Tom had been looking forward to the fact that September 1st fell on a Friday and he'd have the weekend to enjoy his castle again before classes started, but ever since the news had broken on Friday about the invasion, things had only seemed to spiral. Slughorn seemed out of sorts and the older students spoke in hushed voices.

The welcoming feast which had been so warm and joyous the year before was overshadowed by the professors trying to hide their worried glances. The Daily Prophet didn't have much to report on it yet except some speculations and for once Tom wished he was at the orphanage because then at least he was certain he could get his hands on a muggle paper that would be more informative.

It was absolutely maddening. Saturday was spent sleeping in and then eating breakfast at his house's table, but afterward, Mia and Tammy forced him out to the lake to put their feet in the water at the shoreline. It was clear Mia was unsettled about the news, given she'd lost family to the previous war, even if they hadn't been alive when it had happened, but Tammy did her best to keep Mia occupied. The pair told him about their summer- apparently, they'd spent it riding horses and swimming in the lake near their homes and had taken a trip to the beach at one point. Tom was a bit envious but ignored the tightness in his stomach and nodded along.

Instead of relaxing and enjoying the castle like he'd been fully prepared to do- Tom felt like he was suspended in motion, anxiously listening for news from the older students around him. Chadwick had owled his mother that evening but hadn't heard back yet and Tom was itching to contact someone (anyone) to try and get a copy of one of the papers on his own, but he didn't exactly have money for that or anyone he could owl. Mrs. Cole would scream if one of the owls flew into the orphanage and Cook would try to smack them with a broom or mop- and any of the other kids? Billy might keep it safe, if only for how he treated his rabbit, but Tom didn't know if he trusted any of the other kids to not question why a bloody owl was delivering the post.

Maybe Jack, but Tom decided he also did not want to have that conversation either, especially considering Jack's offhanded comment about joining the army to travel.

Mia and Tammy tried to inquire if he'd owled his uncle, and Tom ignored the weird feeling he had in his gut about continuing to lie about his non-existent family.

It wasn't until Monday morning when Tom was eating breakfast as he reviewed the schedules that Slughorn had passed out that he felt something gently whack the back of his head.

"Tell your boyfriends that Gryffindor table is on the other end of the hall, Riddle," Avery said, sounding bored of Nott and the other second and third years, who were trying to scare the first years into believing they were going to flunk out on their first day of class.

Tom frowned and turned in his seat to see Chadwick and Lyall- Chadwick was staring at Avery with an eyebrow raised while Lyall looked decidedly uncomfortable and out of his element. "Sorry Avery- making you jealous yeah?" Chadwick said nonchalantly, holding out a rolled-up newspaper to Tom, who took it gratefully. "I can set some time aside to meet you outside a broom cupboard later, if you're so needy." Chadwick raised his arm and pretended to check the watch on his wrist.

Avery began to choke on the juice he was drinking and Tom bit the inside of his cheek hard to keep from smirking too broadly. Lyall also looked confused as to if he should be hooting with laughter or bolting from the table entirely.

"As if I'd be caught dead alone with a mudblood like you," Avery said, nose wrinkling with disgust, wiping at some of the juice he'd gotten onto his pristine Slytherin robes.

There was a short, quick motion like Chadwick was reaching for his wand but Lyall grabbed his arm and a fistful of his robes and pushed him not-so-subtly, putting Tom directly between the other Gryffindor and Avery so Chadwick couldn't jinx him without hitting Tom in the crossfire. It was still early and Slughorn was down at the other end of the table answering a student's questions about their schedule and all of the other professors looked equally as busy and unaware of the potential fight brewing first thing in the morning. Hell- the post hadn't even arrived yet.

"Five points from Slytherin," A voice said sharply, and Tom looked over to see one of the sixth-year prefects just a few seats down the table, spreading some jam on her toast. It was the girl prefect, he couldn't remember her first name, but she was from the Black family. "For foul language in the presence of a prefect, a lady, and other witnesses." She stood, gathering her school bag, and gave Avery a pointed look.

"Next time if you're going to insult someone in front of the entire Great Hall, maybe use a less crass word." She said haughtily before taking a bite of her toast and walking off, nose up.

Avery looked murderous but didn't say anything back and Chadwick looked slightly less murderous than before, so Lyall was pulling him away from the table, gesturing empathically at the newspaper that Chadwick had handed over. It was the first time Tom had bothered to take notice of it since he'd turned around but immediately saw the familiar header for the Daily Telegraph. He worried for a moment one of the Slytherins would immediately start in on him about having a muggle paper, but then saw the header, and his worries all immediately moved to something else-

"GREAT BRITAIN AT WAR" The headline read and Tom quickly unfolded it- it was dated Monday, September 4, 1939, and Tom wondered how Chadwick had gotten a hold of it so quickly. He tried to read down the column, but he kept trying to read too fast, missing words as he went. He barely even registered the sound of more students arriving for breakfast- he completely missed the pointed jab from Avery about him reading a muggle paper and stood up, trying to see where Chadwick and Lyall were, or Mia and Tammy- but the influx of students made it hard for him to see, and then, as if all of that weren't bad enough, the post began to arrive.

Besides Tom, Chadwick, Lyall, and whoever else might have seen the paper, it was clear most of the population of Hogwarts were barely even awake, let alone aware of a headline on a muggle paper- Tom wondered if the Prophet would mention it or downplay it as they had on Friday and Saturday. Owls were descending down on the tables as they caught sight of their targets while others continued to hover, looking for the posts' intended recipients.

