The world as we know it
AlwaysPadfoot
AN: unedited at current just because I'm so tired :( - AU
how it began
The Great Hall fell silent as Harry Potter's body hit the cold stone floor. Voldemort straightened up, breathing heavily with his wand still outstretched toward Harry, whose eyes were fixated, staring upwards in a chilling vacant expression.
The war was over; Voldemort had won.
This time Potter was really dead and he wasn't coming back. The fighting had stopped around us, everyone seemed to just be watching and waiting for the victor to say something, anything. I looked around at the members of Dumbledore Army, their faces a picture of devastation as they looked on in horror at our fallen hero and his defeater. Neville Longbottom clutched the golden DA galleon in his hand, twisting it over and over as if was already planning another move. I wasn't sure if there was any point.
It was over.
Muggleborns, like me, were going to be in an extremely sticky situation. I looked to those who had returned for the fight: Justin, Hermione, Dean. We were all going to be captured, probably killed, and right now there was nothing we could do about it. I glanced to my right, where Dean was standing. He was injured, yet his eyes were fixed to Voldemort, who had lowered his wand and turned to address the hall.
"Your saviour is dead," he cried, kicking Potter's body as if to prove a point, "And this time he is not returning."
Voldemort lifted his wand and pointed it at Harry's body. A jet of orange flame shot out his wand and there was a collective gasp of horror as Harry Potter's corpse went up in flames. I jumped backwards immediately looking away, a sickening feeling spreading through me.
"NO."
I had to look back to see Ginny Weasley being held back by her father and oldest brother, tears streaming down her face. It was no secret that she loved Harry and I suddenly found my eyes wet with tears. Over the crackling of the flames and Ginny Weasley's sobbing, a Golden Galleon hit the floor and rolled to the feet of Professor McGonagall. To the Death Eaters, to Voldemort, this was nothing, but to everyone who right now had an exact copy in their pocket, it was a symbol of the light.
McGonagall, whose face had obvious tear tracks, bent down and picked it up, before her horrified eyes fell to Neville Longbottom. He gave her a nod, and suddenly I felt something turn hot in my pocket. My hand discreetly went into my pocket, lifting the Galleon out and glancing down at it.
On me, apparate.
I dropped the Galleon back into my jeans, my eyes flickered upwards, and I was sure every member of the DA had the message. After all, all the coins had spells on them so they couldn't be lost and couldn't be read by anyone but their owners. The apparation location would come naturally, be just had to concentrate on apparating safely and we would end up where we needed to be. I considered us lucky, since the Death Eaters destroy all the wards that surrounded Hogwarts.
My eyes found themselves scanning the hall for anyone who I knew could not apparate and they fell on Dennis Creevey, who most definitely should not be here. His eyes were red and puffy as he leant over his brother, who had been killed earlier before Harry died the first time. Dennis Creevey was, like his brother, a Muggleborn and considering he should only be in fourth year, he would not be able to apparate.
This time I glared at Dean and almost as if he could sense me, he turned to me. I lifted my hand up, placing one finger under my eye, hoping to convey the message: watch. I let my gaze travel to Dennis and then back to Dean and then back to Dennis again. Dean's eyes widened and he pointed to himself.
"I'll get him," he mouthed.
"I'm closer," I mouthed back in response. Dean frowned, shaking his head slightly, but I ignored him. He knew I was going to do it anyway. The smell of burning flesh finally infiltrated my nose and I took shallow breaths through my mouth to try and stop the smell. It was disgusting and degrading. Someone had to put an end to it, sooner rather than later.
"STOP," McGonagall stepped forward extinguishing the fire with a mere flick of her wand, "That is quite enough."
Voldemort stiffened as the old deputy head stepped forward but soon after he smirked, "Minerva McGonagall."
"Mr Riddle," she spat venomously.
Voldemort twitched, "How dare you."
"Do you think I wouldn't remember?" McGonagall answered, "The day you came to this castle seeking a post under Albus Dumbledore. Did you honestly think I wouldn't remember that day in my seventh year as you arrogantly strode out this very castle after being rejected by the only man you were ever scared of?"
"I order you to be silent, McGonagall," he shouted, raising his wand, only to be faced with about a dozen others.
"You will not order me to be silent, Tom Riddle."
Cue chaos. The hurtling green curse span through the air towards McGonagall, but before it was even halfway there she was gone.
"DUMBLEDORE'S ARMY," Neville yelled, grabbing hold of the injured Hannah Abbott before he disapparated. An identical cry went up from many including those who hadn't even been involved before people started disapparating with the injured.
Voldemort let out an enraged and almost inhuman cry, "STOP THEM."
