Chapter 28: Where to Find Them
"Poppy, you have another birthday visitor!" Poppy heard her mother call. She sighed. She really just wanted to get started on her painting without anymore interruptions, but apparently, you're not allowed to go undisturbed when it's your birthday.
The only gifts Poppy had really been looking forwards to this year were the set of watercolors her parents had promised to get her, and whatever magical arrangement of trinkets she had thought Daisy was sure to send. So far the watercolors hadn't been in stock, and Poppy hadn't received news from Daisy for weeks. So much for getting what she had wanted. There was always next year's birthday - there was a chance that her parents would get her a mobile phone earlier than they had gotten Daisy one. Now that they knew Poppy might not be able to use it if she went to Hogwarts, maybe Poppy could convince them that she deserved a year of unlimited electronic privileges.
"Hi Poppy!" The visitor said when Poppy arrived at the base of the steps. It was Ginny Potter. Poppy actually managed a genuine smile. In terms of family members, Ginny was one of her favorite. She was a woman Poppy could admire and look up to. She was athletic, famous, beautiful, and still had the brains to outcompete a lot of people Poppy knew. Ginny was all Poppy ever aspired to be.
"Ginny!" the two embraced in a hug before Ginny pulled away.
"I brought you something." Ginny reached into the bag slung over her shoulder and pulled out a book.
"Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them," Poppy read aloud. She looked at Ginny. It didn't seem to go along with the other gifts she had received from the Potters. Various sports equipment, art supplies, tickets to the theatre, and… a book? It wasn't even a brand new book. This book's spine was frayed with use, and there was a purple smudge on the cover where someone had spilled something.
Ginny smiled, and shrugged. "I thought you might like drawing from it. It's full of images of magical creatures."
Poppy opened it to a page in which there was an illustration of a rhinoceros-like beast called an Erumpent. She kept flipping through, from drawings, to moving photos. It was amazing, and different from any other book she owned.
"Thanks," she whispered.
"Of course," Ginny said.
"Have you gotten anything from Daisy yet, Poppy?" Anna Dursley asked, joining the conversation by guiding Ginny and Poppy to a place to sit instead of just standing in the hallway.
Poppy set the book down next to her on the chair. "No, I haven't heard from her in a few weeks."
"You might not get anything from her right away, I'm afraid. There's a lot going on at Hogwarts right now, she mightn't have had time to pick out a gift for you," Ginny said.
Anna frowned. "But final exams aren't for months, and she can't be that busy with quidditch."
Ginny's expression now resembled that of someone who had just received terrible news instead of someone who came to give a birthday surprise. "It's probably nothing. There are a few security changes happening at Hogwarts right now because of a couple of students. Everything should be back to normal soon."
"If it's nothing, then why wouldn't Daisy remember to pick out a gift for her sister?" Anna argued. Anna's eyes were narrowed, and with her blonde hair pinned up in a bun, Poppy thought her mother looked rather like a terrifying teacher about to tell someone off.
"A couple of students went missing -"
"And Daisy's one of them, is that it?" Anna's voice had risen above it's usual soft tones, and she glared at Ginny with ruthless perseverance. "Dudley's told me about some of the things that happened at that school when Harry went there, but he said it was safe now!"
Ginny somehow remained calm while speaking, although Poppy couldn't see how she managed it. She herself wanted to leave the room right now to get away from her mother's harsh voice. The only thing keeping her there was the fact that she wanted to know what happened to Daisy.
"Daisy's fine," Ginny said. "She isn't missing, Harry saw her at Hogwarts yesterday. And Hogwarts is safe - this is the first time anything like this has happened. One of the students even returned, with no injury. I was heading back from talking to some of the parents when I stopped here."
"I want Daisy out of there," Anna said coldly.
"Anna! Be reasonable, I'm not even pulling my kids out, and one - nevermind. Daisy is safe now with the new security. There are aurors all over the school, and if the missing students aren't found, she'll be sent home anyway."
"Poppy, why don't you go back to painting," Anna said abruptly.
It took Poppy a few seconds to process that she was being dismissed before she got up and went back upstairs, carrying her new book up with her. She tried not to feel resentful that she'd been kicked out - after all, hadn't she learned what she'd meant to? Daisy was fine, and probably wasn't deliberately ignoring her.
Even though she felt reassured that nothing was wrong, she still paused before entering her room. The conversation between Ginny and Anna had paused as they listened to the sound of Poppy's footsteps as she ran up the stairs, but now that they thought Poppy was in her room, Anna continued.
"How can parents know when something this serious happens at school!" Anna said in her shrill tones. "If Daisy were going to a normal school, there would be regulations, and - and most importantly there would be communication! Or is that not something parents in your 'perfectly safe' magical world care about?"
