Hey everyone. This is my 3rd story, which is a Harry Potter/Kingdom Hearts Xover. Obviously I do not own any characters or the concepts. If I did, KH3 would be out already.
Harry Potter and the Key to Power
Chapter 1
In the dimly lit stone hallways of the majestic castle known as Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, along a corridor on the seventh floor, a young man, no more than sixteen years old, paced up and down the corridor. Every time he would turn, his unruly black hair, which had grown out a bit as the school year went by, would fall in front of his emerald green eyes. The youth would then push it out of the way as he walked back up the hallway, revealing a lightning bolt shaped scar on his forehead.
After turning around for a third time, the youth turned his green gaze to the wall. A small smile graced his features as his eyes landed on a door that was not there the first two times he had paced down the hall. Taking his eyes off the door, the youth quickly looked around. Seeing no one, the young man pulled out a piece of very old parchment from the pocket of his oversized and baggy jeans. From his other pocket, he removed a stick made of holly. He placed the tip of the stick on the parchment and took a deep breath. He needed the information that only this parchment could provide.
"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," whispered the young man. At once, lines of ink spider webbed from the point of the parchment that met the tip of the holly stick. In a matter of moments, the lines had formed a map of the entire castle. In just another moment, the map would have the location of every single being, living or not, in the castle.
"Harry! What the hell do you think you're doing?" came a shrill, but very familiar voice.
Harry Potters eyes widened in surprise as he jumped and spun around, seeing the chocolate brown, but very angry eyes of Hermione Granger, one of his two best friends. Oh yes, Harry could see that his friend was pissed. Though she was now shorter than he by a few inches, Harry knew that beneath the small thin frame held a startling amount of magical power. To make matters worse, that fairly large power was coupled with something even more dangerous, lurking right underneath the wild curly brown hair that adorned her head. Her brain was extraordinarily dangerous by itself, but with her magic joining it, she was a force of nature. And both her magic and her brain were also being fueled by the righteous fury that only a woman can muster. Harry gulped, seeing his life flashing before his eyes.
At that time, a set of heavy footsteps distracted them both as they turned toward the source of the noise. The footsteps revealed a redhead boy with lots of freckles on his face, panting as he jogged over to his two friends. As the redhead came to a stop, he bent over, placing his hands on his knees to support himself as he caught his breath. As his breathing slowed, he stood back up, showing that he was taller than Harry by about four inches. His sky blue eyes held guilt and worry when regarding the two friends he had just caught up with. Turning to Harry, the redhead, named Ron Weasley spoke in an apologetic tone.
"Sorry mate. She distracted me and then left when I had my back turned."
Harry's eyes narrowed slightly in aggravation. But after a moment or so, Harry sighed, his eyes softening. Hermione had been known to outwit many witches and wizards who were older and supposedly wiser. He should have expected this. Harry waved off Ron's apology as his gaze turned back to the Marauders Map. Immediately, Hermione started in on him again.
"Harry, are you going to answer my question?" she asked irately.
"Wasn't planning on it," replied Harry absently. Excellent, all the professors and the students were in their quarters. Granted, it was the middle of the night, and so this wasn't unexpected. However, a couple of dots moving about indicated that the caretaker, Mr. Filch and his cat, Mrs. Norris were patrolling the halls, and Mrs. Norris had apparently smelled them at some point as she set off at a quick pace on a path towards them.
"Mischief managed," said Harry, wiping the map clean and putting it away. Turning back to his friends, he gestured for them to follow. "Come on, unless you want to be caught out of bed." And with that, Harry turned on his heel to and marched over to the door that had appeared.
Ron and Hermione quickly followed as Harry opened the door to the magical room. This room was special. Known as the Room of Requirement, the room and its contents changed depending on the persons needs. This time in particular, it changed into a very large room filled to the brim with random items. From broken furniture, to bloody weapons, and piles and piles of ill gotten gains, all lost in time within the Room of Requirement. None of it was what Harry was looking for though. Harry was searching for a book he had put in here a few weeks ago after accidentally using a Dark Spell on Draco Malfoy.
