Getting back into the grove of the school year wasn't too hard for the four of them, although Ron struggled the most when it came to focusing on his work. Their progress through the year was growing immensely, and at the moment Gryffindor and Slytherin were tied for the most house points, with Ravenclaw in third and Hufflepuff in last. Harry had his ups and downs as Seaker, but mainly he had his ups. Everyone knew he was young, and at the rate of success he was having, everyone knew he could very well become one of the best Seakers to ever attend Hogwarts. Hermione was, as expected, top of her year with Michael just behind her, and the four friends were forgetting about the kidnapping incident that had them so riled up over the holiday break, and living normal lives.
The four friends were just arriving at their Defense Against the Dark Arts class when Professor McGonagall exiting the room, closing the door shut behind her. "Your class today has been cancelled. As for why, I cannot tell you, so do not bother asking. All of you please return to your dormitories immediately." She waved the students off, and they turned around and headed back towards the common room.
Hermione was the first to comment. "Don't you think that was a bit… odd?" She had her arms wrapped around her books, carrying them against her chest.
Michael did think that was a bit out of place, but he wasn't sure he was ready to go as far as believing there was more to it than Professor Quirll having some type of personal issue. In any case, the others were still talking about the issue, Ron expressing his deep gratitude to the professor for cancelling the class, while Harry was agreeing with Hermione. "Even if he hadn't been well enough to teach, there would have been a replacement. Most likely that being Snape, since he's been after Quirll's job for years now. I have to agree with Hermione, something doesn't feel right. Maybe he was kidnapped too!" They all played it out in their minds, and each scenario all occurred at Hogwarts, which was cause for worry.
Michael broke the silence. "If Quirll was kidnapped, and I'm not saying he was, that would mean that the kidnapper had penetrated through Hogwarts safeguards, which would mean that he either learned a secret into getting in, or he found a way around the safeguards. Either way, it wouldn't be good for anyone in the school." They reached the portrait and Ron said the password, the Fat Lady swung open and the four of them entered the common room to find all the students crowded around Percy, who was announcing something. They all got closer to hear what he was saying.
"Now everybody quiet down! This comes straight from Dumbledore so I suggest you all shut up and listen to me! Thank you, now: as per his request, all students are to remain here in the common room for the remainder of the day. As to what is going on, I have no clue so do not ask me because no one has told me anything. If any of you go wandering around the corridors, you'll be given detention and you will cause Gryffindor to lose a hundred points for each offender." Once he was finished the crowd of Gryffindor's dispersed and the four of them were left pondering the news. Something certainly wasn't right, and it wasn't because Professor Quirll was ill. Harry pulled the four of them over to a corner where no one was, because everyone was preoccupied with Fred and George's new inventions as they were showing them off to everybody, and he started to devise a plan of action. "I'm not sure if this is a good idea, but I think it's time we put my dad's old cloak to use. But I don't think we are all going to fit underneath it, maybe three but I don't think four is gonna work." Hermione agreed to stay behind and make sure no one went asking questions or looking for the others, her wits and quick-thinking were the best in the group, so it only made sense to leave her behind to take care of any curious people. As for the boys, they followed Harry upstairs into his room and grabbed his invisibility cloak, then wrapped it up and over the three of them. To their surprise, it was more than large enough to cover all of them, and then they made their way down the steps. Hermione was waiting patiently at the bottom, and Harry whispered into her ear that they were behind her, and then she began to move towards the portrait, making sure that they had a clear path to the door so no one went bumping into them. They managed to make it to the portrait, and then Harry pushed it open just enough for them to squeeze through without having anyone notice it open.
"Well, let's hope this isn't some wild goose chase." Harry whispered, and then they made their way back to Professor Quirll's classroom, assuming that the professors were searching it. They turned down a corridor just before the classroom before they heard footsteps; Michael put his arm out in front of the other boys and pushed them back against the wall. Dumbledore was walking next to Snape on his right, with Professor McGonagall on his left. Dumbledore was speaking at the moment, but they could make out the first part. "…know is that the kidnapper left a note." He stopped in the middle of the corridor, and turned around to face both the teachers. "He plans to kidnap another, and I must ask each of you to help me keep the students here at Hogwarts safe. Even the students you may not particularly care for." Snape looked up at him, and then lowered his head in agreement. Dumbledore turned around and continued walking, with the two professors' behind him. "We must increase the safeguards to the school, and as for his post, you, Severus, will be replacing him until he has returned." The Professor's turned at the end of the corridor, and disappeared.
