GEORGE:

The dementors' attack on Harry sent the Order into another state of emergency. As worried as everyone still was about Lucy — well, everyone who knew, Fred and I still hadn't told Ron or Hermione or Ginny — I think everyone was glad that Harry's problem had a far more tangible solution. A number of Order members went to get him from Privet Drive the very next day, but before they left, Professor Lupin pulled the two of us aside.

"I'm guessing you don't know if Lucy happened to send something to Harry a couple of days in advance that might have arrived on his birthday?"

We shook our heads.

"We tried to send a letter asking him yesterday," Fred explained.

"But Hedwig was a bit irritable and didn't let us attach the letter to her leg," I finished. "Then all of this happened, so we figured we'd just ask him when he showed up here."

Professor Lupin nodded. "I was just about to ask if you two would mind. Try not to alarm him unnecessarily, but..." He scratched behind his ear. "Merlin, who am I kidding? If he finds out, he finds out. Just ask him, please, and let me know what he says. I fear I already know the answer, but if she did somehow contact him or did send something before she was taken, I'd feel a bit better."

"Any leads, Professor?" Fred asked. "Any at all?"

Fred and I hadn't been allowed back into any other Order meetings. We had to try to keep the younger kids from finding out — there was really no point in telling them, there was nothing any of us could do, it was just a matter of worrying or not worrying, and they had enough to worry about once the Harry situation arose. We had been forced to hide all of our Extendable Ears too, after Mum found them. Mum told us there had been no sign of Lucy, nor any leads. We knew that two or three Order members were stationed at the Diggory house at all times, in case her captors returned to either send a message or try to arrange some sort of deal, and we knew that Professor Lupin had checked a number of places around the country, but that was the extent of what we knew. In other words... not much.

Professor Lupin hesitated for a second.

I realized something with a jolt and dropped my voice even lower. "Do you think it has anything to do with the fact she's a werewolf?"

"We know about that," Fred said quickly, seeming to have just reached the same conclusion. "Is that why you've been heading up the efforts? Do you think you know something everyone else who doesn't know might be overlooking?"

After another second of hesitation, he nodded. "Mad-Eye already knows about her condition, of course, being her mother's partner for the duration of her career as an Auror. Your father knows now, too, because I brought him with me to investigate the first couple of places." Professor Lupin sighed. "Last time the world was — well, like this — there was a bit of tug-of-war happening over the werewolves. I was the only one on Dumbledore's side in the beginning, and I was often given missions to attempt to convince one or two to come over to our side. It's possible that they're currently attempting to recruit her."

"But why?" Fred burst out. He lowered his voice. "Sorry. But, Professor, she's fifteen and Voldemort killed her brother. What are they thinking?"

"Think about the influence she could have now. Sister of Cedric Diggory, daughter of Susan Diggory, best friend of Harry Potter. Rita Skeeter already stirred interest in her when she was portrayed so mysteriously in that article about Harry last November. If she were to switch sides — which I know for a fact she never would, I'm merely trying to understand their thought process — it would be a devastating blow to our side."

I absorbed his words in stunned silence.

Suddenly, I felt even more helpless in the face of the storm.

It was even bigger than I imagined.

"But you know she's alive?" Fred asked.

He nodded. "The first place I checked, I heard a scream. I know it was her. They disapparated with her as soon as they realized they had company, but... she was there. I'm sorry, boys, but I really should leave to get Harry. Ask him about it when you get the chance, will you, please?"

"Of course," I replied with a nod.

As soon as Professor Lupin left, Fred and I exchanged a look.

"I think we need to use the Ears again," he said.

I nodded. "Agreed."

When Snape arrived and said he had to give a private report, we knew that we had to listen in. Even if he hadn't learned anything about Lucy, well, maybe something he said would give us a better idea of what happened or where she was. Or how much danger she was in.

So, a couple hours later, we were about to grab the Ears when we heard the unmistakable muffled chaos of shouts happening behind a closed door.

"Sounds like Harry's here," Fred commented.

"Yeah," I replied, taking an Ear for myself and handing Fred the other one. "Reckon we should go see what's going on?"

