Two

The Potterverse belongs to JKR. I only take the characters out to play.

Many thanks to Melusin and Pyjamapants for beta reading.

Severus Snape was pacing the length of the empty Defence classroom. Reaching his desk, he pulled out his pocket watch and glanced at it. Then, he turned and stalked in the direction of the door. He walked back again to his desk, turned, and resumed his circuit, staring at the time-piece over the door and scowling at it. After his next turn, he flung open the door and stomped down the stairs to the ground floor.

He marched into the administration office without knocking. 'Were there any owls for me today?' he barked.

'No. No owls today for Professor Snape,' the elf on duty informed him.

'Check again.'

The house-elf obediently got up to look through a shelf on which various parchments lay in different heaps.

'No, Professor. Sir.'

Snape took care to bang the door behind him as he left without a word.

He stormed into the staffroom next door and switched on the Wizarding Wireless Network. After he'd been glued to it for nearly half an hour, he knew all about the latest Ministry decrees, the current charts, Patil's newest line of hair care products for the discerning witch or wizard, and Slughorn & Jiggers' recent breakthrough in Headache Potion: "Vanishes your pain instantly, no side effects".

'Hmph,' said Snape. But there was no news about any accidents or traffic disturbances other than a blocked Floo connection somewhere in the West Country.

Back to the administration office it was. 'Get me Professor Granger's home address.'

'Professors' home addresses is confidential,' the same house-elf squeaked.

'Confidential, my arse. I'm the Deputy Headmaster. Get me that address.' Snape's glare would have intimidated lesser beings.

The house-elf threw him a look Snape chose not to interpret, but went up and waved his hands over a stretch of blank wall. A hole appeared; in it lay a stack of parchments. The house-elf retrieved one of them, duplicated it with another wave of his hand, and gave it to Snape.

'Thank you,' he managed to grind out before he swept out of the room and practically ran upstairs to his office.

With a quick flick of his wand, his fireplace flared to life. Snape knelt in front of it and threw a handful of Floo powder into the flames. When they turned green, he stuck his head in and shouted Hermione's London address.

After a quick succession of unidentified rooms flew by, he found himself staring into the living room of his colleague. He hardly noticed what it looked like as he shouted, 'Miss Granger.'

No answer.

'Miss Granger, time to wake up.'

Silence.

'Miss Granger, get your arse down here. Now.'

Nothing.

He was about to step through when he felt a firm poke at his backside. Withdrawing from the fireplace and whipping around, he found himself face to face with a very stern looking McGonagall. 'What?' he snapped.

'What do you think you're doing?' Minerva asked.

'Trying to reach Miss Granger. Not that it's any of your business.' He glared at her.

'Actually, it is. There is a reason why access to the staff's home addresses has been restricted to the Headmistress since the war, as you well know.' Minerva continued to look at him.

'Did that damned elf have nothing better to do than go blabbing to you?' Much as he usually liked Minerva, he wished she'd just leave.

'That damned elf adores you. Binky came to me because he was worried. He wasn't very explicit, but I take it you behaved rather oddly in the admin office when you ordered him to retrieve Miss Granger's address.' Minerva's expression had softened slightly. 'Severus, I know there must be a very good reason why you needed that information, but I still have to follow this up.'

Severus sighed. 'We'd scheduled a meeting for nine this morning, and she didn't turn up.' Said aloud, it sounded a tad ridiculous. No need to mention the lunch on top of it.

Minerva looked at him oddly. 'Hm. Maybe she forgot. You know Hermione tends to get caught up in her research.'

'Minerva, in all the time you've known her, how many meetings has Miss Granger forgotten?'

'None that I remember,' Minerva conceded.

'Exactly.'

'Perhaps she's late. But no, she'd send an owl. Hm, you're right. It's a wee bit odd.'

'Took you long enough.'

'Don't start with me. And no, you're not going to barge into her home.'

Severus scowled, but didn't object.

'Come up to my office, Severus. Let's have a cuppa and see what we can do.' With that, Minerva took a handful of Floo powder and threw it into the fireplace before she said, 'Headmistress' Office.'

Severus stepped in after her, knowing better than to argue with Minerva when she was in taking-charge mode.

He soon found himself settled into an armchair, a steaming mug in front of him. At the wall, the portraits of the former Headmasters and -mistresses appeared to be sleeping. Minerva pushed a tartan-patterned biscuit tin towards him. 'Try one. They're really nice.'

'Minerva...'

'I know.' Minerva snapped her fingers once. 'Binky.'

