Dumbledore's death in the style of Dan Brown

Renowned wizard Harry Potter looked in the mirror. The past few years had taken a heavy toll. His scar looked grey.

Is that stubble? If only Cho Chan could see me now!

"Harry! We need help!" Hermione held out a photograph. Harry took the picture and his entire body went rigid.

"Sorry," said Hermione. "My wand slipped." She reversed the petrifying spell. He relaxed again and looked at the photo.

"It was taken in Dumbledore's office."

As Harry stared at the scene, his initial revulsion and shock gave way to a sudden huge swelling of anger.

"Who would do this!?"

"You misunderstand," said Hermione. "He did it to himself. Either that or he had a heart attack while practising yoga."

Harry stood inside Dumbledore's office. It was a large circular room with a stunning parquet floor. Laid out in a dazzling, ephemeral, optical illusional, three-dimension geometric design, it made Harry feel as though he was floating.

"Sorry," said Hermione. She reversed the levitating spell and he came down.

"He's over there." Harry followed the line of her outstretched hand, relieved she was no longer pointing at him. Then he saw the body and felt a deep chill. Before him was the strangest sight he had ever seen. Dumbledore was dead. His body was contorted. His hand was pointing towards a parchment. Hermione picked it up. It was covered in scrawly, spidery handwriting. She tried giving it to Harry but couldn't let go.

"It must be cursed," she said. "It's really badly written but I can't put it down!"

It said, 'Just Diagon Black, Chukk'.

"Dumbledore was killed by a bad spell," said Harry. "That points to the badly spelt word. Try throwing it away..."

Hermione threw the parchment up. When it landed it read "Tough luck, Dan. JK is back."

Sarah Thomas