"Yeah."

We disapparated with a crack, landing in the middle of the room.

"Stop doing that!" Hermione groaned.

We elected to ignore her.

I offered Harry a smile, hoping he couldn't see my anxiety for Lucy lurking just below the surface. Fred and I had gotten good at acting like everything was fine and dandy during the day, then venting our fears to each other at night as we tinkered with our inventions to try to take our minds off it all.

"Hello, Harry! We thought we heard your dulcet tones."

Fred smiled as well. "You don't want to bottle up your anger like that, Harry, let it all out. There might be a couple of people fifty miles away who didn't hear you."

Harry, however, didn't smile. He still looked distinctly pissed about something, but we could see we'd cracked his hard exterior a bit. "You two passed your apparation tests, then?"

"With distinction!" Fred replied cheerfully.

"It would have taken you about thirty seconds longer to walk down the stairs," Ron muttered.

"Time is Galleons, little brother. Anyway, Harry, you're interfering with reception. Extendable Ears. We're trying to hear what's going on downstairs."

Ron stared at the Ears in our hands apprehensively. "You want to be careful. If Mum sees one of them again — "

"It's worth the risk, that's a major meeting they're having."

The door opened then, revealing Ginny.

"Oh hello, Harry! I thought I heard your voice." She sighed and turned to us. "It's a no-go with the Extendable Ears, she's gone and put an Imperturbable Charm on the kitchen door."

"Damn. How d'you know?" I asked.

"Tonks told me how to find out! You just chuck stuff at the door and if it can't make contact the door's been Imperturbed. I've been flicking Dungbombs at it from the top of the stairs and they just soar away from it, so there's no way the Extendable Ears will be able to get under the gap."

Fred and I exchanged a brief look of panic. If our conversation with Lupin had taught us anything, it was that they still had no idea where Lucy was, only where she wasn't.

Fred kept his cool. "Shame. I really fancied finding out what old Snape's been up to."

Harry blinked. "Snape? Is he here?"

I nodded as I shut the door. "Yeah. Giving a report. Top secret."

"Git," Fred muttered.

"He's on our side now," Hermione reminded everyone in the room.

"Doesn't stop him being a git. The way he looks at us when he sees us..." Ron shook his head.

"Bill doesn't like him either," Ginny offered.

Harry furrowed his brow. "Is Bill here? I thought he was working in Egypt."

Fred smirked. "He applied for a desk job so he could come home and work for the Order. He says he misses the tombs, but there are compensations."

"Fleur Delacour's got a job at Gringotts to 'improve her English,'" I explained.

"And Bill's been giving her a lot of private lessons," Fred finished for me, chuckling to himself.

"Charlie's in the Order too, but he's still in Romania, Dumbledore wants as many foreign wizards brought in as possible, so Charlie's trying to make contacts on his days off," I added.

Harry glanced around the room. For half a second, it looked as if he'd ask about Lucy.

"Couldn't Percy do that?" he asked instead, looking back at us.

Oh.

Fred and I tensed. Nobody else knew that Percy had come back since the argument. Nobody could know why he had come, after all.

"Whatever you do, don't mention Percy in front of Mum and Dad," Ron warned.

"Why not?"

"Because every time Percy's name's mentioned, Dad breaks whatever he's holding and Mum starts crying. It's been awful."

"What's happened?"

"Percy and Dad had a row. I've never seen Dad row with anyone like that. It's normally Mum who shouts. It was the first week back after term ended. We were about to come and join the Order. Percy came home and told us he'd been promoted."

Harry looked confused. Rightly so, I realized.

Ron nodded. "Yeah, we were all surprised, because Percy got into a load of trouble about Crouch, there was an inquiry and everything. They said Percy ought to have realized Crouch was off his rocker and informed a superior. But you know Percy, Crouch left him in charge, he wasn't going to complain."

"So how come they promoted him?" Harry asked, looking even more confused.

