Hello loves!

I'm happy to announce I got my first review! Thanks to Separ for that!

I'm not gonna say much tonight, just have fun!

What to do, what to do?

Albus led the fellowship to his office while Minerva sent the students to their common rooms and skipped the rest of the classes for the day. Ginny Weasley, however, was undeterred, she wanted to know exactly what had happened, after all her brother and her best friends had disappeared.

After another hour, all the parents and the necessary authorities finally were assembled. Albus looked around his office with a sigh. The Nine from the fellowship, Amelia Bones and Rufus Scrimgeour from the Ministry, Minerva and Remus from the teaching staff, also Augusta, Mrs. Zabini, the Finnegans, Goyles, Malfoys, and Grangers and the Weasleys including Ginny. Twenty-seven people in this room. Albus had always found his office spacious, almost luxuriously large, but now it seemed completely overcrowded. And everyone was looking at him expectantly, searching for answers that Albus absolutely couldn't provide at the moment.
"We don't know much at the moment. There was an accident in Slytherin Gryffindor Potions, presumably caused by a portal potion that Professor Snape was going through with the students. Apparently a portal opened and transported the eight students and Professor Snape... to Middle-earth."
"To Middle-earth? Professor Dumbledore, I've really accepted that magic exists, in fact I find it fascinating. But you're not going to tell me that my daughter was magically written in a damn book?!" Mrs Granger looked at Albus in complete disbelief.
Albus shrugged slightly. "I'm not so sure anymore if this is just a book." He turned to his fellowship, who were sitting relatively quietly in a corner and had been watching the hustle and bustle in silence until now. "May I introduce you to the Fellowship of the Ring? They were brought here by the potion and the portal."
The parents turned collectively in the pointed direction. Not all of them stared at the companions in amazement, the Goyles, Mrs. Zabini, as well as Arthur and Molly were rather irritated, which Molly immediately expressed. "What is Middle-earth?"
Gandalf rose. "Middle-earth is part of our world, Arda. Like... Great Britain is part of the Earth. This portal has transported us through space and time and obviously a balancing has taken place. There are nine of us, and nine people are missing here."
Albus continued. "About eighty years ago there was a gifted writer, J.R.R. Tolkien He invented a whole world, namely Arda, and with it Middle-earth with all its creatures, from elves to dwarves to hobbits and other beings. He developed languages for this world and developed a vast history spanning many millennia before he died. His books 'The Hobbit' and 'Lord of the Rings', set in Middle-earth, are world famous and are considered milestones in the fantasy genre. Only... apparently this world with all its inhabitants really exists, because here with us is the 'Fellowship of the Ring', the nine main characters from the book 'The Lord of the Rings', and they were actually just about to experience this story. "
"But... what does that mean for our children?" Molly blurted out, irritated.
Albus sighed deeply. "I have no idea, Molly. We don't know where they are. We suspect they're exactly where the fellowship is supposed to be, but we have no way of verifying that. And we have absolutely no idea how to get them back."
Rufus Scrimgeour shook his head in complete amazement. "How can that be? It's just a book..."
Gandalf smirked "You use magic, day in, day out, it surrounds you constantly, and you wonder how that can be? A higher power probably decided that our lives would make an interesting story for you and gave Tolkien all the information he needed to write the books."
"What higher power?" Rufus echoed, shaking his head. "There is no god."
Gandalf looked at him a little pityingly. "I'm not talking about a simple god. These are just sagas and myths, legends spun out of misrepresented tales. I'm talking about real power, about forces that go far beyond our imagination, that we can't comprehend... From what I understand, there are enough people here on earth who claim magic is just a myth old times - and yet we are here."
With this argument he took the wind out of Rufus' sails.
Amelia sighed, "Okay, so a potion is to blame for this mess, do I understand that correctly?"
"Yes. And since our in-house potions master is unfortunately affected by this accident himself, we need help." Albus looked back and forth between Amelia and Rufus. "It takes good potions masters to decipher Neville's potion, Neville is, sorry for the boy, still a disaster in Potions."

The conversations dragged on all day. The parents, who knew nothing about Middle-earth and the books, let the other parents fill them in on the story while the teachers saw to it that the potions lab was completely sealed. Amelia and Rufus were the only ones who said goodbye fairly quickly, promising to send an Unspeakable with master status in potions as soon as possible.
Ginny, on the other hand, soon disappeared into the library, found all sorts of books that somehow had a reference to the potion and buried herself in them.
Surrounded by at least forty books, Collin found her at some point just before closing time. "Hey... I've been wondering where you are."
She got startled and looked up at him. "How did you find me?"
"With this." Collin held Harry's Marauder's Map in his hand.
Ginny's eyes widened. "Where did you get the map and how do you even know what it is?!"
Collin pulled out a chair from under the table. "I caught Harry with it last year. He told me the secret, vowing not to show it to anyone who didn't already know it. And of course I got it from his trunk." He slipped the map into his robes.
Ginny glared at him. "Did he allow you to do that?"
"You could say so. He said if I ever need them, he'll give them to me. But since he's not there right now... What are you doing?"
"Research. They have to get home somehow." She put down her pen and rubbed her hand.
Collin pulled her notes to him and flipped through them. "And found anything interesting yet?"
"No... I have a vague suspicion that this won't be easy."
"Miss Weasley, Mr. Creevy, it's time to call it a day." Madam Pince came to stand next to her table and looked at the ordered chaos with some dismay.
Ginny sighed and packed up her things. "I want to take these books with me."
"Every book?" Collin exclaimed, amazed and Madam Pince irritated.
She nodded hard. "Of course every book. I'm far from done with my research. Surely you don't think I can stop now and sleep with a clear conscience?"
Madam Pince made a face as if she had bitten into a lemon. "I can't give you so many books at once..."
"And why not? Have you ever had a complaint about a book I borrowed?"
"No..."
"So what's the problem then?" Ginny asked irritably. "My brother is stuck somewhere on another planet! I MUST do something!"
Madam Pince's gaze softened. "Alright. But I expect the same gentle treatment as always."
"Of course..." Ginny grunted as she stuffed one book after the other into her bag until it was full. She began to stack the remaining 15 books.
Collin shook her head, grabbed her school bag and put it on her shoulders. "Uff..." he moaned, but then picked up some of the books. "Come before we break curfew."

