Pabbay
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Harry Potter 'verse, but I do own my characters and the way I've interpreted J.K.R.'s characters. Oh, and I don't really own Professor Smith. As you can probably guess, he's modelled off Agent Smith from The Matrix, and most of what he says is almost identical to what his Agent counterpart says in The Matrix.
This chapter is dedicated to Weasy. Also, any and all strange symbols are just asterisks, indicating that an explanation is at the bottom of the fic if you need it! Sorry it's taken me so long to update, I've just had so much stuff to deal with in rl, and my muse was being extremely temporamental! But to make up for it I'm posting two chapters tonight. Give me a shout if the formatting's more off than I caught, I'm still not sure what characters and combinations thereof this site objects to for whatever obscure reason.
Chapter 3: Shadows
As the Gryffindor first years sat down to tea that evening, the mood in the Great Hall was much more sombre than it had been that morning. Julian hadn't turned up, even though Dumbledore and the Prefects had been searching the castle all day. And as if that wasn't enough, a second year Hufflepuff and a sixth year Slytherin had also gone missing and couldn't be found. Everyone was looking around nervously, as though expecting to be the next victim of the disappearances.
Cries of 'where's so-and-so' were echoed in increasingly panicked voices around the hall, until the door opened and the person in question would walk in, having been held up by a teacher or a toilet-stop.
"Bella! Where's Bella?" Sirius asked suddenly.
"Right here, dimwit," a voice said from under the table. Sirius poked his own head under the table, and came face-to-face with Arabella.
"What are you doing under here?" he asked her.
"I dropped my fork, Dad," replied Arabella, rolling her eyes, and then disappearing above the table again. Sirius sat up and looked around the table.
"Students, if I may have your attention? Tonight the castle and the grounds will be searched thoroughly for the missing students, and I would like you all to remain calm. When you are walking around the castle, I would like you to do so in groups of three or more. Please do not be alarmed at any rumours you may here, because they are no more than that- rumours. The security around the castle will be tightened, and rule breaking will be looked upon most severely. I don't believe now is an appropriate time for practical jokes or the like." Dumbledore's eyes flicked to the Gryffindor table, then the Ravenclaw table where three identical girls with blonde hair were looking slightly disappointed but understanding. "You may continue with your meal, and then please return to your House common room or dormitories."
Halloween came and went, with only a small feast to mark its passing. The mood in the castle dropped so low that not even Sirius joked around anymore, and if a Dementor happened to be in the neighbourhood even it would be put off by the aura of depression emanating from the castle. And then it happened.
"Carina!" Kerynn hissed into the fireplace of a deserted classroom, of which she had locked and barricaded the door.
"I'm here, Kerry," Carina whispered back, her head emerging from the flames.
"Did you get my letter?"
"Yeah. I memorised it all. It's going to be fine, Kerry, don't worry about it. I did okay the last two times, didn't I?" asked Carina, climbing out of the fireplace with some difficulty.
"Yeah, I suppose you did. Just don't mess it up, okay?"
"I won't. You better get going; Pomfrey won't be too happy if you're late."
"Yeah. Thanks, sis." Kerynn hugged her sister tightly, tears pricking at her eyes. "Thank you."
"Hey, it's okay, Wren. Anything for my little Jenny."
"Thanks 'Rina. See you tomorrow?"
"I'll see you nine o' clock sharp. Now get going!"
"Thank you," Kerynn repeated again, removing the barricade, unlocking the door, and disappearing out of the door.
Carina produced a small flask from her shoulder bag and swallowed a mouthful of whatever substance was inside it. Immediately she felt the potion taking effect, and in less than a minute Carina was no longer there. Instead, in her place, was Kerynn. Or was it Kerynn?
Studying herself in the pocket mirror, Kerynn shook her head, and looked down at her too-large robes. "I tell you, I'll never get used to this. It's just freaky. James has messy black hair, Sirius has long black hair, Remus has dusty brown hair, and Peter's got blond hair. Lily is the redhead, Arabella has curly dark blonde hair, and Tallibeth has long black hair. Sirius and Tallibeth are twins; they have an older sister called Anne- no, Anna, that's it. Anna, Anna, Anna."
