The Shadow in the Wand
By: Hermioneharry4ever (jes0288@cs.com)
Category: Adventure/Action*Romance
Keywords: H/Hr, Harry, Hermione, Powers-changed
Rating: 'R'
Spoilers: All four books
Summary: Every group of people has had their bad days of hate crimes. But, the wizard world has had two. This is the story of the second era of discriminating the people, as told by three people who played a big role.
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended
A/N: All right, this is going to be short. I am leaving for another trip just after I got back from another one, and just had the time to type this up, and post it. I am now officially deleting The Return of The Looking Glass. It wasn't going anywhere soon, and was boring me, I needed a new plot. This is the first chapter, so beware, I am just explaining everything. If you have any questions about this story, feel free to send me an e-mail, or in your review.
The next chapter should be out in 11-14 days. But I am not writing it in ink. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this bumpy roller-coaster... though it will have it's smooth parts.
Chapter One-*- Dead or Alive?
*_*_*
Four years ago, everything was perfect in the wizardry world compared to right now. Voldemort being resurrected back by Peter Pettigrew and Cornelius Fudge's ignorance to the fact that Voldemort was back didn't help anything. But, in the end, Fudge's ignorance made him go to his grave sooner than what anyone had thought. Though, it was the Minister of Magic's mistake, it brought all of the innocent people into misfortune, especially those of muggle parentage.
Fudge had unblocked the way to evilness for Voldemort, just because of his bad judgment. And look where that got the wizardry world...
After killing the minister and other important people at the Ministry of Magic, Voldemort began to regain his terror over the wizard world that was lost for the long sixteen years. His old death eaters who had been faithful to him more than a decade ago, went running back, kissing the ground that Voldemort walked on. New wizards and witches came running to his aid.
It wasn't about five months after Fudge's death when Voldemort began putting up concentration camps, for all those who where not purebloods or was with him. About forty of his Death Eaters ran each of the camps, always not hesitating to hurt any prisoners whenever they had the urge to do.
Though it seemed that Voldemort was doing this easily, he wasn't. Oh no. Dumbledore didn't ignore the fact that Voldemort was back to his power again. He called the 'old crowd' together, which consisted of Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Severus Snape, Mundungus Fletcher, Arabella Figg, and Melody Earten, to his office. Together there, they made up a resistance. The resistance was called the Comradeship of the Light.
Some way or the other, Harry Potter, the boy with the lightning scar on his forehead, had entered the Comradeship. Along with him were his best friends, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger. Things were going well for the COTL for a while. They fought against Voldemort, making it hard for him to kill muggles for fun, getting all of the concentration camps destroyed.
For a while, Voldemort was having a hard time overpowering the good in the world. But he took two things so meaningful to the Comradeship of the Light, which put them in shock. The first thing was Hogwarts. He had brought an unexpected army to take over the school. He had put the children that didn't escape into some of his concentration camps. The next thing broke Harry's and Ron's heart. He had taken one-third of both of them. He had taken Hermione. This had brought the resistance into a depression. During the time of the depression of the Comradeship, Voldemort had taken over Azkaban, making it his head concentration camp, and then Diagon Ally was next.
It took Dumbledore and Hagrid to put Harry and Ron into their sane minds a month after Hermione was taken. No one knew if she was alive, and if she was, what camp she was at. Harry had begun a program after he was put into his sane mind, called the Granger Organization. It was to make sure that kids who weren't going to any magic school could get the proper learning at home. Ron also contributed to the organization.
There is another thing that you should know before the story continues. Yet, when the dark wave started, most people needed work, whether which side they were on. Though, Harry didn't finished his last year of schooling, he was accepted into the line of work that was meant for him all along. There were people all calling his name out on the street, sending owls and spokespeople to offer him a job. He turned all of them down, all except one.
That one job offered him a place; not because he was the Boy-who-lived, but the Elu Petiller had him down on one of its beads, and when it was ready, the chain gave his name. Harry's career was one that he had been practicing for all of his life- a fighter of evil. But now, he had a career of it, being an Unspeakable.
And yet, all of the good doings didn't stop the terror that was happening.
_*_*_*_
August 5th, 2005
6:30 pm
*****
Carefully and with such attention, Ron set the last exploding snap card onto the card-house that he had made. To his surprise, it didn't blow up. Grinning madly, he sat back in his chair, crossing his arms together. This pastime allowed him to forget what was happening with the new world that he had known for four years. It allowed him to take his mind off of the COTL, The Granger Organization... and Hermione.
Ron looked at his building of cards, smiling. He had never done better. All of the sudden, there was a loud noise of a door shutting. The invisible quake headed towards the cards, and pushed them down. Ron groaned as his cards splattered on the table. " Could you do that a little gently next time!" He yelled out to his roommate.
