopped and looked back suddenly, and then shook his head. Now, she knew that they were lost.

"We will find our way out of here," Ginny said to him.

He shook his head. "When I panic, be scared," he said as they dodged a waterfall coming from the ceiling. "I almost never panic, except in extreme situations, and this is one of them. We're lost, and there is no telling where we will end up."

"On somebody's dinner plate?" Ginny joked, trying to lighten the mood. He frowned at her and they entered a long, twisting tunnel. As she rounded the corner before Draco, she could see a flickering light at the end of the tunnel. Draco put an arm out to stop her from moving any further.

"Stay here," he whispered in her ear. She obeyed wordlessly as Draco moved closer to the tunnel's entrance and looked around. Shadows suddenly began to form around Draco and Ginny bit back a scream as he was hit in the head and fell to the ground. More hooded figures came up then and put chains around his wrists and stood him up. "Run!" Ginny could hear him yell at her. He sounded strangely distant to her. When she realized what he had said, she turned around and ran down the tunnel as fast as she could. It almost seemed like she was flying. The blood pounded in her ears and for moments that was all she could hear.

Around corners...through chambers...over gates that were charmed to electrocute strangers when opened by them...down passes...through pools of water...anything and everything that one would go through underground occurred to Ginny. Her heart was pounding every second, she was quickly running out of breath, her muscles were aching and tired. She came to a stop in a small chamber that only had one torch and shrank into the shadows. A howl sang out far away which brought back the realization that Draco was caught...because of her. A tide of guilt overwhelmed her and she didn't see the flame on the torch become brighter until it was too late.

The torch's flame became as bright as an 100 Watt light bulb and the light engulfed all the shadows in the room. Ginny looked around wildly and started to walk towards the next chamber when a hooded figure suddenly appeared in front of her with a whistling sound. She slowly backed up and turned around to see another figure pop up out of thin air. The figures grabbed her arms and dragged her out of the chamber. She kicked and screamed, but to no avail. The next room strangely had a locked door that Ginny hadn't seen when she went through there before and one of the figures opened it and pushed her in.

A wall of blackness enclosed on Ginny as she heard the door close and the locks click together. She felt around her to feel her way around and concluded that she was in another tunnel. She made her way from the door and followed the tunnel as it climbed upwards. The air started to become warmer and Ginny figured that she was probably above ground by now. The tunnel made a steeper climb upwards and Ginny grabbed onto any holds that she could, straining her muscles. The wall turned into stairs suddenly and she scrambled eagerly up them.

A door appeared in front of her and she opened it. It opened noiselessly onto another room and Ginny crawled onto the floor. The door disappeared and Ginny looked around at her surroundings. She was being held in a cell that had a small window with bars on it. She stood up and went to the window, looking out. She was at least three floors up from the ground in a large building. The moon was already reaching across the sky and forest stretched on in front of her.

"Draco," she whispered, clutching the bars. A tear silently made its way down her cheek as the thought that Draco might be dead entered her mind. If only she hadn't suggested they come here, they wouldn't have gotten into this mess. While she stood at the window, a breeze ruffled the trees down below.

*****

As soon as the sun went down in Australia, Hermione got her bag ready for another patrol in the nearest cemeteries. Her parents had given her permission to go out for patrol after nearly breaking her father's back earlier that day. Hermione smiled as she draped the strap to her weapons bag around her neck and put on her running shoes.

"Bye!" she called to her family, who were in the living room. Her parents said goodbye, but Alexis jumped up and ran over to Hermione.

"Are you going to be long?" Alexis asked, her big brown eyes looking up at Hermione worriedly. Weren't Alexis' eyes blue? Hermione thought.

"I'll try not to be," Hermione answered, "but I can't promise you anything."

"Why not?" Alexis demanded.

"Well, my new job takes time and patience," Hermione replied. "But don't worry. You will see me again. Bye bye!"

Alexis smiled and said, "Bye bye!"

Hermione smiled too as Alexis ran back into the living room. She opened the door and made her way out of the hotel. The sky was incredibly dark and the hairs on the back of Hermione's neck stood up. Not a soul was on the street as Hermione walked down the center of the street. She followed the center line to the first cemetery she saw and went in. Many rows of new tombstones had been added to the cemetery since Hermione had been there two nights ago.

Doing her duty as resident slayer, she fought and dusted every vampire she saw. The night lagged on as Hermione walked deeper into the cemetery. The moon slowly journeyed across the sky as Hermione fought another vampire.

//A large building loomed out of a crowd of trees.\

Hermione looked around at all the shadows surrounding her, sensing another vampire hiding, waiting for his turn.

//A young red-haired girl stood at the window, clutching at the bars, a tear falling down her face.\

"You dust me and it'll make the sun rise," the vampire said, stepping out of the shadows. Hermione turned to look at him. He had human features on, and if he hadn't been a vampire, she might have wanted to go out with him.

