Tourniquet (part 6/11 of the Fallen Series)
Chapter Title: Tourniquet
Rating: PG-13
Summary: With Ginny missing, Harry and his friends try to find her before it's too late.
"I'm pouring crimson regret and betrayal
I'm dying praying bleeding and screaming
Am I too lost to be saved?
Am I too lost?"
-- "Tourniquet" by Evanescence
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Harry, Hermione, and Ron stood in the Gryffindor common room, watching another small group of girls come down the stairs and exit the portrait hole. Ron checked his watch, his stomach growling.
"You know," Ron grumbled, "Ginny's tardiness is starting to get annoying."
"She did plan to come with us, right?" Harry asked, glancing at Hermione. "To see Dumbledore?"
"I thought so." Hermione frowned, handing Harry her schoolbag. "I'll go see if she's overslept."
"Tell her I don't plan to miss breakfast because of her!" Ron yelled to Hermione as she disappeared up the staircase. He shook his head, crossing his arms. "I wish she'd get over whatever it is that's been making her act so strange lately."
Harry simply nodded, glancing towards the girls' staircase with a slight frown.
When Hermione returned, she came down the stairs alone, a worrisome look on her face. Harry was the first to notice her disposition.
"What?" he asked.
"She's not in her room."
"Then where is she?" Ron asked, his earlier annoyance with his sister drifting towards concern.
"Her roommates last saw her when she said she'd be studying in the library. She probably just fell asleep studying last night," Hermione reasoned. "You two go ahead to breakfast, and I'll get Ginny. We can see Dumbledore before our first class."
She retrieved her bag from Harry and quickly made her way out of the common room. Once she was gone, Ron and Harry shared a look, Ron shrugging his shoulders a bit. "Ginny must be really freaking out about OWLs."
"She's taking cues from Hermione," Harry laughed quietly as he and Ron walked through the portrait hole.
"Well, that can't be good," Ron smirked.
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Ginny awoke with a start, a nightmare haunting her. Her head pounded, and only when she made a move to massage her temples did she realize that the nightmare she had opened her eyes to escape was actually a reality. Her wrists bound behind her back and her ankles tied together as well, Ginny struggled against the ropes, trying to pull herself free. Her eyes shot to every corner of the dimly lit room in which she sat. She didn't recognize the place, but she knew it was a place she didn't want to be right now.
As she continued to struggle against her binding, she debated screaming out but found herself hesitating. Screaming could bring someone to her aid, but then again, screaming could also bring her captors. Was that a chance she really wanted to take?
She sat still for a moment, listening to the stillness of the house around her.
Her decision made, she let out a high-pitched scream. She stopped only when her lungs screamed for oxygen. Taking deep breaths, she listened for the stillness of the house to change. Footsteps. Yells. Any sign of life, of movement, other than her own.
After a few moments of her own breathing being the only sound, she heard faint footsteps. All thoughts of breathing left Ginny's mind as the door to the room pushed open. She saw nothing but dark robes until a pale hand reached up and pushed back the hood that hid their face.
"I know you," Ginny heard herself say.
She wasn't as gaunt-looking as the last time they had crossed paths, her face more full, but Ginny knew that she would never forget this woman's face.
Bellatrix Lestrange sneered at her. "Yes, you do, little girl. Did you think we'd never see each other again?"
"I had hoped," Ginny spit back, frowning.
She struggled a bit to free her hands as Bellatrix hovered over her. "That's quite pointless, you realize," the woman laughed. "The struggling. The screaming. All of it."
"What do you want from me?" Ginny finally asked, almost afraid to hear the answer.
Bellatrix knelt next to Ginny, pulling her wand from inside her robes. "We want nothing from you," she said, jabbing Ginny hard in the shoulder with the end of her wand. "We want what the Dark Lord wants, and he wants Potter."
"And what does that have to do with me?"
"Because widdle baby Potter enjoys playing the hero, we know he'll come for you."
"Harry's not that stupid," Ginny replied, swallowing hard. "He'll realize it's a trick."
"He will, but he'll still come," the woman smiled, nodding. "Because he thinks he has what it takes to take on the Dark Lord and win. His arrogance will be his downfall."
Ginny scowled. "His bravery will be *your* downfall."
Bellatrix smiled and stood. "So loyal and so stupid." She took a few steps back before casually pointing her wand at Ginny. "Crucio!"
The scream that Ginny had let loose earlier was nothing in comparison to the one that passed from her lips now. Her entire body felt as if it were on fire, the pain was so severe. The pounding of her head was excruciatingly loud against her eardrums, and it felt as if at any moment, her skull would split in two. Her eyes squeezed together tight, she couldn't see when Bellatrix finally lowered her wand. But the diminishing pain, leaving way for severe tingling from head to toe, made her realize the assault to her body was over. Suddenly exhausted, she slumped over onto her side, her body trembling.
"That was nothing, little girl," she heard Bellatrix say over the pounding in her ears.
Ginny simply opened her eyes, the side of her head against the dirty floor.
"Make noise again, and you shall get worse."
Ginny blinked away tears but said nothing. Bellatrix smiled at her before turning on her heels and walking out of the room. She pulled the door closed, and Ginny heard the familiar sound of a lock sliding into place before she lost consciousness.
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Ron had started on his second helping of eggs, and Harry still on his first, when Hermione finally joined them. The worrisome look that Harry had seen on her face earlier had now been replaced by something more urgent, more scared.
She carried a second bag that Harry instantly recognized as Ginny's and laid it upon the table, not taking a seat. Seeing the bag himself, Ron stopped chewing and looked up at Hermione with slightly wide eyes. He mumbled something through his mouthful of food that Harry could only assume was "where's my sister?"
Reading along the same lines as Harry, Hermione frowned even more deeply at Ron's muffled question. "She's missing."
"What?" was all Harry could manage as his best friend struggled to swallow his food without further chewing.
"What do you mean missing?!" Ron finally asked with an empty mouth.
Hermione nodded to the schoolbag. "I checked all over the library. I checked the girls' dormitory again. I checked all the loos." She shook her head. "Nothing. All I found was her bag in the library."
"Ginny's not missing," Ron replied with a shake of his own head, as if stating it would make Hermione's conclusion untrue. "She's just-- she's skiving off classes. She stressed herself out so much with OWLs that she just decided to take a break." He paused with an unsure nod. "That's all."
Harry and Hermione shared a look before Hermione turned sympathetically to Ron. "Ron, I… I don't think she's skiving off classes."
Harry didn't hear his friend's attempt at a response as he glanced over at the Ravenclaw table. Luna sat off by herself, reading her Quibbler as she drank her juice. Without thinking, he quickly stood and made his way over to the table.
If anyone knew anything about where Ginny would have gone, it would be Luna. She hung out with Ginny more than Harry, Ron and Hermione did. She had to know something they didn't.
"Hey, Luna," Harry said, ignoring the odd looks he received from other Ravenclaws (and a few Slytherins at that) as he stood next to the girl.
She looked up from her paper with a smile. "Morning, Harry." Her smile faded a bit as she studied him. "Something wrong?"
Harry nodded. "Have you seen Ginny?"
Luna blinked, taken aback by the question. She glanced over at the Gryffindor table, noting the empty seat that Ginny normally occupied. She turned back to Harry with a frown. "She's not here."
Harry wasn't sure if she had meant it as a statement or a question, but he shook his head anyway. "Hermione found her bag in the library."
"That's where I last spoke with her," Luna replied, her usual airy tone replaced with concern. "We were doing our Potions assignment together, and it was getting late. I left, but Ginny said she wanted to stay for a bit longer." There was a beat, and when Luna spoke again, the concern in her voice was even more evident. "She didn't return to the tower last night?"
"Doesn't seem that way, no."
"That's not like Ginny."
"No," Harry frowned, "it's not."
Harry couldn't help but think of the last time Ginny had gone missing. Then she had been drug into the Chamber of Secrets by the basilisk, and Harry couldn't help but feel the same amount of fear for her and her safety now that he had felt that night.
"I need to tell Dumbledore," he thought aloud.
"I'll come with you," Luna said, quickly gathering her Quibbler and shoving it inside her schoolbag.
He nodded, and he and Luna made their way to the Gryffindor table where it seemed Ron had finally let go of his denial. "Harry," his best friend said, getting to his feet. "If Ginny's hurt…."
"She's not," Harry countered even as his insides twisted in disagreement. "We need to tell Dumbledore; he'll know what to do."
Silent agreement fell over the group as they walked out of the Great Hall.
---------
"Professor Dumbledore?"
Harry walked into Dumbledore's office, trailed by Luna, Hermione, and Ron. Dumbledore sat at his desk and looked up to see the students approaching. He smiled warmly at them as he clasped his hands over the book he had been reading.
"Shouldn't you be enjoying breakfast?" he asked with that same warm smile.
"Yeah, well…."
Harry looked at each of his friends, frowning. Ron looked paler than normal while even Hermione looked like she was on the verge of being sick from nerves. Luna, however, simply watched Dumbledore as she gently stroked Fawkes on his perch.
"Ginny Weasley is missing, Professor."
Dumbledore watched him carefully. "Missing?"
"She never returned to the tower last night," Harry replied with a nod. "Hermione looked for her this morning and couldn't find her."
"Hmm," Dumbledore said, standing. "I shall have Filch and a few Professors, myself included, look into it, Harry."
