Born Under A Bad Sign

Percy Weasley grinned as he showed his new fiancée Penelope Clearwater the huge new third-floor office he had been given as Interim Head of the Department of International Magic Co-Operation.

"Here´s my desk, isn´t it big? And I have a great view down Government Street to the Alley. Look at the chandelier! This is the wardrobe where I can put all my fancy robes so I don´t have to wear them to work,"

"But honey," said Penelope, "You only have two pairs of robes." Percy laughed.

"Well, I´m making a lot more with this new job. Look, there´s no line at Florean Fortescue´s. Why don´t we go down before my lunch break ends?"

As they walked out, Percy´s secretary gave him a dazzling smile. Penelope scowled.

"Oh, that´s just my secretary, Annalise. No need to worry, no-one could be as beautiful as you, dear."

"Oh, that´s so sweet, Percy. Say, when were you planning to start looking for a place around here?" asked Penelope.

"Well, since my raise, I should be able to afford an apartment in London for us by the end of the year."

As they walked down the hall together, a resounding crash echoed through the building, and the floor shook. Percy crashed into a wall, and Penelope fell into him.

"What was that?" asked Penelope fearfully, "It sounded like an explosion."

"Yes, and it was down by the staircase," added Percy, referring to the massive spiral staircase that led from the entrance hall of the Ministry all the way to the open-air restaurant above the eleventh floor.

"Why don´t you go back to the office, honey," he said. "I should probably see what´s going on."

Percy set off at a run through the east wing of the Department of Finance. Just a little way from the staircase, another explosion sounded, and the floor heaved under Percy´s feet, throwing him to his knees. Ministry workers began to flood out of the doors all along the corridor. The halls were soon filled with curious people looking around for the source of the explosions. There was another crash, knocking people over, and a bright flash of light in the direction of the staircase. Shouts echoed up the corridor, and when Percy staggered to his feet, he could see hooded figures wearing silvery-white masks grappling with the frantic Ministry workers all around. Death Eaters, Percy thought with terror. Spells were flying about now, knocking holes in the walls. A young man only a few meters away from Percy was hit with a jet of blue fire and collapsed, wheezing. A Death Eater who had pushed through the mob near Percy was struck on the head with a paperweight. Percy was about to join the fight when he remembered Penelope just down the hall. He turned, forced his way through the throng gathering behind him to see what the ruckus was, and ran. As he went back, word seemed to be spreading about what was happening. The halls were filled with panicked people running in all directions. Percy reached his Department, out of breath and red in the face. One of the busybodies in the office ran up to him with water, and asked "Mr. Weasley! What happened? You look like hell!" Percy swallowed the water quickly.

"It´s Death Eaters, Jack. The Death Eaters are attacking the Ministry." Jack´s face cracked, and he bolted from the room, shouting "Death Eaters! They´re going to kill us! Everybody try to get out!"

Percy swore softly, as the Department suddenly erupted in panicked shouts. Six people were trying to fit through the door at once. Percy found Penelope still in his office, where he´d told her to stay not ten minutes earlier. It seemed like an hour.

"Percy!" she cried, seeing his expression. "What is it?"

"Death Eaters are attacking the Ministry, Penelope. They came up the staircase from the main hall. Everyone´s panicking. Nobody´s even set off the alarm!"

Percy opened a drawer in his desk containing what appeared to be a spare piece of parchment, on which was written the words `MoM General Alarm. Do NOT Sound unless Absolutely Necessary!´ Percy pointed his wand at the paper and said "Concutio Comperte!"

Nothing happened. He tried again: still nothing.

"The Death Eaters must have shut down the alarm system. Have you tried to apparate outside?"

"No, I haven´t. There´s wards all down the street! I´d have been splinched for sure," said Penelope.

"Oh, right. I suppose they´d leave that ward up. I think I should speak to my father about this, they probably haven´t heard it up on the ninth floor."

