"And Slytherin?" Ignan asked of Landis, glancing from one to the next to confirm the names on a list before them sprawled on the staff room table. There was a distinct lack of humour and most of them were stood up. Decisions were best made on their feet.

"Fourteen." The Deputy Headmaster confirmed, "We're down fourteen students." He lifted his fingertips from the tabletop, stood straight and looked from one face to the next around the room. Not everyone was here - on a weekend the residential staff even had their excursions, and it was valentine's weekend. Owls would find them, messages, bring them back.

If only students could be so easily found.

"No student is to leave this castle until further notice. No visitors without scrutiny, I don't care whether they're claiming to be Solomon Carstairs or Persepolis Zephyr. Hogwarts is to remain safe, and that is our responsibility." There was an odd, respectful silence between them all. Normally even an official staff meeting was met with mumbling and a bit of banter, but the speed at which this had happened had caught the majority by surprise.

His gaze found Maiko and lingered a moment, considering their conversation earlier that month. He had been too quick to dismiss her recurring visions, not one to dally with divination. Too inexact, too fleeting.

"At the moment we do not know how this has happened, let alone why. They did not apparate, several of them were too young to try, the trace was not triggered for those under it. Not all those in the group were taken," he gestured with one upturned hand to his colleagues, "but we have gathered from those there who have explained some of it to us that there appear to have been sweets distributed from Honeydukes which is consistent for all those gone."

He dropped his right hand back to his side, left hand resting on his hip on his waistcoat beneath his suit jacket, considering what to advise. In Minerva's present absence - she was reportedly heading back as quickly as possible - he was attempting to take charge. It was perhaps the greatest excuse he might have ever constructed for being unable to look at houses to buy with Miranda.

"Those of you without house responsibility should support the four with, identify which students witnessed, sit them down to write statements while their memories are fresh. Is there anything else anyone feels we must do at this point? Anything anyone wishes to raise?"

She couldn't stay still, bouncing slightly on the balls of her feet, arms crossed over her chest.  Fourteen students were missing. How many would be coming back? Not all of them. Not as they were. This certainty set its' roots deep into her, chilling and foreboding. They were so young, to go through whatever it was they were being put through. Mai  took a deep breath. Kiva, Cassidy, Flynn, Rascal. They, along with her had been so young too. Cruelty didn't discriminate, age hardly mattered. These students would be older  now than they were when they were taken.

Her eyes met Ignan's, mouth setting into a firm line. She had warned him. He knew it, too.

Mai could hardly blame him for being a skeptic. The pretenders out there ruined it for the real ones. On top of that, visions were often deciphered when it was too late, and the details had already fallen into place. Still, they could have figured it out. They could have narrowed down a time-- and they didn't. In that, they had failed their students.

She listened to Ignan solemnly, processing and absorbing the information. If the trace wasn't triggered, it had been portkeys. This sort of thing was well planned. An attack on the students was an attack on all of them.

"We need to contact the families of our students immediately." Mai finally said, "And get a statement ready for the press."

Tapendra might have been quieter than usual  - he was one of Hogwarts' worst banterers, truly - but he was no less animated. The Head of Ravenclaw was up and about, pacing the room nervously, tie pulled from his vest and woven through his fingers. He chewed his lips, his brows low and tight and his eyes darting from one corner of the room to another. His animation might have been expected but his expression was unusual; anger didn't suit his usually bright face well.

"And what are we going to tell the press?" He asked, and didn't bother to hide his bitterness. "That Hogwarts is safe?"

They'd been giving that line out for so long; how long before the Prophet just saved time and printed it for them? He sucked in his breath and sighed, forcing himself to a calmer veneer. "Say the worst happens, Ignan. What then?"

In the wake of his wedding and Juliette returning to Hogwarts, Landis' "extracurricular" activities had dwindled. He still worked, certainly, moving in his familiar circles, keeping one ear to the ground, but it was with an uncharacteristic lack of direct involvement. It was almost impossible to slip away from the castle on business when Juliette would require an excuse, difficult to keep his macabre research hidden or explain the owls he received from contacts. Juliette had her own quarters, but she was so rarely in them. And Landis... well, he wasn't complaining. He'd humored ridiculous notions of retirement, considered consolidating his interests into more manageable aspects of crime. He'd thought about returning to the low-risk games of his youth, targeting Muggle banks and corporations for an easy pay-out. In short, he'd let the underbelly of the wizarding world slip away from him. He stopped paying attention.