A black-haired man entered the grubby kitchen, where Ron was sitting. Truly, this man was Harry Potter. " I'm sorry. I didn't know. I'll be more careful next time." Harry said.
Ron forgot all about his cards falling to the table. Instead, he was more concerned about Harry's whereabouts, since he knew that Harry had time off of work. Ron bit his lip, and asked, " Where were you?"
Harry spun around to face Ron; his own eyes meeting his best friends'. Each held their glaze for a long time, but Harry knew that Ron couldn't read through his own emerald green ones for any information. The only people who could were Hermione, Sirius and Dumbledore.
When Ron finally relented, Harry smiled to himself. Another 'when have you've been' battle won. For if he had to tell Ron that each time he was on the roof each time he went missing, he was sure Ron would laugh at him. On the roof was Harry's thinking place and getaway place. At nights, when the sky was clear, he looked at the stars, saying, " Hermione, where are you?" And of course, there was no reply.
Harry started around the kitchen, getting bread, mayonnaise, and Swiss cheese. However, before he got to take a bite, there were two loud pops heard. Sighing, Harry put down his sandwich on the countertop. He turned around to see Sirius and Remus.
Harry narrowed his eyes. Looking at both of his parent's friend's faces, he knew something was up.
" Into the living room!" Sirius ushered. Harry and Ron exchanged looks. Perhaps... just maybe. They knew what each other were thinking. The boy-who-lived followed Sirius and Remus into the living room. As they sat on the second-hand couch, Sirius used his wand to turn on the Wizard Television. The wizard inventors had decided that the muggle devise was a good informative product to him. Many spells and enchantments had been put up, so muggles who did come across a witch saying all kinds of things about muggles, You-Know-You, Hogwarts, and wizard treats, would think nothing of it, and change the channel to something more 'interesting.'
The news appeared on the screen immediately after Sirius turned it on. A witch wearing pink robes was standing in front of the ministry building. The reporter was saying something.
"...The spoke-wizard from the Department of Schooling explained that a voice traveled through that department's system of speaking to each other. Rest assured, nothing terrible happened, but the voice crackled, like the person who the voice belonged to was far away from the ministry building. The spokesperson, Allen Roeper, says that the voice spoke of somebody getting help. Then two numbers, which were 54 and 4. The voice, which sounded like a woman's, kept repeating those numbers before disappearing." There the witch stopped to take a deep breathe.
During that time, Harry turned to Remus, who was sitting on one of the two chairs in the living room. Remus worked halftime as an interviewer for home-schooling teachers in the department. " Was there anything else new?" Harry asked.
Remus looked at him. The werewolf seemed to be thinking things over in his mind. " Moony, tell them." Sirius ordered.
Remus sighed and began to tell them what else was found out. The two men were quiet, waiting for an explanation from Remus. " Harry, Ron," Remus started, " The voice kept saying two numbers, 54 and 4, right?" They nodded. " Investigators thought that the two numbers are a point on the map or an address to some place." Harry bit his lip inwardly. It seemed that Remus was trying to tell him something, but what.
Remus closed his eyes, and when he opened them, he started to explain more. " On the map of England the longitude is 54 and then the latitude is 4. Therefore, the place that they connect was Manchester. The Aurors were sent there to investigate." Remus paused to take a deep breathe before explaining more. His glaze fell on the silent TV. " They came back with reports of a place in Manchester that looked like it was a concentration camp. " There were dead bodies everywhere." Remus concluded, his glaze now on Harry.
" I'm sensing a 'but' in there." Harry said.
Remus nodded, and went on. " In the rumble, they found a teenager, by the name of Cassandra Marshfield. Harry, she might have knowledge on Hermione, and maybe can tell us if she is dead or alive."
As Remus said that, Harry felt hope tickling in the bloodstream that helped him to stay animate.
**********
August 13th, 2005
10:00 am
*****
A week traveled by before Harry and Ron got to talk to Cassandra Marshfield. Cassandra's nurses told everyone that Cassandra was in a fine condition, so therefore, Cassandra had lots of visits from TV crews, Daily Prophet reporters, family, friends, and people like Harry and Ron, who wanted to know if their loved ones were still living.
So, on a Saturday morning, Harry and Ron were spotted in a greeting room. The room had three windows off to the side that were letting in sunlight. There was an oak table, with wood chairs that had padding on the seat. Also, for security purposes, there were two large plate-glass windows facing one of the hospital hallways.
Harry sat on one of the chairs, stiff as a board. Ron saw this, but didn't say anything. He knew how Harry felt. Whatever Cassandra would say, it would help them determine whether their best friend was still breathing.
