Here we are: a sneak peek at the sequel. It's called So a Shadow Falls, and the (full) first chapter is up!

For Andrew Fawley, the last day of summer holidays was exceptional only for the fact that it meant that the next day he would be leaving his home, quite probably for the last time. He wasn't sad about it at the moment; but he had been throughout the past few weeks, and was sure that he would be once more when the time actually came to leave, and again each time he made the choice not to return. He loved his home and his parents, loved jumping from gala to party to season ball and seeing friends and meeting new people, loved the fields outside the house, far enough away from society for playing a pick up game of quidditch, or for just flying solo. But those things had been clouded this summer. Often, he'd encountered his parents in whispered discussion, sometimes alone, sometimes with others; more often they were gone—"on business", his father said. He'd begun to decline invitations to parties to avoid seeing the faces of his friends' parents, because each time he saw them, he couldn't help but wonder if they, too, had robes and masks hidden away in back closets. He still trained for quidditch and practiced spells, and even ventured to read a few of the more interesting books in his family's library, but it wasn't quite enough.

Really, he'd known it wouldn't be from the moment he'd seen his parents upon returning home. They'd hugged him and asked if he was okay and he'd stumbled through answers to their questions but he couldn't stop his mind from producing an image of them in death eater hoods, standing over the body of one of his best friends. He hadn't really admitted it to himself, however, until his father began to speak with him about his NEWTs.

"Ministry work would be good to pursue, we always need more people there. But whatever you have in mind will have to do, I suppose. People in all areas can work toward the cause. They'll let you join straight out, of course." Andrew had bitten down numerous sarcastic retorts, knowing that they wouldn't help. That, at least, was one thing he'd learned from being a Slytherin: there were many ways to use words as tools outside of them being weapons.

"I've been looking into being a hit-wizard," he replied instead. The conversation ended there, because of course his father hadn't been interested in what he wanted to pursue, so long as it didn't shame the family. His message had been clear: Andrew would become a death eater as soon as he graduated from Hogwarts. After the initial shock of it—which he began to wonder why he felt at all, Andrew had begun to plan.

Many, many times, he'd been plagued with doubt. Until the end of June, he'd've never even considered turning his back on his parents—on his whole world really. It wasn't something to take lightly. Other times, he asked himself why he was doing it at all. To become best friends with a bunch of people who hated that world, that lifestyle; people he'd been raised to hate in return? People who perhaps would never truly accept him? Sometimes, even the picture of Cassius dead wasn't enough to assuage his doubts. Somehow, though, he was here, a day before term began, scanning his room one last time to see if there was anything more to pack.

He'd had to charm his trunk with an undetectable extension charm; and had filled it with everything he thought he might want or need. Some things, he'd gathered throughout the summer in frequent trips to Diagon Alley: buying a few new sets of robes, many options ingredients, basic spellbooks that Adrian insisted he own, new quills and ink and parchment (far more than he'd need for the school year), and much more, withdrawing money in small portions at the same time, to set aside for the future. He'd even convinced his mother that, as an adult, he should have his own owl rather than using the family's—a tawny he'd named Diomedes.

Seeing the spaces where his things had sat—where, in his head, they belonged—a bit of sadness began to twitch its way back to the surface, but he shoved it down. There would be time for that tomorrow. For now, he had to last one more day telling his parents the biggest lie he ever had, and avoiding any conversations that may give him away.