These Dear, Unfinished Tasks

Chapter 3: Lost

September 5th, 2020

The first week of the semester moved quickly for all the wrong reasons.

After being escorted to Headmaster Fontaine's office, where a red-eyed Cosi was still there, nursing a cup of tea, Daphne was informed of the situation. Sybil Trewlaney was gone. Missing without a trace. If she had apparated, she had done so off school grounds and with no witness.

Later, it turned out she had not apparated at all, but went by floo powder, to some unknown location. Fontaine had sent out a word to the Congress informing them of the situation as well as to the Ministry in case she turned up overseas.

But as each day passed there were no new updates.

Cosette was taking it hard. So hard in fact, that Daphne had gotten special permission from Headmaster Fontaine to move into one of the private dorm rooms with Cosi for the time being. Normally used to house visitors or staff members, the two girls were relocated inside under the promise that they would stay diligent in their studies.

And so Daphne could support Cosi outside of school as well.

It was a spacious room, cool stone walls, Mayflower, the elderly groundskeeper escorted the two girls there on Monday night. Two twin beds had been conjured from them as well as a small desk and reading light. This far into the school, they were far removed from the normal chatter from the school.

Isolated.

Cosi had finally stopped crying by Thursday. Well, stopped long enough to return to the main dining hall where she was met with sympathy from her housemates. Few knew about Daphne's relationship with the Trewlaney family so while Cosi was sent well wishes, Daphne supported her friend and tried to find purpose in her studies.

It was on that day that she had found the note.

She had gone back to her dorm room to collect a few more pieces of clothing. While tugging at them she had bumped into her dresser causing a heavy, leather-bound book to clatter to the floor. It was about the Black Family, Sybil had instructed her to read over it again during the summer. Just as she had instructed her to do every summer since she came to this school. She practically had it memorized.

Their family tree, their allegiances, their ultimate downfalls.

Daphne had forgotten she had left it in there and sighed. Kneeling down, she scooped the book back up only for a folded up piece of parchment to fall out of the pages. She picked it up and her hands began to shake when she read the words:

I have not vanished, I will be back. You are ready, I will bring you what you need.

-Sybil Trewlany 31/8/2020

Dated from the day she went missing, Daphne crushed the note and stuffed it into her pocket. She knew she ought to tell someone. Headmaster Fontaine, one of the other professors, hell she should tell Cosi, before all of them.

But she couldn't.

Especially if this note meant what Daphne thought it did.

She was ready, Sybil had said. All of these years seemed to have been leading to this. All of the studying and the practicing and now it was time to see if she had done enough.

It was time to see if Sybil was right about her.

#

August 17th, 2015

Daphne stuck close to Cosette after that encounter in the great hall, Cosi seemed thrilled to have a friend that needed her as much as Daphne and chatted to her happily about all sorts of things. Her favorite spells, how far she had gotten her quill to levitate, what it was like growing up in a house completely run by magic.

A figure stopped in front of them out in the hall. She had wiry hair and wide eyes, enlarged by the thick-framed glasses she wore. A threadbare cloak in a moss green color, a long magenta skirt, the woman seemed to be muttering to herself.

Daphne was about to make her way past when Cosi stopped her.

"Mum!," She cried. "This is my friend Daphne. Daphne this is my mom Professor Trewlaney."

The woman smiled and continued muttering something under her breath. Daphne reached out her hand tentatively, which Sybil had clasped her own hands around in an instant. It seemed impossible, but Sybil's eyes seemed to get wider, as large as saucers as she stared down at Daphne.

"My girl, it is you. You have the great power I have been searching for." Daphne tried in vain to pull her hand away, but Trewlaney had it trapped in a vice-like grip. Even Cosette was beginning to look uncomfortable, tugging at her mother's sleeve.

"Mum, let her go, we have to get to class."

"Our paths will cross, Daphne. As your path will cross with those who wish it would not. Those who have come to pass and those who have not yet be. Watch for the signs, my dear, they are everywhere." She dropped Daphne's hand at once, patted her daughter on the head, and was on her way. Shuffling down the corridor.

"Sorry," Cosette said, looking down at her shoes. "Mum can be a bit weird."

She was embarrassed, Daphne realized. Sure it was a little odd, but the concept of being able to do magic at all was odd. Maybe this was how wizard parents were. Daphne was no expert on either No-Mag or wizarding parents to discern a difference.

"It's okay. Really, she seems nice," Daphne tried, and Cosi smiled up at her.

"She is, she really is. She makes the Eton Mess, you'll have to come by her room here and try it. Oh, what class do you have first? Potions, me too, let's walk together shall we?"

Daphne nodded and found a strange sort of comfort in Cosette's incessant ramblings. However, even as they walked together, Cosi's voice could not drown out what Trewlaney had said. It seemed like a promise more than a warning.

Watch for the signs, they are everywhere.