Harry, Albus, and Rose approached Dawson's house. They had considered getting more backup, but who else could they trust, if Dawson was truly a traitor?
"Dawson? Dawson, are you here?" Harry called as they entered the dark house.
No reply. After waiting for a few minutes to see if anyone would appear, they moved into the living room. The house looked completely empty.
They spread out and searched every room. Rose was the first one to get to the master bedroom. There was something on the bed. She carefully removed the cover. It looked like the body of a wizard with tattered robes. Then she saw the blonde hair and the distinctive beard he used with his disguise. The grey eyes stared lifelessly at her.
"NO!"
She didn't realise she had said that out loud until the other two came running, wands at the ready. She was on her knees in front of the bed. Albus stopped dead in the doorway, seeing the body that very much resembled Scorpius. Harry, however, quickly went over to check on him. He frowned and checked for a pulse again. Then he turned him over on the side. Something red flowed out of the mouth. Rose felt tears coming.
"It's not him," Harry said. Rose looked up, hopeful.
"Not him? Then who…"
"It's just a dummy. A very well made one, but luckily not quite finished. I suspect he meant us to find this somewhere in the next few days, to make us stop looking." He pointed to what looked like a seam that went from the back of the head and down the entire spine. It was the only real sign that this wasn't a real body.
Rose breathed a sigh of relief. She would probably have nightmares about that sight for a while, but at least this probably meant that Scorpius was alive, wherever he was.
"But where is Dawson?" Albus asked. His voice sounded shaken as well. The dummy really did look a lot like Scorpius.
"I don't know, but he's not here," Harry said. He covered the dummy again, to prevent the sight of it to distract them further. It was very well made. If it had been finished, he probably would have believed it was Scorpius as well.
"At least this proves that he is the one behind this. I can't think of any other reason why he would have a dummy that looks like Scorpius." Rose said. Harry sighed.
"Yes, I suspect you are right. I just can't fathom why. What is the point behind all of this?"
Just then, something under the bed rattled. All three of them tensed up. The sound came again. Harry carefully extracted a suitcase from under the bed. As he moved it, it rattled again. Albus carefully opened the suitcase as the other two pointed their wands at it, ready to control whatever came out of it.
But nothing happened. Harry carefully inched towards the opening and looked down. He blinked.
"Dawson?"
It was indeed Dawson, in a deep hole that seemed to go on forever. He blinked as he saw their faces.
"Potter? How did you?... You know what, it's not important. Can you please get me out of here?"
Harry quickly conjured a rope and when Dawson wasn't able to hold on, he jumped down and got him out himself. Dawson was a lot thinner than he had been before, and they quickly noticed his patchy hair.
"Polyjuice Potion," Rose said. "For how long?"
"I don't know. What day is it today?"
"Come on, let's get you something to eat as you tell your story," Harry said. He suspected the Auror trainer had been down there for months, and not fed very often, by the looks of him.
Rose ran down to the kitchen and put on a kettle to make tea. As they waited, she searched the pantry and found some bread that she offered Dawson as Albus started cracking eggs to make an omelette.
"As soon as you feel up to it Dawson, we need to get out of here," Rose said as she handed her trainer a cup of tea.
"Why?" Albus asked.
"Because, judging by the fresh food in the pantry, and the dummy in the bedroom, whoever has been impersonating Dawson also lives here. They could be back at any time."
Neither Harry nor Albus had thought about that. They looked at each other.
"I'll keep a lookout through the window," Albus said.
"Be invisible," Harry replied. Albus nodded.
"Give me a few minutes, then I can come with you," Dawson said as he hastily chugged down the bread and tea. Rose vanished the eggs Albus had cracked and hastily cleaned the pan. Hopefully the impersonator wouldn't remember exactly how many eggs they had left.
"We can go to my house," Harry said. "You can be more comfortable there than at the Ministry. If you permit it Dawson, I'll also call for the Minister to meet us there. I think maybe Hermione needs to hear this too." Harry only now realised that Ginny didn't even know James was missing yet. He hoped she wouldn't be too mad that he had kept it from her.
Dawson nodded.
"Yes." he said through mouthfuls. "Though there isn't all that much I can tell you, unfortunately. I don't know who is behind this or what their goal is." He tried to stand up but swayed slightly. Harry tried to say that they could wait but Dawson stopped him.
"Malfoy is right. We can't risk staying here any longer than necessary. How sad that the scenario we used for your testing must have seemed to come true…"
Rose chose not to comment on that, but it was good to know that that part at least had been done by the real Dawson. She helped Harry get Dawson out on the street as Albus removed all signs of their break-in and closed the door behind them. Together they Disapparated.
