Thinking of maybe doing a George Weasley story too after this one. Thoughts?

---

Staying in the pub that night wasn't the most pleasant of times. The room they were staying in was directly above the kitchen downstairs and the floorboards were old and spaced apart, allowing the cooking smells to waft up through the cracks. The smell of fat from the fryers and old food was horrendous and it made waking up in the morning gag-worthy. However Sophia was the only one who seemed to be bothered by it, as Ron didn't show much discomfort all morning. Or he was just really good at hiding it.

Sophia still wasn't sure where they were. Ron had definitely given the barmen Muggle money yet he said that this wasn't a Muggle pub. How did Ron even know about this street? And if it was indeed a Wizarding place, why had the barmen not recognised her? Because of this uncertainty, Sophia was terrified that at any moment, Snatchers would suddenly come knocking on the door. But surely Ron would be smart enough to not put themselves in that sort of danger. Sure he was angry yesterday, but would it have misted his consciousness enough to be irrational?

"Do they serve breakfast here?" Sophia asked. She hadn't really been wondering this but she felt like one of them needed to say something. Ron had sat up from his bed silently and was constantly fiddling with the Deluminator in his hands.

"Dunno," he mumbled without looking up and Sophia sighed. It was starting to get on her nerves of how unresponsive and unmotivated Ron was being. Considering that she had taken the initiative to follow after him after his dramatic argument with Harry, she would appreciate a bit of gratitude and at least some sort of certainty that he had somewhere to go. It was rich to hear him say that he thought he knew what Harry was doing with this mission yet when left to his own devices, shows no recognition of the place he had apparated them to.

With this thought in mind, Sophia grabbed her backpack and stood up from her bed. She waited for Ron to maybe look up at her or ask where she was going, but was once again left in silence. Walking towards the door and out into the hall, she made it down the staircase before realising that she would have to walk out of the pub and past the barmen in order to leave. She stopped herself from entering into the bar and began to rethink her actions.

"Where are you going then?" Ron's voice finally followed her and Sophia turned to see him a couple steps up the staircase, staring down at her with his Deluminator still in hand.

"I don't know. I-I don't feel particularly safe here if I'm honest," Sophia shrugged and looked to the wall next to her from the nervousness of Ron's gaze. "I don't know what you plan on doing but I need to start finding leads for my map. Whether you go back to Harry and Hermione or not, I need to start finding a way into You Know Who's headquarters. Staying here in silence isn't gonna do that for me."

Ron's expressionless face faltered and turned into one that was now guilty. He had been so caught up in the fact that Harry wasn't getting anywhere with Horcruxes that he had forgotten Sophia wasn't there for the same mission. His burst and lingering of anger had also made him pull Sophia along with him just from the fact that she seemed to be the only one who partially understood him. But now hearing of her frustration and logical reasoning woke him from this moment of selfishness and self-preservation.

"I'm sorry I brought you here..." Ron finally admitted and began to become his usually awkward and bashful self. "I was being a right twit. I know that you're not here to just follow us- follow me around and I guess that... I can help you... if you want."

"You want to help me?" Sophia repeated with a raised eyebrow.

"Erm," Ron's voice cracked and he cleared his throat. "Yeah. You'll probably need to face some Snatchers so... I want to help you."

"You do know that I'm going to have to confront Death Eaters right?" Sophia made sure and Ron surprisingly nodded.

"You are basically family now so..."

Sophia felt her heart crumble at this mention and couldn't stop the smile that spread across her face. Family. Ron counted her as part of the Weasley family even though she hadn't even been officially married into it yet. She loved Ron and already saw him as a brother. It made her think of then the whole family that she would soon count as her own. Molly and Arthur as her in-laws, Ginny, George, Ron, Charlie and Bill as her sister and brother in-laws.

"Thank you..." Sophia found herself whispering and Ron smiled for the first time since yesterday.

"So where are we going then?" Ron questioned. They had exited the pub with their backpacks over their shoulders and down the street. No one was walking past so they didn't have to be too secretive at the moment. The barmen had barely looked up when they had headed for the door of the pub, putting Sophia into even more confusion but decided it wasn't worth thinking about.

"Who are the most well-known Death Eaters?" Sophia asked as they descended further down the street.

"Probably the ones that were sent to Azkaban. Lestrange. Dolohov. Maybe even the Malfoys," Ron listed.

A shiver ran down Sophia's spine at the mention of the particular names. She had seen each one of them in person and each had left their own mark on her. Dolohov had been the one she and her Father had fought while in the Department of Mysteries. She remembered his spell work and how powerful he was in order to take on both her and her Father at the same time. Remus had been a Defence against the Dark Arts teacher at one point so he wasn't amateur to defensive spells. And Sophia was quite gifted in the subject thanks to Dumbledore's Army. And of course she knew about the Malfoys and Lestrange's devotion to You Know Who.

The Malfoy residence also happened to be the only place she knew when it came to Death Eater locations. It had been the place of her torture after all. No matter how reluctant she was to go back there, it could be the place of her map's residence. She had always remembered the Dark Lord himself occasionally walking in to see the progress in cracking her for information, so maybe it was where he was currently hiding.

