𝘋𝘈𝘕𝘊𝘐𝘕𝘎 𝘞𝘐𝘛𝘏 𝘖𝘜𝘙 𝘏𝘈𝘕𝘋𝘚 𝘛𝘐𝘌𝘋/𝘵𝘰𝘮 𝘳𝘪𝘥𝘥𝘭𝘦 (English version)

Chapter 70

Neville was running.

He didn't care about the confused stares that followed him.
He could only hear the blood pounding furiously in his ears. A certainty was burning inside him, weakening him with every passing second:

Sarah was gone.

No one had seen her leave the Room of Requirement. No one had heard a thing.
It was as if the castle itself had swallowed her into its ancient stones, erasing her without a trace.

Or worse.
Taken.

Neville had no doubt who he needed to confront.

The Slytherins.

He didn't waste time thinking. He didn't knock. He didn't hesitate.
He saw a boy with a green and silver tie coming out of the Slytherin common room, and before he even realized what he was doing, he grabbed him by the collar and slammed him against the damp stone wall with a dull thud.

"Open it. Now."

Enzo coughed, caught off guard.
"Are you out of your mind?" he croaked.

Neville pressed his wand against the boy's throat, his hand shaking with rage, not fear.
His voice came out low and rough.
"Password. Or I'll wipe your memory clean. I swear on everything I have."

The wall behind them shifted with a slick, hissing sound.
Neville shoved the boy aside without even looking at him and stepped through.

The Slytherin common room was bathed in a greenish light, filtered through the dark waters of the Black Lake.

Tom stood by a long dark table, surrounded by Theo, Draco, Blaise, and Mattheo. They were speaking in tense, hushed voices.
They turned sharply at Neville's entrance, brows furrowed, hands drifting instinctively toward their wands.

Neville didn't stop.
He didn't slow down.
He didn't ask for permission.

He was fury made flesh, his face carved by desperation, his breath ragged, his eyes red with anger and a grief too large to contain.

"WHERE THE HELL IS SARAH?!"

His voice thundered through the room, cutting through all other sounds.
For a moment, everything froze. Even the slow movement of the water beyond the glass seemed to pause.

Mattheo stiffened. Theo shot upright in his seat.
Blaise looked at him as if he couldn't believe what he'd just heard.

Tom didn't move. He stood still, jaw clenched, fingers twitching slightly at his sides. But in his eyes, in those deep, stormy blue eyes, something cracked. A tiny, almost invisible fracture.
"What?" he whispered.

Neville took a step forward. His hands were shaking violently, his breath came in gasps.
"You really have the nerve to pretend you don't know anything?!"
His eyes were burning.
"She's gone. No one saw her leave. No one heard anything. There's no sign. Nothing. She's vanished. And if someone took her, IT'S YOUR DAMN FAULT!"

Draco shifted slightly, lips curled in a sneer.
"What the hell are you implying, Longbottom?" he hissed.

Neville was on him in an instant, wand pointed at his chest without hesitation.
"You know exactly what I'm implying, Malfoy. You've always played both sides. First the Mark, then the Resistance. Always tangled up in our bloody mess."

Mattheo shot to his feet, his chair crashing behind him.
"Lower your voice before I make you choke on your own tongue, Longbottom."

Theo placed a hand on his chest to hold him back, but his face was pale as wax.