Have Any Theories?
Minnie was enjoying herself quite thoroughly at the Gryffindor party. She decided to take a bit of her mother's advice and noticed her stomach didn't hurt when she ate a little bit. She partook in a few pasties.
She enjoyed herself, but nowhere near to the level that Alice was. She was surrounded by a literal throng of admirers from all the years. Everyone wanted to know how she'd managed to become so good at being Keeper. Alice was a peony shade of pink, but was more than willing to relay her training schedule.
Josie had been oddly quiet during the whole party. Then again she couldn't exactly talk and snog Hector Owens, Gryffindor's Beater who was in their year. They were rather entwined in each other's embrace near the back of the common room.
"Congratulations." Minnie exclaimed to Josie after she had come up from air. Josie had made her way over to Minnie and Lysander as it seemed Hector had sidled off with a group, including Cody to go down to the kitchens for more pasties.
"Oh yeah, snogging for thirty minutes is certainly a record." Josie wiped her mouth a little.
"She meant the game." Lysander rolled his eyes.
Minnie chuckled, "But Hector seems a fine fellow."
"He's alright." Josie laughed but darted her eyes towards Alice and her admirers. "Game was fine I suppose."
"Better than alright." Lysander exclaimed, "It was incredible. You have a hell of a team."
"Slytherin was too close, we'd have been sunk if-" Josie began.
"If it weren't for Alice." Lysander bragged loudly.
Josie crossed her arms, "Mmmhmmm."
Minnie knew Lysander was right. She also knew she'd never seen Josie be so despondent. Josie was normally the kind of girl who stood tall and proud, with a joke to crack. The last few years, Josie had been the loudest to brag when Gryffindor won.
"Another person is missing!" Cody yelled loudly as he and the rest of his group entered the common room. The music on the radio was stopped and all chatter ceased.
"Another one?" Jonah asked breaking the shocked silence.
"Yes! Grace Green, owner of Dogweed and Deathcap." Hector revealed as he began passing out Pasties. "Lulu, that one little freed house elf told us. She said Mrs. Green went missing during the game. That she felt ill at the game so she left her husband and went home. He didn't find her when he came home."
"That's horrible!" Lysander exclaimed.
"What's worse, is Lulu overheard the Headmistress say they may suspend Hogsmead visits if the culprit isn't discovered." Cody explained making everyone in the common room groan.
No one felt much like a party after that news.
Miss Green's disappearance coupled with the game itself was all anyone could talk about. Minnie was interested in hearing if anyone had any theories as to why she'd go missing. Mostly people were just complaining about the possibility Hogsmead visits could be dismissed. No one really had any theories.
She had a few theories herself, but she doubted they were of any real value. She wished they were though.
It stirred an odd satisfaction to think about solving such a big mystery. She imagined what it could be like to be credited with such an accomplishment. She could be like some of the great names in her book who had solved crimes through the decades.
She wouldn't have to be pretty if she solved a famous crime. She could simply cover her lack of beauty with her incredible mystery solving. No one cared what you looked like if you were brave.
She wished it could be as easy as the Auror's in her book made mysteries out to be. She had almost finished the whole book by Lark Crawford now. She wondered how he had gotten his information or if he'd ever solved a mystery himself?
She pondered over her questions as she poured over the mystery book before her History of Magic class.
Minnie wasn't sure how she felt about the fact Warrington had placed himself directly beside her. She hadn't even noticed he was there. She had been so engrossed in her book Merlin himself could arrive and she wouldn't notice.
She decided not to look up and pretend she hadn't seen him. Maybe Alice was right? He was obviously after something.
"Good book?" He asked.
She nodded. She tried desperately to focus on the page.
"Lark Crawford's a real good writer." Warrington continued with a chuckle. "I read his last book, The Depression of The Dementor. It's solid stuff. You can borrow my copy if you'd like."
Whatever he wanted, she was determined not to give it. She just nodded again, but she added a small smile to be nice.
Warrington took her silent answer as a cue to settle in. He pulled out his notebook from his pocket and began looking it over.
"What's that?" Minnie asked, looking over Warrington's shoulder. There was a list of names down the page, with several names crossed out.
"Nothing." Warrington said before shoving the notebook back into his pocket.
Minnie couldn't help herself, she was curious, "It looked like names."
"You are nosy." Warrington's face smoldered slightly as his eyes scrutinized her. She didn't want to admit that made her heart jump into her throat. "I suppose it wouldn't hurt to show you, you aren't exactly a blabber mouth."
Minnie wasn't sure if that was a compliment.
"There were at least two dozen people that day who normally aren't staples of Hogsmead who attended the game." Warrington said handing her his notebook, "I knew a few and I can somewhat cross a few off of the list. Just based on the fact they have no motivations."
"Motivations?" Minnie asked, "Are you trying to figure out who might be behind the disappearances?"
