And Then There Were None

The morning sun was glaring through the windows of the sitting room. Hermione, Pansy, Ron and Theodore were seated on the sofas, waiting for the remaining party to join them. It was absolutely silent.

The floorboards creaked as Neville, Blaise, and Draco descended the stairs. Neville walked down still in his pajamas and received a disapproving look from Pansy, who looked as if she'd already been up hours making herself presentable.

"Why are you up so early?" asked Blaise.

"I had things to do," said Pansy examining her nails.

"I found this note on the coffee table," said Hermione. "It's from Mr. Marc."

She began, "'Unfortunately I am delayed. Please accept my deepest condolences. Business has kept me, but I have plans to arrive shortly. My house-elf will be happy to address your every request. Feel free to make yourselves at home. Signed, Q. Marc, Order of Morgana,' etc...." Hermione sighed. "He's terribly vague. A tragedy has occurred in his household, and I'm not even sure if he's been properly informed."

"Some host," Blaise scoffed.

"Stop being so hostile," said Pansy, turning away from him.

"I'm hostile when I'm hungry!"

"Where is that house-elf?" asked Theodore. "Shouldn't it have told Mr. Marc about this?"

"Like master like elf," Pansy muttered.

Ron's stomach began to grumble.

"If we can't find the house elf, I'll cook," said Hermione. "As soon as Harry..."

Just then Harry trotted down the stairs. His hair was sticking out in places even normal Harry hair shouldn't, and he was sporting dark bags under his eyes. He looked terrible.

"How much sleep did you get, mate?" asked Ron.

"Enough," he replied.

"Potter's here. Start breakfast Granger," said Draco.

Ignoring his demanding tone, Hermione replied, "No, we're missing Dean. Can someone wake him? It's nine in the morning."

When no one moved to fetch him, Neville volunteered and went back up the stairs to Dean's room. The rest of the party moved into the breakfast nook, waiting impatiently for Neville to come back down with Dean. What happened next, none of them expected.

Neville's scream rang throughout the house and down the stairs.

The seven members rushed out of the sitting room, up the stairs and almost collided with Neville. He was standing a few feet from Dean's bed, frozen.

"Neville what are you going on about?" asked Ron, panting.

Neville pointed a shaky finger at Dean, who appeared to be sleeping peacefully in his bed.

"Thomas is a heavy sleeper?" asked Draco. "Move over Longbottom. You just shake him like this, see?"

Nothing happened, and Draco took a step back.

"You wake him, Granger," he said, eyeing Dean wearily.

Hermione stepped forward and shook him slightly. "Dean?"

When nothing happened, she felt for a pulse. Her face went white.

"Hermione?" whispered Harry tentatively.

She shook her head and put her face in her hands.

"What? No. No. No, he's not..." said Ron desperately. "C'mon Dean, quit playing around."

Hermione put a hand on Ron's shoulder, and he pulled back.

"This is not happening!" shrieked Pansy. "Not happening! First Goyle and now him? Can we leave please? I want to leave. Please, I want to go."

She hung on to Blaise's stiffened shoulder. He, too, was staring at the body in shock.

"Pansy we can't. You know we can't," said Neville.

"Don't say that!" said Pansy again, running over to Dean and shaking him frantically. She was nearing hysterics. "This isn't happening! Wake up! Wake--"

A small bottle fell out of the bed and rolled onto the floor. She picked it up and read the label. Her eyes narrowed, and she turned to the rest of them.

"The Draught of Peace. It's empty."

"He must have drunk the entire bottle," said Nott, in his quiet voice.

"Longbottom, why would you give him so much?" Pansy questioned.

"I told him to take two drops!"

"But you should have known what state of mind he was in! Goyle...died, and he was clearly upset. You don't give a distressed person more than you want them to take! Are you an idiot, Longbottom?"

Neville stuttered over his words, and Pansy glowered at him.

"Dean just overdosed," said Hermione wiping her eyes.

"Yes. Yes, of course. That's all. A few of us should go and find the elf," said Blaise.

"You're right. We should search the house first," said Harry.

They agreed to this, while some were left to attend to the body.

The search of the house did not take very long. The elf was not found in the dining room, the sitting room, the kitchen, pantry, attic, basement or any of the guest rooms. The only room left to search was Mr. Marc's.