"That's exactly what we wondered. He came home really pleased with himself — even more pleased than usual if you can imagine that — and told Dad he'd been offered a position in Fudge's own office. A really good one for someone only a year out of Hogwarts, Junior Assistant to the Minister. He expected Dad to be all impressed, I think."

"Why wasn't he?"

"Well, apparently Fudge has been storming round the Ministry checking that nobody's having any contact with Dumbledore. Dumbledore's name's mud with the Ministry these days, see, they all think he's just making trouble saying You-Know-Who's back. Dad says Fudge has made it clear that anyone who's in league with Dumbledore can clear out their desks. Trouble is, Fudge suspects Dad, he knows he's friendly with Dumbledore, and he's always thought Dad's a bit of a weirdo because of his Muggle obsession. Dad reckons Fudge only wants Percy in his office because he wants to use him to spy on the family — and Dumbledore."

Harry whistled. "Bet Percy loved that."

Ron laughed humorlessly. "He went completely berserk. He said — well, he said loads of terrible stuff. He said he's been having to struggle against Dad's lousy reputation ever since he joined the Ministry and that Dad's got no ambition and that's why we've always been — you know — not had a lot of money, I mean — "

"What?" Harry burst out angrily.

"I know, and it got worse. He said Dad was an idiot to run around with Dumbledore, that Dumbledore was heading for big trouble and Dad was going to go down with him, and that he — Percy — knew where his loyalty lay and it was with the Ministry. And if Mum and Dad were going to become traitors to the Ministry he was going to make sure everyone knew he didn't belong to our family anymore. And he packed his bags the same night and left. He's living here in London now."

Harry swore quietly, making Ginny nod in agreement.

Ron sighed. "Mum's been in a right state. You know — crying and stuff. She came up to London to try and talk to Percy but he slammed the door in her face. I don't know what he does if he meets Dad at work — ignores him, I s'pose."

"But... Percy must know Voldemort's back. He's not stupid, he must know your mum and dad wouldn't risk everything without proof — "

"Yeah, well, your name got dragged into the row. Percy said the only evidence was your word and... I don't know... he didn't think it was good enough."

"Percy takes the Daily Prophet seriously," Hermione said.

"Mum and Dad have been particularly touchy the past couple of days, because of the article, I reckon," Ginny added. "We were all glad to see it, of course, but I can't imagine Percy was."

"The article?" Harry asked.

We all froze.

"Haven't... haven't you been getting the Daily Prophet?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah, I have!" he snapped.

"Have you — er — been reading it thoroughly?"

"Not cover to cover. If they were going to report anything about Voldemort it would be headline news, wouldn't it? What's this article you mentioned?"

His face suddenly went pale. He looked around the room again.

"What happened to Lucy?"

"Nothing, nothing," Hermione said quickly.

That's what she thinks.

"She's mentioned in the article, you can read it if you want, but nothing happened," she continued, jumping up and snatching the paper from a nearby bag. She opened to the right page, toward the back, and pressed it into his hands.

🩵💛❤️

HARRY:

"In Memoriam: Cedric Diggory?" I read aloud. I glanced up with disbelief. "Nobody's written anything about him? All summer?"

Hermione nodded. "Not until this. July 24, you'll notice. One month later. According to Professor Moody, Mrs. Diggory had enough and decided if no one was going to take it seriously, she would. She tried to make it front-page news, but this was the best they'd give her."

I gnawed on my lower lip as I read quickly. One line jumped out more so than any others, the one about Lucy journaling.

If I'm not mistaken, that sounds an awful lot like she tried writing to me. But... I still haven't received a single word in reply to anything.

"Hermione, has Lucy ever journaled before?" I asked, handing her the newspaper back.

She shook her head. "Never. But it makes sense, journaling is common in the Muggle world as a way of coping with — "

"Does that mean something to you, Harry?" George interrupted. I noticed suddenly that he and Fred were looking at me more seriously than they ever had before.

The bad feeling in the pit of my stomach that I'd had for several days at that point intensified.

"Have you heard from her at all?" Fred asked a couple seconds later. "On your birthday, maybe?"

I shook my head. I was starting to feel sick.

"Not a word. All summer. Have any of you heard from her?"