Percy opened the box of floo powder kept next to the floo communicator on the wall. Tossing in a small amount of powder, he said "Muggle Artefacts Office, please," and placed his head in the communicator, which was essentially a miniature fireplace hooked up to the MoM interior floo network. Feeling the usual warm tingle at his neck, he looked around Arthur Weasley´s office.

"Father? Are you in there?" he shouted.

"Percy?" asked Arthur coming through his office door. A green electric mixer in his hand was spraying whipped cream all down the front of his robes. "What is it?"

"The Death Eaters are attacking the Ministry. I saw them myself. The lower floors are full of people fighting, or panicking. The alarms aren´t working either. And they´ve left the Apparition Wards up. We can´t get out. Penelope and I are trapped on the third floor. What can we do?"

Percy´s voice held a note of panic.

"Try to find a good place to hide. When the Death Eaters have passed the lower floors you might be able to get out."

"Alright, father. Thanks, and goodbye for know."

"Bye, Percy," said Arthur. "I´ll see you at home."

Arthur Weasley tried not to show the fear welling up inside him as he said goodbye to his son. He stood up slowly, glad at least that his Department was on the ninth floor. He went back into the Department wing, his face very pale. Clearing his throat, he wondered what exactly he could do.

"People, listen up please. I just spoke to my son Percy in International Co-Op, down on the third floor. He has some very bad news about those explosions we´ve been feeling. Apparently, the Ministry is under attack by the Death Eaters."

Startled gasps greeted this announcement, and some people started towards the door. A woman in the back cried out, and vanished with a pop. She re-appeared a split second later, minus her hand, which rested on the desk next to her. She held her arm in pain, and one of the secretaries hurried to help her with her hand.

"The apparition wards are still up. Please," said Arthur loudly, "Don´t panic. We still have some time. But first, I need to contact the Department of National Security."

The Department of Security was half a block down Government Street from the Ministry. Arthur threw a tiny pinch of floo powder into his communicator and shouted "The Department of National Security!"

He pointed his wand at the communicator and said "Patefaci Exaudio."

He then put his head in the communicator. After a minute, the voice of Ernest Chapman, head of the Department of National Security, echoed throughout the room.

"Arthur, thank god. The Death Eaters attacked us on their way to the Ministry. They took out all the defensive wards and the alarms, and there are still some of them in our building. They´ve blocked off all the exits, and shut down our energy matrix. We´re running the communications room with power from some wands we found on the wounded over here, so we can tell you something about the situation in the Ministry."

"What can you tell me about the situation over here?" asked Arthur.

"We can see people jumping from windows, and I can tell you that contact with the second floor has been lost. The apparition ward is still up, too. The Death Eaters jammed the emergency controls over here, so we can´t turn them off. We´re trapped in here, but fortunately there was an Auror´s convention today, and they´ve helped us out. We have a lot of wounded, though, so the sooner we can get medical help the better. We´ve just got to hold on until the MLES sends reinforcements. I suppose you´re even worse off than we are. Just try to keep holding on."

As he took his head out of the communicator, Arthur looked dismayed, but not defeated.

"Alright people, we´re going to stay here and fight for as long as possible. Is there anyone here who wants to leave now?"

Most looked frightened and pale, some downright terrified. But no one left their friends behind. It wasn´t as if they could get out anyhow.

Draco Malfoy shouted at his squad to keep up as they moved up the grand staircase to the third floor. They were down to eight members after having been involved in heavy fighting in the Department of Records on the second floor. Simon was dead, and the rest had been separated and lost contact. Draco suspected some of the Dark Elves had run off on their own.

The third floor seemed mostly abandoned; here and there the body of some Ministry employee lay, struck down by the killing curse. Draco was no stranger to death; he had watched his father torture to death a servant who had informed the Ministry about some illegal items in the manor, and bodies covered with sheets had occasionally been brought through the family room when he was listening to WWN. His father had used the killing curse to put down old horses and to kill cats that wandered across the yard. Draco, however, had never killed anything bigger than his cousin Angelica´s canary, which had kept him awake Christmas Eve when he was twelve. He had never tried to use the killing curse; he wasn´t sure if he even could.

