War AU : After four years of struggling, scavenging and isolation, Hermione meets a familiar face. War changes everyone, for better or for worse.
A/N : Disclaimer and blah, blah, blah. This story is entirely unbeta-ed. All errors (and there are a lot of them) are my own fault. Sorry. This fic has a sappy title. Sorry again.
Chapter One : Canned Guavas
Canned guavas, thought Hermione as she leaned forward on her tippy-toes, shoulder deep into an abandoned grocery store shelving unit. Just give me one more can of guavas. She grabbed hold of a metal cylinder and crossed her fingers mentally, slowly withdrawing her arm and hoping to be greeted by a lovely picture of said fruit. Canned corn. Damn. But it wasn't the end of the world. It was edible food and it was better than nothing.
Hermione huffed and turned to check the young boy standing next to her quietly, bundled up in a thick grey jacket with a scarf fastened tightly around his neck. Underneath his heavy woollen hat, little beady eyes peered out and around, observing silently.
"Stay close." She urged him in a hushed whisper. "Don't wander away." The little boy complied without a sound, moving closer to the young witch's leg and looking up at her curiously.
The last thing she needed was for him to go wandering off – again. The Death Eaters were doing their rounds more and more frequently, sweeping the land for anyone left who were not yet incorporated into their regime. Even here, in the middle of nowhere, in a tiny little abandoned town with no sign of life, they were searching. Hermione wondered if they would just search forever, until there were no supporters of the Order left in the world at all.
She remembered that atrocious like it had happened only yesterday, fresh in her memory; explosions, panic, crucios and killing curses whizzing around in the air like they were nothing. So many good people lost and so many unnecessary deaths. Dobby had perished, trying in earnest to protect them all, and it had surmounted to nothing. It was so pointless, the fighting, the death. She felt nothing but terror and confusion at the waste of it all.
She had lost Harry and Ron, her two best friends, someone in the midst of battle, and after so many failed attempts and miscommunications she wasn't even sure if they were alive or among the casualties. She recalled the sheer revulsion and shock that had consumed her upon discovering both Tonks and Remus' lifeless bodies sprawled haphazardly on the floor of their temporary dwelling, and then hearing a faint cry emanating from a small swaddled bundle near them.
She had made a quick dash for the bundle before grabbing the portkey Kingsley had procured for her and feeling herself being pulled away to another location, a secret place where she could hide and recover.
But that had been four years ago.
Hermione slipped the canned corn into one of the large pockets of her thick coat, turning to the small boy and outstretching her hand. He reached his own gloved hand out instantly, holding onto Hermione's in his weak grip.
"Let's go, Teddy." She exhaled, leading them out of the abandoned store and into the open.
It was cold outside. The winters in this part of the world were rather unforgiving, as Hermione had found. She had become accustomed to a thick blanket of snow on all outdoor surfaces which stayed in place for a good part of the year. It made scavenging a rather tedious job, especially with a small child in tow. And she had no idea where she was either, which only complicated her communication attempts. She was clever enough to figure out that the words displayed on the neglected shopfronts and stores in the town were in Russian, but that didn't help pinpoint their location by any means. She was lost, tossed into a far corner of the world and cut off from the wizarding community. Well, not entirely. The valiant supporters of Voldemort were still there to keep her company.
She led the way ahead through the snow, passing emptied out stores and eateries. At one point she assumed they would all have been bustling with life, but not now – not after the Death Eaters had begun their search. She presumed that the muggles had either been killed or captured, thankfully before she had arrived. The magical folk would have been captured, too, and either forfeited themselves to Voldemort, or were disposed of. Such was the present state of the world.
Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven, she thought bitterly to herself as she recalled the Muggle poem.
They didn't walk too far, taking into consideration Teddy's small legs, and their breath hung in the air in front of them despite the afternoon sun. There was another small shopping mart ahead and Hermione ducked in as they passed, eyeing the vicinity carefully before deeming it safe. She was after canned goods that ideally were still in date – a rarity now that most of the shelves in this part had been picked dry. She made her way down one of the isles, littered by old shopping bags and newspapers, stopping to eye up a box of dried lentils (or rather, what she thought were lentils from the picture on the front of the package).
"Stay near me, Teddy." She instructed, and the small boy nodded his head as well as he could with his tightly wrapped scarf, looking around again as Hermione rummaged as inaudibly as she could through the shelves. She opened the box of lentils quietly, removing and inspecting the inner plastic package carefully before slipping it into one of her extension-charmed pockets. Lentils were easy to make, water wasn't an issue, and they lasted for days on end. She then eyed up some cans, checking the expiration dates and letting out a small annoyed groan when she found they had already perished.
She was just slipping another edible can of corn into her pocket when she heard it – another can sliding against the metal of the shelving unit one isle over, quiet but definite. She snapped her eyes down to Teddy who was standing as still and as silent as ever and her skipped a beat. They weren't alone. Desperately hoping it was just a simple cat or some other half-starved animal that was foraging, Hermione slowly raised a finger to her lips, lowering her brows at Teddy in an instructive way. He mimicked her action, raising a little finger to his own rosy little lips in return. She tightened her own scarf as she silently moved towards the end of the isle, Teddy behind her, and chanced a look around the corner to where she heard the sound originate from.
A black robed figure stood not five feet away from her, hood drawn up, seemingly inspecting the cans on the reverse side of the unit that Hermione was standing by. She peered at it, watching cautiously as the figure moved casually from one can to another, holding each one up just like Hermione had been doing to finding the expiry stamp.
