Necessity, Memory, and the Unexpected
Chapter One
It Just Doesn't Seem to End
"It'll leave if you don't hurry up!" Mrs. Weasley shouted.
Hermione turned her head to the voice and grinned. She looked around and saw worried mothers double-checking their children's bags, holding tight to them, and reminding them to write every week. The fathers stood back, grinning and shaking their heads, patting and hugging, loading luggage onto the train. She loved this atmosphere: the rushing parents and children, the hooting owls, the familiar faces of her classmates, the stone platform of 9 ¾, the bright red paint of the gleaming Hogwarts Express in the background, and most of all, Harry and the Weasleys.
Harry had spotted her already, and was calling to her attention. Hermione wove her way through the bustling wizards and witches and threw herself into Harry's arms. It felt so good to see him again.
"Hermione!" Ron called. Hermione turned and hugged Ron before he could say anything else.
"Whoa, calm down, I can't breathe!" Ron laughed jokingly. Hermione let go after squeezing him tighter for a second and then spotted Ginny.
"Ginny!" she screamed. The two girls embraced. Hermione then shook hands with Mr. Weasley and got bear hugged by Mrs. Weasley. She really loved this family.
The Hogwarts Express blew its final whistle. It was eleven o'clock.
"Have you all put your bags inside? You didn't forget anything, right? Write to me as soon as you reach the castle!" Mrs. Weasley cried.
"Don't worry, Mum, we can handle ourselves, we're of age now! Merlin . . ." Ron muttered. Mr. Weasley helped everyone onto the train. The door was closed and Mrs. Weasley smiled. Everyone waved and sent kisses through the air until the train had rounded the corner and disappeared into the distance.
"Please, let nothing wrong happen to them," Mrs. Weasley prayed silently.
But only seers could see the future, and she wasn't a seer.
"So. . . ." Ginny started. She looked at Harry, waiting for him to speak. "You said there was something you needed to tell us?"
The foursome was sitting in the Heads' compartments. Ron and Hermione were the Heads. Harry had refused the position; he told Hermione he wanted to just stay back and relax not having too many responsibilities. So of course, Ron accepted.
"There is something you three should know," Harry said. "It's about Voldemort."
"Voldemort's finished, mate. There's no threat," Ron reasoned.
Harry sighed. He looked pained.
"I know it sounds unbelievable, but . . . Voldemort has a son," Harry stated, cautiously.
Silence ensued.
There were expressions of bewildered disbelief etched on each face of his audience.
"What are you talking about, Harry? That's, that's not even . . ." Ginny shook her head slowly.
"What—where did you get that story from? It's not even funny, mate." Ron looked amused.
"No, I swear I'm not lying," Harry stated definitely. The look on his face was dead serious.
"Bloody hell!" Ron exclaimed. "That's—that's not possible, I mean, c'mon, look at, look at what he's done, and . . . how?!"
"Harry, that's bizarre!" Hermione screamed.
"Yeah, I know it sounds unrealistic, but his son may pose a threat. See, Voldemort never had a real child; he made his own brain-child from his mind," Harry continued, "After he made his third Horcrux, he wanted to see if one could split their mind just like they could split their soul. Making a brain-child didn't seem like a bad idea to him because he could give the child a mind like his, one which has no place for love and an undying thirst for power. It was meant to be the ultimate safeguard of his life: a human recreation of himself, well, as human as Voldemort could possibly get.
"Of course, he wouldn't take care of it himself, so he gave it to the Lestranges to raise. However, he soon realized that his brain-child could, in fact, be a threat to him more than a extra life. If the child were to grow up and challenge Voldemort, the purpose would be gone, so he told the Lestranges to dispose of the brain-child. However, the child's caretaker, Astrella Lestrange, had grown to care for the boy. When she heard of the murder that was going to take place, she ran away with him, leaving a dead peasant's son in his place.
"The Lestranges didn't know what to tell Voldemort. If he knew that a piece of his mind and his power was not destroyed, he would kill them. The Lestranges decided to keep the dead peasant's son and show Voldemort that his son had been killed. That way, no one had to know about the disgrace Astrella had brought upon them, and Voldemort would not punish them."
The other students in the compartment stared at him, trying to digest the information.
"Blimey," murmured Ron, after a long moment of silence.
"Does he pose a threat or . . . ?" Hermione was unsure as what to think.
"Well, it's too early to say. He could be a big threat, with a mind like that, but no one's ever heard from him or Astrella again," Harry continued. "It was a side project Dumbledore told me about. We were going to look into it deeper once we finished the Horcruxes, but we never . . ." Harry was unable to finish.
"Harry . . ." Hermione gave him a gentle hug, remembering the death of the great headmaster. "We'll help you, Harry. I think he could be the next biggest thing if he's alive. We need to at least find out if he's dead or not," Hermione reasoned.
"Yeah, you can count me in, mate," Ron agreed.
"Me too," Ginny said, with a determined look on her face.
"Well, at least we're not out of adv—" Ron was cut off by the sudden halt of the train.
SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEECCHHHHH
"What in the name of Merlin's pants . . .?!" Ron muttered.
The foursome got up and opened their compartment door. Some other students were poking their heads out the doors, too. No one seemed to know what was going on.
"Harry! Harry, what happened?" Hermione heard a voice she knew well.
It was Luna, and she was holding hands with Neville. Hermione wanted desperately to envelope both of them in hugs, but the situation was much too serious to think about that now – they could have their chit-chat later at Hogwarts.
"I don't know, let's go ask up front," Harry answered. He and Ron left to go see what was wrong.
"What's going on?" Dean asked.
"Why, my dear children, do not worry."
"What in the name of sweet Merlin?!" Neville exclaimed. He brought Luna closer to him.
"Now, all of you step carefully out of the train—"
"NO ONE MOVE!" Harry shouted. He and Ron were back. "Hermione, no one's in the teacher's compartment!"
Suddenly everyone was quiet, tensed and cautious. Hermione saw Neville and Luna prepare their wands to put protective enchantments around the train as she pulled her own wand out.
Outside the train, it was so silent . . . too silent.
"I said, come out, children. You will not waste my time in doing this simple task. Do get your luggage, you will need it."
The voice that spoke to them was coming from nowhere yet everywhere. It seemed to be vibrating off of every wall. It was deep and demanding, though not unpleasant. However, Hermione was reminded of something painful - Fred's death. She was reminded of how that voicevibrated off of every speck of dust in the castle - high, cold, clear.
This voice was quite the opposite of that voice, and that was the scariest part. It was deep and smooth, almost musical and pleasant to listen to. Yet there was something in the tone that caused shivers to run up Hermione's spine. Dangerous.
"No? Fine, then. I guess I will have to force you."
Hermione, Neville, and Luna started putting protective spells in that moment, trying to block the voice out and put a shield between the train and the outside air. It didn't seem to help though.
The ground shook horribly. Before anyone could do anything else, the whole train dropped, dropped, and dropped into darkness.
It was falling, people were screaming, and Hermione was reaching for her friends.