Unlikely Beginnings

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Chapter Twenty Seven

Today was a good day simply for the fact that they had Defense Against the
Dark Arts. It was the first class since Professor Lupin had come back,
though technically he was still in the castle being locked in his office,
\'back\' referred to his reverting back to human form after the full moon.
Remus had returned to Hogwarts to continue teaching the class in their Sixth
Year, much to the delight of just about all of the students, with the only
exception of Severus Snape. Some still had parents that were wary about the
werewolf, but they soon felt differently after hearing so many good things
about the man.

Remus had taken time to consider the offer from Dumbledore, but after giving
it some thought, he had agreed. The initial apprehension faded quickly, and
he was well at home now in the old castle. He was glad to be back, as well,
and he came down from his office and smiled at his first class of the day;
Gryffindor and Slytherin Seventh Years. His smile almost faltered as he
noted a few absent faces, and he frowned to himself as he set a large text
down on his desk. He greeted his class, and they chimed back a greeting in
return before there was a sharp knock on the door.

Everyone\'s attention was turned to the sound, and Remus picked up his wand
and waved it at the door, opening it. \"I\'m sorry I\'m late, sir,\" Lavender
pleaded, breathing rapidly and clutching her books to her chest, though her
hair looked absolutely great. Hermione would bet that\'s why the other girl
was late, though she hadn\'t even noticed before now.

\"Well, come in, then! Come in,\" He gestured to the girl, and then waved the
door shut behind her. Lavender walked straight to her seat and sat down, and
Lupin started the lesson for today. It was already much better than having
extra hours of Charms, and that sentiment seemed to be shared by everyone,
even the Slytherins. Ron had taken his usual seat next to Hermione, and that
left a space open on the other side of Hermione where Harry usually sat. Ron
had already told her that Harry hadn\'t been in the dormitory that morning,
or down in the common room after he\'d made it downstairs and looked around.

He\'d asked Hermione if she knew, but she was just as confused as he was,
which was definitely saying something. When they didn\'t see Harry at
breakfast, either, they had started to become worried. Hermione suggested
that maybe he was just hiding in another part of the castle and wasn\'t in
the mood to attend any classes just yet. She had to agree he did have enough
on his shoulders to deserve a break, but she didn\'t agree with his choice of
missing classes, especially with NEWTs coming up and all.

Ron had wondered why he\'d want to miss a perfectly good day. To begin with,
they\'d basically made a trade in the staff; Snape buggered off and Lupin was
back. Defense Against the Dark Arts, and no Potions, what\'s not to like
about a day like that? He still couldn\'t help but be worried for more
practical reasons, though. After class had gotten underway, Lupin caught
Hermione\'s eye, and she had to shrug, not knowing what she could say, other
than she didn\'t know herself where Harry was.

When Hermione had finished the first part of her assignment they\'d been
given, she sat back in her chair and looked to Ron. He was still working,
and she really didn\'t want to disturb whenwhen he was actually focused on
it, for once. She frowned, though, realizing that the class had been
remarkably quiet thus far. Looking over Ron\'s shoulder at the other side of
the room, she surveyed the Slytherins, and noticed something strange. She
nudged Ron, and he took a moment to finish his sentence, holding up a finger
to her until he was done. \"What?\" he whispered to her.

\"Notice anyone missing?\" she hinted, whispering as well as she didn\'t want
to disturb the class over something that might be simply coincidental.
Hermione pointed back over to the Slytherins still engaged in their work.
Ron shifted in his chair, and ticked off names in his head. Goyle was
glaring into his book as he read, trying to find the answers to the
questions. Crabbe was about an inch away from his parchment as he wrote, and
no one else seemed out of the ordinary either.

Wait, he thought. He\'d looked straight to Crabbe and Goyle, but why did he
usually do that? To look at Malfoy, who was currently no where to be seen.
Ron turned back to Hermione, \"Maybe they cozied up together somewhere and
fell asleep last night,\" Ron made a disgusted face before he went serious.
\"What do you think happened?\"

Hermione was about to comment, but Professor Lupin turned his attention back
towards their side of the room, an eyebrow raised at the two students, still
wondering himself where Harry had gotten off to. Ron shook his head and
raised his hands in a small, helpless gesture, letting him know that they
hadn\'t figured anything out yet. Lupin nodded his head slightly, but made no
other further attempts at covert conversations.

