The Forgotten 7th Year

The Invitation

Ginny's POV

The next day I received a letter from Hagrid.

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You're Invited!

Support Harry Potter Party, Hagrid's Hut, one week.
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That was all it said.

You're kidding! I've just escaped that place, and you expect me to go back!? I crumpled the letter in my palm.

Practically nothing was worth running into Amycus again, and especially not this.

Neville's POV

An owl hooted as it flew through the window, and I ripped the paper of it's leg. It wasn't the beautiful golden-brown one that belonged to Hannah, but who knows, they might have two owls.

Who am I kidding, she's told me only has one.

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You're Invited!

Support Harry Potter Party, Hagrid's Hut, one week.
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My heart couldn't help but sink a little bit. But I wrote letters to Ginny and Hannah asking about it.

Maybe I'd get a response from Hannah! I mentally squealed.

After a second it dawned on me how desperate that sounded, but in all honesty I didn't really care.

Ginny's old, feather duster owl slammed against the glass, and peeled off. It hit the ground with a thump that made me wince. I peered out the window.

Errol was lying on his back, surrounded by a cloud of brown feathers. With my luck, he was probably dead.

But he feebly lifted a wing and even more feathers pulled loose. I opened the window, and he gratefully hopped into my arms. I pulled him inside, and he hooted gratefully.

Then, I saw a golden shape on the horizon, and Errol squawked as I dropped him.

The golden-brown owl soared in and landed gracefully on the table. It might have been my imagination, but the old gray owl seemed to perk up when he saw her.

The golden owl, who's name I now knew to be Princess, acted as if Errol wasn't even there. He hooted once, and she fixed him with her amber eyes. He shrunk back under her gaze.

Meanwhile, I was busy ripping open Hannah's letter.

To, My wonderful, awesome, spectacular, boyfriend,

I haven't decided anything yet. It seems risky, but everything's risky these days. I don't know why Hagrid's doing this, but if it was a trap, it'd happen during the school year.

But, I did want to talk to you. There've been developments, and I don't think think you should come.

Yours,
Hannah

I stared at the letter. That was not what I expected. I stared until my vision blurred, and I stopped seeing the words, and instead the letters.

The way she dotted her i's with tiny dashes instead of perfect circles. The way her B's didn't quite reach the stem in the middle. And the way the letters in developments shook slightly.

What was going on?

Luna's POV

"What do you mean they let her escape!" Bellatrix screeched. "You found a Mudblood, didn't tell me, and then had the audacity to let her get away!?"

"Well, we didn't do it on purpose-." Someone mumbled. But the mumble extended and morphed into a scream that made my hair stand on end.

"B-but we find a possible location of a different group of Mudbloods!" The voice squeaked with terror.

"Great, finally doing your job for once. Where are they?"

"Well, we-we're not exactly sure, but-."

"Crucio!" I curled into a ball. An old hand patted my shoulder in an attempt to be soothing. I kept my knees pulled to my chest, but appreciated the effort. But no matter how hard I tried to close my ears, Bellatrix's voice had a way of crawling through any barriers I might put up.

"Now, I will go and catch those Mudbloods, so you can't make a mess of this too."

"Thank you, Madam Lestrange." Footsteps practically ran to the door. It slammed shut with a bang.

"Bella..." Narcissa seemed almost wary. "You know, the Muggl-Mudbloods, one of them is, well..."

"Oh, just spit it out Cissy."

"It's not just Mudbloods, there's two goblins in the group, and a little boy, and a man with a family, and..."

"And...?" Bellatrix was really getting impatient now.

"One of them is our brother-in-law, Ted Tonks."

"And I care because?"

"You can't kill him! He's family."

"He's a disease on our family tree; Andromeda's worst mistake. I'll cut both him and his halfbreed brat from it."

"Bella, think about what you are saying! He's your brother, and she's your niece!"

"And that is why they are such abominations. And as if her birth wasn't enough, she's married a werewolf. A werewolf!"

Mrs. Malfoy didn't respond to that. After a moment the door slammed closed, and I knew Bellatrix had gone.