"Only one tent, how's that possible?" At Moody's words, Daphne nearly jumped. "Jon was just—"
She spun, panic climbing her throat, and went still.
The other tent beside the trees had vanished, leaving not a trace.
As if it had never been there at all.
"How could this be…" Astoria whispered, fingers lacing tight.
Time seemed to lock. The sisters stood staring, blank and lost, with no idea what had just happened.
"Looks like something really did go wrong," Tonks said softly, reading their faces.
Mad-Eye Moody widened his pale blue magical eye and began to sweep the ground around the camp, hunting for anything. Lupin moved off the other way, mirroring the search.
When they met in the middle, Lupin asked first, "Anything, Alastor?"
"A bit." Moody's voice came gravel-deep. "Those two girls have no reason to lie, and the ground does show where another tent was set. Hart and Potter were here. No idea why they slipped away again."
"If Harry's with Headmaster Hart, there's likely no real danger," Lupin said, letting out a breath. "The Order mark should be Hart's as well, a signal for us, meant to bring us to these two girls."
"Likely, but what's his plan…" Moody's brow furrowed.
Half a minute later he seemed to settle on a course. He glanced around the trees and raised his voice.
"All right. Molly, Nymphadora, take the girls back to Athens, get them out of here. Best they stay with the Weasley kids. Arthur, Remus, we keep looking for Hart and Potter."
"But… Jon…" Daphne's voice shook, the words tangling.
"Easy, Miss Greengrass. We'll bring Hart back," Lupin said, almost lightly.
"Yes, no need to fret," Moody added. "Hart took the tent with him when he left. That says he hit something unexpected and had to move, no time to say goodbye. With his skill, he's not likely come to harm."
"What if it is dangerous…" Daphne's voice frayed at the edges.
"Come on, sister." Astoria tugged gently at her sleeve. "Let's do what Professors Moody and Lupin said, go back to Athens first."
Realizing she was overreacting, Daphne scrubbed at her damp lashes and nodded.
"Mrs Weasley can take them to Athens," Tonks said after a beat. "You're short an Auror. I'll go with you to find Harry."
"No. You're going back to Athens," Moody said, firm as iron. "If something breaks there, Molly can't handle it alone."
"All right." Tonks inclined her head. She respected the veteran Auror enough not to argue.
"Come along, dears." Molly Weasley's voice was warm and steady.
Her kindness eased the sisters more than any explanation.
The woods lay just over a hundred miles from Athens, about the distance from London to Birmingham. On the map it ought to fall inside Albania, Moody's earlier judgment.
Mrs Weasley and Tonks took the Greengrass sisters' arms, then Apparated them out of the troubled grove.
Which left three behind.
"Anything out of the ordinary, Alastor?" As the women disappeared, Mr Arthur Weasley's face sobered. He had known Moody long enough to recognize a pretext when he heard one.
"Plenty. This way." Moody's blue eye spun fast, then fixed. He led them down to the riverbank.
"Here." He pointed to a faint, soot-darkened patch in the gravel. "Someone lit a fire, even cooked something, then tried to cover it with magic."
With that eye, he saw what most wizards would miss.
"Wasn't Hart's lot. They had tents, no need to cook outside," Moody went on, half to himself, half for the others. "And common wizards wouldn't stray out here. Which leaves only—"
"The Dark wizards who dumped Harry in the first place?" Lupin asked quietly.
"Same thought." Moody nodded. "They tried to pin Potter in the caverns, never counted on Hart dragging him out again. Wait. Look here."
His magical eye whirled and settled. He tapped a smooth pebble.
A tiny Order of the Phoenix mark.
"Now it's clear." A feral curl tugged Moody's mouth. "Hart wove protections round their camp, so the Dark lot never found them. He spotted the movement instead."
"And once they left, Hart and Potter cloaked up and tailed them," Lupin finished, already thinking two steps ahead. "He knew we'd come, so he left Order marks to pull us in and push us to the girls."
"Then we follow as well. How—"
Barking burst through the trees.
A big, ugly black dog came thundering toward them.
As Harry Potter's godfather, Sirius Black had of course joined the search, but as an Animagus he moved faster under the canopy and had not stayed with the other five.
Lupin and Moody traded a look.
"Sirius!"