The party was dying down when Harry Potter collapsed.
Andrew and Adrian, who were closest to him, each caught one of his arms, holding him upright. The Room, intuitive as always, created a chair behind him, which they set him in as gingerly as possible while he was moving around.
"What in Merlin's name is happening?" Adrian hissed to Granger and Weasley, who'd been in the same conversation. No one had noticed yet, as far as he could tell, the five of them having been in a corner to discuss what Andrew and Adrian knew about the death eaters.
"He sometimes…sees things."
"What, like prophecies? Divination?"
"No," Weasley said, "He's rubbish at divination."
"He sees the present, things that are happening—oh, it's complicated, all right? Come on Harry, wake up." And, abruptly, he did, eyes wide, sweat dripping from under his bangs.
"He's got Padfoot—he's in the room with the door, and he's got Padfoot."
"Harry, are you sure?"
"I saw it, just like I saw the snake," Harry said desperately.
"Who is Padfoot, and who's got him? And how do you know?" It was Andrew asking the questions this time.
"Padfoot's my godfather, and…Voldemort's got him, I saw it, they were in the ministry, I think, some room with orbs—"
"Voldemort's in the Department of Mysteries?" Andrew asked, incredulous.
"And he's got your godfather, you think, because you saw it in a vision?" Adrian added
"Yes, now let me—"
"Don't you have a way to contact him? Make sure it wasn't just…I don't know, a weird dream? Before you go breaking into the most dangerous department in the Ministry?" Harry looked at Adrian, eyes wide, then grabbed for his pocket, removing a simple mirror, slightly smaller than those the DA used.
"Sirius Black," he whispered, not seeming to think about his surroundings. Hermione and Ron looked anxiously at Adrian and Andrew, and Andrew saw his shock reflected in Adrian's face.
"Harry—what do you need?"
"You're okay—you're home?"
"Yes, I'm home, I'm in the attic—Buckbeak's hurt his wing."
Andrew mouthed Buckbeak? at Adrian, who only shrugged. This was Harry Potter—sure, he was talking to a notorious criminal who was helping heal Hagrid's old hippogriff.
"—in the Department of Mysteries," Harry was saying as Andrew tuned back into the conversation.
"Voldemort's at the Department of Mysteries?" Black asked, sounding even more worried than he had initially been for Harry.
"I think…I don't know. In the vision, you were there too. But if it was a trap, and you weren't there…"
"He'd still have to be there to catch you—or at least have someone there for him. We'll look into it, Harry. In the meantime, promise me you'll stay at Hogwarts—I need to know you're safe."
"I promise," Harry answered, and then returned the mirror to his pocket, its face simply reflective once more. It wasn't until that moment that he seemed to register that Adrian and Andrew were still there. He opened his mouth, but nothing came out.
"Seems like loads of explanations for another time, I think," Andrew said, and Harry nodded weakly. "We'd better get back, Adrian—got homework to do."
A door opened for them in the wall nearby, and they headed down the tunnel it created.
"Andrew—we could go, we could help—that might be our parents at the Department."
"We haven't even taken our NEWTS, Adrian," Andrew said, frustrated. "What help would we be?"
"Loads of help—you don't have to go, but I am—it's a chance to make a difference in the real world, not just at Hogwarts—" The wild energy which had filled Adrian all year seemed to be spilling out of him. Andrew wasn't convinced that the other boy wouldn't be vibrating with it if he touched him.
"Adrian, you can't—" he tried, but he was cut off
"I can, and I'm going to. I'm going to avenge Cassius—show them what he was worth." There was real anger in his eyes now, and Andrew felt the last hold he had on his friend weakening, ready to slip from his fingers. He grabbed Adrian's shoulders, as though that could hold him in place, and made one last appeal
"You can't, please, please don't Adrian. I can't—I can't lose someone else." The fire in Adrian's eyes dimmed at this. "Please, just stay."
"I—" Adrian was frozen, seeming unsure of what to do. Andrew dropped released his shoulders, bringing his hands to wipe away tears he didn't remember crying.
"I won't—I'm still here, I'll stay—"
Before Andrew had time to feel relief, they heard footsteps pounding down the corridor toward them: Miles Bletchley, looking like he was going to throw up.
"I came to find you and you weren't there but the passage was, and I just talked to Sprugg and Vaisey and even Astoria but they all said he was in the library, except I checked and he wasn't and I can't find him—"
"Who? Miles, who is it?" Andrew asked, with a sinking feeling that he already knew.
"Kevin," Miles managed. "Kevin's gone."
/
Adrian ran back towards the DA party, looking for Cedric, the only person he could imagine might be able to help, if they needed to confront Umbridge.
"Diggory—Kevin Bletchley's gone, we don't know where," he tried to keep his voice low as he said it. From the corner of his eye, he saw Andrew and Miles enter the room.
"Right—um—"
"What's wrong?" This was Granger, who had begun to make her way over to them as soon as Adrian had unceremoniously re-entered the room.