This was a mistake.

It was a shock to have the children taken in an organized effort he'd heard nothing of. Slant, Morrell, his own cousin, it was quite beyond the pale. Landis had not anticipated his separate lives colliding in such a way. Could he have somehow prevented the loss of his Slytherins? It was a bitter pill to swallow; it was impossible to know. As soon as he heard he began to calculate - who could he contact? Who might know? Outwardly the man who attended Ignan's emergency meeting was as cool as ever. His glacial countenance was a counterpoint to more excitable colleagues, body language closed off and arms crossed tightly over his chest. But inwardly, his thoughts were racing to compose a delicate scheme. As soon as the meeting disbanded, he must speak to Ira. If this was her doing, he might have a chance of negotiating for the purebloods back. As far as he was concerned the others could go hang.

If it WAS her, Ira wouldn't let them all go without a little blood anyways. Some students would be sacrificed. They weren't going to get all of them back alive.

"Hogwarts is safe," he said to Tapendra. The "you blithering idiot" was implied. "It's the safest option now. If the castle remains on lockdown, there's no means of transporting more students away." It was evident that portkeys had been the cause of disappearance.

"We won't receive a ransom request." That much was obvious. They all remembered Trumble's kidnapping the year before. "An auror should be present with each of the Heads for these student interviews; they'll likely demand such anyhow. Where are they? I would have expected the castle to be crawling by now."

And lastly, Landis turned to Sid - "Blackburn, what do you know?" If his tone was sharp, well, he could be forgiven. He did not relish going to the Slytherin common room after this with no facts, no assurances with which to calm his students. They had two Seers on staff - perhaps they could actually serve some use.

((OOC: can't actually remember if portkeys work in Hogwarts or not whoops. if they do I'll edit to include Landis' volunteering to sweep for portkeys or something similar))

Sid had been quiet, observant; sat in one of the corner armchairs, the younger man watched the scene with some detachment. He'd expected this, as Maiko had, though with less detail. The crisis was hardly a surprise, though he hadn't yet seen the details of his vision arise. They might still be of some use...to the right people. Watching Trishna and Maiko flutter about on edge, he doubled voicing his thoughts publicly would help.

He was nonetheless surprised to be addressed, raising an eyebrow at Landis. It was his instinct to want to look innocent, when asked things by the more icy of the Morgans. The man so often assumed he was up to something.

He was right, of course, but that was no reason to validate him.

Sid smiled, an oddly calm expression considering the tension in the room. "Very little, I regret to say. Like our charming Councellor, I've had...portents. But until more is known, that is all they are." He steepled his hands, delicate fingers pressed together infront of his lips. "I will do my best to slot the pieces into this puzzle, of course, but at the moment they are too few."

He glanced between the assembled teachers, but his gaze came back to Landis. He'd have to corner him, later. "Should you need my support with your brood, Morgan, I'd be glad to lend my assistance."

"Hogwarts is safe."

Maiko shook her head, but waited until Sid had spoken to respond.  No matter how much they said that, it wouldn't make it true. How many times had that been said in her lifetime? Too many to count. "Of course it's not safe, and of course we won't tell the press that!" She exclaimed, "It'd be a lie. The best we can say is that we're increasing our security." She didn't always believe in safe spaces in an institution of learning. It was something to aspire to, yes-- but was just about impossible.

She turned to face Sid, nodding in confirmation at the appropriate moments.

"We could scry." Mai suggested, "But enchantments could be in place to fu--"  She cut herself off, and continued "To make a mess of it." She had used a form of scrying in order to help find Dreogan Eleor. However, they were both seers, and they were friends. It would not work as well otherwise.

Mai doubted the same method would be as strong with a non-seer, but perhaps with a more divination-minded student there might be something. Especially if it was a student she knew well.

Blackburn's answer was characteristically unhelpful. He was as unreliable as his so-called art. And the suggestion that Landis needed support from the other - absurd! "I suggest you spend your time encouraging your inner eye instead." He met Sid's gaze, both men forming similar plans though for different reasons. As delightful as it would be to slip in a poisonous comment about Sid's habits, now was not the time. But later? Later he'd be happy to assist Sid right into a coma if that was what it took to make Sid's visions come forth. Certainly, Hogwarts was clean of the Seer's usual aids, but there were still plenty of potions that could induce hallucinations.