The elf appeared instantly. 'Yes, Headmistress?'

'Bring me Professor Granger's file, please.'

Within a moment, the elf was back, handing a folder to Minerva.

'Thank you.'

Binky turned to Severus. 'Binky is sorry, Headmas...Professor. Binky will punish himself. He will clean the Owlery, even though Professor Hagrid says we elves is not having to because it's too dangerous.'

'You will do no such thing, Binky. It's perfectly all right.' Severus made sure to accompany his sentence with a firm glare to keep Binky from punishing himself.

'Yes, sir. Thank you, Professor.' The elf vanished.

Minerva flicked through the file. 'Let's see who Hermione has named as emergency contact. If she's had an accident, they'd know.'

'Wouldn't that be her parents?'

'No. Don't you remember the fuss when they stayed in Australia? Oh, yes, you weren't... ' Minerva looked embarrassed for a moment before she continued to look through the information in the folder. 'Ah. Here it is: Mr Potter and Miss Lovegood.'

Severus was already on his way to the Floo by the time Minerva closed the file. 'The Ministry.'

He stepped out into the Ministry's atrium. Brushing a few specks of soot off his robes, he strode quickly to the Visitors' Desk. Several people started whispering and turning their heads as he passed. It's been nine years. Get fucking used to it, he thought.

The Visitors' Desk was staffed by a young man, who looked vaguely familiar. Hufflepuff, Snape's brain helpfully supplied. Two surly-looking security trolls were guarding the entrance to the Ministry area proper.

'Please provide your wand for inspection.' The welcome wizard barely looked up from his paper.

'I'm here to see Auror Potter,' Snape said and put his wand on the dish of the wand-testing device that sat on the desk.

Did this always take so long? Finally, after what seemed like an inordinate amount of time, a thin strip of parchment slid out from a slot at the instrument's base.

Still not looking at Snape, the young man picked up the strip of parchment. 'Ebony, thirteen inches, dragon heart-string,' he read out and put it onto a small brass spike. 'Please state the purpose of your visit and put your hand right here.' He indicated a triangular space on his desk.

Severus slapped his hand down. 'I'm here to see Auror Potter. Now can we get on with it?'

He felt a slight tingling at his palm, and then a visitor's badge slid out while a disembodied voice announced, 'Severus Snape to see Auror Potter. Approved.'

The young man's head snapped up, and he stared at Snape.

Ah, Jenkins. His face had frequently worn the same expression during his Defence lessons. Snape saw no reason to linger at the desk any longer, and he stalked off towards the lifts at the far end of the atrium.

More stares and whispers as he rode up to Level Two while paper aeroplanes were busy circling over their heads. He resisted the impulse to pull out his wand to see if they could be hexed into smithereens.

Potter was already waiting for him when the lift stopped on the floor that housed the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Snape briefly nodded in greeting. 'Potter.'

'It's good to see you.' Harry gestured for Snape to follow him.

Severus followed Harry through the Auror office into a kitchen area. Had the office always been this big? The kitchen area consisted of a small set of cupboards, a rickety table, and several mismatched chairs in vastly different colours. Two kettles were standing next to each other on the work surface.

'Tea? Coffee?' Potter asked.

'No.' Severus was circling around the chairs like a panther ready to attack.

Potter leant against the kitchen counter. 'I take it this is not a social call?'

Severus quickly cast a Muffliato around them. 'I see your Auror training wasn't entirely wasted. Miss Granger's missing.'

Potter's casual pose vanished immediately as he stood up straight, all his attention focused on Severus now. 'What do you mean, missing?'

'Missing as in she didn't turn up for a meeting we were supposed to be having this morning,' Severus explained, coming to a stop right in front of Potter.

'Why would you meet during the Easter holidays?' Potter asked.

'That's none of your business. Fact is, she wasn't there.' Snape restrained himself from looming over Potter...barely.

'Maybe she overslept?'

'She. Did. Not. Oversleep. Potter, you're listed as her emergency contact, and you're supposed to be a sodding Auror. Get on with it and find out what happened.'

To his credit, Potter snapped into action immediately. 'Right, let me check with St Mungo's first, and I'll get someone to contact the Muggle hospitals. We'll find her.'

Severus nodded. Finally, something was being done. 'What can I do?'

'At the moment, nothing really. This shouldn't take long.' Potter disappeared into the office.

By the time Potter came back into the kitchen, Severus had not only memorised the colours and patterns of every chair, the table, and the cupboards, he also knew how many paces he needed to get from one end of the room to the other.

