A/N: I can finally say I look forward to writing this story...
Chapter VI: Conspiracy Theories
Andromeda thought she had had a nightmare that felt incredibly real, as if she was right there and then in the middle of it happening. She opened her eyes slowly, trying to stop her head from spinning.
Holly was right opposite her on the bed, also beginning to stir. She swivelled her neck and glanced at the alarm clock on the bedside table. With a slight surprise, she noted that she had only been out cold for no more than a few minutes...
"Are you ok?" Holly's distant voice came, as she sat up herself, rubbing her head.
"I think so," Andromeda looked around to make sure she didn't have any injuries to be worried about. "What happened?"
"I don't know," Holly replied, still gaining her bearings. "Did you faint too?"
"Yes," Andromeda said. "Do you remember anything?"
"It's as if it were a dream," Holly screwed her face to recall the incident. "Only, I had a feeling I was in the middle of it. Somehow, it didn't feel like it was a dream. D'you know what I mean?"
"No," Andromeda said. "There has to be a cause to it, it can't just happen of its own accord."
"Probably," Holly agreed. "Do you think it happened only to you and me?"
"I hope so, else it would be really weird if others fainted too."
They stayed for a moment, their eyes locked onto one another, each silently trying to assure the other this was just a bad dream and everything would soon be back to normal.
Yet, a nagging feeling of dread pervaded them both and they simultaneously jumped to their feet.
"Something has to be wrong," Andromeda said urgently. "Let's go."
"Yeah," Holly nodded. "Come on!"
With that, her friend shot for the door and Andromeda followed at her heels.
Around them, they could hear screams, surprises and opening doors, as people streamed out into the hall. The general direction seemed to be going towards the Common Room, so both girls oriented themselves in that line.
Gryffindors were streaming down from both staircases.
"Do you see Jane anywhere?" Andromeda asked Holly loudly over the frantic chatter.
"No!" Holly turned around. "Do you?
"I don't. Do you think she's alright?"
"No reason for her not to be. She can take care of herself."
Andromeda turned to the girl next to her. "Lia, did you black out too?"
The girl, named Lia, turned to her. "Andy! You startled me! Yes, yes I did! That's so weird!"
She couldn't ask Lia anything else, as the girl shot off through the crowd in the direction of a boy that was beckoning for her and calling her name.
"She fainted too," Andromeda turned to Holly now. "I think the entire house was affected."
"There's no proof yet," Holly tried to refute her. "It might have happened to just a few of us."
"Would people be this panicked if that were the case?" Andromeda pointed out reasonably. "If not everyone, then a good portion of people blacked out."
She saw Regulus on the other side of the room, but he was by himself. Otto and Albus were nowhere to be seen and they were usually always with him.
"Should we go ask your boyfriend?" Holly smirked, despite the seriousness of the situation.
"No," Andromeda replied humourlessly. "He could fall off the roof of the tower for all I care."
However, he didn't even look at her, and the fact piqued her curiosity. However, she had more pressing matters at hand.
"We have to find Jane," she told Holly. "You search around the dorms. I'm going to take a look around the school. Hopefully she isn't too far."
"Aright."
With that, the two girls split towards their respective destinations.
**
Neither Otto, nor Albus had returned to the dorm after Regulus came back from his nervous rendez-vous with Andromeda.
He had not fainted, but that's not what he was worried about. Only the day before, he warned his best friends to be in the dorm by the evening and emphasized how important it was that they were there.
Now, they could be anywhere. They could have been killed, losing consciousness while coming down a staircase, or flying around on a broom...
At least Andromeda and Holly were fine, which allayed his worries by a small amount, but he needed to know what had happened to Otto and Albus, and needed to know as soon as possible. This is why he was frantically scouring the faces in the Common Room, as more and more people came from the dormitories.
Regulus could not stand the suspense any longer, as he was not able to see his quarries in the House. He made his way to the portrait hole, failing to notice Andromeda had left not even a minute ago.
He ran towards the Great Hall, hoping Otto and Albus were there, still disoriented and sitting at the Gryffindor table.
Arriving within minutes, he pushed one of the massive doors open. Unfortunately, the hall was empty, albeit the thousands of floating burning candles above.
The Quidditch pitch was his next destination. He doubled on the way back and turned right into the next corridor leading out of the school and into the grounds surrounding the stadium.
The cold, foreboding and starry night didn't stop him from running right for the blackish outline of the Quidditch pitch. He suddenly remembered Otto and Albus told him they were going to fly around for a little while before heading back inside, right before dinner. That, he thought, still offered ample time before tonight's events transpired...
As he ran, the image of an angry Andromeda burst forth in his mind again. Earlier in the library, he had lost his courage so suddenly - he thought she genuinely hated him. Still, he had tried to help her, and luckily, she was just fine...he might have to see to it that her well-being was not left to chance again.
Regulus reached the front gates of the stadium and ran the length of the narrow corridor that led to the field. By the moonlight, he could make out the stands, but being completely out of breath, collapsed on his knees onto the damp grass.
His heart raced, threatening to jump right out of his chest. Looking around wildly, he thought he saw the outline of two broomsticks lying on the ground by the base of one of the goalposts. With a last bout of strength, he rose to his feet and sprinted to the spot.
Indeed, he recognized Otto and Albus' brooms, but they were nowhere around to be found. Typically if they left, they locked up their brooms accordingly, just as all other Quidditch players did...something was out of place, if they didn't just fall from the sky.
