The train sped toward Hogwarts.
It was a day worth celebrating.
On the train, familiar faces had already left.
New students now rode the rails toward the magical school.
Luna sat in a compartment that had been almost entirely taken over by the Crumple-Horned Snorkack, which had already grown to nearly the size of a cow.
She lay against its body, wrapped in its soft brown fur. It was warm and comfortable.
The Crumple-Horned Snorkack yawned and let out a low moo. Luna stuffed an unpeeled dragon fruit into its mouth.
Then she turned and looked through the compartment window at the two girls confronting each other outside.
"You were really lucky last time."
"Were we? I don't think so. You were the lucky ones."
The red-haired and golden-haired girls had run into each other in the corridor, and neither was willing to give way.
Ginny folded her arms across her chest, raised an eyebrow, and said with fighting spirit, "This year, I'll put an end to Slytherin's winning streak."
Astoria did not seem particularly concerned.
The two brushed past each other.
Luna continued flipping through The Quibbler.
Suddenly, she seemed to sense something and looked out the window.
The large shell pendant she wore swayed slightly.
An owl appeared outside.
Then a second.
Then a third.
More and more owls appeared, flying alongside the Hogwarts Express before heading toward Hogsmeade.
Urgent editions of newspapers began falling from the sky.
The beautiful landlady of the Three Broomsticks stepped outside and picked up one of the newspapers.
The indifferent expression on her face instantly turned to horror.
"Merlin..."
She covered her mouth to keep herself from screaming.
Her eyes reddened, and tears slid down the profile that had captivated so many wizards.
A tear broke free from her skin and fell through the air, splashing against the newspaper.
Its shattered droplets spread across the image of a city engulfed in flames.
More and more people saw the newspapers.
Every one of them reacted with disbelief.
Everyone stared at the headlines.
The wind lifted the papers scattered across the ground and carried them toward Hogwarts.
Slughorn was reading an instruction label while examining a red can in his hand.
"Pull the tab and that's it? Fascinating Muggles."
Curious, he opened it.
Gas hissed out in a stream of white vapour.
"Oh, bother."
Slughorn glanced toward the window.
An owl was tapping against the glass.
As he put the soda down, he accidentally knocked it over. White foam spilled across the desk.
Slughorn hurriedly righted the can, only to hear the owl tapping impatiently again.
"All right, all right, I'm coming."
He had no choice but to abandon his hasty attempt to clean up and walked over to open the window and take the newspaper.
Waving his hand irritably, he said, "You really are an annoying owl. Off you go!"
The owl pecked the back of his hand in displeasure before flying away.
Slughorn yelped.
Damp air blew against his face.
He looked up at the sky and said, "Looks like rain."
Dark clouds rumbled ominously overhead.
Slughorn went back inside and put down the newspaper, intending to clean the desk first.
Then his eyes accidentally fell on the headline.
He froze.
<
He stared blankly at the newspaper.
The window he had failed to close properly was blown open by the wind, sending the parchment from yesterday's work flying.
Slughorn flailed a hand and accidentally knocked one sheet of parchment away.
It flew out onto the balcony, then drifted unsteadily down from the top floor.
As it drifted past the Transfiguration office on the second floor, a falling raindrop struck it.
Then the pouring rain soaked the parchment and sent it tumbling downward.
Professor McGonagall's office faced the Quidditch pitch. She sat there with her hair tied in a bun.
"No. It shouldn't be like this."
She stared at the newspaper delivered by the owl, tears in her eyes as she murmured to herself, "This is too cruel."
Thousands of wizards had died under the bombardment.
It was the greatest disaster the wizarding world had suffered in five hundred years.
She looked through the list of the dead, staring at faces both young and old.
Some of them had once been Professor McGonagall's students.
For a witch who had spent decades at Hogwarts, this disaster was difficult to accept.
She turned to the next page and saw the person pictured there.
That child looked like the son of a god.
In the newspaper photograph, the surviving wizards gazed up at the figure scattering light from the sky.
<
Any headline seemed powerless before that image.
...
Hogsmeade Station.
The students happily stepped off the train.
"Hagrid."
Ginny greeted Hagrid.
The rain had come at the worst possible time, leaving Hagrid completely drenched.
He seemed preoccupied and did not appear to hear her.
Strangely, Hagrid was wearing his suit of armour.
Ginny looked puzzled.
