St Mungo's Hospital, London, 10/31/1993, 22:36
Sirius was seated in a corner of the hospital lobby reading the newest issue of Quidditch Monthly, this month's issue was all about the world cup players, and he was currently reading an article that went over three players that showed great promise and then speculated on how they may be the deciding factor in their respective team winning the Quidditch World Cup.
Sirius had been at the hospital since this afternoon when he confirmed his godson and his group of friends had returned to the castle. Personally, Sirius hated this place, something about a hospital lobby just made him uncomfortable and that wasn't helped by his anxiety over the possibility of an attack here later tonight. It didn't help that the healers kept coming over to ask him what was wrong and trying to cast diagnostic spells on him and generally just distracting him.
Unfortunately, he wasn't able to bring a team of hit wizards as Amelia had been forced to commit most of the ministry's resources to protecting Diagon Alley and the ministry. Rufus did not believe there was any risk of death eaters attacking the hospital and there was already pretty solid intel suggesting that the alley would be attacked tonight. Sirius hoped that they were right and the hospital would be left alone because there were hundreds of people in this building and at present, he was their only line of defence.
The lobby was pretty packed tonight. As he knew from experience, the holidays were always a busy time of year for public servants.
Sirius was pulled from his musing as a flash of blue light signified someone had just arrived by portkey. That was not an uncommon occurrence here, he had seen four people arrive by portkey in the last hour. Sirius turned to glance at the portkey arrival area and felt a chill run down his spine. There were about a dozen men in black and a single red-headed woman dressed in an old-fashioned green dress. Four of the men were unmistakably death eaters, wearing black robes and had bone-white skull masks obscuring their faces. The other men in the group were wearing loose-fitting black body suits and had strange-looking masks covering their faces that made them look almost alien-like.
Sirius didn't hesitate and cast a patronus charm before throwing his first spell at the group of death eaters.
"Leave him for the wizards to deal with, go and feed on the others," the woman commanded as Sirius was drawn into a five-way duel.
Sirius realized very quickly that he was not in a good position, the men he was fighting were not particularly skilled but they had the numbers advantage. Sirius heard spellfire and screaming in the background but he couldn't take his eyes away from his opponents who were attacking him from all sides.
As Sirius sidestepped a pair of killing curses, he could only hope Harry got here quickly or he was a dead man.
St Mungo's Hospital, London, 10/31/1993, 22:45
Harry and Bellatrix appeared in the hospital lobby to the sounds of blood-curdling screams, there were flashes of light from the near-constant spellfire on the other side of the room as four men tried to overpower a single figure in hit wizard robes.
The lone figure turned to avoid a killing curse and Harry saw his face. Sirius was grossly outnumbered fighting four men at once but he was still holding his own, Harry could tell that his godfather was tiring fast and made to leap into the fray when a feminine scream caught his attention.
Harry turned in the direction of the sound and spotted a woman with a man biting into her neck. Harry did a double take as he spotted at least half a dozen vampires in the area near the reception desk. The vampires were attacking the patients and healers in the lobby though from the looks of it, they had almost killed everyone already.
"Go help Sirius, I'll deal with the vampires," Harry whispered and got a nod from Bellatrix.
Harry ran toward the group of vampires noting they were clad in black muggle-style hooded chem suits, they had on gas masks though most of them had their gas masks pushed up to their foreheads so they could use their mouths. Each of them had a broadsword in a scabbard on their backs and looked to be quite large putting him in mind of rugby players.
Harry ran towards his first target, a rather large vampire that was biting the neck of an elderly woman. Flicking his wand, Harry conjured a sword that resembled a Roman gladius as he ran towards the pair. Harry caught the sword in his left hand before it hit the ground and cast a lumos maxima charm into the room at large. Harry shut his eyes as a blinding flash of light filled the room for a millisecond, disorienting wizards and vampires alike with the retina-burning light. Taking advantage of the vampires' distraction, Harry closed the distance to his first target and with one quick swing of his sword, the vampire's head was severed cleanly from his body before it rolled across the lobby floor and burst into a cloud of ash.
