The Girl Who Saw Tomorrow III » Harry Potter

3.12 | The Vanishing

Over the next week, shocking news broke out throughout the Wizarding and Muggle worlds, sending the Ministry of Magic into a frenzy.

They were doing their very best to pretend that the wizarding community had nothing to do with what had happened, that it had been an unfortunate Muggle event and nothing more. It almost seemed as though Voldemort's henchmen were trying to protect the werewolves - either because they were on the same side or because they feared they would be attacked if they did not help.

However, anyone who had caught a glimpse of the Muggle news would consider it impossible that the deaths had occurred due to non-magical reasons.

"Reports are still coming in about one of the most shocking cases of mass disappearance that our country has ever seen," the muggle TV reporter was saying, her face grim. "We don't yet have an accurate number of victims, but it is estimated that around fifty to sixty people went missing from a well-known campsite overnight. Oddly enough, they took none of their belongings, not even their cars or any money. So far, the police haven't reported finding any tracks out of the campsite or anything suspicious in the woods that surround it.

So, what did happen? Did people vanish into thin air? Is this the work of something supernatural? Will we ever discover the answers? Join us tonight at 6 PM where we discuss potential theories-"

The television kept playing dully in the background as the remote flew across the room and clattered to the ground. But launching the plastic device hardly cooled Sirius's anger and frustration.

This was all he already knew. The pictures and videos of the clean and proper campsite was all he had seen with his very eyes. There was nothing out of place, no blood or broken caravans, no bodies, not a single soul in sight.

It had been eerie, Sirius remembered. The forest had been too silent. And yet, there was nothing threatening in sight, not even when they had searched with magic.

They had been told by Markus that Margaret had dived into the water to save him, and that was where he had last seen her. So they checked the shorelines as well as the river the best they could. But once again returned empty-handed.

As the day went on, it became difficult to keep looking as the Muggle police had been made aware of what had happened to the campsite and investigators were beginning to swarm the area.

The next day, Order's teams took to searching the miles-long canals. Yet a body had not been discovered.

By the time their search ended, Muggle officials had crowded around the forest, making it impossible for them to go back to re-check the entire area for the third time with magic.

Sometime during the past few days, Tonks and her father Ted had taken up the job of visiting Muggle hospitals where Margaret could have ended up.

They had returned empty-handed.

However, it was a known fact that Margaret could travel hundreds of miles within the space of a heartbeat. Hence Fleur had sent a word to her uncle who worked at the French Ministry. Fleur's uncle managed to reach out to several wizarding hospitals, but there was no sign of someone who could fit Margaret's description.

All of this only raised the Order's suspicions about Markus.

On one hand, he was too injured to stay awake for a full round of questioning but insisted on bearing the pain so long as he could provide all the information he could. On the other hand, despite his injuries, the Order members were beginning to doubt his story.

They had found no conclusive evidence that Margaret had been with him that night as he had not come to the Burrow to pick her up, nor did they have any proof that the two of them went to the campsite which looked hardly out of place.