"You don't think anything is wrong, do you?" Ron piped up from over Harry's shoulder.
Dumbledore smiled gently at Ron as he spoke. "I'm quite certain your sister will be found safe and sound. This happens a lot around the fifth year. Students become overly anxious about the upcoming exams and look for time to themselves." He gave Harry and his friends a determined nod. "Ginny will be fine, and we will quickly locate her. Now, you four run along to class before you're tardy, and I will start what is necessary to find Ginny."
Everyone lingered for a moment, Hermione the first to leave as she gently took Ron's wrist and pulled him away with her. Luna looked to Harry, and he almost expected her to stay behind with him. But she simply gave him a sad smile, stroked Fawkes' feathers one last time, and strolled away.
"Something else on your mind, Harry?" Dumbledore asked as he and Harry stood alone in the room.
Harry hesitated before finally nodding. "There's been… The Daily Prophet…."
"Ah yes," Dumbledore said, sighing and taking his seat behind his desk. "The murders."
"Yeah," he frowned. "Is it Voldemort?"
"I wish I had a definitive answer to your question, Harry," he replied, his old eyes losing some of the twinkle Harry had grown accustomed to. "But I don't. All I can tell you is that The Order is looking into each and every aspect."
Harry sighed, frustrated. He was tired of the runaround. All he wanted was a simple yes or no.
"But do *you* think it's him?"
There was a moment where Dumbledore said nothing, simply studied Harry, and Harry braced himself for another vague response. But there was nothing vague in the words that followed the silence.
"Yes, I do believe it's him." Dumbledore nodded. "It bears all the markings of his work, the work of his followers."
Harry swallowed hard, fearing the next question that lingered in his mind. "Ginny…. She's been targeted by him before…."
"This is true, but Voldemort would not be silly enough to try another go within the walls of Hogwarts."
"So you don't think Ginny's disappearance…?"
Dumbledore stood and approached Harry. He placed a hand on Harry's shoulder. "I think Ginny's disappearance will be quickly solved, and she will be back at the Gryffindor table before you even realize she was gone." He gave Harry's shoulder a squeeze. "Now do run along, Harry, before Professor Snape gives you a detention for being tardy."
Harry nodded, frowning a bit at the mention of Snape. He started out of the room, and then quickly turned back to Dumbledore. "Professor, when you find Ginny…."
"You and your friends will be the first to know," Dumbledore finished with a gentle nod of his head.
Harry nodded again before finally making his way out of the office. When he exited the staircase, he almost expected to see Hermione and Ron there, eager to hear what he had discussed with Dumbledore in their absence. However, they weren't there as he expected, but Luna stood a few feet from the staircase, gazing at a portrait of deer as they ran from one point of the frame and disappeared beyond the other edge.
"Luna?" he asked, stepping up to her. "You're still here?"
She turned to him with a nod. "Hermione and Ronald went ahead to class. They said they'd meet you there."
"Why didn't you just go ahead?" he asked, genuinely curious as to why she was still standing around.
"Because it's not always a good idea to leave people alone with their fears," she stated casually, glancing back at the picture to see if the deer would come running by again.
"I'm not afraid," he lied.
"You don't think Ginny's okay," she countered.
He opened his mouth to protest but found he couldn't argue against the truth. Instead, he opted to shift the conversation. "Neither do you."
"Well, no," Luna said, a frown forming on her delicate features. "But *I* admit to that fear. You don't always have to be a stoic, you know."
"I'm not trying to be a stoic."
Luna studied him with a tilt of her head. "Ginny will be found," she finally said.
Harry frowned even deeper. "Yeah, but the question is when."
"Did you ever hear of Julia Wingdinger?"
Harry blinked, slightly taken aback. "Um, no."
"She spent ten years looking for Heliopaths," Luna said, turning her eyes back to the portrait as a lone deer frolicked by. "Turns out she had found them years before but never realized it."
"Okay," Harry replied cautiously, still trying to follow her train of thought.
"Ginny will be found because we want to find her. Because we need to," Luna said, turning her gaze back to Harry. "She may be right under our noses the entire time, but we will find her. It doesn't matter when we find her but that we find her."
Harry nodded slowly in understanding.
Luna glanced down at her watch. "I'm late for Care of Magical Creatures."
Harry looked to his own watch and groaned. "Potions." He sighed. "I'd be better off skiving the class than showing up late. Then again, he'd probably take away points for that the next time I had class."
Luna searched the pockets of her robes and then pulled out a small candy, handing it to Harry with a slight smile. Harry raised an eyebrow as he turned the candy over in the palm of his hand. "What's this?"
"From my skiving snackbox . Take it now, and you should have an unusual nosebleed by the time you reach the hospital wing." She smiled brighter. "Madam Pomfey would be glad to inform your professors of why you had to miss class."
"You have a skiving snackbox?" Harry asked, amused and stunned.
"Just for the rare occasion when I'll need it."
Harry debated for a moment before unwrapping the candy and popping it into his mouth. "Thanks," he grinned.
Luna shrugged it off and adjusted the slipping strap of her school bag back onto her shoulder. "We will find Ginny, Harry," she said seriously.
"I know," he replied quietly, still uncertain.
She nodded and gave him a small wave before making her way down the corridor. Harry watched her disappear around a corner before heading in the opposite direction and towards the hospital wing.
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By the time dinner in the Great Hall was being served, most people in the school knew about Ginny's disappearance. Harry could hear the whispered conversations as he, Hermione, and Ron made their way to the Gryffindor table.
Harry had missed all his classes prior to lunch thanks to Luna's candy, and he was glad because there would have been no way for him to concentrate through lecture after lecture. Not with Ginny disappearing into thin air. Not with his thoughts still lingering on all the deaths recently. And definitely not with Dumbledore himself admitting that he felt there was a connection between Voldemort and the deaths.
After lunch, the classes and lectures had been a blur. None of them were in any shape to concentrate on anything. Even Hermione, who normally scored perfect points on everything she did in Transfiguration, couldn't quite master turning her bird into a vase. Unlike Snape (who, Harry had heard, had taken points from both Ron *and* Hermione for being tardy), Professor McGonagall had understood their distance and had not punished them for their forthcomings during the lecture.
Now as the day had faded away to night and they gathered at the dinner table, none of them still felt up to par. Dumbledore had not said a word to them about Ginny or the search for her since that morning. In fact, they hadn't seen him around at all since their early morning meeting.
"You should really eat something, Ron," Hermione said from beside him. "You didn't eat anything at lunch."
Ron stared at his plate as if at any moment it would attack. He shook his head and began to poke at it with his fork.
Hermione looked to Harry pleadingly, but Harry didn't know what to say or do. If Harry believed things were feeling off-balance for him right now, it was probably a hundred times worse for Ron. Ginny was his little sister after all, and as much as Ron would argue to the contrary, he cared for her more than anything and would do anything to protect her like the big brother he was.
But he couldn't protect her this time.
Hermione sighed quietly and began to prod her own food. Harry watched his two best friends, his frown deepening as his insides began to twist into sickening knots again. He opened his mouth to say something, anything, but found it was not necessary as Luna took that moment to break through their depressing reverie.
"Care if I join you?"
Everyone looked up to see Luna standing at their table. She smiled politely at them as each of them studied her with their own expression-- Hermione confusion, Ron bewilderment, and Harry relief.
"Sure," he finally said and Luna smiled and took the empty seat beside him.
Harry glanced over his shoulder to see a few students at the Ravenclaw table looking on with the same bewilderment and confusion that Ron and Hermione had been showing moments earlier. It wasn't everyday that a student from a fellow house decided to break convention and eat with a rival table. Then again, it wasn't every day that "Loony" Lovegood sat down with the infamous Harry Potter and his friends either.
"How are you, Ronald?" she asked.
For a moment, Harry thought Ron was going to say something bitter and sarcastic. Instead his best friend simply shook his head and muttered "I'm here" in response.
Luna nodded, frowning slightly, but she did not push the issue further.
Everyone ate in silence, with the exception of Ron who seemed to be more intent on making art with his plate than eating it, until Luna turned to Harry mid-dessert. "Oh, I meant to ask if the skiving snack worked."
"Yeah," he replied with a slight smile. "I'm glad I took it from the way Snape deducted points from Hermione and Ron this morning. I'm not sure our house would have been able to handle the number of points he would have taken away if I had shown up even later."
"He's not a very pleasant man, is he?"
"That's quite the understatement, Luna," Hermione said before taking a bite from her rhubarb pie. Ron only nodded in agreement.
Before Luna could reply, a distinct cawing sound filled the air. All the students fell silent as a giant raven came swooping into the Great Hall. Some pointed at the bird as it passed while others simply watched in confusion. Harry and his friends watched the bird as it swooped over to the Gryffindor table and sailed perfectly down the long table until it found who it needed. It stopped right on top of the pie sitting between Harry and his friends, placing its scaly feet in their dessert as if it had no care in the world. It cawed loudly again as Harry shared a confused look with each of his friends.
Luna reached out to remove the note attached to its leg, but it cawed loudly again and pecked at her. She quickly withdrew her hand with a quiet exclaim of shock. She frowned at the bird as she looked at the back of her hand, a small line of blood beginning to seep from the cut in her skin.
"Ravens are very nasty creatures," she said bitterly to the bird.
