"Sqwaaaaa!" My pet phoenix wails. "Just a second Paprika," I say as I pour food into her bowl. "Daddy has a meeting with the Ministry of Magic today sweetie," I tell her, "so Professor Wiccan will be watching over you." Paprika ignores me and continues eating. I look around to find my office to find Professor Wiccan. "Professor Wiccan?" I call. "I'm right here, Headmaster Gallagher." They call back. "Do you think you can watch Paprika while I go to my meeting today?" I ask them while putting my belongings in my suitcase. "Of course, Headmaster Gallagher! It would be an honor and a privilege to look after such a beautiful creature." I look at them disapprovingly. "Please Hugo. Call me Jacques." He replies with, "Of course, Mr. Jacques." I sigh as I finish packing my bag and hurry out the door.
My personal train moves at 400 miles per hour, so even though it was quite far to the Ministry of Magic, it wouldn't take very long to get there. As I sat on the train reading Game of Thrones, I could hear the squeaky wheel of the snack cart heading towards me. My hand touched the cold and rough leather seat as I put my book down. I stare at the blonde haired person pushing the cart towards me and smell all the wonderful treats. All of the bright colors of candy are almost blinding. The smells are almost too much for me. "May I have a chocolate bar?" I ask the woman with the snack cart. "Anything for the Headmaster!" She said in a thick Cockney accent. "Please call me Jacques." I say. I pay her and then carefully open the chocolate wrapper, which makes a delightful crinkling sound. I put it in my mouth. The chocolate tastes rich and creamy. "I used to love these when I was little." I say to myself. The chocolate tasted just like the chocolate my mother used to buy me. I picked up my book again and I could smell the brand new paper the book was printed on. All was well for a few minutes until the train passed through Albus Woods (named after the most famous Hogwarts headmaster) and I felt a strange presence. It was as if someone in the forest was looking in at me through the window of the train. It was very disturbing for a few seconds, but then it was gone. Like the feeling was a blanket and it had suddenly been pulled off. I tried to ignore what had just happened as the train pulled into the station, but something about the experience really frightened me.
I got off the train and was greeted by Minister Hanson's assistant, Paulina Schroeder. "Right this way Mr. Gallagher." She guided me inside the building. "The Minister would like to speak to you in private." I shake my head. "No, it says that today we have a meeting with everyone. Every member of the ministry." I hold up a piece of paper with the ministry schedule printed on it. "I'm just following the orders I was given by mister Hanson." She replies, dragging me by the arm. "Come. We haven't any time to waste.
The elevator makes a loud "Ding" as the door opens to reveal the Minister's office. "Ah, Hogwarts Headmaster Gallagher." Mr. Hanson says. "Do come in and sit down." I sit in a comfortable mahogany chair and set down my suitcase with a thud. "Paulina, could you get us two coffees please? Me and my friend Headmaster Gallagher have much to discuss." Paulina says, "my pleasure Minister Hanson," and gets back in the elevator to go to the café on level six. "Alright," Mr. Hanson says. "Now we can talk in private." He reaches into his desk drawer and pulls out a folder. He opens it and hands me a photograph. "What's this?" I ask as I study the photo. "It's a photo of an evil witch that was sent to Azkaban last week,"Mr. Hanson informs me. "But what does it mean?" I ask. "And you still haven't told me why you wanted to meet alone. He pulls out another photo and hands it to me. "This witch, Hecate Foxx, escaped from Azkaban and was last seen running into the Albus Woods, as you can see in this picture." I swallow. Hard. "I went through the Albus Woods to get here." I tell the Minister. "While I was there I felt something was… off." I pause and hand back the photos. "This witch is extremely dangerous, Jacques." I raise my eyebrows because I didn't expect him to use my first name. "If Hecate Foxx gets near your students then bad things might happen." I nod understandingly. "I need to do something. I should head back. Initiate a school lockdown. Before it's too late."
When I got back to the Hogwarts train station I ran to my office to tell Professor Wiccan about the lockdown. Inside my office I could see my beautiful Paprika, but not Professor Wiccan. Paprika wailed at me as I passed her. "Not now girl." I said. "Have you seen Hugo?" She pointed her beak in the direction of my bathroom. "Thank you Paprika! You're such a good girl!" I run so fast towards the bathroom that I almost slip and fall on the tile floors. I knock on the door of the bathroom. "Professor Wiccan? Hugo? Are you in there?" I wait for a reply. "yes I'm in here." They say. "I'll just be a minute!" I groan in annoyance when they say this. "I have really bad news! We need to have a school wide lockdown." I yell at them through the door. "Why ever would we need to do that?" They ask me with concern. "We have a situation." I tell them. "With a criminal witch named Hecate Foxx." As soon as I tell them this, the wall behind me collapses. I hear Paprika yelp and suddenly burst into flames. My office floor starts shaking. I duck under my desk just as everything around me collapses. "Hugo!" I scream, just before a chunk of roof falls on me and the room gets dark.