He pushed through the throng of sleep-deprived students, weaving around them clutching the paper tightly as he tried to press closer to the Hufflepuff and Gryffindor tables. He only just realized that he'd left his bag, with all of his supplies and belongings back at the Slytherin table and while that normally was a horrible idea, he didn't imagine anyone was going to pay any mind to it if the Prophets' headline was anything like the Telegraph's.

He finally caught sight of Tammy, who was standing on the bench at the Hufflepuff table and she began frantically waving him over before someone pulled her down. There he found Tammy, Chadwick, and Lyall, though Mia was nowhere to be found. Before he could even say anything Tammy had ripped the paper from his hands and Tom realized the volume in the Great Hall was substantially increasing.

"Where'd you get it?" Tom asked Chadwick, who looked paler than normal.

"Monty- his dad got them off the first printing and sent them to him," Chadwick explained, almost yelling over the increase in volume, shoving over a Hufflepuff so he could scoot over and make room for Tom. Lyall reached up and grabbed Tom by his robes, pulling him down to the bench, and just in time too- Some of the prefects were trying to clear the paths between the tables, shouting angrily. It was more chaotic than he remembered the first-day being last year, but he had to assume it was due to the fact that people were beginning to unroll their copies of the Daily Prophet and the word was beginning to spread-

Speaking of which- Tom looked around, but Chadwick, Lyall, and Tammy didn't have a copy of the Prophet in their hands, but just past Lyall another Hufflepuff had theirs open and Tom was finally was able to catch sight of the Prophet's headline: "ANOTHER GREAT WAR?"

Tom swallowed heavily, trying to recall what exactly the paper had said because none of it felt quite real- like it was all a fuzzy dream he was having trouble remembering after waking up. "Where's Mia?" He asked loudly, to no one in particular.

"She went over to find Justin," Tammy explained, handing Tom back the paper, apparently done with it, "And warn him before-" she caught off and gestured her hands as the chaos around them.

There was a loud chiming from the head of the Great Hall and the Headmaster's voice came booming over all of the noise of the panicked students, "Everyone please take a seat next to whatever bench you are standing at, even if it is not your House's table."

Tom opened his mouth and then shut it, not wanting to ask how Professor Dippet was able to do that because, obviously, it was magic, but it wasn't a spell he'd heard about yet and none of the other students at the table seemed too utterly phased by it. Immediately he and Lyall and Chadwick were squished uncomfortably close as all the students hurried to comply with the headmaster's order.

As more of the students sat, it was easy to see that half of the professors were not in their seats either- some appeared to have grabbed papers from students, not necessarily to confiscate them but in an effort to find out what was going on. Headmaster Dippet had either conjured or levitated his podium over and was standing in front of it, holding his wand to his throat as he spoke, the sound of students still finding seats and talking in less-than-hushed tones making it harder to hear than normal.

"I know many of you have heard about and read about the events happening in Poland and Germany on Friday. For those who have received conflicting information- Germany invaded Poland on Friday. And while there were no wizards directly involved in the invasion to our current knowledge, several Polish wizarding villages have been directly impacted and surrounding Wizarding Ministries have been working this past weekend round the clock to assist in their safe evacuation and relocation." The Headmaster paused, surveying the sea of students in front of him. Tom wondered if perhaps he had been planning this talk before the latest information, or if the rush of students had forced it upon him.

"The Muggle Prime Minister of Great Britain, Minister Chamberlain, sent an ultimatum to the leader of the German invaders, but it was ignored. Yesterday Great Britain and France declared war and a passenger liner that departed from Liverpool was sunk by a German submarine, though a majority of the passengers survived." It was eerily quiet in the room- no more hushed whispers and Tom thought that was worse than struggling to hear the Headmaster.

"Most of this information is in the post today, but I wanted to review some changes in light of these circumstances." The Headmaster cleared his throat and continued. "We will make an announcement in December on the state of the Holidays, but it is likely that you will need to remain here, as evacuations from London have begun in preparation for air raids."

At this, the voices picked up again, whispers and buzzing and the Headmaster carried on, ignoring them, "If your families would like to retrieve you for the break, we will be making accommodations in Hogsmeade for families to send carriages, and retrieve you from the station where it is safe to do so, but that is in over four months and much may change in that time. The other thing I wish to address is the post-"

The Headmaster gestured to the Owls, many of whom were now sitting on the tables and on the shoulders of their respective master's or the recipients of their delivery, "Going forward all owls and other postal carriers will need to be re-warded with muggle-proofing charms, defensive deflections, and a series of other suggested wards before being sent back out. Several ministry officials will be arriving over the next few days to make sure all of the postal carriers currently on the premises are correctly and currently warded before they are returned home. This will also be happening in each city and town as officials are able, so the post will be delayed over the next month. I ask that you not worry or panic if you do not receive word from your family or friends at this time. Once you have collected your post I ask that you dismiss our feathered friends to the Owlery so as to make some more room on the tables for your breakfasts."

There was a slight pause where the owls who were done seemed to understand exactly what Headmaster Dippet was asking and a decent number of them gently floated aloft before heading toward the windows at the top of the walls where they had flown in from. "Now- please take some time to eat something before your first day back, due to the interruption I will hold the bell for an additional half-hour and ask that the professors accommodate you in that time as you make your way to your first class of the year."

Headmaster Dippet hadn't even managed to banish the podium before the Great Hall was drowned in a racket, students moving back towards their house tables and talking worriedly (and some a bit excitedly) to their classmates. Tom was glad he had already eaten, because he didn't think he could manage anything anymore, with how dry his mouth was and how tight his stomach had become.

A/N: Sorry for the delays, had my wedding in October and then have had a couple of miscarriages and just not been in a great place mentally. I was trying to focus on writing original things for publication but hit a huge writers block in general so i'm using fanficiton to get back in the habit of writing. 3