Chaos

"You're scared it's gonna change

You say you need a guarantee – just leave it

You'll look but you won't find

Don't you know that love is blind – just feel it"

The Great Hall was filled with students devouring their breakfast, and getting ready for a new day of classes. However, it wasn't any normal day; today, it was unusually quiet. Everyone was still pondering about Dumbledore's announcement yesterday, but were a bit calm since they were sure that they would be well-protected from harm. This morning, the Gryffindor table was the most silent out of the four groups. Two people from the Gryffindor house were missing, and this only terrified them more.

Hermione looked at the two empty seats that would have been occupied by Seamus and Dean if they were here. It seems as if most people were thinking about them too, but felt helpless since they don't know what's going on and can't save them.

"They would've been eating and laughing with us right now," Ron commented. "It seems as if it was only yesterday that I was playing wizard's chess with them."

"Don't talk like that," Harry murmured.

"Talk like what?"

"Like they're dead."

Ron opened his mouth but decided against it. He had no idea what to say to that since he didn't want to make the situation any worse, and kept quiet.

"They're not dead. They can't be," Hermione said.

"You don't know that," Harry calmly said.

"We can at least hope, can't we?"

Nobody answered her question, but nobody had to. It was quite obvious that, yes they can hope for Seamus and Dean's safe return, but they all felt a need to go investigate what happened in order to save the day. They didn't care how difficult or dangerous; they just wanted everything to be normal again.

"Professor Dumbledore!"

A cry for the Headmaster pierced the noiseless hall, and had everyone search for who called for him.

"Professor Dumbledore! You've got to help me!"

A small boy with brown hair was running up to the teacher's table, waving his arms all about with his face full of tears. He was the smallest boy in Hogwarts so it took a while for everyone to recognize who it was.

"Mister Creevey, what's the matter?"

"My... my... he... I... oh Merlin," the boy hesitantly said before collapsing on the floor. This caused uproar from all the students in the Great Hall. They were terrified and tried to run out of the hall, while others gathered around the small boy to see what was going on.

"Stop this instant!" Dumbledore demanded. At his command, everyone froze and looked at the Professor for any further instructions.

"I will not have chaos erupt in my school! Prefects and teachers, please lead the students of your own House to your Tower. Will the Head Boy and Girl please stay here," he turned to Professor McGonagall, "Minerva would you kindly inform Madam Pomfrey to come here immediately?"

She nodded her head and along with the rest of the students, went out of the Great Hall. Dumbledore stood over the boy on the floor and appeared to be contemplating on the situation at hand.

"Professor, is he... is he..." Hermione started to say.

"No, Miss Granger, he's not dead. He simply fainted," Dumbledore calmly said.

Draco walked up closer to where the boy laid. He didn't seem familiar so he must be from some other House besides Slytherin.

"Who is he?" Draco softly asked.

"Dennis Creevey. He's a Gryffindor," Hermione replied. "I just can't believe this."

"Do not worry, Miss Granger. Once Mister Creevey wakes up, he will be able to explain what happened to cause him to act in such way."

"Professor! I got here as fast as I could. Now what is the matter?" Madam Pomfrey turned to Dennis who was lying on the floor, "Oh dear!"

She immediately went by his side and slapped him gently on the face. After a couple of times, it seemed to have work since Dennis began waking up.

"Where am I? Is this all a dream? Where's my brother?" he asked as he tried to get up.

"You are in the Great Hall, I do not think this is any dream, and do you want someone to get him for you?" Dumbledore asked.

"No! If this isn't a dream then..." Dennis looked much paler, which made Madam Pomfrey concerned.

"Oh dear, let me take you to the Hospital Wing," she said.

"Poppy, I think I need to ask him a few more questions before you take him away."

"Albus, please! The poor boy needs medical help! I'm sure your questions can wait."

"This is important. I need to know what's going on. It'll only be a minute."

"Very well," Madam Pomfrey reluctantly said.

"Mister Creevey, can you explain why you ran in here with such concern?" Dumbledore asked.

"Where's my brother?" Dennis demanded, ignoring the Headmaster's question.

