It was a solemn group that gathered in Hermione's classroom the next day. Remus allowed his gaze to rest upon every single one of them as they dropped in. All of them showed traces of shock at the two incidents that had happened the day before; Toby's memory-loss and Sandra being affected by the rashes. Of course they had all been devastated at the previous victims of the rashes, but this was someone in their own group, someone that they were all close to.
However, Remus did note that two new students headed in to the classroom, together with Brooklyn. What surprised him even more was that these two were Slytherins; Kylie Forbes and Jacob Laurent.
"They were there when they found Sandra", Rujuta mumbled as she saw the confused looks of her two colleagues. Remus nodded and watched as the door closed and locked itself. Slowly he then rose from his chair and walked over to the chalkboard.
"I think that we can all agree on that we have to find an explanation for these rashes", he said and picked up a piece of chalk. He always felt more comfortable writing things by hand, especially in this small group of people.
"Madame Pomfrey assigned us that task when Benvolio Interrante was affected by them at the beginning of the term", Hermione explained to the students. "So far we have been unable to come up with any cause or how they can be cured. In the case of Benvolio Interrante they disappeared within a couple of weeks and he was back to normal."
"Do you think that's what's going to happen to Sandra?" Rebecca asked. Remus hesitated, his back still turned towards the students as he was writing things on the board. In the corner of his eyes he saw Hermione and Rujuta exchange glances.
"I have a different theory", Remus eventually said. "I know that this might sound farfetched, but I think that our group has caught the eye of whoever is causing this. That this group has become a target."
"We have no proof", Hermione hurriedly said. "It's just a theory. Remus' theory."
The final sentence was just to point out that she did not agree with him. They rarely did agree on such matters; Hermione wanted to base everything on facts and what was already written down in books while Remus... well, he thought outside the box.
"The thing is that this all started yesterday while everyone was at the game, except for Toby Sinistra and myself, among several others", he explained. "Toby seems to have been visiting his relative's office during that time..."
"Yes, he usually does", Hazel said. "I usually come with him. Professor Sinistra allows us to stay there since we are not too fond of Quidditch."
"I see", Remus said with a nod. "Well, then we have an explanation as to why he was there."
He backed away from the board, allowing the others to see what he had written.
"While he was there, however, he found a list containing these five words", he said and pointed at the list at the right side of the board. "He brought this to me and right before falling unconscious in my office he uttered three more words."
This time he pointed at the list on the left side of the board. Sinistra. Firenze. War. Rashes. Wail. Silence. Age. Darkness. Both students and adults in the room frowned at the white letters.
"I believe that these five", Remus said and pointed at the list on the right, "these five are a guide to what's going to happen. We've already seen the breakout of the rashes..."
He underlined the word as he spoke.
"There has also been a wail, which was followed by silence", he continued and underlined those two words as well. "Which leaves the last two on that list as things yet to come."
"What about the three words Toby said?" Nick asked.
"I believe Toby found other notes about this up in Sinistra's office as well, but was unable to bring them with him", Remus said.
"So he found something that has to do with Sinistra, Firenze and a possible war", Taimoor said with a slight frown.
"That's how I would see it, but it's impossible to tell without asking Professor Sinistra about it", Remus answered.
"Well, that's easy, right?" Brooklyn said. "We just head up to her office, knock on the door and ask her about it. She must be worried about Toby's wellbeing as well."
"We have already tried that", Rujuta said. "Her office is locked and we cannot detect anyone inside. Also no one has seen her since the game yesterday."
"Professor Sinistra's disappeared?" Natasha asked, her eyes wide.
"There may be a logical explanation to it all", Remus pointed out. "But so far things are not looking good."
As he paused he saw Nick exchange glances with the new Slytherin, Jacob.
"Do you two know something?" Remus asked. Nick jumped in surprise.
"Well, yesterday when we found Sandra... we found something else as well", he answered and reached into his pocket. He then pulled out an object wrapped in a handkerchief, which he in turn handed to Rujuta, the closest of the adults. As the auror unwrapped the package a silver ring appeared. It looked simple enough, without gems or intricate details, except for three letters engraved on the outer side.
"JLW", Rujuta said.