'She isn't in St Mungo's. Nor in any Muggle Hospital. MLE has no record of any accidents involving a witch.' Potter's hair looked even messier now than when he had left the kitchen, Severus noticed.

'Damn. What now?' Nausea was starting to spread through Severus' stomach. Something was wrong here. Very wrong.

'We need to talk to Luna. Maybe she knows something we don't. Come on. Let's see if she's at home.'

Potter led the way to the Floo at the back of the Aurors' office. As they passed through the row of cubicles, one or two younger Aurors raised their heads, their eyes going wide when they recognised who was with Harry. To his astonishment, Severus saw Potter level a glare in their direction that had them quickly busying themselves with whatever was on their desks.

Severus watched Potter's head disappear into the Floo only to reappear again fairly quickly. 'According to her secretary at The Quibbler, Luna's taken the day off. Maybe she's at home.'

His head disappeared again. It reappeared as quickly as the last time. 'No, not at home either, neither is Hermione.'

Severus scowled. 'I've already told you that she's not at home.' Then the rest of the sentence registered. 'She's living with Luna Lovegood?' It seemed he had completely misread their agreement to have lunch together, then.

'Sorry, professional habit. Always confirm information given.' Potter's hair was getting messier with every Floo call, soon it would look like the end of a broomstick. 'And no, she isn't "seeing" Luna. They're sharing a house.' He looked as if he wanted to say something else but didn't. 'Come.'

Severus was about to ask where they were going, but Potter was already halfway across the room, so he just stalked after him. They went down a corridor, and after Harry briefly knocked at a door, they were standing in front of Kingsley's desk.

'Kingsley, I need Draco Malfoy's address and access to his Floo.'

Kingsley didn't bat an eye at Potter's entrance. 'Sorry, Harry. You'd need to have a very good reason for that. Hello, Severus.'

'Kingsley.' Snape nodded curtly. 'What do we need Malfoy for? What the hell are you on about, Potter?'

'Frankly, I'd like to know what's going on, too,' Kingsley added.

Potter looked at them both with an expression of utter surprise on his face. 'Didn't you know? Luna's going out with Draco Malfoy. Has been for a while, actually. So he'd probably know where she is.'

Snape now remembered Lucius mentioning something about Draco having a new girlfriend. Kingsley, though, was still staring at Potter as if he were speaking in Gobbledegook.

'Oh, right. It seems Hermione is missing, and we thought maybe Luna knew something,' Potter explained.

'Have you checked with St...' Kingsley began.

'Yes, we have. And before you ask, she isn't in a Muggle hospital, either. She hasn't overslept, she's not at home, and she hasn't forgotten that she had a meeting with me.' Severus' voice had grown louder with every word.

Silence.

'Yes, well. Now that we've established that, maybe we should try to see if Miss Lovegood knows anything,' Kingsley said and pointed his wand at a filing cabinet next to the window. A file floated out and landed with a soft thud on his desk. He quickly flipped through it before he stood up and went over to the fireplace.

Severus couldn't help the feeling that precious time was ticking by as he waited for Kingsley to finish his call.

'The bad news is, Draco isn't at home, either. The good news is, according to his house-elf they've gone to Malfoy Manor for lunch. I've advised the elf to let them know that you'll be there momentarily to talk to Miss Lovegood.'

Harry said, 'Right, let's go over to the Auror's Apparition point. That way, we don't have to go down to the atrium.'

Severus nodded. 'Thank you, Kingsley.'

'You're welcome. Go and find Hermione.'

~*~*~*~*~

Severus and Harry materialised in front of Malfoy Manor, the door opening instantly for them. Without waiting for Potter, Severus strode up the steps and into the entrance hall. If Draco and Luna had come for lunch, they'd be in the dining room. He set off immediately in its direction, accompanied by a house-elf that was running to keep up with him. The elf reached the door just in time to open it for Severus and announced breathlessly, 'Mr Snape.' And after he noticed Potter, who came jogging after them, 'And Mr Potter.'

'Thank you.' Lucius rose to greet him. 'Severus. Mr Potter. What can I do for you?'

'I need to speak with Miss Lovegood. I'm sorry to disturb your lunch, but it is rather urgent,' Severus said.

'We are here to talk to Luna,' Potter piped up.

'Yes, Potter. I think we got that,' Draco said.

Potter threw a glare in his direction.

'Why do you need to speak to me?' Luna asked from her place at the table.

'Let's all sit down. Severus, Mr Potter, can I offer you anything?' Lucius asked.

