Chapter 19: Missing
While the rest of the Gryffindors celebrated their towering victory over Slytherin, Harry went upstairs to get away from it all. Just then there was a soft knock on the door. Harry stood up, bewildered, as nobody had ever bothered to knock before entering the dormitory before. He walked over and opened the door to see Katie.
“Oh... Hi Katie.”
“I don’t want to bother you, I was just checking to see if you were okay” She seemed slightly nervous being in the boys’ dorm; she was shifting uneasily on the spot.
“I’m alright; you can come in if you like.”
She entered slowly, and followed Harry over to his bed, where they sat down.
“How come you’re not downstairs with everyone else?”
“Not in the mood to celebrate.”
“Well, just a warning “ they’re wondering what’s happened to the man of the hour “ they’re bound to break in here and carry you off any minute now.”
“Well they should stop acting like I’m the only reason we won.”
Katie was quiet; it seemed as though she were working up the nerve to say something. Then she spoke quite cautiously -
“Ron’s downstairs. He’s quiet though “ seems like he’s not up for a celebration any more than you are.”
“Wonder why that is? He got what he wanted, didn’t he “ maybe he’s realized what a stupid git he is...” Harry said angrily.
“Maybe it’s because his best friend won’t talk to him.”
“It’s his own fault.”
“He didn’t mean to hurt you Harry... He said he was sorry ...”
“Yeah, well he’s always saying he’s sorry. Never stops to think much about what I might be going through, says or does something stupid, than expects me to forgive him. I’ve never done anything like that to him. Unlike him, I can tell when he’s upset about something and I keep my mouth shut.”
At first Katie didn’t quite know how to respond to that. But she was quite determined to make Harry see that he should forgive Ron “ so she continued.
“Look Harry, you’re still upset over Sirius’s death. It’s not a pain that just goes away “ you probably regret all the time you didn’t get to spend with him, and you probably wish he was still here “ you’d probably give anything to have him back.”
“Yeah, I would.”
“And if you could have him back, you probably wouldn’t take a second with him for granted...”
“You’re right, but what’s this got to do with Ron?”
“What if something happened tomorrow and you lost Ron, too? He’s your best friend, Harry. And you’re sitting up here avoiding the celebration with all your friends, dwelling on all the pain that you have inside because you’ve lost someone you love. But you’re also cutting out the people who are still here, the ones who can help you through this. If something does happen tomorrow, and you know it could, then you’ll have even more pain inside, because you wasted valuable time you could have spent with them “ with Ron.”
Harry sighed.
“You’re right. I s’pose I should go apologize.
Katie smiled.
“That’s more like it.”
They went downstairs. Harry looked around the common room, all the Gryffindors were having a great time “ but Ron was sitting in the corner looking lost. Hermione was sitting next to him trying to comfort him, but it seemed he could do nothing but stare at the ground. Harry felt terrible. He went over to Ron.
“Er...Ron?”
Ron looked up at him.
“I just wanted to say I’m sorry, mate. I’m just going through a tough time “ I shouldn’t have taken it out on you, you couldn’t have known...”
“No, I’m sorry “ I should have realized. I’ve just wanted to beat Slytherin so bad “ I was afraid if we lost they would make a laugh of me. And you, you handed Captain over to me, I didn’t want to let you down.”
Hermione, as though on cue, burst into tears, startling Ron.
“Hermione, er...are you okay?”
“I’m fine... it’s just the two of you...you’re so...” she sobbed again.
Ron looked up to Harry, with a questioning look and mouthed “What should I do?”
“Don’t look at me; she’s your girlfriend...” Harry grinned.
Once Hermione had dried her tears, she, Ron, Harry, and Katie rejoined the celebration. Harry was still a little distracted, but he had to admit that after having made up with Ron, he felt much better.
Sunday morning, the entire Gryffindor House was late rising, as they had all been up very late the night before. Harry and Ron entered the Great Hall together, along with Dean, Seamus and Neville “ Hermione came running up to them with the Daily Prophet, looking scared.
“What’s wrong, Hermione?” Ron asked.
She showed him the paper.
Midnight Mass Muggle Killings, 39 Dead in London
“What, now they’re just killing Muggles for fun?” Harry asked, shocked.
Hermione nodded.
“The Dark Mark was left over all the homes of the victims “ the murdered whole families...” she was on the verge of tears.
“Hermione...” Ron started, looking worried. “Your parents... did you write them to see they’re alright?”
“Yes...they’re fine. The murders weren’t really anywhere near them, but they’re scared.”
“What’s the Muggle news saying happened?” asked Dean.
“The Ministry of Magic sent officials to the crime scenes straight away “ they got rid of the Dark Marks. But the Muggle communities are still suspicious, so many deaths in one night, no signs of forced entry to the houses, the bodies don’t show any sign of murder, whole families killed. They think it’s gang-related, it’s the only explanation they can come up with.”
Everyone was quiet for a minute, then Hermione spoke again.
“That’s not all...”
“What else could have possibly happened?” Harry asked.
“There was another story about the investigation into the Ministry of Magic attack from two weeks ago. They’ve ruled our Polyjuice Potion as an option for the Death Eater who disguised himself as Kingsley... apparently since he’s bald it would have been really difficult to get anything off him easily, and he hadn’t had any close contact with anyone before the attack “ he’d been busy with Ministry business. So they’re starting to think it was a Methamorphamagus “ probably unregistered, but they’re interrogating all registered ones anyway.”
“Tonks...”
“Yeah...”
“It took them two weeks to come up with that?” asked Ron skeptically.
“No, Ronald. It just took them two weeks to release the information to the press “ the Ministry doesn’t want the Death Eaters knowing how much information they have,” Hermione stated as though it were obvious. Ron merely glared at her.
Despite the seriousness of the situation at hand, Harry couldn’t help but grin at the fact that Hermione had used Ron’s full name. Just then, Draco Malfoy came strutting up to the group.
“Hey there, Scarhead “ seen Bell lately?”
“What’s it to you, Malfoy?”
“I was just curious “ last time I saw her, she was headed out into the grounds with Weasel’s little sister...that was a couple of hours ago.”
Harry felt his stomach turn over; Malfoy had a malicious glint in his eye.
“What do you know, Malfoy?”
“You know Potter “ you made a mistake when you didn’t agree to meet me for that one-on-one Quidditch...”
“What have you done with Katie and Ginny?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Potter.”
He walked off, Harry glaring after him.
“What’s Malfoy playing at?” Dean asked, clearly worried about Ginny.
Harry looked nervously at Ron and Hermione.
“You don’t think... Bellatrix and Lucius?”
Just then an eagle owl landed lightly next to Harry, a piece of rolled up parchment was tied to it’s leg. Harry tore it off, frantically, and began to read out loud.
“Show up at midnight tonight on the far east side of the grounds, where the lake meets the forest, if you want them back alive. If Dumbledore finds out, you’ll never see them again.”