The Invisible Wars

Chapter 4: The pack returns

There is always nothing to do for the Fat Lady, she posed there tirelessly in a renaissance dress and a flowering shrub for a headpiece. When she is not needed at the Gryffindor house entrance, she would jump on to other paintings for a change of surroundings. But most of the day she stands there poised even though she has nothing to do but stare at the flights of shifting stairs and occasionally ask for the dormitory password

"Mister Potter." Said the fat lady in the painting, swaying her hips a little.

"Hi." Answered Ron.

The fat lady looked at him awkwardly, ignoring him completely and turned back to Harry. "Mister Potter, you look dashing today!"

Hermione thought she heard her giggle.

"Er—thanks." He answered, glancing at Ron's gaping mouth. "Can we go in, now? Remembrall."

"Of course, of course, see you again Mister Potter." Her voice lingered at the sound of his name.

The three made their way in with Ron rolling his eyes at the fat lady's obvious attempt at flirting. Hermione thought she heard her giggle once again before the door closed behind them.

"Is there anyone here in Hogwarts who doesn't fancy you, Harry?" Ron said as they made their way in. He flopped on the couch in front of the fireplace and began stretching his gangly legs.

"I'd trade places with you in a heartbeat." Harry replied thinking back the other day when he spent a solid fifteen minutes trying to get the Fat Lady to open the door while she continued making small talks.

"Someone fancies my boyfriend?" Ginny said, joining them and embracing Harry from behind. "And here I thought I've scared all the lower year girls away already. Who is it?"

She was being playful but Harry felt a bit of fear at the pit of his stomach.

"Anything interesting in the news, Gin?" Hermione was looking at the folded paper she had brought with her.

"Oh, yes—I meant to show you this." Ginny spread the Daily Prophet in front of them. She opened the article with a picture of Kingsley Shacklebolt standing with two Aurors.

Pureblooded family found dead in their home. Hermione read the headline to herself, a sense of alarm going through her head.

The Ministry of Magic along with other Aurors are called to a wizarding village yesterday to investigate a crime that took place around midnight, September second. A pure-blooded family, who used to be followers of the Dark Lord were found lifeless. Lacerations and bite marks were found all over their body. The Ministry still has no lead about the suspect but is making everything they can to capture the ones guilty for this atrocity. The Auror department could not tell what the motive for the murder yet at this point.

"That's the second murder case this year." Ron deadpanned.

"Harry, do you think this has something to do with the werewolf sightings?" Hermione peered up at him.

Lacerations and bite marks were found all over their body. Harry tore his gaze from the paper and stared out of the window. "Could be. You remember the first murder?"

"Their bodies were mangled." Hermione supplied. "It's similar to this one."

"You're telling me—someone's on a killing spree for Pureblood families?" Ron's face has turned white, he glanced sideways at his sister and swallowed a lump forming in his throat.

"Pureblood families associated with Voldemort." Harry said. "I saw the report and—Greyback's name was tagged in the first murder case."

"If it's Greyback, then isn't he killing his former allies?" Ron asked.

"That is correct."

"What's that lunatic planning to do?"

"I have to talk to Kingsley."

"Harry, there are Aurors assigned to this case. If Kingsley hasn't told us anything, perhaps it's because he doesn't want us to worry about this and focus on finishing our studies." Hermione said.

"Hermione's right, Harry. We should wait for Kingsley to us himself." Ginny took his hand and held it.

Harry sighed, defeated. He took out his eyeglasses and rubbed circles on his eyes. He knew that Hermione was worried too, she had clipped articles about werewolves and news concerning Death Eaters for the past months, keeping it in her journal. But unlike him, she could be more discreet.

"Don't you have Potions homework to do with Malfoy?" He said, remembering.

Hermione looked downcast. "Do you have to remind me of that?"

"You can fail this activity and make up for it in other tests." Ron said.

They all looked serious for a while until Harry and Ginny broke into a fit of laugh.

"Good one, Ron." Harry said, patting the red hair's knee.

Even Hermione could not suppress and laughed.

---

How long had he been here? One or two hours perhaps or maybe more judging by the darkness that had enveloped his surroundings. There was still light when he went to the owlery to send a letter to his mother. Having read the Daily Prophet this morning, snatching it from a first-year Slytherin who was too scared of him to protest during breakfast. He read the news over and over again, his dread only growing each time.

He gripped his robes tighter to his body, feeling the cold piercing through it. Finally deciding that if he stayed longer he would eventually die of the cold, Draco unwillingly made his way down back to the castle.