"You're going after that book! You should leave it, hasn't it done enough damage?" came Hermiones disapproving voice. Harry ignored her.
"Hermione, leave it alone. More good has come from him having the Prince's book than bad," said Ron, for once trying to play the peacemaker. Unfortunately, this proved to be the wrong thing to say to Hermione.
As the trio moved through the rows and rows of forgotten things, Hermione whirled around to face Ron, her eyes almost popping out of her head with fury.
"And what about what Harry did to Malfoy? If Professor Snape hadn't known the counter curse, Malfoy would have DIED! And Harry would have been arrested for murder!"
At that time, Harry turned to her, a pained look on his face.
"Hermione… don't you think I know that? I know I should have tested it out on a practice dummy before using it in a fight…" said Harry, his voice cracking.
"Hermione. Harry knows what he did, and he is sorry for it, but think about the good it's done. With that book, Harry has been doing way better in Potions, which admittedly, he needs in order to become an Auror," stated Ron.
"That's true, but-" started Hermione.
"He also won that luck potion. And that got him the memory that Dumbledore needed," continued Ron, not allowing Hermione a chance to build up steam.
"Yes, but-"
"AND, if he hadn't seen that piece about the beozer, which we hadn't even mentioned since first year, I would've died from that poisoned mead. Drop it Hermione. Harry has learned his lesson. He knows he should have tried it out on something before using it on a person. Just let it be… Please," finished Ron, his voice taking a pleading tone toward the end.
As the trio continued moving through the mountains of forgotten things, Hermione let out a frustrated sigh, blowing a few strands of bushy brown hair from in front of her eyes. She had lost most of the fire she had built up, but she was not quite ready to let things stand as they were.
"I'm going to let Harry off the hook, but there is still no denying that the book is dangerous and should be wherever Harry threw it in here."
Getting even more exasperated with his brilliant best friend, Harry started walking quicker past the piles of junk, looking for something familiar. This made his friends start jogging after him, when all of a sudden he stopped.
"And another thing, I think we should- oof!" grunted Hermione and Ron as they ran smack dab into Harry, not having realized he came to a dead stop.
"Oi, mate, what's with the hold up, I thought we were… whoa…" breathed Ron as he and Hermione looked past Harry and towards what he was looking at.
In front of them, the Room of Requirement had opened up into a wide open space. In this space however, was a field of strange looking weapons. The weapons looked almost like swords, but far more decorative and stylized. They were all sticking out of the ground, handles up. There were also bits and pieces of odd looking armor strewn about through the mass of odd swords.
Mesmerized, the Trio started forward, trying to figure out what this place truly was. As they moved through the weapons, they felt many emotions coming from each one. Though the most abundant emotions seemed to be anger and extreme sorrow.
"Harry… most of these things look almost like… keys…" said a puzzled Hermione.
Still continuing forward, the Trio made its way toward the center only find it devoid of any key-looking swords. What they did find in the center though, was something that chilled them. It was a man, lying on his back, in a pool of what appeared to be his own blood.
The three teenagers rushed forward to offer what assistance they could. As they came closer though, Harry realized any help was futile. The man, who was dressed in heavy dark gray pants and black combat boots, as well as a heavy black shirt, and leather belts that seemed to act as suspenders running from the man's back and over his shoulders, upon which there were two onyx colored metal shoulder pads, and continued down his torso to meet with an oversized and decorative leather belt. The belt, aside from having many strange markings, read the word 'Shinra'.
Kneeling beside the man, Harry could tell that he wasn't much longer for the world. His body appeared to be riddled with bullet holes and lacerations. The man's breathing was shallow and he struggled for breath. Fresh blood continued to ooze from his wounds. The unknown man opened his eyes ever so slightly when Ron and Hermione approached, with Hermione kneeling on his other side. She was on the verge of losing all control of her emotions, and big fat tears welled up in her eyes. She too realized that the man would soon die.
