Into The Light (Golden Trio Era) {2}

Poor Old Bode

"Oh my-" Hermione breathed when she began a new page of the Prophet. "What now?" Harry quickly responded, he was anxious. "It's... horrible," she choked out, forcing the story away from herself.

TRAGIC DEMISE OF MINISTRY OF MAGIC WORKER

St. Mungo's Hospital promised a full inquiry last night after Ministry of Magic worker Broderick Bode, 49, was discovered dead in his bed, strangled by a potted-plant. Healers called to the scene were unable to revive Mr. Bode, who had been injured in a workplace accident some weeks prior to his death. Healer Miriam Strout, who was in charge of Mr. Bode's ward at the time of the incident, has been suspended on full pay and was unavailable for comment yesterday, but a spokeswizard for the hospital said in a statement, "St. Mungo's deeply regrets the death of Mr. Bode, whose health was improving steadily prior to this tragic accident. "We have strict guidelines on the decorations permitted on our wards but it appears that Healer Strout, busy over the Christmas period, overlooked the dangers of the plant on Mr. Bode's bedside table. As his speech and mobility improved, Healer Strout encouraged Mr. Bode to look after the plant himself, unaware that it was not an innocent Flitterbloom, but a cutting of Devil's Snare, which, when touched by the convalescent Mr. Bode, throttled him instantly. "St. Mungo's is as yet unable to account for the presence of the plant on the ward and asks any witch or wizard with information to come forward.

"Bode..." Ron mumbled. "Bode. It rings a bell..." "We saw him," Hermione answered. "In St. Mungo's, remember? He was in the bed opposite Lockhart's, just lying there, staring at the ceiling. And we saw the Devil's Snare arrive. She- the Healer- said it was a Christmas present..." "How come we didn't recognize Devil's Snare...? We've seen it before.. we could've stopped this from happening..." She said miserably. "Hermione, there was no way we could have realized. No one expects Devil's Snare to show up looking like a potted plant." Mikayla reassured her genius friend, "Whoever sent it to the bloke is to blame! They must be a real prat, why didn't they check what they were buying?" Ron added angrily, skimming over the article again. "Oh come on, Ron!" Hermione scoffed, "I don't think anyone could put Devil's Snare in a pot and not realize it tries to kill whoever touches it? This- this was murder... A clever murder, as well...If the plant was sent anonymously, how's anyone ever going to find out who did it?" "Don't say that so loudly," Mikayla warned her, "I met Bode," Harry came to a realization and looked up at Ron, "I saw him at the Ministry with your dad..." Ron's mouth fell open, "I've heard Dad talk about him at home! He was an Unspeakable- he worked in the Department of Mysteries!" They all exchanged looks and Hermione took her newspaper back.

Hermione looked at the cover one more time and jumped to her feet. "Where are you going?" Ron asked, being startled by her. "To send a letter," She answered and swung her overflowing bag onto her shoulder. "It... well, I don't know whether... but it's worth trying... and I'm the only one who can..." "Do you know what she's talking about?" Mikayla asked both Ron and Harry. "When do we ever?" Ron sighed, they all got up too, but much slower than Hermione. "Would it kill her to tell us what she's up to for once? It'd take her about ten more seconds- hey, Hagrid!" He was standing near the entrance of the Great Hall, his path seemed blocked by a large group of Ravenclaw's passing by so he was waiting it out. "All righ', you three?" He asked when they got closer to him. "Are you okay, Hagrid?" Harry asked casually, "Fine, fine," He dismissed the question and started shuffling along to wherever he was originally headed. "Jus' busy, yeh know, usual stuff- lessons ter prepare- couple o' salamanders got scale rot- an' I'm on probation," "Probation?" Mikayla said a little too loudly in disbelief, "For what, exactly?" " 'S'no more'n I expected, ter tell yeh the truth. Yeh migh' not've picked up on it, bu' that inspection didn' go too well, yeh know... anyway," He mumbled, "Bes' go and rub a bit more chili powder on them salamanders or their tails'll be hangin' off 'em next. See yeh, be good you three." They watched him so solemnly, they all knew they couldn't do anything to help even though they really wished to.
-

Before they realised it, January had passed and February had begun. The loads of homework the teachers dumped on fifth years was catching up to Mikayla, that, Quidditch, the Elites and D.A. kept her buried and gasping for relief. 

The next Hogsmeade visit was upon them though, hopefully, it would prove to relieve some of the built-up stress. They had all assumed they were going together, as a group, since it was on Valentine's day and no one wanted to make it awkward. The morning of, Hermione had made sure they were up relatively early and down for breakfast as soon as possible. The girls didn't bother waiting for the boys. Hermione was anxiously tapping on the table, refusing to eat for some time, Mikayla was just trying to keep from falling asleep. Hermione nearly leaped from the table though, when the post arrived. She had to fight with the owl to get the letter out of its beak, but she did and eagerly tore it open. At the same time, Ron and Harry had arrived and gotten seated.

Hermione sped through the letter and looked awfully pleased when she finished with it.  "Listen, Harry," She thudded her hand down on the table in kind of an 'this is urgent and I need your full attention' way. "This is really important... We need to be at the Three Broomsticks at midday. And Mikayla, I think it would benefit us more if you were there too."  "Might I know what for?" He asked.  "I haven't got time to tell you now, I've got to answer this quickly-" She got up unexpectedly, grabbing toast for the road and rushing out of the Great Hall.  "I can't!?!" Mikayla shouted after her, she just waved back without even looking as her answer.  "Are you coming?" Harry sighed and turned to Ron who was now on his third plate of eggs. "I can't come into Hogsmeade at all, Alicia wants a full day's training. Like it's going to help- we're the worst team I've ever seen. You should see Sloper and Kirke, they're pathetic, even worse than I am. I dunno why Alicia won't just let me resign..." He sulked  "It's because you're good when you're on form, that's why," Harry said rather irritably.  "Wait, let me get this right, you're not coming either?" Harry asked Mikayla, she shook her head 'no'.  "So I am just going to walk around by myself for a few hours?" Harry asked, a bit on edge. "Hello Harry!" A cheerful greeting erupted behind them, "I was wondering if you'd like to come to Hogsmeade with me?" Cho asked, this girl had impeccable timing, "I'd love to Cho." Harry smiled at her, he turned back to his friends, "see you at dinner." "Have fun." Mikayla smiled in return sharing a friendly nod with Cho. "Right Ron let's get to training before Alicia rips our heads off." The pair left their breakfast and headed down to the quidditch pitch.