Of Constellations → 𝘥. 𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘧𝘰𝘺

xxx. candle in the dark

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chapter thirty

candle in the dark

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Winter holidays were always something I looked forward to, but no winter holiday had I looked forward to more than the one in my sixth year.

It was a surprise when the Christmas decorations went up the week before. Normally, they made me happy and warm. And they did as well this year but it was a bit surreal, sitting in the Great Hall during breakfast before we were supposed to be returning home, looking out over the crowd of battered, cut up, bruised faces, grinning below the glitter and holiday cheer.

They had even put up the usual giant Christmas tree.

Luna was still enjoying the book I let her borrow, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I had figured it was bizarre enough to be a decent replacement for the outlandish articles she was missing in The Quibbler. (Considering it was a Muggle book, I'd charmed it to look like our Muggle Studies textbook: When Muggles Attack.) It wasn't very long, but she seemed to really be savoring it. She had questions for me on just about every page, as though she was reading it for some kind of literature class.

After breakfast, everyone who was going home (which was, in this case, just about everyone) filed out of the grand oak doors to catch the carriages.

We went to find an open compartment. I put Ptolemy up on the luggage rack and then collapsed onto the chair next to Luna. Ginny and Neville sat on the opposite bench, both of them listening to Luna talk about the book. They seemed bewildered at the concept of aliens.

"The Vogons look like slugs," said Luna. "They sound a bit like an Umgublar Slashkilters, really, but Vogons are much smarter. One of them even writes poetry."

"And why exactly did they want to destroy earth again?" asked Ginny, totally lost.

"They want to build an intergalactic bypass."

"What does that mean?" asked Neville.

Luna pursed her lips and looked at the ceiling as though deep in thought. "I'm...not sure."

While Luna was theorizing on what exactly was meant by 'intergalactic bypass,' I noticed movement out of the corner of my eye. I turned to look at the door, and my stomach dropped when I saw three different men I didn't recognize standing outside of our compartment, looking in. Crabbe was standing in front of them, pointing at us through the glass.

"Who is—?" I started to ask but one of the men, the biggest of the group, threw open the compartment door. His hair was shoulder-length and it looked caked in mud. He sneered, revealing rotten, yellowed teeth.

Ginny had her wand out first but was instantaneously Stunned by the youngest of the group—a wizard with spiral-curled black hair and a pock-marked face.

Neville, Luna, and I had our wands out next. But, we were trapped in a cramped space, and the men had an entire corridor. Neville was disarmed, Luna managed to cast a Jelly-Leg Jinx that hit the third man wearing an ugly brown cable-knit jumper and I got the muddy-haired one with a Stinging Hex.

But we were disarmed in turn. Muddy hair grabbed Luna's arm and twisted it behind her back. She yelped in pain. Spiral hair did the same to me. Jumper Stunned Neville.

"Stop!" I said and started to scream for help, but a Silencing Charm rendered me voiceless. The same happened to Luna. All I could do was try to writhe out of the man's grasp, but my muscles were weak. It was no use.