Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Alone

Chapter 1 An alternate seventh installment, picks up a year after HBP. What happened during that year is explained later in the chapter/story. Contains character death and implied sexual and physical abuse.

*Scream*
This was the usual produced sound from the room down the hallway, al sorts of girls would go in there and have their screams, usually only once every two weeks or so. But for this one girl, it wasn’t like that, this one girl it was everyday, and Hermione was the one who caused it.

Cold
Just so Cold
She was naked, just as all of the prisoners were in the ten cells that were in this place, Hermione, she had only one other person in her cell. It didn’t provide enough warmth.
The thought of warmth made her sick, almost as sick as when she thought of what food was.

*Scream*
She was starving.

Sure, she had often times uttered the phrase “I’m starving!” to delineate a shallow hunger that would be satiated by a peanut butter sandwich or a handful of crackers, but she had never truly felt starvation. True starvation never let up. True starvation occurred when the body began literally eating itself alive for nourishment. Malnourishment engulfed her. She vomited and coughed up blood and bits of stomach lining. This was starvation.

She had been locked away for weeks. Months. Hell, years…she lost track. Time was so meaningless here. The only purpose time served to her was a reminder of how long it had been since her last taste of food…her last drink of water. Oh, water. Sweet water. She had forgotten what it tasted like. So weak from dehydration, she would simply hunch in the corner of the dark, damp room that was her prison. Her frail, cracked frame huddled, knees close, insistent on creating some form of warmth in a world so cold. Her torn, ragged clothing might as well have not existed. They covered nothing and served no purpose.

*Scream*
Cold.

So cold.

How long would this last? The world stood on end, preparing to fall over as she remembered why she was trapped not only in her cell, but in her mind as well. She felt no regrets. She fought hard. She tried. But she failed. And now she was dying.

The cellblock door creaked open, slamming against the adjacent stone wall, and her weary, bloodshot eyes darted away, avoiding the light now flooding the dreary chamber. Light stung. She didn’t deserve to feel light…to see it. She wasn’t worth it anymore. She was only a prisoner. She was curious as to the hour. The usual entrance occurred much later in the day, but she wasn’t aware of time anymore. The last time the heavy door burst open was maybe only three hours ago…but it may as well have been three days. She didn’t care.

No less than ten seconds later the room dimmed again, and she raised her eyes to the figure standing a mere two feet away from the now shut door. No sounds were heard, but the body shook with relentless sobs. Knees gave way and the dark silhouette crumpled to the floor with a dull thud. Moments later the body was still. Not dead…just still. Movement served no purpose. There was never anywhere to go…anything to see. Motions were just another way to waste precious energy and valuable breath. As she watched Ginny’s body lie still in front of her, she sighed. She knew why Ginny was like this…it happened every night. She fought them off at first…groups of Death Eaters. She refused to give in and contribute to their sick satisfaction. The first time they had been victorious Ginny limped back into their morbid chamber wailing in pain and clutching herself, sobbing to God and wondering what she had done to deserve what was bestowed unto her. Ginny never wanted it. However, as time went on…she stopped trying. It just became part of the routine. Wake up. Be taken. Submit. And die a little more on the inside.

She wanted to help Ginny, but there was nothing she could do. Their captors were bigger and stronger, and even in her peak physical condition she didn’t stand a chance against any single Death Eater. What made her sick to her stomach, though, was her immense feeling of relief. The Death Eaters didn’t want her. They never took her from that room. Only Ginny. She knew what they did to her. She knew the deranged, filthy acts they performed on that broken soul. She heard the sobs and she heard the screams, and the only thought that ran through her mind was “I’m glad it’s not me.”

“I’m so glad it’s not me.”

Just the thought of those words echoing in her skull made her want to vomit. How could she have been reduced to these thoughts? What happened to her?

“Dehydration…that’s right. I’m just really thirsty. I’m not like this. This isn’t me. Just give me some water and I’ll be me again.”

But she knew this was false. However badly she felt for Ginny, she knew the poor girl was no longer her friend. A girl runs out of things to think about when in solitude after a while. She questions her mundane ties to people and wonders what good they are. Ginny sold her out. Ginny was the reason she was here. She didn’t deserve her pity. She wanted to hate Ginny. She wanted Ginny to feel pain. If she still were in possession of her wand Crucio would be the first word she would utter. But Ginny was human. And so was she. She gave the girl her pity because it was all she had to give.

Ginny wiped blood from her legs and smeared it along the cold stone floor next to her. Pitifully she curled her knees to her chest and bit down on her lower lip to control its wavers. Unable to watch Ginny any longer, she closed her eyelids and wiped a tear from her dirt stained face. She wanted to pray, but she knew there was no use. What kind of a God would allow this to happen to anybody? What kind of a God would let His people suffer torture, starvation, and rape? Instead, she ignored her desire to pray, her sharp pangs of dehydration, and the young woman curled in the fetal position in front of her. Instead she sighed heavily and wished the world would just stop spinning.



“Hermione!”
She looked at the red head that was lying against the wall. She suddenly felt a shudder of sorrow for the girl.
“Hermione!”
“Yes?”
“I just wanted to let you know,” she clutched between her legs, “that they want you tomorrow, and that I have a way to relieve the pain, when they are actually doing things to you.”
“They…they…want me?”
“Yah, I overheard them, when they threw me back in here. I just wanted to let you know, that I don’t hate you, I forgive you for what you did. I hope that you can keep the hope up that I have.”
“You mean to tell me that you still have hope, after all of this?”
“Yeah, I do, ahhh, ow,” she fell over clutching herself and whimpering.
Hermione didn’t know what to think, how could Ginny still have hope that they could get out of this, after all that has happened to her, and how is she expected to get through it.
“I have to have hope. Hope in what?”
Hermione fell asleep, next to Ginny. She could hear faint whispers coming from Ginny’s mouth, she was praying, praying that they would be delivered, praying that something would happen, praying that Harry would be back, praying that Hermione could meet the troubles that are facing her right on tomorrow. As she heard that Hermione’s heart softened for her old friend, she felt better, she felt warmth, from her insides. There was just something inside her that made her feel better, and that is all she needed at that time. She was feeling better, she still had the starving hunger, and the pain, her weakness, and the quenching of her thirst. But she did have something else come to her again, something that she had lost, right when she saw Harry fall down and when she saw Voldemort shoot a killing curse to the ground where Harry was supposed to have been laying. That was when she lost it, and she gained it again from Harry’s love, which shined through Ginny. She didn’t know whether Ron was alive or not, she had thought that he had been killed when he was fighting Lucius Malfoy, and she had seen Lucius alive. She had so many things that she wanted, so many things that she needed, but it all was gone in that one minute of peace. She had a friend back, she had hope. She had love.

