"A book, too, can be a star, a living fire to lighten the darkness, leading out into the expanding universe."

― Madeleine L'Engle

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My next class was Astronomy. It was with the Ravenclaws. Pan, Greta and Myrtle were waiting for me in the  Great Hall. I lurch forward to grab my book bag when something falls out of it. 

It was a pale blue paper that was connected to a bright yellow Marigold.

Marigolds were a symbol of death.

I pick it up and open the note, reading it silently.

Brows furrowed, I reread it twice. I place it in the back of my notebook with the other note, staring at them in concern.

The first attempt? First attempt? Survival?

I was going insane. What the hell? I grab my backpack and move towards the Great Hall. I see Tom stride by.

"I got another one."

My words have him whirling around and walking to stand right in front of me, causing the rest of his gang to stop and stare. In turn, everyone in the halls turned to look at us too.

His hand goes to his pocket, and he grabs another similar piece of pale blue paper. He hands it to me, and I rummage for my own piece of paper, handing it to him in turn.

I read it silently. It had the exact same words on it as mine did.

Avery pops up behind me and snatches the paper, his eyes furrowing in concern. "Again?" He asks. His tone causes Hagrid, Lestrange and Nott, who had been lagging behind Tom, rush forward. Tom hands the note to Nott absentmindedly, eyes drawn upwards in thought.

"So they will try to kill yo' two ter' night?" Hagrid tries to make sense of the situation.

"That's is what the note says, is it not?" Lestrange says, through gritted teeth. His tone makes me glare at him.

"Easy," I demand, pulling Avery and Tom to the side. Lestrange, Nott and Hagrid follow after us, making a barrier against intruding eyes.

"They said the attack will be tonight. So we just have to stay more alert than always." I move a tad closer to Tom, who nods in agreement.

"Just go to class as normal. We'll deal with the threat when night falls." Tom orders, the apparent authority leaking in his tone and stance. He taps my shoulder, giving me a meaningful look.

"Let me know if you see anything strange, Dumple. I'll do the same for you."

And then he leaves, his gang following after him. "Stay safe, Val." Hagrid smiles at me, and I grin softly. "Thanks," I say and turn around to meet my friends.

We had a couple hours to spend before Astronomy class, and I spend it helping Myrtle write up her Potions essay, while I wrote my own alongside her.

We decide to head to class a couple minutes before class started. We trudge up the steps and Myrtle, and I groan in unison, staring at the steps in agony. "Do we have to climb all of them," I whine.

"Yes, Val. Let's go!" Greta giggles, grabbing Myrtle's hand and leading her up. I don't miss the way Myrtle's face lights up bright red. Pan doesn't either.

"I hope it works out for them," Pan says sadly, linking her arms with mine.

I stare after them, with a soft smile of my own. "Yeah, Pan, I really hope so too." We climb up the stairs, telescopes and star charts in hand.

"No. More. Exercise. For. me." I grit out, heaving. "Why does the Astronomy class have to be in the highest level of the damn Astronomy tower!??" I heave, making Pan burst into a fit of giggles.

"I have no idea." A voice breathes from behind us. We jump around only to see our Astronomy Professor, Auriella Sinistra, striding inside after us. She winks at us, topaz eyes alit in mirth, literally gliding inside the class.

Although the Astronomy class was such a struggle to get to, it was insanely beautiful, especially at night. Sequin-silver stars like the scattered embers of a dying fire winked down at me. It always enamoured me whenever I came up here.

I move to set up my telescope beside Pan's and wait for class to start up.

"Alright, everyone. Let's get out our Star sheets. I'd like for you to fill them out before the end of class and hand them back to me. Your homework for the next class will be an essay on the fundamentals of Jupiter's moons. This will be worth twenty-five percent of your grade." Sinistra grins when everyone groans.

"It'll be six thousand words, and I want it to be top-notch as this is based on an O.W.L subject." She claps her hands, making us begin.

I begin to fill in my star chart humming to myself slowly.

It was an hour or two when the first rumble is heard. Everyone freezes.

Then the second one comes.

At first, no-one moves, our brains unable to make sense of the input from our ears and feet. The ground started to move, with the third thump heard. The noise was like extended thunder with heavy vibrations that knocked some of my classmates over.

"Everyone calm down." Our professor was trying to get us to stop panicking. "It's probably a prank." She grins, but I see the nervous flicker in her eyes.

We hear the screams start below us the second the door explodes open.

"Oh my gosh." I breathe in terror.

There, staring at us in rage, was a massive troll. It was around twelve feet and looked like it weighed up to a tonne.

"BACK!!" Professor Sinistra was shrieking at her students to step away from the doors. The screams were deafening.

"That's a mountain troll." Greta breathes, growing pale as she and Myrtle step closer to Pan and me.

Indeed that was a mountain troll. The most significant and violent of the various troll species. With grey skin, a lumpy body, and flat horny feet, it exuded a powerfully awful smell and extensive strength.

That isn't what has me paling even more, though.

Three more of them enter the tower, causing the architecture of the balcony we were on to creak.

There were even more of them coming up the stairs.

