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CHAPTER THIRTY

Being back at Hogwarts meant being back to arguing with Slytherins, spending every free moment studying, trying desperately to keep up with the seemingly endless amounts of homework, and, most unfortunate of them all, Umbridge. Two positives that helped keep Arabella from losing her mind were Quidditch practices and DA meetings, but lately even Quidditch was proving stressful as they had an upcoming match against Hufflepuff. Even so, Arabella was confident in her abilities and was hopeful that they would win the match.

To add on to everyone's stress, one morning at breakfast, Alicia said something that unnerved everyone sitting around her.

"Looks like the Aurors are going to have their work cut out for them," she said, causing everyone to look up from their breakfast.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Olivia asked the question on everyone's mind.

"Just read it," Alicia replied, sliding over her copy of the Daily Prophet. Curious, Arabella along with Ginny, Fraser, and Dean got up from their seats to read over Olivia's shoulder.

The headline itself should have been ominous enough.

MASS BREAKOUT FROM AZKABAN

The chilling title wasn't what caught Arabella's attention, however. It was one of the ten photos of the escapees, this one a man, and underneath it, the names of Arabella's own late maternal uncles, Gideon and Fabian Prewett.

"Antonin Dolohov..." she read the name of the murderer in a whisper, only realizing she had done so when she saw Fred, George, and Ginny looking solemnly at her.

"What?" Fraser asked, seeing the Weasleys' faces. "Why are you looking at each other like that?"

Looking back down at the newspaper, Fred answered, "He's the one that killed our uncles. Well, he didn't do it himself, he had the help of four other Death Eaters - they're there, too..."

"What's going on?" Evelyn asked, joining them from the Ravenclaw table.

"Yeah, why are we all grouped up like this?" Duncan asked, joining from the Hufflepuff table.

"There's been a mass breakout from Azkaban," Ginny told them.

"There's been a what?" the two asked, their voices filled with shock.

"Yeah, and they're blaming Sirius-" Fraser began.

"Ahem!" Olivia falsely cleared her throat, subtly reminding her cousin of something they all needed to keep in mind, especially since Dean was in their presence.

"-Black," Fraser quickly added on to his sentence, getting the hint. "They're blaming Sirius Black. The crazed murderer man."

"Well, it's possible," said an unknowing Dean. "I mean, Black was the only person to break out of Azkaban before this, and it says right there that he and - what's her name? - Bellatrix Lestrange are cousins."

"She's my cousin too, I wouldn't help her break out," Faustus said as he joined the group from the Slytherin table, his friend Rosalia by his side like usual. "Actually, I was kind of hoping she'd rot in there..."

This brought on a brief moment of awkward quiet; nobody really knew what to say to this.

Fraser quickly changed the mood, however, "Hey, maybe you'll be receiving an invitation to a family reunion soon," he said.