Lies and Arguments

Hermione Granger felt relief as she entered at the great hall for her sixth year. The train ride hadn't been very nice this year, as Harry wasn't there and Ron had been more insufferable than usual.

In the middle of the ride, Neville did a big favor to the world and casted a silencing charm on him. It was lifted just before the prefects had to return to the meeting that they would have.

A lot of people tried to come to see Harry and were disappointed to not find him. Several asked if he had dropped the school, and Hermione did her best to assure them that he would be at the school at the feast.

"I wonder what his mood will be this year," Ginny asked her with sarcasm. They were of the ones that didn't support the order's decision to keep him at Privet Drive, but as always, their opinion had been ignored.

""I won't bet on that," the brunette said with a heavy sigh. She knew that her best friend wouldn't be too happy with the order and she and the other teens would be the ones to deal with his mood.

When they entered at the hall, Harry was not there. It surprised everyone, Ron included. He looked at Hermione but she was as confused as him. They looked at the high table and noticed the dark looks that most of the professors were giving to Dumbledore and Snape. The headmaster looked worried and the potions professor ignored it as always.

"I don't know why, but I have the feeling that Harry is not coming back this year," Neville commented to Hermione. The witch chose to not make a comment, but she started to feel the same.

Minerva entered in that moment with the first years and the sorting started. Hermione noticed that they were fewer than usual.

"You think that it has to do with You-Know-Who's return?" Gin asked, as she noticed the same.

"It seems to be a good explanation," Neville said seriously and the others nodded, at the same time that the sorting finished and the feast started.

The meal was silent and everyone spoke little and in low voice. Hermione kept glancing at the high table and noticed that McGonagall seemed to be having a whispered and heated argument with Dumbledore. The headmaster seemed to be trying to placate her anger, but he failed. When both professors looked at her and the rest of Harry's friends, Hermione knew that he wasn't returning to the school.

"This is not good," Neville said, as he noticed the argument too.

When Albus was about to make the usual announcements, the minister arrived with a team of aurors. Rufus looked as worried as Dumbledore and asked the headmaster:

"What does it mean that someone kidnapped Mr. Potter?"

"This is not something to discuss here, Minister," Albus said seriously, before ordering the prefects to lead the students back to the towers.

… … … …

"Kidnapped from where?" Ginny asked Hermione, arching an eyebrow, once everyone was at the tower. Obviously, the main topic was the news of Harry's kidnapping.

"He wasn't kidnapped! He ran as soon as the wards were up! And as Dumbledore couldn't say that to the world, they invented this!" The brunette told her.

"What couldn't they say?" Neville asked confused.

Hermione sighed and told him about what had happened during the summer. When she finished, Minerva entered at the tower, went to the teens and set several wards around them.

"Kidnapped? That sounds as a very poor excuse, Professor!" Hermione said seriously.

"It's the only thing that could be thought in two hours!" Minerva said angrily.

"Then, he ran away," Ginny stated as a matter of fact, and their head of house nodded with a sigh.

"And no one has an idea of where he might be, correct?" Hermione asked Minerva, who nodded once more. Then the student arched an eyebrow and asked with sarcasm, "And you think that we do?"

"Oh, that's wonderful!" Ginny said with a lot of sarcasm, when Minerva gave them a new nod. Then she asked, "How are we supposed to know ANYTHING if you FORBADE us from owling him and we haven't seen him in two months, Professor? I just don't get it."

"Professor, exactly what happened?" Neville asked the teacher, when the old witch chose to not answer the redhead's words.

"He left," Minerva said with a new sigh.

"Geez, we would have never realized that!" Gin said with more sarcasm.

Minerva took several breaths and asked the question that she was ordered to ask: "Does any of you have any idea where he might have gone?"

"YOU MUST BE FUCKING KIDDING US!" Ginny shouted furious, before she asked, "You expect us to know anything?"

"And even if we did, what makes you think that we would tell it?" Hermione asked seriously.

"Miss Granger…" Minerva started to say, but Hermione was not going to listen it this time.

"You messed everything again and you expect us to help you?" The prefect asked shouting before she continued: "It was the order that screwed everything last year, but it was US the ones that dealt with Harry's anger as ALL of you ran from him!"

"THAT'S NOT TRUE!" Minerva shouted.

"Is it not? I didn't see Mrs. Weasley here last year when Harry was attacked by Umbridge, Professor! I didn't see you helping him when he went to talk to you about the quill either! Dumbledore did only one thing: escaped from the problems! And we better don't talk about Snape!" Hermione shouted, standing face to face with the teacher. Then she continued, "EVERYONE knew that keeping Harry with his relatives was a mistake, but as usual it was ignored. Now you have the results: he's gone!"

