The case of the missing Slytherin[1]

[Genevieve Stark]

Rumours about the missing Slytherin fourth-year had been going around the castle for weeks now. Teachers and Ministry officials alike had found no trace of her. It was a case that had everyone, from the lowliest of students to the Minister of Magic himself, positively baffled. Some said that the child had been kidnapped by Death Eaters in the night, but she was a Slytherin whose parents were supporters of You-Know-Who, how did that make any sense? Others said that she was probably only lost in the Forbidden Forest. This theory was a bit more plausible, in Gen's point of view. That dark and mysterious place with its countless hidden and magically unplottable areas was a favourite hide-out for the "socially challenged"...like this girl was.

She was so much of an outcast that hardly any of the students, when questioned, could even remember her name. Gen remembered, though. Her name was Marcella. Gen knew this because she and Francis had run into her, not long before her disappearance, on the far side of the lake...at night, alone, and acting quite strange. As if she was intoxicated or drugged.

It was amazing (and quite laughable) to Gen that in a world of limitless magic such as theirs, even the best trained wizards could not find the whearabouts of a 14 year old girl. Even muggles, in their television programmes at least (which she now watched with Francis when they snuck out to his house on Hogsmeade weekends), would have found her by now! These thoughts led her to wonder how well she would do if she was to carry a little search of her own. Or better yet! What if...a band of students, who were brave and crazy enough, ventured out into the forbidden forest on an..."expedition"?

Would the adults allow it? No way. Would she be able to find a few students insane enough to join her? Perhaps, she can think of at least a few. Would they have any real chances of succeeding? Probably not, the girl is most likely dead by now. So would it even be worth the risk? Hell yeah! It'll be a thrillingly dangerous adventure!

Gen looked up from the copy of the Daily Prophet she had been blankly staring at as all those thoughts swam around in her head. Her eyes swept over the room, trying to decide who she should approach with her idea. Was anyone here wild and crazy enough to join her?

"Hmm...let's see."

At her own table she immediately spotted Michael. He was definitely daring enough. He would probably join in just because there's nothing better or more exciting to do. She sniggered at the thought, then let her eyes move further down the table. Julian, the Slytherin head boy. He could possibly be in, something like this would be right up his alley. But...that's it, as far as Slytherins go. Only two. Would they be okay with going with other houses, though? They would almost have to, given the shortage of students. Besides, she would definitely want Francis there. How to bring it up then? Ugh! This was probably going to be the hardest thing about getting this little group together - getting everyone to get along long enough to find this girl (or her corpse).

"I'm different..I know this. I'm secretly dating a Hufflepuff for Merlin's sake! But Michael and Julian? Getting them to agree to do this with other houses is going to be damn near impossible!" She sighed and moved her eyes over the room again. "I need them though. Michael at least. He'll probably be the most willing, for the sake of the thrill...I think."

So...she took a deep breath and tried to get his attention. "Psst! Michael! Can I talk to you for a minute?" She chucked a grape at him for good measure, smiling innocently.

[Michael Billows]

*Michael was toying with a chicken leg not entirely sure whether or not he actually wanted to eat it when a grape hit him in the side of the head.*

*He flinched a little on its impact and frowned with a pout as his eyes grew narrow and he looked around to where the attack had came from. His face returned to its usual indifference as he realised that Gen was after his attention.*

*Dropping his chicken leg on his plate, he shuffled over to the girl and took a grape from her bowl.*

What is it?

*He spoke in a mildly irritated tone as though he had been interrupted from doing something quite important, before throwing the grape into the air and catching it in his mouth.*

[Genevieve Stark]

Gen was used to the boy's attitude, so his tone did not faze her in the least. "I have a proposition for you." She said with a smile as she picked up another grape. She motioned for him to catch it with his mouth and continued.

"A little...adventure, of sorts. A search party." The grape hit its mark and she reached for yet another, this time feigning to throw it at him but dropping it in her own mouth at the last second. "We'd be breaking a million school rules and probably even risking our lives in the process."

She knew that would get his true attention, but she still said the words with an air of nonchalance. She honestly wasn't worried. Most Slytherins were either cowards or blindly daring and throughout her life she had shown that she was definitely the latter. She wondered which one Michael fell under.

"So...would you be interested?" Gen smirked and threw another grape up in the air for him to catch. She knew he would demand more information before giving her an answer, but she wanted to test out his initial reaction to the idea.

[Michael Billows]

*So he was a performing monkey now as he dutifully caught grapes chucked for him by the attractive girl. A little smirk crossed his lips as she teased him by not throwing one to him.*

*He caught the last grape backhanded, then twiddled it between his fingers as he thought about what she was saying.*

*Breaking rules and risking lives for fun was all well and good, but what would he get out of it?*

Search party? What for?

[Ellie Waters]

Ellie tilted her chair backwards to get closer to the Slytherin table and tuned her ears to the chatter.
The words ...breaking rules ...adventure.... attracted immediately her attention and she regretted having no set of Extendable Ears in her bag.
She was closer to Michael, which meant there wasn't much to overhear between his usual mumbles and grape catching-munching.
She hoped very much they would meet after lunch somewhere to discuss the matter in detail and started thinking about how to follow them. Any information would be good, either to get them into trouble with the teachers, or better yet, to trick them into taking her and maybe Tina or Dinah with them.

[Genevieve Stark]

She gave Michael a hint of a smile as she reached for her goblet of juice, proud to have at least piqued his curiosity. "The missing girl, that's what." She paused, taking a sip and carefully setting her drink back down on the table. "I have reason to believe she went into the forest. And...I think it would be quite interesting, now that everyone else has just about given up, to take it upon ourselves to find out why she never came out."