"Kevin Bletchley is missing," Cedric said, and Adrian was glad it wasn't him saying it this time.
"Missing as in we can't find him, or as in someone took him?" Granger asked.
"We don't know," Adrian admitted, and Granger nodded.
"Right—I'll be back," she said.
"I'll check with Umbridge to see if he got a detention," Cedric added, grimacing. Adrian didn't envy him the job.
In two minutes Hermione was back, looking considerably more worried.
"No sign of him in the castle," she said, grimacing. Adrian wasn't sure how she'd checked, but let it go for the moment. Shortly after, Cedric returned, concern etched across his face.
"She said he'd gotten detention all right—for that hex he used on Smith. But she wouldn't tell me what it was, only that I should be in my dormitory if I didn't want a detention myself."
"But he can't be in detention—he's not in the castle," Adrian said.
"The forest," Hermione gasped. "The forest isn't on the map, and they sometimes have detentions there—we had one, first year, only we had Hagrid with us, but of course, Umbridge would never allow that, so if he's there—"
"We need to look for him," Cedric said. "But how would we find him? The forest is huge, and it's not like we know our way any more than he does."
"A tracking spell?" Adrian suggested, but Cedric shook his head.
"They don't work well on living things—we're always changing and moving. Besides, the most accurate tracking spells use two items that are connected somehow to find the third, and we only have Miles." Adrian glanced over at Miles, who was sitting in a chair, face in his hands, while Andrew stood next to him, seemingly trying to comfort him.
"Then maybe we can use a tracking spell—we just can't track Kevin," Hermione breathed, looking excited. "As long as he has his galleon, we can track that."
"Worth a try," Cedric said, shrugging and drawing his coin out of his pocket. Adrian did the same, realizing that Hermione's galleon, as the master key to the spell, was not similar enough to Kevin's for the spell to work.
"I'll need a map of the forest—a big one." Adrian walked over to the bookshelves nearby, scanning the titles before finding one titled "The Surrounding Environs of Hogwarts Castle."
"Here," he said, plopping it down on the ground and flipping to a map of the forest. It was rough, but showed them what they needed.
Hermione pulled out a quill and parchment and began to scribble equations far beyond fifth-year arithmancy,, ending up with a convoluted figure.
"Alright, I've got it," she said. She placed the two fake galleons on either end of the map, then drew the figure on the page between them.
"Invenio," she said, tapping on the figure. It melted into the page, and in its place, two glowing dots appeared. "He should be at one of these two spots—that's the most I could narrow things down."
"Right," Adrian said. "Well, that's more than we had before, anyway." The three of them walked over to tell Andrew and Miles what had been found, Hermione bringing Ron and Harry as well.
"If we all act now, we can find him—we'll find him, Miles," Harry promised. Adrian scanned the room. Many of those who had been there left, but Harry was right—plenty of the DA remained for two search parties.
"Tell them, Potter—they'll listen to you." Harry's jaw set, and he nodded.
"Right. Sonorous," he muttered, and then his voice was booming across the room, everyone turning to face the group around him.
"Listen up, all of you. Kevin Bletchley is missing. Umbridge says he's in detention, but she won't say where, and we've learned he's not in the castle anymore—he's in the forest, alone. We have to find him—we've narrowed his location down to two places, so we'll need two groups—that'll be seven of us per group, by my count."
"Six in one group," Lee called out. "I'll contact the Twins, see if they can come and bring some of their friends to help us out."
"Six and seven, then," Harry agreed. "Lee, let the rest of the DA know to be on the lookout for anything odd tonight. Have them sit up in the common rooms, just in case. We don't want anyone else disappearing. This might be dangerous—anyone who doesn't want to come is free to leave." Adrian looked out at the group, but no one moved, their eyes still fixed on Harry.
"Right. Cedric will take one group, I'll take the other. Edgecombe, Urquhart, Brody, Pucey, Neville, and Ginny—you go with him. Everyone else, you're with me." He stopped his sonorous spell, turning to Cedric. "You take the one past that pool, we'll head toward the one in this clearing. Stick together, and keep your eyes open."
"Potter," Andrew cut in, "you should know—Jake told us that it's possible Umbridge is working with the Death Eaters. Intentionally or not, he's not sure. But there's a chance…there's a chance they're out there tonight. That this is a trap." Harry nodded, and Adrian could tell that he'd already thought of this—that Harry Potter had never gone into a fight without the assumption that Lord Voldemort was lying in wait somewhere behind it, because, historically, he was.
Lee Jordan slipped out, promising to join them with backup soon, and as soon as his tunnel was gone, Harry turned to face the wall, taking a deep breath.
"I need a tunnel to Hagrid's," he said, and the wall opened once more, Ron, Hermione, Andrew, Miles, and Luna Lovegood following him.
Cedric looked at the other six that remained with him and, nodding at them, headed down the tunnel himself, his group following.
A few minutes later, thirteen members of Dumbledore's Army broke one more school rule, and entered the forest.