Chapter 7
VANISHED!
"So, Harry, how does it feel to be going home for Christmas?" Ron asked with a wide grin. He already knew the answer but it thrilled him to see his best friend so happy.
Harry grinned back at Ron and shook his head in disbelief. "I still can't believe it's true!" he beamed. "I actually have a home to go home to!"
Hermione hugged herself gleefully. "It's so wonderful Harry! You'll love it! Wait until you see the house! Glynnis decorates everything for Christmas and I mean everything. The mantels, the bannisters, the bathroom! I suspect she puts holly in the closets, she's so into it." The three Gryffindor's laughed at the mental picture. For the first time in several years they were all going to be home for Christmas instead of staying at Hogwarts. Harry, especially, was excited. He was going to do all those things he'd heard about but never got to do at Christmastime. Glynnis said they were going out tomorrow and get a tree! He couldn't imagine it. He, Harry Potter, was actually going to go and help pick out a Christmas tree. Harry grinned again at his thoughts. He felt like a kid again! Oh, this holiday was going to be perfect!
The cheerful group talked on excitedly about their holiday plans. Harry, Sirius and Glynnis were going to spend Christmas Eve at home, then go to the Granger's for Christmas day. They had arranged to spend New Year's Eve with the Weasley's and Mr. Weasley had promised them fireworks. They had such wonderful plans for their break and their happy laughter rang through the train compartment. They were having such a good time playing games and snacking on treats from the food cart that it was a while before they noticed the large owl hovering outside the compartment window.
"My goodness!" Hermione gasped. "Oh, open the window Ron! It's got to be for one of us. See how he's banging the glass with his wings?"
Ron opened the train window and the owl, putting on a tremendous burst of strength, heaved himself inside, a mini blizzard in his wake as the powerful wind forced snow in behind him. Once inside, the owl simply sat still, gasping for breath, as Hermione removed the letter attached to it's foot.
"It's for you, Harry," she said as she passed the note over. "It's from Aunt Lynn. I recognize her writing."
Harry smiled at the sight of the familiar writing. "I wonder what she could be sending at this late hour. I mean, we're almost home." He broke the seal on the envelope and pulled out the note. Ron and Hermione watched with growing trepidation as Harry's smile faded and his eyes widened in panic. "Oh, no," he breathed. "Oh, no. Not this. Not now."
"What?" Ron and Hermione asked simultaneously. "What is it?"
Hermione caught the note as it fell from Harry's suddenly lifeless fingers. She read Glynnis' shaking handwriting with a growing sense of dread.
"She can't reach him?" Ron asked, reading the note over Hermione's shoulder.
"Mentally," Harry answered dully. "She can't reach his mind."
Ron's face wrinkled in confusion. "What are you going on about?" he demanded curtly.
Hermione looked at him with tear filled eyes. "I thought you knew," she said quietly. "Glynnis is a telepath."
"Well it would have been nice if one of you had mentioned it! I would certainly have explained a few things!"
"I really thought you knew, Ron! Honestly. It just seemed so normal that I guess we didn't think that you might not know."
Ron rolled his eyes in disgust. "Well the next time you think I 'just know' something, tell me anyway, will you? I hate surprises." Then after a moment, "So Glynnis can talk to Sirius' mind? I mean she can communicate with him mentally?"
"With anyone actually," Harry added, his face pale. "Sirius, me, you even. Anyone she knows well enough to make a connection with. If she can't reach Sirius it means . . . it means . . ."
"It doesn't mean anything until we know for certain what's going on. So let's not dwell on it now. We're almost at the station. We'll find out soon enough what's what then we'll know what to do." Hermione's words rang with reason. Silence fell over the three of them while each imagined the worst in their minds. A short time later, the scarlet steam engine pulled into King's Cross Station.
"Harry! Harry! Over here." Attivus Attlewart called out when he saw Harry leave the train. Harry hurried forward and he greeted the doctor.
"Dr. Attlewart! What's happened?"
"Not here, my boy. Not here. When you're home. Glynnis will explain. No, leave your things, the Weasley's will bring them along. I've gotten permission to apparate us out of here so just hang on." Before Harry could blink, he was overcome with that feeling of weightlessness that accompanied apparation.
Before he could count to ten, Harry was standing in Glynnis' brightly lit living room. Glynnis was seated in the large overstuffed chair by the window, a handkerchief clutched tightly in her fist, Molly Weasley standing next to her, patting her shoulder. They looked up when Attivus and Harry appeared and Glynnis rose on shaking legs and took Harry in her arms.
"Oh, Harry! Harry! I'm so sorry! I wanted our first Christmas to be perfect and now this!" she began to cry.
Harry put his arms around her and held her tightly. The situation was disconcerting enough but to have Glynnis, who was always so strong, fall apart like this sent a stab of terror right to his heart. What could have happened?
"Mrs. Weasley, Dr. Attlewart, what's happened?" he asked quietly over the sound of Glynnis' weeping.
"Sirius has vanished, Harry. Vanished without a trace from this very room."
Harry stared at Mrs. Weasley. "How? Why?" was all he could manage to get out.
"We don't know. One minute Glynnis was shopping with me, the next she said she could not longer 'feel' Sirius and we returned here to find him gone."
"When did this happen?" He still couldn't believe it. Sirius missing? It wasn't possible. It just couldn't be.
"This morning. Oh, Harry! I'm so sorry! I shouldn't be going to pieces like this. I don't know what's come over me. I should be thinking of you, not myself! I just can't seem to help it." Glynnis dried her eyes on the handkerchief and blew her nose. Harry could see her composing herself, changing instantly from the weeping woman in his arms to the controlled master of the situation he'd always seen her as. The transformation would have been alarming had he not known her so well. "Sit down, Harry. I'll tell you all I know." She led him over to the long sofa and pulled him down next to her, his hands caught in hers.
"As Molly said, we were out shopping, picking up last minute things and all. Suddenly, Sirius was gone. From my mind. I know you aren't aware of it, but you and Sirius are always 'with' me. I don't know how to explain it other than to say that I sense your presence, in the back of my mind, always. It's my way of knowing that you're alright, I suppose. Anyway, one minute that feeling that's Sirius was there, then it was gone. Molly and I rushed back here and he'd vanished."
Harry didn't question her. If she said she could feel them, him and Sirius, he believed her. If she said that Sirius was now gone from her perception, he knew that something was terribly wrong. A sharp tapping on the window pane startled them all. Through the gathering gloom of falling darkness, they could make out the shape of an owl. Attivus opened the window and a post owl flew in, perching itself on the sofa back, a note tied to it's leg. With shaking hands, Glynnis untied the note and the owl took off out the still open window. No one made a sound as she unfolded the parchment and read.
I have Black. I will return him to you unharmed if you turn Harry Potter over to me. I will send another owl in one hour to collect your reply.