A Complete Answer

"Merlin's beard, Daisy," Jonathan whispered. "You might actually be on to something."

The two stood looking at the empty space where Arianne and Malia should have been. Their bags were gone, the chairs pushed in. No books had been left out. All was still.

"Let's take a look around, then," Daisy said.

Jonathan nodded and crouched to look under the table. Daisy picked up random books off the shelves to look behind them. She didn't see how this could be of any use. It wasn't as if two girls could be hiding inside a table leg or behind a book. Then she reminded herself that she was at Hogwarts. As far as she knew, those hiding places could be realistic ones.

It had only been a minute or two when Jonathan and Daisy stopped.

"This random search isn't going to get us anywhere," Daisy said.

Jonathan agreed, and sat down on the floor where he was underneath the table. His eyes scanned the shelves Daisy had just browsed through, and then he seemed to spot something.

"Searching randomly might not help, but maybe we won't have to search randomly."

Daisy was about to ask him what he was talking about when she saw what Jonathan was looking at. It was the portrait of the woman reading that she had seen earlier that day. The woman had moved her book slightly and was watching them through half framed glasses. She smiled when their eyes met, and waved, the sleeve of her long gown-like blue robes swinging with her arm.

"Excuse me," Jonathan approached the portrait. "Sorry to bother you, but we were wondering if you saw where two other students went. They were in here pretty recently. Two girls, one in Hufflepuff, and one in Ravenclaw."

The woman in the portrait nodded. "I saw them."

Jonathan waited a moment, but when the portrait just returned to reading her book, he cleared his throat to get her attention again.

"Can you tell us where they went?"

The woman tilted her head thoughtfully, and for the first time, put her book down. "Why do you want to know?"

Daisy stepped forwards to speak, this time. "We think they know more about the missing students."

"You would be right," the woman said. "I made a mistake in telling that boy where to go. How am I to know that you wouldn't be another mistake?"

Daisy had no idea how they had gotten to a boy now. They had been talking about Malia and Arianne, hadn't they? But she figured that they must be connected somehow.

"We want to help people. We don't want anything else," Daisy said to the portrait.

The woman seemed to study the two of them for a long time, but neither of them dared to say anything. She hadn't turned back to her book yet, which they both saw as some kind of positive sign.

"Look for The Complete Guide," she said finally. "And no, I won't answer any more questions." The woman reopened the pages of her own book, and no amount of coaxing from Jonathan or Daisy would convince her to act otherwise.

"The Complete Guide?" Daisy wondered aloud. "The complete guide to what?" She moved back over to the bookshelves, this time reading the book titles carefully instead of pulling books off the shelf.

Within a couple minutes of searching, it soon became apparent to them that this method of searching wasn't going to work. So far, they had found A Complete Guide to Potion Experiments, by Drew Gothel, The Complete Guide to Magical Pets, by Jane Peverell, and The Complete Guide to Hidden Passageways, who's author's name was smudged out of the worn fabric cover. The last one had seemed promising at first, but turned out to be all about building secret passages and knowing their uses, not finding them.

"We have ten minutes," Daisy finally noted when she turned to look at the clock. "We can't just keep searching like this." She held up a guide to studying magical creatures of the Mediterranean, pointing out the faults of looking at all the possible options.

"We could just go to dinner and tell someone what we know," Jonathan said.

Daisy shook her head. They were on the trail now. What if Malia and Arianne left while they got help? And one of them shouldn't be left to face whatever the danger was alone.

Jonathan looked like he might just decide to drag her out, but he didn't. "I'll ask again, then."

And he did, but the woman in the portrait didn't react to his voice at all. Daisy was just about to turn back to searching through the books when Jonathan found it.

"Daisy, it's here, it's right here."

Daisy looked around. Jonathan was still staring at the portrait, which still hadn't changed. He reached out, as if to touch the paint -

"-What are you doing?" Daisy hissed. "Do you want to get in trouble?"

"More trouble than we'll be in for snooping around and not telling anyone what we've discovered, you mean?" Jonathan pointed out. He had paused for a second at Daisy's response, but then he pulled her over to stand next to him. "Look at the shelf in the painting?"

Daisy looked. The painting was at least as tall as Daisy was, not that she was much in terms of height compared to most of her own age, but it was large all the same. It wasn't set up as a head and shoulders portrait like many of the others around the castle, either. The lady they had spoken to was clearly meant to be the focus of the piece, but she wasn't in the foreground. It was as if you were watching her while peeking around a shelf of books, which because they were in the foreground, were life sized. And one of those life sized books was labeled The Complete Guide, by Rowena Ravenclaw.

"Oh," Daisy whispered.

She didn't protest this time when Jonathan reached for the book, nor was she surprised when the tips of his fingers disappeared in the darkness of the painted shadows of the shelf. Daisy couldn't see it happening, but she could imagine Jonathan reaching into the ridges between the books to pull this one out, just when she thought it really would come out of the painting, the entire picture frame swung out.