As if just remembering something, 'Kerynn' rummaged in her bag, and produced another robe and pair of shoes, which she changed into quickly before looking up at the clock.
"Shit, dinner time," she cursed, dumping her old clothes into her bag, swinging her bag onto her shoulder before tearing out of the classroom and down to the Great Hall.
"Kerynn!" Tally cried, throwing her arms around her friend. "I was so worried, I thought the kidnapper had got you!"
"Sorry, I had to-"
"I know, you had to find that History book you dropped, but you were looking for half an hour!" Arabella put in.
"I thought I knew where it was, but it wasn't there, so I looked somewhere else, and it took me a while to find it."
Lily looked at her friend sceptically, but didn't say anything.
"You didn't see Remus while you were looking, did you?" Peter asked her.
"Remus? No, I didn't, wasn't he with you?"
"He was, then he said he had to see Dumbledore about something and disappeared. That was almost two hours ago." James was looking worried, glancing around at the doors every few seconds as though expecting Remus to run through them, but the doors stayed firmly shut.
"I'm sure he's just gone to the library or something, maybe he wasn't hungry," Kerynn suggested.
"Or maybe his mother's had another relapse," Lily suggested. "Perhaps he had to go and see her again, like last month. She must be really ill, maybe that's what he wanted to talk to Dumbledore about."
"Yeah, that's possible," Arabella agreed.
"Too many 'maybes' if you ask me," Tallibeth said darkly. "Eleven students have disappeared in the last week, maybe Remus is the twelfth."
"Tally, that sort of talk doesn't help anyone," Anna butted in crossly. "Lily's right, he's probably just visiting his mother."
"Wouldn't he have told us, though, what with everything that's been going on?" asked Peter.
"Yeah, Remus isn't the sort of guy to go off without telling anyone in a situation like this," James agreed.
"Lets wait until tomorrow, if he hasn't turned up then we'll go to Dumbledore," Sirius decided.
"That's a good plan," Kerynn said, a thought striking her- nearly three months at the Office for Werewolf Support Services hadn't taught her to ignore the signs.
"Marian's gone!" a Ravenclaw girl cried, running into the Hall, distressed. It was one of the blonde girls whom Dumbledore had looked at during his first speech to them.
The other blonde girl stood up and ran towards her, and they hugged each other tightly.
"What do you mean, Karen?" Dumbledore asked, walking over to the two girls.
"We- the three of us- were in the library, studying, and didn't see the time- I saw it was time for tea, and Marian said she just wanted to finish her Transfiguration paper, and not to wait for her. So Dorian and me came in here, had something to eat, and then I brought some sandwiches up for her. I left them outside the library, and went in to find her. I looked all through the library for her, but I couldn't find her, so I went to the common room and the girls dormitories, but she wasn't there either, so I looked in all the girls loos, then asked Madam Pince if she'd seen Marian, and she said 'not since she'd left soon after I had'!"
"Sir, if you know what might have happened to her, you have to tell us!" Dorian blurted out. "She's our sister!"
"What makes you think I know something, Miss Elmer?" Dumbledore asked.
"Just... what someone was saying... in Arithmancy," Dorian mumbled.
"Let me assure you," Dumbledore began, loudly enough for the whole hall to hear, "I know as much and as little as you know about this matter. I am not keeping anything from you, so please ignore these rumours. Now, if anyone does have any idea who's behind this, they should come to my office. You have my word that the meetings will be entirely confidential."
"But we know who's behind it, isn't it obvious?" a Gryffindor second year said, loudly. "It's the Death Eaters!"
"Don't be a dumb-ass, Anthony, the Death Eaters won't be behind it! Since when did they do anything of their own accord? It's You-Know-Who!" a fourth year Gryffindor boy argued.
"You're the dumb-ass, Matt, why would Voldemort kidnap kids? It'll be a Lethifold or something!" another fourth year Gryffindor boy contradicted both of them.
"Daniel, Lethifolds only live in tropical climates," a fourth year girl interrupted them.
