It was pandemonium. Students yelled and ran amuck, the teachers will milling anxiously around their table and owls flew in and out with surprising speed. Rubeus Hagrid, the enormous Hogwarts gamekeeper, was wringing his hands worriedly and talking rapidly to Dumbledore, who at first glance appeared calm but his eyes were blazing and his jaw was set. Lily grabbed Fabian Prewitt's arm as he ran past.
"Fabian," she panted. "What's going on?"
"Blimey, you haven't heard? McGonagall announced it after lunch." Fabian lowered his voice. "You guys've heard of the Dark wizard calling himself Lord Voldemort, right?"
"Obviously, mate, didn't he already attack half the Wizarding hubs?" I interjected, and Remus dug his elbow into my ribs. "Ow," I muttered, turning back to Fabian.
"He's attacked Hogsmeade, right now, while students were there, with his servants, the Death Eaters he calls them. Oh, they're Stunning people left and right and they killed a whole bunch of people at the Hogs Head already. Blimey, they even put their symbol over the village. Skulls and snakes, they call it the Dark Mark. Dumbledore's sent an emergency owl to the Ministry, but I reckon they'd have already sent out Aurors, wouldn't they, and----,"
Fabian continued excitedly but James had turned away and begun to run, his robes billowing behind him, and without a second of hesitation I followed. After a couple seconds I heard Remus, Peter, and Lily following me.
James sprinted up two sets of stairs and panting, I followed close behind. He pulled to a stop in front of a large window facing Hogsmeade and his mouth fell open. I ran up behind and froze, my eyes widening in surprise. Fabian hadn't been fibbing. A green and black skull symbol hovered over the village of Hogsmeade, as if announcing the presence of Voldemort.
Remus and Lily stood next to us, gaping. Peter gasped and ran down the hallway quickly, his satchel flapping against his side. Remus shook his head, his eyes large and sad.
"Another Dark wizard rising to power," he said quietly. I shivered involuntarily.
Lily looked up, her vivid green eyes filled with tears. I couldn't take any of this somber mood anymore. It reminded me too much of home. Sorry, my house. Not home. It would never be a home to me.
I pressed my lips together and headed down the hall alone, not turning back when Remus called, "Padfoot, where're you going, mate?"
I retreated to the almost empty Gryffindor common room and slumped in a chair by the fire. I could hear a group of giggling second year girls behind me.
"Oooh, he's cute," one of them murmured.
"He's a Black, right? Isn't his brother on the Slytherin Quidditch team?"
"Yeah, but this one's way cuter."
"His name starts with an S, I think. He's almost always in detention!"
"Did you look at those beautiful silver eyes?"
"And his eyelashes!"
"His hair!"
"His profile!"
"His jaw!"
I grinded my teeth and glared into the fire. Usually, if James were here, I might have made a cocky joke about it, but all I wanted right now was peace and quiet. After ten minutes of whispering and giggling, I stood up and whirled around, giving the second-years a nasty look.
"Would you shut it?" I snapped. "Don't you have better things to be doing rather than gossiping about my bloody eyelashes? Hogsmeade was just attacked, and all you can do is giggle?"
