Hey guys, very sorry about the long delay posting this chapter!! Its been awhile I know, but I got there eventually! Hope u like it. Please review and tell me what you think! Enjoy!
Missing
Harry woke up on Saturday morning as the first birds called out the opening notes of the dawn chorus. He sat up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes before putting on his glasses and yawning widely. He reluctantly got out of bed and pulled on his quidditch robes, poking Dean and Seamus awake in the process. He left one of the others to wake up Ron and picked up his firebolt and went down to the common room to warm himself by the fire and wait for the others.
The Gryffindor team had begun practicing on Thursday evenings and the less popular time of dawn every Saturday and Sunday, unless there was a match later in the day. Since Harry had become captain there had been a lot of changes to the team, and a lot of vigorous training that made this year's Gryffindor team one of the best the school had ever seen., despite protests from players about the high standards Harry made them adhere to.
When the team were all huddled by the fire in the common room, Harry led them out to the quidditch pitch. They first went to the changing room, as Harry wanted to show them a new manoeuvre he had devised the previous day. He strode into the room, intending to go to the captain's office and get the flip chart he had been working on. He stopped short when he pushed open the changing room door, causing the other team members to bump into him from behind and jostle around for a better look over his shoulder. He walked into the room, looking around in disbelief. He heard the surprised murmurs behind him as he spun around in a slow circle, surveying the damage.
The whole room was totally wrecked. Three of the floor-to-ceiling lockers had crashed down onto the tiled floor, cracking the tiles where they fell. The door of one of the upright lockers was hanging on its hinges, its contents spilled on the floor in a sticky mess of energy drinks and spare robes. Seamus came to stand beside Harry "Looks like someone really messed this place up. Reckon there was a fight in here?" he suggested, staring at the mess in front of him. Harry shock his head. "Like who? No-one uses this room other than us" he said doubtfully then turned to the rest of the team "Anyone any good at cleaning charms?" he asked hopefully. Lavender Brown's little sister, a second-year called Hazel, who was an amazingly good chaser, squeezed between Ron and Dean and walked up to Harry. She beamed up at him "I'm good at cleaning. My sister always makes me do her share of the housework as well as mine." she said, wrinkling her nose. Harry grinned at her. "Great. You wouldn't mind…?" he asked, giving her his best smile.
~*~*~*~
After quidditch practice Harry sneaked into the prefects bathroom. He had persuaded Hermione earlier that year to tell him the password, and he was very glad that he had. He washed off all the dirt and sweat before changing into his usual weekend clothes of jeans and a thick jumper, then set off towards the great hall, hoping to find Hermione still at breakfast.
He looked down the Gryffindor table but couldn't see her. He sat down next to Neville, feeling slightly disappointed that she hadn't waited for him. No doubt she was at the library. Neville smiled cheerily at him. "Oh hello Harry. Do you know where Hermione is? No?" he sighed and his face fell. "I really need help with my Transfiguration essay, or it'll take me all day, probably all weekend! I can't get it right! Professor McGonagall said she'd put me in detention if I didn't get more than a 'P'. I can't do it." he moaned, close to panicking when he learned that Hermione wasn't around. Harry took pity on the him, Neville had got a 'P' for the last essay, and a 'D' for the one before that, which was an improvement on his previous 'T's. Harry was never quite sure how he managed to fail so spectacularly. "Listen, Neville, I don't know where Hermione is, but she helped me with mine on Thursday night, so I think it's right. If you like I could lend you it?" he said, but seeing the look on Neville's face hastily added "Actually, I'm not doing anything this morning, so I could go through it with you." he added. Neville beamed at him. "Thanks Harry! I really have no idea about any of it, it'd take me days to do it by myself. I'll meet you in the library!" Neville said and hurried off. Harry sighed and ate his bacon, mood rapidly declining at the thought of having to spend a whole morning explaining transfiguration to Neville Longbottom. Well, he thought hopefully, if Hermione's in the library maybe I could slip away.
