AUTHOR'S NOTE Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy this chapter! My goal is to have this story finished and posted before book six comes out. Probably not gonna happen, but we'll see.
DISCLAIMER Don't own em.
…
Cautiously, Ron poked his head out the castle door. "All clear!" he whispered back to the girls. One by one, the three of them slipped into the early morning light.
"Do you see any of the professors anywhere?" Hermione whispered.
"No," Ron answered.
"Good." Ron and Hermione were surprised to hear Bricilla's voice pipe up softly.
"I don't know where to look," Hermione admitted tearfully.
Ron squeezed her hand as her lip trembled. "Don't worry, 'Mione. We'll find him." She tried to smile as he laced his fingers through hers. "Come on," he said. "Let's go."
Hermione nodded and followed Ron as he headed away from the castle's safe walls. Bricilla clung to Hermione's robes, casting wistful glances back at the stone fortress.
The morning was still and silent. Dew clung to the grass, soaking through the three students' slippers and glittering in the pale early sunlight. The birds were just waking and stretching their wings and the water in the lake lapped quietly at its shores.
Had their best friend not been missing with a serial killer on the loose, Ron and Hermione may have thought the morning pretty. There were more than a few times that Hermione wished that they could have at least one school year without something horrible happening. Professor Madison had seemed normal and everyone had hoped that she was a sign of a normal year to come. Not so much.
"Do you see the professors yet?" Bricilla asked. Ron and Hermione shook their heads.
"And let's hope we don't," Ron said. "We don't have Harry's invisibility cloak with us."
"Harry has an invisibility cloak?" Bricilla asked, excited.
"Oops." Ron blushed. Hermione glared and smacked him in the arm.
"Let's just look for him," she grumbled.
"And Luna too," Bricilla added.
"Right." Hermione led the girl and Ron down toward the lake. "I wish we could check in the lake. What if the giant squid got him?"
Ron frowned. "Has the giant squid ever gotten anyone?"
"No," Hermione murmured, blushing.
"But why would Harry go down to the lake?" Bricilla asked.
"Who knows? Why would Harry sneak out of the castle when people are dying?" Ron asked. "We need to look everywhere."
He and Hermione each took her hands and led her closer to the water. She dragged her feet and sighed as they left the castle further and further back.
.i.i.i.
Harry yawned and stretched in Hagrid's enormous easy chair. He could tell from the bellowing snores reverberating from Hagrid's bed that the groundskeeper was still asleep.
Fang sleepily lifted his head as Harry scribbled a quick goodbye note to Hagrid. He put a finger to his lips and the dog laid down again.
He breathed a sigh of relief. When he eased the door closed behind him. He didn't have the energy to talk to anyone and was looking forward to a warm breakfast in the Great Hall.
"Harry Potter!"
He turned sharply to his right when he heard his name. Professors McGonagall and Sinistra came flying toward him. "What are you doing out here, Potter?" Professor McGonagall demanded.
Sinistra smiled, out of breath. "What your Deputy Headmistress means is that we learned you were missing and we are glad to find you well."
"I spent the night here at Hagrid's," Harry explained. "Who said that I was missing?"
"Mr. Weasley and Miss Granger," McGonagall replied shortly.
"Oh." Harry smiled sheepishly. "Oops."
McGonagall's face bloomed purple. "Oops? You'd better have a lot more to say for yourself than oops. We have to get back inside the castle; it isn't safe out here."
Harry was just about to ask just why it wasn't safe outside when he was cut off by a blood-curdling scream.
.i.i.i.
Ron found himself hugging Bricilla protectively, keeping the girl's face against his shoulder. She had seen the body near the water's edge and screamed before dissolving into hysterics. Ron tried to console her, but found that all he could do was keep her from looking back at it.
Blinking back tears, Hermione approached the black-haired girl lying face down on the ground slowly. She looked at Ron as she knelt next to her and shook her head sadly. Ron looked away.
When she went to roll the body over, both she and the "dead" girl shrieked. Ron jumped in surprise. Bricilla shakily turned to look. "Cho?" Ron asked in surprise.
Cho scrambled to sit up and whimpered. She cradled her left arm. Hermione gently touched her shoulder. "Cho, it's Hermione Granger. What happened?"
"I don't know," Cho whispered fearfully.
Hermione carefully extended the arm that Cho was holding and saw an ugly bruise inside her elbow. "Don't worry, Cho," she said. "We won't let anything else happen to you."
Just then, they heard shouting. They looked up to see Harry, Professor McGonagall, and Professor Sinistra running toward them. Hermione leapt to her feet. "Harry!" she cried and nearly knocked him over when she hugged him. "You're alive!"
Harry blushed. "Yeah, sorry about that."
McGonagall and Sinistra knelt at Cho's side. "Can you walk, my dear?" Sinistra asked.
Cho nodded hesitantly. She looked around. "How did I get out here?" she asked. The two professors shared a look. She looked up at them pathetically. "My arm hurts."
They gently helped her to her feet. "Let's go see Madam Pomfrey," Sinistra said.
Cho nodded. "Okay."
Together, they led Cho back toward the castle. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Bricilla hung back. "Harry, where were you?" Hermione asked, hugging him again.
"I spent the night at Hagrid's," he replied.
Bricilla frowned. "Why on earth would you do that?"
Hermione jumped in before Harry could answer. "I'm so glad we found you – we have loads to tell you!"
But before she could explain further, Professor Sinistra appeared behind her. "Professor McGonagall sent me back for you lot," she said. "It isn't safe out here, you know."
"So we've heard," Hermione muttered. Obediently, she followed Harry, Ron, and Bricilla as Sinistra led them back into the castle.