The dark overcast that filled the sky and grew darker every minute. Crowds filled the damp and fogged-filled streets eager to make their way home; nobody bothering to acknowledge each other. This once tight-knit community seemed to be unraveling more by the minute although no one was quite ready to admit to that fact. What was for certain was that the concept of big news in this town relatively progressed more steadily each day from mysterious disappearances to mysterious homicides.
A flurry of worry was permeating the crowd more the ever before as a siren rang in the distance growing louder every second. Sheer panic flooded the streets, screams pierced the night sky, people scrambled to get back on their feet only to be trampled on the cobblestone streets. The black-cloaked figure reveled in the pandemonium and drank in the fear. As he stood in the middle of the plaza, he witnessed the chaos, took in every detail of the fear on people's faces, and, silently, laughed inside his head.
"Run, little pigiiiiieeeeeesssssss, run. The purge is just about begunssss," the figure wheezed.
By this time he had taken a polished piece of wood out of his cloak and was pressing it against his skin. Not one person took notice. Cloaking themselves in the fog and panicking people, other figures appeared in the plaza. Cloaked and with a polished piece of wood in hand like their predecessor they stood stock still amongst the throng of panicking bodies. The hum of what seemed like a chant emanated from these figures growing louder with each passing moment. Green glows emanated from all of the polished pieces of wood and the sky grew more restless than ever before. The wind howled and was only pierced with the cries of terror as the town folk realized who was in their midst and realized their grim fate.
A sudden flash of green light devoured the little village and everything went silent, completely and utterly silent. Bodies of men, women, and children littered the plaza streets.
The siren stopped its broadcast and the night sky was eerily still, not betraying what had taken place a second before. A house not so far away came to life as its inhabitants scuttled out from under their beds. Some were crying others were on the verge of tears. The director came into the dormitory ushering the children to her side.
"It's alright, lovelies. It was just another hurricane warning. It's nothing to worry about. Go back to sleep. Everything will be fine," she said as she tried to envelop them all in a hug.
Her aide stood by her side, rigid, not comforted by any of her warm words. Hurricanes were their cover story so as to not scare the little children, but she knew better. This was no natural disaster, but a disastrous act caused by monsters, people who were barely human with inhuman powers. No sense of morality, no sense of remorse, cowards united under the name of the Dark Lord. As the children were finally back in their beds the aide closed the doors behind her.
"This has been the third warning this week alone. How can you say everything is all right?" the young aide asked following the director.
"You know what we must do. They are too young to grasp these tragedies, Jaina."
"I know," she admitted as she stopped in front her door.
"Get a good night's rest. You'll need it tomorrow morning for the hike to the port key."
"Oh, right, school. What joy."
Life in the Wizarding World could be frustrating at times. Mass murders were taking place, lives were in peril, but everything went on as planned even something as mundane as school. It was the only way to live without having stress or fear crushing the sanity and will of the entire Wizarding population. Life went on even in the midst of panic and commotion.
The next morning Jaina got up bright and early without any help from the much-despised Muggle contraption called an alarm clock. Compared with other people her age she had always been a morning person and had a knack of getting up at the exact time she needed to every day. And her OCD for organization most of the time, if not always, set her apart. She showered and got dressed in the plainest of Muggle trappings in order to avoid attention from the residents of the village when she went walking for the port key. Her trunk and caged toad raised enough suspicion every year. Clambering through the doorway she failed to notice the children bunched up against the opposite wall each face a portrait of ultimate sadness.
"Leaving already, Miss J?" one of the children asked now desperately clinging to one of her legs.
Jaina looked down and managed a weak smile while ruffling the tot's hair.
"Yeah, Ben, I have to. I have to go to school. Just like you guys have your lessons," she said to Ben, but looking at everyone else.
"But who will protect us from the hurricanes?" a little redhead girl managed to ask.
"You guys wanna know a secret?" she knelt down in front of the group.
They nodded their heads vigorously in unison.
"Hurricanes are really just big scaredy-cats. All they do is make big noises, but they are scared of people, especially brave little buggers like all of you."
All of the tots gasped in amazement. It hurt Jaina to lie to them so plainly, but she knew it was for the better. They didn't need to know about the true horrors that the "hurricanes" caused. They were too young. All the kids in this orphanage were not older than 7 years old some as young as a couple of months old. The sad thing was most of these kids were not orphans, but simply "bastards", mistakes that Pureblood families shunned. No son or daughter of any Pureblood was supposed to taint their line with filthy affairs that they had with Mudbloods or Muggles so the luckiest of the children were sent here. It hurt her to lie to them when they had been lied to all their lives. Jaina had said her good-byes until only Ben remained. He had tears in his eyes.
"Promise me you'll keep coming back," he said wiping his nose, piercing her with those bright blue eyes of his.
"You know I will," she said wrapping him in a bear hug.
"Don't be like our mums and dads. Please keep loving us," Ben cried.
"I won't be, I promise," she said holding him at arm's length looking straight into his tear-stained face. "I promise I will love all you guys forever. Now get along, will ya? Breakfast is being served."
He nodded and walked down the corridor and her eyes followed him until he disappeared around the corner. She felt the tears stream down her face. They were not only tears of sadness, but also of pure rage at the current situation, of how one monster and his puppets can affect so many innocent lives. How the rigidity of his self-imposed social castes ruined the childhoods of so many only for the stupid reason of keeping bloodlines pure. She wiped away her tears and grasped the pull-out handle of her trunk and held her toad cage under her other arm. She went through the front door and started her two-mile hike to the port key. This was the most-despised thing she had to do every year, not the hike, but walking away from all of them leaving them vulnerable. Of course they weren't alone, but Alema, the director, was a Squib and the fact that they were so vulnerable to attacks sent a chill down her spine.
She took one last look at the orphanage and made her way down the hill beginning her journey to her sixth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardy. As she arrived to the familiar rubber tire that was the port key she was out of breath. Jaina wasn't out of shape, in fact she had a slender figure that most girls envied, but the mental strain of leaving those kids behind for the past six years left her breathless. She held out her hand towards the tire.
"I really hate this part…" she grumbled as she felt the familiar tug on her naval and barfing sensation.
She felt a sudden jolt and knew that she had arrived at the train station intact, something that she always feared wouldn't happen one year. Jaina straightened out her blouse and started walking briskly to the entrance of the station. As she arrived between the pillars of platforms 9 and 10, she leaned casually onto one of the pillars and just like that disappeared into the Wizarding World. It was amazing how oblivious Muggles were sometimes. There was the familiar scarlet engine that took her to her own personal sanctuary. All around her wizarding families smothered their children in kisses and warnings. It turned her stomach to see this affection because she knew it was something that the kids would never experience. She swallowed her feelings and stepped onto the train taking her to her second-favorite place in the world.
As she found an empty compartment the train came to life. She sat down and stared listlessly out of the window, not taking notice of people as they passed by. She wasn't worried about the compartment ever filling up. She knew better than that. She was the hated Slytherin girl, well, rather, hated Slytherin stain. And there was one person solely responsible for that, the all-loved bleached ferret, Draco Malfoy.
"Well, if it isn't Nobody…" a voice sneered.
'Thinking of the devil…'
Jaina's hair stood on end and she instinctively drew her legs up to her chest, clasping them as if for her life. Hell had just begun.