dear draco,

nineteen

J U N E 3 0 T H

~

When I arrive back at Hogwarts, something is wrong. I haven't been here in months, and I stand momentarily transfixed, staring around the vast entrance hall. I've forgotten how wonderful it is, how grand and magical, and my heart thuds with the exhilaration of seeing it again. But it's different.

I don't have any bags with me; I'm not here to stay. I want to go say hello to my old friends, even if they don't like me anymore, and I have to find Draco. But I'm here to see Professor McGonagall about my subjects and options after having missed a year, so I decide it's best to get that over with first.

But as I venture up the great staircase, I can't shake the feeling that something isn't quite right. The castle is eerily still. There's no-one around, and even the characters in the paintings are strangely quiet. I don't want to voice my concerns because I don't want to worry over nothing, but it's all very unsettling.

"Isobel?"

Hermione voice echoes unnaturally in the silence, startling me. She jumps the last few steps of the staircase and hurries over to me, her eyes wide. "Oh, hey," I say, smiling sheepishly.

She stares at me. "Why are you here?"

"To- to sort out some stuff," I say feebly. "Um, how's the year been?"

Hermione is frantically shaking her head. "Isobel, you need to go," she says. "You can come back to – to do whatever another time, but right now you – you need to get out of here. Right away. Go, please go."

I frown. "Why?"

"I'm not sure," Hermione says desperately. "Harry burst into the common room earlier and us to split his Liquid Luck between us – Ron and Ginny and I – and I don't know, he was freaking out, Isobel, and, well, Malfoy was mentioned too-"

"What?" I interrupt quickly.

"I don't know, I really – I don't know how much I'm allowed to tell you or how much I really even know or understand myself but I've just lost Luna and we were meant to be watching Snape together and-"

"Snape? Why Snape?"

"Hermione? Isobel?"

Luna steps serenely down and out of the staircase, her composure contrasting hugely to Hermione's distress. "Hey Luna," I say, wishing I could offer more than my hurried smile I shoot her, but Hermione has completely thrown me. "Hermione," I say slowly. "Please calm down for just a second-"

"Don't tell me to calm down!" says Hermione furiously. "You need to leave here, it's not safe. Luna, we need to find the others, and quickly."

"I'm not leaving," I retort, and I can't help but match her tone. "Let me come with you."

"Of course you can come", says Luna kindly. I smile gratefully.

Hermione looks like she's about to say something but bites her lip, thinking the better of it. Luna and I follow her wordlessly down the empty corridor.

I'm still unsure what exactly we're looking for, or who we need to talk to, but we don't have to travel far to find out. Once we've turned about three corners, we hear shouting. And it sounds horrific.

The scene dazes me. Once we turn the corner, at least fifty people are visible, filling the Astronomy wing, terrifyingly colourful spells whizzing in every direction. People are all over the place, screaming, yelling, some even laughing derisively; shooting to kill. They are fighting. Real fighting, in Hogwarts. That could only happen if...