Summary: In which there is fainting, more screaming, doors slamming, a missing body, and Hermione is relieved to see Ron.
Who Killed Mr. Potter?
Chapter 7- Wanted: Missing Persons
Cho stood up and ran from the room, wiping the tears out of her eyes. Unable to see in the pitch-black darkness, she was unaware that Dean wasn't behind her like she thought he was. In fact, Dean wasn't anywhere near her.
Cho kept running in fright before stumbling and tripping blindly down a flight of stairs. She lay sprawled at the bottom, breathing hard and listening with all her might. She kept hearing weird noises above her. Cho started panicking. What if it was the murderer about to kill another victim? What if the murderer was coming down the stairs after her? Someone screamed again.
"Dean?" she whimpered but he didn't answer.
They've got Dean! Cho thought wildly. Amazed that she could move, Cho crawled slowly up a couple of steps, hearing hissing noises. When she finally made it to the top, she vaguely saw a dark figure dragging something across the floor. It must have been very heavy because the figure was breathing audibly.
Cho fainted and rolled back down to the bottom of the staircase.
Ginny stopped screaming and called for Hermione.
"Ginny, I'm right here," she said, reaching out to take Ginny's hand. "We need to find Ron and the others." Hermione lit her wand.
Moving slowly, the two girls hung on to each other and cautiously walked from the room. They thought they heard something move in the vicinity of the staircase.
"Ron?" Ginny whispered, but no one was there. The girls crept a little farther and looked around, listening intently.
Someone tapped Ginny on the back, she screamed again and turned around pulling out her knife.
"Put that away, it's just me," Ron whispered.
"Ron!" Ginny and Hermione both sighed. Hermione pounced on Ron and gave him a very relieved hug.
"Where are the others?" Ginny whispered.
"No idea," Ron answered. "Neville and I got separated in the dark and I have no idea where Cho and Dean went."
They all jumped as a door slammed, they whipped around but saw nothing. After a few minutes the lights came back on, dazzling their eyes.
"We need to find Cho, Dean, and Neville," Ron said, taking charge once more. "I think we should go back to the study."
Ginny nodded. Hermione, still clinging to Ron, said nothing. The three of them walked around the staircase, eyes wide and ears alert for the tiniest of sounds. No body said anything.
An unpleasant surprise greeted them when they entered the study. Harry's body was gone!
Now Cho, Neville, Dean, and Harry were missing while Ginny, Ron, and Hermione were stranded in the study alone with a dangerous murderer on the loose.