As they went down the wing, they passed a short middle-aged woman in dark blue robes lying on the floor, dried blood covering her face. As Draco swept passed, she retched and cried out, "Help me! Please!"

Draco turned to look at her, and saw that her eyes were covered with a milky film; she had been magically blinded. As Draco stood looking at her, Gavin, the only Dark Elf left in the group, stepped up and snapped the woman´s neck.

"Well, that settles that," said Draco, feeling a bit sick. His mask distorted his voice. "Let´s move on."

They passed another squad coming back down the hall. The leader, a short old woman with a wrinkled mask, stopped to say, "We´ve already checked the corridor. No one´s left alive. We´re going to take the second Finance wing, apparently there´s a few Ministry types holed up down there. You should move on to the fourth floor."

As the other squad headed back down the hallway, Draco heard a slight rustling sound followed by a crash from the room on his right. One of his squad said, "What was that?"

"Sounded like someone knocking something over. We should check it out," replied Draco.

When Draco turned the doorknob, the door simply fell inwards with a crash. The room was rather large, with the cubicles where employees would normally sit having been dismantled and the walls strewn around the room. A large wooden desk sat on its side on the far end of the room. A small office was cut off from the rest of the by two cracked walls and only half a door. Parchment and equipment littered the room. "Fan out," ordered Draco. "We know there´s someone in here."

Draco headed towards the small office as the others checked beneath the rubble all over the room. The window in the office had been shattered. Draco had seen people jumping out the windows on the second floor, and looked out here to see if there was a body on the sidewalk. He was worried to see a team of MLES officers surrounding the building, as well as the Department of Security building down the street. As he pulled his head back through the shattered glass, Draco heard a soft crunching noise behind him, and then a stifled cough from under the desk against the far wall. He spun, and said softly "I know you´re under there. If you come out now, it won´t be as bad."

There was no response. Draco pointed his wand at the desk and said, slowly, "Incendio!"

The desk leapt into flame, and a figure crawled out through the flames.

"Don´t move," said Draco. As the person emerged slowly, her hair filled with ash and dust, with a cut on her face, Draco realized he knew her.

"Clearwater?"

She didn´t speak.

"Answer me!"

"Y-yes, I´m Penelope Clearwater," she sputtered. Then she smiled painfully. "And you?"

"Don´t be stupid," snapped Draco. "You´re Percy Weasley´s girlfriend, aren´t you? What are you doing here? I know you don´t work at the Ministry."

"I was here on- on a school tour-," she stuttered. Draco chuckled. "You´re not in school anymore, you know. And it´s the middle of summer, too. Should have thought about that. Now, where´s Weasley?"

He pointed his wand at her. She was obviously very frightened, and covered her face with her hands. Draco noticed a sparkle on her hand. "What´s that? An engagement ring?" He moved towards her. "Hmm. I´m surprised Weasley could afford that."

Just then, Draco noticed the shadow behind him. He spun around to find a wand pointed at his head. Percy Weasley held it.

"Don´t move, Malfoy," said Percy.

"What? How would you know who I am?" Draco asked.

"Your insults give you away every time, scum," said Percy harshly. "Now, get up against the wall. And give me your wand."

"And if I don´t? What are you going to do to me, Weasley?"

"Maybe I´ll painfully eviscerate you, hmm? That could be fun for the whole family. Now, your wand," snapped Percy.

"I sincerely doubt you know the Effodius Curse, Weasley," said Draco haughtily. "True, but I could always use this letter opener," said Percy, pulling what looked more like a dagger to Draco out of the pocket of his cloak. "A handy substitute for your Dark Magic, wouldn´t you say? And a lot more painful too, I´d wager."

Draco was wishing they weren´t all backed up against the wall next to the door, so that he could see into the rest of the room.

At exactly that moment, a redheaded figure with her hood thrown back walked into the tiny office, looking exactly the opposite way from Draco and Percy. "You in here, Drake?" she asked, looking about the office not quite quickly enough.

