All of Hogwarts fell quiet, save for the occasional howl of a werewolf from the Forbidden Forest that startled flocks of birds into flight.
Dumbledore stood at the very top of the Hogwarts Castle tower, the late-sleeping old man once again plagued by insomnia this night.
The biting wind had calmed. The surface of the Black Lake mirrored the sky, the pitch-black heavens and water melting into one another.
Chapter 174