Harry handed her a napkin to hold to her hand before staring at the bird and making a tentative move to remove the message himself. He braced himself to be pecked by the sharp beak just as Luna had been, but found himself surprised when he was able to successfully remove the message from around the bird's leg without incident.
"He must be protecting the message from anyone who's not the person it's addressed to," Hermione said quietly from the other side of the bird.
The raven stretched its wings and with a final ear-piercing caw took off. Every eye in the Great Hall was on the bird as it disappeared into the night, and an excited chatter fell over the Hall as the students quickly began whispering to each other about the mysterious message delivered by raven.
"Well?" Hermione asked as Harry simply studied the note. Even Ron, who had seemed to have lost interest in anything and everything, was giving Harry his full attention. "Do you plan to open it?"
"Who sends messages by raven?" Harry wondered aloud as he flipped the message over in his hands, still not opening it.
Luna dabbed at her hand one last time, her voice ethereal over the excited chatter surrounding them. "Ravens are omens of death and darkness."
When Luna looked up from her bloody napkin, three pairs of eyes were on her. She gave them a quizzical look as she continued. "They are. They say that whenever you see a raven, death is near. Only someone with faith in darkness would send a message by raven."
Harry frowned, dropping his voice so that the people listening in wouldn't be able to hear. "Someone like Voldemort."
Luna nodded slowly. "Someone like that indeed."
Harry stared down at the note in his hands, suddenly becoming acutely aware of all the eyes watching him and all the ears straining to hear. He finally looked up at his friends. "I can't read this here."
"Then where exactly?" Hermione asked. "There aren't exactly a lot of places we can go and not be watched."
"There's one." Harry stood, sliding the note inside his robes. He walked out, Luna, Hermione, and Ron following, and he could hear his name whispered a few times as he passed by the other students.
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The Room of Requirement was right where he remembered it being. He opened the door and allowed his friends to enter first before stepping inside himself. He securely locked the door and turned to look at the room. It wasn't set up like it had been so many times for their DA meetings the previous term. There was no desk. No bookshelves filled with book after book on jinxes and counterjinxes. No cushions on the floor.
Instead, it contained all they needed. Four cushy chairs that formed a circle in the center of the room. Hermione, Ron, and Luna had already taken their seats when Harry joined them, pulling the note from his school robes.
He inhaled deeply before ripping into the envelope and pulling out the message within. He barely noticed his friends studying him as he read the fragmented message scrawled in messy black cursive.
Weasley. Shrieking Shack. Come tonight.
"Well?" Hermione asked, leaning in her chair to get a look.
"Harry?" Ron asked.
Luna simply watched him cautiously.
Harry swallowed hard, his emotions tugging between blinding anger and overwhelming fear. "He has Ginny."
Hermione gave an audible gasp as Ron blinked at him. Luna leaned over in her own chair to see the words for herself.
"He…." Ron blinked again, trying to find his voice. "Ginny?"
Luna took the note from Harry's hands, studying it with a frown.
Hermione looked from Harry to Ron and then to Harry again. "We need to tell Dumbledore. Now."
"No," Harry replied with a determined shake of his head.
"NO?!" Ron yelled.
"If Dumbledore shows up, he'll just…." Harry struggled with the words. "He'll kill her. He wants me to show up."
"So you're just going to give him what he wants?!" Hermione asked, incredulous.
"It's the only way to bring Ginny back alive," Harry said, getting to his feet.
"Or get both of you killed in the process!" Hermione replied, trying her best to reason with him. "Harry, if we tell Dumbledore, he can tell The Order and they can--"
"They can what, Hermione?" Harry asked, feeling his temper begin to rise. "They can rush in and fight Voldemort off one more time? And then what, Hermione? He comes back, and he does it again. He takes you or Ron or Luna and uses you as a bargaining chip instead."
"But, Harry," Hermione said, getting to her feet, "The Order--they have a better chance of defeating him and the Death Eaters than we do. They've fought them before. Last year."
"You just don't get it, Hermione," he snapped angrily, fully aware of the cautious step back from him she took. "They can't do it! They can't kill Voldemort! It has to be me!"
Hermione gave a careful shake of her head, confused. "No, Harry, it doesn't. That's just what Voldemort wants you to believe."
"No, it's the way it is," he replied, his anger reaching a level he hadn't felt in over a year. "He dies or I die. It's that damn simple!"
Hermione seemed to be at a loss for words, and her sudden silence did nothing to quell the simmering anger in the pit of Harry's stomach. She didn't get it. None of them got it. He didn't *want* to keep putting his own life on the line, his friends' lives. But that was just how it was. He didn't have a choice in the matter.
With a frustrated growl, he stormed out of the room, hoping to just get some air and be away from the perplexed looks he was getting from Ron and Hermione.
"What the bloody hell was he talking about?" Ron asked as Hermione stared after the door Harry had just slammed shut.
"The prophecy," Luna said, still studying the message in her hand and running a finger back and forth over the dried ink.
Hermione and Ron instantly turned to her. "What prophecy?" Hermione asked.
Luna looked up, a slightly stunned expression on her face. "I thought you knew."
"Knew what?!" Ron asked, annoyed.
"Harry learned of a prophecy last year," Luna said, watching them with wide eyes. "That either Lord Voldemort dies, or he does. Harry must either kill him or be killed by him for the second war to come to an end."
Hermione sat down slowly at Luna's words. Ron opened his mouth but no sound escaped his lips. Luna watched them for a moment before turning her attention back to the card in her hand. "I thought the Shrieking Shack was haunted," she said to no one in particular.
"I can't believe he didn't tell us," Hermione finally said, ignoring Luna's last remark.
"I can't believe he told *you*," Ron replied, raising an eyebrow in Luna's direction.
Luna looked up at him but did not say anything in response.
"I should probably go get him," Hermione sighed, getting to her feet again.
"I wouldn't," Luna stated matter-a-factly as she watched Hermione.
Hermione threw the younger girl an incredulous look. "Well, I'm glad to hear that it's not something *you* would do, but *I* won't let him sit out there and let his anger build."
"That's the reason he left. It does a temper well to get away from the things that are getting a rise out of you. Even if it is only for a few moments." Luna added with a nod, "He'll come back."
"How are you so sure?" Hermione asked, unable to hide her irritation with the young Ravenclaw at the moment.
"Because he knows there are more important things right now than feeding his own anger." She paused, frowning. "Like getting Ginny back."
As if on cue, Harry pushed the door open and returned, locking the door behind himself again. Hermione was the first to speak. "Harry, I didn't know…. About the prophecy."
"I know you didn't," he replied sharply. Hermione nodded and returned to her seat, watching him carefully.
Harry continued to stand, watching his friends. He had reeled in his anger as much as he could, but at the moment, he couldn't help but feel that anger would be his driving force tonight.
"I'm going," he stated. "To Hogsmeade. By myself."
"No!"
This time it was Ron who had jumped to his feet to argue.
"Ron," Harry sighed.
"No, Harry, I'm coming with you. Ginny's my sister, and I'm not just gonna sit around and wait for you to bring her back."
Harry studied his best friend and knew that there was no way he could say no. "Okay," he said with a slow nod.
"If Ron goes, I go!" Hermione declared, standing.
Harry was about to argue when Luna then stood. "I feel I owe it to Ginny to go," she said.
Harry looked at each of them, a mixture of pride to have them as friends and fear that their loyalty would be the end of them all.
Harry finally gave in. "Fine, looks like it's a mission for four."
"When do we go?" Hermione asked.
"Now."
Everyone simply looked at each other in response.
---------
Ginny opened her eyes as a chill passed through her body. She shivered, her teeth chattering, before finally sitting up.
"Have a pleasant nap, little girl?"
Ginny turned her head quickly towards the doorway, where Bellatrix stood, leaning against the frame. With the dark robes, she nearly blended into the blackness of the hallway itself.
"Stop calling me that," Ginny said through gritted teeth.
"Manners, manners, little girl," Bellatrix grinned. "You know, it's your own fault you're here. You lot are far too trusting."
"Malfoy," Ginny snarled, tugging a bit at her arms and hoping for some looseness of the binding.
"Maybe next time you won't let your hormones take over, huh?" Bellatrix lazily pushed herself from the doorway. "Of course, that all depends on whether or not there is a next time for you, doesn't it?"
Ginny watched the woman, her body suddenly feeling colder than it previously had. She swallowed hard to keep her voice from betraying her. "They'll find me, you know. And they'll curse each and every one of you and your Death Eater friends."
Bellatrix laughed darkly. "So naïve."
"And then Harry will finally kill your precious Dark Lord," Ginny continued, her fear giving rise to anger as she struggled more against her bindings. "And I hope he makes you watch."
Bellatrix's laughter died, and she quickly turned on Ginny, her wand drawn. "CRUCIO!"
Ginny screamed like she had never screamed before.
---------
Harry held the cellar door open as each of his friends climbed out of the tunnel that led into the cellar of Honeydukes. "How did you find out about this?" Hermione asked as she dusted herself off.
"Fred and George," he replied, carefully pulling the cellar door back into place.
He took a look around before climbing the stairs, the others following suit. When they reached the front door of Honeydukes, Harry unlocked it from the inside, and they all stepped out into the bitter autumn night.
"What if there are Death Eaters?" Ron asked as Harry led the way towards the Shrieking Shack.
"All those curses I taught you last year?" Harry asked, glancing over at his shoulder at his best friend. "Use them and use them without hesitation."
