Weeks passed, with nothing further happening at Hogwarts. It was almost February, and yet there hadn't been a single attack since the Christmas holidays, when Teresa Vane-MacDougal had almost been crushed with a falling bookshelf. Rose was happy that nobody else had been injured, but the lack of attacks made her on edge. She couldn't help but think that somebody was biding their time, pretending that the assaults had stopped, and was then going to suddenly jump out and do something big, perhaps even kill somebody this time.

Although the attacks at Hogwarts had stopped, the outside world was facing even more problems. The murders of Muggle-borns hadn't stopped, although quite a few of the victims had been smart enough to Apparate or Floo away before the person could cast the Killing Curse. The people who got away rarely had a good description of the person who broke into their homes, however; either the person was wearing a hood, or they didn't hang around to look at their attacker long enough to get a good description.

Nina interrupted Rose's train of thought as the five first year Ravenclaw girls headed down to breakfast. "Did you hear? Professor MacDougal got called out. She's not here anymore - the Aurors needed her on the outside, so we've got a substitute. Doubt the substitute will be as good, though."

"I don't think anybody could be," Allison agreed. "Unless it's another Auror, maybe. They know DADA really well, of course, since they use it all the time. It would be awesome if it was another one."

"If they could spare one," Isabella said. The Muggle-born had been growing slightly more confident with her roommates; she was no way near as loud as Nina, but she talked more around them. It was obvious she was still quiet around other people, but she had overcome her shyness with the four other Ravenclaw girls. "I'm sure they have a lot of people working on the murders," she guessed. "Or would it be just a select group...I don't really know how the Auror Office works."

"Nobody does except for the Aurors," Rose quipped. "It's true, though," she added as Allison and Nina snorted. "My Uncle Harry's an Auror, and my dad used to be one. Not very many people know their inner workings." She was sure that if she was desperate to know, Lily could find out. Lily had recently written Rose, telling the older girl that she had sneaked into the bloody Ministry of Magic to 'look around because she was bored', apparently. Rose was positive Lily would be a Slytherin at Hogwarts; not that she planned to tell über-Gryffindor James that.

Pushing that thought aside, she slid into a seat at the Ravenclaw table, the other four girls right by her. As usual Isabella got a copy of the Daily Prophet, and Rose, sitting directly next to her, leaned over to read it alongside the other girl. Both of them gasped when they saw the headline, and Nina craned her neck around Rose. "What is it?"

"Listen." Isabella folded the page and began reading it. The other students nearby - Ling Xi, Jim Haverton, Molly - all stopped to listen, their attention caught by the first year's urgent, worried tone.

"AZKABAN: NO LONGER SAFE? Just yesterday, the Wizarding prison Azkaban, long known as the most secure place for criminals, was overcome. A large group, probably numbering at least one hundred, stormed the prison, defeating the guards through sheer force and size. Although Azkaban guards are trained well, in much the same way that Aurors are, they are not equipped to deal with instances such as this, as few people are bold enough to enter without permission, much less in large numbers like this. The crowd then went through the whole building, questioning each prisoner about the nature of their crimes and their views on certain subjects, namely Muggle-born, Squib, and Muggle rights.

Those people who believed in pureblood superiority, and especially those who had been imprisoned for crimes against Muggle-borns, Squibs, or Muggles, were freed and continued going through the prison with the rest of the crowd. All of the guards were either killed or severely injured; those who were left alive are all in the critical care unit at St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. About twenty-five prisoners were allowed to join the group who had broken in, according to one of the inmates left behind. It was also guessed that, in the confusion, a few others were able to escape, since the total of escaped prisoners is higher than twenty-five. (It is also possible, however, that the inmate who guessed twenty-five was wrong.)

The group who broke into Azkaban was guessed to be the Circle of Darkness, although since they do not have identifying marks like the Death Eaters did, it is difficult to be sure without further proof from the Auror Office. If it was the Circle of Darkness, they now number at least one hundred and twenty-five, although it could be more since it is unknown if the full force of them went to Azkaban to break others out."

"Bloody hell," Rose swore, glancing over at the Slytherin table. Leda and Scorpius had a copy of the newspaper in front of them, and were heatedly discussing something. Al had his head down on the table, as two older students nearby him appeared to be playing tug-of-war with the Prophet. In all four Houses, the students appeared to have read the newspaper and were discussing the Azkaban issue and the Circle of Darkness; it was a hot topic now. "No wonder Professor MacDougal got called by the Aurors."

"It does make sense now," Veronica agreed. "This is not only a rather serious breach in security for Azkaban, but it is also a new development in the whole Circle of Darkness situation."

