Rose and I hurried back to the castle as quickly as we could from the owlery, slipping on the occasional icy patch of concrete as we descended the steps. I had Rose's hand gripped tightly in my own as we ran up to the castle through the seemingly never ending cloud of black smoke. I could feel Rose shaking and I could see some tears running down her cheeks. When we got back on the main grounds everything seemed so eerie. There was nothing comfortable about Hogwarts right now; even with no one but myself and Rose to be seen.
"What if they hit somewhere else that we don't know, Scorpius? What if someone died? I can't believe we saw them and we didn't do anything, how could we be so stupid? I don't even know if Hugo is alright, what if Hugo is dead? What if Hogwarts has to close? What's going to happen?" Rose ranted, questions pouring out of her mouth as if there was no way to stop her.
"Hey hey hey..." I said, stopping walking and turning her around to look at me. "Everything's going to be fine." I told her in an attempt to reassure her, although she knew as well as I did that I had no idea if that was true or not. "We'll go check the courtyard and see what's going on. Just stay calm." I said, wiping the tears from her cheeks before hurrying over the bridge to the courtyard.
The atmosphere surrounding everyone who stood outside in the courtyard seemed to be frantic while at the same time silent and restful. Students were standing holding hands, seemingly in shock while others were crying and others just seemed to be in shock. When we walked closer to everyone we were cautious, but upon spying her brother at the other side of the courtyard, Rose ran away from me and over to him, pulling him into a tight embrace and he did the same. I didn't hear what they were saying to one another.
My thoughts were cut short when Professor Faraway hurried over to me. "Mr Malfoy, thank goodness." He said. "Where have you been?! We're trying to get all the students. Professor Vector has gone to collect the other students from their dorms."
"Sorry Professor. Me and Rose were at the owlery." I said, looking around to find Rose. "What happened, Professor? Did you see?" I asked, my voice sounding much more relaxed than how I was feeling.
"There were three wizards. Everyone was looking at the fireworks and then there was an explosion. The clock tower is destroyed and then we saw them flying away. Did you see anything from the owlery?" He asked. I hesitated – Rose and I had seen something flying towards the castle. Of course we couldn't really tell what, so that didn't put us in the wrong, did it? Or should we have gone back to the castle once we noticed it to report it? Would we have been able to stop it if that were the case?
"No, sir, I didn't see anything; only the fireworks and the explosion." I said finally. It probably wasn't the best idea to lie, but what was going to happen if I told the truth? It wouldn't change what had happened. "Do you have any idea what they got from this? From attacking the school, I mean..." I said, taking a seat on the wall beside me as Professor Faraway stood there, watching over the students in the courtyard.
"Hogwarts is supposed to be one of the safest places in the magical world, Mr Malfoy. I think... by attacking us here, they were trying to prove that they're stronger than the ministry's forces; like they're showing no mercy by attacking young children." I listened as he spoke, taking in his words.
"Do you think, sir, that maybe this was a warning?" I asked, slipping my hands in my pockets and holding my wand tight in my hand as a sort of safety.
"A warning, Mr Malfoy?"
"By doing this during the holidays. They must have known that there wouldn't be that many people here... and if they really wanted to prove a point would they not have attacked more than just the clock tower?" I asked with a sigh. "I mean... what if they're going to attack when the holidays are over? When everyone is back at school. There'll be more teachers; more children... more people to hurt." I explained. I felt bad as I looked around at all the younger students, fearing for their lives and not leaving their friend's sides. As an older student, I was a role model to the younger kids and I think deep inside, I understood that. That's why I wasn't freaking out like everyone else. I had to try and be calm for everyone else's sake... even if I was terrified on the inside.
I hopped off of the wall and stood beside him, watching at Professor Vector brought the remaining children into the courtyard. "I wish I could tell you, Scorpius." He said, putting his hand on my shoulder before he left to go and speak to Professor Vector.
