Black

XXXIV // Madness and Misery

Saturday

March 1, 1978

The Great Hall

When I awoke, I had forgotten.

I didn't remember until I walked into the Great Hall, where the house banners had been changed to black again. 

For once in my life, I was late to breakfast. 

Despite it seeming like every single student was there, the Hall was silent as people waited to find out what atrocity had occurred this time. 

This time. 

We were all hoping there wouldn't be a next.

Lily and Lottie had saved me a seat and I shuffled in between them. 

As if on cue, Dumbledore stood up. 

"Students," he began. Lottie grabbed my hand and squeezed it tight. "I suspect many of you are wondering what has transpired, and I shall now enlighten you. Last night, one of our students left school grounds without approval to engage in combat with a group following the man who calls himself Voldemort. I am deeply troubled to inform you of the death of Mark Abery, a Gryffindor fifth-year student at this school."

Throughout Dumbledore's speech the silence had turned into hushed whispers, and at the mention of Mark's name into general uproar. There were girls crying. I think I heard Irvyn Avery laugh, the git, and I felt something bubbling in the pit of my stomach. Looking around, I noticed neither Julie Ansen nor Louise McKendrick were present in the Great Hall.

Lifting his wand to his throat, Dumbledore's, "Silence!" echoed around the hall. 

After that, the general mood around Hogwarts was more sombre than it had been in quite a while. Dumbledore went on to explain that Hogwarts was still safe, we need to be vigilant, yada-yada. To be perfectly honest with you, I wasn't paying a whole lot of attention. 

I had taken one look at Irvyn Avery's smug face and decided then and there that I would like nothing more than to stomp it into the dirt in retribution. Although I didn't doubt these sentiments would be shared amongst my fellow compatriots, I decided this was something I wanted to do by myself. 

The rest of breakfast wasn't any better than the beginning, mostly due to both James and Black being stuck in the Hospital Wing, and no one really knew what was going on with them. Everyone seemed to have a different response to the situation, ranging from Lily's tear-stained face to Marlene stabbing her fork into the table to Peter's slightly green tinge. 

Now that we're up to date, how about a list of all the things I could do to Irvyn Avery? Well, just to clarify, not all the things I could do, more all the things I want to do. The Venn diagram on that one is very far from being a circle. Moving on. 

A List of All of the Things that One Evelyn K. O. Bishop Would Like to Do to One Irvyn Avery in Retribution for the Recent Horrific Events Pertaining to One Mark Abery

1. Just straight up punch him in the face.

2. Followed, of course, by a swift kick to the privates.

3. I can't say I'm particularly well versed in spells that can cause excessive damage to one's person, but I am willing to learn.

4. In the meantime I do know a variety of hexes that will be considerably irritating to him, so my options are open.

5. Let's revisit the kick to the privates idea, shall we?

6. Perhaps some classic verbal sparring? The type where I threaten to murder his family while he watches and then pull his spleen out through his throat? That sort of fun stuff.