"Of course it's not safe, and of course we won't tell the press that!"

"It's the safest option now," Landis repeated with a short answering shake of his own head. He had not intended to spark contention over this, of all things. "All of the kidnappings - last year and now - occurred away from Hogwarts grounds. If we can control who comes into the castle, there are very few avenues of opportunity within the walls. Of course, that's assuming we're vetting those who do enter carefully. Including the Aurors."

When the meeting had begun, Shona opted to situate herself as far from the most temperamental of their collective as possible. Not because of any personal feelings for them, but for her own; she, like them, was too wound up in their suppression.

She had tried to back up the validity of Maiko’s visions with the Turmalina’s capsizing over the summer, but Ignan had been unmoved. Now it was too late, even to put her skills to use; once the scene of the crime had been cordoned off, the aurors’ own scents permeated the area, mixing with the lingering fear and confusion and mucking up the air even further. No matter how sharp her nose was, there would be nothing to pick up from there.

Nor, it seemed, would there be anything to pick up here. From her seat behind Maiko Shona watched the proceedings unfold, green-eyed gaze hooded over the palm of her hand. A retractable pen dangled from her fingers, blessedly idle.


     “Say the worst happens, Ignan. What then?”

          “Hogwarts is safe. It’s the safest option now. If the castle remains on lockdown, there’s no means of transporting more students away–”

     “Of course it’s not safe, and of course we won’t tell the press that!”


Landis turned to Sid. When it was the Divination professor’s turn to speak, Rick snorted at his answer, lip curling over folded arms.

“Assuming they’d let us have our pick of them.” Legs crossed, elbows on armrests and the rest of her sinking into her chair, Shona was a picture of calm as she regarded the others. Her foot even bobbed gently in midair, much like it would had she been looking through a confiscated copy of Witch Weekly. But the movement was too controlled to be authentic, and the small smile affixed to her lips was oddly still—a precursor to one even sharper than the librarian’s tone. “After Guy Fawkes, the Leaky Cauldron, Zel Trumble’s kidnapping–” Her smile gave no hint of the emotions seething underneath, though Rick shot her a sideways glance, “and so much dementor activity, they’re likely spread pretty thin.” Last she heard, they were still ongoing investigations.

In any case, “I’ll talk to the press,” she volunteered, eyes on Ignan before looking to Maiko. “Try scrying elsewhere, Maiko.” Straightening in her seat, she uncrossed her legs, setting both feet on the floor. “Get as far from the castle as you need to. One of the students is Virgil—he’s president of Divination club, maybe it’ll work with him.”

“Are the school governors coming?” Rick cut in. He was looking at Ignan.

(OOC: To try and make sense of this rapidly moving thread for our other staff writers, I've tried to piece dialogue together, but forgive me if the order isn't quite right)

Maiko was unsurprisingly the first to speak after him.
"We need to contact the families of our students immediately. And get a statement ready for the press." Ignan gave the slightest of nods, both two things he had considered.
"And what are we going to tell the press?" Tapendra countered bitterly, "That Hogwarts is safe?" The Head of Ravenclaw received a very scathing look from the Deputy Headmaster for this. Honestly, they had survived worse things together and they would survive this. He only hoped the students did too. "Say the worst happens, Ignan. What then?" Tapendra asked him directly.

Ignan made a sudden movement to catch breath, eyes not leaving Tapendra's face but Landis cut in.
"Hogwarts is safe. It's the safest option now. If the castle remains on lockdown, there's no means of transporting more students away." The older wizard swallowed, deciding to himself it was better to let them speak, save his breath. They were as upset as the students. Maiko shook her head from nearby, disagreeing.

"We won't receive a ransom request." The Head of Slytherin continued, "An auror should be present with each of the Heads for these student interviews; they'll likely demand such anyhow. Where are they? I would have expected the castle to be crawling by now."
"They are in the village, and I have been briefed." Ignan interrupted quietly, simply.

"Blackburn, what do you know?" Ignan frowned ever so slightly at this move from Landis. Their newly appointed Divination Professor was somewhat a celebrity in his field. Although the Defences Professor might be reconsidering his approaches to seer visions, he did not feel that Blackburn necessitated a particular audience.
"Very little, I regret to say. Like our charming Counsellor, I've had...portents. But until more is known, that is all they are." Rick Donovan snorted in the pause. "I will do my best to slot the pieces into this puzzle, of course, but at the moment they are too few. Should you need my support with your brood, Morgan, I'd be glad to lend my assistance."
"Fine, Blackburn assist Slytherin." Ignan snapped, feeling restless now with the bickering.

