It was another rainy day in Great Britain, giving the wizarding town of Hogsmeade a sort of dreary look. Not that it was cheery to being with. It had been almost twenty years since the Death Eaters' occupation of the settlement, yet still a feeling of uneasiness persisted. No matter how many rebuilding projects were issued by the Ministry, the scars of war could never fully heal, it seems.
On this particularly wet afternoon, a nice drink at the Hog's Head seemed appropriate, so it wasn't so surprising that the tavern was particularly full that day. What one may find surprising, however, were two figures hunched over in a corner booth. One of them was an old man in his sixties. His body looked frail, his head had almost no hair, and his eyes would sometimes become cloudy, all of which pushed his apparent age much older.
The other figure needed no introduction. Hermione Granger still had the bushy brown hair and the slightly bossy voice. Right now, on an assignment from the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, she was using that voice with good effect, "You know why I have come here. I want to hear your side of the story."
The old man was amused. "That's good to know." He stretched his arms towards the back of his head. "Well then, there's nothing more to do but proceed with the story, is there?"
"Come on! Get moving!"
"I am moving! What, you think these legs are just running in place?"
"Then move faster!"
"Guys, shut up and focus on the running!"
"Where the hell are they, anyway?"
A ray of green exploded on the tree near the threesome. One of them, a girl with striking blond hair, tightened her grip on the small package she had been keeping under her armpit and retaliated with a burst of red from her wand before she followed her comrades in retreat. There was a muffled profanity coming from the other side of the shot.
To their sides were more movements. The boy with the dark red hair and brilliant blue eyes scowled. "They're covering our flanks. The tricky bastards."
At the first sign of black cloaks, the tallest of them muttered something that sounded strangely like "Engorgio" before pointing his wand straight in front of him. In response, a strong gust of wind blew a flurry of dry leaves and stick towards the enemies, causing them to fall back reeling.
The group ran until the forest suddenly opened up into a clearing. Right in front of them was the night sky as the ground gave away to a rocky drop.
"Great. Now we're surrounded," the one with the blue eyes muttered. He twirled his wand in his hand. "Fine. If it's a fight they want, it's a fight they'll get," he said as he stopped and turned around, his face a strange mixture of seriousness and giddy excitement.
Suddenly two more figures popped in near the cliffs, a boy and a girl, both of them holding on to a ceramic plate. The boy's other hand was wearing a mitten and holding a spatula. He would not be out of place in a kitchen.
As soon as they arrived, the girl erected a barrier right in front of her, just in time for it to absorb a sickly looking spell thrown at her. It would later dawn on her that it could have easily been a Killing Curse and she would have been dead, but right now her focus was on providing cover fire for the other team.
"Get back here!" she called the boy who by now was launching hexes at an alarming rate towards their pursuers. Looking back to his comrades, he turned around and together they gathered around the two newcomers. They threw the plate on the ground, causing it to shatter into thousands of pieces and all five reached out towards the spatula. The moment they touched the item, the world around them—the masked pursuers, the moonlit forest, the terror and the battle—faded away.
When the world returned (the ground, to be precise), it decided to smack Christine Iver in the face. She picked herself up in annoyance and spit out the little dirt that got in her mouth. All around, her friends detangled themselves from each other and quickly stood up from whatever embarrassing position they found themselves in after that frantic escape.
Christine removed strands of golden hair from her face and looked around. They're still in the forest, but a different forest. Not far from where they were the trees ended in open grass. Hogwarts Castle was only a small distance away from the Forbidden Forest. They could see the silhouette of the castle standing against the night sky. "Everybody alright?" she asked.
"I still have all of my limbs," one of the boys said wryly.
"A good thing too, considering you were about to fight at least half a dozen Death Eaters on your own," the tall young man, whose name was Kenneth Tennyson, added. "Didn't know you care that much for our safety, Alexei."
Alexei Volkov responded with a short snort. He then addressed the young man who's taking off his mitten at the moment. "So the portkeys work fine after all. Not bad, Calder."
Daniel Calder ran his fingers through his black hair sheepishly. "I think I set the port location of the return one a little bit too close to the ground."
"The important thing is you made it work at all," Christine pat him on the back. "Nice thinking, using that plate. Who knows what they could do to track us with it if we didn't destroy it."
"That was Mischa's idea, actually," Daniel motioned towards the other girl. She also had dark hair, which contrasted nicely against her fair skin.
"I'm just glad I could help without getting myself killed." Mischa Augustyn let out a weak laugh. "So… we got it, right?"
Christine held out the wrapped package she had been carrying. It was small, thin, and rectangular. It's amazing that they had fought hard and put themselves in danger for something that looked so insignificant. Yet it wasn't insignificant, as all five gathered around it with a tired but relieved smile. In fact, acquiring it may mean they could finally turn the tide of the war.
In a sense, all fanfictions are AU. Even those that try their hardest to comply with the canon will have to admit sooner or later that their stories come from their own head, and not from the author, and therefore cannot be considered canon. None of these original characters exist in the books (otherwise they won't be considered "original" of course), but it is my intention to write a story that can theoretically fit into the canon. How well it fits, however, is left to the readers.
Comments and critiques are welcome, of course, as this is my first major fanfiction project that does not (will not... hopefully) devolve into crack fic and thus the only one I dare to publish.
