The Hollow Beneath Hogwarts

107. Fool Again

"This can't be happening." Hermione's voice sounded strained. Exhausted. Disbelieving. She rubbed both hands over her face before dropping them onto the table with a defeated sigh.

"How is this happening?"

Nobody answered. Mostly because nobody had an answer.

And partly because that was the seventh time Hermione had asked the exact same question in the last few minutes.

Ron looked up from where he was aggressively stabbing a roast potato. "That makes seven."

Hermione glared at him. "What?"

"You've said it seven times."

Hermione was tempted to throw her fork at him. "Because it doesn't make sense!"

"It didn't make sense the first six times either."

Hermione groaned.

Harry leaned back in his chair and stared at the enchanted ceiling. For once, even he seemed completely lost for words.

Which was never a good sign.

Sloane sat beside Draco with her head resting against his shoulder.

Her entire body trembled. Every muscle felt tight. Rigid. Her mind was racing so quickly she couldn't keep track of her own thoughts.

Fear. Anger. Disbelief. Worry.

They all crashed together inside her chest.

How had this happened? How could this happen? How could someone be so unbelievably stupid?

The man was an Auror. A trained Auror.

Someone whose entire job revolved around following procedure and protecting people.

And yet somehow Jack had decided that every warning, every order and every piece of information gathered over the last several weeks simply didn't apply to him.

Sloane's stomach twisted. She could still hear Colson's panicked voice. Still see him bursting through the office doors. Still feel the cold dread that had flooded the room. Her heart thudded painfully against her ribs. She was convinced everyone could hear it.

An hour. Only an hour.

Yet it felt like days.

Everything had happened so quickly.

Colson had practically collapsed through the office door. Pale. Sweating. Out of breath. Terrified.

At first nobody had understood what he was saying. His words had tumbled over one another. Half sentences. Broken explanations. Panicked warnings.

Then the truth had emerged.

Jack. Bloody Jack.

After Madam Pomfrey had fixed his face and restored his ears to their proper position, he and Colson had been making their way back towards the security office.

Apparently Jack had spent the entire journey complaining.

Again.

Everyone else was incompetent. Everyone else was overreacting. Everyone else was listening to children.

According to Jack, he was the only person with any sense.

When Colson had pointed out that those "children" included Harry Potter and two people capable of producing Blessed Fire...

Jack had lost his temper. Completely. The idiot had drawn his wand. Cast Petrificus Totalus. And left Colson lying in the middle of a first-floor corridor.