Chapter 25: Reparo

Minerva McGonagall sat slumped at her desk. She was exhausted. She'd had no sleep that night, and to no avail. No missing students had been found. In only half an hour, she would need to address her staff, and she still had no reasonable theories on where Eliza Wood and Jonas Kreifels had disappeared to. Thoughts about the disappearances floated around her head as she let out her hair and began to repin it.

The student's parents would be informed - if they had not been already. The owls would reach their homes by midday at the latest. The task of writing the letters had gone to their heads of houses. Minerva could admit to herself that she felt guilty about giving them that task. She remembered sending a letter to the Grangers when their daughter had been petrified. That had been difficult enough - and the Grangers didn't even know what being petrified meant. Minerva had found it easier than she had thought she would to tell them that it wouldn't be a problem. Their daughter was receiving the best care, and would be perfectly fine in a couple of months. The Grangers hadn't had a reason to worry too much. But both wizarding families involved this time would know what was going on. She fully expected anxious letters from all of the parents, and possibly an angry Oliver Wood barging into her office.

Both missing students were top of their class, and not known for making trouble. Miss Wood had a bit of a temper, but she always reigned it in before it could get out of hand. She wasn't unlike Minerva herself, back when she had been a student so many years ago. Mr. Kreifels didn't even have that - he didn't get mad or play pranks. He was very much the stereotypical swot. Very knowledgeable, but a bit awkward.

Neither seemed likely to run away for any reason. Neither of them seemed likely to disobey rules by going, for instance, into the forbidden forest and getting lost. But Minerva clung to these reasons, because the only other possibility that came to mind was capture.

But who would want to kidnap Hogwarts students? Prejudice against muggleborns was at its lowest point in history, and those targeted hadn't been muggle born anyway. The students weren't in the same House, so it wouldn't be segregated that way. The students weren't in the same age range, classes, friend groups, quidditch teams, school clubs, or anything Minerva could think of. And if students were captured randomly, would it happen again? Or was this the end?

Her thoughts flickered to the Chamber of Secrets. They knew where it was located now, so surely no one would go to the effort of sneaking around that place, even if they had been able to hide their parseltongue abilities. All the same, she made a mental note to herself to send an owl to the Auror Office. Harry could be sent down to check the abandoned chamber.

Hair now pinned with precision under her hat, Minerva strode out of her office and headed towards the Staffroom where the other school teachers waited.

In more recent years, the staff room had been expanded to accommodate the growing amount of staff Hogwarts needed. It now housed a large sitting area and well equipped snack bar, as requested by many of the younger teachers. What they needed more food for after Hogwarts meals was beyond Minerva's understanding. A cup of tea was all she ever needed.

This morning, every one of the upholstered chairs and couches seated a Hogwarts Professor, to the confusion of the many Hogwarts cats that often sought refuge there. The low hum of worried voices filled the room when Minerva entered. She only had to cough to get their attention. "Does anyone have any news to report?" She asked them. Heads shook across the room. Her heart sank. There went the last chance that everything could just go back to normal.

"Then we must keep searching," She told them. "They can't have gone far. In the meantime, you are to keep strict attendance in all of your classes. After all classes are over, students are to stay in their common rooms unless accompanied by a teacher. There are enough of us that we can arrange for teachers to circle around the school every hour to take students to the library or tech center if they need resources for homework. All quidditch practices must be supervised. But we must remain calm and collected. I'll arrange search groups, and call in any extra help if needed." She thought of the aurors. Qualified ministry fighters parading around her school… would they help, or just cause more fear?

Minerva dismissed most of the teachers for breakfast, only stopping Professors Sawyer and Flitwick to make a request. "Would you send Margaret Wood and Malia Carver up to my office when you see them? I need to ask them some questions."

The two teachers nodded, and headed towards the great hall. Minerva looked back at the staffroom. Cats were taking advantage of the now emptied seats, while only a few staff members lingered behind to chat. It looked like any normal morning.

She headed straight towards her office after making a brief speech at breakfast, explaining the new rules to the students. She expected that Miss Wood and Miss Carver would be up shortly, and she wanted to be prepared when they got there.

Margaret "Margo" Wood arrived first. The girl was normally one of the more organized students, and the fact that her sister was missing hadn't changed that. If Minerva hadn't looked as closely as she had, she could have missed the puffy red eyes of someone who'd shed a few tears in the past hour.

"Miss Wood, I know this must be hard for you, but is there anything, anything at all you can tell me that might help find your sister?"

Margo shook her head. "I don't think so. We were supposed to meet in the library before we went to bed. We study there sometimes. It's quiet, and we don't get as much time as we'd like to talk since we don't share a house common room, or very many classes."

McGonagall nodded. "She never made an appearance then?"

"If she did enter the library, I certainly didn't see her, or I wouldn't have even noticed she was missing the next morning. She's not a morning person, and it's not unusual for her to come late to breakfast."

"Thank you Miss Wood. If anything else comes to mind, please let a teacher know."

Margo dipped her head and made towards the exit. She pushed open the door, nearly running into Minerva's next student. Malia Carver was not unlike Margo Wood. She was generally a good student, although not as popular as either of the Wood twins. She had been prefect in previous years, but had not been selected to be head girl this year in favor of her Gryffindor counterpart.

"Miss Carver," McGonagall began, waving the student in. "I was told that you were the last one to see Jonas Kreifels before he disappeared. Is this correct?"

"I think so, Professor. We have a History of Magic assignment together - we worked on it for about an hour in the library, and then I left. He said he'd be back in the common room in about in hour, but he never turned up."

"And you don't have any idea where he could have gone?"

Malia shook her head. "We weren't really that close. We worked together on projects occasionally, but I didn't really know that much about him."

