The start of the end

19. Light in the darkness

                 MARLENE'S POV

We're having breakfast in The Great Hall and waiting for the owls to come to give us letters or news papers. Half of us order the Daily Prophet. An owl drops one of these newspaper in Lily's plate, who's in front of me, and she drops a few Knuts in the owl's purse.
She opens it and after a few seconds, her face pales and her emerald eyes become a dark green.
My heart skips a beat. What happened? I snatch the newspaper from her hands without her showing any resistance.
Everyone looks at me after seeing Lily's reactions, so I read the article outloud.

THREE MUGGLE VILLAGES ATTACKED BY DEATH EATERS ! 50 DEATHS AND 12 WOUNDED !

Three villages near Cambridge got attacked last night. Our aurors didn't catched any of the murderers but saw one in particular, Rodolphus Lestrange. If you have any information leading to the arrest of this man, you shall be rewarded. Please notify immediately by owl the Ministry of Magic.
Don't worry, our aurors have obliviated each witness of the scenes.

I drop the Daily Prophet on the table. I can't believe it. Fifty innocent muggles got killed last time. Fifty... It makes me want to throw up. My hands are shaking. I look up and see Mary next to Lily who started crying. Zoe gets up to give her a hug and comfort her. All of this happens in slow motion. I see Sirius standing up and speaking loudly but I don't get anything of what he says. I am in shocked.
The only thing that interrupts the silence of The Great Hall are cries.
I look at my right. A little first year is crying loudly.
I see both Lily and James getting up but he puts a hand on Lily's shoulder. I hear his voice but in a all blurry way saying that he'll go. She nods and sits back down, still speechless about the news.

All at once, the blur of the sound goes off and I hear more clearly students sobbing. When James gets back, Remus is the first to speak up but still in a low voice.

" Don't worry our aurors have obliviated each witness  yes, what a relief, " he says sarcasticly.
" We can't stay like this. We got to do something. "
" I know... but what exactly? " asks Julia.
" I don't know, not yet at least, " I answer.
" I am scared, " trembles Mary.

I put a hand on hers.

" Hey, we won't let anything happen to you alright ?"

She nods, her eyes watery.

" I think that so far, we can do what we do best ?" , suggests Peter.
" Which means ? " asks Sirius.
" Making people smile in dark times. Maybe we could plan a prank or something cheerful at least."
" Not right here, right now because today's not the time, ", retorts Remus. 
" Of course not, but later... we can bring light... "
" ... in the darkness of these times," adds James.

We all nod. We have to make people smile. Or at least The Marauders do. They are the best at doing so even if we don't always want to admit it.

" Will the firsty be okay ?" I ask James after a few minutes of silent.
" It's Oliver, the first one I came to see on September the first. He has lost his dad yesterday because of what happened. It's not fair... it's not fair. He's only eleven !!" he exclaims in a painful ton.
" We'll find something to help. I know we will, I say putting a hand on a his forearm. "

He looks up at me and nods. As none of us are hungry anymore, we all get up to go to classes. It's going to be hard to focus today.

                     JAMES' POV

Today was a very long day because of this morning's news. Everyone was quiet. I hate that we don't know what to do. It's not like we could look for Lestrange as we're at Hogwarts. But I'll tell the others to listen to what the Professors say and read newspapers, to gather as much informations as possible so we can do our researchs. Trying to find where they're hidding maybe. It would be the ultimate goal.
As Marlene said, we'll figure something out.