Ron stared down at the man in horror at the damage that had been done.
"Bloody hell," whispered Ron.
The stirred ever so slightly, opening his eyes to focus on each of them. Harry noticed that his blue eyes seemed to glow lightly with some unknown energy. The man's face was pale, and the blood running down his face from his black hairline only stood out more obviously.
"Well… isn't… this… a surprise…" said the man in heaving breaths. "After… the first… couple of millennia… I… was… beginning… to think… that… no one… would find… this place."
"Millennia?" questioned Hermione, as she began several medical spells she had learned to at least ease the man's pain. "Who are you exactly?"
"My name… is Zack. Zack Fair," answered the man, now known as Zack. "I once… was an elite warrior… who fought… against those who… would seek to do harm… to innocent people… as well as my employers. But… let's not talk about the past. What matters now… is that I was… tasked… to be the… Watcher… of this place. Thanks though. For the healing… I mean."
Zack, though he was still bleeding, it had certainly slowed. As Zack struggled to take a deep breath, Harry placed his arm under Zack's head, lifting it up slightly.
"Zack. It's nice to meet you. You sound like a hero. My name is-" started Harry, only to be interrupted by Zack.
"I know… who you are… Harry Potter. You and your friends… taught others here… a while ago…"
"How did you know that?" asked a startled Harry.
"This room. Though it… doesn't always show… this place is ever present. Usually hidden… by the magic,,, of this place and… the Room. We have always been here… waiting for someone… worthy."
Intrigued, Hermione asked the next question.
"Zack, what exactly is this place? What are these key sword things? And who needs to be worthy of what?" asked Hermione, her brown eyes wide with excitement at learning something new.
Zack began to chuckle at her enthusiasm. At least, he did until his body went into a coughing fit. With each cough, Zack expelled more and more blood. His wounds also seemed to start bleeding at their original pace again. Once again, Hermione began her curative spell work.
"Well… This place… is called… the… Keyblade Graveyard. Those things are… Keyblades. Keyblades are… magical weapons. They can… unlock any lock… even those… of the heart. And in order to… wield a Keyblade… one must be worthy."
"So how do we know if we are worthy?" asked Ron, speaking for the first time since coming across the dying SOLDIER.
"Since the Graveyard… revealed itself to… you three… I think… it will be safe… to assume that you may… be worthy… of taking the trial…"
"Trial? What Trial?" asked Harry, suddenly getting a bad feeling.
From behind the Trio, throughout the mass of Keyblades, they heard something. Spinning around, they searched for the source of the sound. It sounded like metal vibrating ever so slightly on another metal item.
As the seconds ticked by, the Trio noticed that the tinkling metal sounds were starting to gather in one place.
"Look," said Ron, pointing slightly off to the side. There, they saw the bits and pieces of armor they had observed earlier. Except now, the armor was moving towards each other. Piece by piece, the armor assembled itself. It apparently had been made for a tall man, and was bronze colored. As the armor built its body, the left hand reached down to the floor and picked up a helmet. The helmet had no facial features, other than an edged border along where the hairline would be, and moving down the sideburns and the jaw line. The other odd thing about the armor was that it had two ear-like projections, standing straight up. The armor then put the helmet on, as if there was an actual head and body within the armor.
As the living armor began to turn towards the three, it's right arm grasped the blue-colored handle of a large bronze colored Keyblade. The Keyblade was thinner than most, and had three teeth, the two outside teeth being longer than the middle one. The teeth also continued on the bottom edge of the Keyblade, differentiating itself from almost all of the other Keyblades. The armor pulled the Keyblade out of the ground from its standing position, and swung it in its hand so that the armor was holding it in a reverse-grip, with the tip of the Keyblade going straight up.
Then the living armor began walking slowly towards the trio. And then, it did something that armor was not supposed to do, well, other than move of its own accord. It spoke to them.
