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Nigel exited the compartment for a few minutes to give Hermione the time to change in her wizarding robes. Morag and Alexandra had arrived from MacDougal Manor by Portkey in the morning with their robes and the rest of the Hogwarts uniform already on them so the affair was short-timed and not a quarter of an hour after the voice of the train driver announced they were approaching the station of Hogsmeade.
The train stopped not five minutes after this message, and a large crowd emerged from the red and long transportation means into a frozen atmosphere, so cold Alexandra shivered under her warm winter cloak. There was snow everywhere and in the night of Scotland illuminated only by the lights of the nearby village, the Express and the station, the Forbidden Forest in the distance was a gloomy presence.
"What does take them so much time?" Complained Hermione. It was not clear what was doing it, but the flow of their progression towards the carriages supposed to lead them to Hogwarts was slowing noticeably.
It was then the screams of fear began. Thankfully there were no signs of battle or of mass panic: given that over four hundred boys and girls were packed in a compact block on an icy soil, running could have resulted in trampling and serious injuries for a lot of the participants. In the middle of the crowd, the group of four saw nothing and it was not before the Prefects managed to convince the progression to resume Alexandra had the opportunity to see what had scared the vanguard of the Hogwarts students.
It was a Thestral. Or rather, the remnants of one. The magical part-lizard part-horse part-bird creature had been...butchered. Massacred. One of its wings had been completely separated from its body, its torso had been torn open with the intestines spilled everywhere and there were deep lacerations all across the body but the worst wounds were on the head and a deep hole was in the middle of the throat. Okay, what had used to be a throat. Maybe. It was difficult to judge with all this blood and Alexandra had to fight the urge to vomit.
One look was more than sufficient for Alexandra to know no predator or carnivorous magical species had done the deed. An animal preying on the Thestrals would have at least eaten part of the body, although she was uncertain if these curious coursers were digestible. But the murderer who had killed here had not been interested in feeding. It had been a means to pass a message...and a way to unleash its viciousness and depravity because only a monster would have massacred an animal like that.
To echo her reasoning, on the snow littered with blood could be seen a message painted in the same bright red colour.
MUDBLOODS LEAVE HOGWARTS
THE HEIR OF SLYTHERIN HAS WARNED YOU
As she mounted on a carriage behind Hermione, the green-eyed Ravenclaw heard Morag grumble something about Hogwarts security being a joke.
"Don't worry, Morag." The Potter Heiress smirked. "I'm sure Dumbledore will try to reassure us by saying the attack was out of the Hogwarts grounds and we are perfectly safe in the castle."
"If it's the case, maybe we should ask the DLME to intervene?" Asked Nigel in a hopeful tone disguising badly potential relief.
"But they will need the Headmaster permission to enter the grounds, no?" Hermione's voice was not exactly thrilling with enthusiasm. "I mean, they can investigate outside the wards of the castle, but unless they have proof the culprit is one of the students or the professors..."
"Exactly." Confirmed Morag. "No Auror will pass the gates until there's something Dumbledore can't cover. Then the DMLE will be able to intervene. If it isn't too late."
The discussion ultimately ended there before the Thestrals deposed them in front of the marble stairs. Everyone had a good idea how bad this year had started. One night and blood had already been shed. The Exiled had just to hope the rest of the school year wasn't going to be worse.
4 January 1993, Hogwarts, Scotland
It was two hours past midnight in what every human who didn't have magical powers would consider the middle of nowhere. Pardon, the middle of nowhere in Scotland. Some hills, some mountains, some forests. Most of the animals were hibernating in this season, and the density of non-magical beings in the area was close to zero. The sky was covered by a ceiling of grey clouds not letting any moonlight pass. The snow was forming a white carpet around the ancient magical school of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The grounds were frozen and silent. In appearance, all was calm in the thousand-year old castle.
Appearances could and in that case were deceiving. At the gatehouse marking the limit between the lands marked by the Founders as theirs and the outer areas of Hogsmeade, a small group had formed at the light of three enchanted torches. The building had not been built with human comfort in mind: four walls of stone decorated with various animal representations and a simple lever to open the gates manually should a problem in the wards require it. There was no chimney or place to lit a good source of fire, so all the witches and wizards present were in their winter clothes, which meant large furred cloaks and capes enchanted to keep the warmest temperatures around the human bodies wearing them.
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