Secret Magic

The school was dark and empty. The gray walls were cluttered with moving paintings of years past. The old history of the school was one of the many reasons it was so prestige. The ghosts that roamed the halls provided some students with a sense of security. To others though, they brought back nightmares that were better left alone.

A knock on the towering doors of the main hall echoed through the school. It remained unanswered for another four nights. The person or thing on the other side was growing impatient. Finally it broke down the door with great quietness and invaded the school. It floated up the stairs and was followed by many others of it's kind. The last one in repaired the door.

Dementors had penetrated the last place thought to be safe. They split up to cover the whole school. They went into common rooms leaving the slumbering students to feel cold and dead in their beds. It was an empty hollow feeling that was felt in every inch of you. The feeling that you could never again be happy.

Alice stopped breathing. Even only those short seconds caused her to bolt up and feel lightheaded. The room was icy and there was a breeze even though all the windows were closed. She got out of bed and walked down into the common room. There was no one, no thing.

The dementors left sometime after Alice had awoken. They had felt her presence, had sensed her darkness. They knew what was to become of her, what was to happen. It was inevitable and only they and Dumbledore knew about it.