They stood in their hidden spot for a few minutes, all of them baffled by what had just transpired. A million thoughts were racing through Michael's head, and he was sure that the others were feeling the same way. Why would someone kidnap Professor Quirll? He was probably the most harmless person who taught at Hogwarts, what could he possibly know? At last, Harry was the first to build up enough courage to speak, but only at a whisper. "We should head back now." And so they did. They walked down the corridor and turned right down another which the entrance to the staircases was now visible. They had just started moving toward the staircases when a hooded figure appeared standing under the archway of the entrance. He had been running, but stopped once he reached that entrance, and was peering down the corridor, as if he knew something was there but his eyes were fooling him. Ron slapped his hand over his mouth without making a sound so he didn't unintentionally scream from being scared out of his pants, and then Michael did the same. Harry grabbed both of them by their shirts and started to slowly move them behind a stone-gargoyle that stood against the wall. Ron and Michael moved back against the wall, still under the cloak, and Harry peered around the gargoyle to watch the hooded figure. He made sure that all of their bodies were under the invisibility cloak before he doubled his look back to the entrance, then Michael saw Harry's hand move above his mouth. Harry moved his body backwards without making a sound, and then the hooded figure appeared just in front of them, staring down the corridor searching for answers. The hooded figure stood there for what felt like a lifetime to Michael, and out of nowhere Ron bumped against the wall, making a faint but visible scrapping sound. The hooded figure snapped its head toward the direction where the noise came from, and then took a step towards them.
Harry took a silent step back, pushing his body against Ron and Michael. They were done for, and they knew it. There was no where they could go, they were trapped. The hooded figure took another step towards them, and this was close enough for Harry to make out the face under the hood. His eyes popped and his jaw dropped at who he saw, then they heard footsteps coming up the staircase and the hooded figure looked back towards the entrance, then took off, hovering down the corridor. Whoever was running up those stairs had just saved all of their lives, and they weren't even going to be able to thank them. They waited for the footsteps to continue up the staircase, and then made their way back to the common room.
They entered the common room to find Professor McGonagall taking a headcount of all the Gryffindor's in the room. They hurried to get to the staircase before any of their names were called. "Hermione Granger". Hermione raised her hand, and she had a worried look on her face. The boy's walked around the edges of the crowd until they finally made their way up the staircase and were able to remove the cloak. Harry ran into his room and put it back into his suitcase, then they made their way down to the common room. "Michael Morgan." Michael hurriedly raised his hand and the Professor looked over towards the staircase and then made a check on her list. They made their way to where Hermione was standing, who had a worried look on her face. "You're not going to believe what we just saw" Michael whispered and then they waited in silence for Professor McGonagall to finish. "All of you may exit the common room now, and continue with your usual activities" and then she left. Hermione grabbed Michael by the arm and dragged him over to a table in the corner of the common room, pulling him down into the couch surrounding it. Harry and Ron followed, peering over their shoulders just out of precaution. "What the hell happened? Something is terribly wrong here, or else McGonagall couldn't have done a headcount. What did you see?"
Michael explained the whole story: Dumbledore talking about the note, Snape being the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, extra precautions being made, and then they got to the hooded figure appear. After he told Hermione about Ron's mishap, she was about to speak when Harry interrupted. "I saw his face." Ron, Michael and Hermione all looked up at him with shock plastered all over their faces. "What do you mean you saw his face? Mate, he had a hood on in a dark corridor, I don't think you saw his face." Ron was clearly frightened from the events, and even more frightened that Harry saw what who was behind it all.
"It was Professor Quirll. He's the kidnapper." Harry sat down in an armchair next to the table and was staring down at his lap. They were all confused, worried, and scared. What could they possibly do with this information? No one would believe that a Hogwarts Professor was behind these atrocious kidnappings, and especially from a scared, stuttering teacher like Professor Quirll. They had no options, and they knew it. "What do we do? IS there even anything we can do?" Hermione asked. They continued to sit in silence, still having no clue where the Professor was keeping his kidnapped victims or how to get to them if they did know. Harry looked up to find all their faces looking to him for the answers. "I don't know."
