Chapter 237: Let's go to the Maze!

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 237: Let's go to the Maze!

"We have a problem," Harry whispered in his mother's ear.

Lily was sitting at the adults' table along with the other teachers and Ministry guests. "What is it?" She knew her son would not call her unless something important had happened.

"Can't find Lyra. Her friends are missing too," Harry said.

"They must be outside, in the gardens. Harry, it must b—" Lily was about to say it was nothing to worry about but stopped herself when she saw his serious expression. "I'll help you look."

"Lily? Is something amiss?" Professor McGonagall asked when she saw Lily standing up for the first time during the party.

"I just need to speak with my daughter about something, don't worry," Lily didn't want to cause panic yet.

"Harry," he turned around and saw Daphne. "I spoke with some Gryffindor girls. They saw Lyra going outside with Longbottom."

"See? They must have gone to the garden," Lily felt a bit more relieved to hear this.

"Let's go," said Harry before he started walking away.

Daphne and Lily shared a look before following his steps.

As soon as Harry stepped outside, he realized that this was going to be harder than he thought.

The garden was completely filled with students walking all over the place. Even with his enhanced senses, it would be like trying to find a needle in a haystack.

Lily and Daphne also went outside and started to look.

Lily had been expecting to spot her daughter after a couple of minutes of looking around.

But ten minutes later, she still had no clue where her daughter was, and now she was getting worried.

"Harry! Where is she?!" Lily found Harry near the dirt path that led back to the castle from the gardens.

"Did you see anything?" asked Daphne.

Harry knelt down and picked up something from the floor. It was an earring in the shape of a carrot. He only knew one girl who would wear something like this. "This must be Luna's…"

An elf appeared next to Harry. His little face was twisted with panic. "Sir!

We have spotted intruders in several parts of the castle!"

"What kind of intruders?" Harry asked.

"Humans wearing black robes, Sir. And… and trolls, Sir!" the elf exclaimed.

"Black robes?!" Lily cried.

"Trolls?!" Daphne's blue eyes were wide.

Harry kept his calm and glanced at the elf. "Okay… tell me where and try to be specific."

"Professor Potter!" Some panicked students came running to them. "You have to come quick! There's been a fire at the hedge maze!"

<><><><><><><><>

Fifteen minutes earlier

"Come on! I heard there is even a hedge maze!" Lyra said with excitement.

"It's cold outside…" Luna complained.

"Lots of people…" Astoria complained, but then she looked around. There were a lot of people inside too, perhaps even more. "Outside then."

"See? Astoria is on my side," Lyra grinned.

"But Harry said to stay here," Ginny told her.

"My brother can't tell me what to do! Come on, Neville. Let's go see the garden." She grabbed Neville's hand and pulled him away from the seats.

"But… I should… I should go back with Ron…" the boy said.

"My brother is still eating… you are not missing anything there. And last time I saw him, Seamus was half asleep, leaning against the table," said Ginny.

"It's decided then. Let's go explore the garden." She pulled Neville along the way. "I wanna go see the maze first!" she exclaimed as they went outside.

Ginny sighed. "We should go too."

"It's cold…" Luna complained again.

"Luna, we are in June already! It's not cold at all," Ginny told her weird friend.

Luna frowned while glancing outside. "There is something cold out there…"

"Do we really have to go in there?" Neville saw the massive hedge maze and became worried. "What if we get lost in there?" He was mostly worried about Harry finding him alone with his sister and getting the wrong idea.

"There is no way we get lost, come on." Lyra laughed and they both entered the maze.

At first, they came across several other groups of students, but after the fifth or sixth turn… they were alone.

A few more turns and they could not even hear the voices of the other kids.

The noise of the party had completely disappeared and was instead replaced by an eerie silence.

"Uhm… Lyra?" Neville looked around. Everything seemed the same.

When glancing upwards, he could only see the edges of the plants and the dark sky. "Are you sure we are not lost?"

"Lost? Don't be ridiculous… this is a maze for kids…, hehe…" Lyra tried to brush off Neville's concerns, but she was starting to get worried too.

She took a few more turns, with Neville following close behind her, but they didn't seem to be getting closer to the center of the maze.

"Uh… Lyra?"

Grey smoke appeared out of nowhere and started to fill the narrow passages.

"Okay, there is something wrong…" She had no choice but to admit. "Let's turn around and try to—"

They were both startled by the sound of footsteps right behind them.

"You want to leave now, little one?" A mocking voice was heard. It sounded playful, but there was a clear threat in it.

Neville froze when he saw a black-robed person walk out and stand behind them.

The man was wearing a pearl white mask. "The fun has just begun…"

A.N- No, Luna is not detecting Dementors when she says she feels something cold. She is picking up on the magic auras of Death Eaters. The reason she sees them as cold is because of their bad/evil intentions. Cold can be associated with the yin/evil part of a person's soul.

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