A Light in the Darkness

It Begins

"So Jim, what are you doing at Hogsmeade this weekend?" A pretty girl named Jane asked as Jim headed back to the Ravenclaw common room.

"I'm hanging out with Clive, as usual." He replied. Jane gave him a look of disgust. She was one of the more popular girls and was very judgemental.

"The Slyrtherin?" She asked with a voice that showed her disapproval. "He's one of the undesirables."

"He's a good guy, if people would only take the time to get to know him." 

"Whatever." She stormed out.

But Jim stayed deep in thought until the arms of sleep wrapped themselves around him. He couldn't shake the feeling that Clive would be a big part of some darkness that was coming. And his dreams didn't help at all.

He was in a dark room. On the other end, he saw a fire. Beside the fire stood an old bent man. 

"They have shown themselves." He said. Jim realized that there was someone else in the room. She was sitting in one of the chairs that was nearly completely in shadow.

"Well then." Her voice was high and cold. It quivered like an old woman's. "It's time we move in. They must be destroyed."

"And to thing it was but a child that revealed them. A child of their kind!"

"What does it matter?" The woman began to move forward. As her face came into the light, Jim realized that this must be a very old woman. Her skin seemed to hang. She was so thin that her face seemed to be not much more than a skull.

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That Saturday, Clive waited for twenty minutes for Jim to show up at The Three Broomsticks. When he finally did, he seemed winded. 

"What happened to you?" Clive asked him.

"Nearly got caught stealing this from Honeydukes." Jim replied s he put his cloak away and pulled out a box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans. 

"You know," Clive said, "you certainly are brave for a Ravenclaw."

"What can I say?" Jim shrugged. "It's in my blood."

"How do you think you're doing on your NEWT's?"

"Horrible. I'm no good at this school stuff."

Clive laughed at this. "Sometime, I wonder why you were put in Ravenclaw."

"Believe me mate," Jim chuckled, "I do too."

They went quiet for a few minutes as they each settled in thought. Neither had an idea what to talk about. They had been friends since their third year at Hogwarts and still had never had this problem.

"I'll be back." Clive said. He stood and headed to the restroom.

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Clive was back within minutes. But he seemed on edge. Something definitely wasn't right. 

"You okay mate?" Jim asked.

"We need to go." Clive said in a hurried whisper. Now."

Outside, a loud bang sounded. It was a sound that Wizardkind hadn't heard in many years now. It was the sound of gunfire. That meant only one thing.

"What happened?" Jim asked frantically.

"I don't know." Clive responded.

"Yes you do!"

"No-"

"Stop lying Clive! You can trust me! We're friends!"

"Damn you. I'll tell you back at school."

Jim took out his cloak. He threw it over the both of them as they began to sneak away from the commotion. To eyes outside, they became invisible. This cloak had been given to Jim by his father.

They had been walking for some minutes, when they saw them.

Muggles.