Smiling, she glanced away from Michael and immediately caught sight of that annoying Raven she couldn't stand. She couldn't remember her name either (and didn't really care), but she did wickedly wish she had been the one to have gone missing instead of that Slytherin girl.

Suspecting they were perhaps being spied on, she scooted closer to Michael and lowered her voice before continuing. "I read in the Daily Prophet that there's a reward as well....if that's any incentive to you. I personally don't care one bit about the money though. I'm just bored to tears in this dreadful place and any excuse for some excitement sounds positively wonderful to me." She took another drink. "Besides, what better chance will we have to test all that we have learned here than in a real life man hunt? Or corpse hunt...whichever one turns out to apply."

Snickering, she put down her empty goblet and looked up, noticing that the Raven was indeed trying to listen in on their conversation. Gen narrowed her eyes and addressed her.

"Do you have a death wish Ravengeek?

[Michael Billows]

*He had heard something about someone going missing, but in his usual self involved world, he had not taken much notice of who it was. But here was Gen asking him for help. He had little interest in helping someone fool enough to get dragged off into the forest, but he was a little keen about the chance to maybe pick a fight with some kidnapping centaurs or whatever it was.*

*Before he could answer though, Gen had been distracted by the weird Ravenclaw. He figured he'd sit by and see what happened.*

[Ellie Waters]

Now Genevieve had lowered her voice, Ellie wasn't anymore able to pick up bits of their conversation. Michael had put on his usual poker face and she couldn't read in his expression if he was excited about the adventure or not.

When the Slytherin girl suddenly raised he voice again and shouted in her ear "Do you have a death wish?" she was taken completely by surprise and her chair wobbled dangerously until she lost her balance and ended up on the floor with a loud thud.

- Ey!, she complained, - I was just comfortably sitting here, no reason to shout! What's with that deathwish? Oh, I know, only snakes are allowed to tilt their chairs!

Ellie stared outraged and innocent at Genevieve while she put her chair back.

[Genevieve Stark]

Instead of laughing at the girl's fall like most of the other students around her, Gen only rolled her eyes and shook her head, completely unamused. "You're an embarrassment to yourself, Waters." Well would you look at that! She remembered the girl's name after all. "Why don't you do yourself a favour and stay down there? Oh and...I do not shout, I make myself heard. There's a difference, you know." Clearly aggravated to have been interrupted, she turned back to Michael and took a slow deep breath. "So anyway...what do you think?"

[Michael Billows]

*It could be interesting to go along with it, and at the very least he'd get a chance to spend some time with the shapely redhead. He prodded a piece of meat with a fork and twisted it a little.*

Yeah, why not?

*His prior indifference and disinterest in his surroundings begged another question.*

So who we lookin' for?

[Genevieve Stark]

Gen raised a curious eyebrow at his question. Hadn't she gone over this already? She snapped her fingers as if trying to bring him out of a daze. "Have you not been listening? The missing girl, Michael. The one all the buzz is about!" She laughed and shook her head. "You don't have a clue, do you? Are you really that disconnected? Meh, it doesn't matter. You've agreed, and I thank you. Now....we just have to recruit a few more members. Any suggestions?" Her eyes scanned the room around them, wondering just how she was going to suggest the addition of a certain Hufflepuff badboy without being judged negatively.

[Lucas Evan Flynn]

*Walks past Gen and Michael, overhearing part of their conversation*

*Stops suddenly and smirks at the all too familiar redhead. Growing up next door to the Starks, he'd known Gen since they were kids and she and his sister used to actually be pretty good friends until their Hogwarts letters came and they got sorted into opposite houses. They've all managed to remain pretty friendly throughout the years but nothing like it used to be.*

Whatever it is you're recruiting for I'm in!

*Gives her his typical goofy grin, expecting some kind of sarcastic comment for his interruption.*

[Michael Billows]

*A little miffed that he didn't get an answer to his question he was all too ready to snap at the approaching Claw. He knew it was a missing Slytherin girl, but what her name was was a mystery.*

Quick to leap before you look aren't you?

*He gave a wide eyed yet wicked grin.*

[Ellie Waters]

Ellie had a hard time not to kick Genevieve, only if she did, it would very likely distract the Slytherin girl from talking to Michael about the expedition.
A moment later a fellow Ravenclaw burst into the conversation and she hoped he had gathered the bits she wasn't able to hear. She could always ask him. Later.
Lucas wasn't a particular friend of Ellie's, he was friendly in a distant way, but he was in the same house and that counted for something. Also, he was never a spoilsport when others were thinking up pranks and jokes.
She sat on her chair again, still positioning it more towards the Snakes than her own table, and waited.

[Genevieve Stark]

Gen was about to give Lucas the smart remark he was used to being greeted with when what should have been obvious suddenly made itself clear. The Flynns! Why had she not thought about them before now? It was common knowledge that she was "friendly" with the pair of siblings, so adding them to their little group should be acceptable...probably even expected.

She sniggered at Michael's comment. "Yep, Lucas does everything blindly." With her smirky gaze shifting up to the tall Ravenclaw, she continued. "Well Flynn, you're in luck. I think I will have to actually take you up on your offer this time." Gen gave him a shove (not having ever been comfortable with people standing above her like that). "On one condition, though...you'll have to convince your sister to come along. She's a brilliant dueler, we could use her talent where we're going." She turned to Michael again, hoping he wouldn't have any objections to the new search party additions. "Would that be okay with you, Billows?"