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

Chapter 18 - Suspicions

The Daily Prophet
Issue No. 102,052
1 January, 2022

Terrorist Attack on Potter House!

Last night, the Potters hosted a large New Years Eve party. Twenty-two minutes before midnight, it was interrupted by the second largest attack the Predatels have made to date. Within seconds, the house and garden were surrounded and fighting broke out. Countless people were injured, three dead, and though several suspects were caught, the Predatels managed to escape...

~~~~

I woke up in the guest room of the Potters' guest room. Well, it wasn't the guest room anymore; it was Wren's room. But I was too out of it to make that correction in my head. I tried to push myself up so I could look around, and a roaring pain flared through my arm, enough to make me cry out and fall back onto the pillows.

"Oh gosh, Astra, don't do that," came Albus's worried voice. I turned my head to see him sitting next to the bed. "Your arm is broken. Like, really bad."

I looked down at it. It didn't look how it had last night, and I realized that was because the bone had been set and it was in a cast now. There was a jagged, stitched scar where the bone had been sticking through my skin. I shuddered. "What... How did... Is everyone okay?"

Albus pursed his lips. "A lot of people got injured. That's why Mrs. Longbottom only had time to set it and stitch up the wound." He motioned to my arm. "A lot of them are at St. Mungo's, now, and a couple couldn't be moved and are downstairs in the living room."

"Did Wren or James get hurt?"

Albus shook his head. "Wren had some weird marks on her arm, almost like she got burned, but she said she was fine and wouldn't tell us what happened. James is good. He says he knocked out a couple of people but I don't know if that's true. Um... Mum and Dad are both okay. Lily got shoved over at the start and hit her head, and we think she has a small concussion, but it's nothing serious."

"How about Teddy and Toire?"

Albus looked down at his lap. "Teddy's fine."

A cold dread started creeping into me. "And Toire?"

"She... She got hit by some curse. We don't know what. But it burned her really badly. She's at St. Mungo's right now. They've never seen a spell like this, so they're doing all they can, but they don't know if it'll work."

I slowly pushed myself up with my good arm. "Oh no..."

Albus nodded solemnly. "I mean, they think they'll be able to heal her, but it's third degree burns for the most part. They're doing all they can, though."

"What... Did anyone else get hurt?" I asked.

Albus shrugged. "No one else we know got seriously hurt. Just minor curses and injuries. Mr. Macmillan disappeared for a while, but he's back now. And... three people died."

"Who?"

"Susan Bones, she was a famous herbologist my dad went to Hogwarts with. Trilia's aunt. Justin Finch-Fletchley, he was Elizabeth's dad, you know. And Colin Creevey's little sister, Onyx. She was only eight."

I took that in, then had to have Al repeat himself because it didn't seem real. Trilia's aunt, a woman I had seen in passing a few times. Elizabeth's dad, an autor who I was pretty sure came to Azkaban with us. And Colin Creevey's little sister. I hadn't even known he'd had a sister. And now she was dead, at only eight years old...