Chapter 10

I laughed as Regulus lifted his arm and I spun underneath. We had been dancing for about an hour non-stop and I was having so much fun with Regulus. "So the marauders actually tried to write a book about girls?" I asked with a giggle. Regulus had been telling me an amusing story about this book his dad sent him recently.

"Yeah, it's a laugh but Sirius does say a few pretty awful things." He replied.

"I did hear he was a major player when he was our age." I commented.

"Remus kept scolding him though." He grinned.

"I can so imagine Remus doing that." I laughed as I pictures Remus giving Sirius a talking to on how to properly treat women.

Regulus lead me over to one of the tables and we sat down to rest. "I'll go get us some drinks." He said as he stood up and left to find the drinks table in the sea of dancing teens. Suddenly something came over me. I felt an overpowering urge to leave the hall. Before I could even register what was going on I was on my feet and heading for the exit. It didn't understand what was happening but I really wanted to go for some reason.

It was then that I finally realized that I was under a powerful compulsion charm. But who would to that? I quickly took off the necklace I was wearing and dropped it on my way out. Hopefully someone would find it and realize something was wrong. All I saw when I had finally cleared the Great Hall was the red light of a stunning spell heading strait for me. It hit me before I could react and I immediately lost consciousness.

...

Regulus' POV

I finally made it to the table that Annie had been sitting at but when I got there I saw she was gone. I placed the butter beers on the table before scanning the great hall for any sign of her. I could see little through the big crowd but I was almost positive that Annie was no longer in the hall. Something felt off.

I spotted Teddy, Victoire and Hattie standing to the side of the dance floor, chatting idly. I hurriedly made my way over and they all immediately stopped talking as they caught sight of the look on my face. "What's the matter?" Ted asked with a concerned frown.

"I can't find Joanne anywhere." I explained as I finally reached the group.

"She probably just went to the bathroom or something." Victoire told me easily.

"Without telling me first?" I challenged.

"Calm down," Vicky said with an amused smile, "I know you like her but she doesn't have to tell you every time she needs to use the loo."

"I suppose your right." I relented but the worry never left me. "I just have a bad feeling, you know?"

"I'm sure she's fine, Regulus." Hattie told me.

"Hey guys. What's wrong?" Tomas asked as he walked over to our group with a few drinks in hand.

"Have you seen Annie?" I asked quickly.

"Oh, I saw her heading out the hall a little while ago," was his confused reply. "Why? Is something wrong?"

"Did she say where she was going?" I questioned.

"No. She just walked right past me. What's going on?" He said.

"Regulus is getting worked up over nothing is what's going on." Victoire told him with a huff.

"I have a really bad feeling." I tried to explain.

"Fine." Teddy sighed. "Let's just go see if we can find her. It probably won't take long."

"Great! Let's go." I said before leading them towards the exit.

"Hey, what's this?" Tomas asked as he lent down to pick something off the floor. It was a necklace with a small silver pendant in the shape of a pegasus. I recognized it instantly along with both the girls.

"That's the necklace Joanne was wearing!" Victoire exclaimed.

"But what was it doing on the floor?" Teddy asked.

"See! I told you something wasn't right." I said worriedly as I eyed Joanne's necklace. "She must be in trouble."

"Lets not jump to conclusions," Teddy said but continued before I could protest. "However, we should probably see if everything's okay. Regulus could be right." The others nodded and we left the hall.

"You guys wait here; I'm going to go and get the map." Teddy said before running off towards Gryffindor tower.

"What map?" Hattie asked.

"Uncle Harry gave it to us at the start of our third year." I explained. "It's a map of the school that shows where everyone is. Our dads made it back when they were still in school."

After what seemed like much too long, Teddy came rushing back down the stairs with the map in his hand. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." I said as I tapped my wand to the piece of aged parchment. Hattie watched in wonder as ink flooded the parchment and Teddy and I unfolded it. It didn't take long for me to spot Annie's name. I filled with dread as I saw the name that belonged to the person with her.

...

Joanne's POV

I felt weak. It was as if a part of me were missing. It took me a few seconds to remember what had happened. I opened my eyes and pushed myself off the floor. I took in my surroundings and quickly realized that I was at the top of The Astronomy Tower. It did however, take me much longer to realize that I wasn't alone.

I immediately pulled the skirt of my dress up just enough to retrieve my wand from the inside of my right boot and pointed in directly at 'Professor' Dare. "How did you get out of the dungeon?" I snapped. In my fit or rage I was barely even thinking about how strange it was that he hadn't taken my wand away.

"Oh please," The former Muggle Studies teacher chuckled darkly. "You must have felt how powerful I was when you dueled me and you aren't the only one capable of wandless magic."

"Where's-" I began.

"Headmaster Vanheaten?" He finished for me. "That fool was never the one in charge. He was impulsive and stupid; always acting before thinking. No, I was always the one pulling the strings. But enough questions. You have knowledge I need."

"I'm not telling you anything!" I protested immediately, though I didn't know what he wanted me to tell him.

"You'll have too if you want your magic back." Dare smirked at me.

