Moonstruck Madness Year One: Chapter 15

"Bad News From Home"

Help will always be given at Hogwarts to those who ask for it. - Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Anne turned to glare at the back of Gilbert's head - and he wasn't there.

He hadn't been there in Transfiguration, or Charms. In fact, Anne hadn't seen Gilbert all day.

Wondering where Gilbert Blythe went was slightly more interesting than listening to Professor Binns. Not that she was worried.

"Excuse me, Professor Binns?"

The entire class turned to see Professor McGonagall in the doorway.

"Could I borrow Miss Shirley for a moment?" Professor McGonagall asked, as Binns continued saying something about a goblin.

The entire class turned to stare at Anne.

Professor Binns slowly realized that even Hermione was not paying attention. "Ah..." he said, staring at Professor McGonagall and trying to remember who she was. "Oh, Matilda. Of course, you can take Miss..." He turned to Anne and stared at her for a second. "You can take Miss Shelby."

Ron snorted as Anne stood up, completely distracted from thoughts of Gilbert, to follow Professor McGonagall out.

"So," Ron said, plopping himself down next to Harry, "when are we doing the thing?"

With a sniff at his lack of subtlety, Hermione said, "If you're talking about that ill-advised excursion you have planned with Anne, I'm coming with you. You need somebody sensible along." As an afterthought, she added, "And we're bringing Gilbert. I don't think I can keep you all under control by myself."

Ron, who by now had a mouth full of pie, nearly spat it all back out again in an incoherent expression of disbelief.

Harry thought for a moment, then said, "We'll need a distraction, or the professors will notice that we're off doing something."

"Yeah, because everyone's staring at you all the time, mate," Ron said after swallowing.

"During the Halloween feast?" Hermione said. "If you can wait that long."

At that moment, a long, angular package thudded down on the table, and Harry and Ron stopped paying attention to anything Hermione said.

Hermione sniffed. Boys and their brooms. Even when they couldn't tell that it was obviously a broom. Before she could establish firmly that no one was doing anything stupid until Halloween, they had run off to open their so-called mysterious package in private.

Anne was staring, dumbfounded, at the twisted hunk of metal on the hospital chair.

Apparently, she and Gilbert had accidentally sucked all the magic out of it, as they became more magical themselves. Anne wasn't sure that made sense, but not much about magic did.

The point was, -

"We're not going back," Gilbert said, sounding about as bewildered as Anne felt.

Gilbert slowly raised himself off the bed and stood, reaching for the remains of the Time Turner. As he picked it up, about half of it just fell off, back on the chair.

He supposed he hadn't really thought they'd be able to go back, but knowing it to be fact was still unbelievable.

Anne burst into tears.

Gilbert realized that his eyes were getting pretty wet, too, and before either of them really knew what was going on, Anne had picked up the other piece of the Time Turner, and they were crying together.

Anne had been gone for the rest of classes and had finally returned late that night, tearful and citing "bad news from home".

Hermione thought her friend's reluctance to elaborate was understandable, if a bit odd (there had been a lot of odd things about "home" that Anne had been reluctant to elaborate on, after all) so she'd stuck close to her friend. This was how they'd ended up going to Quirrell's office just before the feast, despite Hermione's conviction that professors at Hogwarts did not actually keep office hours.

"But I went to see Professor Snape about Boil Cure Potion the other day, and he seemed perfectly nice about it."

Hermione shuddered. Professor Snape was a professor, after all, but she never would have gone to see him outside of class. "It's still strange."

"It isn't that strange to ask a professor for help." Anne said.

Hermione sighed and shook her head. Nevertheless, she followed Anne to Professor Quirrell's office to find out what she had missed in class the other day. Hermione could tell Anne was still on edge and if this could take her mind off the "bad news from home" then she would go along with it, even if it was terribly improper to knock on the door of a professor's office without an invitation.

When they arrived, they found Professor Quirrell already closing his office door behind him. He looked up in surprise.

"Professor Quirrell!" Anne exclaimed before he could speak, "Are you heading to the Halloween feast already? Would you mind if I asked you a few questions about what I missed in class yesterday?" She began walking in the direction of the Great Hall, animatedly questioning him, leaving the defense professor with no choice but to follow with Hermione and Anne on either side of him.

Hermione recalled very suddenly that Hary and Ron had decided to use the Halloween feast to investigate the third floor corridor. And it was entirely possible that they would go without out her and Anne, despite the fact that it was entirely impossible for Ron to hum on key. It would be a disaster of epic proportions; she had to divert Anne and the professor before the boys did something truly stupid.

In the back of her mind, she thought it was a bit disconcerting how much the voice in her head was beginning to sound like Anne.

Anne was currently babbling about vampires to a baffled Quirrell, so it was quite easy to subtly redirect them to the entrance of the third floor corridor. How lucky. the boys were just arriving.

"Harry! Ron!" she called enthusiastically. "What a coincidence! Why don't we all walk down to the feast together?"

Just as Hermione was about to grab Harry and Ron to steer them in the other direction, Ron asked, "Hey! If you're out of the hospital wing, where's Gilbert?"

Anne stopped short, Hermione and Professor Quirrell didn't, Harry and Ron were still trying to go in another direction, and this all resulted in everyone losing their balance and Harry and Ron crashing into Professor Quirrell.

By the time everyone had finished disentangling themselves and Anne had explained that Gilbert was still in the Hospital Wing, Ron cried, "Still?! Is he planning to live there for the rest of his life?"

Hermione pointedly ignored him and continued shepherding the group towards the Great Hall. Meanwhile, Harry and Professor Quirrell pointedly avoided each other. Hermione noticed that Harry was trailing behind the rest of the group and looking a bit pale. She wondered if she should investigate further but decided that keeping the boys out of trouble was the more important task for now.

A/N: Hello, we're alive! Hopefully gaps between updates will be shorter now… Happy New Year!