The entire castle was buzzing with excitement and fear the day after the mysterious Dark Mark had appeared over the North Tower that foggy night.
"Death Eaters? In the castle? Who would let them in?"
"Who fought them?"
"What's going on here?"
"Are we safe anymore?"
Ashley knew the answers to all of these questions, but kept painfully silent throughout all her classes, not daring to pass through any hallway on the sixth floor without staring straight at the ground and fighting back tears.
That morning a shaken and disturbed Harry had confirmed to Hermione, Ron, and Ashley the secret no one knew as of yet- Professor Dumbledore was dead. Draco Malfoy had brought in the Death Eaters that night, after months of planning an attack on Dumbledore assigned to him by Voldemort, and set a trap for the professor in the North Tower. Yet when the time came for Draco to execute him, the moment he had been waiting for- he didn't. Snape, minutes later, came in; he did the job for him. Both disappeared soon after.
The three listeners were hopelessly in denial until the breakfast that morning, where they noticed three ominously empty spots- Snape's, Dumbledore's, and Draco's.
The rest of the day, the four moved about in a somber silence, not knowing when to reveal what they knew. Professor McGonagall completed it for them at the dinner.
"Students, I must inform you of a tragic occurrence that I am sure many of you have heard about and wondered about for the majority of the day. I am deeply saddened and shocked to tell you all that…Professor Dumbledore has passed away."
An immediate uproar exploded through the Great Hall. Hermione and many others burst into tears; girls screamed in terror; boys stared open-mouthed and moved to comfort their girlfriends. Many just sat there, the shock slowly registering on their faces. Harry just looked down at his reflection in the empty golden dinner plate, too afraid to say anything lest he explode.
Ashley, amid all the chaos of people starting to run about the Hall and meet with friends, escaped through the end doors and sprinted as fast as she could up to the sixth floor and crashed through the stone wall into the hideout.
Why did he have to say yes? Ashley thought angrily, sobbing into the darkness. He could've said no; he could've stopped himself. But the curse was too much. He couldn't control it- a fresh wave of tears interrupted her thoughts- but what are they going to do to him? He could be dead right now. They could have figured out about me and him and are coming to kill me right now. They could have thrown his body into some river and I would never see him again, never- Ashley hugged her knees. She couldn't think like that. Somehow she knew he was alive. He would write her soon, telling her he's okay, everything will be all right- he would come back someday and they would be free of the curse, free forever of the Dark Mark and the hideouts and the terrible memories…
Ashley sniffed and gazed into the corner where Draco usually sat, laughing and joking- before he was a Death Eater, before he muttered about death, even suicide, before the Dark Mark over the tower, before the hidden lies and the empty reassurances. She wanted to see his face again, laughing, and his eyes, sparkling- one more time. Like it was before.
Before…