"Sure, why not." Daphne answered as she extended her hand towards Harry who helped her up. As they walked through the castle they both took the time to watch their classmates. As usual many of them were excited to be going back home for the summer and a bit sad to be leaving their friends, but under all of those expected emotions there was obviously a tenseness that was not at all common. The least affected by this were, oddly enough, the muggleborns who probably didn't really know what it meant that Lord Voldemort had returned. The purebloods, on the other hand, knew exactly what it meant and it showed in their uneasiness. The Slytherins were the oddest mix of all though. Some of them, in almost all cases children of Death Eaters, appeared to be quite happy with the news. Others, usually children of dark families which had not supported Voldemort, were obviously terrified. Daphne understood what they were going through but was able to present an unworried face. She mentally noted that she would have to go check on Astoria to see how she was handling the news. Daphne expected that her little sister would be acting like it was no big deal, but the younger witch would know what it meant for their family underneath the carefree attitude.
After their long walk through the castle Harry and Daphne finally made it to the seventh floor. They were not at all surprised to see that there was a door already in the hallway across from the painting of Barnabas the Barmy.
"I knew she'd be in here." Harry said with a laugh and a small shake of his head. He tried to open the door but found that it was locked. That, in of itself, was not too odd. They all sometimes locked the door just to make sure no one noticed the new door and decided to investigate. Harry cast a quick "Alohomora" but was surprised when he did not hear the lock click to confirm it had opened. "That's weird." he said with a confused look on his face.
"Harry, there isn't anything dangerous about the project Hermione is working on is there?" Daphne asked. "It's possible she is trying to keep everyone out for their own safety."
"I can't think of any way what we were doing could hurt somebody." Harry answered. "I'll just put a little more effort into it… Alohomora!" Harry cast a powerful version of the spell and it was able to overcome Hermione's locking charms. As they entered the room they knew something very strange had happened there. The portal, and Hermione with it, had disappeared but the room remained as it was otherwise. The runes on the ring of sand in the center of the room still glowed eerily and the torches on the dark stone walls were still dark.
"What is this place?" Harry asked as a feeling of fear for his friend began to overtake him. "What happened here?"
"It's a ritual room, but not like any I have ever seen before." Daphne answered. She noticed an old, worn book laying on the ground away from the ring and walked over to take a look. The writing was difficult for her to understand and what she could read seemed to be written in cryptic riddles and random nonsense. She doubted anyone could figure out what the author meant by it all, assuming he wasn't crazy to begin with. But even so she felt certain that the book held the secret to determining what had happened.
"Look, over there." Harry said, pointing to another corner in the room. He walked towards it and picked up a stack of parchment and began reading. "They're notes on something. It's Hermione's handwriting." Daphne left her spot by the book to look over the notes with Harry.
"I've found it." Daphne said with a surprised gasp. "The Ritual of Heron… it's supposed to be a myth though. Or at the very least impossible."
"What is it?" Harry asked.
"No one knows." Daphne answered. "Wizards of been trying to figure it out for centuries but no one ever has. An ancestor of mine tried it over four hundred years ago but made a mistake and lost both of his legs because of it. If Hermione tried this she could be in real danger, Harry."
"Why, though?" Harry wondered desperately. "Why would she do something so stupid?"
"She was scared." Daphne answered. "And probably curious. That's a bad combination." Daphne began looking around the room for any sign they could have missed that would give them a clue as to where their friend was but again saw nothing. Harry had reached a similar conclusion from his search.
"How could she just vanish? You can't apparate or portkey in or out of Hogwarts." Harry said.
"You did both yesterday" Daphne reminded him.
"Yeah, but they must have altered the wards to make an exception for the Triwizard champions. Pettigrew only made it through because he was with me." Harry answered. Daphne nodded, it did make sense after all. Something else must have happened.
"Maybe she didn't vanish, Harry. Maybe she just isn't here. Do you have the Marauder's Map with you?"
"Always." Harry responded as he pulled it from his robes. After activating it they both began scouring the enchanted object for any sign of Hermione. After ten minutes of frustration Daphne was forced to decide that Hermione was probably not in Hogwarts anymore.
"She's not here, Harry." Daphne said softly to her boyfriend who was still looking.
"You don't know that. We know there are rooms in the castle that don't show up on the map. We're in one of them right now!" Harry answered. "The Chamber of Secrets isn't shown either, and we were there this morning. Who knows how many other places aren't on the map."
"Maybe." Daphne said with a shrug. "But it just doesn't feel right. She did something here and is gone now because of it, that's what I think."
"So what do we do about it? Do we tell anybody?"
"People are going to notice eventually." Daphne answered. "If she doesn't show up by tonight we'll have to say something. We can keep looking for her, but wherever she is it isn't here." Harry nodded in sad agreement. "Let's go, Harry." Daphne said quietly. She took Harry's hand and led him towards the exit of the Room of Requirements. All thoughts of finding Voldemort's horcrux were gone from his mind and replaced with worry for his friend. He wished she would have confided in him about what she was doing. Perhaps he could have been able to talk her out of it.
As the couple approached the door a strong wind began circling in the room. The event was so unexpected they both turned to look at each other in shock to confirm that they weren't just imagining it. The wind continued to blow and suddenly the torches on the four walls of the room reignited and began to produce sparks of various colors. In the center of the room the sand ring burst into flames and burned brightly for a few moments before the fire suddenly disappeared, but they both noticed that the flames were intense enough to turn the sand into glass. In the middle of the now glass ring a small black ball had formed. It seemed be pulsing as if it were alive and was slowly growing. As it grew sparks of energy that looked like lightning bolts began to wrap around the black sphere. Only moments later the sphere had grown to about eight feet tall, and there it stopped. Gradually the energy faded away allowing Daphne and Harry to get a better look at what had formed.
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