The next day came, screams were heard throughout the prison, girls from the other cells, Bellatrix laughing at some of them. The door opened, and light shined in, some food was brought to Ginny and Hermione, some fresh water and some dirty water that could be used to wash off. Hermione offered to help Ginny clean herself off from the blood and bruises from the actions that took place the night before. Ginny allowed her to, and Ginny ate some of the bread that was brought in. It wasn’t much, but enough to get through and stay alive. Hermione took four of the ten slices of bread and stuck them in the basket and up on a shelf on the other side of the cell.
“Just in case if we don’t get another meal in a few days. We can ration it.”
“Sounds good to me.”
“Ginny, I really am sorry for what I did. I wasn’t thinking at the time, and I was selfish and I…”
“It’s alright, Hermione, they would have found me anyway, I am their precious doll as they like to call me. They think that they can tear me apart by making me experience what I could not have with Harry.”
A tear came to her eye as she thought about all of the things that she had been able to do with Harry. Her real love.
“Ginny, do you still think that Harry is alive?”
“I don’t know, I didn’t see him after he went up against Voldemort, but I also didn’t see a body either, and I scanned the entire battlefield during the aftermath. Harry just disappeared, I don’t know what to believe. I mean no one actually saw him die, Bill said that he saw him fall and that Voldmeort sent a killing curse, but he said that he didn’t see the flash of light, that was supposed to happen when the curse rips the life out of you. He said that he first thought that Harry dodged it, but then Voldemort walked away as if he had completed it, and there was no Harry, nor Harry’s body.”
“I saw exactly what Bill saw, Ginny.”
Ginny was quiet the rest of the day, she ate slowly and rested easily. She just focused on her past and her family, and her time with Harry. She focused on everything positive she could. She knew that the evening was slowly coming and that she was most likely going to be pulled out again, but also thought that Hermione was going to go tonight, she didn’t know, she wished that nothing would happen tonight, as she wished everyday. She didn’t want that feeling of pain and brokenness again, she also didn’t want Hermione to experience it. She wanted freedom, for both of them. Then just as expected but with out want, the door opened, three death eaters came in, they punched Hermione in the stomach, not hard but enough. She fell into them and they carried her off, then another three came in and took Ginny. The cell was empty, completely empty. Ginny was being brought out in the hallway when she said one last prayer.
“Deliver me.”
The cell door shut, it was completely dark again, nothing stirred for a while, except when one mouse came out of his mouse hole to go after the crumbs left by the two teenage girls. The mouse suddenly scampered away though. There was a huge bright orange light that emitted from outside, just barely visible by the small ventilation grate on the cave roof, if you looked in on an angle you could see the faint outline of a symbol shot in the sky, an orange phoenix.

Chpt. 2 Answered

The girls were brought into a room with two beds that looked similar to a doctor’s patient bed in a doctor’s office. The only difference was that there were chains on these. The room was small with a few shelves of “equipment” and a desk with information on all of the prisoners. It was dank and dark, there was only two lights in the room, one small dim one on the ceiling and another by the desk. The girls were fought one by one onto the beds and their legs were chained down so that they would be sitting upright on the ends of the bed, then they were laid down forcefully, and their hands were chained so that their arms were above their head. The death eaters that were doing this seemed to be no older than fourteen but because there were so many of them, they easily overpowered the two girls. Next came preparation, Hermione and Ginny were coated with waxy liquids all around, and the boys who were not very careful with a razor shaved Hermione’s legs and any other place. Ginny who was used to this and had been shaved every night basically just got her legs cut a few times since there was no hair there at all and the boys just wanted to have ‘fun.’ When all the boys left there was silence, Hermione was already experiencing pain from her bleeding marks and the fact that her arms were hurting since they were being stretched over her head flat on the table, Ginny was used to this pain but what was to come, she knew she wouldn’t be able to bear very long. She was so lucky to not have been pregnant yet, the death eaters had not been careful with her at all. In fact a week ago they unchained her and put the Imperius curse on her to do things freely. She knew that it was not going to be a good night, she hoped beyond all reason that her prayer would be answered, or at least it wouldn’t be him tonight. When the door opened, there was only one young man standing there. He shut the door and locked it. He then stuffed his wand in his pocket and walked between the two tables. Draco Malfoy, the boy they both hated more than anything else was about to rape them.

“Hello girls,”

“No!” Ginny cried, tears now coming to her eyes and beginning to pour out.

“Oh hello pet! You are definitely going to enjoy tonight’s little lesson.”

“She isn’t your pet Malfoy, she is a human being just like you and me and everyone else in this ‘facility’.”

“Oh hello Mudblood, oh bleeding are we, tut tut, not bleeding enough.” A small smile spread across his malicious face.

“That’s ok, we can solve that, an old friend of both of yours will be in here after my little play time. I believe you all remember Cormac McClaggen.”
Hermione looked shocked at the very idea of Cormac still being alive, and yet on the death eater’s side. She had of course watched Cormac die, and yet the curse that did it came from the boy who was standing in front of her, something definitely didn’t fit.

“Cormac’s dead,” said Ginny trying to give her more time before she had to endure another night of this torture.

“That is where you are wrong, my pet, he never died, in fact he has yet to even battle anything yet, he has just been keeping our prisoners ‘company’ so far.”

“I watched you kill him,” Hermione said very clearly.Malfoy fidgeted, as if he didn’t know what to say.

“Who you must have saw die was someone who resembled McClaggan, besides, whjy would I kill someone who is on my side, hmm mudblood?”Hermione looked very confused, she had watched him die merely three feet away from her in what was supposed to be the Final Battle.

“Exactly, right. Well let’s get down to business, pet you can be first.”

A small clipboard with all of the prisoners names on it that was hanging on a wall by the door suddenly flew off its hook and hit Malfoy. He immediately guessed. “Ahh so you managed to do some wand less magic, eh Granger? Well we can fix that.”

Draco slapped Hermione in the face and then pounced over to Ginny again. He grabbed Ginny’s breast and squeezed with all of his strength digging his nails into the top of it, making a long thin cut.

“I’ll just take it all out on little innocent Ginny here, and you can watch Mudblood.”He bent down to whisper in Ginny’s ear,

“You won’t enjoy this, at all, I am not your precious dead boyfriend, Harry.”

Draco now took his cloak off and then his robes, he slid his boxers off and was about to walk over to Ginny when there was a loud explosion, this time it wasn’t Hermione.Draco looked toward the door, there was nothing. Then there was another bang and the door flew open, no one was standing there although Malfoy suddenly was flown backward and his wand flew out of his pocket. The chains on both girls were magically released although the death eaters put extra dark magic locking charms on the chains so to be unbreakable except by them. Hermione and Ginny ran over to the door, Malfoy was stirring. Ginny ran back to grab the wand, she reached it just as Malfoy was getting up.