Harry didn't break his stride and leapt over an overturned chair as he ran toward the next group of vampires who were making a game out of tormenting a little girl.
The first vampire was caught by surprise as Harry's razor-sharp sword sliced through his neck but the other one glared murderously at him, his eyes a sickly yellow colour.
"So you want to fight with swords, wizard?" the vampire leered as two more vampires joined their comrade coming at Harry from three sides, all three of them drawing massive broadswords that gleamed in the light of the light from the candles floating in transparent orbs near the lobby ceiling.
"I prefer magic but needs must," Harry shrugged as he cast a spell that turned the floor all around him into mud, causing them to sink knee-deep into the floor.
"Mud?" a red-headed vampire sneered as he attempted to free himself.
In response, Harry flicked his wand and reversed the transfiguration, turning the floor back to stone and encasing their legs in the process.
"Expelliarmus," Harry said, saying the spell aloud so that he could force as much power into it as possible in order to overpower the three vampires' powerful grips.
The vampires' swords were violently ripped out of their hands and Harry wasted no time in waving his wand in a circular pattern, causing the swords to reverse course and behead their owners before they clanged across the lobby floor. Harry watched with no small amount of satisfaction as all three vampires' bodies collapsed to the floor, their heads rolling a few feet before bursting into a cloud of ash seconds before their bodies followed suit, vanishing in a grey cloud.
Harry barely had time to take this in before he saw movement out of the corner of his eye and brought his sword up on reflex.
Harry heard a deafening 'CLANG' as another sword hit his own before he was hurled backwards from the power of the blow and hastily scrambled to his feet.
His attacker was a monster of a man standing every bit of seven feet tall with a scarred face and a shaved head.
Harry saw the vampire's long ivory fangs as the man leered at him and felt an unconscious chill run down his spine. Harry pushed that primal reaction aside as he saw the vampire raise his broadsword and took a second swing. Harry was forced to roll out of the way but was still assaulted by bits of stone as the vampire's sword struck the floor with tremendous force.
"Lumos maxima," Harry exclaimed again, causing a second flash of blinding light that made his attacker hesitate in raising his sword a third time.
Harry lunged forward but the vampire brought his sword up at the last minute blocking Harry's swing. Harry was amazed at the force the vampire put into the blow, and not in a good way as he watched his own sword snap in two from the impact. Harty winced as the vampire's sword destroyed his own and sliced through the sleeve of his unspeakable robes with contemptuous ease, though thankfully the blade missed his arm... if just barely.
Harry dropped his broken sword and quickly cast a shield charm to block the vampire's follow-up swing. He was relieved when the spell held though he felt the impact radiating through his arm from the blow and knew that his shield couldn't take another blow like that.
"Prepare to die wizard," the vampire taunted before lifting his sword in a two-handed grip.
Harry had a sudden idea, turning on the spot he disappeared with a barely audible 'pop' seconds before the vampire's sword would have burst through his shield.
Harry appeared directly behind the vampire and he thrust his envenomated dagger into the vampire's back before quickly disapparating away as the vampire spun around and swung his sword through the air where Harry had just been standing.
It was believed that vampires were just as susceptible to basilisk venom as wizards were but the theory had never been put to the test before. As Harry heard the vampire's heavy sword clang to the floor before he dropped to one knee, Harry knew that there was definitely some truth to the theory.
Picking up one of the discarded broadswords lying on the lobby floor, Harry moved towards the kneeling vampire and swung the sword with all of his might, cleanly beheading his opponent in one smooth motion. Harry watched as the vampire burst into a cloud of ash and he let the heavy sword drop to the floor panting heavily from the exertion.
Harry was just about to join in the duel taking place across the room when he felt something pierce his forearm and clamp it in a vice-like grip. Harry screamed in surprise and turned to the source of the pain. Harry blanched when he realized that the lone female vampire was biting into his exposed forearm, she was drinking greedily and he could feel her teeth scraping the bone in his arm.
