MetaFic

Harry Potter woke to the smell of food cooking and happy, if slightly tuneless, humming. He rolled over in his sleeping bag and looked around. The pile of blankets where Ginny had been sleeping was empty. He sat up and put on his glasses. Ginny had her back to him as she stood at the old kitchen stove, which was producing heat despite the fact that it looked broken down. She was wearing a Weasley jumper that looked about three sizes too big for her. By the maroon color he knew it had once belonged to Ron. Harry swallowed when he noticed her bare legs extending from beneath the jumper.

Ginny looked over her shoulder at him. "Good morning."

Harry smiled up at her. "You're awfully cheerful for someone who slept on the ground all night."

Ginny blinked. "Oh, Harry. You forgot to put a cushioning charm under you, didn’t you?"

"Oh," Harry said. "I didn't think of that." Harry stretched and yawned. He picked up his wand and muttered the masking charm. "So Miss Weasley, what's for breakfast?"

"Pancakes, and I reinforced the preserving charm on the perishables, just so you know." She turned to him again. "I don't suppose you thought to get any syrup? Because I didn't see any in the supplies."

"No," Harry said. "I guess we'll just have to smear jam on them or something." He stood and made for the bathroom.

"Don't be long," Ginny called after him. "It's basically ready."

"I just want to use the loo and brush my teeth," Harry said. He ambled into the small bathroom and, after making his bladder stop complaining, turned toward the sink with its broken mirror. He found his toothbrush and paste and set to work.

He was still trying to come to grips with Ginny Weasley being in his hideout. Last night she had forced him to unpack and then had set about helping him repair as much as they could of the building. That evening she had quietly sat and read after dinner, giving him the space he wanted while he studied, and then at bedtime she had transfigured some of her spare clothing into blankets to make a pallet on the floor. This morning it had almost seemed natural to find her making breakfast, and Harry had to admit that he was happy for the company.

He rinsed his mouth and went back into the main room, dressed in an old tee-shirt of Dudley's and a pair of shorts. Ginny had set their breakfast on the makeshift table. Harry sat across from her, trying to keep his eyes up and off her bare legs.

"So what's the plan for today?" Ginny asked, spreading strawberry jam on her pancakes.

"I thought I'd try to transfigure us up some beds for tonight. Then back to the books."

"Anything I can help you research?"

"Well, I'm studying spells that are powered by emotions."

"Just any kind of emotions, or something more specific?" she asked.

Harry tried to take his eyes off the bit of jam stuck in the corner of her mouth. He had a wild desire to lean over and —

"What? Do I have something on my face?" Ginny asked, an amused edge in her voice.

Harry blinked and realized he must have been staring. "Um, you've got some–" Harry pointed at his own mouth.

Ginny reached out with her tongue and licked it off. "Got it?"

Harry blew out a long breath and looked down at his plate. "Yeah."

"So I'm guessing that there's a village or something nearby where you bought all this food?"

Harry looked back up at her. "Yeah, it's not far. Just a short flight to shore, then a mile walk inland."

Ginny nodded. "Good, because we're going to go through your supplies twice as fast with there being two of us. Plus, I need to pick up some things I forgot to pack." She looked down at her plate, suddenly seeming to be embarrassed. "I'll need them in the next few days."

"Sure," Harry said agreeably. "I can pick up whatever you need."

"Um, maybe I should go with you."

Harry blinked in confusion for a minute. Then it dawned on him what she was talking about. "Yeah," he said slowly, "maybe that would be best." Harry finished his food. "I'll clean up, since you cooked."

Ginny smiled at him. "Deal! I'll go take a bath while you do that."

"Could you write everyone today?" Harry asked, gathering up the dirty plates and flatware, which were really nothing more than camping equipment. "I think it's a good idea to send Hedwig in every day, just in case."

"Sure," Ginny said gathering up clean clothes and a towel.

"You know, Ginny, you don't have to stay. I'll help you get back home if you want."

She turned and glared at him. "Are you ready to go back?

"No."

"Then neither am I."

"Okay," Harry said. He tried to hide his smile as he turned back to cleaning up the remains of breakfast.

***
"So Fawkes simply refuses to go back out?" Arthur Weasley asked.

Albus Dumbledore sighed. "Yes. For whatever reason, Fawkes will be of no aid to us in this matter."

"I told Ron to let us know immediately when Hedwig shows up again," Lupin said. "I'll try to place a tracer on her, though I imagine Harry will be looking for something like that."

Alastor Moody chuckled, a rare and strange thing for the grizzled old Auror.

"You find something amusing about this situation?" Snape snapped.

