A/N- Unfortunately, like the rest of the writers on I do not own anything related to Harry Potter….not that I would have the money to pay you if you felt like suing me anyway….
"Where could he have possibly gone?" a girl with extremely bushy hair said exasperatedly to her freckled friend.
"Don't ask me, I know as much as you do. What do you think set him off in the first place?" the tall and gangly teenager replied.
"You know how angry he can get, especially when in the company of that professor, even if it is only the first week back, " she muttered as her eyes to continued to roam around the Great Hall as if expecting the third member of their trio to show up.
"You don't think he'd skip dinner of all things because of the greasy git, d'ya?" the red head questioned before taking a huge bite out of the pumpkin pie in front of him.
"Is food the only thing you can think about? What is wrong with you? We haven't a clue where our best friend could have gone and all you can think about is your stomach! I know it's not wise to skip a meal but at least he doesn't constantly complain about food! Besides, I don't think he is coping with the events of last year very well, which you should know!." her bushy hair almost crackled with electricity as her eyes, which were now focused entirely on the boy to her left, were blazing with fury.
The boy's face had paled considerably during her tirade, making his freckles stand out even more. "You know I didn't mean it like that! And of course I realize he could still be depressed over what happened recently!" he exclaimed indignantly, although his eyes showed a bit of fear of what his friend could do when angry.
"Really? Then how did you mean it? Cause it sure sounded to me that you think food is the most important thing in the world and that you don't understand his grief!"
"Look, I don't want to get into a fight with you, ok? Let's just focus on finding him."
"If you're done eating, I think we should head up to the dormitory."
"Yea, he might have decided to just go down to the kitchens for something to eat so he could go straight to his room," he replied before he took a last swig of his pumpkin juice and stood up."
"Its possible…" she murmured vaguely as she too stood up, although her mind seemed to be elsewhere as she followed her close friend out of the Great hall and towards the Gryffindor Common Room.
At the head table of the Great Hall, two people had watched the duo throughout the entirety of their conversation, both wondering if the third member of the infamous trio was getting into trouble wherever it was he seemed to have disappeared to. One had greasy hair that barely touched his shoulders and what seemed like a permanent scowl upon his face, especially when in the company of, or when thinking about, Gryffindors. 'He'll never learn to control his emotions if he always runs away from situations that cause them,' he thought viciously as he remembered the disastrous occlumency lesson they'd had earlier.
The other man was quite different from the hooked-nosed fellow, although he couldn't be called an exact opposite to the other man. His eyes, although still with a bit of their patented twinkle, were filled with concern. His professor had informed him about the earlier failed lesson and now it looked as if the boy he had tried so hard to protect over the years could not be found, if the argument he had just witnessed implied what he thought it did. The headmaster followed the path of the duo before they finally vanished from his sight before allowing his eyes to wonder across the hall… even if he wasn't paying particular attention to what lay in front of him.
"Are you sure he didn't mention anything to you about plans after his meeting?" the bushy-haired girl once again questioned her freckled friend after their second futile search of the Common Room and Boys Dormitory.
"Stop asking me that! My answer is not going to change and besides aren't you supposed to be the know-it-all!" he exclaimed in frustration.
"Why do you always expect me to solve everything? Try and think of somewhere else he could have possibly gone…we've already checked the owlery, Hagrid's, and the astronomy tower…I don't think he'd go outside, he's not that foolish…"she trailed off as her mind frantically tried to com up with either some other place he could be or some way to find wherever it was he'd gone to.
"So now I'm useless and he's foolish? Such high opinions you have of us," the angry red head snarled.
Her eyes blazed anew with anger, "I did not say that. How dare you!"
"How dare I?" he sneered, "we would have been better off with out you, just as I suspected 5 years ago!" he whisper-yelled before stomping up to his dormitory. In his rage and frustration, he failed to notice the mixed look of shock and deep hurt that appeared a split second before tears sprung into her eyes and coursed freely down her cheeks while her shoulders began to shake.
Unbeknownst to all, the boy-who-could-not-be-found was curled up on the couch in the Room of Requirement, enjoying the first night of good, uninterrupted sleep he'd had since before the Tri-Wizard Tournament.