CHAPTER SEVENTEEN - An Abrupt Goodbye

Attuoria strode up to her three friends at breakfast and announced, "I'm going home, and I'm not coming back."

She wasn't sure what reaction she had expected from them, but it definitely wasn't the look on their faces she was seeing. She wasn't quite sure what their expressions even meant.

"What? Home? To where, Romania? Where you literally don't have a home?" Harry asked, eyes wide in disbelief.

"What about end of year exams?" said Hermione.

"What about helping me cheat with your weird Legilimency powers?" said Ron.

"What about the Philosopher's stone?" said Harry. "Now that we know who's after it, we have to stop him! You can't just leave now!"

"I'm sure you guys will do fine." Attuoria replied with a shrug, sitting down next to Hermione and grabbing herself a Danish pastry.

"Do just fine? You're the one with Legil - Legilin, I don't know, mind reading powers! You can get in Snape's head! Maybe even Voldemort's!" Harry whispered. "We need you! We need to stop Voldemort!"

"No you don't, you'll be fine. As for me, I'm going home." Attuoria repeated.

"Have you told Dumbledore yet?" Ron asked.

Attuoria shook her head.

"He's going to say no," said Hermione confidently. "You're an orphan who has no home in Romania. Dumbledore's not going to let someone like you go back to that place all helpless and alone."

"Oh yeah?" said Attuoria in a challenging tone that she learned from Harry and Ron whenever they spoke to Hermione. "Watch me. You won't see me tomorrow."

"You know what, Attuoria?" Harry said, glaring at her. "Fine then, leave. You're just going to throw away the friendship we formed this year to go back to a place where you have nothing. That's fine, your choice. I don't know why you even have the incentive to go back to Romania, but unlike you, I can't read minds, so I don't know what you're thinking. All I know is that we are friends, and friends stick together. If we mean nothing to you, tell us now. I won't bother being your friend anymore, and neither will Hermione and Ron."

Attuoria blinked at him blankly. Ron and Hermione seemed surprised at his sudden ultimatum-like speech. Harry clutched his fork a little too hard, and his knuckles turned white.

"Harry, no need to get angry…" Ron said quietly, to which Harry inhaled sharply and released his fork.

Attuoria suddenly realised what the emotion of anger was. Harry got angry quite easily. It's an emotion similar to annoyance, but more intense and with a little more hostility and aggression.

Sometimes anger was good, because it made people braver and bolder. Neville could probably use a bit of anger every once in a while, because then he'd be able to stand up to Malfoy just like Harry and Ron. But other times, anger can cause people to be overly honest and slightly hurtful, which Attuoria assumed was what had just happened with Harry.

She wasn't quite sure how to respond to an emotional outburst.

"I have some issues to take care of back home," Attuoria lied, her voice flat. This was her usual tone, which seemed to work in all situations, although it didn't particularly please anyone. "So I'll be leaving. Yes, you guys mean a lot to me. You're my friends, and I am eternally grateful for your friendship," she said truthfully. "I'd love to keep in touch, but I can't. If an apology is what you want, I'm sorry. It is what it is and I cannot control my circumstances."

She didn't feel like making anymore comments or explanations, so she quickly finished up the last bite of her pastry and left the table. It's not like they would understand. She didn't belong in this realm. She had duties back in her world.

In the case that a Nightmare Demon came down to Earth, there was a purpose. The same applied to all other spirits. And right now, Attuoria had no purpose. She decided it was for the best that after almost twelve years, the case of T.M.R." was put to rest.

Not only that, the last time Attuoria created a full nightmare for a human was around twelve years ago. She had eight years left before she would vanish from existence entirely, but she figured she might as well return now to reset her twenty years. Better to be safe than sorry.

That night, after a long day of classes in which Harry, Hermione and Ron tried to be extra nice to her, she sat on her bed in the darkness, waiting for everyone around her to fall asleep.

