New Year's Eve 1976 was the worst day of Sophie Holland's life. There would be plenty more terrible days to come, more than any person deserved, but this one was the first, and it topped them all.
Mr. and Mrs. Holland worked for the Daily Prophet. They'd been to over thirty company New Year's Eve parties that weren't attacked by Death Eaters, and one that was.
The news reached Hogwarts late the next morning. Many faithful Prophet workers had banded together to publish the day's issue. They wanted to be the ones to tell their own story.
Lily Evans was eating breakfast when the paper arrived. The headline read "Nine Dead." Within minutes she had left the Great Hall, her toast abandoned mid-bite. Lily ran all the way to Gryffindor Tower, and up to the bathroom Dorcas was showering in.
After hearing her repeated cries Dorcas emerged, hair dripping, in a towel.
Lily choked out, "Death Eaters attacked the Daily Prophet." She tried to catch her breath, but it was no use. "Sophie's parents," her voice cracked, and Dorcas moved forward to grasp her before she fell to the ground. "They're gone Dorcas; they're both gone." Dorcas's shoulder muffled Lily's words, but they were heard, nonetheless.
It didn't matter that Lily didn't get along with Sophie, death was death. She had lost a parent and couldn't even fathom what it must feel like to lose both.
"Lily," Dorcas loosened her grip around her friend, "you need to go wake up Remus. Dumbledore is going to need you prefects to organize the rest of the students." Lily didn't move, and Dorcas held her gaze, "I know it hurts a bloody lot right now but don't give in Lil. We won't win this war if we don't fight."
When Lily swung open the door to the sixth-year boys' dormitory, the first thing she saw was a boxer-clad James Potter. Before he could say anything, she thrust the paper at him. Her tightly clenched hand had badly damaged it, but it was still legible.
Within moments James began banging on the bathroom door. Across the room, Peter poked his head through his bed curtains.
"What's going on?" He began rubbing his eyes with his palms, "is Lily alright?"
James took a glance at Lily's puffy eyes, "no she's not, and neither are any of us." His hand went to his hair, "Death Eater's attacked the Daily Prophet's New Year's party."
"What?" Remus was standing in the doorway to the bathroom, Sirius was behind him.
"Sophie's parents are dead."
All eyes went to Lily. Even James, who had the paper, had not taken a look at the names of the dead. Sirius pushed past Remus to grab the Prophet from James. He took his time reading through it, and the other boys gathered around. Dorcas slipped through the door just before he finished.
All Sirius said before leaving the room was, "I'm going to find Dumbledore."
Dorcas wanted to say 'there's no point,' but she let him go because what else were they going to do? Sophie was at home; there was nothing they could do for her at Hogwarts.
Lily wanted to go with him, but she couldn't face Dumbledore while crying. Dorcas had been right earlier; it was time to be strong and to fight.
Peter wanted to go back to bed but knew he couldn't. Dumbledore would call for all the students soon enough.
James wanted Lily to stop crying, but he didn't want to comfort her. He wanted to fight the Death Eater's and put a stop to the pain that caused her tears.
Remus wanted to write a Potions' paper. Or do virtually anything other than worry about death and war.
"You should go after Sirius," Lily looked at James. "Someone needs to make sure he doesn't act too rashly." Lily had stopped her tears; it was time to act.
James went over to his trunk and began pulling out clothes.
Peter had picked up the paper which Sirius had dropped. "Did Nikki Shacklebolt go home?" None of his friends paid him much heed until he continued. "Says her mom died too."
Dorcas shook her head, "you must be misreading that Pete. The Shacklebolts are a pure-blooded family; there's no way they'd be attacked.
Remus took a look, "he's not wrong." His gaze lingered for a while taking in the nine pictures. "The Hollands aren't exactly descended from muggles either; maybe this wasn't about blood."
James rejoined the group, now fully clothed. "What are you saying, Remus?"
Everyone in the room, including James, knew exactly what he was insinuating, but Remus clarified anyway. "The Prophet is the main source of information on the war, and they've never claimed to be supportive of Him, it's not that far of a stretch to believe he'd want to shut them up."
"No one is safe," the words surprised even Lily, who spoke them. "Unless you side with Him, you either have muggle heritage, or you support those who do."
"Blood traitors," Dorcas supplied the term, but they were all familiar with it.
James exited the room; he didn't need to hear any more.
"I should go find McGonagall, see if she wants me to round up the other Gryffindors." Lily made for the door, but Remus stopped her.
"Lily you're safe here, we're all safe here. Dumbledore would never let anything happen within these walls."
It was barely noticeable, but Remus could've sworn she smiled. "We're going to have to leave Hogwarts long before this war is over."
While they could all deny it then and force themselves to believe it could end soon, Lily Evans turned out to be right. They would graduate in 1978, and the war would continue until 1981.
"Lily–"
"I love you, Peter. I love you all. I love James Bloody Potter for what its worth, but it's not worth much. It doesn't change what I am." She shook her head trying to stop the tears from coming back. "All that love doesn't change the fact that my very existence inspires hate."
Dorcas wanted to say 'love does mean something' but it was a stupid cliché, and frankly at that moment she didn't even believe it. Lily was right, Voldemort had chosen to hate muggle-born witches and wizards just for existing. There was nothing anyone could do to change that except kill anyone who believed it, and where would that leave them? Dorcas couldn't imagine hurting, let alone killing anyone; she just didn't have that amount of hate in her body even for terrible people like Death Eaters.
Finally, Remus said, "I'll come with you to find McGonagall."
The two left, and Dorcas and Peter went to the Great Hall to eat while they waited. Dumbledore briefed all the students, and then everyone went back to their winter break activities. That was it. Sophie's parents were dead, and Lily was hated just for being born, but that was it. That's all that happened. Looking back, it feels like something big should've marked it all but the days went on, and the students began to forget about the severity of the war. They were, after all, just kids.
A/N
Hello all,
I wrote this chapter a month ago and finally forced myself to make time to upload it! Hope you enjoy it. Make sure to message me if you have any questions.
Have a good one
Shaelynn Sophia
