On this day, twenty-six years ago, the Battle of Hogwarts was fought. The sky over that beloved castle glowed with the flash of dark magic clashing against the protective charms that surrounded it, the strength of the love of every member of staff on site that night. The portraits on the walls cried out in shock and fear as their frames shook from the impact of the breaking shields... and as the Death Eaters converged upon the castle, the dead lay in rows on the floor of the Great Hall.
Voldemort fought to take over the castle, yes, but more disturbingly he was laying siege against love. His goal that night was not particularly to take control of a school, but to send the message that nothing was sacred, no love magic strong enough to be kept from demise. "Love is weak," he hissed, "And we shall prove once and for all that love cannot win." For above all, beyond Dumbledore and the Potters, the greatest enemy of Voldemort was love. It always had been... And he would see to it that love was devastated that night.
That night was the night that everything changed. It was the night that--
Wait a minute.
The night everything changed.
Everything.
I --
I know when Declan is.