Chapter 16

Spider on the Chair<

The group of Gryffindors made their way to Headmistress' office, with their own thoughts wondering what she would want to talk to them. Some of them were going through the list who could have been killed the night before, others were thinking if this was just a completely different matters. Nevertheless, Harry wondered if they were going to be lectured on exercising even more caution and watch for suspicious activity and what not.

After giving the password, the group got on the spiraling staircase to her office. At the top, Harry knocked the door, then heard a 'come in', and the Gryffindors that came, entered.

"I'm glad you all came quickly, I would have called you in this morning but of course, you had classes. Now, please sit," said Professor McGonagall, sitting behind the desk with pile of papers. Harry sat in the middle chair, Ron sat on the right of him while Mark was on the left. Hermione sat next to Ron and Ginny went to sit next to Mark.

"I'm sure you have heard of the attacks last night, have you not?" she asked, and everyone nodded in answer skeptically. "Well, I'm afraid that one of our numbers have died at the hands of this Tengu," she paused.

"Who is it?" whispered Ginny, worried.

"Your brother, Percy," replied McGonagall.

"What? You have to be kidding me!" exclaimed Ginny in shock.

"No way, we haven't heard from Percy in ages. Plus he's not the type to go to parties," said Ron, in shock by the fact that his brother was killed.

"No Mr. Weasley, we have confirmed that he wasn't there for the party. But sadly, that is all we know, we have no idea if this person is tied in with You-Know-Who. I don't even understand the significance of tengu means."

"I do Professor," said Hermione, getting over the initial shock. Professor McGonagall did not seem at all surprised and smiled, letting her continue. "Tengus are from Japan, they are demons which loves to play prank and help people. Also some demons are evil, such as one last night. If only I could study the feathers that was at the scene . . . "Hermione trailed off. McGonagall studied the three in front of her and exhaled quietly.

"Ms. Granger, and the two of you young men, I know that you have a knack for solving mysteries. As much as I would love to try to stop you, I know it futile to do just that. I will give you permission to investigate, but why would you want to find out if it doesn't have any links to You-Know- Who?"

"It is just as you said Professor, we don't know if they tie in together or not," said Harry. Professor Minerva McGonagall stared at him over the glasses and nodded.

"That would be true Mr. Potter. So, what information do you want?"

"Everything," replied Hermione.

"Of course, well I'll write to the Ministry for all the information you need. Including the feathers?"

"Yes, including the feathers," replied Hermione, getting enthusiastic.

"Well, I think Ms. And Mr. Weasley need some alone time . . . "she said, looking at them. When Harry looked at Ron and Ginny, they were in state of shock. "I think you all should go back to your Gryffindor Tower," said Professor McGonagall, dismissing them. Harry took a while to snap Ron out of his state while Ginny stood up numbly and had to have Hermione help her walk.

"Ron, Ron, come on snap out of it. We only have ten minutes left before dinner is over. Come on Ron . . . Ron, there's a spider crawling on the chair you're sitting in," he finally got a reaction. Ron stood up immediately, but promptly knocked Harry to the floor, holding his chin. "Ugh Ron!"

"Mate, I'm sorry, I didn – I – I was out of it . . . It's been months that I've spoke to Percy. I wonder how Mum is doing?" Ron babbled, as he helped Harry up. Harry nodded slightly to Professor McGonagall, apologizing for lingering. Harry guided Ron out of the office and down the stairs where the others were. "Mate, I don't know what to do . . . "

"Write a letter to Mrs. Weasley of course," replied Harry.

"Good idea mate," and they set off to their common room.

When they arrived in the common room, Harry got parchment, quill, and ink out for Ron. He didn't think he would be capable of doing such tasks except for writing. He left Ron to do his writing to Mrs. Weasley. He sat back in the chair, reviewing in his mind of what had happened so far. The so-called storm last night, the news this morning, finding out what Tengus are, and to top it all, Percy was killed in the attacks. But Professor McGonagall had confirmed that he wasn't there for the party.

He thought about why would Percy be there in the wrong place at the wrong time. The more he thought about it, the confusing it got. He came to two solutions, either he saw something was happening at the murder scene or that he had to talk to a colleague. He figured it would be the latter one. Harry sighed and looked over to Ron, who seemed to have written only three sentences so far. He had to imagine how hard it would be for Ron to write. First, he had to find the right words to write and to actually put it down.

He didn't know how to deal with such loss. He supposed that you had to get know someone all your life, even if it's someone you don't really like. Then he remembered Dursleys and sighed. Sure he didn't like the times with them at all, but he really did not want them dead and felt a sense of loss. He had come to depend on them, a constant thing in his life. He knew what to look out for when his behaviors and when he act in not-so-normal way. Also the fact that they hardly ever change. From behaviors to what they stand on issues.

Harry wasn't sure what to think whether to hate them in memory or love them in memory. He had no reason to actually love them, in fact, it was their fault that he didn't even know what love is. In Weasley family, he felt a lot of love emitting from each and every members of the family, even Percy. He supposed that it was because of that, Ron and Ginny was at loss for their git-of-a-brother who had been killed last night.

He then began to ponder, they were grieving over their brother, and Harry hadn't grieved over his own relatives. Or even Percy, but he remembered how Percy had treated last year, in his fifth year, and supposed that would be the reason why. Harry also wondered if he even amended his troubles with his family over the summer and made a mental note to ask Ron or a Weasley about it.

He also had to ask someone, to see if it is wrong not to grieve over the Dursleys or not. Because he certainly did not feel like doing some grieving at the moment, or if ever. He looked to the time and that it had read eight twenty-five in the evening.

"Mate, what about dinner? Didn't you say something about it...?"

"I only said that so you can snap out of it earlier," replied Harry. He pulled out some homework and began working on his charms essay. His thoughts drifted to Black-Essence curse and it's significance with the murders in the previous night. He only hoped that this person did not tie in with Voldemort. He had enough problems as it is. But it never hurts to do some researching however . . .

Writer's block ahead! I know what I have in mind for December and beyond, but I really don't know what to do next, but I would love to have some ideas from you! Thanks, and sorry for being so short again, but with writer's block, and on vacation (with Internet access) and all. As I have already said, you will be facing some irregular sized chapters but bare with me for now and so sorry for the cliffhanger! I never had the chance to upload this and with writer's block, so I'm sorry! ;; Thanks again. -Rini