The Light

Chapter 55- The Recruits

Hermione turned yet another corridor, eyebrows furrowing even deeper when she found it empty. She'd been searching for almost an hour now, and she was sure her eyes had scanned every accessible inch of the castle (most likely, the inaccessible too) to no avail. Her friends were nowhere to be found.

She'd woken up late, and told Lily to go down to breakfast without her. But when Hermione had finally gotten to the Great Hall, not one of them was in sight. Luckily, Alice had called her over and she had sat with her and Frank, laughing and talking about the Herbology homework. Hermione's heart had warmed when Frank had started a small dispute with his girlfriend over Fanged Geranium; she could see Neville shining through them both.

Now, though, she was stood in an empty corridor, as equally empty as every other part of the school she had already visited, thoroughly confused. She couldn't find anyone! She let out a small, frustrated huff and continued walking, turning around the next corner.

Hermione's spirits perked.

"Avery!"

He didn't look pleased to see her, but then again, he never did and today he looked a little less displeased than usual so she took it as an achievement. He crossed his arms and looked down at her.

"What?"

"How are you?" She asked pleasantly.

"Good."

Hermione waited. She cocked her head at him, then rolled her eyes and said sarcastically, "Yes, I'm very well, thank you ever so much for asking."

He simply stared at her. She pulled a face and said, "Have you seen any of my friends?"

A small smirk curled his lips and his eyes never wavered from her. "Ah, that's what you want. No, I haven't seen any of your horrible growths around this morning."

Hermione groaned loudly, then shot him a look at his rudeness.

"Speaking of your missing pets," Avery said, unaffected. "Have you seen Regulus lately?"

Hermione felt a frown pull at her face. "No," she said slowly. "Should I have?"

He raised his eyebrows. "No. I was just wondering. I haven't seen him around in a while."

She squinted at this information. Avery didn't seem overly concerned, merely curious, so she didn't take it as a cue to be worried about the younger boy. Even so, she felt her throat tighten ever so slightly.

She coughed and said, "It's fine. He's fine. He's a big boy, perfectly capable of looking after himself."

Avery narrowed his eyes at her, eyebrows knitted together.

Hermione continued, "It's a big enough castle that it's completely feasible that he's on one side of it and we're always on another-"

"Hermione," Avery started.

"-and just because you haven't seen him in a while isn't any indication that something terrible has happened-"

"Hermione!"

She stopped. His hands had come up to grip her shoulders, to shake her out of her nervous rant. She cleared her throat and stepped out of his reach.

Avery dropped his arms and said quietly, "Like you said, he's a big boy. I didn't ask to freak you out, I was merely curious."

"I know," she sighed, running a hand through her knotted hair. "I just can't help but worry about him-"

"Do you worry about me?"