The Black Envelope

The Black Envelope

"Did you hear about Anthony?"

"No, what happened?"

"It was awful!"

"Dreadful!"

"Absolutely terrifying!"

"What was?"

"I can't believe he didn't hear!"

"Me neither!"

"Will you two tell me what happened to Anthony?"

"SSSH!"

"The Hufflepuffs are right over there, don't say anything too loudly."

"Well, what happened?"

"I wonder if his parents know..."

"They must, he got it an hour ago."

"Got what?"

"He got a...I can't say it. It's too awful."

"Dreadful!"

"Got what?"

"A black envelope."

Silence.

Harry Potter entered the Great Hall, expecting to be hit with a roar of enthusiastic discussion of the latest gossip buzzing around in Hogwarts. That was pretty much what breakfast was designed for, other than eating. A good summary of the previous day's juicy tidbits and sordid affairs, and perhaps discussion about what would happen in today's gossip. To miss breakfast would be to miss out on the latest story lines, and, of course, no one wanted to be out of the loop. Breakfast, more than any other time of a regular school day, save for Potions, tested Harry's patience.

The instant that Harry entered the Great Hall he realized something was wrong. The loud buzz had been toned down to small hisses of whispers at the tables. There was far too much silence filling the Great Hall. Usually it was because of one of his, Hermione's, or Ron's grand adventures that caused such a change in the Great Hall. Today, it seemed, something else had happened. Harry moved quickly to the Gryffindor Table and sat between Ron and Hermione, who were uncharacteristically silent.

"What's going on?" Harry asked, helping himself to some scrambled eggs that were sitting in the center of the table. "Why has the rumor mill suddenly come to a screeching halt?"

"You haven't heard?" Hermione asked sadly, idly picking at her food. Harry could see that she hadn't had a single bite of toast or even a drink of her orange juice.

"No, I'm afraid I slept late today. What piece of idiotic gossip have I missed now?" Harry asked with a smirk. He looked at Ron, hoping to find out what the school had been talking about, but Ron too was downcast. Ron hadn't even loaded his plate, which, for Harry, was another severe warning sign that something horrible had happened.

"Harry..." Ron started to say, but turned away.

"Please, just tell me," Harry insisted, giving Ron a serious look. "What happened?"

"Anthony Midge, one of our year but in Hufflepuff...he got a black envelope," Ron said. The news didn't strike Harry as heavily as it did everyone else. Harry looked at Hermione, who was now staring at the table rather fixedly, and then back at Ron, who had turned back to drumming his fingers on his temple.

"I don't understand," Harry responded. "What's a black envelope?" The Gryffindors at the table looked down at Harry with pitying looks on their faces. They shook their heads and returned to their meals. None of them seemed to want to explain just what a black envelope meant. Harry bent closer to Ron, so that no one but he and Hermione could hear him. "What is a black envelope?" Ron opened his mouth to answer, when an owl swept into the Great Hall. It flew silently through the tense air, its wings disturbing the fragile silence that had filled the room. It seemed as if the entire student body had taken a single breath, and held it collectively, waiting for this omen to pass. No one in the hall, not even Harry, could miss the black envelope nestled in its beak. The messenger, the owl, was bringing what seemed to be bad news to someone else in the Great Hall. The owl landed at the Ravenclaw table, directly in front of Terry Boot, a fellow seventh year. The owl dropped the black envelope in front of him, and then flew into the air, heading for the exit.

Harry watched Terry stare at the black envelope, seeing that he did not wanting to touch it. Harry noticed that everyone in the Hall turned away from Terry, not wanting to witness what was to come. Harry could not help but stare as Terry picked up the black envelope, and opened it. A black letter was now in Terry's hands, and on it, a message was written in red ink. Terry didn't even read it; his hands shaking, he took out a quill, signed the letter, and then put it back in the envelope. The envelope then burst into a small batch of black flames, and then disappeared completely. Terry stood up from the table, took a deep breath, picked up his school bag, and then headed for the exit. Professor Flitwick hopped up from the staff table and ran over to Terry, to escort him while he exited.