"Anna," Ginny said, her voice now taught, breaking as if Ginny was mentally strangling her true frustration.
"No! It's not okay! Why weren't we told about this?"
"Look," Ginny said. "I don't know why -"
"And yet you've never seen it as a problem before I brought it up?"
"And I'm sorry!" Ginny's voice softened into a more comforting tone after she apologized. "I don't know why no one thought of it before, but I'll talk to the Headmistress and make sure you get notified next t- if anything like this happens again."
The next words said by Anna were softer, too quiet for Poppy to hear from her listening spot at the top of the stairs, but she could hear Ginny continue to murmur quietly, and when Poppy's mother did not retort, she figured that the argument was over for now.
Poppy entered her room, closing the door behind her and heading back to her desk. She flipped open Fantastic Beasts to a random page, and stopped at a picture of a twiggy looking creature.
"A bowtruckle," Poppy murmured, following the words as she read the description. It was one of the smaller creatures she had seen in the book, and apparently it guarded wand trees. "What do you think, Albert?" she said to her pygmy puff.
Albert proceed to try and walk across her filled painting palette before Poppy quickly scooped him up and placed him on her shoulder.
"You're right, I should paint it," she laughed. "At least it will be distracting."
0o0o0o0o0
"Quick, do an of you know any interesting gossip? Maybe it will distract her," Gracie said. The four girls, Lily, Daisy, Gracie, and Sophia were beginning to gather at a table in the library, per Lily's instruction.
Sophia and Daisy looked at each other blankly. They knew of nothing that would interest Lily more than the search for clues. The group had chosen a table at the back of the library, well out of the eye of Hogwarts' librarian, who, if she spotted them huddled whispering without books, would surely make them leave. Daisy searched the area with her eyes for something distracting, but she only came across the portrait of a woman reading. The young woman shrugged, and returned to hiding her face behind an open book.
It had taken a couple of hours, but eventually most areas of the castle were reopened to students, and aurors were again patrolling while teachers walked groups of students to their desired locations. It was a tiresome way of moving around, having to wait everywhere, but, Daisy supposed, it was safer. Although how the whole castle had been searched, and no students besides Jonas had been found, came as an unexpected surprise.
Lily returned to the table and sat down with a piece of parchment and a quill. "So, I've done some thinking, and I have put together -"
"-absolutely nothing, I'm guessing," Sophia interrupted.
Lily scowled, but kept going. "I have decided we should write down everything we know about the disappearances, and then research the topics we notice." She drew a chart using the quill, and labeled sections for who, what, when, where, and why. "Gracie, you start us off."
Gracie pulled the parchment towards her, and talked as she wrote. "Who. Jonas Kreifels, Elizabeth Wood, and Albus Potter. All Hogwarts students, one seventh-year, one fourth-year, and one third-year. Daisy," Gracie passed the parchment and quill.
"What. All three went missing, either were kidnapped, or fell into some kind of trap. It is unlikely they ran away, or they would have been together, and Jonas would probably still have his memory," Daisy said. She passed the writing equipment to Sophia.
"When. All three disappeared three days ago or less," Sophia began.
"Four," Gracie put in. "The fact that they were missing was noticed three days ago or less, but they could have gone missing earlier."
"Alright then, four. It seems like they all disappeared during the evening hours after class."
Lily took the parchment again. "Where did they go missing? At Hogwarts, somewhere."
There was a pause as everyone tried to think about any other specific location.
"I suppose if there was a location, the Teacher's would have it roped off by now, wouldn't they," Lily said.
Daisy frowned. "But there was a place. Margo was supposed to meet Eliza in the Library. And I heard that the Ravenclaw girl last saw Jonas in the Library. We don't know about Albus, but the library could be a connection, couldn't it?"
All four raised their heads and looked around. Daisy found herself repositioning her legs in a way most efficient to run out of the library. Libraries were usually cozy. They were full of well-read books, and friendly or studious people sitting in armchairs. It didn't feel that way anymore.
"Okay," Gracie said, breaking the silence. "Next is why. Any ideas why? Any ideas at all. Your library observation was good Daisy, maybe we can think of something to go along with that."
Daisy shook her head, still feeling that the best thing to do at this point would be to leave the library as soon as possible.
"Maybe we should look more into who was involved. Maybe there's something else we missed about the people who almost witnessed the kidnapping," Lily said. "After all, we did get a possible location out of them."
Sophia nodded. "Maybe we should go find them. They might be in the Great Hall, it's open now."
"You just don't want to stay in the library any longer," Lily pointed out.
"So?" Sophia protested. "It's not as if we're actually using any of the books!"
Lily, Gracie, and Daisy consented to leave the library and continue their search in the Great Hall, and quickly rushed to the exit. Professor Goldstein was approaching with a group of students following close behind.
