Lily Luna Potter

A Mysterious Note

**Author's note** Many of these characters belong to JK Rowling, and so does the idea of Hogwarts. I do not own those characters! (But many of them are mine.) (:

The excitement of the Christmas holidays was slowly creeping up on us. It was the first of December, and everyone was happily anticipating the festivities. Eight vast Christmas trees had been put up in the Great Hall, courtesy of Hagrid. Professor Lovegood was waving her wand, decorating a rather big fir tree in one corner of the hall with sparkling threads of tinsel and tiny fluttering fairies clad in sparkling dresses and twinkling crowns. There was a fine dusting of what looked to be real snow on the tips of the branches, looking rather Christmassy. We only had two weeks of term left, but the teachers seemed to be piling even more work on us.

I was sitting in the Great Hall during what normally would have been Herbology with the Slytherins, but due to the enormous amount of snow the previous night, we were unable to get to the greenhouses and were given a free hour. Most of the other third-year Gryffindors and Slytherins were hanging about in the Great Hall. I was reading the day's issue of the Daily Prophet, sitting alone at one end of the Gryffindor table. One article on the front page caught my eye:

Death Eater Uprising
During this past week, several former Death Eaters have been found with suspicious magical artifacts in their homes. Draco Malfoy, 41, head of International Magical Trading Standards in the Ministry, was discovered to possess numerous dark magical objects. Along with his wife, Astoria Malfoy (formerly Greengrass), 40, officer of the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures department, Malfoy has been taken in the Ministry for questioning. A Ministry worker who wishes to remain anonymous provided a tip-off that they were concealing artifacts in their home. After this incident, numerous other former supporters of You-Know-Who were angered greatly. There was a massive revolt in Diagon Alley this morning, demanding the release of Malfoy and Greengrass. More information will be reported as this story unfolds.

I folded the newspaper and put it back on the table, going back to writing my 12 inch History of Magic essay on the Witches' Rights Movement of 1244.

"What's that you're reading?" I turned to see my cousin Hugo leaning over my shoulder.

I jumped. "Where'd you come from?"

"Just got away from Parkinson, actually," Hugo shook his head, throwing a pile of books on the table, and I noticed he's out of breath. "She was trying to take points off me for carrying too many books; said something about it posing a danger for other students, when Professor Longbottom came and distracted her, saying he needed some bezoars or something."

"Only you would get in trouble for carrying too many books, Hugo," I sighed. I smoothed out my copy of the Daily Prophet and showed him the article as he sat down next to me. "Look. Another revolt."

"Malfoy won't be too happy, I expect," he muttered, tilting his head over to the Slytherin table. Scorpius Malfoy was sitting by himself at far end of the table looking rather gloomy, with an open book in front of him. He was staring off into space.

"Bit of a blow for his ego, it might do him good," another voice startled me. My best friend Ella Longbottom, along with Lorcan Scamander, slid neatly into the bench across the table.

"How's the essay going, Lily? I finished mine on Tuesday." Ella produced a foot of parchment with very tiny, neat writing filling every centimeter of it.

The conversation drifted away from the Malfoys.

"Where did you say you found all that information on Adrianna the Awful?" I muttered to Hugo. "I can't find her anywhere in here."