“You won’t enjoy this, Draco, this isn’t like the last time or the time before that, this time you feel the pain.” And yelling as loud as she could a curse that she learned from Harry, she bellowed,

“Sectumsempra!” pointing the wand between his legs. Then she ran back to the hallway to find that it was caved in, no death eater could get to them unless they went through the roof, which now had a huge hole through it right at the door. A rope was hung there and the two girls climbed it, slipping a little due to the wax and their cuts. When they both got on the roof they both saw a large orange phoenix sign shot into the sky just like the Dark Mark. Ginny gave the wand to Hermione and they both started running down the roof and down the outside steps to the hill. There was a village down on the other side of the hill that they could find safety at, it was only about a quarter of a mile away. They ran for it, now hearing an alarm sound from the facility that was built within the mountain ring. As they reached the hill they saw death eaters on the ground and on brooms chasing after them, shooting spells at them. They also saw the Dark Mark being shot into the sky right next to the orange phoenix shape. They both started running again, now seeing the lights of the village in sight. Hermione was much faster as she wasn’t as bruised as Ginny was and was a few good feet in front of her. Then out of nowhere, the orange phoenix blew up and became even brighter and more dominant in the night sky, and coming out of its beak there was this green flash, as if a green colored shooting star was coming out of the phoenix’s mouth it shot towards the approaching death eaters, now firing spells of its own at them and hitting a lot of them. Ginny was lifted out of the air by one of the death eaters on a broom, she fought hard trying to get him to put her down but he was much, much bigger than she was and overpowered her with one arm. Then the death eater fell off his broom after getting hit in the head by one of the green blur’s spells, unfortunately it damaged the broom as well and Ginny and the broom were now plummeting towards earth. The green blur caught her and now Ginny could really see what it was, it was a man dressed up in a green suit much like a super hero would., he was riding an extremely fast broom, it had to have been a Firebolt. The two of them flew around a little more scanning the entire field and hitting every death eater that they could. When it was said and done, the Dark Mark disappeared and the Phoenix grew brighter. Hermione had reached the village and decided to hide in an empty trash can until the coast was clear. The trashcan was sitting on some muggle’s back porch and she hid in it waiting to see if Ginny made it or not, if she didn’t, she would definitely have to get help and then storm the prison. To her surprise Ginny and the green-suited man landed in the yard.

“Thank you,” Ginny said.

“No problem Miss Weasley, no problem at all.” the man said through his mask. Ginny could see that he had deep, dark brown eyes.

“May I ask, who you are? I mean do you work for the Order?” she said, curious to know how he knew her name.

“I work for no one but for the ‘greater good’, to defeat Voldemort.”

“Do you know my family? Are they ok?” Ginny asked again.

“Your family is safe at the moment, I know that at least your parents and your oldest brothers are, I have no idea about your brother Ron. I do know that they are in hiding and they do believe you to be dead. I do not know exactly where they are hiding.”
Hermione who heard this suddenly felt very cold, if Ron was dead too, then she would have lost just as much as Ginny did.

“Thank you for rescuing me, I have to go find my friend. Umm, you wouldn’t happen to know where I could get some clothing do you?”

“Miss Granger is hiding in the trashcan right next to you, and about the clothing, follow where your heart leads you. Here, you can have this.”He handed her the Firebolt.

“Thank you, but how are you going to get back?”

“They don’t call me The Phoenix for nothing.”
The man reached his now glowing index finger and touched the scratch that Malfoy had made, he ran his finger over the length of the scratch and miraculously it disappeared and the pain stopped, He clicked his fingers and the bruises on her legs stopped bleeding and healed.

“The mark of evil shall never again touch you, as long as you remain true. Things are about to change, the unseen is about to be seen, and the prestige is about to be known. You will know who I am when the time is right, but for the moment, live your life, but don't forget your memories.”
With that the man that called himself the Phoenix burst transformed into a bird, but not just a normal bird. Ginny had seen that bird before, it was in her second year, it had saved her, and saved Harry. It was a scarlet and gold phoenix. Fawkes was flying again.

*********************************

"But who was it?" Hermione asked Ginny as she didn’t hear the first part of the conversation the night before.

"I don't know, Hermione. He said I would know when the time is right."

"Well what does that mean?" Hermione responded as she threw"I don't know."

"Well whoever it is must have some kind of relation to the Order."

"But the Order is broken. It is no longer an Order. Besides he said he didn’t."

"Well, he acts like a super hero or something but, I don't get it.""He is like a super hero though, Hermione. He touched my bleeding marks last night and well you saw them."

"I don't know, Ginny."

"Uhhh, I just wish things weren't this way, this house just reminds me of Harry." For the two girls had spent the night at Grimmauld Place, after a very long broom ride here, apparition was now controlled heavily by the Ministry and the death eaters and it had a mark, a very dangerous thing to do, not to mention they didn’t trust any of their magical abilities after going so long without practice.

"I'm sorry Gin but its the only place we can hide out in. Uhhh, it has everything but clothes."

"We will find some. Let's just keep looking."

***************************************

Voldemort was pacing in the room that he was staying in. He was deeply angered and annoyed at what had happened. He didn't know who it was who was causing all of these problems for him. It was driving him crazy.

"I destroyed the Potter boy, I basically eliminated the Ministry, I broke the Order but I can't stop one person from thwarting my plans."
He continued to pace, his footsteps getting quicker each moment as he grew more flustered.

"I just want to end this, I have finally won. But I can't take my place as the head yet, because of this green suited phoenix boy! This is my time! This is my reign!” he shouted looking up into the sky as if he would have an argument with a higher being.

"That is where you are wrong!" a voice came out of nowhere.

"Who said that!" Voldemort hissed.

"Do you not know yet?"

"Where are you? Come out and fight."

"Why should I? Don't you like this game?"

"This isn't a game. This is the end. The end of your life."

"Oh, my snaky friend you are once again confused, do you not understand it? This is just the beginning."

"The beginning of my reign."

"Your reign? I didn't know there was a such thing. You can't possibly be in charge of all of England, for there is still I, stopping you."

"Yes, you are still there ,but not for long."

"Ah, you see even if you finally finish me off, as you have tried to before, many, many times. You will never win, you will never succeed. For there will always be the one who stands in your way. The one who will always fight. The Dark Arts can never be thwarted off for good, but they also can never reign."

"Enough! Come out and fight me you worthless, coward."

"Coward? Look at yourself. You call me a coward and yet you can't even stand up to your own past. You take it out on your future, you dream the things you never had as a boy. Look back at yourself. Remember that night, the last words of Harry Potter, yes I was there. I heard them. Just why don't you remember that, we'll meet again, very soon."
And with that Voldemort turned around to see a green flash dart out the window, and disappear.

"Avada Kedavra! Avada Kedavra! You coward! Avada Kedavra!"He missed everytime he tried to hit the phoenix that was now soaring away through the early morning sky.

***************************************

"Hermione, look!" Ginny yelled from across the room to her friend.

"An extendable ear."

"I guess Fred and George left one behind."

"I guess so."

"Look, Gin, I don't think there is any clothing here, lets go to the room across the hall."

"Ok."
Hermione and Ginny walked across the hall and into a room, it was the same room that Harry and Ron had shared when staying over the summer.As the two girls entered, they were immediately shot with hexes. They both fell down. Two red headed men jumped out from behind the bed and looked to see what the automatic hexes hit.

"Fred! Look who it is!"

"Well don't just stand there, get the dang curse off of them.

"Within another minute The girls were revived.

