Chapter 13 : Traumatic event

At one thirty-seven in the morning on Sunday March 25, Arcturus sat up straight in his bed as he had woken up with cold sweat covering him. He was so used to sleep like a log until noon on weekends that he was the first surprise to find himself fully awake at such an early hour. And the only reason was that he was worried about something but what ?

His super memory would be of great help to discover it. He began to search in his brain for an explanation as he recalled everything that had happened the day before. From what he had eaten, to the homework he hadn't done out of laziness, to the people he had met even briefly, to the potions he had concocted to pass the time and even up to his detention which was very painful as washing dishes by hand was a very repetitive task.

"Everything went well." He told himself while bringing his knees against his chest as he was still worried. "For me anyway. As for Akira, I still don't know why she had to read so many Defence Against the Dark Arts books until being sick of it. I'll have to ask her tomorrow morning." He added as he laid back on his bed.

But getting back to sleep proved to be complicated. He succeeded only when fatigue got stronger than his concerns. And he didn't wake up again until the following morning at a comfortable ten o'clock, just in time before breakfast finished.

"Beautiful day." He thought with enthusiasm while moving towards the window of the dormitory once he was dressed.

He opened it before closing it abruptly when an icy air reached him and cooled the whole dormitory which was deserted at such an hour.

"But too cold. It's over to go play outside in the Grounds. I'll have to find an empty room without too many windows to practice football."

But this hobby was about to wait as he was looking forward to find Akira and make sure that she was over with her sudden Defence Against the Dark Arts interest. He went into the common room but didn't spot her. It was strange since she was always awake way earlier than him but would wait for him so they could go get breakfast together.

"She's probably already in the Great Hall." Arcturus said to himself while leaving the common room to check that eventuality.

His impatience caused him to stumble on the carpet before catching himself at a nearby table which he jostled to the point of dropping all the Gobstones that a student had left there on the ground, making them spit their nauseating liquid in the process.

"Oops." Arcturus grimaced before picking up those he spotted in a hurry to put them back in place.

He then left the common room to rush towards the Great Hall as he was eager to find Akira there, and also to eat since he was starving. But she wasn't there either as he walked alongside the Gryffindor table while trying to spot her. He also went to the other tables – and even looked under them which earned him interrogative looks – but there was no trace of her.

"Maybe she's in the library ? With her sudden passion for Defence Against the Dark Arts, there might be a chance." He thought hopefully as he left the room without even taking the time to eat something for breakfast.

But once he got there, he could only see that the story repeated itself.

"Madam Pince ? Have you seen Miss Chitsute this morning ?" Arcturus asked the librarian while leaning on her desk which irritated her.

"It's a library, not an information office ! If you want to borrow a book, I might help you otherwise I can't do anything for you." She told him coldly.

"And if I borrow a book, would you give me this information ?" Arcturus asked while taking randomly an old book that was lying on her desk.

"I can't let you take the Moste Potente Potions book ! It's coming from the restricted section and I had to put it back in place." Pince informed him.

"A book about potions ? That's interesting. Can I have it ?" Arcturus asked with hope as Potions was one of his passion.

"Certainly not !"

Pince then tried to take the book back but Arcturus was reluctant to let her have it. He finally let go when he realized that he was losing a precious time to look for Akira.

He left the library without waiting but as he didn't have a precise idea of her position, he decided to methodically search the whole school while calling Akira's name and talking to the students who knew her, even her worst enemies.

"Have you seen Akira ? I've been looking for her everywhere since this morning." He asked worriedly James, Sirius, Remus and Peter who were spending their Sunday trying to terrorize people from paintings by approaching them with a brush dripping with paint.

"Who ?" James asked as he brought his paintbrush dangerously close to an old wizard who began uttering threats while trying to chase the brush away but without success since he couldn't touch it.

"You know who." Arcturus replied with despair.

"No. I haven't seen Voldemort in the school." James added as Peter let out a scream of fear and Arcturus winced at the announcement of this name.

"I'm talking about Akira ! You've been in the same Quidditch team for a while until she got fired." Arcturus told him as he didn't have time to mess around with the four students. "I don't know where she is and it worries me."

"Maybe she just wanted to be alone because you can be really clingy when you want." Sirius threw at his brother while also teasing the old wizard who had to take refuge under his table.

"Not at all." Arcturus replied defensively. "We each have our separate activities so we're not always stuck together. But normally we see each other at least once a day and today I didn't even meet her."

"When was the last time you saw her ?" Remus asked Arcturus while watching James and Sirius threatening the old wizard in the painting with a disapproving look.

"Yesterday evening. I went to bed and she stayed in the common room. And since then, no sign of life."

"Something awful may have happened to her." Peter announced in turn as he was holding the can of paint for James and Sirius to plunge their brushes in it.