"I'll go find him for you right now," Hermione suggested.

"No! You don't understand!"

"Would you help us to understand?" Dumbledore asked.

"He was... he was... right there... and... he... gone!"

Everybody around him looked shocked, dreading what he was trying to say.

"Mister Creevey, can you please provide more details?" Professor McGonagall asked.

"We were just talking in our common room, like usual. He was in the middle of a sentence when he just started to fade away. He was opening his mouth like he was talking but I didn't hear anything from him! He started slowly fading until he was totally gone! I tried to grab him but I was just touching air! It was like he was a ghost! Then something caught my eye, and I saw this black rose on the spot where he disappeared."

"Was there anyone else there with you?"

"No, no one. Just me and my brother."

"So there was nothing? Nothing unusual you saw?"

"No, not really. Well, actually I think I did see something, but it was probably just my imagination."

"Please do tell. Anything would be of help."

"Okay well, when Colin was almost completely gone, I thought I saw this thing in the corner of the room. It was small and dark but before I could see it properly, it was gone."

"So you don't know what it was?"

"No! I was too upset over my brother, how could I think about anything else! Professor, where is he? I want him back!"

"I'm sorry I can't provide you with an answer right now. Please go with Madam Pomfrey and she will attend to any of your needs. We'll try to find Mister Colin Creevey as soon as we can," Dumbledore reassured him.

Dennis nodded and went with Madam Pomfrey, who was practically dragging him all the way to the Hospital Wing. The Headmaster turned to the two other students before him.

"Was the disappearance that Mister Creevey described, except with Mister Thomas?"

Hermione and Draco both nodded at the Professor.

"I see."

"Sir, what's going on?" Hermione asked.

"As I've said before, I can't provide you with an answer to these strange incidents. I can only try to protect the rest of my students from chaos. If there is nothing new for me to be informed of, then I suggest you two return to the Heads' Tower and stay there until further instructions."

"Yes, sir," the two students obeyed simultaneously.

They both headed out of the Great Hall and towards the direction of their room, busy talking about what happened.

Meanwhile, not so far away in the Gryffindor common room, two other people were also discussing about current events.

"Ron, what do you think happened?" Harry asked.

"I don't know, mate, but I don't want to know."

"Wasn't that Dennis Creevey?"

"Who?"

"The boy who fainted, wasn't he Dennis Creevey?"

"Yeah, I think he was. But why would he be running in there wanting help from Dumbledore?"

"I don't know. Where's Colin?" Harry asked.

That was a good question. Everyone thought he was with his brother, but when Dennis ran in by himself, they could only assume the worst.

"I have no idea. No one has seen him since he wasn't with his brother," Ron's eyes widened, "Do you suppose?"

"Suppose what?"

"Do you think he..." Ron paused, "vanished?"

"That... that could be a possibility. But maybe he's just in the lavatory when all this happened."

"For this long?"

"Well..." Harry paused for a while, "you never know."

"But why else would Dennis come to Dumbledore for help? I'm pretty sure he's gone."

Harry pondered what Ron said. Perhaps he was right. After all, no one has seen him when they were doing the head count, and someone should have seen him by now.

"So let's say he's gone, we can't do anything to help him come back! We don't even know what's causing all of this."

"I think I do."

Harry had a surprised look on his face. "Well, say it!"

"I think," Ron's voice lowered to a whisper to avoid eavesdroppers, "that I know who's behind this."

"Who?"

"The Slytherins."

"What!" Harry was in disbelief that Ron would suggest such a thing.

"It makes sense if you think about it. What is in common with the three people who disappeared?"

"Umm... they're all boys?"

"Well yes, but that's beside the point. They're all Gryffindors. Who hates us the most out of the other three Houses?"

It wasn't a difficult question. "Slytherin."

"Exactly."

"But why?"

"I told you already. They hate us. They probably want a House War or something."

"Dumbledore wouldn't approve of that. I know they have their horrible ways, but they can't be that cruel! They were just as surprised as we were!"

"Harry, have you gone all soft on me now!"

"No, but I just don't think they're capable of doing this."