"Ginny! Hermione! YOUR ALIVE!" They both hugged the two girls, especially Ginny.

"Of course we are, where did you two come from?" Hermione asked.

"We are staying here, the entire Order is."

"Then why weren't you guys in any of the other rooms?"

"We are living in the basement of this place, the death eaters knew it was the old headquarters, so instead of moving we just went underground, to make them look somewhere else for the rest of us, but really we were still here all along. Moody’s idea, it was bloody brilliant. It's just still not safe to come out though, the death eaters could come back any minute. We set an enchantment on this room because it is the new secret entrance to the basement, we also put an extendable ear in the room across the hall to know of any trespassing. The magical enchantment upon it didn't quite work. We heard you guys but we didn't know it was you two."

"Do you guys want to come downstairs now or not?" George asked after Fred's explanation.

"Mum is going to have a heart attack, she thought you two were dead."

"Well do you know of any place that we might find any clothing?"Fred and George just now really registering that they were both naked, they were too shocked from the idea that they both were alive.

"We have some downstairs, let's go." Fred said very quickly hoping to get his sister into some clothing before he looked at her again.Fred walked over and opened Harry's old chest at the foot of the bed. He tapped his wand against the inside lock and looked over at the wall. The picture of Phineas Nigellus came up out of a trapdoor on the wall.

"Password?" he yawned.

"You- Know- Poo!" George said with enthusiasm.

"I love that password," he whispered to Hermione and Ginny. The portrait swung open and George pulled the lever that was behind it. Fred walked over behind the bed and disappeared.

"The door is behind the bed, Go!"
They all went down the hidden stairs to the new hideout of the remaining members of the Order. Ginny finally being able to see her family. Hermione being able to see the people she cared about and her boyfriend, Ron. The two girls knew they were finally safe, at least for the moment.

Chpt. 3 Memories

“Ginny! Ginny! Oh, my baby! Ginny your alive!”

“Yes, Mum, I am alive.”

“And Hermione too! Oh, come here both of you.”
Mrs. Weasley had grabbed them both and hugged them so hard.

“I thought we had lost you two.”

“Why are you both naked?”

“Long story, but can we just get some clothes.” Hermione asked.

“Yes, yes my dears.”

“Charlie, can you get some clothing out of the blue trunk in the closet.”

“Yes, mom, but why?”

“Because Ginny is here. Hermione is also here too.”

“What!”

Charlie grabbed the trunk and brought it out to the main room and hugged his little sister. Everyone who was there did the same as well. Ginny started to cry, seeing her entire family again, everyone safe and everyone loving her. She loved them so much and missed them so much. She hugged everyone. She saw everyone except Ron. Hermione was also looking for him, but she didn’t ask anyone whether he was he or not. She didn’t want to stop this happy scene. She just assumed that she was right all along and that Ron really was dead. She just wanted to enjoy being with people who cared about her. Everything was finally alright. She did not want to spoil it.
Hermione and Ginny put some clothing on and helped Mrs. Weasley clean up a storage room down the hallway, which would be their room, to sleep in. As they were doing so, Hermione heard a familiar voice from the main room. She stopped what she was doing. Mrs. Weasley and Ginny looked at her, they heard it too.

“Hermione, Go. He doesn’t know yet.”
Hermione dropped the box that she was holding and ran out of the room and to the hallway. She saw him, the red-headed boy that she had fallen in love with. Ron Weasley was still alive and standing in front o her with his back turned.

“Ron.” she said. Ron stopped what he was doing and turned around to see Hermione staring at him. His eyes widened. They stared at each other not believing what they saw. They looked each other right in the eye and…

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Voldemort was sitting in his chair, he couldn't clear his mind, as the last words of Harry Potter came flashing into his mind almost every second. He let his mind go back, back to the very last time he saw Harry Potter…

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

"Avada Kedavra!" Voldemort said again and again. Watching wizards and witches fall as life dissipated inside them. He was simply walking through the battlefield helping his death eaters destroy the Order of the Phoenix and the Ministry. He suddenly stopped as he saw his pet Nagini fall limp in front of him. Then he looked over to see who had done it. It was Harry Potter.

"Harry, we meet again."

"Yes, Tom we do. A little less favorable conditions this time though, eh?"

"No more favorable, Harry, more favorable."

"I beg to differ."

"Well then start begging, Harry because it will end right here right now."

"Yes, Tom it will. Expelliarmus!"
Voldemort jumped out of the way.

"Avada Kedavra!"
Harry dodged it.
The fight went on and on. It lasted for hours. Curses flew back and forth. Priori Incantatem happened at least ten times, as Harry and Voldemort's wands connected.
Voldemort was tiring. Harry was getting weaker. Finally Voldemort had him. Harry fell as his wand zoomed away from his hand.

"I have you Harry, it is over. I win."

"You think you did Tom, you think you did."

"I have you Harry, you are dead."

"Not yet Tom, nor will I ever be completely gone as long as you are still living on the Earth."

"Any last words, Harry?"

"Yes, actually I do Tom."

"Then say them, for you have no more than a minute to live."

"Ok, Tom, here they are: Are you watching closely?"
Harry burst into flames before Voldemort's very eyes. Voldemort didn't know what to do. He shot a killing curse down upon the burning form of Harry Potter. When the flames died down, all that was left was ash, ash of the boy who lived, the chosen one, was gone. Dead. Forever.
But Voldemort could never forget those last words. He didn't understand it. He never got to see the light leave his eyes. He knew he was dead, but he just didn't understand. Those words would haunt him for the rest of his life, especially with that green suited boy running around everywhere, reminding him of it and thwarting all of his plans. ‘Are you watching closely?’ ‘Are you watching closely?’

“What does it mean!” Voldemort shouted at the ceiling.
Voldemort sat down on a chair to try and block out these memories. He couldn’t no matter what he couldn’t just clear his mind.

“Lost in your troubles, eh mate?”
Voldemort looked up. There was that boy again, standing next to the fire, in his green suit and mask.

“You!”

“Me?”
Voldemort pulled his wand out.

“What is your name?”

“My name? Well you will find out when the time is right, probably for you on your death bed. You can cal me The Phoenix for now though.”

“Avada Kedavra!”
The Phoenix jumped out of the way.

“Avada Kedavra!”
The Phoenix dodged it again.

“Gosh Tom you seem very disturbed tonight. Anything I can help you with?”

“Yes, your death!”

“Ok, so the only thing that will make you happy would be my death. That doesn’t make much sense, you see most people grieve when someone dies, Tom.”

“No one will be grieving for you.”

“Your right, Tom, your right. No one will be grieving for me. You see I won’t be the one dead.”

“Shows how much you know, Avada Kedavra!”

“Seriously Tom, you can do better than that, you are losing your form,” he said as he dodged it again.

“I am not losing my form.”

“Ok, let’s see then, Sectumsempra!”
It hit Voldemort in his leg.

“Avada Kedavra!”
Voldemort missed again as he saw The Phoenix jump out of the window again.

“Curse you!” he yelled at him.

