"Will somebody please tell us what the hell is going on?" asked Padma Patil.
After leaving the Great Hall the group had only grown in size as the Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors and corralled every student that they passed into following them. Their numbers had swelled to just over forty and now contained, amongst others, Padma, Lisa Turpin, Su Li, Eric Summerby, Roger Davies, Patricia Stimpson, Tamsin Applebee, Kenneth Towler, Jack Sloper, Andrew Kirke, Herbert Fleet, Marcus Belby, Colin and Dennis Creevey, Demelza Robbins, Vicky Frobisher, Stephen Cornfoot, Anthony Goldstein, Kevin Entwhistle, Luna Lovegood, Malcolm Preece, Toby Harper, Jimmy Peakes, Nigel Wolpert, Laura Madley, Eleanor Branstone, Natalie Macdonald, Emma Dobbs and Stewart Ackerly.
Initially the escaping Hufflepuffs had planned on retreating to their common room in order to discuss this latest development and what they should do next, however as their group as increased in size they had needed to rethink their destination. In the end they had settled on classroom 7B, a disused room that was located on the seventh floor, not too far away from the entrance to Gryffindor Tower.
Just like her Aunt had taught her, Susan performed a sweep of the room for monitoring charms before giving an answer.
Finding nothing to worry about she turned and addressed the rest of the group.
"Someone in this castle is up to something. This morning Harry Potter was due to eat breakfast at the Slytherin Table. Instead he sat at the Gryffindor Table where he began talking to Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger as if they were still friends. Neither of them seemed confused by this turn of events and nor did anyone else.
"After checking the food around us, Hannah and I discovered that most, if not all of it to be laced with some kind of potion. Ernie, Justin, Wayne, Lilith and Sally-Anne were the only other Hufflepuffs that we could alert to the problem."
"So you think that someone purposefully changed Harry's behaviour and then attempted to dose the rest of us with a potion that would force us to accept it without question?" asked Marcus Belby.
"We took some samples of the food with us when we left the hall," replied Ernie "But until a test proves otherwise, that is exactly what we think happened."
"So now what?" asked Lisa Turpin.
"Well we brought all of you here to stop you from getting drugged," said Hannah "Susan's going to send the same off to her Aunt with a letter explaining the situation. After that it's probably best that we wait here until help arrives to deal with the problem."
Susan called out for Tippy the House Elf that served the Bones family, but the Elf failed to appear. Slightly perturbed she called out again, but the Elf still did not appear.
"What's going on?" asked Colin.
"It would seem that something is preventing my House Elf from answering my summons," replied Susan.
She called out twice more, but with no better result than her previous attempts.
"Anyone else have a House Elf?" asked Hannah.
Daphne, Roger, Malcolm, Jack, Toby, Marcus, Laura, Neville, Bianca and Ernie all called out for their House Elves but no one got a response. In the end Pansy relented and called too, but had the same result."
"What do we do now?" asked little Natalie Macdonald.
"We could always try an owl," suggested Roger.
Susan shook her head "No, we can't risk someone watching out for owls. Whoever is behind this won't want word of it getting out."
"And who do we think is behind this?" asked Daphne.
Susan and Hannah shared a look before Hannah answered.
"Dumbledore."
That shocked the majority of the group.
It was a long time before anyone spoke again. Finally it was Bianca who broke the silence "You know, if we had a way to get to Hogsmeade, I'm sure we could make use of an owl in the Post Office."
"But even if we get to Hogsmeade we risk being caught there," said Padma.
"You're both technically right," said Katie "If we can get an owl and take it beyond the range of anyone watching, we can get the note through."
"That's all very well and good," said Geoffrey "But how are we supposed to smuggle an owl far enough out of Hogwarts without getting caught?"
Silence fell again until, at last, Neville spoke "Harry has a map that could help us…"
.....
Can't wait to read more exciting chapters then what are you waiting for Join my p*atreon right now.
Get 60+ Premium chapters.
Link: p*atreon.com/Earthly_Writer (Remove the *)
2 Chapters for all free members.