"You'll be facing my trial," it said in a cold baritone voice. "To see if you are worthy of the Keyblades. If we find that you are, then you will gain immense power, and you will travel to many worlds, learning skills and gaining power. Enough power to destroy the evil that threatens your world."
"And if we aren't worthy?" asked Hermione, fear leaking into her voice.
"Then you will die," responded the armor.
"And if we choose not to fight?" asked Harry, trying to stall for time.
"Then you will still die," replied the armor. It swung the bronze Keyblade in its hand again to hold it in a normal grip. The armor then took an aggressive stance. "I suggest you arm yourself, if you want to live."
No sooner than the Trio cold ready their wands, the living armor charged forward, closing the 45 foot gap almost instantly. The armor leapt into the air, with both hands on the handle of the blade, and the blade over its head, ready to bring the Keyblade down and cleave someone in two.
The Trio reacted as quick as they could, though the armor had almost chopped Harry's leg off. Harry and Hermione had dove to the right, while Ron went left. Harry however had stumbled, and was still within swinging range of the armor and its Keyblade.
The armor saw this and took its opening, taking the downward swing and fluidly changing it into a horizontal swing aiming towards Harry. Harry, barely managed to avoid the blade cutting him, though it did tear cleanly through the front of Harry's overlarge T-shirt.
The armor saw this and brought the Keyblade from its horizontal swing back over its head, readying for another downward slice. In a panic, Harry reached behind him and felt the cold metal of one of the numerous Keyblades around them. Shooting his hand up as far as he could feel the metal, his hand found the handle. Acting on pure instinct, Harry brought the Keyblade from behind his back and out of the ground, right into the path of the oncoming enemy blade. Harry also brought up his left arm and used his hand to brace the Keyblade he had randomly chosen against the impact of the Keyblade belonging to his much stronger opponent.
The moment of impact had been almost too much to bear. The armor had Harry lying on his back, using his Keyblade to keep the armors Keyblade from cleaving him in half. The shock that ran down Harry's arms almost felt like his bones had shattered inside his arms. Luckily, they didn't, but it was taking all of Harry's strength to hold off the living armor.
"My original Keyblade… how ironic…" muttered the armor.
Suddenly, and to Harry's great relief, Ron had let out a roar as he charged the armor from its right side. The armor was forced to withdraw its Keyblade from Harry's to defend against Ron. As Harry got to his feet, he took a second to look at the Keyblade he had picked up. It too had a blue handle, with handle guards forming a hexagon around Harry's hand and the handle. These too were blue. The blade was bronze, much like the living armor's, except the blade was broader and slightly shorter. The teeth were also different. The teeth were not as long as the ones on the armors Keyblade, and the teeth were only on one side, much like an old fashioned key. The tip was not at all what Harry expected. Instead of coming to a point, the blade became broader toward the tip, and the tip itself was almost rounded.
The sound a small explosion brought Harry out of his reverie. He looked up to see smoke clearing away from the back and left shoulder of the armor, and it looked no worse for wear, which took Ron by surprise, as the armor kicked Ron in the leg, bringing Ron down to one knee. Using its left hand, the armor backhanded Ron hard enough to send Ron flying onto the ground at Harry's feet.
Harry could see that Ron was in serious pain, but could not help but feel proud of his friend, as Ron, despite taking two serious blows, had managed to hold onto the Keyblade he had picked up. Harry looked it over very quickly. It was dark gray, and actually quite short. The handle seemed off though. Looking it over, Harry found that there was only one handle guard, and with the way Ron was holding it, it wasn't going to do much good for blocking since the guard was against the inside of Ron's forearm. The blade was slightly curved, and had four teeth. From the tip of the blade, each tooth decreased in length.
"You'll need stronger spells than that, girl!" called the armor, taking its Keyblade and taking a position much like a professional baseball pitcher would. "That Keyblade you have belonged to one of my best friends, who was an extremely powerful sorceress. If you can't unlock its full potential, then you're done for!"
