The Ravenclaw Nine || BTS Harry Potter AU

Chapter 31

Aviela's Point of View

Aviela's sniffles echoed through the girl's dormitory, but she didn't worry about being heard – she assumed that everyone was merrily eating dinner in the Great Hall. Her tears slowed their steady dripping down her cheeks as she began to recollect her thoughts.

Aviela had first considered Hogwarts as a pathway to her destiny. She had hoped to learn enough magic to locate her brother's murderer and seek vengeance. Revenge dwindled in priority as the years wore on, and she never thought to wonder if the killer was right under her nose. Now, she didn't know whether she wanted to exact her revenge or curl up under the sheets of her bed and never emerge.

Aviela stared blankly out the window at the night sky, which shimmered with stars and a bright moon. In her peripheral vision, she caught a small explosion rippling from Hogwarts' entrance. Her heart pounded as she hurried to stand beside the window on shaking legs. Below the dormitories, it seemed an intense battle had broken out – black-clad wizards soared into the castle through the open doors. The screams of students were loud enough to be heard even through Aviela's closed window, but it took a few moments before she fully comprehended what was happening.

Hogwarts was under attack.

Aviela whipped around, ready to grab her wand and defend Hogwarts, but the sight of a rugged man in the doorway stopped her in her tracks. His blonde hair was lank and stuck to the sweat dampening his forehead, and his cheeks were smeared with ash. He grinned lazily, his dagger glinting in the moonlight. "Hello, little girl," he said in a voice that sounded like he had spent years smoking. "It looks like you're all alone – again."

"I have my wand," Aviela lied, hiding her shaking hands behind her back. "I could kill you if I wanted to."

The man chuckled and gestured to the abandoned object on her bed. "Forgive me for doubting you." He took a step closer, his boots thundering on the floor as two more wizards joined him, their wands outstretched. "You slipped from our fingers the last time we caught you alone, and I'm not about to let it happen again. We're under strict orders to bring you to our... ally, shall we say."

"Yoongi," Aviela said confidently. "I know it's Yoongi Min. You can't fool me."

The man chuckled lowly, a truly terrifying sound. With a flick of his wand, Aviela's most treasured books levitated from her bedside and slowly floated towards the blazing fireplace.

"N-no," she whimpered. "My parents gave me those books – my brother wrote a message in one! Please don't burn them."

"Please don't burn them, she says," the witch beside the man cackled, her green eyes full of malice, even though she could not have been much older than Aviela.

The man tilted his head, visibly relishing in Aviela's shudder as the flames hissed around each book in turn. Aviela's eyes burned at the thought that her last reminder of her brother was gone – vanquished by the evil that ruined him. "Filling your head with books has clearly muddled your brain – you are so desperately concerned with your own delusions that you imagine Yoongi Min is one of ours."

Her eyes were glued to her books as the fire singed each page and blackened the leather cover. "T-then who did I see in the forest?"

"I'm afraid this isn't a bad mystery novel – it isn't my place to reveal our deepest, darkest secrets and explain our evil plan. And that is yet another reason why all these books belong in there." He uttered a spell, and the chest in front of her bed flew open, spouting the remainder of her library into the flames. Aviela shivered and looked away, tears streaking down her cheeks. "It's so silly to cry over something so trivial. I must have misjudged you."