Daisies • HP Next Generation

The Room of Inquiry

Chapter 30: The Room of Inquiry

Daisy sat alongside Albus, Eliza and Jonathan in the Headmistress' office. Daisy had never been to McGonagall's office before, but she imagined that under normal circumstances, it wasn't so crowded.

The four chairs that the freed prisoners were seated in, as well as the chair McGonagall sat in, were the only ones that had already been present upon their entry. The other strange variety of chairs, some with armrests, some completely of wood, and some with no backing at all, had come from various aurors or teachers that had quite literally drawn them up.

One of the Hogwarts nurses was there too. He was allowed to stay to do some kind of health scan on Albus and Eliza when many others were ushered out.

"Surely you have better ways to spend your time!" McGonagall had squawked at the extra aurors. "And this is not the time for news interviews, Miss Weasley, how did you even get in here. Out, the lot of you!"

Daisy recognized the girl, Dominique Weasley, from her time at the Burrow that Summer. Dominique moved aside for the aurors to walk past her, still holding a quill and pad of paper, looking expectantly of the students.

"Miss Weasley," the gruff voice of one of the aurors said. He placed a hand on her arm and directed her out.

Dominique looked back at them with frustration. "I'd let you read through it before I published!" she insisted. "I could wait a few days for your approval, but the public should know -" Dominique halted her protest after she caught the eye of her uncle Ron. She allowed herself to be escorted out.

Left behind were those seated at the desk with Daisy, along with Harry, the nurse, Malia guarded by Ron Weasley, and McGonagall herself. Moments later, Jonas entered the room, Professor Flitwick at his side.

"I know you may be tired," McGonagall began.

Daisy looked out the window. It was dark out, but not so late that the students should have been ready to sleep, although, Daisy realized that the Headmistress had probably been addressing Albus and Eliza, not her.

"But," she continued, "we need to piece together this story as soon as possible."

The students nodded. Daisy tried to turn her head discreetly to get a glimpse of Malia, the only student not seated around the desk with them. The older girl was sat slumped on a stool, her hands tied in her lap, eyes downcast and nearly completely hidden by her hair. She had only just woken up from being stunned, and had not yet attempted anything that would cause trouble.

McGonagall talked a little bit more about what was already known, and then she indicated for Eliza to speak, as she had been the first taken.

"No," Arianne interrupted. "I know almost everything about this," she hesitated. "Experiment. I'll tell it."

Malia made a sound resembling one a cornered cat might make, but Arianne didn't look back or in any way acknowledge that she had heard her sister.

"This all started years ago when our mother fell ill. We were told she had cancer, a disease that wizards are known to be resistant towards. It's something only muggles are supposed to get, apparently, and therefore, little magical research has been done on it. We were forced to resort to using muggle treatment, and it failed."

"Failed is a light way to phrase that," Malia interrupted. "We should have known better than to go to the muggles! Their methods of killing cancer hurt the patient as well. And even after all of that, nothing good was accomplished! They only made things worse!"