All he really had time to register was a head of curly red hair and startling green eyes that were boring into his own before she hastily released her hold on him and staggered backwards, giving him a look of shock. Harry went to raise his wand, which he had somehow managed to keep ahold of, but she hastily gripped a circular pendant hanging from her neck. Before Harry think of a spell in his lethargic state, she croaked out the word, "retreat" and disappeared in a flash of blue light, leaving him standing by himself, surrounded by dozens of mutilated corpses.
Harry felt very strange but forced himself to concentrate on the sound of spellfire that was still coming from the other side of the lobby. Harry shook himself and turned toward the sound, seeing Bellatrix and Sirius still facing off against three black-robed wizards. Harty was pleased to see one of their opponents was laying in pieces on the floor and the other three were now on the defensive.
Harry felt his irritation spike as a death eater near the entrance cast a killing curse at Bellatrix that she just barely avoided. Harry flicked his left hand and hurled the dagger in his direction. He was rewarded a second later when the dagger stuck into the side of the man's neck with a sickening 'shlicking' sound before the man collapsed, his hands coming up to the side of his neck in a futile attempt to stem the flow of blood.
The death eater beside him fell a second later to a killing curse from Bellatrix who took advantage of the man's distraction Harry had created. The last man seeing that his comrades had fallen hastily disapparated with a loud 'POP' before Sirius' spell could reach him, though he left a bit of himself behind.
"That cheeky bastard just gave me the finger," Sirius muttered as he leaned down and picked up a bloody finger from the floor where the death eater had just been standing.
The entire exchange had taken less than three minutes but it felt like so much longer. Harry looked around the hospital lobby taking in a scene of utter carnage. Bodies littered the floor and most of them were badly mutilated, a group of patients and healers were hiding behind the receptionist's desk and popped their heads up when the sound of spellfire stopped. Harry was pleased to see the little girl from earlier amongst them looking terrified but otherwise unharmed.
"We have to leave, Reaper," Bella said looking at the bloody wound on Harry's forearm and wincing.
"I know, the ministry will be here momentarily," Harry nodded.
"You're bit?" Sirius exclaimed.
"I know, I will have Niffler look me over," Harry said feeling very weak all of a sudden.
"Come on, let's get you home," Bellatrix said before taking his hand in her own.
"I'll see you later, Grim," Harry promised before Bellatrix turned on the spot and apparated them both away, leaving Sirius standing alone in the middle of a scene straight out of a nightmare.
Riddle Manor, Little Hangleton, 10/31/1993, 22:48
Bethany appeared in the entrance hall and collapsed to her knees. Seconds later she began to vomit streams of dark red blood and screamed in agony as her insides seemed to be twisting into knots. She had never felt pain like this, it was as if white-hot fire was flowing through her very veins. She had no idea what was in the Reaper's blood but she knew for certain that it was like poison to her. His blood seemed to sear her flesh the second it touched her lips and it was all she could do to activate her emergency portkey before she collapsed to her knees.
"Lady Bethany?" She heard a voice call and vaguely felt someone pick her up.
It took her a moment to realize she was being carried down the hall by one of the soldiers but at the moment she couldn't keep her eyes open much less identify who he was. Her last thought before she lost consciousness was that it was a very big mistake to bite Reaper.
Paverell Manor, Leeds, 10/31/1993, 23:03
Harry sat in his chair as Narcissa examined the wound on his forearm.
"Interesting," Narcissa mused as she cancelled the spell.
"What's interesting?" Harry asked warily.
"It's almost as if you're immune to the vampire virus," Narcissa admitted, giving him a strange look.
"I didn't know that was even possible," Harry said as he looked at the wound noticing that it seemed to be healing before his eyes.
"It"s almost as if there is something in your blood killing the infection before it can spread," Narcissa said as Bella entered the room.
"So are you a vampire?" Bella asked as she took a seat on the arm of his chair.
"No, he is not though I want him to take a course of the potion just to be on the safe side," Narcissa said sounding uncannily like Poppy Pomfrey.
"Sure, how bad does it taste?" Harry asked.
