Howlers

The school's safety was always top priority for Madame Leblanc. The headmistress along with multiple of the staff members at the school routinely busied themselves with keeping up with protective charms to keep the school hidden away from harmful parties. It was troubling the amount of horrible news Madame Leblanc received from various misguided witches and wizards from the daily newspaper, but none were as upsetting as the news of the Fées action throughout the past few months. Murders of staff at the ministry were disturbing enough, but the details included were gruesome. It appeared that it wasn't just a statement, they were acts that resembled some sort of dark religion. They weren't just murdered; they were sacrificed in order to "obtain a higher power of magic", one of the captured cult members had quoted, upon their trial before being incarcerated. The news wasn't taken lightly by the headmistress and the rest of the staff and all had been on toes since the start of term.

Meal times were one of relaxation though and although all news of worries about the Fées were not mentioned in her daily announcements, she thought it unwise to do so and cause a ruckus of horror and confusion. Thus far all attacks had been on healers and other high standing wizard and witches. She felt that the school, though not left unprotected, would be out of the concern of the young minds. If anything, they students had their parents to worry about, but Madame Leblanc seemingly overlooked one important detail.

Mail time had come and the Headmistress expected little of the mail that landed on her cleared plate. Newspapers, letters from friends, and the last one empty of a name, but rather with a symbol written in black ink on it. The look of the letter troubled her and she was about to place it in her sleeve to be examined later in her private quarters when it ripped open on it's own and formed a mouth to speak with. A howler, she should've known.

"To the public of Beauxbatons Academy, we, the Fées, seek your attention." A sinister voice echoed in the grand hall. The witch wise with age was left dumb as she wasn't sure how to prevent what was to come or how to prepare for what dangers might ensnare the students. "Do not be disillusioned with the idea that any of you are safe here. The eye of Morgan le Faye sees all and we will find you. We've already have. It won't be long now." The humanly look envelope turned to Madame Leblanc then and added a threatening, "You're next" before lighting afire into a pile of ashes on her plate.

The Headmistress was taken aback. She was used to death threats and attempts on her life, such the things came with being a witch of change, however, she feared greatly for the rest of her staff and the students. Her head turned to the professor to her right and she spotted a similar looking letter in their presence, a few more in other professor's hands. "Don't open those!" She ordered, but it appeared she was too late.

Marie-Laure read through the letter from her parents, trying not to gag at the memory of the summer in Greece with the pair of them. At their age it was extremely disturbing to watch and she'd ended up spending more time exploring the Greek island she and her father always visited than she'd ever done before. The letter was full of advice from Yvette which was not much of a surprise. She'd tried to tell Marie-Laure in person and the almost seventeen year old had refused to listen.

She put the letter down on the table next to her plate and was about to finish off eating her breakfast when a voice echoed through the hall. It gave Marie-Laure chills as she looked up at where it was coming from. What the...? Yvette had never given her advice about anything like this. Was this something new? The Sixth year turned to the student next to her. "Have you heard of..." The question was cut off as another voice now sounded very much like the first and Marie-Laure finally connected it with coming from a letter. What sort of magic was that? One she hadn't come across before despite this being her Sixth year in the world of magic. That, however, was not as important as what was said and Marie-Laure suddenly realised just what a disservice she'd done herself with not using Yvette to learn things which school had not taught.

Even as a second year, there were many things Marceline had yet to learn. Though most magical things like talking portraits, floating candles, devious plants, and flying sports equipment had become part of her daily life, she still occasionally found new surprises every now and then.

The dark haired girl hadn't looked up from her food as mail time had come. Agatha hardly ever wrote to her and Frank didn't understand the use of owls as a mail system to write to her either. These were the things she accepted and she figured it was better off that way. However, her attention was incited when suddenly someone was yelling. Her brows furrowed, immediately assuming it was some obnoxious first year in panic yelling, however, the voice was far too mature for that and sounded more threatening than scared.

Mail that could talk was definitely a new one for Marceline and as the words of the threatening message made home in her ears, she decided she didn't like it very much. What did the message mean? Were they all in danger at the school? She thought this place was supposed to be protected and how was she, a twelve year old girl with little knowledge of the use of magic, to defend herself from such harm intending wizards. She hoped it was just a gag. She knew enough how awful muggles sometimes were with devices incapable of magic. She couldn't imagine what wizards and witches could be capable of doing.

As the potions master of Beauxbatons Professor Belyakov was often one of the first people the Head Mistress spoke to about the security of the school. There was a committee of sorts made up of some of the staff at the magic school that all had different specialties to ensure there was always someone who could handle whatever problem they were faced with. Of course this committee had already heard of the steady rise of the new group who called themselves the Fées. No one was quite sure what exactly they were all about but there sure was enough rumors going around to keep one busy. Some say they were killing wizards and witches of high power, some say they were killing those people but using them as religious sacrifices, many say it is a highly powerful religion, or cult, that followed the ancient Morgan le Fey hoping to achieve the highest form of magic. Professor Belyakov wasn't interested in these rumors or even the idea of the cult.

