"Adapt or perish, now as ever, is Nature's inexorable imperative."
-H.G. Wells
"Oh...oh Harry look at it...it's...it's..."
I started unable to continue looking in the direction I had.
An arm snaked around me and pulled me close.
"It's okay Hermione. We can fix her. See? The foundation is still intact and the walls. The plants just need to be taken off and fix some of the crumbling walls...clear out the rooms...then..."
Harry trailed off his whispering in my ear. Our companion sighed wistfully no doubt thinking of the years in these halls.
I knew the plan by heart since it was just Harry and our friend and I who made it.
Two years ago Voldemort and his following attacked Hogwarts.
Instead of whom everyone on the Light thought would win...Harry lost.
The wards down and inactive he was able to grab me and apparate out before the Avada Kedavra on its way could reach us.
We had landed in a clearing scorched, burn marks everywhere.
There were the ruins of a small cottage and in the distance the crash of waves hit our ears.
That was when we started making the plans. They were petty revenge filled ones at first but after that... Well...it may just be easier to start from when we landed in the clearing.
Two years prior.
Air! Need air! Now! My lungs screamed.
So when my legs jarred against the blackened ground and I fell to my knees I started gulping and gasping air into my lungs.
My logical mind knew it was just side-effects of the side-along apparition and not that bad but my stubborn illogical side said it doesn't matter I won't do it again no matter what trouble it is.
Falling backward onto the grass i noticed Harry doing the same laying down and closing his eyes allowing tears to leak out and stain his cheeks.
I don't know what compelled me to say it but it just burst out.
"HARRY-BLOODY-FECKING-POTTER! WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING? GRAB ME AND ABANDON EVERYONE ELSE? Now...now they really will think you're the coward who ran as Voldemort said when we all saw Hagrid carrying you towards Hogwarts. Now...don't you see? You were their hope. You were there not ONLY TO KILL THE BLOODY BASTARD but to be the symbol of their hope...show them they can stand up to people and fight and now...you ran. You lost your Gryffindor courage. And do you know what's going to happen with them? They will lose the hope you gave them. They will give up. They will give themselves up to HIM. Now what can we do now to help them? We're stuck at the Shell Cottage or what's left of it with no food. No clothes. No shelter. No anything." By the end my voice had dropped to a deadly whisper, completely contrasting the screaming from the beginning. I had never been one for a speech and then that. That horribly jumbled together speech with terrible grammar. If my mum still knew I was her daughter she would be horrified.
The Boy Who Lived stared slack-jawed at me with an awed expression on his face.
I waited to let my words sink in to him and when they did I could see it.
His eyes hardened with sorrow and determination and his body language stiffened and went taller. The wand grasped in hand was held surer by him and the lines that had appeared around his eyes and mouth deepened and hardened.
I knew I must have looked the same but shorter and with hair flying every direction.
"Now? You want to know what happens now." He asked calmly almost deadly.
Gulping at his new demeanor I couldn't do anything but nod.
A grin smile tugged at the corner of his lips and the fading sun behind him showed me how long my speech and his silence had been.
"Now Hermione we start planning on how to help and get information."
I smirked full blown at him, getting one back.
In two months we had successfully raided six Death Eater haunts killing as many Death Eaters as we could.
Every time we did it I grabbed a Daily Prophet.
I remember the front page articles.
DARK LORD HAS WON. POTTER MISSING
Straight from The Dark Lord, The Great, The Ruler of all.
"Harry Potter abandoned his allies during the Battle of Hogwarts. Anyone who sees a little scrawny scared boy with a jagged scar on his forehead is to be killed. No exceptions."
That's it. See Harry Potter, The Boy Who Is A Coward, and kill. No second thoughts. No hesitation.
DEATH EATER INITIATIONS
The Dark Lord demands every man woman and child to come to his home in the Ex-Ministry building in Mortdon formerly known as London.
There will be floos and portkeys open in North Morterica and South Morterica.
