Chapter 3
Anxieties
Disclaimer: Everything in Harry Potter universe belongs to J.K. Rowling. I got nothing out of this except for enjoyment.
"How are you doing, dears?" Emma asked.
It was almost nine o'clock in the evening, Harry and Hermione have just finished their Astronomy tests.
"I should pass, at least," Harry said. "There's no way that I am going to fail this one, even though I can't get a higher score."
He knew that he have answered most of the questions in the tests correctly, but he was slightly worried about his practical exam.
/Scene Break/
A few days after the 3rd of December, Harry and Hermione received a letter each.
It was from Strectoll.
Harry took out his letter and started to read.
Dear Mr Potter
Congratulations, you have been accepted to Strectoll Wizarding Academy.
Please find the letter that include the orientation date of this school in the envelope.
P.S: Touch the scroll in the envelope to get to Strectoll
Regards
Professor Forest Boady, Deputy Headmaster of Strectoll Wizarding Academy
Harry smiled sweetly at Hermione.
"I've got accepted, Harry," said Hermione.
"So did I," said Harry.
He pulled out the orientation dates from the envelope, and he discovered that it is going to be on the 7th of December, at half past nine in the morning.
/Scene Break/
Snape, meanwhile, was searching for other possible Wizarding schools, pity that he didn't manage to find Harry, as he did not manage to discover Strectoll, since it was listed as one of the least popular Wizarding schools in the whole world, as a result it would be very difficult to find it.
Meanwhile, Dumbledore started to scan the list of students enrolled in Hogwarts, and he discovered that things had gone just as he suspected, that Harry and Hermione's name had disappeared from the list, generally this would mean that they had been accepted into another school.
He sighed deeply.
Just then, Snape arrived.
"Any news about Harry?" asked Dumbledore.
"I have not managed to find him successfully," replied Snape.
Before Dumbledore could say anything else, an owl landed beside him, carrying the Daily Prophet.
He took the Daily Prophet from the owl's leg, unfolded it, and started to read.
Harry Potter 'Disappeared?'
A few weeks ago, Harry Potter, along with his friend, Hermione Granger, has disappeared from Hogwarts without a trace.
At the moment, no one has any explanation about where they are.
Harry was a crazy boy, indeed, from the snake incident that occurred a couple years ago, to the fact that he is competing in the Tri-Wizard Tournament, and then, his announcement of You-Know-Who's return.
The Headmaster of Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore, who had been dismissed as the Chief Warlock of Wizengamot, and the Supreme Mugwump of Intenational Confederation of Wizards, still believed the lies that Harry Potter had told him, that You-Know-Who's returned.
Harry Potter must have snapped, and he disappeared without a trace. Dumbledore must have placed too many pressures on Harry to believe You-Know-Who's return.
Harry had also made an excuse that he used magic outside Hogwarts for defending himself against Dementors. He might have been making it up that there were Dementors.
Albus Dumbledore put down the Daily Prophet absent-mindedly, and he looked up.
"Forget about him, Dumbledore!" Snape snarled. "Didn't you see what the Daily Prophet said about him?"
"I know," said Dumbledore.
"Then why don't you just forget about him?" asked Snape.
"If I just forget about his disappearance, who is going to be defeating Voldemort?" asked Dumbledore. "What if it is too late for the Minister to take actions as soon as he is convinced about Voldemort's return?"
Snape pondered Dumbledore's questions in his head for a moment, he didn't know what to do, he didn't know whether he should stand at Dumbledore's side and worry about the state that the Wizarding world is in right now, and do what he could, or act as if nothing had happened. To him, the disappearance of Harry Potter had not been an issue.
"I understand, Headmaster, but searching for him would only be a waste of time," he said. "On one hand, how long do you reckon it would take for the Minister to believe the Dark Lord had returned? On the other hand, do you suppose that the Minister is going to look for Harry Potter after he admitted the Dark Lord's return? I think not, since I don't think he knows the prophecy regarding the Dark Lord and Harry Potter. If it is too late for the Ministry to take any actions, we will have to live with it."