Her last day was as normal as every other day at Hogwarts. Attuoria didn't notify Dumbledore or any teachers that she was leaving. The only people who knew were Harry, Ron and Hermione.

The twins knew, too, because Ron told them. But he left out the fact that she wouldn't be returning to Hogwarts, so Fred and George good naturedly told her to visit their brother Charlie while she was back in Romania. She agreed and bid each of them goodbye before heading up to her dorm for the night.

Hermione didn't say much except glance at her sadly from her bed. She told Attuoria that she'd miss her, to which Attuoria reciprocated.

Attuoria didn't feel much about leaving. Sure, she had made some great memories here in the mortal realm, but the spiritual dimension was where she truly belonged. Harry, Ron and Hermione were humans dealing with their own human problems. They didn't need her.

However, she would be lying if she said she wouldn't miss them. She would miss Harry's determination and constant search for adventure, as well as his hotheadedness. She would miss Ron's humorous remarks and straightforward comments. She would miss Hermione's non-stop chattering and the thirst for knowledge that they shared. She would miss her conversations with the twins and their love for all kinds of fun and pranks.

Everything about them, she realised, made her happy. The mere thought of her memories with these people brought a human smile to her face, and made her feel warm and excited.

This definitely was a world that Attuoria wouldn't mind living in. But it wasn't her world, and she wouldn't be able to survive here for more than twenty years at a time.

She laid back onto her bed and ordered her human body to drift off to sleep. Right before the point of sleep was a period similar to that of a lucid dream. Within that short time frame, Attuoria detached her spiritual consciousness from her physical body. Her human body disappeared. She drifted around for a while, semi-existent in the mortal realm while trying to find someone who was currently experiencing a nightmare.

As she expected, Harry was once again having a nightmare, the same nightmare he's been having since near the beginning of the year. Only this time, his nightmare included a hooded figure: Voldemort.

Attuoria entered Harry's mind and hid herself in his dreamscape.

After patiently waiting, the nightmare came to an end. Re-entering the spiritual dimension was much quicker than entering the mortal realm. It did not require the creation of a physical body. It was a natural transition.

Attuoria slid into the vast space of the spiritual dimension, reaching the dream-sector. Thousands of other Nightmare Demons were currently hard at work, creating nightmares for humans.

No one acknowledged her re-entrance. None of them even realised she had been gone.

She was back like she never left.

***

Hermione woke up to find Attuoria's belongings all neatly tidied up and placed inside a trunk at the foot of her bed. Attuoria's bed was empty, and was perfectly made.

She didn't leave yet! I could still see her off today, Hermione thought to herself cheerfully. She was glad that she'd still be able to see her friend. Hermione enjoyed Attuoria's company. They were study partners, despite the fact that Attuoria never actually studied (she spent all her time searching for the mysterious "T.M.R."). Spending time with her was comfortable, and Hermione was going to miss that.

But when she arrived at the Great Hall for breakfast, she found Harry and Ron sitting there by themselves.

"Hey." All three of them said simultaneously as Hermione sat down.

"Where's Attuoria?" She asked them.

"We were just about to ask you. Did she leave yet?" Harry asked.

Hermione shook her head. "Her trunk is still in the dorm. Maybe she's speaking with Dumbledore? They might be trying to arrange some accommodations for her."

They decided that Hermione's suggestion was probably their best bet, and put the issue in the back of their minds.

But things weren't as simple as they thought.

"Has anyone seen Ms Knight today? Ms Granger, perhaps?" Professor McGonagall asked at the start of the lesson, glancing at the empty desk next to Hermione.

No one responded.

"Exams will begin in two days. Now is not the time to skip class, even if you are certain that you are prepared. If any of you encounter Ms Knight later today, please ask her to see me at my office."

The class went on as usual, but Harry, Ron and Hermione could all sense that something was off. If Attuoria was leaving, then McGonagall, as Gryffindor Head of House, was supposed to be the first to know.

Attuoria didn't show up to a single lesson that day. Her trunk remained unmoved in the dorm.

