A/N: This is the first chapter, or intro if you prefer, of what should eventually be a four chapter series. I fully intend to keep writing, but I have no real idea how long it will take for me to put out all four.
My name is Katie Bell, and early in the morning on August 4, 1997 was when the worst year in my life began.
Over a dozen years have passed since then, but I can remember the day clearly. For a long time, I just wanted to move past that year, to live like never happened. But something a friend said to me the other day convinced me that I can't keep quiet anymore. I approached the Daily Prophet so that they can tell my story.
Even though it's my story, I'm not telling it about myself. It's for some friends who never really cared for fame. It's not fair that these people, all heroes, should be forgotten. Until now, they've never once been praised for what they did. I want to change that.
The story starts in my flat at the time, where I was having a party. Not for any specific reason, mostly just as an excuse to see all my friends from school again. We were just supposed to catch up, relax a little, and find where our jobs were talking us.
Of course, as parties often go, by two o'clock in the morning, almost everyone had left, and there were just five of us still sitting around my table. I was there of course, as well as Alicia Spinnet, Ryan Jenkins, Courtney Hall, and Cormac McLaggen. I had invited Angelina Johnson, but she hadn't showed up. I was a little worried about her, since she had been adamant that she was coming last time I talked to her, but there wasn't much I could do.
Alicia had come early to help me set up. I had been really pleased to see her, since being a year older than me I hadn't been able to spend much of the last school year with her. She remained exactly the same as ever, friendly and worried about me.
Ryan and Courtney had been best friends since early in the second year I think. They were practically inseparable at Hogwarts, even taking all the same classes. Ryan often joked that they were practically twins. Courtney used joke the same way, but since about our fifth year, she realized something and stopped. Ryan still hadn't taken the hint, but none of us really had any doubt that he would, though we had often wondered how long it would take.
Cormac was the same as ever. Unlike Ryan and Courtney, I hadn't really been friends with him at school. I had only really invited him to be polite. Of course, with the tact that he was known for, He hadn't left when most of the other people had, and was now seeing how many Cockroach Clusters he could fit in his mouth. This was impressive not only since he had managed to fit in an even dozen, but also because the clusters had a disturbing way of moving in your mouth in a way I found a little too realistic for my taste.
"More! More!" egged on Ryan, a little too happy to encourage Cormac. In response, Cormac fumbled blindly for another cluster and crammed it into his mouth just as the door opened and Angelina stepped in.
"Angelina!" I jumped up and ushered her in. "What's taken you so long? I expected you hours ago."
On closer examination, Angelina looked tired. She was moving wearily, without responding to me, she collapsed where I had been sitting.
"Angelina, you OK?" asked Alicia, leaning toward her.
"Me?" responded Angelina idly not really seeming to pay attention. "I'm fine."
"What's up then?" said Courtney, also leaning closer. "Why weren't you here earlier?"
"I'm guessing that you haven't you seen the Prophet yet?" Angelina frowned, still sounding vaguely distracted before pulling out a copy from her robes. "Here, take a look."
I snatched it from her hand a moment before Alicia got to it. In his corner, Cormac provided a dramatic sound as he crunched down on his mouthful of Cockroach Clusters. I flipped the newspaper open, and then stared in disbelief at the front page. A big picture of Harry, wearing an annoyed expression filled the page. Below, in big letters, it read:
WANTED FOR QUESTIONING ABOUT
THE DEATH OF ALBUS DUMBLEDORE
"Ah," I said glibly, letting Alicia grab the paper from me and sinking down the floor in one motion. "When did this happen?"
Alicia had a more energetic reaction.
"WHAT! HOW COULD THEY!" she screamed loudly. Ryan, Courtney, and Cormac all stared at her. "HOW COULD THEY THINK HARRY WAS INVOLVED?"
"Harry?" asked Ryan. "Harry Potter?"
"YES HARRY POTTER!" screamed Alicia, going very red in the face. "THE STUPID IDOITS AT THE MINISTRY THINK HE HAD A PART IN KILLING DUMBLEDORE!"
"Why would they think that?" said Courtney reasonably. "It's been months since he died. Even the Ministry couldn't take that long to blame him."
"The ministry's been taken over by You-Know-Who," said Angelina, cutting Alicia off before she started shouting again, Alicia sunk deeper into her chair instead, looking shocked at this news. "Everything's being changed."
"We would have heard if the Ministry had been taking over," I spoke up from where I was still sitting on the ground. "If they had, there would have been battle, news would have gotten out."
"The Minister never would have gone down without a fight," agreed Cormac, his mouth mercifully free of Cockroach Clusters. "I know him, and he's as tough as they come."
"Look at Page seven," snapped Angelina, ripping the newspaper out of Alicia's hands and tossing it at Cormac. Snatching it out of the air, he flipped it open to page seven, and quickly scanned the page.
"It says that he's resigned," said Cormac, looking stunned. "He would never do that."
"Do you think he's dead?" asked Courtney, looking horrorstruck.
Angelina shrugged, "Either that or in Azkaban."
"And the rest of the Minstry?" said Ryan, seizing the paper and leaning back against the couch, as though he often had discussions about Ministry falling.
"I don't know," admitted Angelina. "From what I gathered, there wasn't much of a fight. It looks like they were betrayed on the inside."
"People under the Imperious Curse?" I asked, shivering a little. I had spent several months of the last school year in St. Mungo's because I had been put under that curse, so I knew how easily it could happen.