All of a sudden, the armors Keyblade was bathed in a white light, and the armor threw it at Hermione, who had taken a far away position to attempt to snipe at the armor with magic. Hermione barely dodged as the glowing Keyblade soared past her at blinding speeds. At the rate it was moving, and the fact it was spinning, it would have easily removed her head. Believing herself to be in the clear, Hermione raised the navy blue Keyblade she had chosen, which was a moderate length, and the blade was a simple tube that split itself and formed an intricate rectangle design before becoming one tube again and stopping. Overall, it truly did look like nothing more than an over-large key.
Hermione pointed her Keyblade, in her right hand, and her wand, in her left hand at the armor and prepared a spell. What she did not see, was the armors Keyblade, had stopped in midair about fifteen feet behind her, and it started to return to its master. And Hermione was right in its return path.
Fearing for her life, Harry quickly pointed his wand at Hermione and shot off a weak Banishment charm, pushing her off her balance, but out of the way of the oncoming Keyblade. Seeing a second opportunity, Harry then aimed his wand at the living armor, intending to hit it before its weapon returned to it.
"Expulso!" yelled Harry and a beam of red light shot out of his wand at hit its target, causing another small explosion. As the smoke cleared, Harry could see that the armor had its weapon once more, and had turned to face Harry and Ron. The armor again leapt up into the air and positioned its Keyblade over its head for another earth-shattering downward slash.
Immediately, Harry and Ron acted as a team, both bringing their Keyblades up to defend, and divide the immense strength behind the swing between them. The Impact almost brought both of them to their knees. Gathering their inner strength, the two boys pushed up against the armors blade.
The living armor seemed to look directly at Ron as it spoke. "Stupid boy. That Keyblade is meant to be held in a reverse grip. The way you have it now doesn't serve any purpose other than bludgeoning someone."
"And how would you know that?" asked Ron, trying to keep the armor from crushing the both of them.
"Because that Keyblade belonged to my other best friend. Keyblades form for its original bearers fighting style."
"Harry…" said Ron, with his jaw clenched from the strain.
"I got it," replied Harry, straining as well.
With one more almighty push, Ron, being taller than Harry, was able to get enough leverage on the armor to expose its abdomen. Harry took his opportunity to disengage his Keyblade from their opponents and to strike at the exposed abdomen.
Harry could literally see victory, there was no way that the living armor could escape. As the blade drew nearer and nearer to the armors body, relief began to spread through Harry.
But just before making contact with the enemy, Harry's head exploded in pain. The kind of pain that indicated that the Dark Lord Voldemort was near. And Harry heard a voice inside his head.
"Give me your power boy. Give it to me, and I will become more powerful than even this mysterious armor!"
Harry, whose swing of the blade had continued on its path, tried to push through the pain and the voice to save his friends. But just before impact, the Keyblade that Harry was using vanished in a flash of light.
The armor saw Harry and the loss of the Keyblade, and took the boys momentary shock to strike. Crescent kicking Harry in the face, which sent Harry rolling off to the left, the armor threw its Keyblade straight into the air, and it soared upward end over end. Ron, caught off balance from the sudden change in tactics, was grabbed roughly by the shirt as the armor lifted him off the ground, and swung him in a circle. A moment later of being swung, the armor let go of Ron, flinging him into Hermione, who was lining up another shot. The two of them went tumbling in a heap.
Seeing this, Harry jumped to his feet, wondering what had happened to his Keyblade, not noticing the pain in his forehead had receded. As Harry wondered, another flash of light erupted from Harry's hand, and he found himself possessing the Keyblade once more.
And again, Harry's forehead felt like it would split in two from the sudden massive headache. He heard the high cold voice in his head again, telling him to surrender the mighty Keyblade to it. And once more, the Keyblade vanished from Harry's grip.
The armor saw this, and watched as Harry clutched his head in agony. Using a simple scanning ability, the armor found the source of the problem. The armor lifted it's right arm in the air and lazily caught its Keyblade as it came back down. Immediately, the armor took the Keyblade and made a powerful thrust right at Harry's face.