"You're late," a sudden deep voice made him jump nearly ten feet in the air. Whipping his wand out, Regulus swerved on the spot, preparing to meet the threat.
"Put that away," the voice said. He heard two sets of hooves coming closer.
"Who are you?" Regulus asked, trying to keep his voice from shaking.
"My name is Bane." By the light of the moon, Regulus finally made out the shape of a centaur.
"What do you want?"
"It's not what I want," Bane replied patiently. "It is about the interests above me, whose agent I am tonight. It is about what they want."
"What are you talking about!" Regulus was rapidly losing his patience.
"Calm down, kid," Bane sounded terribly procedural about this little exchange. "Your friends are safe. Including that girl."
"Otto and Albus? What have you done to them!"
"Nothing, so far. However, they will suffer should you fail to fulfill our demands."
"Demands?" Regulus was distracted for a moment. "What demands?"
"That you stop being so nosy. Consider this a warning. You poking around is interfering with our plans. As for your friends, you will see them, eventually."
"What do you mean, eventually?" Regulus immediately became more suspicious. "You said it was only a warning. And what do you mean poking around? I have no idea what I'm supposed to be poking into!"
"You received the note yesterday, kid. You were awake. This is the first problem. You told your two friends to be back in your dormitory, which is unacceptable...your first lesson is to learn to keep your mouth shut. Do abide by it in the future."
"What is this all about?!" Regulus could no longer suppress his frustration. "Tell me, before I hex you!"
"You'll be dead the moment you try," Bane said very calmly. "Now, do pass on the news to Andromeda that Jane will be with us for the time being."
"What does she have to do with this?" Regulus asked forcefully. "Leave her out of this, whatever it is."
"Oh, no, she is very necessary," the centaur grimaced. "You will find out just how much in due time."
"I promise you now, I will kill you," Regulus spat vindictively. "For doing this to my friends. I will kill you."
"Oh, don't blame me," Bane smiled confidently. "Look, there they go now," he pointed to the other side of the stadium.
Indeed, as Regulus saw, two other centaurs were galloping away, one bearing the unconscious forms of otto and Albus on its back and the other ferrying Jane at the heels of the first.
"Well, we've had a good talk," Bane trotted around to face Regulus. "But I shall be going now. Do keep in touch, old chap!"
With that, the mysterious centaur reared on his hind legs and ran full speed in the same direction to catch up with his comrades in crime.
Regulus stood dumbfounded. What he had witnessed just now made no sense whatsoever. He was threatened for no good reason. Based on what he was told, whoever was behind this kidnapping apparently also watched him closely. In other words, he or she had agents in the school.
The prospect really frightened Regulus. Everything he did, maybe even thought, someone knew about it. Furthermore, what had Jane done to be kidnapped? He knew her, she was an intelligent girl, very nice and friendly...maybe she was given the role of a ransom note?
Right at the moment, he decided to find Andromeda and talk to her. This was the best choice at the moment, seeing both of them were affected by the circumstances and there was no way she would know about it unless he told her.
Turning around and still trying to control his anger, he sprinted back in the direction of the castle. Yet, not even out the stadium hallway, he collided head on with another person and the resultant force sent him flying back.
He hit the stone paving hard, landing on his elbow. His head snapped back and almost hit the stone - thankfully he managed to roll on his side, thus preventing any brain damage, but his neck took the brunt of the force as it was compressed painfully...
"Damn it," he whispered, as he came to a rest and made a first attempt to rise again. "Will you watch where you're going, you git!" he snapped through clenched teeth. One tooth in particular felt suspiciously loose.
"Shut it, you overgrown windbag!" came a girl's voice. "You should have seen me first. Thanks to you, I think I broke my arm!"
Luckily, his own elbow was in working order, albeit still pounding with pain and beginning to turn sore.
His head was still spinning from the impact, but he thought he recognized Andromeda's voice. "Fine, I'll take you to the hospital wing," he said. "Can you walk? Let me help you."
"I'm fine!" the girl snapped on her own turn, but the moment she made her first step, she keeled dangerously to the left.
"Your ankle begs to differ," Regulus observed and came up to put his injured arm around her waist, while his other held her arm around his neck.
"I'm fine," she proceeded to re-iterate, struggling against his grasp.
To no avail, she gave up and accepted Regulus' help. Limping, they slowly made it up the path towards the castle doors.
"Bloody cold tonight," the girl said after about a minute of silence.
"I know. I've got a loose tooth. Don't make me talk too much." Indeed, the coppery taste of blood was beginning to fill his mouth.
The castle doors loomed closer and opened of their own accord to accept the injured duo. Once they arrived in the pool of light and passed the threshold, Andromeda turned to step more carefully on the second stair coming down into the entrance hall, when she turned and her eyes saw Regulus.
"You!" she gasped. "I collided into you!"
"Well, now that we're introduced, I like you too," Regulus replied sarcastically.
"Leave me alone, right now!" she protested loudly.
"This isn't helping anybody, including you," he told her without reservation, but she picked up on the note of tiredness in his voice. "Now, come on, we both need medical attention."
She hated the fact his logic was unbeatable. He was right, Madam Pomfrey did need to look at her broken arm and twisted ankle...
"I can barely bend my arm and I carried you all the way up here with it. Now cut me some slack, and let's go, before my elbow falls off."
Trying to ignore her own pain, she limped grudgingly back into Regulus' embrace and the two of them continued on their journey to end this eventful night...
A/N: I've set myself up...let's see where this thing goes...
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