Kidnapping discovery; various [EM, DA, HJ, MS]
WHO: Miles, Ernie, Dominic, Hestia WHERE: the Ministry Gala; the Abbott's WHEN: Saturday, 15 January, 2000; evening SUMMARY: The people closest to Hannah discover what's happened RATING: PG-13
It was odd how it all happened. One moment Ernie was watching his girlfriend across the room, admiring as she danced so beautifully with some random man who had insisted on stealing her away for one dance, and the next he was so distracted with some joke that Miles was telling to the attractive redhead he was flirting with that he took his eyes off of Hannah for a matter of moments. When his gaze returned she was nowhere to be found.
His stomach churned, though he didn't think it anything to worry about. No doubt she was just getting some air in the garden or perhaps taking pity on the woefully average looking young man and giving him another dance, but something felt off. “Miles.” He said sharply. “Do you see Hannah in here?” he didn't care that Miles was likely very close to striking some sort of deal with the long legged woman, Hannah was nowhere to be found, and that was worrying him more than he knew how to express.
Dominic almost didn't read the note. The woman he had been talking to was hardly as distracting as his own Hestia was standing at his side, and he assumed that the parchment she pressed into his hand was just some sort of ministry memo that he was supposed to sign. When two people collided in front of him and he stooped to help one of them up, he nearly tucked it into his pocket, but something made him glance at it first.
And that one glance changed everything. Thrusting the offending paper into one of Hestia's hands and grabbing the other (because he absolutely refused to lose them both in one night) he began marching quickly toward Macmillan. As he crossed the room, Ernie looked up from Miles and his eyes met Dominic's. Dominic knew, in that moment, that this was not some sort of prank. This was very real, and Hannah had been taken.
“Damn it!” He swore, hoping that Hestia had read the note as he didn't have time to explain what was going on now. Lacing his fingers more tightly through hers, he walked very swiftly the rest of the way toward Ernie. “Come on.” He all but growled at the boy. It was his fault that Hannah had been taken. This was a celebration in the Minister's honor, and the one thing that was asked of an Auror trainee, an Order member for Merlin's sake, was to watch over the Minister's daughter. The girl who was his GIRLFRIEND, and yet again Macmillan had failed. “I'm going to find her.”