As Regina had suggested, Snape had brought in Educational Decree Number Twenty-Four. The students had rebelled strongly against being told they weren't allowed to gather in groups of three or more and the Hogwarts staff had spent the next couple of weeks doing their best to keep the ringleaders out of more trouble than was necessary. A lot of the staff knew far more about what their students were up to than they were letting on, but Emma was struggling to keep her promise to Molly Weasley and keep Ginny out of trouble. The sixteen-year-old seemed determined to get herself put into detention on a daily basis.
After being unceremoniously thrown out of Regina's living quarters at the beginning of the month, Emma hadn't managed to get close enough to the older woman to speak to her again. Every time the brunette saw her coming, she would find some excuse to get away from Emma without even meeting her eyes. It was getting more and more frustrating to the younger witch, who was still convinced that there was something going on in her ex-girlfriend's life that she was keeping a secret.
"OK, so last lesson we touched on non-verbal spells, right?" Emma asked one Thursday morning, looking around at the assembled sixth year students. "So who's read enough of The Standard Book of Spells, Grade Six to give me an explanation of the importance of using non-verbal spells?" There were a flurry of raised hands and the blonde looked around, pleasantly surprised by the reaction. "Freddie?"
"Basically, if you're using a non-verbal spell your opponent doesn't know what you're going to do until you do it." The Ravenclaw boy explained quickly.
"Excellent!" She nodded, beaming at him. "Which means what? Araminta?"
The Hufflepuff blinked several times before she answered. "Umm… you get a split-second advantage?"
"Precisely." Emma nodded, her face suddenly turning serious. "In times like this the more advantages you can get the better."
The sea of young faces stared back at her, most of them filled with fear at what she was hinting at. But Emma wasn't stupid enough to let them dwell on her words or the volatile situation they found themselves in. Instead, she smiled brightly around and motioned for the students to stand up. Slightly bemused they did as she asked, looking at her in confusion.
"OK, so we've established that using non-verbal spells gives you the element of surprise and a split-second advantage, but what's the downside?" When no one was quick to volunteer any answers, Emma smiled again, walking around her desk to perch on the side closest to the teenagers. "Come on? Think… Ginny?"
"They're harder to do?"
"Yes… Why?"
"Umm…"
"Come on, you lot! Use your brains." When the teenagers continued to look nonplussed, the Charms Professor shook her head and smiled. "Non-verbal spells require a huge amount of practice before they become anywhere near as effective as spells cast with verbal incantations. Casting them requires massive amounts of concentration and mental discipline, because you're doing it without the magical support of an incantation."
"Professor Swan?"
"Yes, Colin."
"Is it true that there are some spells that are designed to be cast non-verbally?" The boy asked enthusiastically.
"Yes!" Emma pointed at him, almost in surprise. "Ten points to Gryffindor. There are certain spells that are easier to perform non-verbally, but most spells are less effective than normal when the incantation is not said. Who can suggest one?"
"Levicorpus and its counter jinx, Liberacorpus." A Slytherin piped up, much to his teacher's surprise.
"Well done, Dex, ten points to Slytherin. Levicorpus," she smirked as Ginny Weasley rose slightly into the air with a startled squeak, "and Liberacorpus," she paused as the teenager descended to stand on the classroom floor, "are best performed as non-verbal spells, but can also be performed using the incantation."
"Can you show us something else, Professor?" A Ravenclaw asked eagerly.
With a smirk, Emma caused the torches in the braziers attached to the walls around the classroom to burst into flame. Her students jumped back in surprise, not having expected it to happen, making blonde laugh. She arched an eyebrow at the teenagers, before folding her arms across her chest and looking at them critically.
"Element of surprise." She reminded them. "If I'd wanted to jinx you, you'd never have stood a chance. Right! Get into pairs; I want you to attempt to disarm your partner non-verbally. Anyone who–"
There was a loud knock on the door and everyone turned to look at the slightly wary looking Slytherin, who Emma recognised as a second year, who was hesitating on the threshold. He was shifting from foot-to-foot and eyeing her nervously, clearly wondering what kind of reaction he would receive for interrupting her lesson.
