Ring around the rosies

Ring around the rosies

The first person found dead was Hermione Granger.

Three months after the war had seen the rebirth of the Wizarding world. Wizards and witches throughout Britain celebrated the downfall of the Dark Lord and the freedom they had at last, while Death Eaters were rounded up and put in Azkaban.

Back at Hogwarts, the Eighth year students enjoyed the year at school that they had missed because of the war, and while there was a definite tension in the air due to the upcoming NEWTs, there was still the joy of finally being able to live normal lives as students.

Everyone was happy.

That is, until Ron Weasley stumbled upon Hermione's body lying on the couch in the Gryffindor Common Room one day, and promptly threw up, before yelling for McGonagall. Hermione lay on her back, a look of terror and sadness in her eyes, her arms folded across her chest and face turned towards the ceiling. Most chillingly of all, her right hand held a single white flower.

Hermione had been murdered, killed by the Avada Kedavra curse: the Aurors who were called down to investigate the case were sure of it. There were no visible marks on her to show that she had died of other causes, and the Healers who did her autopsy concluded that all her internal organs were in working order, so it hadn't been a heart failure or a ruptured lung that had killed her.

What everyone wanted to know now was the identity of the person behind her murder. It couldn't have been any of the Death Eaters: they were all locked up in Azkaban, and there was no way they could escape now, not after the Ministry increased the security around the prison after the last time they had escaped. Besides, the Prophet would have reported an escape. There was talk of it being the monster that had Petrified so many students back in 1992, but it was quickly confirmed that Harry Potter had killed it that same year, and so that theory was discarded quickly.

No, everyone was forced to come to the conclusion that the murderer was someone within Hogwarts itself, someone who had sneaked in, or someone who was already in the school.

The chaos that followed Hermione's death was almost similar to the chaos that had happened following the escape of Sirius Black. The students were asked to sleep in the Great Hall once again, with teachers patrolling the corridors to keep an eye out for the murderer. The problem was, no one knew who the murderer was this time, and so no one was able to catch him. Suspicion and fear was abundant in the school, with people looking at their fellow classmates or teachers and wondering if they had been the one behind Hermione's death.

The most affected of all were Ron Weasley and Harry Potter. Of course they would be: they were Hermione's best friends, after all, before she had died. They came late to meals each day, Ron's eyes swollen and red from crying and Harry refusing to talk to anyone else, and they were often absent from classes. People had reported seeing the two of them in quiet corners around the school, Ron sobbing on Harry's shoulder while Harry patted his back comfortingly. Everyone sympathised with them, and the Gryffindors, especially, went out of their way to be nice to them. After all, everyone had lost people during the war, and they knew the pain of seeing your loved ones die.

Then, the next attack happened.

A pocket full of posies

The second person found dead was Ron Weasley.

Less than a month after Hermione's death, Ron was found on the same couch, in nearly the same position as Hermione: face turned up towards the ceiling, hands folded across his chest, the same look of terror and sadness in his eyes.

A white flower was clutched in his right hand.

This time, Ron was found by Ginny Weasley, who screamed when she saw her brother's dead body on the couch. Everyone in Gryffindor was woken immediately, and a horrified McGonagall was called down to the common room minutes after Ron's body was discovered.

The Aurors concluded that Ron had died in the same way Hermione had.

The students quickly concluded that this was a plot to kill off Hogwarts' Golden Trio, one by one. This idea was quickly abandoned as everyone remembered, once again, that the Death Eaters were all in Azkaban, and that no one else would be willing to kill off the best friends of the Saviour of the Wizarding World.

The Saviour himself was once again the most affected. Harry withdrew into himself, barely talking to anyone except to answer questions in class, and spending all his meals alone. He hadn't cried even when Hermione's body was found, and everyone wasn't surprised to see his lack of tears now. They concluded that he had become numb to the pain after all the people he had lost during the war, and while their hearts went out to him (poor boy, losing both his best friends, and so soon after the war too!), they were more worried about their own lives and what this murder might mean for them.

The culprit hadn't been caught, and there had been another murder at Hogwarts.