***
"You know, you're handling all of this surprisingly well." James said as they took a break from their digging to eat the food that kept coming through the tube. "I don't know if I would have managed to keep my sanity, if I was stuck all alone in a literal hole in the ground."
Scorpius didn't know if it still was Sam that gave them food, but no matter where it came from, he knew he needed the strength. Besides, if someone wanted him dead, all they had to do was stop giving him food altogether. Or block the air supply. Yeah, that was a cheery thought. He was just glad he hadn't said that out loud. He needed to focus on what James said. Right. Handling it well. He supposed it could look like that, from the outside.
"I have never had a big problem with small spaces or being by myself. It's large crowds that bothers me. I am more frustrated than anything else. At myself, for being so stupid, to go along with the plan despite my misgivings about it. At Dawson, or whoever it is that is behind this. At this whole situation."
"Still, you haven't started shouting or running against the wall or anything like that. Most people would go crazy, with no human interaction for so long."
"I've kept myself occupied, trying to think of ways out of here, or taking a break thinking about other things, mostly Rose and our happy time together. I probably would have gone crazy eventually. But I also feel like that would be to make them win. I can't see any other benefit anyone would have of putting me in here. I mean, that is the most frustrating part. I don't understand what he wants. He has made no demands, no attempts at getting information, nothing. It seems the only thing he wants is to keep me away from the Potters."
"Is that what he said? But what about me then?"
"I don't know. As I said, that is the most frustrating part of all."
Scorpius had tried to understand it. Who was it that would be so desperate to keep him, in particular, away from the Potters and Weasleys? And what was the rest of their plan with them? He didn't want to talk to James about that, he was afraid it would just make James feel even more hopeless. He had to keep up a positive front, to keep him from spiralling. If he started, Scorpius didn't know if he would be able to prevent it from happening to him as well.
"Come on, let's get back to digging. We won't get any further just sitting here."
***
Harry, Rose, Albus, and Dawson stumbled through the door of the Potter house. Albus went straight to the kitchen and started making another omelette.
Rose made sure Dawson was comfortable on the couch, then made another cup of tea. Harry sent an urgent message to Hermione. Ginny wasn't home, Harry remembered that she had a mandatory meeting of the whole sports department in the Daily Prophet about the upcoming Quidditch season. That would probably take up most of the day.
By the time Dawson had drunk another cup of tea and was halfway done with the omelette, Hermione came rushing in. She was shocked when she saw Dawson in such a state, but also a little relieved when she saw Rose and Albus still there.
"What's happened to you Dawson? What's the emergency? Is it about Amerson again?"
Harry quickly explained everything they had discovered.
"If you feel up to it, Dawson, can you tell us what happened to you?" Harry asked as he finished his part. Dawson nodded. He felt much better after getting some food and warmth.
"I'm afraid there isn't that much I can add. The last thing I remember was going home. It was about two months after the Auror test of those two," he pointed at Albus and Rose.
That was over three months ago! Had he been trapped in that suitcase for that long?
Sadly, that was about all Dawson could tell them. He had woken up in what he recognised as the secure insides of his own suitcase, been tossed food from time to time, but never seen or heard anything from the person who had attacked him.
Rose had been very quiet as Dawson told his story. When he finished, she asked one question.
"Dawson, do you by any chance own a boat?"
"Yes, I do," Dawson said, surprised. "It's not very big, but I use it on vacations. It's docked in Arbroath in Scotland, where my family is from."
"Why is that relevant?" Albus asked.
"Because of what Scorpius wrote. He went away with someone he thought was Dawson and believed he was going to Azkaban. That means he would follow him onto a boat without questioning it. Maybe that is why whoever is behind it chose Dawson specifically to impersonate."
"You may be onto something there. You have the same deductive reasoning as your mother," Dawson said with a fond smile. Rose blushed slightly. Dawson hadn't given her open praise in front of others before.
"That widens our search radius to pretty much everywhere," Harry said with a sigh. "We need to find the impersonator and that boat. Maybe that will bring us closer to finding out where Scorpius and James are being held."
Hermione agreed and they organised a watch to be kept at Dawsons house. Dawson himself declined being admitted to St. Mungo's, as that might tip off the impersonator that they were on to him. Instead, Hermione took him to the Burrow, where Molly Weasley could take care of him. All he really needed was some nourishment and care, both of which Molly was the best at providing. Harry, Albus and Rose would go and check out Dawson's boat. It was the best lead they had for now.