He nodded his head before checking that no one was listening. "Yes, I'm no Auror of course, but you have to admit it's fascinating."
Minnie felt a stir in her chest, it was fascinating.
Minnie looked over the list. She knew several people by their names that had been crossed off, like Josie's dad and Madame Rosmerta.
"Mr. Weasley and Madame Rosmerta own stake in the Hogsmead business association, they don't seem the type to kidnap their colleagues." Warrington said, glaring slightly at Josie.
Minnie's eyes continued scanning the names, she fell on one in particular, "Mr. Malfoy was with my mum and I at the beginning of the game. He insisted on walking us to our seats."
"Why?" Warrington asked with an extended eyebrow.
"I think it had something to do with mum's problem." Minnie explained nervously.
Warrington's face dropped, he began crossing out Mr. Malfoy's name. "Oh. Yeah, I heard his wife had a Malediction."
"Mum's normally got her's under control but she had a flare up, and I think Mr. Malfoy noticed." Minnie explained. "I don't think he did it though."
"Why do you think he's innocent?"
"He wouldn't be friendly to my mum who's on staff, and if he had been nice for an alibi, he'd have stayed and been seen more publicly." Minnie said with a shrug.
"I like how you think Longbottom." Warrington scrutinized her with his eyes again, making her more uncomfortable this time."What made your mum flare up?"
Minnie looked away, absolutely horrified, "She saw Albert-"
"Blythe right?" Warrington asked his eyes becoming wider, "He's the Editor-In-Chief of the Daily Prophet. He's a brilliant writer."
Minnie's mouth tempered, "He's a bit obsessed with my mum actually, he's harmless, but odd. He was talking to some man at the Three Broomsticks, that's what seemed to set off my mum."
"What man?" Warrington asked looking over his notebook, "I didn't have him listed."
Minnie shrugged, "He had dark hair and he looked like he was a bit older than my mum."
"I wonder who he was?" Warrington added the man's description to the list. "You don't think maybe he had something to do with it?"
"Not if he were with Albert." Minnie explained, "Like I said, Albert is odd, but he's no evil mastermind. Whoever is behind these disappearances obviously has some kind of plan."
"Go on."
"Everyone who's gone missing is someone who owns a business in Hogsmead right? Not just that, but they are all directly associated with Hogwarts. Grace Green supplies my dad with all of his Herbology stuff, just like Mr. Teasdale supplied all the food and Mr. Scrivenshaft provides all of the teachers their ink and paper." Minnie explained, saying theories that had only existed in her mind. "The first person who went missing, Mrs. Gladrags, she supplies all of the bed linens for the dormitories. Madame Puddifoot, she may not officially supply to the school, but she normally provides a service most students are grateful for."
"You've really thought about this." Warrington moved closer to Minnie, "You know, no ones actually talked about this with me, not intelligently anyway. Ever since the news broke, all anyone can talk about is how Hogsmead visits could be suspended, but no ones actually thought about how to solve it."
Warrington was about to say more when Professor Binns floated into the classroom.
Everyone became silent, but in a drowsy sort of way. Professor Binns had a real way of putting everyone to sleep.
Warrington and Minnie exchanged a look before putting their notebooks away and pulling out their schoolbooks.
They had been studying the First Wizarding War and Professor Binns had successfully found a way to turn even something as interesting as that, into completely dulcet facts. She had been slightly uncomfortable with a lot of the knowledge covered, her surname had been mentioned more than she cared for. She knew what happened with her grandparents on her dad's side, at least to a small extent.
She knew what had happened with her Grandma Fyre, moving away from her pureblood zealot family. She hadn't known until being in class just how intense the Brennas were. Sarah had remained quiet for most of those lessons, no one really believed that Brenna was like the rest of them, not really. Sarah's parents had rejected the ideals of the family, publicly during a trial against Bridget Brenna.
In long stock Sarah Brenna was many things, but a bigot against muggleborns, she wasn't. It was one of her few redeeming factors.
Binns was just beginning to go into the very large Brenna family tree and each of their crimes. Minnie knew she'd be at the end of the list. This tree would be followed by the Black family tree and all of their transgressions would be reviewed.
Warrington nudged her elbow against his' before handing her a note.
Have anymore theories?
-C
Minnie made sure no one was looking before responding.
A few, you know the house elf LuLu?
-M
He quickly scrawled more.
Yes, she's the one who tattled to the school right?
-C
Minnie's heart was really out of her chest now. She hoped he wasn't just doing this as a cruel joke.
Yes, she only knew all of this because she's the one who works with the Hogsmead vendors.
-M
A corner of Warrington's mouth turned up.
Maybe we could make a brief visit to the kitchens tonight? Maybe ask her a few questions.
-C
Minnie had never been more intrigued. She felt like a real investigator now, but she was cautious when it came to Warrington's motivations. Minnie also knew she hadn't ever felt more excited.
Ten PM.
-M