"SOMEBODY HELP!!!" Myrtle starts to scream, causing everyone else to freak out. Like a switch has been flicked, everyone moves for safety, all of them on the autopilot mode that all-consuming fear creates.

The main doors were blocked, and the trolls were advancing on us.

Let's see you survive.

These idiots were after Tom and me. I'd be damned if anyone got hurt because some weirdo had a vendetta against us.

Professor Sinistra was shooting highly complex spells, trying to get the trolls confused. "OUT THE BACK DOOR HURRY!!" She shrieks at all of us, and the students go running.

"VAL!!" Pan screams!! "Let's GO!" She tries to grab my arm, but I see more trolls head towards our professor.

"Run. I'll be behind you. Hurry." I quip at her, before whipping out my wand and casting a spell."Turburnis Magmum!" I shout, sending a vast tornado in their direction.

I rush forward in their moment of high confusion to grab my professor's arm. "Come on!!" I demand, and we race towards the back door only to see that Pan, Myrtle and Greta were waiting for me anxiously.

"Why didn't you run!?" I hiss at them.

"We weren't leaving you!!!" Greta cries in fear.

"Hurry along my children." Sinistra ushers us along, her dark complexion growing paler and paler with her fear.

We race down the steps only to be thrown back when a troll blasts through the walls in front of us, blocking our escape.

Behind us, the trolls from the tower had raced past the tornado I'd created and were running down the steps.

"Knock it out!" Greta shouts, shaking me drastically.

"ANY IDEAS ON HOW!!?" I shriek, getting annoyed.

I hated trolls. They freaking traumatized me back in first year. Stupid Ron hurting Hermione's feelings.

We all scream when the troll attacks us. I duck as its club smashes the place I'd just been in.

Yeah, I was right. They were after me.

"THEY EAT HUMAN FLESH!!!" Greta screams.

"GRETA YOU AREN'T HELPING!!" Pan snaps in terror.

"Stupefy!" Sinistra exclaims, sending the stunning spell at the side of the wall where the troll was beside, distracting it temporarily.

"Reducto!" Pan shouts, causing the opposing wall to explode, and we look down to see the green grass of the Courtyard. Students had run outside and were screaming in fear, pointing to our predicament in horror.

"JUMP!" Sinistra orders us.

"THAT'S FIFTY FEET UP!!" Greta shrieks. Sinistra pushes her first, jumping after her.

I look behind me and see the trolls gaining up on us. "Confringo!" I snap, blasting the spell by my wand. The stairs explode in a fiery burst.

"LET'S GO!" Pan screams and shoves me off the side of the building, only for me to drag both Myrtle and Pan with me. We all scream.

I hit the floor with a thump. I yell out in pain, my left hand sizzling in distress.

"Ow! That's broken. That's broken!!" I cry out, tears blurring my eyes. "Pan!!" I call out to the wailing girl, clutching her ankle. Myrtle was bleeding out of her leg, and I was panicking because the stupid arse troll had decided to jump after us.

The ground explodes with the weight of his jump. My eyes go black, and I encircle my friends in one of my lightning circles.

"Fulgura Fulmen!" I grit out. Instant lightning starts to attack the trolls that got too close. "Abaddon." I murmur in a hush, and the dark magic spreads to my hand, healing it a tad.

"Why the hell are there trolls on Hogwarts land?!" He rages.

"Like hell if I know."

I snap up my wand and send their clubs flying back at me, only to snap them right back. They collide into the trolls.

"VAL!!!" Myrtle screams. "REDUCTO!" I hear her shout and see the spell coming up right at me. I throw myself to the side just as Myrtle's spell slams into a troll coming up behind me.

The spell causes the mountain troll's club to explode.

"Holy shite." I breathe. Someone hauls me up by my arm, and I witness Alastor Moody glaring at me.

"UP! Do you want to die!?" He snarls, and I scowl at him.

"Yes, actually. That's exactly what I've been trying to do for the past hour!" I snap. "Incendio!" I shout, blasting my hand open and sending out a stream of fire in front of the troll who was trying to race up towards us.

"Where are the teachers!?" Pan grits out, clutching her ankle in pain. I whip out my palm, instantly healing her broken ankle, doing the same to Myrtle.

"Thanks." Pan grumbles, moving over towards us but stopping because of the protective shield I'd placed on them.

"Sorry." I grin sheepishly at them and then Alastor was shooting spells at the trolls in a dizzying rate.

I look around, seeing that everyone was fighting at least one troll.

I don't see Hagrid at all. He was easily spottable out of all the students.

No Hagrid meant no Tom and the rest of his friends. My face blanches.

"If anything has happened to them," I mutter, turning to Alastor.

"There are students still stuck inside. I'm going in." I say, and he nods.

"Don't. Get. Killed." He grits out. "I'll cover you." He snaps, long blonde hair swaying side to side as he lunged and attacked Trolls coming in all directions.

"GO!" He snaps, and I start to run.

"First they ignore you. Then they ridicule you. And then they attack you and want to burn you. And then they build monuments to you."

― Nicholas Klein