Zeitgeber: an environmental cue, as the length of daylight, that helps to regulate they cycles of an organism's biological clock.
April 3, 1998
"Maybe they went on holiday."
"Don't be daft. They wouldn't make it a mile down the road the way Ginny says they're being watched."
Parvati swung her legs down off the windowsill and dropped her chin into her palm glumly. "I'm just trying to be optimistic."
"Yeah, well, we're not dumb enough to be optimistic anymore," Seamus muttered, scowling at his transfiguration book.
"Why not?" Lavender piped up, perching on the edge of Seamus's trunk. "Luna's been missing for three months and we just found out she's fine! Dean, too. Why can't we think on the bright side for a change?"
Seamus shut his book with a snap. "First off because we don't know they're fine. We know they're alive. And that's it. And now Ginny's gone. What d'you suppose that means about that lot?" He waved a hand at the two dusty four-poster beds across the room. Harry and Ron's old beds.
"Don't talk like that, Seamus," Lavender said shrilly.
"Well? We all know Ron's not stuffed away in some attic gravely ill. If Ginny's disappeared, it's because they finally got caught."
"We don't know she's disappeared," Neville said quietly from the end of his bed, and they all turned to look at him.
Seamus snorted. "We've been back for four days. If she isn't back by now, she isn't coming back. And you know what? Neither are those three." He jerked his head at Harry and Ron's beds again.
"Of course they are," Parvati countered, smiling as though Seamus were simply a bit confused.
But Lavender rounded on him angrily. "Why do you keep saying things like that? They're our friends and of course they're coming back!"
"Since when has Hermione Granger been your friend?' asked Seamus, eyebrows raised.
Lavender looked a little hurt. "So we haven't always gotten along. That doesn't mean I want to think she's dead!"
"I'm not saying they're dead," Seamus shot back. For the first time his expression looked pained. "I hope to Merlin they're not, and not just because it would mean the rest of us are well and screwed. But you all keep saying things like 'when Luna's back… when Ginny's back… when Harry's back.' Well, what makes you think they're coming back? It's practically suicide for them to show their faces here! Face it, there's no savior coming for us. We're on our own in this mess."
"No, we're not,"
They all looked around at Neville once more. He sat forward, eyes glinting with a steely-hard certainty.
"Look, I don't like to say it, but it's the truth, mate," Seamus persisted.
"They'll be back," Neville said. Then he nodded to reinforce the assuredness of his words. "We're getting close to the fight, and they're always at the center of the fight."
"What are you talking about?" Lavender asked, squinting at him in confusion.
Neville sat back and looked at them all in turn. Then he looked out the window at the fading evening. "It's getting close to the end of the year. Can you think of a year when Harry wasn't in the middle of some big showdown here?"
The other three exchanged looks.
"Third year," Seamus suggested after a minute of silence.
But Neville shook his head. "All three of them ended up in the hospital wing and the next day Snape ratted Lupin out and Lupin resigned. Something happened. No matter how hard he tries, Harry can't stay out of whatever's going on here. I'm telling you, they'll be back before the end of the year."
Parvati and Lavender exchanged a glance in which Neville thought he caught agreement, but Seamus just shook his head and went back to his Transfiguration.
"Whatever you need to believe. But it's probably safer for them if they just stay away."
"The warmer it gets, the closer things get to coming to a head," Neville insisted. "It's just the way it is with Harry. You can practically time it."
A/N: I'm just not on top of things lately, am I? No excuse you really want to hear. Meh, not so pleased with this one, but it took me ages to get an idea, so there it is. Hope you liked it anyway! :)