"Shut up, Grace!" Daniel and Matt said in unison.
"Yeah, shut up, Grace," Anthony echoed.
Grace turned away from them, shaking her head. "I reckon it's just the castle, there are all sorts of secret rooms and stuff, maybe they all somehow ended up in one of them."
"That's just stupid, Grace," Daniel sneered.
"Was she talking to you? I think not. I think it's a more plausible idea than yours- Lethifold indeed!" Megan scoffed.
"Yeah? At least he had a theory!"
"Just go away, Matt," Grace said tiredly. "Jerks," she muttered, and Megan nodded whole-heartedly.
"We heard that, dork!" said Daniel threateningly.
"Yeah, well, what ya gonna do about it?" Grace countered tiredly.
Daniel glared at her. "I hate you, dork-face!" he said out of the blue, and stormed off out of the hall.
"Where did that come from?" Grace asked, bewildered and slightly hurt.
"I reckon he likes you," Laura said thoughtfully.
"Daniel? Likes me? That'd be the joke of the century," Grace replied, rolling her eyes. "Didn't you hear a word he said?"
"Well, they do say that guys are always horrible to the ones they like," said Megan.
"Yeah, Daniel likes you, Grace," Laura insisted.
"Like I'd care if he did! He's a jerk!" Grace said, making a face.
"He may be a jerk, but he's a cute jerk," Laura countered.
"Ewww!" Grace exclaimed in disgust. "That's just... Ewww!"
The next day, at nine o' clock, Kerynn told Tallibeth that she had a headache, and took her bag with her to the hospital wing.
"I'll get some food there, don't wait for me in breakfast."
"Okay, see you Kerry."
"Bye Tally."
Kerynn ran up to the hospital wing just as Remus was coming down the stairs.
"Remus! Hurry, the guys are going to Dumbledore about you, they think you were kidnapped! Your mother ill again?"
Remus nodded. "Yeah, that's right. Thanks Kerynn; I'll see you in Herbology. You okay?" Remus had started to run down the stairs, and then turned back as though just registering the fact that Kerynn was on her way to the Hospital Wing.
"Just a headache. Go, go!" Kerynn urged, cutting herself off, and Remus took her advice and sprinted off towards Dumbledore's office.
Kerynn continued up the stairs, and entered the Hospital room quickly and dashed over to the cubicle where her sister lay, pulling the curtains aside then closed again quickly.
"What happened?" the real Kerynn asked.
"I just saw Remus- he said he'd been visiting his mother again last night; he left without telling anyone and they all thought he'd been kidnapped and were going to tell Dumbledore this morning, but he ought to catch them in time. Marian, one of the Ravenclaw triplets, disappeared last night whilst we were eating tea, and Dumbledore says he knows no more than us about this whole disappearance thing. He asked anyone who thinks they know anything to go to his office for a confidential meeting. You?"
"Not much progress. I've mastered the memory recall thing, but that's supposed to happen around my age. I'm starting to master the passenger thing we talked about- I remember actually being there this time, first hand, rather than remembering it like I would a dream, which is how the recall thing works. Are you sure nothing else happened?"
"I was a bit late for tea, Tally and the others worried, and Lily looked at me oddly when I said it took me a while to find my book- I think she didn't believe me; she didn't say anything, though. Maybe we should leave it a bit later next time, maybe after tea rather than before?"
"I'll check it with Pomfrey," Kerynn promised. "You'd better get back to work."
"Take me to fireplace then," Carina prompted, changing into her old robes and shoes as her normal features began to replace those of her sister's.
"Sure thing. Reducio," Kerynn muttered, and her sister shrank until she would fit comfortably inside Kerynn's pocket. Carefully Kerynn lifted the shrunken Carina into her pocket, then pulled aside the curtains. "Thanks Madam Pomfrey!" Kerynn called.
"Get going, you're late for class!" came the reply from the nurse's office.
Kerynn ran towards the room she had been in last night, put her sister on the ground, and pointed her wand at her. "Engorgio!" Kerynn muttered. "Gotta go, sis, write to you soon, love you!" she said hurriedly, and rushed out of the room at top speed.
