I hope this isn't going rubbish…

"He what?" repeated Ron, who was definitely having trouble grasping what Harry was saying.

"He swore," said Harry again, adjusting his glasses slightly. "And then…"

"What?" asked Hermione, the big book on her lap for once forgotten.

The trio were in the Gryffindor common room and Harry was passing on what he'd seen to two of the few people he trusted. Rumours about Dumbledore had been spreading through the school like wildfire and everyone was bursting with curiosity about the Headmaster's condition. Most of the students found the most amazing thing to be Dumbledore's clothes and only a few pupils had seen the look on his face at the pitch. Hermione had been one of those few and she was desperately worried. Being a clever witch, she knew that the safety of Hogwarts depended on the Headmaster and if something was wrong with him…

Harry felt rather odd about the whole episode. His anger at Dumbledore still hadn't fully abated but now he was too confused and concerned about the old man to let the emotion dominate him. The feeling of unreality, however, was increasing. Since Sirius had died, nothing had felt very real. He'd spent the holidays in a stunned daze, sitting alone in his room, battling with a growing guilt complex. Now the world seemed to spinning away from him and leaving him in a misty hazy limbo, in which nothing was as it seemed and the unexpected was expected. Dumbledore's strange appearance was the occurrence which he'd thought had taken away the last vestiges of his ability to be surprised. Dumbledore's behaviour when woken, however, had convinced him otherwise.

"Then," Harry continued awkwardly, "he started…um…crying…"

"Crying?" repeated Ron incredulously. "Crying?"

Harry nodded, looking deeply disturbed. He'd only seen the Headmaster cry once before (that had been shocking enough) and even then, it had only been a single tear. Despite his anger at Dumbledore over last year, he still looked up to the old wizard and seeing him like that troubled him.

"How horrible!" exclaimed Hermione unnecessarily, putting her hands up to her mouth. Then her anxiety seemed to increase. "You don't think it's to do with…with…" Her voice went a notch lower. "…Voldemort, do you?"

Harry shrugged but the thought of the prophecy still caused him to shiver. "I don't know. It could be."

"It must be," said Ron immediately, nodding seriously. "I mean, what else could it be? We would've noticed if there was another equally evil and powerful dark wizard wanting to take over the world hanging around, wouldn't we?"

"Yes," said Hermione.

Both Harry and Ron looked at her disbelievingly.

"But-" she began.

"Phew," breathed Ron. "You had me worried there."

"But," she continued, ignoring them, "how could V-voldemort have caused that.? Unless he's taken to randomly kidnapping people, dressing them in weird clothes and then getting them addicted to nicotine - which I don't think he has, Ronald Weasley," she added sternly as Ron started laughing at the idea. "Unless he has, then I don't see how he can be responsible."

"Either way, we should find out…" said Harry, a little uncertainly.

Ron sobered instantly. "Harry, don't worry. We can use your cloak and there'll be no chance of us getting caught! And anyway, Dumbledore may have forbidden you to do things like that but this is for his sake! Surely he couldn't tell you off for being worried about him!"

Hermione sniffed in a scornful way. "I still don't really approve of the idea…"

Ron opened his mouth to argue with her.

"-But I accept that it's necessary," she continued. "The question is: how? It's not as if we can sneak up to the Hospital Wing and he's going to tell us everything. We're not even sure what the problem is. In fact, is there a problem?"

"Hermy!" Harry argued hotly. "Of course there's a problem! The Headmaster can't just disappear and then turn up acting as if he's gone crazy!"

Hermione stared at him, unconvinced.

"He's got to be," continued her friend urgently. "Dumbledore and leather don't go."

Ron turned to look at him as if he was mentally subnormal. Hermione didn't need to alter her expression.

"What? Well, anyway, don't you see that if people can kidnap Dumbledore… well, then, it's bad."

Hermione sighed. "Assuming he was kidnapped. And anyway, he's unhappy. Perhaps there's something we can do if we find out what happened."

"She'll be starting SPACH now," whispered Ron to Harry.

