Home

Serenity Gates Everyone was asleep. No-one was even awake and a quick spell had ensured that everyone would stay in their current state of conciousness for at least four hours. Of course, everyone had been accounted for before this had been done. If anything had been learnt, it was that power brought priviledges.

With no chance of being disturbed, the entrance to the common room had been barricaded, and wards had been put up on the staircases.

It had to be found. If it wasn't... they were all in danger. After leaving the History of Magic classroom she had regained control of her senses, and as she began to methodically destroy the common room she was comepletely aware of everything she was doing. It had to be done.

Two hours later she was sat in the middle of the common room, a coin lying on the palm of her hand.

Around her was utter devestation. The portraits on the wall were nothing but charred pieces of canvas and all the chairs were now worthless pieces of material and burnt wood. Floorboards had been ripped from the floor, and were strewn about the ruins of the common room. The fireplace had exploded, the ancient brickwork revealed and more bricks over the ruined floor. A small fire burned where a table had once stood. Looking up, she surveyed the disaster.

And she laughed.

It wasn't true laughter, but a hysterical, mirthless laughter which would have sent chills down your backbone.

Standing, she pulled her wand from the pocket of her robes and removed the spells that she had cast before silently exiting the common room.

It was going to take a lot more than a cleaning charm to clear up this mess.

~~~
Francisco Hardy Francisco was fast a sleep upstairs in his dormitory. His dreams slient and dark, but yet filled with colorful images of what he wanted to be in his future. His visions of life after Hogwarts.

The hours past as he continued to sleep, but there was something wrong, he could feel it in his sleep, but couldn't do anything about it. He was forced to sleep.

After many hours had past, he awoke immediatly. He rushed down to the main dorm, only to find a complete mess inside the common room. What could have done this? Or not even what, but who?

~~~
Brooke de Black Brooke slept fitfully again. Despite terrible fatigue her rest of late had been disturbed as she dreamed of twisted figures their faces filled with hate and in the midst of it all, her mother, for some inexplicable reason laughing and laughing. The laughter rang in Brooke's head as she started awake with a jump which shook the very breath in her.

Brooke ran her fingers through her long dark hair and sat upright. It was still not yet dawn, although the first glimmers of light showed their fingertips over the windowsill.

Then she glance over to Ren. Her bed was neatly made and unruffled. It was a bed that had not been slept in that night. Brooke's head was still aching and numbly she took one of the bright orange tablets which the medic had prescribed the previous day and took a long drink of fresh, still spring water.

Where Ren could be was uncertain. True, she often stayed up late these days, working or with her mother, but not all night.

Brooke swung her long legs from under the big fluffy duvet and went out onto the top landing to see if perchance Ren had fallen asleep over a book in the common room below.

And was greeted by a sight of utter devastation. A sight of total ruination. All of their beloved possessions, seven years worth of their life had been torn, ripped, shredded, burned.

Brooke let out a cry, then saw that she was not alone. Francisco stood directly below her.

"Cisco?" she whipered loudly, "What the hell...?" she stopped and gesticulated wildly round.

~~~
Francisco Hardy Francisco stared up into Brooke's eyes. He could tell she was thinking he was the one who did such a terrible thing. But yet, he was not.

"Brooke!" he said, his mind racing. "I don't know what happened. I could feel something dark in the common room, but couldn't awake." he started his way around the room, cleaning up all the mess.

~~~
Brooke de Black Brooke's mind raced. He felt something dark in the common room, she herself was plagued with nightmares coming thick and fast and filling her nights with dread and her days with pain. The common room, their beloved Ravenclaw common room was reduced to rubble and charred wood. And Ren had not been to bed that night.

Brooke swept her hair from her face and rubbed her eyes. It couldnt be. No, she had seen with her own eyes the damage inflicted. How the shards of wire had cut so deep. Yet the evidence of her own mind and the physical destruction in front of her forced Brooke to face a possibilty. The very worst possibilty of all.

Yet she may be wrong. She prayed on Merlin's name that she might be so. But for now she could not alarm anyone. Ren might be with her mother, might be in the library. She must look.

"Nice one Cisco, I am sure it cant be that bad, surface burns," she muttered and dashed back to their dorm to fling on some old jeans and a little blue jumper. She grabbed a brush, swept it through her hair, pushed her feet in her sneakers and was out of the door and down the stairs in a matter of minutes.

She had to find Serenity.

~~~
Francisco Hardy Francisco watched as Brooke raced up and around the common room. He was confused by the whole thing. He had heard of things like this going on last year, but he hadn't lived it. Till now.

"Brooke, where are you going? You can't go out alone, it's to dangerous, not with what just happened here in the common room." he said urgentness in his voice.

He rushed up to his dorm, grabbed a pair of jeans a tight black shirt, and his wand. He wasn't leaving the common room without it. Once he had gotten everything he wanted, he made his way back down.

"Alright, we can go now. Your not going out without me. And don't try to lose me either."

~~~
Francisco Hardy "It's fine, no problem Cisco, I am only going to look for Ren, she must be with her mum, I need to go," Brooke said distractedly, hurrying over the still smouldering remains of the Quidditch board with just a small tear in her eye, which she shamedly wiped away.

The pain in her head seemed to have buried itself deep behind her eyes and every footfall hurt so much.

Yet Cisco showed no desire to be left behind but was tagging along behind her.

"Stay here, Cisco," she said, yet he still didnt move. "Look I am sure everything's all right, but well just in case... I am a seventh year, I am not gonna be responsible for you," she said quite angrily and jumping over a sofa, tipped over to block the door, its springs hanging out, she crawled out of the entrance and ran down the corridor, her wand in her hand. She didnt look back to see if Cisco was following or not.

~~~
Francisco Hardy Francisco was determined to follow Brooke. She wasn't going to get away with wondering the corridors alone. He was going to follow her.

With a flick of his wand, the sofa covering the door, went flying across the room. And he walked out the common room door. Following Brooke throughout the corridors.