It was midnight and the streets of Little Winging were completely deserted. The lawns of the suburban town were once again yellow and streaked because of yet another water ban caused by a new drought, and throughout the gardens there was a look of abandonment.
A single lonely snowy white owl swooped down over the street called Privet Drive with a mouse in her beak. She looked so out of place, and it couldn't have been clearer that she was definitely not in her natural habitat. She let out a muffled hoot as she landed on the roof of number 4.
Inside number 4, Harry Potter had drifted into an uneasy sleep only moments before. He had spent the entire evening in his room, searching though all of his possessions. He wanted to make sure that he did indeed have all his things packed, because even though he had just arrived 2 days earlier, he was planing to leave the very next day.
Arriving back at the Dursley's step was more than just weird, because not only did the Dursley's not ignore him. They seemed to be trying to be polite to Harry. Well, as polite as they could possibly be to him, Harry caught himself thinking then. Harry did not quite understand why they were acting this way, but ended with concluding that they must just be relieved that this was indeed the very last time that Harry was forced to return to their home.
Harry was, after all, only one month shy of his seventeenth birthday, with which he would come of age in the wizarding world. This would also mean that he would finally be able to do magic outside of school. This was something that he was greatly looking forward to, seeing as Harry had already been blamed twice and prosecuted once before, for breaking this law by the Ministry of Magic.
Stirring in his sleep, Harry, who had been flat out on his back, now rolled over on his side. His covers were lying in a crumpled heap on the floor, this day had been one of the hottest yet this summer. He had also left his window slightly cracked and a soft cooler breeze swept in, ruffling his hair that was laying across his scarred forehead.
Harry's bedroom was then all of a sudden illuminated with tremendous blazes green light. He awoke with a start, his wand drawn. It had become a habit for him to sleep with it close to the bed, and sometimes even in bed. He scrambled to his feet and ran to the window, knowing very well what sight would meet his eyes. As he looked outside he laid eyes upon a site that he knew had never yet been seen in Privet Drive, until now.
The dark mark was blazing above the tightly placed houses, and it was impossible for Harry to see which one it was lingering over. Harry felt a horrible knot tightening in his stomach. A knot that had been there nearly a week now. He knew this would happen sooner or later, that the Death Eaters would start attacking perfectly innocent strangers, but that they were this close to Harry could not possibly be a coincidence?
He grabbed his shoes and threw them clumsily on as he raced out of the room. His heart was pounding at a wild rate and he was quickly racking his brain for people that he knew lived in Little Winging and that might also be a target for the death eaters. He reached the front door and wrenched it open, but stopped abruptly in the doorway at the sight that met his eye.
There, laying face up in the middle of the street and sobbing, was old Mrs. Figg. Harry had feared that his batty old Squib neighbour might have something to do with this. Still holding his wand up in front of him, he rant quietly towards her. Harry could not hear any other sounds than the soft sobbing that was coming from Mrs. Figg, and the street did seem to be deserted once again.
As he approached the old woman he could see that she was looking a lot older and more frail than the last time Harry had seen her, which had in fact been almost two years previous. Her knuckles and bones where clearly visible and stretching her skin, and she looked as though she could not move at all.
"Mrs. Figg?" Harry whispered, only feet away from her. She looked almost like a corpse laying there in the street, colored a sickly pale green from the still blazing Dark Mark above in the sky. Harry could see now that the Mark was indeed set above Mrs. Figg's house.
"Mrs. Figg? Is everyth..." Harry gasped. Mrs. Figg's eyes were white and glazed as though she had gone blind, and she had now started to shiver uncontrollably.
"Harry? Is that you?" she whispered. "Harry, I can't see. They've taken... They took my sight." She seemed very dazed and confused and tried to sit up, but Harry stopped her.
"No, don't move. I'll help you, just stay still." He moved towards her, but she gave some uncontrolled jerks and started sobbing again. "No, don't touch me. I don't know what's going on, and I'm afraid it'll affect you too." Harry looked panic stricken up and down the street, as if he was looking for the cause of Mrs. Figg's blindness and pain, but he still couldn't see anyone.
"Harry, please listen to me." Mrs. Figg continued to whisper. "You need to find him... Tell... Tell Dumbledore that..." Harry felt a stabbing pain in his already tightly knit stomach. "Mrs. Figg, don't you know that Dumbledore is dead?"
Mrs. Figg gave what sound like a painful sight, and said, "Then tell Minerva that he is alive". Harry stared at her for a split second, summoning some strength before saying, "Mrs. Figg. Dumbledore is not alive. I know, because I saw him die. He was murdered, and I was at he funeral along with hundreds of others. Now, let me help get you to safety." He made to help her up again, but for the first time since he had found her out on the street, she seemed forceful. "No, listen to me. Regulus is still alive, and he has the key. It's at..." But she didn't say more. Her eyes rolled slowly backwards into her head and she went limp.
Harry realized at once, that she was dead.
Stricken with shock to the fact that he had now witnessed his neighbour die in the street, and that he had no idea what to do next, he fell into a sitting position next to Mrs. Figg's body.
He looked up at her face, his mind now churning what she had just told him. That a person named Regulus was alive, and that he needed to find his old transfigurations teacher, Professor McGonagall, and tell her this. But as he sat there, staring at Mrs. Figg's face, he saw something that made him jump far back.
What looked like a tiny little spider was now crawling out of her half-open mouth. Harry moved a little closer to examine it, but as soon as it had landed on the ground next to where Mrs. Figg was laying, it evaporated.
And then, as quick as a flash of light, Mrs. Fig's body rose into the air, 20 feet above Harry, and started rotating slowly. It was a horribly eerie sight that now met Harry's eyes. An emerald green snake issued from Mrs. Figg's mouth, and started to coil itself around her body, while she was rotating. But as soon as it had covered he body completely there was a loud bang, and she was gone.