Sorry, a bit tarry again. Thank you for the reviews, favourites and follows!
CHAPTER FOUR: Disappearances
"We need to think about this,"Nymphadora told her friends. Bradley, Gemini and Beverley were all with her. Tracey had, to her great annoyance, been sent back to the Gryffindor common room.
"We need to think about not doing this,"Bradley argued.
Nymphadora ignored him. "If Nave's still in the castle, he must be hiding."
"A secret passage then?"Beverley asked.
Nymphadora nodded. "That would be my guess."
"But what then?"Gemini wondered. "I mean, is he going to try and kill Uncle Harry again?"
"Dad's out of the castle at the moment,"Nymphadora pointed out.
"Maybe Nave's trying to get out of the castle,"Bradley suggested.
"But the grounds will be patrolled. I can't see him getting very far." Nymphadora thought hard. "He was last seen near the DADA room. So he must have had a hiding place near there. Come on!"
Tracey sat down sulkily in the middle of the common room, folding her arms. "It's not fair,"she declared loudly to anyone within earshot.
Maxwell took the bait. "What's not fair?"
"They get to do all the fun stuff just because they're older. Auntie Dora sent me away up here."
"What fun stuff?"
"Going after that Philip, the one that attacked Grandad."
Maxwell was piecing together what she was saying and wasn't liking it. "Dora and the others are going after the boy that attacked Professor Potter?" Tracey nodded. Maxwell looked around the common room and picked out one of his fellow third years. "Nigel, keep an eye on her. Make sure she doesn't go anywhere alone." He dashed out the portal.
"Great,"Tracey complained. "Another older one who gets to have fun."
Nymphadora checked the wall of the corridor just outside the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom. "So, he must have gone through here somewhere,"she declared, more to convince herself than anyone else.
"Is there a spell to walk through walls?"Beverley asked.
"Probably. But he'd need to have somewhere to walk to."
"Well, maybe you should be looking for a loose stone or something."
"Why?"Gemini asked.
"I don't know. That's how people usually find secret passages, isn't it?"
"Could try blasting the wall?"Bradley suggested.
"We could,"Nymphadora agreed,"if we wanted to bring the whole castle down on us."
"Well, you suggest something then,"Bradley retorted grumpily.
Nymphadora thought for a moment then raised her wand. "Alohomora!" To everyone's astonishment, a door swung open.
Nymphadora led the way down the passage. Not a hundred yards down, they found Philip. "No, I'm not ready yet!"he shouted. "Impedimenta!" He flung the spell at them and they dived aside. Then Philip was gone down the passage with the rest of them in pursuit.
Harry, Hermione, James, Neville and Ernie were all in Ron's office at the ministry. "The Aurors did get reports of an Unforgivable Curse being used at Hogwarts,"Ron confirmed. "They were on the verge of sending you a memo asking you to investigate it."
"Looks like we can save you the trouble,"Neville remarked.
Ron looked at Harry. "Nothing happened to provoke this boy?"
"Nothing,"Harry verified. "The lesson was going normally. Philip hadn't spoken until I asked for a volunteer to demonstrate duelling. Then he seemed to get more and more aggressive."
"Nothing's happened between you in the past?"Ron checked.
"I barely taught him last year,"Harry answered.
"Could what happened last year, the civil war, be something to do with it?"Ernie asked.
"I'll ask Parvati if we received any letters of support from his family,"Ron noted,"but I don't recall the name Nave."
"Maybe we should concentrate on finding him before we find out why he did it,"James suggested. "I'm not sure if we need to involve the whole Order in this but I'll put the word out to a few trusted people."
"I'm surprised we need to do even that,"Hermione noted. "I don't know of a second year who could move around Hogwarts this freely since…"
"Us?"Harry suggested with a smile.
At that moment, a horse-shaped patronus came galloping into the office. "It's Angela's,"Ernie realised.
The voice of Ernie's wife, the Hogwarts flying instructor, came out of the patronus' mouth. "Nave has been detected trying to leave the castle. Other students are pursuing him."
"Dora?"Hermione wondered.
"Dora,"Harry agreed. They raced out, Ron, Neville and Ernie just behind.
"I'll get Rose and Scorpius and then follow you!"James called.
Nymphadora led the way out of the tunnel and saw Philip standing in the middle of the field outside Hogwarts. There were a few other students scattered around, all of them watching in astonishment as he made a complex series of wand movements. "Temporus!"he bellowed and a bright yellow glow surrounded him, almost hiding him from view.
Everyone stopped running except Nymphadora. She just kept on going, racing straight into the mysterious haze. When he realised she wasn't stopping, Bradley started running too. Beverley and Gemini made to follow but Maxwell appeared and stood in front of them. "Wait! We don't know what that is!"
Harry, Hermione, Ron, Neville and Ernie, who had apparated just outside the Hogwarts grounds, came running towards them. "Dora, all of you, get back!"Harry shouted. But he was too late.
There was a blinding flash, and then Philip, Nymphadora and Bradley were all gone.
Nymphadora found herself lying on her back in the grass, staring upwards. She looked round and caught sight of Bradley lying next to her. "Are you all right?"she asked.
He nodded. "I think so."
"Any sign of Philip?"
"Not from where I'm lying. But then I can't see much from where I'm lying."
"Perhaps we should try moving?"
"Yes, perhaps you should,"cut in another voice.
Nymphadora looked up and saw a rather unnerving-looking figure looming over them. His hair and robes were back and his expression was full of disapproval if not outright hostility. Most astonishing of all…she knew him. He was slightly younger than his portrait but still unmistakable. "Professor Snape?"
Snape raised an eyebrow. "You have me at a disadvantage, young lady. You appear to know me but I have no idea how you are." His eyes narrowed. "And I make it a point to know every students at Hogwarts. Despite your uniforms, I am certain that you are not among them."
Nymphadora struggled to her feet, helping Bradley up. "What year is this?"
Snape laughed. "What a curious question. Very well, I see no reason not to tell you. 1993."