astronomy • marlene mckinnon

fifty four

Screams filled the castle as it drowned in chaos.

The Examiner had quickly collected all the answer sheets with his wand (priorities) before he had strictly ordered them all to stay in the same room, to which naturally, no one had listened. Most of the seventh years who had given the Astronomy theoretical exam had left the room seconds after the Examiner did, one of them being Astraea Black, the other Slytherins right behind her.

Sirius Black and James Potter had run out to investigate what happened, and a Ravenclaw, Kiara Williams had asked what would happen of their practical. A few of the ten people jumped, as screams ensued and Marlene rushed out of the room alongside Lily Evans, going down the stairs and leaving the Astronomy Tower. And that had led to her present situation, she stood there, right at the entrance to the tower she had just left, lips parted, and her hand squeezing Lily's as the two Gryffindors looked at the scene in front of them.

The usual bright castle which filled everything with warmth was cold and dark, and not just because it was night outside. There were around five death eaters in the hallway, destroying everything they could lay eyes on. She could not recognise them, for they all were wearing identical robes and masks to hide their true identities. Cowardice, in Marlene's opinion.

James was fighting against them, blocking every spell that came his way, Professor Adler, the Defense against the Dark Arts Professor, right by the head boy's side. Lily had immediately let go of her hand, and ran to join in the fight, to defend their home, and it didn't take any second thoughts for the blonde either to choose to fight or hide away. She took out her wand from the pocket of her Gryffindor robes just as she heard the sound of apparition.

She looked up, wand in her hand, ready for any death eater who came her way, confusion filling her as she noticed two Aurors standing, battling with the death eaters, shouting at the two Gryffindors and the Professor to move to the corridor near the headmaster's office.

However, despite all the courage built up inside of her, she failed to take a step forward, freezing on the spot, her mind crowding with thoughts which doubted her skill. She only stood there as she watched the two Aurors skilfully deter the spells sent their way, coming out of her shock right on time as one of the death eaters turned to her, and she dodged a red-coloured wave of light sent her way.

The adrenaline took over her mind and body, acting before she could think about her actions thoroughly. This was a real battle, she didn't really have much time to sit and think of what she could and couldn't do. She dodged and blocked spells, sending her own spells towards their way, managing to stun the death eater at the end of their duel.

"Good one Marls," One of the Aurors said as the death eater fell to the ground. The Gryffindor looked up with confusion, but the confusion soon turned to relief as she noticed her brother standing in front of her.

"Mitch!" She sighed, a small smile involuntary making its way to her face and the two siblings shared a short but sweet hug before they pulled away and Marlene fixed her brother with a serious look. "What the hell is happening? Were those really death eaters and how did they even get in? How did you get in through apparition?"

"It's an attack by Voldemort, we don't know how they got in— someone's saying it's an insider job but we don't have time to figure out that," Mitchell McKinnon slightly shook his head, his eyes flickering to both entrances at the ends of the corridor. "As for us, Dumbledore removed the anti-apparition charms as soon as he knew what was happening and sent a message to the Ministry right away. But that's been closed now, to prevent more death eaters coming in because they seemed to have figured out what had happened. The order will be heading here by floo and secret passageways soon too—"