"Dreadful," Narcissa said looking amused.
"I wonder why you're immune?" Bella said sounding genuinely curious.
"Not a clue," Harry shrugged though he had a suspicion as to why he wasn't affected by the vampire virus.
"How did the outing go other than the obvious?" Narcissa asked as she looked between the two of them.
"We were a bit slow in getting there, the vampires killed almost everyone in the hospital's lobby before we arrived," Harry said with a sad shake of his head.
"There were a dozen attackers and we killed all but two," Bella said before kissing Harry on the cheek.
"I don't know how things went everywhere else," Harry said giving Narcissa a questioning look.
"I know that they were unsuccessful in Diagon Alley but that is all I've heard," Narcissa shrugged.
"We'll just have to wait for the paper to find out about the other attacks," Bella shrugged.
"Have the twins been behaving themselves?" Harry asked.
"They were no trouble at all. I sent them to do their schoolwork after dinner," Narcissa assured him.
"I'm going to check on them, you should get cleaned up," Bella suggested.
"While you're in the shower, I'll go whip up a dose of potion," Narcissa said.
"How long does the potion take to brew?" Harry asked as Bella swept out of the room.
"A few hours," Narcossa shrugged.
"You really should have been a healer, you'd be good at it," Harry praised.
"In another life, I would have been," Narcissa said sounding very serious.
"But instead you're slowly taking over the wizarding world through our children," Harry teased.
"That joke may not seem quite so funny twenty years from now," Narcissa smirked.
Harry couldn't help but chuckle to himself as he had the mental image of Narcissa taking over the ministry with an army of children.
"I'll be back soon, we have a decent supply of potion ingredients here," Harry said as he slowly stood up feeling a bit shaky on his feet.
"I'll use my own lab, I know where everything is there," Narcissa said before she approached the fireplace.
Harry waited until she stepped into the fireplace before he made his way upstairs for a quick shower and a change of clothes, knowing that he still had a long night ahead of him.
Number Four Privet Drive, Surrey, 10/31/1993, 23:06
Tonks and Mad-Eye appeared in the street of this ordinary neighbourhood and immediately noticed the dark mark flying high in the sky like a glowing green billboard.
"Buggering hell, we'll have to call for the obliviators," Moody grunted before sending off a message through his auror badge.
"Why would they attack here though? As far as I know, there aren't any magicals in the area," Tonks asked as they began walking toward the house that was directly under the dark mark.
The house looked almost identical to all of the others in this neighbourhood with the the small exception of its front door being wide open. It was a two-story and looked to be of brick construction and actually reminded Tonks a bot of her home in Reading.
"This is the home of Lily Potter's muggle sister and her family," Mad-Eye grunted as he cast a silent human presence revealer spell over the house.
"Oh, I didn't even know she had a sister," Tonks muttered as they came to a stop.
"They were estranged, nowenough talk," Moody barked before he made his way into the home.
Tonks stepped inside behind himl and nearly wretched. The hallway was covered in body parts and looked as if someone had been torn apart and their body parts were just carelessly tossed aside. The floor was covered in drying blood and there was the distinct scent of human excrement lingering in the air.
"You alright, lass?" Mad-Eye asked as he surveyed tge room.
"I'll be fine," Tonks grunted as she took a calming breath to try and ease her nausea at the sights and smells assaulting her senses.
"Looks like this was Mister Dursley" Moody muttered as he examined a beefy hand lying at the foot of the stairs.
Tonks was flabbergasted,from what she had heard onlt the atttack at Saint Mubgo's compared to this!
The attack in Hogsmeade had been mostly green death eaters who were caught by surprise when order members began to engage them almost as soon as they appeared.
She had heard that the Cresswell attack had been a well executed trap for the aurors and that the death eaters who were captured attacking the Cresswell home were currently being interrogated by Lady Black.
She hadn't heard anything about Diagon Alley but she knew that their had been a sizeable force of aurors there and she assumed that it would have played out similarly to Hogsmeade.
