CHAPTER ONE - Wings of Hope

I slid open the door of an empty compartment and dragged my trunk in behind me as the floor moved beneath my feet. The Hogwarts Express left Platform 9 3/4 and I waved goodbye to my parents for the sixteenth time since starting at the school of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

I remember the first time I sat on this train, eagerly anticipating the year ahead. Then, my Sorting into Ravenclaw, meeting May, Georgie, Maggie, Luna and Luke. My absolute disgust at learning that Harry Potter and Ron Weasley had flown a car from the Platform to school in the plain sight of Muggles. And to think I thought the events of that year - the reopening of the Chamber of Secrets - were the worst thing that could possibly happen at Hogwarts.

Once the train reached a constant speed I stood up and eyed the baggage racks overhead, trying to figure out the best way to get my trunk up there with my miserable strength. I wasn't sure if I was allowed to use magic quite yet as the train was barely out of the station, but I needed to clear some room for the rest of my Ravenclaw friends.

Of course, I thought each year after my first to be equally or even more terrible. But this year was to be the darkest of them all, and I feared that before my first year of NEWTs ended the wizarding world would be irrevocably changed.

I took a deep breath and heaved my trunk upwards, but the momentum wasn't enough and I had to crumple out of the way of the plummeting case. Turns out carrying piles of ancient books doesn't quite give you enough of a workout to be able to lift up your trunk. Maybe that's because I had packed approximately four piles of books with a few clothes thrown in as well.

Besides, Dumbledore was no longer: no longer our Headmaster, no longer the only one He ever feared, no longer a guiding light in our dark times. And yet we could not call it war, for few were fighting. The enemy was cunning, but I knew He was out there. And with Dumbledore gone, who knew how Hogwarts would fare.

'You're looking serious, little bird,' I looked up at the sound of the pet name only one person used to see a tall gangly boy with erratic sandy blonde hair push the glass door to the side and gracefully swing his trunk onto the seat across from me. Luke.

'Just – arghh – don't – why can I never seem to do the simplest things properly?' I whined as he tried to stop himself from laughing at the way I was sprawled over the seat and dribbling over onto the floor. When he finally got himself under control after a few (failed) attempts by me to pull myself into a sitting position, he walked over and helped me up from under my deadly trunk and his face softened.

'There we go,' he grinned as we heaved first mine and then his trunk up onto the racks together.

'Thanks.' I gave him a small smile in return.

We sat ourselves next to the window - which was already beginning to frost up in the first day of England's frigid winter - and left room for Maggie and Georgie when they finally decided to arrive.

It was unusual for Maggie to be late, as she was definitely the most organised, stereotypical 'Ravenclaw' of us all. The only reason I could think of was that she'd already cornered one of the Professors to discuss her OWL results and what it would mean for her numerous NEWT classes.

As for Georgie, I hardly expected her to be here as she was most likely collecting all the news and gossip from the holidays (and considering that the Wizarding World was practically in a state of unofficial terror, there would be mounds of it). Naturally, she'd already squeezed every tidbit of information out of Luke, Maggie and I via owl (her owl, Marple, had the rather annoying habit of sitting on your shoulder and refusing to deliver your reply unless it was judged to be sufficiently long).

And of course, no-one was waiting on May.

'Sickle for your thoughts?' Luke leaned forward on his armrest.

'... Just thinking about Georgie and her letters,' I replied after a second.

'The infamous Miss Marple? I nearly lost a finger to that bird when George found out from the Daily Prophet that Penny had been promoted.' He rolled his eyes and waggled his right hand in front of me.

'What's your sister doing now, again?' I asked, knowing fully well that Luke was proud of his elder sister even if he expressed it through endless teasing of the brand that only younger brothers seemed to exhibit from birth.

'Oh, you know, just doing whatever the Senior Ambassador to Lithuania does,' he smirked and then his lips thinned. 'Which isn't much in the current situation really.' I looked worriedly at my usually-cheerful friend. Working in the Ministry wasn't the safest place to be right now, especially for a half-blood.

