PROLOGUE – AN ORDINARY DAY...

It was just another ordinary day at school for the Ministry six at Hogwarts. Well, almost. With Voldemort and his followers at the large, no day could be completely ordinary, what with news of disappearances and murders.

Still, it had been a pretty boring and uneventful day. A lot of homework in History of Magic (ugh!), Transfiguration and a project in Herbology (OK, not that boring for Neville in this case). Two confrontations by Draco, and a duel that followed one of those. Nothing much, yet.

Even the weather was dull. In the morning, it had been sultry and dry. By the afternoon, a storm had started brewing. As the day was coming to a close, they were sure a storm was coming their way.

That is when our story begins.

The six had been dragging themselves to the common room. They were talking just to do something. Nothing particular to talk about. As they entered every corridor, a momentary murmur ran down the students. Still nothing new. Where were their lives going? Would they die out of boredom?

'Is there no adventure left in the world?' said Harry to no one n particular.

'Or excitement?' added Ron.

'Or Death Eaters?' remarked Ginny, surprising everyone. 'What? I'd rather fight Death Eaters than live in this boring life!'

'True,' supported Luna.

'Hey, wait a minute! I have an idea. Let's go down to Hagrid's. I'm sure we'll have fun there,' suggested Hermione.

'Or get bitten by a new monster he has acquired,' whispered Neville.

'Still, it's something to do,' said Harry.

So, ten minutes later, the six were knocking at Hagrid's door. An hour later, they realized that it was much better fun to hang out around Hagrid than roam around the castle. And the tales he told! His story of 'How I tamed a dragon when I was four' was fascinating to Hermione, but scary to the others. Hence, it was not surprising that they were quite astonished when they saw that dusk had fallen.

'Better you hurry back now, kids,' said Hagrid as he looked out of the window. 'Something doesn't look right. Maybe the storm, but I'm not sure. But I want you in your beds in fifteen minutes. Good night!'

The six reluctantly got up and stepped out of the hut. Little did they know that something was wrong.