The rest of the class was uneventful until Lupin asked that Ron and Hermione
stay behind. All of the students, save the two Gryffindors, filed out of the
room and onto their next class. Ron and Hermione shut their books and
watched as Lupin took a blank piece of parchment from a folder and scribbled
something down on it before walking over to his students. \"Alright, I
suppose you know why you\'re here. You really have no idea where Harry is?\"
he asked the two seated students. He felt like he was threatening them by
standing in front of their desks like this, even if he wasn\'t even terribly
tall.

\"No, sir,\" Hermione said, clearly wishing that wasn\'t the truth. \"He wasn\'t
found in the dormitory this morning, and we didn\'t look very far before we
came here. He didn\'t show up for breakfast either.\" Hermione\'s worry showed
clear on her face, and Ron nodded beside her in agreement. \"We haven\'t clueclue.\"

Lupin nodded to himself, looking down at the table, and frowned slightly as
he thought. Before he could ask anything more, Ron started to speak. \"He\'s
been acting strange the last few days, too. We\'re really worried about him.\"
Hermione looked at Ron curiously; she knew he wasn\'t happy about having
Harry disappear like this, but she thought he was still a bit peeved at the
recent revelations about Harry\'s more private aspect of his life.

\"What about Mr. Malfoy, do you know where he is?\" Lupin asked, trying to
sound casual, and not to pry, though he couldn\'t help his eye brows raising
slightly in curiosity. He didn\'t think they knew anything about that, but
he\'d seen Hermione point that fact out to Ron that Draco was absent as well.
The rest of the class didn\'t seem to notice too much, using the newfound
silence to work on their assignments.

\"No,\" they both said automatically, and in unison, to boot. Lupin gave
barely a hint of a frown at them, and nodded slowly. Hermione looked at Ron
for a moment, but he stared ahead at their teacher, waiting for Lupin to say
something more, offer some type of help, perhaps.

\"I don\'t think we need to say anything just yet. If he doesn\'t show up by
tonight, let me know, and I\'ll go to the Headmaster.\" Ron seemed to sigh
inaudibly, glad to hear he was going to help do something about this. It
wasn\'t even lunch, but the looming sense that Harry had gotten himself in
trouble was starting to build like a cloud over their heads. Lupin felt it,
too, and he dearly hoped Harry would show up. He felt a need to look out for
the boy after certain events that felt all too recent and raw as painful
memories came back to him.

Remus cleared his throat as the two teens nodded their acceptance before
they stood. \"O he he said, just as the two were about to walk through the
door, \"here.\" He handed to Ron, since he was closer, the note he\'d written
for them, excusing them for being late, as he\'d kept them back to speak to.
They said good bye, and left for their next class. He knew his would be here
any minute, and he wanted to clear his head before the Second Years would
arrive.

He knew they knew more than they were letting on, in regards to Draco
Malfoy, in particular, but he was sure they were telling the truth about
Harry. If something was going on, and it was something other than a couple
of boys individually playing hookie, they seemed to be in on it together.
What those two boys would possibly be doing together that didn\'t involve
fists and bruises, he couldn\'t fathom at the moment, though there were a few
unlikely possibilities forming in his mind.

They hadn\'t known who else to tell, and knew they could trust Remus the most
of all their teachers with information about Harry\'s wellbeing. It seemed
Ron was a bit ticked off still, despite his evident worry; Hermione thought
that was why he never said anything or was too worried until he noticed
Malfoy was gone, too. Hermione was still just trying to hope Harry was just
hiding somewhere in the castle. Though, preferably, in her opinion, without
Draco. Then, she couldn\'t ignore the fact that Draco was, indeed, missing,
as well. They didn\'t have to say anything about that to Lupin, he seemed to
already have his own suspicions.

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