'I guess your parents are glad she didn't decide to become an Auror, after all,' I clutched weakly at the small comforts I could find amongst all the fear and trepidation. Luke just nodded grimly.

I was struggling for something to say that would lift the mood when Maggie and Georgie walked into the compartment, trunks in tow.

'Hey Mags, George,' Luke greeted each of them with a determined upbeat attitude and threw their cases onto the luggage rack. 'What held you up?' The pair sat down opposite us and I noticed that Georgie was more subdued that usual. Maggie didn't seem any different, but then again she was always more reserved and tended to turn her emotions inward.

'I ... had a meeting,' Maggie said quietly. 'A prefects' meeting.'

'You're prefect,' Luke breathed. Of course - May had been the female Ravenclaw prefect in our year, but as a Muggleborn she was no longer allowed to attend Hogwarts under You-Know-Who's regime.

'It feels – wrong,' Maggie bit her lip and pulled the shiny badge out from the pocket of her jacket. 'They're acting like she never even existed.' We sat in silence for a few seconds.

'How'd your OWL results go?' It was Georgie who brought up the topic, and I flushed slightly as I realised I was so preoccupied with my own self-absorption that I completely forgot to ask Luke how his exam results had been. Although I thought that I'd be absolutely petrified about the arrival of the Hogwarts owl which carried my scores, in the end I was simply relieved that they came at all, what with the Minister being assassinated mere days later.

Maggie, of course, had done exceptionally, with seven 'Outstanding's and two 'Exceeds Expectations', in Defence and Transfiguration. Luke had only failed Divination and History of Magic (both subjects which he had hated in the first place) and the rest Es with an O in Defence. Georgie's results were more similar to mine, mostly Es with a few As, but she had an O in Defence and Care of Magical Creatures. I hadn't received any Os, but fortunately my grades were high enough to do all the subjects I wanted to for NEWTs.

'May got nine Outstandings,' Maggie said bitterly. 'Nine! And they won't even let her stay in the country.'

'We're not going to forget her,' I said, not quite sure where I was finding the words. I never really had anything to contribute to our group: Maggie was our walking encyclopedia, Georgie our duelling expert and Luke the sporty attractive one (though I never would have said that to his face or his ego would surely make his head explode).

'We know she's safe with her family – she got out in time.' Rumours were already going around that groups of 'Snatchers' were running around England, rounding up anyone who wasn't on their list of pure- or half-bloods. The Sunnerlings had fled to America as soon as May realised that she and her family might be targeted by Death Eaters. Fortunately for her, she had managed to convince her parents swiftly where other muggle-borns failed.

'What if – what if there was something we could do, to show we don't abide by their rules?' Georgie began hesitantly.

'What are you suggesting, Georgie?' Maggie leaned forward. Luke had a wistful, slightly mischievous grin on his face and I cringed internally at the thought of such open rebellion.

'I – ' The annoying thing about courage is that, a lot of the time, it's very spur-of-the-moment. Which meant Georgie probably didn't have any type of concrete plan. Maggie's brain was working overtime, however.

'We're not going become another Dumbledore's Army,' Maggie said firmly. 'We're Ravenclaws - cunning like Slytherin and confident like Gryffindor, but smarter. More organised, logical and successful.' She stressed the last word, and I knew with Maggie's planning she was never going to let us get caught. 'We won't do anything that has the slightest possibility of implicating us. We'll never be there when our plans play out. We'll be invisible, but what we'll do won't be.' Her ideas of anonymity and caution did something to make the plan more appealing to me.

'So you're saying ...' Luke prompted.

'Anonymous messages in the hallways. Pranks on students that support Him. Make people laugh,' I brainstormed to the surprise of everyone else.

'We're a message of hope,' Maggie summarised. 'The dove with the olive sprig.' Luke chortled and we all stared at him. 'What?'

'Nothing, I mean,' a mischievous grin crept onto his face. 'I've got a name. A group name.' I had a feeling I wasn't going to like what he said.

