Strawgoh: The American Hogwarts

Chapter Twelve

Suddenly, she woke up. Ben was poking at her, laughing, with Alex at his side. She barely opened her eyes. Nobody noticed. Ben's reddish brown hair had streaks of grey in it. Alex had huge dark circles under his eyes. Laurel opened her eyes all the way and tried to sit up. She was too tired and fell back.

"Where's Lottie?" asked Laurel.

Ben looked down with an ashamed look on his face. His eyes looked worried and disappointed.

"Laur, she's gone." Laurel gasped and screamed out "No!"

Madame Burnell came running to Laurel's side. After a bit of explaining what had happened, Madame Burnell chose to explain what had happened to dear Charlotte Hare.

"My dear, she's most definitely alive," explained Madame Burnell. "The spell that was cast on Charlotte Hare ruined her immune system forever. Even if she did have the strength to wake up, she'd get sick from everything. She's gone, darling. We're just going to not feed her for a bit, let her body die on its own. Her systems aren't even functioning properly. No magic or Muggle surjry could save Lottie now."

Laurel felt tears roll down her face. Ben grabbed her hand. "We lost too many, Laur. We lost Emma, Grace, Lottie, Easton, and Joseph. Oliver's been put in Azkaban."

"But that's in Britain!" exclaimed Laurel.

"Yes, but we have Portkeys to take them there. Professor Brentley went with him, as did Sir Pontius Trumble. He was such a nice young man. Threw his life away to be with that dang He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named." Madame Burnell shrugged. "There's no going back now. He killed... he killed..." Her voice trailed off.

"Who?" asked Alex, sudden curiosity had struck up in him.

"Jane McLaggen, Alfie Darren, Melvin Winthrop, Violetta Mishkin, and Honora Burnell. Tius didn't kill her directly. It was his orders." Madame Burnell's tears fell onto her lap.

"I'm so sorry," said Laurel, her voice barely audible. She too was crying. She had lost so many people just then, due to Lord Voldemort.

"It's all right. Harry Potter's in town. Killed the last Horcrux, he did," Madame Burnell announced. Laurel looked puzzled. "You, m'dear."

"How?"

"Draught of the Living Death. That's the potion I gave you."

Laurel's eyes widened in shock. Madam Jillens poked her head in through the curtain where all four of them were. "Bertha, Hugo's requesting all students well enough to get into the Great Hall to be there in fifteen minutes."

Madame Burnell motioned for them to go. Laurel's legs were wobbly, so she had to drape her arms around Alex and Ben's necks to stay upright. They walked down the stairs to the Great Hall.

Laurel almost fell over. The sight of the beautiful, grand Great Hall was awful. There were huge cracks in the ground and walls and tables and benches were thrown aside. Blood was spilled on the ground. There was red hair sticking to some places. Laurel instantly thought of Grace True's death. She hadn't really liked Grace, but it didn't seem real that she was gone. How could Emma and Lottie and so many more could have left her? Tears rolled down her face.

Where the teachers' dining table would have been was destroyed metal. Professor Brentley stood there with Professors Eskel and Effemy. Effemy had humongous wet drops falling off her face and Eskel held Effemy in his arms. Professor Brentley smiled sweetly at the crowd.

"Hullo students," said Professor Brentley as he killed his throat. "I apologize for what happened last night. Little did we know that our own Junior Professor Pontius Trumble and Headmaster Ebenezer Craddock were Death Eaters.