In the group were a couple of Slytherins that Daisy didn't know, as well as Jonathan, Arianne, and her. Daisy didn't know why she hadn't recognized the similarities and connections between them before. She had seen that Ravenclaw girl before, she'd been arguing with Jonas Kreifels only shortly before he disappeared. And, she looked almost exactly like Daisy would imagine an older version of Arianne to look like.
So, Daisy had gathered that information. She bit her lip in frustration. What use were those random observations? If anything, it just showed that Daisy needed to be more observant in her daily life.
"Daisy! Sophia! I've been looking for you guys," Jonathan called out from behind the teacher.
The girls waved, and waited for the group to get closer so that they wouldn't have to yell. When they reached the doors, Professor Goldstein paused to speak to Madame Jay, giving the friends time to speak.
"Are you leaving already?" Jonathan asked. "I was just going to get some work done."
Daisy nodded. "We've decided not to stay in there, since we noticed people seem to be seen in the library before disappearing."
Jonathan's eyes widened. "Oh. But you'd be pretty safe as long as you're not alone. Er, Malia, would you mind if I stuck with you and your sister while I study? I won't talk, I promise."
The Ravenclaw girl, Malia, smiled sweetly. "Sorry. Arianne and I have some private matters to discuss. Why don't you come back to the library tomorrow," she said. Malia turned around and slipped into the library, leaving Arianne behind.
Arianne twisted her face into what looked like a grimace. "I have to go, she's right. See you, Daisy."
"Anyone willing to go in with me anyway? Please? Professor Goldstein isn't going to keep talking to Madame Jay so that you can stand here and make up your minds," Jonathan said.
The girls looked at each other, before Daisy said "I'll go with you." She hadn't gotten a chance to talk to Jonathan in a while, and besides, maybe she would get to find out more information about Malia while she was there. "You go ahead, try to talk with Margo, and maybe Scorpius. If you don't find anything out, don't just sit there talking though, make sure you get your homework done," Daisy told her friends.
"Don't worry, we'll be useful," Sophia said.
"Don't forget anything! I'll want to hear everything at dinner!" Daisy called after them as the others were led away by the teacher. She and Jonathan closed the library door behind them, and went to sit at their normal spot at the back, only to find that it was occupied.
Malia Carver was facing away from them, and didn't seem to hear their approach. Daisy took Jonathan's arm and pulled him back into another seating area before they could be seen by either Malia or Arianne. "Do you know her?" Daisy asked him after they had taken their seats.
"Malia? Not really. I just know of her. She's not very friendly with most people not in her year, but it's been said that she's a really good teacher. If you ask her about the topics she's interested in, some students say, she'll sit and talk with you about it. Arithmancy students absolutely love her," Jonathan responded. "Why?"
"She was the last person to see Jonas before he disappeared, wasn't she?"
"Yeah, I guess so."
"Then she's the closest we have to a witness. Maybe she knows more than she's said."
"Why would she keep back information?"
Daisy thought it was obvious, but evidently, it wasn't. "She could be under threat by the person doing the kidnapping, or she could be involved with it herself. No, don't ask why she would be involved, I don't know. I just think we should keep an eye out."
Jonathan agreed, but decided the best way was to observe normally. He did his homework, as he had planned to, while Daisy couldn't keep her eyes off of the passage between the bookshelves that she knew the two sisters would have to take to leave the library.
"Okay, I'm done with my potions essay, Daisy. You've got what, two sentences?" Jonathan finally said. "It'll be meal time soon, why don't we go already? You can spy with Lily or something later, if this is going to interrupt me eating food, I'm out."
"But they're still back there!" Daisy whispered. "They never went past us. Let's just take a look before we go, okay?"
The two had a brief staring contest before Jonathan said, "you're not going to leave without this, are you?"
"Nope." Daisy helped Jonathan pack away his books, and they left their cozy corner. They turned into the passage of books where Arianne and Malia had been posed before, and were greeted by an unexpected surprise.
There was no one there.
Hi! Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Reviews are welcome.
I actually got a lot of comments on this story since my last update on another site. I had one review from someone new here, but then I went to check just now so I could respond in this note, and it was gone, so not sure what happened there.
In terms of how summer updates are going to go... I have no idea :) .I started driver's ed (my friends were all like finally because they thought I should've gotten my learner's permit ages ago, and most of them have their license already, but I don't, because I'm not that thrilled to drive to be honest), plus I'm taking a bunch of online classes and going to a camp later... lol, I hate how fast time is going.
But I'm going to try to get another chapter up in June, and then the camp and driving will be over, so July should be way better.
Hope I didn't leave you in too much suspense, anyway.
