Ron stood alone in the Center of the room, shivering.

"Do you know why you are here,boy?" The master asked.

Ron shook his head, unable to speak, his eyes fixed on the disfigured face of the master.

"The Weasley family is one of the oldest pure blood wizarding families alive today." The master said walking in a circle around Ron.

"They have spread all over the world.... like.... like cockroaches." He continued. Ron's ears went red in anger.

"What do you want with us?" Ron shouted.

"Only what is owed." The master said stopping in front of Ron. Then he pulled out his wand and shouted-

"Crucio!"

Ron began to yell. He fell to the ground and began twitching.

The master watched in pleasure.

******

Hermione finally stopped running and sunk to the floor.

Ginny found her and wrapped her arms around her.

"Hermione, you are shaking!" She said. "I dint realise this would affect you so much."

Hermione wiped her eyes quickly. "I'm worried about Harry and Ron." She said.

"I am too, but we need to work together if we are going to find them." Ginny said.

"Shh..." Hermione said suddenly, leaning forward to listen. Ginny fell quiet too.

"Someone is coming." Hermione said getting to her feet. "Quick, into the cupboard."

They scrambled into the cupboard and shut the door just as the voices reached them.

"I told Granger to meet you professor, she is probably still in the hospital wing." McGongall said.

"But I just came from there. Miss Granger and Miss Weasley left ages ago." Flitwick said in a squeaky voice.

The sound of footsteps stopped.

"Merlin's beard! How foolish of me!" McGonagall gasped. "Of course they couldn't come to us. They would want to save Potter and Weasley themselves!"

"We must stop them." Flitwick said. "They have no idea what they are dealing with."

"Go alert the rest of the staff. I will talk to the Weasleys." McGonagall said and the sound of hurried footsteps echoed the corridor till they left.

"We have to go to McGonagall for help." Ginny said as they climbed out of the cupboard. "They seem to know more than we do."

Hermione bit her lip thinking hard. "I suppose we don't have a choice."

10 minutes later they stood in front of Flitwick's office.

"Hermione! Ginny!" Mrs Weasley cried as they entered. She ran towards them and pulled them into a tight hug. Mr Weasley joined them from behind.

"Where have you two been?" Flitwick asked sternly. They did not reply, unsure what to say.

"May we take them home professor?" Mr Weasley asked.

"Minerva is on her way with the minister, he would like to talk about our plans to bring back Potter and Weasley." Flitwick said. Right on cue, there was a knock on the door and McGonagall entered with Kingsley at her heals.

"Kingsley!" Hermione said. "What do you know about those who took Harry and Ron."

"Actually the matter concerns the entire Weasley family." Kingsley said. He looked very tired and his robes were dusty, like it had rubbed against dusty furniture.

"What? Is everyone in danger now?" Mrs Weasley gasped. Mr Weasley put his arms around her immediately to calm her down.

"Do we need to send for Charles and Bill and Fleur?" Mr Weasley asked immediately.

"Actually I think it would be better if they remained where they are. I have arranged for ministry wizards to stand guard." Kingsley said.

"What makes you think the Weasley family is the target?" Hermione asked.

"And why do they want Harry?" Ginny added.

"We have reason to believe that they consider Harry and Hermione as part of the family." Kingsley said.

"And what reason would that be?" Hermione asked.

"I can't tell you that Hermione, the four of you don't have a history of waiting for authorities." Kingsley said.

"Well.... we are down to two now so I think you should tell us." Hermione said, slightly stung by Kingsley's words.

Kingsley hesitated but he knew that Hermione was persistent so put his hands into his pocket and pulled out a crumpled piece of paper.

"We found this in an abandoned house in Quare Gardens." Kingsley said holding it out for them to see.

It was a hand drawn sketch of the Weasley family tree.

"The place was detected of suspiciously high amount of unusual witchcraft. Magic leaves traces and we found the same traces found in the abandoned house on you and Ginny tonight."

Hermione and Ginny looked at each other. Was Malfoy right about the Salem witchcraft?

Mrs Weasley burst into tears.

"But you will find them! Hermione can stay with us until then." Mr Weasley said.

"I would prefer if they stayed at Hogwarts." Kingsley said. "It's still the safest place for them."

"What are we doing to get Harry and Ron back?" Ginny asked. "We are wasting time."

"We believe the magic used is an old type of magic. They didn't use wands, instead powder and potions."
Kingsley said.

"Powder?"Hermione asked and then she gasped.

"Of course! There was some powder that emitted from the trick or treat boxes which Professor Slughorn sent." She said.

"But the whole school received those." McGonagall said.

