Drowsiness overcame Ravenna as the group stood around the portkey. She blinked to get the sleep out of her eyes.

"Three minutes."

There were nine of them, each with a mask in their hand. Ravenna had counted them as they made their way across the school premises, to distract herself from what was to come. Nine young adults now stood in a messy circle around a filthy bucket. That meant three had dared not to come. They could only hope Alois wouldn't notice this.

She stumbled, only catching her balance because Dan held out a hand to steady her.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah," she responded. "Just a bit tired. Didn't sleep much last night."

But she knew that wasn't it. She often didn't sleep well, but it never resulted in this kind of sleepiness. She could barely keep her eyes open. Almost as if she'd taken her potion – or ten of them – but that wasn't until tomorrow.

"Two minutes."

It was the eldest of them who spoke up, her eyes on her watch; twenty-four-year-old Shyla Ansari, a seventh-level. The rest took it in with quiet resignation, as they gathered up the courage to pick up the bucket. One girl was visibly shaking. Willem kept biting his fingernails, of which he had none left. Dan had been shooting glances at her ever since they left the school, but Ravenna couldn't bring herself to return them. She felt sick to her stomach as she glared at the iron bucket.

"One minute."

"We shouldn't have come," a fourth-level girl squeaked. "We shouldn't be here. We shouldn't have come."

"We can still turn around," said Dan, his eyes on Ravenna.

"If we do that, Morgan le Fay will be next." It was a level six who responded. Matthew. Melvin, maybe. Ravenna couldn't remember. Something with an M.

"Thirty seconds."

"Why do they want us there in the first place?"

"Honestly, I think it's just to b-boost their numbers," Dan answered miserably. "The bigger the group, the more of an impression they'll make."

"Or maybe we're the scapegoats, in case they get caught," Ravenna muttered.

"We can still go back, Ravenna," Dan said again.

She shook her head to try and clear it, but she'd made up her mind days ago. "We don't have a choice."

"Merlin's saggy balls, let's just bloody get this over with," Matthew, or whatever his name was, exclaimed, before reaching out, grabbing the bucket and holding it up for the others. A few immediately followed his example. Ravenna shared a glance with Dan, and they both took hold of the grimy thing. Beside her, Willem squealed, but he reached out as well, clutching the bucket with both hands.

"3... 2... 1..."

For a moment, nothing happened. For one, blissful second, Ravenna considered the possibility that the portkey malfunctioned. If they couldn't get to Ravengrove, Alois couldn't blame them.

But then she felt a tug behind her navel and the world warped around her. Her stomach flipped. She closed her eyes in an attempt to alleviate the nausea.

When it was over, Ravenna's feet hit the ground so suddenly she lost her balance and tumbled forward, the grimy bucket slipping from her grasp. The skin on her palms scraped on the stone of the pavement, as she landed on hands and knees. A pained gasp escaped her.

"You okay?"

Beside her, Dan wiped the grime from his trousers and held his hand out to help her up, while Willem scrambled to his feet not far away.

"I'm fine," she grumbled, ignoring his outstretched hand. "Let's go."

Despite the darkness of the night, Ravengrove's main street, Cauher Avenue, was well-lit. Candles and candle-lit lanterns hovered about everywhere, as well as grinning jack-o'-lanterns. Bonfires blazed on each corner and the street was filled with people. Halloween, the day of the dead and the ghosts, was well celebrated in a wizarding settlement such as Ravengrove.

Ravenna had heard about these parties, but she'd never been to one herself. Though she'd begged him to go, her father had always kept her at home, afraid the noise and chaos might trigger her magic. And by the time she spent her Halloweens at Morgan le Fay, she'd grown too afraid of her magic herself to go to such a public event.

But now that she was here, it looked exactly like her mum's stories. Wizards and witches alike had donned illusions to make them look like dragons, ghosts, hippogriffs or manticores. With bottles of butterbeer in their hands, they danced through the streets, singing to the music that played all through the town. They had to shout to be able to hear each other over all the noise.