'Yeah!' Georgie held her wand in front of her face in an Auror-like pose. 'The 'Claws – defenders of Hogwarts!' I spluttered in laughter at her dramatic tone.

'We don't want to label ourselves, though,' Maggie said diplomatically. 'Something more subtle, less ... Ravenclaw.' The two girls turned to Luke, and I joined them reluctantly.

'We are,' he spread his arms dramatically, 'the Wings of Hope.' Luke's eyes found mine. Like it, little bird? I could almost hear him thinking. I crossed my arms.

This was me, completely and totally not liking.

The compartment was deathly quiet when a mass of spectral black smoke swept past the window, making the glass rattle.

'What was that?' Georgie pressed her face up to the pane as I recoiled from the sudden sound.

'Nothing good,' Maggie grimaced. 'Death Eater, most probably. Possibly Dementors, but unlikely.'

I shivered and clutched at Luke's arm, terrified at the prospect of You-Know-Who's cronies boarding or even attacking the Hogwarts Express. As countless horrible scenarios played out in my mind, the train screeched to a solemn halt and the raucous laughter and sounds of general teenage rowdiness ceased, plunging the entire carriage into silence.

'Merlin,' I breathed. 'W-what are we going to do?' I looked to my friends, ever the resourceful ones, for a solution to the problem posed to us. As if it were just another Arithmancy puzzle for them to crack.

'Stay still,' Luke said finally, as neither of the others was forthcoming. 'Don't say anything.'

I quickly scooted closer to him and wrapped an arm around his waist as he slid his arm over my shoulders. Georgie hid her wand in a hand looped over Maggie's back, and the newly-instated prefect concealed her wand in the folds of her dark school robes. Their spare hands were clenched tightly together, skin taught and knuckles white.

I had to force a hand over my mouth to muffle a yelp as there was a thud of wood on wood and slow, menacing footsteps began to sound down the length of the carriage. Later I would ask myself how footsteps could possibly be menacing - all I could say in reply was that they were. Loud, clear, echoing and so slow, slow and measured and terrifying. But not nearly as terrifying as what came next.

A Death Eater, complete with swishing ebony black robes and expressionless mask, came striding past our compartment. Turning towards us, the black gaps where eyes should have been bored into each Ravenclaw. Had my entire body not been so on edge, I would have shivered. I would have collapsed, I would have cried, I would have curled up into a ball and convinced myself to disappear. But I was stuck, frozen in the moment. They had killed my family.

Uncles, aunts, grandparents; cousins who had been so young, killed in both Wizarding Wars for defying Him. The entire Bones family gone, save for my parents, my sister and I.

Two more figures swept past, their robes swirling around their feet. None of us moved, barely dared breathe until the wind whistled furiously outside and then Hogwarts Express rolled sombrely on towards a castle that I'd once deemed the safest place on earth.

'M-M-Merlin,' I whispered as wheels clicked and clacked rhythmically beneath us. I kept a tight grip on Luke and began to shake as Maggie leapt up and rifled through her trunk.

'What – no, here it is,' she said firmly and pulled out of slab of something wrapped in brightly-coloured foil. 'Chocolate. I know they say it's for Dementors attacks, but ... '

'Death Eaters are pretty much the same thing,' Georgie voiced what we'd all been thinking.

Maggie distributed the sugary food among us, making sure we each had more than we could possibly stomach, and I took a small bite. It was no miracle cure, but I felt much less shaky and weak as the chocolate melted to a creamy mess in my mouth.

'The Wings of Hope are definitely not getting caught,' Luke said after he'd swallowed the last of his Honeydukes confectionery (I still had over half of mine to go - how on earth could he eat so much, and so quickly?).

'I promise,' Maggie looked us all in the eye seriously. 'Ravenclaws won't be caged.'

I was beginning to appreciate just how brave those three crazy Gryffindors on the run were. They were going up against Death Eaters, Aurors, the entire Ministry of Magic and Him - alone. Suddenly I felt very insignificant and weak.

But maybe – maybe – I could change that. The Wings of Hope could change that.