Carina, now her normal size, rubbed her head. "I'm going to be bruised all over," she muttered, kneeling down by the fireplace. "Incendio," she muttered, pointing her wand at the fireplace. Then she stood up and put a pinch of Floo Powder into the fire that now burnt in the fireplace. "Liquorice," she whispered, then stepped into the flames. "The Office for Werewolf Support Services." (#)
"Wait!" Remus cried, spotting James, Sirius and Peter outside Dumbledore's office, and putting on an extra burst of speed.
James and the others turned around, and saw Remus sprinting towards them
"Remi! You're here! Are you okay?" James asked.
"Yeah... Fine..." Remus replied breathlessly, clutching a stitch in his side. "Mum... had a relapse... had to dash off... no time to tell you... sorry."
"Hey, don't worry about it. Is she okay? What's wrong with her?" Sirius asked.
"Er... they don't know yet. Nothing fatal, but it's pretty bad, and keeps coming back unexpectedly."
"But she's okay now, right?"
"They think so."
"Maybe we should send her a card or something," Peter suggested.
"No! See, I... don't know what hospital it is, I travel by Floo Powder from Hogsmeade, I only know the... ward name!" Remus invented desperately.
"We could try to find out, I'm sure Dumbledore would be able to tell us, or point us in the right direction."
"That he could," muttered the werewolf under his breath, darkly. "Really, guys, its okay. She's fine now."
"For sure?"
"Yeah. For sure," Remus assured them, forcing a smile. Damn, now I've got to think of another story. I hate this! "Come on, let's get to Herbology. Smith gets really annoyed if we're late, especially now."
"Yeah, you're right, lets go," Peter agreed, and they set off for their lesson.
"Welcome to class, Mister Lupin, Mister Potter, Mister Black, Mister Pettigrew. So nice of you to join us."
"Sorry we're late, Professor Smith," Remus apologised.
"I dropped my books all over the floor, they were helping me," James said quickly.
Professor Smith looked at Remus sharply, and then cast his gaze over the others. "Very well. Please take your seats, gentlemen. Four points from Gryffindor- make that five; good afternoon, Miss Stevens."
"Sorry sir- I'd left my quills in my dormitory."
"Yes, well. You will remember them in future, I hope."
"Yes sir."
"Take a seat, Miss Stevens. Now, as you can see, we've had our eyes on these Gillyweed plants for quite some time, class. It seems to me there are two types- one is the Common Gillyweed, the one you are all well acquainted with by now, I hope; but the other is very rare, and that is the one we shall now be looking at now. Now, I shall give Gryffindor a chance to wipe the slate clean, win back the points they have lost, and all I ask for in return is their co-operation in 'acing' this experiment. You will co-operate, I trust?" Professor Smith asked, turning to face the Gryffindors who had arrived late.
"Yes, sir," they chorused.
"Good. Now listen carefully as I explain the exact details of what you must do."
"'You disappoint me, Gryffindors'- urgh! I hate that guy, he's so creepy!" Kerynn exclaimed as they made their way back towards the castle after Herbology, shuddering. "How is he head of Hufflepuff?"
"No idea, if you ask me they gave Smith and Corbie the wrong jobs!" Remus agreed as they walked ahead of the others.
Kerynn pushed open the door, and stopped dead. "Re- Remus!" she gasped.
In front of her, in the middle of the entrance hall, were the dozen missing students, bound, gagged and Stunned.
"What is it?" he asked, pushing her gently out of the doorway. "Oh my... YO! Yo, you lot, come here, quick!" he called to the six Gryffindors behind them. "Come QUICK!"
James, Sirius, Peter, Talibeth, Lily and Arabella looked at each other, bewildered, then ran towards the castle.
"Remi, what is it?" Lily asked, arriving first. Remus moved aside, just inside the entrance hall, leaving Lily's line of sight clear.
"OH! That's... that's..."
"What is it?"
"Let me see!"
"SHIT!" Sirius swore loudly. "What's happened to them?"
