Forever Family

Chapter 29

Publish Date: 1/05/19

Pounding. That was the first thing Harry and Ginny heard when they woke up one morning. Ginny, who wasn't happy about being woken up so early, mumbled something incoherent and groaned. Harry reached for his glasses and made his way to the front hallway, where someone was pounding on the door.

"George?" Harry opened the door, confusion etched in his face. "What are you doing here?"

"Harry. You might want to get Ginny down here," he said. Before Harry could wonder what George was doing here so early, Ginny sleepily made her way over to them.

"Hey, George." Ginny yawned. "What're you doing here?"

"Ron and Hermione are missing."

"What!?" Harry exclaimed. "What do you mean 'Ron and Hermione are missing?'"

"I was at their flat this morning, and they weren't there," George stated simply. Ginny frowned.

"Okay, wait, how do we know they aren't just out somewhere?" Ginny crossed her arms. She didn't understand why George was making a big deal about this. "Ron and Hermione may just be busy, George."

"Have you seen the Prophet yet?" George inquired further.

"I think you're forgetting that we just woke up," Harry sighed. George nodded.

"Right, sorry. But look at this!" He held up the Daily Prophet for the couple to see. Harry gasped at the headline.

FORMER HEAD AUROR ROBERTS ESCAPES AZKABAN

"Bloody hell," Ginny breathed. "How did this happen?"

"We don't know," George replied.

"And you think this has something to do with Ron and 'Mione being gone?" Ginny asked.

"Look, Gin, I know it sounds crazy now. But when I walked into their flat this morning, it didn't look like this was planned. There were plates of food on the table and everything!"

"And it's not like Hermione would let anyone leave plates of food out at her house," Harry said as realization dawned on him."I need to gather the Auror Department."

Harry quickly gathered his things and briskly walked out the door before either of them could stop him.

"As for us," Ginny told her brother, "We should gather the rest of the family. Tell them what's happened."

"I'll send out a Patronus," George nodded. With that, Ginny and George set out to gather the family.

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The Weasleys were all gathered at the Burrow within ten minutes. Of course, most of them had no idea why they were there. Bill was holding a sleeping Victoire, and Teddy was curled up in Mrs. Weasley's arms.

"Ginny, dear, it's not that we don't want to see you, but what are you all doing here?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

"Morning, Mum. We've got an emergency," Ginny started. Once everyone was in the house, she told them the news. "Ron and Hermione are missing."

Mrs. Weasley gasped, frightened for her son and daughter-in-law.

"That's what this is about?" Audrey asked. "They're probably just at work or something."

"No, but that's not all," George said. He went on to tell the family all about what he saw in the flat and the article in the paper.

"I suppose it sounds plausible, but Ron and Hermione can take care of themselves," Percy said.

"Of course they can."

After a moment of silence, the family formed a plan. "We should wait. If after a day or so goes by without us seeing Ron or Hermione, we'll search for them."

"Okay," Ginny agreed reluctantly. "I hope Harry and the Aurors can do something, though."

"They will, Ginny," Mrs. Weasley assured her daughter. "Harry won't let anyone get hurt."

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"Listen up, everyone!" Harry called for the Aurors to meet at the office early that morning, to discuss what happened. "I'm sure you're all wondering what you're doing here so early."

"Yeah, what's going on?" Murmurs of questions were heard from the Aurors.

"If you've read the Prophet this morning, you'll know that Roberts escaped Azkaban." Harry was met with a stunned silence from everyone after this statement. "That's why it's up to us to catch him."

"Do we have any idea where he is? Or where he's going?"

"Not yet. But we have to get working right away," Harry replied. As much as he wanted to find Ron and Hermione, catching Roberts was the top priority. Besides, with any luck, Roberts would lead him exactly to his best friends.

Under supervision from Harry, the Auror Department started working on tracking Roberts. They printed out posters of his picture to hang around Wizarding villages, and they talked to the DMLE about where he was last spotted. They needed as much information as they could get, and Harry was determined to get it all. So he went to the person who would have the most information: the Minister of Magic.

Harry left the Auror Office and quickly walked to where Kingsley spent his time. Hopefully, Kingsley would have more information than the DMLE had.

"Harry. You're here about Roberts, aren't you?" Kingsley asked as he opened the door. "Come in."

"Thanks, Kingsley. I want to know the whole story. He might have Ron and Hermione."

"Might have Ron and Hermione?" Kingsley echoed in confusion. "Well, I wouldn't put it past him. The man will do whatever it takes to get to you, even if it means taking your best friends."

"Get to me?" Harry repeated. "Why does he want me? And even if he did, why didn't he just take me instead of taking my friends?"

"He wants revenge, Harry. You're the one who put him in prison, after all. And Grimmauld is to well protected, he wouldn't have been able to get in."

Harry was silent for a moment, but his mind was reeling. Where were Ron and Hermione? Is Roberts with them? How were they going to locate him again?"

"How did it happen?" Harry finally asked. "How did he escape?"

Kingsley sighed. "This is where it gets confusing. One day he was in his cell, the next day he wasn't. Nobody knows how he got out."

"Well," Harry stood up. "I'm not just going to let him walk free. We'll do something."

"I agree," Kingsley smiled. "There's a reason we made you Head Auror, Harry. Good luck."

Harry walked back to his office with fierce determination pounding in his chest as naturally as his heart was.

Hours later, the Aurors were still working on locating Roberts. Although they had been working all day, they had almost nothing. It was getting late, and Harry took another sip of coffee as the day drew on.

"I appreciate your hard work, everyone. Let's all pack up and go home for now," Harry announced to the Aurors. "Be back here at 7 AM tomorrow. We've got a lot of work to do."

And that was true. The Aurors had their work cut out for them. This was, Harry realized, his first actual case as Head Auror. Up until this point, he had been leading training sessions and filling out paperwork. This was a welcome change. He just hoped he could find Roberts and his friends before it was to late.

A/N: Oh look, another chapter. I hope you guys enjoyed this one. I wanted to actually do something because I didn't want the story to get boring, so I'm sorry if it has. Thanks for reading! 💛
Words: 1,140