"Good luck," the woman called out, as Daisy and Jonathan looked down into a dimly lit stone staircase.

They stepped in, Daisy first while Jonathan held the portrait open, which was proved entirely necessary when the door closed shut when both were inside.

Daisy felt comforted by the fact that the stairwell was not pitch black. Hovering candles like those seen in the great hall drifted in the air every few steps down. What was at the bottom of the staircase could not be seen. This could be, Daisy thought, because it went far, or it could just be because of the way the staircase seemed to curve down in a spiral. Even though it shouldn't have been any more frightening than walking through the Hogwarts dungeons as they had many times for potions, the unknown of what was ahead seemed to make the descent darker. Units of time were now unidentifiable, although Daisy guessed they had been walking slowly for less than a minute when they heard the footsteps coming towards them from the other direction.

Daisy cast a panicked look back at Jonathan. There was nowhere to hide, not a crevice, door, or hallway had split from this one staircase so far, and the only way out was back up. But if they could hear those coming towards them, then whoever it was would be able to hear them running.

"Daisy?"

It was Arianne, face aghast, holding her lighted wand in front of her face. Arianne wasn't the only one holding a wand up though, and unfortunately for Daisy and Jonathan, neither had perfected any kind of shield or protection charm.

"Petrificus totalus!" Malia said, and Daisy felt her limbs snap inwards and clench together as she fell backwards, straight into her friend, ruining any chance he had of casting a spell to protect himself.

Frozen as she was, Daisy was unable to turn her head to get a better view, but she saw the ceiling grow closer as she was lifted magically into the air. Someone's hand slipped into her pocket to remove her wand, and she heard Jonathan protest as his was yanked out of his hand by magic.

They were now going down the steps, Daisy could tell that much by the candles and the voices.

"We can't just take them too!" She heard Arianne say

"They know too much. I'll let them go once I modify their memories?"

"Then why not do so now?"

Malia didn't respond, or if she did, Daisy didn't hear. It wasn't too long after that when Daisy noticed it getting lighter. The ceiling rose up into a dome above her, the illusion of a sky cast as brilliantly as it was in the Great Hall. More shelves of books, taller than even the ones in the library, towered over Daisy as she was flown across the room.

"Finite incantatem," Daisy heard Arianne say a second before she felt the disorienting feeling of each of her limbs being returned to her control - yet she still hung in the air. A moment later that spell was removed too, and she crashed to the stone floor. Daisy gasped sharply as her tailbone caught most of the pain, but managed to remain sitting upright to look around.

Jonathan was tied to a metal loop in the wall next to her. Daisy would be too, in a moment, she saw. The rope was enchanted, and had reached over to wind itself around her wrists as well. The room that they had entered was circular, shelves of books on almost every portion of the wall. The space inside the room had to be almost that of the Great Hall above, but instead of house tables, it was filled with smaller work tables, and magical equipment Daisy had never seen before.

The room felt strangely alive for being made of stone, and holding few living beings in it. Daisy spotted a large bird preening in a cage not too far away. There were of course, several people in the room with them. Daisy and Jonathan, Arianne and Malia, and, (Daisy elbowed Jonathan hard in the side when she spotted them inside a prison-like cell nearby) Albus and Eliza.

They had to get them out of here. Daisy's attention was brought back to what Arianne and Malia were doing. Malia was rushing to find a page in some book, while Arianne took a tray off of a shelf and placed two wands into it.

Daisy hadn't allowed herself to think about Arianne until this point. Before coming down here, Daisy had placed her friendship with the girl to the side while she thought, but now, seeing Arianne willingly help keep students trapped… Daisy didn't know what to think. She didn't think she felt quite betrayed exactly. This wasn't a personal betrayal, really. Daisy and Arianne weren't particularly close friends, and even that friendship had only started, what, a few days previously?

"Can't you go faster? We shouldn't be missing - they shouldn't be missing for more than a few minutes more, or it'll be noticed," Arianne said, still holding the tray with the wands.

Malia didn't look up, although Daisy could see her finger stop moving across the page of the book she was reading. "If you're so worried about being considered missing, Arianne, why don't you go and make sure we're not. Say that I left to go to the bathroom and missed checking out of the library, and that I sent you back to do so for me."

Arianne turned to look at Daisy and Jonathan. For a moment, Daisy's eyes met hers. Arianne bit her lip, and then looked away. "What about these two?" she asked.

"You have to let us go, now!" Jonathan interrupted. "If you don't, the school will be closed."

Malia did turn to face him. "Don't you think I heard the same announcements you did?" Malia pulled her long dark hair out of her face, looking more than ever like her younger sister as she did so. But the cruelly amused smirk on her face was one Daisy couldn't picture Arianne ever having. "I don't believe they'll close the school just yet, especially since you won't be in here for more than a few hours. They can't risk harming the missing students by taking away the one that's bringing them their meals anyway."