Harry, eyes wide and nearly pissing himself, found that they enemy Keyblade had actually stopped with its center pointed directly at his scar. Harry then felt his body seize up, and he couldn't move.
"HARRY!" screamed Hermione, seeing one of her best friends about to be slain. She and Ron quickly untangled themselves from each other and retrieved their Keyblades, just in time to see the armor twist its wrist, and the Keyblade, a quarter-turn to the left. From that simple action, the Room echoed with the sound of a heavy lock being undone.
The two friends stopped and stared in horror as green and black smoke began to rush from Harry's famous lightning-bolt scar. Harry convulsed as he fell to the floor. The smoke began to take a new form, of a creature that could have once been called a man, but now it was bald, white-skinned and had no nose and red eyes.
The smoke shadow of Lord Voldemort rose and made itself bigger than even the armor, which shouldered its Keyblade lazily.
"I have seen your heart, and it is mine!" said the shadow.
"Sorry to disappoint, but my heart died a long time ago," said the armor. The armor then made one more powerful horizontal swing and sliced right through the shadow. A long and terrible scream echoed throughout the Room as the shadow faded into nothing. The armor took its Keyblade, pointed the tip down, and stuck it in the ground. Slowly, it walked over to Harry, who had stopped convulsing, and offered the boy a hand.
Harry, feeling slightly apprehensive, but grateful that the armor had destroyed that… whatever it was, hesitated for a moment before taking the offered hand. Ron and Hermione rushed over, their Keyblades also vanishing, to wrap him in a relieved hug.
After a moment, the armor spoke to them again, his baritone voice much warmer than it had been before.
"Congratulations. You three are worthy of the Keyblades. You three worked together and trusted each other. And even though none of you had handled a Keyblade before now, you show a lot of talent and promise. You will need to depart to another world in a few minutes to receive training and to understand reality as it truly is however. And by doing this, your hearts, your strength and your skills will continue to grow."
"Thanks, but what was happening with my Keyblade, and what was that shadow thing?" asked Harry.
"From the moment you entered the Graveyard, I noticed a darkness within you. Now I know for a fact that that darkness was from another source, a sentient one at that. Because of that darkness, the Keyblade had vanished from you a couple of times. But since it has been dispelled, I do not believe that you will have any more troubles."
"You know? I actually feel a lot better. Most of my anger and frustration seems to have gone away with that thing when you killed it. So… Thank you," said Harry. The armor merely nodded.
"What did you mean, that we'll have to travel to new worlds?" asked Hermione.
"You'll see," responded the armor, reaching behind its back to pull out the exact Potions book that Harry was looking for before stumbling upon the Keyblade Graveyard. The book began to glow and floated out of the armors hand, and as it did, three thing rings of light surrounded it.
As the three teenagers gawked at it, Harry's Keyblade appeared in his hand.
"You will have to go now," said the armor as the book shot a thin beam of light straight up, and formed a keyhole of light. The keyhole interior showed what appeared to a tunnel of rushing light within it. "The doorway does not stay open forever."
Harry nodded, and motioned for his friends to get closer to him. In their hearts, the three of them knew that this is what would help bring Voldemort down, once and for all. The power he knows not.
Harry pointed the center of his Keyblade directly at the keyhole, much like the armor did to remove the shadow from him. Instantly, yet another beam of light shot out from the Keyblade and entered the keyhole. The keyhole accepted the Keyblades power and generated several pulse waves of white light as well as numerous rays, which enveloped the Golden Trio. In a flash, the keyhole and the Trio were gone.
Nodding to itself, the armor pulled its Keyblade out of the ground and walked to where Zack was still lying down, bleeding to death. The armor placed the Keyblade back into the ground a few feet from where Zack was. The armor then sat down and leaned back against the Keyblade.
"They're… good… kids," said Zack, his voice weaker than ever.
"Yes," replied the armor. "They may very well save everyone."
"Yeah… You sure… showed them… what's… in store. They'll… be fine," said Zack. "You are… an… awesome… Guardian… Terra."
