Slytherin Tales: The Divine Seven

Chapter 17: The Mystery of the Missing Staff

Word Count: 1,630

Chapter 17: The Mystery of the Missing Staff

Val and I told our friends about what happened and they expressed their displeasure and sympathy. It was now the evening and I was in the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom serving my detention. Professor Spinster was overseeing it at my request as I had remembered the advice I was given long ago. Leon was serving his detention with Professor Knox, while Val and Theodore had already had theirs earlier that morning. I was mainly just made to clean the classroom, dusting and wiping everything down as well as scraping gum off the underside of the tables and desks. It was pretty easy. I hadn't spoken to Jason since the previous night, and it left a bad taste in my mouth and bad feeling in my gut. I was in the middle of scraping gum off one of the desks while brooding over the situation when suddenly, the caretaker, Ignatius Graves, came bursting in for help. Professor Spinster was called away and I was left alone in the classroom. I finished cleaning while she was away, and waited for her to return.

While away, I began looking through the classroom. I hadn't ever seen it all up close like this before. There were tons of shelves with dark arts books, defensive spells, and the like. There were also a couple of cages with magical creatures asleep inside. There was also a large wooden cabinet behind the teacher's desk. I grabbed the handle and tried to open it, but it was locked and I didn't have the motivation to try any further. Instead, after investigating, I grabbed one of the books, sat on top of one of the desks, and began reading. It was almost a full hour before Professor Spinster finally returned. She looked extremely frazzled, her usually kind and cheery eyes were full of distress and confusion.

"Did anyone come in here while I was away?" she asked worriedly. I shook my head no in response. "Off to bed then, and no dawdling!" she commanded. I did as I was told and immediately went to bed with no idea as to what would come next.

The following day, I was in the Great Hall eating lunch with Elliot, Rubina, Sable, and Val discussing the week's events as well as detention. Since it was our off day, we were dressed in normal clothes rather than our usual school uniform. Much of the staff seemed to be missing, which was rather odd, and the older students seemed to be unsettled. There was much hushed whispering among the hall and the usual ruckus was no more than disturbed murmuring.

"It was rather odd, when she came back she seemed worried about something," I finished off the story.

"Weird, I wonder what happened," Rubina puzzled.

"Not a clue, but I think the room knows something we don't," I mused, listening to the eerily quiet and serious chatter.

"I heard a rumor going around that a student was killed last night," Elliot chimed in solemnly.

"A student? Killed? In the castle?" I asked. He nodded.

"There's no place safer than Hogwarts, rumors are just rumors," Sable snorted.

"Well something is going on..." I was about to continue, but we were interrupted by the sudden appearance of Professor Wolfram. I would've been glad to see him, but one look at his expression gave me the impression that something was wrong.

"Miss Sinclair, I need you to come with me," he says, his voice low and direct. I did as he instructed, bidding my friends goodbye, and following him. I was a little confused the entire time he led me, and I started to become concerned when I realized where he was taking me. I'd only been to this part of the castle once when I was hanging out with Jason. Professor Wolfram used a spell on a large statue of a bird-like creature. We stepped onto the staircase as it ascended upwards. We were heading to the headmaster's office.