CHAPTER ELEVEN: Pretences.

"She's sick?" Georgia repeated that night when I was telling everyone the lie the headmistress had requested. "Can I visit her? I learnt how to charm flowers so they smile in Charms yesterday, and I bet she'd love some."

"No, no visitors." I said quickly. Georgia's face fell and I hurried to explain that she was contagious.

"Someone better get her books to her at least. She'll have a heart attack if she can't study and keep up with the lessons." Greg said, earning him a glare from Francine.

"Anyway," I said. "I just thought you all should know in case you'd noticed she wasn't here." Over their heads I caught Martin's eye and nodded slightly towards the dormitory. He headed up there, and a few minutes later I muttered something about being tired. Luckily Henry and Alex weren't there, so we had the room to ourselves. I quickly repeated the conversation I'd had with the headmistress that morning.

Martin looked shocked. "I know I tease her and complain about her all the time, but I was actually beginning to get used to her. I'm sure the teachers will find her though, won't they?"

I sighed and flopped onto my bed. "I hope so. I complain about her too, but she's like my cousin, and I don't know what I'd do if something had happened to her. I felt terrible telling that lie back down there but the headmistress was pretty firm about me not telling anyone."

"So you come up and tell me?" Martin said with a grin. "But listen Sam- what McGonagall said about not trying to find her yourself. She's right. You're only a teenage wizard."

"I know." I muttered sulkily. I couldn't tell Martin this, but I felt guilty about Jenny's sudden disappearance. When she'd gone we hadn't really been talking, in fact I'd spent most of my time ignoring her or giving her dirty looks.

"Hey," said Martin suddenly as a thought occurred to him. "Who's going to play seeker in the match against Hufflepuff on Saturday now Jenny's not here?"

"I don't know." I said with a shrug. "I hadn't thought about that."

"Are you sure you haven't kidnapped her and hidden her so that you can be seeker? Follow in your Dad's footsteps?" Martin teased.

I glared at him. "Why does everyone all of the sudden think I want to be like Dad? That's why I wasn't talking to Jenny before she disappeared- she said I wanted to be like Dad and have adventures here all the time when I mentioned that Michael was a little bit strange, and Snape a little bit evil. I tried to tell her she was wrong, that just because we had a strange year last year didn't mean that. And then I get it off McGonagall." I snapped.

Martin looked shocked by my outburst. "I didn't mean it like that Sam." He said slowly.

I sighed. "Sorry, I'm just worried about Jenny. When she turns up I'm going to kill her for worrying everyone so much." I said.

*****

"Sam, could you stay behind for a moment after class?" Michael asked after Charms the next day. My lie to everyone had worked- nobody had mentioned going to see Jenny in the hospital wing.

"Meet you in Herbology." Martin called and he left the room with the rest of the class.

Michael waited until he was sure the rest of the class had left before speaking. "Listen Sam, we teachers know about Jenny disappearing." He told me. "We're looking high and low for her."

"Is there any clues? Does anyone have any idea?" I asked.

Michael sighed heavily. "Not at the moment." He admitted. "In fact, if they haven't found her by Christmas- and that's only a week and a half away- the headmistress is going to have to tell her parents."

I took a deep breath. "Aunt Hermione and Uncle Ron will be devastated." I managed. Not to say anything of the rest of the family. The last two years since we'd been at Hogwarts I'd noticed that Greg had teased Jenny terribly, but at the same time I knew they were fond of each other. It was a pretty close family, one I usually felt part of because of the Weasley's virtually adopting my Dad when he was younger.

"I just wondered..I know what it's like when you're talking to the headmistress..is there anything you know which could help us find Jenny? Anything at all?" And his dark eyes bored into mine.

I thought about the note Georgia had come to me with, and the strange happenings she'd heard in the bathroom. And then I thought about the fact that for some reason this man was using a fake name. And that Martin and I had overheard a conversation between him and Snape where he had promised Snape something. And that just before Jessica and I had found the writing on the wall about the Serpent of Slytherin we'd met Michael running down the stairs looking worried and flustered.

So I shook my head. "No..Professor Mitchell." I said.

"Very well, you may go to your next class Sam." Michael said, sitting back down in his chair. I hurried out of the room and bumped into a young girl. For a moment I wondered who she was and then I realised- Alforth's sister. I laughed and steadied her.

"Where's the fire?" I teased. To be honest I felt sorry for her- not only was she the twin sister of Alforth, she was also a year below him, which couldn't have been easy.

She looked surprised I wasn't teasing her. "There isn't one- I'm lost. I was on my way to Transfiguration and the staircase changed." She explained.

"Right, Alison isn't it?" She nodded and I started to walk. "Come on- I'll make sure you get to McGonagall's classroom on my way to Herbology."

We walked along in silence and then all of a sudden she blurted out "You know you're not as bad as Alforth said you were."

I raised an eyebrow. There wasn't really much you could say to that was there?

"He complained about you all summer. Potter this, Potter that. And when you made keeper on the Gryffindor team-" She laughed. "He was furious! Especially when he got an owl from Dad telling him that if Harry Potter's son could make the team so could Draco Malfoy's. I got the impression that our parents didn't exactly get along at school?"

I thought about what I knew about the Malfoys. From what I knew nobody really had ever gotten along with them unless they were also in Slytherin. And everyone hated Slytherins unless they were one. It seemed strange to me to think that this girl wouldn't know all that- especially being a Malfoy! I shrugged. "Well you know what kids are like at school." I said diplomatically. "That's McGonagall's room down there. She's not going to be happy with you."

"I better run. Thanks." And she turned and raced down towards the classroom. I watched her for a moment before going out to Herbology. For some reason Professor Sprout herself was running late, so I was on time. I filled Martin in on my conversation with Michael during the lesson.

"I'm glad you didn't tell him. Now that I think about it I wonder whether he has anything to do with this whole Serpent of Slytherin stuff?" Martin mused. "Of course if we chucked all the Slytherins out of school we'd be right."

I glanced over at the Slytherins who were in the class with us then. Alforth was happily making fun of some unlucky person and his crony Carlos was laughing meanly. For some reason I didn't tell Martin about the conversation I'd had with Alison. I was still thinking about it though as we made our way up to the castle for lunch. In fact I didn't even comment when Patty Parkinson, a mean faced Slytherin who Jenny had made enemies with last year, commented that it was nice to have a lesson without know- all Weasley there. Martin looked at me surprised to see I didn't comment, but I was busy thinking about Alison: there was something strange about her- she didn't seem like a Malfoy, and she didn't seem to realise what being a Malfoy meant.