Ron nodded, gripping his wand even tighter at his side.
"We're walking right into a trap, you realize," Luna said from Harry's side. Her own wand was already drawn and ready, much like Harry's.
Harry frowned and nodded. "I realize."
"What if Ginny isn't here?" Hermione asked from her spot at Ron's side.
"She is," Harry declared, his gaze still focused ahead where he could see the Shrieking Shack coming into view. "She has to be."
Harry remembered the last time he had been in the Shrieking Shack. It had been the first time he had set eyes on Sirius, the man he thought had betrayed and killed his parents. It had been the first time he had learned the truth and had come face to face with Peter Pettigrew, the real betrayer. It had been the first time he had felt real failure as he watched Pettigrew get away into the night before Harry could do a thing about it.
Harry couldn't fail like that tonight.
"What now?"
Harry broke from his thoughts at Ron's question. He hadn't even realized that they were now standing in front of the shack.
Harry studied the shack for a moment, trying to form a game-plan in his head. He turned to his friends with a nod. "Hermione, Ron, you'll search the first floor. Curse anything and anyone who crosses your path."
Hermione and Ron nodded.
"Luna and I will take the second floor. Whoever finds Ginny first, let the others know."
"How?" Hermione asked.
"Um, I don't know. Yell…something."
"Weasley is our king," Luna offered with a smile.
Everyone looked at her, and then Harry nodded. "Yell--" He pointed at Luna. "--that."
"Be careful, guys," Hermione frowned.
"You too." Harry opened the door and glanced back over his shoulder at his friends before entering the darkness of the shack.
---------
Harry walked carefully through the darkened hallway, and he could feel Luna close to his side. He didn't care for this at all. They had yet to run into anyone. Yet to hear a sound that was not made by them. Yet to stumble into the trap that they had been so certain they had walked into.
This was just too easy.
"I don't care for this," Luna whispered, apparently reading his mind.
"Me either." He frowned over at her. "Just don't let your guard down."
Luna nodded, her wand arm still tense and ready to throw a curse at the drop of a hat.
They approached the only room on the second floor, the same room Harry had been in two years prior. He hesitated with his hand on the doorknob. Luna stood quietly by his side for a moment before finally speaking. "Harry?"
He glanced over at her, locking eyes, before finally twisting the doorknob and pushing the door open.
"Lumos," Luna said quietly from his side, her wand illuminating around them.
With what little light her wand emitted, Harry could see the form on the floor. When the light from Luna's wand reflected off the red hair of the figure, Harry's heart leapt into his throat. He quickly ran over to Ginny, calling out to her.
"Ginny?"
She lay quietly on her side, her wrists and ankles bound. Dropping his wand to the floor, Harry began to pull the ropes from around her wrists. "Ginny, you okay?" he asked between excited breaths.
"Harry," Luna spoke quietly from over his shoulder.
Harry ignored her and grabbed Ginny's shoulder to gently turn her onto her back. The exhilarated smile that had been on his face quickly faded away.
Ginny stared blankly up at him with dull eyes, her mouth frozen open in a silent scream.
"She's not…." He shook his head, not able to finish the sentence.
Luna knelt beside him, and he watched her pale hand lay across Ginny's even paler throat. Her fingers gently touched and kneaded where Ginny's jugular would be. When Luna pulled her hand away, he didn't need to hear her say the words.
His body numb, Harry only realized he had been holding his breath when his lungs began to burn. He began to breathe heavily and found himself on the verge of hyperventilating.
He'd failed again, and this time, it had cost him not only a friend, but it had cost his best friend a sister.
"Harry," Luna said, getting to her feet.
Harry remained where he was, his gaze still fixed on Ginny's lifeless form. He barely noticed as the light of Luna's wand shifted to a different spot a few feet away from the redhead's body.
"Harry!" she said again, more urgently.
"What?" he finally heard himself ask, his eyes never leaving Ginny.
"They left a message for you."
Harry looked up at her then. "What?"
Luna nodded towards where she illuminated the floor with her wand. Harry stood and moved to stand next to her, looking down at the floor. Written across the floor in what looked like black paint, a message had been left behind.
Can't save them all.
Harry read the message, and all the anger he had been feeling earlier in the night returned ten-fold. He screamed, Luna jumping slightly.
He wanted to break something. He wanted to kill something. He wanted Voldemort to feel all the pain he had brought to Harry all these years.
But at the moment, all he could do was yell with his fists clenched angrily in front of him.
"Harry," Luna said calmly as he stopped his yelling to take a breath. "We need to tell Ronald and Hermione."
Hearing that made something click inside Harry, and the anger quickly dissipated to guilt. He locked eyes with Luna again as he inhaled deeply. "God, Ron."
"You find him, and I'll stay with her."
Luna stepped around Harry and knelt beside Ginny. He watched as Luna gently reached a hand out and smoothed it over Ginny's face, closing the girl's eyes. With the same gentleness, she lifted Ginny's chin until her mouth was no longer in a silent scream. Until she looked at peace.
Luna looked up at him, and even in the dimly lit room, he could see that the girl was crying despite her calm exterior. She made a motion with her hand as if to shoo Harry away.
"Find him before he finds us."
Harry nodded and quickly ran out of the room.
He didn't have to go far to run into Ron and Hermione. They were making their way up the staircase as he was making his way down, all three panting.
"We heard the screams!" Hermione said, looking more scared than Harry had ever seen her look.
"Are you guys alright?" Ron asked.
Harry nodded. "We're--we're fine."
"What was the screaming about?"
Harry hesitated, looking down.
"Harry?" Hermione asked.
"We found Ginny," he said, finally looking up at them.
A look of relief came over Ron's face that only pained Harry more. "Is she okay?"
Harry could only shake his head, trying to think of how to even say the words. Before Harry even had the chance, Ron pushed by him, running up the remaining stairs.
"Ron!" he called out and made a move to run after his friend but a hand held him back. He looked down to see Hermione holding onto him.
"Harry, is Ginny…?"
She didn't even need to finish the sentence because he knew how it was going to end. Harry simply nodded, and Hermione's hand moved from his arm to her mouth. She looked on the verge of tears, but Harry didn't know what to say or do. All he could do was take her gently by the arm and lead her up the staircase.
When they finally made their way to the room, his heart gave another painful lurch in his chest. Luna stood near the doorway, her arms wrapped around herself as she looked on. Ron sat on the dirty floor, his sister's body cradled in his lap, as he silently cried. From over his shoulder, Harry heard Hermione make an unrecognizable sound. His whole attention focused on Ron, he hardly noticed as Luna made her way past him and to Hermione--the younger girl taking Hermione into a crying hug.
His insides still twisting, the whole world seemed to fade away into nothing but the sound of his three friends crying.
---------
The walk back to Hogwarts was the longest, most dreadful experience of Harry's life. Not willing to leave Ginny's body behind for someone else to bring back, Harry had carried the girl the entire way. Hermione and Luna had trailed behind him, the girls at some new level of understanding, as they held hands as they walked. Ron walked beside them, his hands shoved into his pockets and his eyes on the ground, Hermione glancing sadly at him as they walked.
Once they arrived back at the castle, Harry ordered the others to return to the tower and that he would meet them in the common room. Still carrying Ginny's body, Harry made his way to the staircase to Dumbledore's office. It was late, but Harry had a feeling that the Headmaster was still up working, even at this hour. Harry took a breath to calm his voice before uttering the password. The statue spiraled away, revealing the staircase, and Harry carefully stepped onto the stairs as they began to spiral up.
He stepped into the office, ignoring the burning in his arms from carrying Ginny for so long. "Professor?"
Professor Dumbledore stepped from behind his desk. "Harry, what are--?"
Dumbledore's words froze as he finally laid eyes on Harry. He stood perfectly still for a moment before quickly making his way to Harry. "Harry, what happened?"
"*He* happened," Harry spat, feeling his anger rising to the surface again.
Dumbledore stared at him, awaiting an explanation.
"He sent me a message tonight. Told me where I could find her." He swallowed hard, looking down at the limp body in his arms. "And I found her."
"Harry, why didn't you tell me this? I could have gathered The Order."
"It wouldn't have made a difference," Harry growled with a shake of his head. "It wasn't a rescue mission, Professor. He never intended it to be one."
"What do you mean?" Dumbledore asked, his eyes drifting to Ginny's pale face.
"He left a message for me with her." Harry swallowed hard again as the pain in his arms intensified. "He wanted to show me that I can't save everyone I care for."
Dumbledore watched as Harry gently placed Ginny on the floor between them. "Harry…."
"And he's right." Harry stood, his gaze traveling from Ginny to Dumbledore. "I can't save them all. I can't, but I know what I need to do now. I understand what I need to do now."
"And what would that be, Harry?" Dumbledore asked, the concern evident on his face and in his voice.
Harry frowned deeply. "Make him regret the day he ever tried to kill me as a baby."
"Harry, you must think clearly about these things. You're outraged now, and with good reason, but this is not the time to make decisions."
"I'm not making a decision. It's already been made." Harry glanced down at Ginny, his quiet anger still simmering. "He wants a second war, and I'll be more than happy to deliver him a second war."
Harry turned and walked out of Dumbledore's office, even as the Headmaster called out to him. Harry ignored the calls of his name as he stood on the staircase and waited for it to spiral down to the main floor.
The decision had been made.
Kill or be killed.
And for the first time that he could recall, Harry welcomed the thought of being a murderer.
