Chapter Nineteen

A/N: Thanks all! This chapter is really getting to the thick of the plot. I'm actually coming to the close of this story quite quickly. So please stay tuned. And "Wanye", I understand what you're saying about the spells. But in my own defense, I didn't think that acio and expelliarmus were all that difficult spells. Lets just say that Harry is a really good teacher and he's getting them prepped for the impending war.

Disclaimer: I am not the incredibly talented J.K. Rowling; therefore, I do not own her gem of a creation (i.e. the Harry Potter universe).

            Bill, it appeared, was not the last person to have gone missing that week. In fact, he wasn't the last person to have gone missing that month.

            Amelia Bones, Frank and Alice Longbottom, Arabella Figg, Oliver Granger (Hermione's great uncle), Bonnie Finch-Fletchley (Justin's mother), Regan Patil (Parvati and Padma's father), and Ernie MacMillan's cousin were some of the other unfortunate losses in the course of that month.

            Harry knew that Voldemort had to be behind it. Who else could it be? It seemed the only logical answer. He really could have used his best friends to start thinking up a theory… but neither one of them were in a chatting sort of mood. The whole of Hogwarts was not in a chatting mood. Dumbledore refused to allow the students to leave the school, even under the circumstances. This left a very somber Hogwarts.

            It seemed to Harry that everyone at the school had had a family member gone missing. Hardly any spoke, very few attended lessons, and none came to DA training.

            Harry wanted to press the matter that this was probably the most important time to be training. That Voldemort was clearly behind these disappearances, and that the students should now be on their guard. But Harry couldn't bring himself to do it. There was not one person he could find in the whole of Hogwarts who was not deeply affected by this. No one wanted to hear him. It was as if he had managed to travel back to the beginning of last year where everyone thought he carried some sort of plague. No one wanted to be around him. They seemed to… resent him.

            Harry Potter was the most affected by Lord Voldemort. Everyone knew it. Those who knew of the prophecy were sure of it. But the students of Hogwarts could not see that. All they saw was a boy who had not had his family affected within the past month. Harry grimly thought that this was the up side to having your whole family murdered by Voldemort and his followers.

            Harry had no idea what to do. No one was speaking to him, not even his best friends. On top of it all, he had no idea what was going on. This year had not been like the previous ones. In all his previous years at Hogwarts, Harry had always managed to figure out a bit of the puzzle. This year, there weren't even clues. His dreams had stopped too. There were no more visions of what Voldemort was up to. Even his scar was silent. There had been not even a tingle for the past two months. To sum it all up: Harry had nothing.

            On top of it all, stranger things that disappearances began to take place in Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

            Steps began to melt when certain students used the stairs. Numerous students had found bones in their puddings. Snape hadn't given a detention in three weeks. The owl post stopped coming. The portrait holes to the house common rooms were being uncooperative. Peeves was not tormenting anyone. And the professors were increasingly flightily.

            Dumbledore, for the safety and sanity of the students of Hogwarts, had postponed classes until the odd occurrences could be explained.

            Harry couldn't comprehend anything. None of it made any sense. He sat in the common room on a bland Wednesday afternoon, staring out of the open window. Harry blinked. He could have sworn he just say part of the sky move. When he looked back, he saw that he was right. There was a small speck flying toward the open window. As it came closer, Harry recognized the shape of his snowy owl Hedwig.

            Hedwig few through the open window and dropped a letter in Harry's lap. Everyone in the common room gapped at the animal. It was the first owl they had seen in close to a month. Ron and Hermione moved closer to Harry as he ripped open his letter. It was written on a smooth, white piece of paper and enclosed in an envelope. This told Harry that it was clearly not a wizard sending him mail. He opened the paper and read:

Potter-

Dudley is gone. We are not writing to tell you this so that you are informed. We are writing to tell you that we know you've got something to do with it. When I lay my hands on you boy, you will wish that that Vody-whatever character killed you long ago.

Vernon Drusley

            Harry dropped the letter, eyes wide, mouth open. Hermione quickly picked it up and read it, a small gasp escaping from her lips. Ron, always the last to know, snatched the paper and read it.

            "Harry-" Hermione began.

            "Mate…" Ron tried.

            Neither one of them could make a coherent sentence. In the time that it took Harry to reach back for the paper, they story of Harry Potter's cousin disappearing had already gone around the school three times.

            It wasn't that Harry was deeply saddened by the loss of his abominable cousin. Shocked was more it. The only thing he could think to ask was:

            "Why in the hell would he take Dudley?"

            "To get to you?" Ron suggested.

            "If Voldemort wanted to get to Harry, he'd take us." Hermione said.

            While Ron and Hermione continued to speculate, a voice in the back of Harry's mind prickled up. He did do it to get to you. Look at yourself, you're in shock. That's exactly what he wants. Look at the school, they are all effected…

            Harry thought about this. He remembered his thinking from earlier, that it seemed that the whole school had had someone gone missing. What if the whole school had had a family member gone missing? What if this was Voldemort's way of saying that Hogwarts was not untouchable? What if…

            Harry stood up quickly. "We have to talk to Dumbledore."

A/N: Yuck! Okay, I really just had to move the plot along. I had the hardest time writing this. I still think it's very stupid, but I couldn't think of a better way to get my point across. All I wanted to say was that Hogwarts has basically gone to seed. I hope this shows minutely. Sorry for the incoherntness (which I'm sure is not a word). I will write a better chapter to make up for it.