Dumbledore sighed heavily, Snape's statement may be right at some point, but he was not going to settle this issue because of this, and he wondered if Snape was really going to turn to the dark side again if it was too late for the Ministry to take actions.
In spite of this, his priority was to get Harry back to Hogwarts, and it didn't really matter if the Minister had no idea about the prophecy.
"I assume you want to allow the Wizarding Britain to be turned into a Wizarding battlefield," he said.
"No, I don't think I would allow the Wizarding Britain to go into that state, but whatever happens to the Wizarding Britain is not in my control," said Snape. "You, on the other hand, are not in control of what happens to the Wizarding Britain. The fact that Harry Potter had gone to another school has nothing to do with you."
"Who is going to be defeating Voldemort?" asked Dumbledore, repeating what he said earlier.
Snape did not answer, instead, he gazed at Dumbledore.
"I don't want to discuss this matter any further, Severus," said Dumbledore disappointedly.
Snape got up and left.
/Scene Break/
The rest of the Order of the Phoenix was dismayed about Harry's departure from Britain. They had searched for him, but they didn't manage to find him. They did not understand why he had left, and where he is at the moment. He had not been leaving a letter informing the Wizarding Britain about his departure.
"What do you think, Arthur?" asked Molly.
"I would be surprised if Harry has gone from Hogwarts without a purpose," said Arthur.
"What kind of purpose do you think he has?" asked Molly.
Arthur pondered the question in his head for a while.
"According to the Daily Prophet, he has snapped," he said.
"And Hermione has gone too," said Molly. "This makes me wonder what relationship she and Harry is in. The Daily Prophet had said that Harry and Hermione were in a relationship last year."
"Maybe this would turn out to be true," said Arthur. "Surely they would be inseparable from now on."
Just then, Bill appeared.
"What are you two doing?" he asked.
Arthur and Molly turned their attention to Bill.
"We were just discussing about Harry," said Arthur.
"I hope you don't mind my saying so, but his vault is empty," said Bill.
Arthur and Molly gasped, if Harry's vault was empty, then it would mean that he had left Britain.
"That means he has left this country," said Arthur.
"Do you think we should report this to Dumbledore?" asked Molly.
"We should," said Arthur.
/Scene Break/
Voldemort looked at the Daily Prophet, and he laughed in a thrilling manner. He knew that this would be the perfect opportunity for him to take over the Wizarding world, since Harry had disappeared, and it would be good for him to seize his chance before the Ministry realise his return, and he simply couldn't wait to do it.
He started to read the Daily Prophet aloud to his followers, after he finished reading, the Death Eaters laughed.
"You know what this means, we can get the Minister of Magic into our hands," Voldemort said, putting the Daily Prophet down.
"Yeah," said Lucius blissfully. "Currently Fudge has chosen to not believe that you have returned, thus it is an ideal chance for us to act."
"We will take this opportunity to kidnap the Minister, and perhaps one of his bodyguards, and we will torture and kill the bodyguard in front of him," said Voldemort, nodding. "As soon as we get the Lestranges and the other Death Eaters out of Azkaban, we will act."
"Hooray!" the Death Eaters roared happily together.
Then they laughed and clapped, and Voldemort joined in.
"That will do," Voldemort said, after a few minutes later. "We shall make a surprising appearance in front of the Minister of Magic, and scare him, then we will stun him before he react."
"Or maybe we can use the Full Body Bind Curse on him," said Lucius.
"Maybe," Voldemort said, nodding.
The Death Eaters knew that there's no more to be said about this, since they knew what will happen after they had done all this. After the Minister had been killed, they will be able to take over the Ministry, and it will give them the opportunity to tyranny the Wizarding world, and possibly attack the Muggle world as well.
/Scene Break/
The students in Hogwarts each had different reactions to what the Daily Prophet said about Harry.
"I can't believe he has acted cowardly," said Fred.
"Why do you think he's a coward?" asked George.
"He has disappeared," said Fred.
"Umbridge has given him a lifelong ban of quidditch," George reminded Fred. "I am not surprised that he has left."