Could anyone really blame the students of Hogwarts for being paranoid and scared?

The silver lining to this, though, was that both the victims were Gryffindors: as selfish as it might sound, the students from the other houses really hoped it would stay this way.

Then, the third body was found, and it was followed closely by more.

Ashes, ashes

A week after Ron's body was found, other bodies started to appear with increasing frequency. Ginny Weasley was the first, the discovery of her body announced by a loud scream by Lavender, and a day after that, it was Neville Longbottom, who was found by Seamus Finnegan before Quidditch practice in the evening. The day after that, Luna Lovegood was found, and the discovery of a Ravenclaw dead in Gryffindor's common room caused widespread panic among the students. The Gryffindors were no longer the only ones being targeted, and they were no longer safe.

Seamus Finnegan, Dean Thomas, Parvati Patil.

Fingers were pointed towards Gryffindor House as people started to gossip. The bodies were all found in the Gryffindor common room, even the body of someone from another house. Surely that couldn't be a coincidence? Yet this thought was dismissed quickly: if the attacker had really been a Gryffindor, surely the first ones to have been attacked would have been the Slytherins, and not the best friends of the unofficial Prince of Gryffindor?

No, this could not be the work of a Gryffindor.

Lavender Brown, Padma Patil, Michael Corner.

Harry Potter, surprisingly, was still alive. Since the Gryffindors were the ones being targeted, surely he would have been the first to die? Yet as his fellow house mates died around him, he remained stubbornly alive, although he seemed to die a little each time someone else was found. He became a total recluse, refusing to speak even when asked questions in classes, and he was often seen walking around the school with his head down, eyes staring vacantly at the floor.

Maybe the attacker was too much of a coward to attack the Saviour, the students concluded.

Terry Boot, Ernie MacMillan, Draco Malfoy.

The appearance of a Slytherin among the people who were attacked caused renewed panic to spread among the students. The Slytherins had previously thought they were safe, as none of the victims were from their house. Yet now, the unofficial Prince of Slytherin was dead as well, and there was no telling whether one of them could be next. They were fair game as well.

Hannah Abbott, Susan Bones, George Weasley, Arthur Weasley, Molly Weasley.

After the deaths of nearly the whole of the Eighth Year at Hogwarts, as well as some of the lower years, panic spread again, both inside the school and out, when the dead bodies of people outside Hogwarts were found, all on the same couch in the Gryffindor Common Room. Previously, the general public outside the school had thought themselves safe, though they worried for the children inside Hogwarts. With the discovery of the murders of outsiders, however, people began to worry whether they would be the next victim.

Teddy Lupin, Andromeda Tonks, Minerva McGonagall.

The whole of Britain cried out in horror when the dead body of Teddy Lupin was found. He was so, so young, and the murderer had taken away his chance at living barely before it started.

Blaise Zabini, Pansy Parkinson, Theodore Nott, Gregory Goyle.

All twenty-six victims were found in the same position: on their backs on the couch, eyes staring unseeingly at the ceiling, arms crossed around their chests. All of them held a white flower in their right hands.

Harry Potter was now the only Eighth Year alive, and the Wizarding world clung to him in hope now. Their Saviour would save them again, save them from this mass murderer just as he had once saved them from the Dark Lord.

Then, the last body was found.

We all fall down

The message on the wall was not new to the students. They had seen something like this before back in 1992, when the Chamber of Secrets was open: a message written on the wall in blood. It was, however, new to the case, so the Aurors were called down once again to investigate.

The message simply said, "Together, forever and always."

Harry Potter's dead body was found a short while after in the Gryffindor common room, on the same couch. Just like the others, he lay on his back facing the ceiling, and his right hand clutched a white flower.

Unlike the others, his left hand clutched his wand, and his mouth was curled into a small, hopeful smile. His arms lay haphazardly, not arranged to be crossed neatly over his chest like the rest had been, and a cut was found on his right index finger.

Priori Incantatem on his wand revealed twenty-seven Avada Kedavras cast in the past two months.

There were no more deaths after that.