Screams

Thirty-Three

"I think it's You Know Who," Natalie was saying, "I mean who else is powerful enough to possess someone-"

"Natalie, we've had this discussion a hundred times," George replied, as he pulled a plate of food towards him. The two were sat at the very end of the Hufflepuff table in the great hall, which was heavily decorated with tinsel and Christmas trees, this all made Calliope realise that it was Christmas. She had completely lost track of time.

"I know, but I'm sure Dumbledore knows who it was, the only reason that he wouldn't tell us would be because it's You Know Who," Natalie insisted.

George put his head down on the table and groaned, "I can't keep having the same discussion with you Nats."

Calliope frowned to herself, when had George and Natalie gotten so close?

Across the hall, Calliope could see the other two members of the Weasley family- Ginny and Ron, both of whom looked perfectly safe, and not in any way injured or maimed by Voldemort.

"Don't you want to get them back?" Natalie asked.

"How can you even ask that?" George demanded, "Fred is my brother! Of course, I want to get him back, but there's no point going over the same point over and over again!"

"Okay, okay, sorry, I didn't mean that it's just- what else can we do other than talk about it? We can't actually do anything, can we? Dumbledore's got the whole place on lockdown!"

"I know," George shook his head, "I can't stand doing nothing either, but you can't keep saying the same thing again and again, or I'm going to go insane!"

"Aren't you already?"

"Shut up!"

Just at that moment, Calliope glanced up towards the staff table and noticed that Dumbledore was not there, this puzzled her greatly, as it was fairly unusual for the headmaster to miss any meal time.

She got to her feet and made an almost immediate decision to go and seek out the man, as whatever he was doing had to be important. 

Calliope hurried through the empty halls, unseen and unheard by even the ghosts of Hogwarts, many of whom breezed straight past her she made her way towards the headmaster's office. This was where she thought she would be most likely to find her professor. 

She was correct. She passed effortlessly through the stone gargoyle, and then through Dumbledore's office door. Calliope found herself in the circular office with Dumbledore and another man with whom she was very familiar-her godfather, Remus Lupin, sat across the desk from the headmaster, the two were deep in conversation.

"You really have nothing, Professor?" Remus was asking.

"I'm sorry Remus, but I do not," Dumbledore said, "Alistar has been looking, and am doing everything that I can, but it seems as though Lord Voldemort has taken Fred Weasley and disappeared off of the face of the earth."

Remus sighed in frustration, "I don't know how much more Elphias can take Albus. He's turning his hair even whiter with his fretting and worrying over Calliope."

"Well, I know it isn't much comfort, but I do not believe that Voldemort will have killed either Fred or Calliope. I believe that Elphias and the Weasley family are actually in more danger of Voldemort's wrath than their missing relatives. Voldemort has a use for Fred and Calliope, to get them to cooperate he will use their families-"

"Just like he did last time," Remus finished with another sigh.

"Yes. But remember this Remus, we must maintain hope and belief, because without that everything is already lost."