Soon the sound of a door being opened was heard. Harry straightened up in his chair just as a girl with strawberry-blonde hair in a wheelchair wheeled in by a nurse. With one look, (given by Nicole) the nurse bowed to her, and hurried out of the room. Harry and Ron exchanged looks just for a second, before returning to look at Cassandra. Cassandra wasn't looking at either of them, but was just scanning over her figure nails, to make sure that there wasn't no dirt stuck up them, but there was. " Stupid nurse, she missed a spot," she muttered, before looking up at Harry and Ron. " So," Cassandra started. " What do you want? Interview me, take pictures, ask me to be on a TV show?" She paused before going on. " Whatever it is, I don't do any chores, I would need a full make-up artist, and I don't talk about anything, but myself."
Harry bit his lip, and replied, actually, we are looking for someone."
Cassandra looked up, her glaze penetrating through Harry. " Well what do you have for me?" She said causally, picking at her nails again.
" Why do we need to give you information?" Ron asked.
Cassandra suddenly changed her expressions. She tilted her head. It seemed that Cassandra could easily generate tears as sticking out her tongue. Harry felt anger boiling up. It was clear to him that Cassandra was a fake, but he didn't say anything. The seventeen-year old opened up her mouth. " Oh, I can't tell you what happened! It's too terrible!" She paused, looking towards Ron, then Harry. " But if you give me something, maybe I can spear the horrible parts, and tell you about it."
Ron squinted. Who was she trying to fool? But he had his own tricks up his sleeves. " You tell us first if you have any information on the person that we are trying to find."
Cassandra sighed, and put her hand up to her forehead. After a few minutes, she asked, " Whom are you trying to find?"
" Hermione Granger."
Suddenly Cassandra stopped her 'pity-me' act. She narrowed her eyes and looked around the room. Her back was straightened, as if a chill enveloped it. Ron exchanged looks with Harry as Cassandra motioned them to come closer. The two twenty-two year olds did what Cassandra wanted, and she started to tell her story.
" I was stationed at the concentration camp VW43, budding my time, waiting to be saved. We all were. Although those thoughts weren't easy to think of when dementors came around. Anyways, every three weeks were the times to wet in your pants. You- Know- Who came around to check on the camp always with a crew of dementors, death eaters, and a girl around your age." Cassandra took a deep breathe, noticing that Harry and Ron were listening attentively. She continued, " Every time the girl was entering the camp, she was tied up, but was let go later to do whatever You-Know-Who ordered."
" So she was like a sex girl?" Ron said, getting a creeping feeling up his spine.
Cassandra shook her head. " No, I don't think so. You-Know-Who had a group for that, but not her. Anyways, the girl came up to me the fourth time around that she was at the camp. We had to make sure that none of the death eaters caught us, or else pain would be inflicted upon us. She told me to hang on there, and to go to the basement, and stay down there, hiding right before dinner. I thought it was a trap at first, but something in the girl's eyes, so I followed her advice." She wiped her eyes quickly, then turned to Harry and Ron.
" You-Know-Who wanted to lessen his responsibility, and was going to let us die in a fire. There was a heat-protecting charm in the basement, so I could live. I was really surprised, so when I climbed out of the rumble, there were burnt bodies everywhere. So burnt, you couldn't even tell who was who anymore. I seemed to forget where I was, and by the time I remembered, there that girl who helped me survived. I asked her what her name was after thanking her, and she just shook her head, and told me to stay there. Then as she was going off again, I asked for her name, and she said Hermione Granger..."
**********
Hermione stood at the doorway looking in scorn of her new cell. She switched cells every two days, which was because she switched camps along with Voldemort. You-Know- Who wanted to keep Hermione with him at all times. When asked about this by his death eaters, Voldemort simply said, " If I can't kill Harry Potter yet, then let him suffer." And that was it.
At first, Hermione was scared out of her pants to be with Voldemort daily. But she got a lot better, though she was still afraid of the curses that were inflicted upon her whenever Voldemort or another death eater felt like it.
With a shove, Hermione was trapped inside of her new home for two days. She sighed, and began her slow walk to a batch of hay. It wasn't always like this, but ever since Voldemort had caught her trying to get help from the outside, she was put into a cell. So now she was confined to the cage, her only visitors death eaters who came to give her meals once a day, or to torture her, or dementors, who gave her bad thoughts when she wasn't ready. But she followed what Sirius had done, and kept the bad memories in her mind when the hooded creatures came around.
She sighed, and laid down to take a nap.
**********
When Hermione finally woke up, she sat quickly. There was someone else in the cell, but it wasn't a death eater. It wasn't even a dementor. However, it was a girl who liked three years younger than she was. The girl had dark brown hair that was longer than her own, and intense brown eyes that was starring at Hermione. It didn't seem that this new person wasn't a death eater, but was like herself; all except that the girl still had some of her skin color. Hermione compared with the new girl, made Hermione look like a ghost.
