Morning sunlight rolled across the tall spires of Hogwarts like warm liquid gold.
The castle looked peaceful.
Too peaceful.
The enchanted ceiling above the Great Hall displayed a clear blue sky dotted with slowly drifting clouds. Long wooden tables stretched across the massive chamber, filled with students laughing, arguing, and trading food like every normal morning.
Silver plates clattered.
Forks scraped softly.
Someone at the Ravenclaw table tried to charm their toast into the shape of a dragon and accidentally set it on fire, drawing laughter from nearby students.
It was the kind of chaos that felt comforting.
Alive.
But beneath that comfort… something was wrong.
Julian noticed it first.
He sat at the Slytherin table, staring into his untouched breakfast.
The air felt heavy.
Not in a way anyone else seemed to notice.
But he could feel it pressing faintly against his ribs, like the quiet pressure that comes before a thunderstorm.
Across from him, Noah absentmindedly spun a spoon between his fingers while staring out one of the tall windows.
Outside, the castle courtyard shimmered under the sunlight.
But Noah's dragon was circling above the towers.
That wasn't unusual.
What was unusual was that the dragon refused to land.
The creature had been flying in wide, uneasy circles for nearly an hour.
Its wings beat against the air with restless tension.
Every few moments, it tilted its head toward the distant forest.
Watching.
Waiting.
Noah noticed Julian staring.
"Yeah," Noah muttered quietly.
"He won't come down."
Lake leaned back in his chair, cloak draped around him to hide the cursed suit beneath.
"Maybe he's just enjoying the view."
But even Lake didn't sound convinced.
A few seats away, Oliver was carefully polishing the edge of a small enchanted blade.
The phoenix-feather armor beneath his robes glowed faintly with warmth.
Then something strange happened.
The candles floating above the tables flickered.
Just once.
For a single second, their flames turned black.
Several students noticed and murmured quietly.
Then the flames returned to normal.
But the moment left a strange silence behind.
Julian slowly stood.
"Something's coming," he said.
Outside, beyond the castle walls, the forest wind shifted.
And the dragon roared.