A/N: Hi all. This is my first Harry Potter fan fiction, and my first fan fiction I will probably finish. I have written one other fan fiction in the past, a South Park fan fic called Veritas. I might complete it if I can figure out the ending.

Enough about my other rubbish story. This is a story set in the marauder era that I came up with today while sand boarding and I haven't stopped thinking about it since. I felt on overpowering need to write it and I hope it doesn't suck too much.

Disclaimer: Anything you recognize I don't own. Hogwarts, James, Sirius, Remus, Peter, Lily, McGonagall and Dumbledore all belong to J.K. Rowlling. The characters created by me are purely from my mind, in this chapter at least. My characters in later chapters are used with permission (well actually, half of them just asked to be in it) and their names have been changed. Except for Emily, who couldn't come up with another name.

Things had changed. Most nights you could look around the Gryffindor common room and see people smiling, laughing, doing homework and occasionally blowing things up or accidentally transfiguring things they're not supposed to. Not tonight.

Every face in the room was a mask of anger or disbelief. There was silence, broken only by the frequent sobs from the corner. The day's events had left most of the school in a state of shock.

Professor Diomedes Strafford was, by general consensus, the greatest teacher to ever grace the halls of Hogwarts, except for possibly Dumbledore himself. He was kind, helpful and approachable. He knew everything about everything and always had a joke to tell. He was also considered one of the most powerful wizards of the age. A tragedy had occurred that day. Professor Strafford had been murdered.

Professor Strafford had been good to everyone throughout his life who he believed deserved it. He wouldn't ever hold a grudge against anyone, unless they were evil or part of something evil. For example, he hated Lord Voldemort and his cruel followers, the death eaters. He actively campaigned and fought against the evil tyrant, and that is what earnt him his gruesome death.

Professor Strafford's only family was his daughter, Ashley Strafford. He had raised her alone since she was 3, when his wife, Noella, died. Ashley had loved her father, and didn't get embarrassed that he was her teacher like some teacher's kids did. Now Ashley was heartbroken, and sat in the Gryffindor common room sobbing uncontrollably, surrounded by friends, most of whom were also crying quietly.

"This is just… wrong. Not Professor Strafford. He was…" Sirius Black trailed off. His friends James Potter, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew understood. It was hard to describe someone as great as Diomedes Strafford.

"Still, he didn't go down without a fight. He must have hit them at least as bad as they hit him," James replied grimly.

"But to be murdered by You-know-who himself..." Remus said sadly.

"No one else could have." James said quietly, and they lapsed back into silence.

"Now that Professor Strafford has been… now that he's gone, we need to immediately update the school's security," Professor Dumbledore was speaking to Professor McGonagall in his office. They both had worried looks on their faces.

"He had performed most of the protective magic on the school, and now that he is dead-"

Professor Dumbledore paused briefly. He didn't like to think that his friend and colleague was dead. They had been through a lot together. "We need to put it all back before Voldemort realizes our defenses are weak."

"How long do you think it will take?" asked Professor McGonagall.

"It's hard to say-"Dumbledore broke off as there was a loud crash above them.

"Albus…" Professor McGonagall said in a worried tone.

"I fear we may be too late," He replied, leaping to his feet and racing out the door. McGonagall was right behind him. "You know the plan. Protect the students," McGonagall nodded and headed down the nearest stairs without another word.

"The poor kid. She's only 12!" Sirius said, casting a look in Ashley's direction.

"It's bad enough that she doesn't have any parents anymore, but to make it worse she doesn't even have any grandparents, cousins, nothing!" Remus added sadly.

"Yeah, that's a really sucky deal-" James stopped as there was an impact so hard from above that the whole room shook and books and other possessions fell from their respective positions. Several people cried out in shock. Peter screamed shrilly like a girl. James, Sirius, Remus and Peter, along with most of the common room, fell to the floor, covering their heads.

"What the-" Sirius began, but stopped as there was another bang above them, this time closer.

"EVERYONE! OUT OF THE ROOM! NOW!" yelled a voice, probably a prefect. They didn't need telling twice. Immediately, everyone leapt to their feet and sprinted for the portrait hole. Dust and debris rained down on them.

Once they were outside the common room everyone headed down. James found himself running next to Lily, with Sirius, Remus and Peter right behind him. The force attacking Hogwarts' roof was now a constant barrage. As they reached the first floor a chunk of marble the size of a beach ball dislodged itself from the ceiling and started hurtling towards Lily. Seconds before she was hit, James saw it. Without thinking, he raised his arms and hit it, and it fell away from them. He heard a sickening crunch in his arm and yelled in pain, but kept running.

They skidded into the entrance hall. Professor McGonagall, looking dishevelled, forced a candle into Remus' hands. "Portkey." She said simply, and ran away. James, Sirius, Peter, Lily and some fourth year Hufflepuffs hurriedly reached for the candle. The second they were all touching it, they were gone.

