Forbidden Forest Hunt

Hogwarts mornings should have awakened as usual to the flutter of owl wings and the clamor of students, but on this day, the castle was shrouded in an unnatural, deathly silence.

Dumbledore and Harry Potter had been missing for a full twenty-four hours.

Before the fireplace in the Gryffindor Common Room, Ron and Hermione had waited from before dawn until daylight, their eyes red from exhaustion, yet no news ever came.

They had no idea where Harry had gone. Harry had only said that he would be accompanying Dumbledore on a top-secret mission to destroy Horcruxes.

Hermione sat across from him with a copy of Advanced Spell Analysis open on her knees, yet she had not turned a single page. Her hands were clenched tightly together, her knuckles white, her lips pressed into a thin line. Those brown eyes that usually gleamed with intelligence were now veiled with mist. She was not crying; she merely bit her lower lip hard, as though using pain to force herself to stay awake.

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"Have you noticed," she said softly, "that ever since last term, Harry has seemed more and more... wrong? Sometimes he talks to the air by himself. During that conflict with Seamus, he actually used a spell to attack a dormmate right in front of everyone... And that time at the Department of Mysteries, he burned through that door with black flames. It looked a little like Dark Arts..."

Her voice grew softer and softer, until it was nearly inaudible.

Ron abruptly raised his head, his red hair like burning fire in the morning light. He wanted to say something comforting, but his throat seemed blocked. He could only swallow hard.

"Don't overthink it. They'll be fine," he finally forced out, though he did not believe it himself.