The next few days were odd for the four of them. Everyone in Hogwarts was pretending as if nothing bad was happening, but they knew better. They knew there was trouble about to sweep Hogwarts clean from its safety, and they knew that if something didn't happen soon, someone could get seriously hurt. Hermione decided to start reading some of Professor Quirl's books in order to understand him better, and get an understanding of what had happened to him over the past few years to make him so jumpy. It was odd to think that he was the one behind the attacks, and Hermione knew that there must have been something that everyone, including the great Albus Dumbledore, was overlooking. Michael agreed to help as well, and over those next few days they were able to piece together some facts that would have otherwise been missed by those not searching for them. They found that Professor Quirl went on a year-round trip around the world to gain a first-hand experience for his Muggle Studies. But what didn't make sense was that, prior to that year; Professor Quirl had already traveled to most of the parts of the world important to the Muggles. They pieced together that he must have been in search of something else, and once Harry mentioned the newspaper article that Michael's father was in, they were able to make sense of what Professor Quirl was really after: a search to finding the weakened Dark Lord. They also noticed in his writings that he started wearing his turban because an African prince gave it to him for ridding of a zombie. What didn't make sense was why he felt a need to wear it each and every day, which caused them to speculate reasons as to why he chose to do so. They found it odd, but couldn't manage any explanation as to what was really behind it. Also in his book, Hermione noticed that the Professor spoke of encountering vampires and having an issue with a hag in the Black Forest of Albania, which gave speculation that perhaps he was hiding out in the Forbidden Forest. None of this evidence could be proven, of course, but it was a start.
The four friends took to walking the grounds to try to formulate a reasonable area that would provide the Professor with everything he needed, that being a place to hide, a place to hold his victims, and a food source. Michael was the first to mention it, and the idea was logical; what if he was closer to Hogsmeade than he was to Hogwarts? It would provide him with everything he needed; he could even very well be in Hogsmeade. Then something struck Harry. "Wait; remember the night that we witnessed all this? When the hooded figure nearly took us to our graves? Do any of you remember it fleeing back toward the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom? He turned the corner and closed the door once he heard the footsteps, which must have been McGonagall. What if that's where he's hiding?"
Hermione kept her eyes on the forest. "Harry, you can't honestly believe that the Professor would be crazy enough to hide out in the underground floors of the castle. Besides, there isn't even an entrance to them from that room."
Harry shook his head and grabbed her arm slightly to get her attention. "No, think about it. That would be the perfect place to hide; no one would suspect them kidnapper to be hidden at Hogwarts, giving him the advantage every time."
Hermione squinted her eyes, clearly deep in thought. Then her eyes widened and she gave her reply. "Come to think of it, when Professor Quirl was still teaching I went down to his room to ask him about one of the essays, and when I went down there was a book out of place on the bookshelf. I think it was called 'A Vampire's Monologue' written by Amarillo Lestoat. When I went to check his office upstairs, it was empty, and when I spoke with Professor McGonagall about where he was, none of the professor's knew. I wouldn't bet my life on it, but that's the best thing I can think of. I'm going to go to the library and see if there are any other books I can find on Professor Quirl. Maybe there will be something we missed, and don't go to second floor corridor where we have our Defense Against the Dark Arts classes. I want to be sure about that before we check it out." Hermione smiled and left the boys standing outside, glaring at the forest.
Harry looked around and saw Hagrid being spoken to by Professor Dumbledore, so he started making his way down to his cabin. Ron and Michael followed, and once they arrived Dumbledore was the first to greet them. "Ah, good afternoon Harry. And to you Ron and Michael. I see you three are enjoying the wonderful weather we are having. Well, Hagrid, I best be off. Be sure to take care of the things I've asked, it is for the best." To that, Dumbledore bowed his head to the boys and made his way back up towards the castle. Harry watched for a bit until he turned back to Hagrid. "What did he want you to take care of?"
Hagrid looked extremely upset, and the three of them had only just noticed. "What's wrong?" Harry asked. Hagrid waved them inside, and so they followed him in. Hagrid grabbed them tea cups and poured each of them a drink. Then he sat down and gave his reply. "Professor Dumbledore wants me ter give me dragon over ter the Romanians to send 'em to a sanctua'ry. " He wiped his eyes, which were starting to water up, and the three of them felt bad for their friend.