"We found it after you left with Sandra", Jacob explained. "Nick thought that it might belong to whoever was responsible for this."
"Are there any students with those initials?" Natasha asked.
"I can't name anyone right now", Remus admitted, frowning at the object. "Hermione?"
"No, sorry", the younger witch answered and shook her head, sending a couple of stray curls flying around her head as they had escaped from her pony-tail. Remus studied the ring for a while longer before he turned back towards the chalkboard and wrote the letters in the centre of it, encircling them once he was done.
"We need to find out if there are any students with these initials", he said. "That would be something you could all do. We also need people to look up more information on possible previous cases like this. There might be some information in the restricted section of the library."
"I could do that", Hazel said.
"I'll help", Natasha filled in.
"We also need people to keep an eye out for Professor Sinistra, or anything that has to do with her", Rujuta pointed out.
"Wait, we do not know if this is something we have to do", Hermione protested. "There might be a logical explanation to all of this."
"Hermione, there's a time for logic and a time for action", Remus said. "I believe you of all people know that."
Hermione glared at him, but slumped back in her chair and did not oppose the plan any more.
"Well, who would be able to keep an eye out for Aurora Sinistra?" Remus then asked. Taimoor and Brooklyn looked at one another and nodded in unison.
"We can do that", Taimoor said. "People never notice when I sneak around the castle, and Brooklyn's pretty badass at escaping as well."
There was a slight giggle at Taimoor's choice of words.
"That leaves one last task", Remus said as he scribbled down the names of the volunteering students. "Both Sinistra and Firenze would most likely have deciphered these things from observing the stars. Are any of you good at that?"
"I'm not terrible at it", Rebecca quietly admitted.
"Come on, you were probably the only one in our grade to get an O on our OWLs in Astronomy!" Nick exclaimed, causing Rebecca to blush.
"I can help as well", Jacob Laurent volunteered. "And Kylie, I think."
Kylie looked confused for a moment, before she nodded.
"What, that leaves me without a task!" Nick said and pouted.
"You could help investigate Sinistra's disappearance", Brooklyn suggested. Nick immediately grinned.
"Of course! I am, after all, the master investigator!"
At that several of the other students groaned and rolled their eyes at the Hufflepuff-student, but all in all they seemed satisfied with their assigned tasks and started to leave the classroom. As he walked out together with Rujuta, Remus stopped the Auror when they were about to part ways.
"Hey, congratulations", he said with a soft smile. "Sirius told me."
"Thank you, Remus", Rujuta said with a happy smile of her own and flashed the simple ring on her left hand. "I could not believe it when he asked me."
"I could not believe it when he told me", Remus admitted. "But nevertheless, here you both are. I'm happy for you."
Rujuta smiled broadly before she said goodnight and hurried off to her assigned quarters, where Sirius was certainly waiting for her. Remus walked off in the opposite direction, aiming for his office. At this time the halls were basically deserted, except for the occasional ghost floating through a wall in front of him. He still remembered how shocked he had been at the sight when he had been a first-year student at the school, but now he barely even noticed it.
Upon reaching the door to his office he pulled out his wand in order to remove the various charms he always placed on it when he left. While doing that he felt the hairs on his arms stand on edge and looked around. There were no ghosts around, not visible ones anyway.
"Hello?" he said and turned to be able to face whoever it was. "Is someone there?"
The corridor remained deserted and silent. Too silent for his own liking. He shivered slightly and turned towards the door again, removing the final charm.
In that moment he felt as if someone had tossed him into the freezing waters of the lake outside. His lungs refused to function and he clutched at his chest and throat as he tried to get some air. The notes he had brought with him from Hermione's classroom tumbled to the floor. Eventually his legs gave away and he fell down onto the cold stone as well.
The next moment, it all disappeared and he rose, gathered his things from the floor, shivered one last time and then headed inside his office.
If a student or ghost or even another teacher had passed by while all this occurred they would not, however, had seen what had happened. They would have seen the Professor in Defence Against the Dark Arts unlock the door to his office and head inside. Only if they had come closer, if they had stopped to talk to him before he headed inside, they might have noticed the oddity with his eyes.
The eyes that were previously green but by now had turned brown.