From what she had heard, Saint Mungo's had been a bloodbath though most of the attacking force had been decimated by the Reaper but that didn't change the fact that thirty people had been murdered.
"Where is Missus Dursley?" Tonks asked as she glanced over at Mad-Eye.
"I am not sure I want to know lass," Mad-Eye said sounding utterly disgusted.
"Homenium revelio," Tonks muttered and was unsurprised when the only human presence she picked up was Mad-Eye.
"I already tried that, it only works on living people," Mad-Eye said looking grim.
Tonks heard the 'popping' sound of apparition outside and looked out the open front door to see more ministry personnel arriving. The new arrivals began fanning out through the neighbourhood before another group arrived and began to cast the spells to erase the dark mark.
"That lot has a lot on their plate tonight," Moody muttered as he began to walk through the ground floor of the home.
Tonks followed behind him glancing at the pictures on the wall as she passed and immediately noticed something.
"They have a son," Tonks muttered as Mad-Eye open a door leading into an empty kitchen.
"They do?" Mad-Eye asked blankly.
"There are pictures of him everywhere," Tonks said as she pointed to a family portrait on the wall across from the stairs.
"Bugger, that may complicate things even more," Mad-Eye muttered as he began climbing the stairs.
Tonks followed him noticing blood was smeared on the walls of the stairwell. There was a trail of blood leading from the top of the stairs to one of the upstairs bedrooms that both aurors followed with trepidation. As Alastor pushed open the bedroom door, Tonks gasped at the gory scene inside the master bedroom. Petunia had been dismembered just like Verbon, and her head had been staked to the bedroom wall her face frozen in a look of agony.
"We are dealing with some really sick bastards," Mad-Eye muttered as he took in the scene.
"I didn't have to see this to tell you that," Tonks muttered before stepping back into the hall having to struggle not to vomit.
"Come on lass, the processing team can handle this. We need to find out who the boy in the pictures is and if he's still alive," Moody grunted as he went to the next bedroom and pushed open the door.
The search of the house didn't take long and came up empty. They found no sign of the boy, dead or otherwise in the house. As they were stepping out of the house the crime-scene processing team began pouring into the house. The entire neighbourhood was crawling with obliviators going door to door to erase the memories of everyone who may have seen the dark mark.
They were just about to apparate away when a familiar figure flagged them down.
"Mad-Eye, I think we've got another crime scene," Arthur Weasley said looking very troubled.
"Where?" Moody asked warily.
"Just down the street, i-it's one of ours," Arthur said quietly before he began leading them down the road.
"Who?" Tonks asked.
"Arabella Figg, we were checking the homes when we found her," Arthur sighed.
"Bloody hell, will this night ever end," Mad-Eye grunted as they turned up a street called Wisteria Walk.
"It's pretty gruesome, I already called for a processing team but most of them are tied up at Saint Mungo's," Arthur said as he led them up a driveway to a house that was missing its front door.
Tonks felt a sense of deja vu as the scene that awaited them inside the house was just as grotesque as the one they had left a moment ago. Arabella Figg hadn't just been killed, she had been torn apart piece by piece and her body parts were strewn across the tiny kitchen. Just like with Petunia Dursley, Arabella's head was affixed to the wall with an iron stake through her mouth.
"Sick bastards," Mad-Eye growled as he turned away from the scene looking madder than Tonks had ever seen him.
"I already let Albus know," Arthur admitted looking to be on the verge of being sick.
"The processing team will have to sort this out," Moody grunted as he led them back outside.
As they walked out through the front door, Tonks notice a pair of dead tabby cats laying on the floor near the doorway.
Tonks had wanted to be an auror to fight dark wizards but she had never thought there was even a possibility of seeing something as awful as what she'd witnessed tonight. Whoever had killed these people were the worst kind of monsters and they had to be stopped before something like this happened again.
"You alright, lass?" Mad-Eye asked pulling her back to the present.
"How do you look at something like that and still want to do this for a living?" Tonks asked after Arthur had left them standing in front of Arabella's house.
