46

When Ron woke up the next morning, Harry wasn't in his bed. Of course, this year, that was the norm and so Ron didn't give it a second thought. More often than not, Harry had disappeared to one of the other common rooms or to Hagrid's or somewhere and drunk so much that he hadn't made it back to his dorm room. When he didn't make it to breakfast, however, Ron began to grow a bit concerned. Harry always made it to breakfast, even if he hadn't been to bed yet. Breakfast was important like that.

He tried talking it over with Hermione, to see if she knew where Harry had got to, but she ignored him, nose stuck, as usual in a big, old dusty book.

"Seriously, Hermione, what if he's passed out in the... in the forest or somewhere? What if he needs help?" He asked, trying to appeal to her mother-hen side. And for a second, her eyes lit up and he thought she had finally heard what she was saying.

"I have to go see Blaise!" she exclaimed, grabbing a slice of toast and her bag and jumping up out of her seat, "I mean- it all fits, doesn't it? Makes perfect sense, and of course Malfoy would know about it-" And then she dashed out of the hall, grabbing Blaise on the way and dragging him with her.

Ron shook his head in despair. Great, he thought, one of his best mates was missing and the other was mental. Sighing, he dug his fork into his breakfast and carried on eating. It looked like it was going to be one of those days, and he didn't want to have to deal with it on an empty stomach, after all.

By the time Harry didn't turn up to his second period Potions lesson, Ron was beginning to get really worried. Especially as Hermione was nowhere to be found either, not since she'd run out of breakfast. And whilst it was feasible that Harry would skip classes, it was unheard of Hermione. He botched his potion badly, but didn't care, and practically ran out of the room as soon as the lesson finished.

His first stop was hospital wing, but there was nobody there apart from a few Hufflepuff first years who had somehow managed to grow moose antlers. Next stop was the common room, and then the dorm. Harry was nowhere to be found though. Then he had a brainwave.

"Accio, Marauder's map!" he called, and a dirty old piece of parchment came flying out from under Harry's bed. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," he whispered, scanning the black footsteps for a good half an hour before he came to his conclusion.

Harry wasn't at Hogwarts. They had let him run off last night, drunk, by himself, and now he was gone. Without another thought, Ron sprinted down the stairs, grabbed Neville from the common room and ran straight to Dumbledore's office. Luckily, Professor McGonagall was leaving as they got there, and the two boys were able to squeeze past her and race up the stairs before she could protest.

"Professor Dumbledore," they both gasped out as they burst through his office door, "Harry isn't in Hogwarts." Dumbledore looked at them over steepled fingers, no trace of his usual twinkle in his eyes.

"And how, my dear boys, have you come to this conclusion?" Ron hesitated for a second before stepping forward and putting the map on the headmaster's desk.

"He wasn't in his bed this morning sir, but that isn't too unusual so I didn't worry that much. But then he didn't turn up for breakfast, or for his morning's lessons, so I thought I'd look for him. I couldn't find him, so I nicked his map, but he's nowhere on it. He went off last night, upset and drunk, and we really shouldn't have let him go, not by himself in that state and you know how Harry is- he's reckless and he never thinks anything through and-"

"I see," Dumbledore interrupted, "Do either of you have any idea what had upset him? Or where he would have gone?" Ron and Neville exchanged a glance before deciding to betray their friend's confidence. It was for his own good, after all.

"Draco's been acting weirdly, sir," Neville said, "He's been acting like he always used to, like his dad. And he split up with Harry. It all came on all of a sudden, you see. Draco was fine all over Christmas, and for the start of term. We first noticed it after the second task."

"I see," Dumbledore repeated, frowning darkly, "I would suggest we check his home for Harry first, and if he isn't there then we can begin the search." With that, the headmaster rose from his chair and crossed the room to the fireplace, where he threw a handful of floo powder into the flames. "12, Grimmauld Place" he called before getting down on his hands and knees and sticking his head into the fire.

"Do you reckon he's there?" Ron whispered to Neville as they waited. Neville shrugged.

"Who knows with Harry? He could be perfectly fine or he could be unconscious in a ditch somewhere." Ron paled but was saved from answering when the headmaster straightened up.

"He is not there. Sirius and Remus will be here in a moment to help with the search," he said gravely, reclaiming his seat behind his desk. "Now, can I offer you boys a lemon drop?"

"I can't believe this," Hermione groaned, head in her hands as she perched on an out of the way windowsill on the fifth floor. Blaise was sat slumped against the wall on the opposite side of the corridor, the enormous volume Hermione had been reading at breakfast abandoned beside him.

