𝐁𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐍𝐄𝐖𝐒
SEPTEMBER 8TH, 1980 ― the hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry is alive for another year of learning as the first week of classes come to a close, opening the door for their second week. the students are settling back into their classes, the first years are beginning to learn to navigate the ever-mystical castle, the prefects are back to roaming the halls every day to apprehend the reckless souls, and there’s laughter being thrown around the stone walls. dumbledore, over his half - moon spectacles, watches from his elegant chair as the great hall squirms with life once more. the daily prophet has finally stopped reporting about professor amberella’s rather unfortunate disappearance and hogwarts is once again highly regarded as one of the safest places to keep young witches and wizards, even without defense against the dark arts classes.
it’s two fifteen in the morning when a scream awakes hogsmeade village.
it’s two thirty in the morning when an owl swoops into dumbledore’s office as he tries to burn the midnight oil. the headmaster is about to dismiss it when the golden letters of “ministry of magic” gleams up at him. within minutes of opening the letter, the professors are awoken and summoned to his office. an air of curiosity hangs in the air as they all exchange a look, dumbledore waiting until the murmurs have died out to straighten the letter. as soon as his solemn air breaks the air, they all hold their breaths, beginning to read the stoic look on his face, knowing that it can mean no good. in a crowded office, he reads aloud:
“my dearest dumbledore,
i’m rather sorry for an owl at an hour such as this, but you know that i would never wake you unless it was life or death. professor amberella’s body was found by a family in hogsmeade, a mere few meters away from the path that leads back up to hogwarts. we’re still determining the cause of death, but there’s several snake bites to his body and it seems as though the poor fella was tortured a wee bit before his untimely death. the families in the area are already talking about leaving the village and visiting family elsewhere and we’re sure that there will be at least more than a few letters telling students that they have family now visiting them from hogsmeade. we, unfortunately, cannot promise that the daily prophet won’t have the story by morning as their utter vultures of photographers and writers arrived at the scene shortly after us. we are doing our best to contain this, but the matter of this death is far too suspicious for us to go about this business quietly. please let us know what your course of action will be.
safest wishes ― minster bagnold.”
the prefects are awakened by the end of the hour and they are instructed with the following: hogsmeade trips are postponed, any student caught out of bed past curfew would receive double punishment, students will be escorted either by professors or prefects to and from both classes and meals, no students are allowed outside of common room save for classes, club meetings are postponed, and if professors will be needing a student outside of class hours they will get the student themselves. in addition, quidditch matches have been postponed due to the crowd sizes while all practices will be monitored by a professor. posters are hung in common rooms outlining the new rules and punishments and by breakfast, NS there’s a noticeable change about the student body.
two days later, arabella bode ― a beauxbatons alumnus and former curse-breaker ― joins the professors’ table, head held high as dark eyes scrutinize the students below her. the first classes seem better than last year’s; professor bode gives a fifteen minute lecture on a spell, a five minute story on her personal history with the spell, and then the rest of the class is dedicated to questions and practice. the homework is only to perfect any spells that may not be a strong suit and come prepared for a quiz that applies the spells to real life situations. professor bode is adored by the student body as a whole, as she seems truly interested in teaching and truly ensuring that the students are at peak performance. as ambarella's death remains in the back of student heads, grief and apprehension looms over the student body.