Rating: PG-13
Summary: With Ginny missing, Harry and his friends try to find her before it's too late.
"I'm pouring crimson regret and betrayal
I'm dying praying bleeding and screaming
Am I too lost to be saved?
Am I too lost?"
-- "Tourniquet" by Evanescence
---------
Harry, Hermione, and Ron stood in the Gryffindor common room, watching another small group of girls come down the stairs and exit the portrait hole. Ron checked his watch, his stomach growling.
"You know," Ron grumbled, "Ginny's tardiness is starting to get annoying."
"She did plan to come with us, right?" Harry asked, glancing at Hermione. "To see Dumbledore?"
"I thought so." Hermione frowned, handing Harry her schoolbag. "I'll go see if she's overslept."
"Tell her I don't plan to miss breakfast because of her!" Ron yelled to Hermione as she disappeared up the staircase. He shook his head, crossing his arms. "I wish she'd get over whatever it is that's been making her act so strange lately."
Harry simply nodded, glancing towards the girls' staircase with a slight frown.
When Hermione returned, she came down the stairs alone, a worrisome look on her face. Harry was the first to notice her disposition.
"What?" he asked.
"She's not in her room."
"Then where is she?" Ron asked, his earlier annoyance with his sister drifting towards concern.
"Her roommates last saw her when she said she'd be studying in the library. She probably just fell asleep studying last night," Hermione reasoned. "You two go ahead to breakfast, and I'll get Ginny. We can see Dumbledore before our first class."
She retrieved her bag from Harry and quickly made her way out of the common room. Once she was gone, Ron and Harry shared a look, Ron shrugging his shoulders a bit. "Ginny must be really freaking out about OWLs."
"She's taking cues from Hermione," Harry laughed quietly as he and Ron walked through the portrait hole.
"Well, that can't be good," Ron smirked.
---------
Ginny awoke with a start, a nightmare haunting her. Her head pounded, and only when she made a move to massage her temples did she realize that the nightmare she had opened her eyes to escape was actually a reality. Her wrists bound behind her back and her ankles tied together as well, Ginny struggled against the ropes, trying to pull herself free. Her eyes shot to every corner of the dimly lit room in which she sat. She didn't recognize the place, but she knew it was a place she didn't want to be right now.
As she continued to struggle against her binding, she debated screaming out but found herself hesitating. Screaming could bring someone to her aid, but then again, screaming could also bring her captors. Was that a chance she really wanted to take?
She sat still for a moment, listening to the stillness of the house around her.
Her decision made, she let out a high-pitched scream. She stopped only when her lungs screamed for oxygen. Taking deep breaths, she listened for the stillness of the house to change. Footsteps. Yells. Any sign of life, of movement, other than her own.
After a few moments of her own breathing being the only sound, she heard faint footsteps. All thoughts of breathing left Ginny's mind as the door to the room pushed open. She saw nothing but dark robes until a pale hand reached up and pushed back the hood that hid their face.
"I know you," Ginny heard herself say.
She wasn't as gaunt-looking as the last time they had crossed paths, her face more full, but Ginny knew that she would never forget this woman's face.
Bellatrix Lestrange sneered at her. "Yes, you do, little girl. Did you think we'd never see each other again?"
"I had hoped," Ginny spit back, frowning.
She struggled a bit to free her hands as Bellatrix hovered over her. "That's quite pointless, you realize," the woman laughed. "The struggling. The screaming. All of it."
"What do you want from me?" Ginny finally asked, almost afraid to hear the answer.
Bellatrix knelt next to Ginny, pulling her wand from inside her robes. "We want nothing from you," she said, jabbing Ginny hard in the shoulder with the end of her wand. "We want what the Dark Lord wants, and he wants Potter."
"And what does that have to do with me?"
"Because widdle baby Potter enjoys playing the hero, we know he'll come for you."
"Harry's not that stupid," Ginny replied, swallowing hard. "He'll realize it's a trick."
"He will, but he'll still come," the woman smiled, nodding. "Because he thinks he has what it takes to take on the Dark Lord and win. His arrogance will be his downfall."
Ginny scowled. "His bravery will be *your* downfall."
Bellatrix smiled and stood. "So loyal and so stupid." She took a few steps back before casually pointing her wand at Ginny. "Crucio!"
The scream that Ginny had let loose earlier was nothing in comparison to the one that passed from her lips now. Her entire body felt as if it were on fire, the pain was so severe. The pounding of her head was excruciatingly loud against her eardrums, and it felt as if at any moment, her skull would split in two. Her eyes squeezed together tight, she couldn't see when Bellatrix finally lowered her wand. But the diminishing pain, leaving way for severe tingling from head to toe, made her realize the assault to her body was over. Suddenly exhausted, she slumped over onto her side, her body trembling.
"That was nothing, little girl," she heard Bellatrix say over the pounding in her ears.
Ginny simply opened her eyes, the side of her head against the dirty floor.
"Make noise again, and you shall get worse."
Ginny blinked away tears but said nothing. Bellatrix smiled at her before turning on her heels and walking out of the room. She pulled the door closed, and Ginny heard the familiar sound of a lock sliding into place before she lost consciousness.
---------
Ron had started on his second helping of eggs, and Harry still on his first, when Hermione finally joined them. The worrisome look that Harry had seen on her face earlier had now been replaced by something more urgent, more scared.
She carried a second bag that Harry instantly recognized as Ginny's and laid it upon the table, not taking a seat. Seeing the bag himself, Ron stopped chewing and looked up at Hermione with slightly wide eyes. He mumbled something through his mouthful of food that Harry could only assume was "where's my sister?"
Reading along the same lines as Harry, Hermione frowned even more deeply at Ron's muffled question. "She's missing."
"What?" was all Harry could manage as his best friend struggled to swallow his food without further chewing.
"What do you mean missing?!" Ron finally asked with an empty mouth.
Hermione nodded to the schoolbag. "I checked all over the library. I checked the girls' dormitory again. I checked all the loos." She shook her head. "Nothing. All I found was her bag in the library."
"Ginny's not missing," Ron replied with a shake of his own head, as if stating it would make Hermione's conclusion untrue. "She's just-- she's skiving off classes. She stressed herself out so much with OWLs that she just decided to take a break." He paused with an unsure nod. "That's all."
Harry and Hermione shared a look before Hermione turned sympathetically to Ron. "Ron, I… I don't think she's skiving off classes."
Harry didn't hear his friend's attempt at a response as he glanced over at the Ravenclaw table. Luna sat off by herself, reading her Quibbler as she drank her juice. Without thinking, he quickly stood and made his way over to the table.
If anyone knew anything about where Ginny would have gone, it would be Luna. She hung out with Ginny more than Harry, Ron and Hermione did. She had to know something they didn't.
"Hey, Luna," Harry said, ignoring the odd looks he received from other Ravenclaws (and a few Slytherins at that) as he stood next to the girl.
She looked up from her paper with a smile. "Morning, Harry." Her smile faded a bit as she studied him. "Something wrong?"
Harry nodded. "Have you seen Ginny?"
Luna blinked, taken aback by the question. She glanced over at the Gryffindor table, noting the empty seat that Ginny normally occupied. She turned back to Harry with a frown. "She's not here."
Harry wasn't sure if she had meant it as a statement or a question, but he shook his head anyway. "Hermione found her bag in the library."
"That's where I last spoke with her," Luna replied, her usual airy tone replaced with concern. "We were doing our Potions assignment together, and it was getting late. I left, but Ginny said she wanted to stay for a bit longer." There was a beat, and when Luna spoke again, the concern in her voice was even more evident. "She didn't return to the tower last night?"
"Doesn't seem that way, no."
"That's not like Ginny."
"No," Harry frowned, "it's not."
Harry couldn't help but think of the last time Ginny had gone missing. Then she had been drug into the Chamber of Secrets by the basilisk, and Harry couldn't help but feel the same amount of fear for her and her safety now that he had felt that night.
"I need to tell Dumbledore," he thought aloud.
"I'll come with you," Luna said, quickly gathering her Quibbler and shoving it inside her schoolbag.
He nodded, and he and Luna made their way to the Gryffindor table where it seemed Ron had finally let go of his denial. "Harry," his best friend said, getting to his feet. "If Ginny's hurt…."
"She's not," Harry countered even as his insides twisted in disagreement. "We need to tell Dumbledore; he'll know what to do."
Silent agreement fell over the group as they walked out of the Great Hall.
---------
"Professor Dumbledore?"
Harry walked into Dumbledore's office, trailed by Luna, Hermione, and Ron. Dumbledore sat at his desk and looked up to see the students approaching. He smiled warmly at them as he clasped his hands over the book he had been reading.
"Shouldn't you be enjoying breakfast?" he asked with that same warm smile.
"Yeah, well…."
Harry looked at each of his friends, frowning. Ron looked paler than normal while even Hermione looked like she was on the verge of being sick from nerves. Luna, however, simply watched Dumbledore as she gently stroked Fawkes on his perch.
"Ginny Weasley is missing, Professor."
Dumbledore watched him carefully. "Missing?"
"She never returned to the tower last night," Harry replied with a nod. "Hermione looked for her this morning and couldn't find her."
"Hmm," Dumbledore said, standing. "I shall have Filch and a few Professors, myself included, look into it, Harry."
"You don't think anything is wrong, do you?" Ron piped up from over Harry's shoulder.