"Ivan? How can I help you?" She asked, smiling brightly at him in an attempt to put him at ease.
"I'm sorry to interrupt, Professor Swan, but Professor Mills wants to speak to Alexis Sobel… I think it's urgent." He mumbled, spitting out the words as quickly as he could.
Emma shot a quick look at the Ravenclaw student in question guessing, from the expression on her face that she had no idea what the Head of Slytherin could possibly want to speak to her about. She considered denying the request for a moment and sending a note back with the second year to inform Regina that Alexis would go and see her after the conclusion of her lesson. Then she decided against it, knowing that it would probably annoy Regina more than was strictly necessary and, considering she had made her request in such a public manner, it was probably innocent enough.
"Very well… Alexis?"
"Yes, Professor…"
Her classmates watched as she returned her text books, parchment and quill to her bag and headed for the corridor. Emma sent her a reassuring smile before she closed the door behind her and disappeared along the corridor. There was quiet for a moment, before the Professor turned her attention to the rest of the class, urging them to get on with their practising while she moved amongst them, offering tips and encouragement.
Emma didn't think anything more of Regina's request to speak to the sixth year Ravenclaw until she was sitting at dinner in the Great Hall that evening. Regina's, not uncommon, absence from the teachers' table triggered her memory and caused her to frown deeply as she realised that she hadn't seen the teenager since then. A quick glance over the students sitting at the Ravenclaw table made Emma realise that she, too, was missing from the Great Hall.
"Rubes? You teach Alexis Sobel, right?" She enquired in a low voice.
"The quiet blonde in Ravenclaw?" Ruby checked, receiving a nod from the other woman. "Yeah, she's in my Creatures Class, why?"
"Regina sent for her during my Charms Class this morning… any idea what that might have been about?"
Ruby stared at her in bewilderment for a moment, before placing her half eaten bread roll on her plate and turning to stare at her friend. Her eyes narrowed slightly as she thought about something. "Regina sent for Alexis Sobel this morning? Which lesson?"
"Second… why?"
"Regina sent for her younger brother in my class this morning… I teach the Ravenclaw fourth years with the Hufflepuffs during the second lesson." They exchanged a confused look before Ruby glanced further along the table. "The first year Ravenclaws have Transfiguration during that lesson…"
"You think we should ask Minerva if Regina sent for Alicia too?" Emma asked, following the brunette's gaze to where the Head of Gryffindor was sitting.
"I do. I mean, what reason would Regina have to send for Alexis, Arron and Alicia Sobel?"
"I have no idea…"
"They are Muggle-borns…"
"Ruby!" Emma frowned at her. "It can't be because of that. Regina wouldn't…"
"Wouldn't she?" Ruby argued, arching an eyebrow meaningfully at her friend. "Em… her mother is Head of the Muggle-Born Registration Committee. She's a Death Eater. I definitely think we should speak to McGonagall. Who knows why she wanted to speak to the Sobel kids?"
Emma sighed deeply and shook her head, not knowing how to answer that without admitting that Regina looked guilty. They finished their meal quickly, before heading out of the Great Hall, via the Ravenclaws' table. Making enquiries about whether anyone had seen any of the Sobel siblings since that morning. On hearing that no one had seen them, Ruby shot Emma a triumphant look and even the blonde couldn't see how the two facts weren't related.
Making their way slowly up towards the Head of Gryffindor's private rooms, the two women discussed what they knew so far. They theorised about what might have happened, with Emma still unwilling to believe that it was as simple as her best friend was making out. As far as Ruby was concerned, the disappearance of the three Muggle-born Ravenclaws was as a direct result of their meeting with Regina. Emma wasn't so sure.
"Professor McGonagall… can we speak to you about something?" Ruby asked politely after knocking on her door, looking almost nervous under the piercing gaze of the older woman.
"Since you are no longer a student at Hogwarts and are, in fact, a Professor here I think perhaps you might call me Minerva?" The Head of Gryffindor suggested with a small smirk, stepping aside to allow the two younger witches into her rooms. "How can I help you, Ruby?"
"We…" The brunette glanced at her friend for support.
