The Healer | Part 2: The War

Snatchers

George

I did go back to the flat, but I made a quick detour on the way. I Apparated from Mum and Dad's and found myself in front of the now familiar view from my bedroom window.

Loch Lomond was even prettier in person, I could immediately picture Edith walking through here. But there was no time to appreciate the view. Maybe I'd bring her back here when all of this was over.

'Edith!' I bellowed.

I don't know what I expected. Nothing happened. And I realized this was a really stupid thing to do.

'Edith!' I decided that I didn't care. I needed her. I was overcome with this almost supernatural urge to protect her. I couldn't do that if I didn't know where she was.

I ran to the top of a hill overlooking the loch.

'Edith!'

There was no one around. I wasn't sure if I considered myself fortunate that I hadn't attracted any attention. At least I hadn't attracted negative attention. So far.

I ran my hands through my hair.

I didn't want to, but I had to go back to the flat. I had nothing with me apart from my wand. If I had my Camouflage Cloak and a few other useful items, I might be able to search more thoroughly. I had my notebook in the jeans pocket and knew Fred would write the moment she came back, if she came back, but there were more resources between the shop and flat than there were at Mum and Dad's.

I'd been wracking my brains since Edith left on where else she might have gone and I decided it was worth trying the Dublin Aeroport again. I knew she wouldn't be that stupid, she'd already almost got caught there once, but I had to do something.

I also wasn't going to make the same mistake twice, I only planned on returning to the flat long enough to change my hair colour before setting off again.

'Any news?' Fred was sitting at the kitchen table and looked up when I re-entered. He had a notebook open in front of him as well as a bottle of ink and a quill.

'No,' I grumbled. 'Dad's going to look into it when he gets to work. I'll be right back.'

I took the stairs two at a time down to the workshop on the second-floor and found the hair colour powder. I'd go brown this time, I'd be able to blend in much easier than I had a few months ago.

'I've been thinking,' Fred said when I returned again. He looked up at me and didn't bat an eye at my change in appearance. He must have known I wasn't finished looking for her.

'Yeah, what about?' I asked impatiently.

'She's muggleborn,' he started. I frowned in annoyance. We all already knew that. That's why all of this had happened in the first place. Sensing that I was about to clobber him, he went on. 'She probably knows how to take care of herself without magic.'

I paused. I hadn't thought of that. Magic had been a part of my life for as long as I could remember. It was all I knew, all our parents knew. We wouldn't know where to even begin if we had to try to survive without magic. Edith, however, may know a thing or two.

'The problem is that anyone who wants to hurt her will be able to use magic,' I told him. 'I'm sure she can take care of herself just fine otherwise.'

'Where are you going to look?' He asked.

'Dublin Aeroport,' I replied. 'And then I'll try the London Aeroports, and Inverness.'

'D'you really think she'll be there?' He asked.

'No,' I grimaced. 'But I have to try somewhere.' I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. I was a mess. I hadn't expected her to take off so suddenly. There had been a tight, squeezing feeling in my chest from the moment she'd taken off, it felt like a piece of my heart had been ripped off. If I thought about it too hard, the pain got worse and I found I had a hard time breathing.