Chapter 263

On the third day of the Death Eaters' occupation of Hogwarts, the Dark Mark oozed green pus across the castle dome like a festering wound. Peeves was chained to the Great Hall chandelier, forced to chant newly composed pure-blood hymns whenever students passed. His cracked, rattling voice shook dust from the walls, which piled up in the corridors alongside shed snakeskins from Nagini. Snape's Headmaster decrees were bolted to the banisters of every moving staircase. The Potions curriculum now featured a practical module on Cruciatus Curse antidotes, and the greenhouses had been replanted with Venomous Tentacula in place of mandrakes. Most ironic of all was Defense Against the Dark Arts, where Bellatrix used a cursed quill to write on the flyleaf of the textbook: *How to Elegantly Snap a Muggle-Born Wand*.