"What is going on?" Harry demanded. Something terrible was happening, and it seemed that everyone, save for Harry, knew what was going on.

"We'll explain later," Ron said quickly. "Let's just finish breakfast and get out of here."

"But I..."
"Please Harry," Hermione asked, tears starting to form in her eyes. "Let's just wait until later." Harry looked at his two friends incredulously, not understanding, completely unwilling to sit in silence as everyone mulled over the fates of Anthony Midge and Terry Boot. Harry was bursting to know what was in those black envelopes. He desperately needed to understand why everyone was so upset.

"Does this have something to do with Vol-"

"Not now!" Ron hissed, looking around to see if anyone had heard. "Breakfast is over in five minutes. Just wait." Harry shook his head, pushing away his eggs. He couldn't just sit here pretending for five minutes that nothing was happening. But before he could say so, another owl had swept into the Great Hall.

Harry felt panic lump in his throat. This time the owl was coming this way, to the Gryffindor Table. Who was going to get this horrible news? And what was it? He looked down and saw the frightened look on the Gryffindors' faces. Their eyes were darting around, half wondering if they were going to get it, the other half wondering, sickeningly, if it wasn't them, then who? The tension was making Harry dizzy. He watched the owl swoop past him and settle directly in front of Parvati Patil, who now had tears streaming from her eyes. Nearby from the Ravenclaw table, Padma Patil stood up and started to cry.

"Not you, Parvati!" she cried, heading over to the Gryffindor Table. Professor Flitwick, who had just returned from escorting Terry Boot, saw Padma running over to Parvati. He moved quickly to help, followed closely by Professor McGonagall. Both were too late; Padma reached Parvati first. "Don't sign it! Don't sign it! You don't have to!"

"Padma, I have to," Parvati said determinedly, despite the tears flowing down her cheeks. "You know they'll make me if I don't."

"Who cares? Don't go, please, don't go! Don't leave me, don't go, please, don't go!" Padma was screaming.

"Parvati, I will escort you to Gryffindor Tower," Professor McGonagall said, her lips quivering, her hand to her chest. Harry felt a sickening swoop of horror fill him. What was happening? Parvati was searching in her beg for a quill; Padma was being escorted by Professor Flitwick, who too had tears in his eyes now.

"Don't do this! Please! It's not fair! It's not fair!" Harry looked around and saw students, some who didn't even know the Patils, crying. Some had angry looks on their faces; some were stricken silent in shock. A few were whispering to each other. Harry turned to Ron furiously.

"What in the bloody hell is going on?" Harry demanded. Hermione wiped the tears from her eyes and looked at Harry.

"It's because of V-V...You-Know-Who. There aren't enough Aurors in the Ministry to fight him...they're always getting killed, or going missing, so..."

"So what, exactly?" Harry demanded. He saw another owl fly into the Great Hall.

"The Ministry is forcing people to fight for them," Ron said dully, watching the next owl sail to the Slytherin table.

"But they're just kids! They haven't all gotten Aurors training!" Harry said desperately. "They're...we're...just kids..." Harry trailed off, watching in horror as more and more owls poured into the Great Hall, each carrying an awful black envelope in their beaks. Each owl was carrying a judgment for each student receiving a letter: sentences of death, of torture, or perhaps a life of flight. Maybe their families would be kidnapped, killed, maimed, or disappear forever. Harry sank weakly onto the bench, watching each student rise, signing away their lives, before being escorted away. How could this have happened? How could things have come to this? He put his face in his hands, feeling a tear running down his cheek. They didn't ask for this war. They were only seventeen... they were still only kids.

"I can't believe so many people are getting black envelopes!"

"I wonder if we'll see them again..."

"Probably not. You-Know-Who's getting stronger every day."

"I don't envy them."

"Definitely not."

"What if one of us gets one?"

"Certainly not."

"No way."

"I'd run."

"I'd hide."

"But we'd have to sign it. You'd get punished if you didn't sign it."

"So what? I'd rather live."

"I'm too young."

"So are they."

"What's your problem?"

"Yeah, why do you keep bringing this up?"

"Because there's an owl coming right now. Heading this way."

"Oh no."

"Mum..."

Silence.