Dumbledore smiled gently at Ron as he spoke. "I'm quite certain your sister will be found safe and sound. This happens a lot around the fifth year. Students become overly anxious about the upcoming exams and look for time to themselves." He gave Harry and his friends a determined nod. "Ginny will be fine, and we will quickly locate her. Now, you four run along to class before you're tardy, and I will start what is necessary to find Ginny."
Everyone lingered for a moment, Hermione the first to leave as she gently took Ron's wrist and pulled him away with her. Luna looked to Harry, and he almost expected her to stay behind with him. But she simply gave him a sad smile, stroked Fawkes' feathers one last time, and strolled away.
"Something else on your mind, Harry?" Dumbledore asked as he and Harry stood alone in the room.
Harry hesitated before finally nodding. "There's been… The Daily Prophet…."
"Ah yes," Dumbledore said, sighing and taking his seat behind his desk. "The murders."
"Yeah," he frowned. "Is it Voldemort?"
"I wish I had a definitive answer to your question, Harry," he replied, his old eyes losing some of the twinkle Harry had grown accustomed to. "But I don't. All I can tell you is that The Order is looking into each and every aspect."
Harry sighed, frustrated. He was tired of the runaround. All he wanted was a simple yes or no.
"But do *you* think it's him?"
There was a moment where Dumbledore said nothing, simply studied Harry, and Harry braced himself for another vague response. But there was nothing vague in the words that followed the silence.
"Yes, I do believe it's him." Dumbledore nodded. "It bears all the markings of his work, the work of his followers."
Harry swallowed hard, fearing the next question that lingered in his mind. "Ginny…. She's been targeted by him before…."
"This is true, but Voldemort would not be silly enough to try another go within the walls of Hogwarts."
"So you don't think Ginny's disappearance…?"
Dumbledore stood and approached Harry. He placed a hand on Harry's shoulder. "I think Ginny's disappearance will be quickly solved, and she will be back at the Gryffindor table before you even realize she was gone." He gave Harry's shoulder a squeeze. "Now do run along, Harry, before Professor Snape gives you a detention for being tardy."
Harry nodded, frowning a bit at the mention of Snape. He started out of the room, and then quickly turned back to Dumbledore. "Professor, when you find Ginny…."
"You and your friends will be the first to know," Dumbledore finished with a gentle nod of his head.
Harry nodded again before finally making his way out of the office. When he exited the staircase, he almost expected to see Hermione and Ron there, eager to hear what he had discussed with Dumbledore in their absence. However, they weren't there as he expected, but Luna stood a few feet from the staircase, gazing at a portrait of deer as they ran from one point of the frame and disappeared beyond the other edge.
"Luna?" he asked, stepping up to her. "You're still here?"
She turned to him with a nod. "Hermione and Ronald went ahead to class. They said they'd meet you there."
"Why didn't you just go ahead?" he asked, genuinely curious as to why she was still standing around.
"Because it's not always a good idea to leave people alone with their fears," she stated casually, glancing back at the picture to see if the deer would come running by again.
"I'm not afraid," he lied.
"You don't think Ginny's okay," she countered.
He opened his mouth to protest but found he couldn't argue against the truth. Instead, he opted to shift the conversation. "Neither do you."
"Well, no," Luna said, a frown forming on her delicate features. "But *I* admit to that fear. You don't always have to be a stoic, you know."
"I'm not trying to be a stoic."
Luna studied him with a tilt of her head. "Ginny will be found," she finally said.
Harry frowned even deeper. "Yeah, but the question is when."
"Did you ever hear of Julia Wingdinger?"
Harry blinked, slightly taken aback. "Um, no."
"She spent ten years looking for Heliopaths," Luna said, turning her eyes back to the portrait as a lone deer frolicked by. "Turns out she had found them years before but never realized it."
"Okay," Harry replied cautiously, still trying to follow her train of thought.
"Ginny will be found because we want to find her. Because we need to," Luna said, turning her gaze back to Harry. "She may be right under our noses the entire time, but we will find her. It doesn't matter when we find her but that we find her."
Harry nodded slowly in understanding.
Luna glanced down at her watch. "I'm late for Care of Magical Creatures."
Harry looked to his own watch and groaned. "Potions." He sighed. "I'd be better off skiving the class than showing up late. Then again, he'd probably take away points for that the next time I had class."
Luna searched the pockets of her robes and then pulled out a small candy, handing it to Harry with a slight smile. Harry raised an eyebrow as he turned the candy over in the palm of his hand. "What's this?"
"From my skiving snackbox . Take it now, and you should have an unusual nosebleed by the time you reach the hospital wing." She smiled brighter. "Madam Pomfey would be glad to inform your professors of why you had to miss class."
"You have a skiving snackbox?" Harry asked, amused and stunned.
"Just for the rare occasion when I'll need it."
Harry debated for a moment before unwrapping the candy and popping it into his mouth. "Thanks," he grinned.
Luna shrugged it off and adjusted the slipping strap of her school bag back onto her shoulder. "We will find Ginny, Harry," she said seriously.
"I know," he replied quietly, still uncertain.
She nodded and gave him a small wave before making her way down the corridor. Harry watched her disappear around a corner before heading in the opposite direction and towards the hospital wing.
---------
By the time dinner in the Great Hall was being served, most people in the school knew about Ginny's disappearance. Harry could hear the whispered conversations as he, Hermione, and Ron made their way to the Gryffindor table.
Harry had missed all his classes prior to lunch thanks to Luna's candy, and he was glad because there would have been no way for him to concentrate through lecture after lecture. Not with Ginny disappearing into thin air. Not with his thoughts still lingering on all the deaths recently. And definitely not with Dumbledore himself admitting that he felt there was a connection between Voldemort and the deaths.
After lunch, the classes and lectures had been a blur. None of them were in any shape to concentrate on anything. Even Hermione, who normally scored perfect points on everything she did in Transfiguration, couldn't quite master turning her bird into a vase. Unlike Snape (who, Harry had heard, had taken points from both Ron *and* Hermione for being tardy), Professor McGonagall had understood their distance and had not punished them for their forthcomings during the lecture.
Now as the day had faded away to night and they gathered at the dinner table, none of them still felt up to par. Dumbledore had not said a word to them about Ginny or the search for her since that morning. In fact, they hadn't seen him around at all since their early morning meeting.
"You should really eat something, Ron," Hermione said from beside him. "You didn't eat anything at lunch."
Ron stared at his plate as if at any moment it would attack. He shook his head and began to poke at it with his fork.
Hermione looked to Harry pleadingly, but Harry didn't know what to say or do. If Harry believed things were feeling off-balance for him right now, it was probably a hundred times worse for Ron. Ginny was his little sister after all, and as much as Ron would argue to the contrary, he cared for her more than anything and would do anything to protect her like the big brother he was.
But he couldn't protect her this time.
Hermione sighed quietly and began to prod her own food. Harry watched his two best friends, his frown deepening as his insides began to twist into sickening knots again. He opened his mouth to say something, anything, but found it was not necessary as Luna took that moment to break through their depressing reverie.
"Care if I join you?"
Everyone looked up to see Luna standing at their table. She smiled politely at them as each of them studied her with their own expression-- Hermione confusion, Ron bewilderment, and Harry relief.
"Sure," he finally said and Luna smiled and took the empty seat beside him.
Harry glanced over his shoulder to see a few students at the Ravenclaw table looking on with the same bewilderment and confusion that Ron and Hermione had been showing moments earlier. It wasn't everyday that a student from a fellow house decided to break convention and eat with a rival table. Then again, it wasn't every day that "Loony" Lovegood sat down with the infamous Harry Potter and his friends either.
"How are you, Ronald?" she asked.
For a moment, Harry thought Ron was going to say something bitter and sarcastic. Instead his best friend simply shook his head and muttered "I'm here" in response.
Luna nodded, frowning slightly, but she did not push the issue further.
Everyone ate in silence, with the exception of Ron who seemed to be more intent on making art with his plate than eating it, until Luna turned to Harry mid-dessert. "Oh, I meant to ask if the skiving snack worked."
"Yeah," he replied with a slight smile. "I'm glad I took it from the way Snape deducted points from Hermione and Ron this morning. I'm not sure our house would have been able to handle the number of points he would have taken away if I had shown up even later."
"He's not a very pleasant man, is he?"
"That's quite the understatement, Luna," Hermione said before taking a bite from her rhubarb pie. Ron only nodded in agreement.
Before Luna could reply, a distinct cawing sound filled the air. All the students fell silent as a giant raven came swooping into the Great Hall. Some pointed at the bird as it passed while others simply watched in confusion. Harry and his friends watched the bird as it swooped over to the Gryffindor table and sailed perfectly down the long table until it found who it needed. It stopped right on top of the pie sitting between Harry and his friends, placing its scaly feet in their dessert as if it had no care in the world. It cawed loudly again as Harry shared a confused look with each of his friends.
Luna reached out to remove the note attached to its leg, but it cawed loudly again and pecked at her. She quickly withdrew her hand with a quiet exclaim of shock. She frowned at the bird as she looked at the back of her hand, a small line of blood beginning to seep from the cut in her skin.
"Ravens are very nasty creatures," she said bitterly to the bird.
Harry handed her a napkin to hold to her hand before staring at the bird and making a tentative move to remove the message himself. He braced himself to be pecked by the sharp beak just as Luna had been, but found himself surprised when he was able to successfully remove the message from around the bird's leg without incident.
