Protection- Part three
'Good luck!' called Dana.
'Thanks,' said Cho. 'But I don't think I'll need it!'
Cho Chang walked out of the Ravenclaw common room and started walking through the castle.
It wasn't late yet, about 7 PM, so she thought she might find Harry and ask him out.
She walked through all the passages and was starting to despair when she walked into someone. It was a boy; he had flaming red hair and clear blue eyes. Cho recognized him as Harry's best friend.
'I'm sorry,' she said. She thought about starting a conversation with him. He might know where Harry is.
'It's O.K.,' said Ron.
He started to walk away, but Cho called after him. 'Say, you don't happen to know where Harry is, do you?'
Ron turned around. 'Actually I was just looking for him and Hermione. They aren't in the common room.'
'Maybe,' Cho said slowly at first then more determinedly. 'Maybe we can look for them together.'
'O.K.,' said Ron who didn't mind the company.
They walked quietly through the castle for some time.
Cho's curiosity was killing her. She finally asked. 'Why are you looking for Hermione? She's supposed to be very smart and can take care of herself.'
'Yea,' said Ron. 'But she's kind of shaken after what happened before the end of last year. I'm worried about her.'
'What happened last year?'
Ron laughed. 'I thought you knew every thing that is going on in this school.'
'I do gossip a lot, don't I?' Cho admitted.
Ron smirked. 'Anyway, you really want to know?'
'Yes. Why, what happened?'
'You see, last year, a month before the end of the last term, You-Know-How came to Hermione's house. There was a kind of gathering there, all of Hermione's relatives. You-Know-How killed every one.
Cho's hands were on her mouth. She was in shock she hadn't known any of this.
'She doesn't have anyone left?' she managed to ask.
'Yes. She doesn't,' Said Ron. 'During the summer she stayed with Harry and then they both came over to my house. We were afraid for here.'
'I didn't know, I didn't even imagine.' Cho whispered.
'Don't let it eat you up,' said Ron concernedly. 'She didn't like to talk about it. The only thing that seemed to make here happy was studying. So me and Harry left her alone.'
There was a long pause after that. They walked along still searching the dark corridors.
'Did you really see her with someone in one of the corridors?' Ron asked eventually.
'Yes,' Cho had nothing else to say.
They walked quietly for some time.
'Why?' she asked.
'Why what?'
'Why did you ask me if I really saw her with someone?'
'Oh, it's just Harry…' Ron didn't get to finish.
'What are the two of you doing here at this hour?' it was Prof. McGonagall's voice.
Cho and Ron turned around.
'We were looking for Harry and Hermione professor,' said Ron.
'Why are you looking for them? They are supposed to be in their common room right now, and you should too,' answered their professor.
'They aren't there,' said Cho.
'This could be serious,' said Prof. McGonagall. 'Follow me please.'
They went through many passages and came to Prof. Dumbledore's office.
Prof. McGonagall told Prof. Dumbledore that Harry and Hermione were both missing since around 7 PM Prof. Dumbledore thought it could be serious too.
'I think,' he said. 'That all of us should stay together. You say you've searched the entire castle, but you haven't searched the grounds. Let's go and do that together.'
They walked out of the castle.
They searched around the lake; they searched near Hagrid's hut at the edge of the Forbidden Forest. They searched everywhere. There was just one place left- the garden and it's paths.
They walked through most of it. Eventually they came to the place where it connected with the Forbidden Forest.
There they saw. . .
* * * * *
A/N- I'm evil! A cliffhanger! You know how hard it is to make a decent cliffhanger? Of course you don't know. Never mind me.
I got such nice reviews to the last part. The one who reviewed in Hebrew- how did you know I can speak Hebrew? About the guessing- Well… there were interesting guesses, not the ones I was aiming for (not related to the identity of Hermione's boyfriend), but very nice and funny too. By the way, I won't post the next part until I have 15 reviews! I forgot to mention that in the last part, so that's what took me so long.
In the next part you might find out- what they saw, what Harry's problem with Hermione was, who Hermione's boyfriend is, why I called this series "Protection" and more.
I'd like to know what you think the answers are.
Disclaimer: Ron Weasley, Cho Chang, Prof. McGonagall, Prof. Dumbledore, Hogwarts and its grounds belong to JK Rowling. Everything else is mine!
