The Empty Chamber (Harry Potter Next Generation Fanfiction)

Chapter Eighteen: Lydia

Lydia was glad when break was over, because to Al, break was nothing but one really, really long research opportunity. Yes, finding the kidnapper was important, but Lydia's sanity was also important. As was her sleep schedule, which directly correlated with how likely she was to fall to the floor in the common room before reaching a couch, her eyes staring vacantly at Scorpius's polished shoes. Scorpius was running out of excuses for her, so the start of classes and an end to Al's late night (or early morning, more like) scheming was a blessing for all parties involved.

Class as usual, however, wasn't quite class as usual. Something, small as it was, had changed since the last time Lydia had sat in a classroom, and she thought it had something to do with the people around her, and not the lessons themselves. She couldn't quite look at Ella the same way, knowing she had the Sword of Gryffindor at her command. And Genevieve? Once she had seen Genevieve with wings, Genevieve without them looked a bit too small. The Christmas day conference had, if anything, made Lydia uncomfortably aware of the existence of others in her school. All at once, her world had expanded from three people to twelve, and she was a bit overwhelmed by it.

Nonetheless, Lydia was glad for school to have started again, and glad that she had made it through a whole week without anything insane happening. She needed a break from secret libraries and self-healing witches, and was thinking that it was a rather well deserved break at that as she strode to breakfast one morning with Al and Scorpius just behind her.

"Let's just say, for the moment, the kidnapper isn't from the school, okay?" Al was saying, mostly to Scorpius, in a rather crazed tone. Lydia knew that she was lucky she didn't share a dorm with the boys, as Scorpius had once told her that Al had a habit of lying awake for hours, reconsidering his clues, before shaking Scorpius at an ungodly hour in the morning and running a new theory by him. Had she, too, been only four feet away from the green-eyed insomniac that was Albus Potter, she had the feeling that she may have long since punched him, and that was never good for maintaining friendships.

Al continued to ramble as they streamed into the Great Hall, "Even then, even if it's no one from our school, they need a motive. Which eliminates everyone without a motive. So we find the motive, we find the kidnapper!"

Scorpius hid a yawn lazily behind his hand. "Al, do you even hear yourself?" Al shot him a rather offended glare, so Scorpius added on, in a bored, drawling tone, "With love, Scorpius."

"Maybe," Al said with a dramatic sigh, "if I had friends who supported me and helped me find the solution, I wouldn't have come to this."

"Maybe," Scorpius said evenly, "if you let your friends sleep, you wouldn't have scared them away." Lydia smiled at that, sharing a knowing glance with Scorpius as they took their seats at the Slytherin table.

Al decided not to respond in favor of shoveling sausages onto his plate, a silly smile spreading onto his lips that he likely wasn't aware of. Lydia had barely bitten into her cinnamon roll when she was disrupted by the startling sound of Professor McGonagall's voice amplified from the front of the Hall, silencing all conversation in an instant. Lydia looked up sharply. They never started their day with announcements, so what did McGonagall have to say that couldn't wait until she got at least a moment of peace?

"Good morning, students," she said in her usual bristling tone. There was more, though, than Lydia remembered hearing. Professor McGonagall sounded uncomfortable, and vaguely upset. Every student waited, silent, for her to say more. "I regret to inform you that there has been another kidnapping." She paused, and a quiet ripple of whispers spread through the Hall. Lydia looked to Al, who sat frozen, eyes fixed on McGonagall, as an unpleasant feeling began to settle in her gut. "He was last seen yesterday, at dinner in the Great Hall, but never seemed to arrive at his dorms. The student was Jeremy Moreau, a Slytherin third year."