My whirled around my focus entirely on Dennis Creevey, raising my wand I cast a non-verbal spell without even trying to, one I barely even recognised. My path to Dennis was suddenly free, scattering Death Eaters in all directions and I had next to no time so I would have to move quickly. A flash of red crossed my path but I hurtled forwards anyway.
"Dennis!" I shouted. He seemed to be completely unaware of what was going on, because there was a Death Eater about to grab him from behind. I threw a stunning spell at the Death Eater, who was sent spiralling backwards into another, and I allowed the briefest nanosecond to consider that my magic was a hell of a lot stronger in this situation. I reached Dennis a second later, wrapping my arms around his waist and pulling him from his brother.
"No. That's my brother!"
I wasn't going to listen to him because I had to get him out of here before he died. I dragged him away as best I could despite him fighting against me.
"I'm sorry, Dennis," I muttered before disappearing into thin air.
When I hit the floor in the safe house I was momentarily dazed for a second before I felt myself being dragged to my feet and pinned to the nearest wall, "WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO THAT FOR!?"
"I saved your ass, Dennis," I yelled back at him, "Colin is dead and they would have killed you."
I flinched as Dennis raised his fist, but lucky someone wrestled him away from me before he could do anything and that someone was Dean Thomas. He'd pushed Dennis to the floor, holding him down so he couldn't get back at me.
"If it weren't for Ali you'd be dead," Dean told him, "Colin wouldn't want you dead, Dennis. If I find out you've laid a finger on her you're gonna have me to answer to mate."
Dean got to his feet and took a step back towards me. Both of us watched as Dennis lay still for a moment before he stood. He didn't even turn to us; instead he simply disappeared into the group of people that had arrived from Hogwarts.
"Thanks, Dean."
"No problem, Ali," he responded, "We've got to all look out for each other now, even more than we used to."
It was at that exact moment that Professor McGonagall called the room to order and silence encompassed the room. Everyone wanted to know what was going to happen next, now that Harry Potter was dead and Voldemort had won.
"From the moment Harry Potter was brutally murdered this became a rebellion. From here you all have three choices: the first is to return to your lives under Voldemort's rule, the second is to leave here tonight via an international portkey, and the final one," she paused, "Is one I recommend with great caution, is to remain here as part of the resistance against Voldemort."
Immediately the room ignited with questions, yells and all sorts of other noises. The world was changing, and it wasn't going to be to everyone's liking.
growth
If you'd have told me three years ago that I would be part of a rebellion, I would have probably laughed and told you to stop wasting my time.
Since the Battle of Hogwarts, a year and a half ago, they'd killed my parents and locked my younger brother in Azkaban for being a 'Mudblood'. I didn't even know he was a wizard and I literally felt sick to my stomach just thinking about him in that awful place.
After been given the choice to go or stay, very few people remained in Britain and I didn't blame them. Hermione left almost immediately. Susan, Terry, Padma and Pavarti, Fay, Anthony; all of them, gone.
Other people stuck it out longer, the Weasley's left only two months ago after losing Bill, Arthur and Ginny. Rumour has it they're in Australia with Hermione. Lavender was killed as was Michael, Cho, Luna and Nigel. The group that remained from our year was a bizarre mix. Dean, Neville, Seamus and I remained from Gryffindor. From Ravenclaw, Morag was the only one left. From Hufflepuff and, surprisingly, Slytherin, two students remained: Hannah and Zach, and Tracey and Theo respectively.
The Rebellion was still very much alive, in fact, we were stronger now than we had been straight after the war. Yes, we'd lost people, but we'd gained people who'd deflected and gained oversees help too.
Voldemort had destroyed the world we'd once lived in. Muggleborns and Rebellion members were undesirables and god help you if you were both. Although, they didn't kill many of us these days, not immediately anyway. The Ministry liked to make examples of us first. Just last week we'd stupidly made mistakes and lost Natalie McDonald, who would have been a sixth year with Dennis Creevey this year. And for it to happen just two weeks before Christmas had been a real morale killer.
"Alison?"
I blinked, ducking slightly and turning to Dean and Theo who were stood behind me. We were stood at the edge of one of Diagon Alley's lower and more secluded streets, none of us could shop in the main alley now.
"Yeah," I whispered, looking for any signs of Death Eaters further up the alley.
"Wait for Wood's signal," Theo said, "Your Gryffindor impatience still astounds me to this very day."
"Relax, Nott, this is routine," I responded, making Dean snort softly with laugher and causing Theo to roll his eyes.
"You said that last time," he mumbled. I glared at him and watched for Oliver's signal, which was due any minute now. Watching the opposite corner of the street seemed to stretch on for hours, but eventually a soft purple glow lit up the side street in the corner. Oliver Wood stepped out into view, Hannah Abbott latched onto his arm as they played the part of a early morning couple.