That evening, Professor McGonagall's office was crowded with teachers from every subject. They were all there to report that Ms Knight had not shown up to class. And so, they alerted Dumbledore that the girl had disappeared.

None of the students had seen her, and neither had any of the teachers.

For the first time ever, the Hogwarts staff realised that even Dumbledore did not have an explanation for this.

"I was not notified of anything," Professor Dumbledore mumbled, sitting back on his chair with all of his staff in front of him. They had all been called over for questioning. "Are you saying that Ms Knight simply… disappeared?"

"It would seem so." said Professor McGonagall. "The students say her belongings are still in her room, including her wand and her school robes. Now why would she leave Hogwarts without bringing anything? How would she even have left Hogwarts?"

"If I may," Filch interrupted, causing heads to turn towards the back of the office. "This girl, the one who disappeared, I caught her wandering around out of bed, late at night, twice."

"Ms Knight did have a tendency to wander out late at night," Professor McGonagall confirmed, "but that still doesn't explain where she could have gone."

"Perhaps somewhere none of us would expect?" Snape suggested, making eye contact with Dumbledore. They were the two that knew of Attuoria's abilities in Legilimency. "Ms Knight is very adept at… communicating with others."

"Really? She's so quiet in my class! Hardly ever speaks a word, although she does do very well." Professor Sprout piped up.

Professor McGonagall made a tiny gasp. "Silvanus, remember how I mentioned to you that a first-year from Gryffindor was going to do very well in your class?"

Professor Kettleburn, who taught Care of Magical Creatures, nodded slowly.

"During one of her detentions with Hagrid, they had gone to the Forbidden Forest to search for an injured unicorn. Ms Knight told me that she had made contact with a younger unicorn."

"So you're suggesting that Ms Knight is currently having a party with unicorns in the Forbidden Forest?" Professor Snape commented sarcastically, his lips pursed in a look of disgust, as usual.

A sigh came from Professor Dumbledore, catching everyone's attention. "I will ask Hagrid to check the forest. Meanwhile -"

His sentence was interrupted by muffled shouts coming from outside his office.

"Ah, I believe that would be Ms Knight's friends. Let them in, would you, Argus?" Dumbledore said gently.

Harry, Ron and Hermione were surprised to see all of Hogwarts' staff inside Dumbledore's office. But they knew they were probably all gathered here for the same reason.

"I assume you three are here to explain what you know about Ms Knight's disappearance?"

The three of them told the teachers everything Attuoria had told them, about how she was returning to Romania to handle some personal issues, and that she was not coming back.

After their explanation, the teachers seemed much more relieved.

"Don't you three worry about Ms Knight," said Dumbledore. "I will check on her to make sure she does well. I do hope she retracts her rushed decisions to leave school by next year. We will store her belongings until she returns."

The teachers and the three students filed out of Dumbledore's office. The meeting was over.

Only Snape stayed, standing in front of the Headmaster's table.

"I am suspicious -"

"Yes, yes, Severus, so am I." Dumbledore said, getting up from his chair. "Would you like to accompany me to check the Book of Admittance?"

"The Book of Admittance?" Snape's eyes grew wide. "Are you suspecting…"

"That her name might have disappeared from the records? Yes. Her name was written in Ancient Runes, something that I've never seen before. There are no records of her before eleven years of age. It's as if this young lady simply popped into existence and popped back out."

The two advanced up a tower through a staircase hidden at the back of Dumbledore's office. The sacred book sat at the top of the tower, wrapped in black dragonhide. The magical Quill of Acceptance rested idly on the desk next to it.

While Snape stood near the doorway, Dumbledore walked up to the book.

"July thirty-first, nineteen ninety-one." he announced.

The thick dragonhide flipped itself over, letting out rattling sounds as it rapidly sorted through the pages. When it stopped, Dumbledore peered over.

"As I expected," he said after one look and stepped away from the book.

"Her name is gone?" Snape asked.

"Gone with the wind."