Chapter 7-Those Who Vanish

"I've no clue what to draw," Jeremy griped for the hundredth time in the dorm. "The first issue's when, you say?"

"Not until the end of the month, mate," Leo assured him. "You've plenty of time."

"Do you think it's alright if I call Patricia Cassiopeia McLaggen 'Patty' behind her back?" Albus murmured from a four-poster.

"But it's the start of the year," Jeremy continued. "Nothing's happened around here and I don't know enough about politics to draw a cartoon on that."

"Then just make a funny one. No one's expecting much."

"Because I think she actually likes my nickname, Patty-cake, I gave her," Albus continued.

"I'm not good with comedy," Jeremy told him.

"Then just draw a picture."

Albus tossed a quaffle he'd swiped from the Quidditch pitch into the air. "She mentions it sometimes, you know. Maybe she misses it."

"A picture would be boring," Jeremy insisted.

"Jeremy, draw whatever you want. Hand in a bunch of things and I'll pick what I like best."

"How much do I have to draw?! When's the deadline!?"

"I been thinking about Patty-cake a lot lately," Albus mumbled.

Leo threw his hands up. "I don't know, mate. Have some done by next week and I—"

"Next week?!"

"I think I have a crush on her." Leo and Jeremy paused to stare over at him. He rolled onto his belly to view them from across the room. "Did I say that out loud? I assumed you weren't paying attention."

"I didn't know you could like girls, mate," Jeremy smirked.

"I can like girls. I notice girls."

"Yeah? Like who?"

"Like…like Patricia Cassiopeia McLaggen."

"She's not even attractive."

"Yes she is! She's super pretty! Leo?"

Leo looked between the two. He honestly had no thoughts on Patricia. He never paid much attention to girls. They were all rather manipulative for his liking. "Ah…she's a girl, yeah, but I don't think she'd go out with Albus. All he ever does is torment her."

Jeremy rolled his eyes. "As the only one of the fray here who's actually had a girlfriend or friends who are girls, I can with confidence say that no girl wastes her time with a boy unless she gets some sort of kick out of him. Maybe as a friend, maybe not, but Patricia likes Albus."

"Question for you, then" Leo started. "What would a girl call a boy who tries to get to know her?"

"A person?"

"Even when she's avoiding you?"

"A creep."

"What if she's being shadier?"

"There something you want to tell us, Leo?"

"Nah. Forget it."

"Forget it? Who're you stalking?"

"Er…Carina Honeycomb?"

"Honeycomb? She related to the Honeycombs who run Frontier Parchment?"

The name snapped into Leo's mind as being the same paper company his mysterious benefactor had gotten for his paper. "She must be," he responded. "Though 'Honeycomb' is a common name."

"Couldn't be anyone close," Jeremy said. "My parents are good friends with them. They haven't got any children. Not since the other one ran off."

"Ran off?"

"Yeah. There was that little girl who went missing. Albus? You know what I'm talking about?"

"I don't know who the Honeycombs are."

"Oh, well, I used to play with her when I was little when my parents were off chatting with the Honeycombs. She was fun. I'd stopped playing with her when she disappeared, though."

"When did it happen?" Leo asked. This had to be related to Carina. All her oddness and avoiding him. Something was largely off about that girl.

Jeremy shrugged. "Can't say I remember. Maybe our second year? I don't remember her ever going here, though. See, you know what I think happened? I think she was a squib. She couldn't take living in the wizarding world so she ran off to live with the muggles in their world. Sad, really," he thought aloud, staring at the mess of drawings on his desk. "Just up and vanished. I remember her parents didn't seem phased. Just walked around like she never existed. Knew she was gone, but never thought much about it. Like they never had her. I suppose they never cared much for her so they didn't care when she left."

"Maybe they killed her," Albus suggested, grinning.

Jeremy shook his head. "Get out of here, Albus. I've to go to bed."

Albus got off of Gregory's four-poster and left for his own dorm. As soon as the door shut, Leo fell into his mattress, the light from the lamp Jeremy had just blew out still imprinted onto the outside layer of his retina so flashes of yellow shook the moonlight image of his canopy. Jeremy's words flashed in his mind. Sad, really. Just up and vanished. Was that really true, though? Her face peered into his mind.

"Jeremy?" he asked.

The ruffles of his friend getting changed paused. "What is it?"

"Didn't you ever think about looking for her?"

"Who? The girl who disappeared?"

"Yeah."

"Not particularly. I never much thought about her. She was so very ordinary."

"Do you think Frieda knew her?"

"Not likely. She was our age. And what's with the sudden interest? I told you, we were thirteen. I couldn't very well drive off looking for her. Think. If Mary or Heather or the like disappeared, would you go on a hunt looking for them?"

"No, I suppose not."

Leo laid there in silence for a long while as he shifted the information through his mind. That couldn't be Carina, could it? It sounded too closely connected to be anyone else. Everything had come so easy when it came to discovering who she was. The only reason she hadn't been discovered all these years was because no one ever asked any questions. But, then, now that he knew who she was, the question was what she was.

"Jeremy," he said.

"Yeah?"

"What do scissors at the bottom of a tea cup mean to you?"

"Somebody put scissors in your tea?"

"No, not—I mean like the grounds."

"This about Divination?"

Leo tucked the sheets in his fingers. "Sort of," he admitted.

"What are you going off believing that stuff for? You know the only reason McGonagall even still has that class is out of respect for Dumbledore and Trelawney. Otherwise, she'd have trashed the useless elective ages ago."

"I know…it's just Lorcan…"

"Is a nutter."

"But I think something's going on with him. He got a heart and a fish. What do you think that means?"

"Maybe he's going to fall in love with a mermaid. I really don't know, Leo."

"It means something different to everyone, though."

Jeremy sighed as he got into the four-poster bed between him and the sleeping Michael. "Stop worrying yourself with that, mate. You know that stuff never works."

"But it did."

"Come again?"

"For me. Lorcan…"

"What?"

"The scissors. They mean I've been separated from something. And my mother left my dad."

There was a pause. "Mate…you didn't tell me that."

"Forget about it."

"When?"

"This summer. Haven't seen her since."

Jeremy lit his wand so the room glowed a shade of pure white light that scared the darkness into shadows across the beds. "You haven't seen her?"

"She's gone. Left," Leo told him, still staring at the lion weaved into his canopy. "Just up and vanished," he said, repeating Jeremy's words from before. Whether he noticed, the boy didn't show.

"It hasn't been in the news."

"My father didn't tell anyone. Guess he doesn't want to face the humiliation."

"Were they having problems?"

"Must've been, but I was too thick to see it. Old man didn't say a word about it when she left, so I've no idea what it was and he hasn't written. I suppose that's why he gave me Lovey over the summer. He was going to give her to my mother for a birthday present."

"Mate…I'm sorry. Is that why you let that girl borrow her for Transfiguration?"

Leo paused, looking over to Jeremy. "I did what?"