"It must be wrong," he muttered.

"It isn't," Hermione answered shortly, her practical mind beginning to seep through, banishing the emotional response for now, "Lucius has obviously found a way to cast this on Draco, it explains his behaviour perfectly. And there is no way to counter the spell." Blaise groaned at this, but Hermione ignored him and carried on, her eyes alight with realisation. "Except the one way to counter almost any spell. If the caster dies, the spell dies."

Blaise stared at her, shocked at the determination in her eyes. And people said Slytherins were the evil ones, he thought.

"You want to kill Lucius Malfoy?" he asked. Hermione rolled her eyes, jumping to her feet and picking up the book.

"Of course not," she scoffed, "I'm just a student, don't be ridiculous. I'm going to get a teacher to do it."

Dumbledore was beginning to panic. A check of the wards had confirmed that Harry wasn't anywhere in the Hogwarts grounds and hadn't been all night. They also confirmed that Draco Malfoy was nowhere to be found either. And then Professor Snape had arrived in his office whilst they were waiting for Sirius and Remus to arrive, followed shortly by Miss Granger and Mr Zabini.

"Shit, full house," a voice quipped, signalling the arrival of Harry's godfather. Remus fell through the fire a minute later and within no time the unlikely group were sat in some hastily conjured chairs around the headmaster's desk.

"It seems much has been going on," Dumbledore began, "So let us begin at the start. Harry Potter went missing some time last night, along with Draco Malfoy. Mr Weasley and Mr Longbottom here tell me that young Mr Malfoy has been acting out of character lately, is this true?" Blaise nodded stiffly, as the one who knew him best.

"He has, sir. And we," he indicated himself and Hermione, "Think we know why."

"Blaise came to me not that long ago, Professor, to ask for my help in researching ways that Draco could be being controlled. Blaise felt it was necessary, and I had no reason to argue with his assumption, being that I had observed the difference in behaviour myself." Even in so solemn a situation, Ron rolled his eyes at Hermione's slick transition into lecture mode.

"I found this spell this morning, sir," she continued, passing the book across the desk to the headmaster, "It's an old pureblood ritual which was often used instead of disowning disobedient children. The child had to do something directly disrespectful of the head of house for the spell to work, which Draco did with Harry over the holidays. The spell takes away the disobedient parts of the child and replaces them with the views of the father, or the head of house. It's like brainwashing."

"Fuck," Sirius muttered, reaching into a pocket of his jacket for a cigarette to calm himself down.

"Fuck indeed," Snape drawled, his eyes on Dumbledore. "Headmaster, it is getting worse. It is almost as dark as it was when he was in power now. I fear for the worst." Sirius scowled at the reminder of Snape's death eater status but nobody made any comment, even the teenagers who had no idea what Snape was talking about.

"Is there any way to counter the spell on Draco?" Remus asked.

"Death," Blaise answered, "Lucius Malfoy's, not Draco's."

"I see," Dumbledore said, his expression dark, "Do we have any way of locating Harry?" There was silence for a moment before Sirius spoke suddenly.

"Oh!" he exclaimed, "Fuck, of course, the tracking spell!"

"Tracking spell?" Ron asked, hope swelling in his chest.

"Yeah, I put it on him during the summer. Well, not on him, on one of his earrings- I figured he wouldn't be going anywhere without that. Just a sec," Sirius pulled his wand from behind his ear and started muttering to it.

"Am I the only one wondering why on earth you felt the need to put a tracking spell on Harry?" Remus asked.

"Huh? Oh, well, you never really know where he's gonna end up after a night on the piss and searching London gets pretty fucking tedious after the tenth time," he explained whilst conjuring a map. Dumbledore tried very hard to ignore the example of the bad parenting Arthur Weasley had once accused Sirius of and concentrate on the fact that they now had a chance of saving Harry. Assuming Harry needed saving, that is.

"Okay. Remus, could you go through the floo and inform Molly and Arthur of the situation. It may be a good idea to get them to send Bill along as well. Mr Longbottom and Mr Zabini, could you go and find Professors Moody and McGonagall, and send them up here at once. Mr Weasley and Miss Granger, if you could collect Mr Diggory, Miss Delacour and Mr Krum and do the same. Afterwards, you can all return to your common rooms, or each other's common rooms if you must, and stay there." Ron and Hermione began to protest, but Dumbledore cut them off with a glare. They shut their mouths and hurried out of the room.

"I've got him," Sirius announced, "Riddle House in Little Hangleton."

"All of you get ready. We will leave as soon as we've assembled."