I hope you like this little short one-shot that wouldn't stop bugging me. :P
Sorry if I got anything wrong about British schools and schools in general….
Summary: Brenda Anne Macaulay always wondered why kids all around Britain at the age of 11 suddenly disappeared. But what happens when she comes across somebody she remembered from her class all those years ago who left too?
Word Count: 1,050
Disclaimer: Not living in Britain + Not British + Me = Not J. K. Rowling
Brenda Anne Macaulay prided herself in her job.
Currently, though, she hated herself for choosing it in the first place. British schools were confusing in the first place, and she never liked school as a child, yet here she is, working in the school business.
Her colleagues never seemed to care or notice, but Brenda did. She was relatively new to the school board, and she didn't understand a lot of the things they did, but this was not an option. Truthfully, it was her son who noticed the disappearances first. One year there was 24 students, the next, 4 were missing without a trace. Police records still say for them to be alive, yet their school records stop when they reach the age of 11.
Brenda worked to make sure that every student got the standardized level of education, yet hundreds of kids around the age of 11 are soon gone from the school records. She knew that none of them were being kidnapped, or else at least one of their parents would have filed a missing child report. And the possibility of them going to another school was not on her list because there was no mention of any school transfers.
Apparently, this was happening around the country, with no explanation why. Several of the kids families enrolled their children in private schools or had teachers come and homeschool them. But these families weren't mentioned in any police or medical files either. Well, at least one parent wasn't, yet there were some with both parents who weren't known to the British society until Brenda Anne Macaulay decided to do some not-very-stalkerish researching.
But there was still the fact that there were perfectly normal families with perfectly normal 11 year old kids (maybe with a slight inclination to do some weird-magical-things at school) are suddenly missing their children. Brenda's workmates kept saying that it was always like this for as long as anybody ever cared to keep track of where kids get their education and that they probably had done an international exchange-of-students. But Brenda knew better.
Even if they did a student exchange, they should have records of this all, and there was far too many kids around the same age level and far too coincidental to be that way. The lasting question still stood though-why? Why would they stop coming to school? At the age of 11 no less, with barely any knowledge of the outside world, their parents should know better than to let them stop. Unless they all were run-aways. Then again, their parents would have sent in missing children reports to the police.
Brenda ran a hand through her hair, and huffed in annoyance. Deciding to get some coffee to think this over with, she stood from her desk and walked out. The walk to the coffee shop was brisk and refreshing. Quickly paying for her warm drink, she turned back to her office.
It was strange. Even in the records, kids at the age of 11 have disappeared from schools, yet nobody even bothered to search for them. After they disappeared, there weren't any more sightings of any of the kids. It was as if they were wiped off the face of the Earth.
So lost in her thoughts, Brenda didn't notice that she bumped into somebody until she felt steaming hot coffee burn on her blouse. She quickly apologized to whoever she bumped into, but stopped short when she actually recognized the face. He was tall, but then again, everybody was when compared with Brenda. His long cloak brushed the floor, and his white (now with a strangely familiar brown stain) dress shirt was tucked in messily into his dark slacks. He had a messy, unkempt mop of black hair on top of his head. He seemed to be around the age of 30 or 40, until you looked into his eyes. Behind large circular frames of his glasses, startlingly emerald green eyes stared back at her. He began to apologize profusely about not paying attention until Brenda cut him short.
"Harry? Harry Potter?" Suddenly he froze.
His brow furrowed in response, "Do I know you?" He said cautiously.
Brenda's face brightened considerably, mentally priding herself that she remembered. "Brenda. Brenda Anne Macaulay. We used to go to school together."
Harry's frown only became deeper until a wave of understanding passed across his face. "Oh, well, yeah. Blimey, it's been a while hasn't it?" Harry rubbed the back of his neck shyly.
Brenda only smiled. It was then that she realized that Harry was one of those kids. One of the many who disappeared at the age of 11. She was the only one in the class who actually noticed that Harry was gone. He simply blended in so much that even when she asked her other classmates, they hadn't a clue as to who Harry Potter was.
"Where did you go?" The question visibly threw Harry off guard. Brenda could practically hear the gears in his head trying to think of what to say. Suddenly looked down to his noticeably bare wrist, pretending to check the time and rushed out a quick, 'I have to go, bye.'
Brenda reached out a hand to at least help him with the stain on his shirt, but before she knew it, Harry was gone just like when they were 11.
Brenda walked back to her office building, empty coffee cup in tow. On the outside, she seemed calm, yet her mind was racing. Moments before she could even touch the handle though, she was harshly pulled back into a nearby alley. She struggled to get away, but the grip was too strong. Brenda could only see a shadow of her kidnapper, and heard him mutter a short 'sorry'. At this she frowned, why would he be sorry? Her thoughts were suddenly ceased when her capturer pulled out a stick and held it out in a threatening position.
'Why would somebody carry around a stick in their pocket?' Brenda's eyes widened when the light caught on one of the circular lens of the man. Glasses that looked suspiciously similar to Harry Potter's.
Brenda's eyes rolled in the back of her head, and she knew no more after her capturer said a clear,
"Obliviate."
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