Around the same time, the unspeakable Potions Master promised by Amelia and Rufus arrived at Albus' office, "Mr. Smith, it's great that you're coming," he said.
"Please call me Martin. Mr. Smith is my old man," Martin said in a thick American accent.
"Only if you call me Albus too. Come, I'll show you the scene so you can see for yourself."
Albus took Martin to the sealed classroom. "We left everything exactly as it was after the accident and put a stasis spell on the room to make sure nothing important was lost."
"That's good...holy shit, that cauldron looks awful! Hopefully no one was injured in the explosion," Martin exclaimed, shocked when he got his first glimpse of the classroom. He looked at Albus worried. "I won't be able to do this alone, I can tell you that right away. But a colleague of mine, also actually a potions master, has specialized in securing evidence. This is actually a muggle police job, where crime scenes are scrutinized down to the smallest detail. Has brought us so many successes, this type of investigation. I'll flea Samuel right over if it's okay?"
"Of course, of course. Just say what you need and I'll do my best to organize it. Amelia told you you can have guest quarters here?"
"Yes, and I would like to take advantage of that."

An hour later, Martin and his German colleague, Samuel Heinrich, were bending over Neville's cauldron. Both wore special cloth suits like those used by muggle police at the scene, gloves and surgical masks,so as not to contaminate the 'crime scene'. Samuel snorted, "That caught it. When I look at how full the other cauldrons are, and how little is left of and in Neville's cauldron, I can imagine how big that damn portal must have been."
"I'm surprised that only the people have disappeared, but not the furniture and cauldrons," Martin mused, tapping his chin.
Samuel pointed to the front three tables. "Look at the floor by the table legs. The three students who worked there must have been clinging to the table."
"What are you basing that on?"
"The drag marks. The tables are made of the most solid wood and therefore are incredibly heavy, not easy to move. And yet they have only recently been moved. All towards the center of the room, in a semicircle. That doesn't make sense in this setting, all other tables are straight. So I assume the portal was to blame. The students seemed to be clinging to these tables with all their might, which would explain the tables shifting. But they couldn't hold on. The portal must have exerted a powerful pull on the people here," concluded Samuel.
Martin shook his head in disbelief. "What a disaster."
"You say it, my friend, you say it. It's going to be a real challenge." Samuel couldn't help but look forward to this case with a certain amount of anticipation.
Martin snorted. "Looks likeit. I'm curious to see whether we're up to this challenge, after all, eighteen lives are involved."
"We'll crack this riddle. They came to Middle-earth with the potion, so we might as well bring them back. The only question is when and how", Samuel replied confidently.
Martin gave him a doubtful look. "Well, your word in Merlin's ear canal, old chap..."

Ginny had grabbed the largest table in the common room, mercilessly chasing away the students studying there in the process, and spread out. Collin bravely kept her company while everyone else kept their distance. Her temper was well known to Gryffindors, after all, and her mood called for bat hexes at the slightest wrong word.
But when the clock already showed after midnight, Collin stroked the sails. "Gin, I think we should go to sleep. Tomorrow is class."
"Go ahead, I'll do a little more," she replied without looking up.
Collin rolled his eyes. "Do you think you shouldn't take a break at this time? You can keep looking tomorrow, then at least you'll be fit again and you can think more clearly."
Ginny looked up and glared at him. "Go to bed Collin and don't worry about me."
"But I will..." he growled while turning away. "You're like my best friend, so I'm allowed to do that."
Ginny sighed softly. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to snap at you. But how would you react if Dennis were in Ron's place?"
"Probably no different," he admitted. "But then you'd be breathing down my neck and chasing me to bed. That's what friends do for each other."
She nodded, "That's right. But I would have as much success trying as you are having right now. Go to sleep, Collin. Let me just a little more... I have to..."
He turned back to her and squeezed her hand. "Don't make it too long, hmm?"
She grunted meaninglessly and he sighed deeply. It was of no use. She would probably stay up the whole night. Shaking his head, he walked up the stairs to the dormitory. It would probably be better for him to write down legibly tomorrow so that she could use his notes, because she would definitely not be receptive anymore...

Okay, enough for today. What do you think about my Potions master with a leaning towards muggle investigation?

Hope you enjoyed and maybe leave a review!

Cya next time!

Jazzmine