Disclaimer: oh I'm getting bored saying this: I don't own any of this!

Tiapotter16: yeah it would sort of ruin the plot, wouldn't it? Lol I'm glad you like the suspense anyway!

JetGriffins89: well Harry is sometimes slow on the uptake…

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CHAPTER 6
Odd behaviours

Ron didn't come back in Herbology, nor did he show himself for Double Potions, or when they had Transfiguration before lunch. In fact, Harry had absolutely no idea where his friend could be. No one had told them anything, no teacher seemed keen on discussing the matter. Sprout had refused to comment on Ron's absence, but had nonetheless frowned when she had seen Hermione and Harry arriving alone. Harry hadn't dared ask Snape.

In fact, as he walked up the stairs pensively, Harry realized the teachers' behaviours had gone beyond simple odd. Sprout had dismissed them early at the end of their Herbology class; and even Snape─ yes, Harry thought, that was right─ even Snape had forgotten to give them homework.

"I wonder what's wrong," Hermione said aloud as they entered their Transfiguration class with Mc Gonagall. Their Head of House was unusually crisp, tense.

Harry wished he had an answer. He was about to speak when Mc Gonagall started the roll call and he had to close his mouth again.

"Granger, Hermione," she read the list to make sure they were all here. Hermione raised her hand beside Harry. They had chosen to sit in the back, both anxious; Harry knew Hermione was agitated and surely as worried as he was.

"Longbottom, Neville... Potter, Harry…" He raised his arm tiredly when it was his turn, and felt himself grow tense as the seconds passed. He chose to concentrate on Mc Gonagall but felt his thoughts drifting involuntarily as he tried to sort out all they knew to try and figure out what had happened.

But no. Nothing fell in correctly to complete a nonexistent puzzle.

"Thomas, Dean…"

If only Hermione hadn't stopped receiving the Daily Prophet.

If only he didn't have to see Lupin in Defence Against the Dark Arts in the afternoon.

If only he knew what on earth was wrong.

Suddenly he became aware of the silence in the room. It wasn't normal; it felt cold and empty despite the presence of everyone seated inside.

Everyone was watching Mc Gonagall so he imitated them, and froze.

She was staring at her parchment with an indescribable expression Harry could only depict as horror. Mc Gonagall hadn't called the last name down the list, and Harry felt cold running down his spine as he saw her expression turning to─ to sorrow. Yes, that was it; she was wearing an expression of sadness on her severe but apparently strongly shaken face.

As she realized she ought to start the lesson she finally laid the parchment down and straightened her glasses.

Both he and Hermione knew exactly who the last one on the list was.

Weasley, Ronald.

None of the other students really seemed to care; most shrugged and relaxed, taking their wands out to face the mice they were to transform into bottles of ink. Harry felt sick. Had they not even became conscious of the fact that Mc Gonagall had deliberately forgotten to call out Ron? Did they think he was punished, or maybe had a family problem?

Punished… no way Ron wouldn't have told him.

That leaves the family problem… which would explain why Ginny needed to come along…

But they're all right, aren't they?

Harry scratched his chin and decided to suggest this to Hermione at lunch─ if Ron wasn't back by then. But as much as he hated the thought, he didn't think it was likely.

As soon as the bell rang, Mc Gonagall hurried out of class. Harry frowned; once again, it wasn't in her habits.

"There's definitely something wrong," he muttered. "Think it's his family?"

Hermione sighed in frustration. "I've thought about it… but I don't see why they would have kept it quiet if it had been the case. Remus would have told us if anything had happened to someone in the Order."

"So where is he?"

Dean probably overheard his last sentence when passing Hermione to get down to the Great Hall, because he bent in closer.

"What's going on?" He muttered.

"What do you mean?" Harry said as calmly as he could manage.

"The teachers─" Dean made an evasive gesture of the hand "─all worried. Lupin─ coming to the Common Room… Ron─" he paused and stopped in the middle of the corridor. "Where is he?"

Harry shook his head. If only he had an idea─

"Let's go and eat," he decided. It was enough that he couldn't help thinking about Ron without needing to discuss it with Dean and the whole of Hogwarts too.

"Maybe we should go see Dumbledore," Hermione offered when they were seated for lunch.

"No," Harry replied, looking up at the empty Staff Table. No one had shown up. "He's probably busy," he said, then stared at his dish getting cold. He wasn't really hungry, and, judging by Hermione's clean fork, she wasn't either.

They sat in silence for a while, listening to the other students chatting animatedly. Harry felt like a prisoner in a cell that didn't receive news of the outer world. All he could do was be a part of it and undergo its rhythm.

"Harry─" It was Seamus who manage to catch his attention next. "What's going on!"

"What do you mean?" Harry said with annoyance.

"I went back to the Dormitory to get my Quidditch Book… and the teachers… I saw them; they're all waiting in front of the Professor's room. Is there a meeting or something?"

Harry didn't reply and gave a meaningful look to Hermione.

It wasn't until half an hour later─ half an hour of dull waiting─ that the teachers came back. One by one they appeared from the back of the Great Hall to sit down, all wearing an equally disturbed expression of disgruntlement on their faces, completed by low mutters and frowns.

About half an hour later they took their leaves, but Harry sensed a growing uneasiness, maybe close to apprehension. It seemed Seamus hadn't been the only one seeing the teachers gather together. Harry picked up a few words here and there; all of them mentioned the teachers, most of them the fact that Lupin had been in the Gryffindor Common Room─ a very unusual thing that made Harry wince every time he thought of it─ and some of them had put two and two together, matching the fact that Dumbledore had called in a staff meeting and that both Ron and Ginny Weasley had disappeared after Lupin had come to get them; all, ending up to the conclusion that there was a very serious problem.

It was with hesitation that Harry entered Binn's class at two o'clock; was he also going to show unusual behaviour? Unfortunately, the ghost was as boring as ever─ or had he hesitated a little when he had walked in?

Harry sat down at the back of the class, dropping into a chair beside Hermione. He somehow managed to see her take out a quill and a bottle of ink, listening avidly.

"Good afternoon…" Binns started, his ghostly shadow moving back and forth in front of the board; "today we're going to study…"

Harry yawned and bent over his desk, arms folded into a cushion for his head. He fell asleep before the end of the sentence.

The bell rang and he came out of his drowsiness with a start. Next, he went to Divination as Hermione went to Arithmancy.

Divination was never fun; but without Ron, it was downright horrible. For two hours, Trelawney predicted his death─ well, maybe not two entire hours, but it felt like eternity. She also kept saying something huge was about to happen, something that would change the face of the world, something that would break families and bring the wizarding world to its knees…

Harry feared it had started already.