What used to be known as Asia the Middle East and South East Asia is now completely Mortdon.
The Ex-Australia is now Mortalia.
These names are to tell everyone that trying and not become a Death Eater or be one of The Dark Lords loyal subjects is to be subjected to death.
Every Muggle is to be killed on sight by Avada Kedavra then taken to a Killing Center to be Incendio'd with the others to create less of a mess of these dirtied creatures.
Mudbloods are allowed to stay and die out. Mudbloods are not allowed to reproduce or marry. Mudbloods may be killed if it tries to help a Muggle or another Mudblood...
The articles continue on and Harry and I laughed-albeit grimly and humorous less- at the names Voldemort had come up with to rename North and South America making them into only two countries and then making the entire world into only four countries all ruled by one...thing.
It's been eight months now.
Harry and I have now successfully been able to raid and kill Death Eaters and destroy some of their resources at least one place a week.
Only twenty four places in the past six months. The first two after we had run we had only gotten six.
We were at the Shell Cottage for three days before when Harry had said Voldemort we heard cracks from outside.
Without thinking I had grabbed the emergency-now illegal-portkeys I had made and we made it over to Ex-Brazil-South Morterica. But I lost a foot of hair at Sectumsempra through the window. Now I have a short pixie cut I was able to fix.
We stopped saying Voldemort after that.
Mostly to keep from going out of our minds with sadness and grief and needing something to laugh at we started coming up with the craziest names we could think of that would rhyme with Voldemort.
"Moldy Shorts."
"Voldy Schmoldy."
"Velcro-Shirts."
Harry I must admit made the last one that I had busted out hysterically laughing at mostly because I didn't understand how he could have gotten it.
Ten months now.
"Harry." My voice filled with grim realization called to the boy-now man, I reminded myself.
"Hmm?"
"This is the last can. There's a loaf of-" Gagging I stopped and threw the extremely molded muggle loaf bread that had been molding at the bottom of my never ending beaded bag for ten months.
"-molded bread that we would most likely die of food poisoning from." Harry concluded for me nodding and pressing his pale ...manly...soft lips-WHAT? Come on Hermione! Just because you are a girl and have needs doesn't mean you start pining after your best friend! I chided myself severely frowning.
"What?"
"Nothing! Nothing!" I said nervously throwing my hands in the air.
As the raven-haired man turned away I distinctly heard him muttering."...must be on the rag..."
I bristled at that mad at him saying that and...being right...
Sighing I ran a hand through my curly hair that now had gotten to mid back.
Sitting down heavily on the dirt floor of the forest we had apparated to I motioned for Harry to also.
"Listen Harry, we have been attacking the Death Eaters resources capitals and killing the Death Eaters grabbing papers and a newspaper. What we stupidly haven't been doing is taking some of the good that was there that we needed! We can't transfigure food for us to eat or...necessities I need. The next place we raid I think we should go in quieter. We have you invisibility cloak and with it just being the two of us we can fit under it. Get as much as we can into my bead-bad THEN attack the Death Eaters."
I was a rough plan we would have to refine and get right like the other raids.
At first Voldy Shorts thought it was a crappy resistance team trying to defy him. But when one of the death eaters got away on the fourth trip he knew it was us.
After we had gone over new plans for the next raid and went over every possible thing that could go wrong we started working on the large plan.
The one to rescue the entire world, or as much as we can.
"Got the disillusion charm ready Mione?" The Raven-Haired gryffindor breathes.
"Yes." My answer is just as soft and careful. My eyes dart around at amazing speed I had perfected over the last year and a half.
A death eater in the black robes every witch wizard and child is permitted to wear. In his hand lay an empty dirty cup of fire whiskey. His head had lolled back on his shoulders completely pissed.
A second glance told me it was Theodore Nott.
He was in my year at Hogwarts. A Slytherin. Had been on Moldy Shirts side since the beginning.
I remember him cursing at me and saying mud blood at least every other word.
