Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Theodore had waited until the clock struck ten before deciding to go to the Greengrasses. He was going there for the sake of it, he knew Abiageal was not there, but it was better to go for nothing than not go at all.

He knocked softly but firmly on the red door of Daphne's house, her little sister, Astoria, opened it for Theodore.

"She's in the garden," Astoria announced simply.

"Thanks, Greengrass."

"You're welcome, Nott."

Theodore entered the house and headed straight to the kitchen, the glass door was wide open so he walked out and joined Daphne outside.

Theodore found Daphne sitting under a parasol, a book in her hand. Theodore thought he was in a bad dream. Since when has Daphne Grengrass been able to read? They had known each other for six years and this was the first time he had seen her with a book in her hands.

"Hey! Greengrass!"

"What do you want, Nott?" Daphne did not look up from her book.

Theodore stepped forward to stand in front of the young blonde. Daphne was blonde, her hair was not as long as Abiageal's, it reached Daphne's shoulders and her eyes were almost as green as the Slytherin house crest. Daphne was beautiful, but not as much as Abiageal. Of course, that was just Theodore's opinion.

"What can I do for you, Nott?"

"Have you seen Abby? I woke up this morning and she wasn't there."

"Are you that bad?" Daphne scoffed.

"I'm serious, Daph'! The Death Eaters were out last night."

This information caught Daphne's attention, the desperation in Theodore's voice indicating that he was not here for a laugh and a few friendly banter. Daphne set her book down on the small outdoor table and looked at Theodore, worry visible on the Italian's face.

"Draco told me she'd be here, talking about 'girl stuff' after what happened last night."

"She's not here, I assure you. But come with me, we'll take a tour of the house, you never know."

Theodore just nodded, Daphne got up from her chair and she motioned for Theodore to follow her inside the house. Together they searched the entire house, the basement, the wine cellar, all the rooms on the ground floor ( including the box room and the storeroom ), the rooms upstairs as well before going to the attic. Not a single room had been spared in their desperate search for Abiageal. Abiageal Raglan was definitely not at the Greengrass home.

"Fuck," Theodore cursed, stopping himself from tearing his hair out in frustration.

"I'm sure she's fine," Daphne tried to comfort him but it was not working.

Daphne did not know Abiageal like he knew her. Abiageal was not the type to go out of her comfort zone, she very rarely went to Hogsmeade because the village was so big and she was afraid of getting lost and not being able to find her way back to Hogwarts; when she was at home, she did not go further than the playground because it was not very far from her house and she could literally see her house from the playground; when she was at Theodore's, she agreed to go to the park which was way too far from Theodore's house as long as she could hold on to his sleeve or the hem of his t-shirt to make sure she did not get lost even though there was no way she could get lost. She almost always ate the same one for every meal because it was a "safe bet" and it reduced the chances of having stomach aches during school hours and missing important lessons. Abiageal was not someone who liked to take risks, Theodore liked to tease her about how predictable she was, but he liked it.

That was why he knew that if Abiageal was not at her house or at Theodore's, then there was a problem. Abiageal was not a risk taker and she was predictable. But no one knew that except Theodore.

"She...where is she?" Daphne asked.

Theodore bit his lip to keep from saying anything sarcastic or mean. If he knew where she was, he definitely would not be at the Greengrass asking questions while panicking like a madman.

"I don't know."

"You...you'll find her, won't you? Say you'll find her!"

"I'll try, be sure of that."

Theodore left, he had nothing more to do here anyway. He had to start looking for Abiageal for real, going to Daphne's had been a complete waste of time and Theodorene did not know if he was disappointed, angry, frustrated or all three at the same time.

Theodore returned home, his father was nowhere to be found, but given the time it was, Senior was already at work. Theodore found the newspaper of the day, the front page of the Daily Prophet reported the events of the previous night. A horrible attack on Diagon Alley, dozens dead, a few hundred injured and there had also been a terrible attack in Muggle London and the surrounding villages, there had been so many deaths that it had been impossible to count them all. This was where Theodore had to start his search. He ran up to his room, he retrieved his wand before Apparating to the main street of Diagon Alley.

The street where the main shops were was upside down, the windows were completely broken, the sound of glass echoed with each step that Theodore took; smoke still escaped from some shops and the blackness that surrounded the frontage gave a very good indication of what had happened. A certain Death Eater had a real problem with pyromania. He advanced cautiously, his wand firmly in his right hand, he entered the first shop on his right side and shouted Abiageal's name, praying to Merlin that she was there. She was not, he went all around the shop, moving the shelves and the counter that had fallen to make sure she was not stuck underneath. She was definitely not there.

He went from store to store, pushing all the debris even the smallest ones where it was impossible for Abiageal to be trapped.

"Abiageal! Abby! Where are you? It's me, it's Theodore! You can come out of your hiding place!"

He had repeated these words at every shop he had done but each time he had been greeted with a deaf silence. He had lost hope when he had walked out of the last shop, he sat down on the small step before sighing loudly.