I open my eyes to see a huge pile of rubble. This is it. I think to myself. I'm going to die of starvation here. Well, I'll probably die from the pool of blood coming out of the back of my head first! A hand sticks through a hole in the debris pile. "Is that you God?" I ask. Surprisingly, I got a reply. "Umm… I'm not God, Mr. Gallagher. But I think you should grab my hand so I can pull you out of this trash pile. I do what the voice says. When I emerge from the rubble I see the face of the person who saved me. "Miss Threep!" I exclaim. "Thank you for saving me." She nods her head. "Your welcome, Mr. Gallagher. Let's get back to the camp.
"Misty, you're back!" Mahmud exclaims. "And you found the Headmaster!" Finnegan adds. They take me inside a tent and tell me to sit on a small cot. "Can we get someone to heal the Headmaster's head wound?" Misty asks. "I'll get Merlin," Finnegan replied. "He's the best with healing spells." The three of them go into another room in the shelter. I look around the makeshift fort that these children have made. The inside is enormous, big enough to fit fifty people comfortably. The wind blows against the tarp from outside, making a strangely relaxing sound. I hear the crickets chirping and owls hooting behind the walls of the tent. Merlin Dupont shuffles into the room and stares at me blankly. "You have a lot of blood coming out of your head." He points out. "I realized." I mumble. He points his wand at the back of my skull. "Brackium Emendo!" My broken skull bones repair themselves as soon as he says this. He walks over to a large wooden shelf and pulls out a large cloth bandage. "I can't do anything for the blood," he explains, "except this." He wraps the bandage around my head. "Thank you, Mr. Dupont." I said. "Always." He replies. "Let's go meet up with the others so we can give you an explanation."
"Alright," Misty Threep yells. "Let's do a roll call! Finnegan? Phoebe? Mahmud? Arnold? Esme? Holly? Robyn? Oscar? Catelynn? Markus? Marisa? Keshawn? Millicent? Eun?" All of the students respond with "Here!" when their names are called. "Oh, and Mr. Headmaster Gallagher?" She remembers. "Here!" I yell as me and Merlin walk through the door. I sit on the ground next to the fire pit in the middle of the room. "I have a lot of questions." I announce. "I may or may not have answers." Misty admitted. "How long did it take you to find me?" I ask. Misty replies, "only… ten minutes? Give or take." I stand up. "How did you build all of this?" I ask. Arnold Volkov steps forward. "Me and Esme used a bunch of spontaneous fabrication spells to make all of this stuff." He explains. "Is this all the students that are left?" I ask. "As far as we know, this is everyone." Misty answers sadly. The wind is slapping against the tent much harder now. "I think I know what happened." I announce. "The earthquake was caused by an evil witch named Hecate Foxx." The wind blows harder and harder as I'm speaking. "She escaped from Azkaban and is hiding somewhere in the woods." Suddenly the wind blows over the tent and everyone falls over in surprise. I look up at the sky and see a silhouette of someone riding a broom in the darkness. "What's happening!?" I scream at the silhouette. "I am Hecate Foxx!" The silhouette booms. "I have a very important message to give so I suggest all of you pay attention!" She gestures to all of the students with her wand. "Let's begin. My sister Athena went to this school. She died mysteriously. And when I tortured and killed the old headmaster for letting this happen, they treated me like a crazy person! Can you believe it?! They threw me in Azkaban and replaced Mr. Peony with you!" She looks down at me in disgust. " I'm so sorry about your sister, but it has nothing to do with me." I try to say. Hecate interrupts me. "Silence!" She yells. "Or all of the children will die by my hand!" She cackles and continues with her story. "I escaped from Azkaban, and I came to this bloody school to get my revenge!" I try to reach for my wand but she notices me. "Oh no you don't! Expelliarmus!" My wand goes flying into her hand above. "This is what you get for not listening to me when I'm telling you my revenge plan!" She points her wand at Finnegan. "monstrum transformatio!" A brilliant green beam of light comes out of the tip of her wand and hits Finnegan in the middle of his chest. He falls all the way to the ground and starts seizing uncontrollably. His legs suddenly and violently expand to five times their original length. His arms do the same thing. His torso grows to a gigantic size. He stands up. All the other children start running. The giant speaks with a very deep voice. "Fooood..?" He bends over and looks closely at Mahmud. "Frend… foooooood?" Mahmud looks up at the monster that used to be his friend, and his face is a perfect example of absolute horror. Mahmud whispers at the creature. "No. No please. Please don't eat me. Please no." The Finnegan monster grabs Mahmud with its giant hand and puts him in its mouth. Mahmud screams in protest, but the teeth of the giant end the screaming very quickly. The gigantic monster stands up all the way up again, closes its eyes and at the top of its lungs bellows the word, "Fooooood!" Hecate cackles some more from up in the sky. "You know what? Let's increase the bloody intensity!" She screams at all the people below her. "Let's make some more monsters!" She casts spells on three more people. Phoebe, Millicent, and Keshawn. They all turn into monsters almost identical to the first one. I look at all of the students who haven't been turned into monsters and give a single command. "Run!"