Five heads shook in unison.

My eyes flickered between Hermione's eyes and the ring on her finger.

She correctly read my mind. "She wasn't wearing it at Cedric's funeral. She said she didn't want me to have to see... well, whatever she happened to feel over the course of the summer. I said it was fine. Her half has been blank ever since, she hasn't worn it at all."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw George's hand moving to his pocket. I glanced over, and I saw through the fabric the distinct outline of a small bear charm.

"What happened to Lucy?" I asked again.

"Nothing," Fred replied. He replied too quickly to be telling the truth.

I pointed to George's pocket. "The fact that you have that and she doesn't? That's not nothing."

George pulled the bracelet out of his pocket, handing it to me with a shaking hand. "Were you the one who gave this to her?"

"Yeah. Third year. Her birthday." I swallowed hard and sat down heavily on the bed behind me. I couldn't meet their eyes; I just stared at the bracelet. "What happened to Lucy?"

"Yeah, what happened?" Ron echoed, crossing his arms over his chest. "You two haven't said a word about anything to any of us."

"We couldn't," George said in a quiet voice. "We weren't even really supposed to know, but we were talking to Dad and Professor Lupin when Percy showed up saying he saw the Dark Mark over their house — "

My heart stopped. Lucy's not dead, she can't be —

"She's alive," Fred said quickly, in response to the way my hands clenched around the bracelet. "As far as we know. Percy apparated into the kitchen on your birthday, Harry, saying he saw the Dark Mark over the Diggorys' house. We apparated there with him and Dad and Professor Lupin. She wasn't there, but George found the bracelet in the forest, thinking she probably dropped it on purpose."

"So you're saying Lucy's been kidnapped?" Ginny asked. "And you've known? And you didn't tell us?"

"There was nothing to tell," George replied miserably. "We were told not to, in the first place, but we don't have the slightest clue where she is, we don't know what happened, we don't know why. We just know she was probably not in the house when whoever sent up the Dark Mark killed her parents — "

Hermione's hands flew to her mouth. "Her parents are dead?"

"Guess I forgot to mention that," Fred muttered sheepishly. "Yeah. They are."

"And you know she's alive... how, exactly?" Ron asked after a moment.

George winced, rubbing the back of his neck. "Professor Lupin said he... well, he checked a couple of places right away, places he knew Death Eaters sometimes took people the first time Voldemort was rising to power. And he said he heard her in the first place, they just disapparated before he got the chance to fight or bargain or... or do something like that."

"Heard her how?" I pressed, looking up suddenly. "What do you mean, he heard her?"

"He heard her screaming," George replied after a long moment.

"Oh Merlin," Ron said. Hermione turned and buried her face against his chest. Ginny was staring off into space, a closed-off expression on her face.

"That's why we wanted to listen in on the meeting," Fred mumbled. "Thought Snape might have heard something somehow."

My hands tightened even more around the bracelet. I was spiraling into darker and darker and darker thoughts. None were very coherent or even logical, but I...

I couldn't imagine a world without Lucy.

I'd always counted on being able to walk over to her house whenever the Weasleys saved me from Privet Drive.

When I'd been taken to Grimmauld instead, I thought maybe she'd be there too somehow, since the Weasleys and Hermione were.

When she hadn't been there either but the twins had passed their apparation tests, I thought maybe I'd be able to have the twins apparate with me to the Burrow to walk from there.

Even still, I knew that I'd see her on September 1, at the very latest.

Never, never, never did I dream I'd never see her again.

I jumped up and stalked to the window, slamming a fist down against the windowsill.

"It's not fair!" I burst out, not sure if I was shouting at the people behind me or the stars above me or the world around me. "Why Lucy, of all the people in the — " I slammed my fist down again and kicked the wall.

My anger was quickly replaced by despair. I sank down against the wall, resting my head in my hands. I didn't cry. I couldn't cry. The bad feeling in the pit of my stomach had become a void, sucking every positive emotion out of me like a dementor, leaving in the grip of despair.

Wherever you are, Lucy, please just don't give up.