"Maybe," said Angelina. "No one really knows what's going on out there. All I really know for certain is that the changes they're making are so radical, it's got to be under You-Know-Who's control."
"What changes?" said Alicia, looking pale, a stark contrast when compared to how red she had been when she had been yelling. "The one about Harry I can understand, given how much He wants him, but what are they going to do next?"
"On page two is says that they're going to register Muggle-borns," said Ryan conversationally. "I can't imagine that is going to lead to anything good."
"What are they going to do to them?" asked Courtney, sounding a little panicked. She reached over and yanked the paper out of his hand. The paper, however, had reached the end of its limits for being ripped out of people's hands. With a loud tearing noise, it split into two pieces.
"It didn't say," said Ryan folding up his piece calmly. "But if the Death Eaters have really taken over, I'd say either death, or thrown in Azkaban long enough to wish that they were dead."
"People won't stand for this," I said confidently. "They have to be fighting against the Ministry."
"Katie," began Angelina, giving me a pitying look. "You haven't seen everyone out there, have you?" When I shook my head, she continued on. "No one's talking to each other, and most people are hurrying home, making sure that their families are all right."
Ryan sighed. "She's right. Most people aren't going to risk their loved ones getting hurt just because they decided to start fighting a battle they can't win."
"But there are people in the Ministry who won't stand for this." said Courtney, starting to clench the newspaper in her hands. "They-"
"Want to keep themselves and their families safe." Angelina completed her sentence. "I doubt that they can trust anyone in there. Either everyone's trying to gain favor with the new Ministry, or else afraid to trust anyone in case they're under the influence if the Imperious Curse.
"That's how it happened last time," Alicia remembered. "My dad told me once, a long time ago, that he couldn't trust anyone."
I slumped against the couch, defeated. Across from me, Courtney had crunched up her half of the newspaper so much it was now only a tight ball of paper in her fist, looking worried. Next to her, Ryan was frowning thoughtfully at the bowl of Cockroach Cluster on the table, looking deep in thought. Alicia was staring moodily around at my flat, looking peeved. Cormac was still looking shocked, and he gave no sign that he had even heard what had happened in the last few minutes. Angelina was looking helplessly at me, looking more defeated then I had ever seen her.
"No," said Cormac suddenly, standing up, so that his big frame was towering over us. "We're not just going to give up without a fight."
"What do you want us to do?" asked Angelina. "Walk into the Ministry and start stunning everything we see?"
"Better that then just sitting here doing nothing," said Cormac, starting to pace back and forth in front of them. "I refuse to just sit here and do nothing."
"None of us like it," said Alicia.
"So help me," said Cormac, pausing to look at her. He looked oddly impressive framed against the wall, a look of such passion on his face that I couldn't help but give him my full attention. "I can't see myself staying home when I know that out, there" he gestured out a window "People I know are being killed, or dragged off to Azkaban."
"If we try and play hero, we'll end up dead," said Ryan quietly.
"I rather be dead then sitting here doing nothing," said Cormac, sounding fierce. "What's wrong with you guys? You're supposed to be brave."
"We are brave," I began, but Cormac cut me off.
"Then show it. Out of all of us here, I'm the one with the most to lose. My father's pretty rich, he knows people, and if I get caught, He'd lose all of that, and that's the best case scenario. At worse, he could end up in Azkaban, and I wouldn't be far behind in that case. But I still say that's better than not doing anything."
I looked around the room to see what effect his words were having. Alicia was slowly nodding in agreement with Cormac, Angelina had a fierce look on her face, Ryan's face was unreadable, and Courtney was looking toward Ryan, so that I couldn't see her face.
"Are you going to help me?" asked Cormac bluntly.
I exchanged a look with Angelina, then we both stood up.
"We're in," said Angelina. I nodded in agreement.
Courtney looked at us for a moment, then stood up as well. "I'm a Muggle-born, so it's either I do this, or I go they cart me off without a fight. Between the two, I'll do this any day.
Together, the four of us stared at the only two still sitting, Alicia and Ryan.
"Well?" asked Cormac after another moment of staring at them.
"I don't know if this will kill us or not, but if you two are in," said Alicia looking right at me, "I'm with you guys.
And she stood up, so that the five of us towered over Ryan.
"What is it that you were planning that makes you think we can make a difference," said Ryan after a long silence. "There's only six of us."
"That doesn't matter yet. We need to see who's with us first," said Cormac. "We're going to fight. Are you?"
Ryan stared at each of us for a long moment, lingering for a second longer on Courtney's. At last, he spoke.
"I don't think we'll actually do anything besides get ourselves killed, but if you guys are doing it, so am I."
And just like that, we had started a fight that we had no way of winning.
Of course, that wasn't the end of the discussion. We stayed up until dawn talking about what we were going to do, who we could trust, and what we would accomplish.
The list for all of those things was depressingly small. I don't remember the exact words anymore, but it boiled down to this: we couldn't do much against the ministry, we couldn't trust anyone for fear they might be under the imperious curse, and our chances of actually accomplishing anything substantive was almost zero.
But we were already set in our course, and none of us were going to back down now, no matter what the difficulties. With Cormac's passion, Angelina's leadership, Alicia's cautiousness, Courtney's willingness to risk it all, and Ryan's ability to play devil's advocate, the beginnings of a good plan started to come together.
By the time we went to sleep, we were a far way from being ready, but we had taken the first steps in fighting back.
A/N: First, off, thanks for reading all of it. If your are interested in reading more, you should probably be aware that I won't for at least three weeks, and there's a very real probability that it will be long. I have definite plans to continue this though.