A Bright Star

Confrontations

Draco and Corvus knew something was wrong. There was a harsh pull at their core, prompting them to their feet.

And then it disappeared.

Almost as quickly as the almost overwhelming sense of urgency thrummed through their bodies it had just as quickly dissipated.

"Are you guys alright?" Pansy scooted closer to the edge of her seat, worry coating her tone.

Draco and Corvus exchanged looks. They had no idea what the sensation had been.

"Yea," Draco slowly drawled, sinking back into his seat. "Yea, I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" Caelum questioned further as Corvus took his seat next to him.

Corvus paused, feeling his magic, agitated as it was, begin to settle. "I think so."

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It was dinner when things began to escalate.

At the Slytherin table, the stoic faces were nothing new. But if one were to look closely, you'd see a change at the table. All first through third years were sitting clustered in the middle of the table, barricaded in by the fifth, then sixth, and finally the seventh years. The lower classmen court, with Alexander at the head, was dispensed amongst the younger years. Alexander, in particular, had sat amongst the first year boys. The upperclassmen court flanked the ends of the table, Terence sitting near the end closest to the main doors. Each student was tense, and while the table was normally quiet, there was an eerie silence that seemed to echo around each of them.

Terence was particularly pissed off.

Three of his firsties were missing and no one could find them. He had been expecting Corvus and Nicholas to ask for help regarding one of their classes, not for them to be flanked by an equally nervous Cayden and Caelum and inform him that Astoria, Lysandra, and Cassiopeia had never returned from the greenhouses.

Code Green went into effect immediately. And wasn't that a sad reality? They had procedures and an entire set up created amongst the court and prefects for students going missing – because it was that often of an occurrence.

Terence had quickly sought out Professor Snape, whose face had turned stone-cold. "Continue with the Code. I'll ask the other Professors. Perhaps Pomona has kept them back, Miss Greengrass does have a particular liking for the subject." Even the King could see the doubt in his Professor's words.

It had been hours since anyone had seen the three girls.

The only reasoning could be due to an attack and Terence once again cursed the stupidity of the students in the castle. While he still hated for any of his snakes to be targeted, attacking first and even second years made his blood boil because there was only so much they had learnt in that time to protect themselves. It was unfair and cowardly.

And hours later, they still had no word as to the whereabouts or status of his firsties.

A clenched jaw and shake of the head was all the signal Terence had gotten from the Professor at dinner when the House appeared as a group for the meal. There was no way he would allow his House to wander freely at the moment.

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Harry was on edge, though he wasn't sure why. Wait. He did know. He couldn't find Cassiopeia. This was their night to have dinner together and he knew Cassiopeia was looking forward to it as much as he was.

Despite what Ron teased him about, Cassiopeia was just as eager to bask in his attention as he was for hers. So where is she?

Looking closely, Harry noticed that Astoria and Lysandra were also missing from the table. Could they still be in the dorms? But no, because the first year boys were still there and none of them looked too happy. They were pushing their food around on their plates. Did one of the girls get sick? A cold shudder ran down his back. Is Cassiopeia ok?