School & Year: Durmstrang - Year 7
Prompt: [Setting] - Godric's Hallow
Theme: Outside the cabin, the wind howled through the trees, while inside, the old woman's fire was nearly out.
Word Count: 915 words
Outside the cabin, the wind howled through the trees while inside the old woman's fire was nearly out. The fallen leaves of various colours danced in the wind, twisting and spinning to and fro along the winding street of Godric's Hallow, a small village of witches and wizards resided, and magic could be used publicly. Inside the small cabin sat a woman of an older age, glasses perched on the end of her nose, her greying hair curled slightly around her shoulders.
She sighed as she set her knitting aside and got up from her comfortable armchair to stir up the coals of her dying fire before placing a few logs into it. She wrapped her wool cardigan around her tightly as she heard joyous laughter from outside. Moving to the window, she could see a young couple walking up the street, towards her cabin.
The young man had unruly black hair and glasses carrying several shopping bags and a pumpkin under one arm while walking next to a young woman with soft hair blown by the wind and carrying a small child in her arms. She smiled up at the young man and laughed at something he said.
The Potters. James and Lily, along with their young child Harry lived just across the street from her, in a similar small stone cottage. They were good neighbours, kind, and just lovely to be around. The older woman smiled at the sight of the sight of the small family, surprised they would be out so late instead of preparing for Halloween night tonight like most of the village's residents were doing.
Turning away from the window, she returned to her cozy armchair beside the brightly burning fire and resumed to knit her nephew a pair of socks. She spent the next few hours industrially working finishing the socks and working on a pair of matching mittens. Setting the knitting aside, she stood to stretch which was when she noticed the shouting.
The front door of the Potters cottage was open, with legs laying down and visible through the doorway. There was the higher pitched screaming of the young woman and a flash of green light shinning out of a second-floor window. With widened eyes, she turned from the window and ran to the fire place.
Grabbing a handful of black powder, she threw it into the fireplace crying out "Dumbledore's office!" before stepping into the fireplace, immediately finding herself stepping out of the fireplace in Dumbledore's office. Looking to her left, she found him sitting at a large, ornate desk looking up at her.
"Ah, Mabel, what can I do for you?" He smiled at her kindly, his blue eyes twinkling.
"It's the Potters, they are being attacked! You need to come now!" She rushed out. "Please, won't you come?"
Dumbledore's eyes hardened, and his smile dropped off. Standing up, he moved around the desk as he spoke. "We need to leave now!" He grabbed some of the black powder from the mantle, shouting Mabel's address and stepping through the flames, Mabel following right behind him.
On reaching her house, he rushed out the front door only to stop, looking up in utter horror. Mabel stumbled out after him, nearly knocking him over before she noticed his staring upwards. Turning her eyes upward, she fell to her knees in shock. There, in the night sky above the home of the Potters was the dreaded Dark Mark, the symbol that marks any location of one of Lord Voldemort's murders.
Dumbledore broke from his staring to rush towards the open door of the cottage. He stopped in the doorway, bending over the motionless legs before stepping over them, entering the home. Mabel was frozen in her fear, still on her knees as some of her neighbours came out of their homes to stare in horror, crying out their fear.
After a few minutes Dumbledore stepped out of the house, raised his wand and got rid of the Dark Mark in the sky much to the relief of the those out in the street. "Return to your homes! The Ministry has been alerted and there are no signs of a Death Eater here." He barely needed to raise his voice before everyone scurried off the street and back safely in their homes.
"Mabel, you need to come and get inside were you can warm yourself up." She looked up at him, the wind blowing her hair out of her face, with the look of horror stricken across her face. That was when she noticed the wiggling under his cloak.
"James? Lily?" She asked softly, tears forming in her eyes. Dumbledore just shook his head sadly as he watched the tears flood down her face. "And Harry?" She whispered softly, wiping her eyes on the sleeve of her cardigan. Dumbledore opened his cloak a bit, showing the squirming baby Harry bundled in a wool blanket.
"Come let's get you inside, I need to deal with the ministry when they arrive and all this." Mabel nodded numbly as she got up from her knees and stumbled into her house, closing the door behind her. She went into her sitting room, drew the curtains closed before collapsing into her armchair and broke into tears. She sobbed so hard that she didn't even hear the loud motorcycle arrive and leave nor the Ministry of Magic. Nothing would ever be the same in Godric's Hallow which until now had been untouched by the war.