𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐫 | n. tonks

xxxiii

The days turned into weeks, and weeks into months that Hadley was trapped in the cellar of Malfoy Manor with no way of knowing what was going on in the outside world. The wand maker, Ollivander, joined her not too long after she was captured, and Luna Lovegood joined them sometime around Christmas. She told them that the Death Eaters were unhappy about what her father was writing in The Quibbler, so they kidnapped her to punish him.

It wasn't all bad for Hadley once she had some company. It made the time pass much quicker having people to talk to. Narcissa Malfoy, who seemed to have more heart than Bellatrix and Lucius, would sneak down to the cellar with food and water for them whenever she had the chance. Hadley didn't trust her at first – Mad-Eye had told her never to trust anything given to her by a foe – but when hunger and dehydration got the better of her, and she saw that nothing bad happened to Luna or Ollivander, she decided to trust the woman's kindness.

"I never thought I'd say this, but..." Hadley sighed, staring up at the ceiling, "I really miss the sun."

"You've been here a long time, huh?" Luna asked.

Hadley nodded. "Since late September...Or maybe it was early October...I've lost track."

"I remember hearing about your capture on Potterwatch."

"What's Potterwatch?" Hadley asked, frowning a little as she sat up, her tangled, overgrown red hair falling over her shoulders.

"It's a secret radio station that the You-Know-Who resistors formed. You need a password to get on it," Luna explained. "It's run by Lee Jordan, and members of the Order tune in with updates. Remus was the one that reported that you had been taken."

"I bet he's disappointed in me," Hadley mumbled. She hugged her knees to her chest. "He told me it was too dangerous to go outside, and I didn't listen. Even worse, I didn't have my wand. I could've defended myself or called for help."

"He sounded more worried than disappointed," Luna said, moving closer to the older girl and placing a comforting hand on her arm. "The last time I listened to Potterwatch, he said that the Order were doing everything they could to locate you. He said that Tonks was worried sick. She's got a lot going on right now. First you got kidnapped, and now her father's on the run because they're going after Muggle-borns."

"Oh, Merlin..." Hadley sucked in a shaky breath. Not a day went by that Tonks wasn't on her mind. She probably thinks that she's laying dead in a ditch somewhere.

The cellar door suddenly swung open. Hadley grabbed Luna's arm protectively, squinting a little in the dark to see if she could make out the figures that were just thrown in.

"What are we gonna do?" a familiar voice asked. "We can't leave Hermione alone with her!"

"Ron?" Hadley gasped, slowly standing up.

"Harry?" Luna smiled a little at the familiar faces.

There was a whooshing noise as three balls of light flew out of something in Ron's hand and into the lamps in the cellar.

"Oh, my God, you're alive!" Hadley ran over to her baby brother and hugged him tight, tears of relief filling her eyes.

"You're alive!" Ron hugged his sister back, the same relief in his voice that was in hers. "Everyone's been terrified that something bad might have happened to you. Have you been here the whole time?"

"Don't ask stupid questions if you don't want a sarcastic response, Ronald," Hadley said, chuckling a little. "Where else would I have been?"

There was a scream from upstairs that could only belong to Hermione.