November

The clock was at a standstill in the Weasley Home, and in kind, so were the images held within. Turned to nothing more than muggle polaroids. Charlie was stuck on "Home", which Molly thought to be true. However, she had looked everywhere for him, he was everywhere but. It made her nervous. Although, her and her husband's hands were stuck on 'Home' as well.

Ginny and Ron's hands were at a standstill on 'School', Bill was on 'Traveling', Fred, Percy, and George on 'Work'. Sadly, the only two she could confirm as being wrong were Arthur and Charlie. The clock wasn't the only thing behaving as it shouldn't.

There were creeks sounding throughout the home that were not normally present. The charm that she had put on her knitting needles failed, they now lay on top a heap of yarn. To top it all off, it seemed as if there was something amiss with her wand, as she was not able to cast even a simple 'Lumos'. She had to resort to using one of Arthur's muggle torches, which luckily, he had shown her how to use.

The halls felt more haunting to Hermione than they ever had. She and Theo walked cautiously side by side as they followed Filch, per his instruction after finding them deep in the library.

The Great Hall was dark, save for a menagerie of candles currently being lit by Hagrid and Madame Pomfrey with what looked like ordinary matches. In the dark, the Hall looked far more vast and empty than it had ever been.

There were only a couple of other students in attendance, the majority being from the same year as Hermione and Theo or one lower.

Ginny Weasley and Dean Thomas sat at the Gryffindor table. Ginny looked straight on towards the staff as Dean mumbled something in her ear. Hermione had an inkling as to why they were out and about. It wasn't for academic purposes, she was sure.

Anthony Goldstein was joined by Marcus Belby and Cormac McLaggen at the Ravenclaw table. Marcus, looking uneasy whilst the other two appeared bored. Luna Lovegood was also sitting at the same table, a bit of a distance away. She was oddly eyeing a copy of 'The Quibbler'.

"Head master. Found these two towards the back stacks of the library," Filch addressed his superior.

Dumbledore turned away from his quiet conversation with Professor Trelawney. His eyes grew in curiosity after seeing the pair brought in. The twinkle in them not going unnoticed.

"Thank you, Mr. Filch. I take it the Astronomy tower is in need next," he said. Filch nodded and made haste back towards the entrance, hobbling along. "Ms. Granger. Mr. Nott. How lovely to see the two of you. Please, take a seat over by the Slytherin table." Dumbledore gestured towards the table on the far left. Its only other occupant being Draco Malfoy. The eyes of her fellow Gryffindors followed Hermione as she kept close to Theo on her way to the table as directed. A particularly suspicious gaze came from Cormac, his eyes narrowed at Theo.

She inhaled before sitting down and began to fidget with her fingers in her lap, avoiding any eye contact with Malfoy. A confrontation was the last thing she needed at the moment. Although, he didn't look as if he was disgusted by her presence. Rather, he looked aloof. As if the current situation wasn't a concern. It made Hermione wonder if there was a motive behind his demeanor.

Theo seemed to consider Malfoy's hazy, gray stare. The candle light did little to hide his accusations written all over his face. "Nott. Fancy seeing you here. Hello, Granger." His attention turned towards Hermione. Surprisingly, she failed to feel the normal hostility behind his gaze. She wasn't entirely sure, but she could swear that she felt a hint of relief from him.

"Granger… Psst. Granger," Anthony addressed her from the table behind them. All three turned their attention towards him. "Do you know what's going on? My wand… I think there's something off with it. I can't cast a single spell."

"And neither can the two of us." Marcus indicated between him and Cormac. He acted hesitant, as if even the slightest negative news would break him.

"I don't know," Hermione answered honestly, feeling the same uneasiness they all seemed to share. "I can't either."

Marcus hung his head low before resting it on the table. "What are we going to do?" he mumbled into his folded arms. "It doesn't make any sense."

Now, she wondered if there was a motive behind all of it, and not just in Malfoy's casual stance. The loss of magic ability in herself, Theo, her peers - the castle itself. She started diligently cataloging everything in her mind that happened that day. Nothing appeared out of the ordinary. No, nothing stuck out at all.

Uneven footsteps were heard entering the hall. Filch was back. In toe with him were Hannah Abbot, Katie Bell, and Michael Corner. Merlin knows what the three of them had been up to prior. They were directed towards the Hufflepuff table, the only one, otherwise, left vacant.

"Students," Dumbledore spoke loudly to the lot of them. Everyone turned their attention towards him and the handful of other staff beside him.

"I know many of you are feeling a whelm of emotions this evening. We are doing our best to find the cause of the current lack of magical abilities. The other students are being informed by their head of houses. As for the rest of you," Dumbledore took a moment to scan the mismatched group before him. "The professors before you will be going around to take account of what occurred to each of you this evening."

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!"

All of them stopped and looked to the source of the attempted spell. Over at the Gryffindor table was Ginny. A look of hard determination on her face, her wand outstretched in her hand, away from the others. Clearly, this was her last ditch effort at casting any sort of spell.