"But -" Malia silenced Jonathan's protest with a flick of her wand, and pointed it at Daisy too as a warning. When Daisy's mouth remained tightly shut, Malia lowered her wand. By the way Malia didn't even spare a glance for the other two captives, Daisy guessed that they had already been silenced earlier.

"Well, what are you still doing here?" she asked Arianne.

Arianne flinched. "Sorry. I'll go now." Arianne waited for Malia to go back to what she was doing before making any move to go anywhere, and when she did, it was in the wrong direction. Arianne was walking towards the four captives instead of towards the door at the opposite side of the room.

"I'll just give you guys some water before I go," she said. Daisy frowned. Arianne wasn't carrying any water, unless she intended to douse them in some from her wand. Then Arianne veered off course and set the tray holding the captive's wands on a table right next to the place Eliza and Albus were locked up.

Arianne reached to the side of the table and pulled out a few plastic water bottles. She tossed one to each of them before retreating.

"Bye," she said. She didn't turn back before disappearing up the stairs across the room.

It was only after taking several gulps of water that Daisy realized it. Arianne hadn't taken the wands back. They were right there! Eliza was standing now, glaring silently at the table where her wand rested just out of her reach, offering taunts of freedom. It was the first time Daisy could really get a good look at Eliza. Before, she had been seated next to Albus farther back in their cell, but now that she had come forwards, Daisy could see all the good and the bad. She didn't look terrible. Her robes and hair looked as if they could use a washing, but appearance wise, Eliza was much the same. What startled Daisy was the way she walked. She lumbered around heavily as if exhausted. Daisy would have guessed she was sick, or injured, but other than her faltering movements and desperate expression, Daisy could spot nothing that indicated that she had been harmed. Albus looked even more drained than Eliza did, but he was watching.

Daisy watched as Eliza again reached through the bars to her wand, and again, she failed. She was only a foot short, and Malia still hadn't noticed.

Arianne must have put the wands there on purpose, Daisy was sure of it. Arianne would have known that this wasn't just a taunt, she would have guessed, or hoped that Daisy could do it. Daisy would move one wand one foot using wandless magic. Daisy glanced over at Malia. She could practice, and get rid of Malia at once, if she did everything right.

She ignored Jonathan's frantic gestures designed to get her attention. She crossed one of her feet over his and looked at his face.

"I have a plan," she whispered. Jonathan stilled, his eyebrows raised quizzically, but he didn't try to distract her further.

Daisy's target was a glass vial right next to Malia. If she could just move it over enough for it to roll onto the floor and underneath the nearby boxes, Malia would have to go look. Or at least, Daisy hoped the vial was important enough for Malia to go looking for, and that the girl would just summon it to her magically.

"Wingardium Leviosa," Daisy whispered. As she had hoped, Malia didn't see the vial rise a few millimeters and inch off the table, she only heard the clink as it landed and rolled away - and an unexpected shattering noise that followed. Malia muttered something under her breath and rushed after it, getting on her knees to search.

Jonathan and Eliza had seen the events occur, and both were gazing at Daisy. Daisy hadn't realized it, but Eliza must have heard Daisy's spell cast, or maybe even that she had a plan, and now, Eliza pointed at the wands and tilted her head.

Daisy nodded. She mimed reaching out to catch something, and Eliza mimicked her pose, reaching as far out towards her wand as she could.

"Wingardium Leviosa," Daisy said again. A wand rose, and Daisy imagined using a wand to point it in the right direction - and then it dropped before it reached Eliza's hand. It rolled closer on the ground, and Eliza snatched it up, but the damage had already been done. Malia had heard, and was pulling herself up to look.

Eliza took a chance. Malia's hair had gotten snagged in something when she bent over, and Eliza used those few seconds to her advantage.

"Accio!" she said, not bothering to keep her voice down after she had broken Malia's silencing charm on all of them. Three other wands soared towards her, and she threw one to each of them randomly.

Albus unlocked the cell that he and Eliza had shared. Jonathan knew a spell to get them out of the ropes that bound them. By the time Malia turned around, the battle had turned from zero to four against one.

Daisy held the unfamiliar wand in her hand and hoped she could help, but she doubted she could. Defense against the dark arts was her worst subject, and what could a first year do against a seventh year anyway? No, it was up to Eliza and Albus now.

"Stupefy!" Albus yelled, pointing his wand at Malia.

Malia responded with her own silent shield charm, and sent back another equally silent spell that Daisy could only see because of the light it made.

"Protego," Eliza stepped in. the spell bounced.

Soon the three were pointed and aiming spells at each other faster than Daisy could follow, seeing as most of their spells Daisy hadn't learned or heard of yet. She and Jonathan were just about useless in this fight, which was especially unfortunate because Malia was. It was clear that dueling was one of Malia's strengths, as she fought two others with no problem, and even deflected a spell Jonathan put in.

And then the battle was unexpectedly ended when Malia was hit by a stunning spell from behind her.

Arianne was back - and though she may have been against attacking her own sister, the aurors she had brought with her were not.

Thanks for reading! Thanks in advance for reviewing.