The fear and worry that had held Severus in their grip subsided as they so often did in Lucius' presence. He chose the chair opposite Luna and sat. Seeing that Potter had found a chair as well and was about to open his mouth, he quickly intercepted, 'Miss Lovegood, have you heard anything from Miss Granger?'

'I saw her last night. Why?'

'She's missing. She didn't turn up for a meeting this morning, and nobody seems to have seen her.'

'Hermione is very reliable.' Luna looked as if this was a rather fascinating academic problem.

'Yes. I know that. Do you have any idea where she could be?' Severus wanted to shout at the witch opposite him in order to get the information faster, but seven years in his classroom had proven that any intimidation tactics were entirely wasted on Miss Lovegood.

'No. She did seem rather excited about her lunch with you, though.'

All eyes in the room turned to Severus.

Lucius said nothing, a speculative expression on his face. Draco stared at Severus.

'You didn't mention anything about lunch,' Potter said.

'Yes, well. You haven't informed me about your plans for lunch either, Potter.' Snape scowled.

'It's Harry. And my lunch date isn't missing.'

'Which is exactly the point. Miss Granger is missing. Vanished...without a trace as it seems. So if you've finished with this pointless discussion could we get back to that?' Snape said.

'I want to find her, too. Luna, you said you saw her last night. Was that before or after Ron and I saw her?' Harry asked.

Of course, the other third of the Golden Trio had to be involved in this mess somehow, as well. Not exactly a surprise. 'What's Mr Weasley got to do with all of this? And how come you never mentioned that you saw her, too?' Severus resisted the urge to shake, hex, and then throttle Potter.

'Ron's got nothing to do with this. We went to Hermione's place to ask her if she wanted to come down the pub with us. But she wasn't in the mood. Luna, did you see her after we left?' Harry asked.

'Ron can be a bit unkind sometimes,' Luna said, twisting a strand of her hair round her finger.

Before Potter had time to rush to the defence of his friend, Severus said quickly, 'And?'

'They had a quarrel. Apparently, Ron crashed a car and said it was Hermione's and...'

'What?' Severus asked.

'Yes, it was a stupid thing to do. Hermione told him that, too. And I think she wasn't in the mood for drinkies after that. I think she was still a bit upset when she went to bed.'

'Imagine that,' Severus murmured and leant back in his chair. It seemed they weren't getting anywhere. As far as they knew, Hermione had been snug in her bed last night and then never been seen again. Damn.

'Did you see her this morning?' Harry asked.

'I was at Draco's.' Luna looked at them as if they were supposed to already know this.

'Which means, nobody has seen Hermione since she went to bed last night,' Harry said, summing up what they already knew.

'Maybe someone has a grudge against her and made her disappear,' Draco suggested.

Lucius and Severus locked eyes. Lucius' suddenly rigid expression indicated that he was thinking the same thing as Severus. Harry had gone pale. 'Do you think anyone would risk their probation?'

'If they thought they could get away with it,' Lucius said.

'Right, time to check the whereabouts of Nott, Parkinson and Goyle,' Harry said grimly.

~*~*~*~*~

Hermione opened her eyes and quickly closed them again, deciding that the light was entirely too bright. She tried again more slowly. Her head felt woolly, and something furry seemed to have taken up residence in her mouth and died there. She saw a ceiling that looked completely unfamiliar with a light-bulb that shone directly into her face. She tested her arms and legs. All there.

She sat up in slow-motion and surveyed her surroundings. She was sitting on a narrow bed, which was standing in what appeared to be a bedsit. There was a bedside table next to her. A table with two chairs was standing beneath a window. Two doors were visible on the wall opposite the window. The wall next to it was dominated by a gigantic mirror and a sideboard beneath it. She squinted at the mirror and the frame surrounding it. Definitely the ugliest frame she'd ever seen, she decided. A closer look revealed that it was made up of little figures that were strangely reminiscent of the house-elf heads mounted on plaques that used to adorn the walls of Grimmauld Place. Hermione shivered before she directed her thoughts back to more pressing matters.

What had happened? How long had she been unconscious? How had she ended up here? Where was here? And why was she feeling so lousy. Fuzzy scraps were materialising in her brain. She'd gone running this morning... The two blokes...

They had asked her to report to the police... And they had had badges... What sort of badges? They'd been passing a large dark van. And then... Nothing. What had happened? Hermione's hand went to extract her wand from its usual place on her arm and found an empty space.

