Chapter 3
They were doing what the woman told them to do, they were running as fast as they could. The redheaded boy was the fastest, but he had longer legs than the other three. All Harry wanted to do was be back at the station. It was supposed to be the start of his new life. Going to Hogwarts, learning how to be a wizard.
But no, he had to be kidnapped by…himself. Then by some strange men who took them away again. He had figured out that the redheaded boy and man’s name was Ron. The girl and woman’s name were Hermione. Lastly, the blond boy and man’s name was Draco.
“I’m tired, I can’t run anymore,” Draco said.
“Me too,” Hermione agreed.
“Yeah, I’m tired too,” Harry told them.
Ron didn’t seem tired, but he did say he had five brothers, so he probably did a lot of running. If Harry’s aunt ever caught him running in or near the house she’d be so angry.
“Look there,” Ron said, pointing to an abandoned looking barn. They had been running for at least an hour, they had to have lost the people who took them.
They turned slightly and ran for the barn. It was good because Harry had been running full out and felt like he was going to die now. There was a small door on the side of the barn, and he hoped it was unlocked. Ron was the first to get to it, he opened it and then Draco, Hermione, Harry, and last Ron went through, Ron pulling it shut.
Harry fell down on the dirty ground and his back hit the ground while he tried to catch his breath. Finally, Ron looked tired like the rest of them.
“How did you run so fast?” Hermione asked Ron.
“You haven’t been chased by a cursed doll and it shows,” Ron said, breathing hard.
“Who cursed a doll?” Draco asked.
“My brother Bill, he did it to mess with my brother Charlie, but it came after me.”
“Why?” Harry asked.
“Because that’s my lot in life.”
They all started laughing. Then Harry started thinking about how they were going to get home.
“How are we going to get home?” Ron asked, seemingly reading Harry’s mind.
“Is there a way to do it magically? After all they took us here with magic,” Hermione asked.
“No, I don’t understand what they did. Apparation is for adult wizards but there is something called side-apparation, but it has the same limitations. Traveling overseas like we did, that’s…well I don’t know what that is,” Draco said. “If we can get an owl we can write to my father.”
“An owl overseas will take over a month,” Ron said.
“Do you have any better ideas, Weasley?” Draco asked, he was back to sneering.
“I can call my parents. If we find a phone they’ll know in less than a minute.”
“Where do you find one of those?” Ron asked.
“Anywhere really, we’ll probably have to fly on a plane, but I don’t have my passport with me.”
Draco and Ron were looking at her like she was speaking a different language. Harry knew what a passport was, he didn’t have one because he never got to go on trips with his aunt, uncle, and cousin. He was always sent to Ms. Figg down the road.
“It’s something you need to get on a plane to leave the country,” Harry said. They were now staring at him like he was the one talking nonsense.
“A plane. It goes up in the air and people ride on it,” Hermione told the two who clearly did not know anything about the muggle world. He still thought it was a funny word just as he had when Hagrid told him about it.
“If we could find an international floo we could use it,” Ron said. “They are kind of new, but my dad said lots of countries have at least one, usually in their wizarding capital.”
“I know the muggle capital of Canada but not it’s wizarding capital,” Hermione said dejectedly.
“How do we find out?” Harry asked.
Both Ron and Draco shrugged. This was not happening; they were free but couldn’t get back.
“I say we find a phone so I can call my parents. They’ll know what to do,” Hermione said.
Harry wasn’t about to call his aunt and uncle; they would kill him. They would also probably think it was funny he was stuck far away and leave him here. He didn’t want to go back there but he wanted to go to Hogwarts. He had been looking at some of the books he bought while he was with Hagrid, he had been so excited.
“Four of us would be two noticeable, I think two should go look for this phony thing and two should stay,” Ron said.
“You’re not leaving me here in this sty,” Draco said, his face full of disgust.
“Fine, we’ll all go but when we’re noticed, trapped and sold to trolls you’ll have no one to blame but yourselves.”
“Trolls aren’t real,” Hermione said before she looked around. “Are they?” Now she didn’t look so convinced.
“They are very real. My brothers told me all about them, but I think they were making most of it up,” Ron said.
They came up empty yet again on their search. This time they were in Dublin, questioning a house elf of one of the oldest wizarding families in Europe, not just the UK. Ipsy knew everyone, she had a memory bigger than the Pacific and had met just about every wizarding family that had ever stepped foot in Europe because so many sought out her master. Sir. Richard English, not his real name, had been from a long line of famous wizards. The Wilmots. He had changed his name when he was young, but everyone knew who he was. But when they described the wizard they were looking for to Ipsy, she had no clue who he was.
“I feel I should be more worried, but I’m not,” Hermione said.
“It’s because it’s us. We know what we’re capable of, we’ve never been just kids.”
“But they haven’t even had their first magic lesson yet.”
“That’s good because they don’t have wands. They don’t need the magic. Just your brain, Ron’s logic with a good mixture of getting himself in and out of trouble and I’m sure Malfoy’s good for something to.”
“Don’t forget your bravery mixed with idiotic plans. I wish we could get a break here. It feels like we’ve been chasing Yaxley since the war ended…oh wait, we have been.”
After the war they started to hunt down and arrest the death eaters and other wizards who fought with Voldemort. There wasn’t anything they could do to the giants, trolls and the like who fought with him. But werewolves and goblins were up for grabs in the aftermath. Although goblins just did what they wanted anyway.
Ron and Harry had been closing in on Yaxley, but he grabbed a muggle and threatened to kill her if they advanced on him.
Yaxley got away with the muggle, who they found dead later that day. Ron had horrible guilt from the whole thing because he was the one that was supposed to disarm Yaxley once they caught up to him. But Ron had hesitated for a moment because Yaxley had been reaching for the woman. Harry couldn’t say if he would have done the same, it was a simple disarm, he didn’t understand Ron’s hesitancy. Now because of that, they were hunting Yaxley down in a different time.
Hermione had joined them after the muggle’s murder. The Ministry was ready to assign two other aurors to the job. But then Malfoy came to them after finding out that Yaxley wanted him dead, so he offered his help. At least Malfoy was honest in his reasoning to work with them, to save his own skin.
“When we get back are you going to get back together with Ginny?” Hermione asked.
They were headed to a few more places in wizarding Dublin before they went back to London.
“I kind of have my eyes on someone else right now. Ginny’s not ready to settle down anyway and it’s not fair while she travels so much to ask her to be exclusive.”
“But to break up completely, why?”
“Because it would feel too much like cheating to date around.”
Her eyes narrowed a little, making him uncomfortable. “And who is it that you’ve got your eye on?”
“I’ll tell you but not now. Now we have more important things to do.”
“Fine but if Ron decides this is a good idea I’m going to hex you to across the globe.”
Harry laughed. “That’s funny.”
“Why?”
“Because he’s spent six years for you to notice him more than just being Ron, one of your best mates. He’s not going to throw it away to date someone he’ll lose interest in like he did with Lavender.”
“You’re remembering things wrong, he didn’t realize I was a girl until fourth year, remember?”
Harry nodded. “But that’s the point, isn’t it? He wanted you to like him…like that even before the dress and makeup. Maybe he wasn’t so clear about it, but you know Ron, he’s an idiot.”
“Hey, that’s my idiot you’re talking about.” She laughed and Harry joined in. “Come on, let’s try some of the shops before we head out, someone has got to know this man.”