"The first couple of times you see a scene like this isn't easy," Mad-Eye said with a far-off look in his eye.
"It was all I could do not to vomit," Tonks admitted.
"You handled it better than I did, I chucked up all over the floor at my first crime scene and it wasn't nearly as gruesome as in there," Moody said as he gestured to the house.
"So why do you do it?" Tonks asked again, genuinely curious now.
"To get justice for people like Arabella, people who were killed by some monster on a power trip. I hate this part of the job but I live for the moment I get to corner one of these bastards. I would always give them the chance to come quietly, but I always hoped they chose to go down the other way so they could give me a reason," Moody said with a dark smile.
Tonks felt her respect for Mad-Eye grow, she could understand exactly what he meant. After what she saw tonight, she wanted to get justice for these people.
"Let's file our report and call it a night," Moody said after checking his watch.
"You don't want to stay?" Tonks asked though she wasn't opposed to leaving.
"No, there isn't anything we can do until the scenes are processed," Moody assured her.
"Oh," Tonks nodded as Mad-Eye took a quill out of his robe pocket.
"I want to get the investigation on the Dursley boy started and we can't do that from here," Moody added as he offered her the quill portkey.
As Tonks touched the portkey and Mad-Eye activated it, sucking them both into the familiar blue vortex, she couldn't help but think that her perspective on becoming an auror had drastically changed after the events of this evening.
She still wanted to be an auror but she realized that the fantasy she had built up in her mind was far different than reality. Tonight she had seen the ugly side of chasing dark wizards and the thought one person could do something like that to another sickened her.
She vowed that she would bring those bastards to justice one way or another, if for nothing else, than so that she never had to see another scene like the one on Privet Drive.
Riddle Manor, Little Hangleton, 1/1/1993, 00:01
Voldemort felt very strange, unlike his other anchors Nagini was the first horcrux he could sense. He could feel the serpent's emotions especially since they were in such close proximity to one another.
The body of his sacrifice lay on the floor, a girl name Rose Zeller. He had granted the poor muggle-born girl a quick death which was a mercy to his mind. It was a shame to waste such potential but he thought it best to kidnap a muggleborn before she got her Hogwarts letter so as to avoid the notice of the ministry.
Voldemort looked at Nagini who was slithering towards the girl's corpse. Voldemort could sense her excitement as she prepared to swallow the body whole.
Voldemort rose from where he had been kneeling on the floor and slowly walked over to where he had a strengthening elixir waiting. The ritual had been successful and he felt a deep sense of satisfaction knowing that he had finally done what he'd been planning since he was fifteen years old, he had separated his soul into seven parts and his immortality was assured.
Voldemort downed the dose of potion and walked out of the room. The ritual had taken hours to complete and he was very curious about the outcomes of the attacks tonight. He did not feel up to listening to his servants yammering until he got some rest and recuperated.
Sweeping from the cellar, Voldemort made his way to his quarters intent on getting some rest and putting some distance between himself and Nagini as he had no interest in sharing the experience of feasting on a corpse. Unfortunately, he kept seeing flashes through Nagini's eyes which was quite unsettling even for him.
Great Hall, Hogwarts, 11/1/1993, 07:34
Harry entered the great hall and made his way to the Gryffindor table. Last night Fred and George had thrown an impromptu Halloween party. He hadn't gotten to bed until well after midnight and had to be up early for morning quidditch practice. The hall was almost deserted as most people slept in late on Sundays.
"You're up early."
Harry turned to the sound of the voice and saw Hannah taking the seat beside him looking just as chipper as always.
"Quidditch practice," Harry said as he poured himself some coffee.
"On a Sunday morning?" Hannah asked.
"It was the only time Wood could book the pitch," Harry shrugged.
"Well from what I hear, you're going to need all the help you can get," Hannah smirked.
"Why do you say that?" Harry asked in confusion.
"I heard that one of the Slytherin chasers hurt himself yesterday," Hannah said as she fixed herself some French toast.
"So, what does that have to do with us?" Harry asked still not understanding what she was getting at.
