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Chapter Three: The First Lead

Chapter Three: The First Lead

 It had been four weeks, four entire weeks, and they were no closer to finding Rose then they had been the night of her disappearance. They were working hard on it, of course, everyone was, but every minor detail led to nothing. Al was a loose end, as he had no more details for them and now refused to speak to it. Generally, he didn't speak to anyone. The only person he tended to talk to now was Scorpius Malfoy, for some bizarre reason that Ron didn't quite understand. Better him then Rose, he supposed.

The Ministry were now actually trying to put some input in, which didn't seem to be much. They had improved drastically since the war, with Hermione and Kingsley's help, but it was still not that great. Hermione was also trying to help, but her department of Magical Law did nothing to help. They wouldn't consider anything illegal was taking place, merely suggesting that Rose had perhaps run away because she couldn't stand her parents. It was complete nonsense, of course, as Ron knew, but he also knew that Hermione was taking the jibes badly. It was all she could do not to break down crying when she came home, from the loss of Rose as well as work problems. 

At least one thing they had all agreed on was not to let any Muggles into this. They alerted the Muggle Prime Minister, of course, but they didn't let any members of the police know anything. After all, it was obviously a witch or wizard who had taken Rose - and a skilled one at that. Part of the mystery was that they had managed to get on the Hogwarts express, take Rose and all of her possessions she had on her and get off without anyone noticing. Rose apparently hadn't put up a struggle, as everything was neatly in order. Perhaps too much in order.

Looking up, Ron thanked his assistant as she dropped off a selection of the morning papers for him to look at. Scanning them briefly, he chucked in the bin any article that was highlighting Rose's disappearance. It left him with only the Quibbler. Good old Luna was still publishing that, making sure she deliberately didn't get any facts wrong. Ron suspected that the articles on the creatures her husband researched were slightly edited, as her fantasy creatures such as Wrackspurts were featured. Some people never changed.

The other papers, however, were lapping the story up like it was gold dust. Interesting simile, he thought to himself. Can you lap up dust? 

That wasn't the point. The point was that every day, he saw a new spin on it. Rose Weasley, the tragic story of a girl who was ripped away from safety and her family... What kind of parents are Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, too caught up in their own fame to even notice their daughter... An exclusive interview - Ron Weasley tells us about the efforts to find his daughter...

The last one was complete and utter baloney, as he had most definitely not done any interview with any newspaper, as all his efforts were focused on this. Hugo, as a result, was getting a little bit neglected, so he often stayed with Lily or Molly and Arthur. Hopefully, it would be over soon, and the family would be reunited. At the moment, it was crumbling as was the rest of his world. There was no denying that Ron Weasley loved him daughter, and so taking her away from him pretty much ignited any spark he may have in him. To top it all off, plenty of the people at work were giving him pitying glances or talking about him behind his back. Hermione had told him she endured it every day at work. He could only imagine how she felt by now.

Naturally, she couldn't face it now, and so she stayed at home, working as hard as possible on both Rose and her usual work, as well as some extra projects that she had offered to take on for the other members on the team. He simply thought she was mad, doing work for people who back stabbed her, but she insisted that it was for the best. She tried to look after Hugo as well, but most of the time, he was at Ginny's. Today was one of those days. 

Just as he was thinking about going to check up on him, Harry flung into his office, as if in chase of the Snitch, something he hadn't done in quite some years. "Ron, come quickly. We've got somebody, who we think could help." Upon hearing this, Ron stood up, accidentally kicked his chair over as he did so and grabbed his wand while walking out with Harry towards a room in the Ministry, near where the Department of Mysteries used to be.

"Who is it?" He asked impatiently, keeping stride with Harry who was walking rather briskly. Harry hesitated for a second, as if unsure how to answer, before telling Ron the suspect.

"Gregory Goyle?" Ron asked, both a hint of surprise and anger in his tone. "That oversized troll who was pals with Malfoy? Goyle?"

"Look, I know it's hard to believe, but I've never seem him this way before." Harry counteracted, almost defending their old enemy. "Trust me." 

And sure enough, when they walked in, Ron barely recognised him. Instead of being the burly teenager he had been when they saved him from the Room of Requirement, he was now thin, pale and unshaven. Ron glared at the man, a look of utter contempt on his face. "Where. Is. My. Daughter?" He demanded, staring at the man. 

Goyle appeared to shrink into his chair. "I can't tell you that." He stammered slightly, vaguely reminding Ron of Professor Quirrel. "But she is safe."

 "Then what is the point of even talking to you?" Rom replied, almost about to explode at the man.

 "I can't stay long. They'll find out I've left. But I'll be back soon. I'll be here in a month's time, with Rose's location." Goyle promised, before standing up to leave.

"Wait! Who will know? You can't just leave! Who are you working for?!" Pop! Ron's words were cut short after Goyle promptly Apparated out of the room. Cursing, he looked at Harry for some kind of confirmation that he had just let a suspect get away. Looking over at Harry, he waited for an answer.

"Don't despair." Harry told him. "We now know that Rose is safe, and a group of people have taken her. You go home, and I’ll continue working on this.” Deep down, Ron knew he was right. He wouldn’t be anything but a hindrance, all stressed out like this. Nodding, he turned to leave. He’d go and pick Hugo up from Ginny’s, then go home and tell Hermione. Though he probably looked dreadful, his spirits were lifted. They had a lead on Rose.

Ginny was busy cooking tea for herself when Ron Apparated into the Potter family home. She looked up at him, smiled briefly, before going back to cooking the soup. “What time do you think Harry will be home?” She asked, guessing correctly he had come from the Ministry.

 “Probably late - we got a lead on Rose.” Ron replied, walking up the stairs to Lily’s bedroom. Peeking inside, he spotted both Hugo and Lily fast asleep under the covers. They looked so sweet, so innocent. He was about to close the door when Hugo woke up, got out of the bed without awakening Lily and looked up at him.

“Are we going home now?” He enquired sleepily, eyes still blinking slowly as he tried to wake up. Ron nodded, bringing him downstairs. Ginny would let him use the Floo, as Hugo literally vomited whenever he side-along Apparated. Waving goodbye to his favourite - and only - sister, Ron caught a brief glimpse of a wave in return before he was brushing a slight speck of ash off of his jacket.

Hugo had run straight off to bed, being completely exhausted, and Ron found Hermione sitting on one of the leather armchairs, half asleep. “Oh, hi,” she said, trying to sit up and open her eyes fully, “How are you?” Ron waited for her to look at him properly before he spoke to her.

“We got a lead.” That woke Hermione up right away, and she was suddenly bolt alert.

“Who?” She demanded, looking at her husband. She was just as concerned about Rose as he was - perhaps more, though Ron considered that impossible. “Who was it?” Apparently, she’d forgiven him for being home late.

“Gregory Goyle.” After Hermione looked astonished, confused and angry all at the same time, he found himself doing exactly what Harry had done before. "He's changed. We can trust him, hopefully. We've just got to wait a month, then Rose will be back. It'll be ok." He smiled up at her, before beginning to walk upstairs to bed with her. After all, it was getting late, and they needed to make sure they were well rested so they could focus all of their energy onto the search tomorrow.

Ron's last thoughts were, I'd better have Rose back soon, before he drifted off to a magical land where everything was perfect and nothing was wrong. In this case, the land of subconsciousness.

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