Growing up in Russia and going to Durmstrang this man was more than used to hearing silly rumors of 'scary' wizards or witches who wanted more power than anyone else. Usually these things turned out to be nothing but hot air and within a year or so everyone forgot the rumors even existed. At Beauxbatons everyone knew they were safe, there was no one anyone could get past the protective spells so many powerful wizards have placed around the palace, and who would be crazy enough to even try anything with them all ready to protect the students. The biggest problem they have had in many years was a rogue vampire sneaking in with the students a few years ago, but that was quickly solved.

The school year was going along smoothly as always and many of the professors, including Belyakov, were starting to forget about the silly threats the Fée had mentioned. At least they were forgetting about it until breakfast this morning. Breakfast was normal until the mail came and a red envelope in front of Madame Leblanc suddenly jumped off her plate and started yelling, it was threatening her that the palace wasn't safe and telling everyone that can get inside and they can again. It burned up and the students instantly started whispering among themselves. The Head Mistress told all the professors not to open their letters, but Professor Belyakov heard it to late and he had already touched his letter. He tried to take it out of the room before it spoke but too late it too jumped into the air and ripped open a mouth. "None of you are safe, yes even you!" It yelled into the potion masters face. "Join the Fée or we will come get you." It yelled even louder. "You won't get anymore warnings, the Fée will be the rulers one day, what side do you wanna be on?" It asked loudly before tearing itself to shreds. He had stood behind the table frozen in shock but now he finally moved and scooped up the pieces before leaving the hall.

It was only Ryan's first year and he expected a letter from his parents every week. When the mail came and a few letters dropped onto his lap, he didn't think anything of it. He looked up when he heard a shriek and someone yelling out a warning. How weird, how scary. He looked around the grand hall in hopes to find the source. Was it a teacher yelling? Was it a student? What was it? He slowly turned back to his almost opened letter, he opened it completely and began to read:

Dear Ryan-

Another loud warning made Ryan drop his letter, this wasn't some accident. This was happening on purpose and it seemed to be coming from the professors' mail. What was that? The things they were opening? He came from a wizarding family but he wasn't familiar with the screaming letters. He looked around desperately for his older brother, he was growing scared. He kept a strong poker face but on the inside he was terrified. "W-what's going on?" he whispered to someone that was beside him. He couldn't be the only one that was scared, right?

Another letter had been opened and its voice was getting louder and louder. He wanted his bother, now. He wanted to feel his brother's arms around him and hugging him tightly and telling him there was nothing to worry about. He wanted to get up and run over to him, when he spotted the older boy, but he was too scared to move. No one else seemed to be moving fro their spots and he didn't want to be the first. He wished he would have been in the same house as his brother, he knew how to keep him safe.

She was tired and hungry and just wanted to finish her stupid Astronomy homework so she could sleep. She shoveled her way through the feast that was prepared for them, and halfway through choking on one bite and stuffing another in her mouth, a letter was dropped in her lap. She smiled, Elijah has promised to write to her while she was in school at least weekly. A particularly loud shout echoed around the dining hall, but she dismissed it as a kid having their drink poured on them or something equally as crazy.

A deafening screech pierced her ears and made her head shoot up. She remembered her guardian telling her about the first time he got a Howler from his mom because before he left, he had accidentally changed the family cat into a frog. What she didn't know was that they spewed death threats at teachers and talked about something called the Fée. She turned around just in time to see a Professor storm out and a multitude of kids scared and in shock.

Fiona concentrated very hard on Mabel's plate.  How did she get the eyeball she'd sacrificed from her potion supplies onto her sister's plate?  She could levitate it there but it would be noticeable.  Waving wand?  Floating eyeball?  Even if she camoflaged the eyeball with that cool spell she'd learnt the previous year there was still the issue of the wand.  She sighed and rested her chin on her propped up hand.  She should have planned this better.

The first howler shook her out of her world of a thorny problem to something else entirely.  Fiona's first reaction was to laugh but then with the second howler and the potion professor's reaction she sobered rapidly. "That wasn't a prank?" she asked weakly and swallowed. Oh boy.  Mum was bound to get wind of this and order Fiona to keep her younger sisters safe.  Like she could ever do that with Mabel.  She pulled the eyeball out of her pocket and threw it down the table as a way of distracting herself from her thoughts.

The professor always had a smile on her face, she was always known for helping others and just being witty about their futures. She would give hints to people when they passed or when they asked what she saw in their future. If she told them everything then were would be no surprise and what's the point of living a life if you don't have surprises?

She thought nothing of it when her mail arrived, she would read her letters later. She was busy talking to another professor when the red letter opened itself up and began to yell. "You are not safe! None of you are safe! Join us Join the Fées!" It ripped itself and the pieces fell onto her plate. She looked around in shock, she hadn't seen that coming at all.

The students around her looked terrified, she stood to reassure them that everything would be fine. "We will not let the Fées get in, we will not let them harm you," she yelled over the whispers and noise. "There is no need to worry, as long as you are here you are safe." She moved out of her seat to reassure some poor first years that had begun to freak out.