41 Chapter 41. Don't See and Tell
The Thestral immediately started falling out of the sky, most people couldn't see it but it was still tangible.
It was large too, if it fell to the ground, it was bound to flatten students, causing more casualties.
Running on adrenaline I snatched up the broom nearest to me, throwing it up in the sky and jumping on it.
The student was falling as well so I shot in her direction, non-verbally casting a levitating spell over the falling Thestral at the same time.
I caught her in time, sighing deeply when we landed on the ground without casualties.
"T-Thank you." A shaky voice spoke up when I got down from the broom. It was also familiar.
"Nira?"
Other Professors started showing up at this point, Hagrid coming up as well.
The students were cleared out of the pitch quickly by the Professors.
"Stay, Albeline." Headmistress McGonagall showed up as well.
"Let him down now, boy." Hagrid rushed forward to take charge of the knocked-out Thestral.
"Professor Faringray, could you please explain what's going on here?" Headmistress McGonagall said loudly above Hagrid loudly lamenting about the maltreatment of his precious Thestral.
"Of course." Professor Faringray nodded. "I was drawn here by the commotion. I asked a couple of fleeing students who said a Thestral was supposedly attacking students on the Quidditch pitch. I can't see the Thestrals so I had to use the tools at my disposal to quickly put an end to the cause of the commotion…"
My gaze went flat, even with something like this, Professor Faringray still found a way to make it into a lengthy speech.
"...Albeline also provided his assistance."
Professor McGonagall looked thoughtful. "Thank you, Professor."
He nodded again before walking up to Hagrid, most likely to inform him of the spell used. "It was merely a Sleeping charm, it should wear off quite soon."
"Come with me, Albeline." Headmistress McGonagall directed, walking off.
I looked around for Professor Esme but she was long gone, I had no other option but to follow behind the Headmistress.
I was deep in thought as I walked behind her, it was easy to point fingers at Professor Esme but it seemed a little too convenient, almost like she wanted to be caught.
Was she merely a distraction from the actual culprit? Wouldn't that mean that she was working on their side as well?
"In here." Headmistress McGonagall pulled me out of my thoughts.
It was her office.
I sat stiffly on the chair she offered, staring past her at the portraits of the past Heads of Hogwarts and of course Dumbledore.
He seemed to be slightly dozing but I could tell that he was wide awake and intently listening.
"How do you manage to be at the center of every altercation, Albeline?" She asked me with sharp eyes.
I stiffened further, tense at the implications behind her words. " I don't, I just find myself trying to help each time."
She leaned back in her seat with a faint sigh. "Tell me what happened then."
I thought for a moment. Should I inform her about Professor Esme going to the Forbidden Forest mere minutes before the attack happened?
It was best to, there was no use in withholding information. If anything, it would just make me seem all the more suspicious.
So I told her everything. Her brows dropped low on her head when I told her about tailing Professor Esme, it was only natural that she would disapprove of that.
Her expression changed however when I got to the part about seeing Professor Esme with her wand pointed at the Thestral, her brows furrowing.
I concluded with my narration coinciding with Professor Faringray's side of the incident.
Headmistress McGonagall sunk lower into her chair, her shoulders drooping but she said nothing.
"Thank you, Albeline." She dismissed me. "It's about time for lunch, you should go get some rest before then."
I left her office with a frown painted across my features. What had I been expecting though? That because I helped out so much and managed to get tangled up in the attacks I would automatically get a front seat to the investigations?
I returned to the dorms, there was nothing more to do.
I would pay Hagrid a visit later to find out some clues about what happened with the Thestral.
"Where did you run off to?" Tanner shot up from his bed when I stepped into the sixth-year boys' dorm.
"I got distracted." I replied vaguely, heading to my bed to do what Headmistress McGonagall advised.
There was still an hour or so before lunch and because the Thestral appearance had cut short my plans for the morning, I could use the time to take a nap.
Easier said than done.
I spent the entirety of the time running through the information I had acquired and trying to fit the pieces of the puzzles together.
What was even the point of all these attacks? It didn't seem like the perpetrator had any specific goal except perhaps causing a commotion.
Lunch came and went and afterward, Hazel and Witter came to find me and I explained what happened at the Quidditch pitch and later on in the Headmistress's Office.
"We still have no answers even though we know more." Hazel mused.
We had no idea how the school would handle it but the one thing we would soon find out was how the press would react.
Sunday morning couldn't come quickly enough, I could barely concentrate on the meal, repeatedly looking up at the windows.
The sounds of fluttering wings filled the hall, a few moments later. The Paper owls were here.
I snatched up my copy and unfurled it, scanning the first page.
It was now routine for the newspapers to have bizarrely accurate intel on the attacks but this time there was something different…
Professor Esme's pictures were all over the front page.
The main heading was 'ANOTHER ATTACK AT HOGWARTS' while the subheading basically implicated Professor Esme as the culprit.
'New Professor Responsible??'
There were pictures of her heading to the Forbidden Forest, with her wand held up to the Thestral, her on the ground after I had bumped into her.
My eyes widened, something was terribly wrong, everything actually.
These all happened before and during the Thestral attack so it meant that whoever had given The Daily Prophet their information was aware of the attacks beforehand.
It couldn't possibly be Professor Esme, if anything this was solid proof of her innocence.
Chaos erupted at the morning papers, everything chatting loudly about the contents of today's edition.
I looked up at the ceiling, it was dark and gloomy outside. It rained but not a drop fell in, it was like staring at a 3-D screen.
For such a cold and rainy morning, the entire school was astir. Groups of students gathered around the corridors to discuss the newspaper.
"I should have known that she would have something to do with the attacks…"
"She is so cruel that it's expected…"
"I heard she killed her family…"
"Someone heard that she married a Death Eater…"
I could catch bits of conversation as I walked down the Great Hall. It was scary how quickly people could turn against you.
I headed for the unused classroom. I made arrangements with Hazel and Witter yesterday to meet up here after breakfast.
I stepped inside to find them waiting for me, impatience clearly written on their faces.
"We've been played," Witter muttered darkly, tossing the newspaper in his hand on a dusty table.
I had a solemn expression on. "It was a little too convenient for Professor Esme to be the culprit, we should have noticed this earlier."
"What's going to happen now?" Hazel asked fearfully.
I looked out of one of the glass windows. "No idea."
"We can't just sit back and let whoever it is pulling the strings continue." Witter snapped, anger lines forming on his forehead.
"If we run blindly forward, we'll only get caught in the strings." I countered.
"What can we even do about it?" Hazel murmured, not seeming to want answers to her question.
Now that this had happened, I was trying to look at the bigger picture.
It was pointless to have attacks happen without a purpose, finding out the purpose would be the missing piece.
But how would we find out the aim of the attacks if we didn't even have the slightest clue of the person behind it?