"Dumbledore is just looking after you Hagrid, you know that. He doesn't want you to get in trouble with the ministry, and you can't exactly own a dragon. There are special license and requirements for that stuff." Ron was doing his best, and Hagrid knew that.
"Yea' I know. But what if 'e don' like Romania?" Hagrid was clearly doing his best to change their minds on the matter, but it was no use. After some well-developed facts from Ron, and some patting on the back from Michael and Harry, Hagrid finally accepted the fate of his little dragon.
"Al'ight al'ight. I'll send 'em to 'Omania. So where's 'Ermione?" The three boys looked from one to the other before answering.
"She's cooped up in the library, as always." Michael said. Then Ron added, "Getting ahead on school work, I 'spose." Harry gave Ron a look and then continued his conversation with Hagrid.
After about an hour of talking about their holiday's and how school had been going, Dumbledore re-appeared at Hagrid's cabin. "Hagrid, I'm sorry to interrupt but I need to speak with you outside." Hagrid looked at the boys, then stood up and exited the cabin. The boys hurried over to the door and placed their ears against the slits to hear the talk outside. "I need you to search the grounds. A student has been kidnapped, and the kidnapper left us another note in the Defense Against the Dark Arts room. If the kidnapper continues to penetrate our defenses around the school, I'm afraid Hogwarts may very well be closed for good. Be swift, Hagrid." He turned to leave but Hagrid spoke up.
"Perfessor, who was the student taken?"
Dumbledore turned around and answered, "Hermione Granger."
Michael immediately stood up and was about ready to thrust through the door before Harry and Ron held him back. "He took Hermione! We have to do something!"
Michael struggled to break free, but Ron and Harry had very good holds on him. "We can't just barge out of here; Dumbledore will know that we overheard him. We need to wait till he leaves before we can do anything." Michael relaxed, and then he sat down in the couch, waiting for Hagrid to return. When he did, he look distraught, and couldn't find the right words to say to them.
"Have ter… go. Needs me… Dumbledore." He left them standing there, and then he entered the Forbidden Forest with his crossbow in hand, and Fang by his side. Michael shot up from the chair and started running towards the castle, and Harry and Ron were running right behind him. Once Michael made his way to the entrance he stopped, and Harry and Ron stopped too. "What is it?" Ron asked. Michael turned around to face them, "Hermione was in the library, not the Defense Against the Dark Arts room, which means she either found something that can help us, or the kidnapper is hiding out somewhere in there." Ron looked shocked, and Harry immediately started running towards the staircases, with the two boys behind him. They ran past a few people, including Seamus and Neville who were confused as to what they were in such a rush for, and then they finally made it to the library. They slowed down before they entered so they didn't scare anybody when they did. Once they entered, they made their way through a few rows of bookshelves until they found Madam Pince replacing books that had been removed. "Excuse me Madam Pince, but was Hermione in here recently?" She nodded and kept her stare at them. Harry searched for the next words to say, before he asked, "Could you tell us what book she was reading?" Madam Pince gave them a confused look, and then handed them the book on the bottom of her pile.
Michael took the book and said "Thank you" then examined it. It was from the Hogwarts Archives: a collection of papers and books written by Hogwarts Professors and Headmaster's. The particular one in Michael's hand was from Armando Dippet, the Headmaster before Dumbledore. Michael noticed a page had been creased, and he immediately opened to it.
"After discovering Salazar Slytherin's personal journal, we have come to believe that there is a hidden passage that leads down to the lower chambers of the castle in classroom 31. We've searched the classroom, but haven't found any magic or non-magical entrances to said passages and are now led to believe that the rooms were changes sometime over the period leading up to now without making note of it for future references. According to Salazar Slytherin, the entrance leads down to his old chambers that he used to get away from the other Hogwarts Founders when he was devising his plan to only allow purebloods into his house. A discovery such as this would be unspeakably valuable to the wizarding world and to Hogwarts as well."
Michael's jaw dropped lower and lower as he was reading this, and once he reached the bottom of the page he finally noticed handwriting that looked like Hermione's. 'A Vampire's Monologue' was all she had written, but once he read it he knew where they had to do. He looked at Harry and Ron, who had been patiently waiting for his answer, before he handed the book back to Madam Pince and they left the library to head down to the second floor. They ran down the flights of stairs before turning into the corridor. At last, they now stood in front of the door to Classroom 31.