Disclaimer:

Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K. Rowling.

I own nothing but the original characters I make.

"Dialogue"

'Thoughts'

-Author notes-

Chapter 181: News Spread Fast

Albus Dumbledore was in the middle of a meeting with some of the other professors when a small frog made of pure white light entered through the window of his office and landed on his desk.

"That's Horace's Patronus!" Professor McGonagall exclaimed.

"So interesting. I've never seen an African frog as a Patronus." Silvanus Kettleburn, the professor for Care of Magical Creatures, leaned closer to stare at it.

"He was supposed to be at Hogsmeade, keeping an eye on the students," Professor Flitwick said.

"Albus!" the frog screamed. "You must come to Hogsmeade immediately! A dark witch is attacking the students."

Once its message was delivered, the frog dissolved into particles of light, leaving all the adults in the room looking quite startled.

"A dark witch?" Valeria Walker, the Defense professor, turned to the Headmaster, looking alarmed. "We should hurry and call the Aurors as well."

"Do that. I will go there myself to see what's going on." Dumbledore turned to look at the phoenix resting on its perch as he stood up.

"Fawkes, it appears this is an emergency… do you mind taking me there now? It would be faster than using my broom."

"Don't you want us to go as well?" McGonagall asked.

"No. As Miss Walker has said, if someone is attacking the village, it will be better to notify the Auror Department to handle it. I will go there to make sure no student gets hurt in the meantime. Oh, but… do call Madam Pomfrey and tell her to come as soon as possible. Someone might be in need of her skills." Dumbledore extended his arm, and the phoenix landed on it.

A moment later, the Headmaster disappeared in a burst of flames.

He reappeared near the entrance of Hogsmeade and was immediately shocked by what he saw.

Five colossal white marble pillars surrounded a large area near the entrance of the village, and there were signs of destruction all around.

"A magical formation? Who could have done that?" When he heard that a witch was attacking the village, he was not expecting to see something like this. It would require an entire cabal to create a formation of this size.

"What does it do? And where are the students?"

He was unable to see any person at first, as the pillars covered most of the view, but as soon as he approached a bit, he spotted two figures standing inside the encirclement of pillars. One of them was dressed as one of his students, while the other was covered in black robes and wore a large black hat.

"That's the witch, that's for su— is that a dragon?!" He didn't know how he had missed it, but there was a large white dragon towering over the witch as if it were getting ready to bite her head off.

Dumbledore decided to hurry before someone got hurt.

"Ouch!" The moment he tried to cross the boundary between the pillars, he felt like he had hit an invisible wall.

"This is a barrier… never seen one like this before." The Headmaster stared at this magical creation with a mixture of surprise and veneration.

It was then that he was able to see the side of the student's face ...the one standing opposed to the witch.

"James Potter?… you did this?" He should have realized it sooner. If there was one student capable of this, it would be him.

"James!"

"We have to get him out of here."

"This thing won't budge."

Dumbledore heard a group of students yelling loudly from the other side of the barrier and decided to approach before they did something foolish and got hurt.

"Get away from the magical structure!" Before Dumbledore could get there, someone else started to shout at the students.

Sirius and the rest just turned around in time to see Professor Slughorn running with difficulty toward them while waving his hands.

"Get away from there."

"Professor, do you know what this is?" Remus asked.

"Why can't we get past it? We need to reach James," Sirius added.

"That is a very dangerous formation. If you try to breach it, it could react to defend itself, just like a house ward would do," Professor Slughorn explained. "It's best to stay away from it until it disappears on its own."

"How long would that take?" Bella asked.

"That's impossible to know since we have no idea how much magic has been poured into its creation."

They heard another person speak nearby.

"Headmaster?!" Slughorn stared at Dumbledore with slight relief. " Thank Merlin, you received my message. I didn't expect you to get here so quickly."

"Fawkes brought me here…" He pointed at the barrier. "Can someone tell me how this started?"

"It was Potter. He did this!" Snape responded.

"Hey! You stay away from this." Sirius looked ready to punch the other guy.

"It's not James's fault." Lily hurried to speak next. "Someone attacked us! A strange old woman dressed in black. She also killed a senior from Slytherin."

"A student is dead?!" Dumbledore said with shock before looking around the area. He had missed this when he arrived. "Who else was involved?"

"Some seniors from Slytherin." Lily glanced at Snape. "The one who died was… ehm…"

"Rabastan Lestrange, sir," Snape added. "There were other seniors. They were knocked unconscious. I don't know if…"

"I found them." Professor Slughorn interrupted him. "I brought them further into the village and already asked for a healer to check on them. It didn't seem like their lives were in danger."

Dumbledore sighed in relief before turning his attention to the barrier. "Who is this witch, and why is she attacking my students?"

"I have no idea… never seen her before," Slughorn spoke.

The other students looked at each other and shook their heads.

"I know her!" Lily raised her hand. "James and I met her during a previous visit to Hogsmeade. She runs an antique shop on the outskirts of the village… I don't remember the name of the shop."

"The owner of an antique shop?…" Dumbledore muttered. "Looks like we are missing a lot of context here." It was obvious to him that the person inside that barrier was not someone so simple.

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