The silence in and around the castle was scary dead. Even with the morning hitting the vast lands of Hogwarts the clouds covering the sky only made the morning more unbearable. The corridors were empty with cold gust of wind blowing around. Classes were empty and so were the house towers and their common rooms.

Hermione exited the rune room of the castle where Neville and Daphne were waiting for her. She was followed by McGonagall who had the key to the room. Turning around the deputy headmistress locked the room with the only key she had.

"How is everything?" Daphne asked.

"The dome around the castle is rooted to the base wards of Hogwarts," Hermione said. "I have made Professor McGonagall aware of the construct of the shield which we cast in case we need to hand over the controls too her."

"Do you really think she would agree to wait?" McGonagall asked.

"She has no other choice," Daphne said. "She is a parasite of this world. She got her powers by stealing it from the very life force. Compared to the guardian our powers are nothing for her. She will wait for him to return."

"And how long will that be?" Neville asked.

"I do not know," Daphne said. "We will just have to wait."

"But…But we can't just sit idly here!" McGonagall said when they heard footsteps and turned around. It was Filius.

"They're dead!" he said amidst his heavy breathing. "She…She killed them all!"

McGonagall gasped while Hermione and Neville had shocked expressions. Daphne looked at the tiny professor emotionless. Suddenly then a lot of snakes started to crawl inside the corridor. Flitwick yelped in surprise but then noticed they were heading towards Daphne. She crouched down, bringing forward her hand on which one of the snakes climbed up to her ear. She let it go after a while. "There are some survivors in Hogsmead," she said. "They are scared. The ministry is gone and so is everyone inside that building. The minister's body is handing outside the building all dried up. a horde of dementors are floating over all of magical Britain and are having a time of their life sucking out souls from the public."

"Please don't talk with that emotionless tone, Daphne," Hermione begged her.

"I am only stating the obvious," she replied. "But it looks like she has stopped after all. She did kill some people on her way back from here last night but after that she's been sitting calm."

"And how do you know that?" McGonagall asked.

"I've my informants keeping an eye on her," she said looking at the snakes which were leaving the corridor. "She seems to respect her end of the bargain. She realizes it wouldn't be in her best interest to come for us right now. If the castle falls there wouldn't be any reason for the castle's guardian to return and so she will not be able to fulfill her desire to steal his powers."

"So what do we do?" Flitwick asked. "None of us know when the guardian will arrive. From what you say she's only gone for about a week and once that time duration is over she will come for us all and we'll be able to do nothing!"

"We can utilize this time to gather everyone we can outside the castle," Hermione said. "I know this will sound a little selfish but we need as many people as we can inside the castle to help support Hogwarts' wards. The castle's wards' strength heavily depends upon the people inside it. We have unlimited amount of space inside the room of requirement. I think people wouldn't disagree with us when we tell them to come and take shelter inside the castle."

"Then we do that," Daphne nodded. Neville and others agreed as well. Daphne used parseltongue to instruct her snakes something. Everyone Filius and McGonagall looked at her with horrified expressions when she did that.

"What did you tell them?" Neville asked.

"You'll see soon enough," she replied uninterestedly.

00000

When the students saw the flock of owls flying away with notice letters they wondered what was going on. Why would Hogwarts be sending public notice in a time like this? Most of them had no clue as to what the danger was but it looked as if everything had settled now as the noises were no longer there. But to see all of the owls of Hogwarts plus the owls of the students made them wonder what was going on.

00000

She smiled. She had intentionally left some of them alive too see what the heirs will do next. She caught one of the owls by its neck, sucking the life force out of it before untying the notice letter that was on its leg. She then let go of the owl which fell on the ground dead. A minute later it fluttered its wings and stood back up, its eyes grey and lifeless as it looked at her curiously. She smiled. "Go join the others,' she said. The owl hooted before flying over to the mountain behind her.

.

To whomever it may be,

This is a public notice being delivered by the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry by the authority of Minerva McGonagall.

If you are out there and you are alive and able then you know that something is not right. A lot of people have died and we do not have an answer as to what is happening. What we do know is that the ministry is gone. The minister of magic is dead and so is everyone who was at the ministry at the time of its fall. If you have lost someone than we have you our condolences but this is not the time to cry over your loss.

Please, this is an earnest request of the deputy headmistress and everyone here at Hogwarts – if you are out there we have a safe place for you. Hogwarts is known for its immensely strong wards. You will be safe inside the wards of the castle. Starting from today evening the wards will let you in up until three days after that. If you want you can come and take shelter.

This is a public interest notice channeled by Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

.

She smiled. So this is what they had planned. Had they forgotten that no matter how much people they gathered their combined power wasn't enough to make the wards strong enough to stop her or her army? But it was entertaining to watch them run around like chickens. At least she wouldn't be bored.

00000

A/N: HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I know I am VERY late with the update and this chapter is VERY small but it is here. The story is nearing its end and I am happy to let you all know that. The next remaining updates might/might not be late. I can't make promises but I would be very glad if you could hold it in. I have an ending for the story…

Thanks for reading…