The dark is better than the light

Chapter 29

"Did you find anything?" Draco asked when Severus entered the room looking worried and anxious. 

"No." Severus shook his head. "No one noticed him missing either. Soon they will start to notice and it's going to be a disaster that the boy-who-lived is missing."

"How can this be?" Draco frowned. "If he tried to die, then he would've did it here at Hogwarts, someone would've seen him somewhere. It's been a whole day, Sev."

"I know." Severus groaned running a hand through his hair. "I feel that he isn't dead either."

"But, where is he?" Draco asked standing up and pacing in front of the couch. "I don't know what to do or how to find him. I failed him, Sev. He was lonely and I didn't help him."

"Calm down, Draco. It's not your fault, you were hurt and didn't know if he was acting or not." Severus tried to say, but Draco shook his head.

"He was hurt, Sev. Badly. I saw it and I know he needs someone to lean on. I just watched him get hurt even more every day by one person or the other and didn't do anything. I thought he would come to me. I should've went to him instead of waiting for him to come to me." Draco said blaming himself even more. 

"Stop blaming yourself, Dragon." Severus hugged him to stop him from pacing even more. "It's not your fault. You wanted to help, but he didn't want your help. You just didn't know what to do, that's all." 

"But-" "No." Severus said firmly. "Stop it." 

"Where is he?" Draco almost whined and Severus sighed again. Where is he? Severus thought in his mind. 

"You need to go back and sleep. You have classes tomorrow. You didn't go to your classes today and you can't miss them again. Dumbledore won't leave a chance to punish you if you do." Severus said and Draco nodded knowing he didn't have a choice. 

"Tell me if you know anything and I mean anything at all." Draco demanded. 

"All right, Draco. Now, go and sleep. Don't think too much. We will try to find him." Severus said and Draco left the room still feeling bad. 

"Where are you, Harry Potter?" Severus asked into the empty room. 

"Severus, can you come to meet me in my office?" Dumbledore's face popped in the fireplace suddenly. Severus looked at him with a blank face even if he was half-startled. He forgot that Dumbledore can do this and let Draco stay here all alone the whole day. What if Dumbledore was a few minutes early or Draco stayed a few more minutes? No, Draco shouldn't stay here alone where Dumbledore can take him easily without anyone noticing. 

"Sure, Albus." Severus went out of the room and towards the headmaster's office. Dumbledore didn't know that Severus changed the fire place that he can floo directly to his office, it should stay hidden from Dumbledore if he wants Lucius to visit him often. 

"Ah, you are here. Take a seat." Dumbledore said too cheerfully. Severus felt something amiss as he looked at Dumbledore's expression. He is not going to like this, he thought to himself about whatever Dumbledore's going to tell him. 

-

"You said you wanted to tell me something." Sirius said and Rodolphus nodded as his face turned grim. 

"Siri, I wanted to hide this from you as you are not well at the moment. I don't know how you are going to take this and how this is going to affect your health. But, I think you deserve to know what's happening." Rodolphus said to him. 

"You are scaring me, Dolph." Sirius said trying to laugh but Rodolphus' serious expression made him grimace. 

"Harry is missing." Rodolphus said and waited for Sirius to react negatively. Sirius just looked at him for a long moment and shook his head.