When Hermione finally found her voice, she asked, " Who are you?"
The girl opened her mouth. " Anastasia Palmer." You?"
Hermione narrowed her eyes. From the accent of Anastasia's voice, Hermione immediately knew that she wasn't from England or Europe. " Hermione Granger," she said. " Where are you from?"
Anastasia smiled, and shook her head. " I'm from the United States."
" Then why are you over in England?"
" I came with a group of my school friends for the summer to explore England. I didn't know about what was happening here, or else I wouldn't have came. I was soon captured."
Hermione nodded, and sat down in her spot. She put her head against the stone wall, wondering why on earth would Voldemort put someone else in her cell. Finally, after thinking about it, her mind reached the verdict. ' Maybe there wasn't enough cells in this place.'
**********
August 15th, 2005
1:45 pm
*****
Harry sat in his living room of his and Ron's flat; along with him were Ron, Remus, Sirius, Dumbledore, and the rest of the Comradeship of Light. Harry sat there, with his left hand up against his forehead. He was doing this to calm down. Just before, everyone had blew up against each other about what they should do about the whole situation. It had taken Dumbledore to calm the group down when he got the chance to.
Harry took a few seconds, and looked up from his spot. " Let's not do this without any fights, ok?" Everyone nodded. " From what I gathered, Voldemort has had Hermione with him everywhere he goes, so this won't be easy." He had barely noticed that everyone except Dumbledore had flinched at the name, Voldemort. But those who did didn't holler at him for using the real name.
Arabella Figg looked into his eyes, " You knew that this wouldn't be easy, anyways."
Harry sighed and nodded. " Well anyone has any suggestions about what we should to?"
" Well we need to figure out what camp she's at first. That'll be really hard." This came from Lupin.
Ron and Harry exchanged looks. " Actually, it won't." Ron said.
" What do you mean?"
"Well," Harry started, " What about if we used my job as a tool. We could always go out and spy, to keep record of where Voldemort is usually off to. Or we could always beat it out of a pathetic follower."
Sirius shook his head. " There's a fine line between work and personal, Harry."
Harry suddenly stood up. " There's also a point where you'll do anything to get your family out of evils harm." His voice rose higher. " Hermione is the first person in the wizardry world that didn't think so highly of me, and my so-called fame. She is the only person who stuck by me. When I was to be thought of Slytherin's heir, who stood by me? She did. When I had the episode with the Goblet of Fire, who stayed by my side? She was. Who stayed there and made sure I studied for my exams when all I really wanted to do was to ride my firebolt? She did. And what have I done to stay by her. Can any of you answer that question?" He paused a moment, while everyone sat there. All knew that Harry had stood by Hermione, but all of the situations were unreachable at the time.
The tears that he had been holding back so he wouldn't appear unmanly like, escaped. " See you can't. If all of you don't care about Hermione, and all of the horrors that she is going through, stay here. I don't care. At that point, Harry ran out of the room, leaving a stunned 'audience'.
**********
Harry sat himself on a bench outside of a park. There was scarcely any people walking around on the sidewalk. So many of them were in hiding, afraid to come out their homes if they didn't have to, or were already captured, and either put in one of Voldemort's cells or deceased. A person, who wasn't neither of those, was sometimes another helper to Voldemort. Many people were scared, and those who weren't got themselves killed if they weren't careful. But Harry and the other COTL weren't those people.
As Harry sat out there, all he could feel was revenge in his bloodstream. How could he not? All his life he was abnormal, always fighting Voldemort, or some other evil force. Heck, he couldn't even get a girlfriend that didn't care about his fame. But something in back of his head told him that wasn't true.
He looked up as someone sat by him. It was Ron. For awhile, they just sat there, neither saying anything. They just sat there, listening to the sounds around him, though there wasn't many.
When Ron finally broke the silence, he was sure that Harry was calm enough to be spoken to. " All of us cares about Hermione, Harry."
" I know that."
" We want to help you find her, even if it means using your job as a tool."
Harry felt a smile appear on his face as he nodded. They sat there awhile before Harry spoke up. " I'm sorry about making you feel left out in my little speech before I rushed out."
The sound of Ron's laughter reached his ears. " You didn't. All of the things you said were true. I did gawk at you when I first met you, and I did turn against you in fourth year, when Hermione was the opposite." He paused. " I do miss her, though I don't miss that all-school personality when she has it."
The two men laughed together. It had felt good to being able to laugh, as hope and faith traveled their bodies.
**********
Voldemort looked at the letter in his hand. A nasty smirk was enveloped upon his face. He looked at one of his death eaters who were standing by his side.
The death eater looked at Voldemort, and as if on cue, the death lord said, " It is ready. Get the Mudblood ready to go to Azkaban, Krum.
*************