"I think they're Stunned, I can't tell from here, though," Lily replied.
"No, I mean that- look at them, that's bruising there- and that one's bleeding," Sirius pointed to one of the students. He edged closer, then closer still, then edged around them, giving them a wide birth as though they had some sort of deadly contagious disease and ran up the marble stairs. "Hello? Hello?" Sirius shouted upwards, looking around the corridor and seeing nobody. "HELLO? Oh, stuff this. Sonorus! HELLO? "The last shout echoed almost deafeningly around the entrance hall, and twenty nine people all slammed their hands over their ears and still heard it too clearly.
"Hello, Mr. Black. What is the problem?" Professor Philips, the Charms teacher, asked calmly, his sixth-year class behind him glowering at Sirius. "It's still ten minutes until lessons finish, at least."
"It's the missing students, sir- they're here."
Sirius gestured to where the twelve comatose students lay, and Professor Philips immediately took charge. "Berol, go to the Hospital wing, get Madam Pomfrey. Hurry! Cooper, go to Dumbledore's office, the password's Czechoslovakia, run. The rest of you, back to your houses, any classrooms you pass on the way you should tell of the situation, get the teachers down here and the students to their common rooms. Go!"
The students dispersed immediately, and Prof. Philips turned to Sirius. "Why are you here, Mr. Black?"
"We were let out of Herbology early, my friends are by the door, the Hufflepuffs stayed to tidy the greenhouse with Professor Smith."
"And why aren't you tidying?"
"Erm... Professor Smith didn't want us to. Said he could do it with his students."
"Ah. Not very green-fingered, then, you or your friends," guessed Prof. Philips, sweeping down the stairs and across the hall, Sirius half-jogging to keep up, trying to distract the boy from the reality of the horror in the entrance hall.
"You could say that," Sirius admitted, and was surprised to see the Professor smiling at him.
"He wasn't either, in first year. Forgot to put earmuffs on properly when the teacher decided they were good enough to try something more challenging than the usual first year work. They were just little, itty-bitty Mandrakes, but he was out for almost twelve hours straight in the hospital wing, unconscious. You didn't hear that from me, okay?" Prof. Philips added the last sentence conspiratorially, but his voice wasn't entirely steady, as though he was nervous.
"'Course not, sir," Sirius said with a broad grin, which disappeared in a flash as he felt an arm brush past his leg. He looked down and saw one of students lying in front of him. "Gah!" he cried in shock, detouring around the body and running over to his friends, who were still waiting by the door.
Professor Philips pointed his wand at one of the students: "Enervate," he said, and the student stirred slightly. He repeated the spell, pointing his wand at each of the motionless students. One of them didn't stir.
"Marian... Marian, are you okay? Professor, professor, is Marian okay?" asked a voice from the top of the marble stairs. The Professor turned to see Karen and Dorian standing uncertainly on the landing, looking down at their motionless sister.
"Dorian..."
"Don't mess us about, Professor, sir. Is she okay or not?"
Professor Philips put her fingers to the blonde girl's neck, but didn't need to feel for a pulse: her skin was icy cold to his touch. "No. I'm sorry, Karen, Dorian."
"No... NO!!!"
Karen and Dorian ran down the stairs to where her sister lay.
"Mary... come on, come back to us, Mary... please, Marian."
"You can pull through, Mary, come on."
Karen reached out to feel for a pulse, but someone caught hold of her hand with quick reflexes. Too quick. Karen looked down, and saw that it was Marian's arm. "Marian?"
"Dorian, Karen, get back!" Professor Philips cried suddenly. "Get BACK!" Dorian stumbled backwards, but Karen stayed where she was.
"Marian? Sis?" she asked, confused by the iciness of her touch but too hopeful that her sister was alive to care.
"Yes, Karen. It's me," Marian replied in a strangely musical voice, a smile on her blue lips, her eyes still closed.
Hang on... blue?
"What happened, Marian?" Karen asked, warily, moving to pull away, but her sister held her wrist too tightly.
"Why, this," Marian replied joyously, opening her eyes to reveal unearthly yellow eyes with slit-like pupils.