"To Chitsute ? I'd rather bet she went for a walk in the school last night and didn't come back. It's not that bad if that means that she won't bother me anymore." James stated before nudging Remus who rolled his eyes.

"That doesn't tell me where she is. So if you see her, let me know. I'm going back to my investigations." Arcturus told them before walking back along the hallway while James finally decided to smear the wizard's robe with purple paint.

His search around the whole school continued all day. Arcturus hadn't even bothered to take a lunch break so he was starving as he was still prowling the hallways during the night, missing his detention in the process. In addition to hunger, he was tired as his nerves were strained but he wasn't going to give up.

He went back to the common room again - the fourteenth time that day - to ask to the people there if they hadn't seen Akira. But as their answer was once again negative, he reached the deserted and gloomy hallways to continue his searching even if it was past eleven o'clock.

The advantage at such a late hour was that the slightest noise would reach him and conduct him towards Akira wherever she was. However, this silence was also his worst enemy because grouped with his clumsiness which was very noisy, he could be spotted easily. He therefore took all the precautions in the world to avoid armours and other objects of all kinds that he could inadvertently overthrow. Being extra careful, he crossed each floor but it wasn't until he reached the first one that he heard sounds of footsteps which seemed to be coming from the Entrance Hall.

Arcturus slowly approached the marble staircase and leant over the railing to see who it was. In the dark and from afar, it was difficult to recognize the person who was nevertheless a student given his build. On the other hand, his hastily whispered words reached Arcturus relatively clearly as he was speaking alone in the empty hall.

"Don't do anything about it. After all, you never wished it turned this way." The person said as he seemed tortured by his thoughts while going back and forth in the dark. "It was the complete fault of your chief, put the blame on him since he was the one who made you do it. But if I say anything against him, there's a risk that they'll check my wand to see what I've done. That's awful !" He exclaimed before holding his head between his two hands as he seemed to turn mad.

"He has done something wrong but what ?" Arcturus murmured while trying to listen a little bit more to find out.

"Wandering in the school while all the other students are sleeping for example ?" A voice said suddenly in his ear which frightened him to the point of making him stumble and fall down the stairs before crashing at the foot of the latter.

He wasn't the only one to be surprised to be spotted as the tortured student in the Entrance Hall let out a cry of terror when he saw Arcturus before running at full speed towards the door that led to the dungeons. However, the person who had terrified Arcturus blocked it with a spell thus preventing him from fleeing. He could only flatten against the door as he was out of breath.

Arcturus was in no better position than him as he slowly got up hoping that he didn't break any of his bones with this fall. Meanwhile, the person who had catched the two students was calmly going down the stairs, lighting them up with the help of her magic wand.

Arcturus recognised Professor Olhrom, the young rookie Professor of Defence Against the Dark Arts. The few months she had spent at Hogwarts had failed to make her a stern teacher as she was watching alternatively Arcturus and the other student with a weak smile.

"I give you a zero for discretion. A zero for hiding and a zero for failing to break the rules without getting caught. If both of you ever plan to become Aurors, you'll need to improve in these areas."

"I don't want to become an Auror. Please, just let me go." The student pleaded tearfully as Arcturus could now recognise him as being in Slytherin and spending his time in the library when he wasn't hanging out with the apprentice Death Eaters.

"Tell me first what you two are doing here because I doubt that Hogwarts allows night wandering since I left this school two years ago. And you better not lie to me otherwise I would have to use my Legilimency skills. Or Veritaserum, it works the same." Olhrom told them in a tone that was more amused than reproachful.

"I'm looking for someone." Arcturus replied immediately to save her the trouble to unlock his mind full of too much information. "Akira Chitsute. She's been missing since this morning."

At this announcement, the Slytherin student ran away and tried to reach the entrance door to leave the castle. However, Olhrom was faster than him and slammed the door with a spell as he started to open it.

"Why don't you tell us what brings you here, Mr. Mortam ? After that, you can both return to your dormitories without any punishment."

"I can't." The student replied to her question before taking his head between his hands as he slid against the door until he sat on the floor.

He began to sob softly as he was shaking from head to toes. Arcturus had the reflex to go towards him to comfort him but Olhrom stopped him before going herself towards the distressed student. She then knelt down next to him and began to speak to him but Arcturus couldn't hear what she was telling to the student in a soft voice.

After several long minutes, he decided to join them and managed to pick up a few words of what was being said.

"Are you sure ?" Olhrom asked the student with astonishment.

The latter seemed to hesitate before nodding his head while his eyes were still watery.

"What's happening ?" Arcturus asked as his curiosity was growing.

"Hard to say." Olhrom informed him while getting up as she looked puzzled. "But we'll see later for the exact facts. In the meantime, I'll fetch your missing colleague."

