𝐶𝑂𝑆𝑀𝑂𝑆 | 𝐂𝐄𝐃𝐑𝐈𝐂 𝐃𝐈𝐆𝐆𝐎𝐑𝐘 [DISCONTINUED]

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐄𝐍

 𝐌𝐀𝐒𝐒 𝐁𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐊𝐎𝐔𝐓
"𝑌𝑜𝑢 𝑠𝑒𝑒, 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑛𝑜 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑦 𝑝𝑖𝑛𝑘 𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑜𝑑𝑠 𝑎𝑡 𝑛𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡."
—𝐽.𝐾. 𝐹𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑘𝑜, 𝐸𝑦𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝐸𝑦𝑒
𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭: 𝟑𝟐𝟐𝟕

⋆⋆⋆✧⋆⋆⋆

𝐋𝐈𝐋𝐈𝐀𝐍𝐀 𝐒𝐀𝐓 𝐈𝐍 the corner of the bed, letting her head gently rest against the wall as she read a copy of the muggle book The Phantom of the Opera. She had to admit, muggle stories were quite good, even with the absence of magic and wizards.

A cool breeze came in through her open window, and the sunlight that was filtered by the snow and ice that crept on her windows bathed her room in its icy glow. Another chilly wind reminded her that she should get up and close her window before she caught a cold, but she was far too invested in the story to rip her concentration away.

Just as Raoul met the Persian, Liliana heard a knock on the door, and she finally put her eyes to rest as she called for the knocker to enter.

Her mother peeked her head in, giving her a soft smile as she questioned, "Liliana, darling, have you read the new Daily Prophet article?"

"Hm? Today's?"

Her mum nodded, and Liliana wasn't liking the grave look that had replaced her smile. "Yes."

"No, I haven't." Liliana shook her head as she grabbed a bookmark from her nightstand and slid it between the pages. "Why? Did something happen?"

"I'll just let you see for yourself."

Her mother allowed hardly any time for the worry to seep into her as she handed her the thick newspaper.

There were ten black-and-white photos that filled the front page, nine of them wizards while one was a witch. Some of them were ridiculing whoever was taking the photograph while others gently tapped the edges of the photo. Each photo had the name of the prisoner and their crime written underneath, though she didn't bother to read those; she'd rather preserve her mind from the horrors that were scribbled there.

Liliana's eyes moved up to the headline, and a small gasp escaped her as she read it.

𝐌𝐀𝐒𝐒 𝐁𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐊𝐎𝐔𝐓 𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐌 𝐀𝐙𝐊𝐀𝐁𝐀𝐍
𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐘 𝐅𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐒 𝐁𝐋𝐀𝐂𝐊 𝐈𝐒 "𝐑𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐘𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐏𝐎𝐈𝐍𝐓"
𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐎𝐋𝐃 𝐃𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐇 𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐒

She swallowed, breathing steadily in an attempt to keep her racing heart from going any faster as her eyes moved down to read the article.

𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑀𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑀𝑎𝑔𝑖𝑐 𝑎𝑛𝑛𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑑 𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑙𝑎𝑠𝑡 𝑛𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑎 𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑏𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑘𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝐴𝑧𝑘𝑎𝑏𝑎𝑛.

𝑆𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑟𝑒𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑖𝑛 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑣𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑜𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑒, 𝐶𝑜𝑟𝑛𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑢𝑠 𝐹𝑢𝑑𝑔𝑒, 𝑀𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑀𝑎𝑔𝑖𝑐, 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑚𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡𝑒𝑛 ℎ𝑖𝑔ℎ-𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑜𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑒𝑠𝑐𝑎𝑝𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑙𝑦 ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑦𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑑𝑎𝑦 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑎𝑙𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑦 𝑖𝑛𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑚𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑀𝑢𝑔𝑔𝑙𝑒 𝑃𝑟𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑀𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑠 𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑠𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑑𝑢𝑎𝑙𝑠.