Broken But Beautiful~Dramione

Chapter thirty one*

"Are we going to knock, or break down the door?" Harry inquired. He had been asked to come with Remus and Kingsley on the quest to track down Hermione. If she had indeed changed, maybe seeing one of her oldest and closest friends would help.

"Sneak in. If that doesn't work we'll break it down. There's a very slim possibility he'll have chosen to hide out here, but he may have left behind clues." Kingsley decided.

"I agree." Remus nodded. The three crouched against the house and made their way to the front door. Kingsley murmured a few spells, and the enchantments on the door were broken. He opened the door carefully, and they stepped inside. "Homonum revelio." Remus said clearly. "There's nobody else here."

"Very well then. Be careful. There may be traps or alarms." Kingsley whispered and they separated.

Harry traveled down the stairs to the basement. He shuddered as he remembered the Malfoy's basement and how they had come so close to being given over to Voldemort. The layout was very much the same as it was one singular large room with darkness seeming to edge in at every corner. However there was just one desk pressed up against the wall seeming to have been cleared out aside from a few select papers.

He curiously walked up to the desk and scanned a few. They all seemed to be old news articles from the beginning of the summer. But once he had them all set right next to each other his heart dropped. In each one, Hermione's picture was front and center. He quickly gathered them up and made his way back up when he heard Remus's voice.

"You guys come over here quickly."

"Coming." Harry jogged towards the voice and found Remus holding a piece of paper.

"It says this:
Greetings. Thank you by the way for invading my home. Obviously you came because you know what I did, and are trying to find Hermione. Well here's the thing, Hermione doesn't recognize you guys anymore. She didn't even recognize me if it makes you feel better. Oh wait-it won't. She has no sense of right or wrong so I can make her think beatings are normal. Genius use of the helare by me of course. By the time you guys find us, the Hermione you knew will be long gone. Have fun finding us."" Remus finished. His face had gone pale.

"That's not true right? There's no way it could've changed her that much." Harry said doubtfully.

"I'm not sure Harry." Remus for once in his life looked unsure of himself. "Nobody's ever woken up after being touched by a helare before."

"We will find her. I promise." Kingsley put a comforting hand on Harry's shoulder. "But first we should head back to Hogwarts and fill them in."

Harry nodded wordlessly, and they apparated back to Hogwarts. The three of them were granted apparition privileges for Hogwarts and appeared right outside the great hall. They left just as dinner was starting and everyone was bound to still be there. Remus led the way through the doors and walked straight up to the head table. Professor McGonagall immediately stopped her conversation with Professor Flitwick and turned her attention to them.

"We found this." Remus handed the note to Professor McGonagall and her expression looked defeated.

"We should've been smarter. No-I should've been. Why didn't I put the apparition charms back up right after Credence left? Why didn't I stop Theodore? I should've been more careful. I-"

"Minerva stop." Remus cut her off. "It's not your fault. It's nobody's fault."

"He's right. There's nothing we could've done. He had it too well planned." Kingsley shook his head.

"Well that's the end of the Triwizard tournament I suppose." Humfrey looked over to the other headmasters doubtfully.

"I think you all have enough on your hands." Chris nodded.

"I agree." Madam Maxime glanced wistfully at Hagrid who was having a hearty conversation with Professor Slughorn.

"But that doesn't mean you all have to leave per-say. We could still do school quidditch, have lessons together, do the ball, and have friendly competitions throughout the year." Humfrey suggested.

"I think that's a great idea." Madam Maxime said immediately.

"I certainly have no objections." Chris smiled. His sister Leah returned to the ministry and was helping track down Theodore, meaning they wouldn't have to interact if he stayed.

"Excellent!" Humfrey clapped his hands together happily. "I'm sure Draco and Her- I mean Draco, would like to help organize the competitions." He couldn't help but look at the empty seat that Hermione used to sit in.

"Let's call a meeting after dinner to discuss everything involving the situation. Invite everyone relevant and we'll meet in Humfrey's office." Professor McGonagall said.

"That sounds good. We'll eat something first and then meet you guys there. I'll send a patronus." Kingsley said. He cast it, murmured a message, and sent it off.

The rest of dinner passed quickly and as soon as the last student left the room, the people Kingsley called for made their way quickly to Humfrey's office.

"I'm not sure how well some of you are informed about what happened today, but we found this letter at Theodore's house." Remus started and passed it around the room.

"I should've went to arrest him sooner." Leah sighed.

"Why didn't you?" Professor McGonagall snapped.

"There wasn't enough evidence that would have a chance of standing its ground in trial. I didn't have any viable grounds to do it."

"Dwelling on the past won't do anything." Kingsley spoke.

"So now what do we do? There's no clues or hints or-well anything for that matter aside from this letter." Draco frowned.

"We have to wait for him to slip up I suppose." Kingsley said.

"She's just a girl." Molly whispered.

"I know Molly. We'll find her." Remus assured her.

"You don't know that." She snapped. "What if we don't find her? Can you imagine what she's going through right now? Would you want the people who are going to save you just sitting back and waiting for something to happen?" Molly demanded.

"She's right. We need to take action now." Professor McGonagall agreed.

"Well we can't exactly bust down every door in the wizarding world and search it. Who knows, they may even be in a muggle house right now." Kingsley sighed.

"Then make wanted posters. Put them everywhere, and offer rewards to anyone with information." Leah suggested.

"Yes because that worked so very well with Harry and his friends." Remus said dryly.

"We could go ask muggles." Arthur said hopefully but withered under Professor McGonagall's gaze.

"Well for now, wanted posters is the best idea we've got. I'll tell the ministry to start making them. Is that everything?" Kingsley swept the room making sure nobody had anything else to add. He nodded and vanished on the spot.

"My patrol shift is about to begin. I need to go. I'll see you all later." Draco excused himself and walked out.

"I suppose we should all go back to our duties." Remus sighed.

"If any of you think of anything, just tell us." Humfrey said.

"We will." Harry nodded and made his way into the hall past the gargoyle standing guard. 

There was something right on the tip of his tongue that he couldn't quite say aloud. Something that would help them find Hermione, and he was pretty sure it helped find her before but he just couldn't put his finger on it. Maybe it would come to him tomorrow. He made his way down the dark corridors to him dorm, and hoped the thought would come to him. Hermione's life depended on it.