Luna stepped off the train, followed by the Crumple-Horned Snorkack, which had to squeeze through the train door before it could get out.
"He seems sad."
Luna's ethereal voice sounded as she lowered her eyes.
"I have a very bad feeling."
"Luna?"
Ginny had never seen Luna like this before and was equally confused.
The Crumple-Horned Snorkack let out a moo.
Luna walked forward through the rain.
"Wait, Luna!"
Ginny conjured an umbrella with her wand and hurried after her.
"Come on, little ones. Keep moving."
Hagrid nervously urged the first-years to follow him.
Thestrals pulled the carriages.
Luna was soaked through, her hair plastered against her face as she leaned against the Crumple-Horned Snorkack.
The creature pressed its body closer to Luna, giving her warmth.
Ginny sat opposite her, watching her worriedly.
When the carriage stopped, the two of them headed toward the oak front doors.
The rain showed no sign of stopping.
The atmosphere at Hogwarts was even stranger.
Peeves did not appear to welcome the new students in his usual manner.
Inside the Great Hall, the students saw the professors waiting for them.
Slughorn was whispering to Snape, and even Snape wore a grave expression.
Astoria had become the new central figure among the Slytherins. She sat in her place, watching quietly.
Professor McGonagall turned to Slughorn, who was still whispering, and said, "We cannot allow these emotions to affect the start of term."
What was happening outside should not enter this ivory tower.
Although they tried their best to ensure the start of term proceeded smoothly, the newspapers still reached the students the following day.
...
"How is it?"
John calmly questioned the Ministry employee before him.
The employee shook his head. "Other than those already found, there are no more survivors."
"I understand."
John waved his hand.
He looked at the ruins obscured by thick smoke and closed his eyes.
Woosh!
Mind magic spread outward.
Everywhere it reached, John swept through the area.
Unfortunately, there was no response from anywhere.
Theodore stood beside his King, his body covered in wounds.
He did not know how to begin, so he simply stood there in silence.
When John finally moved, Theodore immediately looked up.
"Something wrong?" John asked, his voice so calm that he sounded like an emotionless machine.
Theodore wet his dry throat with saliva and said hoarsely, "They're all dead."
By "they," he meant the Star Disciples.
Oxer, the twins, Executioner...
This trip to Bhutan had killed them all.
Oxer had still been talking to him earlier that same day, and in the blink of an eye, he had become a corpse that could no longer be pieced back together.
The twins' bodies had been found as well.
Even in death, they had not been separated.
"I know."
John's voice remained calm.
Without the slightest fluctuation in his expression, he said, "You did well, Theodore."
Theodore was silent for a moment before asking, "What should we do?"
"Take them back," John said after a brief pause. "Any sign of Barty Crouch Jr.?"
"His body hasn't been found."
"That's good news."
A trace of exhaustion appeared in John's eyes. He waved a hand.
"Go back."
"But, my King..."
"That's an order," John said.
Theodore had no choice but to leave.
John remained alone among the ruins.
The Divine Guards lifted away pieces of rubble one by one. Whenever they found a body beneath, they pulled it out and placed it to the side.
John walked over to a collapsed section of wall and sat down, looking at everything before him with a complicated expression.
Rita Skeeter, who had rushed over after hearing the news, stopped in her tracks.
She raised a hand and blocked a reporter who was about to approach.
"This is huge news," the reporter said excitedly. "We can interview the Second King."
Rita looked at the lonely figure of the King, then turned back to the reporter.
"You're fired. Pack up his things and throw them into the snowy mountains."
"W-What?"
The reporter stared at her in shock.
Before he could say anything else, several of his colleagues dragged him away.
Reporters from other newspapers came over, but Rita simply said, "No one is to disturb him."
Hearing the editor-in-chief of the Daily Prophet speak, none of the reporters dared approach.
Rita stood guard not far away.
The woman who normally loved nothing more than twisting gossip into slander had no interest in gossip at all right now.
She stood there like a guard, protecting her King.
News of what had happened was spreading everywhere, shaking the entire wizarding world.
For those who had seen the projected images, it felt almost like the end of the world had arrived.
The deaths of so many Ministers for Magic had thrown the chaos completely out of control.
Some called for revenge.
But revenge against whom?
Inge had been the first to die in the flames.
Who else was left?
Grindelwald?
Or...
Muggles?
________
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