Chapter 6 It's in the Blood
A scene of total devastation met their eyes. Stunned, Harry stepped into Teddy's apartment; shards of broken glass crunched under his feet. He hesitated, but Hermione and Ron, following close at his heels, stumbled into him and propelled them all into the room.
Hermione gasped in shock; her fingers covered her mouth as her eyes filled. Ron exclaimed, "Blimey! What do you think happened?"
Harry shook his head and walked around gingerly, examining the mess.
An overstuffed sofa was sitting on its back, the dining table overturned and all four legs thrust upward in the air as if fists raised in triumph. The matching wood chairs scattered around the room, legs twisted and splintered as if tossed. The brass coffee table, the top an open maw of bent brass, was missing its glass top, which Harry suspected was the glass that crunched under his feet and spread about like confetti. He stepped into the kitchenette and then the bedroom, but they were virtually untouched.
Ron asked a grim-faced Neville, "When did you discover Teddy was gone?"
"When he didn't show up to classes this morning, I came to check on him and this was the mess I found. When I went to tell Minerva, I ran into Rose. I asked her to contact you."
"Was the door locked?" Harry asked as he inspected the door and the lock.
"No, it wasn't," replied Neville.
Harry had seen something very similar to this before; the same tossed about furniture and carefully placed broken glass. He peered up at the ceiling, lost in his memory when Ron came over and mimicked his stance.
"What're you looking at Harry?"
"Umm, sorry. I was remembering something."
"What?"
"About the time Professor Dumbledore took me to meet Professor Slughorn."
"What about it? What does it have to do with this?"
"Nothing, exactly. The blood on the ceiling had given it away. Professor Dumbledore knew it was dragon's blood."
"Yeah? So?"
"Slughorn's place looked like this. The contents of the room had been destroyed and if you didn't know any better, you'd have thought a major battle had taken place, and someone possibly killed."
"I'm not following you, Harry."
"Harry thinks this was a setup, don't you?" Hermione asked Harry.
"It's just a hunch. It feels staged."
Harry asked Neville, "Can you show us Teddy's office?"
"Of course! He's in Snape's old office."
The four wove their way down several flights to Teddy's office. As Harry expected, the door was unlocked, and the contents of the office were virtually untouched. The trio said goodbye to Neville who was running late for his herbology class, rolled up their sleeves, and prepared to search the office.
"We should split up and look around," Harry said.
"For what?" Ron asked.
"Anything unusual, but don't touch anything… in case," Hermione's voice faded to a heavy silence. Teddy had charmed them all and had become like a little brother to her. She couldn't bear to think he might be lying somewhere injured or worse. She hoped Harry's instincts were right.
Hermione examined Teddy's worktable while Harry and Ron checked the rest of the room. The table contained a jumble of ingredients strewn about, a cauldron, and a few old books. Hermione peeked into the cauldron, where a thin film of liquid lined the bottom, and when she placed her hand on the base, it was slightly warm. Reaching across the table, she organized the ingredients, lacewing flies, knotgrass, and flux weed.
"Teddy's cauldron is still warm. Judging by the ingredients here, he made a Polyjuice potion!"
Ron plopped into Teddy's desk chair and swiveled to face Hermione. "So, what, do you think he is still here, at Hogwarts… as someone else?"
"It's a possibility, isn't it?"
Ron spun back around to face Teddy's desk. He leaned back with his hands behind his head, examining the items scattered about the desk. Teddy kept his desk relatively clean. There were a couple of rolls of fresh parchment, a stand of inks, and several quills, then, on top of a pile of graded parchments sat a golden snitch.
"Did Teddy play quidditch?"
"No," Harry replied.
Ron spun around to face them both with a snitch held up by a few fingers, trying to touch as little of the surface as possible.
"Then why would he have a snitch in the middle of his desk? A terrible paperweight, don't you think?"