"Sure they are. They're smart in an evil sort of way. They have connections."

"Yes, but still, it just doesn't make sense."

"What doesn't?"

"Where do they put the people who disappeared?"

"Probably somewhere no one can see but the Slytherins."

"Why the black rose?"

"It's like a trademark. You know, something to remember them by so that the next time you see it, you know they were there."

"Why Seamus, Dean and Colin?"

"Maybe they were chosen randomly."

"But how could they do this? You were there when Dean disappeared, no one else was with us."

"That's where you're wrong, mate. Malfoy was with us. Can you guess which House Malfoy is in?" Ron asked, sounding like a parent talking to a three-year old child.

Harry rolled his eyes. "Slytherin."

"Exactly."

"Okay let's say it was him, how would he have made Dean vanish then?"

"He probably muttered some spell. Don't you remember what Dumbledore told us? It could be from the Evanesco spell. Malfoy probably used that."

"It still doesn't make sense. If he made Dean vanish, then why didn't he make the rest of us go too?"

"It'd be too obvious. Having four people disappear at once and leaving yourself behind would only cause suspicion."

"What about Seamus?"

"What about him?"

"Slytherins aren't allowed to come into the Gryffindor Tower. How could Malfoy have Seamus disappear?"

"Maybe you're not the only one with an Invisibility cloak."

"I guess it makes sense."

"Yeah! And maybe Malfoy was only using Hermione as bait to get back at us!"

"Now that's going a bit too far, don't you think?"

"Either way, we've got to watch out for Hermione. Who knows what could happen?"

Harry considered Ron's theory for a while; he actually might be right. "So what are we going to do?"

"We could always spy on Malfoy, and see what he's up to. I mean, he could be the one behind all of this! We've cracked the case!"

Harry laughed at Ron's enthusiasm of solving a mystery. If he was going to do this, he might as well do it for his best friend. "Do you think we should tell Hermione about this?"

"No, not until we have absolute evidence that he's doing all of this."

"Makes sense."

"Good. Now let's see if we could steal any food from anybody. I'm starved!" Ron exclaimed as he and Harry got up to join the rest of the Gryffindor students.

"Draco, I'm scared."

"It's alright, Hermione. I'm here."

The Head Boy and Girl spent most of the day in their room talking about the strange disappearances, and also awaiting for any instructions from Dumbledore, if there were any. Classes were cancelled, which was good – according to Draco, but it was extremely boring to stay inside out of protection. They had already received their meals from a teacher, who had informed them that the faculty has yet to think of a plan to protect the safety of all students and must remain in their Tower until possibly the next morning. Draco and Hermione instead spent their time talking about anything and everything.

"What do you think is happening?" Hermione asked. She was cuddled up with Draco on the couch, watching the fireplace.

"I don't know," he responded back. That was the truth of course since he didn't know whether these vanishings have anything to do with his father.

"What do you think will happen next?"

"I don't really want to know. I just want to enjoy the moment right now, instead of worrying about something else."

"What if it happens to either one of us?"

"Hermione, don't say that."

"Why not? If it happened to Seamus, Dean and Colin, I'm pretty sure one of us could be next."

"Maybe it's just nothing."

"How could you think that!"

"I mean, who would leave roses like that? Some sort of rose fairy?" Draco asked sarcastically.

"No, but that's not a bad idea!"

"You've got to be kidding."

Hermione giggled and snuggled even more with Draco. He loved the way they were at this moment and felt as if he could stay like this forever. He didn't want to think about anything that will worry him, or else this comfort feeling would go away. He smiled at the thought of Hermione and hugged her tighter.

He kissed her hair and softly whispered, "Don't worry, I'm always here to protect you no matter what."

A/N: Thanks guys for the reviews and for the "motivation" lol. Well, i don't think i have much to say about this chapter, except that i hope you know the "hints" that i put in this one. i try to put a few in each chapter to keep you guessing about how it's gonna turn out, and i dunno if it's working or not...lol. i love foreshadowing ;) and dreams...but i think the dream thing is getting old..but this is the sequel so oh well! i wonder if you guys can guess what's gonna happen ;)....