It took Harry a lot longer than he thought to finish Neville's essay. No help from Hermione, she wasn't in the library, so it was up to Harry to do his best to help Neville. The boy seemed to have taken in nothing in the whole five years of transfiguration lessons! It was well past lunch that Harry finally had some time to himself, so he decided to find Hermione. He hadn't seen her all day, but that wasn't surprising really, as he had been cooped up in the library all morning. He entered the common room and looked around, but couldn't see her. He spotted Parvati and Lavender in a corner, reading a magazine and giggling at an article. "Hi, um, have you two seen Hermione? I can't find her. Yes, I've tried the library." Parvati just shrugged and continued reading. Lavender looked up thoughtfully. "Hmm, well I haven't seen Ginny either" she told him "so I should think they're together. I was trying to find Ginny earlier, but I suppose they've gone off to have a girly chat." she supplied. Harry thanked her then went up to his room, deciding to get some rest before the first Duelling club meeting started. I'll see her there he thought god help me if I interrupt a girly chat, I'll stay well away.
The great hall was packed, nearly everyone from the upper years of the school had turned up for the first meeting. Harry stood near the front with Seamus, Dean, Neville, and Ron - who still wasn't talking to him. Tonks walked onto raised dais in the middle of the great hall, followed by Bill Weasley. Silence fell as they stood patiently waiting for all the attention to focus on the stage. Tonks smiled brightly at all the expectant students looking up at her. "Hi. Welcome to this first session of the duelling club. You all know what the aim of this club is - to brush up on attacking and defensive spells and to improve your duelling skills. Today we are going to start by going over spells that help to block you from outside influence, for example, people influencing your dreams…." Tonks went on, and winked at Harry. Harry grinned back. He thought it was a brilliant idea. Getting people to guard their dreams, but without telling them the real reason for it. If they knew, a lot of them would probably panic.
The two hours passed in a mixture of learning new blocking spells, and practicing the few that they already knew. Harry was partnered with Dean for the lesson, as Hermione still hadn't showed up. After the club had finished, and Tonks had told everyone to practice guarding their sleep every night, Harry made his way back to the common room, determined to find out where Hermione was. He ran into Ginny in the entrance hall, coming from the direction of the dungeons. "Ginny!" he called, hurrying over to her. She jumped and turned around, and for some reason went bright red. "Where's Hermione? Did she go to duelling club with you?" he asked, quite annoyed that Hermione hadn't told him that she wasn't going with him. Ginny looked confused. "Err no Harry, I wasn't at, um, duelling club. Sorry." she said, still bright red. She turned to walk away, but Harry called her back. "So you haven't been with her? You haven't seen her? Where were you?" he said frowning. "Why were you in the dungeons?" Ginny went crimson. "I haven't seen her since yesterday. And I was, ah, that is, um.." she trailed off, looking at someone behind Harry. He looked over his shoulder to see who she was looking at and saw Malfoy emerging from the entrance to the dungeons, glancing at Ginny then walking into the great hall. Harry turned back to her and raised his eyebrows. "Malfoy? Ugh" he said, but to Ginny's obvious relief didn't comment on it any more. "So you haven't seen her either? Then where is she?" he said. Ginny just shook her head, beginning to look slightly worried.
They went back to the common room and found Lavender. "She wasn't with Ginny, she hasn't seen her all day. When did you last see her?" Harry asked anxiously. Lavender frowned. "I saw her last night, just before she went to meet up with you. She wasn't in her bed this morning, so I presumed she was still with you…" she said, eyes sparkling with the promise of gossip. Harry frowned. "What are you talking about?" he asked, confused. "I didn't meet up with her last night." lavender just stared at him then seemed to decide that he wasn't lying. "You sent her an owl last night" she said slowly, "Saying you wanted to meet her at midnight at the quidditch pitch. Very romantic I thought!" she added grinning. Harry just looked at her and shook him head. Then the images crashed into his mind in quick succession. The overturned lockers, the robes all over the floor. Seamus' suggestion there was a fight…. Rookwood's threats. Hermione's dream. He turned around and sprinted from the common room, heading towards Dumbledore's office.