Chapter 115: The missing students
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Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K Rowling.
I own nothing but the original characters I make.
"Dialogue"
'Thoughts'
-Author notes-
Chapter 115: The missing students.
1 Hour earlier, Hogwarts Castle.
Professor McGonagall was giving a lesson about the basics of transfiguration to a group of first-years.
Her eyes kept wandering to the two empty seats on the first row. Those seats belonged to the Potter and Weasley girls.
She could not help but be worried. She had only known the girls for a short period of time but they had never missed a class or even arrived late. And Lyra was especially invested in her class. She has shown as much talent as her father had, if not more.
"Professor?..." A student called for her.
McGonagall just realized that she had stopped lecturing while lost in her own thoughts.
"My apologies...now, where was I?" She glimpsed back at her book and found the next chapter.
When she was about to resume her lesson...the ground started to shake with tremendous violence.Nêww chapters will be fully updated at novelhall.com
She heard her students panic and tried to calm them down while reassuring them that nothing bad was going to happen, despite herself being also quite scared.
'I wish Albus would do something already about these blasted earthquakes!' She thought.
This last tremor had lasted for a good minute and felt a lot stronger than the others.
"Expeto Patronum!" McGonagall called and a small silvery white cat appeared in front of her before it ran off to deliver her message to the other professors.
"Bring all the students to the Great Hall, classes are canceled for the day."
As the one in charge, she considered it the best course of action. In the event of another tremor to occur, it would be easier to protect the students if they were all in the same place instead of wandering around the castle.
And her instincts were telling her that this was not over.
'I also need to call Albus...he ought to come back.'
"Myrtle bathroom?" Asked Professor Sprout. That was the only bathroom on that floor but no one uses it.
"Yes, she is very distressed about it...and very vocal too." The ghost made a complicated expression.
"Did she see who did it?" Asked the Headmaster.
"I...sorry, Headmaster. I did not ask."
"That's quite alright, Nick. We should go there and take a look. This may be related to the missing students after all."
Dumbledore looked at the professors.
"Severus, Minerva, you can...ohh..."
They all were surprised when the Headmaster stopped talking abruptly and closed his eyes while clasping onto his forehead.
"Albus? Are you feeling unwell?" McGonagall was the first one to ask.
"I'm well enough...I just felt three students leaving the Castle's boundaries."
"What? The students left?" Sprout exclaimed.
"Wait a moment, you said three. But we have four students missing." Flintwick pointed out.
"That is all I know I'm afraid....I don't have a way to know the identity of the students themselves, just that that three of them have passed through the wards and left the protection of Hogwarts." The Headmaster said.
There are of course ways to track down the identities. But the tracking charm placed on the students is basic enough to avoid inflicting on the student's privacy too much, while at the same time offering some reassurance for the professors.
"We can start by looking at what happened on the sixth floor." Suggested Snape.
"I could search the outside." Hagrid offered.
" If they went into the Dark Forest...that could be really bad, nighttime is approaching and that place can get very dangerous."
Dumbledore nodded.
"Yes, thank you Hagrid, go take a look. Severus and Minerva, come with me to the sixth floor." He glanced at the ghost.
"Nick, I need you to go look outside of the castle too. I know you cannot go too far. Just let me know if you see anything out of the ordinary."
"What about us?" Asked Professor Flintwick.
"Stay with the students. Don't let anyone leave the Hall."
Dumbledore made a worried expression.
"I think...something bad is about to happen."