NEWS

Sleep had come easy to Lincoln that night. Sure it was Halloween, but nothing out of the ordinary had happened at the school. There were the secret parties, some of which were still going on no doubt, but that didn't matter. For Durmstrang, things had been relatively quiet and for that he was thankful. Although, truth be told, Lincoln should have seen that as an obvious warning. Things had gone too smoothly that night. Yet, the still young headmaster was tired and his bed had called to him in such a warm, loving voice.

There it was again. It had to be the middle of night, and as Lincoln blinked his eyes open he saw that it was in fact. The moon was directly above his skylight, indicating that it was in fact the first of November. As he became more aware, the Bulgarian man realized the sound he had heard was an owl tapping on his window. Getting up from bed the tired man ambled across his room and opened the window. Flying in the owl circled the room once, depositing a letter on his bed before flying back out the window and into the night sky.

Just like the damn birds... I should have just opened the window with magic. Though Lincoln as he closed the window behind the silly bird. Turning he summoned his wand and lit a few candles as he walked back to his bed to examine the letter.

It was a simple piece of parchment, but with an official seal. Someone from the ministry had sent him a letter. Slightly worried, Lincoln opened the letter and immediately recognized the hand writing. It was from Galin. The smile that had first started to grace his face quickly faded as he read short note. Something bad had happened that night and his quiet night had just come to an abrupt end.

Walking out of the fireplace into his office Lincoln was glad he had connected the fireplace in his office to the one in his bedroom. Soon his staff would be appearing, either through the door or the fireplace because he had summoned them to his office for an emergency meeting. In a matter of hours he was going to be announcing to the school that three of his students have been murdered, no, had passed on while at a party that night. He would tell them they were good kids but if they had just followed his rules about not going out on Halloween the would most likely still be there. He would put off answering questions and deny accusations that that the Chancellor had had anything to do with the deaths. He would once again, lie to his students in order to preserve what shreds of innocence they still had.

Head in his hands, Lincoln sat behind his desk, waiting for his staff to arrive. Things were supposed to be different, better now that the Americans were here, but things were worse now. Now it was a completely outside force acting on everything instead of a European fight for freedom... whatever that was.

Bastien lay awake in bed, staring at the moon throughout his window. It was nerve wrecking to sleep at night for hi m now, he’d always dream of something that didn’t bode will with his body and ultimately awaken him in a sweat. Instead he stayed up most nights, and passed off the bitterness with coffee and a forced smile. He lingered for the moon. It seemed free and unwilling to be tide down by rules of man, wizard, or woman. It was its own person, and Bastien used to be just like it. He remembered times before he conformed into such a bitter man. He was happiest in school, but now he was lonely. It didn’t help that he also had been sleeping with Galin on the side. He grunted at the thought, he did like the boy and his ways to please him, but now he was just another selfish user in the male species. Sure it could be seen that Galin allows it, but he himself always dealt in emotions over meaningless, pleasurable, sex. He didn’t know if he could continue to do it, it ate away ate him even while he was in the middle of it. He pulled the covers back, standing in only his boxers. He walked to the desk and sat down, flipping on a light and opening a book marked by a feather from his owl; Covent.

He cleared his voice, and leaned in scanning various paragraphs on the page. It was a collection of articles produced over the last five years, collected into one book. He often trailed his thought by diving into the obvious attention of the book. It hadn’t been long before he received news that Headmaster Lincoln need all staff to his office immediately. Bastien groaned, it was already late and now he would have to apparate to his office. Deep in his gut, Bastien knew the news wasn’t good. Lincoln rarely called an urgent meeting if the news wasn’t of up most severity. He stood and walked over grabbing a pair of pants and shirt. As he slipped them on, he noticed that the clouds now darkened the shine from the room. That was never a good sign in his opinion, then again, neither was receiving notices late at night. He tied his shoes and pulled a jacket around his body. He wasn’t going to dress up for this meeting, he was irked enough nothing was going to make him happy right now.

He pulled his wand out and held it with grace, and with one faint swoop he apparated out of the room and into Headmaster Lincoln office. He stood there, his face showed his annoyance for the disturbance. Who would have thought that five years was enough to break the nice boy he once was? He cleared his throat and moved towards the desk. When he spoke, his voice had a raspy tone to it now; as though he’d not been drinking any type of fluids for days.

“This had better be good, Lincoln. It’s late, I’m tired, and we have to be here. And…” He noticed the look on Lincoln’s face and toned down his rant. He took a seat in the chair, and let his head fall to the side while his eyes stayed focus on his boss. “What happened?” He immediately knew the news wasn’t bad, His eyes showed the tired in them, the faint not giving a damn attitude could be seen as well. He hated how he felt, but without sleep he wasn’t exactly the most eager man to be around these days and it look like that wasn’t going to change any time soon either.

"...as long as you both shall live?"

"I do."

"You may now kiss the bride."

He turned to face her, his dark complexion contrasting yet uniquely complementing her pale skin. His face was full of joy, of excitement, of nervousness. She smiled up at him, encouraging him. Everything was perfect, nothing was going to go wrong. Not today. Today was their day. His chocolate brown eyes sparkled with love and joyous ecstasy as he leaned towards her to seal the vows they both had made to each other. This was it. This was the moment that they will both remember for the rest of their lives. She could hear the guests' hushed voices ending abruptly, holding their breath almost, waiting for the moment to come. The kiss. It was the one thing she had dreamt about for months before the actual wedding. It was going to be perfect, absolutely perfect.

