1

The low rumble sent shivers down the old cat's back, shaking the wall underneath her. She counted the seconds, expecting a bright flash to strike in the sky. Nothing prepared her for the exact opposite. In a blink, almost every light in her sight extinguished leaving her sat alone in an unnatural darkness; as of this moment, her only friends were the stars shining dimly above her, almost as though they too had been extinguished by the force. A shiver ran down her spine as another crash of thunder overpowered her earlobes.

To anybody stupid enough to look out of their windows in this condition, all they would see would be a black and grey cat sat on the wall of a house not unlike all of the others with their neatly cut grass, perfectly straight flower beds with petunias and hydrangeas growing eerily evenly spaced out. No house had any differences really, minus the different types of cars on each gravel driveway and the flowers growing in their beds, some grew daffodils and tulips, some grew roses and daisies. The colourful parade of flowers along this street of the creepy clones of houses was a lovely break from the monotony of same old, same old. However, if one of these people were to really look, the unusually consuming darkness on the streets and de-illuminated thunder and lightning wouldn't be the only strange thing happening on Privet Drive at half 8 at night. The old cat that sat flickering its long tail with attitude and impatience did not move. Not for the weird thundering, not for the distant slam of car doors, not for the piercing wail of a terrified child. She sat as still as a garden gnome. Just waiting; the darkness only seemed to make her sit even more rigid, still just waiting.

Minutes, maybe hours, passed. The old cat didn't know anymore, she had lost track of the time a few hours into sitting on the cold bricks. A dark figure emerged from the darkness like it was just being born from it, with a long flowy stream falling from where its face ought to have been, seemingly merging with what appeared to be a long cloak. The old cat did not move, she was not afraid of this figure. Instead, she merely rolled her leafy eyes and lept from the wall, heading in the direction of the silhouette. Mid-jump, the figure of a middle-aged woman spurted from the body of the cat, its black and grey fur transforming into a tight silver-speckled bun at the back of her head.

"Where the hell have you been? What is happening? What's going on? I've heard rumours…" the woman screeched at the figure, pausing to take a breath and adopt a calmer approach as she said sternly, "Was there any need to turn off all the lights like that?"

The figure startled at the stream of questions from the woman it clearly didn't see and turned around slowly and met her eyes with its own ocean blue ones. The figure smiled in a friendly way, "Minerva! You almost scared me to death," the figure said in a jolly voice, completely skipping over her questions.

"Albus-" the woman wasn't able to finish her interrogation of the figure, who had turned its back on her once again and began striding confidently down the paved path to number four. Minerva scowled for a moment watching her oldest friend wander into a stranger's property before hastily following after him, deciding she was finally safer with him than she was alone.

Albus looked over his shoulder, his eyes reflecting the minimal light on the streets through his half-moon shaped glasses, peering at the woman behind him walking like a woman much younger than her age, with a lot of class and a hint of the rigidness from being sat on that wall for hours on end.

"Minerva, it's not safe," he said firmly, clearly not like him at all as the woman's face tensed immediately. She pursed her lips, thinking as to how best to say what she was thinking. Finally, she decided, relaxed her face and told Albus calmly, "No, I don't care, I made a vow."

Albus didn't see the use in arguing with her; he was on a mission, and an important one at that.

"Fine, but no questions until we get back to the castle. You must do as I say without thinking about it. We have roughly 9 and a half seconds until we begin."

Minerva, without saying another word, counted in her head. One…Two…Three…Four…Five…Six…Seven…Eight…Ni-

Thunder crashed and the streetlights around them flickered for a few seconds before plunging them back into darkness. The pair eagerly searched the area around them with their eyes.

This was the moment of a new beginning.

Their eyes finally locked onto the latest anomaly. The moon glowed bright, unnaturally bright. Definitely brighter than it was just a moment before. The pair looked at each other with a matching excited fear gleaming in their aged eyes. Within the bare seconds they had looked away, the moon gleamed even brighter above their heads, expanding in size like Minerva's pupils as the worst of ideas intruded her curious thoughts: what if he's back?

Even for a woman so educated in the way of magic, this was not as much of a stupid thought as you might think. Sure, it wasn't the everyday occurrence that a horrifying being created from the purest of dark magic resurrects itself within a mere three days of it finally being wiped from existence after over three decades of reigning authenticated terror over every living thing on the planet, but it also wasn't unlike Voldemort to break through the boundaries of magic.

As the moon started glowing more and more and growing in size, Albus and Minerva began noticing a distant noise, like a growl, but breaking and stuttering every now and then. It didn't take long for the light to be near blinding, causing the two to believe the moon was swerving in place as it headed straight towards them. Out of pure fear and desperation, Minerva stepped quickly to Albus' side and grasped his hand so tight he began to fear he would lose his hand before his life. Silently, the pair closed their eyes and braced for their inevitable deaths…