"Cedric said that Flint has put in a request with Madam Hooch to switch games around so you'll most likely be playing us next Saturday," Hannah said giving him a knowing grin.
"Oh bugger," Harry muttered.
"I figured you might want to know," Hannah beamed as the post owls began swooping into the hall.
"Well it won't affect me very much, Diggory and Draco have very similar seeking strategies," Harry pointed out.
"True but our chasers have a completely different style than the Slytherin lineup," Hannah pointed out as an owl with a Daily Prophet landed in front of her.
"Yeah, you've also got Macavoy," Harry snorted only to turn when he heard Hannah gasp in horror.
"What is it?" Harry asked warily.
"I-it's awful," Hannah whispered as she stared at the paper.
Looking over her shoulder, Harry felt his stomach twist as he read the headline.
Vampires Attack Saint Mungo's, Thirty Dead!
Under the headline was a photograph of a wrecked lobby. On the lobby floor were two rows of bodies covered in white sheets in the centre of the room.
"Sirius was there," Harry muttered as he saw his godfather walk through the moving picture.
"Mum was supposed to work last night," Hannah said as she read through the article.
"It looks like they didn't make it past the lobby," Harry said as he read the article.
"It says they were stopped from going any further into the hospital when the Reaper showed up," Hannah said as she offered him the paper.
"Thank god, I thought the vampires had stopped attacking people," Harry admitted as he flipped the paper over and read the section under the fold.
Diagon Alley Attacked, seven captures six dead!
Six Captured in Attack on Hogsmeade!
Muggle Couple Murdered in Surrey!
"Bloody hell, how many attacks were there last night?!" Harry exclaimed as he read through the articles.
"Too many," Hannah muttered softly as she read through the article about the attack on Hogsmeade.
Harry was just about to say something when he read the names of the two muggles who were attacked and stared in disbelief. Petunia and Vernon Dursley, he recognizes those names! They were his aunt and uncle though he had never actually met them.
"Harry, what is it?" Hannah asked giving him a look of concern.
"Th-they killed my aunt and uncle," Harry said, his voice barely above a whisper.
"What?" Hannah asked giving him a look of surprise.
"Those two muggles were my aunt and uncle on my mother's side of the family," Harry explained not really sure how he should feel about this.
Harry was taken aback when Hannah wrapped her arms around him and pulled him to her. Harry returned the hug soaking up her warmth as he thought about the fact that one of his last blood relatives had just been senselessly murdered.
"Wait, she had a son," Harry muttered as something important just occurred to him.
"What?" Hannah asked as she pulled back to look at him curiously.
"My aunt and uncle had a son," Harry said as he snatched up the paper and read through the article again looking for any hints about the status of their son.
"There is nothing in here about a son," Hannah muttered from where she was reading over his shoulder.
Harry felt a sliver of hope at the thought his cousin may have survived the attack last night, thought if he had then they would have something in common, they were now both orphans.
"I have to talk to Sirius," Harry said as he got to his feet, Hannah soon following him as he began making his way out of the hall.
"How are you going to do that?" Hannah asked curiously as he began leading her up the stairs.
"I have an enchanted mirror," Harry explained.
"Do you mind if I come with you?" Hannah asked.
"No, as long as you don't tell anyone how to get in my common room," Harry said not all that concerned about house secrecy at present.
"I already know where your common room is, Mum was in Gryffindor," Hannah said as they began climbing the stairs.
After this, they walked in silence as Harry led the way through the castle, his mind still reeling about the revelation that two members of his family whom he'd never spoken to had been murdered. This was on top of the massacre at Saint Mungo's and all of the other attacks that had happened last night. Harry was once again reminded that the war was more real than it had ever felt to him.
Before Harry knew it, they were standing in front of the portrait.
"Password?" The Fat Lady asked giving Hannah a suspicious look
"Flibbertigibbet," Harry said and was rewarded when the portrait swung open.
Harry quickly led Hannah into the common room and made his way toward the stairs but he was intercepted by Susan who was coming down the staircase from the girls' dorms.