"He must be protecting the message from anyone who's not the person it's addressed to," Hermione said quietly from the other side of the bird.
The raven stretched its wings and with a final ear-piercing caw took off. Every eye in the Great Hall was on the bird as it disappeared into the night, and an excited chatter fell over the Hall as the students quickly began whispering to each other about the mysterious message delivered by raven.
"Well?" Hermione asked as Harry simply studied the note. Even Ron, who had seemed to have lost interest in anything and everything, was giving Harry his full attention. "Do you plan to open it?"
"Who sends messages by raven?" Harry wondered aloud as he flipped the message over in his hands, still not opening it.
Luna dabbed at her hand one last time, her voice ethereal over the excited chatter surrounding them. "Ravens are omens of death and darkness."
When Luna looked up from her bloody napkin, three pairs of eyes were on her. She gave them a quizzical look as she continued. "They are. They say that whenever you see a raven, death is near. Only someone with faith in darkness would send a message by raven."
Harry frowned, dropping his voice so that the people listening in wouldn't be able to hear. "Someone like Voldemort."
Luna nodded slowly. "Someone like that indeed."
Harry stared down at the note in his hands, suddenly becoming acutely aware of all the eyes watching him and all the ears straining to hear. He finally looked up at his friends. "I can't read this here."
"Then where exactly?" Hermione asked. "There aren't exactly a lot of places we can go and not be watched."
"There's one." Harry stood, sliding the note inside his robes. He walked out, Luna, Hermione, and Ron following, and he could hear his name whispered a few times as he passed by the other students.
---------
The Room of Requirement was right where he remembered it being. He opened the door and allowed his friends to enter first before stepping inside himself. He securely locked the door and turned to look at the room. It wasn't set up like it had been so many times for their DA meetings the previous term. There was no desk. No bookshelves filled with book after book on jinxes and counterjinxes. No cushions on the floor.
Instead, it contained all they needed. Four cushy chairs that formed a circle in the center of the room. Hermione, Ron, and Luna had already taken their seats when Harry joined them, pulling the note from his school robes.
He inhaled deeply before ripping into the envelope and pulling out the message within. He barely noticed his friends studying him as he read the fragmented message scrawled in messy black cursive.
Weasley. Shrieking Shack. Come tonight.
"Well?" Hermione asked, leaning in her chair to get a look.
"Harry?" Ron asked.
Luna simply watched him cautiously.
Harry swallowed hard, his emotions tugging between blinding anger and overwhelming fear. "He has Ginny."
Hermione gave an audible gasp as Ron blinked at him. Luna leaned over in her own chair to see the words for herself.
"He…." Ron blinked again, trying to find his voice. "Ginny?"
Luna took the note from Harry's hands, studying it with a frown.
Hermione looked from Harry to Ron and then to Harry again. "We need to tell Dumbledore. Now."
"No," Harry replied with a determined shake of his head.
"NO?!" Ron yelled.
"If Dumbledore shows up, he'll just…." Harry struggled with the words. "He'll kill her. He wants me to show up."
"So you're just going to give him what he wants?!" Hermione asked, incredulous.
"It's the only way to bring Ginny back alive," Harry said, getting to his feet.
"Or get both of you killed in the process!" Hermione replied, trying her best to reason with him. "Harry, if we tell Dumbledore, he can tell The Order and they can--"
"They can what, Hermione?" Harry asked, feeling his temper begin to rise. "They can rush in and fight Voldemort off one more time? And then what, Hermione? He comes back, and he does it again. He takes you or Ron or Luna and uses you as a bargaining chip instead."
"But, Harry," Hermione said, getting to her feet, "The Order--they have a better chance of defeating him and the Death Eaters than we do. They've fought them before. Last year."
"You just don't get it, Hermione," he snapped angrily, fully aware of the cautious step back from him she took. "They can't do it! They can't kill Voldemort! It has to be me!"
Hermione gave a careful shake of her head, confused. "No, Harry, it doesn't. That's just what Voldemort wants you to believe."
"No, it's the way it is," he replied, his anger reaching a level he hadn't felt in over a year. "He dies or I die. It's that damn simple!"
Hermione seemed to be at a loss for words, and her sudden silence did nothing to quell the simmering anger in the pit of Harry's stomach. She didn't get it. None of them got it. He didn't *want* to keep putting his own life on the line, his friends' lives. But that was just how it was. He didn't have a choice in the matter.
With a frustrated growl, he stormed out of the room, hoping to just get some air and be away from the perplexed looks he was getting from Ron and Hermione.
"What the bloody hell was he talking about?" Ron asked as Hermione stared after the door Harry had just slammed shut.
"The prophecy," Luna said, still studying the message in her hand and running a finger back and forth over the dried ink.
Hermione and Ron instantly turned to her. "What prophecy?" Hermione asked.
Luna looked up, a slightly stunned expression on her face. "I thought you knew."
"Knew what?!" Ron asked, annoyed.
"Harry learned of a prophecy last year," Luna said, watching them with wide eyes. "That either Lord Voldemort dies, or he does. Harry must either kill him or be killed by him for the second war to come to an end."
Hermione sat down slowly at Luna's words. Ron opened his mouth but no sound escaped his lips. Luna watched them for a moment before turning her attention back to the card in her hand. "I thought the Shrieking Shack was haunted," she said to no one in particular.
"I can't believe he didn't tell us," Hermione finally said, ignoring Luna's last remark.
"I can't believe he told *you*," Ron replied, raising an eyebrow in Luna's direction.
Luna looked up at him but did not say anything in response.
"I should probably go get him," Hermione sighed, getting to her feet again.
"I wouldn't," Luna stated matter-a-factly as she watched Hermione.
Hermione threw the younger girl an incredulous look. "Well, I'm glad to hear that it's not something *you* would do, but *I* won't let him sit out there and let his anger build."
"That's the reason he left. It does a temper well to get away from the things that are getting a rise out of you. Even if it is only for a few moments." Luna added with a nod, "He'll come back."
"How are you so sure?" Hermione asked, unable to hide her irritation with the young Ravenclaw at the moment.
"Because he knows there are more important things right now than feeding his own anger." She paused, frowning. "Like getting Ginny back."
As if on cue, Harry pushed the door open and returned, locking the door behind himself again. Hermione was the first to speak. "Harry, I didn't know…. About the prophecy."
"I know you didn't," he replied sharply. Hermione nodded and returned to her seat, watching him carefully.
Harry continued to stand, watching his friends. He had reeled in his anger as much as he could, but at the moment, he couldn't help but feel that anger would be his driving force tonight.
"I'm going," he stated. "To Hogsmeade. By myself."
"No!"
This time it was Ron who had jumped to his feet to argue.
"Ron," Harry sighed.
"No, Harry, I'm coming with you. Ginny's my sister, and I'm not just gonna sit around and wait for you to bring her back."
Harry studied his best friend and knew that there was no way he could say no. "Okay," he said with a slow nod.
"If Ron goes, I go!" Hermione declared, standing.
Harry was about to argue when Luna then stood. "I feel I owe it to Ginny to go," she said.
Harry looked at each of them, a mixture of pride to have them as friends and fear that their loyalty would be the end of them all.
Harry finally gave in. "Fine, looks like it's a mission for four."
"When do we go?" Hermione asked.
"Now."
Everyone simply looked at each other in response.
---------
Ginny opened her eyes as a chill passed through her body. She shivered, her teeth chattering, before finally sitting up.
"Have a pleasant nap, little girl?"
Ginny turned her head quickly towards the doorway, where Bellatrix stood, leaning against the frame. With the dark robes, she nearly blended into the blackness of the hallway itself.
"Stop calling me that," Ginny said through gritted teeth.
"Manners, manners, little girl," Bellatrix grinned. "You know, it's your own fault you're here. You lot are far too trusting."
"Malfoy," Ginny snarled, tugging a bit at her arms and hoping for some looseness of the binding.
"Maybe next time you won't let your hormones take over, huh?" Bellatrix lazily pushed herself from the doorway. "Of course, that all depends on whether or not there is a next time for you, doesn't it?"
Ginny watched the woman, her body suddenly feeling colder than it previously had. She swallowed hard to keep her voice from betraying her. "They'll find me, you know. And they'll curse each and every one of you and your Death Eater friends."
Bellatrix laughed darkly. "So naïve."
"And then Harry will finally kill your precious Dark Lord," Ginny continued, her fear giving rise to anger as she struggled more against her bindings. "And I hope he makes you watch."
Bellatrix's laughter died, and she quickly turned on Ginny, her wand drawn. "CRUCIO!"
Ginny screamed like she had never screamed before.
---------
Harry held the cellar door open as each of his friends climbed out of the tunnel that led into the cellar of Honeydukes. "How did you find out about this?" Hermione asked as she dusted herself off.
"Fred and George," he replied, carefully pulling the cellar door back into place.
He took a look around before climbing the stairs, the others following suit. When they reached the front door of Honeydukes, Harry unlocked it from the inside, and they all stepped out into the bitter autumn night.
"What if there are Death Eaters?" Ron asked as Harry led the way towards the Shrieking Shack.
"All those curses I taught you last year?" Harry asked, glancing over at his shoulder at his best friend. "Use them and use them without hesitation."
Ron nodded, gripping his wand even tighter at his side.
