Chapter 40: The Missing Boy

Disclaimer: 

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

I own nothing but the original characters I make.

"Dialogue"

'Thoughts'

$Parseltongue$

Chapter 40: The Missing Boy

During the next defense class, Harry was staring at the professor while thinking about how to solve this issue.

Even though he had assured Daphne that the crime would certainly not take place until the end of the year, he wasn't one hundred percent confident about that. And he rather not gamble with Neville's life like that.

'Should I just kill him at the first chance I get?, or maybe try to gain more information about his plans or on what the death eaters are doing…no, this man is just a hired wand, there is zero chance he knows something important.'

He held his head in frustration.

'I hate this kind of stuff… let's see, what did Moody use to say?, always know your enemy or something like that?, maybe I can buy some information on…'

"Mister Potter!"

He must have been more distracted than he thought because he failed to notice Professor Nayar arriving at his side.

"Mister Potter, are you perhaps feeling unwell? you seem paler than usual." Asked the Professor.

Harry quickly brushed aside his concern, claiming a mild headache from too much reading and the professor continued with his class.

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The head of the training dummy was crushed by a stone that impacted the speed of a bullet.

Three more dummies moved around the room in irregular patterns.

Harry conjured some small knives before casting a banishing charm.

"Depulso!"

The blades one of the dummies on the head and another one on the chest, missing the third target.

Harry made a sound of annoyance.

"Fulmen!" A lighting bolt came out of his wand and turned the poor dummy into a burning mess.

He was huffing and puffing by the end of the training, but he was feeling better.

"Ah, this is it! Blowing up stuff never fails to cheer me up"

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

He exited the Room of Requirements at his usual time, one hour before dinner. This gives him enough room to take a shower and rest for a bit before leaving.

"Hog snout."

The fat lady nodded and the entrance to the dorms opened just in time for Harry to see Hermione, Parvati, and Lavander leaving the common room.

"Oh, Harry, hello!" Greeted Hermione.

He was glad to see her getting along with the other girls, that way he would not feel bad for letting her alone in order to do other things that he considered more important at the moment.

"Hello, Hermione.!" He looked at the other two girls and nodded at them.

"Parvati, Lavender, hello to you two too."

Lavender rolled her eyes.

"You don't have to be so formal all the time, Harry…we are classmates for Pete sake!." Lavender huffed.

"She is right, you know?" Added Parvati.

"We are going for a walk through the inner garden before dinner, would you like to come with us?"

"And I am the one being overly polite," Harry grumbled.

Hermione and Lavander chuckled.

"He is right, you are always so posh." Said Lavander.

"I can't help it!,I was raised like that….besides, my sister Padma is much worse than me." Parvati excused herself the best she could.

"Well, I appreciate the offer, but I'm in dire need of a shower at the moment." Harry removed some beads of sweat that were traveling across his forehead.

"Have you been running or something?" Asked Lavander.

"Something like that," Harry answered dismissively.

"That's not a very wizard-like behavior," Parvati commented.

"But, I am a very unusual wizard." Harry pointed out.

"Is that what you are always doing after class? you are always disappearing to go somewhere but never tell me where….you even skipped several library sessions!" Hermione looked particularly miffed about that last part.

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

Something has been bugging him since he left the dorms.

A bad feeling, a uniqueness that turned his stomach and made him uncomfortable.

He had always listened to his gut feelings when these warned him of some danger, but he had no idea what danger must he prepare against.

Harry entered the Great Hall at a brisk pace and moved his eyes around the room, trying to gain as much information as possible.

He took notice of the teacher's table…all there, including the defense professor, who was already eating in a relaxed manner.

On the Slytherin table, he spotted Draco, smiling smugly while talking about something with his classmates.

On the Gryffindor table, he first saw Hermione, Lavander, and Parvati. The three girls were starting to place food on their plates while chatting.

He moved his gaze around the long table and saw the Weasley Twins. 

And finally, sitting nearby was the 'not so golden' trio…Ron, Seamus and…

"Where is Neville?...shit!" Harry cursed.

"Mister Potter, language!" Professor McGonagall gave him a stern look.

He apologized and moved away from the teacher's table.

Harry sat next to Ron and looked at the redhead boy.

Usually, Ron would be stuffing his face from his overfilled plate, so… seeing him slowly cutting a piece of chicken and barely eating any of it, was beyond weird.

'Something must have happened.'

"Hey, Ron, Seamus…is Neville not coming down for dinner?" He tried to ask casually.

Ron stopped eating and frowned. He seemed upset at the mention of Neville.

"Well, we haven't seen it since our last class ended," Seamus answered and gave Ron a glance.

"Did you guys get into an argument or something?" Asked Harry.

"Something like that…" Seamus was carefully glancing at Ron like he was trying to avoid upsetting him by talking too much.

"Anyways…the professor told him to stay behind and talk about something and we left. 

'Wait, the last class of today was…defense.' Harry thought with increasing worry.

His gaze went back to the teacher's table. Nayar was there, eating calmly. Could he have done something to Neville?.

'It can't be…he wouldn't be here if he had done something, right?'

"Why do you care now? you never hang out with us." Ron gave Harry an angry look.

"Because…" 

While he was trying to come up with something, the house ghosts came flying into the hall.

"Acromantulas!" Screamed Gryffindor's ghost.

"Acromantulas have invaded the castle!" added the Hufflepuff one.

The hall went into a panic.

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