"Damn it, Abby, where are you hiding?"

After long minutes of thinking about a place for Abiageal before remembering that he had not been to see Muggle London, maybe she was there. At this point, he was willing to try anything.

Theodore stood up and turned back. Something caught Theodore's attention, he could not help but laugh. Only one Bookstore was still standing, he could already imagine Abiageal threatening all the Eaters of evil if they dared to touch the Bookstore. She could be really scary when she wanted to be.

Theodore Apparated into Muggle London, he had thought of a deserted alley, he might have been in a hurry and in a complete panic, but the last thing he wanted to do was draw even more attention to the mage and all the strange things that had been happening in their world lately. He poked his head in to make sure there was no one there and then he started to walk around London, he had not expected the city to be so big.

Theodore saw how big the city was and he could almost feel the same panic as she might feel, she must have been so scared in this unfamiliar environment...so, he hurried, no more precautions were taken, to hell with the decree of the Minister of Magic and his ban on using magic in the presence of Muggles. All that mattered was Abiageal, he only wanted to find her, the rest was of no importance to him. Then, as had already been said, Theodore was not afraid to end up in Azkaban if it meant that Abiageal was safe. After all, since the beginning, she had always been his only priority.

He was done wasting his time, he Apparated to the other end of London, where one of the attacks had taken place and like he had done in Diagon Alley, he had gone around the demolished buildings and houses reduced to ashes screaming the name of his best friend.

One thing had struck Theodore, something he had not seen on Diagon Alley. He was not the only one searching and shouting the name of a loved one, several people were in the same situation as him. He had never seen wizards or witches go looking for a loved one, maybe it was because in the Magical world everyone knew who was responsible and unfortunately, it was better not to look too much if you wanted to stay alive. The Muggles had no idea what was going on, or the danger he was in, but it did not seem to bother them more than that. They were much braver than wizards, Theodore had to admit.

A rather elderly lady approached Theodore, a sympathetic smile on her lips before placing her hand on his arm.

"Can I love you, young man?"

"I...I'm looking for my best friend. She's brunette with brown eyes, slightly shorter than me"

Theodore and the old lady were both aware that this poor description could fit hundreds of people, Theodore had to be more specific if he wanted to have a chance of someone recognizing her.

"Uh...and...and she has a tattoo on her left forearm," he clarified, pointing to his left forearm as if the poor lady didn't know what it was.

The lady took a moment to think, the more seconds passed, the more Theodore's hope disappeared. If she had seen him, she would have told him already, there were not many seventeen-year-old girls with a tattoo. And then, it had to be honest too, Abiageal was hard to forget.

The old lady then looked back at Theodore, the latter had the answer before she even opened her mouth. Theodore felt his heart break in his chest, it was really getting harder and harder not to think of the worst.

"I'm sorry, honey, we didn't see him," she gave him a comforting pat on the hand.

Theodore had always wondered why old people did this, at what point did they figure that easily hitting someone's hand or forearm brought comfort to a person in distress? It was insane to him.

"But try your luck in hospitals, you will probably have better luck than here."

He nodded, it was probably worth a try, after all it was not like he had any other options and besides, the injured from the surrounding villages must have been transported to hospitals in London, so he could kill two birds with one stone.

Going to the hospital was the worst idea he had ever had ( well, that the old lady had ever had ), it was a real mess; every two steps, someone stepped on his feet and Theodore had to remember that all these people were in the same boat as him and that he could not just hex them. One was talking louder than the one next to them on the left or right; Theodore sighed loudly, he had no chance of being heard with all this noise. So he did the only thing left to do, he went around the hospital by himself, he opened all the doors, he looked in all the rooms and in all the rooms.

There was only one place left in the hospital to check, it was a place he had sworn to himself he would never set foot in again, he remembered the last time he had been in a place like this, it was after his mother died, he remembered refusing to enter but his father had dragged him into the morgue to see his mother's lifeless body. Theodore had sworn to himself he would never set foot in a morgue again, but here he was breaking his word. His first instinct had been to look for Abiageal's hand to take it in his and he then turned his head towards her to see her beautiful reassuring smile, but she was not there. She was not there because he was about to enter the morgue to see if she was in one of the cold drawers or on one of the tables.

"Can I help you?" the medical examiner asked when he finally entered the morgue.

"I hope so," Theodore replied in a quavering voice.

Theodore gave the full and detailed description of Abiageal to the medical examiner, who took the time to open all the drawers in the morgue and lift the three white sheets that were on the embalming tables. Abiageal was not there.

Theodore did not know if he should be relieved or even more worried. He was going to have to keep looking but in all honesty, he did not know where else to look. He had already searched all of her favorite places, he had done all the places she was likely to be after such an attack and she was nowhere to be found. He was out of ideas, so he went home, defeated and discouraged.

Besides, it was already getting late, it was better for him to go home if he did not want to attract his father's wrath, he was going to take the evening for himself and to think about what he was going to do next.