Allison shrugged, not wanting to fully agree with Veronica but knowing that the other girl was indeed correct. "Look, there's our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher." She gestured; a woman had just entered through a room off the staff table. She was petite and curvy, with dark hair and olive skin, and Rose had never seen her before. "Wonder how they got her on such short notice."

Professor Clearwater stood up, clapping her hands a few times in order to silence the crowd of students. It took a while, and even when most people were silent there were still a few noises. The Hufflepuff students near Al still hadn't decided who would get to see the newspaper next, and it was obvious that it was going to break soon. One Gryffindor seventh-year yelled to another "I told you she was a horrible choice!", while Leda and Scorpius were still whispering, occasionally jabbing the Daily Prophet with a finger.

The Headmistress decided not to bother with quieting these few rowdy students. "I would like to introduce Romilda Vane. She is going to be taking over the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts professor for an unknown amount of time. Our regular professor, Morag MacDougal, has been called away by the Auror Office, as they need her assistance on this whole situation with the Circle of Darkness. Speaking of which, I would like to reassure you all that Hogwarts is extremely safe, and there isn't any chance of them interfering here."

"They said that last time, and the Death Eaters barged in!" yelled Roxanne.

"So what if the Circle of Darkness can't come in, there's already problems here!" one of the Hufflepuffs fighting over the newspaper yelled.

"It's been months, and you can't figure out who the attacker is!" That was Alexandra Volante, Roxanne and James' friend.

These three broke the silence; the Great Hall erupted. It was louder than it had ever been; students were arguing with one another about things not even relating to the subject at hand. Allison and Veronica took the time to resume their debate about whether Slytherins were automatically evil or not; Nina and Isabella were trying to sneak away. Rose saw Leda, arguing with another student, and Leda yelled something along the lines of, "My grandmother is Bellatrix Lestrange!" if Rose's lip-reading was believed to be accurate.

It seemed to go on forever, but it was probably only a minute before Romilda Vane bellowed, "SILENCE!" louder than physically possible. There was certainly some charm in assistance there; she vaguely remembered reading about something called the Sonorus Charm, which made something loud. Romilda Vane's shout caused everybody to shut up, and they froze in the position they had been in. Nina and Isabella were almost towards the door, Leda was pointing her wand at the student across from her, the Hufflepuffs' paper had finally torn, and Allison and Veronica looked ready to come to blows.

Romilda Vane's eyes swept over the entire room. "I want everybody to go back to their seats. I want everybody's wands back in their pockets, and I want everybody to keep their mouths shut. This is an absurdity, and the whole lot of you should get detention. As it is, I'll hand this over to the Headmistress."

Everybody did as she said. The whole Great Hall, apart from a few students like Rose and Molly who had kept out of it, was obviously on edge as Professor Clearwater stood up. "I am aware that we are all tense. The situation in the outside world is not a good one, and the attacks here are putting everybody on edge. That being said, absolutely nothing gives you the right to behave like a bunch of angry buffoons. I cannot punish all of you, since I am aware that some of you did not do anything. However, I will say that if I see anything such as this happening again, I will not hesitate next time, and I will indeed give the whole school detention. In addition, I must ask Miss Roxanne Weasley, Mr. Jacob Laurent, and Miss Alexandra Volante to go to my office. I wish to have a word with the three of you. Everybody else is dismissed."

They filed out quietly, subdued after their riot. The five Ravenclaw girls didn't stay together; Nina, Isabella, and Allison headed away from Veronica, since Allison had fought with the latter. Rose, not wanting to deal with Veronica's anti-Allison rants, fell back into step with Al. There was a multitude of students, so they weren't technically alone, which was good. She felt that, after that episode in the Great Hall, the teachers wouldn't hesitate to punish students for even minor things like not being in groups.

"Wow," Rose said quietly, not needing to say any more.

"Yeah." Al sighed. "I...I don't know. It's just scary, how everybody turned on one another all of a sudden. I remember Dad telling me that in his fifth year, the Sorting Hat's song told them all to stick together, or there would be consequences. And there kind of was, in a way - I mean, it was Dumbledore's Army against the Slytherins, kind of. Then Leda saying, over holidays, how some of the people in her house knew that the Circle was there at Hogwarts...do you think they support it? Like there's a group of mini-Circle of Darkness members here?"

"I don't know, Al. I really don't know."

I didn't actually intend to write the riot when I started writing this chapter...it just kind of popped out. I did plan on bringing Romilda in at some point, though - the reason that they were able to get her so suddenly is because since Morag and Romilda are together, when the Aurors called out Morag, Romilda volunteered to fill in.

Thanks for reading!