"Hannah, what on earth are you doing here?" Susan exclaimed, getting the attention of everyone in the common room.
"There were a bunch of attacks last night and I need to call Sirius," Harry said not slowing down in heading for the boys' staircase.
"Where did they attack?" Susan asked as she and Hannah followed after him.
"Saint Mungo's," Hannah said giving Susan a meaningful look.
"And my aunt and uncle's house in Surrey," Harty called over his shoulder as he climbed the spiral staircase.
Before Susan could ask anything else, Harry pushed open the door to the third-year boys' dorm, relieved when he found his dorm mates still in their beds with their curtains drawn. Harty quickly went to his trunk and dug out his mirror before climbing onto his bed and gesturing for Hannah and Susan to join him. Once they climbed onto the bed, he drew his curtains.
"Muffliato," Harry muttered, casting a privacy charm that he'd seen Daphne use quite often.
Harry looked into the mirror and said, " Sirius Black," causing his reflection to blur before it shifted before their eyes into the countenance of a very exhausted-looking Sirius Black.
"I had a feeling you'd be calling me," Sirius said before giving Harry a look of surprise when he noticed Hannah and Susan on either side of him.
"My cousin wasn't mentioned in the paper," Harry said getting straight to the reason he had called.
"Yeah, it took Moody quite a while to figure that one out. Your cousin is in a boarding school called Smeltings, he's safe though I imagine he's having a rough go of it this morning," Sirius assured him.
"Is my mum okay?" Hannah asked giving Sirius a pleasing look.
"Kat's fine, the attack never got past the lobby," Sirius said, a haunted look crossing his face at the mention of the hospital.
"Thank god," Hannah whispered the worry in her face fading away.
"I'm sorry about your aunt and uncle, Harry," Sirius said giving Harry a look of sympathy.
"Do you know who did it?" Harry asked.
"We think it was Travers but there were no witnesses," Sirius said, giving his godson a look of sympathy.
"How bad was it last night?" Susan asked, her voice trembling slightly.
"Bad and that's all I'm saying about it," Sirius said flatly.
"But everybody is okay?" Harry pressed.
"Yes, our families are fine," Sirius' assured him.
"Is Auntie there?" Susan asked hopefully.
"No, she's still at the office," Sirius said before looking back over at Harry.
"Harry mate, you three wouldn't happen to be in your four-poster, would you?" Sirius asked, a grin breaking across his features.
"Yeah," Harry said looking nonplussed.
"That's my boy," Sirius beamed giving Harry a look of pride.
Before Harry could think about that too much, his wristwatch alarm went off letting him know he needed to get to quidditch practice.
"Bugger, I have to run," Harry said.
"Be safe and call me this evening," Sirius said.
"I will. You stay safe as well," Harry said.
"Say hi to Suntie for me," Susan said just before Sirius ended the connection.
"Sorry but I have to get to quidditch practice," Harry said before he crawled out of the bed.
Harry stepped out of bed to be faced with a confused Ron Weasley dressed in only his shorts. Before Harry could say anything to him, Hannah crawled out behind him followed a second later by Susan. Both girls stared at Rin in shock, their faces flushing in embarrassment.
It took Ron a full three seconds to realize his situation and his current attire before he darted back to his own bed and threw the hangings shut, moving so fast that Harry could have sworn he apparated
"Oh this could be awkward," Harry muttered as he slipped the mirror back into his trunk and grabbed his cloak.
"What the bloody hell are girls doing in our dorm, Potter?" Ron demanded from the other side of his curtains.
"I'll explain later, I have to get to practice," Harry said before he guided Hannah and Susan out of the room.
As the three of them made their way down to the stairs, Harry let out a sigh of relief. His cousin was safe though he was still ashamed to admit that he didn't even know his cousin's name. He would make a point to try and meet him this summer though he knew there was a real possibility his cousin would want nothing to do with him, especially after the death of his parents.
Harry left the two girls in the common room and began to run towards the grand staircase, he had eight minutes to get to the quidditch pitch where he had much more running to look forward to.