Harry Potter: Another Chance

Chapter 115: The missing students

Disclaimer: 

Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K Rowling.

I own nothing but the original characters I make.

"Dialogue"

'Thoughts'

-Author notes-

Chapter 115: The missing students.

1 Hour earlier, Hogwarts Castle.

Professor McGonagall was giving a lesson about the basics of transfiguration to a group of first-years.

Her eyes kept wandering to the two empty seats on the first row. Those seats belonged to the Potter and Weasley girls.

She could not help but be worried. She had only known the girls for a short period of time but they had never missed a class or even arrived late. And Lyra was especially invested in her class. She has shown as much talent as her father had, if not more.

"Professor?..." A student called for her.

McGonagall just realized that she had stopped lecturing while lost in her own thoughts.

"My apologies…now, where was I?" She glimpsed back at her book and found the next chapter.

When she was about to resume her lesson…the ground started to shake with tremendous violence.

She heard her students panic and tried to calm them down while reassuring them that nothing bad was going to happen, despite herself being also quite scared. 

'I wish Albus would do something already about these blasted earthquakes!' She thought.

This last tremor had lasted for a good minute and felt a lot stronger than the others.

"Expeto Patronum!" McGonagall called and a small silvery white cat appeared in front of her before it ran off to deliver her message to the other professors.

"Bring all the students to the Great Hall, classes are canceled for the day."

As the one in charge, she considered it the best course of action. In the event of another tremor to occur, it would be easier to protect the students if they were all in the same place instead of wandering around the castle.

And her instincts were telling her that this was not over. 

'I also need to call Albus…he ought to come back.'

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Only twenty minutes later, the Great Hall was filled with people. Every Hogwarts employee and student was present in the room.

Almost every student...

"Did you find anything?" McGonagall asked with concern.

Professor Flitwick shook his head in defeat.

" I looked everywhere, and even sent the ghost and elves to comb the castle, but nothing so far."

"Well find them, Minerva. I'm sure they are hiding somewhere, startled by the tremors." Professor Sprout tried to reassure her friend.

The back door of the Great Hall opened all of a sudden and the Headmaster walked inside with steady steps as he went directly towards the Professor's table.

"Albus!" McGonagall felt a wave of relief after seeing him. When no one else knew what to do, the Headmaster had never let her down.

"Minerva, I received your message and came back as soon as I could…the board is being quite insistent on closing the school until this matter of the tremors is resolved."

"Maybe it should be closed, Headmaster." Told Flintwick with a serious tone.

"This last tremor was strong enough to create several cracks in the walls. Saw them myself."

"Albus, we have four students missing, we can't find them anywhere!" McGonagall said with urgency.

"Mmm…I haven't felt any student leaving the wards unauthorized. They must be somewhere within Hogwarts. Who are the students in question?" The Headmaster asked.

"Three of my lions, Lyra Potter, Ginny Weasley, and Harry Potter. There also a student from…-"

"A second-year girl from my house, Daphne Greengrass."

Professor Snape interjected.

"Harry Potter…" Dumbledore muttered.

"Headmaster!, we found something!" A ghost came flying into the hall.

"Nick, what is it?, did you find the students?" McGonagall hurried to ask.

The almost decapitated ghost shook his head the best he could.

"No, we haven't seen the students…but something terrible happened on the sixth floor!." Nick told everyone.

"What happened?, tell me." Albus frowned.

"Someone has destroyed a girl's bathroom on the sixth floor. And I really mean destroyed!."The ghost exclaimed.

"Myrtle bathroom?" Asked Professor Sprout. That was the only bathroom on that floor but no one uses it.

"Yes, she is very distressed about it…and very vocal too." The ghost made a complicated expression.

"Did she see who did it?" Asked the Headmaster.

"I…sorry, Headmaster. I did not ask."

"That's quite alright, Nick. We should go there and take a look. This may be related to the missing students after all." 

Dumbledore looked at the professors.

"Severus, Minerva, you can…ohh…"

They all were surprised when the Headmaster stopped talking abruptly and closed his eyes while clasping onto his forehead.

"Albus? Are you feeling unwell?" McGonagall was the first one to ask.

"I'm well enough…I just felt three students leaving the Castle's boundaries."

"What? The students left?" Sprout exclaimed.

"Wait a moment, you said three. But we have four students missing." Flintwick pointed out.

"That is all I know I'm afraid….I don't have a way to know the identity of the students themselves, just that that three of them have passed through the wards and left the protection of Hogwarts." The Headmaster said. 

There are of course ways to track down the identities. But the tracking charm placed on the students is basic enough to avoid inflicting on the student's privacy too much, while at the same time offering some reassurance for the professors.

"We can start by looking at what happened on the sixth floor." Suggested Snape.

"I could search the outside." Hagrid offered.

" If they went into the Dark Forest…that could be really bad, nighttime is approaching and that place can get very dangerous."

Dumbledore nodded.

"Yes, thank you Hagrid, go take a look. Severus and Minerva, come with me to the sixth floor." He glanced at the ghost.

"Nick, I need you to go look outside of the castle too. I know you cannot go too far. Just let me know if you see anything out of the ordinary."

"What about us?" Asked Professor Flintwick.

"Stay with the students. Don't let anyone leave the Hall."

Dumbledore made a worried expression.

"I think…something bad is about to happen."