Author's notes

Copyright J. K. Rowling

About the story…it will be an alternative 6th year which will be partly based on the cannon "Half Blood Prince", but will have a lot of changes and a focus on different characters, namely Hermione Granger and Severus Snape. However, it won't really be a romance…yet.


Shadows Play

Prologue - So it begins

The girl looked outside across the grounds of the castle. She had reached one of the towers despite his warning to stay away and now she could see everything from her window. She could see the green mark floating above the tower to her right, but that was not where she was looking. As the wind blew through the broken glass of the window, tangling her hair even worse, her eyes swept across the dark scene before her, searching.

But they could not find what she wanted to see. A fire near the forest and flashes of coloured light were the only things to shine through the night. Instead, her eyes turned towards the other tower. It looked so out of place, reflecting the green light of the swirling mark. She would have to go there eventually but not yet, not yet. She wasn't ready to know.

Her eyes moved back to the field but it was completely dark now. The wind carried voices and smoke towards her and she closed her eyes.

'And so the play begins,' she thought. 'The curtains are lifted but the stage is covered in mist. And everyone will be blind to the truth…everyone but me.'