When Noah arrived at the botany and herbology class, he saw that fifth-year students were already present and entered the classroom, settling in a corner to observe the class.
This was something he did quite often.
Even if he wasn't a student, he would occasionally attend lectures and observe the professors. Frankly, it was a way for him to check whether any indiscipline was occurring.
In a way, because he was untouchable, no one could say anything about him doing this, and no one tried to say anything anyway. Noah was very well-liked for this.
The young man waited patiently for the class to end, and when it did, he practically pouted at Percy to disappear.
When Percy disappeared, Noah approached Professor Sprout, who greeted him with a smile.
"How lovely to see you, Noah. If I'm not mistaken, you're quite interested in botany, yet I never see you in my classes. Seeing you today makes me very happy," said Professor Sprout kindly. There was no implication or condescension in her words. Every word came from the heart.
"I'm sorry, Professor. You know, I don't attend classes; I'm not a student at the school. Still, I had a question for you. It concerns Percy and probably the other students, and of course, Hagrid too," Noah replied, then immediately pulled the jars out of his magical bag.
After handing the jars to Professor Sprout, he saw that she began to carefully examine their contents.
"I couldn't help myself and asked Professor Snape. I already knew it was dark magic... sorry, black magic," Noah said.
When Professor Sprout heard these words, she became curious and asked, "So what do you want to ask me?"
Noah shook his head and then said, "I was going to ask if you had any knowledge about how long it takes for this curse... this spell to spread, Professor. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find an answer. Each of these jars contains samples of plants from Hagrid's garden. Even though we replaced the plants the day before, they had taken on this form."
When Professor Sprout heard these words, the smile on her face turned very serious, and she replied, "Leave these jars with me. I'll examine them for a while and try to find an answer. I think I'll have to cancel the students' plant care exams. This is quite a serious situation."
Noah nodded his head up and down and said, "I think this curse came from the Forbidden Forest. In a few weeks, I'll be going into the forest to meet the centaurs, so I can try to look for something during that time. I'd be happy if you could find a clue by then."
With Professor Pomona Sprout's approval of these words, Noah calmly left the greenhouse where botany class was being held and returned to the castle.
He wandered around the castle grounds to help with the preparations for the evening feast, and during that time, he saw Ron, Harry, and a few children he thought were their classmates.
After approaching them, he saw the guilt on Harry's face and Ron's usual 'I'm right' expression, and before he even got close to them, he said, "What have you done now?"
Hearing these words, Ron curled his lip when he saw Noah in front of him and said, "Nothing."
At that moment, one of his classmates jumped forward and said, "He was very rude, you should have seen it, Mr Noah!"
Before Ronald could start scolding his friend, Noah looked at Ron right in front of him and then noticed something.
Hermione was nowhere to be seen. Noah approached with great curiosity at the absence of the young girl who was always hanging out with the pair.
"Where is Hermione?" Noah asked.
The moment he asked this question, Ron suddenly clamped his jaw shut and seemed to struggle to breathe.
Noah understood what had happened in just seconds, and his hair and eyes turned the darkest shade of red possible.
He was literally fuming...
"When you see her next time, tell her you're sorry. What are you, a bully? Did I grow you for you to bully little girls? Don't make me repeat myself," Noah said calmly.
He left without giving Ron a chance to speak, having other things on his mind.
Upon entering the school, he helped with the decorations for a while, even trying to assist the house-elves working in the kitchen.
However, every time he did this, it didn't really help because the house-elves would throw a fit as if they hated him.
When evening slowly began to fall,l and the students entered the Great Hall for the feast, Noah moved to the space next to Snape and began to wait.
He would eat his dinner later.
When almost every student had arrived in the hall and taken their seats, Dumbledore finally stood up and announced the banquet had begun in a calm tone.
With that, hundreds of plates suddenly appeared on four long tables, and the students began to eat.
Noah was busy watching for missing students at the tables. He noticed that several seventh-year students from Slytherin, three sixth-year students from Ravenclaw, and one person from Gryffindor were missing. The ever-hungry Hufflepuffs, however, were present in full numbers and busy eating at the table.
Noah managed to spot one of his best friends, Cedric, and another one called Isolde from Ravenclaw.
Noah kept every student's name, year, and even their interests and personalities in mind. After all, if any trouble arose, it might be necessary to cater to the students' thought patterns.
His mind, however, was preoccupied with Hermione.
Although it had been nearly two months since he had met the first-years, he knew these children very well. He had managed to meet students from every house, from the peculiar Slytherin to the cheerful Hufflepuff.
He couldn't think of a reason why a student as organised as Hermione, who even planned her meal times, wouldn't be in the Great Hall, especially on a special day like Halloween.
The situation seemed odd to him, so he was about to ask Professor Snape, who was sitting next to him, about it. However, he stopped himself at the last moment. Snape... well, it could be said that Snape didn't particularly like Hermione, for reasons Noah was also aware of.
Reasons that were coming from Snape's past...
He didn't need to get the young girl into more trouble than she already was.
Still, another question had crossed Noah's mind.
The young man had immediately noticed that the seat next to Snape was empty and had said curiously, "Professor."
Before Noah could even ask where Quirrell was, the Great Hall's enormous doors suddenly swung open, and Professor Quirrell burst in, shouting:
"Troll—in the dungeons!"
With that, the young Professor collapsed where he stood, and the Great Hall instantly descended into chaos.
Noah immediately looked at Snape beside him and then said, "I'll take care of the missing students, you deal with Fluffy, Professor."
Snape had already risen from his seat; the pale-skinned professor seemed to have seen through Noah's thoughts.
Amidst the students' screams, Professor Dumbledore suddenly rose from his seat and abruptly shouted, "SILENCE!!!"
With that, the students fell silent, and the teachers were tasked with escorting them to their dormitories.
Noah immediately left the Great Hall and began searching for the students who were not in the hall during the feast, and he succeeded.
Within a short time, he found each of the students and learned from a few of the teachers that everyone else was already in the dormitories.
Still, Hermione was nowhere to be found, nor were Ron and Harry.
An incredibly bad feeling came over Noah, and the young man began to practically tour the school.
Shortly afterwards, he heard a roar.