Freaks: Year Two

Raise Your Glass

Brief description of torture and referenced abuse.

Everyone thought it would be a normal Saturday.

Oh, how wrong they were.

When the second year Hufflepuffs woke up that morning, everything seemed normal. To them at least. They had no idea that the whole of Gryffindor house had stayed up all night that night listening to the radio, worried. They had absolutely no idea.

They had no idea until they reached the Great Hall, and heard whispers of the name Alice Bell throughout the hall, partnered with the word killed.

Killed.

The second year Hufflepuffs found out by the general whispers throughout the hall that Alice Bell, a third year student, was murdered by deatheaters at her parents' funeral – parents that were also killed by deatheaters the week prior.

A 13 year old was dead.

But that couldn't be right, Jasper thought to himself. Would these deatheaters be so cruel to kill a child at her parents funeral?

It seemed like it by the whispers and quiet conversations they all heard throughout the day.

Still, many people at the school held on to the hope that these claims had been wrong. Alice could not be dead. This Dark Lord could not have ordered his followers to attack a funeral. They could not have killed a child.

Some people knew better. Some students knew that these dark wizards were capable of doing just that – killing a child.

Still, they all hoped it wasn't true.

That night in the Great Hall they got their answers.

Professor Dumbledore stood up, and walked behind the podium, looking sombre. This did not ease the students' nerves that Alice Bell being dead was a cruel rumour. Even so, everyone noticed the sadness radiating from the Gryffindor table, and the absence of Alice's older brother Derek Bell.

The Headmaster waited until everyone was quiet. "I am sure many, if not all, of you have heard the tragic news that we have lost one of our own today." Jasper's heart dropped. So she was dead. It wasn't a lie. She was actually dead.

"A third year Gryffindor by the name of Alice Bell was killed by followers of the Dark Lord." He leaned against the little podium, his eyes glistening behind the half moon glasses. "Alice Bell did nothing to offend any of these men and women, who call themselves Death Eaters. Alice Bell was a kindred spirit, with a beautiful heart, and a good word for every person she met. The reason the Death Eaters killed her was purely political and meaningless. It is this hatred of kindness, this cruelty against goodness that is why the Dark Lord must be stopped. His radical, dangerous beliefs and actions are causing his followers to act in irrational ways, killing little girls attending their parents' funerals. It's not right, it's not fair, and it cannot be tolerated. I know that you are but children yourselves, but you are the generation that shall rise up from the current one's ashes - you are the ones who will defeat Voldemort. You are the ones who can grow up with tolerance and decency. Blood, no matter how pure or impure it may be, is too precious to spill!" He slammed his fist onto the podium, making several of the students jump. "We cannot let Voldemort win. We just cannot."

Goblets appeared in front of them, and Harry looked over to Jasper who looked close to tears. Harry looked down at the table, feeling sick. She was dead. They both didn't know Alice that well – they just saw her in passing with Lily Evans sometimes, but they both knew she was a sweet girl. She didn't deserve this. No one deserved to die. She was so young. Not that Voldemort cared. He had attacked her parents' funeral resulting in three of the four family members being murdered in a matter of days.