The Cadaver

There upon the ground, doubled back, lay the body of a young girl. Her expression gave a disturbing relaxed awe as blood dripped from her severed limbs. Her back was twisted so that her head touched the base of her spine. The purple of the sky gave the blood a lucrative feeling. Harry's stomach jerked as he realised what he saw before him. He had never seen such a horrific death before, in fact this was the only the second corpse he had ever laid eyes upon. He could smell the metallic scent that the blood gave of in the air. Each side of her mouth had been slit back to the bone. Her tongue hang limp from out of the right slit in her mouth. Each limb was at a different corner, the digit end pointing outwards.

'North, south, east and west' muttered Dumbledore in a droning voice 'He is saying that he is everywhere, all around us'

'Who. Who are you. talking about?' stammered Harry.

'Voldemort, of course' Dumbledore said in a other worldly voice. He peered up. As Harry looked up he saw a huge symbol smudged across the sky with the most macabre of brushes. It was a skull with a snake entwined. The blacks and greens of this mark made a shocking and disturbing contrast with the colours of the rising sun.

'We must get to the castle' Sirius almost shouted 'he has proved he is now stronger than his fear of you.'

Harry remained staring at the almost peaceful remains of a life once was. The reds of the cadaver burned into his mind, and more physically, into the scar upon his head. He felt a searing pain as if a knife was being trailed across the scar.

Harry felt a grip upon his arm as Sirius ripped him from the spot he stood at and dragged him back to the castle. Dumbledore waited before closing and locking the door.

The coldness of the stone building hit Harry as if he had run into a wall. His eyes ached as he looked into the greys and browns that surrounded him. He felt as state of confusion within his mind, and felt a numbness as his mind wandered back to the poor girl upon the grass, she must have been first year Harry thought. A banging sounded upon the door.

'It's me 'Agrid, come quick I found.' Dumbledore quickly unlocked and swung the giant wooden door open. Hagrid was flustered inwards by the voices sounding behind Dumbledore. Again the door was slammed shut and bolted. Harry felt a great sadness within him, the same sadness he had felt for Cedric just months before.

'Good Hagrid you brought your dog' said Dumbledore 'No one will leave this castle until I deem it safe. Hagrid I want you to go around the castle and extensively block every exit, besides the windows. I will get Professor Flitwick to put a reinforcement charm upon the glass of each window. There are certain exits I want manned by special guards I will have to bring in with permission from the Ministry.'

Harry knew the exits that Dumbledore spoke of to be the ones he had used to get to the house in Hogsmeade. Dumbledore would probably use them to get supplies for the castle.

'In the morning, I will announce to the school the new rules I have placed. Anyone who steps out of this building could easily get killed by he-who- must-not-be-named' said Dumbledore more calmly than before 'I will send an owl to the ministry with information on what has happened and to clear the body, so it can be respectfully buried for the family in a funeral.'

'Sirius you will have to stay in the castle, for the protection of yourself and you will be of the most help to all of us, especially comforting Harry. I hope this is okay with you'

'Yes' said Sirius in a distant voice.

'You will stay in a Mr. Ronald Weasleys bed, as he is in the hospital wing. That is next to Harry. You will mainly stay within the Gryffindor tower, but Harry's invisibility cloak will be there to move further around the castle. I will inform Gryffindor of your whereabouts and make sure that they tell no one of other houses, not even teachers.'

Harry felt the uncomfortable silence like a red hot poker. His scar still ached from outside, the visions of the carcass would not leave him. The scarlet and crimson shades would not leave him. He felt safe in the presence of the four adults surrounding him, both because of their power, both magically and physically, and of his closeness to him. He liked the idea of staying within the castle, he felt safe there. Sirius gave a small smile at Harry, but Harry's face remained to hang, colourless. Harry looked down and he noticed his hands red, initially he thought it was blood, then he remembered he had not touched any blood and it was just because of the coldness. His eyes watered due to the coldness of the air.

He didn't remember much of what happened following these thoughts, but found himself in his bed. He tossed and turned eventually he fell back to sleep.