When me and the students regroup, everyone is terrified. We're all sitting in together in a secret area behind the big pile of rubble that used to be Hoggwarts. "This is very bad." I whisper to myself. I start thinking about everything that has led up to this moment. I never wanted to be the headmaster of Hogwarts. I was chosen by the Ministry because I was the most equipped. I didn't have a choice! I think. Also, this is all my fault! I didn't initiate the lockdown quickly enough! I was the one who made Hecate angry by not letting her explain her revenge plan! I didn't do anything to save Finnegan or Mahmud. I'm a terrible leader. Merlin and Misty walk over to me. Misty is sobbing. "He was eaten by one of his best friends, Mer. Right in front of me!" Misty cries. "I know. I know." Merlin comforts her. "I don't know what to do anymore, Mer." She looks at me. "Mr. Gallagher, Mr Headmaster Gallagher. You're the Headmaster. What should we do now?" The other students look at me too. "Yeah Mr. Gallagher! What should we do?" I look up, then I look back down again. "Don't ask me." I mumble. "I have no idea how to do anything." The students scoff and sit back down. Merlin walks up to me. "Everyone, listen up!" He starts. "If this was the last day we had to live, would you want to sit here mopping like this? If Hecate and those giant freaky monsters are going to eat us by the end of the day, would you want to sit here whining like wounded dogs? No. You would want to fight until we can not fight anymore! You would want to use everything in your power to try to spare yourself of this horrific fate! Let me ask you another question. How old are we all? Probably between ages twelve and sixteen? We are just kids. Literal children. We can not fight giants alone as children. And do you know who is not a child? Do you know who went through years and years of magic training? Who was chosen by the Ministry of Magic to be here? Jacques Gallagher. So I can not think of anyone more qualified than him to lead a ragtag band of teenage witches and wizards to go fight giant monsters that used to be our friends!" Merlin exclaims. I stare at him. "Thank you, Merlin." I say. "Do not mention it." He tells me. I look around the camp at all of the students who are looking at me now. "Okay," I announced. "I have a plan."
"Okay, does everyone know what they're doing?" I ask. "Yes," Merlin says. "But maybe you should go over the plan one more time?" I nod. "Okay. The first step is simple. Catelynn will fly behind Hecate on her broom. Then Arnold will distract Hecate by running around below her and insulting her face or something. While she is distracted, Catelynn will use a memory extraction spell to extract a memory of Hecate's sister Athena. Then Arnold and Catelynn will run back here. Step two gets a little bit more tricky. Robyn will use a memory personification spell on the memory of Athena to make an exact replica of her. Then Markus will make a Polyjuice potion using the hair of the Athena model and let Esme drink it. Esme will then look just like Hecate's long lost sister, and we can use this to barter with her. Does everyone understand?" I look around at all of the people who are listening to me. Wow, I think. I guess I really can be a leader.
"Okay," Markus says. "I have the Polyjuice potion." He hands the potion to Esme to drink. Esme transforms into Hecate's sister Athena. Esme flies on her broom all the way to Hecate, with me and the other students following. When we arrive, Hecate spots Esme. "Oh my bloody god! Athena, is that you?!" She gasps. "Yes, Sister." Esme declares. "It is me. And I am going to need you to destroy these monsters and turn yourself in to the authorities. Please, for your sister." Hecate looks around. "As you wish, sister." She points her wand at all of the monsters. "Avada Kedavra!" She booms. The monsters collapse to the ground. Hecate looks at all of the students. She smirks. "Avada Kedavra!" She uses the killing curse on all of the students, knocking them off of their brooms. I gasp. "No!" I scream. Hecate cackles like a hyena. She points her wand up at herself. "No way I'm going back to Azkaban! Death is better than being locked in a cage like an animal!" She closes her eyes tightly. "Avada Kedavra!" Hecate falls off of her broom. I look around at all of the death and destruction. "This is very bad." I admit.