Hogwarts watched, decked out completely in varying styles of pyjama's, as Nearly headless Nick swooped into the great hall on the first day of the sixth month. Gryffindors cheered and everyone waited with anticipation for the students to return. Mrs Norris reappeared in short order, stalking across the great hall. And slowly, the students started to reappear. Hermione Granger had charged into the hall screaming that Harry potter had 'solved it' and Justin Finch-Fletchley had scurried over to the Gryffindor table to apologise, endlessly, for suspecting Harry. The houses welcomed the wayward Student's home to their table's with cheers of joy and tears of relief. Students cheered and the unpetrified smiled and asked what they had missed over the year. Everyone had arrived in the great hall. Everyone but Jeanne. Slytherin house waited but the little blond first year never strolled into the hall, smiling and laughing. Announcements were made, with Gryffindor being awarded four-hundred points, thoroughly ruining Slytherins efforts to reclaim the house cup in the process. Exams were cancelled as a special treat, to the horror of all OWL and NEWT students, and defence against the dark arts was cancelled on account of Lockhart, the fake he was, obliviating himself.

The fest lasted the whole night but no Slytherin could properly enjoy it. Not with their first year missing in action.

When they were excused, Slytherin house headed for the hospital wing instead of the dungeons. They filed in two at a time and searched the wing for their missing snake, but she wasn't in any of the beds. She was gone. They checked every room, every nook and cranny, before they spread out. There were seven floors in Hogwarts, not including the dungeons. The first years were given the first floor, and so on and so forth, with prefects being stripped away from their years to scour the dungeons for the missing snake.

The dungeon… was interesting to say the least. The prefects found no less than twelve abandoned study rooms. But no Jeanne Williams. They searched every known inch of their domain, but the little first year was no where to be seen. Of course, it wasn't a worthless venture. They managed to map out the newly rediscovered rooms and set the house elves to scrubbing them clean. No first year, but more free study space for the Slytherin's, where no other house could bother them.

The second years had been sent to check the fifth floor, where the library was situated. They checked the rest of the floor first, knowing that it would take longer to search the library. They found old classrooms long out of use, empty broom cupboards and even a secret passageway, that Daphne said lead to the green houses, but Jeanne wasn't in any of the rooms. The only place left was the Library.

And there she was. In the library.

Of all places, Jeanne Williams could have been found, she was found curled up in the library with the fourth years potions textbook, taking notes and referencing every little thing that she didn't understand. She had managed to build a veritable fort of potions texts without anyone noticing her.

It was almost impressive.

She was reading, with tea and a plate of cookies sat beside her on a tray, oblivious to the world around her.

"How did she get here without anyone noticing. No one has seen her. We asked everyone we saw!" Draco barked. He could have been playing chess or playing a game of pick up quidditch, but no, he had been dragged to find the missing first year, and she was in the last place they checked.

"Maybe she came here whilst everyone else was in the great hall?" Millicent suggested, moving closer to the first year. She tried to get her attention, but no amount of clapping or loud noise caught her attention.

"Of for the love of…" Blaise huffed, strolling over to the table. He placed a hand on Jeanne's shoulder and spoke. "The entire house is looking for you Williams."

Jeanne's head shot out of her book and her eyes stared at her house mate.

"Why?" The simple question confused the second years. Why? She had been petrified and she wondered why the entire house had gone looking, in their pyjama's no less, for their missing first year who neglected to show up for the feast celebrating the return of the petrified students. Which she was one of! Jeanne huffed and rolled her eyes at her house mates shock.

"Either way I need to study. I've read all my textbooks for first year, but professor Snape says that if I get good marks in the exam for fourth year potions this year, he'll let me try for my OWL next year. So, I need to revise." Theodore perked up at the mention of taking the potions OWL early. It hadn't been done in over a century. Blaise was more willing to ruin the first year's little fantasy.

"Exams are cancelled. You would have known if you bothered to go to the feast," he said. Jeanne visibly deflated.

"But I've been working really hard all year so I could take the exam. They actually got cancelled?"

Blaise nodded and the other second years helped the downtrodden first year return all of her books before leading her to the common room. The prefects scolded her for her vanishing act before sending her up to bed. Her dreams for potioneering success crushed like an ant under heel.

The rest of the summer term passed without incident. Jeanne attended classes, grinning whenever she passed the defence classroom. As far as Jeanne cared, Lockhart had gotten just what he deserved. She only hoped the Defence teacher that replaced the fraud was more capable and competent. But she didn't get her hopes too high.

She asked Professor Snape about her chances of sitting the OWL exam the next year and grinned as Snape assigned her summer homework. If she could get exceeds expectations on all of the work he assigned her, Professor Snape would allow her to take the class.

The term ended with little fanfare.

The first years had gathered in the open seating carriage on the Hogwarts express and practiced their spells together. They played exploding snap and exchanged addresses so they could write one another over the holiday. Jeanne was sheepish to admit that she wasn't sure where she was spending the summer yet. Her family liked to travel, but she promised to write to them as often as she could.

All the while Jeanne kept thinking back to the small Nifflers she had found and hidden away in her trunk. The thing was too small to be fully grown and she couldn't have left it all alone. It would have died. So, she had decided to keep it. It was small and she doubted it would cause much trouble. She would have to be careful to hide it, but she had faith in her deception abilities. After all, how hard could it be to look after one little Niffler?

Jeanne would miss Hogwarts, but she would be back after the summer. She just hoped shed have a less… eventful second year.