"Of course it's not safe, and of course we won't tell the press that!" Maiko persisted. Ignan shot her a sharp look for this. "It'd be a lie. The best we can say is that we're increasing our security."
"It's the safest option now," Landis persisted, "All of the kidnappings - last year and now - occurred away from Hogwarts grounds. If we can control who comes into the castle, there are very few avenues of opportunity within the walls. Of course, that's assuming we're vetting those who do enter carefully. Including the Aurors." It appeared that train of conversation was for the moment halted.
“Assuming they’d let us have our pick of them.” Shona Donovan interjected. “After Guy Fawkes, the Leaky Cauldron, Zel Trumble’s kidnapping and so much dementor activity, they’re likely spread pretty thin." It was a sad but true reality that this was precisely so. “I’ll talk to the press,”
"I may need you to stall them a while." Ignan replied in a low voice, but the conversation swept on.

"We could scry." Mai appealed to Sid, "But enchantments could be in place to make a mess of it."
“Try scrying elsewhere, Maiko." Shona suggested, "Get as far from the castle as you need to. One of the students is Virgil—he’s president of Divination club, maybe it’ll work with him.”

“Are the school governors coming?” Rick asked. Ignan was more enthused to respond rather than hear more about scrying and divination. That line was making him feel decidedly uncomfortable. He raised his voice a little to try and call some order (temporarily, he suspected).

"The governors have been summoned with brief information, yes. Should be assembled by the time Professor McGonagall arrives back." He lifted a hand in gesture to Maiko and to Sid, a terse edge to his tone, "If the two of you are leaving the grounds to do whatever you intend to do, please notify me directly. Someone will need to cover you with Hufflepuff Maiko, and assist."

He lowered his hand and stared across at his friend and colleague, "Tapendra, let me consider the worst, focus on your duties as Head of House. We have already failed fourteen students, let's not make it a hundred and fourteen." The glare suggested it would be rather unwise to defy.

"Written statements, not interviews at present. Quell the hysteria, commit memory to paper to think carefully through what was seen and heard. Colleagues, remember your conduct through this difficult situation will set the example and expectation in the students. We must stay calm as much as we may not feel it." His pale gaze swept the sea of faces, "If there are no further questions, then we shall move."

Shona flashed Ignan a sheepish grin, though it was far from repentant; she’d offer to cover for Maiko as soon as the meeting was over, and anyone who knew her, knew it, too.


     “The governors have been summoned with brief information, yes. Should be assembled by the time Professor McGonagall arrives back.”


The blank look on Rick’s face frowned slightly in reply, brows furrowing behind thick, black frames. When would the headmistress get back? But before he could so much as even decide whether that was a question he wanted to pose aloud, Shona cocked her head to the side, a noticeably more worried expression crossing her face. “Is Valentine’s being cancelled?”

She appreciated Shona's input, giving the other witch a small, terse smile. However, Ignan didn't seem happy about the idea of scrying. well then, he could kindly go choke on his skepticism. It didn't have a place here, not after concerns had been brought up. Mai had no intentions to leave campus at this time. She had everything that she needed in her office, including the scrying bowl that Adon had gotten her. Besides, Virgil had spent some time in her office, and she was sure he had left a scarf there. Having an item of his would help, as well as focusing on one student instead of the group as a whole.

It seemed that the dogs would be spending more time on campus (though she was trying to train them as therapy animals anyway). They'd certainly love the attention they'd get, as well as the opportunity to play with Baldur. Besides, many students found being around them was comfortable. There was something about animal companionship that was healing for some.

"I will not be leaving campus to do this work." Maiko said with a firm finality, "But, I would still appreciate support from my colleagues in conducting interviews with aurors-- sensitively, and mindfully. People who aren't likely to get outwardly emotional during the interviews." She didn't know exactly who would fit the criteria. She doubted that anyone she worked with was incapable of meeting these requirements, but she also knew better than to assume.

The governors had been summoned. Good. Shona asked if Valentine's was being cancelled. Half her wanted to say yes-- but the other part of her thought that the students would need something to celebrate. She had already taken up enough space in the discussion, and wanted to leave room for her colleagues to speak.