When they arrived there was great confusion. It was pitch black and they could hear Hogwarts students landing all around them. Remus was the first to pull out his wand and mutter, 'lumos', and immediately he was copied by everyone in the vicinity.

"Is everyone alright?" asked Sirius.

"James isn't," Lily replied, crouching next to him. James' hands and arms were bleeding badly and his left arm was definitely broken. "James, you idiot. What were you thinking?" she said dispassionately. James mustered enough strength to look indignant.

"Saving you," he gasped.

"You idiot!" She repeated, and hugged him.

"ATTENTION!" a strangely accented female voice called. "attention, this way!" They looked around and saw a small group of authorative-looking witches and wizards. "My name is Ms Eyrich. I am deputy principal of Baranbali School of Magick," There were blank looks all around. "Where you are now." Comprehension dawned on the Hogwarts faces and she continued. "You have been sent here because this is where Dumbledore wants you to be while Hogwarts isn't safe. If you have any more questions, they will have to be answered later." Professor McGonagall suddenly arrived, looking ill after clearly running from the school gates.

"Minerva, is everyone..?" Ms Eyrich asked. Professor McGonagall nodded. "All right, everyone follow me into the school. Your injuries will be attended to in the Great Hall."

Everyone stood up and followed. Lily helped James to get up, and they all walked up to the school.

Baranbali School of Magic was an impressive structure. It must have been at least the size of Hogwarts. A warm glow shone out of most of the windows and through the door. It was hard to see the exterior of the building and the grounds, but as soon as they got inside they felt awed.

The Entrance Hall was huge. The floor had polished timber floorboards, and directly in front of them was a huge staircase made of the same wood as the floor, with ornate carvings of magical creatures running up the outside. To their left and right there were sets of double doors, once again matching the floor and stairs, with a decoratively sculpted timber frame. The walls were made of marble and had a beautiful swirling pattern. On the roof there were geometric patterns painted in pastel colours.

"Come through this door into the great hall. Please maintain some order and wait your turn to be healed. Serious injuries to the front." Most of the students jumped when Ms Eyrich spoke; They had been distracted staring around in awe. As the doors to the great hall opened Lily and Remus dragged James forward, taking care not to hurt him any more.

The Great hall looked a lot like the Entrance hall. Some people noticed that the ceiling wasn't bewitched to look like the sky outside. Most people were too distracted with their various wounds to notice.

As James was one of the most severely injured, he was healed almost immediately. Straight away he smiled and turned to Lily.

"James, that may have been the stupidest thing you've ever done. But thank you. You saved my life." She said, smiling, before he could speak. James looked uncharacteristically embarrassed.

"No problem," He muttered, and Lily hugged him tightly. Without another word she smiled at him and left to find her other friends to find out the extent of their injuries.

When the various injuries had been seen to, everyone was asked to be seated on the floor. Dumbledore walked to the front of the group. James hadn't noticed him in the room earlier. Dumbledore cleared his throat.

"Hello everyone, and welcome to Baranbali school of magic. Now, I'm sure you're all wondering why you're here. Sadly, as most of you have probably heard, your Professor, my colleague, Our friend, Diomedes Strafford was murdered earlier today by Lord Voldemort," When he said these words a collective shudder ran through the room. Dumbledore seemed not to notice and continued.

"Professor Strafford had performed the majority of the protective magic on Hogwarts, and when he died this magic disappeared. This left us vulnerable and the second Voldemort realized he and his followers attacked the castle." Everyone gasped. They had no idea that they had been attacked by Lord Voldemort. Whispering broke out through the hall, but ceased as soon as Dumbledore began speaking again.

"Fortunately, nobody was critically injured and we managed to get everyone evacuated. Eventually you will all be able to return to Hogwarts, but not until we are sure it's safe. You will all be staying here until we decide that time has come. All of your possessions, unless destroyed in the attack, will be brought here within the next few days and accommodation will be provided for you within the castle. Lessons will begin again day after next. For tonight, everyone can stay in this room," He waved his wand, and a few hundred squishy purple sleeping bags appeared. "Goodnight, and enjoy your time in Australia; you may never again get a chance like this to interact with foreign witches and wizards."

He turned and strode out of the hall, leaving the entire student body of Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry staring after him in open-mouthed shock.

A/N: Well, that must be the first time I've ever killed off a character before creating them. I wasn't even going to have a character like Strafford in here, and I definitely didn't plan to kill off a teacher. It's just needed for the plot. That was so sad for me. He's not even based on anyone I know. I'm so sad that I had to kill him though. I create the kindest strongest character I've ever made, and then I kill him before I get to write anything about him! I cried at school today because I killed him. I was in a weird mood. Maybe I'll write another story after I finish this, about the marauders starting Hogwarts so I can put him in. Also, Baranbali means 'to the east' in an Aboriginal language. Just so you know.

This is supposed to be in the category Humor, but this is really more tragic. I'll make the next few chapters lighter. I needed this one to be like this for the plot.

I've also noticed my Author's Notes are too long. I'll try to cut it down next time and not whinge about made up dead people. Please Review.