----------------------------------------------------------------

Hermione looked right at Ron and Ron right at her. Everyone in the room went silent and started shuffling to get out of the room. Soon Ron and Hermione were alone in the living room staring right into each others eyes. Ginny was seeing this through a crack in the door, watching to see if they were going to do anything or just stare at each other like they would if they were still in school.

“Uhhh, morons if Harry was standing within the same room as me…” she couldn’t finish the sentence. She knew it was impossible. Harry was not coming back, Hermione would be getting the happily ever after, that is it, period. Ginny would have to live with everything that happened to her when she was at the death eater sex camp, and with the fact that her only true love would not be coming back.
Hermione moved over to Ron.

“Ron, I thought you were dead, I missed you so much.”

“I thought you were dead. You were just missing and then here you are. Oh, Hermione. I missed you more than you know.”
He hugged her very tightly, not wanting to let go. Not wanting to lose her again.

“Umm, well is there any chance, Hermione that my sister was with you?”

“Actually Ron, she did make it. She is helping your mother.”

“This is the best day of my life, I feel like I have my life back.”

“Umm, Ron did Harry umm, did he make it?”
Ron slowly shook his head.

“We finally found sufficient evidence just two days ago, that he was killed by Voldemort. I'm sorry. Does Ginny have any idea?"

"Yes, she does, but you know, she doesn't want to believe it yet.

Ron looked up and stared into Hermione’s eyes once again, suddenly their lips touched and they kissed each other.
Ginny had heard it all she saw the shake of Ron’s head. She knew it completely now, she had lost the last bit of hope she had left for Harry.
She lost it. She just started pouring everything out. Her mother who was taken by surprise at the sudden change that Ginny made behind her looked around in suspicion at what had triggered such a fit for Ginny. She was crying profusely and telling her mother absolutely everything that had taken place at the death eater camp that she was held in just a day ago.
She told about how she escaped and how the mysterious super hero Phoenix guy had saved her. Hermione and Ron were the first to hear the crying and everything that was going on, other than Mrs. Weasley, but soon the entire family and Order were in the room with Ginny listening and crying along with her.
When Ginny finally finished she just yelled out loud,

“Why? Why did you have to take him?”! As she looked up to the ceiling.

“Why did you have to put me through this?”! Her head went down into her folded arms as she was kneeling on the floor crying. Ginny was torn apart, everything finally letting loose. She was letting it all go. She couldn’t handle the pain anymore. She just wanted Harry back. She just wanted to have his hands around her again, the soft touch of his lips on her cheek. Everything she had ever held dear to her was slowly getting torn out of her life. She was still surprised that she still had her family left. She wanted to pray but it seemed hopeless, nothing could bring Harry back, why should she pray for something that couldn’t happen? She wanted to be left alone but knew that she wouldn’t get it. It was better for her not to isolate herself from the only living beings that did still care for her or at least were still alive that she cared about…


To Continue...

War of the Worlds

Set right after the fall of Voldemort, during the nineteen years between end of DH and Epilogue. Epilogue is pushed back a few years, but still stays on Canon.


Chapter 1



"Witches! And magic, evil spells! Yes, that’s what it is. Them Ministry folk just want to say things like it was engineering problems or a freak accident. I don’t believe a word of it. It was witches I tell ya! Witches!” Robert Harding shouted to the crowd at the bar. For they were all talking about all of the weird things that have happened this past week.

“Witches? Do you honestly expect us to believe that?” said one man standing up.

“You would rather believe the cock and bull stuff the Ministry has been coming out with, eh?”

“Your nuts, you should be thrown into an insane asylum!”

“I have already been to one, thank you very much and they say I am just as sane as anyone else here, I just know the truth here and isn’t believing any more lies from the Ministry.” Harding said. “Its those witches, and I am not giving up my argument until somebody can prove to me that there are no more witches in these parts, can you prove that?”
No one answered him, they all just looked at him in horror.
“Tell me,” he started, finally gaining more awareness. “How did the Brockdale Bridge, just fall into pieces. Why are the murder rates up so high within a few weeks, they have skyrocketed, not to mention that all of the recent murders have been on a person known to have been very strange to society. I knew miss Bones very well under certain circumstances. She was always acting very abnormal around me. How do you believe that the devastation in the west country was a freak accident? A hurricane they are saying. With our technology now a days and the simple fact that the chances of a hurricane getting this far north, pish posh.
What about all this darkness and fog and why is it so cold in the middle of July? Witches.”
With that he stormed out of the bar and walked to his truck.
Robert P. Harding
Witch Hunting Specialist

Those were the words pasted on the side of his truck, not to mention all this equipment coming out here and there on his vehicle. Instruments he called them.
But that was over a year ago now. Robert Harding was no longer considered a freak to some people. Now he was their leader. He had finally convinced enough people to have his own company. He knew that one of these days he would catch something. Sure he had already confiscated as he liked to call it rather than stealing, some materials that were definitely owned by a witch.
The Standard Book of Spells (Grade Two), A pewter cauldron, and an old broken wand that had weird tape all over it. Not to mention a letter with a seal on it. The seal of the Ministry of Magic. This had been his proof for a lot of his supporters and co- workers. It was just a matter of time before he would actually catch not only a witch’s possessions but a witch herself.

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The Wizarding World was in utter chaos, it had been two days since the fall of Voldemort, certain departments of the Ministry were still under control of the Death Eaters. The very few Death Eaters that were still at large knew that they would be caught sooner or later so instead they decided to try and put the Wizarding world in even more chaos if possible. They were running around mad in London in the middle of rush hour, charming light posts and hexing people. Not to mention blowing up cars and robbing banks magically. For one thing the Ministry was in shambles and could not perform it’s main priority which was to keep the muggles from realizing that they still exist. If this didn’t alert the witch hunter they didn’t know what would. But that was a few good weeks ago now. The remaining Dementors came back into the control of the Ministry and went back to Azkaban. The Auror office was finally purged and it was fully operational now and tracking down any other loose Death Eaters. Harry had helped in a very huge way in doing this. The Obliviators were attempting to track down any of the witch hunters that they could find. The problem was that there were far too many since recent events and their population was dying out extremely fast. If the Wizarding World wasn’t coming straight out of a war that had stolen the lives of many, many wizards and witches then it may not have been a problem, but the fact that the Ministry was already short handed and the sudden growth in the awareness of their presence upon muggles, the Magical world was one step away from annihilation.
There was sudden but very light cough. The Prime Minister looked up, he knew the cough but had desperately wanted to think it was his imagination. Then something coughed again. The Prime Minister looked up again, knowing that it was inevitable. The little man in the portrait suddenly started speaking,
“To the Prime Minister of Muggles. Urgent we speak. Please respond immediately. Sincerely Kingsley Shacklebolt.”
“Shacklebolt? What the devil does he want?”
“Kindly respond immediately,” the portrait said again.
“Yes, yes send him in.”
He looked to the door, expecting to see him enter that way, since he was supposed to be working in the secretary office just below, but was not surprised to see emerald flames go up in the fireplace and him come walking out that way.
“Well Shacklebolt, you needed to speak with me?”
“Yes, Minister. I have come to inform you that Lord Voldemort has just been killed. He is gone.”
“Excellent, will this mean that I can go back to running my country without having to worry about an invisible war going on around me?”
“Yes, and I will be having to retire from my current position in your office. I will be temporarily replaced by a Miss Hermione Granger until every danger has passed for you. Then you will be able to hire your own secretary. I am currently the temporary Minister of Magic, and I need you to abide by these circumstances for just a little longer.”
“If this means an end to all of this chaos, then I will of course abide for a while longer.”
“Good, now I must return to the Ministry, we still have some pruning to do to make sure all of Voldemort’s followers are sent to Azkaban, where they belong. I may have to visit again later this week. Some problems have arisen and if they are not controlled very soon, I am afraid that we will be in serious trouble for sure. Goodnight Minister.”
Kingsley threw a handful of powder into the fireplace and walked into it disappearing and re-appearing in his office.
‘What could be worse than a war? What was Kingsley scared of?’ the Prime Minister thought after he left.

