The Parker Street Massacre

Harry padded down the stairs of number twelve, Grimauld Street to breakfast. When he reached the kitchen instead of the cheery sight of Mrs Weasley fixing up a breakfast far too big for human consideration he was greeted by the a gloomy looking group all crowded round one end of the table. Lupin, Tonks, Mundungus and Mr and Mrs Weasley all had their backs to Harry and were reading something.

"And with such a horrific blow to the side of good the only question is, what will Dumbledore do next?" said Tonks, apparently reading the last lines aloud.

She tossed the newspaper across the table and the group split to their separate seats.

"This is the Daily Prophet people," said Tonks, sadly.

"More like the Daily slaughter," said Mr Weasley, miserably.

Mrs Weasley merely sighed and looked up. "Oh hello Harry," she said. "I'm afraid I haven't started breakfast yet. Is there anything you wanted in particular?"

Harry moved forward so he stood between Tonks and Lupin at the breakfast table. "What's happened?" he asked.

Mundungus plucked the paper from the table and handed it to Harry.

Parker Street attacked

It read:

As their first act of mass destruction since the return of he-who-must-not-be-named Death Eaters last night destroyed the Parker Street Orphanage. The Orphanage was set up in 1982 to house the many Wizarding orphans left after the so-called 'defeat' of You-Know-Who. Since then it has been a safe house for all abandoned or family-less children of Magical blood. It was revealed this morning that the entire building located on Parker Street, the street that also contains the offices for this newspaper, was blown up causing a deafening boom that shook the area. So far a casualty count has not been released but it is thought that there were no survivors. Minister for Magic, Cornelius Fudge, released this statement:

"This has been a terrible tragedy but if You-Know-Who thinks that the merciless slaughter of our children will grind us into submission then he was wrong. This has solidified our determination to put an end to him."

Although a secret source told us that this has caused a great weakening on the side of Fudge. And with such a horrific blow to the side of good the only question is, what will Dumbledore do next?

"That's terrible," said Harry.

"What is?"

Ginny, Hermione and Ron had descended and were now looking rather worried at all the miserable expressions that had greeted them. The newspaper was dutifully handed round and varying cries of horror were declared.

"Those poor kids," said Lupin.

"I really feel sorry for the Even sisters," said Mundungus.

"Even?" said Ginny, her voice cracking. "As in Sophie Even? But... but she's in my class. She can't be... she couldn't..."

"She isn't," said Mundungus. "The oldest Even, Emily, left Hogwarts a year ago. The other two live with her now. But they've lost all their friends. The people they grew up with. Lived with for years. Ever since their parents were killed by Death Eaters."

"Squeamish Death Eaters," said Mr Weasley. "Which is why they're still with us."

"Arthur," Mrs Weasley snapped half-heartedly. "I really don't think this is a topic appropriate for discussion with the children."

"It was appropriate enough when I was a child," said Tonks pointedly. "And I'm sure you always prayed for a squeamish Death Eater when your children were younger. If there had to be a Death Eater at all, that is."

"What do you mean by a squeamish Death Eater?" Hermione asked.

"Death Eaters don't have a problem with killing people," Mundungus explained. "Hence the name. Some would wipe out entire families without sparing a thought. But others couldn't bring themselves to kill the children, especially if they were asleep at the time. There was many a child in Parkers that woke up to find their parents dead. Like poor Emily Even."

"Not anymore," said Lupin. "All the ones old enough to remember would had left by now. All that would have been left were the babies that cried until an Auror found them."

"I found one or two," said Mr Weasley, sadly. "After I came across a scene. It was me who found little Neil Gately when I had an appointment with Bill Gately and saw the mark."

"Why wasn't I put in Parkers?" Harry asked.

"Dumbledore had his reasons," said Lupin, simply.

"You were lucky," said Tonks. "You don't remember it. You don't remember the fear everyone had at that time. You were never told the story before bed."

"What story?" asked Ron, timidly.

"What do you do if you hear a scream?" said Mrs Weasley.

Everyone looked at her. She was staring at the corner of the room with a look of pain of memory across her face.

"You jump out the window. You start running. You keep running. You don't look back, you don't check on us, you don't stop for anything and you don't return until everything is safe. What do you do if you hear them at your door? You hide and you pray."

"Caused a lot of false alarms, that story did," said Mr Weasley.

"Saved a lot of lives," said Mundungus.

"I remember when a child ran right in to me, dead of the night," said Lupin. "It wasn't full moon or anything. I was just taking a stroll and this kid came along, panting. His family were all right, his mother had stepped on a hair brush and called out."

"I spent an entire night in a cupboard once," said Tonks. "I thought I heard this movement outside and I couldn't get the window open. So I hid in the cupboard. My Mum found me there, sleeping, the next day. She didn't tell me off or anything. Didn't call me 'silly' for being so paranoid. She congratulated me on doing exactly the right thing."

There was silence in the kitchen. Mrs Weasley rubbed a tear from her eye.

"Well there's no point in moping around," she said briskly. "We've all got a job to do and if we don't get to it we won't be able to prevent something like that happening again, will we?"

The adults all made their excuses and left the kitchen, leaving Harry, Hermione, Ron and Ginny alone in silence.

"There's something I'm wondering," said Hermione.

The others stared at her. She looked right at them.

"I wonder if parents have started telling the story again."