Slain By Love: Hogwarts Edition
Prologue
Professor Marc Slain sat in his office at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, staring at the fire with a fire whiskey in his hand. He often wondered why he even bothered teaching Defence against the Dark Arts, because every week one of his ex-students would get themselves blown up by a deatheater or two.
After the death of poor old Dumbledore, the famous trio had left Hogwarts in order to fulfil the prophecy. Professor McGonagall was Head Mistress of the school, and Marc Slain – an auror had been called upon to take up the post of DaDa professor meaning his whole family had to move from Scotland to..wherever this was.
With a deep sigh, Marc closed his eyes and retreated into his mind, picturing his three beautiful children and trying to imagine what they were doing. He thought the twins, the two youngest of his children, would be in their dorm giggling and gossiping about all their new classmates in the third year.
Catherine was the confident one, the first born of the mismatched pair. Cathy had already made so many friends and was becoming quite the celebrity in the three months she had been in Gryffindor. She was particularly popular with the boys; she could either be one of them or the girl they couldn't get.
Aimee, on the other hand, was the quiet, slightly more introvert one. Marc admired her because she strived to be there for the ones Catherine left behind. She always found it hard to talk to boys, apart from a select few. Her closest friends were in the years higher or lower than her. But once a week she was Gryffindors' shining star on the quidditch pitch. Taking the role of Seeker that Harry Potter had left behind, she had a lot to live up to, but with the guidance of her elder brother (team captain) Aimee knew she would succeed.
Hearing a knock on the door, Marc's train of thought was interrupted. "Come in!" He shouted, waving his wand to clear his desk in an attempt to make the place more presentable.
"Dad, Just thought I'd let you know that Aimee's had another nightmare about Mum.." The eldest of Marc's children, Stephen announced as he let himself in and pulled up a chair. "She told me earlier on at breakfast, and I'm worried about her. She's become a lot more secluded recently, and has even taken to missing meals and visiting the kitchens late at night." The prefect explained in more detail, taking a swig of his father's whiskey.
Marc regarded him, and slumped down in his chair. "Thank you Stephen…Do me a favour and keep an eye on those two will you? And maybe you could talk to Aimee during practise tonight?" He answered. Although he didn't show it on the surface Marc was concerned about Aimee. The death of his wife Eleanor had affected the whole family in various ways but never to this extent.
Stephen nodded, and stared at his father with a bemused expression as the bottle of fire whiskey was snatched rather irritably from his hand, which had been sitting in mid-air somewhere between his chin and nose. "Rude!" He exclaimed, standing up indignantly and strolling towards the door, straightening his hair in the glass before exiting. "By the way, don't get your hopes up about the Christmas feast, Catherine keeps hiding whenever Aimee wants to practise their duet." With that, he closed the door behind him, leaving Marc to his quiet reflection once more.
Scrunching up his eyes, Marc Yawned and looked down at the flood of papers that his lousy cleaning spell had pushed off the table onto the floor. He really should get back to marking them. Stephen would be furious in the next class if they weren't marked.
Stephen was a strange case. Sure, he was loyal and brave as every Gryffindor was, but he contained qualities of all the houses. He cared deeply for his friends and two sisters as a Hufflepuff would (as well as loving food) yet he was conscientious about his grades, similar to the Ravenclaws. On the other hand, he was also rather mischievous and cunning; having befriended many of the Slytherins (excluding Draco, obviously) . Of course, this wasn't a problem, old Dumbledore had always wanted to unite the houses of Hogwarts. And obviously, possessing all of these qualities made Stephen the obvious choice for a prefect, and maybe even head boy next year.
Hearing a clock chime 10pm, Marc Slain decided it was time to pack it in. Exiting his office himself, he locked the door behind him and made his way a little up the corridor to his sleeping quarters, conveniently hidden behind a portrait of some ex-student. However, before he got the chance to climb through the portrait-hole he heard a high-pitched, breath curdling scream come from somewhere on the other side of the school.
Rolling his eyes, he grabbed his wand from his robe pocket and started sprinting back past his office, past the DaDa classroom and down some stairs until he found himself in the main entrance. In the distance he could hear footsteps running towards this point from all over the school, but he was first on the scene.
All the lights had been put out as it was after curfew, so he found it hard to see. Spotting a slither of light come from the opposite side of the entrance hall, Marc realised that the Great Hall had not been locked, and the door was open, just a bit. Unconsciously gulping, Marc tiptoed towards the door, whispering "Lumos!" To gain some light, just for his own security. Standing with his back against the wall, he leaned around the doorframe and peered into the great hall. The sight before his eyes made him do a double take. Breathing heavily, he grasped onto his wand as if that could offer some sort of stability, and kicked the door open fully. Staring, he walked forwards glancing around for any sight of a trespasser.
"Neville Longbottom, professor." He heard someone whisper behind him. Looking more closely, he could now recognise the limp, hanging body as Harry Potter's faithful Ally. Swiftly turning around, he came face to face with the Headmistress, Professor McGonagall.
"What…what happened?" He stuttered, stumbling backwards to get away from the corpse which was swaying slightly. Two letters lay on the floor.
"I presume that Mr. Longbottom could not bare the thought of being a complete orphan. But he is…was… a strong-minded fellow and I believe there is more to it than that. " She explained, striding over to the doors and closing them, before any students could find out. "I believe it is another suicide curse, Marc." She continued, addressing him by his first name this time.
"I see. Well, I think the first course of action to take is to remove the body. I shall find Hagrid." Marc muttered, hardly able to peel his eyes away from the sight of his ex-student. "I think breakfast will be..rather eventful. Maybe you should alert the heads of houses and prefects." He added, waiting for approval to leave.
AN:...So...what are we thinking? Good? Bad?