TW AND CW: mentions of violence, mentions of death, blood

Ana sat on the stained carpet with her father for a few more minutes, her mind blank, and finally got up.

She was not going to go to St. Mungos, for two reasons:

1) Arnie was dead, and no Healer could fix that.

2) If anyone recognized him, they would recognize her, and in turn, recognize that her friends were equally traitorous.

Ana walked slowly to her bedroom. Everything was zooming in and out of view, purple spots floating in her eyes.

She walked over to the door of her bedroom, and pushed it open. Her trunk lay on the floor with her knapsack placed on top of it.

Ana stumbled into a sitting position, and fumbled with the lock on the trunk.

It clicked open, and she slowly opened her knapsack as well.

Pulling out her wand, Ana placed a charm on the knapsack- an Undetectable Extension Charm, and placed the neatly folded clothes into it, along with her small box of letters from her mother, father, and all of her friends.

It was nice to have a box of keepsakes like that.

She placed a bag of quills, ink, and school books into the rucksack as well, along with her emergency first aid kit, filled with supplies like Dittany and Wiggenweld potions.

Next, Ana changed into a Hufflepuff sweater and jeans, along with a scarf wrapped tightly around her neck to stop the cold air from hitting her too much.

Besides, she couldn't go to James' house with blood-stained pajamas.

That's right.

Even though it was nearly 1:00 in the morning, Ana couldn't stay here, not in a place filled with so many bad memories. She felt like she would break into a million pieces.

And anyways, she was supposed to visit James the day after tomorrow as well. Two days early would hopefully not be a problem.

Ana secured her knapsack and enchanted it with a Featherlight Charm, so that she was easily able to pull it around her neck without much difficulty.

She didn't care about using magic anymore, for the Ministry couldn't track who had done the magic in her household.

They would have simply assumed that it was Arnie who had done it...

Ana forced her mind away from this thought.

She dragged the empty trunk outside to the living room, and with a sharp intake of breath, floated Arnie's body into it.

Ana couldn't just leave him here. She could never.

She cast a few more charms, mostly protection spells on the house, and one to gently float the trunk downstairs. She didn't trust herself to take it herself.

Dragging herself down the staircase to the front door, Ana still felt wide awake.

Perhaps it was simply the shock.

She reached the front door and stepped outside.

There was going to be no Ministry interference, so she was not going to be Apparating to James' house.

No, she knew the general area of where he lived, so Ana was going to be flying by broom.

Making sure that the trunk was safely strapped to the back of her Cleansweep by magic, Ana mounted her broom and kicked off, feeling the chilly winter breeze whip her chestnut hair around.

She knew James lived in Margate, a three hour flight from her quiet home in Newquay.

Ana sighed, and stopped her broom in mid-air. She probably should have checked a map beforehand.

Instead, she yanked out a map of the UK out of a side pocket on her knapsack.

Ana pulled her wand out from her pocket and placed a Sticking Charm and a Freezing Charm to the map, so it would lay flat against the surface of the broom.

She leaned down, and with a burst of speed, sped Eastward to her destination.

Sorry for the pretty short chapter, but I've been completely exhausted of any energy today.

I'll be sure to post a much bigger chapter tomorrow :)

Love, J.W.