𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐥𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧 𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬 | √

⎡vi; 73⎦

I heaved a sigh as I placed down the paper. What is happening to the world? I rubbed my face in my hands. Everything in the world was going downhill. I looked around the kitchen in the Burrow. Mrs. Weasley was humming quietly as she cleaned the dishes.

I was invited to stay there while my dad was working nearly 24/7 in the auror department. James no longer lived with us. He bought a decent home in London, so he could continue his work as a Healer in St. Mungo's, a job I never expected a guy like him to take.

My eyes darted back to the paper. On the front, there was an article about the Millennium Bridge collapsing and causing the death toll to rise dramatically. Another talking about Harry, questioning if he was the chosen one.

But there was a certain one that caught my eye. A few pages in, around the bottom right-hand corner of the paper, there was an article that said,

FALLEN FROM GRACE

MALFOY'S WIFE AND

SON LEAVE THE TRIAL

There was a picture of them, walking side by side, I felt rather bad for them, knowing that they can't leave the house without being bombarded by the press.

If there was one good thing that came out of the summer, is that I had convinced my father to give me Occlumency lessons. Now I understood that I didn't have a connection with a powerful dark wizard in my head, but I still wanted to learn. It seemed like a valuable lesson. Being the fast learner that I am, I was able to go through someone's mind and block my own within a month of training.

I stood up, making my chair scratch against the wooden floor, and made my way up the many stairs to Hermione, Ginny and I's shared bedroom for the past weeks. She was sitting in the bay window reading an article in Witch Weekly while Hermione read her book on Ginny's bed. Ginny closed the magazine as I walked in.

"I think I left my book downstairs, I'm going to go fetch it," she announced as she stood up and left the room. I walked over to the bay window and picked up the copy of Witch Weekly. Suddenly there was a loud owl like screech. I looked over at Phoebe, who was given to me when James while he was in London. Her beak was closed. I turned to Hermione. We both stood up and rushed out to the winding stairs.

"Is that an owl I heard?" Hermione asked as we peered down the center of the stairway where Ron and Mrs. Weasley were standing on different floors and Ginny was at the bottom.

"You haven't seen him, have you?" Ginny asked. "Apparently, he's wandering about the house."

"Really?" I asked.

"Really." A voice far behind Ginny replied.

"Harry!" Mrs. Weasley exclaimed.

Hermione and I rushed down the stairs behind Ron and Mrs. Weasley.

"Harry!" I exclaimed happily as I threw my arms around my friend. We all took our turns hugging the poor boy whose shins and feet were drenched.

"What a lovely surprise!" Mrs. Weasley laughed putting her arms around him. "Why didn't you let us know you were coming?"

"I didn't know. Dumbledore." Harry explained

"Oh, that man! What we won't do without him?" Mrs.Weasley cheered.

Next to me, Ron put his finger next to Hermione's mouth. "A bit of toothpaste," he muttered. Hermione just awkwardly laughed.

Together, the four of us went back up to Ron's room. On the way I spotted Kronos stalking about and picked him up, placing him on my lap as we sat down. Harry took out his wand and lit a piece of newspaper alight. It floated inside our little circle as we all talked.

"So when did you get here?" Harry asked Hermione and I as he flicked his wand making the newspaper crumple stay alight.

"A few weeks ago, Dad's been working hard at the Ministry, so instead of staying home alone all the time, I came here. And anyways, James got a job at St. Mungo's so he's not around." I explained. Outside the door, Crookshanks jumped down from the balcony with a meow.

Hermione answered next, "A few days ago. Though for a while, I wasn't sure I was coming."

"Mum... sort of lost it, last week. Said Ginny and I have no business going back to Hogwarts. It's too dangerous." Ron said glumly.

"My dad too. He's been overhearing terrible things at the Ministry and really wasn't sure if he wanted me to go back this year." Kronos began to purr in my arms. "I told him not to believe everything at the Ministry since well, we know part of the truth, but even so, he's cautious."

"Oh, come on," Harry complained.

"Their parents aren't alone," Hermione added her input. "Even my parents. They're Muggles, know something bad's happening."

"Anyway," Ron continued, "Dad stepped in. Told us she was being barmy and. Took a few days, but she came around."

"But, this is Hogwarts we're talking about." Harry protested. It's Dumbledore. What could be safer?"

"There's been a lot of talk recently that... Dumbledore's got a bit old." I retold what my father was telling me as I pet behind Kronos' ears.

"What rubbish!" Harry exclaimed. "Well, he's only... what is he?"

"Hundred and fifty?" Ron guessed, "Give or take a few years."

With that, we all burst out laughing. Maybe it's not going to be such a bad year. I've got my friends here. What more do I need?