Nodding, Emma asked the all-important question. "Minerva, did Professor Mills request a meeting… an urgent meeting… with Alicia Sobel this morning?"
Minerva frowned lightly. "Yes, during my Transfiguration lesson. Why?"
Emma and Ruby exchanged a look, before the blonde cleared her throat. "Do you know why?"
"What exactly is this about, Emma?"
Sensing that Emma was uncomfortable, still not completely believing that their suspicions could be true, Ruby took over. "No one has seen the Sobels since they were called to Regina's office this morning. They… they're Muggle-born and we… well… we're worried for them."
"Because Cora Black-Mills, Regina's mother, is Head of the Muggle-Born Registration Committee?" Minerva surmised. When she received a confirming nod from Ruby and a slightly shifty look from Emma, the older witch furrowed her eyebrows slightly. "Do I need to remind you that Dumbledore remained steadfast in his trust in Regina?"
"Dumbledore's dead!" Ruby exclaimed without thinking. "Snape killed him and… no one can deny that Regina and Snape are joined at the hip. She supports his every action. We only have her word that she didn't know what was going to happen that night on the Astronomy Tower."
Emma scowled at her best friend. "Ruby!"
"What? It's true."
Clearing her throat and stopping the argument in her tracks, Minerva considered the two women for a moment, before turning to the portrait of one of her predecessors as Head of Gryffindor House on the wall. "Professor Humphit? Might I trouble you to ask Professor Trelawney to join us?"
With a curt nod, the woman in the painting headed out of her frame and disappeared from sight. Motioning for Emma and Ruby to take a seat opposite her desk, Minerva settled herself in her own chair and began shuffling through the papers in front of her. Emma assumed that it was a display of how little she was worrying about the charge that the younger witches had brought against their colleague.
"Sybil is on her way." The painting informed the women with another curt nod.
"Thank you, Eustace."
There was another, rather tense pause, as they waited for the Head of Ravenclaw to join them. It was no secret that, after Filius Flitwick's retirement, Minerva had had her reservations about the appointment of the Divination Professor as Head of House. Dumbledore had, however, remained steadfast in his decision and over the year the Professor McGonagall had come to realise that perhaps he had been right after all, as he so often was. She smiled warmly at the younger woman who peered anxiously around the door at them.
"Sybil, come in. Do take a seat." She encouraged her warmly. "We were talking about the Sobel siblings and, as they're part of your House, we thought that perhaps you would be able to shed some light on the situation."
"Such dear children." Professor Trelawney agreed, before letting out a loud sob, much to her companions' surprise. "Such a terrible, terrible shame."
"What do you mean?"
"Karen Moone found this on Alexis' bed in the sixth year girls' dormitory." Sybil told them with another sob, holding out a folded scrap of parchment.
Taking it with a confused expression twisting her features, Professor McGonagall opened the note and read it quickly. Her frown deepened as she read, before she placed the parchment on the surface of her desk. Opening her mouth to say something, the older witch gave a small shake of her head and lifted the note to reread it quickly before speaking.
"This is most… concerning." She admitted finally, before handing the note over to Emma and allowing the blonde to read the few sentences scribed by the sixteen-year-old witch.
Professor Trelawney,
Please forgive us for not coming directly to you, but times are dangerous and we didn't want to alert anyone to our plan before we put it into action. My brother, sister and I have decided that Hogwarts is becoming too dangerous for us to remain and so we have made the difficult decision to go into hiding. With the many recent disappearances from the school, we are aware that our time here is running out and have decided to run before we are taken.
Please do not inform our parents of our decision; they will be much safer not knowing anything is wrong.
We are sorry to leave like this.
Alexis, Arron and Alicia Sobel
"What in Merlin's name is going on?" Ruby muttered once she, too, had read the missive. "What recent disappearances are they talking about? The only people who've been leaving have been taken out of school by their parents, haven't they?"
There was a pause before Professor McGonagall spoke again. During the silence, the two Heads of House exchanged a deeply meaningful look. Emma and Ruby frowned between them, wondering just what had been going on around the castle and how they had missed it. Emma questioned herself quickly, wondering whether she'd been so focused on Regina's movements that she'd missed something important.
