Son Of Riddle

Chapter Twenty- Benjamin's past/ Dr. McGonnagle

It had been about a month since the Chaos Quartet had been given their title. It was an off day and the quartet had decided to spend the day together, but take a break from the shenannegans for the day to give the teacher's a break. They had really started to make an impact, the only teacher that didn't fear them all together in one place was George Weasley, and that's because he was a tad proud of them, he had been in their shoes once. It was a crisp october day and the quartet were gathered in the great hall studying and eating lunch, only benjamin had given them the slip, and hadn't joined them for one reason or another. James had started to notice Benjamin's unexplained absences at mealtimes and it was becoming mildly concerning, so he brought it up with the rest of the quartet.
"Maybe he just takes the food and eats it in his dormitory?" Lucy suggested.
"We'd see him take it and leave, we usually get here before anyone else." James countered.
"He's got a point..." Adam began. "But there is a chance he goes straight to the kitchens and gets food. We all know how much he doesn't like other people."
"True..." Lucy said.
"But my question is, how could he have gotten access to the kitchens? It's incredibly hard to find, and I'm pretty sure there's a password you have to know." James said.
"The house elves?" Adam suggested. "Have you seen his grades in care of magical creatures? He charms those things like he's done it his whole life, I'm pretty sure the house elves would accept him like, their leader or something."
"Aww I wanted to be their leader." Lucy joked.
Adam rolled his eyes, and James hid a smile.
"I know, I'm too hilarious." Lucy said flatly.
"Anyways," Adam continued. "It is possible he convinced the house elves to let him into the kitchen and take food."
"Yeah..." James contemplated.
"I miss when he'd eat with us, we got to spend more time with him." Lucy complained.
"We might try asking him?" Adam suggested.
"We could...but I don't think he'd appreciate being put in a state of confrontation." Lucy said.
"I think she's right..." James agreed. "However if he isn't eating, which is still a possibility on the table, I think confrontation is what he needs in order to actually feed himself."
"Yeah, that's true." Adam agreed.
"So...knowing Benjamin, if he's not in his dormitory, he's either in the owlry, or in the forbidden forest." Adam said.
"Yeah. Should we split up to look for him or just look for him together? It would be faster to look for him separately, but-"
"I don't want to split up." Lucy immediately said.
"...Alright, we'll search together then." James said, giving Lucy a strange look.
Lucy fixed her eyes on the ground.
Adam eyed the two of them. "I suggest we look in the owlry first, since it's closer."
"Agreed." James said.
They put their schoolbooks in their respective bags and set off in search of their friend.

"Why the heck is the owlry so high?" Lucy asked in awe, a touch of fear undertoning her voice as she looked out the window from the staircase leading up to the owlry.
"Afraid of heights?" James asked.
Lucy jumped away from the window. "No!" She said indignantly...but then she put her hands in her robes pockets and looked at the ground. "...A little bit."
James laughed. "The owlry is safe, you'll be fine." He walked up the steps from her, his head spinning. What the heck? His heart was pounding out of his chest and there was a strange feeling in his stomach, like nausea but not quite? Was he obtaining a fear of heights?
"You ok there Mate?" Adam asked from next to him. "You're looking a little red."
"Yes?" James said with an air of uncertainty.
Adam raised an eyebrow at him, confused, but let it go.
After a few more minutes of walking in awkward silence, they reached the owlry.
Lucy immediately gasped and ran towards the first snowy owl she saw. The bird flew away, distressed, but came back once it saw Lucy was anything but a threat. Lucy burst out laughing as the owl found a perching spot on top of her head.
They all looked around the nooks and crannies of the owlry, but finally a small flash of bright red fabric caught their attention.
"Jamie?" Adam called.
The answer they received was a startled squeak that any normal person would have though was an owl, but the quartet knew Benjamin well enough to know that sound was him.
They finally found him in front of a wood pillar, looking out the window at the grounds below him.
"It's nice up here." He said. He had several owls crowded around him and he was stroking them all affectionately. His dark eyes were glassy and he sat seemingly emotionless.
Lucy sat down next to him, and the owl on her head moved to Benjamin's.
"You like birds, Jamie?"
"Most of them." Was all he said.
The rest of the quartet sat down with him, sensing something was off.
"Everything alright, bud?" Adam asked.
Benjamin looked up at him and put a smile on his face. "Yep, why wouldn't everything be alright?"
"Because I can smell a liar from two miles away, and you sir, reek." James said.
Benjamin looked at the owl in his lap. "Everything's fine." He said. He was beginning to sound agitated.
Lucy put a hand on his shoulder. "You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to, but everything is clearly not fine. It's not good to bottle up feelings, you know? We understand, we're still new friends and if you aren't ready to share everything with us yet, that's ok, but we're here for you. You can tell us anything."
Benjamin hesitated before doing anything, he just sat there frozen in place. "I can tell you anything...?"
"Absolutely anything." Adam confirmed. "And we won't tell anyone if you don't want us to. You can trust us."
Those last words seemed to break Benjamin and his eyes welled up in tears.
"Hey, it's ok don't cry." Lucy said. She wrapped her arms around him and patted his head, causing the owl to fly away, alarmed, and he stiffened at the sudden hug.
Lucy pulled away from him and the owl flew back onto his head.
"Are you sure you want me to tell you? It's a bit...sad." Benjamin said, wiping his eyes.
"Positive, tell us all there is." James said.
"Ok..." Benjamin sajd.