The Spark {Book 5 in the Star of Gryffindor Series}

Chapter 13 - Written-Up

The Daily Prophet
Issue No. 102,010
22 November, 2021

Is Hogwarts Safer Than Your Home? Ministry Officials Refuse to Comment.

As the holidays draw near, and the students of Hogwarts School will be returning home for a few short weeks, many parents are wondering if it's actually safe for them to leave the school at all. As we all know, Hogwarts is one of the two most heavily guarded wizarding sites in the United Kingdom, and security will not be cut over the holidays. Many parents are debating whether to leave their children in the relative safety the school, far away, or to bring them home.

The Ministry of Magic has refused to comment on this issue, but we here at the Prophet say that, in this terroristic climate, it's up to each individual family to decide what is right. If you're confident in your ability to protect your children, then it should be more than safe. If you aren't, then a Christmas at Hogwarts might be better for your student. They'll thank you later.

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With only three weeks left of term, I felt it safe to tell Fred that I would not be showing up to any more Quidditch practices he scheduled until January. of course, he got mad and argued with me for several days on and off, but I finally convinced him by telling him that I needed some time to recover from almost being killed, or my performances would continue to be like the Hufflepuff game.

I hardly knew what to do with all this extra free time. Unfortunately, end of term exams were coming, so it quickly got filled by studying and homework. Despite the way I acted when Wren was pressuring me to study, I really did care about my grades, especially this year. my OWLs would determine my future (something that seemed really stupid, considering the fact that I was fifteen and everyone made dumb mistakes when they were fifteen. My entire future shouldn't hinge on one test grade).

A few days after the Quidditch game, Rose showed me a letter her mum had sent her. It said exactly what Albus and I had predicted she'd say, that she was proud of Rose no matter what, and Rose could fail all her classes if she felt like it and she wouldn't care as long as Rose was happy. It was sweet to see, and Rose was practically giddy with excitement over it. Even better, she wasn't acting so awkward around Wren, and had finally gotten over herself about the whole prefect thing.

On the third to last Monday of term, Wren, Rose, and I (Colette had decided that History of Magic wasn't worth her time today, and was going to sneak off to the Room of Requirement later) walked down to the common room to find a large group of people clustered in one corner. That was odd in itself, because breakfast was well underway and most of Gryffindor House fell under two extremes: either they were the first ones at breakfast so they could eat as much as they liked with as much time as they liked, or they slept through breakfast and their first class and stumbled downstairs about halfway through the morning, claiming their alarm hadn't gone off. There was no in between, for the most part. It was safe to say that seeing this many people in the common room at this time of the morning was highly unusual. On top of that, they were all clamoring around a table, though I couldn't see what was on it or why people were shouting or why a few people were waving money in the air. I glanced at Wren, frowning suspiciously. She raised an eyebrow in answer, and together we walked over to the crowd, Rose trailing behind.

"What's going on?" I asked a second year on the edge of the crowd.

"It's hot cocoa!" was her excited reply, and she turned away before I could question her further.

"Hot cocoa," I relayed to Wren, rolling my eyes. "I love all the details in that answer, don't you?"

"Oh yes, very specific." Wren frowned at the people around us. "What's so exciting about hot cocoa, though?"