She ignored the stares and threw her wand at the ground. "Fucking - Sod It All!"

"You think she would have given up by now," muttered Theo softly. "Can't she see that all of us are having the same issue?"

"Bloody Weasley," Cormac gave out a crass sigh. "Always has to have the last word."

Hermione watched as each table was approached by a different professor. Trelawny was particularly hesitant to join the Ravenclaw table, her hands tangling with the ends of her unruly hair. "I'm sorry. But who was together when this happened?"

The rest of what she asked blurred away as Professor Slughorn stepped up to Hermione's table. He sat himself down gingerly beside Malfoy. Doing his best, it would seem, to keep any sort of discomfort he may have to a minimum.

"Ah. Here we are." He nodded to Malfoy and then looked over to Hermione and Theo. "Miss Granger! A pleasure, as always."

She gave the man a kind smile and a soft "Hello Professor."

"Now, I will assume the three of you weren't up to anything adventitious this evening. Contrary what I've heard about several of your other peers." He gave a mischievous glance in the direction of Ginny and Dean three tables over. "Let's start at the top, shall we?"

Quietly, Draco gave the account of his loss of magic. How he was coming back from the 7th floor when the lights went out and, like Hermione and Theo had, attempted to cast a Lumos charm. It didn't go unnoticed, at least not to Hermione, that he omitted to say exactly what he was doing up on the top floor. Not much was up there - except, that is, the Room of Requirement - but what business could he possibly be conducting there? She decided to file that bit of information away for another time - when there weren't so many prying ears.

Slughorn hummed "Nothing out of the ordinary then for you, Mr. Malfoy." He turned towards Theo and Hermione. "And the two of you. What happened on your end?"

"Well I -"

"We were in the library." Hermione jumped in at the same time as Theo also began to speak. She felt embarrassed enough to shut her mouth and wait for him to continue. He took a moment to acknowledge her opening.

"We were studying. Ancient Studies. That's when it went dark for us."

"And nothing strange happened, anything at all? Before then?" Slughorn pressed.

"Other than the lamps flickering, no."

"Hmmm. Strange indeed." Their professor took a moment and rubbed his brows. "Well, I thank you three for your time. As you can imagine, this has been a trying night for us all."

Hermione yawned, doing her best to keep it hidden behind her hand. It didn't go unnoticed.

"I'm sure you are tired, but Dumbledore asked that the students here were to wait until everyone in their respective house was spoken with before returning to their dormitories together." Slughorn looked around to the other tables, cataloging the students. "Mr. Malfoy, Mr. Nott. You both may go. There are lanterns by the door."

Theo turned to Hermione and gave her a pained look. "Are you going to be alright?" he asked.

Hermione felt uneasy, leaving Theo alone with Malfoy. She knew they were old friends, but again, anything having to do with Malfoy always made her feel uneasy. "Fine. It's you I'm worried about." She lowered her voice so only he could hear her.

"Hermione…" he started, his eyes shyly meeting hers. "Didn't know you cared so much."

"Of course, I do. You're my friend," she responded and without hesitation, pulled him into a hug. Theo tensed, seemingly surprised by her actions before warmly wrapping his arms around her as well, his hands resting at the small of her back. This was the closest they had ever been. For her, there was a stability in his response. "Just be careful, ok?" she whispered into his ear before detaching herself from their embrace.

He gave her a slight smile and nodded, as if he was saying 'you too', before turning around to join Malfoy by the entrance.

She watched as they walked out of the hall, the light illuminating from the lantern slowly going dim. Her heartbeat slightly elevated as it vanished completely.

"Interesting," came the voice of Cormac from behind her. Hermione turned to face her house mate. He stood tall, broad chested, arms crossed and his eyes were peering in the direction of where the two Slytherins had disappeared to.

"Can I help you?" she asked, choosing to ignore his obvious accusations.

"You seem rather close to that snake," he responded, his gaze shifting down to her. "It's only an observation."

"I'm sure that what you think you are observing is incorrect," she insisted.

"I'm sure that what I'm observing isn't good, Granger," he retorted, pursing his lips. "Not in the slightest."

Instead of responding, Hermione walked away from him to wait for the other Gryffindors, refusing to engage in what she was positive to be a useless argument.

Molly sat alone, in the dark. Unsure of what to do.

She glanced over at the muggle telly-phone. Arthur had shown her how to use it. But who could she reach out to? She wasn't sure of any other Wizard kind who had the device. No one she knew of at least.

Then, as she absent mindedly flicked the torch on and off, she remembered: the Grangers!

She all but raced to the kitchen and pulled open one of its many cabinet drawers. Shuffling through the many bits of paper she found the scrap that held their number.

"Thank Merlin," she breathed with a sigh of relief, tears threatening to prickle from the corners of her eyes.

She stared at the ivory device. Never in her wildest dreams had she ever thought she would actually need to use it.