At this point, Ginny strolled into the kitchen, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. "Mum," she said, "Isn't Hermione back yet? Her bed wasn't slept in last night and I never heard her come in during the night."

"Her trunk...is her trunk still there?" shouted Remus.

"I think so," replied Ginny. "Do you want me to go look?"

"No," replied Remus. "If her trunk is still there, we may need to open it so we can learn what, if anything, has happened to her. You go have your breakfast. Severus and I will go and check for her trunk."

Not looking happy that he was being dragooned by Remus, the two of them climbed the stairs to the top of the building where Ginny's and Hermione's room was. Remus sighed in relief when he saw her trunk sitting there. Snape knew better...that may be her trunk but that didn't mean that her belongings were still in it.

They needed to know if she had run away or was missing or worse... Severus mumbled an incantation and Hermione's trunk popped open. It was as he feared...her trunk was empty...and they had no idea what had happened to her. No news in this case was definitely bad news!

Then something struck Remus...Hermione's parents...didn't she ask for the Order to protect them as she was a high profile target? Did Dumbledore refuse to provide protection just so that Hermione would have no one else to turn to? No...he couldn't have been that cold a S.O.B. ...could he?

Quickly he explained his thought to Snape and discovered that he had been thinking something similar. Ordinarily he would be amused at the thought that for once the two thought alike but not now...something serious was wrong and he was determined to find out if Dumbledore had instigated this or allowed it to happen. And if it had, God help them all as without her, they were up shit creek, without a paddle. Hermione was the brains AND the protection behind Harry and Ron and if she was gone, they were truly screwed!