Below the Astronomy Tower

Dumbledore's corpse.

A crowd began to form around the corpse, Rachel and Max included that crowd. Rachel then glanced up at the sky, and then she pointing and starting screaming about the above Dark Mark.

Olivia had somehow felt compelled to go outside and join the gathering crowd as well, probably because quite a few others were headed that way. She didn't exactly know why, since she couldn't see the corpse past the rest of the crowd, but she could sure as heck see the dark mark as well as anyone else.

"OLIVIA!" screamed Rachel, and she ran over and hugged the small, pale girl the second she saw her, despite the fact they haven't talked in MONTHS. "Do-do you know what happened yet?!" she asked, after seeing the look of confusion on Olivia's face.

"Death Eaters? Why are we outside?" Olivia kept glancing up at the dark mark.

"Dumbledore is dead... or someone... killed him... or something!" she said with a shaking voice. She then raised a shaking finger towards the small circle the crowd was surrounding. "Over there!"

Olivia stared at Rachel, eyes wide. "What."

Nicolas was stuck behind the crowd, because he definitely wasn't the tallest nor strongest, and wasn't able to push his way through. He could clearly see the Dark Mark above the castle, and stared up at it in horror. Not only because he knew Hogwarts was under attack, but it meant that You-Know-Who and his followers were around. He knew they hunted Muggle-borns. He'd hoped, maybe, that You-Know-Who wasn't going to rise to power, and it would all blow over. But now, it was set-in-stone. Death Eaters were invading Hogwarts. Nicolas--and other Muggle-borns--were in deep trouble. He'd have to go into hiding. He most likely couldn't finish his Hogwarts education. And, according to the voices of the crowd, Dumbledore was dead. Things couldn't possibly get any worse.

"Dumbledore... is DEAD!" she said, quite a lot louder then how she said it earlier.

Olivia continued to stare up at Rachel, apparently unable to comprehend the words 'dead' 'Dumbledore' and 'is', all being used in one sentence.

"Olivia?" she whispered, trying to hold back tears.

Kelsi ran out here with Libby, seeing the crowd gather. She grabbed Libby's wrist and pushed through the crowd, despite being small. Soon, she stumbled to the front of the crowd, where she saw the corpse. Her eyes widened, and her hand dropped to her side. She began shaking, and a tear ran down her cheek. "Libby- He's D-d-de-..." She pressed her fingers against her mouth.

"Dead," Libby finished the sentence for her. She bit her lower lip, hard, to keep herself from crying. She knew she had to stay strong. "Kels... Dumbledore's one of the greatest wizards in history. If he's dead... we're all screwed."

Kelsi pressed her fingers against her mouth even harder, and kept her eyes wider. Her vision blurred from the tears. She wasn't going to blink, though, she wasn't going to let them fall down her cheeks any more. But her shoulders kept shaking. Turning her head away from the horrifying sight, she looked up to the sky at the Dark Mark. Then, she decided to join the few students that were bawling loudly.

Leaving the bawling Kelsi, Libby elbowed her way through the crowd to find Max. She couldn't stay around Kelsi, and her other friends were probably sobbing, too. She hoped Max wouldn't, so Libby wouldn't be tempted to join the crowd of upset students.

No, Max wasn't crying-he was more so in a type of shell-shock. He was one of the first people to realize what happened and to arrive down in the courtyard, so he was able to see now dead body of Dumblebore. And there he was, just staring at it, with many things running through his mind.

[i]"How...? could...? what?..." But Max was getting no answers. He was just receiving more questions.

"Max!" Libby exclaimed once she had reached him. "Max... snap out of it!" she said a bit harshly, to get him to snap out of his shock.

"What?!" he asked a bit too shaprly. "Just... what?"

Olivia finally snapped out of her trance. She smiled nervously. "Well, we're screwed, aren't we?" Her voice was slightly choked.

Libby glared at him. "Well, Dumbledore just died. That's what. And all of my friends are probably crying their eyes out and I don't want to join them. I thought maybe you'd like the presence of your girlfriend at a time like this."

"Don't look at me like that!" he snapped. "You're making me feel nervous." But he sighed. "I'm sorry. But this isn't the time to get into arguments and little conversations like this."

~

"No! Well," she looked down at her feet, and she whispered guilty that matched the look on her face. "I'm not, anyway."

"M-me neither... technically..." Olivia looked up at the dark mark again. "But..."

"It's fine," Libby whispered, quickly forgiving him. She didn't want something stupid like a repeat of fourth-year Triwizard Tournament at a time like this. "Now... I don't know what we're going to do."

Nicolas, on the other hand, was still on the edge of the crowd, staring up at the Dark Mark, transfixed, horrified.

Kelsi couldn't bare the sight anymore. Libby's words echoed vaguely in her mind. We're screwed... screwed... She pushed past a few first years, one of them falling over from her force. She didn't care. We're screwed... Who cares? She may act blunt. She may be blank at times. But she knows what goes around. If Dumbledore's gone, so's Hogwart's safety, reputation, and honor. She may as well give herself in to the Death Eaters now. Screwed... Finally she broke out of the crowd, and walked past a few second years who just arrived at the scene, with confused, frightened looks. "What happened?" one of them whispered.

Kelsi turned around, with a cheesy smile on her face. "You shouldn't be worrying about what happened," she said in a shaky voice. "You should be worried by what's going to happen." She didn't really know why she said those words, or why she made herself look sinister and unpleasant, but it doesn't take a Trelawney nutcase to figure out that bad stuff's going to happen.

"We have to be brave." said Max in a simple manner. "But," he looked back at the Dark Mark, looking frightened. "Easier said then done."

~

"I'll be right back..." mumbled Rachel, slipping away from Olivia, to Nick. She then approached, and wrapped her arms around, burying her face into his shoulder, and she began to sob.