Harry Potter and the Ties that Bind

Chapter 19

"What do you mean Harry just disappeared?" Tracey asked as they all sat down for lunch.

Daphne sat with Susan on her left and Astoria on her right. Hannah and Terry were also on her side. Tracey was sitting opposite her, along with Neville, Blaise, and Lisa.

It was lunch period. She, Tracey, and Blaise had just finished their third period class, which had been Transfiguration. Professor McGonagall had been the same as always. During class, she and the others had listened to Professor McGonagall give a lecture on animagi, and the difficulty of becoming one. She hadn't seen Harry again, but Gryffindor didn't share transfiguration with Slytherin this year.

"Exactly that, Trace," Daphne said. "Harry Potter appeared in class. We tried to follow him after class. He disappeared."

Susan nodded. "I don't really know how he did it. We followed him around a corner, but he'd vanished by the time we turned. What's more, he didn't have his invisibility cloak on him."

"He could have had it in his bookbag," Lisa pointed out.

"No, he didn't have his bookbag with him," Susan said, shaking her head.

"What do you think we should do?" Asked Neville.

"I think we need to confront him, and force him into telling us why he's avoiding us." Tracey slammed her left fist into her right palm. "Even if we have to beat it out of him!"

Everyone stared at Tracey for several seconds, until the girl squirmed underneath the attention of so many flat-looking eyes, and then they looked back at each other.

"Okay. So, does anyone have a feasible plan to confront Harry?" Terry asked.

"I hate you all," Tracey grumbled.

"We definitely need to confront him," Blaise said. "However, we'll have to do so in such a way that he can't escape."

"Slytherin shares fifth period with Gryffindor," Neville said. "During that time, we'll have four people. If we can surround him before he can escape, then we can get him to talk."

"Yeah!" Tracey cheered. "And if talking doesn't work, then we can let our fists do the talking!"

"Since when have you been so violent?" Terry asked.

Daphne listened to all of her friends suggestions, and while a part of her agreed with them, another was worried. Somehow, she didn't think this would turn out the way that any of them expected.

XoX

The Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom looked a lot different than it had last year. Last year, the DADA classroom had been pomp and decorative, filled with moving portraits of curly blond hair and the dazzling smile of an idiot. This year, it looked more like a plain classroom--except all of the desks had been placed against the walls and only a single armoire stood in the center of the room.

Standing behind a desk as Daphne and the others walked in, Professor Lupin looked the picturesque image of a professor--even if he was shoddily dressed.

"I would like to welcome all of you to your third year of Defense Against the Dark Arts," Professor Lupin said. "My name is Remus Lupin, and I'll be your instructor for the foreseeable future."

I think Professor Lupin might be the most normal teacher we've had for this class, Daphne thought to herself, frowning as she looked around the room. Harry's not here.

"Before we start the lesson, allow me to give you a brief overview of what we're going to learn," Professor Lupin continued. "During this year, half of our focus is going to be on learning more about dangerous creatures--dark creatures such as werewolves, grindylow, and vampires. The other half is going to be spent learning defensive spells that can be used to defend yourself against these dark creatures. At the end of the year, I plan on giving all of you a practical test, which will show me how well you've learned everything that I've taught you."