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The Prime Minister found out that very next morning when he got his morning Newspaper. The Headline was on recent mysterious deaths. In fact there had been twenty deaths just last night in the north country, all of the victims had some sort of weird possession on them however. A wand, a broomstick, or a spell book. Each victim had a cloak on as if they were all dressed up as witches or wizards. This all had opened up the slight suspicion of witch hunters. The weirdest of it all though was that the causes of death were unknown. They all looked perfectly healthy except for the fact that they were all dead. The doctors and investigators all were stumped. This problem persisted though, every day there were at least five deaths, all ending up the same way, dressed in cloaks, carrying an object that seemed magical and had no signs of death marked on them. Finally after four nights of this, Shacklebolt came to call again to the Prime Minister.
“What is going on Kingsley?”
“The Wizarding World is in shambles, witch hunters have found out about our existence and some of our whereabouts. Each wizarding family is to put muggle repelling charms all over their properties at night and to leave at least one on their estate at all times. Our worst fear has been realized. You, as in the muggles, have found out about us all, and we are in danger. Our very existence lies in our ability to remain hidden, but even so, our population has decreased rapidly. The students at Hogwarts, I believe you are familiar with Hogwarts dear Minister?”
“Yes, yes, it is your school in which you teach magic to teenagers.”
“Yes, three years ago the population at Hogwarts was over five thousand students and teachers. It has slowly decreased as our mothers and fathers get killed and do not have children. Let alone that some of the students were killed in the war. The number of students at Hogwarts now, including the teachers is below two thousand. This includes muggleborns though, that is muggles who have magical ability. And the approximate number of them is two hundred students. So do you see our dilemma, Minister? We are all dying out, if this continues there will be no more wizards and witches in Briatain, which opens you up for attack from other country’s wizarding community. Do you understand that if we all die out, Britain will be attacked and overcome by one of your enemies. Do you really want this country, which has had a marvelous history being invaded by another country and take it over? And let alone it would be in your time as Prime Minister that this history takes place. Minister, we are dying out and it is because of these witch hunters. I do not have authority over them since they are muggles, even though I detect that they have small amounts of magical blood, since they are using wizards and witches wands to kill off our people. Either way, I still have no control over them, but you do. I hope that I made my point and an impression upon your course of action, Minister. Please don’t let us down. Goodnight, Minister.”
“Wait, if you are only losing about five people a night, yes it is sad, but how is that hurting you so badly?”
“The papers are wrong minister, we are covering up as much as possible to prevent further awareness, but we can’t cover everything up. Minister, these hunters are very skilled in their ways, and they have behind the scenes help from Death Eaters. Our numbers are far worse than five a night, Minister. Try fifty a night. Most seem to be kids too, and if we lose our kids, we lose the future population. Do you see now Minister?”
Kingsley stood up and walked over to the fireplace. Within a few seconds he was gone, leaving the Minister to his thoughts of how to stop the witch hunters, but staying within the law. He didn’t have enough evidence to pin the murdering of children on them or let alone the murders of adults. He had to think of some way of stopping them but not making it obvious that he knew about the magical world and what they were doing. He kept thinking hard, until he fell asleep.
The next morning he woke very early, and started to get some ideas on how to stop the hunters, although most of them were nearly impossible. He was starting to get a headache when the telephone rang and he was told that his meeting with his new secretary was about to start. He got up and walked down to meet a young girl who was surprisingly young for what he had been expecting.
“You are Miss Granger, then are you?” he asked.
“Yes, Minister. I trust you know he pretences in which I am working here for?”
“Yes, my new secretary and body guard, are also a whatever Kingsley was. Annor or something like that?”
“Do you mean Auror?”
“Yes that.”
“No, I am not. Actually this would be my first real job.”
“Then how are you supposed to guard me when you have no training or anything?”
“I do have training, I was a leader in the war and I have just come fresh from my final year of Hogwarts. The Ministry trusts me, besides I am only your visible body guard, there are others, you know, they just keep watch from a far.”
“Oh, I see. Well as long as your work is acceptable you are hired, but if I…”
“You don’t have to worry about anything Minister.”
“How old are you?”
“I just turned eighteen about two weeks ago.”
“They send a teenager to be my body guard, they are nutters,” he mumbled as he walked out the door back to his office.

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Weeks passed and the problem persisted. Kingsley Shacklebolt had been replaced by Colin Knight, the old Head for the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. The Captain of the Head Magical Law Enforcement Squad had replaced him, and Kingsley went back to the Auror office.
Introduction to the prime Minister and Colin went well and very quick, The Prime Minister had managed to pass a law that Witch hunters would have to register and have tracking devices placed on their truck. He had also passed a law that you had to have a license to do such work. This upset the many hunters but yet they still didn’t quit, but they did start having a few goes at the way the Prime Minister was handling things.
Even though the problem slowed since many precautions were made it still persisted and The ministry had no choice but to bring up a bill that had been known for a while, but nobody seemed to want to invoke it. Finally, the ministry had no choice.

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A important and mandatory meeting of the Wizengamot was in order just a few days after the death of Muriel Weasley. A Marriage Law was in the bin and ready to be voted on. The Ministry hoped that it would give the population a small boost, enabling hem to find other ways of stopping the attacks.
“All those in favor of passing said Marriage Law raise your hand.” Many members of the Wizengamot raised their hands. “All those in favor of rejecting said Marriage Law raise your hand.”
The vote was in. The Marriage Law had won by five votes.