"Look out, Jen-," hissed Draco, just as Percy muttered "Stupefy" as quietly as possible.

A jet of scarlet light hit Jenna between the shoulder blades, and she collapsed.

"Now, Malfoy, do I really have to use this?" threatened Percy, waving his letter-opener.

"Percy, don´t," said Penelope, who still wore a frightened look. "Let´s just get out of here."

"Alright, dear," said Percy. "Malfoy, drop the wand."

Draco sighed and threw down his wand, hard. There was a loud bang as it hit the ground. One of his squad members ran into the office, and Penelope hit him on the head with a paperweight. Draco shouted, and Percy punched him hard in the side of the head, knocking him over. Percy clutched his fist and swore as Penelope yelled "Percy! Run now!"

As Penelope started for the door, Draco stuck out his foot and tripped her. Percy was a step out the door when Draco shouted, "Stop right there, Weasley, or your girlfriend gets it! You know what I´m capable of! You have two seconds."

Percy took a step back into the room. "Come to think of it, I don´t know what you´re capable of, except, so I hear, turning into a ferret."

"NOW, Weasley!" Draco shouted. The five members of Draco´s squad who remained conscious had noticed Percy. Percy held out his wand. Draco reached for it, and Percy´s other hand grabbed his wrist and pulled hard. Draco fell forward, and Percy shouted, "RUN!"

He charged right over the vampire Erica, who was just behind him, and he and Penelope sprinted towards the double doors across the large room. Penelope reached the door amidst the spells thrown at her by Draco´s squad, but a spell hit Percy in the back of the leg, and he stumbled just short of the door. Draco, from across the room, saw him escaping, stood up, and shouted, loudly, "Avada Kedavra!"

Percy stopped short in the door, and doubled over. Draco looked confused, for no green light had come out.

"Well, I suppose I should have known it wouldn´t work the first time" he muttered under his breath.

Percy stood straight, staggered out the door before anyone could catch him, and pitched forward down the long stairs towards the lower floor. Draco´s squad started after him, but Draco shouted "No! We can´t afford to get any more separated. And some of us have been hurt. We´ll stay here for a while and recover. There´ll be plenty of action later."

It wasn´t until later that Jenna asked him, "If Weasley knows it was you here, won´t he tell people that you´re a Death Eater?"

This hadn´t occurred to Draco. "Damn," he said. "I sure hope our people at the entrance grabbed him before he could get out."

"Don´t worry about it," said Jenna. "I´m sure everything will be fine."

The next day, Draco was back at Malfoy Manor. He awoke early, his face sandwiched between two huge fluffy pillows. Sun was streaming in through his open window, making him squint. Draco swore under his breath as he stood up, closed the drapes, and collapsed back into bed. He wondered for a moment why his head hurt so much before he fell asleep again.

The sun was much higher in the sky when Draco heard his mother shout "Draco! Get up! Someone´s here to see you!"

Draco briefly wished that the high-priced psychiatrist who had helped Narcissa get over the shock of Lucius´ death would convince her to let her son sleep without distraction. He threw on a robe, ran his fingers through his hair, put his slippers on and walked downstairs, murmuring a Vigilo charm to wake himself up. It was a full minute´s walk from his bedroom on the third floor of the manor to the front hall. When Draco arrived in the hall, two Death Eaters he did not know were standing in there in their long black robes. One of them was sipping coffee from a mug shaped like a goblin´s skull, or perhaps it really was a goblin´s skull. The other held a small box wrapped in black cloth. He held it out for Draco to take.

"Mr. Malfoy, we´ve brought this to you, courtesy of Angus McNair, who is in charge of Intelligence Acquisition for the Death Eaters. It would normally go to your father, but, of course, you must act in his stead. Also, I believe you will be somewhat acquainted with it." He smiled grimly.