"That's where it'll be. The Malfoy Manor," Sophia nodded and grabbed Ron's arm, apparating immediately before he could object.

They landed on the gravel that sat beside the tall hedges that met together at a tall metal gate. Behind them sat a grand house that looked as if it had been pulled out of Vampire novel. It was black and an eye sore against the clear light blue sky that sat above it. Its various roofs were pointy and stretched high above its structure, able to be seen over the tall neat hedges. If there were any other houses nearby, their inhabitants would surely guess that the manor was hiding Death Eaters. However, houses were not nearby. The manor was lonesome among it's hedges and was the perfect location for seclusion.

"Would never have guessed this was Malfoy's house," Ron mumbled sarcastically and Sophia quickly shushed him, throwing her arm against his chest to push him back into the hedges while she did the same. They tried their best to sink into its branches as voices and footsteps began to come from the opposite side of the path.

"Daddy should of been more selective of what he wrote in his pathetic little magazine," a nasally voice spat as three people turned the corner of the hedge towards the metal gate at the end. Shuffling closer, Ron and Sophia peaked around the hedge and watched as two men dressed in black shoved a small figure with long platinum hair in front of them.

"That's Luna isn't it?" Ron whispered and Sophia nodded glumly, recognising the girl's red overalls and long-sleeved purple shirt. Her unmistakable hair lay limply in a low ponytail against her back and she was harshly pushed along the path before being stopped in front of the gate. Despite the men's harsh shoving, she didn't retaliate or hesitate from following their commands. She stayed quiet as a new person came to the gate and began speaking to the two men.

Being too far away to hear, Ron and Sophia only saw the gate open after a small exchange, allowing the men to push Luna inside with the new person following them. The gate slowly shut and the two were able to breathe freely.

"Why would they take Luna? What's she got to do with all this?" Sophia aimlessly asked as she stood up straight and faced Ron.

"It's got to be something with her dad," Ron explained. "You heard 'em. They must of heard about what he was saying about Harry in The Quibbler."

"Poor Luna..." Sophia mumbled. "I need to get in there. We'll have to wait for someone else to come along. Use a disillusion charm on something and get inside."

"Oi!"

The two whipped their heads around at the new voice to see a man standing a few metres away. He was dressed in all black clothes with a similar cloak to what the two men before were wearing. He had brown hair that reached past his shoulders and looked as if it was thinning with its scrappy look. His eyes were dark and narrowed straight at Ron and Sophia, switching between them suspicious.

"What are you two doing 'round here?" he called and started to advance towards them. The closer he got, the more he started to recognise Sophia's freckled face and grew a mischievous grin.

"Ron. Go. Go now," Sophia gasped over her shoulder as the man was now within three metres of them.

"What?!" he hissed back. "Are you mental?! He-"

"Go!" she shouted and Ron jumped back in shock. He pulled out his wand and reluctantly flicked it, disappearing with worried eyes. The man advancing didn't care that Ron had apparated as he now was solely centred on Sophia.

"It's gotta be my lucky day innit?" he laughed as he grabbed hold of her arm, harshly pulling her closer to him with a sick grin on his face. "You're either extremely stupid, or unusually smart. Come to your senses have you?"

Sophia stayed silent as the man continued to mock her for coming straight to Malfoy Manor while being wanted by the Ministry. He seemed mighty proud of himself for capturing the second most wanted person in the world, but wasn't aware that she had planned for this sort of meeting. If she wasn't able to get through the gate while following someone, she would have to be taken in on purpose. And this just chose the method for her.

He yanked her backpack off of her shoulder and pulled out the wand that was visible from her jean pocket. He then took hold of her arm once more and started to drag her towards the metal gate. Just like Luna, Sophia let the man pull her towards the gate without any battle. They stopped and a figure emerged from the manor, walking towards them just like before. Their steps were slow and their arms swung limply by their sides, almost as if they were drunk at the sight of the girl.

Sophia tried to not show any emotion as the frizzy head of Bellatrix Lestrange came into view, stopping as a grin formed on her pale face. The woman stared at the girl with twinkling eyes and the man standing next to her couldn't have looked anymore smug.

"Ah lovely, loony, lanky Lupin," Bellatrix cooed with her grin getting wider after every word. "Come back for some more?"

"Found her snoopin' round the corner," the man motioned his head back towards the corner of the hedges. "A boy was with her but apparated before I got to 'em."

"Was it Potter?" she immediately questioned, her smile dropping and was replaced with a look of anticipation and hope.

"No. Some redhead."

"Was it the Weasley?" Bellatrix smiled again as she turned back to Sophia, her tongue licking over her rotting teeth. "Was it wittle Weasley?"

Sophia stayed as stiff as a board as the woman mocked her, but she was burning inside at the hint towards Fred. Bellatrix knew all about her relation to the Weasley family from her continuous use of Occlumency during her torture. It was all part of her breakdown process. But she had been prepared for this sort mocking and kept the straightest of faces she could muster.

"Hm not so friendly," Bellatrix frowned sarcastically and stepped back, allowing the gate to open widely for them to enter. The man yanked her once more and began to follow after Bellatrix who lead them towards the double doors of the manor.