Ravenna groaned, rubbing her hands over her eyes. Once again she felt Dan's hand on her back to steady her, but she felt too groggy to do anything about it. Her head was fuzzy, as if a mist had settled inside her brain. A mist so thick she couldn't see through it. What is wrong with me today?

"Where are they?" Shyla asked.

Nobody responded as they looked around in search of the Death Eaters they were supposed to meet.

What if they don't show up? Ravenna allowed herself to think. If the Death Eaters don't show, we're free to go, surely.

One of the boys started walking, so the others, unsure what else to do, followed.

"They've got to be here somewhere," someone said. "They wouldn't have gone through the trouble of sending us here for nothing."

"We're probably just early."

"Maybe they haven't put their masks on yet. Any of these people could be Death Eaters."

"We could just go back to school," Dan offered. "We were here, we couldn't find them. They can't blame us for that."

"They can, and they will," Ravenna muttered.

"There!"

Willem's exclamation broke the bickering and Ravenna looked where he was pointing. Up ahead, at the very end of Cauher Avenue, near where the portkey had taken them, a group of about thirty black-clothed people came out of a side street. Every single one of them wore identical masks: silver and black, with rimmed holes for eyes and a mouth that seemed to be sewn up. The hoods of their robes hid the rest of their head from view. Apart from their height, they all looked exactly the same.

The Death Eater at the front of the group halted, holding his arm out to stop the others. Around them, a few people turned and stared, but nobody did anything. Nobody tried to stop them. As if they all thought this was just another group dressed up and partying for Halloween.

They'd never even know what hit them.

The front Death Eater raised his wand and all the lanterns extinguished at the same time; the bonfires were the only things left burning. Sudden darkness veiled the street. The partying crowd silenced, only interrupted by confused mumbling and a few people shouting, "What the hell, dude?!" and "What is this?"

The music, beating in the background, sounded muffled. It seemed to bang against the inside of Ravenna's skull, as if every beat did its best to wake her up.

"What do we do?" said Willem breathlessly.

Fear coursed through her veins, lifting a sliver of the misty veil in her head. Ravenna blinked rapidly in an attempt to get her eyes used to the dark. She could only make out shapes. The Death Eaters were too far away to see what they were doing.

"We join them," said Matthew.

"But..."

"Masks on," Shyla ordered. "Now. Or we'll be recognised."

Matthew was the first to follow her example, but soon everyone had donned their masks. They weren't like the Death Eater ones. Not black and skull-like. They looked more like they belonged at this Halloween party; dragons, jack-o-lanterns, vampires, and a doxy or two. Ravenna felt very silly in her selkie mask, now that she'd seen what the Death Eaters were wearing. The only positive thing about it was that it hid the ugly scar under her eye. Dan, however, managed to look very cool as a thunderbird.

"We'll have to join them," one of the doxies said.

"They're moving this way, I think," Ravenna offered. "We'll join them when they're close."

Dan turned to respond, but Ravenna saw a red flash of light over his shoulder and a loud crash interrupted him and he recoiled.

"What was that?" Willem squealed, taking off his dragon mask to see better. Not far away, a few people screamed. Ravenna stepped forward, along with a few other students, to see what was happening. Dan was the only one who stepped back.

"I think it was glass," said Shyla. "Someone broke a window."

"Why would they do that?"

"Attention," came Shyla's immediate answer. "They want to make a statement, so they want everyone's attention. This is not going to be a peaceful protest. We knew that before we came here."

Dan yanked his mask down. "I didn't come here to —"

But he was once again interrupted. From the middle of the chaos, something silvery and dark green slithered up into the sky. It grew and grew, twisting and turning, folding around itself.

"What the bloody hell is that?"

A smoky, dark skull took up the sky above their heads. It opened its jaws and out slithered a snake, green-eyed and fangs at the ready.