The other put down his coffee and looked around unpleasantly. "Thank you for your time, Malfoys. We must be going now. A lot to do...but our Lord is allowing the younger members to opt out of important operations for a while. You kids need your rest, after all. Oh, and here´s your paper. Look at that, we made the front page." He turned to the door without another word. The other Death Eater looked back at him and sighed. "His girlfriend is in intensive care at St. Mungo's and the Ministry has a heavy guard on her. He´s fairly upset, you´ll have to excuse him." The other Death Eater rushed out after his friend.

Draco went back to his room, carrying the cloth-covered box. By the time he had reached the top of the stairs, his curiosity had overwhelmed him, and he pulled off the cloth. Under it was a simple cardboard box, a bit tattered. Draco tore it open, and his breath caught in his throat. A severed hand lay in the bottom of the box. "Oh god," groaned Draco, putting a hand on his stomach. The thumb was mostly missing, and dried blood was caked on where it must have run down the sides. There was an engagement ring on the finger-a ring Draco had seen before. "Oh, my god," he said again, dropping the box and heading for the bathroom, his hands on his stomach.

Two hours later, Draco still didn´t feel like breakfast. Narcissa sat across from him in the family room as he put down his British Quidditch Weekly and summoned the Daily Prophet from across the room. "What´s the matter, dear?" his mother asked, "You look awfully pale. Have you had breakfast?" "No, mother," said Draco flatly. The front page of the paper read `TERROR IN LONDON´ in huge letters. "It´s the most important meal of the day, Draco," said Narcissa. Draco didn´t answer. The paper had a full-page picture of the Dark Mark, swimming massively over the Ministry as flames leapt from the fifth floor windows and MLES officers swarmed in through the front door. He turned the page and began to read the article. At 10:37 in the morning yesterday, the infamous radical group that call themselves the `Death Eaters´ launched a full-scale attack on the British Ministry of Magic and its neighbouring buildings. This group has made numerous headlines over the past year, ever since assaulting several muggles at the Quidditch World Cup last August. For more on the history of the Death Eaters, see our special feature (A6). Casualty reports are uncertain still at this point, but more than 1350 people are missing from both the Ministry and Department of Security. Rescue teams have been at work around the clock searching for survivors -

"Draco!" shouted Narcissa, "For god´s sake, son, what´s wrong! Can´t you even hear?" Draco looked up suddenly.

"What is it, mother?" he asked.

"I´ve asked three times already," she sighed. "Would you like some tea if I made some? You´re looking awfully ill."

"No, mother I would not like some tea," said Draco, and turned back to the paper.

"Draco, just tell me what´s wrong."

"They sent me a bloody hand," said Draco.

"You mean like a hand of glory?" asked Narcissa, uncomprehending, "You´ve wanted one of those for years."

"No, I mean a real literally bloody hand," said Draco. "Like, cut from the body and all."

"Oh, yuck," said Narcissa. "Why would they do that? And why are you so disgusted by a hand? You´ve seen worse."

"It was Penelope´s hand, mother," said Draco, feeling sick again.

"You mean the Clearwater´s daughter?" asked Narcissa. "Oh dear. That is rather disturbing. I knew she´d come to trouble, really, as soon as she started dating that Weasley. They have no sense of style. Look, I´ll have one of the servants take it out and burn it. Just eat something."

Draco sighed, and went in the kitchen to make some eggs.

WWN had apparently been running non-stop breaking news since the attack began, and Draco found himself very interested in the reports. The glowing headline above Ryan Palmer´s head now read `TERROR AT THE MINISTRY!´ The image flickered as WWN2 went live to the scene. The Ministry building had been devastated, but not destroyed, and rubble lined Government Street, which had been cordoned off. A reporter stood in front of the Department of Security building.

"This is Gina Rivers, at the Department of Security, where yesterday´s attack began. According to the accounts of survivors, the Death Eaters took control of the wards and protection stations here and used the Ministry´s own wards to prevent their victims from apparating to safety. Fighting here was especially fierce, with estimated casualties being somewhere in the area of seven hundred. An Auror´s convention was being held here on the day of the attack, and these brave men and women helped protect Security Minister Ernest Chapman from the Death Eaters; we should have one of the Aurors who survived the attack with us here shortly..."

