The Spark {Book 5 in the Star of Gryffindor Series}

Chapter 32 - The Damning Evidence

The Daily Prophet
Issue No. 102,191
20 May, 2020

Cassie Williams Still Not Found

In a search that was expected to only last a few days, aurors are hunting tirelessly for five year old Cassie Williams, the child of a muggle couple that was murdered two weeks ago by one of Caymus Stillens's agents. It appears as if the child has completely disappeared, according to one source, and officials are baffled in the face of a case with absolutely no evidence...

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"Do you know where Colette is?"

"No," Wren said, glancing up from her book. "I haven't seen her since Herbology."

Albus frowned. "But you had Ancient Runes today."

"I guess she skipped."

I met Albus's eyes. No one ever seemed to know where Colette was anymore. She was only showing up to class about half the time. She appeared at meals late and sat alone at the end of the Gryffindor table. She wasn't in the Room of Requirement, because we'd checked. Wren had gotten the Marauder's Map from James once or twice and we'd located her wandering the halls, or outside, or holed up in an empty classroom in an unused wing of the castle.

Albus and I were beginning to wonder if we were keeping an eye on the wrong person in the pair, because Wren seemed remarkably normal, if more stressed out than average, something she contributed to O.W.L.s. That made sense, of course, though I wasn't sure that that was all. She did seem worried about Colette, of course, but I'd already proclaimed that if Colette wanted to sulk because we wouldn't say the headmasters were insane, then that was fine, and she could come join us whenever she felt like being mature again. Wren had finally given up arguing the point, and now avoided the topic all together.

"Do you think she's still creating spells?" I asked after a few minutes of staring at my Arithmacy textbook and only seeing the thoughts that were whirling through my head.

Wren shrugged. "How would I know?"

"Don't you ever talk to her anymore?" Albus asked slowly.

"You're mad at her, and she's upset about it and shoving everyone away," Wren said, a slight edge to her voice. "So no, I haven't talked to her lately."

"I don't know why she's mad," I said, rolling my eyes. "Not my fault she's being ridiculous. And we're not mad at her."

"Does she know that?"

"She would if she wasn't being so stubborn."

"As if you've never been stubborn." Wren shook her head. "I don't know what's gotten into you two, actually. Making both James and Colette angry at you in one day, and then not speaking to them for this long? I don't know what you did, but I've never seen either of them this bad."

"James is being a stubborn prat," Albus said, rolling his eyes. "He's making a big deal out of nothing."

"So why won't any of you tell me what it is?"

"Because it's not important," I said, frowning. "James is just being James."

"This is worse than normal," Wren argued.

"No, this is worse than what you've seen," Albus corrected. "He's been this way before, just not around you."

"Well, then, this is him falling back to immaturity, which has to be just as bad."

I sighed. "It's not a big deal, okay?" I made a point of flipping to the next page in my textbook. "I don't understand this potion. Care to help?"

Wren narrowed her eyes at me, but didn't try to change the subject back. By the time she'd explained the potion, it was getting close to dinner, and Albus kept up a constant chatter as we walked downstairs. That's sort of how the days had been going. We'd get dangerously close to the topic of James, and Albus and I would have to put all of our efforts into pulling Wren away from it.