CHAPTER THIRTEEN

I Think I Need a Kleenex

Ron's face turned the color of sour milk. He stuttered, "G- Ginny?"

"I'm afraid so, Mr. Weasley. However, we shall notify you and the rest of your family immediately if she is found. This is a confusing and worrying time for all of us, as we have loved ones lost," McGonagall said sadly.

Right then something clicked in Harry's mind. We have loved ones lost, he repeated in his head. That didn't sound right to him. Ron and I are the ones who have loved ones lost, he thought silently. We miss every one of the people who went missing… As Harry sat down into a small chair a few feet away to finish thinking this through, he couldn't help noticing that Ron was on the verge of tears.

Ron took a seat next to Harry, and put his face in his hands. "Memories," he muttered to Harry, lowering his hands only to stare down at his worn jeans. "Memories. This is like last time. I don't think I can bear going through it again. Not knowing what almost happened…Poor Gin…and Mione…They don't deserve this, dammit!"

Harry too looked down at his knees. He remembered the attacks from the second year. The one night they were positive Ginny was dead. Feeling hopeless without Hermione there to help them solve the remainder of the mystery. Hermione, petrified from the basilisk, lying in the hospital wing, unaware of anything going on around her. Unaware of Ron. Unaware of him.

Harry leaned towards Ron, and said in a very shaky voice, "We'll find her. Just like last time, we'll find her. I'm sure everything will be fine."

"You can't say that, Harry. How can you be sure?"

Harry stood up. "I have to go do something," Harry said suddenly, trying to inject confidence into his still shaky voice. "Something that I should have done a long time ago." And with that, Harry walked down the hall, swung the doors open, and was out of sight.

Krum had disappeared as well, the only difference was, he left a note, saying that he went back to Bulgaria, and that he missed Hermione terribly, and to please notify him if they found her. 'If' they found her. Not 'When'. 'If.' This disturbed Harry.

Malfoy was in a wreck over Ginny, too.

Harry can't believe all the things that had happened in just one day. He and Ron needed to go pack for Christmas vacation - they were leaving the following day! But Harry didn't even know if Mr. And Mrs. Weasley had been informed that their daughter was missing yet.

After a few minutes of walking, Harry was standing in front of the surly looking gargoyle guarding Dumbledore's office. Harry finally managed to guess the right password (Canary Creams). The gargoyle sprang aside. Harry came to the familiar oak doors that stood before the headmaster's office, which opened before he could reach for the handle.

"Ah, Mr. Potter," Dumbledore greeted, beckoning him inside. "What a nice surprise. What can I do for you?"

"I have some information for you, Professor," Harry said quickly, stepping into the room. "And it concerns the recent disappearances."

Dumbeldore looked at Harry through his half-moon spectacles. "Well, by all means," he said, sitting down. "Please tell me all you know."

Dumbledore was looking at Harry very seriously, who took a deep breath to calm himself, and started to talk.

"Ron said that he couldn't find Lavender Brown to ask her to the ball. It was confirmed later on that Lavender was missing, so naturally the rest of the ball got called of. Well, in between these times, at the start of the ball, I noticed three figures with black cloaks on. No one else seemed to notice them. And I saw the same figures before Ginny Weasley and Cho Chang went missing. And, but this may be just mere coincidence, all these people are very important to Ron and I. …"

The humble Professor merely sat there, and his brow furrowed. He seemed to be in very deep thought. "There is a weird pattern here, then, isn't there?" he said calmly, shifting his weight in the chair to get in a more comfortable position. "Is that all you wanted to tell me?" he asked Harry. Harry shook his head. Dumbeldore sighed. "Very well. You have been a great help. I shall notify the rest of the staff to keep an eye out for these people in cloaks. They may in fact have something to do with this and should be questioned. "

He leaned closer to Harry and lowered his voice as he spoke. "Please promise me you'll stay out of mischief and trouble," he said. Harry nodded. "You may try and solve this mystery, however only under the condition that you will not be concocting any more polyjuice potion in a condemned girls' bathroom which is haunted by a ghost," he said, with a slight note of humor in his voice. "I do not want this distracting you from your schoolwork. Please put a cheering charm on Mr. Weasley when you get a chance, though. I assume this is a hard time for him especially. "

Harry then walked over to the door, and when he had his hand on the handle Dumbeldore said one more thing.

"When this is over, and the people are found, I do hope you and Miss Granger will get together. It should make Mr. Weasley's job quite a bit easier."

Harry only blushed, grinned, and walked out of the office. Dumbeldore smiled to himself. "Childhood sweethearts," he whispered softly. "I can see them together already."

Harry looked for Ron in the Gryffindor common room, as Harry figured he would have wandered up there. Ron was in fact there, and he had a very blank expression on his face. He was the only one there apart from a few people playing chess on the other side of the room. Harry looked at Ron, who was apparently hypnotized by the sight of small logs being burned to a crisp in a fireplace nearby.

"You okay?" Harry asked cautiously, sitting on the arm of a chair nearby. No reply. "Ron?" Harry repeated.

"Ginny, Hermione, Cho, Lavender. Who'll be next? Neville? Possibly… his faithful toad as well? And what about Parvati? Or even a teacher? The school will slowly break apart and there'll be no one left! I can't stand to watch this happen… Especially if it's happening to the people we love most," Ron said sadly.

Harry looked into the fire as well and understood exactly how Ron felt. He remembered what Dumbeldore had said a few minutes before, to stay out of mischief and trouble. And Harry, looking back on it, guiltily thought that that was a promise he wouldn't be able to keep.