The picture flashed back to the studio. "Thank you Gina. Joining us now is a tactician for the Auror´s Wing, Amanda Conneley, who will show us a graphical representation of yesterday´s attack."

The camera view split to show a middle-aged woman dressed in heavily starched green-grey robes. "Thank you, Ryan. Imago!"

An image burst on to the screen of Diagon Alley, in perfect detail. "Now, here is where the Death Eater strike force apparated into Diagon Alley," she said, pointing with her wand to a spot on the semi-transparent picture. A host of black dots appeared near the end of Government Street.

"The Death Eaters split into two groups, with the first," the black dots separated, "Attacking the Department of Security, here, and taking over the controls for wards, alarms, and other safeguards in the Ministry. The second group was larger, but we believe, more poorly trained. They attacked the Ministry building itself. What we know of the attack once they were inside is this." The view panned to an internal view of the Security Building.

"Those here were the most well-trained Death Eaters. The DoS Building is always under heavy guard, and some of our Aurors were there during the attack as well. The Death Eaters took over the first level fairly easily, but most of the Department is underground, except, of course, for the ward controls, which need to be in the line of sight of the Ministry to be effective. Now, here´s the control room where Mr. Chapman and most of his people held off the Death Eaters until the MLES arrived." She gestured with her wand again. "As for the Ministry, it was, unfortunately not designed to hold off an attack like this. The Death Eaters took control of this staircase," she pointed with her wand again,

"And that is the only exit from the upper floors. So, all the Ministry employees were trapped inside, and those that could escape congregated on the top three floors. Casualties were very heavy on the first and second floors, as well as the seventh. Fortunately, the MLES arrived before the Death Eaters could reach the eighth floor. The MLES then had the Death Eaters trapped here," the area between the fourth and seventh floors glowed,

"But, unfortunately, those Death Eaters in the DoS building removed the apparition wards from the Ministry, allowing most of the Death Eaters to escape. Just before apparating away, a team of Death Eaters on the fifth floor set off a Dark Magic device that ignited Nitrogen compounds in the air for a significant radius around it. This," the entire fifth floor on the picture burst into flame very quickly, "Was the result. We are still getting reports back on the casualties this blast caused."

The Auror sat back in her chair and said "Deletrius."

Ryan Palmer smiled and said, "Thank you very much, Ms. Connelly. Now, we have received reports that both Minister of Security Chapman and Minister Fudge will be giving press conferences within the hour. But first, we´re proud to have the Daily Prophet´s famed investigative reporter Rita Skeeter with us to interview Ministry survivor Arthur Weasley. Go ahead, Rita."

Rita Skeeter looked very excited, and her curls were bouncing even though she stood still. "Thanks, Ryan," she said, with a huge smile. "I´m here with Arthur Weasley, head of the Department of Muggle Artifacts. Arthur, we are told it was you who organized an armed resistance against the Death Eaters on the top floors of the Ministry. How did you learn of the attack so soon?" Arthur looked rather nervous to be on WWN. "My son Percy, who works on the third floor, had the foresight to inform me of the attack when the alarm system seemed to be down." "Percy is missing, is he not? How do you feel about the rescue efforts?" asked Rita quickly. "Er, well I´m sure they´re doing the best they can, but it´s so frustrating just sitting here waiting for news. It´s very nerve wracking not having any news. But, I would hate to have to go home without Percy. It would feel like- well, like giving up hope, I suppose." "Okay, thank you very much, Arthur. Good luck in your search. It seems like we´ve all lost someone dear to us in these horrible attacks. This is Rita Skeeter, outside the Ministry of Magic press tent, in Diagon Alley. Back to you, Ryan."

"Thank you for that heart-wrenching interview-Rita," said Palmer. "Of course, the hearts of all of us here at WWN go out to those who have lost loved ones in the attack. Now, we have Sheea Periwinkle, with her touching new single `Lights In Dark Times´. We´ll be back with Minister Fudge´s press conference after that; stay tuned."

