Harry Potter and the Slayerette
A/N
It's a short chapter. Deal. Longer ones will follow.
Enjoy!
Love, Kennie
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Ron didn't appear in Charms. Nor was he present for lunch. Double Potions, after lunch, was a non-event. Hermione and Harry, already worried about him, began to panic in earnest when it transpired that Ron was going to miss Care of Magical Creatures as well. They took advantage of rest of the class' preoccupation with their Salamanders to pump Hagrid for information.
Whilst it was clear that Hagrid knew what was wrong, it was just as clear that he had no intention of telling them.
"No." He said for the sixth time. "Dumbledore said tha' it was up to them t' tell people, no' us." He elaborated, referring to the Weasley children that still remained at school. "He said we wasn't t' tell no-one. Bill, Charlie and Percy are with 'em and leave it a' tha'."
"Why aren't Mr and Mrs Weasley there too?" Hermione asked curiously, pouncing on the one weak point in Hagrid's statement.
Hagrid paled. "Now look. Don' be askin' me no more questions. I'm busy!" He told them, striding away to examine Malfoy's salamander, which had been deliberately placed in the coolest part of the fire and was clearly suffering.
Ron, Ginny, Fred and George were still absent at dinner. Harry and Hermione bolted their food down and then ran to their common room, determined to seek out Professor McGonagall if they weren't there.
They weren't.
Harry quickly checked his dormitory to see if Ron was there whilst Hermione checked Ginny's. Neither of them was there, although some of their things had been taken from their rooms.
Harry and Hermione left the Gryffindor common room and headed towards McGonagall office at a run.
Halfway there, they rounded a sharp corner and bumped into two other people. The four of them were sent flying in opposite directions.
Harry looked up from his position on the floor and witnessed Professor's Rosenburg and Regan coolly getting to their feet. Professor Rosenburg had a restraining hand on Professor Regan's arm. Professor Regan had a wicked looking knife out. As Harry watched, apprehensive, she glanced at him and Hermione and then casually placed the knife in her robes. She advanced forward and offered him a hand up. He accepted, allowing her to pull him to his feet and then backed off slightly as Professor Rosenburg helped an upset Hermione to her feet.
"Oh, we're so sorry Professors." Hermione babbled. "We didn't see you."
Professor Rosenburg smiled gently at her.
"Well you wouldn't, belting round the corner at breakneck speed like that." Professor Regan drawled in her upper-class English accent. "Incidentally, are students allowed to run in the corridors?"
Hermione glanced at Harry, stricken. "No, we're not." She admitted.
"We wouldn't have been, only…" Harry said, before tailing off, unsure how the new Professors would react.
"Only what?" Professor Rosenburg asked him.
"We were worried about Ron." Harry told her. "Professor McGonagall took him, Ginny, George and Fred somewhere after Defence Against the Dark Arts and we haven't seen them since."
"And some of their stuff's gone from our dormitories." Hermione added. "We were going to ask Professor McGonagall what had happened and if we could see them."
The two Professors looked at one another. Professor Regan shrugged.
"It can't hurt." She said to Professor Rosenburg.
"Darcy, Albus said that they weren't to be disturbed until they felt more able to face it." Professor Rosenburg reminded her.
Professor Regan shrugged. "So we ask them if they want to see them before. Like I said, it couldn't hurt. It might even help."
"You don't know that for sure."
"Willow, look at me. I don't know what I'd have done if it hadn't been for friends like you and Angel after Basil…" She broke off, tears shining in her eyes.
Professor Rosenburg regarded her sombrely for a moment before slowly nodding. "I guess…"
Professor Regan grinned, all trace of tears gone. "Great!" She turned to Harry and Hermione. "Follow us."
She turned on her heel and obediently, Harry and Hermione followed in her footsteps, Professor Rosenburg bringing up the rear. Harry could hear her muttering to herself.
"Damn crocodile tears. I should know better than to trust them. She breaks them out every time…"
In near silence, Professor Rosenburg's mutterings the only sound any of them made, the group travelled to the west wing of the school. There Professor Regan paused and turned to Professor Rosenburg.
"I can hear you Willow." She told her fellow Professor and obvious good friend.
Professor Rosenburg scowled. "Good!"
Professor Regan laughed and began to climb a flight of stairs leading to one of the school's many towers. About halfway up the staircase she turned to a brick of a slightly different colour to the rest.
"Chicken Soup." She told the brick, which glowed faintly before morphing into a small door. Professor Regan turned to Harry and Hermione. "Wait here." She told them, knocking on the door.
From behind the door, Harry and Hermione heard Ginny's voice.
"Come in." She called listlessly.
Professor Regan pushed the door open and followed by Professor Rosenburg, entered the door. The door closed behind them and Harry and Hermione were left to the absolute quiet of the staircase and their own worried thoughts.
After what felt like hours to the two of them, but was in all likelihood merely a few minutes, the door opened again and the two Professors came out of the room.
Professor Rosenburg nodded at them. "You can go in." She told the two of them.
Without any further ado, Harry and Hermione entered the door.
Harry barely had time to register that Bill, Charlie, Percy, Fred and George, Ron and Ginny were all assembled there before Ginny rushed at him and hugged him desperately.
"Oh, Harry." She sobbed. "Mum and Dad are dead."