Karen's eyes dilated in fear, and she struggled desperately against her sister's grip.
"Are you afraid of me, Karen? Your own sister? I never hurt you before, did I?"
Karen stopped struggling and looked into the yellow eyes for any trace of her sister, and then- yes, she saw it, Marian was there, smiling reassuringly back at her from the eyes of this strange-eyed thing on the floor.
"You can trust me, Karen, I'm her," the creature hissed through enlarged canine teeth which now protruded over her bottom lip.
But Karen felt no fear of this creature. No, she was right, she was Marian, just different somehow... but still Marian.
"Do you trust me, Karen?"
"Yes, I do," replied Karen, still looking into her sister's eyes, unable to break her gaze- it made her feel so safe looking into those eyes, as though she no longer had anything to fear, as long as she carried on looking- so safe, so secure, so protected...
"Karen, no!" Dorian cried, and Professor Philips had to grab hold of her arm to stop her running to her sister's aid.
"Don't! Karen is beyond your help now, if you go over there you will just be making things worse!"
"What is that thing?" Dorian asked, staring at what used to be her sister's body.
"A vampire. And a hungry one, at that. Stay here, promise me, and don't look into her eyes. Okay? Look at me. I'm going to deal with this situation and I don't want to hurt you, or the first-years. Go and stand with them, and don't interfere. Okay?"
"Okay," she agreed, the word barely audible.
Professor Philips turned around, still blocking Dorian's view, and what he saw made him freeze. No, it couldn't be... but it was: Karen's body was lying prone on the floor, a wound on the side of her neck making it obvious what had happened. He had never known a new vampire move so quickly; usually they were so disorientated at first they could barely stand, but Marian was as aware as they came. And suddenly she was no longer by her dead sister's side, but right in front of him, her arm snaking around his neck, spinning him round to face Dorian.
"No!" Dorian cried, seeing what Marian was about to do.
The vampire caught Dorian's eyes with its own. "Stay!" it hissed angrily, and Dorian found herself paralysed. "I'll deal with you later. Right now it's the Professor's turn!" The vampire smiled wildly, and was about to snap Prof. Philips' neck when two things happened at once. Firstly, Lily, Arabella, Tallibeth and Kerynn all screamed. Secondly, almost before the vampire could whip her head round, she felt a piece of wood pierce her heart, and her body disintegrated around her. "Oh...-"
Behind the cloud of dust left by Marian stood the weak form of Karen. "She didn't get me... not yet..." And with that Karen collapsed. Professor Philips strode over to her quickly and felt for her pulse: weak, but there... weaker... gone. He stood up, and glanced sorrowfully over at Dorian.
"Karen... Marian..." Dorian forced out the words, her throat feeling too constricted to breathe properly, tears seeming to blind her and choke her all at once.
"It's okay, Dorian. It's okay." Professor Philips gathered the distraught girl into his arms as she broke down completely, and that's how the teachers found the entrance hall. In the centre were eleven very disorientated students; by the door were eight white-faced first-years, and between them were a seemingly calm Professor Philips and a distraught Dorian Elmer, with an anonymous cloud settling around them.
"May the students who have just returned make their way to the Hospital Wing. First-year Gryffindors, common room, please. Staff, your Houses or the staff room," Dumbledore commanded, and they all obeyed except Professor Philips, who signalled to Dorian, and Dumbledore nodded to show that he didn't mean for Professor Philips to leave.
"In your own time, both of you. When you're ready. When you're ready."
##
A/N: Well, I don't really know what to say after that; took myself by surprise there! Vampires, eh? Didn't consciously think of that one before I tope it, believe it or not! Oh well, hope you all liked it and all that jazz.
A little bit of background for any of you who're interested; Professor Philips and the Elmer sisters lived next door to each other and so know/knew each other as neighbours; he's kind of like a surrogate uncle to them.
(#) 'Liquorice' is a password. Carina spoke to a member of the Floo Regulation Panel, and persuaded him to connect this one fireplace to the OWSS (Office for Werewolf Support Services) fireplace for two specific days every month and password protected it
Kirina