Happy New Year! ((Main Thread))

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Hermione had volunteered to continue the preparations and run the New Year's festivities to allow the new administration time to continue adjusting to their new roles. She was helping to make sure the giant snitch would be functioning once it was time for the countdown.

Around Hogsmeade, there were bunch of kiosks selling 2021 merchandise along with plenty of food stands to satisfy appetites. Hermione was very excited to be able to spend yet another year with her loved one and helping others out.

"Yes, mushrooms!" Victoire affirmed giving an overly-enthusiastic smile. "I got plain chips, salty chips, festive chips, sweet chips, savory chips, sour chips, and so much more, I do! Want to try one?!"

@Lakelyn Munroe

Kenzi arrived to the party slightly late, having been held back by her father who decided that this would be the perfect time for her present for this year, a .45 caliber handgun that is currently hidden in the waistband of her jeans covered completely by her shirt. The feeling of comfort that it brought her was something that she was glad for, especially as she arrived and instantly felt tension in the air.

Making her way through the crowds, Kenzi sought out her girlfriend, who had invited her to this event. With the feeling deep in her gut about today, Kenzi wanted to be by the side of the only person at this event she actually cared about. Finally finding her in the company of one of her siblings, Kenzi smiled and said, "Hey, sorry it took me so long to get here, my dad thought that as I was leaving was the appropriate time for a gift."

@Discordia Lestrange

Cassandra perched herself at the tallest point that had a view of the whole festival. Under an invisibility cloak that she had on indefinite rental from the ministry, Cassandra observed the set up and activity below throughout the day, as well as the night previous. This had hardly been the longest, or most extreme stake out she had been on, but stake outs were never really Cassandra's specialties easier, so as people started to arrive in earnest, Cassandra was getting restless.

Cassandra decided to finally move from her position when she spots a familiar face, and a face she could trust, down in the crowd. With a couple of elegantly pulled off jumps, Cassandra landed silently on the ground and quickly made her way through the crowd without letting on the fact that she was still under an invisibility cloak.

Soon enough, Cassandra had arrived beside her target, Min-Ji. Looking around to make sure no one was paying attention, Cassandra slipped off the cloak and stored it in a single movement. "So, your gut also shouting at you that something's going on?"

@Baek Min-Ji

Abeline decided to visit the festivities of the new years ever festival. She walked around the grounds and purchased what was called a corn dog, for her to eat. She bit into it as she walked around some more and actually found it to be quite tasty. She turned a corner and bumped into someone, dropping her treat. She frowned a bit and looked down at it on the ground, "Damn."

Kazimir didn't want this kid to run off and tell all her friends-or worse, professors-about Talia's collapse. "I work with her, this happens occasionally, you know about anemia? She gets lightheaded and faints."

He reached into his pocket and pulled out several heavy gold coins, and handed them to her, not entirely sure of how much money he gave her. "Go enjoy some hot chocolate, I'll take care of things from here. You did the right thing, standing by her and making sure no one stepped on her." Kazimir gave the kid a warm smile.

@Sapphira Zabini

"Dear brother, I'm just curious as to if you possess something sharp on your person." It was only a simple question. "There is a task I must carry out. If. I. Find. Him."

Discordia gave a sickeningly sweet smile and sneered upon the sight of Carrow. "It's time for a playdate."

Her grin grew more genuine and loving upon seeing Kenzi join this on-the-spot gathering.

"Isn't the smell of blood in the air beautiful?"

@Deimos Lestrange @Theodore Nott @Pandora Carrow @Kenzi Mikeal

Mariah was walked down the path between the booths and was trying to find something that would interest her. So far there hasn't been much but she has walked into some booths to see what they sold but she just soon walked out of them again. So far there hasn't been much interesting for her. She at the end walked over some booth what sold drinks for people. She kept looking what they offered there now, they seemed to have some pretty fancy names.

Pandora raised an eyebrow at Discordia and frowned a bit. She remembered the last time the psychopath had been near her with a sharp objects, "I swear to Salazar if you come near me with anything that even resembles something sharp, I'll curse you." She let her eyes wander over to Diemos and looked him up and down a bit. She smirked and then looked back at Discordia, "What type of play date? All honesty, I wouldn't mind playing with your brother a bit." When she saw Kenzi arrive she nodded at the girl, " Hey Mikeal"

@Discordia Lestrange @Deimos Lestrange @Kenzi Mikeal

Akeldama had been invited to the New Year's celebration for diplomatic reasons. She opted to take up the offer to figure out the current societal climate and so she could have a change of setting for once.

