The dead leaves rustled and whirled in the autumn wind; the air itself seemed dead, lifeless. A young man sat, huddled in a pile of robes for warmth, outside the tent he was camping in with his best friend, Hermione Granger. He had been sent on a mission by Albus Dumbledore, the late-Headmaster of Hogwarts, had shouted his only fatherly figure into returning to his wife and had split up with his girlfriend in order to keep her safe in under – he checked his watch for the date – six months.