Chapter 3 – An owl arrives

(I don't own any of these characters)

The next two weeks, went incredibly slowly for Remus, he had received two letters from Harry, one for each week, telling him that everything was ok and that the teachers were piling on the homework already. Remus had replied that he knew Harry would cope with it and that once he had completed his N.E.W.T.S. he would be free from school forever. He knew how stressful this year was going to be for him and he was glad that Harry had Ginny to help him through it, she was the best thing that could have happened to him, she brought brightness to his life, which was a true blessing, after all of the pain that Harry had suffered in his life so far.

The sun was just rising in the sky when Remus awoke from his restless sleep, today was the day that his life would be changed forever, today was the day that Hermione would travel back in time and join him at Hogwarts. He lay in bed thinking of her and felt his heart swell with emotion, he could picture her face in his mind so clearly, how he had loved staring into her deep brown eyes and listening to her voice. Remus sighed, he knew he would not be able to go back to sleep, so he decided to have a shower to try and calm his mind.

The morning passed in a blur, Remus spent most of it in the library just staring into space, deep in his own thoughts. He realised that time seemed to be moving very slowly, so he decided to try reading a book, after an hour or so Remus heard a tapping noise, he thought he was imagining it but then something white caught his eye at the window. It was Hedwig, Harry's owl; she had a piece of parchment attached to her leg. Remus felt his stomach turn as he let her in through the window, she held out her leg and he removed the parchment, she nipped his finger affectionately. "Go to the kitchen Hedwig, Molly has some left over bacon you can have." She immediately left him alone, staring at the parchment in his hands.

Remus felt his hands shaking as he unrolled the parchment, the writing was scruffy it had been written in haste. He already knew what it was about before he had even read what was written.

'Remus,

Hermione has gone missing; I don't really understand what has happened. There was an argument with some Slytherin and one of them hexed Hermione and she completely disappeared. Nobody knows where she is. What if she never comes back?

Harry.'

Remus was just reading the note for a second time when Molly came into the room. "Is everything ok?" she asked looking worried.

Remus handed her the parchment he had received from Harry, she quickly read the note and started to cry. "I don't believe it. How can she just disappear?"

Remus pulled her towards him and held her while she cried. "Molly, it will be ok, Dumbledore will be trying to figure it out. Here Molly drink this." Remus had summoned a glass of Firewhiskey and he led her slowly to a chair. "I'm going to send an owl to Arthur and a reply to Harry, you stay here. Is Hedwig still here?"

Molly nodded and Remus quickly left the room to find the snowy owl.

Remus quickly wrote the two notes, the first to Arthur asking him to come home, the second note was slightly harder to write so he just decided to reassure Harry and say that he would be there as soon as possible. He watched as Hedwig flew out of the window and went back upstairs to check on Molly. Ten minutes later Arthur came rushing into the room, he looked at his wife and rushed to her side, wrapping his arms around her. "What has happened?" he asked looking scared. Remus showed him the parchment, "I'm going up to Hogwarts now to see Harry and Dumbledore, will you stay with Molly?" he looked at Arthur who nodded his head. "I will send an owl as soon as I find out anything." Remus promised them.

Remus rushed up to his room and grabbed his diary, he glanced at the picture and sighed. "I will be seeing you soon Hermione." He whispered to himself. He let himself out of the front door and appararted to Hogsmeade, he appeared in front of the three broomsticks and then started the long walk up to the castle. Roughly 20 minutes later he reached the gates, he could see Harry on the other side of the gates, sitting near the lake, he went through the gates and started to walk towards him. Harry looked up and saw him, he jumped up and ran towards Remus who grabbed him a hug. "Why did this have to happen Remus?" he asked sadly, "I don't know Harry" Remus replied, "Lets go and see Dumbledore. He may have some news."

They slowly walked up to the castle, both lost in their own thoughts.