Another Year at Hogwarts

The sky was gray as I stood in the courtyard and stared at the castle before me. Everything looked so dull—as though the magic and beauty of the school had been sucked dried. My violet eyes scanned the area, and I forced myself not to cry.

“Pull yourself together,” Snape said as he came and stood by my side.

“Look at this place. Look at what it’s become,” I gasped as I turned to look at Snape.

Snape didn’t look at me. Instead, he stared emotionless at the castle and whispered, “I know.”

I inhaled deeply as I looked away from the castle and turned to the bridge behind me. In the distance, I could see the figures of students emerging. All of them were standing in lines and marching side by side as they made their way towards the castle. Leading them were the short, stocky Carrow siblings.

Suddenly, someone fell and tumbled to the stone ground. Snape and I watched as the Alecto Carrow and her brother Amycus stopped everyone in their tracks. Alecto when strolled over to the boy, who looked like a first year—and hovered over him. Her voice was loud and clear as she scold the boy for stalling everyone. The boy immediately broke into tears.

“Why are you crying?” Alecto demanded. “STOP CRYING YOU TWIT!”

With this, she reached out hand and grabbed hold of the boy. This simply made him cry harder as she pulled him to his feet.

“Why you—!” I said as I readied to rush in and stop Alecto from performing whatever punishment she was going to give the boy.

“Don’t,” Snape ordered as he extended his arm out to stop me. “You mustn’t interfere.”

I sighed heavily. “They make me sick.”

“Bear with it.”

“Whatever,” I said rolling my eyes before turning my heels and heading into castle.

I walked into the Greats Hall and stared at the empty, lifeless room. The banners of the four houses have been torn down. No longer were there floating candles to light the hall, nor were there brilliant enchantments to wow the new students. Instead, the room now welcomed new and past students with a feeling of dread and despair.

Inside, towards the front of the room, I found Draco standing there with his back to me. He must have been in deep thought because as I approached him, he didn’t seem to notice me.

“Is that where she escaped?” I asked as I stood beside Draco. “The Mug—” I stopped. I rethought about my words before corrected myself. “Is that where Violet escaped Snape last year?”

Draco looked at me and said, “It was.”

“How’d it happen?” I asked while glancing up at him.

Draco stayed quiet, and for a moment I didn’t think he was going to say anything. But then he spoke. “Last year, I let the Death Eaters into the castle with the use of the vanishing cabinet in the Room of Requirement. As you may well know, my mission was to kill—to kill Dumbledore. After that was dealt with, we were to capture Violet because she held information about the future.”

“But I thought she was a Muggle,” I commented.

“It’s complicated,” Draco quickly said while looking away. “Anyways, she ran here to the Great Hall while some Death Eaters and I chased after her. By the time I got in here, she had disappeared. After that, we fought against some people from the Order and escaped.”

“This place,” I began, “it seems like there are some painful memories for you here. So, why did you decide to return?” When Draco didn’t say anything, I added, “Does your return have anything to do with Violet?”

Draco looked at me and his eyes narrowed. He then asked, “Why are you so curious about her?”

Thankfully, the sound of marching students was heard, and Draco and I turned to the door to find the Hogwarts students coming into the Great Hall with the Carrows and Snape leading them.
Draco and I remained at the head of the hall as Snape and the Carrows approached us. The students all stood and stared at the five of us. As I stared at the group of students, I read a mixture of emotions coming from them. A small handful of students—mostly the Slytherins—held proud looks on their face as they stood before us. The other students, however, were staring up at us with either fear of hatred.

“Where are the other teachers?” I whispered to Draco as Snape began giving a speech. “This,” I said looking at the Carrow siblings and Snape, “can’t possibly be it.”

“Snape has insisted that they remain in their classrooms,” Draco whispered back.

“I see,” I said as I turned my attention to what Snape was saying. As I did so, I had to restrain myself from panicking. I did not have a good feeling about the fact that the other professors were asked to stay away from the Great Hall.

“Now,” Snape said loudly, “I introduce you’re new professors and head deputies. Alecto Carrow will also be teaching Muggle Studies, while her brother Amycus takes over for Defense Against the Dark Arts.” Snape then turned his attention to Draco and me. “And these two, Draco Malfoy and Victoria Baker, will facilitate the hallways to make sure that all students are doing what they are supposed to. Anyone caught breaking any school rules will be sentenced a detention with the Carrows.”

“And we’re lucky enough to have a little demonstration for you!” Alecto grinned.

At this, her marched into the group of students and pulled a first year out. He dragged the student—who happened to be the student who had fallen on the bridge earlier—and held him in place at the front of the hall.

“Anyone breaking the rules or causing trouble will be punished through corporal punishment or the Cruciatus Curse,” Amycus informed.

“You can’t do that!” someone shouted.

All eyes immediately turned to the person who had spoken. It wasn’t to my surprise that it was Neville Longbottom was the one who had spoken.

“Isn’t that the Longbottom boy?” Amycus asked.

“It is, isn’t it?” Alecto grinned.

“Does it bother you—the Cruciatus Curse? Does it remind you of those mad parents of yours?” Amycus taunted.

“Don’t you dare talk about my parents!” Neville shouted.

“Or what?” Alecto inquired. “What are you going to do?”

Neville didn’t say anything. All he did was glare up at the Carrow siblings with rage burning in his eyes.

“Exactly,” Amycus said. “You will do NOTHING!”

“Now, back to our little demonstration for you,” Alecto said. This cued Amycus to hold the first year boy, who once again began to cry as Amycus held him facing Alecto.

“Crucio!” Amycus shouted while pointing her wand at the boy.

The young boy let out a horrific screech of pain as the curse hit him. His legs immediately gave out on him, but Amycus was there to hold him up. I felt sick to my stomach as I watched Amycus holding the boy towards the students with a proud look on his face.

As much as I wanted to do something, I knew I couldn’t. I just stood there between Draco and Snape clutching fists together and trying to block out the pain cries of the young boy and his pleas for Alecto to stop.

“EXPELLIARMUS!”

Alecto’s wand suddenly went flying out of her hand. The Carrow siblings, Snape, Draco and I turned to the students to see who had cast the spell. When I saw Ginny Weasley and Luna Lovegood standing beside Neville, who had his wand out, I couldn’t help but let out a soft sigh of relief.

“That is enough!” Snape finally said. He looked sternly at Neville as he ordered, “Put your wand down, Longbottom.”

“NO!” Neville replied. “How dare you call yourself the Headmaster of Hogwarts and allow this kind of abuse towards the students. Dumbledore would have never allowed this!”

“In case you don’t remember,” Snape said as he strolled towards the students, “Dumbledore is dead. The Dark Lord now rules here.”

“Never—Dumbledore’s Army still lives!” Ginny shouted while taking a step forward. “As long as we exist, Dumbledore will live on. And you—Snape—will never rule this place.”

With this, those who were apart of Dumbledore’s army began to cheer and chant Dumbledore’s name.

“ENOUGH!” Snape ordered lividly and the room immediately went silent. Snape then turned to Amycus and told him to let the boy go.

Amycus growled as he shoved the young boy aside. The young boy landed at my feet, and I couldn’t help but look down at him as Snape ordered everyone to return to their dormitories. He was still sobbing, though his cries here weaker now. Despite this, I could still hear him beg Alecto to stop torturing him.

I quickly looked away from the boy when I saw Snape exiting the room.

“Let’s go,” I said to Draco as I stepped over the young boy and followed Snape out.