"Why?" she asked him, as she went around him in a circle and stopped right in front of him.

"That's what they all ask," the vampire said, smirking at her, "but it isn't the right question. The question you should be asking is what will you do when your friends need help. You're not going to leave them in the cold, are you?" He grabbed her arms and pulled her closer to him. "You are needed, but not here."

//She was running from something. Something very evil was hunting her.\

Hermione wrenched her arm out of the vampire's grasp and staked him with a piece of wood that she had concealed inside her sleeve.

With the wood still stuck in his heart, the vampire said, "Just you watch." He pushed her away from him as he turned to dust and she looked up to the sky.

//She looked back, stunned, at the suddenly dark hallway and shivered, not sure that she wanted to be there anymore.\

The moon faded from view as another vampire came up to Hermione. She quickly kicked the vampire onto the ground and walked over to him. Standing over him, she knelt down and staked him in the heart, turning him to dust.

//But what I don't understand is why you needed to walk into the dark hallway.\

Hermione returned her eyes to the sky as the sun quickly rose up into the middle of the it. The whole world became sunny and birds began to fly out from the trees in large flocks.

//Suddenly, the ground beneath them gave way and Ginny felt Draco grab her hand.\

Hermione circled slowly around, still looking up at the clear blue sky. An unearthly music began to play, coming from the ground underneath her. She stopped circling when she felt another presence behind her and turned around to see who it was.

//Each chamber looked almost like the last and led into another chamber, creating a labyrinth.\

Before her stood the vampire that she had staked before the moon went down. He smirked and said, "You'll never figure it out, will you?"

"Figure out what?" Hermione asked, walking right up to him.

"Your sister...what colour were her eyes when you saw her before?" he asked, cryptically.

"Brown," she answered.

"Who do you know that has brown eyes and has placed herself in your sister's dream projection?" he asked.

"Ginny..." she whispered.

"Go," he said simply before disappearing.

***

"Go," Hermione said as she suddenly woke up. It was the morning after she had trained with her father. The sun was slowly rising when Hermione realized what she had to do. She quickly got up out of bed and started to pack her suitcase and trunk. Sounds of frying bacon came from the kitchen and Hermione left her suitcases to rush out into the kitchen to find her family sitting around the kitchen table.

"Pack! We're all going to Canada," Hermione announced. Looking at her startled parents who were still cooking breakfast, she added, "Well, you can at least eat, but afterwards you have to pack."

"Why?" Xander asked, suspiciously.

"I'm needed in Canada," Hermione explained. "Ginny might be in trouble. We have to go."

"How do you know that Ginny needs you?" Elizabeth asked. "Did you read the letter she sent you?"

"Yeah, but that's not the reason why I know," Hermione answered. "I had a dream last night that Ginny was being locked up in a castle and this vampire kept saying that I was needed there, not here."

"You didn't read her letter," Alexis suddenly said, picking up an envelope off the table from her high chair. "If you did, you would have sugar on your fingers."

Hermione looked at Alexis, then at her mother. "What now? What's this about sugar?" she asked.

Elizabeth smiled and took the letter from Alexis and gave it to Hermione. "This was on the table last night when you left for patrol. It's from Ginny and it has sugar on our address."

"No, I didn't see this one," Hermione said. She sat down next to Alexis, took the letter, and opened it.

'Dear Hermione,

By some unfortunate incident that I have no idea of, everyone here has lost their voices. First, since you probably don't know, Harry and Malfoy are here at Paradise Manor. Harry's uncle had a meeting in Toronto and Dumbledore advised that the pair stay with us. They arrived last night safe and sound.

When we woke up this morning, none of us could speak. Luckily, Malfoy had this book with him called Arcs of the Unknown. We found a spell in there that took voices away and I thought you might like to see the instructions so you could give us some tips or advice.'

Here at the mention of the Arcs of the Unknown, Hermione sat up straighter, alarmed. She hadn't expected that to happen, but then, Malfoy was a Malfoy, freak of the Dark arts. Hermione's eyes scanned over the instructions for the spell Ginny had outlined. This letter only strengthened Hermione's resolve to get to Canada. She quickly stood up and looked at her parents.

"Can we still go?" Hermione asked pleadingly, giving her parents the sad puppy look.

Xander chuckled. "Of course," he said, pushing his own chair back. "I'll order the tickets right away."

The rest of the morning was mayhem. The whole family rushed about, picking up everything that belonged to them and packing it in their suitcases. Alexis sat on the couch, watching her family instead of the television which was playing Sesame Street, her favourite. Hermione chuckled when she came back into the living room to see Alexis watching her with big, blue eyes. She grinned at Alexis and her sister giggled, leaning back into the pillows giddily. Hermione went back into her room and packed all her books into her school trunk. When she was finished, she looked about her room, searching for anything she might have forgotten. Satisfied that she had all of her belongings, she hauled her bags out into the hallway and soon, her family was boarding an airplane to Canada.

