A boy who couldn't have been older than fourteen was once again hanging upside down from a set of monkey bars, his eyes dazed as if lost in a world of his own. His body swayed slightly as a gentle breeze brushed past him.
He looked… stupid.
Not that he was ugly or anything. He had messy brown hair, chocolatey eyes, a well defined jawline, and a body more toned and muscular than a boy his age should reasonably have, clearly showing the effort he had put into the gym over the past few years.
And yet… he still looked impressively dumb.
Though this time, he was not alone.
A beautiful amber-eyed woman sat on a nearby public bench, glaring at him furiously for his stupidity while absentmindedly caressing her enlarged belly.
Just like that, summer is already near. Winter came and went surprisingly normally, and now it's Easter.
Mom being pregnant came as a surprise, but it was accepted with great enthusiasm and celebration....
They could certainly use a normal kid too.
Time had passed rather smoothly as well, and I even made some progress on the magical side of things—but that's a story for later…
Still, something feels off about all this peace.
Maybe I am just nervous that I might actually be at Hogwarts this time next year, but that's certainly not all of it… or at least I hope it isn't.
Alina didn't even come back during the Christmas holidays despite promising she would. She said something important came up at school, but she was obviously lying.
What important thing could even a first-year student possibly have?
I have a very bad feeling about this.
Hopefully…I'm wrong.
With that said John jumped back from the monkey bar, and moved to sit beside his mother. 'Mom is eight months pregnant, and she is constantly annoyed by everything…... .and I love it, especially when she grinds her teeth while her eyes twitch at my annoying acts…... .like it's' happening now.'
His mother kept glaring at him promising a world of pain, if she could move as freely.
"Let's go home, Mom." said John as he supported her from the side. They walked side by side till they reached home, to find his father in an apron making spaghetti.
"Movie night!" exclaimed her father.
"Oh love,"said his mother with hearts nearly popping out of her eye. 'Oh god, why is this woman heads over heels for my father, even after so many years after marriage.' thought John as he rolled his eye and went inside
***
John was finishing his last bouts of meditation to yet another unfruitful endeavour. He was not able to move the energy that he could perceive around his body.
'Another day of grindi—'
"WHAT–" , "OH GOD—-"
CRASH
THUMPH
Before his mind could register, John was already moving, coming out into the hall he realised his parents were not in the apartment. His apartment door was open and quickly, yet as cautiously as possible, he walked over the door. He was hearing voices from outside.
The closer he moved the more he realised that someone was crying… It was a woman's voice...'mother' no it wasn't his mother, it was Mrs Olivera…she was wailing, crying her eyes out. 'Did something happen…..Oh..oh..no'.
He moved closer to the door and looked out,
In the hall directly in front of John's apartment door was another door half opened. Silhouette's of John's parents could be seen, alongside that of Mr and Mrs Olivera. Mrs Olivera had collapsed to her knees crying over something.
'What is that?' thought John as he looked from behind the door of his apartment, hiding. There were two more people but he couldn't make much of them.
He moved close enough to hear voices
"I am sorry Mr. Petrova, but that is the truth…..Alina committed suicide."
'No it can't be.' he hurried over to the door, but didn't enter the apartment , he stood just in front of it…..to see.. To see….
"No it can't be…it's obviously...." whimpered Mrs Petrova Olivera "---We don't care what you think , we came here to deliver the body, and discuss some matters about the Statute of Secracy."
A battered body of a young teenage girl dressed in school robes, torn in many places, grime and bruises covered all her face, her lips and hand had bite marks and On the ankle of left wrist had a diagonal slash which had marks of dried blood.
'Oh my god it can't be–she is…'
"Stop your bullshit asshole," raged Alina's father. "Raped,....she has obviously been raped….oh..oh my poor daughter." He pushed one man by the wall, held him by collar, "You had the nerve to spew such bigotry, I trusted you all to take care of my daughter…Where …where is McGonagall? She promised to keep her safe. Where the fuck is the professor?"
The grieving man raised his hand to punch the bastard only to freeze. Behind him was another man, his wand pointing at him, its tip glowing.
Before Mr. Petrova could do something, he was hurled towards the wall and collapsed. Mrs Olivera shrieked and went towards her fallen husband, Robert and the pregnant Julie were scared out of their wits, to see such an unforeseeable display of power.
"Now do you have anything to say," said the wizard pointing his wand towards the Smiths.
"Oh! Go easy on them Carrow…."said the first wizard.
"Shut your trap Vale! Just deal with these filthy muggles."
"You are just filthy cowards…can't even seem to give a young girl justice…yet you pretend to be so superior ... .a bunch of animals pretending to be nobel" said Julie in contempt.
This seemed to anger the wizards even more, the wizard named Carrow pointed his wand at her with eyes of cold indifference as if squashing a bug when it grew too annoying.
Seeing the wizard's wand glow towards his pregnant wife, Robert for the first time in years felt overwhelming fear, yet the fear for his wife and now, his unborn child itself gave him the power to throw himself towards the man named Carrow.
"Depulso"
'No.' screamed John internally, his eyes turned to a shade of amber before going back to normal but that was enough, a shield seemed to appear around the couple only to break the moment it came in contact with the spell, weakening the spell enough to be non-lethal to a normal person.
The spell hit Robert, he flew back hitting Julie enough for her to fall back on her stomach.
"Who's there?" asked Vale. "Deal with the muggles, I am going looking around"
John's heart hammered against his ribs like a trapped bird. As Vale's footsteps approached the door, a cold, visceral terror seized him. He didn't think; he simply wanted to be *anywhere* else. There was a sickening sensation of being squeezed through a very narrow rubber tube, a momentary void of air and light, and then—
Vale looked in the hallway to find nothing, "Bad news Carrow, whoever was here has long gone Merlin knows where….he apparated."
"For fuck's sake, more paperwork," proclaimed Carrow. "We have to do it fast, let's clean up." proclaimed Vale as he moved around his wand, "Reparo" repairing all the damage done during the scuffle.
Carrow stood over the weeping Petrovas, his wand held with the casual boredom of a man swatting a fly. "Enough of this," he sneered, his eyes reflecting a chilling indifference to the broken girl on the floor.
Vale, however, hesitated for a fraction of a second, his gaze lingering on Julie's blood-stained dress, before Carrow's sharp nudge snapped him back to attention.
With a synchronized flick of their wands, the air rippled. "Obliviate," they whispered. The eyes of Mr and Mrs Olivera lost focus.
"Alina had tragically committed suicide at her Scottish boarding school due to academic pressure" said Carrow.
Vale approached Robert and Julie, hesitantly. Julie was barely conscious, curled protectively around her stomach while Robert held her tightly. He flicked his wand.
"Obliviate,There was no attack tonight, Nothing out of the ordinary happened here. You came here after dinner and your wife collapsed unexpectedly."
The silver light swallowed them both, and then the hall went silent. Vale turned to look at Carrow adjusting his sleeves lazily. "Done?" Carrow asked….
Vale looked towards the lying corpse of Alina, with a flick of his hand he conjured a black casket around her and covered her body with a white sheet.
"Yes!"
CRACK
The two wizards disappeared and the hallway became silent again.