"Thanks. You're not such a bad Watcher yourself," replied the armor tiredly.
"Thanks," said Zack. "Do you think… we'll ever… see our… friends again? Like… Angeal… Genesis… Aerith… or even Sephiroth?"
"You mean like Ventus and Aqua? Yeah… we'll see them again… someday."
The two sat in silence for several minutes.
"Hey Terra?"
"Yeah Zack?"
"I'm awfully… tired."
"Me too. We should get some rest."
"Yeah… you're right," said Zack. As Zack's eyes began to droop and close, he had to ask: "Terra… would you say… I became… a hero?"
The living armor looked at Zack, remembering everything he was ever told about the man who had died so young in his own world, betrayed by the very people he served. And still, Zack had done everything he could to protect everyone.
"Yes Zack. I would say that you became a hero," whispered the armor.
At that, Zack smiled a small smile.
"Goodnight… Terra…" said Zack with his last breath
"Goodnight… Zack," replied the living armor, watching as his friend of the past seven millennia passed on. After a few moments, the armor placed its hands on its knees and lowered its head onto its hands as if to rest. The Room was completely silent as silver wisps of light escaped from the armor where the pieces joined. As soon as the last wisp left and faded, the armor fell apart for the last time. And so the Lingering Will of Terra had finally passed on as well.
[1 ½ Years Later]
Neville Longbottom sat in the Room of Requirement with all of his other runaway classmates and now friends. The past year and a half had not been good in any way, shape or form.
It all started out when Gryffindor's Golden Trio, Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, had randomly vanished. Harry and his friends were known to be very private people and so it was assumed that they just wanted some space. But when two days had gone by where no one in the entire school had seen any of them, a search was initiated. The teachers seemed in a near panic, including Snape, most surprisingly. Sadly, the search turned up nothing.
In less than three weeks after their disappearance, Voldemort and his followers successfully overthrew the government, and essentially had obtained near total control of the populace of magical Britain. Laws were passed that gave Purebloods loyal to Voldemort unprecedented legal power, while at the same time repressing rights for Half-Bloods and outright declaring Muggle-Borns and Muggles Enemies of the State. Laws were also passed to mandate that all witches and wizards of school age in magical Britain had to attend Hogwarts.
Within 2 months after that, Muggle-Borns and Muggles were being round up in the streets and taken to concentration camps, where they would be forced to comply with whatever sick fantasies their Pureblood superiors could come up with, and then killed. Those families of any Blood Status that were smart enough got out of the country early. Those that weren't or could not, went into hiding.
This is what ultimately led to Neville and nearly the entirety of Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and even some Slytherins to hide out in the Room of Requirement. As long as one of them stayed in the Room, they were all safe. The room provided them with everything they needed, from bathrooms and showers, to a way to get food. The only thing it could not provide was the hope given to them by the Chosen One, who was supposed to save them all from Voldemort. It was times like this when Neville wondered what had happened to his friends.
As everyone in the Room started to settle down for bed, a strange and loud sound echoed through the Room. It sounded almost like a heavy lock had been undone. Panicking, everyone looked toward the main door, fearing that their enemies had finally figured out how to get in. Everyone stared at the door until Lavender Brown called out to Neville.
"Nev!" she yelled. "This thing looks almost like a keyhole made of light!"
This directed everyone's attention to the back wall where she was standing. As they all crowded around to try and get a better look, the keyhole started to grow larger. The crowd backed away in fear of the keyhole-shaped portal as it got bigger and bigger and bigger. Once it stopped growing, it became brighter until it's radiance blinded the hide-aways. As people started being able to see again, they heard three new footsteps. Neville, finally being able to get a good look at the newcomers, gasped.
From the portal had come Harry, Hermione and Ron.
A/N: Shew, nearly 6000 words just on the first chapter. Now I have a challenge for my readers: I have designed Keyblades for both Harry and Ron, but I am struggling with one for Hermione. Suggestions welcome.
Also remeber, that I like reviews