Tapendra forced himself to cool, even if it was only outwardly - inwardly he was still hot, thoughts a clashing of danger claxons and cooler, more reasonable thoughts. He pressed his hand to the staff table and let his breath out, as if pressng the emotion from his body.

If anything Ignan's glare did curb him, but he still shot Landis a nearly equal look, deciding in turn the Head of Slytherin was being a bleeding idiot. But then, what else could he have expected from the man? Landis wasn't a parent, nor was he likely to understand the panic they'd be feeling even if he was one.

"I'll talk to the Ravenclaws," he agreed, rubbing his nose. At least most of them could be reliable witnesses. "And the parents of those we lost."

He wondered, in passing, how many more they'd lose to school transfers after this. Ignan and Landis could insist the castle was safe all they liked - and they might be right from a semantics point of view - but Tapendra doubted that same tired line was going to reassure anyone. Hadn't Dumbledore said it? Possibly in the very same year he'd been thrown from the Astronomy Tower and killed, or when the giant snake had gotten out, or...well. Like as not, Hogwarts had never been the sanctuary it thought it was.

He didn't comment on Valentine's. He'd never liked the holiday anyhow, and with one of Cyhirae's friends on the list of missing, he wasn't in the mood to celebrate.

There were further questions and comments, but Ignan noted that despite the conflicting viewpoints, they were in general agreement with his orders.

"… appreciate support from my colleagues in conducting interviews with aurors - sensitively, and mindfully. People who aren't likely to get outwardly emotional during the interviews."

Maiko ended up with a long stare, not that she necessarily deserved it, but Ignan's jaw had set over the suggestion of being sensitive. They would get answers. One of those teenagers had seen something. Had to have seen something.

"I'll talk to the Ravenclaws, and the parents of those we lost." Tapendra resolved, not picking further battle with Ignan thankfully.

"Is Valentine's being cancelled?" Shona asked.

There was an awkward pause where exchanges were given.
"Although I don't care for it," Ignan replied gruffly, the volume of his address had dropped. "It's a preoccupation for the students to lead. As no priority to us, I don't see any reason to." He glanced at his colleagues, to see if they agreed.

At Ignan’s answer, Shona relaxed, expression clearing with relief. Good. As frivolous as they might be to some, they were a harmless distraction. Now, with friends and family missing, it was one desperately needed.

Personally, she could do with one herself.

“It’ll be good for them,” Rick spoke up, looking pained by his own admission. He avoided Shona’s startled but pleased look, briefly uncrossing his arms to rub his neck, like the whole conversation was just one giant pain, before letting his hand drop back into the fold of his arm. “Some of the kids…”

He trailed off, but didn’t have to finish; Shona knew he was thinking of some of those pale, frightened expressions. Some of them had been heavy with unshed tears. Others had been accusatory, after the shock had sharpened into anger. A few had fallen somewhere in between (or beyond them entirely; the Head Boy’s expression was not something Shona wanted to see again), but the fact remained the same:

No matter how irritating or frustrating they were, they were still their students. 

As his colleagues spoke, Felinus paced. He rounded the perimeter of the staff room with long strides and a constantly moving tail. It wasn't that he didn't have anything to say. It's just that he had to remember how to say it.

It would be easy to forget, because humans so often took it for granted, but in Felinus's current form the ability to speak required a certain amount of focus and deliberation. There was always the risk that his instincts would overtake him, and right now every one of those instincts were on high alert. There were predators about where there should not be, predators that threatened the cubs. This danger from the outside reminded him too much of the war years, before they'd pulled Silas from lessons for his safety. Now that the school was truly home, his instincts screamed to do the opposite, to batten the hatches and lock down. He needed to hunt, to guard, to protect, to contain.

He wanted to destroy something. Preferably something with a skeleton that would crunch satisfyingly between his teeth but had enough flesh that could pretend it was their enemy. The couch in the corner looked exceptionally tempting.

Before he could give into the urge, his ears perked to the thankful call to action: "If there are no further questions, then we shall move."

Felinus at last stopped pacing, though his chest continued to rumble with agitation. He tried to speak: "House elves..." but the words came out as more of a vague, rumbling growl. He shook himself with a snarl to clear his throat and tried again. Though audible, the words remained deeper and even more gravelly than usual. "I'll work...with the house elves....to seal the castle. We will be on-hand...when the Aurors arrive."

He would have liked to be there for the interviews as well, to guard the students from strangers. But given his current state that might not be the best idea.