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“I still can’t believe that the Ministry has no idea how these muggles keep killing these witches and wizards. Heck, to believe that a muggle could have killed Romilda Vane’s mother.” Ron said, as he flipped the page from the obituaries which were now a full page and sometimes two, to the comics.
Harry knew that the Vane’s had come from a long chain of very good witches and wizards.
“How are these muggles killing us without using guns? It’s almost as if we are fighting Voldmeort again, but worse, Voldemort only wanted muggleborns and anyone close to me dead, he wanted to purify the wizard race, not destroy it. These guys want us all dead. If the Ministry doesn’t take action soon, we are all going to end up annihilated.”
As Harry said this Ginny looked up from her coffee, she couldn’t help but seeing the title of an article in her brother’s newspaper. She snatched the paper from Ron’s hands and started reading the article that Ron and Harry must have missed. It was on the front page but to the side.
“Oh my…” she said. “How did you guys miss this?”
She turned the paper to their eyes. There in black letters were the words:
Ministry Fights Population Decline; Invokes Marriage Law.

Chapter 2: The Beginning of Chaos

1300 A.D. (Under English rule, Welsh natives persecuted)

Jonathan Harding was a very respectable boy, he was an English teenager living in a Welsh city called Conwy. His father was a servant in the castle and his mother quilted for some extra money on the side. Nobody ever disliked Jonathan or his family, nobody but one welsh boy named Peter. He was determined to get Jonathan into trouble, somehow due to the fact that Jonathan always picked Peter out just to make fun of him when at the park or just taking a walk with a bunch of friends. Peter of course knew English although his parents did not wish him to have used it anywhere except at school. Peter was a wizard, a wizard fresh from his second year at Dragon’s Academy of Magic hidden deep within the Welsh mountains. There was no Statute of Secrecy to stop him from performing magic, just the fact that the British hated the Welsh enough and if a welsh boy was found to be a wizard they would guarantee him a spot tied to the stake to burn. He had heard rumors that they had caught another witch and were planning on burning her at the stake in just a few weeks time. This was enough to scare anybody, especially for a second year student, they didn’t learn flame freezing charms until fourth year. Their second to last year at the academy. Either way Peter was very afraid of Jonathan due to their family helping with two of the last three witch catches. Peter was walking home from hanging out at the park when he saw something he least expected. An owl, in the middle of the day. He was only eleven years old and never saw an owl before. ( Welsh magic school started very early due to the defense needed sometimes for the horrible persecution during the middle ages to the Welsh, also the fact that people married very early.) Peter of course followed it, he was a very curious kid. After following it for a few minutes, peter realized it was going to Jonathan’s house. Peter decided to take the chance, he followed it even still, on the Harding’s property. This was a mistake. The back door of the house burst open and Jonathan and his family ran out of the house, they all had sticks in their hands. These Peter recognized were wands. He drew his own out and ran after them. Jonathan saw him and alerted his family. They all reached a shed on a field out side of the town walls, and before they could shut the door, Peter slipped inside. Jonathan’s mother and father started digging in the ground, apparently looking for something, while Jonathan’s brothers and sisters took care of Peter.
“Your wizards and witches!”
“Yeah that’s right, Puny Peter, we are, and I am about to blast you through the castle walls, if you don’t get away from me.”
“You sold other witches and wizards to the English king, that’s tyranny against the code of Merlin.”
“Nobody cares about the code of Merlin anymore, Peter, and how do you know that?”
Peter waved his wand in front of them.
“You are all going to be executed, and I still care about the Code of Merlin. So there is somebody isn’t there. You can’t defend yourself, either, can you Jonathan? You haven’t started your schooling yet, have you?”
Jonathan’s face contorted. It was true, the only magic he and his siblings knew was easy things that their parents taught them, all except Warren, the eldest son, who had one year of schooling in. Their parents had been expelled at early ages and vowed revenge upon the wizards and witches of Britain by using their magic and knowledge of the magical world to capture other wizards and witches and to kill them off, one by one…
Peter easily disarmed every person there and had them up against the wall, waiting for he authorities who were supposed to be coming to come. For that was the reason for the sudden, “escape plan” made by the Harding family. The owl must have been a warning from an accomplice. Then without warning, it got dark, and not just dark but cold. Freezing cold, in the middle of summer.
The door burst open, there was a yell from Mr. Harding to Jonathan, a sucking and ticking sound and then a loud suck of air and the last thing any of them saw were black hooded figures swooping down on them and lowering their hoods and pressing upon their faces.

Present Time

Ministry Fights Population Decline; Invokes Marriage Law.


Last night the Ministry of Magic agreed to support a Marriage law to attempt to slow the rapidly decreasing numbers of witches and wizards in Britain. The law states that anybody over the age of fifteen must have a spouse or be in an unbreakable engagement. They are required, unless due to health or other issues that the Ministry will decide legitimate or not must give birth to at least three children before the age of twenty one. This law has not been finalized and the finer details are subject to change. The age zones that are effected by this law are presently 14 to 27. Age zone 28- 35 will have to meet more lenient requirements if the law gets fully enacted. “This will be a permanent law until we can get the population stable again, and nothing has been finalized yet so don’t get overly excited about it, in fact it still has the possibility of being completely scrapped, although I will advise that if you are affected by this to start thinking hard about it.” said a Ministry employee on the committee for this specific controversy. Other information is leading to the conclusion that for those few who may not obey the law, or if they cannot for some reason obtain a spouse there will be pre-arranged marriages set up by the Ministry and parents of the said peoples., there is also a possibility of male decision dominance.

The latest on this new law will be posted in the Evening Prophet tonight.

“You have got to be kidding me!” Ginny exclaimed after finishing the article.
“Ginny, it is pretty clear of what they are trying to do.” Ron answered sarcastically.
“IT’S A FIGURE OF SPEECH!…”
“I know, I know, I am just teasing you,”
“This isn’t a time for teasing, this is serious.”
“What so serious, you’ll marry Harry and Hermione will almost have no choice but to accept my proposal.”
Both Harry and Ginny blushed at this, they knew that they wanted to marry each other for the longest time, but they just didn’t want to hurry into it.
Harry stood up and said, “I have to go run some errands, I’ll see you two later then. Ginny, are we still on for tonight?”
“Yes, I’ll see you then,” she answered while standing up to kiss him good-bye.
Harry kissed her back and then walked out of the kitchen and house, leaving Ginny and Ron back in the house, a black velvet box bouncing around in his pocket, with his mother’s ring in it. He walked on down the street before turning on one heel and apparating to Diagon Alley.


Chapter 3: The Problem Growing Stronger

1300 A.D. Area of Present day Conwy, Wales

Last chapter:

(The door burst open, there was a yell from Mr. Harding to Jonathan, a sucking and ticking sound and then a loud suck of air and the last thing any of them saw were black hooded figures swooping down on them and lowering their hoods and pressing upon their faces.)

The ticking continued, it was growing louder and louder, and then with a rush of wind stopped. There was a blast of silver and the darkness and bitter cold was swallowed up by small rays sunlight and warmth, there was no shack or any sheep at all, there was only three people laying on the ground. In a large forest with only a small dirt path going through it. Those three people seemed to lay there for hours, barely moving until one of them finally stirred awake. It was Jonathan, who seemed to be searching for something. Then he found it , it was stuck to his bracelet, the thing that saved his life. A small chain with a time turner on it, this just happened to be different though, for it had a large black stone as the actual turning piece instead of the normal hour glass. This heirloom was passed down his family for generations and had been turned into a time turner for an escape device if they had been caught by the wizarding police, apparently it had worked, at least for him and one of his sisters, and … Peter! Peter’s finger was wrapped around one of the chain links. In his other hand was a wand. Jonathan moved over toward it inches from the wand ready to rip it out of Peter’s grasp when the wand moved and hit Jonathan in the chest with a simple pushing spell. This apparently had woken Peter up at last.