Minerva nodded and dismissed the student. She would have to check with a few other students, ones that were close with Mr. Kreifels if possible. Right now, however, she had some letters to send.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

The next day's classes were a relief to Daisy. Her favorite classes, Potions and Charms, were a great pick-me-up, even if the former was accompanied by the Slytherins. After hours in the dungeons, enjoying the class, but loathing the teasing she received from Bella Castle, she was excited to head down the charms corridor to her classroom

Professor Flitwick stood on his desk watching the students and taking attendance as they filed in and took their seats in rows of ten on either side of the room.

"Quill out! We'll be taking a few notes before we start the practical side of class today," He told them.

Daisy took her seat next to Jonathan and Sophia, and brought out her quill, ink, and parchment. She had learned that when teachers say 'quill,' 'pen,' or 'pencil' you should use that specific tool - for in the case that you had to turn in your work, using the proper utensil would contribute extra points to your grade.

"This week, we will be focusing on mending charms." Flitwick pointed at a broken mug to the side of the desk. "Can anyone tell me what incantation I could use to mend this cup?"

When no one moved to raise their hand, Flitwick shook his head disappointedly. "Surely at least one of you has done their reading for this chapter? Ah, yes, Mr. Weasley, go ahead."

"Reparo?" Hugo Weasley guessed.

"Indeed it is! Five points to Ravenclaw," Professor Flitwick beamed. "Now, unlike many of the other charms we have studied, the repairing charm doesn't end disastrously if you mispronounce it. Re-pair-oh or re-pah-roh will work just fine. The strength and use of the spell has more to do with the caster's ability to focus on what must result from the charm. But as always, the wand motion is important as well."

Here he paused for the students to catch up on their writing. "Practice with me, without wands!" The entire class raised their empty hand and waved as if they held their wand, all while chanting "reparo."

"Very good, now let's see you try it."

The students went up to the desk to retrieve one of the broken objects set out for them - items such as broken picture frames or rulers that had been snapped in half. Daisy set hers down in front of her and began practicing. She mimicked the required wand motion easily, uttered "reparo" and the ruler mended itself instantly.

"How did you do that so easily?" Sophia protested, jabbing at her picture frame. "Here, switch with me." She grabbed Daisy's measuring stick, and snapped it in half along the line where it had just been repaired. Although Daisy had gotten it on the first try, the spell had still left evidence that the object had been broken in the past.

"Reparo," Sophia said.

"Stop poking your wand at it, that's not going to work," Jonathan told her.

"You can't tell me what to do, yours hasn't mended either," she told him. When he wasn't looking, though, she took his advice, and practiced until she figured out the correct wand movement.

By the end of the class, everyone had at least partially fixed their object, even Sophia.

Later that evening, Daisy sat in the Hufflepuff common room alone. She was finished with her homework, as were most others in her house. The only other people in the room were fifth and seventh years getting in some extra studying for their exams, and none of them were looking in her direction.

Daisy had convinced Sophia to go to their dormitory without her so that she could work on her charms alone. She was going to test a theory she had. Back when their class had been learning how to levitate objects, she had once gotten a feather to rise up without waving her wand. Could she do something like that again?

She pulled a regular Muggle pencil out of her backpack and snapped it in two before setting it on the ground in front of her. Daisy focused on the word she was going to say, and on what the pencil was going to look like when she had finished saying it.

"Reparo."

The pencil was whole once more. A hand picked it up.

"That was impressive," the other girl said.

Daisy looked up at the Hufflepuff prefect.

"I'm Arianne, if you don't remember. You're Daisy, right?" She asked. "Or was it another flower?"

"No, Daisy's correct." Daisy moved to make space on the couch for the other girl, who then sat down.

"So, has anyone else seen you do magic like this? Without a wand, I mean."

Daisy shook her head nervously.

Arianne raised her eyebrows. "You should really talk to a teacher about it." Seeing Daisy's look of anxiety, she added on to that statement. "The teachers are really nice, and I bet they'd be impressed with this. They would probably give you extra help on perfecting this skill - it's pretty rare to be able to do magic without a wand, especially at your age and without years of training. I would talk to Flitwick, since it's charms you're working on, but if you're more comfortable with talking to our head of house, Sawyer's pretty nice too."

"Thanks, I think I'll take that advice," Daisy smiled.

"Great!" Arianne replied, seeming to be pleased with Daisy's comment. "Are you done with the rest of your homework? I could help you practice, if you want."

Daisy agreed, and the two girls went to work, trying each of the first year charms, but without wands. Arianne never got any of them to work, but Daisy's charms had an effect nearly half of the time, although they weren't as strong as the spells she cast with a wand.

"Good try. I think that should be the last one for the night. Don't you?" Arianne said finally.

Daisy watched as the other girl yawned, and then stifled a yawn herself. "Yeah, I suppose so. Thanks for the help."

The two girls headed towards their dorms, and disappeared from each other's view. But not before sharing a brief smile. Even though they hadn't really spoken before that day, that night seemed to have started some kind of friendship between them, even if it was only a friendship build on sharing a secret for a brief time. Daisy had learned that, although she was soft-spoken and secretive, Arianne was a fun person to be around, and Arianne seemed to think the same of Daisy.

Completely forgot about giving this chapter a name until a couple of minutes before publishing XD. I hope you liked the chapter though! I'd love to hear some responses. I think it's one of my more put together ones, or at least I feel like I started writing it with a much clearer idea of what I wanted than I usually do. I've also already written 1000 words on the next chapter, so maybe I'll try to get that one up early (as in less than a month).

Also, I've almost reached 70 reviews! Thank you so much! When I started writing this I never thought I'd get as many reads as I do.

To guest: Thank you so much! I do try :) If you're still out there *waves* I'd love to see the fanfiction you've written.