it began like this....
Harry Potter has barely escaped with his life – again.
Harry and his best friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger have just finished
the first week of their sixth term as students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft
and Wizardry. On this clear, crisp Autumn day, Harry decides to take his
Firebolt out for his daily circuits around the Quidditch pitch, but his beloved
broom is nowhere to be found. He scours every corner and closet and is beginning
to panic when he sees a note lying on his bed. He could swear it wasn't there
before. Assuming he'd just overlooked it earlier, Harry shrugs off the strange
appearance, as he finds the note is from Ron:
Harry,
Hope you don't mind that I took the Firebolt for a spin. It's such a great day
to fly and I hated being cooped up in here watching Hermione study. I'll leave
it in the broom shed for you when I'm done. Thanks, Harry!
-Ron
Harry finds it odd that Ron would leave the Firebolt in the shed rather than
bring it back Gryffindor Tower, but nonetheless runs to the pitch to retrieve
his broom. Harry is relieved to find his Firebolt safe and sound and propped up
against the shed wall. Madame Hooch arrives and shoos Harry away, as she has to
ensure all the school brooms are up to standard for another year. Harry is
barely halfway back to the castle when a huge explosion rocks the grounds. Harry
turns back to see the broom shed consumed in flames and he runs to the castle
for help.
Hooch is badly injured and resigns her post at Hogwarts in order to recuperate.
Former Gryffindor Quidditch Captain Oliver Wood is brought on as Flying
Instructor and Quidditch Coach.
The fire is a grim reminder to all the students -- especially Harry -- just how
close they are to the danger. Though Dumbledore urges them to focus on classes
and other daily concerns, he advocates "constant vigilance." The
students are all a bit unsettled and they struggle to lead fairly normal lives
in spite of the dark forces that seem to be getting stronger.
By now, Voldemort has been back in his full glory for over a full year and he's
made his return known in the Wizarding World in various, menacing ways,
including the murder of Hogwarts groundskeeper, Rubeus Hagrid. The students –
minus Harry, Hermione, and Ron, who were notified over the summer – have just
learned that the Death Eaters, under orders from Voldemort, Imperio-ed Hagrid
while on his goodwill mission with Madame Maxime to the giants of Germany. The
Death Eaters willed Hagrid into committing a number of horrendous deeds, sending
him into villages and towns to terrorize and kill innocent families. He was
finally felled by an uprising of frightened Muggles, defending themselves with
guns and rifles. The Death Eaters finished him off with the Avada Kadavra.
Ever aware of the darkening atmosphere, Dumbledore has drawn his most trusted
associates to Hogwarts as both a safety precaution and a strategic convenience.
Sirius Black has been proven innocent of the murder of twelve Muggles sixteen
years earlier. He and Remus Lupin, whose lycanthropy has been much eased by the
mainstream acceptance of the Wolfsbane Potion as a cure to werewolf outbreaks,
have been paired together to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts. Both men were
publicly lauded after tracking down Peter Pettigrew and handing him over to the
Ministry as Voldemort's "right hand" man. It won back Sirius' freedom
and reputation and altered the perceptions of many who had judged Lupin on the
basis of his lycanthrope alone. The victory was hollow, however, as Peter, no
doubt with the help of the Death Eaters and perhaps the Dementors, managed to
escape his imprisonment in Azkaban within days. With Lupin and Black teaching
DADA, the children not only get a more intensive defense training – in line
with the increasingly violent atmosphere - but one of the men is always free to
go off on assignments for Dumbledore when need be.
Dumbledore has sent Professor Severus Snape to penetrate the most secret lairs
of the Death Eaters. Though Snape is still the Head of Slytherin House and
remains in residence at Hogwarts, he is too often caught up in undercover
operations for Dumbledore to continue teaching his Potions Classes. Percy
Weasley, who quit his position at the Ministry of Magic after clashing with
Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge over the handling of Voldemort's return, has
taken over the post of Potions Master in Snape's stead.
Fleur Delacour and Bill Weasley have also been brought aboard this year, as the
Care of Magical Creatures and Runes instructors.
With Snape, Lupin, Black, and Arabella Figg, a fellow spy, all on staff at
Hogwarts, Dumbledore has his top operatives close at hand and ready for action
as he prepares his forces for whatever Voldemort might have planned.
And that was only the beginning. From the moment the
broomshed went up in flames, everyone at Hogwarts new this would be the most
dangerous, most exciting, most tragic year ever.
And so it has been. Mysterious dream-visitors, kidnappings, possessions,
deaths, even a murder by a student—it's only March, and the year has seen all
these things. Not to mention the usual romances, tests, and mundane worries of
hormone-ridden teenagers. We hope you'll join us in a game both social and
adventurous—come and play Incendio!