"There have been several instances of students leaving under similar circumstances." Minerva admitted. "Muggle-born and half-blood students disappearing from the castle and leaving notes like this one."
"Emilia Froggart, Amanda and Finley Smith, Jennifer Myers, Tom Pruce… they're just the Ravenclaw students who've run away recently." Sybil added, dabbing at her eyes with a handkerchief.
"And no one knows why they decided to leave and where they went?" Emma asked, looking between the older witches with a frown. "How did they get out of the castle?"
"We don't know." Minerva admitted with a sigh. "Dean Thomas was the first… a couple of weeks after our return in September."
"Dean?" The blonde frowned, thinking hard. "How many altogether?"
"Including the Sobels? Twenty."
"Tw– twenty?" Ruby's eyebrows shot up towards her hairline in complete astonishment. "How have twenty missing students been overlooked?"
"Across three houses and from all seven year groups… it's not a huge number. Besides, they're all Muggle-born or half-blood with either questionable heritage or links to so called blood traitors. All the missing students have links to the Muggle world and we have to assume that's where they are." Minerva explained bluntly. "The Ministry aren't interested, other than wanting to know who to send their people after… it just means that there are a few less… undesirables… to worry about."
"Hang on, you said across three houses… I'm guessing there are no missing Slytherins?"
"Come, now, Emma." Minerva arched an eyebrow at her. "That's slightly prejudicial, isn't it?"
"Is it true, though?"
Nodding sharply, the Head of Gryffindor sighed. "It is."
Silence, only broken by Trelawney's occasional loud sniffs, fell in the office as all four witches considered the situation. Emma was determined to do something about it, unsure just why it had been ignored for so long. She could understand the assumption that the students had gone to ground in the Muggle world, but she knew that it was barely any safer there than it was in the Wizarding world.
"Do we know if Regina spoke to any of the other missing kids before they left?" Ruby asked suddenly. Receiving a scowl from the blonde beside her, she shrugged. "What? It's suspicious."
"I can't comment on all of the students, but…" Minerva sighed. "But I was teaching the second years last week when Regina sent for Demi Pearce. Two days later Demi ran away."
Sybil nodded. "Regina sent for three of my third years during a Tuesday afternoon Divination lesson last month. By that weekend all three had left; Robin Florret, Indira Lewis and Jennifer Myers."
"One from each of the three houses…" Emma mused. Then she turned to look at Minerva seriously. "Do you think that Regina is involved in these children's disappearances?"
"I hope not."
"That's not an answer." The blonde disputed. When the older woman simply arched an eyebrow at her, she sighed. "Seriously, what do you think?"
"I don't know what to think, Professor Swan." She admitted quietly. "I don't wish to think ill of Regina and yet…"
"There's too much evidence against her." Emma agreed, equally reluctantly. "But we don't know anything for sure. It's all circumstantial."
"So why was Regina talking to all those kids just before they ran away?"
The blonde shook her head. "Oh, come on, Ruby! You know that if Regina has one weakness then it's the safety of kids. She wouldn't do anything to harm them."
"There's plenty of people doing things that are out of character."
Emma was forced to agree with Ruby on that argument. "OK… we'll do a bit more digging, then. I still don't think Regina's involved, though."
It had been a very long day and Regina was just heading down to her quarters after patrolling the upper floors of the castle. She stifled a yawn, nodding at several of the portraits as she descended the Grand Staircase, pausing to wait for the steps to move so that she could continue her journey towards her bed.
"Professor Mills?"
Jumping slightly at being addressed, Regina whirled around and blinked several times at the portrait of Elizabeth Burke, a former Headmistress, who was watching her intently. "Professor Burke?"
"I've just visited my portrait in the Tapestry Corridor and I saw your son consorting with several other students from various houses." The woman in the painting told her bluntly.
Staring at her open-mouthed for a moment, Regina threw a hasty 'thank you' over her shoulder as she hurried off in the direction the woman had indicated. By the time she arrived at the corridor there was no sign of Henry or the other students he had been with, but the door to Severus' private storeroom was swinging open. Letting out a small huff of irritation, Regina easily repaired the damage to the door, which appeared to have been on the receiving end of the Bombarding Curse. Satisfied with the repair, she stepped inside to see whether she could work out what, if anything, had been taken.