*****

As Harry and Ron entered the town hall, a group of butterflies greeted them and flew towards the desk. The room was quite plain and simple, with green marble floors and cream-coloured walls. The desk and small chair behind it were the only furniture in the room and no one was sitting behind the desk. There were no hallway openings or stairs to go up to the floors above, which was where Ron was heading. A single painting of hills and forest adorned a wall. Other than that, the room was entirely empty and shut-off from the rest of the building.

A large butterfly left the group of butterflies dancing above Harry's head and flew over to the chair which had been drawn back. As the large butterfly with silver-tipped wings began to land on the chair, she started to morph into a beautiful woman with long, brown hair and sparkling brown eyes. She wore a long, white cloak with silver linings. Ron looked at Harry and was not surprised when he saw Harry gaping at the woman. He himself was only partially new to this, but knew it got easier to handle the woman's veela-like charms the third time around.

As the woman landed into her seat, she smiled widely at the two boys, especially Harry who still had his mouth open. "May I help you boys?" she asked, showing her glittery teeth.

"Yes, actually," Ron began, "we would like to talk to my father, Arthur Weasley. He's-"

"Yes, I know," the woman suddenly said, smiling sweetly. She raised her hand and gestured to the painting on the wall. At the slight wave of her hand, the painting inside the frame slowly disappeared and the frame got larger, large enough for Hagrid to go through. The creamy walls behind the frame slid away to reveal an oak staircase. "Mr. Weasley is now expecting you," she said. A dazzle of bright lights appeared on the woman's skin and she disappeared behind them, turning back into a butterfly. Ron grabbed hold of Harry's arm and dragged him to the staircase.

As both boys mounted the first step, Ron heard the wall behind the painting slide back into place, closing off the entrance. They kept going up under the light of large candles in brackets on the walls. Both were silent until Harry spoke.

"What was she? And what did she know?" Harry asked, as they passed many flights of stairs. On each landing there was a sign that read, 'Warning: This IS a door. Tap your wand on this sign to go through it.'

"She's a cross between a veela and a butterfly fairy," Ron answered. "They're very popular in this part of the world. She has the same enchantment of a veela and she can morph into a butterfly."

"But her hair was brown," Harry said. "Veelas have blonde hair."

"Butterfly fairies can have brown hair and their special powers are great for secretarial jobs like this," Ron told him. "Butterfly fairies can store every law in the Wizarding World and can call them up easily. That's how she knew what my father does and where his office is."

He counted the landings until he got to the fifth floor where he took out his wand and prodded the sign with it. The sign glowed a bright orange before the wall slid away before them, revealing an even more darker hallway than the stairs. The walls were the same colour they had been in the lobby, but this time, the floor was covered in a green carpet with dark spots in it.

Ron gestured to Harry and they went down the hall to the third door on the left. Ron knocked on the door and waited apprehensively. The door was finally opened by Arthur who smiled at the boys when he saw them.

"Come on in, boys," Arthur said, opening the door wider and gesturing them in. "What can I do for you two? Have you noticed that we can all talk again?"

"Yep," Ron said, sitting at a chair in front of the desk. The room was small and brightly lit by vaious torches hanging down from the ceiling. The desk was made of oak and had piles of papers littered all over it with a marble paperweight in the shape of a hippogriff holding down a book that looked like it was about to attack anything close to it. Behind the desk and in a corner stood two file cabinets side-by-side. "But that's not what we came here to talk to you about. Have you seen Mum lately?"

Arthur shook his head and sat down behind the desk while Harry took the seat next to Ron. "Nope," Arthur said, rifling through some papers on his desk. "I haven't seen her since this morning. I assumed she went out to get the groceries. Why do you ask?"

"Have you seen Percy either?" Harry asked before Ron had a chance to. He shrugged his shoulders at Ron at his questioning look.

Arthur looked up and intercepted the boys' movements. He raised an eyebrow and answered, "No, I haven't seen Percy either, which I find very odd because he's usually so...interested in his work. He should've been here ages ago. And I got a call from Ginny asking where he might be, so elaborate. You two know something that I don't and it's apparent that Ginny does too. Now!"

Ron took a deep breath and told his father everything that they had discovered so far: that Percy was missing and looked like he was dragged away and that Molly hadn't come home yet from grocery shopping. Lines of worry began to etch themselves onto Arthur's forehead and Ron began to worry himself. If his father didn't know where Molly was, then who would?

***

Next time on Arcs of Destiny: A voice spoke out, seeing his chance. "Maybe you should concentrate on getting out of here, instead of making yourself look like the bad guy."

"I will," Hermione assured her father, smiling.

"There's a riot breaking out downstairs. They want to speak to the Minister, but they're not wizards," the stout little wizard said in one breath.