((I not own any of the characters in these stories. I am not making any money off these stories either.))
Hogwarts was done, or almost done at least, for the golden trio. NEWTS were over; classes were filled with redundant information that they would need to further their life, and graduation ceremony was only a week away. Soon they would be leaving the place that they have considered their home and leaving for the real world. Harry and Ron had been accepted to the Aurors training, and Hermione had been offered a job as the new History of Magic teacher. Professor Binns, bless his soul had finally crossed over to the other side, and she had been filling in for the remaining days of his class this last year.
Sure, it was not the most elusive of jobs, but it was what she wanted. Knowledge was the key to everything, and she could give little bits of that key to each student that walked into her classroom. Or at least that was how she felt. Of course, she was also there because she would become a member of the Order upon graduation, and in times like this of war, there was no safer place for her than Hogwarts, under the watchful eyes of Professor Dumbledore.
Voldemort was still on the rise, killing and plundering unsuspecting wizarding villages. Hogsmeade has been hit only 3 months ago, but that was as close as it had come to Hogwarts. Lord Voldemort was not a fool, he knew better than to intrude on Albus Dumbledore territory. If he wanted Dumbledore, he needed Dumbledore to come to him.
Many lives had been lost these last years though, some students and other's their families. Others had turned traitor too their cause. Draco Malfoy amazingly had turned against Voldemort, denouncing his own father and would be replacing Remus Lupin this year as Defense Against the Dark Arts. Remus had finally married Nymphadora Tonks, who was killed at the Hogsmeade Massacre. Now, he would be leaving the magic world and hiding somewhere in America.
The Order was still alive, but had suffered some losses as well. Her own son, Percy, had murdered Molly Weasley. Percy, after working for the minister, had been taken down by the imperious curse like the rest of them. Lucky for the Order, the Aurors had split from the control of the ministry and now were controlled by Albus Dumbledore himself. There was nothing really that the Order could do to prevent deaths, it was truly no secret anymore who the members were. Except of course, one.
Severus Snape still hid within the confines of the castle, sneaking around and doing Albus's dirty work. Being a spy had not been easy on him these last years, as loyalty was harder to prove to the Dark Lord. But he had proven it, whether it was many bouts of the Crucio Curse or killing a few innocent muggles. He had proven his loyalty. Of course, after such incidents, he would come back to Hogwarts a broken man. Students wondered why he would even take points off his own house; he did it because he knew they were the future of evil. They and their parents were what caused him so much pain and suffering.
Though, in evilness, we cannot always blame only the Slytherins. A fair share of each house had proven to become Death Eaters, or Future Death Eaters. One unsuspected one was Neville Longbottom. Years of teasing had driven him to practical insanity. Until one day in potions he threw the killing curse at Harry. Of course, we know that Neville was never too good at anything besides herbology, and he only succeeded in turning Potters hair green for a week. But the damage had been done, and now Neville was locked up in the padded rooms of the insanity wards.
That had only happened a few weeks ago, and was fresh in the students' minds. Something had to be done to make this school happy again. Their seemed to be an uneasy silence in the hallways, classrooms, and even in the Great Hall. After so many years, so many tragedies, there isn't much that hasn't already been said.
Or had it? Albus mused over this question many times, and he finally thought that he had the perfect solution.