Just then, Ron appeared.
"I can't believe that the Daily Prophet had made Harry out to be crazy," he said in a low voice. "I am wondering how they would react if You-Know-Who takes over the Ministry."
"How do you feel about Harry's disappearance?" asked George.
"His disappearance really makes me go mad," said Ron. "Since Hermione had disappeared too, I really don't know how I am going to get through this year."
He put down the Daily Prophet, and sighed.
Harry and Hermione's disappearance from Hogwarts had a huge impact on him, at the moment, his marks are not really in a satisfactory standard. He didn't know if he is going to be able to pass his OWLs, and he didn't know what his parents will say if he failed it.
"You will get through this year, Ron," George said.
"Oh yeah! And fail my OWLs?" Ron said.
"Don't tell me that you have cheated your way through all those years, Ron," Fred said.
Ron fell silent.
To make matters even worse, Draco Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson sneered at him when they saw him doing his prefect duties, which made him feel angry, and annoyed.
In spite of all these things, he knew that he will be spending Christmas without Harry and Hermione, which means that this Christmas would not be as happy as the past few Christmas from the year he arrived at Hogwarts.
Lavender, along with Parvati, had a different reaction.
"Where do you think he is right now?" Lavender asked.
Parvati shook her head.
"I am wondering what method he had used to escape this place," Lavender went on.
Parvati shook her head again, apparantly she had absolutely no idea about this.
They walked along the corridor, and they met a few Ravenclaws and a few Hufflepuffs.
"Hi Parvati," said Ernie.
"Hi Ernie," Parvati said.
Before they could say anything else, Padma arrived, holding a copy of the Daily Prophet.
"I already read this once, and there's no need for me to read it again," Ernie said. "This is all about the snide remarks about Harry, and he had fled with Hermione, why would I want to read it? I knew it, Harry had been made out to be crazy."
/Scene Break/
Harry and Hermione arrived to Strectoll on the 7th of December.
"I know that you two would come," said Professor Boady.
He introduced Harry and Hermione to the Headmaster, Professor Gail Albany.
"Potter, I want to know how you feel about Hogwarts," Professor Albany said.
For over half an hour, Harry told Professor Albany about his adventure at Hogwarts, and everything that had happened to him while he was there.
As soon as he finished, Professor Albany's expression was void.
"Incredible," he said. "We would never have allowed biased teachers to teach here. What on earth is Albus thinking?"
"Tolerance of biased staff members are just not acceptable, it would be so unfair," said Professor Boady. "How would students be educated properly if staff members are baised, favoring their own house over others? This is clearly not education, but rather of how to give students of their own house comfort while treating students from other houses despicibly. One side would be terrified and the other side would be fearless, that would cause one side to become pampered."
"Such things like this will never happen in our school," said Professor Albany. "Having teachers docking points for no proper reason is just not acceptable, nor is favoring one student over the other counted as acceptable, additionally, having a caretaker who hated the students is not acceptable either. What's the point of keeping a caretaker in a school who doesn't show respect to the students?"
Harry and Hermione nodded in agreement.
"In our school, we organise students into teams," said Professor Albany. "We have six teams."
"There're only two common rooms, one is for team one to three, the other is for team four to six," added Professor Boady.
Harry and Hermione turned to face each other, they smiled.
"You know what that means, Harry?" said Hermione. "We can meet the students from other teams."
"I can't wait to see them," said Harry.
Professor Boady smiled, he was pleased about Harry's sincerety for wanting to study here, he was delighted to have two new students coming into this school on the following year.
"You both will receive your school term information in five days time, and you both will receive a team badge," said Professor Albany. "Since I know that you two are friends, we will put you both into the same team."
Harry and Hermione grinned at each other, they knew that things are going to change for them real soon, and they couldn't wait for it to happen.
"That's so sweet, Harry," said Hermione a moment later, putting her arm around him.
Then Professor Albany handed Harry and Hermione a form each.
"Fill it in," he said.
It took about fifteen minutes for Harry and Hermione to fill in their forms, after they filled it in, they handed it back to Professor Albany.