Running her finger along the shelves, reading the handwritten labels beneath each box or jar, the witch checked the contents of the storeroom thoroughly. If anything had been taken, she wanted the opportunity to convince the teenagers to return it before it went any further. With the Carrows enforcing the Cruciatus Curse as a punishment for disrespect, she didn't want to find out what they would do to punish stealing from the Headmaster.
"Mom?"
"Henry!" Regina almost breathed his name, whirling on the spot. Her face lit up as her eyes fixed on her son. "What are you doing here?"
"Stealing the ingredients for a Babbling Beverage." He informed her with a shrug, folding his arms across his chest and staring at her emotionlessly. "We were going to break into the kitchens and slip it in the teachers' water jugs."
"Henry…" His mother shook her head in disbelief. "Don't be ridiculous. Do you realise just how much trouble you'll get into for that?"
"More than what Neville and Seamus got into for using the Jelly-Legs Jinx on those Slytherin seventh years?"
"Probably, yes." She agreed with a firm nod. "Henry, please…"
"No, Mom. We're not going to stand for this!"
"Who's we?"
"Ginny and me." He replied defiantly. "We're doing this, Mom, so I wouldn't drink from the water jugs at dinner if I were you."
Running her hands through her hair agitatedly, Regina followed him out of the storeroom distractedly, locking the door behind her. Henry strode in the direction that would take him back to the Ravenclaw Tower, clearly not intending to spend any longer in his mother's company. Almost desperately Regina followed, grasping him by the arm and pulling him back.
"Henry! I know you think I… but… there are things you don't understand."
"You attacked Emma. You attacked Tonks." He replied coldly, reminding the witch a lot of herself. "What is there to not understand?"
"Regina!"
Both Mills' turned at the shout, finding themselves staring at the sneering face of Amycus Carrow. Feeling Henry tensing beside her, Regina laid a hand on his arm and moved slightly so that she was between the two males.
"Yes?"
"The boy shouldn't be out of bed, Regina." He told her smarmily. "It's against the rules… it's a punishable offence."
"He's my son, Amycus." Regina replied coldly. "He's with me. It's hardly as though he's roaming the corridors causing trouble."
There was a tense pause as he considered them. "I'll let it go this time…"
As soon as he had left them alone, Regina turned to the fourteen-year-old pleadingly. "Come on, Henry. Don't do this. I won't always be there to protect you from–"
"I don't want your protection." He snapped back. "If my friends aren't worthy of protection, then neither am I. I'm not–"
Regina almost screamed with frustration at the sound of footsteps indicating that the first conversation she'd had with her son in months was about to be interrupted. Turning, scowling at whoever was approaching, Regina bit her tongue when she realised who was striding towards them and what it might mean. Beside her, Henry shifted slightly as though he was going to leap towards the approaching figures, so the woman grabbed his arm tightly, holding him at her side.
"Severus? What's going on?"
"I found this one down by the potions classroom." He replied, nudging Ginny towards them.
Regina hesitated, before stepping forward. "Weasley, stand over there, next to Henry. Don't even think about moving."
As the girl did as she was told, folding her arms and leaning against the wall with a sullen expression on her face, Regina leant closer to her friend and lowered her voice so that only he would hear what she was going to say. He arched an eyebrow at her request, but didn't say anything for a moment, his eyes raking over the two teenagers who were watching them with ill-disguised interest.
"Very well… but it's on your head, Regina."
"Thank you, Severus." She smiled gratefully at him and patted his arm affectionately, before he turned and swept away. Taking a breath, she turned to Henry and Ginny, fixing them with a stern expression. "You will both lose your privileges to visit Hogsmeade and I suggest that you forget about your plan to brew the Babbling Beverage."
"How did… Henry!" Ginny frowned at him.
"I made him tell me, Miss Weasley." Regina told her firmly. "Now, let's get you back to your dormitories before anyone else spots you and decides that a more unpleasant punishment is in order."