Whenever I would walk by him and Daphne Greengrass I would hear him wondering how many times a day I 'do Potty and Weasel'. He had been in Advanced classes though. Could've have made something great of himself.
But there he was stone-pissed in a bar almost put together by illegal-muggle-duct-tap.
"If I whisper a immobilizing spell on Nott and a silencing spell then have boils sprout out over his body that may cause enough of a distraction for you to get a few while I'm getting the supplies."
"Sounds good-Mione!" I glanced sideways and saw his wide horror filled eyes.
Leaning I followed his gaze and saw...Luna Lovegood.
Her hair was much longer now then at Hogwarts her eyes were not as dreamy and she...was dancing.
She was doing the new wizard version of pole dancing and a few of the death eaters I had seen before had moved a bit so I now had a clear view of her.
"Remember this place Hermione. She will be first." I replaced the silencio around us so that when we went apart the Death Eaters wouldn't hear us.
Slowly slinking over to Nott's drunken body I had the weird feeling someone besides Harry could see me.
Turning beside Nott wand out ready to place the spell I saw two light blue eyes curiously staring at me.
Straight at me through the disillusionment spell.
Luna's gaze was sad and still curious when she recognized me.
Still dancing and the death eaters paying no attention to her head it inclined towards me in a questioning gesture.
I nodded towards her before placing the immobilizing spell on Nott and "silencio".
"Bolia Tiscus." Huge pus filled THINGS sprouted over the body. Eyes snapping open the ex-Slytherin futilely tried to move his body bloodshot eyes darting around.
One of the boils popped and green guck flew across the room to hit the neck of a death eater around Luna.
He roared and turned making the others follow.
Seeing Nott sitting here in bi condition he raced over with his wand out.
The others crowded around not wanting to miss a chance of action.
Luna still danced but slower watching intently.
Her hair swayed around her back and I saw it straighten once, twice, three times. It stopped for a second then two more tugs that straightened her hair.
We were lucky the death eaters didn't see her grin at realizing Harry was with me.
I felt him brush past my shoulder towards the other death eaters and I crouched and slowly walked over to the open doorway to where the supplies would be.
Ducking in an cringing when there was the smallest creak and not caring anymore about noise when the first death water went down.
I strangled sound came from throat when all there was empty crates and an old newspaper.
Grabbing it and without any further ado ran over to where Luna was dancing on a crate wearing the filthiest most ragged clothing I have ever seen.
Without looking I leaped on the crate and took off the spell on me seeing Harry half in half out of his cloak fighting the last two death eaters that could move.
"Come on Luna. Want to leave with us?"
The girl stared and tears welled up in her eyes as she nodded vigorously.
"Do you have a wand?" She nodded and tugged on one of her long earrings. It looked like she had long sticks hanging from her ears with radishes on the end. No death eater would want a woman's earrings like those so it was never taken from her.
She disillusioned herself and took my hand while I once again placed the spell that had become old friends with me.
A small tug on her arm and pulled her towards Harry wandlessly I whispered "Animacio Sumerio."
The death eater squeaked when he looked up and thought Harry was one hundred feet tall.
Instead he was a shrew. Tiny and shivering at The Boy Who Lived's feet.
Before anything else could happen he scampered off under a crack in the wall.
"Harry. Back?"
My answer was him going back under cloak and feeling around for my hand.
I grasped Luna's hand still and the three of us sped off.
I led Luna while Harry led me towards the temporarily made home that will be changed again tonight.
The last thought in my head before I concentrated only on not being seen was Is Luna still to be trusted?
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Disclaimer: So sorry for those who have mis-thought of me as J.K. Rowling. I am not she.
I have kinda abandonded my other story for a while in favor of this.
Hopefully updates will be often.
And Reviews are like cigarettes. One of them and youre hooked. Flames mixed with the reviews i wont care, ill know someones reading it.
And this story will probably go up from K+ later on. I do my own Betaing too. Quotes like H.G. Wells will be on begining of all and A/N's at the end so you can skip them if you want.
-Faminana