“What were you trying to do?” Peter asked.

“Your wand, its alive!” Jonathan half yelled in terror back at him.

“It’s a simple protection enchantment placed on it, all roman wands have it. They were the greatest wand makers in the world. Ollivander, he has Roman blood in him, that’s why you all think he is so great. This is one of the last pure Roman wands left, its ben in my family for ages, each time accepting its new master as long as its old master had died, so technically it pretty much could skip one to two generations at a time. So don’t mess with me, I have a very powerful wand on my side. Now where are we?”

“I don’t even know, I just turned it a few times. Carrie, are you ok?” The girl had finally woken and slowly got up.

“I’m ok, Jon. Where are we? Or actually when are we?”

“I don’t know but we are going to find out, the town should be that way.” They walked on through the forest, following the path, no one knew how long they had been walking until they came to water, an estuary.

“Well the town isn’t even a town yet, and the castle hasn’t even been started on yet, we must have gone way back, either way we have to cross, there seems to be a few huts over on that side.”

Peter said knowingly.

There was a small disturbance coming from behind them, they turned to look and then they knew no more as everything went black.

Present Time-

Harry landed just outside of Flourish and Blotts, just as he was about to walk into the store, he realized what was going on. There was fighting going on all around him. It looked like muggles. This suspicion was proved right just as Harry saw a rifle fly through the air. Harry pulled his wand out knowing exactly what he wanted to do. A huge bang erupted from Harry wand as a pink half sphere shot out and engulfed the entire area. He sealed the archway entrance that was the reason why muggles were coming in. Not only that but guns and knives and all metal objects were being drawn towards the top of the sphere. The muggles were defenseless now. Every wizard and witch that was still standing which were a very slim few circled the muggles which outnumbered all of them by at least three to one. Then the most unexpected thing happened. Almost a quarter of the supposed muggles disapparated, holding on to some of the others leaving only very few muggles left. Harry and a few others began to bind some of their captives with magical ropes and such and then moved them to sit out front of the Quidditch shop. Shortly after there were many sudden ‘pops’ of ministry employees arriving to settle the riot but to their disbelief they had come for hardly a reason. Other than to witness the many fallen bodies of witches and wizards and then send captured muggles that would only fill about fifty cells in the vast Azkaban prison. Nevertheless Kingsley thanked Harry for settling it and once again offered Harry a job.

“Harry, we really need someone with your reputation and ability to help us. Would you consider a ministry position?”

“I’m sorry Kingsley, I don’t work for the Ministry and I don’t think I ever will. I like where I am at. There is something you need to know though, you may or may not have heard yet from the other witnesses, but we aren’t just fighting ordinary muggles. Either some of them are wizards or they have been taught by wizards. I suspect death eaters, there are a few still out there.”

“Yes, Harry, but only a few, I don’t think that the death eaters are behind this, I think it is someone or something totally different, something that awoke when He-Who- Must- Not- Be- Named fell. Something far more greater than You-Know- Who and far more intelligent than Grindlewald. Our race is dying Harry, the Ministry is failing, and I honestly don’t know how to save it. Our Aurors are being killed left and right, our population is weakening even more every day, and we don’t know what is doing it. Not to mention the muggle Prime Minister isn’t helping with the constant nagging to find out what is going on too. Harry I need help. We need a leader, and you have the experience.” Kingsley finished staring directly into Harry’s emerald circles. It wasn’t a normal stare though it was different this time, this time it was steady and dominant. Harry concluded on what it meant as he stared back.

“What are you saying?” He replied, more firmly than for a question as he already knew the answer.

“If the Ministry is to fail, and there is nothing we can do to save it, Harry let the Phoenix fly once again, take up your position, and lead. I would much rather go down knowing that England’s Wizarding population will have another defense than going down with sure surrender. Harry, they will kill us all.”Then by quoting someone without really recognizing it Kingsley finished before walking away.

“Now comes the time to choose between what is right and what is easy, the Ministry is going to fall without you, so rise up with a new force, lead them.”Harry stood there watching as he walked away, and then the errand that he had to do came back to him and he walked away towards the jewelry store on the other side of the alley. As he was coming back, he caught site of a new flyer being posted up by Ministry decree.

BY MINSISTRY OF MAGIC DECREE

Any person who is between the ages of 14 to 20 will have a hearing at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry tomorrow at 10:00 AM to discuss arrangements being made for marriage. All persons between those ages MUST attend the hearing and will have their arranged marriage set at that time. Any engaged couples between those ages must be present together at 8:00 AM to acknowledge that they have found a marriage partner. Some may be asked to be wed on that day for convenience. As an appreciation gift the Ministry will pay for the honeymoon and wedding there of. All details in the Evening Prophet.

This is in accordance with Ministry of Magic Statute 236 Decree 1 Clause 1

Ministry of Magic

Harry was stunned, he immediately ran to Madam Malkins to find a huge line outside, waiting for dress robes, almost all of them as Harry could see seemed to be engaged couples. He was almost thinking about trying a different robe store when he noticed Hermione flagging him down. She waved to him to come over to her.

“Hermione, Great to see you.”

“Great to see you too, what has it been? Almost two weeks now. Well, I need to know Harry, if Ron was going to propose to me or not?”

“Umm, wow Hermione, I mean I don’t know everything, Ron usually keeps that stuff unknown. Why do you know something else other than what those signs are saying?”

“Yes, The council already has the arrangements made for the marriages. If I don’t get engaged to Ron tonight, I am going to be placed with Neville.”

“Oh, yeah, umm that might be a problem.” he said sarcastically.

“That’s not all, Harry, you better act quickly as well. Ginny could possibly be placed with Dean Thomas. You are second on the list, the Hogwarts teachers voted on you two but the other representatives voted otherwise. They gave the Hogwart’s teachers some votes because they knew the students and could tell their personalities with compatibility or not.”

“Well the Ministry has gotten smarter but still, ok well thanks for the warning and you should come over for dinner later, its at six. See you then?”

“Sounds good, thanks Harry, then you could tell me what exactly happened today and why the one section of Diagon Alley is closed down.”

“Alright, wow the Ministry is even hushing that up. Well I have to get back in line.”

“No, no, just tell me what sizes you need, and I’ll get them for you, I’ll bring them over for dinner, besides you probably have some other business at the jewelry store. Right?”

“That’s funny because I just came from there. But I do need to do something else, thanks, Hermione. See you tonight at six.”

“Alright, hey what sizes do you need?”Harry wrote them down, and gave the piece of parchment to Hermione,

“That should be it. Thanks again.”He walked down towards Flourish and Blotts, he had to speak to someone, and he wanted it done now.








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