The Dark Days

1. Ghosts From The Past

The day wasn't looking any good, it didn't seem like the typical sunny day we always have here at District 4. There was something  different in the air and even in the people surrounding me and I didn't like it at all.

I got home after a few hours because I knew that no one would be expecting me.  I lived all by myself in that little cabin, far away from the noisy District.

I tried to reach for Sirius but he wasn't answering his phone, it seemed like no one was home at the Black house, so I stayed alone in my bedroom, laying in bed staring at the ceiling. As always.

I woke up to the sound of someone knocking on the door. I got out of bed as fast as I could because it seemed like an emergency. When I opened it I realized why no one was answering the phone.  At least half of the Black family was staring at me, waiting for me to let them in. Narcissa, Bellatrix, Andromeda, Sirius, Regulus and their mother Lucretia. I moved from the door so they could go inside and we settled as we could in the small living room of my house, waiting for one of them to explain what was going on.

- Bad news mate, it's happening again - Said a terrified Sirius.

- the peace keepers are flooding the districts and people are fighting in the streets - Said Bellatrix -  I hope it's not what it seems.

- On one side there are the peace keepers, defending the Capitol, and on the other side we have the black hooded groups wearing their skull masks -  Added Narcissa.

- According to the Capitol, they don't know who's behind the bone faced ones - Said Lucretia, who as always was frightened.

- Haven't you spoken to Remus? -  Andromeda expectantly asked, waiting for my answer.

- No -  I said - I haven't had news from him or his family the whole week.

We turned on the TV, on the Capitol news channel, where many image sequences from different districts were passing at high speed, then the psychedelic Caesar Flickerman appeared, announcing a curfew in all districts, even though the hooded groups weren't set up in each one of these. As far as the news showed, the bone faced ones, as they were called, began their revolt in the streets of District 12 (which they had total control of), 10, 7, 5, 3, 2, and 1.  I couldn't imagine another revolution in the way, I lived through the first one, six years ago, where District 13 was reduced into ashes. I didn't want to know what would happen if the Capitol wins again. The Hunger Games were set since last year, where they released 24 tributes between the ages of 15 and 22 years into a death match (aka blood bath) where only one comes out alive, proclaimed as a victor. I didn't even want to think of the improvements  they could make to these hideous games.

As if Sirius could read my thoughts, he said:

- The Hunger Games are already creepy, I don't want to imagine something worse.

- All we can do is wait sweetie - Said Lucretia, trying to calm her son, who had inherited her nervousness.

When the news ended, Lucretia excused herself so we could practice some magic by our own. To complete the group we needed Lily, but she couldn't come, she almost never leaves her house and now with the peacekeepers surrounding us, Mr Evans won't let her go outside, so we began without her.

We grouped in pairs, Bellatrix with Narcissa (as expected), Regulus with Andromeda and Sirius with me. First we practiced how to disarm, then transfiguration spells, eventuall, making a vague attempt with the Imperius curse, but we had not success trying to resist to it since we had no experts who could help us.

Finally we got mentally and physically exhausted to keep on practicing, I felt as if a tornado was constantly living in my head, so we sat in the tiny living room and turned on the TV, since at that time, everyday, we had to. Ordered by the beloved Capitol (hope you can feel the sarcasm). There were some more news about the rebels, saying that they had under complete control the entire District 11, the largest of all.  Caesar remarked that the bone faced ones were practicing a very advanced kind of magic, in other words, dark magic.