"Yes, I do," Moody said, a grin on his scarred face. "Some of the most powerful witches and wizards in England sit in this room, and we can't find two students."

"Gifted students," Dumbledore pointed out.

"Children," Snape spat.

"I haven't noticed you coming up with any bright ideas," Lupin said mildly, staring into Snape's eyes.

Minerva McGonagall cleared her throat. "Emmeline and I have a plan. We'll need something of either Harry's or Ginny's to use as a focus."

"That's no problem," Molly Weasley said.

"Are you proposing a far-scry?" Dumbledore asked, his eyebrows rising in mild interest.

"Far-scrying?" Bill and Fleur said simultaneously. They looked at each other and smiled. They had been doing that more and more lately.

"Yes," the deputy headmistress said. "Emmeline knows the spell, and I think between the two of us we can power it."

"Won't that leave you both magically drained?" Tonks asked.

"Yes, for at least a month, perhaps longer," McGonagall admitted.

"Not if they drew the magic from another creature or even a magical item," Snape said.

Moody grunted. "Arthur, do have anything you've captured lately that might generate that kind of power?"

Arthur Weasley smiled. "I've an illegal time-turner we recently confiscated during a raid. It's hopelessly flawed, but it has a large amount of magic charging it."

Dumbledore nodded. "If you could, please secure the item while Minerva and Emmeline prepare the scrying. Molly, please bring us some personal item belonging to one of the children. Severus, I trust you will be able to set up the power drain?"

"Of course, Headmaster," Snape said. "I'll start preparing."

The Headmaster turned toward Remus Lupin. "I'd like for you to put together a team to fetch our wayward students."

Lupin nodded and left the table.

***
Harry,

Ron

***
Harry and Ginny packed their belongings at a furious pace.

"How much time?" Ginny asked, closing her trunk and setting it in a corner.

Harry looked at his watch. "Fifteen to midnight. Have we got everything we wanted to pack?"

"I think so."

"Okay, let's make it look like we're sleeping."

"Are you sure the sneak-o-scope will be able to tell when the scrying starts?"

"I think it will. Regardless, we'll give it a few minutes after midnight, and then we'll run for it." Harry settled into his sleeping bag and turned to look at Ginny. Her eyes reflected the dying light from the fire. "You can always stay here and let them take you home," he whispered.

"Trying to get rid of me, Potter?"

"Just offering you an out."

"I'll pass."

Harry smiled at her in the gathering dark. Ginny returned the gesture.

The sneak-o-scope wailed like a tone-deaf banshee.

***
"I've got them," Emmeline Vance said. Her eyes continued to watch something the others couldn’t see. "They're both asleep. It's a cottage attached to a lighthouse."

"I know that village they're near," McGonagall said, following along on Emmeline's power trail.

"The time turner is almost drained," Snape hissed.

"Minerva, do you know the apparition coordinates to the village?" Dumbledore asked.

She rattled them off to the Headmaster, who wrote them down and passed them to Remus Lupin.

"I suggest you go immediately," Dumbledore said to the ex-professor.

"We're out of power," Snape intoned.

Emmeline Vance broke the spell and sagged in her chair.

Lupin nodded his agreement and gathered up his extraction team of Tonks, Arthur and Charlie Weasley, and Hestia Jones. "Everyone have emergency portkeys? Good, let's go," he said.

With an enormous pop, the group vanished.

***
The Sneak-o-scope stilled.

Harry and Ginny swung into action, cramming the bedding and sneak-o-scope into Harry's trunk. They shrunk both their trunks, placed them in their pockets, and stepped out of the cottage.

Harry mounted the Heart Shaft Four. Ginny climbed up behind him, and the two pushed off together. Harry turned the broom into the darkness over the North Atlantic while Ginny pressed herself up against his back. They both leaned forward, and Harry urged the big broom up to its top speed.

***
Remus Lupin looked around the empty cottage and cursed.

"Are we sure this is the right place?" Tonks asked.

"Yes, I'm sure," Lupin said.

"How?" Hestia Jones asked.

Lupin raised his wand and pointed it at the wall. "Lumos," he muttered.

Burned into the stone wall of the cottage was the image of a stag and lioness running side by side. The words 'try again' and the letters H and G were burned into the stone underneath them.

"I think they're taunting us," Tonks whispered.

"I think you're right," Lupin agreed.

Arthur Weasley shook his head. "I could admire their creativity, if it wasn't for the fact that Molly's going to explode when she finds out they got away."

The extraction team apparated back to Headquarters. The debriefing was not pleasant for any of them.