Dean crossed the street into a small bookshop. He was retrieving some books for McGonagall, who hardly ever left Headquarters now that she'd was widely advertised as undesirable number one like Harry Potter had once been. Many members of the rebellion were learning to perfect the art of becoming Animagi, including myself, so McGonagall had ordered some extra books for everyone.
Once Dean had disappeared, Theo and I slipped out of our hiding place and headed up the street towards the small, dark apothecary that the rebellion got its supplies and potions from. With one last look around Theo pulled the door open for me and I slipped inside. He followed me closely, his wand in his hand just in case. I raised my eyebrows at how protective and jumpy Theo was, but then I guessed it was expected when you looked at his past experiences. We all knew it was awful, but Theo had never told anyone exactly what he'd been through in his lifetime. He hadn't even toldTracey, who'd been his friend since first year.
"Morning, Mr Nott, Miss Keenan."
I turned to the desk of the apothecary, where Narcissa Black stood watching us with her arms folded. Miss Black was just one of the people who had deflected from the dark at the end of the Battle of Hogwarts. Her husband did not and was subsequently killed by Voldemort in the early few months of the new world. Narcissa reclaimed her Black heritage and privately began setting up her own apothecary, which apparently she'd wanted to do for years. I didn't envy her for ending up being a pureblood wife, not one bit.
"Morning, Miss Black," Theo responded politely, "You know why we're here I suppose."
"Of course, Tabby contacted me specifically to double check this order," she responded.
Tabby was McGonagall's code name and even though we knew Miss Black was entirely trustworthy and vice versa, we had to be sure we were taking the necessary precautions after last time.
I let Theo and Narcissa deal with the order whilst I watched carefully for any signs of movement outside. For some reason there was a gnawing feeling at the edges of my stomach, but I put it down to the last disastrous run. Losing Natalie was causing unrest amongst all the members and god I hoped that was all my anxiety was.
hunted
Ice cold dread slipped down the length of my spine when a deep rumble caused the floor of the shop to shake. My head snapped up to Theo and he immediately grabbed the crate of potions, heaving them off the counter with a sense of urgency.
"Through the back," Narcissa hissed quickly, directing us towards the back of the store. Almost immediately my wand was in my hand, ready for anything that might happen when we re-emerged on the main street. We rushed towards the back door and I burst out into the back alley first to check for any signs of Death Eaters.
As we rounded back onto the street from before, there was a deathly calm lingering above the cobblestone alley. Theo and I stood silently for what felt like forever, sensing no movement or any other presence at all in the emptiness of the street.
"I don't like this; I don't like this one bit," I mumbled.
I spoke too soon. A flash of red shot over my head causing me to stumble backwards into Theo, who barely managed to stay upright with the potions rattling in their crate. He swore loudly and a sense of panic gripped me as a scream ripped through the silence of the street. Suddenly the narrow street was alight with spells and shouts and I was right in the middle of it. I pushed Theo to the side and yelled over the noise of the fight, "Don't just fucking stand there; get those back to base you idiot."
For a moment he was dumbstruck, but when I opened my mouth to yell again he quickly shot into actions, disapparating on the spot. Before I could even react a blast of green came hurtling towards me. Luckily, I was knocked off my feet my a flash of black hair and quickly pulled to my feet.
"You're not supposed to just watch the killing curse come towards you, Keenan."
I wanted to scowl at Dean, but we already were hurtling away from the Death Eaters who had appeared in the alleyway. As much as we both would have liked to stay and fight, McGonagall told us in and out, and that was exactly what we were going to do. Every corner we rounded made my breath hitch, I couldn't get Natalie out of my head. That moment when I rounded the corner to see Death Eaters cornering her before they disappeared with a deafening crack played over and over again, crippling me slightly as we ran. If we ended up like that, if someone else ended up in the hands of the Death Enders because of a mistake I made, I wouldn't be able to take that.
"Woah Ali, this is not a good idea," Dean croaked as I dragged him around the corner towards Diagon Alley.
"This is the only idea I have," I demanded, "We can lose them in there, we can get out of this."
There was a shout behind us, "THOMAS! KEENAN! Stop in the name of the Ministry."
I wanted to laugh in their faces and I allowed a grin to spread across my face as we burst into the early morning crowds of Christmas shoppers. Dean allowed himself a moment to stare in disbelief as we ducked inside Ollivander's old shop and watched the two Death Eaters behind us search the crowd for any sign of us.
"Fuck," Dean whispered, "Let's get out of here before this gets any worse."
I allowed myself a moment to hope Hannah and Oliver had made it, but the thought was fleeting because they'd spotted us. Automatically, Dean grabbed my arm and we were out of there before the Death Eater could even register us standing in the spot in which we had just been.