Zoë's Room. June 30, 1997
Zoë woke up early in the night, a green tint over her eyes. She tried to rub it from her eyes but the green was still there. Confused, she went to the window where it was coming from. She looked up, catching sight of some strange green stars over the top of the castle, making an image of a skull with a snake coming out of its mouth. The symbol brought a strange sense of pain through her body, but she didn't know why.
After looking at it for some time, she decided to tell her uncle about it.
However, something caught her eye before she could turn around to her door.
Zoë screamed in horror as she saw in the far Astronomy Tower, a small figure falling out from it. It was too far away to see who it was exactly, but the dark shadow definitely had a figure of a human body. She watched in horror as the body reached a point where the other towers got in the way, blocking any sign of the person reaching the ground.
Zoë ran out, panting hard. She made her way to her uncle's bedroom door, knocking loudly on it.
"Uncle Albus! A student has fallen from the Astronomy Tower. They need help please come out quickly." Zoë waited for a response but nothing. The door was locked as well.
Zoë was still frantic, knocking harder.
"Uncle wake up!" But nothing. Zoë sighed, anxious feelings growing in her chest.
"I...I'm going to go get help." Zoë quickly wrote a note of where she would be and slid it under Albus's bedroom door. "I'll meet you over there okay?" Zoë made her way to the office exit, making her way through the halls to get someone as quickly as possible.
"My my my who do we have here?" Zoë stopped when she saw a man pointing a wand at her, making his way closer. The man wore black robes a silver mask, his lifted arm presenting a mark similar to the one Zoë saw in the sky.
The man laughed as he lifted his wand higher.
"Cruci---" Suddenly the man was blasted back, following unconscious. Zoë looked at the source of the spell, seeing a scared McGonagall.
"Zoë find a place to hide quickly!"
"Minerva wait there is a stu---"
McGonagall interrupted her once more, begging her to find a place to stay say.
She said a battle had begun.
The more Zoë ran to get outside, feeling as though the safety of whoever fell of the tower was more important than hiding.
She hadn't even realized her shoes were covered in blood.
She made it outside to the Hogwarts grounds, seeing dark figures up ahead. A pair was walking behind a group of others, while a single figure ran behind them. Zoë ran closer, trying to be heard. A figure stopped and turned around, while the figure from way behind shot a spell, barely missing the taller figure.
"Draco run ahead. Go!." Draco could see Zoë come closer. Panic and relief all at once rushed over him as he ran to her. Before Zoë could even process who was coming towards her, the person took them in his arms, burying their face on Zoë.
The white hair Zoë recognized all too well was out of place, and Zoë could feel Draco tremble.
"I...I didn't do it." Draco was crying. He took Zoë from the shoulders, looking into her eyes.
His eyes were brimmed with tears and red. The glow from the moonlight on his eyes made him look even more skeleton-like and bony.
"Draco. Draco what's going on. I saw someo---"
Before Zoë could finish, Draco took his hands to her cheeks, lowering his head. Draco crashed his lips onto Zoë's, his tears mixings onto the kiss.
The kiss was not full of sweetness and gentle, but instead desperate and needy, as if Draco needed it to feel something after what he had just tried to do and what he had just seen.
Zoë couldn't even kiss him back properly as Draco broke apart a few seconds later, panting. More tears flowed down as Draco hugged Zoë tightly again.
"Fight back you coward!" Zoë looked back at the source of the voice. She did her best to see who it was, finally being able to see a beaten up Harry Potter from a sudden light coming from the other side of the grounds.
The fire of Hagrid's Hut lit up the scene. Harry was panting, pointing his wand and a tall standing Severus Snape.
"Coward, did you call me, Potter?" Zoë had never seen Snape this angry before. "Your father would never attack me unless it was four on one, so what you call him? I wonder."
Harry hit another spell, continuing to be blocked by Snape. Zoë saw as Harry suddenly hit the floor, his screams filling the area.
"No! He belongs to the Dark Lord!" The people who were inflicting the pain on Harry ran the opposite direction, towards the gate of the Castle. Harry, through the pain, lifted his wand once more.
"Sectum-" The spell was blocked again. The raging fire of the hit lit Severus's face, the anger spilling from every feature.
"You dare you my own spells against me, Potter? Who did you think invented those spells? I, the Half_Blood Prince!"
Snape made sure that Harry's wand was away from him and he pointed his own wand at the Boy Who Lived.
"Kill me then! Kill me like you did him!" Zoë finally let herself go from Draco's grasp. She ran up to Harry's help.
"Zoë?" Severus lowered his wand in shock at the sight of the muggle girl in front of him.
"Severus...did you kill someone?" Zoë asked, fear clear in her voice.
"Tell her! Tell her you killed the last person she could call family!" Harry screamed out. Zoë looked up, facing Severus in the eyes. Shaking, she stood up.
"Severus..." Her voice sounded unsteady. "Please...tell me you didn't"
The man couldn't look at the person he cared so much for, knowing the pain she would experience when she found out what he had done. Zoë gasped, Severus's silence answering her question.
"HOW COULD YOU?" Zoë started to push and kick at the man. With no magic, she couldn't use a wand. Somehow the pain coming from Zoë hurt more than any spell he was every experienced. Tears rolled down Zoë's cheeks as she pushed the man back further.
"YOU KILLED MY UNCLE!" Severus couldn't take it anymore. She took a hold of Draco and together they ran in the same direction the others went. Zoë sank to the floor, pain flowing throughout her whole body. A weak Harry barely looked up at the girl who, as quickly as she flew to the ground, stood back up. Without a thought, Zoë ran through the strange cold air.
She saw the base of the Astronomy Tower in the distance. The weak state of her body prevented her from running faster, making the tower seem farther away than it actually was.
When we reached the Tower, a single glance to the side of it exposed a man lying at the bottom of it. Although his arms and legs were twisted, the man's eyes were closed as if he was sleeping.
Zoë collapsed in front of her uncle's dead body.
That night, students heard screams, more powerful than any other. The screams seemed to be coming from all over the Castle. The pain from the noise brought fear in all the students that heard it, like something straight from a horror film.
When people found the source of the screams, they encountered a mysterious girl held the headmaster tight, her tears hitting his gray cheek,
That night,
Only one Dumbledore remained.