Hermione froze. Ice-cold terror spread through her, threatening to overwhelm and paralyse her. She, like Ron, Harry, Luna, and she was sure many other survivors of the war, never went anywhere without her wand. Not even downstairs to the kitchen to fetch a biscuit. And now her wand wasn't there. Her hand started shaking, and something dark and nameless threatened to consume her until a tiny shred of sanity raised its voice. Hermione took several deep breaths and forced herself to concentrate on the fact that she was alive and relatively unharmed.

She reminded herself firmly that she was a witch, that her magic did not depend on a piece of wood, and that her abilities in wandless magic had improved considerably in the last nine years. The darkness that had threatened to engulf her, and with it the feeling of utter terror and panic, receded. Her hands stopped trembling, and she slowly started to feel warm again.

She took another deep breath. She needed to get out of here. Hermione swung her legs over the side of the bed. She stood up carefully, still a bit wobbly, but her legs seemed willing to carry her weight. She closed her eyes, forced herself to take more calming breaths, and then concentrated on the image of her bedroom. An odd feeling crept up her spine, and her eyes snapped open. Someone had seen her leaving this morning, which meant someone had been watching the house. Closing her eyes again, she focused on the Apparition point just outside Hogwarts gates instead. Nothing.

Destination, determination, deliberation, she reminded herself and focused again.

Still nothing. Whoever had set this up had obviously heard of Anti-Apparition wards. 'Oh, brilliant, fucking brilliant,' Hermione murmured.

She went to inspect the room next. As she had suspected, one of the doors was locked. Hermione inspected it thoroughly. There was no lock visible on the inside and no hinges, either. It was made of a firm material: steel, she estimated, definitely not wood. A wandless "Alohomora" yielded no result. 'Fuck.'

The other door led to a tiny and fairly grubby bathroom. Neither the miniscule shower cubicle nor the loo looked particularly inviting. At least the washbasin seemed to be more or less clean. Hermione walked over to the flat's windows next. She quickly took a step back after she'd peered outside. She was very high up. Forcing herself to look out, but not down, she approached the window again. It was already getting dark outside, but from what she could see, she was in a high-rise building. Maybe on the top floor, but definitely on one of the uppermost floors. She could look down on several other tall buildings in their immediate vicinity, though none of them as high as the one in which she was currently stuck. Predictably, the window didn't open. No handles, no hinges. She wrapped her cardigan around her hand and tried to smash the glass. Nothing. 'Wouldn't have been much use this high up, anyway,' she muttered.

Hermione sat down on the bed again and stared at the floor. Carpet: mustard, yellowish, she noticed before a tear escaped one of her eyes. If she'd been the type, now would have been the time for a good cry. As it was, she sniffled once or twice and used the back of her hand to rub away the trail of wetness on her cheek.

'Ugh.' Hermione went to the bathroom and washed her face and hands with cold water. The towel was scratchy but clean, so she used it to dry herself off before peering at her reflection in the mirror.

'What a mess.'

The fact that the mirror didn't comment nearly caused another tear to run down her cheek. She usually grumbled at her chatty mirror at Hogwarts, and the one at home wasn't much better. Now, she'd have been happy to hear one of their quips. Quickly pushing the futile wish away, Hermione went back to the bed. Time to get a grip and find out whatever was going on here. Somehow, it was all connected to the CID blokes. If they were CID. And since when did CID investigate a simple car accident? She could have kicked herself for not realising this sooner. They'd set a trap, and she'd walked right into it. And she still didn't know what was going on.

'Fuck,' she said again. Time to see how good her wandless magic really was. Hermione concentrated on happy memories. She thought about the moment she'd received her Charms diploma and Davies's beaming face as she called her "the most talented apprentice she'd ever had" and then said, 'Expecto Patronum.'

A very faint wisp of silvery smoke materialised before her, only to instantly disappear again.

Hermione thought about the day she had been accepted into the scholarship programme in Ancient Charms and Magical Theory at the University of Montpellier. 'Expecto Patronum.'

This time, the silvery wisp was a bit bigger, but it didn't take shape.

She thought about the day she had started teaching at Hogwarts. 'Expecto Patronum.'

Still no discernible shape.

Hermione sighed in frustration. She needed a different memory. What had made her happy, really happy recently? Two heads bent over a stack of ancient books, a heated discussion about the nature of magic, intense, dark eyes shining with intelligence...

'Expecto Patronum.'

A silvery otter appeared out of thin air and started happily gambolling around her. She instructed it to find Snape and tell him about her predicament. The otter did another somersault before it disappeared through the crack beneath the locked door.

After it had gone, Hermione started to wonder why she'd sent her Patronus to Snape of all people.