"We're walking right into a trap, you realize," Luna said from Harry's side. Her own wand was already drawn and ready, much like Harry's.
Harry frowned and nodded. "I realize."
"What if Ginny isn't here?" Hermione asked from her spot at Ron's side.
"She is," Harry declared, his gaze still focused ahead where he could see the Shrieking Shack coming into view. "She has to be."
Harry remembered the last time he had been in the Shrieking Shack. It had been the first time he had set eyes on Sirius, the man he thought had betrayed and killed his parents. It had been the first time he had learned the truth and had come face to face with Peter Pettigrew, the real betrayer. It had been the first time he had felt real failure as he watched Pettigrew get away into the night before Harry could do a thing about it.
Harry couldn't fail like that tonight.
"What now?"
Harry broke from his thoughts at Ron's question. He hadn't even realized that they were now standing in front of the shack.
Harry studied the shack for a moment, trying to form a game-plan in his head. He turned to his friends with a nod. "Hermione, Ron, you'll search the first floor. Curse anything and anyone who crosses your path."
Hermione and Ron nodded.
"Luna and I will take the second floor. Whoever finds Ginny first, let the others know."
"How?" Hermione asked.
"Um, I don't know. Yell…something."
"Weasley is our king," Luna offered with a smile.
Everyone looked at her, and then Harry nodded. "Yell--" He pointed at Luna. "--that."
"Be careful, guys," Hermione frowned.
"You too." Harry opened the door and glanced back over his shoulder at his friends before entering the darkness of the shack.
---------
Harry walked carefully through the darkened hallway, and he could feel Luna close to his side. He didn't care for this at all. They had yet to run into anyone. Yet to hear a sound that was not made by them. Yet to stumble into the trap that they had been so certain they had walked into.
This was just too easy.
"I don't care for this," Luna whispered, apparently reading his mind.
"Me either." He frowned over at her. "Just don't let your guard down."
Luna nodded, her wand arm still tense and ready to throw a curse at the drop of a hat.
They approached the only room on the second floor, the same room Harry had been in two years prior. He hesitated with his hand on the doorknob. Luna stood quietly by his side for a moment before finally speaking. "Harry?"
He glanced over at her, locking eyes, before finally twisting the doorknob and pushing the door open.
"Lumos," Luna said quietly from his side, her wand illuminating around them.
With what little light her wand emitted, Harry could see the form on the floor. When the light from Luna's wand reflected off the red hair of the figure, Harry's heart leapt into his throat. He quickly ran over to Ginny, calling out to her.
"Ginny?"
She lay quietly on her side, her wrists and ankles bound. Dropping his wand to the floor, Harry began to pull the ropes from around her wrists. "Ginny, you okay?" he asked between excited breaths.
"Harry," Luna spoke quietly from over his shoulder.
Harry ignored her and grabbed Ginny's shoulder to gently turn her onto her back. The exhilarated smile that had been on his face quickly faded away.
Ginny stared blankly up at him with dull eyes, her mouth frozen open in a silent scream.
"She's not…." He shook his head, not able to finish the sentence.
Luna knelt beside him, and he watched her pale hand lay across Ginny's even paler throat. Her fingers gently touched and kneaded where Ginny's jugular would be. When Luna pulled her hand away, he didn't need to hear her say the words.
His body numb, Harry only realized he had been holding his breath when his lungs began to burn. He began to breathe heavily and found himself on the verge of hyperventilating.
He'd failed again, and this time, it had cost him not only a friend, but it had cost his best friend a sister.
"Harry," Luna said, getting to her feet.
Harry remained where he was, his gaze still fixed on Ginny's lifeless form. He barely noticed as the light of Luna's wand shifted to a different spot a few feet away from the redhead's body.
"Harry!" she said again, more urgently.
"What?" he finally heard himself ask, his eyes never leaving Ginny.
"They left a message for you."
Harry looked up at her then. "What?"
Luna nodded towards where she illuminated the floor with her wand. Harry stood and moved to stand next to her, looking down at the floor. Written across the floor in what looked like black paint, a message had been left behind.
Can't save them all.
Harry read the message, and all the anger he had been feeling earlier in the night returned ten-fold. He screamed, Luna jumping slightly.
He wanted to break something. He wanted to kill something. He wanted Voldemort to feel all the pain he had brought to Harry all these years.
But at the moment, all he could do was yell with his fists clenched angrily in front of him.
"Harry," Luna said calmly as he stopped his yelling to take a breath. "We need to tell Ronald and Hermione."
Hearing that made something click inside Harry, and the anger quickly dissipated to guilt. He locked eyes with Luna again as he inhaled deeply. "God, Ron."
"You find him, and I'll stay with her."
Luna stepped around Harry and knelt beside Ginny. He watched as Luna gently reached a hand out and smoothed it over Ginny's face, closing the girl's eyes. With the same gentleness, she lifted Ginny's chin until her mouth was no longer in a silent scream. Until she looked at peace.
Luna looked up at him, and even in the dimly lit room, he could see that the girl was crying despite her calm exterior. She made a motion with her hand as if to shoo Harry away.
"Find him before he finds us."
Harry nodded and quickly ran out of the room.
He didn't have to go far to run into Ron and Hermione. They were making their way up the staircase as he was making his way down, all three panting.
"We heard the screams!" Hermione said, looking more scared than Harry had ever seen her look.
"Are you guys alright?" Ron asked.
Harry nodded. "We're--we're fine."
"What was the screaming about?"
Harry hesitated, looking down.
"Harry?" Hermione asked.
"We found Ginny," he said, finally looking up at them.
A look of relief came over Ron's face that only pained Harry more. "Is she okay?"
Harry could only shake his head, trying to think of how to even say the words. Before Harry even had the chance, Ron pushed by him, running up the remaining stairs.
"Ron!" he called out and made a move to run after his friend but a hand held him back. He looked down to see Hermione holding onto him.
"Harry, is Ginny…?"
She didn't even need to finish the sentence because he knew how it was going to end. Harry simply nodded, and Hermione's hand moved from his arm to her mouth. She looked on the verge of tears, but Harry didn't know what to say or do. All he could do was take her gently by the arm and lead her up the staircase.
When they finally made their way to the room, his heart gave another painful lurch in his chest. Luna stood near the doorway, her arms wrapped around herself as she looked on. Ron sat on the dirty floor, his sister's body cradled in his lap, as he silently cried. From over his shoulder, Harry heard Hermione make an unrecognizable sound. His whole attention focused on Ron, he hardly noticed as Luna made her way past him and to Hermione--the younger girl taking Hermione into a crying hug.
His insides still twisting, the whole world seemed to fade away into nothing but the sound of his three friends crying.
---------
The walk back to Hogwarts was the longest, most dreadful experience of Harry's life. Not willing to leave Ginny's body behind for someone else to bring back, Harry had carried the girl the entire way. Hermione and Luna had trailed behind him, the girls at some new level of understanding, as they held hands as they walked. Ron walked beside them, his hands shoved into his pockets and his eyes on the ground, Hermione glancing sadly at him as they walked.
Once they arrived back at the castle, Harry ordered the others to return to the tower and that he would meet them in the common room. Still carrying Ginny's body, Harry made his way to the staircase to Dumbledore's office. It was late, but Harry had a feeling that the Headmaster was still up working, even at this hour. Harry took a breath to calm his voice before uttering the password. The statue spiraled away, revealing the staircase, and Harry carefully stepped onto the stairs as they began to spiral up.
He stepped into the office, ignoring the burning in his arms from carrying Ginny for so long. "Professor?"
Professor Dumbledore stepped from behind his desk. "Harry, what are--?"
Dumbledore's words froze as he finally laid eyes on Harry. He stood perfectly still for a moment before quickly making his way to Harry. "Harry, what happened?"
"*He* happened," Harry spat, feeling his anger rising to the surface again.
Dumbledore stared at him, awaiting an explanation.
"He sent me a message tonight. Told me where I could find her." He swallowed hard, looking down at the limp body in his arms. "And I found her."
"Harry, why didn't you tell me this? I could have gathered The Order."
"It wouldn't have made a difference," Harry growled with a shake of his head. "It wasn't a rescue mission, Professor. He never intended it to be one."
"What do you mean?" Dumbledore asked, his eyes drifting to Ginny's pale face.
"He left a message for me with her." Harry swallowed hard again as the pain in his arms intensified. "He wanted to show me that I can't save everyone I care for."
Dumbledore watched as Harry gently placed Ginny on the floor between them. "Harry…."
"And he's right." Harry stood, his gaze traveling from Ginny to Dumbledore. "I can't save them all. I can't, but I know what I need to do now. I understand what I need to do now."
"And what would that be, Harry?" Dumbledore asked, the concern evident on his face and in his voice.
Harry frowned deeply. "Make him regret the day he ever tried to kill me as a baby."
"Harry, you must think clearly about these things. You're outraged now, and with good reason, but this is not the time to make decisions."
"I'm not making a decision. It's already been made." Harry glanced down at Ginny, his quiet anger still simmering. "He wants a second war, and I'll be more than happy to deliver him a second war."
Harry turned and walked out of Dumbledore's office, even as the Headmaster called out to him. Harry ignored the calls of his name as he stood on the staircase and waited for it to spiral down to the main floor.
The decision had been made.
Kill or be killed.
And for the first time that he could recall, Harry welcomed the thought of being a murderer.