"'SPACH?'" repeated Hermione, her sharp ears picking up on Ron as always.

"Society for the Protection of All Crazy Headmasters."

Hermione rolled her eyes and then a problem occurred to her. "Um, guys? We've decided to find out as much as we can and all…"

The boys nodded; yes, they had decided that.

"But where do we start?"

#

The trio found themselves stumped by that last question. How were they going to find out anything? It's not as if Dumbledore was going to write down what happened on pieces of paper and then conveniently leave them strewn all over the school. It wasn't as if going and spying on Snape was going to get them anywhere. Secret passages would not lead them to a pensieve containing a memory of the event. Hermione was unlikely to find a chapter in a book from the Restricted section titled 'Dumbledore's Disappearing Act and the Reasons Behind It, With Comments by Matilda Bagshot.'

This meant that the trio had to unhappily continue with their normal lives for the next week. Hermione eavesdropped on all the teachers by simply finding reasons to stay behind after lessons ("Professor Flitwick, you mentioned something about a way to perform Switching Charms without an incantation, I was wondering whether I could stay behind and try?") but since they all seemed just as confused, nothing was revealed. The news that Dumbledore was out of the Hospital Wing was the only bright spot in a sea of mystery.

"I suppose we could go there and see if he dropped anything," suggested Harry doubtfully, not expecting to find anything.

The others didn't hold out much hope either, but, having no other ideas, it meant that midnight found the friends under Harry's Invisibility Cloak, creeping around the Hospital Wing, trying desperately not to wake Madam Pomfrey, who'd dozed off beside one of her patient's beds. They peered under the bed Dumbledore had been in (now back with the others) in the darkness and hunted all around the area but to no avail: they found nothing.

Hermione accidentally let out a loud sigh of frustration and the trio had to freeze and stop themselves from even breathing too loudly as Madam Pomfrey stirred, yawned but then thankfully went back to sleep. Hermione found herself for once extremely thankful that some people played pranks: the only reason Madam Pomfrey was so drained as to be asleep at her post (watching over a third-year who'd had something rather nasty put in his pumpkin juice) was that there'd been a sort of prank-war between two gangs of second-years, which had got rather out of hand, leaving the minder of the Hospital Wing exhausted.

Ron and Harry, obviously giving up, made to turn away but Hermione gestured at the bed from under the cloak. Her meaning was obvious: what if Dumbledore had left something in the bed?

Harry didn't think much of this idea, as Madam Pomfrey cleaning the bed thoroughly after each occupant and he didn't her sharp gaze would have missed anything. Despite heavy doubts, the trio went over to the bed and began sifting through the blankets and pillows as quietly as possible. And, to everyone's surprise, something fell out of a fold in the thick outer blanket - which Madam Pomfey was unlikely to have removed unless something as dreadful as vomit had landed on it.

To everyone's confusion, when Ron picked it up, it was found to be a photo - but of nobody they knew. The moving picture depicted an old woman who reminded Harry strangely of Dumbledore: she wore glasses, had long, startlingly white hair and had a similar twinkle in her brown eyes. She was wearing a leather jacket, which looked as odd on her as it did on Dumbledore and there were several faded scars on her face. The image smiled and winked at the baffled teenagers.

Ron stuffed it in a pocket so they could look at it more closely in the common room when they got back and they turned to go-

And Ron, particularly gangly and clumsy after a growing spurt, tripped over one of Madam Pomfrey's chair legs.

The cloak, wrapped around Ron, pulled Hermione over and Harry stumbled, trying to stop himself from treading on his friends. He ripped the cloak off and tried to tug it from his friends-

"Mr Potter! Mr Weasley! Miss Granger!" exclaimed a hushed but furious voice behind them.

Madam Pomfrey stood, glaring daggers at them.

"I've had enough of this! You're being constantly found out of bed and in here when you're not meant to be, especially after curfew! You're going straight to the Headmaster!"

A/N: I know I didn't really go into enough detail with the trio's investigations but I did say this was going to be short!