She struggled to dress somewhat normally; she had been wearing the same style of clothing since her youth.

"Snog?" Akeldama wasn't exactly familiar with some common slang up in Britain.

@Fred Weasley II

"Yes, it is," answered Min-ji observing her surroundings. "I suspect the Ministry may play a role in it."

The same Ministry she was working under. "I have no intel to hint towards to, unfortunately. More trying to figure out if my target is involved."

@Cassandra Night

Desdemona decided to call Edith over for an impromptu interview and photo session. What better way to get some attention?

"Free photos with Deputy Minister Desdemona! I'll even sign them too if that's what you want!"

She needed to pass the time...

The countdown had commenced.

10.

9.

His eyes and ears were filled with anticipation wondering how Hermione's speech would be to welcome the New Year.

8.

7.

He was anxiously awaiting the last 5 seconds making a wish for this year to be better.

6.

5.

4.

3.

2.

1.

Happy New Year!

Harrison stood waiting for Hermione to appear anytime now and make her speech.

Where was Hermione?

He suddenly got an alert regarding the use of an unforgivable.

Harrison, feeling his stomach fall into a pit, ran off to look for answers.

Returning to the grounds, Harrison got up on the podium with a clearly distraught look on his face.

"I regret to announce that Miss Hermione Granger is dead."

Ah, so it was beginning. Kazimir looked down and covered his face with his hands, as if hiding grief or horror, when really he was hiding a smile that he couldn’t suppress.

He lifted his head after taking several deep breathes and looked around at the crowd, eyes wide as he took in the reaction.

Carina kissed Louis when it struck kidnight and thought about how happy she was in that moment. When she heard the announcement her smile dropped immediately. Hermione was... Dead? She looked over at Louis and knew he was going to break down any second. She gripped his hand, "Lou... We need to find your family." She thought of her own family at that moment. Her father. She had just spoken to him and Hermione earlier that day. She felt her emotions start to ride but she had to stay calm. For Louis.

@Louis Weasley

Hugo was so excited to enter the new year. "Yay fireworks!" Only for there to be no fireworks.

Mummy was gone? "My mummy's not dead!" he yelled as he began tearing up at the thought of losing his mother. "Isn't mummy going to come back, dad?"

@Ron Weasley

Her aunt couldn't be... She needed to find the rest of her family now. Victoire needed to make sure they haven't been physically hurt either.

"Louis! Fred! James! Anybody?!"

Albus had thought about asking Darcy out sometime over the festivities but then he heard the news, 'What Hermione is dead? this can't be true,' he thought to himself. This was just a bad dream and he was going to wake up any minute his aunt was not dead, no she would come up any minute and give her speech, but if it was true? he could not let himself go there. He just decided that he needed to find Darcy and his brother.

Talia started shaking where she stood upon hearing the news.

"It happened! It happened! It'll only get worse from here!"

She was looking like a wild woman right now, and she just made herself look suspicious. Nice going.

The announcement caught Cassandra by surprise. While not quite what her gut was pointing her towards, this was a big play, especially if this was by some big large organization rather than just a lone radicalized individual. "I'm going to take a look at this?" Cassandra commented to Min-ji before running off to find Harrison.

Jumping up onto the stage, Cassandra puts on her authority voice, "Read me in Harrison. What's going on?"

@Harrison Jetson

Kazimir heard the yelling coming from Talia and pushed through the crowd toward Talia.

“Talia! Enough causing commotion!” He cleared his throat, in his passion he’d let his Russian accent become stronger. “Please don’t distract from this extremely serious moment.

@Talia Stilldancer

Upon hearing this news, Darcy's first instinct was to look for Albus. He was trying to hold it all together as he was feeling a need to be strong for his friend.

"Albus! Where are you?"

Harrison directed Cassandra off the stage into a more private spot.

"The use of an unforgivable was detected. When I went to the scene, I saw James with Hermione's body. The kid was clearly in shock that I can't imagine what he might've seen. I ruled him out as the trace didn't point to him."

@Cassandra Night

Bill's usual, cheerful demeanor shriveled up after hearing the news. His usual reaction to cheer people up would've been to play a few tunes on his ukulele, but he knew it wasn't the time. He was just stunned by what he heard.

"Do your best to lock down the fairgrounds, whoever did this is probably still around, then we need to start interviewing people who were around the stage, someone might have seen something. This is a high profile case, so please, don't talk to the press at all," Cassandra ordered out quickly, before getting to work examining Hermione's body for anything that might indicate who killed her.

@Harrison Jetson