Whispers

Fourteen

Calliope spent her days working on the mysteries contained within the department of mysteries, and her spare time with her husband.

The joke shop was really taking off and both the twins and Natalie were being kept very busy. Calliope considered it a blessing to not be working in the shop because Natalie had already ended up in St Mungo's twice because of various products exploding in her face.

The mood amongst the four was mostly light, however, news trickled in of various deaths and disappearances that set them all on edge. Calliope was able to see some of them, but it seemed that Voldemort was constantly changing his strategy and remaining unpredictable. Calliope suspected he was doing this to remain ahead of her predictions.

The Order meetings went on, but they were unable to do much, as Voldemort remained predominately in the shadows, creating a climate of fear. Dumbledore asked for the order to volunteer their help patrolling the Hogwarts corridors regularly as he seemed to be spending more and more time away from the school.

"I wonder what he's doing all the time?" Natalie pondered as she readied herself for one such occasion at the end of June.

"I think he's taking dance classes," George said seriously, pulling on a travelling cloak.

George and Natalie had been sourced to help on this instance, and Calliope was feeling very uneasy.

"I'm going to come," she declared, getting to her feet and grabbing her own travelling cloak.

Fred said nothing but moved to grab his cloak as well.

"No." Calliope grabbed his arm, "you stay here. Actually you all should stay here, I'll just go."

"Callie, if you're going, we're going," said Natalie, "if you want to go then that means you think something bad is going to happen. If something bad is going to happen then they need more people. Better four wands than one wand, although it depends who the caster is because four first-year wizards vs one ministry Auror would be a no brainer. Although you might've been able to take down an Auror in your first year Callie-"

"Nats," Calliope cut her friend's ramblings off, "I have a really bad feeling. I don't want any of you getting hurt."

"We won't," Fred grabbed her hand, "and like Hughes said, if you're going, we're going."

Calliope sighed and resigned herself to the fact that her friends were not going to back down. The four of them left for Hogwarts, with an uneasy feeling in Calliope's stomach and whispers loud in her ears. But what was she supposed to do about it? She couldn't wrap the world in bubble wrap, all she could do was make everyone aware that something was going to happen. Something bad.

********

The warding spells were down at Hogwarts briefly enough for Calliope, Fred, George and Natalie to apperate into the grounds. There were sounds of fighting echoing through the halls, which meant that it was difficult to locate the source, but they came across a duelling group at the food of the astronomy tower.

"They've blocked the stairs!" Ginny yelled, "Reducto! Reducto!" She aimed her spells at the stairs that led up to the astronomy tower, but they bounced off and Calliope narrowly avoided being hit in the head by one.

A large blonde death eater stood in the centre of the hallway, tossing killing curses around, which gouged holes in the walls but thankfully hadn't hit anyone yet. Bill Weasley lay face down on the floor and Calliope was only thankful that she knew he wasn't yet dead. An unmoving Neville lay on the floor near Calliope. 

The whispers were loud, almost overwhelming, but Calliope overcame them long enough to shoot a stunning spell and the big blonde death eater to give them a short respite. 

"How did Snape get through it?" Ginny was asking Lupin.

"What happened?" Calliope joined the pair.

"All of the death eaters are up there," Ginny gestured at the stairs, "but there's some kind of barrier."

"I can see it," Calliope could see the murky veil that covered the entrance. It was dark magic and would take dark magic to breach it. "I think that-" She cut herself off as the whispers grew to an unbearable volume and she could no longer think straight. Dumbledore was falling, falling into the endless abyss. It had happened. He was dead.

"Who's dead?" Fred demanded.

"Someone's dead?" Lupin sounded terrified at this.

Calliope said nothing.

"Callie who's dead?" Fred asked again.

She couldn't tell them. Not yet. Not whilst there was still a threat from the Death Eaters within the castle. 

"A death eater." Calliope lied.

Before any more words could be shared among the group the hallway was full of death eaters again.

Fun Facts:
Both Euan (from 'Obeservations On Banshees') and Fred are the fourth sons from families of seven.