"What do you mean?" I asked, growing frustrated.

"I have bound your magic," he replied. "Try a spell if you don't believe me."

"Stupify!" I exclaimed but nothing happened. So it's true. That's why I've been feeling weak and incomplete. That also explains we he never took my wand off me.

"What have you done to me?!" I yelled.

"Impressive, isn't it?" He sneered. "I came across it in a very ancient library. It's a spell that can create a block to ones magic. It's almost unbreakable." This is really bad.

"I'm still telling you nothing." I insisted.

"Now, now, let's not be hasty." Dare said. "Hear me out first. I want to know where the potion that made the founders so powerful is and I know that you know."

"How do you know about that?!"

"I have my ways." He said cryptically. "Now, where is it?"

"I destroyed it." I told him with a smirk as I crossed my arms. I knew it was a good decision to smash that bottle when I found the potion in the cave with the note. He let out a yell of frustration before releasing a spell from an obviously stollen wand that slammed me into the wall. I fell to the ground in pain. I tried to push myself up but it was too much for my battered body and I fell back down.

"You're lying!" He yelled. "Where is it?!"

Suddenly Regulus, Victoire, Teddy, Tomas and Hattie rushed into the tower. They all had their wands pointed strait at Dare. I almost sighed in relief but I knew Dare was powerful; I hope they can handle him.

Regulus ran right over to me while the others started to fight Dare. "Are you alright?" He asked me worriedly.

"Great," I winced as I carefully moved into a sitting position. I looked over to the duel and saw that Dare didn't seem too concerned with his five teenage opponents. "Go help the others, I'll be fine here." He nodded reluctantly and joined the duel.

With Regulus' help, Dare was finally starting to be driven back. He growled in frustration as someone finally disarmed him. He ran over to me, grabbed my hair (which had fallen out of the neat hair style) and dragged me over to the edge of the tower. "One move and she takes a tumble." He warned.

"Let her go!" Teddy and Regulus both yelled.

"You wouldn't kill me," I said. "I have information you need." He sharply tugged on my hair and I cried out in pain.

"I'll find the damn potion myself. You're not worth the effort." He said viciously before pushing me off the tower and turning into black smoke. I managed to grab hold of the edge as he flew away but he saw this and came at me suddenly, making me slip. The black smoke left while I fell.

I let out a small scream as the ground rushed towards me. Just before I reached the ground I started slowing down and landed gently on the soft ground. A cushioning charm had been placed around the bottom of the tower for safety reasons but it appears that Dare didn't know that. It's not really common knowledge unless you've read Hogwarts: A History. My friends peered over the edge of the tower and I waved at them to show I was okay.

After about five minutes, they finally reached me after running through Hogwarts to get to where I was. "Are you alright?!" Victoire asked immediately.

"Yeah, I'm okay," I reassured her. "There's always been a cushioning charm at the bottom of the astronomy tower." I paused for a second before adding, "My hair is definitely ruined though." They laughed weakly as Regulus picked me up bridal style.

"Let's go to the hospital wing." He said as we started going back inside.

"So what happened?" Hattie asked as we walked. I quickly explained the founders secret and the potion before telling them what happened in the tower.

"So we're good then? The potion was destroyed?" Victoire clarified.

"Yes the potion way destroyed." I confirmed.

"Potion or no potion, Dare is still dangerous." Tomas argued.

"He's right. We need to find him as soon as possible. He...He put some kind of block on my magic while I was unconscious." I told them.

"What?!" Regulus asked in alarm. "Do you know how to reverse it?"

"I'm not that worried, there's probably something in the Ravenclaw Library that will help." I said.

...

After we had been to the hospital wing and I had been checked over and healed, we headed strait for the Common room so we could get into the Library. It didn't take long for us to get there and I put my hand on the correct section of wall. Nothing happened.

I withdrew and tried a second time but again there was no result. "It's not opening!" I shrieked. Now I was starting to get a little worried.

"Maybe it used your magic to see if you were a descendant of Ravenclaw. That must have been how it identified you before." Hattie said grimly.

"Are you saying I can't get into the Ravenclaw Library until I have my magic back, which I can only get back if I can get into the Ravenclaw Library?" I asked in alarm. Now I was full on panicking.

"I'm afraid I think that's the case." She sighed.

"So I'm never going to get my magic back?!"

"Of course you will!" Regulus protested reassuringly.

"Yeah," Teddy agreed. "Don't worry, Annie. We'll find a way."

...

Hello readers. I know it's been almost a month and I am sooooo sorry! Please, please forgive me. I just never found the time to write. I'll try and have the next chapter up within two weeks.

Originally I was going to have everything resolved by the end of the confrontation in this chapter but it just kind of ended up this way. I guess this story is going to be longer than I thought it would be.

Review Replies:

PrincessWilla101: Oh lol. Thanks for reviewing!

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Guest: There it is ^ . Sorry it took so long.

In other news, one of the main reasons I haven't been updating is that I've been working on a new story that I will start posting when I post the last chapter of this one. If you're interested in finding out more about that then check the bottom of my profile for more info!