The display

When Albus returned to the hideout, he was relieved to see that no one had missed him yet. He met Scorpius coming down the stairs. He had Rose in tow, once again chained on hands and feet, attached to Scorpius, but able to move by herself. It was not a good look, but at least the chains were not tight. And she stood more upright than before, so she had regained some self-control. Albus feared that that might soon evaporate. He had a feeling he knew what it was Voldemort had summoned him for.

"Severus," Scorpius said. "You are back early." He had a worried look on his face. Did he know what had happened?

"The Dark Lord summoned me. I came at once." Albus said. "What's happening? Why do you need to bring her? I hope they didn't interrupt you."

"I don't know what has happened yet," Scorpius answered. "The Dark Lord called up the stairs and told me to bring her. He said there was something she needed to see. I wouldn't have stopped for anyone else."

Albus had a sinking feeling. He wanted to tell Rose and Scorpius what had happened, but there were so many others around them. He supposed they would know soon enough. "Come. Let's go inside. We must not keep the Dark Lord waiting."

In the main living room, or what remained of it, all the main Death Eaters were gathered. Voldemort stood up top at the fireplace, a jubilant expression on his face.

"All of you, gather around here. I have brought you here for excellent news! Our mission tonight has succeeded."

From a side room, Crabbe and Goyle emerged, with a chained and beaten Hermione between them. Cheers rose from the crowd as they recognised her. Rose screamed and started to cry.

"No! No! Mum! No!"

At the sound of Rose's voice, it was as if Hermione got new strength. She looked up, and saw Rose standing there, chained, held by Malfoy, with Albus right next to them. She let out a scream and tried to run towards her daughter. It was hopeless. Before she had gone three steps, she was dragged to the floor by her captors. They started to hit her again.

"NO!" Rose screamed, to the obvious delight of the nearby Death Eaters.

"Be quiet! Stay here!" Scorpius said sharply. Under his breath he added "Don't make it all worse. Don't give them a reason to kill you as well."

Rose quieted, but that was only because the thought of her mother dying was too horrible for screams. Scorpius wanted desperately to comfort her, but he needed to stay in his role for now.

"No! Let her go! She hasn't done anything to you! Let her go!" Hermione still fought her restraints, like an angry Erumpent.

In all this commotion, Albus silently slipped down on the floor besides Rose. He took out a tracker and jammed it into her neck.

"A tracker, from Grandma. Don't worry, they won't find it," he whispered. He wasn't sure if Rose even heard him.

"Well, look at that. It seems your information was correct after all, girl!" Voldemort shouted towards Rose "I must thank you! Come here and see what happens to those who refuse to acknowledge that they are beaten. Bring her over here, Malfoy."

Rose broke down even further, huddling on the floor. "No! Mum! I didn't mean to! I'm sorry. I'm sorry! Mum! I didn't mean to!"

Hermione seemed to be too restrained to fight any more. She still tried to kick or harm her captors in any way, but it was useless. Scorpius reluctantly started to get Rose up on her feet, but before he had to force her forward, another Death Eater came running into the room. All heads turned to him, including Voldemort's. Scorpius knew what the man would probably say, and he was relieved. Maybe this would take the focus away from Rose again.

"Master! Master! The prisoners have escaped!"

"Escaped?!" Voldemort shouted, anger in his voice. "How? How many?"

"We don't know how, my Lord. But the night guards are out cold, sleeping. And the door is open. It is all the prisoners, sire. That is about 15 people, my Lord. Including." The Death Eater hesitated. "Including the Potter boy." There was complete silence for a few moments before Voldemort's rage exploded over all of them.

"Why am I surrounded by this incompetence? Can't you even do one small thing correctly?! They should have alerted us the moment someone tried to break in. And shouldn't the Potter boy be better protected than that?" Voldemort screamed, and everyone seemed to be terrified, afraid they would be blamed for this fiasco. The Death Eater who had come with the news trembled on the floor, clearly fearing for his life.

After a while, however, Voldemort calmed down. "But it doesn't matter. The new hideout is already ready. We will move there immediately." He walked up to Hermione, who was still struggling on the floor. "We have more important things to focus on for now." He gently stroked Hermione's chin. She spat at him. Voldemort smiled, simply brushing the spit off.

"But it must wait a little longer. We need to prepare a special ceremony for the ultimate scum like this. The revenge on Potter can wait. We have one third already. And who knows, maybe this will even bring your husband out of hiding? With both his daughter and wife missing, maybe he will start being useful? Or will he just abandon you again, like he did last time things got hard?" He sneered at Hermione, who was still trying to kick him.

Voldemort stood up again. "Follow me to our next location. Bring all you would want from your rooms. We will not return here." he proclaimed. Then he was gone with Hermione and her captors. Soon after, all their Marks started burning, alerting them of their new location.

"Come," Scorpius said. "We can go up to my room for a short time."

"Yes," Albus said. "I have news."

They walked up the stairs. Once safely inside their rooms, Albus quickly relayed all that happened while at the Burrow.

"…But I didn't tell them exactly where you had been taken to, Rose," he finished.

"Well, the Kneazle is out of the bag now anyway," Scorpius said dejectedly. "I am fairly certain the Minister saw me holding her daughter captive in a chain just now. And she did not like it."

Rose was still shaken. "But what do we do now? We still don't know where we are, or where we are going. We have no way to contact anyone. And how can we help Mother? Oh, this is horrible. And it is all my fault." She leaned on Scorpius' shoulder and sobbed.

Scorpius gently stroked her hair. He wanted to say something comforting, but he couldn't find the right words.

"It is not your fault, Rose. They would have watched the entrance to the Ministry no matter what you said. If you want to blame someone, it's just as much my fault. I alerted dad of what had happened, but not quick enough. He was about 20 seconds too late to save her," Albus said, trying to comfort Rose. She didn't seem to believe him. "But we may have a way of letting them know where we are at the least." Albus held up another Tracker, and quickly inserted it into Scorpius' neck.

"Oow. What was that?" Scorpius asked.

"A tracker device. I got them from Grandma. I got one too, and I got one into Rose earlier. This way, they can find us," Albus explained.

Rose perked up at this. "They can? Oh, that's great! Do you have one for Mother as well?"

"Yes, if I can get close enough," Albus answered, holding up the last Tracker. "Though that may be hard. But come. We mustn't delay any longer. We must travel to the next hideout."

"But how do you know where that is?" Rose asked. "He didn't say."

"He summoned us from there," Scorpius explained evasively. "So, we know where to go, but not where it is." He really didn't want Rose to see the Dark Mark on his forearm.

"But how does that work?" Rose asked. She saw Albus trying to hide his left arm again and reached out to it. She saw the Dark Mark there and dropped the arm in shock.

"Merlin's pants! That is horrible," she said. Albus looked away, ashamed.

"Come on." Scorpius said. "We need to travel from downstairs."