The War: Chapter One
A/N: I hope you're intrigued. I don't want to explain it all at once.
"Why the hell are we up here again?" Galatea grumbled, aiming a curse through one of the castle's old arrow slots.
"I know as much as you," Sirius replied irritably, ducking as an enemy curse hit the stone behind him. "Believe me, I'm just as unhappy with the situation."
Galatea laughed scornfully. "I can't imagine why that would be."
The old tower of the castle was an eerie place in the moonlight. Both wizards would rather have been someplace else, preferably away from each other. Though the tower should have afforded a great vantage point, the mist that was customary of English moors masked their enemies below and gave them the advantage.
Sirius checked his pocket watch. "Reinforcements are late. Honestly, who planned this mission?"
Galatea ignored him, focusing on the impenetrable mist below; she was tired of his griping.
About a half an hour later, when the temperature had dropped a few degrees lower and there was considerably more rubble in the tower than there had been before, the silhouette of a hippogriff crossed the blanket of mist.
"There!" Sirius pointed.
The two wizards cast Shield Charms and made for neighboring tower where the beast had landed. Kingsley Shacklebolt dismounted and nodded in greeting.
"It's been quiet for the past ten minutes but we know they're out there. What's so important about this old ruin anyway?" Sirius said irritably to Kingsley.
Galatea gawked at him. "Don't you know where we are Sirius?"
"Of course I do, but it's a ruin. It doesn't matter anymore."
Kingsley motioned for them to mount the hippogriff. "We must be going. There is nothing more we can do here tonight. But Miss Grey is right. It may be a ruin, but it will always be Hogwarts."
"Miss Grey," Sirius scoffed. But he said nothing more about Hogwarts.
As the hippogriff flew away from the castle, Galatea could see figures move through the mist again. She was glad they had gotten away when they had, though she was still wondering why they had been sent to the ruined school in the first place. And why Sirius Black?