Neville and Ginny stood between them and tried to calm the teen's anger. Although Minerva had set wards to make sure that no one heard the chat, the rest of the house noticed the heated argument between the two witches.

"Don't come to ask help when you screwed everything again, Professor! Now it's your time to deal with the consequences of them! Because I'm fed up with doing it!" Hermione shouted before she stormed out of the common room and went to her dorm without another look to her head of house.

Minerva rubbed her eyes, knowing that they deserved every single word that the student had shouted to her. She didn't need to look to the other teens to know that they thought the same. Without another word, she left the tower.

… … … …

When she arrived to Dumbledore's office, she found the rest of the order there. Obviously the meeting with Scrimgeour had been short and now they had to think about what to do next.

She had just sat down, when Remus entered completely furious and with his wand on his hand. When he spotted Snape, he threw six different spells without giving Severus any chance to get ready or to create a shield.

"Remus!" Everyone shouted as Albus went to check the fallen man.

"You better choose now, Albus: you fire him or I kill him!" The former teacher said pointing his wand to the potions master.

"What's going on?" Moody asked, pointing his wand to Snape too.

"Arabella called to the house to tell us that Harry wanted to meet with us and Severus told her to not pay attention to any of the calls! That's what happened!" Remus shouted and started to wave his wand again, ready to continue his attacks.

"Is that true?" Albus asked Severus, with a grave look. Now he had a big problem: if it was true, Snape was responsible of Harry leaving and he couldn't support him any longer. If he did, he would get the rest of the order against him!

"I was following YOUR orders, Albus! Remember them?" Severus shouted to their leader with a sneer: "To keep Potter busy and to not tell him anything at all! Those were YOUR words!"

"I never said to ignore him!" Albus said, as he realized that this was his fault.

"What did you expect with those wards: that Potter would be happy?" Snape asked with sarcasm. Then he continued: "Yes, I told that squib to ignore the brat! It was a waste of time as EVERYONE here knew what he would want to talk about: the wards!"

"That wasn't your call!" Remus shouted more furious than ever.

"I was following the orders that I was given, Lupin!" The Potions Master said with his usual sneer.

"The order was to inform us if he wanted to communicate with us!" Albus shouted to him.

"No, your order was to act invisibly and to not let him know that we were there! You said that all the summer: 'Don't let Potter know that you are still there'. Those were your words!" Snape shouted to the headmaster. Then he added with more sarcasm, "If you wanted to talk to him, then why did you inform him about the wards using your phoenix and didn't show up there? I'll tell you why: because he would never agree to being locked and you couldn't let that happen!"

"That situation was different!" Albus shouted back.

"How so? You did the same thing last year in name of his 'protection' and everyone knows how it finished!" The spy said with a sneer.

"It's not the same!" Albus said once more.

"Who are you trying to convince, Albus: to us or to yourself?" Snape asked with sarcasm. Then he turned to Lupin and said, "Don't come to teach me a lesson, Lupin, when you never had the balls to go and tell him that his parents were your best friends when he was your student! You did what you knew best: run from the problems!"

"At least I don't keep a childish hate over a dead man!" Remus shouted to him.

"At least I don't betray the memories of my dead friends ignoring their son!" The potions master shouted back. Then he clutched his left forearm and gritted his teeth, before leaving without another word. The dark lord really knew when to make a call!

"Did Harry's friends know anything?" Tonks asked Minerva, a few moments after Severus left and everyone tried to regain their composure.

"They knew nothing at all. And if they did, they would never tell us," Minerva said with a sigh, before she briefed everyone in what Hermione said.

"What about portkeys?" Fletcher asked suddenly.

"To begin with, Harry hates them. And he knows how to use Muggle transports, so he would never use them," Remus commented with a shake of his head.

"Have you tried to send him a letter with his owl?" Someone asked Remus.

"She almost ripped my fingers when I tried to tie the letter to her leg," the werewolf said showing his bandaged left hand.

"What about Gringotts?" Molly asked.

"They are not happy with us. They found out about the fake letter and they didn't like it," Bill said with a sigh, as he was informed that his job inside the bank was at risk and he was suggested to pick his side soon.

"What do we do now?" Charlie asked to Dumbledore.

"We continue fighting Voldemort the best we can and we try to find Harry and bring him back," The Headmaster said seriously.

"How hard can it be to find a sixteen year old teenager? I'm sure we'll do it before the Christmas break." Fletcher said with a smile.

"I wouldn't bet for it," Remus muttered to himself as the meeting was ended and everyone left.