Draco murmured "Deruptus," and the image vanished. He was sick of feel-good songs; they seemed to just make him angry. At least the news had put his mind off Penelope´s hand. He felt quite bored, and decided to take in a bit of Quidditch practice before dinnertime. Malfoy Manor had massive grounds, and it was a fair distance from the Manor to the three-quarter size Quidditch Pitch and racing track. Draco found his Nimbus 2001 in the shed; he was still waiting for the Firebolt Mk. 2 he had ordered to arrive. Back in second year, Draco had very little experience playing Quidditch. Certainly he was a good flier, having had lessons twice a week since he was seven, but Quidditch was much more than just flying, as he had since realized. Practice was very important, and he held himself to his routine rigidly. It had almost become an obsession; Quidditch was the thing Potter was most proud of, and Draco wanted to beat him just once. He was getting quite good, he thought, as he tried some new moves. There was no thrill on earth that could rival flying a racing broom. After several hours of dipping, twirling, diving and chasing starlings, Draco was sufficiently hot and out of breath to go inside for a drink.

He turned the WWN back on as he sipped his pumpkin juice slowly.

"Once again, here are the highlights from the Minister´s press conference earlier today. The English-Irish Floo Network will be monitored closely by the Department of Transportation in the coming weeks to improve security; The MLES and Auror´s Guild will be increasing their presence at portkey stations and public-sector offices greatly to safeguard against future attacks; The Scottish-English border has been officially closed for an indeterminate period of time by the Scottish Ministry; The Minister of Security is calling on all Witches and Wizards to come forward with any information they might have regarding the activities of Death Eaters, saying "No piece of information is too small for us to take an interest in at this point." Here again are Minister Fudge´s closing remarks from London."

The view changed to the press conference. Minister Fudge was dressed all in black and holding a bowler hat, and looked sombre. "There are dark and trying days ahead, of this there can be no doubt," he said. "But know that the Ministry of Magic will never give in to those who have committed the atrocities we saw yesterday. We shall fight their injustice to the last man. The people of England stand united against the attacks of You-Know-Who."

The view returned to the studio. "Minister Fudge´s remarks brought support from respected Hogwarts headmaster and occasional international liaison for the Ministry, Albus Dumbledore," said Palmer. In a dispatch to the Ministry he was quoted as saying, "Now more than ever, it is essential that wizards and witches of all sorts stand united. Voldemort´s tyranny threatens us all, and we must put aside old prejudices and arguments in order to combat the darkness that threatens not only England, but also wizards and witches around the world. I call on you to put aside your differences and stand together against the darkness."

"Shortly after Dumbledore´s remarks were made public, a statement from the Death Eaters was received by the Ministry and the press, saying, "The Death Eaters take full credit for the actions of yesterday, and see no shame in them. Those who participated are brave and courageous fighters, who are able to see past the Ministry´s lies and know the truth, that is, that the Ministry is weak and is selling off the power and the birthright of all wizards and witches to the muggles and mudbloods. If this is allowed to continue, it will be a sad future that we condemn ourselves and our descendants to." The statement concluded with a salute to the Death Eaters killed and captured in yesterdays attack." The anchor looked upset at the words he had just read.

"The Minister of Security responded to the statement by saying "This outdated point of view our enemies promote holds no danger for the Ministry, as any who would agree with it have no place in the free society that the Ministry and the true citizens of our country treasure."

Draco shut off the WWN and went to dinner, which was beef stew and Yorkshire pudding. As he was clearing the table, a barn owl arrived with a letter. Narcissa took the letter and looked somewhat surprised. "Well, that´s interesting," she said.

"What´s interesting?" asked Draco. "It´s your Hogwarts letter. Apparently term is starting a full week early. Here, look." Draco took the letter, and read:

As he read, Draco´s face fell. "A whole week early," he muttered angrily. "Now that is a pain in the arse.