Nightmares and Nocturnes

The Doors Unlocked

Chapter 21: The Doors Unlocked

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2000

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"I'm going," Harry said, pulling his arm from her reach. "Don't try to stop me."

"Harry!" Hermione growled, chasing after him. "You can't be serious - "

"I'm with her, mate," Ron sighed, lumbering after them both. "It's obviously bloody insanity, but she's right - you can't just show up by yourself," he continued, picking up speed as Harry's stride took on a more erratic quality. "Even if the two of us came with you, we'd still be outnumbered - "

"I don't care," Harry snapped tersely, barely turning over his shoulder to direct the fully unsurprising retort. "They can't do this. They can't fucking do this - "

"Of course they can," Hermione said frantically, pleading with him to see reason. "They did it before, Harry, and they won't stop now just because there's a rumor that you're alive - "

"If we don't go after Dean, he'll die!" Harry shouted, rounding on them. "He'll fucking die, Hermione, and I can't have that on my conscience." He paused, face red in challenge, as though this had somehow been her fault and not Voldemort's. "Can you live with it on yours?"

Hermione stared at him in disbelief.

"No," she confessed faintly. "But still, there has to be a better way we can - "

"There's no time," Harry groaned in frustration, throwing his hands up. "This can't be like the horcrux hunt, Hermione - we can't spend weeks trying to find a way into the Ministry, or into Gringotts" - he paused, clenching a fist - "only to have the plan fucking fall apart - "

"I'm not saying that," Hermione said, chewing her lip. "I'm not. I just think we should - "

"What's going on?" Luna asked softly, materializing from amid the trees. She was holding a conjured bag of what looked like firewood, which she carefully set down at her feet before joining them. "What happened?"

An impatient muscle twitched warningly around Harry's jaw. "They've got Dean," he muttered, not looking at her. "Rowle has him."

"How do you know?" Luna pressed innocently, tilting her head. "Did it come to you in a dream?"

Hermione opened her mouth to argue - of course not, she wanted to snap, we're not all celestially influenceable loons - but then stopped as she saw something flash in Luna's pale grey eyes; a bolt of sharpened recognition.

"No," Harry muttered, his lowered gaze unfocused beneath the lenses of his glasses. "I don't have a connection with him anymore, but I saw the Daily Prophet - there's a picture of Dean being taken, it's plastered on the cover - "

"Hm," Luna remarked, without any visible shift in emotion. "So you must have read where they took him, then?"

"No," Harry repeated, louder this time. "But it's obvious - Rowle had him in the picture, so that must mean - "

"You know, I've always admired the way you can gather so much from so little information," Luna commented, taking a careful step towards him. Ron glanced at Hermione, one brow raised as they watched. "It's really quite astounding, Harry."

"Well - " Harry stopped, stammering. "I mean, I'm not exactly sure - "

"You're not?" Luna echoed. "But surely you must know where you're going, don't you?"