"But between the four of us, Harry and I got the one with some strange smoke." Hermione said.

"When they surrounded us and began chanting, you and Harry were the first to pass out. The Ron and I did not feel anything until much into the chanting." Ginny said looking as though things were adding up.

"Professor Flitwick, if you would be so kind as to take me to the kitchens. I would like to speak to the house elfs about when they cleared up the party mess." Kingsley said.

"Of course." Flitwick squeeked and they hurried away.

"Miss Granger, Miss Weasley, I suggest you get back to bed." McGonagall said.

"No!" They cried in unison.

"I'm sorry professor but we really need to find them fast." Hermione said.

"Is there something you know that we don't, Miss Granger?" McGonagall asked narrowing her eyes.

"No professor." She replied with a straight face.

"Do you know how they managed to get in?" Ginny asked McGonagall.

"Not yet." McGonagall replied sadly.

"We think some of the students were involved." Ginny said immediately and Hermione stepped on her foot.

"That's not possible." McGonagall replied. "No student would be capable of doing such a thing and they wouldn't be able to disappear from the grounds by themselves."

"Maybe they had help from the outside." Ginny replied.

"I'm sorry Miss Weasley, but I do not believe that any of our students are capable of something like this." McGonagall said firmly.

"Dumbledore! Let's talk to Dumbledore!" Hermione said suddenly.

McGonagall did not reply immediately.

"The headmaster's office is currently not in use." She replied finally.

"Not in use?" Ginny said angrily. "It's your office!"

McGonagall looked away.

"Please Professor!" Hermione said. "You heard what Minister Kingsley said, this is old magic. We need someone who might know about this."

McGonagall hesitated one more time and then said. "Fine, come with me."

Hermione and Ginny followed immediately joined by Mr and Mrs Weasley who followed in bewilderment.

McGonagall stood in front of the gargoyle and said "liquorice wands." And the gargoyle moved aside to reveal the staircase to Dumbledore's office.

It seemed like nothing had changed since Snape was headmaster. The books and things were covered in dust.

"About time you came to your office." Came a voice from a portrait above the headmaster's chair.

It was Dumbledore.

"I went through several paintings of pleasantly old Wizards who told me about the events of this evening."

"Professor Dumbledore- Albus, I need your help." McGonagall said walking up to the portrait. She had never looked so vulnerable before.

"My dear Minerva, I will do the very best I can through the coat of paint I currently reside in." Dumbledore said simply.

"Potter has been taken, so has the Weasley boy." McGonagall said. "Kingsley believes they want the entire Weasley family, but that can't be true, can it? Why would they want with them?"

"The entire family? That is indeed strange." Dumbledore said.

"Kingsley also mentioned something about old magic and some residue left behind." McGonagall continued.

Dumbledore thought for a minute and then said. "Before wands were created, wizards used magic with their bear hands. But it was difficult to control. This is why wands are handy, they help direct the flow of magic allowing us to be more accurate."

"The last of the wandless wizards was said to be in a small town called Salem in America."

"Salem witchcraft trials." Hermione gasped and everyone turned to her in surprise.

"Miss Granger is correct." Dumbledore said with a smile, his eyes twinkling."as usual."

"But very few people know that the ministry actually covered up the mass murders of the muggles who resided in the village."

"What does this have to do with Potter and the Weasleys." McGonagall asked.

"You see, in a town so small, everyone were very close. Most of them were even related, distantly." Dumbledore continued. "The Mass murders were committed by a wizard who took revenge on the muggles and linked their lives together and put it in a stone, a stone we know today to be a philosopher's stone."

"But the philosopher's stone was created by Nicholas Flamel many years before the Salem Witch trials." Hermione said.

"The stone was created over 200 years before the Salem witch trials but the power was never strong enough. It was clear that the power would die out in a few years so they had to renew it with Alchemy."

"Using the poor Muggles lives, he created the most powerful stone which never needed to be renewed and took revenge at the same time." Dumbledore said.

"The ministry never objected?" Mr Weasley asked looking upset.

"I believe there was a considerable amount of gold involved to keep the story quiet. Most witches and wizards don't know this. You wouldn't even find it in our history books." Dumbledore said.

"So whoever this is, wants to use the Weasley bloodline to create a new philosopher's stone." Hermione said.

"If I make a guess, and I'm usually good at guessing if I may say so myself. I believe it was the same person as last time." Dumbledore said.

Everyone stared.

*******

Boom! The master revealed!

Haha! I know this is a long chapter but I was trying to set the scene for you before the big reveal.

What do you think?? Could Dumbledore be wrong??

I hope you liked this chapter!
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