The next few days passed in a blur.
The Daily Prophet never left the students' hands for long.
The names of the ten escaped Death Eaters spread through Hogwarts like Fiendfyre.
Even students who normally paid no attention to politics knew them.
Antonin Dolohov.
Bellatrix Lestrange.
Travers.
Mulciber.
Older students remembered siblings telling them stories about the First Wizarding War.
During Voldemort's first rise, those names had been spoken almost as fearfully as Voldemort's own.
Now they were free again.
The atmosphere inside the castle changed almost overnight.
The corridors seemed quieter after dark.
Even Peeves had found less enthusiasm for causing trouble, preferring instead to swoop overhead shouting wildly contradictory rumours.
"The Lestranges are hiding in Hogsmeade!"
"They're living in the Shrieking Shack!"
"They've eaten Filch!"
The last one turned out to be disappointingly untrue.
It wasn't only fear spreading through the castle.
It was recognition.
There were students at Hogwarts whose families had survived the first war.
Some hadn't.
Some had lost grandparents.
Uncles.
Aunts.
Cousins.
Parents.
For the first time, many of them understood a little of what Harry had lived with since he was eleven.
Unwanted notoriety.
People staring.
Whispering.
Talking about tragedy as though it belonged in history books rather than across the breakfast table.
As though sensing that students might actually begin discussing something important, Umbridge wasted no time.
Educational Decree Number Twenty-Six appeared on the noticeboards the very next morning.
Teachers are hereby banned from giving students any information that is not strictly related to the subjects they are being paid to teach.
Professor Flitwick sighed when someone asked whether Hogwarts' protective enchantments had been strengthened.
Professor Sprout merely shook her head apologetically.
Professor McGonagall's lips became even thinner than usual.
Not one of them answered.
Umbridge, meanwhile, looked insufferably pleased with herself.
"She really thinks a decree can stop people talking." George muttered after reading the decree.
"It can stop professors." Hermione replied grimly.
"It can't stop us."
"No." Lucy agreed darkly. "I rather hope a Dementor gives her one great big juicy kiss."
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Callidora ☆ Fred Weasley
FanfictionCallidora Nott has always known exactly what is expected of her. As the daughter of one of Britain's oldest pure-blood families, her future has already been carefully planned; alliances, power, and a life shaped by tradition she never chose. At home...