Hermione knocked delicately on the door. "Excuse me, Mr. House-Elf. Are you in there?"

When there was absolute silence at the other end, she said to the others, "I guess he's not."

Draco rolled his eyes and pushed her aside. "That's not how you call a house-elf. Watch and learn."

He banged on the door, hard, with his fist. "Elf! Elf, come out. Elf!"

With a characteristic scowl, Draco rattled the doorknob. "Locked. Not surprising."

"He probably only comes when his master calls on him, or instructs him to do something," said Nott.

"Well, let's go in," interrupted Draco. "Alohomora."

Hermione stood in front of the door, in a defiant stance.

"You can't just go into his private room!"

"Two people are dead, we can't find the elf to give us answers, and we're starving. Yes, we can," said Blaise, stepping around her.

One by one they filed into the room, searching for the elf. Neville looked under the bed while a few others looked in the wardrobe. Ron spied a notebook on the table and headed toward it.

"Ron, don't read his journal," said Hermione. "Have some integrity."

Ron just shook his head at Hermione's definition of "integrity" and "decency." Even though, under no circumstances would he ever define his host with those two words. It was bad enough that two people had died on the island, but to also have an inhospitable host? That was uncalled for.

"It could have something important in it. Like other ways of communicating to the outside world. Or why he isn't here," Ron told her.

"The elf isn't here," announced Harry, standing up straight and brushing off a speck of dirt from his spotless shirt.

"So now what?" asked Neville frowning.

"We'll eat and then a few of us will have to search outdoors," said Blaise.

They all headed downstairs. Breakfast was a morbid affair. Theodore Nott was extremely jumpy. He toppled his teacup twice and knocked over his spoon. Ron, however, enjoyed his food immensely, complimenting Hermione on her cooking.

"Okay, who wants to go find the elf?" asked Blaise when everyone had finished.

Harry, Draco, and Neville volunteered.

"I might as well take a look at the plants," said Neville.

"What about you, Ron? Nott?" asked Harry.

"I'll, um, stay with Hermi--with the girls," said Ron.

When Harry turned to Nott, the other shook his head and looked away.

Soon, the four of them headed outside, in search of the missing elf.

"Alright I'll go with Neville," said Harry. "We'll meet back here in an hour."

"Um, how about I go with you Potter," interjected Blaise.

"Fine," said Draco, and they headed towards the back of the house, with Neville looking dejectedly back at Harry and Blaise.

Draco and Neville walked a few feet apart from each other, as the forest thickened around them.

"Reminds me of first year," said Neville nervously. "When we got detention."

Draco said nothing, but continued forward, looking around for the missing elf. A while later Neville had stopped next to a plant and was observing it. It was an ugly, pale green plant, with long tangled tendrils. Neville stared at it, lost in thought.

- - -

On the other side of the island, Harry and Blaise were also having no luck in finding the elf.

"Why did you want to search with me?" asked Harry. "Aren't you and Draco friends?"

Blaise wiped the sweat from his forehead and shook his head. "I don't know if he's forgiven me for some things. I thought it better not to associate with him after what happened."

"Go on," urged Harry. "What happened?"

"Well, when he left school and joined the Death Eaters, Pansy was distraught. Obviously neither of us had any contact with him, and we didn't know whether or not he was dead. All we knew was that on the night when Dumbledore was killed, he was seen with Snape running from the tower. Pansy was upset and she, well, being the type of girl who needs male companionship, she sort of latched onto me."

He laughed.

"I thought Draco would have been happy to get rid of her. She attaches herself like a niffler to leprechaun gold. But I guess she kind of grew on me."

Harry nodded. "And Malfoy?"

"I don't know what Draco thinks of me. I've never actually asked him and we haven't been in contact for years. After You-Know-Who died and Draco came back into society, we didn't have anything to say. We grew apart and he never pursued Pansy again."

Harry nodded again, remembering the night when Voldemort had been defeated. The Malfoys had sat in a corner, wondering whether or not they should have been there.

There was a shuffling in the bushes to their left and both wizards turned in alert, raising their wands in a combat position.

"Who's there?" cried Harry.

Harry glanced at Blaise who was slowly backing up. He looked back to where an undistinguishable figure was steadily moving towards them.