"You know where she is ? You're the first of the day and I asked a lot of people ! So, what are we waiting for to go get her ?" Arcturus offered before looking around frantically. "And, where is it exactly ?"

"From what I understood, not in the castle. In Hogsmeade instead." Olhrom revealed to him while being amused by the energy Arcturus was showing.

"Hogsmeade ? That's unexpected." Arcturus said with concern.

"Ask…" Olhrom began but when she was about to point her finger at the student the latter got up and fled towards the door that led to the dungeons.

He immediately disappeared behind it as Olhrom didn't try to stop him this time.

"It's him who told you Akira's whereabouts ?" Arcturus asked the Professor as they were both stunned by his strange behaviour. "Or did you use your Legilimency skills to read his mind ?"

"The first option because between you and me, I can't use Legilimency. I just lie about it now and then to scare troublemakers who don't take me seriously. It takes years of practice to master such a complex skill. Same goes for the Veritaserum that I wouldn't be able to brew."

"I know how to brew that potion but it's not my favourite one. Anyway, we're getting off topic because we've to go get Akira right away." Arcturus interjected.

"In fact, I'm going to pick her up while you stay here - or rather in your common room - because students aren't allowed to leave school in the middle of the night."

"Not if I'm with you since you're a Professor. It's in the school rules that I know by heart." Arcturus revealed to her as he knew at which page this rule was written and what it contained to the last comma.

"You're right. In that case, I've no further objections. Come on, follow me." She told Arcturus before walking through the entrance door.

The latter followed her outside as the biting cold of the night made him shiver. But being cold was the least of his worries while Akira was in Hogsmeade for no reason, at least known to him. This put a strain on his nerves and the only method he found to calm down was to talk about everything that was going in his full mind with his interlocutor.

"Were you on guard duty tonight ?"

"No. I was looking for a Boggart which gives me a hard time because it takes refuge in different places every night. As the only Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, it's my job to find it before it gets in trouble but it's more complicated than I expected. And less fun knowing that it makes me waste a precious time that I could use to prepare for my lessons for which I'm really late."

"You are ? Because I didn't see it during the course you gave last week to my class." Arcturus said to reassure her.

"I just reread my old class notes to have something but that wasn't really good." Olhrom sighed as they were both heading towards Hogsmeade. "It's a lot of pressure to be a teacher, more than I imagined, and I doubt that it's a good idea for me to embark on a career as an Auror's trainer."

"On the contrary. I like your classes even if it's not my favourite subject and you're less scary than some of my Professors. That's a good point for you." Arcturus told her in a cheerful tone which made her smile.

"I know what you mean. Some of them can be really harsh, like old McGonagall. Once she gave me a month detention for stunning a Slytherin who tripped a poor first year. I still don't know why she blamed me since my spell was cast fairly, not when he turned his back on me or whatever." Olhrom complained while remembering her eventful past as a student.

"It's not worse than Watterston. I once had the misfortune to spill ink on the books he wrote and now I'm no longer allowed to sit next to the shelf where he keeps them."

"Rule number one in this school. Never touch his precious books. Then come the safety rules that Filch tells us at the beginning of school year." Olhrom added while laughing.

Their discussion continued like this until they reached the Shrieking Shack that looked really scary in the dark. Then they fell silent as the surroundings weren't reassuring.

"Stay close to me." Olhrom advised Arcturus in a serious tone as she was pointing her wand in front of her.

"I never intended to do otherwise." The latter replied as he was happy to have a Dark Arts specialist with him in such a situation. "But are you sure she's in there ?"

"That's what the other student told me." Olhrom said as they were both scanning the dark silhouette of the haunted house. "It costs nothing to go and see for ourselves."

"If you say so." Arcturus added in a small voice as they passed the barrier to find themselves in the fenced garden which was in poor condition.

"Don't worry. I know enough spells to stop anything that can hide in this house. More or less." Olhrom told him before tearing off a board that blocked a window as if she did that every day.

But she immediately lost her assured smile after peeking through the shattered window.

"Oh no !" She exclaimed before making the broken glass from the frame disappear with her magic wand.

She was then able to go inside and Arcturus imitated her only for him to stumble and end up lying face down on the rotten floor. However, he got up with lightning speed when he saw a known figure on the ground of the room.

"AKIRA !" He shouted before throwing himself on his knees next to the latter who was staying unconscious despite Olhrom's attempt to wake her up by shaking her.

Hello dear readers,

What a chapter ! That was interesting to write it from an other point of view but that was only necessary because our main protagonist isn't in a good shape to continue the story herself.

Like the previous chapter, this one isn't the last one of this story. A lot needs to be said about what happened but I won't do it in this comment section. Rather in the following chapter that will be published at the end of the month. That's a bit of waiting but I think it will be worth it.