A little peculiar for a Death Eater, she thought, to be picking through the abandoned scraps left in this town. But the figure was no doubt dressed in Death Eater robes, face hidden by the black hood. Perhaps they were getting a little desperate, too. It wouldn't surprise her if Voldemort forced his followers to scurrange around for their own food like the rats that they were. It would be very fitting, indeed.
The figure was tall, no doubt masculine, and seemed somewhat distressed as it rummaged silently. Hermione would have laughed if not for the fact she was cut short on time. The next series of events played out in slow motion to Hermione because they happened so abruptly and out of sync. She didn't hear what had startled the figure, but something had, something in her direction had alarmed it and it had frozen, like a deer caught in headlights before pulling a wand out of nowhere and directing it right at her. She heard a muttered expulso, but her feet were already moving to grab Teddy and run. A loud explosion rocked the small mart and knocked her sideways, pushing her into another isle. She grabbed for and held tightly onto Teddy and made a beeline for the exit. He wrapped his small arms and legs around her and held on like a limpet, no doubt from experience, as she fumbled blindly around the foodstuffs in one of her deep coat pockets for her wand. She looked back over her shoulder only to see another burst of light coming her way and darted just in time before finally finding and withdrawing her wand. She cast a quick everte statum in the figure's vague direction before turning on her heels and sprinting, back into the thick snow which slowed her down immensely.
Dear Gods, it was like running through tar and she was panicking, out in the open with absolutely no cover and no protection. Her eyes darted around wildly, squeezing Teddy tightly with one hand as she held out her wand in the other. She ducked behind a line of abandoned cars on the street, trying desperately to be quiet but the snow crunching underfoot was betraying her location.
"Wait," She heard a muted voice call but it was muffled by the blood pumping in her ears as she tried to frantically escape. She didn't have time to reflect on it, she had to move. No doubt Snatchers and more Death Eaters had heard the loud ruckus and would be apparating themselves to her location in seconds. She needed to get away as speedily as she possibly could.
Ducking behind the fortunately placed cars, Hermione trudged through the snow with delayed speed, slipping occasionally but righting herself before falling. Teddy still held onto her for dear life and she cradled his small body close to hers with her free hand. She was aware the black figure had not only located but begun following her.
"I said wait, goddamn it!" She heard the figure yell again, and just where did she know that voice from? She tried to ignore the familiarity, pushing ahead in larger strides. "Granger, wait!"
How did he know her name? She paused, hesitating for a moment before she heard the air crackle with ominous magic, and knew she had made a mistake.
Death Eaters, two of them. She looked back over her shoulder. Well, three of them if she counted the one who knew her name. That was weird in and of itself. The two newly arrived Death Eaters stood ominously, shrouded in rising black smoke and dressed in stark contrast to the snowy white scenery. She clutched her wand tightly in her cold hand, turning her attention to Teddy as she set him down slowly on the snow-laden ground.
"Teddy, I need you to hide, okay?" She whispered quickly, indicating to one of the cars that she had been using as cover. Teddy nodded, again probably understanding the scenario from experience and got down on his hands and knees before shuffling his small body under the chassis. "Don't come out until I find you."
With him well hidden, she turned back to the Death Eaters who had now spotted her, slowly making their way over. Their hoods were up, identities hidden, wands at the ready. Cowards, Hermione thought but couldn't help noticing the first one had disappeared and now only the two newer ones were advancing on her.
"A non-believer." One spoke, voice laced with disgust as he rose his wand higher to conjure a spell. He was cut short when Hermione shouted a weak but speedy flipendo his way, and then darted sideways through an emptied store front door. She hid down behind a counter, own wand out and ready, panting heavily as she anticipated a rebuttal and formed a duelling plan. She heard a killing curse shouted, and closed her eyes ready for her cover to be blown apart and into smithereens, but she felt nothing. A string of spells and curses were yelled in the distance, seemingly exchanged between the Death Eaters themselves. Quite confused, she opened her eyes and chanced a look above the counter. She saw a spell fly past the store front window but it wasn't directed at her. And then another whizzed by. And another, back and forth.
Someone was fighting against them, she reasoned, and squeezed her wand tighter before slowly moving towards the street again. Summoning her Gryffindor courage, Hermione peered out of the broken shop window. An avada kadavra barely missed her and she ducked back and sucked in a breath, confused by what she had seen. The Death Eater, the first one who knew her name, was presumably fighting the two newer ones. Perhaps he wasn't one after all? But then why was he dressed like one? What in the hell was going on? Slightly miffed and needing clarity, she sprang into action, hauling a confringo at one of the two visible black figures with fantastic precision. It got him straight in the chest and although it was blocked it did knock him back. This seemed to distract the other one because when two avada kadavra were conjured and aimed straight for them, they hit them both dead on target. The two black figures slumped to the snow, lifeless and heavy.
The figure who had been fighting on her side appeared from seemingly out of nowhere, approaching the two outwardly dead Death Eaters cautiously and removing his own hood. Hermione didn't watch, darting immediately over to where Teddy was concealed and calling him out.
"Are you okay?" She whispered, concerned as she knelt down and grasped him on either side of his ruddy cheeks. "Teddy, are you hurt? Are you okay?" He was unscathed and she was relieved, drawing him into a tight, suffocating hug before she realised the remaining black-cloaked figure was now watching.
She turned and…