Silence surrounded them as he leaned in, placing his dark lips -- those sweet, soft, delicious lips -- upon her own, his strong, securing arms wrapping protectively and selfishly around her body, as if to say that she was his and his alone. She could hear fireworks, applause, cheering, but none of it really mattered. They were in love, so deeply in love, that the only thing she thought about was him. She couldn't help but grin, though, as her senses began to come alive once more, bringing her back to reality. She opened her eyes to look at the crowd of people that had gathered for this special day--

Lana's eyes opened to darkness. She blinked, slightly confused. This wasn't her wedding. Though, once she realized where she was, the professor felt slightly embarrassed. Of course. She was still at Durmstrang, and it had been five years after her wedding. Five wonderful yet horrible years, filled with both joy and fear, love and worry. Svetlana sat up in her bed, rubbing her weary eyes, ridding them of the remaining sleep that had not already vanished. She looked at the clock across the room and saw with a heavy sigh that it was late -- or early, depending on how you looked at it. After three in the morning, in fact. Not the best time to wake up when you have lessons to plan and parchments to grade. Lana hated missing out on her sleep. She was not the best person to be around when she hadn’t had time to rest her eyes and let her body rejuvenate. In fact, she was downright cranky and quite irritable.

The professor found what had awoken her as soon as she swung her feet around and placed them on the floor. A note was lying on her bedside table, addressed to her in Lincoln’s handwriting. Four words were scrawled across the front: Emergency meeting, my office. Svetlana frowned, clearly confused and slowly starting to worry. What was wrong? Was there danger to the school, to the students? Her first thoughts splashed images of chaos across her mind, filled with running and screaming and blood. No, if that were the case, Lincoln would have woken everyone up, including the students. This was something different, and realizing that, Lana’s heart rate subsided back to its normal beating. Still, the note made her curious. What was going on? The Headmaster would never call an emergency meeting this late without having something important that needed to be addressed. So, convinced that this was a meeting she needed to attend, the professor quickly bundled her hair up in a ponytail, grabbed a suitable robe to cover herself with, and walked briskly towards Lincoln’s office, making sure to make as little noise as possible.

Entering, she found herself not alone. There were a few others -- Lincoln himself, obviously, and Bastien, and one other professor Lana did not know as well as the former two. She frowned, her eyes fixing on the Headmaster in a mix of curiosity and worry. She saw his face, and did not say anything. Bastien opened his mouth and began to speak, but he must have caught sight of Lincoln’s face as well, because he soon fell silent before asking what had happened. Lana was wondering the same thing, and waited for Lincoln to answer. What went wrong?

There had been good days and bad ones. Days when everything seemed to blend together and days that had stood out from the rest. Today was going to be one of the latter days, on both counts. Lifting his head from his hands the Headmaster sighed. There was no easy way to say this... none what so ever.

Leaning back into the plush leather that covered his throne like chair, Lincoln began to speak. "You will most likely want to sit down for this.". He paused. eyes watering for a few seconds as he blinked back tears. Those had been the words he had heard three years prior. The words he had heard, but not really comprehended; the words that proceeded the worst news he had ever received. Recovering slightly, Lincoln continued in a flat, almost bored voice. The kind of voice he used after discussing inventories for hours on end. It was not the kind of voice that those he was about to talk about deserved, but it was the voice he had to use. He was Lincoln Raev, Headmaster of Durmstrang and people looked to him for direction. It was his duty to put on a brave front.

"As I'm sure all of you are aware, death is just another part of life. Death has been studied by Unspeakables for years, perhaps decades. Its simply another step in life. A step that most take when they have lived full lives, a step when they don't have to worry about too much. A time when they are as ready as they will ever be."

Way to go Lincoln. They are probably thinking that you really have gone off the deep end now. Then again, when you finally get to the point, they will probably be jumping off the deep end just like you have. The headmaster had paused, his eyes had drifted, almost as if he were day dreaming. Shaking his head, Lincoln brought himself back to reality. This was no time to be letting his mind wander. He had to get his head out of the clouds.

Lincoln cleared his throat before continuing, in a different track, but all the paths were in the end really the same one. As I'm sure all of you know, it was Halloween, October 31st a few hours ago at most. Somehow, I find it fitting that that this is a discussion we are having on all saints day, but that is irrelevant...

Lincoln Raev did it again, he paused. Lost in his own thoughts, and as the moments became minutes his mind wandered back to that night. The night he had found out Emma and Oliver had died. Today was the three year anniversary of that fateful day, give or take a few hours.

I'm sorry I keep pausing. The first of November is a painful day for me. But that is no excuse when I dragged you out of bed at this late hour. Tonight the Chancellor held a great ball, to celebrate two years of the ceasefire. It was a event that I did my best to keep out of this institution. Sadly, my efforts failed and my worries were proven correct, just not in the way I had thought they would. At some point during the celebration, an eyewitness informed me, that the Chancellor cast Fiendfyre. It engulfed everyone on the dance floor, burning them to death. Those that tried to help the burning crowds, soon found themselves melting as well. The eyewitness that informed of this event told me that he saw three Durmstrang students, two boys and a girl, burn to death, the flesh literally melting off their faces."

Taking out his wand, Lincoln summoned a glass of cool water. His gulping filled the office as he parched his dried throat. A few deep breaths later, Lincoln continued before anyone could speak.

"Tomorrow, November 2nd, there will be no classes. We will be having a memorial service for the students that perished in the flames. If students don't seem like themselves later today, its most likely because they have heard about the events of last night. I know I don't need to remind you, but I'll say it anyway. Please remember that its your duty as Professors to be there for your students in whatever capacity they may need. And, if you have any questions, I will take them now."

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