I handed my slip to the librarian, who frowned at me. "Are you sure you would like to check out Monsters of Romania? It's in the Forbidden Section for a reason!" she squeaked in a high- pitched Irish accent. "I'm certain," I replied. She scowled at me before handing me the book. It was falling apart. The pages were yellow with age, and the leather cover looked as though it had seen better days. I grinned at her gratefully before rushing off to the Ravenclaw common room, my nose already buried into the book.

I could see why it had been in the Forbidden Section. There were pictures in it that made me want to throw up again, and there were stories of the monsters that would give me nightmares for weeks. 

Why? I thought. Why did Dad think it was a good idea to go into that forest? I got no response from the voices in my head, so I scowled at them and continued to read.

I had been reading all day, rereading at least the book at least six times, but I couldn't find any connections with Dad. Vampires, large wolves, Hugan Horntails, Nundus... The list droned on in my head. None of them fit in with what I knew, except that Dad left to go study the Hugan Horntails.

"Nothing!" I groaned. Cuthbert was pacing by the fire, and Aliena was deep in thought, scribbling down something on a piece of paper every once and awhile. "I found nothing that could help us in this book!" I wanted to throw it, but the book was so fragile, I was certain I'd break it.

"Everything that has the evidence is in the Ministry headquarters," Cuthbert thought aloud. "What do you know again about your Dad's case?" "That he went to the forests of Romania to study Hugan Horntails," I said for the millionth time. "The Ministry knows the general location of where your dad went missing. If we can steal the file to your dad's case, maybe we'll find something we can use," Aliena said, chewing her lower lip. "So, your saying we break into the Ministry?!" I asked. "Well, Headmaster Dippet always keeps a copy of every Ministry case there is. I'll bet that a copy of your dad's case is somewhere in there."

"Your brilliant, Aliena!" I exclaimed. "Not so fast, Dawn. We're going to have to break into the headmaster's office," Cuthbert said slowly. His brows creased in thought, which for some reason, was insanely adorable to me. "I'll break in," I said slowly. "My dad went missing. I'm the one who should be doing this kind of stuff." "You have to at least let me help," he said firmly. I stared at him, and he stared right back. His eyes were beautiful...

"Fine. I'll let you help," I grumbled. He grinned shyly, and I couldn't help but grin back.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Hello, Headmaster!" Cuthbert said cheerily. "Ah yes! Hello Cuthbert my boy!" he croaked. The two fell into and easy conversation, so I slipped into his office.

I began to rummage through the drawers, searching for Dad's case. I finally found it.

MIA

Newton Artemis Fido Scamander

I ran out of his office as fast as I could. I heard, "Well, good day to you Cuthbert," as I ran around the corner and out of sight. Cuthbert laughed, ran up, and hugged me. It was a quick hug. He broke away, blushing madly. "Thanks for your help," I said with a smile. His face lit up. "Anything for you."