I walked over to Rose and her brother who were sat on a wall together and I jumped up and sat beside her, placing my hand over her's when I saw her still shaking a little.
"This is so crazy." Hugo said after a while.
"Yeah..." I said in response. I looked down as Rose intertwined her fingers with mine and I stroked her soft skin with my thumb.
"So much for Hogwarts being the safest place in the world." He said with a groan. "And on New Year too... what scumbags. I hope they all fell off their brooms over the lake and drowned." He mumbled, obviously angry about what had happened. Professor Flitwick walked over to the three of us at this point and informed us that all students were to stay together in the Great Hall for the night and that Professor Vector was going to watch over the younger students whilst the older students, namely myself, Rose, the Ravenclaw girl and one of the Gryffindor boys, helped to clean up the rubble and explosion's mess that was currently blocking the way to the Great Hall.
Climbing off the wall and helping Rose down, I watched as she gave her brother a quick hug and then walked towards the damage with me to assist with clearing the way for the corridor so we could get into the Great Hall. We all pulled out our wands and began levitating the rubble and rock, piling it all neatly to clear the way. We did this for a couple of hours whilst the younger students stayed in the courtyard. Things calmed down by the time the Professors were ushering us all into the Great Hall single file to make sure we were all still present; although anyone who decided it would be a good idea to walk off at this point must have been insane.
With a flick of his wand, Professor Flitwick made sleeping bags appear, one for each student. "Slytherins are to sleep in this corner" He said, pointing towards the corner of the Great Hall closest to the house point counters and then proceeded to assign house sections clockwise around the room, proceeding to Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and then Ravenclaw. "It's already late, so it's time you all got some rest. It's been a long night. We're contacting the Headmistress as soon as we can to let her know of the incident but until then, you need not think about it any longer." He explained as he walked back over to the other Professors.
I rolled out my sleeping bag a few feet away from the other Slytherins and left it on the floor as everyone else started climbing into theirs, close to everyone in an attempt to feel safe. I walked over to one of the large windows that lined the walls of the Great Hall, looking out at the starry sky, wondering what could possess someone to go so power hungry and evil as to attack a school on New Year's Day. It was so sudden and in my eyes, achieved next to nothing but a fright to us students and the Professors. They gained nothing from it.
"Hey..." I heard a voice beside me and turned to see Rose. She cuddled into me, resting on my chest as we both looked out the window. She sighed. "I can't stop thinking about what we saw." She said quietly. "We saw them coming towards the school."
"No we didn't." I said.
"What?"
"We didn't see anything – or at least that's what I told Professor Faraway." I admitted. She pulled away from me and looked up into my eyes.
"You did what?" She whispered.
"We don't know that what we saw is what we think we saw, Rose. What good would it do admitting that we think we might have seen them coming towards the school before the fireworks went off?"
"I- It would- I mean- I don't know." She mumbled, resting back against me. "It's just so much to take in. My daddy always said that Hogwarts is the safest place we could possibly be, and now look-"
"Look at what? A few pieces of rock have collapsed."
"Scorpius, you know that's not what I meant. We were attacked."
"And no one is dead. No one is even hurt. It was just to scare us; we don't even know if it was dark wizards. For all we know it could have been some stupid people playing a New Years prank on us that went a little too far." I said, trying to ease her tension. I knew that what I was saying wasn't true, but if it helped at all... "You're safe Rose... you're with me." I told her, wrapping my arms around her and holding her tight.
She held me back and sighed against my chest. "I know... I know..." I heard her say as I kissed her forehead.
"Do you wanna stay in my sleeping bag tonight?" I whispered in her ear. She looked up at me and nodded.
"Yeah... yeah I do." She replied.
Not long after, we climbed into my sleeping bag. Professor Faraway saw us but told us it was okay for Rose to sleep with me as long as he knew where she was. I explained to him that she was very shaken up about the whole thing and he proceeded to wink at me and I rolled my eyes.
I held Rose as we lay there, her back against my chest and our fingers intertwined and we drifted off to sleep.
